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diff --git a/34748.txt b/34748.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..530fca4 --- /dev/null +++ b/34748.txt @@ -0,0 +1,22032 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Problematic Characters, 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: Problematic Characters + A Novel + +Author: Friedrich Spielhagen + +Translator: Schele de Vere + +Release Date: December 24, 2010 [EBook #34748] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PROBLEMATIC CHARACTERS *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by the Web Archive + + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + + 1. Page scan source: + http://www.archive.org/details/problematicchar00veregoog + + 2. The diphthong oe is represented by [Oe] or [oe]. + + + + + + + BY COPYRIGHT ARRANGEMENT WITH THE AUTHOR. + + + F. Spielhagen's Complete Works. + + _Translated from the German_. + + + _JUST PUBLISHED_. + + I. + + PROBLEMATIC CHARACTERS. + + A Novel. Translated by Prof. Schele de Vere. 12mo. Cloth. $2.00. + + + II. + + THROUGH NIGHT TO LIGHT. + +A Novel. Translated by Prof. Schele de Vere. Uniform with the above. +12mo. cloth. $2.00. + + + + CRITICAL NOTICES. + + +"Such a novel as no English author with whom we are acquainted could +have written, and no American author except Hawthorne. What separates +it from the multitude of American and English novels is the perfection +of its plot, and it's author's insight into the souls of his +characters.... If Germany is poorer than England, as regards the number +of its novelists, it in richer when we consider the intellectual value +of their works. If it has not produced a Thackeray, or a Dickens, it +has produced, we venture to think, two writers who are equal to them in +genius, and superior to them in the depth and spirituality of their +art--Auerbach and Spielhagen."--_Putnam's Magazine_. + +"The name is suggested by a passage in Goethe, which serves as a +motto to the book. Spielhagen means to illustrate what Goethe speaks +of--natures not in full possession of themselves, who are not equal to +any situation in life, and whom no situation satisfies"--the Hamlet of +our latest civilisation. With these he deals in a poetic, ideal +fashion, yet also with humor, and, what is less to be expected in a +German, with sparkling, flashing wit, and a cynical vein that reminds +one of Heine. He has none of the tiresome detail of Auerbach, while he +lacks somewhat that excellent man's profound devotion to the moral +sentiment. There is more depth of passion and of thought in Spielhagen, +together with a French liveliness by no means common in German +novelists.... At any rate, they are vastly superior to the bulk of +English novels which are annually poured out upon us--as much +above Trollope's as Steinberger Cabinet is better than London +porter.--_Springfield Republican_. + +"The reader lives among them (the characters) as he does among his +acquaintances, and may plead each one's case as plausibly to his own +judgment as he can those of the men whose mixed motives and actions he +sees around him. In other words, these characters live, they are men +and women, and the whole mystery of humanity is upon each of them. Has +no superior in German romance for its enthusiastic and lively +descriptions, and for the dignity and the tenderness with which its +leading characters are invested."--_New York Evening Post_. + +"He strikes with a blow like a blacksmith, making the sparks fly and +the anvil ring. Terse, pointed, brilliant, rapid, and no dreamer, he +has the best traits of the French manner, while in earnestness and +fulness of matter he is thoroughly German. One sees, moreover, in his +pages, how powerful is the impression which America has of late been +making upon the mind of Europe."--_Boston Commonwealth_. + +"The work is one of immense vigor; the characters are extraordinary, +yet not unnatural; the plot is the sequence of an admirably-sustained +web of incident and action. The portraitures of characteristic foibles +and peculiarities remind one much of the masterhand of the great +Thackeray. The author Spielhagen in Germany ranks very much as +Thackeray does with us, and many of his English reviewers place him at +the head and front of German novelists."--_Troy Daily Times_. + +"His characters have, perhaps, more passion, and act their parts with +as much dramatic effect as those which have passed under the hand of +Auerbach."--_Cincinnati Chronicle_. + +The N. Y. Times, of Oct. 23d, in a long Review of the above two works, +says: "The descriptions of nature and art, the portrayals of character +and emotion, are always striking and truthful. As one reads, there +grows upon him gradually the conviction that this is one of the +greatest of works of fiction.... No one, that is not a pure _egoiste_, +can read _Problematic Characters_ without profound and even solemn +interest. It is altogether a tragic work, the tragedy of the nineteenth +century--greater in its truth and earnestness, and absence of _Hugoese_ +affectation, than any tragedy the century has produced. It stands far +above any of the productions of either _Freytag_ or _Auerbach_." + + + IN PRESS. + +III. The Hohenstein Family. Translated by Prof. Schele de Vere. IV. +Hammer and Anvil. V. In Rank And File. VI. Rose, And The Village +Coquette. + + + _LEYPOLDT & HOLT, Publishers_, + + 451 BROOME ST., NEW YORK. + + + + + + + + PROBLEMATIC + + CHARACTERS. + + + + _A Novel_ + + + + BY + FRIEDRICH SPIELHAGEN. + + + + _Author's Edition_. + + + + + + NEW YORK + LEYPOLDT & HOLT + 1870. + + + + + + + Problematic Characters + + + A Novel + + BY + FRIEDRICH SPIELHAGEN + + + FROM THE GERMAN + BY + PROF. SCHELE DE VERE + + + + _Author's Edition_. + + + +"There are problematic characters, who are not equal to any situation +in life, and whom no situation satisfies. This causes an immense +discord within, and their whole life is spent without enjoyment." + + GOETHE. + + + + + NEW YORK + LEYPOLDT & HOLT + 1870 + + + + + + + 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. + + + + + + + The New York Printing Company, + 81, 83, _and_ 85 _Centre St._, + New York. + + + + + + + FRIEDRICH SPIELHAGEN. + + _Extract from the Westminster Review, October, 1868_. + + +From biographical notices of Spielhagen in German periodicals,[1] we +gather that he was born in Magdeburg, in 1829, and is the son of a +Prussian functionary of considerable rank (Regierungsrath). His youth +was passed in the romantic old town of Stralsund, to which his father +was removed in 1835, and the scenery of that neighborhood, and of the +near lying island Ruegen, appears to have become so deeply impressed on +the opening mind of the boy, that he subsequently painted it with +enthusiasm in several of his romances. His course of "gymnasial" +education in Stralsund having been completed in 1847, he went in that +year to the University of Berlin, intending to study medicine. But his +poetical nature soon caused him to give up all thoughts of the medical +profession, and the following year he removed to Bonn to study +philology. He remained at Bonn till 1850, when he returned to Berlin, +continuing his studies partly at that university and partly at that of +Greifswald. Whilst at these universities he appears to have studied a +variety of subjects, but discursively rather than with reference to any +regular profession--for which both his poetical vein and his thirst for +observations of actual life seem to have disqualified him. After +serving his allotted time in the Prussian army, and occupying the post +of tutor in the family of a Pomeranian nobleman, he went to Leipzig, in +1854, to devote himself to general literature, and he afterwards became +a teacher (_Privat Docent_) of modern literature and aesthetics. + +His first romance, "Clara Vere," was published in 1857, and in the +following year a short romance, "Auf der Duene" ("On the Downs"), +appeared, and attracted considerable attention. In the six years +Spielhagen resided at Leipzig he wrote many critical essays for +periodicals, translated a considerable number of French, English, and +American works[2]--particularly of American poets, and published there +two more short romances, one of which, "Roeschen vom Hofe," a charming +idyl, rapidly passed through four editions. In 1860 he went to Hanover, +where he married; and the following year he removed to Berlin, where he +has since resided, displaying great activity in connection with a +leading periodical, and as romance writer. In 1861 his first large +romance, "Problematische Naturen," appeared, and at once established +for the writer a great reputation. It was followed the next year by a +continuation, "Durch Nacht zum Lichte" ("Through Night to Light"). In +1864 another long romance, "Die von Hohenstein," was published, and +lastly, in the autumn of 1866, "In Reih' und Glied" ("In the Ranks"), a +romance in six volumes.[3] + +The scenes of all Spielhagen's romances, with the exception of his +first, "Clara Vere," are laid in the Baltic provinces or islands, in +the Prussian capital, or on the Rhine.... The heroes in many of +Spielhagen's romances are not made of common stuff. They are very +unusual natures, gifted with more than the average of intellectual +power, even for our intellectual age. A few have even Titanic +qualities,--towering ambition, insatiable cravings, and overwhelming +passions, which bring them to a miserable end. That the heroes in +romances--which have been styled the modern epics--should stand at +least a foot higher than ordinary men is but what we have a right to +expect. It can interest none but the most unrefined minds, to be +occupied chiefly in works of fiction with commonplace, vulgar natures +and their unpoetical surroundings, or with stilted heroes clothed in +tinsel, and talking in high-flown fashion amidst scenes of extravagant +conception. In Spielhagen's heroes psychological truth is never +violated. The principal personages in his romances live before us and +fix our interest. Their dispositions are not described, but impressed +upon our minds in action. The plots of his romances too, despite the +great number of scenes and characters introduced, are nevertheless +skilful, consistent, and artistic. He makes no extravagant use of +improbable coincidences, nor is the reader kept on the tenter-hooks of +suspense whilst the intricacies of a plot are unravelled. It was +Schiller, we believe, who called the romancist the half-brother of the +poet. To Spielhagen's glowing descriptions of nature, which are never +tediously minute, and are invariably brought into harmony with, or made +to enhance by contrast, the moods and actions of his personages, a true +poetical charm is given. In this respect they may be said to occupy a +happy position between the vague and shadowy pictures formerly met with +in German romances, and the photographic realism or word-painting, so +wearisome to readers of taste in many of our modern English novels. +With a skilful hand, too, he paints the tender emotions and longings of +the heart, particularly in his female characters. Though the interest +in his stories is generally well sustained, yet in many of them the +_denouments_ are sad, a foreboding of which, as the consequences of +vices, errors, or weaknesses in the actors, too soon perhaps arises in +the reader's mind.... But the comic elements, satire, wit, and humor, +are not wanting to afford amusement to the reader. Apart from the +national coloring pertaining to his characters, their peculiar +qualities are shown to have little to do with external circumstances. +We see the hereditary influences of temperament and other organic +conditions indicated; and in descriptions of bodily gestures, and +expressions of the countenance, much knowledge of human nature, in its +morbid as well as healthy state, is displayed. But enough of general +observation on this author. We have before us numerous criticisms of +his works in well-accredited German periodicals, which could be cited +in proof that we have not overestimated his powers nor his popularity. +Indeed, in Germany he is generally acknowledged to occupy the foremost +rank amongst modern writers of fiction; an opinion, moreover, confirmed +to some extent by the publication of his romances in a collected form. + +In agreement with German critics, we consider "Problematic Natures" to +be the most interesting and poetical of our author's productions.[4]... + +Goethe says in his "Dichtung und Wahrheit": "There are problematic +natures who are not equal to any situation in which they are placed, +and for whom no situation is good enough. A fearful conflict results +therefrom, which consumes life without enjoyment." These pregnant words +of the great German poet are placed as motto on the title-page of the +work before us, and Spielhagen has built upon them a tale full of +poetry and psychological interest. In the course of the romance the +author, through one of his personages, more specifically characterizes +problematic natures as "beings for the most part liberally endowed by +nature with good qualities; whose feelings and endeavors in general are +directed to what is good, yet who all, without exception, come to a sad +end, because they understand, either never or too late, that the most +enthusiastic efforts and the loftiest aims not only remain uncrowned by +success, but at length destroy the struggler himself if he overlooks +the conditions of our earthly existence. Such people are not satisfied +with anything--with themselves least of all. Possessed of endless +susceptibilities, they seize everything with avidity, cast it, however, +away as soon as its limited nature becomes clear to them. The world +does not satisfy them, and they do not satisfy the world. The world +lets those who despise it fall, despair, die of hunger, as may be; and +it is right it should be so, for naturally those only can be rewarded +who, sacrificing their egotistical desires, strive to serve the world +earnestly and diligently." + +... Detestation of the aristocracy is prominent in all Spielhagen's +romances. The aristocracy in general--though there are several most +favorable exceptions--is shown in them to be rotten and out of date. In +some of his romances, a very pandemonium of "Junker" arrogance, +frivolity, and debauchery--particularly of the military "Junker"--is +painted, perhaps in colors somewhat too dark. In the people, including +the _Buerger_ class, healthy virtues and high intelligence are shown to +dwell almost as prerogatives. Still, as regards the citizen classes, he +has guarded himself against the reproach of one-sidedness, for several +of his low-born characters are innately weak and vicious, and amongst +his political democrats he has sketched popularity-hunting demagogues, +actuated likewise by motives entirely base and selfish. Amongst the +distinguished and good personages our author introduces, young +physicians, and other students of science and nature occupy the +foremost places. They are some of them evidently painted after life; +and in his great appreciation of physical sciences, and the men who +devote to them their energies, he does but give expression to +sentiments now-a-days prevailing in Germany. And in his low estimate of +the nobility, he forms no exception to modern writers of fiction in +Germany. Indeed, Immermann, in his village tales, and even Goethe, in +"Wilhelm Meister" and the "Wanderjahre," display anti-aristocratic +sympathies. To these great writers of fiction the names of Gutzkow, +Auerbach, Freitag, Schloenbach, and many others may be added. + +One chief cause of the antipathy of the citizen classes in Germany to +the nobility we have already mentioned in speaking of "Problematical +Natures." Another cause may be found in the circumstance that the +nobility, since 1848, has in general used whatever political influence +it possesses in a reactionary, ultraconservative spirit. As a +consequence, however, of the strict line of demarcation, based on +pedigree, between nobles and the citizen classes in Germany, the vulgar +conceit and mean struggles for social position, so well known in this +country, and so fertile a theme with our satirical novelists, are but +seldom experienced in that country. The characters in Spielhagen's +romances most resembling our snobs are worldly-minded, sycophantic +clergymen and the low-born _nouveaux riches_.... + +Although in some respects this popular German romance-writer displays +subjective biases; yet, on the whole, he is objective, and most +decidedly reflects opinions now prevalent in his country. In fact, one +of his critics avers, that "a psychological historian of the future may +turn to his works for valuable data on many aspects of social life in +the present times." As a delineator of individual characters--many of +them types of different classes of society; as a painter of various +situations, scenic and social, he appears to us unequalled by any other +modern German writer of fiction. + + + + + + Problematic Characters. + + + Part First. + + + + + CHAPTER I. + + +It was a warm evening in July in the year 184-, when an ordinary wagon, +drawn by two heavily-built bay horses, made its way slowly through the +heavy roads of a pine forest. + +"Is this forest never to have an end?" exclaimed the young man who was +sitting alone on the back seat of the carriage, and raised himself +impatiently. + +The taciturn driver answered only by cracking his whip. The slow bays +made a desperate effort to trot, but soon abandoned the purpose, which +was as little suitable to their tempers as to the deep sand. The young +man leaned back again with a sigh, and commenced once more to listen to +the monotonous music of the vehicle, as it tried to keep in the deep +rots, and let the dark trunks of the pine-trees glide by, one by one, +noticing how here and there a ray of moonlight fell upon them; for the +moon was just rising above the wood. He began again to fancy what would +be his reception at the chateau, and his new situation, upon which he +was about to enter; but these dim visions of an unknown future became +vaguer and vaguer, his weary eyes closed, and the first sound of which +he was again conscious was the dull tramp of the horses on a wooden +bridge which led to a lofty stone portal. "At last!" exclaimed the +young man, rising and looking around him full of curiosity, as the +wagon drove rapidly through a dark avenue of gigantic trees, followed a +rounded-off curve on a large open courtyard covered with gravel, and +then stopped before the doors of the chateau, on whose windows the rays +of the moon glittered brightly. + +The silent driver cracked his whip to make his arrival known. The only +answer was the loud sound of a clock, quite near by, which slowly +struck eleven o'clock. When the last stroke had been heard, the door +opened and a servant stepped out, and behind him the figure of an old +gentleman became visible, whose wrinkled face was lighted up by the +glare of a candle, which he tried to protect with his hand against the +strong draught. + +The young man jumped briskly from the wagon to meet the old gentleman, +who offered him his hand, and said to him in a voice full of kindness, +but betraying his old age by its tremor, and marked by a foreign +accent: + +"Be heartily welcome, doctor!" The young man pressed his hand cordially +and replied: "I come rather late, baron, but----" + +"No matter, no matter at all," interrupted the old gentleman. "My good +wife is still up. John, carry the doctor's traps to his room! Please +come in here!" + +Oswald had arranged his dress quickly in the hall, which had a +beautiful tessellated floor, and now followed the baron into a lofty +large room. + +As he entered, two ladies arose from the sofa behind a table, where +they seemed to have been busy reading. + +"My wife," said the baron, presenting Oswald to the older of the two, a +tall, graceful lady of about forty years, who had advanced a few steps +to meet the new-comer and now replied to his bow with some formality. +Then he bowed to the younger lady, a delicate, small figure, with a +sharp, thoroughly French face, framed in long curls; not thinking that +he ought to neglect this act of politeness, merely because he had not +been introduced to her also. + +"You are late, Doctor Stein," said the baroness, with a deep sonorous +voice, which was not exactly in harmony with the cold light of her dark +gray eyes. + +"As early, madam," replied the young man, cheerfully, "as the contrary +wind, which delayed the ferry-boat in the morning for several hours, +and the baron's driver, whose patience I had ample time to admire on +the way, would permit me." + +"Patience is a noble virtue," said the baroness, when she had resumed +her seat on the sofa, while the others took chairs around the table; "a +virtue which you no doubt value very highly, as you need it so much in +your vocation. I am afraid the two boys will give you but too frequent +opportunities to practise this virtue to its fullest extent." + +"I promise myself everything that is good from my future pupils, and am +quite sure, in advance, that the trials which they will make of my +patience will be no fiery trials." + +"I hope so," said the baroness, resuming her work, which she had laid +aside when the young man entered. "But you will find the boys just now +rather neglected, as your arrival has been retarded for several days, +and your predecessor could not, or would not, do us the favor to delay +his departure for a few days." + +"I should not think fairly of the character of the boys," replied +Oswald, "and still less so of the ability of Mr. Bauer, whom I have +heard much praised, if I were really to fear that his influence had not +survived a week." + +"Well, Mr. Bauer had his virtues, but also his foibles," said the +baroness, counting the stitches in her work. + +"That is the fate of men," replied Oswald. + +"Perhaps the doctor would like some refreshment, dear Anna Maria," said +the old gentleman, suddenly. Oswald could not make out whether he was +prompted by an impulse of hospitality, or by a desire to change the +conversation, which was assuming a somewhat lively character. + +"No, I thank you," said Oswald, dryly. + +"You have not been long engaged in teaching," continued the baroness, +taking no notice of the interruption, "if I understood Professor Berger +correctly, who gave us your address." + +"No." + +"You will oblige me particularly if you will give me, at a favorable +moment, your views about education. I am convinced in advance that we +shall agree in all essential points. But, of course, we must be +prepared to differ in some minor matters. I shall always tell you +frankly what I may wish or think, and I beg you will be as frank with +me. As to the knowledge acquired by the boys, you will be the best +judge of that yourself. Nor do I wish to anticipate your opinion of +their character; only one thing I should like to mention to you: you +will find our son Malte a somewhat spoiled child; while Bruno--you know +that Bruno von Loewen is a distant relative of my husband's, whom we +have adopted after the death of his father--is a boy who has had no +education at all, and is, therefore, perfectly wild." + +"My dear Anna Maria," said the old gentleman. + +"I know what you are going to say, my dear Grenwitz," interrupted the +baroness. "Bruno is, once for all, your favorite, and our views +concerning him will always be at variance. You may be perfectly right +when you say that I am unable to judge him fairly; but that is less my +own fault than his, as the boy's morose and reserved manner makes all +approach on our part--I mean on my part--almost impossible." + +"But, my dear Anna Maria----" + +"Well, never mind, dear Grenwitz; we will not weary Dr. Stein on the +very first evening he spends under our roof by the spectacle of discord +between husband and wife. Besides, Doctor Stein must be tired. +Mademoiselle, please ring the bell." The last words, spoken in French, +were addressed to the young lady who had been sitting immovable at the +table, without ever looking at the new-comer, and holding the book, +from which she seemed to have been reading aloud, still in her hand. +Now she rose and went to the door, near which the bell-rope was +hanging. Oswald anticipated her, saying: "Permit me, mademoiselle." The +girl looked at him out of her large brown eyes with a half-wondering, +half-frightened glance, which betrayed clearly enough how little she +was accustomed to be treated with such courtesy. Then, casting down her +eyes quickly, she went back to her seat at the table. A servant +entered, and received orders to show Oswald to his room. + +"I hope you will find everything as you wish it," said the baroness, as +Oswald took his leave with a silent bow; "if anything has been +forgotten, or does not suit your taste, I beg you will let us know at +once; I am exceedingly anxious for our own sake that you should be +comfortable in our house." + +Oswald bowed once more and followed the servant to his room. + +They went across a hall, on the walls of which Oswald noticed, by the +flickering light of the candle, full-size portraits of gentlemen and +ladies in old-fashioned costumes; then up a stone staircase, through +long galleries and a suite of rooms into a larger apartment. + +"This is your room, doctor," said the man, lighting the two candles +which stood on a large round table in the centre of the room. "That +door opens into your bedroom." + +"And where do the boys sleep?" asked Oswald. + +"If you go through your bedroom, you get into the young gentlemen's +room. Have you any orders, sir?" + +"No, I thank you." + +"I wish you a good-night, sir." + +"Good-night." + +Oswald was alone. He had remained standing, one hand resting upon the +table, and listened mechanically as the footsteps of the servant became +gradually fainter and fainter down the long passage. Then he took one +of the candles, passed through his chamber to the door which the +servant had told him would admit him to the boys' room, opened it +cautiously and went in, carefully screening the light with his hand. + +The beds of the two boys stood close by each other. Before one bed lay +a carpet, before the other none. Above the bed without a carpet hung a +small silver watch; above the bed with a carpet, a still smaller gold +watch. In the bed below the gold watch lay a boy of perhaps fourteen +years, with light, straight hair, and a delicate, finely-cut face, +which, at that moment, looked rather silly, thanks to the half-open +mouth. In the bed with the silver watch lay a boy who might have been a +year older than the other, but who looked at least three years his +senior, and formed in every way the most singular contrast with him. +While the arms of the younger lay languidly on the coverlet, those of +the other were firmly crossed on his chest. The compressed lips and the +slightly frowning eyebrows, drawn together perhaps by a troublesome +dream, gave to the irregular but not unattractive face an expression of +dark defiance and pride, which would not have been amiss in the heir to +a throne. + +"Poor boy," said Oswald to himself, looking with deepest interest at +the enigmatical face of the child; "you have had already tears in the +spring of your life, if you ever really had a spring." + +He was deeply moved, scarcely knowing why. But he bent over the +sleeping child and kissed his forehead. The boy turned in his sleep, +his arms relaxed, and opening his large, deep blue eyes, he looked at +Oswald through the mist of his dream. All of a sudden a ray of sunlight +seemed to flash across his face; the dark expression vanished, and a +warm, inexpressibly sweet smile played over the animated features. + +"I love you," said the boy. + +"And I love you, too," replied Oswald. + +Then Bruno turned over, and Oswald saw from his deep, regular breathing +that he had fallen fast asleep once more. + +"Has he really seen you or were you only a dream to him?" the young man +asked himself, as he went back to his room after the little scene which +had moved him deeply. He put the candle on the table, went to the +window, opened it and looked out. + +The sky was covered with clouds and fogs, through which the full moon +shone like a ball of red fire, far down near the horizon. In the east +sheet lightning flashed to and fro. The air was hot and oppressive. In +the garden below the windows the flowering fruit-trees shone with a +white sheen, while the oaks and beeches, which rose like giants along +the wall around the garden, up to the heavens, lay buried in deep, dark +shadow. Nightingales sang in long, full notes; a fountain played +merrily, but in subdued tones, as if dreaming. + +Oswald felt strangely excited. His past arose before his mind's eye in +dim images, scene after scene, as the veil of clouds drove over the +face of the moon; visions of the future flashed across them, as the +lightning toward the east. Suddenly the trees rustled, and the loud +bell, which he had heard at his arrival, struck twelve in slow, +measured beats. + +He started. "Did you not mean to give up dreaming?" he asked himself, +smiling. "Well then, you had better go to bed if you cannot stay awake +without dreaming." + + + + + CHAPTER II. + + +Oswald had been a week at Castle Grenwitz, and the week had seemed to +him but a day. It was his nature to take up every new thing with a +passion, even though the new thing was ordinary enough in itself, and +here it was far from being so. He had a new situation, new +surroundings, new acquaintances. All this caused him, with his sanguine +temper, for a time a most delightful sensation; he found it easy to +discover charms, and at least something interesting, in all with whom +he came into contact; in the baroness, with her cold, severe features; +even in the reticent coachman, against whom he had been so strongly +prejudiced on the very first evening; even in the humble familiar +servant, with his everlasting: "What are your orders, sir?" The letters +which he wrote at this time to his friends all bore the impress of this +happy, conciliatory disposition. "Here I am," he said in one of them, +"here I am in this new station of my strange life, and upon my word I +think I shall stay here, in spite of the impatience for which you blame +me so often, until Father Chronos has changed the horses in his stage, +and blows his horn once more. If I were not afraid of calling down upon +me your bitter irony by my enthusiasm, I might go so far as to thank +the kind star that has led me here. I am just in the temper to do so. I +have breathed in these days so freely in this air of salt water and +forests, that my poor head, filled with the dust of miserable old +folios, is quite unsettled. Certainly, if the people here are not +altogether unfit for this paradise, I have the finest future for some +years to come. + +"Pardon me, my dear friend, that I did not ask your special permission +before I took the decisive step which brought me here. I have +heretofore followed your higher wisdom with implicit obedience, and so +you had a right to expect that I should have consulted you first. But I +had determined to take this step. I knew you would refuse your consent, +and therefore I preferred to meet your full-armed reasons with an +equally full-armed _fait accompli_, so as not to deprive your good +advice of its old privilege--to come too late. Besides, the whole thing +came so suddenly, and I had to decide so quickly, that I had but just +time to inform you of the fact. Finally, Professor Berger is the only +cause of the whole proceeding; he has to bear the blame of it, if blame +there must be, and him alone I make herewith solemnly responsible for +all the consequences. + +"We have corresponded but rarely and very briefly, you know, since we +parted about a year ago in the capital. Thus I have probably hardly +ever mentioned Professor Berger to you, and it is high time to make you +acquainted with this original, who has of late played so important a +part in my life, and to whom alone I owe it if I did not miserably fail +in that principal scene of the tragi-comedy, my examination. + +"When I left B-----for Grunwald, in the vague hope of being able to +find the necessary repose in this quiet seat of the Muses, with the +grass growing in the streets, which I could not obtain amid the +literary circles, the aesthetic teas, and musical suppers of the great +city, I found here, among the terrible judges who could make me happy +or condemn me forever, Professor Berger as the most terrible of all. My +poor fellow-sufferers, whose acquaintance I could not avoid making in +spite of all my objections, told me really fearful things of his +amazing erudition, and much that disquieted me about his eccentricities +and droll whimsicalities. They had numerous stories about his great +influence over the other members of the Board of Examiners, who were +completely overawed by his learning, and still more so by his caustic +wit, which spared no one, from the lowest to the highest. I had never +yet met the terrible man in person. He had one of his hypochondriac +attacks, during which, I was told, he kept himself locked up in his +room during the day, and wandered about all night in the woods of the +neighborhood. + +"One day I received an invitation to dinner from a family to whom I had +brought letters of introduction. The company was very numerous; I took +a young lady of the house in to dinner, a pretty, fair-haired girl, +whose merry ways attracted me exclusively during the first part of the +dinner. But when the usual topics which are apt to be discussed with +young ladies fresh from school were nearly exhausted, I found my +attention engaged by a gentleman who sat opposite me. He was a small, +elderly man, with a massive brow, as if cut in granite, from beneath +which two clever eyes shone forth brightly. The somewhat full cheeks +betrayed a fondness for good living, which was not belied by the +earnestness with which the man did honor to the gifts of Ceres and +Bacchus. But the lines around the firm, well-shaped mouth were +enigmatical: sensuality, wit, humor, and melancholy demons and +genii--all seemed to dwell there. + +"The conversation at our part of the table soon became general, and I +could venture to join in without presumption. They discussed art, +literature, and politics. Everywhere the strange man seemed to be +perfectly at home; everywhere he surprised us by clever views, +startling antitheses, and odd paradoxes. It seemed to give him special +pleasure to throw in a little spark of purgatory-fire, and then to see +how the tiny flames from below tickled the noses of the good people. +Thus he would suddenly assert that revolutions had never done any good +to mankind, and never would benefit us. You know my views on this +point, which have often been the subject of our discussions. I accepted +the challenge; I grew warm in speaking of my pet theme, and all the +warmer as my adversary tried hard to confuse me by all kinds of odd +questions. I forgot everything around me; I became pathetic, satiric--I +felt that I said some good things, at least that I had never in my life +spoken as well. At a later day I learnt to my humiliation that the good +man had highly enjoyed the sham fight,--for such it was to him,--but +then I only noticed that he gave up the combat and listened to what I +said, bending his large head a little upon his right shoulder, smiling +at my energy out of his large bright eyes beneath the bushy eyebrows, +and sipping one glass of hock after the other. Soon afterwards we left +the table. As I took my lady back to the room where tea was served, I +asked her: 'And who was the gentleman with whom I carried on a +conversation, which I fear was very dull to you?' + +"'What! you do not know Professor Berger?' the little lady asked, quite +amazed. + +"'That was Professor Berger?' + +"'Certainly; shall I introduce you?' + +"'For heaven's sake, no!' I cried, with genuine terror. 'Oh me! what a +misfortune!'" + +"'Why, what is the matter?' asked the pretty girl. 'What is the +matter?' + +"I had let her arm slip out of mine and made my escape to the remotest +room. There I threw myself upon a low sofa in a dark corner, and lay +brooding over the grievous blunder I had committed. While I thought I +was playing with a good-natured poodle-dog, I had been engaged with a +formidable bear! They had represented this man to me as just as +malicious as he was learned and witty. Would he not be sore to remember +my sarcasms and bitter sayings in that evil hour when I was lying +helpless on the examination-table, ready to be dissected? It was a +desperate case. + +"I heard a noise near me, and raised my head--before me stood Professor +Berger. I jumped up instantly. + +"'Allow me to sit down by you,' said the eccentric man, and sat down on +the low sofa, beckoning me to follow his example. 'I like you, and I +wish to become better acquainted with you. I am Professor Berger; whom +have I the honor to address?' + +"'My name is Stein.' + +"'You are a student, or, rather, you have been a student. What have you +studied?' + +"'I wish I could simply answer, Philology; but as that would not be +exactly true, I can only say I would I had studied Philology.' + +"'How so?' + +"'Because then I would be less afraid of the honor of becoming better +known to you.' + +"A smile played around the lips of the professor, passed up the cheek, +and was lost in the corner of the right eye. + +"'You are a candidate for honors?' + +"'Yes; but with little hope.' + +"The smile came down again from the eye to the lips. + +"'And therefore you are frightened at seeing me, as Hamlet was before +his father's ghost?' + +"'At least I do not see you very clearly.' + +"'Well, then, you see yourself that we must become better acquainted +with each other. Will you come to-morrow evening, or some other +evening, when you have time and inclination, and drink a glass of punch +with me?' + +"Of course I did not refuse. + +"And this was the beginning of my acquaintance with this strange man, +whom I now may call my friend. We have ever since that day met daily, +as long as I remained in Grunwald, and I value the deep insight into +one of the most remarkable characters which was thus afforded me by the +intimate intercourse with him, far more highly than the practical +advantages which I derived from my friendship with so great a scholar. +I am almost afraid there must exist some affinity between him and +myself, or we would not so quickly have discovered what was sympathetic +in each of us; nor would we have learnt so soon to speak with such +unreserved candor, and to understand each other by a mere word or a +hint. I say I am afraid, because Berger is a most unhappy man. The +bright lights of his brilliant wit play upon a dark background full of +storms. He is standing alone in the world, misjudged by everybody, +feared by many, loved by none. Why that is so, I dare not tell even +you, for friendship is a temple to which no third person can be +admitted. But I shudder whenever I think of the dark night that must +break down upon him as soon as old age dims the light of the bright +torch which now alone illumines the terrible waste of his miserable +heart. Perhaps, however--who knows?--that may prove fortunate for him. +Perhaps the words which he now often quotes, half in bitter irony and +half in melancholy conviction: 'Blessed are the poor in spirit!' may +yet become a truth for him. + +"My intimacy with the learned man had surrounded me, in the eyes of the +world, with a halo, which made me hope that under such protection I +might, like the heroes of Homer, safely pass through the dangers of the +impending battle--the examination. On the morning of the decisive day, +Berger said to me: 'Do you know, dear Stein, I have a great mind to +reject you?' + +"'Why?' + +"'Because I fear to lose you--to lose you twice. Great God! what +changes may not happen to a man whom we seat in the easy-chair of an +office, and whom we crown with the night-cap of a dignity! You may +actually see the day when you will consider Horace a great poet and +Cicero a distinguished philosopher--why, you may in due time, and from +sheer disgust of life, become a learned professor like myself.' + +"The examination had been held, and I had received, as Berger called +it, license to thresh empty straw. One day he came to me, an open +letter in his hand, and asked: + +"'Would you like to become a tutor in a nobleman's family?' + +"'I hardly think I would.' + +"'Perhaps so; but the offer is so tempting that it is at least worth +your while to consider the matter. You would have to bind yourself for +four years.' + +"'And you call that a tempting offer? Four years? Not four weeks!' + +"'Just listen. Of these four years, two only will be spent at the +house; the other two you are to travel with your pupil. You want to see +the world, and you ought to see it, even if it were only in order to +learn that men have a right to like dogs everywhere. You have no means +of your own, and you are too civilized to be a good vagabond. Well now, +here you have the finest opportunity, such as may not present itself a +second time in all your life.' + +"'And who is the Alexander whose Aristotle I am to be?' + +"'A young lord, like the hero of Macedonia. I have seen the noble race +last year in Ostend. The father, a Baron Grenwitz, is a nullity; the +baroness, an unknown quantity, which I could not ascertain. At all +events, she is a clever woman. I know that that is no small attraction +for you. She speaks three or four modern languages, to say nothing of +her mother tongue. I even suspect her of having secretly read Latin and +Greek with her present tutor, a certain Bauer, who has studied here, +and was a thoroughly well-educated youth.' + +"'And you, who have told me yourself that you have written a book about +the nobles and against the nobles, which, unfortunately, cannot +be printed anywhere in Germany, although specially intended for +Germany--you advise me, who hold the same pariah notions about this +Brahmin caste, to go over to the army of our hereditary enemies?' + +"'That is exactly the fun,' laughed Berger. 'I want you to go there +like a Mohican into the camp of the Iroquois, and I am delighted at the +spoil you will bring back with you. We will hang them up in our +wigwams, and enjoy them heartily.' + +"'And if I lose my scalp among them--what then?' + +"'Then I am the last of the Mohicans, and smoke my calumet in +loneliness on the grave of my Uncas.' + +"He rested his head on his hand, and stared grimly at the distance. +'Yes, yes, I know,' he growled, 'the Big Serpent, when it is tired +hissing at men, will creep into a deep morass and perish there alone.' + +"I took his hand in mine: 'That shall not be so; at least not as long +as I live.' + +"He looked at me sadly. + +"'But you will die before me,' he said; 'the big Serpent is tough and +you are soft--much too soft for this hard world. But let us leave that +alone. What do you think of my offer?' + +"'That I like it only so-so.' + +"'Then I must play my last trump,' cried Berger, jumping up. 'Hear, +then, you incredulous man, that the house to which I wish to send you +owns an angel in the shape of a most lovely girl. She is the sister of +your Alexander, and, God be thanked, as yet at a boarding-school in +Hamburg. I hate her, for she has caused me infinite trouble. All the +mad dreams of my youth revived when I saw her, and worried me like fair +ghosts. At last I ran away as soon as I saw her coming on the smooth +sand of the beach, with her light straw-hat. Yes, I must tell you; I +wrote those sonnets which I read to you the other day, and which I told +you I had composed thirty years ago at Heligoland, only last year at +Ostend. You were good enough to call them glowing with love, and heaven +knows what else--well, I was bewitched by the fair demon, and I wrote +them with blood, the blood of my heart. But you will not tell that to +anybody?' + +"'Why not? Not a soul would believe me.' + +"'There you are right And now?' + +"'Now I am less inclined than ever. I do not wish to repeat the foolish +story of the love affair between a tutor and the daughter of a noble +house, which I have read over and over again in so many a novel. And if +the girl is really so beautiful and lovely, that----' + +"'That even the dry branches put out fresh leaves--what might then +happen to the green wood?' interrupted me Berger, laughing aloud. +'Well, then, fall in love! why not? My dear fellow, the book of life, +for people like ourselves, has the same title as one of Balzac's +novels: _Illusions Perdues_. Every day only adds a new chapter, and the +shorter the book, the better and the more interesting it is. But since +it must needs be written, and cannot be written by any other means, it +is, after all, immaterial whether we go east or west; we pass through +the same experiences here and there. Therefore I say once more: Go to +Grenwitz!' + +"What could I do? It seemed to me my duty to fulfil the wish of my +friend, to whom I owed so much. And then, was not Berger right in +saying that it was immaterial whether I went east or west? In fine, I +packed my trunks, bade my Mentor farewell, and went across to this +island." + + + + + CHAPTER III. + + +Oswald had always lived in the city. His manners, his views, his +attachments were all those of a city man. Thus it happened that when he +saw himself suddenly, and as if by magic, transferred to the country, +he was charmed and almost intoxicated with the unspeakable beauty of +the first bright summer days at a beautiful country place. He enjoyed +it more than most men. Everything was so new and yet so strangely +familiar to him, as when we find ourselves in a country which we fancy +we have seen before in a dream. Was the dark blue vault, which rose +higher and higher every day, the same sky which hung so sadly and +mournfully over the ocean of houses in the great city? Were these +sparkling lights the same lonely stars to which he had now and then +glanced up as he came from the opera or from a party? Could a summer +morning really be so rich in splendor, a summer evening really so soft +and almost lascivious? Had he never heard birds sing, that he must now +listen forever to their simple piping? Had he never seen flowers, that +he must stand and gaze at their bright colors and strange forms without +ever being tired? He felt like a person who comes back to life again +after a severe illness. The recent past lay behind him, covered with a +thick veil; but days long since gone by, memories drowned in an ocean +of oblivion, rose once more before his mind's eye like a dazzling, +deceiving Fata Morgana. "Why, there is larkspur!" he cried out one of +those days, full of happy surprise, as he saw the flower blooming +brightly on many a bed of the garden in which he was walking up and +down. + +"To be sure," replied Bruno, who accompanied him; "have you never seen +it before?" + +"Yes, long since," murmured the young man, bending down and looking +with deep emotion at the fanciful flower. He saw in his memory a little +cozy garden near the town wall, where he played about, gathering small +stones, flowers, and other rarities, and carried them to a beautiful +but pale young woman, who always stroked his head when he came to throw +his burden into her lap, and with a mother's patience never tired to +answer his thousand questions. Then he had brought her such a flower, +too, and the beautiful lady had said: "That is larkspur!" And then she +had gazed so long at the flower that the tears had gathered in her +eyes, and she had taken him passionately and pressed him to her bosom, +and there he must have fallen asleep, tired from playing so long, for +he remembered nothing more. The beautiful young lady he knew was his +mother; she had died before he was five years old. Who has not +experienced it himself, that amid the stir and turmoil of life, where +one image continually crowds out another, and we are forever +tyrannically held fast by the moment, everything gradually fades away, +even what we held dearest upon earth, even the parents to whom we owe +our life! Thus Oswald also had almost forgotten that he had ever had a +mother; now the simple little flower awakened in him forcibly the +memory of the long lost mother. The first weeks which he spent in the +solitude of country life recalled to him the first years of his life, +for he had never since communed so closely, so intimately, with nature, +or beheld her charming face so near by. He remembered now also his +father, who had died two years ago in the same isolation in which he +had lived, and felt for him now that grateful affection, which, +unfortunately, never blooms out fully till those are long gone whom its +fragrance would have rejoiced most. He remembered his father, a strange +pygmy in form, whom the son at eighteen years already overtopped by +more than two feet; an eccentric misanthrope, who was known all over +town as the "Old Candidate," and whose wornout black dress coat, in +which he appeared winter and summer alike, was familiar to every child +in the street. He remembered how the strange, enigmatical man jealously +locked up the rich wealth of his learning and his goodness from all the +world except from his only son, whom he loved with ineffable affection, +whom he nursed and tended with all a mother's tenderness, and for whom +even he, the miser, thought nothing too dear. + +These pleasant, and yet also painful recollections passed through +Oswald's mind as he roved about in his leisure hours, wandering alone, +or with his pupils, through the garden, the fields, and the forest, and +daily growing fonder of life in the country. Often he would run down +into the great garden early in the morning before the lessons +commenced, and look into the dew-filled flowers and listen to the song +of the birds, and then it appeared to him marvellous how anybody, how +he himself, had ever been able to live in a city. + +It is true that Castle Grenwitz and its surroundings were such as to +excite the admiration of eyes more familiar even than his with +landscape beauties, although the crowds of tourists who every summer +visited the island rarely penetrated so far. If some accidentally +discovered it, they wondered why so charming a place, with so many +points of interest about it, could have been forgotten in the +hand-books for travellers, merely because it lay a few miles from the +great high-road. + +The chateau bears, to this day, traces of the wealth and the power of +the old knightly race of the Barons of Grenwitz, who have been +landowners here from time immemorial, and who built the castle for +their own defence, and in defiance of the neighboring barons, towards +the middle of the fourteenth century. The lower story of one of the +wings, with its colossal blocks of stone, dates from that early period; +so does also the big round tower, at the point where the old and the +new castle now meet. The new part was built in the seventeenth century, +in the prevailing style of that day, and looks, with its ornamented +pillars and queer decorations by the side of the plain, massive tower, +like a man of fashion of the time of Louis XIV. by the side of a knight +in armor of the days of Crecy and Poitiers. + +All around the chateau and the numerous outbuildings runs an immense +wall, at least twenty feet high, which dates back into even greater +antiquity than the tower; it leaves ample space open, so that even the +enormous building looks but small in the wide circle. This wall has, +however, long since been changed into a peaceful promenade, +overshadowed on high by lofty beeches, walnut-trees, and lindens. The +broad moat which follows it all around is now partly obliterated, +forming a low swamp filled with reeds; and wherever the water has held +its own, it is covered with a green carpet of water-plants, in which +half-wild ducks love to feed and fatten. The wall and the moat had +evidently been intended to afford safe protection not only to the +inhabitants of the castle, but also to the faithful vassals of the +warlike barons, with their wives and children, their herds and their +provisions. Even the farm buildings, which, since the erection of the +new chateau, had been removed to a distant part of the farm, had +originally been enclosed within the wall. In those days there had been +a single passage in the wall, a huge fortified gate under a tower, +which opened upon a drawbridge, and then led to a strong _tete de +pont_. Now the tower had been demolished; the drawbridge refused to +move, and the fortification had long since been changed into a number +of ovens and other useful contrivances. From this principal gate an +avenue of magnificent lime-trees, some of which were several hundred +years old, led to the great portal of the chateau. To the right of the +avenue and in front of the castle was a vast lawn, with a stone basin +in the centre; a naiad stood over it as patroness, but she had long +since lost her head, perhaps from grief that for half a century the +water had refused to come at her bidding. + +The remaining space inside of the wall was filled with gardens and +plantations, which dated from the time of the new building, and clearly +enough betrayed the character of that period by the straight walks, +carefully trimmed evergreen hedges, huge pyramids of box, and an +abundance of gods carved in sandstone. Here and there, however, a +spirit of innovation seemed to have been at work. Box-trees had made +desperate efforts to stretch out their crippled branches, and to grow +for a while as nature prompted them; the two sides of a long, stiff +walk had made common cause, and formed, united, an impenetrable +bosquet; and a gardener, who had no taste for the silent language of +yew pyramids and box avenues, had defied all aesthetic rules, and boldly +planted fruit-trees of every kind wherever he had found an open space; +even vegetables were met with, encroaching impudently upon trim beds of +flowers. A sister of the naiad in the courtyard was completely hid +under brambles and briers; but, more easily resigned than the other +goddess, she had preserved her head, and prattled in silent nights +merrily of the good old times. + +Thus every generation had for a thousand years contributed something to +the strengthening or beautifying of the old castle, from the giant wall +which belonged to pagan times, to the asparagus beds that had been laid +out this spring. Much had disappeared without leaving a trace; much +also had been preserved; but as even the oldest parts bore the marks of +life, of continued usefulness, there was no sudden break visible, and +the whole produced a most pleasing impression, as if everything was +just as it ought to be. Castle Grenwitz had lost, it is true, its +primitive character, and Oswald hardly thought he was looking upon an +old feudal castle, built by robber-knights, but fancied rather he saw a +peaceful convent of contemplative monks, when he returned in the +evening from a walk with his pupils, and remained standing at a +certain place of the wall, from whence he could look down upon the +grass-covered yard in its dark shade, the garden with its countless +flowers, and the castle itself, whose gray walls shone dimly in the +twilight, while the swallows were flying swiftly to and fro, twittering +merrily in their evening sport. + + + + + CHAPTER IV. + + +A quiet, convent-like life it was which they led at Castle Grenwitz. +The region enclosed by the old wall lay virtually behind an ivy-covered +churchyard wall, and no noise, no disturbance was ever heard there. No +dogs barked there, no horses neighed; the hours glided quietly away, +like the shadow on the sun-dial above the portal--quietly as the +flowers in the garden bloomed and gave out their perfumes. The very +wind seemed but to rustle gently in the branches; the birds sang low +melodies in the tree-tops; and as for the inhabitants of the castle, +why, the large hall-clock in its oaken stand could not do its daily +work more punctually and systematically, or be freer from all desire of +innovation than they were. The servants did their work with the +regularity of automatons. Even the furniture seemed to be imbued with +this spirit of order, so that Oswald could not get rid of the idea that +the chairs and sofas moved by themselves back to their proper places, +if by a rare chance they had been dislodged for a time. Little as +Oswald had ever been accustomed to such a methodical life, and much +as he disliked it by nature, he still had enough elasticity in him +to adapt himself readily to the profound peace which reigned all +around--an effort in which he was largely aided by his gentle +disposition, full of good-will towards man. He did what he saw others +do, and returned the formal bows with which people greeted each other +on all occasions, with the same air of solemnity which he would have +assumed when dancing a minuet at a masked ball. + +At first he had not been over-punctual in the matter of the lessons, +and taken more delight in enjoying himself with his pupils in the open +air. They had explored the beech forest, which extended for half an +hour from Castle Grenwitz down to the sea-shore; they had discovered an +ancient tumulus and a cave, and often they had climbed down from the +lofty chalk cliffs to the beach below, where, standing upon a huge +block, they had enjoyed seeing the tide rush up, and shouted aloud to +see if the breakers overpowered their voices. + +During these excursions, which Oswald jestingly called preliminary +studies for Homer, he had had constant opportunity to study the +character of his two pupils. A greater contrast could hardly exist. +Bruno was tall for his years, but slender and agile, swift like a deer. +Malte, the young heir, looked stunted and sickly by the side of his +proud companion. He was narrow-chested and hollow-breasted; his +angular, awkward movements contrasted strangely with the marvellously +graceful carriage of Bruno, and the effect was still greater when the +latter was running or leaping. Malte shrank back from every danger, +from every exertion, conscious of his feeble strength, and from native +or acquired cowardice; for Bruno no tree was too high, no rock too +steep, no ditch too broad; it seemed almost as if he were trying to +subdue the passionate heat of his soul by bodily exhaustion. Oswald +bound a wreath of oak-leaves together and placed it on the boy's +bluish-black curls, to make him still more like one of the Bacchantes. +But as in his native land, Sweden, the icy night of winter suddenly +gives birth to fragrant, smiling spring, so in his mind also sunshine +and tempest changed in a moment. Now it was exuberant joy and now sad +melancholy which prevailed; now he abandoned himself like a child to +others, and now he became rigid in sudden defiance; and all this +suddenly and without transition, as lights and shadows change on the +mountain slope on a day when the wind is driving the clouds like arrows +across the face of the sun. Thus Oswald found the boy, a stranger in +the house of his relations, hated by some, feared by others, an +inexplicable riddle for all, even for the good old baron, who always +took the part of the boy, though generally more from inborn magnanimity +than from conviction. But for Oswald a single glance at the dreamy dark +eye of the boy had sufficed to recognize in him a kindred spirit, and +the mystic alliance which they had formed at that moment had been +strengthened by every hour of their intercourse since. Bruno had met +him on the first day of their meeting with the dark, defiant look which +he was wont to show to everybody. He had then watched him with his shy +but penetrating glances for two or three days more, and then Oswald's +kindly, cheerful manner had dissipated all suspicion, as the sun +scatters unwholesome fogs. His eye had become more open, more +brilliant, as if the unexpected happiness of meeting a man who loved +him, and cared to be loved by him, was dazzling and confusing him; and +at last all the passionate tenderness of his soul had broken forth, the +long pent-up current of affection had overflowed its banks--powerfully, +irresistibly, like a mountain torrent which breaks through a rocky gate +and pours its waters exultingly into the broad valley. + +"Do you know," said the boy to Oswald, "that I was determined +beforehand to hate you?" + +"Why, Bruno, is hatred so sweet?" + +"Oh, no. But I thought all tutors were like our first, and so I said to +myself that what was good for one was good for all." + +"And how was Mr. Bauer?" + +"Well, he was a boor," said the boy, bitterly. + +"Why, my proud little lord, will you despise all low-born men?" + +"Certainly not," exclaimed the boy, warmly; "my own father was but a +peasant, although he was a nobleman; I have often seen him behind the +plough; but this man was coarse and rude, and a coward into the +bargain. Once after dinner, I do not know what I had done, he slapped +me in the face because aunty was present, and he thought she would be +pleased to see him do so. Yes, he beat me," and the boy's eye flashed +as he recalled the insult, and the big vein on his forehead, where +wrath lies hidden, swelled up high. + +"And then, Bruno?" + +"Then I took the knife that was lying before me on the table and jumped +at him, and the wretch ran away, crying for help. And when I saw that, +and all the pale faces around me, I could not help laughing, and went +quietly out of the room. And I would have liked to run away into the +wide, wide world on the spot, but uncle came after me and promised me +that that man should never touch me again. Uncle is very kind; you +don't know how kind he is. But he is afraid of aunty; everybody is +afraid of her--and yet I am fond of her, for she has pluck like a man, +and I hate only cowards. Malte is a coward." + +"Malte is weak and sickly, and you ought to be patient with him; but if +you are really fond of your aunt, why are you so cross to her?" + +"Am I cross?" The boy became silent. A cloud passed over his brow, his +nostrils quivered, and his dark-blue eyes looked like a thunder-cloud +when he said, glancing quickly upward: + +"I know I am cross; but how can I help that? I am only on sufferance +here in the house; shall I be grateful for that? I cannot be so; I will +not be so, and if they were to turn me out. Look here, Oswald, I have +often wished they would drive me away; I have done things on purpose to +make them send me off; then I would go into the wide world and earn my +own bread, as thousands of boys do who are not half as strong and as +brave as I am. Even to-day, as we were walking along the strand, and +the great three-decker rose on the horizon and disappeared again, I +wished, oh! so eagerly, I could have sailed away in her as a boy, as a +sailor--only away, away from here, no matter where to." + +When the boy thus laid open the most secret wishes of his heart to his +friend and teacher, the latter often wondered whether he, with his own +doubts as to the way which he ought to follow in life, was exactly the +right person to guide a wild, passionate boy. But the less he felt +himself able to keep down the vague wishes and chimerical hopes which +he shared with him in secret, the more the distance disappeared between +him and his pupil, the more brotherly became their relations. No human +being had ever yet made so deep an impression upon Oswald as this +strange boy. He loved him as the artist loves the work with which he is +occupied, as the father loves his son in whom he hopes to realize what +he has himself failed to accomplish, as a mother loves her child for +whom she has to work, to watch, and to care. Every night, when he was +weary from long reading and studying, he went, before seeking his own +bed, into the boys' room. He would not have been able to sleep if he +had not first seen his favorite once more. That reserve which makes it +impossible for nobler natures to show the whole fulness of their +tenderness, made him during the day withhold his caresses; but then, at +night, he took the boy's hands in his own and stroked them, and kissed +the sleeper on his brow. + +"They call you unfeeling, my pet, you whose heart is hungering and +thirsting after love! And if all misjudge you and hate you, I +understand you and love you." + + + + + CHAPTER V. + + +The farm-buildings and tenant-houses which belonged to the estate lay +beyond the wall, and in order to make the communication between the +castle and the farm-yard easier, a door had been broken through the +wall. A wooden grating which could not be moved, and a bridge which +could not be raised, bespoke the peaceful disposition of the +descendants of those warlike barons who had built the massive gates on +the other side, with its ponderous drawbridge suspended by iron chains. +The intercourse between the castle and the farm was, however, generally +limited to the exchange of energetic notes between the steward and the +housekeeper, as the two officials were often at variance with each +other as to the quantity and quality of provisions which the former had +to send to the latter. The farm itself was, like all the other estates +of the family, rented out; the tenant, a Mr. Bader, lived on one of the +other farms, which he had also rented, and rarely came to Grenwitz, +which he left to the management of his steward. + +Oswald, to whom farming was as new as the life in the country itself, +frequently went to the farm-yard, in order to be shown by the steward +over the barns and stables, and to be introduced by him into the +mysteries of agriculture and cattle-raising. The steward, whose name +was Wrampe, was a giant who always went about in huge top-boots, and +who seemed to cherish the superstitious belief that he would lose his +strength if he were to trim his immense black beard, or ever deprive +the rain of its exclusive privilege to wash his face. The broad jargon +of that region was his native and his only tongue; he hated the pure +German of the educated classes, and in his heart suspected all who +spoke it of being dishonest; his voice sounded, when heard from afar, +like the roaring of a slightly hoarse lion. His enemies accused him of +the bad habit of getting drunk every now and then; but as he did so +only once a month, and then always for several days at once, in order +to show all the more energy during the rest of the time, his friends +winked at it, and even his employer preferred to ignore his little +foible. Oswald liked to talk with the man, who was a fair +representative of the people of that region in his blunt good-nature, +his straightforward though often rude speech, and his fondness for +proverbs. + +Thus he had one afternoon taken a walk towards the farm-yard with the +two boys. They found it deserted. The men and the horses were all in +the fields. In the stables nothing was left but the baron's four bays, +who played a melancholy quartette on the iron chains of their halters. +The silent coachman was sitting at the door, gazing at the blue sky, as +he had nothing on earth to do when the horses had been fed. A big black +cat was wandering slowly around his feet; it was his _spiritus +familiaris_, which accompanied him everywhere, and even on the box sat +between his feet under the apron. In the cow-stables they found but a +single cow, who was trying to shape her new-born calf, by industrious +licking, into that form which may appear most desirable to a +respectable cow-mother of certain pretensions. On the dungheap the +chickens were scratching industriously, utterly unmindful of a battle +royal between two young roosters, who had fallen out with each other +about a little beetle, that lay on its back quietly awaiting its fate. +An old cock, who might possibly have been the father of the two hostile +brethren, was perched on the pole of a wagon, and crowed again and +again, either from joy at the chivalrous nature of his offspring, or in +order to report a cloud which was coming up above the roof of the barn. +At one end of the roof sat a stork on her nest. The husband was just +coming home, bringing the trophy of his hunt, a small snake, in his +bill. The wife rattled her bill to give voice to her delight, and the +stork, proud of having done his duty, was not slow to answer. From the +little pond near the big stable a lot of ducks had begun their single +file march across the yard, under the command of a majestic drake; they +had evidently received an authentic report that behind the barn a sack +of corn had burst, and the grains were lying about. + +Oswald had been looking with much pleasure at this still-life picture +of a farm-yard during a warm summer afternoon, while Bruno had tried to +engage the reticent coachman into a conversation on the only two topics +on which he could hope for success--his horses and his cat. Malte was +tired, as there were few things anywhere in which he could take much +interest, and ducks and chickens surely were not among them, at least +as long as they were wandering about in the light of the sun. He asked, +therefore, that they should go on; and so they passed through the yard, +and a little cluster of miserable huts, into the open field. At some +distance before them, on the road lined with willow trees, a servant +seemed to have upset his wagon. The horses were standing across the +road, and he was pulling at them, and cursing fearfully, as people of +his class are apt to do under such circumstances. At last he seemed to +have lost the little patience which nature had given and which liquor +had left him. He seized the bridle of one of the horses and kicked it +unmercifully with his heavy feet, encased as they were in immense +boots. Oswald hardly noticed all this, till Bruno flew at the man like +an arrow, crying out: "What a barbarian! what a brute!" + +In an instant he was by his side, and ordered the man to stop his +ill-treatment; his voice trembled, but more from indignation than from +the effort of running. + +"I know what I am doing!" replied the servant, and kicked the horse, +which had become entangled in the traces, harder than ever. + +"Let the horse go this instant, or----" + +"Oh!" replied the servant, "or what?" + +"Or I stab you with this knife." + +The man started back and gazed at Bruno with amazement. It was not the +fear of the knife which the boy held in his uplifted right hand--for +the servant was a large, powerful man, who might have felled the boy +with a single blow, and was, moreover, half drunk--but it was the fear +of the demon that showed himself in Bruno's flashing eye, the fear of +the terrible passion which made the boy's blood flow back from his +cheeks to his heart, and caused his nostrils to tremble and his lips to +quiver. + +"The beast is so savage," stammered the man, as if to excuse himself. + +But Bruno did not deign to answer. With quick hands, and as cleverly as +if he had managed horses all his life, he undid the traces in which the +animal had become entangled. Oswald tried to help him, but his efforts +were more distinguished by good-will than by great success. Then the +boy ran to the ditch, filled his straw-hat with water, and washed the +wounds on the ill-treated legs of the horse. + +At that moment a horseman leaped across the same ditch and alighted on +the road. It was the steward, Wrampe, who had witnessed the scene from +a distance and came galloping up at full speed. + +"Now I come," said the slater, as he fell from the roof; "what on earth +does that mean? Why do you drive through the ditch, if you have a +bridge within ten yards? and to ill-treat brown Lizzie! I will pay you +for your laziness, you--" and here followed a curse of two minutes' +length. + +To deliver this energetic speech, to jump down from his horse, to spit +in his hands in order the better to take hold of the heavy riding-whip, +and to begin belaboring the broad back of the servant according to +rule--all this was the work of a moment for the impetuous steward. + +"I will not be beaten, sir," remonstrated the man. + +"You won't be beaten, you rascal," replied the other, never stopping +for a moment; "I dare say not, but you'll get your beating +notwithstanding." + +Oswald, who suffered witnessing the scene, although he knew well how +fully the man had deserved his punishment, begged Mr. Wrampe to let him +go now. The latter gratified his wrath by a few last blows of great +energy, and then said, as if concluding a quiet argument: + +"Well, now come along, John, we'll get the wagon right again." + +Then he put his broad shoulders to the wagon and got it into the road +as if it had been a child's carriage; the horses, who had had time to +recover, pulled heartily, and the servant could go on his way. + +"Drive slowly home, you hear, and don't forget what I have told you," +the steward cried after him. + +"But you have told him nothing; you have only beaten him," said Oswald, +smiling. + +"And do you think these people understand any other kind of talking?" + +"Have you ever tried it?" + +Mr. Wrampe seemed to be slightly embarrassed by this question. He said, +in reply: "That has made me warm." + +Then he pulled a brandy-flask, which held at least a quart, from his +pocket, put his thumb against the place down to which he meant to empty +it, drank, held the bottle against the light, and then, as he seemed to +think that he had not done the whole of his duty, he took another good +pull. After that he mounted his horse, which had stood quietly by him +as if accustomed to such scenes, wished them a good evening, leaped +once more across the ditch, and rode off at full gallop. + +With Bruno everything turned into a passion. The glow of his +imagination changed the fictions of poetry into men of flesh and blood. +The death of Hector drew tears of sympathy and indignation from his +eyes, and the moral disgust which he felt, when he witnessed an act of +injustice or of cruelty, was so intense that it caused him a physical +indisposition. + +Thus, when Oswald the same night approached the bed of his favorite he +found him, contrary to his usual habit, still wide awake. His face was +paler than ordinarily, and large drops of perspiration stood on his +forehead. Oswald was concerned, and learnt, after some hesitation on +the boy's part, that the latter had concealed his sickness in order not +to trouble his friend, and was now suffering great pain. Oswald was +about to wake up everybody in the house and to send for a doctor, but +Bruno begged him not to do so, because such a thing was always looked +upon at the chateau as a very grave affair of state, and he disliked +excessively to give so much trouble to others; besides, he confessed +that the hubbub they made about the matter was apt to make his sickness +only worse. + +"Moreover," he said, "I am quite used to these attacks, and if you will +be good enough to make me some tea, and to give me a few drops of the +medicine which the doctor prescribed for me the other day,--the phial +is on my desk,--you will see that I shall be right again directly." + +Oswald hastened to bring him what he wanted. He gave the boy the +medicine, made him drink his tea, arranged the pillows, brought another +blanket, and did it all with that thoughtfulness and handiness, in +which men of delicate feelings, even when they are not accustomed to +sick-rooms, often far surpass professional nurses. + +"It is almost a pleasure to be sick when one has you for a nurse," said +Bruno, gratefully pressing his friend's hand. + +"Hush! hush!" replied the latter; "now do me the favor and get rid of +your pain." + +"I will do my best," said the boy, smiling. + +Oswald's good wishes were soon fulfilled. The cold drops on the +patient's brow became warm, and kindly nature lulled him to sleep, in +order to restore in silence and secret the disturbed equilibrium of his +system. At first, the delicate narrow hand which Oswald held in his own +would now and then twitch a little; then all became quiet, and the +improvised physician congratulated himself on the good success of his +treatment. But he probably had some fears of a relapse; for he quietly +slipped his hand from that of the boy, went for an easy-chair to his +own room, and then sat down at the head of the bed. He had screwed down +the lamp, so that the unusual light should not disturb the sleeper, and +thus he sat in the dark, watching the moonlight as it was slowly +sinking on the wall through an opening in the curtain, and listened to +the regular breathing of the boy until weariness overcame him also and +he fell asleep. + + + + + CHAPTER VI. + + +It was in the evening hours of one of the next following days when two +ladies were seated in the garden saloon of the chateau; one was the +Baroness Grenwitz, and the other a young lady who had ridden over from +her seat in the neighborhood to pay a visit. The glass door which led +from the room into the garden was wide open, and showed immediately +before them a large lawn enclosed by tall trees, in the centre of which +a Flora, carved in sandstone, had now for a century and a half poured +stone flowers from her cornucopia. Within the room, which lay towards +the north, it was almost dark already; but outside, the evening light +was still lying warm on the green turf and the magnificent beech-trees +and oaks; and the outlines of the two ladies, as they sat near a table +pushed into the door, were sharply defined against the bright +background. + +A greater contrast than that which they formed could hardly be +imagined. The Baroness Grenwitz was scarcely forty years old, but her +large, cold gray eyes, which she always fixed long and piercingly upon +those with whom she conversed, her lofty stature, far exceeding the +ordinary height of women, and especially her peculiar way of dressing, +made her sometimes look almost ten years older than she really was. +Whether from love of extreme simplicity, or, as others would have it, +from a love of economy which degenerated into avarice, she preferred +materials more famous, like the wedding-dress of the worthy wife of the +Vicar of Wakefield, for their durability than for other showy +qualities, and she chose a way of having her dresses made which could +not be called old-fashioned, because there never had been such a +fashion in existence. The first impression which she generally made was +that of imposing dignity; the careful observer noticed, moreover, in +her always perfect carriage, and especially in the unfailing quietness +of her deep, sonorous voice, and her carefully chosen language, which +was scrupulously free from any vulgar expression, a consciousness of +the impression she produced, and a desire not to break the charm by any +fault of hers. + +We cannot say with certainty whether the lady who was with the baroness +really was overawed by her stately appearance, or merely appeared to be +so; this much only was evident, that she endeavored at that moment to +assume an air which harmonized neither with the expression of her +features nor with the costume which she wore. She was dressed in a +riding-habit of dark green velvet, which she had tucked up sufficiently +not to be troublesome in walking, and not to hide her small feet in +their elegant little boots. The tight-fitting dress set off to great +advantage the well-rounded outlines of her youthful form; and the +little round hat, now lying with the gloves and the whip on a small +table near by, must have been exceedingly becoming to the well-shaped +head with the rich brown hair, which, simply parted in the middle, was +falling in rich waves over forehead and ears, and was then gathered up +behind in a wreath. She is seated opposite the baroness, who is a +pattern of industry, and sews zealously on a piece of linen, which may +possibly become a napkin, while the visitor is busy embroidering a +cipher in another napkin. This is strange kind of work to be done in a +riding-habit, and the lady does not seem to be particularly fond of it; +at least she quickly throws up her head, when the baroness rises in +order to look for something in another part of the room, and shows a +pretty face, with soft, child-like features, and large brown eyes, full +of moist tenderness. Just now, however, the face bears rather the +expression of a wilful school-girl, when her rigid teacher's back is +turned for a moment. + +"What were you saying, my dear Anna Maria?" asked the lady, bending +once more over her work as the baroness turned round. + +"I was asking, dear Melitta, whether you had enough red yarn?" + +Melitta looked as if she were going to say, "More than I want!" but she +contented herself with the reply: "I think I have enough." + +The baroness had taken her seat again and continued the conversation, +which had been interrupted for a moment. + +"Then there if little hope of complete recovery?" she said. + +"Little or none," replied Melitta, "especially now, since his violent +attacks have ceased. Doctor Birkenhain writes that only a miracle can +save Carlo from insanity, and I presume that means simply, he is +irrevocably lost." + +"It is a sad fate which the Almighty has decreed for you, my poor +Melitta," said the baroness. + +Melitta shrugged her shoulders, but said nothing. + +"It was in this very room," continued the baroness, taking it +apparently for granted that the subject could not be in any way painful +to Melitta, "that I saw Berkow the last time. I must confess that I +could not overcome a slight suspicion already, on the evening on which +he had that disagreeable quarrel with your cousin Barnewitz, when Baron +Oldenburg tried in vain to make an end to the trying scene." + +Melitta von Berkow did not seem to be specially delighted with this +evidence of the admirable memory of the baroness; she became restless, +and asked, apparently without knowing what she was saying: + +"Have you heard from Oldenburg?" + +"The baron came back a week ago." + +"Oh!" cried Melitta, in a tone which made the baroness look up from her +work. + +"What is the matter, Melitta?" + +"I am so awkward," said the latter, and pressed a tiny drop of blood +from a finger of her left hand. "So Oldenburg is back again? What +brings him back to us? Has he found Egypt as tiresome as our own +country here?" + +"The contracts with his tenants expire next November, like some of our +own. I presume that was the cause of his return. He seems to have +become a greater misanthrope than ever. Griebenow, one of our men, met +him in the forest; he has not been here yet." + +"Well, my dear Anna Maria, you will not mind, I am sure, that want of +attention on his part; you never were very good friends, I believe." + +"I am not aware that Oldenburg ever desired to be a friend of mine. He +never had any friends. A man who openly scoffs at all religion, who +forgets the honor of his caste and the interests of his equals so far +as to speak in the National Assembly and at every meeting in favor of +all innovators; a man who apparently only comes among us in order to +laugh at us--such a man has only to blame himself if we bestow our +interest and our sympathy upon others who deserve it better." + +"Well, I should not have thought that he was ever made to feel the want +of interest in himself. Nor will he be left without it now. I never +could understand why all the world took so much trouble about a man who +minds the world as little as he does." + +"That is easy of explanation, dear Melitta. The Oldenburgs are one of +our oldest families; we cannot look on with indifference when the last +scion of such a race becomes a plebeian." + +"Oldenburg will never be a plebeian," said the younger lady, with some +warmth. + +"Why, dear Melitta, you take the baron's part very warmly. Would you +also defend his immoral way of living, and his love affairs with which +he has enriched the _chronique scandaleuse_ of this and other +districts?" + +"I have never done anything immoral, as far as I know, nor approved of +it," said the visitor, with greater heat than before. "And as for Baron +Oldenburg's private life, I do not presume to judge it, because I know +nothing of it. However," she continued, after a short pause and in a +much quieter tone, "I should really be astonished if Oldenburg were +such a Don Juan as people make him out to be. You must admit, my dear +Anna Maria, that he has neither the beauty nor the address which are +commonly expected in such a character?" + +"Now that is a point on which _I_ do not presume to judge," said the +baroness, with an effort to be ironical. "I leave that to you young +people." + +"Young people!" exclaimed Melitta, laughing. She let her work fall into +her lap, and leaned back comfortably in her chair, looking at the +baroness, who worked on industriously, and showing much humor blended +with a goodly share of malice. "Young people? Do you know, dearest Anna +Maria, that I shall be thirty this very year? My Julius will be twelve +next month--only four years younger than your Helen. By the way, how is +the child? Is she to remain forever in the boarding-school in Hamburg? +How long has she been there now? Two--no, it is already three years! +and not once has she been back here all that time! You will not know +your own child any longer, dear baroness." + +"The boarding-school is so very superior, everybody praises it so +highly, that I should blame myself if I did not leave the child there +as long as I can. But you seem to have forgotten, dearest Melitta, that +we saw Helen last year at Ostend; and since you seem to have such a +longing for the young lady, I will tell you in secret that you will be +able to see her here at Grenwitz this summer." + +"This very summer? Why see there! Has that any connection with +Oldenburg's return? Pardon my indiscretion! But I recollect that some +years ago, when the baron came back from his first great journey, you +said a match with Oldenburg would perhaps not be objectionable to you." + +"Then I did not know the baron as I have unfortunately learnt to know +him since. Nor would that fall in with my husband's wishes, who, I +believe, has promised Helen half and half to somebody else." + +"To somebody else? Not to your worthy cousin Felix?" + +"As I said before, I know nothing positive about it; Grenwitz is very +reserved; but I almost guess so, from the fact that he has procured for +Felix a year's leave of absence, and he is going to spend that year +here. They say his health is very much impaired." + +"I hope not as much so as his fortune," said Melitta, dryly. + +"His fortune? What do you know of his circumstances?" + +"I only repeat what the world says. You must agree, my dear, that if +the _chronique scandaleuse_ has something to say about Oldenburg, it is +far more eloquent about Felix, and the lieutenant surely has furnished +topics enough." + +"Felix is very young." + +"Not younger than Oldenburg." + +"Five years." + +"One would not think so upon looking at him. But then he has lived +rather fast." + +"One could really imagine, my dear Melitta, that Felix was nearer to +you than he really is. Candidly, I should like to know what you think +of this match, if Grenwitz should not abandon the project." + +"Well, then--I should consider it a misfortune, a very great +misfortune, and in proportion as Helen is beautiful and innocent; what +in all the world can suggest to the baron such a match? For I shall +never believe that a mother could consent to such a union, which cannot +fail to make her daughter inexpressibly unhappy." + +Melitta had risen and cut the air with her riding-whip, as if she +wished to say: That is what he deserves, who offers to aid in such a +piece of rascality. Her tall, slender form looked a different being +from her who had been timidly bending over her work or negligently +reclining in her easy-chair. Even the features of her face seemed to +change, and to become sharper, older; the fire in her large eyes blazed +forth ominously. The mention of this match had evidently struck a chord +in her soul which vibrated painfully through her whole system. She +continued in the same excited tone: + +"Felix is notoriously a fast young man. How can such a man feel love? +And even if Helen's beauty, her youth, and her innocence should for a +time get the better of his exhaustion, that would not last long. A man +like him, thoroughly _blase_, never becomes again a real man, and can +Helen ever love such a person? And is life worth anything without love? +And can you prevent all the misery that must needs spring from such a +match? I know----" + +The young wife suddenly stopped and walked rapidly up and down the +room. Then, after a short pause, she said: + +"And what external advantages can such a match have? Felix has +satisfied his excessive vanity at the expense of his fortune as well as +of his health. His estates are mortgaged beyond their real value; and +he has, as far as I know, no expectations." + +"Except that in case Malte should die, which God prevent! he would +inherit the Grenwitz fortune," said the baroness. + +"Ah! indeed," replied Melitta, with a strange emphasis. This last +remark of the baroness had presented the whole matter in a new light to +the generous woman; it was a ray like the light from the dark lantern +of the thief, which falls upon the strong-box he is about to steal. But +she took good care not to let the baroness see what was going on in her +heart, and continued in an unconcerned tone, throwing herself once more +into the easy-chair: + +"I hope Malte will not be so kind to the creditors of Felix as to die +before his time. I see he is getting stronger visibly, and if you would +only give the boy a little more liberty----" + +"Liberty!" exclaimed the baroness. "Must I hear that word again? I give +him as much liberty as a sensible mother ought to give her child. My +opinion is that a man who, like Malte, will have a large fortune at his +command, cannot learn too soon to obey, to economize, and to deny +himself all that is superfluous and unnecessary. We have in our nephew +Felix an example of the sad effects of too great indulgence." + +"That is very true," said Melitta; "but----" + +"We had, if I am not mistaken, agreed to avoid all discussion on the +subject of education," said the baroness, with a smile of superiority. +"I know what I am doing, and I hope, with the help of God, to carry it +out successfully." + +"By the way, did I tell you that I mean to send my Julius, a few days +hence, to the college at Grunwald?" + +"What a venture again!" replied the baroness. "That is the kind of +public education, as they call it, which Baron Oldenburg enjoyed when +he was young, and you see what the results are. To be sure, private +tutors have their dark sides also." + +"You have a new one, I believe?" said Melitta, who had risen and was +leaning against the door-frame. "How is he?" + +The baroness shrugged her shoulders. + +"But what a question, to be sure," said Melitta, laughing. "He is +probably like all the rest: terribly learned, awkward, pedantic, a +bore. Bemperlein, Bauer--they are all after the same pattern. I should +know a tutor at a hundred yards. Ah! who is that young man, crossing +the lawn there with Bruno?" + +The question remained unanswered, for at that moment Mademoiselle +Marguerite entered the room, and the baroness rose to give her some +orders. Melitta turned round, but the baroness had left the room with +the words, "Pray excuse me!" Melitta was alone, and had to find the +answer to her question for herself. She drew a little back behind the +door and examined the form of the unknown young man. + + + + + CHAPTER VII. + + +Oswald and Bruno had stepped forth from the trees which surrounded the +lawn, just opposite to the chateau. His right arm was resting on the +boy's shoulder, who again had put his arm round Oswald's waist, and +looked smilingly up into the face of the young man. They were eagerly +talking to each other, and stopped when they had advanced a few steps +on the lawn. Oswald pointed in the direction from which they had come, +and Bruno ran back into the wood. The young man stood waiting for his +return, and whisked off, to pass his time, the heads of some grasses +which had shot up too high. He had no suspicion that, at a little +distance from him, a pair of beautiful sharp eyes were carefully +examining every feature in his face and watching every motion. + +"If that is the new tutor, he is one more proof of the old saying, that +there is no rule without exception. He certainly does not look as if he +belonged to the family of the Bemperleins. That elegant summer costume +you must have bought in the city. Very neat, indeed, for a tutor. You +seem to be rather vain, my dear sir, and to hold long interviews with +your tailor. But you are well made, I must confess, and the little +moustache is extremely becoming to you. I wish you would please raise +your head a little more, so that I could see your eyes. That is +right--ah! _sauve qui peut!_" + +Oswald had raised his head and looked at the windows; Melitta stepped +quickly back and hid behind the door. She cast a glance at the mirror +that was hanging close by, and smoothed her hair in an instant. Then +she approached the door once more stealthily. + +Bruno came rushing forth from the shrubbery and showed Oswald a small +volume. "Here it is," he cried, "but you shall not have it." Oswald +tried to catch the provoking boy; but the latter only allowed him to +approach quite close in order to escape again by a sudden turn, or by a +leap such as Uncas himself would have boasted of frankly. + +Melitta, attracted by the pretty scene, had stepped out of the room. As +soon as Bruno perceived her he ran up to her, and Oswald, who had +stopped in surprise at the unexpected sight, saw how the boy seized her +hands and pressed them eagerly to his lips. + +"There you are, little savage," said the lady, stroking the dark curls +of the boy; "where have you been all the afternoon?" + +"I have been out walking--with Oswald--I mean with Dr. Stein," said +Bruno, and then turning to Oswald, who had come up in the mean while +and bowed, "this is Frau von Berkow, of whom I spoke this morning; this +is Mr. Stein, dear aunt, whom I love dearly, and whom you must like for +my sake." + +"We must not praise our own wares too much," said Oswald, bowing once +more to the fair visitor, "or the purchaser will become suspicious." + +"Not when the merchant enjoys such confidence as this wild little +fellow," replied Melitta, blushing lightly. "How long have you been +here at Grenwitz, doctor?" + +"About a fortnight." + +"I think the baroness told me you came from the capital?" asked +Melitta, who was curious to know if her suspicions about Stein's +costume were well founded. + +"Not directly; I have been living in Grunwald lately." + +"In Grunwald! I am glad to hear that. You will be able to give me the +information I want. The thing is this--but I fear I am troubling you +with indiscreet questions." + +"Not at all! I should be very happy, indeed, if I could be of the +slightest service to you." + +"You are very kind. The thing is this: I want to send my son, who is +about Bruno's age----" + +"Oh, aunt, he is three years younger than I am," cried Bruno, balancing +himself on a swing at some little distance. + +"What keen ears the child has!" said Melitta, lowering her voice. +"Well, I want to send my son Julius to Grunwald to college. Or rather, +I have to do it, because his tutor, a Mr. Bemperlein, who has been six +years at my house, has obtained a place as minister, and is going to +leave us in a few days. Now I do not know--but here comes the baroness, +and I must postpone for some other time my thousand and one questions +about all kinds of things, of which I know as little as my good +Bemperlein. I never knew how things look in a great city, and he has +long since forgotten what he may have known. Here we shall never find +an opportunity. What do you say, doctor--could you do me the honor to +pay me a visit some one of these days? Perhaps to-morrow afternoon?" + +Oswald--bowed assent. + +"I have asked the doctor to pay me a visit to-morrow," said Melitta, +turning to the baroness, who had just come back into the room with +Mademoiselle Marguerite. "It is about that affair in Grunwald. You have +no special engagement, I hope, for to-morrow afternoon, for I should +not like to make Doctor Stein lose too much." + +"We, an engagement!" said the baroness. "Don't you know our quiet life, +my dear Melitta? On the contrary, I think a little diversion of that +kind will be very welcome to the doctor, who must have begun to be +tired of the uniformity of our life here. I had thought myself of +proposing a visit to you, Doctor Stein,--to our minister, who is, I +fear, a little hurt that you have not yet been presented to him." + +"Well, we can do both things very easily," said Melitta; "to-morrow is +Sunday; the Reverend Mr. Jager will be delighted if you increase the +small number of his hearers by your presence. If you go through the +forest you will find Berkow only half an hour's walk from Faschwitz. I +would ask you at once to dine with me, but I know the minister's wife +will not let you off so cheap. Well, what do you say, doctor?" + +"I can only express my thanks to the ladies, that they are kind enough +to dispose of my time so much better than I could possibly have done +myself," replied Stein, with a polite bow. + +"That means, the wise man yields to inevitable fate," said Melitta, +laughing. "And here comes the baron with Malte, and we can go in to +dinner, a step which I am perfectly ready to take." + +The dinner was set on the terrace, which had been added to the chateau +on the side towards the garden, and which ran the whole length of the +building. A tent protected the guests against the sun. The evening was +beautiful. The sun was near setting. Rosy lights were playing in the +tops of the lofty beech-trees which surrounded the well-shaded lawn. +Swallows flew about, dashing to and fro through the clear atmosphere. A +peacock came, attracted by the well-known clattering of plates, and +took his place at the foot of the terrace, where he picked up the +bread-crumbs which the baron threw him over the stone balustrade. + +The conversation was much more lively than usual. The baroness could +make a very agreeable hostess when she chose, and was by no means so +entirely free from vanity that she should have remained inactive when +she feared to be neglected for the sake of Melitta. Melitta herself was +in her most amiable humor; she jested and laughed, she teased and was +teased, unconcerned and innocent, like a mere child. Oswald did not +dream, while abandoning himself willingly to the charm of Melitta's +attractions, that his presence contributed largely to the greater +cheerfulness. And yet this was exactly the case. There are few women +who are perfectly indifferent to the impression which they produce on +the company in which they are, and Melitta was certainly not one of +those few. Her disposition was rather to be easily excited, and to be +bribed by pleasing forms and clever words, in a manner which is utterly +unintelligible to colder natures. Oswald was perhaps not exactly what +the world calls a handsome man; but yet nature had not neglected him, +and the good society in which he had always moved had added to the +innate gracefulness of his manners. All this surprised Melitta the more +agreeably, as she had not expected it in a man of such humble +pretensions. Oswald appeared to her every moment of greater importance; +she began to fear that her brusque invitation had been out of place, +and yet she was charmed with the idea of seeing the young man at her +own house. She felt flattered when she met more than once, Oswald's +admiring glance across the table; and yet she always cast down her long +silky eyelashes, searching and eloquent as her eyes generally were. + +After dinner the baroness proposed a game of graces, as Melitta +declared that she could remain a little longer. Bruno ran off to bring +the hoops, which were neither out of place nor out of repair,--a fact +which spoke volumes for the scrupulous order that reigned at the +chateau. Soon the company was standing about on the lawn in a wide +circle, and the graces flew around merrily through the soft, warm +evening air. All, even the baron, showed more or less skill in the +game, except Malte, who could never catch the hoop when it did not fall +straight upon his stick. Melitta, on the other hand, never failed to +avail herself of his missing, for the purpose of sending her hoop, with +lightning speed, out of the regular order, at the head of some one of +the other players, and Oswald noticed that he was more frequently +distinguished in this way than any of the others. + +In the mean time it had become nearly dark; the old baron had noticed a +few dew-drops on the grass, and the evening dew was, in his opinion, +sheer poison for Malte, who had suffered for some time of diphtheria +when a child. He proposed, therefore, that they should all go in. +Melitta found that it was high time for her to return, and begged that +her groom might be ordered to saddle the horses. Bruno had hurried away +with the order; the baroness and mademoiselle had gone into the +sitting-room; the baron was busy wrapping a thick shawl around Malte's +throat to prevent his taking cold, and thus Oswald and Melitta found +themselves alone for the first time since their short conversation +before. Melitta had broken a rose from a bush which grew at the feet of +the stone Flora, and stood looking thoughtfully at the brilliant +flower. + +"I must beg your pardon," she said suddenly, in a low, quick voice, but +without raising her eyes, "that I committed the blunder of asking you +_sans facon_ to pay me a visit which may give you some trouble." + +"Not at all; I repeat quite sincerely now, what I before said from +common politeness, that I shall be very happy indeed to be of some +service to you." + +"Then you will come to-morrow?" + +"At your service." + +"No, as I wish it!--Just see how marvellously beautiful this rose is! +Are you as fond of roses as I am?" + +"I love everything beautiful," said Stein, looking not at the rose but +at Melitta. + +She raised her long eyelashes and looked deep and full into the young +man's brilliant eyes. + +"There!" she said suddenly, holding the rose towards him as if to let +him smell it; but he only felt how the slim fingers of the lady touched +his lips like a mere breath. + +"Here are the horses, aunt!" cried Bruno. + +"I am coming!" replied Melitta, and left Stein. + +The rose was lying at his feet; he quickly stooped, picked it up, and +hid it in his bosom. + +Mademoiselle Marguerite brought Melitta her gloves, her hat, and her +whip. + +"Is the baroness in the parlor?" + +"Yes." + +"Then I'll go and say good-by to her." + +The old baron, Oswald, and the boys went through the gate in the iron +railing of the park into the courtyard, where a groom was walking two +horses up and down. Oswald admired the beauty of the animals, +especially that with the lady's saddle, a thoroughbred, and Melitta's +pet--Bella. + +Melitta stepped quickly out of the portal, followed by the baroness and +mademoiselle. The old baron helped her in the saddle. + +"Good-by! good-by!" she called out. "_Allez_, Bella!" and thus she +galloped away out of the courtyard into the dim evening air. + +The others had gone back into the house. Oswald alone remained, his +eyes fixed upon the gate through which Melitta had disappeared, and +sunk in deep thought. + +"Had we not better go in, Oswald?" said Bruno, seizing his hand. "It is +quite dark now." + +"It is quite dark now," repeated the young man, and followed the boy +dreamily. + + + + + CHAPTER VIII. + + +The baron had offered Oswald a carriage to drive to church, but the +young man declined, remembering still the evil thoughts to which he had +been tempted by the slowness of the bays on the night of his arrival. +Bruno and Malte were looking for a visit from the sons of a neighbor. +Bruno would have liked best to accompany Oswald, but as the latter +begged him to stay at home, he said: + +"You are very glad to get rid of me for a few hours, I know, but I know +also what I shall do. I shall go into the woods, and not return home +till evening." + +"You will not do that, I hope, Bruno?" + +"And why not?" asked the boy, angrily. + +"Because you love me." + +"Well, then, I'll stay here for your sake; nor will I beat stupid Hans +von Pluegger, and altogether behave so remarkably well that even aunty +will have to be satisfied." + +"Do that, my dear boy. Good-by!" + +"Good-by, dearest, best of all friends!" cried the boy, and threw +himself passionately on the bosom of his only friend. Then he tore +himself away and ran off into the garden, there to be alone with his +wild, unbridled heart. + +Oswald took the path which he knew would lead him to the village where +the minister lived. The sun was shining brightly in the blue sky, on +which large white flakes of clouds were standing quietly about. The air +was not oppressive, for the vicinity of the sea tempered the summer +heat. Larks were singing their jubilates on high. Near the edge of the +great forest, which sent an outrunner, as it were, far into the +cultivated fields, an immense bird of prey was drawing its wide +circles. No laborers were to be seen in the fields, and the ploughs and +harrows were lying idle about. In an enclosure near the road, fat cows +and calves were ruminating in peace and comfort; a couple of merry +colts came up to the fence and looked with curiosity at the wanderer. + +Oswald had gone beyond the farm-yard. He came to the place in the road +where the scene between Bruno and the servant had taken place. +Involuntarily, almost, he stopped; the whole scene came back to his +mind; he saw the fair boy, angry and threatening, like a youthful god, +and the mean, frightened hind. He almost regretted having persuaded his +favorite to stay at home. He was so happy, so cheerful on this +beautiful morning, and it had become quite a habit with him to share +all his joys with the boy. "You wild, good, noble fellow," he said to +himself, "what are you doing in this world of womanish men? Are they +not afraid of you already now, when you are a mere boy; what will they +do when you grow up to be a man? All the world cries aloud, 'We want +men!' How can you ever expect to have men, when home and school and +life all unite to break the proud strength of youthful hearts in the +germ already? They take the bow and whittle away at it more and more, +and then they wonder if the delicate thing breaks suddenly in their +hands. Pygmies, who try to bind and fetter with a thousand slender +threads the giant whom a lucky accident has brought to their desert +island!" + +Oswald was very near working himself into a most melancholy state of +mind; but the bright, clear morning did not let him indulge long in +dark night-thoughts. An image, the image of a beautiful woman, which +had remained last night, before sleep closed his eyes, clearly before +his soul, which had passed like a pleasant shadow through all his +dreams, and which this morning had hovered around him like the echo of +some charming melody, now came vividly before his mind's eye. He tried +in vain to banish it. Who has not experienced the persistency with +which the forms of persons who are often perfectly indifferent to us +will present themselves before us, with every detail, against our +earnest desire, whilst we cannot, by any effort of our own, conjure up +the picture of those who are dearest to our heart? Is it because we are +so rarely able to look upon these calmly and deliberately; or is it +because where heart speaks to heart, and soul mingles with soul, the +outward form is consumed as by a flash of lightning? Is it because the +mind, capable of seizing what is imperishable, eternal, has no need of +the mere perishable body? While Oswald was thinking only of Melitta, +and wished to think of nothing else, he saw continually before him the +baroness, Mademoiselle Marguerite, and a number of ladies of his +acquaintance; but the Amazon in the green riding-habit was forever +dissolving into capricious vapors. "Well, then, fare thee well, fair +vision!" cried the young man, and endeavored to lead his thoughts into +a new channel. + +The ground on which he had been walking had so far been undulating; now +it became level, like the surface of the sea during a calm. A vast +heath lay before him; beyond it the village with the church, which was +the goal of his pilgrimage. Other farms appeared here and there against +the horizon. The willows, which so far had followed the road on both +sides, became scarcer, and at last disappeared entirely. Here and there +the turf had been taken off and the peat lay bare, or was piled up high +in long black rows, for the purpose of drying. In the ditches glimmered +the black waters. Pee-wees and other marsh-birds were flying to and +fro. In the whole wide expanse Oswald did not see a human being, except +a woman who was sitting a few hundred yards before him, upon a +boundary-stone. As he came nearer he saw that it was an old woman, +dressed very poorly, but scrupulously neat. She must have fallen asleep +on the stone from the fatigue of her journey, for she quickly threw up +her head when Oswald approached, and looked with astonishment at the +young man. + +"Good-morning, mother," said the latter, stopping; "is the village +there before us Fashwitz?" + +"Yes," said the woman, with a vivacity rare at her time of life; "are +you going to church there?" + +"Yes, mother. When does service begin?" + +The old woman glanced up at the sun, and said: + +"I have slept too long; it is too late now for me; my old legs won't +carry me fast enough; but you are a young man. You will be in time yet +I beg your pardon, sir, but what is your name?" + +"Stein--Oswald Stein." + +"Stein? I must have heard that name somewhere." + +"Maybe. It is not a rare name." + +"Stein--hm, hm; I beg your pardon, sir, where do you come from?" + +Oswald, who was rather amused at being questioned in this naive way, +and who liked the manner of the old woman, sat down opposite to the old +lady on the trunk of a fallen willow-tree. He knew there was time +enough for him; and while she, with her wrinkled hands resting on her +knees, fixed her deep-sunk but expressive eyes firmly upon his face, he +said to her: + +"From Grenwitz, mother." + +"From Grenwitz? Is it possible? That is where I came from. I beg your +pardon, sir, are you on a visit there?" + +"Not exactly. I teach the boys." + +"Is that possible?" + +"Why not?" + +"Well, the candidates for the ministry generally look very +differently." + +Oswald laughed. + +"And you are walking the long way quite alone, mother?" + +"I have not a soul who could walk with me; my husband died ever so long +ago, and my boys died and my girls died--they all died." + +The old woman smoothed the folds of her dress on her knee as if she +meant to say: All buried, and the earth smoothed down over them, and +there is an end of them all. + +Oswald felt deep pity for the lonely, helpless old age of the woman. He +said, merely in order to say something which he thought might be of +some little comfort to the poor old soul: + +"Well, you will see all your dear ones again in the other world." + +"In the other world?" said the old woman, glancing up at the blue sky. +"I believe in no other world." + +"What! You do not believe in it?" asked Oswald, astonished. + +The old woman shook her head. + +"You are quite young yet, Mr.--how was your name? Stein--yes--you are +quite young yet, Mr. Stein; but when you have seen as many people die +as I have, you too will no longer believe in it. When a man dies, he is +dead--really dead. And then, at the resurrection, as they call it, what +would become of all the people? In our village there is not a soul left +of all who lived when I was young. And the others, who were born after +me, they have grown old and they are dead too. And thus new ones are +coming all the time, and more new ones. No; the whole earth would not +have room enough for all these people." + +"But perhaps in other stars?" suggested Oswald. + +"How could they get there? No; no one gets away from the earth, but +they all get under the earth--all--all;" and the old woman again +smoothed the folds of her dress on her knees. + +"The body, yes; but not the soul." + +"Well, I don't know," said the matron, shaking her head; "but I know +this much, that when any one dies he is really dead, and we say, Now +the poor soul is at rest. And what better can we wish one another than +rest, whether we are noblemen or peasants, young folks or old?" + +"But why do you walk all the way to church if you do not believe in +anything?" asked Oswald. + +"Who says that?" said the matron, almost indignant; "I believe in God, +like every good Christian; and everybody ought to be upright and pious; +that has nothing to do with the resurrection; and we must do our duty, +that no one need be told. And now, young master, make haste and get +away, or you'll be too late. I'll turn back again. Goodby!" And so she +got up, seized an oak stick which had been leaning by her side against +the stone, offered Oswald her withered, trembling hand, which the +latter pressed, not without a feeling of reverence, and set out to walk +back slowly the way she had come. + +"That is a remarkable woman," said the young man to himself, walking on +rapidly. "I must inquire about her. Who would have imagined that the +doctrines of modern philosophers--doctrines which, to be sure, are only +ancient coins with a new image and superscription--are current even +among these classes of the people? Well, well, when even the poor in +spirit and the simple in heart begin to remember that they have eyes to +see and ears to hear, the last day of lying prophets must be near at +hand." + + + + + CHAPTER IX. + + +The village of Fashwitz is an experiment made at the expense of the +government. Originally the estate had been, like the whole larger part +of the island, the property of a noble family, and had lapsed back into +the possession of the crown when that family had become extinct. The +government, desirous to obtain a nucleus of small landowners or +independent farmers, which are here almost entirely wanting, had +established here and on other estates genuine farmers' colonies, by +laying them out in small parcels and selling these to all who chose to +buy for merely nominal prices. The community at Fashwitz had a church +built for them, and a minister was sent there; it was surely not the +fault of the government if the good people of Fashwitz did not prosper. + +It seemed, however, highly desirable that they should avail themselves +of their other privileges and prerogatives a little more zealously than +they seemed to do of the opportunity to obtain spiritual food on +Sundays. For when Oswald obtained admittance to the church through a +side-door--the great door was locked--he found that the devout +listeners consisted of a few Sunday-school children, who were there _ex +officio_, a handful of old women, faithful to the old traditions of +their youth, and the families of some landowners in the neighborhood +who tried to set their tenants and dependents a good example. The +interior of the church formed a large, well-lighted hall, with a +flat ceiling, in which pulpit, altar, and benches were discreetly +arranged--everything bran new, perfectly practical, and very +unattractive. There were no small stained window-panes, no pictures on +the walls or over the altar, no angels of wood or bronze blowing their +trumpets with swelling cheeks, no votive tablets, no faded wreaths, in +fine, none of those means by which the Catholic, to whom the church is +but the antechamber to heaven, gives expression to his longings for a +higher life. The only poetical feature in the church were the shadows +cast by the linden-trees before the windows, which waved to and fro on +the bright wall opposite, and the broad bands of light which fell +diagonally across the building, and formed so many golden bridges on +which the thoughts could escape from the unattractive interior to the +summer morning, which, outside, lay warm and fragrant on meadows, +fields, and forests. No one in the audience, however, seemed to stand +in need of such a road, or to find it at all practicable, except, +perhaps, a pretty little girl about ten years old, with long golden +curls, who seemed to have a strong longing after the bright flowers and +white butterflies in the garden of her father, a stout old gentleman +nodding devoutly by her side, and who, on that account, was frequently +admonished by her governess to sit still and behave herself properly. +The majority of the people looked as if they had left their minds +carefully at home, and a few bore the infliction with the resignation +of well-bred men. + +And, indeed, it would have been strange if the congregation could have +been edified by such a sermon and such a minister. Oswald, who had +found a seat opposite the pulpit, and behind the pew of the great +nobleman, discovered at the first glance at the preacher, and after a +few words of his sermon, that there was about as much sympathy between +the minister and the congregation as between a learned missionary and a +tribe of good-natured savages. The minister, a small, lean man of about +forty, with his dried-up, withered face, seemed to feel this himself +very clearly, for he had scarcely seen Oswald when he began to address +himself to him almost exclusively, as the only one capable of +appreciating the precious pearls which an unwise government forced him +to cast here before the swine. + +"Oh, my devout brethren," he exclaimed, fixing his eyes through his +spectacles upon Oswald, who tried to hide as well as he could behind +the golden curls of the little girl, "Oh, my devout hearers, you see +how weak our reason is in face of these momentous questions. And yet, +and yet, oh, much beloved, there are misguided brethren and sisters who +still rely on the dim rushlight of reason long after the sun has risen +for them also. Alas! this little stump of a farthing candle seems to +them bright enough in the days of feasting, frolicking, and jubileeing, +but not so in the days of old age with its solemn thoughts and grave +anxieties. Therefore, abandon your faith in reason, and hold fast on +faith! Abandon your idle trust in sound common-sense, as you call it! +Oh, my devout hearers, this sound common-sense is a sick, very sick +sense, is a device of the devil's, and a will-o'-the-wisp which leads +you inevitably into the pool of perdition." + +Oswald was strangely, but by no means pleasantly affected by this +sermon, which continued for half an hour more, richly larded with +quotations from Holy Writ. He was deeply impressed with the contrast +between the simple, childlike submission of the old woman to the great, +eternal laws of nature, and her modest but solemn way of stating them, +and the arrogant self-assurance with which the man in the pulpit +decided on the most solemn questions, and condemned every sound +sentiment and natural impulse of our heart as empty show and deceitful +delusion. The unadorned wisdom of the matron was fresh and fragrant, +like a flower on the heath; the boastful knowledge of the preacher, +like a plant grown in the hot, oppressive air of a greenhouse, +luxuriant in leaves and stalk, but without sap and strength and +flowers. Oswald was glad when the learned preacher came at last to say +amen! after having once more denounced the morality and anathematized +the souls of all who thought differently from himself. + +"That is most assuredly not so," he said to himself, as he tried on +tiptoe to reach the little side-door by which he had come in. And when, +outside, the blue sky once more rose high above him, and the fragrance +of the linden greeted him, he breathed deeply, like one who comes from +the hot, stifling atmosphere of a sick-room into the balsamic air of a +garden. + +"I shall not make this man's acquaintance if I can help it," he +continued his monologue, making his way down the little hill on which +the church stood, and past several grand carriages, which had in the +mean while overtaken him, till he reached the village. "What have I in +common with him? His thoughts are not my thoughts, and his language is +not my language. We would never understand each other. I do not believe +in that vague humanity, which is on good terms with everybody and +rejects no one; nor do I believe in that philosophy of the beetles, +which hum around all flowers in the hope of finding somewhere the +hidden treasure of sweet honey. The wise merchant sails past the coast +which is too poor for barter, and the great words, 'Who is not with me +is against me,' fell from the same holy lips which taught that love is +the first duty of man." + +Oswald had, as was his wont, given way to his thoughts with such utter +forgetfulness of everything around him, that he wandered for some time +about in the unknown village, where houses and barns and stables, walls +and gardens, lay in inextricable confusion by each other, and presented +to the stranger a perfect labyrinth. He was just leaving a narrow alley +by the side of a large house, in order to get into a wider street, when +the minister met him, coming from church. He could not possibly avoid +the meeting, and his attempt to pass by with a polite bow was a total +failure, for the minister had no sooner seen him than he stepped +literally in his way and addressed him at once with these words: + +"Ah! I surely have the pleasure and the honor to see before me Doctor +Stein? How kind in you to come and see me! To tell the truth, I have +expected you for several days. When I was last at Grenwitz, to pay my +respects to the baroness, I learned, to my regret, that you were out on +a walk with your two pupils; otherwise I should not have denied myself +the pleasure of calling on you at your room. My wife will be delighted +to welcome you at our humble home. Pray, this way! Pray come without +ceremony!" + +"No escaping this," thought Oswald, and for the sake of politeness, +that ape of humanity, he allowed himself to be forced to accept a +hospitality which he had determined, only a minute ago, to decline +under all circumstances! + +"Gustava! Gusty! Gusty!" called the minister, as he entered. The +desired lady was, however, not willing to give up the vantage-ground of +her position behind the curtained window in the kitchen-door, from +which she reconnoitred in security the appearance of the stranger and +the purpose of his visit. The minister, therefore, showed the way into +his study, where he begged Oswald to allow him to take off his gown, +and then to inform his Gustava of the honor that his house was +receiving. + +The reverend gentleman's study was a large room with two windows; a few +book-shelves, some pictures of saints on the wall, a hard sofa covered +with black horse-hair, a round centre-table littered with books, and a +desk with a chair, which turned on a screw, near the window, formed the +simple furniture; the atmosphere was heavy with tobacco-smoke. Oswald +was so oppressed by this perfume that he had to open a window, and in +doing this he felt a strong temptation to jump from the low casement +upon the street and to make his escape. + +The attempt to seek safety in flight was, however, defeated by the +return of his host. The reverend gentleman appeared now in a summer +costume of black shining material. He begged Oswald to remain a few +minutes in his "cell," since "Gustava was ruling still in the kitchen." + +Oswald, who had abandoned all hope of escape, had not even the heart to +decline an invitation to dinner. + +"You will find, it is true, nothing but the _paternum mensa tenui +salinum_, the ancestral furniture on the simple table," said the +minister, desirous to show his guest that he had not forgotten his +Latin; "but you know: _vivitur parvo bene_: we can live well upon a +little. May I offer you a cigar till dinner is ready?" + +Oswald declined, as he did not smoke. + +"Oh! an excellent habit! a classic habit!" said the minister, laughing +at his own wit; "the ancients did not smoke, and Goethe, whom a +frivolous but witty author calls 'the great pagan,' was a bitter enemy +to pipes and cigars. You permit me to remain faithful to my habit of +smoking a light cigar after my sermon?" + +"I pray you will do so." + +"Don't you find"--puff! puff!--"that smoking"--puff! puff!--"is a +thoroughly Germanic, I might almost say, a thoroughly Christo-Germanic +element?" said the minister, who was determined to show his cleverness. + +"You would certainly furnish a new weapon to the scoffers at our +religion, if you really thought so," said Oswald, dryly. + +"How so, my dear sir?" + +"Said scoffers might reply that to show them only smoke, and no fire, +was essentially a Germanic, a Christo-Germanic characteristic." + +The minister cast at Oswald a quick, watchful glance over his glasses, +as if he would have liked to see how far he might safely trust his +guest. But as he considered it unsuitable for a man of classic tastes +not to enter at once into a joke, even when it bordered very closely +upon a frivolity, he replied with a bitter-sweet smile: "Not so bad! +not so bad! But who is safe against scoffers? To be sure we might +reply: _Ex fumo lucem! ex fumo lucem!_ light out of smoke! But let us +sit down, dear friend, let us sit down! How is our dear good baron, and +how is the excellent baroness? Ah! you are a happy man, my dear sir, to +live in such a house, with such admirable people, who unite to native +nobility the nobility of the soul--especially the baroness, a pious and +high-bred lady who wants to know everything _ex fundamento_. She is now +reading Schleiermacher's discourses on religion." ... + +"Do you think she really understands them?" observed Oswald. + +The minister looked again at Oswald with that peculiar glance over his +glasses, as if he must take a close look at the man who had the courage +so openly to utter a view which he entertained himself, but only in +greatest secrecy. He contented himself, however, with a gesture, he +drew down the corners of his mouth, he shrugged his shoulders and +raised his eyebrows--a gesture which might mean either "All vanity, +dear friend!" or "The capacities of that good lady are beyond all +measure!" + +"You will, of course, miss Grunwald; especially your intimacy with a +man of such vast erudition as Professor Berger. But I am in the same +sad condition. I also can say: _Barbarus hic ego sum, quia nulli +intelligor._ I pass here for an original, because no one understands +me. Our great landowners are certainly excellent, worthy men, who fear +God and serve the king; but, between us be it said, culture they have +not; I mean, of course, scientific culture. Ah, if these gentlemen +could have enjoyed in their youth the advantages of a genuine rational +education, like young Malte ..." + +"You are too kind, sir, although only the smallest part of that +compliment would belong to me. I only wished the _ratio_ would show +itself for once in Master Malte, for until now he appears to me a most +irrational small quantity." + +"Is it possible you are disappointed in the young baron?" said the +minister, in a tone as if he heard something entirely incredible and +unexpected. "Ah! I understand, I understand. Certainly nature has +endowed Bruno in many respects far more richly, although he is not very +accessible to the great truths of our religion, as I have noticed when +I was honored with the duty to prepare the two young gentlemen for +their confirmation. But _non omnia possumus omnes--omnes_," repeated +the minister, not knowing exactly how to continue. "Yes, as I said, but +then Malte is heir to a magnificent estate." + +"All the more desirable, it seems to me, that he should be a man in the +full sense of the word. But is the Grenwitz estate really so +magnificent?" + +"Why, my dear friend," exclaimed the minister, in a tone of gentle +reproach that Oswald should display such deplorable ignorance in such +all-important matters, "is it magnificent? There are in this +neighborhood alone five, no--with Stantow and Baerwalde, which to be +sure are not entailed, there are seven large estates belonging to it. +And in other parts of the island--let me see--there are one, two, three +more. That is a capital of at least a million and a half. A million and +a half!" he repeated, as if his mind could not part easily with such a +lofty conception. + +"And the estate is entailed?" + +"Why, certainly. With the exception, of course, of two of the finest +estates, which the last baron, the cousin of the present baron, +inherited from his mother, and which he tied up in a very peculiar +manner. Just imagine, my dear friend: the late baron, who, between us +be it said, was a prodigiously wild and dissipated man, left these two +estates to the son of one of his mistresses?" + +"But did you not just now count the two estates as part of the family +fortune?" + +"Well, between us we can do so, I think," said the minister, in a low +voice, coming up closely to Oswald. "Nobody knows, you see, where the +boy is, nay, whether he is at all alive, nay, they do not even know if +it is a boy or a girl." + +"Why, that is a curious story," said Oswald, laughing. + +"A very curious story," said the reverend gentleman, "a ridiculous +story, you might say. Just think: Baron Harald,--they have all of them +odd names in the family--that wild fellow, who ought to have lived +somewhere in the middle ages, fell in love with a poor girl, the +daughter of a mechanic, a case which no doubt was of frequent +occurrence in his life, but never had such disastrous consequences. He +carried her off, almost by force, and brought her here to his chateau. +Half a year later she escapes in the middle of the night. No one knows +to this day whether she ran away to live in obscurity, or to hide her +shame in one of our dark moors. The baron was furious, beside himself. +He searched through the whole island. Then, in order to drown his grief +and his remorse, he drank and gambled and led a life even worse than +before, so that he died in delirium a few weeks later. When they open +his testament, they find that he has left the income derived from those +two superb estates to the mother, and the estates themselves to the +child of his lady-love, whether it be a girl or a boy, provided only it +be born within a given period. He had evidently had a fit of penitence +before dying, or, it may be, it was a mere caprice. What do you say to +that?" + +"The story certainly is rather tragic than comic," said Oswald; "and +have they never found any trace of the mother or her child?" + +"Never! and yet they publish every year--it is a terrible disgrace, and +I pity the poor baroness with all my heart--an advertisement in all the +papers of the province, inviting the lost one to come forward and claim +her rights." + +"How long has that being going on?" + +"Some twenty years or more." + +"Then it is hardly probable that the poor woman is still alive?" + +"Certainly not; and nobody thinks of it," laughed the minister. "They +would make a pretty face at Grenwitz, if all of a sudden a young +vagabond should present himself there, claiming to be the most obedient +nephew of the baron, and demand the two farms, with the interest for +twenty years! It would not suit the baroness, I can tell you; for she +has not a farthing of her own, and, as the whole estate is entailed, +she and her daughter would, after the baron's death, be as poor as she +was before she married." + +"You seem to be a great advocate of entails?" + +"Certainly, I am. I consider it fortunate that such large estates +cannot be parcelled away by subdivision, and that thus an aristocracy +of wealthy landowners is formed, which serves as a kind of ballast for +the ship of state in times of peril--which God, I pray, may long avert +from our beloved land." + +"Well," said Oswald, "there are two sides to that question, as to most +questions." + +"Of course, I know," said the obliging minister. "But I, for my part, I +have too long enjoyed the honor and the happiness of being intimate +with wealthy families, noble in the true sense of the word, not to be a +warm adherent of the aristocracy of the land. Besides which, I have had +too many sad experiences of the fatal effect which large property often +has upon the minds of plebeians, to use the historic expression; I mean +the vanity, pride, and worldliness which it begets." + +"I am sorry to hear such things of my friends." + +"Of your friends?" asked the minister in astonishment. + +"Yes, of my friends. For, without any purpose of mine, and often +without, exactly knowing why, I have always found myself on the +plebeian side, whenever in history the conflict between patricians and +plebeians has become marked. I was a sworn adherent of the Gracchi and +other Roman demagogues; I fought with the Independents against the +Cavaliers, and I confess that even in the terrible peasants' wars I +felt more sympathy for the poor oppressed serfs, whom brutal treatment +had brutalized, than for the high-mighty, all-powerful barons and +counts, who were not a whit less brutal for all their splendor and +power." + +The minister listened to these words with a smile of incredulity, as if +he were listening to the rhodomontades of goslings who assume the air +of accomplished roues. + +"Very good! very good!" he said "You clever people are fond of +paradoxes. You bring that home with you from the aesthetic teas in the +great city, and you wish not to get out of practice, although nobody +may listen to you but a poor country parson." + +"I assure you, sir----" + +"Never mind, never mind. But when you have lived five years among the +rustics-- Do you believe it, I have never been able to induce these +people even to buy a bell for the church, although they are bound by +law to provide for the house of God? But when they are called upon to +provide for a merry-making, or to carry out some worldly purpose, they +have always an abundance of money." + +"Well," said Oswald, "the nobles of this neighborhood are not exactly +famous for their repugnance to merry-making, as you call it." + +"The nobles? My dear sir, that is a very different thing. Their device +is and must be: Live and let live! But, you know, the same thing does +not suit all." + +"And many things are not suitable for anybody," added Oswald. + +"Ah, here comes my Gustava," cried the minister, glad to be able to +break off a conversation which he liked less and less every moment. + +The minister's wife, who just then came into the room, was a lady of +about forty, with sandy hair, very light blue eyes, and a face which, +at that moment, was rather red from the kitchen-fire and the hurry +in which she had dressed; ordinarily she looked pale, faded, and +old-maidish. She wore a dress of yellow raw silk, with a gold watch in +the belt, and a cap with yellow ribbons, so that on the whole she made +upon Oswald the impression of an elderly, unhealthy canary-bird, hung +up in a room which looks towards the north. She, too, could hardly find +words--and yet they came in crowds--to express her joy at seeing the +friend of the great house under her lowly roof--evidently a stereotype +phrase common to husband and wife. She felt so grateful for the visit, +as her poor man had no well-educated neighbor at all, and now, she +knew, the want was at once supplied by Oswald's arrival. + +"My poor Jager"--that was the husband's name--"my poor Jager will +become a hypochondriac here," she exclaimed, fixing her watery blue +eyes with great tenderness upon the object of her apprehensions. "I do +what may be in my feeble power to make him miss the society of clever +and learned men as little as possible, but a poor ignorant woman cannot +do much in that direction." + +"You will compel me to contradict you," said Oswald, in whom the sense +of the humorous had been getting the better of the disgust with which +the hypocrisy of the worthy couple had at first filled him. "I shall +insist upon it that ignorance and Mrs. Jager have never yet met, much +less can they ever have made acquaintance with each other." + +"You are very kind; I am sure you are too kind," said the delighted +lady. "I cannot deny that I have all my life endeavored to relieve +myself, for one, of the popular reproach that women are unfit for the +sphere of highest----" + +"Dinner's ready!" cried the parlor-maid in at the door. + +"Now you see; that is the way our daily life is always asserting its +rights as soon as we try to rise a little higher," said the dweller in +the spheres of highest cultivation. Oswald offered her politely his +arm, and the minister laid his cigar carefully aside, so that he might +easily find it again after dinner. + + + + + CHAPTER X. + + +Dinner was served in a cool, shady room which looked out upon a +somewhat bald and very sunny garden, and the conversation soon became +quite animated. Oswald's residence at Grunwald was an inexhaustible +theme. His hostess was a native of that city, one of the many daughters +of a higher church dignitary there, who had just lived long enough to +procure for his son-in-law the best cure in the diocese. She was very +proud of her Doctor of Divinity, for the minister had actually obtained +that academic honor by a most erudite dissertation on the writings +which an obscure father of the church, of whom literally nothing was +known beyond the name, might possibly have left behind him. But Oswald +could not help noticing that he had certainly not been caught by her +personal attractions, and no longer wondered why the table was so small +and the house so quiet. The good lady also knew Professor Berger, and +some other families with whom Oswald had become acquainted. Thus they +could enjoy a delightful dish of gossip with each other, and Oswald +understood what devastation the double-edged sword of his hostess must, +in her time, have caused in a small town like Grunwald. + +In the mean time the dessert had been put upon the table, and the +minister had opened a second bottle with a certain solemnity; the lady +had left them, and ordered coffee to be served in a garden-house. The +minister had lighted a cigar, unbuttoned his black satin waistcoat +half-way, and seemed to be determined to indulge himself in the +illusion that he had enjoyed a sybaritic feast. He summoned Oswald to +drink with him to the health of that most illustrious family with whom +he had the good fortune to reside, a compliment which Oswald returned +by offering a toast to his amiable, learned, and yet modest hostess. + +"Many thanks, many thanks, my dear young friend," said the flattered +minister, pressing Oswald's hand over and over again. "Yes, you are +right, a learned, modest woman. Have you noticed that she corresponds +with more than one of our greatest literary men, and that she +contributes under the name of Primula to some of our magazines?" + +"Is it possible?" said Oswald + +"I assure you it is so, my dear friend, and you may imagine what +pleasure it gives me to read in the 'Correspondence' of the paper: +'Fashwitz, Primula Veris (that is Gustava's cipher), a thousand thanks +for your amiable letter;' or, 'You have given us great pleasure by +sending us your admirable poem; it will appear in the next number,' +etc." + +"I can well imagine," replied Oswald, in an absent manner. "But had we +not better follow our charming hostess into the garden?" + +"_Festina lente_," cried the minister, upon whom the wine began to tell +a little. "We shall not meet again as young as we are now. A good glass +of wine is a thing not to be treated lightly, and Gustava is too +generous to shorten our enjoyment. But the Bible tells us, that of +every good thing there are three; so let us have a third bottle." ... + +"But, Jager, the coffee is getting cold," cried the piercing voice of +Primula Veris from the garden through the open window. + +"We are coming, we are coming," replied the obedient husband. "I give +thanks for you and me, my dear young friend"--and with these words he +embraced Oswald; "my dear friend"--another embrace--"and----" + +"But we forget that coffee is waiting for us," said Oswald, barely +escaping a third embrace and making his way to the garden, while the +minister, before following his guest, quickly poured the last contents +of the bottle into a glass and emptied it in a hurry, probably giving +thanks only for himself this time. + +The garden was not exactly the most pleasant place in the world at that +hour of the day. The plantations were quite young yet; the small trees +scarcely as high as a man, and the garden appeared, therefore, most +prosaic and bare, affording no shadow anywhere. Oswald could not help +comparing it to the theology of his reverend host, even with regard to +the eminent place given here also to the practically useful. For the +vegetables were flourishing, while flowers were few and far between; a +few sun-flowers alone recalled the appearance of Primula Veris, and by +their tendency to turn always towards the sun, in whatever part of the +heavens it might stand, the practical philosophy of her illustrious +husband. + +Fortunately, the bower in which coffee was served was thickly overgrown +with jessamine and afforded a welcome shelter against the sun, whose +rays were burning fiercely. Here they found the minister's wife, with a +work-basket by her side, in which Oswald discovered, with some +anticipation of evil, a small volume amid a host of sewing materials. + +"Woe is me," he said to himself, "if that be a collection of Primula's +poems, taken from the magazines to which she contributes!" + +He tried to interest the minister in his vegetables; he insisted upon +examining himself the great improvements which his host had made in +beehives; at last he spoke of the necessity which forced him to take +his leave at once--in fine, he did all that a man in his critical +situation can do, but all in vain! + +"We could not think of letting you go in this heat," said Primula, +letting her hand gently glide into the work-basket, a movement which +did not escape Oswald. "We are not overshadowed here by the tall +pine-tree or the white poplar, but at least we are in the shade, and +you surely would not exchange that for the heat and dust of the +highroad? Out of question! Another cup, my honored guest? This is not +Falernian, as the great Roman calls it in the ode from which I quoted +just now, but a beverage which has become somewhat classic in its turn, +since our great Voss has sung 'its praises in his noble verses.' Tell +me, dear sir, has not the sojourn under our lowly roof reminded you of +certain parts of his lovely idyl? Have you not felt with me, that here, +far from the turmoil of the markets of men, the voice of poetry is +heard speaking to us distinctly?" + +"Now the terrible event is approaching!" thought Oswald. + +"I admire your gift," he said, "to bind so sweetly old and new things, +reality and poetry, into a common wreath, full of fragrance. I myself +have unfortunately of late come in contact with the prose of daily life +alone; and, I confess it with reluctance, I have done the thing I +formerly considered impossible, and reconciled myself with it, although +of course I have had to pay a penalty by losing all taste for the +charms of poetry." + +"Oh, you must not think so," exclaimed Primula. "The well of poetry may +at times pour forth less abundant waters, but it never dries up +entirely. You accuse yourself of being no longer susceptible to the +charms of poetry. That--here she put her hand openly upon the little +volume in black and gold--that ought perhaps to deter me from my +purpose to read to you a few of those poems which you may have noticed, +under the pseudonym of Primula Veris, in several of our prominent +magazines. But my faith in the power of poetry, and especially of the +latent poetry of the heart, is too great to allow my being convinced of +the contrary by your self-condemnation. May I venture the attempt to +put the correctness of my views to the test?" + +"How have I deserved such very great kindness?" murmured Oswald, +leaning back in full resignation, and closing the eyes in a manner +which fortunately is common to persons who are half asleep as well as +to those who are in ecstasy. + +"I have given the title of Cornflowers to my little work," said +Primula, turning over the leaves in sweet bashfulness, "because most of +my poems have bloomed forth while I was walking through waving +wheatfields, and at all events amid rural surroundings." + +"How clever!" breathed Oswald. + +"Following the rules of the masters of our art, and imitating the +example of the Greeks, who placed a tragedy before a comedy, or rather, +who made the comedy always succeed the tragedy, I shall read you first +a serious, then a comic, then again...." + +"Certainly, certainly; that will much enhance the charm of each poem," +said Oswald, frightened at the endless perspective. + +"Would you not rather, dearest Gustava----" said the minister. + +"Let me have my choice," replied the poetess, in a soft but decisive +tone, and then, clearing her throat-- + +"On a Dead Mole." + +"On what?" cried Oswald, starting up with amazement. + +"Well, you see, dear friend," said Primula, "how the mere title already +electrifies you." + +"Yes, indeed!" murmured Oswald, sinking back in his corner. + +"On a Dead Mole," repeated the poetess, "which I found by the +wayside:-- + + + "How do you lie so quiet there + With black and shining skin! + Your fate, alas! I cannot bear, + Poor fellow, black as sin! + + They scorned you, they scoffed at you, + They said that you were blind! + They surely were but people who + Are of the same blind kind. + + You do not show your face by day, + Like those to whom the world is dear; + Yet light shone on your honest way, + And in your heart 'twas clear! + + And to the stars on God's own sky, + High in the heaven's dome, + You looked from your own hill on sly, + You little learned gnome. + + You lived so quiet, harmless, still, + In honor and in truth below! + You did not steal, you did not kill, + Alas! and now you're lying low! + + Now do you lie so quiet there + With black and shining skin! + Your fate, alas! I cannot bear, + Poor fellow, black as sin!" + + +"That is beautiful," said Oswald. "That is genuine lyric poetry, such +as we find but rarely in our day. Not the hot-house poetry, which +begins with reminiscences of Heine, strikes then a few of Lenau's +accords, and ends with a blast after Freiligrath's manner. What deep +genuine feeling there is in these stanzas! and yet such energy of +language. A fellow dark as sin, that is simple but beautiful; that you +have learnt from Goethe." + +"You are really too kind, dear friend," said Primula, highly pleased. +"Indeed you make me blush by your liberal praise. But, pray be candid, +and tell me if you do not think that the whole is, after all, a little +too idealistic for our modern taste?" + +"Perhaps for our realists, who certainly go too far in their demands, +and whose desire to make everything perfectly natural will probably +lead them ere long, when Faust is played, to bring a real poodle on the +stage, and to make him howl and yell by pinching his tail. But I am +sure you could satisfy even those gentlemen if you wished to do so." + +"What do you think of this poem?" asked the poetess, "On my Rooster?" + +Oswald leant back in his corner. + + + "Like Richard Duke of Normandy + My hero fought most bravely, + All trembled when they heard his crow: + Cockadoodledoo!" + + +"That is naive!" said Oswald. + +"Is it not?" said Primula. + + + "He never stirred late at night + But in the morning early bright + The cattle woke, when they heard his crow: + Cockadoodledoo! + + "He spared no pains for his lady love, + For her he scratched below, above, + She heard with ecstasy his crow: + Cockadoodledoo! + + "Of genius boasts my hero not, + And poetry did not fall to his lot, + Yet do I love indeed his crow: + Cockadoodledoo!" + + +"Well, what do you say, dear friend?" + +"What can I say," replied Oswald, "except that you have fully +accomplished your purpose. The hearer imagines he is in the +poultry-yard. The notes you strike are the very notes of nature; they +come from the heart of things. The poem is a little gem of the +realistic school of our day. But now, gifted lady, one more request: +However much it may enhance the value of a poem to hear it from the +eloquent lips of the poetess herself--I should not like the impression +which the last stanzas have produced to be effaced by another poem; +whatever else there may be in store for me, this is your highest +triumph." + +"Only one more you must allow me to read. It forms, so to speak, a +trilogy with the other two, a summary of all that I have learnt by +close study of nature. May I begin?" + +"I pray you will." + + + "To A Maybug lying on his Back." + + "Oh thou Bacchante of a merry night of May! + Hast thou indulged in nectar of the flowers, + Hast thou enjoyed the fragrance of the bowers, + From evening until early break of day? + Hast thou forgotten, ah! that life is short? + That all below is destined for the silent grave, + Where lies the beauty now and all the brave, + The far renowned, the great of ev'ry sort? + I read with awe thy sad and solemn mien, + Where doubtful rhymes alone are written. + Alas! thy life was but an idle, glist'ning sheen, + By those thou lovedst thou art smitten, + Thou bug of May, thou image of false love!" + + +The fair reader ended. Oswald appeared to be plunged in silent delight; +Primula sat expectant, when suddenly the rolling of a carriage was +heard, which soon after stopped at the house. + +"Oh mistress, oh mistress!" cried the parlor-maid, in a tone of great +anxiety. + +Oswald felt relieved. Here was a visitor, and the reading, he hoped, +was brought to an end. Perhaps this even gave him an opportunity to end +his visit. + +"It is the Pluggens family, dear Gustava," said the minister, who had +reconnoitred the new arrival through the garden-hedge. "The lady +herself, and her two daughters. Could you make a little haste." ... + +"Excuse me, my dearest friend," said the poetess, hurriedly closing +the book; "but you know: as often as we attempt to take a bolder +flight----" + +"Oh mistress, oh mistress!" cried the voice with increasing anxiety +from the garden-gate. + +"I am coming," replied the poetess, in great perturbation, and hastened +on the sunny walk toward the house. + +"Shall we not too----" suggested the minister. + +"Excuse me, I pray, but I shall have to go," said Oswald, interrupting +him. + +"But why, my dear sir? The lady is a most excellent person, and the +daughters, although not very beautiful----" + +"And were they as fair as angels, I should have to deny myself the +pleasure of seeing them. Good-by! Good-by! Pray make my excuses to Mrs. +Jager. That gate there is open, is it not? _Au revoir._" + +And so Oswald hurried towards the gate. The minister had far too good +an opinion of himself and his Primula to ascribe the "dear friend's" +precipitate flight to any other reason than his shyness and his +reluctance to meet this high and noble family, to whom he was unknown. +Oswald, in the mean time, made his way down the village street and out +into the open fields, and did not relax his steps until he was safe +under the fine old trees behind which, as he knew, was hid the estate +of Melitta. + + + + + CHAPTER XI. + + +The forest path, on which Oswald was walking merrily, seemed to be +little frequented by foot-passengers, and still less by vehicles. It +must have been nearly impassable in winter; but now, in midsummer, it +was all the brighter and really romantic. The ditches on either side +were badly kept, and every now and then the grass and the broad +plantain would creep all the way across from side to side, and in many +places the tall beeches and old oak-trees formed a dense canopy +overhead. The farther Oswald penetrated into this leafy wilderness the +quieter the forest became, so quiet and almost lifeless that he stopped +the song which he had begun in his joyous happiness, as if he feared to +disturb the forest in its slumbers. + +For in these hot afternoon hours the forest assuredly does slumber. The +green ocean of leaves no longer moves in swelling waves; quiet and +immovable it drinks in the heat of the sun. Scarcely a leaf rustles +here and there in one of the trees. Perhaps the little noise awakens +another sleeping neighbor, and they whisper and tell the disturber of +their peace that this is not the hour for chatting, and then they fall +to dreaming again. The birds are hid in the thickest foliage and await +the cool of the evening. The tiny mothers doze on their nest over their +half-fledged young, and papa sits near by on a branch, his little head +snugly ensconced under his wing, and sleeps, tired as he is with his +early rising, his indefatigable singing all day long, and his busy +hunting after worms and midges. They know that now is the good time for +them, and dance merrily in the red rays of the sun, which slip +stealthily through the branches, or they creep and hurry, and hasten +through the warm, soft moss. Deep silence! But suddenly there arises a +hoarse peculiar cry, in short, rapidly uttered notes, which sound like +the voice of anger. That is the hawk, the robber of the forest. He is a +wicked fellow, whom his bad conscience rarely allows to sleep, and that +is the reason why his cry is so sharp and hoarse, as he is drawing high +up in the blue air, proudly and lonely, his wide mysterious circle +above his realm, the peaceful sea of leaves. + +A curly-headed boy, who was watching his geese near the edge of the +forest, had told Oswald that the road to Berkow was only about half an +hour long, and could not well be missed. Of course he had taken it for +granted, in giving his information, that the traveller would mind his +way and not go astray. But as Oswald had not attended to the road, but, +as was his habit, rather to everything else, as he had preferred +leaping the ditches on either side every now and then, and rushing into +the sacred halls of the beautiful forest, with their mighty pillars and +lofty domes, he had long since lost his way. He had, indeed, for some +time followed a narrow footpath, which led nowhere in particular, and +only tempted him to penetrate deeper and deeper into the forest. + +Oswald stopped and listened; he thought he might hear the voice of a +human being, or the blows of an axe; but he heard nothing but the cry +of the hawk and the beating of his own heart. He called out merrily: +"Which is the way to Berkow, O hawk?" and the echo answered as merrily: +Hawk! + +At last it became lighter between the trees. He fancied he saw the end +of the forest. But instead of that he only stepped out upon a clearing, +which was almost entirely occupied by a small lake, covered with reeds +and rushes. Walking along the edge, he frightened a loving couple of +summer ducks, who rose from the reeds and flew with wild haste across +the morass towards the wood. Then again deep silence! + +"Wait and watch," said Oswald, to himself. "In the mean time I will +rest a little, for I begin to feel rather tired." + +He hung his straw hat upon a branch, spread his handkerchief over a +moss-covered root of a secular beech-tree, and stretched himself +comfortably on the soft heather. + +"This place is made to sleep in," he said to himself, dreamily +following with his eye the dragon-flies, who now shot like arrows +across the dark waters and now stood as if spell-bound. "Who knows but +this may be an enchanted wood, a fragment of forgotten romance, a +little remnant of the grand old forests of which we read in legends and +fairy tales; a portion perhaps of that forest in which the count lived, +who, every time when his notes became due and he could not pay them, +sold one of his daughters--a way of paying old debts which they say has +not yet gone entirely out of fashion. And he who falls asleep in this +forest, as I fancy I shall presently do myself, has to sleep on +for a few hundred years, and when he wakes up once more his beard is +snow-white and hanging down to the belt. Then he is justly astonished +at himself, and asks the first peasant he meets with where the way to +Berkow is!"--"Berkow," replies the man, politely; "never heard of +such a place."--"I mean the chateau in the forest, where Melitta +lives."--"Melitta? But, my dear sir, that's an old fairy tale."--"A +fairy tale?"--"Why certainly! My old grandmamma has told it me I know +not how often." Many, many hundred years ago there was a great forest +standing in this country; and in the forest lived a fairy, and her name +was Melitta. She had the most beautiful dark-brown eyes, such as the +children of men are never known to have, and a voice sweet as honey, +and that is why the people called her Melitta. She was the most +beautiful and sweetest of fairies in the world; but she had one little +weakness; from time to time she would allure a young man into this +forest and make him lose his way amid the tall oaks and beeches, each +one of which was exactly like the next one. Then she rejoiced. And when +she wanted to set a poor fellow wandering in this way, she mounted her +horse Bella--for this fairy had nothing but what was beautiful around +her--and travelled far and wide, till she found a stupid man. For she +liked stupid men the best. Then she charmed him with her beauty, with +her soft, teasing, bewitching ways and her honey-sweet voice; and in +order to make the enchantment lasting, she gave him something--perhaps +a rose. If he was stupid enough to accept that, he had to wander the +very next day into the forest, whether he would or not. Then, of +course, he lost his way, and ran to and fro and round about, till at +last he would lie down to sleep at the foot of an old beech-tree. And +when he is lying there watching the dragon-flies as they try to catch +each other, and looking at the water, and listening to the whispers in +the rushes, and the low murmurs in the branches above, he hears low +voices saying----"Melitta, are you never coming? Get down from Bella. +Do you not see that I am chained to this place? Oh, you darling, you +sweetest, you most lovely of women! Melitta, sweet one! a kiss, one +single kiss! And you are going, going now--but what is that? Away, +brown witch! No, no--you are not Melitta." + +Oswald raised himself on his elbow and stared, drunk with sleep, into +the brown face that was bending over him. "What do you want?" + +"No harm done, my dear young gentleman! Saw the young gentleman lying +there; did not know if dead or asleep. 'Tis dangerous to sleep in the +forest so near the swamp, if one is not accustomed to it from childhood +up." + +Oswald, who had in the mean time recovered himself entirely, examined +the woman more closely and recognized in her one of the many gypsy +women who infest that country, telling fortunes, hawking trifles, +playing on the jewsharp, begging, or more frequently stealing. Thus +they go from fair to fair, and from village to village. This one might +have been twenty-five or thirty years old, as far as one could judge +from the fire of her black eyes, the round, half-naked arms, and the +firm carriage of her tall, slender form; but wind and weather, hunger +and sorrow, perhaps also evil passions, had made sad havoc with the +once good-looking face. The features were too sharply marked, the eyes +too deeply sunk, and even the abundant bluish-black hair showed already +here and there many a silvery streak. And yet it was a pity she did not +rather display the thick tresses in their graceful windings than the +rags of red stuff, which she had wrapped, turban-fashion, around her +well-shaped head. Her dress was poor and much patched, her feet quite +bare. Oswald now also noticed that an oddly shaped instrument was +hanging on one of the trees, and a variety of quaint tools were lying +about. A donkey, adorned with a red feather and a bright-colored +blanket, was wandering thoughtfully through the trees and enjoying now +and then a mouthful of the rich, hard grass. + +"Are you quite alone, my good woman?" asked Oswald. + +"No; I have my boy here, the Cziko; he is gone into the wood to fetch +water; this here is fit only for frogs and toads." + +"And how did you get to this secluded spot?" + +"Know the place for years. Always stop here when I come to this +country. Cheaper lodgings here than in the tavern, my good gentleman." + +"Then you can show me the way to Berkow, I suppose. Is it far from +here?" + +"Not far at all. The boy, the Cziko, shall show you." + +The woman put her hands to her mouth and imitated the call of the +wood-dove in the most perfect manner. At once the cry of the hawk came +back from the forest, and soon afterwards a boy came running out, who, +however, stopped short, with an air of distrust and apprehension, as +soon as he saw the stranger. The mother uttered a few words in an +unknown tongue, and he seemed to feel at once reassured. He came +forward, offered Oswald fearlessly the tin cup which he was holding in +his hand, and said: "Will you drink, sir?" + +The cup was not particularly neat, but the boy far too strikingly +handsome to be refused, even if Oswald had been less thirsty than he +really was. Cziko was perhaps ten years old, but he also looked older. +The damp fogs drifting over autumnal fields, and the snow-storms +whistling through the hawthorn bushes had washed out the youthful +freshness of the boy's face, and given an expression of sorrow and +defiance to the dark gazelle eyes, so that one could not look at them +without feeling saddened. + +The woman saw at once, with the doubly sharp eye of the beggar and the +mother, what a deep impression her boy had made upon the stranger. + +"Yes, he is a fine boy, the Cziko," she said, "swift like a squirrel, +and brave like a wild-cat, and he plays the cymbal like no other." + +"Is that a cymbal hanging on the tree there?" asked Oswald, somewhat +surprised that the instrument was really existing somewhere else but in +Holy Writ and poetry. + +"Go, Cziko, show the gentleman what you know," said the woman. + +The boy took the instrument down, laid it carefully on the stump of a +tree, and, seizing the two sticks, began a most wondrous music, +striking first slowly and then quicker and quicker. His heart seemed to +be overflowing with music; his hollow brown cheeks flushed up; his dark +eyes, which he raised now and then dreamily to the tree-tops, shone +brightly. Then he fell into another movement and another air, and after +a few bars, the woman, who had in the mean time made a brisk fire under +a kettle, began to sing, in a low, melodious voice, one of those +Sclavonic national songs, whose plaintive air is apt to make the heart +melancholy and the eyes tearful. Oswald sat there, leaning his head on +his hand and listening as in a dream. He felt as if the sad notes, such +as he had never heard before, were calling forth entirely new feelings +in his bosom; as if they excited deep sympathy in him with his own +life, and the life of all other beings, and made him long and yearn +after an infinite, nameless happiness. + +The song came to an end. Oswald started up. He looked at his watch. +Three hours had passed away since he had entered the forest; if he +wished to see Melitta to-day he must not lose another moment. + +"Can Cziko show me the way to Berkow?" he said, going up to the woman +and offering her a few pieces of money. The gypsy swept the money from +his open hand, as if she only wanted to see the lines in it better, and +holding it by the tips of the fingers, she seemed to study them +eagerly. + +"Well," said Oswald, "not much that is good there?" + +"Much good, much evil," said the gypsy, shaking her head. + +"That is the way of life," said Oswald, "and what is the good?" + +"Much good, much evil," repeated the woman. "Every good line crossed by +a bad line; cannot tell you the good without the evil." + +"Well then, read it as it comes!" said Oswald + +"Much happiness, and yet not happy," murmured the gypsy. "The enemy of +men and the friend of women; quick to hate, quick to love; varied life, +early death." + +"Well," said Oswald, "I do not object to that. But how about the women? +I am interested in that." + +"Much good, much evil," repeated the woman, bending still lower over +the hand, as if she did not wish the faintest line to escape her. "Much +love, very much love, and yet so little happiness, ah! so little!" + +"Am I in love now?" + +"Yes." + +"And with whom?" + +"A very great lady, very beautiful and very rich." + +"Hm! And does she love me?" + +"More, far more, than you love her." + +"And where is the evil?" + +"Much evil, much evil! You cannot be faithful." + +"How do you know that?" + +The fortune-teller shrugged her shoulders. "Here stands another lady, +and there still another--you love them all. That ought not to be. +Brings you no good luck." + +"But about the varied life and early death, is that quite sure? Well +then, the harm cannot be so very great. Here, take this as a reward for +your good news." + +"Thanks. Take only for good luck, which I foretell, not for ill luck." + +"Then I do not wonder that you are so poor, my good woman. Then take it +for the trouble I am giving Cziko." + +The gypsy took the money with real or feigned reluctance, and called +the boy, who had, in the mean time, continued to improvise new melodies +on his instrument. She whispered a few words in his ear, in her own +language, and at once the boy started up and said to Oswald: "Will you +follow me, sir?" + +"Good-by, my good woman," said Oswald, looking with a feeling of +interest into the dark, brilliant eyes of the gypsy woman. "When you +come to Grenwitz, you must not forget to ask for Doctor Stein." + +The woman crossed her arms over her swelling bosom and bowed low. +Oswald picked up his hat and followed Cziko, who was already half +concealed by the trees. + + + + + CHAPTER XII. + + +"Not so fast, Cziko," cried Oswald, loosening his coat from the thorns +of a bush; "have a little consideration for my state of civilization." + +The boy went more slowly, but always kept at a distance from the +stranger. Oswald tried in vain to engage him in a conversation, whilst +he was busy pushing the branches aside, through which the boy had just +slipped before him like a wildcat. Thus they might have been walking on +for a quarter of an hour when they found themselves suddenly in a small +wood, which probably belonged already to the park of Berkow. The +paths were carefully kept; here and there a well-chosen seat, or a +weather-beaten Hermes pillar; everywhere traces of the hand of man. +Then they came to a wider road, which was probably the continuation of +that road on which Oswald had walked at first, and soon after to a pair +of iron gates, which opened upon a fine court-yard. Cziko stopped +suddenly; he pointed silently to the gates, bowed with crossed arms to +Oswald, and ran back into the bushes, behind which he was almost +instantly concealed. + +"A mysterious beginning," said the young man to himself, as he walked +slowly, almost hesitatingly, towards the gates. "I wonder if it is the +after-effect of my strange encounter with those gypsies, or an +anticipation of what is to befall me here which gives me such a strange +feeling. Perhaps I had, after all, done better to accept the carriage +which the old baron offered me yesterday. I might have escaped the +minister and his Primula, and, at all events, I should not arrive here +in a sadly neglected and disordered costume, after the manner of a +vagabond, but in state, drawn by two magnificent bays. Well, well! A +man is a man for a' that, and Melitta, if I am not grievously mistaken, +prefers the kernel to the shell of the nut." + +He opened the gates, which were not locked, and entered the court-yard. +A huge Newfoundland dog who had been lying on the grass rose slowly +when he heard the gates grating on their hinges, and came up to Oswald +wagging his tail. "Well, here at least I meet with a kindly welcome," +said the young man to himself, caressing the enormous animal. On the +right hand he noticed a bright garden, separated by a low fence, in a +line with the front of the mansion. It was a low house of two stories, +very simple, but rather picturesque, thanks to a massive stone balcony +over the front-door, and two superb linden-trees just in front. The +three other sides of the large square were filled with offices and +farm-buildings. A low fence and a row of dwarf fruit-trees formed a +line of division between the court-yard and the lawn immediately before +the house. As Oswald walked along the front of the house, he saw the +high windows open; but there seemed to be nobody in the fine rooms +beyond. The front-door was also open, and allowed him to look into a +noble hall with a floor of colored marble. A large hall-clock alone +broke the deep silence with its slow ticking. The court-yard even was +buried in silence. The whole place looked deserted, and only the +sparrows were twittering and making quite a noise in the linden-trees, +and the swallows flitted low under the eaves to their young in the +nests, and then as swiftly shot back again for more food. + +"There is probably no one at home," thought Oswald. "You have made the +long journey for nothing. Or can you perhaps tell me where your +mistress is, my good dog? Shall we look in the garden?" + +The dog looked as if he had understood Oswald's question, and trotted +off towards a gate close by the house, which evidently led into the +garden; there he stopped and looked round at the stranger. + +"Then she is in the garden?" + +Oswald opened the gate. The dog ran before him past a number of +flower-beds into a narrow walk with hedges on either side, down to a +flight of steps, which led through the hedge upon a kind of terrace. +There he once more looked round at Oswald. Then he ran up the steps. +Oswald followed. + +The creature had disappeared in a group of tall, blooming shrubs. In +the mean time the young man had advanced a few steps, and there a +picture presented itself to his eyes which fixed him motionless to the +spot. He looked upon a small open space which was framed in on two +sides by the tall hedges that enclosed the whole terrace. In the centre +a huge pine-tree with broad-spreading branches rose in full might like +a lance. At the foot of the tree, and upon the carpet of brown leaves, +stood a round garden-table and a few chairs. In one of these chairs +Melitta was sitting, surrounded by the soft dreamy light of the summer +afternoon, her head resting on one hand and the other mechanically +caressing the dog, who was pressing closely to his mistress. She wore a +white dress, which fell in graceful folds around her, and concealed her +shoulders and her bosom but just enough to betray their charming +outlines. On the table lay a glove, a broad-brimmed straw hat, and an +open book. + +She was sitting there so deep in thought that she did not hear Oswald's +light step till he was standing before her. Then she threw up her head, +and scarcely suppressed a cry of delighted surprise as she saw the man +actually before her with whom her thoughts had been so busy just now. +For a moment the blood stopped in her heart, and then, rushing forth +with vigor, it poured out upon her cheeks a rich glow of purple. + +"See there!" she said, quickly rising and offering Oswald her hand. + +"I beg your pardon, madam," said the young man, reverently carrying the +fair trembling hand, which lightly rested on his, to his lips, "if I +come unannounced----" + +"But not unexpected, to interrupt your _dolce far niente_ and so forth, +and so forth"--interrupted Melitta. "Come, come, no phrases, if you +please. Leave that to our empty-headed young gentlemen. Sit down and be +thankful that you find me at all. Bemperlein and Julius have given you +up long ago, and are away to pay a visit in the neighborhood; so you +must be content with myself. That is your just punishment." + +"If the punishment is just, it is fortunately also very mild," replied +Oswald, "and I submit to it with all the humility required of a +penitent sinner." + +"You do look like a penitent sinner! But, seriously speaking, why do +you come so late, and----" + +"In such a condition? Seriously speaking, I could not come sooner and +could not come otherwise. Walking on foot and over utterly unknown +roads----" + +"But why did you undertake that?" + +"I am fond of such undertakings." + +"Then we are kindred spirits. Well, go on!" + +"And meeting on the road an old woman, who delivers lectures on +immortality, a country parson, who preaches on the same subject, and a +literary lady, who tells in sweet verses what she has heard from the +beasts of the field, and----" + +"Oh, you poor man!" cried Melitta, clapping her hands. + +"Losing my way afterwards in the forest, falling asleep on the edge of +a swamp, dreaming there all kinds of sweet, foolish things, finding +upon awaking a gypsy standing before me, who tells me my fortune, +getting her boy to show me the right way, and finding upon arriving at +your enchanted castle no one who could lead a stranger to the lady of +the house, but an amiable dog, who listens as attentively as if he +understood every word we say--do you not think that doing all this +requires at least as much time as I have taken to tell it to you?" + +The dog laid his head confidingly on the lap of his mistress and looked +up at her. "Art my brave Bonc[oe]ur," she said, caressing her pet, +"doest honor to thy name. Thou watchest nicely over house and home, and +knowest full well that nobody else does it but thou and Baumann. Do you +know that you excite my deepest interest by your encounter with the +nut-brown countess, I mean the gypsy woman, and with her daughter +Czika--for it is a girl, as I must tell you, to the honor of your +sagacity." + +"A girl, the Czika?" + +"The Czika is a girl, you may rely on it. Where did you meet the two?" + +"About a quarter of an hour's walk from here, in the forest, near the +same lake, on the banks of which I had fallen asleep." + +"Then it was upon my own soil--I am glad of that." + +"You seem really to be deeply interested in the fair mother and her +still fairer daughter. I recollect now that the child was much too +beautiful for a boy. How does the gypsy woman get the name of the +nut-brown countess?" + +"Ah," laughed Melitta. "That is a long story, and one of those foolish +undertakings of mine, in which I sympathize with you. It is now about +six years since Isabel came for the first time into this district. She +was then about twenty years old--perhaps, for she herself does not know +her age accurately. Her child, the Czika, was four years old, that she +knew, for she was her own child and not a stolen princess." + +"How do you know that?" + +"From the striking likeness between mother and daughter, which must +have struck you also. Both of them were at that time extremely +beautiful; in fact, I have never seen anything like it. I do not think +any one could have remained unmoved by the sight of this youthful +mother with her magnificent child, which in the theatrical costume and +the dark, abundant curls might pass as easily for a boy as for a girl. +I have seen the like of it only in Murillo's paintings, with their +sunny glow and fierce passion. It so happens that I fancy I know +something of picturesque beauty, and try my hand occasionally at +painting myself--so they set me drawing all day long, and I went to +work on gypsy heads from morning till evening. I forgot to tell you +that I kept the two gypsies for a few days here at Berkow. On one of +these days I was obliged to give a large party. And--now comes the +folly of the thing--in order to get a joke a tour absurd people here, I +dressed Isabel up in the richest costume that I possessed, and handed +the Czika over to my chambermaid, to deck her out, and then I +introduced the two as the Countess of Kryvan, with her little +daughter Czika, whose acquaintance I had made the year before at a +watering-place, and who had just arrived from Hungary to pay me a +visit." + +"And what did the company say?" + +"They were delighted. I had previously made it known that Isabella +belonged to the old Magyar nobility, who had pledged themselves never +to use any other language but the national tongue, and occasionally a +little Latin." + +"Did the people really believe that, and did the gentlemen try to keep +up the conversation in Latin?" + +"You can make our people believe anything you choose; and as for the +gentlemen, Latin is Greek to them. Isabella, I can assure you, took her +seat on the sofa with almost regal dignity, and our greatest people in +the neighborhood overwhelmed the countess with attentions, regretting +again and again their inability to speak Latin, and thus to enjoy the +interesting and attractive conversation of the great lady. The little +girl was taken from lap to lap, and almost smothered with titbits and +with caresses. In fine, the comedy was played successfully to the very +last scene, and for several days afterwards the whole neighborhood was +full of the 'nut-brown countess,' as they took it into their heads to +call the friend of Melitta von Berkow. Well, how do you like my story?" + +"To be candid, only so-so. I enjoy the mystification of your +high-mighty visitors with all my heart, but I confess I feel rather +pained to see a poor helpless woman made the toy of the rich and the +great simply because she is poor and helpless." + +Melitta looked full at Oswald and replied, without the slightest trace +of resentment: + +"Now look, that is nice in you to think so, and I think it still nicer +that you tell me so openly. But I told you beforehand it was a foolish +thing I did; and afterwards I felt heartily sorry for it, and did all I +could to make amends for the evil consequences which followed. Only +listen, and see how the matter ended. I had, of course, presented the +Brown Countess with all the things which she and the Czika had worn +during the comedy. The poor woman, not knowing what to do with the +plunder, tried to sell it in the next town. They thought she had stolen +the things, and demanded that she should explain how she had come in +possession of such a wardrobe. That she could not do, for she had +forgotten my name and the name of my place, and besides, nobody could +understand her jargon. The justices, therefore, in their wisdom, +concluded to put the Brown Countess into jail as a vagabond and a +thief, until the matter should be cleared up in some way or other. +Unfortunately, I had myself left a few days before for a watering-place +in the neighborhood, and whilst I was there enjoying the fresh sea air +in full draughts, the poor woman had to suffer for weeks in a damp +prison cell. Alas! and these people value freedom above all things! You +see, I shall never forgive myself for all this! It was only after my +return that I heard, by a mere accident, of what had happened. Of +course, I did at once all that could be done. I drove myself into town +and opened the prison-doors to my Brown Countess. But how I found her +changed! Pale, emaciated, worn out, she looked as if every week of her +imprisonment had cost her a year of her life. Little Czika looked, if +possible, still worse. I took both of them back with me to Berkow; I +nursed them and comforted them; I made them presents, and tried all I +could to make amends. But repentance came here, as usually, too late. +Little Czika had been grievously injured by the damp air of the jail. +She fell, soon after her arrival here, in a raging fever, and I thank +God to this day that she escaped with her life. What could I have done +if she had died!" + +Melitta was silent, and something like a tear glistened in her eyes. +But the next moment she laughed again, and said: + +"Well, after all, she did not die, but grew as fresh and bright as +before, and played with my Julius till she recovered her red cheeks and +bright eyes. The children had become exceedingly fond of each other, +and I should have liked nothing better than to keep the little girl +here and have her educated with Julius. The child showed remarkable +talents; she was a perfect genius for music. The Brown Countess I +should have kept as my waiting-maid, or anything she might have +accepted. I offered to let her arrange her mode of life as she chose, +if she would only consent to stay here. But it was the old story of the +frog and the golden chair. For a few weeks she stood the quiet life, +pretty well; and one fine morning she had disappeared--she and the +Czika. Afterwards they have repeatedly come back to this country, but +they have never visited me here. Isabel is either still angry with me, +or she is jealous of me and afraid I might steal her little Czika. And +yet she ought to see that I mean it well with her. The people in the +village have my orders to do all she may desire; the keeper has been +directed not to molest her in the forest, and I myself have abstained +from seeking her out, because I do not wish to frighten her away +altogether. That is my story of the Brown Countess. Are you still angry +with me?" + +"What right have I to be so?" + +"Well, you frowned just now in a way which made me feel like a very +wicked sinner." + +"You are pleased to jest. What can my opinion matter to you?" + +"More than you pretend to think, in your half-assumed modesty. A woman +always thinks much of a man's opinion, because she feels instinctively +that his head thinks more soberly and thoroughly, though not as quickly +as her own. And for you learned gentlemen we have a special respect. +You have all of you, about the eye and the corners of the mouth, +something mystical, something unfathomable, something----" + +Oswald could not help laughing. + +"Yes, you may laugh as you choose. You may not think so, but we, we are +afraid of your learning, even when we try to make fun of one or the +other among you, who is good-natured enough to offer himself for our +amusement There is my Bemperlein, my faithful, good Bemperlein. Well, +he is most assuredly no genius, and knows as much of the world as I +know of Greek, and yet I invariably succumb when we dispute. That vexes +me, when I compare him with our country gentlemen! There are handsome, +very handsome men among them, and they look remarkably well in their +militia uniforms, with their light mustaches, their sunburnt faces, and +bright blue eyes; but in evening costume they look stupid. They are as +stupid and lifeless as the faces of horses and dogs. The only one among +them who has been to college looks as if he belonged to another world." + +"Who is this ph[oe]nix?" + +"Baron Oldenburg." + +A shadow passed over Melitta's animated face as when a cloud drifts +rapidly over a sunlit landscape. She looked for a few moments straight +before her, as if she had lost the thread of the conversation. Then, +awaking from her dream, she said: + +"Yes--as I said before--that is why I want Julius to go to school. But +here I chatter and chatter and do not even ask you if you are hungry +and thirsty, and yet you must be so after all your travels on highways +and byways. Come, we will go in and see if we cannot hunt up somebody +to bring us some refreshment. I want it as much as you do, for I just +remember that I have not dined to-day. Have you never been in the +house?" + +"Yes, at least in the great hall; I asked a large old clock if I might +present myself before the lady of Berkow, but it answered: Non-sense! +Non-sense! so I went away again." + +Melitta had risen and put on her straw hat, without troubling herself +about the ribbons, of which one hung down on her bosom, and the other +on her back; now she said, smiling, while Oswald had picked up the book +and was looking at the title: + +"I suppose you also read something in all you see?" + +"Yes, generally. This book, for instance, tells me: My mistress would +have done better not to read me, since there are so many better books +that she might read." + +"Alas! we poor creatures who live in the country, we must read what the +circulating library or the bookseller sends us. But why do you dislike +these _Mysteres_?" + +"In the first place, it annoys me to find them wherever I go. In +Grunwald the book was lying on every table; I was not two days at +Grenwitz before it followed me there, and here I must find it even in +your house. I have never been able to read farther than the second +volume, and here you are, to my amazement, already in the fourth. How +_can_ you take an interest in this Chourineur, this _maitre d'ecole_, +this Chouette and all the other rascally people? Surely, not half as +readily as in the beasts of a menagerie, for these are at least God's +own creations, whilst those men are nothing better than the misshapen +children of the wanton imagination of a used-up poet's brains." + +"You may be right," said Melitta, as they were coming down from the +terrace. "It is perhaps a real misfortune that such books are written, +and a greater one yet that we, and especially women, whose education +and training are every way grievously neglected, find after all a kind +of pleasure in them. For the rest, I accept all that Sue says of that +canaille as gospel truth, as I do with the reports of travellers in +distant lands and the marvels they have seen on shore and on board +ship. I believe him perhaps all the more readily, as he paints that +sphere of society in which I live, partly at least, with great truth, +fulness, and accuracy." + +"You do not really think _Rudolphe, grand duc regnant de Gerolstein_, +to be true to life?" + +"That I do not know; but I do know that stories like that of the +Marquis d'Harville and his wife occur almost daily in actual life." + +Oswald made no reply; he recollected what he had heard about the +relations between Melitta and her husband, and how the latter had now +been for seven years the victim of incurable insanity. A faint +suspicion of the painful scenes that must have preceded the actual +crisis, the fearful catastrophe, overcame him; he regretted having +touched unconsciously the curtain that hid so dark a family drama. But +at the same time he was filled with deep, unspeakable sympathy for the +charming woman who was condemned to lead a lonely, mournful life in +this green wilderness, in spite of all her youth and beauty. What were +to her youth and beauty and wealth without love! and did she obtain +that love which she deserved so well, and for which she yearned so +ardently, she whose gentle, longing eyes betrayed an unfathomable depth +of tenderness and passion? + +Sympathy is the first-born brother of the sweet sister Love. While +Oswald was pitying the fate of the fair lady, he felt how a spring of +painfully sweet feelings gushed forth warm from his heart and filled it +to overflowing. And if old classic love was born in the foam of the +waves, romantic modern love not unfrequently prefers the soft, perfumed +air of a luxuriant garden full of sweet flowers and fragrant foliage. +Voluptuous shadows dwelt in the cozy bowers; the afternoon sun lay +dreamily upon the green lawns; the birds were singing joyously in the +dense crowns of mighty trees, butterflies were dancing merrily above +the sun-drunk forests of bright flowers. + +Slowly the two tall companions sauntered through the green gardens, now +stopping to admire a rose-bush, which outshone all its neighbors in its +exuberant splendor, and now following with the eye a squirrel, as it +merrily flew from branch to branch and from tree to tree. More and more +Oswald began to feel as if he were walking in a glorious dream, as if +he were only dreaming of all this sunshine, this fragrance of flowers, +this singing of birds--as if he were only dreaming of Melitta's sweet +voice and Melitta's love-speaking eyes--and Melitta also felt as if she +were seeing to-day very differently with her eyes, and hearing very +differently with her ears. The strange man, to whom she was showing her +possessions, looked so familiar to her; she felt as if she had known +him many many years, as if she had known him all her life. On the other +hand, the things she had seen every day for long years, looked to her +almost strange now. So true is it that, after all, man takes most +interest in his fellow-man, and understands nothing else as well in the +whole range of his surroundings. For the sake of a single human soul, +which chimes in harmoniously with our own, we cheerfully throw +overboard all the plunder which in idle hours, and when higher +enjoyments are wanting, has to fill up our life. And if this is true +for men, it is doubly so for women. They know but one kind of bliss +upon earth: to love; and only one happiness: to be loved. Melitta's +heart, which for years had been forced to content itself with +superficial affections and empty flirtations, was yearning after a +true, deep passion. When the young man now raised his half-reverent, +half-defiant glances with sincere admiration and an almost caressing +devotion to her face, and wove around her a magic net, whose meshes +were constantly drawing more closely, she felt far too happy not to be +heartily grateful towards him who afforded her such sweet enjoyment. + +Thus she felt ineffably happy, and yet also more seriously inclined +than she was accustomed. The storm of wild passion, which was gradually +rising on the horizon of her soul, cast its dark shadows in advance on +her sun-lit mind, and the first cold breath tore the veil which time +had slowly woven over so many a bright picture of past days. While +Oswald was sketching a plan of education for Julius, such as seemed to +him best, he accidentally came to speak of his own life; allowing the +beautiful woman to catch many a glimpse of the innermost recesses of +his heart. She felt this as a sign of his love and his veneration for +her, and was deeply moved by it. Many thoughts which the young man +presented to her in his lively manner with pleasing eloquence, had been +suggested to her once before, and in almost the same words, by a man +who had been very dear to her, and whose uncommon character had +attracted and enchained her active mind while his roughness had +repelled and offended her gentle disposition. Here, now, she found once +more the roses whose voluptuous fragrance had then intoxicated her, but +without their thorns; here she found what she had so painfully missed +in those days: beauty of form, grace of motion, and harmony of speech. + + + + + CHAPTER XIII. + + +Sauntering up and down in the walks between the flower-beds, they only +recalled their first intention to go into the house when they came near +it a second time. They entered through the open door into a room whose +admirable proportions, and simple, tasteful decoration made at once a +most pleasing impression on Oswald. The tall chestnut-trees before the +windows kept the room shady and cool. The subdued light was grateful to +the eyes after the overwhelming sunshine of the garden. Comfortable +chairs in various shapes and sizes, American rocking-chairs, French +causeuses, a large grand-action piano, tables covered with books and +portfolios, scattered here and there over the large room, gave it, +amidst all the abundance of objects, something cozy, which contrasted +most delightfully with the stiff regularity at the chateau of Grenwitz. + +"I am quite curious to see if anybody will come when I ring," said +Melitta, throwing her hat on a table and going towards the bell-rope; +"it is by no means impossible that we may have to go ourselves to the +pantry, provided always we can find the key." + +She rang the bell and turned again to Oswald, who was looking at one of +the marble busts with which the walls of the room were adorned. + +"How do you like that mask?" + +"Very much indeed--it is the Rondanini Medusa." + +"Ah! I see you are a connoisseur." + +"At best only an amateur. I have seen a good deal in the capital and +elsewhere, but mostly only casts. It has been from boyhood up my most +ardent wish to make a pilgrimage to Italy, in order to be able to +worship at the feet of the great god Apollo Belvedere." + +"Well, that is a very reasonable wish." + +"Not so very reasonable, after all, if it is reasonable only to wish +what we can attain." + +"Then it would be unreasonable to wish for some refreshments now, as +that does not seem attainable," said Melitta, in a playfully +complaining tone. "But do we not often obtain something from Fate, +merely because we wish for it most ardently, almost impertinently? Fate +grants us our wish, as a mother often does the piece of cake to the +importunate child, only to get rid of us." + +"Fate is no capricious lady, but a hard, stony-hearted god, and if we +want anything of him we must be firm." + +"That may be so with you men, and perhaps it is well it should be so, +else you would be too overbearing. But we women--what on earth would +become of us if we had to be firm like that when we want a little +happiness? We rather go to work and beg and pray, and when we are just +about to give up all hope and to despair of all happiness--why, just +then--you see, there comes Baumann, and with him a prospect that we may +get some refreshments." + +The door opened, and the form of a tall, thin man appeared on the +threshold. He had quite a martial air with his old wrinkled face and +bushy eyebrows; a deep scar ran across the bald forehead, past the left +eye, and down the whole cheek, and his mouth was shaded by a heavy +iron-gray mustache. + +"Madam," he said, in a voice which seemed to rise from a deep cavern. + +"Ah, Baumann, is everybody out?" + +"Yes, ma'am!" + +"But I did not say they might go out. Where is mam'selle?" + +"In Fashwitz, ma'am." + +"And John?" + +"Gone to see the forester." + +"And the maids?" + +"In the village." + +"My good Baumann, we should like to have some supper." + +"Yes, ma'am." + +"Can you get us some?" + +"Hardly!" + +"Or can you find the key to the pantry?" + +"Will hardly be possible." + +"My dear Baumann, you must really see what can be done." + +"Yes, ma'am." + +Thereupon the strange fellow turned on his heels and marched out again. + +"Well, what do you think of my _maitre d'hotel_?" + +"I think the man is a great original; but why did he look at me all the +time, with his big bright eyes?" + +Melitta laughed. + +"You must know that old Baumann was my father's servant, after having +made all the campaigns against Napoleon in his regiment. He has rocked +me, when I was a child, on his knees, has never left me since, and will +not leave me till I die or he dies. Twice he has saved my life, and, +without my knowing it or desiring it, shared every one of my sorrows, +and, I may say, every joy. If I were to say to him: Baumann, you will +have to go to Australia to-morrow for me! he would say: Yes, ma'am! +pack his things over night, and be on his way before sunrise. And if I +said: I cannot help it, Baumann, but you will have to die for me! he +would say, Yes, ma'am! and not move a muscle. But if I said to him, +_Please_ hear, Baumann, or call him _Mr._ Baumann, he would think our +friendship at an end. Now he is angry because I have not told him who +you are. When he will know that, and find out that I am glad to see you +here, he will be content again. Now mind what will happen. He will come +back to tell us that he can do absolutely nothing for us. Thereupon I +will give him the information about you, and make believe to go myself. +Then we shall have peace. But you must look friendly when I mention you +to him, you hear?" + +"Don't fear, madam. I will be friendly, and smile as mildly as one of +Guido Reni's angels." + +The door opened once more. The old servant entered, marched into the +room, remained standing precisely on the same spot as before, and said, +looking again at Oswald: + +"No possibility whatever, ma'am!" + +"But, Baumann, that is a great pity. Here is Doctor Stein, who has +specially come over from Grenwitz, and on foot, too, to talk with Mr. +Bemperlein about Julius. And now both have driven out, and we cannot +offer him a mouthful to eat or a glass of wine. And I myself have eaten +nothing, as you know, since the morning, and am almost perishing for +hunger." + +Oswald found it difficult to keep the smile, which he had been ordered +to show, from degenerating into broad laughter as he saw how the old +man's face grew brighter and brighter with every word which Melitta +uttered. At last he turned his look from one to the other, as if he +were going to say: Well, you see, young people, after all, you can do +nothing without old Baumann! Then he said: + +"Well, as to the cellar-key, I have that in my pocket, ma'am." + +"To be sure, and how about the key to the pantry?" + +"Barely possible that mam'seile has put it again under the doorsill, +although I have warned her against that many a time." + +"Won't you look, Baumann, if it is there?" + +"Yes, ma'am." + +As soon as the door had closed after the old man, Melitta threw herself +laughing into the rocking-chair. + +"Did I not tell you?" she cried, rocking to and fro, joyous as a child +that has had its will; "did I not tell you?" + +Oswald had taken a seat opposite to her, at the large round table, on +which an open album and drawing materials lay scattered about. His hand +was playing with the pencil while he looked at Melitta, lost in +thought. + +"Are you going to draw my likeness?" asked Melitta. + +"I wish I could." + +"Why not? There is my album." + +"That does not help me. You will have to teach me first how to draw +directly with the eye." + +"Ah, that is exactly what I always wish I could do. How often, when I +am interested in a face, a figure, or a landscape, have I thought: Now +you will hit it! and when I try to fix it on the paper, clear as it is +before my eye, it is nothing but a caricature." + +"I am sure your album will say the contrary. Is it permitted to look at +it?" + +"Not generally, but you may. In fact, it has no value but for myself; +for I find there not only what I have drawn, but also what I have +wished to draw. Besides, my album is a kind of diary. I probably +commenced this one shortly before my Italian journey." + +"Then you have been in Italy?" + +"Two years ago, with my cousin Barnewitz and his wife. I wish you had +been with us; first, on your account, for you deserve to see Italy, and +then, on my account, because I should then not have been condemned to +wander through the most beautiful landscapes and the richest +collections alone, or in company with figures of wax. I used to tell +then, as I always do, everything to my album, which received patiently +what no one else cared to listen to." + +Melitta had risen and placed herself by Oswald's side, who wanted to +get up in order to give her a chair. But, in order to prevent that, she +laid her hand lightly on his arm and let it rest there an instant--an +instant only, and yet it was long enough to make Oswald's hand tremble +and his voice shake when he said, turning over the leaves: + +"These sketches must have been made before the journey to Italy. Here +is the mysterious pond, at the edge of which I slept and dreamt this +afternoon." + +"You have not told me yet what you dreamt?" + +"Yes, I told you all sorts of sweet foolish things." + +"Of course about a lady?" + +"Yes." + +"Ah, then I must not ask for more?" + +"Ah, how charming!" exclaimed Oswald, as he turned over a leaf. "How +snugly ensconced this cottage lies in the forest. The old pine-trees +stand around like gigantic guardians. The beech-tree spreads its mighty +branches over it like a protecting deity. And here the creepers, +climbing up and waving before the low windows, as if they were +whispering: You are ours. And how dreamily that brook creeps along +between reeds and ferns and down the deep green meadow in the +foreground! That is a beautiful idea," said Oswald, looking up to +Melitta from the book. + +"And as you have found it all out so nicely, I will show it to you this +very evening!" + +"What! This is not a fancy picture?" + +"Oh no! Perhaps those ducks hiding in the rushes from the hawk up +there. The brook is the outlet of your mysterious lake in the forest." + +"Ah, and thus only a continuation of my dream," said Oswald, turning +over leaf after leaf. + +A loose leaf fell into his hands. It had on it the head of a man in +profile, drawn in beautiful bold lines. In a corner stood the letters +A. V. O. and a date. + +"That leaf will drop out," said Oswald. + +"Let it drop, then!" replied Melitta. + +The tone in which she said these few words was so peculiar, so entirely +without the ordinary sweetness of her voice, that Oswald involuntarily +looked up at her. He saw that her beautiful brows were contracted as if +in anger, and her lips trembling. He looked down again instantly, and +was about to put the leaf back in its place, when Melitta laid her hand +on his arm and said: + +"How do you like the head?" + +A storm rose in Oswald's heart. He might have thrown himself instantly +at Melitta's feet to cry out: Do I not love you, Melitta? How can you +ask my opinion about a man whom you have loved, whom you perhaps still +love? But he checked himself and said, with apparent calmness: + +"It is the head of a man who recalls to me Tasso's words: + + + 'And if all the gods united + To bring him gifts to the cradle, + The Graces, alas! were not there.' + + +This man can never be happy, because he will never desire to be happy." + +"And that is why this man will drop out of my life as this leaf drops +out of my album. If one could kill memory as one can destroy a paper, +it would no longer be here. But since that cannot be done, let it stay +there. Go on!" + +The storm in Oswald's heart had passed by. Like a soft spring breeze +the thought came to him: She could not and would not tell you that if +she did not think you deserved her confidence and her friendship. And +he felt a sense of unspeakable happiness in this thought. It was one of +those solemn, sublime moments which flash once or twice through the +night of every man's life--one of those moments when we see the heavens +open, and the angelic choir go up and down singing. Peace! Peace! unto +our ready heart ... + +In this blissful disposition he looked over the other drawings which +Melitta had made during her Italian journey--landscapes in clear, +well-defined lines; sketches from cities, palaces, streets, and ruins; +between, a lazzaroni face or a dreamy girl's countenance. Then came +studies from the antique, generally very painstaking studies; then +again some subject was drawn over and over till it satisfied Melitta's +keen criticism. A head of the Venus of Milo was particularly fine. On +one of the following pages was the whole statue. + +"Where did you draw that?" asked Oswald. "Surely not from a copy?" + +"No, from the original! had become half a Catholic in Italy, and when I +saw the lofty form in the Louvre in Paris, I said to myself, This, and +no other, is your saint! Oh, you cannot imagine how beautiful she is! +how beautiful and good! and this expression of heavenly goodness, which +is not found in any other Venus, not, in fact, in any other antique +head, but only in the Venus of Milo, touched me even more deeply than +her heavenly beauty. When I saw that statue I felt for the first time +in my life how it might be possible to _pray_, to pray sincerely, +earnestly, before an image made by the hand of man. Why do you look so +solemn and thoughtful? Here, take that pencil and write under the +statue what you have just been thinking, for I saw you were making +verses." + +Oswald took the pencil which Melitta offered him, half in earnest, half +in jest, and wrote, with a trembling hand, while Melitta was looking +over his shoulder: + + + Away in Paris, in a lofty hall, + Amid the forms of ancient gods untold + Of fairest marble, and like marble cold, + She thrones on her high pedestal. + + She, whom in secret, silent lawn, + When dreamy mists were floating o'er the brook, + Anchises in his mighty arms once took, + Till she escaped from him at early dawn. + + The goddess died. They found the fair remains + And bore the lovely corpse up to the fane, + Where, altho' dead, she in her realm still reigns. + + But ah! the faithful pray to her in vain! + No more her godlike face to bend she deigns, + Prefers eternal calmness to maintain! + + +Oswald put down the pencil and looked up at Melitta. His glance met +hers. For a few moments their eyes rested upon each other as if they +wished to read in each other's souls. + +Then old Baumann appeared in the door leading to the adjoining room, +from which the clinking of plates and glasses had been heard for some +time; he had a napkin on his arm, and said, as solemnly as the statue +in Don Giovanni: + +"Ma'am, dinner is ready!" + +"Quick, come before our porridge is cold," called out Melitta. + +"Let me only look at these few leaves," said Oswald. "I see there are +but a few more." + +"There is nothing worth looking at there," said Melitta, almost +impatiently. + +"Why, here is the Park at Grenwitz," exclaimed Oswald, as he turned +over the last leaf in the act of rising. "The lawn behind the chateau. +Here the Flora, there Bruno in full career----" + +"And here are you!" + +"Where?" + +"There." + +"That misty outline?" said Oswald, pointing at a spot by the side of +the Flora where the faint traces of a figure were still perceptible, +which had been rubbed out. + +"That misty outline?" laughed Melitta. "I wished to draw you as you +really looked, but I did not succeed. Now you shall appear as Erlkoenig, +who tries to catch Bruno--bodily, I mean, for his soul is yours +already. How in the world did you manage to tame the wild leopard in so +few days?" + +"Only by a little sincere affection. Shakespeare calls flattery an +infallible means to catch men; but I think love is a much safer one, +and at the same time much nobler." + +"And is not love the greatest flattery?" + +Oswald and Melitta had exchanged these words while they were going into +the adjoining room, a lofty, beautiful room, filled with old-fashioned +furniture of great value. In the centre stood a small round table, on +which refreshments were set out most invitingly. Old Baumann stood +straight, like a taper, his napkin on his arm, behind one of the two +high-backed, richly carved arm-chairs, and waited for some +acknowledgment of his signal merits and for further orders. + +"Well, what does our magic table have to offer?" said Melitta, sitting +down, and inviting Oswald, by a gesture of the hand, to follow her +example. + +"Cold roast meat--preserves--charming, Baumann! Mam'seile will be angry +that we could do so well without her." + +"The housekeeper has come back from Fashwitz," said Baumann, opening a +bottle at a side-table. + +"I dare say she has never been away," whispered Melitta, smiling. "What +have we to drink for our guest, Baumann?" + +"Steinberger Cabinet, forty-two," said Baumann, filling Oswald's glass +with the golden wine. + +"And for myself?" + +"Fresh spring water, perhaps a little raspberry-juice," replied +Baumann, coolly, placing the bottle, with the cork in it, before +Oswald. + +"That will not satisfy me to-day, Baumann! How is it about our +champagne?" + +"No more, ma'am." + +"But they sent us a box only the other day?" + +"Has never been opened. Is down in the cellar." + +"Ah, what a pity!" cried Melitta. "And I am almost perishing with +thirst, and must needs have such a desire for champagne just to-day!" + +"Well, well," said Baumann, comforting her, "maybe we can manage it." + +Whereupon he marched out. + +"You see, I have to beg for everything in my own house," said Melitta. +"But why do you not eat? And what a little piece you have taken! The +worst, too, in the dish! Oh, what unpractical creatures you men are! I +see I shall have to take pity on you." + +And although Oswald assured her that he had no appetite at all, she +insisted upon helping him to the best that the table offered. + +"You do not like it," she said at last, quite sadly, when she saw that +the young man hardly touched the dishes. "Are you unwell?" + +"I was never better in my life. But have you never felt as if eating +and drinking were the most superfluous things in the world, and as if +the gods of Olympus themselves, who only needed nectar and ambrosia, +were the most wretched creatures, because they ate and drank?" + +"Oh, yes! I have often felt so," replied Melitta. "I remember I felt so +when my aunt took me to my first ball. But that is long, long ago, and +since then my feelings have, as far as I remember, never had anything +to do with my appetite." + +In spite of this boast, however, Melitta also treated everything on the +table, except some preserves, as a mere show-dinner. The sweet fire +which made her bosom rise, and gave new lustre to her beautiful eyes, +needed no food from the hands of Ceres. For the first time that day +there were pauses in the conversation. Neither ventured to speak of +that which filled their hearts to overflowing, and everything else +appeared so little, so insignificant! They were both overcome by an +embarrassment which they in vain tried to conceal under an assumed +indifference. Both felt that a strong, unseen hand was gently lifting +the mask which we all use in daily life to hide our real faces. When we +hear the voice of the god of love, asking us in our paradise: "Where +art thou?" we conceal ourselves and dare not answer ... + +They felt almost relieved when old Baumann came in, bringing the merry +child of Champagne in its silver cradle filled with ice, which he +placed before Oswald on the table. How he could have succeeded so +suddenly in bringing the desired wine from the deep cellar and out of +the box, this was one of those enigmas which the old man loved dearly, +and which he considered, beyond the power of man to divine. Opening the +bottle with skilful hand, he filled the foaming wine into the tall +graceful glasses, and looked highly pleased when his mistress drank the +sweet beverage almost with eagerness, and then, holding up her empty +glass, exclaimed: "_Encore_, Baumann! and take a glass for yourself and +drink our guest's health!" + +The old servant did as he was ordered, filled a glass at the sideboard, +and then drawing nearer to the table, he said: + +"First your health, ma'am! for that I value above all. And may God +always let your eyes shine as brightly as they do now! And then your +health, sir! And may Heaven bless your coming into this house, so that +nothing but peace and happiness may follow it. And that is old +Baumann's hearty wish." + +Then he slowly emptied his glass, throwing back his head, until his eye +looked straight at the full-cheeked angel in the stucco ornaments of +the ceiling; and placing the glass again on the sideboard, he went to +the window; turning his back to the company, as if he did not wish to +interrupt their conversation any further. + +The presence of the old servant and the fiery wine had loosed the +tongues once more, and made the glances bolder. They chatted, +apparently quite at ease, about indifferent things, until Oswald +reminded Melitta of her promise to show him to-day the cottage in the +forest. + +"Did I promise?" asked Melitta. "Well, then I suppose I have to do it, +although I am almost sorry for it, for you do not believe in my saint, +and are therefore not worthy to enter into my chapel." + +"Your saint?" + +"The great lady of Milo. I must tell you now also how great my +enthusiasm was for the deity. After my return home, the memory of the +beautiful statue in the Louvre pursued me so persistently that I did +not rest till I had procured an excellent copy from Paris. But as I did +not dare to set up my saint here in the house, I had her carried to the +cottage in the forest, which thus became a forest-chapel. Whenever +visitors come to Berkow, the key is lost; when I am alone I spend days +and nights there, especially when the world has annoyed me more than +ordinarily; or when I desire to be rather alone, than to have such +company as I do wish to have." + +"I should not have expected such hypochondriacal caprices in you." + +"Why not?" + +"Because you look--can look so good and so cheerful." + +"And do you not know that cheerful eyes weep most readily?" + +"I should not like to see you weep for anything in the world; I believe +I should forget how to laugh forever." + +And again their glances met and their souls kissed each other. + +"Well then, come!" + +"We shall have a thunder-storm," said old Baumann, from his window, +without turning round. + +"We shall be there long before it comes up," replied Melitta, who had +already risen. "And if you are not more afraid of a thunder-storm than +I am--or are you afraid?" + +Oswald smiled. + +"Then that shall not keep us. Besides, I do not see a trace of a +thunder-storm," she said, in the door of the garden room. + +At the same moment a blue shadow swept over the garden, and a few +swallows flew past the door, twittering and almost grazing the ground. + +"Had we better not go?" said Melitta, who had already crossed the +threshold, turning back to Oswald. + +"I am not afraid of the storm," replied Oswald, not looking at the sky, +but into her eyes. + +"And the forest is so beautiful after a storm," said Melitta. "Good-by, +Baumann! When the carriage comes from Grenwitz, send it over to the +forester. Tell the coachman to report at the cottage." + +Baumann looked after the two until Melitta's white dress had +disappeared in the bushes. + +Seeing him stand there on the threshold of the house, the tall old man +with his white beard and scarred face, crossing his strong arms on his +broad chest, and thoughtfully looking with his bright, truthful eyes +into the distance, one would have imagined a better guardian could not +be found. But alas! the house was empty; the beloved mistress had gone +away, into the storm-threatening twilight, with the stranger, a man +whom she did not know yesterday! And he, the faithful servant, sighed +deeply as he went slowly back to the supper-room, with bent head, and +then began to clear the table. "The gracious gifts of heaven scarcely +touched!" he murmured. "I do not like that. When young people are not +hungry, they have mischief brewing. And the wine hardly tasted! There +is the bottle more than half full ... and to-morrow it is unfit for the +table ... to-morrow." The old man sat down by the table and rested his +careworn gray head in his wrinkled hand. "But young people don't think +of to-morrow. To-morrow the young gentleman with the soft voice and the +large blue eyes is back again at Grenwitz, and who knows where the day +after to-morrow finds him? But old Baumann is here--to-morrow and the +day after to-morrow, and when the guests are gone the house looks very +differently, and when they sweep it they find ... Yes, yes--old Baumann +sees what no one else sees, and hears what no one else hears. Ah! +Baumann, I wish I were dead! ah, Baumann, why did you carry me +that day out of the fire? Now she says; I am not afraid of the +thunder-storm! and Baumann! don't send the carriage for us. Hm, hm! I +ought not to have consented; I ought to have taken her aside and said +to her: Look here, child, so and so; think of this and that! ... But +when I see the little one so happy, so cheerful--as in those days when +she was riding her pony, a little girl of twelve, and she said: Please, +please, dear Baumann, let us have a race now; why, I never could say no +to her, and away we went as fast as the creatures would run. She had +the same big, brilliant eyes again to-night, and she looked just as +rosy and fresh again! Poor, poor child! Yes, yes. You wanted to see if +all the windows are properly closed; it is only on account of the +thunder-storm!" + +Oswald and Melitta hastened joyously, like children coming from school, +out of the house through the green avenues to the gate, which led from +the garden into the meadow. Behind the sloping meadow lay the forest. +Close by the gate, and for some distance along the garden, there was a +pond, half bog, and here and there a few willows on the banks; for the +waters of the brook were caught here by an old dam and turned around +the court-yard, from which they ran merrily down through the village. +Even the meadow had become partly boggy, and in spring was often quite +under water; now large stones served as a kind of rough bridge at the +very wet places. + +"The path is rather rustic for city gentlemen," said Melitta, skipping +lightly, like a gazelle, from stone to stone; "we children of nature +are accustomed to such things. I might have led you the longer way +through the park and the forest, but you ought to learn to know also +the dark sides of Berkow." + +"Well, if this is a dark side of Berkow, I do not wish for the sunny +sides," said Oswald, smiling, pausing on one of the stones and taking +off his hat to wipe his forehead. For the air was oppressive, the blue +shadows had passed, the sun shot fiery rays from the edge of the +forest, and they had been walking fast. + +"Already tired?" said Melitta, also pausing and taking off her hat, so +as to push her full brown hair backwards. "Come, the faster we run the +sooner we shall be in the shade in the forest. I will count one, two, +three, and he who gets there first----" + +"Well?" + +"Oh, we'll see. One, two, three--oh!" + +Melitta had sprung from the stone upon which she stood on a lower one, +and fell, with a cry of pain, on her knee. In a moment Oswald was by +her side. + +"Great God! What is the matter?" + +"Oh, nothing, nothing! I have sprained my foot a little in jumping +down; it will soon be over." + +She rested on Oswald's arm, pale, and pressing her lower lip between +her teeth to control her pain. But her color returned as she looked up +at Oswald. + +"Do not trouble yourself," she said--and her voice sounded sweeter than +ever. "You have won the wager. Well! now I can walk again." + +She was about to withdraw her arm from Oswald's arm, but he was not +willing to let his captive escape so easily. + +"You cannot walk without support, and will you not grant me the +pleasure to render you this slight service?" + +"I am only afraid the way is unpleasant enough to you; the sun is so +burning. Oh!" + +A false step made Melitta sink down once more. + +"We shall have to stop here," she said. + +"I will carry you the few steps to the wood. There you can at least +rest in the shade." + +Melitta smiled. "I am not as light as a doll." + +"And I am not as weak as a girl of ten," answered Oswald, who seized +Melitta around the waist, and lifting her up carried her safely, as the +mother carries her child, on the last stones up to the edge of the +forest, where the broad branches of the beeches gave shade and +coolness. There he let her glide gently from his arms on the thick moss +and remained standing before her. Melitta had no longer resisted as +soon as the young man had boldly lifted her up; she felt very quickly +that he was strong enough to carry her, and she thought it folly not to +make the burden as easy as possible to him by clinging closely to his +arms. + +"How strong you are!" she said, now looking up at him with admiration. + +Oswald's heart beat high, and his bosom rose, more from inner +excitement than from the exertion. He still felt the elastic form which +he had pressed in his arms, the soft hair playing around his face, and +the sweet breath that had fallen upon his brow. + +"Under such circumstances it would be difficult not to be strong," he +said. + +"But confess, it has tired you? Come and sit down here; there is room +for more than two on this moss sofa." + +Oswald sank down into the soft moss by the side of Melitta, who was +leaning against the trunk of a beech-tree; he rested his head on his +arm and looked thoughtfully in her cheerful face. Was the dream near +the pond about to be fulfilled? Is the dear face about to bend down and +to kiss him, as it did in the dream? Oswald was overcome by the strange +feeling as if he had gone through all this once before; as if he knew +the place from of old, the tall dark forest, from which came the +pecking of a woodpecker, the meadow before him, with the red evening +lights touching up the tall grass, the silent garden yonder, and from +the green foliage the gray chateau of Melitta rising on high. He felt +as if he had seen Melitta often in former years, as a boy, when he had +been deep in a beautiful fairy tale, till at last the sweet princess +stood bodily before him. And Melitta also must have felt something like +it, for quite at her ease, as if he had been her brother or her +husband, she took his hat off and pressed her delicate fragrant +handkerchief repeatedly on his warm brow and on his blue dreamy eyes. + +Oswald seized the white hand and pressed it to his lips. + +"Your hand I must return, but the handkerchief I can really not give +you back," he said. + +"Then keep it as a souvenir of this hour. But now let us go on. It is +quite a distance yet to the forest chapel, and the sky looks really +threatening now." + +Melitta leaned on Oswald's arm as they followed the narrow path, which +led first under beeches, and then through a young plantation on one +side and tall old pine-trees on the other side, deeper into the forest. +The sun poured its fiery red rays over the low branches of the tall +trees; a little bird was pouring out soft plaintive melodies, as if it +were taking leave of the sun and of life itself. Then the purple glow +became extinct on high; the little bird was silent, and shade and +silence surrounded the loving couple. But the shades became darker and +more threatening, and the silence was strangely broken by the groaning +and creaking of the pine-trees, which stretched and strained their +powerful limbs as if they wanted to try their strength to defy the +storm that was rising over the forest. And now it began to whisper and +to whistle mysteriously in the bushes; dry leaves flew up and drifted +along, as if in mad anxiety, before the whirlwind, which beat down the +green waves on high, twisting the crowns of the beech-trees as in a +wild dance, bending low the tall tops of the pine-trees and starting +the whole forest to its remotest depths from its pleasant repose. The +pale gleam of lightning shot across the sky, and big warm drops began +to fall through the leaves. + +Melitta had come up close to Oswald, whose heart was exulting in the +storm. Pressing the beloved one with one arm to his side, he stretched +out the other one, as in defiance to the tempest-torn sky. "Go on, go +on," he murmured through his firmly closed teeth; "I am not afraid of +thee.... How, is your courage already exhausted? Oh! it is so beautiful +in the stormy, thundering forest!" + +Melitta did not say a word; without raising her eyes from the ground, +she hurried forward faster and faster, until the forest opened upon a +large clearing; and there lay before them the forest chapel, just at +the moment brilliantly illumined by the red flashes of lightning. A few +steps more and they were under the projecting roof of the cottage. It +was built in the style of Swiss houses, and a jewel of a cottage. +Melitta quickly walked up the steps which led to the low veranda, took +a small key from a pocket in her dress, unlocked the lock, but instead +of opening the door she leaned trembling against the door-frame. She +was pale; her strength seemed to be gone; she pressed her hand on her +heart. Thus she stood when Oswald turned his eyes from the steaming +meadow--a sight which always filled him with a peculiar kind of +delight--to her again. + +"Great God! what is the matter? Are you unwell?" + +"Oh! nothing, nothing!" she said, gathering herself up at the first +sound of his voice. "I have run too fast; now it is better already. +Come in!" + +She opened the door and Oswald entered. But he drew back startled when +he saw in the mystic twilight within a tall white figure, which seemed +to float down from out of the wall. + +"What is that?" he exclaimed, in his first surprise. + +"What?" said Melitta, who was opening the windows to let the fresh air +into the hot room, full of the fragrance of flowers. + +"The Venus of Milo!" cried Oswald, and a voluptuous shudder passed over +him. + +"My saint! Did I not tell you? Well, how do you like the chapel?" + +It was not a very large but a very high room; on the right and on the +left a window looking out upon the veranda; opposite the door, in a +niche and upon a low pedestal, the image of the goddess. A few +comfortable garden-chairs, a _chaise longue_, a table covered +with books, papers, drawing material, a half-finished embroidery, +riding-whip and gloves, in picturesque disorder--this was the whole, +simple but suitable, furniture of the room. + +"Did you get very wet?" asked Melitta, throwing her hat on the table, +without waiting for an answer to her first question. And then: + +"Go away from the window; you will take cold. Come here, or rather, sit +dawn on the lounge and rest yourself." + +And again: + +"If I only could find something for you! But--to be sure I can make tea +for you. Where are the tea-things, I wonder? Here--no, there, in the +cupboard." + +All this she said hurriedly, as if pressed by an inner painful +restlessness, while she was walking up and down in the room with quick, +unequal steps. + +Oswald took her hand. + +"First of all, I pray, take care of yourself; that little rain will not +hurt me, I assure you. Your dress is damp, and your thin boots are not +made for the wet grass on the meadow." + +"Oh, as for me, I am easily helped. I have everything I need in the +next room." + +"The next room!" + +"Yes! Did I not tell you that I often spend a night here? That door +leads into my dressing-room." + +"Then go at once and change your dress." + +Melitta drew her hand from the young man's hand, and went without +saying a word; she disappeared through a door close by the statue, +which Oswald had not noticed before. He threw himself into one of the +arm-chairs, and rested his head on his hand; then he started up again, +leaned against the window, and stared with troubled eyes into the rain +and storm; then he walked hastily up and down in the room; at last he +threw himself down before the pedestal of the goddess and cooled his +hot brow against the marble feet. + +The rustling of a dress close by him aroused him from his feverish +dream. + +"Melitta!" he cried, looking up at her with tears of happiness in his +eyes. "Melitta!" + +She bent down to him and kissed him softly on the forehead; then she +rushed away, threw herself into an arm-chair, and sobbed as if her +heart were breaking. + +Oswald knelt down before her; he seized her knees; he pressed his +glowing face on her dress; he kissed her dress, her hands. "Melitta! +sweet one, dear one, don't cry! How can you cry when you make me so +inexpressibly happy? Your tears kill me, Melitta! Dear, dearest +Melitta! Take my heart's blood, drop by drop. Are not my blood, my +life, my soul, all your own? Melitta, I shall never cease to thank you +for this moment; do you hear, Melitta, never, never, by----" + +"For God's sake! do not swear," cried Melitta, starting up and placing +her hand on his mouth. Then she took his head and kissed him +passionately on brow and eyes and lips. + +And again she started up and walked with rapid steps up and down the +room. "Oh! my God, my God!" she cried, wringing her hands. She hastened +towards the door, as if she wished to flee, but she broke down before +she reached it. Oswald caught her in his arms and carried her to the +sofa. He covered her cold hands, her trembling lips, with glowing +kisses; a cry of joy arose from his breast when the rigid form at last +began to move once more. + +She raised herself partly, and fixing her eyes upon him with an +expression of ineffable love, she said in a low voice, low yet firm, +as when a patient asks his physician whether it will end in life or +death---- + +"Oswald, listen to me! Do you love me now, at this moment, as you think +you can love a woman upon earth?" + +"Yes, Melitta!" + +"Well, then, Oswald, I love you, now and forever!" + +The storm had passed; the refreshed, fragrant forest was silent again +and at rest, and over the forest rose brightly from the purple evening +sky the beautiful star of Venus. + + + + + CHAPTER XV. + + +What a strange feeling it is when we enter, in travelling, at early +morn the streets of a town! The sun is gilding the steeple, the air is +fresh and cool, the birds are singing in the linden-trees before the +old gable-houses on the market-place--nature is awaking and blooming +forth in morning beauty--and men are still lying in the bonds of sleep, +within their musty, oppressive chambers. The traveller can hardly +understand why no shutter opens, and no smiling face appears, to enjoy +with him the glorious morning.... It is the same feeling which +overcomes the lover who has just been assured of the return of his +love, who looks around with beaming eye, and would like to press +flowers and all to his overflowing heart. But the flowers do not mind +him, and the people have the same everyday faces, worn with care or +heavy with sleep and evil dreams. The sun of his love, which rouses him +to a new life, has neither light nor heat for the others in the musty, +oppressive chambers of their joyless, unloving existence. + +Oswald felt this as he awoke on the following day, after a short, +restless sleep, which had rolled like a Lethe stream over the +recollections of the day before. But the soul receives impressions +which no sleep can efface, unless it be the last, the eternal sleep; +and thus he also had scarcely opened his eyes when the image of that +glorious woman stood bright and clear before his soul. What had +happened, up to that moment when the Venus image floated down to him in +the forest chapel, he had forgotten; what had happened afterwards, till +he had pressed Melitta once more in his arms, not far from the +carriage, to which she had accompanied him through the forest, he knew +it no more. But the kisses which he had given and received were still +burning on his lips; the sweet breath which had mingled with his own +was still there, and the loving eyes that had rested on his were still +shining brightly before him. Oh, those eyes, sparkling with animation, +those two bright stars which the morning dawn cannot efface, how they +still shone, and sparkled, and pursued him everywhere! He saw them when +he closed his eyes; he saw them when he looked out of the window up to +the bright morning sky; he saw them when he lost himself in the blue +shadows which filled the spaces between the tall trees down in the +silent, dewy garden. He felt as if he could have wept unto death, as if +he could have shouted for joy, as if his whole being might float away +like a harmony of sweet sounds.... There are moments in our life when +our bodies seem to us a mockery. We would like to fly away, and we are +chained to the spot; we would pour forth a world of sensations in +eloquent words, and our tongue stammers; we would like to be entirely +different, and we remain the selfsame men. Oh, that is a torment equal +only, perhaps, to that of a person in a trance, when they close the +coffin and he cannot raise a finger nor move his lips to tell them--I +am alive!... Oswald slipped on tiptoe into the boys' room. He wanted to +see at least one dear face, Bruno's face. The first dawn was peeping +into the room through the closed curtains; it was quite cool there. +Bruno had again left the window open all night, as he liked to do. +Oswald closed it, for the morning air was blowing in and Bruno's face +was heated by a restless dream. Again he was lying there, as in the +first night when Oswald saw him, with his arms crossed on his breast, +dark defiance on his weird, beautiful face. But when Oswald kissed him +on his forehead he did not open his eyes, as before, to smile upon him +in blissful dreams; he did not open his lips, as before, to whisper to +him the touching words: I love you! the dark brows almost met, and pain +contracted the proud lips. At any other time Oswald would have looked +upon this as a mere accident, but now, in his momentarily softened +humor, it pained him. "Is he still angry," he thought, "because I left +him at home yesterday? Does he feel that he has no longer all my love? +And yet, do I not love him all the more now?" He pushed the hair gently +from the boy's forehead; he wrapped the covering closer around his +delicate limbs, and crept out of the room again, with heavy heart. A +sad anticipation of a great sorrow passed through him. Was it to happen +to him, to Bruno, and alas! perhaps, even to her, after this blessed +happiness! He hastened down into the garden to breathe more freely in +the open air, and wandered about in the walks and avenues, and shook +the dew from the branches into his feverish face, and looked with his +dim, wearied eyes into the pious, childlike eyes of the flowers. In the +kitchen-garden he found the gardener at work. He was a man, at least, +and Oswald longed to hear a human voice. He spoke to the man, a thing +he had never done before; he asked him if he was married? Whether he +had any children? Did he love his children very much? The man gave him +those awkward, half answers, which such people generally return to our +questions--it is not that they feel less than the higher classes, but +they are not accustomed to analyze their feelings and to clothe them in +appropriate words. It is this which often gives them the appearance of +indifference. He became more talkative when he was questioned about his +work; he spoke with delight of the glorious weather, magnificent +sunshine, alternating with warm rains and thunder-storms. But Oswald +only heard him half, and left the old man suddenly, who lifted his cap, +looked after him in astonishment, shook his head and continued his +work. Oswald wandered on and on restlessly, but soon the garden felt +too confined; he passed through the open space enclosed by the high +wall, and hurried out into the fields, from the fields into the forest, +and on and on towards the roar which fell upon his ear, first +indistinctly, then louder and louder. + +Then he stepped out from under the beech-trees, which formed a dense +canopy overhead with their broad branches, upon the chalk cliffs, and +the holy, eternal sea lay before him, vast and infinite. Far out the +white combs of the waves glittered in the light as they came on with +irresistible power, and broke at his feet with incessant thunder amid +the enormous rocks on the beach--wave after wave, ever new ones and new +ones, innumerable, overwhelming, marvellous. Not a sail was to be seen +in the whole view, only, far on the horizon a dark trail of smoke was +moving slowly from east to west It came from the smoke-stack of a +steamer--who knows from whence? and whither bound? Above the foaming +breakers white gulls were fluttering; now they threw themselves +screaming into the briny flood, and now they reappeared and winged +their way whither? High up in the air a sea-eagle was drawing his +majestic circles, higher and higher, till it appeared to Oswald's eye +but a black moving point. But even the magnificent sight of the sea +could not fill Oswald's heart to-day. The ocean is not as large and not +as deep as the heart of man; and however he had formerly admired the +music of the waves, he had heard a more marvellous music a few hours +ago. He envied the eagle, however. "One beat of your powerful wings and +you fly over forests and fields far off to Melitta's house." + +He started up and hastened back to the chateau, up to the top of the +tower; perhaps he could see Melitta's house from there; and he shouted +with the joy of surprise as he really could discern the uppermost +gable-end of her house rising just above the edge of the forest. He +shuddered with mysterious delight; he felt as if he had touched the hem +of her garment. In love, as in religion, everything is mystical. Why +are millions of faithful believers strengthened when they turn their +faces to the East at prayers? Why is it a comfort to lovers merely to +stretch out the hand in the direction of the beloved one? + +The hour at which Oswald usually began his lessons had struck. He went +to his room, but he did not find the boys, who, contrary to the rules +of the house, were still down stairs at breakfast. His own breakfast +was on the table. + +Somebody knocked gently at the door, and the old baron entered, holding +a bundle of papers in his hand. After the first words of polite +inquiry, he excused himself on account of the unseasonable +interruption, and said: + +"You could do us (he never said me, since he was unable to think of +himself without his wife), you could do us a great favor, doctor." + +"I presume it is in connection with the papers which you hold in your +hand, baron?" + +"Yes, yes. You know that Grenwitz and Stantow will have to be rented +again at Michaelmas. Now we should like to have the two farms surveyed +anew, as the plats which were made twenty-five years ago are very +indifferent. The first letter, therefore, which we would beg you to +write for us, is to a surveyor. His name is Albert Timm, and he lives +in Grunwald. You would ask him to come immediately, in order to make +some arrangement. The second letter is for our lawyer, also in +Grunwald. Anna Maria wants him to revise the contracts. Here is a copy +of the last. Anna Maria has marked on the margin what changes she +desires in the new contracts. If you could copy this document for +us--it is asking a good deal----" + +"Give it to me, baron. When do you want the papers?" + +"If you could write them till dinner-time? We have told the boys that +they would drive down to Stantow with us. You do not object?" + +"I suppose it is all right." + +"Well then, good-by, doctor, and pardon our troubling you with these +matters. But you know, Anna Maria----" + +"No excuse, baron." + +Any one who has ever been in the state of mind in which Oswald had +been, before the baron came to him with his formidable request, will +readily understand why the young man hurled the whole package of papers +contemptuously into a corner as soon as he was alone again. + +He threw himself on the sofa and closed his eyes to dream of Melitta. +But the more he tried to recall the image of the beloved, the more +obstinately the wrinkled face of the baron presented itself instead. +Then again it would change into the face of the Brown Countess; then +the Reverend Mr. Jager made him a face, and suddenly Bruno was standing +before him, clad in long, flowing white garments. Oswald tried to laugh +at the mad masquerade, but when he looked at the boy's face his laugh +died on his lips, his hair stood on end, he shivered with cold--that +waxy-white complexion, contrasting so strangely with the bluish-black +hair, the wide open fixed eyes, a nameless something in those +lack-lustre, broken, and yet eloquent eyes--that was not Bruno, that +was Death, Death in person, under the beloved form of Bruno! Oswald +started up with a wild cry. The terrible vision had vanished, but it +took several minutes before the young man could convince himself that +it had been only a vision. He had seen everything so very distinctly; +every piece of furniture in the room, the ray of the sun that came in +at the window, and the atoms of dust dancing in the light. + +Suddenly he heard the cracking of a whip and the grating of wheels on +the gravel before the great portal of the chateau. The baron was riding +off with the boys. + +Oswald walked hurriedly up and down in his room. + +"Why must I see that fearful vision just to-day? Must Bruno die, die +before me, in order that I may love Melitta? Is it impossible to love a +boy and a beloved one at the same time, and with equal fervor? Is the +heart of man so small that one sentiment must crowd out another to find +room there? and is faithlessness a law of nature?" + +The young man had calmed down, but the ambrosial beauty of the summer +morning had disappeared. The sun was without beauty for him; the song +of the bird was no longer sweet to his ears; the overflowing fountain +of joy in his heart was dried up. + +You are just in the right frame of mind, he said to himself, to do the +dry piece of work; and he picked up the papers in the corner where he +had thrown them. He sat down at his table and began to write. First the +letter to the surveyor--that was easy enough; the letter to the lawyer +also came happily to an end, though not without a few secret +imprecations; but in order to make a copy of the two contracts he +required all his patience. The work was tedious enough, but what +annoyed him far more were the notes of the baroness, in which she tried +to explain her reasons for the changes she desired to be made. The rent +was raised in both cases to double the amount, a fact which excited +Oswald's astonishment all the more, as he had heard the steward say +repeatedly: Mr. Pathe, the tenant of the two farms, is an exceedingly +industrious, able, and economical man, and yet he is so situated that a +single bad year must ruin him infallibly. In one note she said: "Mr. P. +is a negligent monsieur, and his fine steward W. is not much better. +The kinder one is to such people the lazier they grow." In another: +"The rent payable in kind, and to be delivered at the chateau, must in +any event be doubled, for we can safely assume that we receive after +all only half what is due, while the other half remains in the hands of +these people." The following words were marked out, but so that they +could still very easily be read: "If anything should be left unused, it +can easily be sold every Saturday in the market town." In another +place: "Could it not be stipulated that the stewards, headmen, +housekeepers, etc., of the tenants must be confirmed by the baron? We +would then know what sort of people we have to do with, and we would +have some hold on their honesty." + +"And these men have a fortune of millions!" said Oswald, and angrily +threw down his pen. "Let somebody else copy that stuff! Am I to be the +most humble tool of these selfish, haughty, heartless aristocrats?" + +And the young man's heart grew heavier and heavier. It was not the +first time he was reminded of the awkwardness, the inconsistency of his +present position. And what had induced him to accept it, except his +friendship for Professor Berger, whose advice he had followed, contrary +to his own conviction? He remembered that he had not answered his odd +friend's last letter. So he sat down and wrote:-- + +"'There is nothing wrong in the world except a contradiction'--this is, +if I remember right, one of your pet maxims, and the fundamental law by +which you judge all men's doings. Well, then! You were altogether wrong +to persuade me to accept this position, for it consists, in whatever +light you may look at it, of nothing but contradictions. I to instruct +others, who need instruction myself! I, the enemy of the aristocracy, +who hate all nobles, in the bosom of a noble family--half friend and +half servant! And what is still worse is, that I see myself share the +enjoyments of this aristocratic life as if it were all harmless, and I +had never trembled with awe at the words: 'The son of man hath not +where to lay his head.' Were not these words written for me also, who +think no cushion too soft, no carpet too yielding, no dish too +delicate, and no wine too costly? I, who, far from being disgusted +at such luxury, not only disdain gulping it down at once, but +savor it slowly, thoughtfully, and accept it as something that is +self-understood, as something I was born and bred to enjoy. Can it be +that the great baroness was right the other day when she said that all +so-called friends of the people, now and in ancient times, had only +thought of their own interest? One, she said, sells his principle a +little dearer than the other--one takes money for his apostasy, another +place, a third something else--but that is all the difference. Then I +objected, of course, vehemently--it was in the first days of my stay +here--but I do not know whether I would have the courage to do so now. +For, my friend, I think of Marie Antoinette, and think if another woman +as beautiful and as bright as the unfortunate queen, a woman with the +eyes, the sweetness of voice, the charms of--well, of my ideal, of the +woman I could love, I would have to love--if she said to me: Abjure +your principles and I will love you!--Oh God! She will not say so, she +cannot say so, for I must believe that in the fairest body dwells the +fairest soul; but, if she should be so imbued with the prejudices of +her class--how then? Oh, I feel, I know I should not be able to resist +her words, her tears; I know that my proud strength would melt like wax +under the fire of her glances and the warmth of her kisses; that I +should not be able to tear myself away from her soft words; that my +oppressed heart would have no word of anger and of scorn to utter, but +only the one word: I love you! + +"You smile: oh, my dear friend, why can a mere supposition excite me to +such a degree? You think such fantastic hot-house plants cannot thrive +in the cool air of reality. Well, the whole thing is but a problem, and +would to God it could remain problematical forever." + + + + + CHAPTER XVI. + + +"Glad to see you, esteemed colleague! Kindest regards from Frau von +Berkow, and here she sends you Bemperlein and Julius to look at; cut +copies are not taken back by the publisher!" + +With these words there entered a small pale gentleman, with spectacles +on his nose, and dressed in an old-fashioned but neat costume. He might +be thirty or more, and held a boy by the hand. + +"Heartily welcome!" said Oswald, hastily rising from his corner of the +sofa in which he had been sitting, lost in thought, and half +embarrassed; he shook hands with the new-comer. His eye rested with +deepest interest on the boy, the son of the woman he loved. Julius was +a charming boy. The blouse of dark green velvet, which he had fastened +around the waist with a broad leathern belt, gave him the appearance +of a charming little page. Dark curls hung gracefully around his +well-shaped head; his face was almost girlish in its beauty and +delicacy, and Oswald trembled as he held his soft warm hand for a +moment in his own and looked into his large light-brown eyes. He felt +as if he had touched Melitta's hand, as if he had looked into Melitta's +eyes. + +"It is very kind in you, Mr. Bemperlein," he said, mastering his +confusion, "to have found time to come and see me. To tell the truth, I +partly expected you to-day, especially because Bruno thought it was +absolutely impossible that Julius should leave without having said +good-by to him." + +Here the door opened and Bruno rushed in, a huge slice of bread and +butter in his hand. "Hurrah, Julius, sugar man!" he cried. "Lucky that +you came! I should have run after you to Grunwald and whipped you in +the open street. There! take a bite! The last piece of bread and butter +we shall share for a long time! And now come! Let us run once more +through the garden and the wood. You are going to spend the evening +here, Mr. Bemperlein?" + +"_Non Monseigneur!_" replied the latter, who had sunk into a chair and +was wiping the perspiration from his brow; "our moments are counted. +You would, therefore, oblige me by not extending your excursions beyond +the garden, and especially by not throwing Julius again into a ditch, +as you did the last time." + +"Julius, did I throw you into a ditch?" + +"No; but you pulled me out of a ditch when I had fallen in." + +"Well, then, come along, sugar man," cried Bruno, lifting the light boy +in his arms and carrying him bodily out of the room. + +"That is a boy!" said Mr. Bemperlein. "By my life, what a boy! Really, +my dear sir, I admire you." + +"How so?" + +"Because I see you dressed in a light summer coat instead of triple +brass, like Horace's first sailor, and as everybody ought to be +dressed, in my humble opinion, who has to do with such a sea-monster, +such a shark, such a spiny ray--I mean Bruno." + +"For heaven's sake, Mr. Bemperlein, if you wish us to be friends, do +not tell me that you dislike Bruno." + +"I dislike Bruno! I love him as I love a storm at sea which I can +watch from the shore; like a wild horse that runs away with somebody +else; like a thunder-storm which strikes a tree at a few miles' +distance.--Apropos! that was a terrible storm yesterday! We did not +reach home till eleven o'clock. Frau von Berkow told me you had been +caught by the rain in the forest cottage." + +"And you will really go to-morrow?" said Oswald, to turn the +conversation. + +"I will," said Bemperlein, in a plaintive tone. "I will not at all, my +dear sir, but I must. That's the trouble. Alas! if I had my will I +would never leave Berkow again as long as I live; and not even +afterwards, for I would ask it as a last favor to be buried there. And, +really, I do not like to think what is to become of me when I am gone. +If you had lived, as I have done, seven years at one and the same +place, and that place had been Berkow, and you had taken root there, so +as to know every sparrow who builds his nest near your window, and +every horse that is in the stable, and if you were then to try to tear +yourself away, you would feel how painful that is." + +The good fellow took again his handkerchief and passed it, under the +pretext of wiping off the perspiration, several times over his eyes. + +"I can understand that perfectly," said Oswald, with unaffected +sympathy. + +"You cannot understand that, my dear sir! You see, I commenced last +year to train some ivy against my window, and all the summer and winter +I fancied how pretty it would look in fall, when the window should be +shaded by the leaves, from top to bottom, and we--I mean my canary-bird +and my tree-frog--could hide behind the broad leaves. You do not know +what very broad leaves the ivy has--as large as grape-leaves--and this +fall the window will be completely filled up. But the room will be +empty, and the sun will send its rays through the leaves, and the +raindrops will run down on them, and not a soul will derive any +pleasure from them." + +"I think I can feel that with you," said Oswald + +"Impossible, my dear sir, impossible!" sighed the other. "I tell you +there is no such window in the wide world. In the deep embrasure stands +an arm-chair, covered with black morocco, which Frau von Berkow gave me +as a birthday present two years ago--a cushion, which she has herself +embroidered for me on my last birthday, lies against the back--well, I +cannot describe it all. But then, to sit there on a summer evening, +when the voices of Frau von Berkow and Julius come up to me from the +garden, and the smoke of my cigar floats away through the leaves----" + +With these words Mr. Bemperlein blew two huge blue clouds of smoke from +his cigar through the open window at which he sat, and shook his head +sadly, as if to say, Here, that produces not the slightest effect; but +you ought to see it in my arm-chair! + +"Yes, indeed----" suggested Oswald. + +"No, my dear sir, you cannot possibly feel as I feel. You do not know +what a charming boy Julius is. I have been there seven years now, and +if he has given me a single unpleasant hour, a single minute even, my +name is not Anastasius Bemperlein. And then--Frau von Berkow--you do +not know her." + +Oswald turned his face, for he felt how the blood rose in his cheeks. + +"You have no idea what an angel of goodness that lady is! What do I not +owe her--all! Before I came to Berkow, I knew just as much of the air +and the sun, of everything that is beautiful on earth, as a mole. I was +a real bear, a perfect rhinoceros, and if I now look a little more like +a man, I owe it all to her. And what has she not done for me in every +respect! Once, I remember, I was laid up for weeks with typhoid fever. +The first person I recognized, when I awoke from my stupor, was Frau +von Berkow, and then old Baumann. It was an afternoon in summer, just +as to-day. The bed curtains were half closed. Baumann and his mistress +were standing at a little distance from me, near a table. 'If I am not +to be sick myself, Baumann, I must ride out this afternoon for half an +hour,' said Frau von Berkow. 'Don't let Bemperlein die in the mean +time, you hear!' 'Yes, ma'am,' said old Baumann. But you must not +think, my dear sir, that I think this kindness on the part of Frau von +Berkow is anything like a special favor due to my special merits--far +from it. I have seen Frau von Berkow lavish the same grace and goodness +upon entirely indifferent persons. I really believe the heart of the +lady is not made of the same material of which other hearts are made. I +think she cannot help doing good and making others happy, just as a +canary-bird must sing and a squirrel must jump, because it is their +nature and they cannot help it. Pardon me, my dear sir, for detaining +you with these things, which cannot possibly interest you, but really, +my heart is too full--I cannot keep it from overflowing, and I trust +you will not, for all that, set me down as a sentimental fellow." + +"I can only assure you, Mr. Bemperlein, that your confidence is not +misplaced, even though you will not allow me to sympathize with you +fully." + +"I will not allow you! It is my greatest wish that you should do so, +especially as I came here, to tell the truth, with the very selfish +design to ask your advice in a very important matter of business." + +"My advice?" + +"Yes, yours! I will tell you candidly how it happens that I come to +you, as people used to go to a hermit in the woods to relieve them of +their scruples. You have been appointed to that important voice by an +authority from which I know no appeal--I mean by Frau von Berkow. I +tried to explain to her this morning what I shall presently tell you, +if you permit me. She listened to me with angelic patience from +beginning to end, and then, placing her hand on my arm, she said, 'Dear +Bemperlein, you ask for my advice?' 'Of course, madam,' said I. 'Well, +then,' said she, 'dear Bemperlein, go over to Grenwitz, present my +compliments to Doctor Stein, and tell him at full length what you have +just told me, and what he says is my answer.'" + +On Oswald's lip a proud smile began to appear. He saw in Melitta's +humility a compliment paid him; he felt that she could give no clearer +expression to her love than this avowal, that henceforth her life was +bound up with his. + +"How you are going to relieve me from my embarrassment," continued Mr. +Bemperlein, "that is your part; you have been appointed my confidant, +and you must play the part as well as you can. The thing is simply +this, or rather not simply, but is, a very complicated matter. I am--I +have--no, I cannot tell you all that here, I must have the pure heavens +above me, for the thoughts which have brought about such a revolution +in my mind have come to me under the pure heavens. You would do me a +great favor, my dear sir, if you would accompany me to Berkow. I will +make my confession on the way. Now I will go and call Julius, and say +farewell to the baroness. You can get ready in the mean time, but, I +pray, do not keep me waiting long. Ten minutes are amply sufficient, +and I could not stand a _tete-a-tete_ with the baroness for more than +that. Then, _au revoir_ in ten minutes; it will do no harm if it is in +nine minutes." + +When Oswald came down, Mr. Bemperlein was just bowing himself out of +the sitting-room. + +"Not a step further, baron! Uff! Now let us be off, my dear sir. Where +is my Julius?" + +They found the boys in the courtyard. Bruno was sitting on the edge of +the basin of the headless Naiad, and was arranging Julius' curly hair +while he was standing between his knees. + +"How will you get along without your pony, Julius?" + +"Well, I don't know. Perhaps I'll send for it." + +"You happy fellow. I believe you would send for your mamma and for Mr. +Bemperlein, if you could not get on without them. I wish I could go +with you; I do not want to see this wretched hole any longer." + +"Mamma says you are very fond of Doctor Stein--is that so?" + +"I fond of him?" said Bruno, raising his head defiantly; "why should I +be fond of him? He is perfectly indifferent to me. He does not care for +me! He! Why, yesterday he has been running about all day long without +me, and today he has not looked at me once; he is perfectly indifferent +to me, you hear? You can tell your mamma so. Perfectly indifferent!" +And thereupon he hid his face in Julius' curls and sobbed bitterly. + +"What is the matter, Bruno?" + +"The matter? Nothing! What should it be?" + +"Bruno, I am going with Mr. Bemperlein," called Oswald across. + +"Doctor, I am going with Julius!" Bruno called back. + +"Where is Malte?" + +"Am I Malte's keeper?" + +"Malte is in the baron's room," said Mr. Bemperlein. "The drive has +fatigued him very much, and the baron has made him lie down on the +sofa, where he is snugly coiled up like a kitten. Which way shall we +go?" + +"Suppose we go through the forest?" said Oswald. + +They crossed the drawbridge, which had not been raised for two hundred +years, through the linden avenue into the wood, Mr. Bemperlein and +Oswald ahead, Bruno and Julius following at a little distance. Bruno +had put his arm around Julius' neck; he had no interest to-day in +anything but his friend, whom he had always loved dearly, and on whose +brown eyes he had written more than one poem, and whom he now, in the +hour of parting, overwhelmed with caresses. + +"You are going away, Julius," he moaned; "and when you have been away +for three days you will have forgotten me." + +"I shall never forget you, Bruno!" + +"Ah! Are you quite sure of that? You have a better memory, then, than +Oswald--I mean Doctor Stein. He told me the same thing, that he loved +me like a brother, and since night before last he has forgotten that I +am in the world. Now he is probably telling Mr. Bemperlein that he +loves him like a brother--just look how he takes his arm! And nobody +cares for me! Ah! I hate him! I hate everybody--except you, Julius." + +While the poor boy was thus pouring out his love and his sorrow into +his friend's bosom, and felt clearly that he also did not understand +him, and that he was alone, quite alone on this joyless earth, Mr. +Bemperlein spoke thus to Oswald: + + + + + CHAPTER XVII. + + +"I told you, I think, my dear sir, that my father was a minister; nay +more, my grandfathers on both sides were ministers, for my mother was a +minister's daughter; my great-grandfather was at least a sexton, who +had married the daughter of a shepherd--though of another flock. +Farther I cannot trace my pedigree--but _ex ungue leonem_! You see that +all of my family have pursued the same business, to keep flocks--of men +or of sheep. The spirit of my ancestors seems to dwell in me. It was +always my passion to carry animals to pasture, and even now I can stand +by the hour leaning against a fence and looking at calves and colts. +There is no doubt something paradisiacal in this kind of enjoyment +which reminds us of the earliest times of mankind and me of my early +youth. Sir, my first friend was a boy who kept the geese on the common; +then a swineherd became my Pylades, and the intimate intercourse with +this _Eumaeus posthumus_ has given me a relish for certain parts of the +Odyssey, which others lack who have not had the same previous training. +When my Pylades obtained the rank of regular shepherd I left our native +village, in tears, to go to college at Grunwald; there I entered an +advanced class, but my teachers, as well as the boys, looked at me as a +kind of monster; the latter mainly on account of my fabulous costume, +of which a pair of trousers consisting of good ox-hide up to the knees +was by no means the most remarkable part. My learning seemed to be as +fabulous to the professors. I knew half of Virgil by heart; I read the +New Testament as easily in the original as the others in the +translation--and all this at thirteen! I am shocked even now when I +think of it. Knowledge, however, was power, and I reaped the benefit at +once. For my father, who had a numerous family, and who was as poor as +a mouse in his own church, could give me next to nothing when I left +home, except his blessing and letters to six families in town, who gave +me as many free dinners every week. The seventh day, on which nobody +invited me, became thus naturally my regular fast-day. I was, +therefore, left entirely to myself; but I had no expensive habits; +instead of them the talent to be content with bread and butter, to read +with a train-oil lamp, and to write with pointed matches; to sit +through my six hours' tuition, and to be able to give as many private +lessons. Thus I could not only pay punctually the rent for my garret +and the bills for the necessaries of life, but actually exchange, +two months later, my ox-hide trousers, for another pair, of more +suitable shape and material. But I kept forever the nickname of +Leather-stocking, which my companions had given me, and which I had +hoped to shake off on this solemn occasion. Other inconveniences at +school I avoided mainly by a strict line of policy. I had found out +that the biggest and strongest boys in any class were generally also +the laziest and the most stupid. I never failed, therefore, to form an +alliance with them, which was based upon these two fundamental +principles: I write your tasks, and, in return, you neither molest me +yourself nor allow anybody else to molest me. I must admit that the +treaty was always religiously observed. When I was seventeen my teacher +decreed that I had been for a year ripe for the University, and this +was true, if we understand by it that I was as full of learning as the +yolk of an egg, but in every other respect as ignorant and helpless as +a chick that has just broke the shell. It was a matter of course that I +must study theology. The sons of former captains are made cadets, and +the sons of country parsons go to the seminary; that is as much a +matter of course as any part of natural history. Well, I studied +divinity; that is, I attended lectures diligently, and wrote whole +wagon-loads of most abstruse erudition. Otherwise I continued very much +the same kind of life I had led before; I had even kept my garret and +gave my private lessons as heretofore, especially as one of my younger +brothers was now staying with me who fell heir to all my little +privileges. The three years' course passed away monotonously enough, +but not unpleasantly. One day looked very much like all the others, +only Wednesday appeared somewhat dismal to me, because on that day we +had pork and beans for dinner, a dish which I have never been able to +like, in spite of my liberal views on such subjects. It reminded me +always too forcibly of the beautiful summer mornings when I sat by the +side of my Eumaeus posthumus, reading Virgil's eclogues, and I could not +swallow anything. You may think that sentimental, but we all have our +foibles. Of actual life I saw about that time as much as a camel sees +of the desert in a menagerie. The number of my friends was very small, +strictly proportioned to my means; for I have noticed that the +wealthier students are seen in lots together, while the poorer walk +singly through the streets. I do not know if it is so in life also. But +I had an enormous respect for these wealthier students, for there are +some even in Grunwald, and in my eyes every one of them who had a +hundred a year was a Cr[oe]sus. These mustached puss in boots appeared +to me like select creatures, and I could never quite comprehend how a +government, otherwise so anxiously concerned for the repose of its +subjects, could allow them to go about in such perfect freedom. I must +confess that I lived this three years in constant apprehension of a +challenge. Not that I am lacking in personal courage. I have +fortunately had several times occasion to convince myself of the +contrary; but I was afraid of the embarrassment such an event might +produce. I always looked upon students' duels as the most abominable +nonsense, injurious to health, but far more injurious to morality, for +the custom compels young men to subject their thoughts and their +feelings to a Moloch of barbarous notions about honor, the most +ridiculous caricature of a moral code. It accustoms them thus, +systematically, to that blind obedience which seems to me the true sin +against the Holy Ghost. I do not know if we agree on this point, my +dear sir?" + +"Perfectly," replied Oswald. "Well," said Bemperlein, "and yet the most +surprising thing to me is the length of time during which that +intoxication lasts, long after the University years have been +forgotten. There is a Baron Lylow living near us at Berkow, a man of +forty, who has been married at least ten years. Well, yesterday, when I +took leave of him, with Julius,--the children have always been very +intimate,--the baron fell, after supper, to talking about his +University time, and gave us--I mean his tutor and myself--a sketch of +his heroic deeds in those days. Fortunately, my colleague had been a +fast young man in Halle, and could tell the baron all about the present +fashion as to duels. And now you ought to have seen how the good +gentleman became excited, how he pitied the low state of students' +minds in our day, how he regretted the small number of duels, the +miserably small quantity of beer which was consumed at night, and so +on. His eyes actually sparkled as he recalled the past glory, and he +became so deeply moved that he finally gave vent to the pious wish that +all the Rhenish Democrats, as he called them, those people who talked +about freedom of the press and such stuff, might have but one neck, in +order to make an end to all their cries by--here he made an expressive +gesture with the hand." + +"Of course," replied Oswald. "When these great men are young, they +sing, 'Oh, Liberty, dear Liberty!' that is very poetical heard from +afar, and they sing and drink and sing, till they verily believe they +hold said opinions. But that is a mere hallucination, or if they ever +really think of it in earnest, they mean by it the liberty to smash +windows, to insult helpless men, to create a disturbance in public +places, and to achieve other heroic deeds of the kind with impunity. +Then comes another liberty--the liberty to remain forever, with undying +respect, your most humble, obedient servant, as long as they are +subalterns, and to treat the world like dogs when they become +ministers. But we have drifted away from our subject. You were spared, +I trust, the unpleasant alternative of hurting the feelings of those +privileged beings, or your own honor?" + +"Yes, thanks to my policy to keep my existence as unknown as possible, +for what could a mouse like myself do against puss in boots? When my +three years were over, and I had succeeded in my first theological +examination, my fears were at an end, for nobody expects a candidate +for the ministry to fight. I should have liked at once to accept a +place as private tutor in the country, but my brother had but just +entered the upper class at college, and I did not wish to leave him +alone during the two years which he had still to stay there, as I saw +that he was not as perfect in the art of writing with pointed matches, +and the other secrets of life, as was desirable for the interests of +the family of a poor country parson. For this second brother was +expected to do unto the third as I had done unto him, and this younger +brother was to enter the third class when the others entered the +University, just as I began my studies when he entered the third +class." + +"But how could that be?" said Oswald, astonished. + +"Well, you see, my dear sir," replied Mr. Bemperlein, "how it could be +I cannot tell you, but that it was so I can swear to. I am the oldest +of them all, and born the twenty-second of March; then comes a sister, +two years younger, for she was born on the twenty-first of March; then +a brother, then again a sister, then a brother, and again a sister. How +many does that make?" + +"Half a dozen, I should say," replied Oswald, smiling. + +"Quite right--half a dozen, all two years apart, and all born in March +with the exception of my youngest sister, whose birthday is in April. +But then she is a kind of comet in the planetary system of our family. +Just imagine, only eighteen, and already engaged!" + +"I do not see anything extraordinary in that, with so lovely a sister +as she no doubt is," observed Oswald. + +"Nothing extraordinary!" cried Mr. Bemperlein--"nothing extraordinary? +Such a baby! Marry! At eighteen! I do not even know if that can be +done. You are laughing? Maybe. I never understood women, and I am sure +I do not know how I should have learnt to understand them, unless the +knowledge was given to me, on account of my special simplicity, in a +dream. I remained, therefore, two years longer in Grunwald, coaching +students and giving private lessons, by which I made enough to live +very well--the fast day I still observed, but merely from old habit and +to support my brother, as was my bounden duty. This brother gave me +some trouble, which afterwards appeared to have been unnecessary, for +he is already assistant-minister, although only four and twenty; but he +learnt rather slowly, had weak eyes, and was inconceivably sensitive to +cold and hunger. I saw, therefore, that it would be barbarous to put +upon him the care of his next younger brother, who was then coming up +to town, especially as he was weakly; he is now a hearty fellow of +twenty, a brave, diligent youth, who will shortly pass his theological +examination--well, but what was I going to say? Oh yes! He was then +rather weakly and sickly, and needed much attention. But to provide for +two----" + +"And for yourself?" suggested Oswald. + +"Well, that was the smallest part. But I saw the thing could not go on +any longer so, and the offer to become tutor at Berkow was, therefore, +most welcome. Full board, a fabulous salary--I was beside myself. Now I +had both hands free, and could at last do something for my family." + +"I should think you had been doing that to your full power, or rather +beyond your power," said Oswald. + +"Oh, nonsense," said the other. "My wish was good enough, but my +strength very feeble, and now they needed support more than ever. My +poor mamma had been suffering for some time, now father also was taken +dangerously ill, and his iron constitution so undermined that he has +never fully recovered, and we feared, of course, the worst. My three +sisters, too, were still unprovided. How fortunate, therefore, that I +had two hundred dollars in gold! I gave half to my brothers----" + +"And the other half to your sisters?" + +"And the other half to my sisters," continued Bemperlein, and rubbed +his hands with delight. + +"But what did you keep for yourself?" + +"For myself?" said Bemperlein, quite astonished. "Did I not tell you I +had full board? And now listen! I had been a year at Berkow, when one +fine day the good lady sends for me, and after we have been talking +about this and that, she says:-- + +"You have been here a year now, dear Bemperlein; now tell me candidly, +how do you like it here?--That needs no answer, Madam, replied +I.--Well, I am glad of that, said she, but have you no special +desire?--Not that I know, said I.--But your salary is evidently too +low, said she, with the kindest face in the world. I was so astonished +at these words that I could find no answer. + +"I must tell you frankly, she said, with angelic goodness, that I have +looked at the time up to now only in the light of a trial, and that I +regulated the salary accordingly. I never imagined that a man, to whom +I can intrust my child's education with perfect confidence, could be +paid with money at all; and if I now ask you to let me double the +salary which you have heretofore received, I beg you to understand that +I still remain your debtor. + +"If I had been surprised before, I was much more so now, or rather, I +was deeply moved--not so much by her generosity, as by the +indescribable kindness with which the offer was made, so that the tears +trickled down my cheeks. I stammered something about not being able to +accept so much and such like, but then she became quite angry, so that +I quickly recovered myself, and told her I would accept her present, +not for myself, because that would be unwarrantable, but for those whom +I had to support, because they could not support themselves.--Do with +it what you like, she said, in going out, but remember that you owe +something also to yourself. There the matter ended, but not so Frau von +Berkow's goodness, which has no end. But I was going to tell you +something very different; I mean, how I came to discover the error +which had crept into the account of my life, and what that error is." + + + + + CHAPTER XVIII. + + +At this moment a horseman passed them at full gallop, who had turned +a few moments before from a byway into the high-road. A large +Newfoundland dog, whom Oswald at first took for Melitta's dog, +galloped in long strides by the side of the horse, a superb jet-black +thorough-bred, whose chest was covered with white foam. The horseman, +as far as they could judge in passing, was a man of perhaps thirty, +tall and thin, and, contrary to the custom of the country gentlemen of +that region, in long trousers instead of top-boots; his seat on +horseback was utterly unlike that of a country gentleman. But this was +perhaps more the effect of negligence and the habit of carelessness +than real awkwardness, for when he found himself suddenly close before +the two wanderers, whom he had not noticed before in his thoughts or +his reveries, he threw his horse with such force and skill on his +haunches, that he proved his horsemanship beyond all doubt. "_Excusez, +Messieurs_," he said, touching his hat and riding off again. + +"Do you know that gentleman?" said Oswald, pausing and looking after +the man, whose features seemed to him familiar and yet strange. + +"_Tiens!_" said Mr. Bemperlein, also stopping; "that must have been +Baron Oldenburg. Yes, it was the baron!" he cried, as he saw the +gentleman stop when he reached the two boys, with whom he shook hands. +"I should not have recognized him with his black beard and his sunburnt +face. He looks like a veritable Cabyle. When can he have come back?" + +"Has he been travelling?" asked Oswald, with assumed indifference. + +"He has been travelling these ten years," replied Mr. Bemperlein. +"Three years ago Frau von Berkow, the two Barnewitz, met him in Rome, +and then they travelled together through Southern Italy. In Sicily they +parted again. My friends prepared to return home, but the baron went on +to Egypt, Arabia, and heaven knows where else his restless spirit has +driven him. But we have again lost sight of our subject." + +Mr. Bemperlein began his tale once more with his inexhaustible fund of +details; but if Oswald had before only listened with one ear, his +thoughts now were far away. That, then, was the man who had played so +prominent a part in Melitta's life! So great a part! How great a part? +She had never really loved him--perhaps--no, certainly never loved +him--but is true love always the last reward of a woman's highest +favor? Is there no such thing as desire without love? Or love without +desire? Only a wish to hold him captive by all means, among them, by +the memory of pleasure enjoyed. Has she ever been happy by the side of +this man, at whose cradle the graces had failed to appear; happy, +though not perfectly so, not as happy as she had hoped, but still? Oh! +that thought brought intolerable torment! + +The demon of jealousy was whispering and hissing bad thoughts in his +ear, which made his blood boil and big drops of perspiration to break +out on his forehead--no wonder, then, that he heard Mr. Bemperlein's +tale only in a dream. This only he understood, that the strange man had +only now begun to think of his so-called science, his long-cherished +profession only now, when all the troubles of life seemed to be ended, +and he could breathe, a free man, in the green solitude of Berkow. He +had now only begun to make the acquaintance of the heroes of modern +literature, especially of Shakespeare; and from the poets he had passed +to the philosophers, here again above all in Spinoza finding a new +world opening before him which he had not suspected in his scholastic +studies. Under such influence he had been led to the study of nature, +to botany, mineralogy, and physics; he had built himself, with old +Baumann's aid, a small laboratory, where he had industriously pursued +his new sciences, and there, alas! he had found, amid phials and +retorts, that his orthodox faith, as far as the reading of the +philosophers had not destroyed it already, had altogether evaporated! + +"Thus matters went on for a while," said Mr. Bemperlein, "but the +moment came when it was my duty to decide whether I should openly avow +my apostasy from the faith of my fathers or not. A very lucrative cure +in this region, which was in the hands of an uncle of Frau von Berkow, +became vacant by the death of the incumbent. The gentleman thought he +would please his niece by offering the place to me; I had nothing to do +but to go the following Sunday and preach my trial-sermon. Now, you +must know that when the thing was first mentioned to me I was so much +overwhelmed by surprise and by fright, and so unwilling to hurt the +kind man's feelings, that I said: 'Yes.' You know Frau von Berkow +intended to send Julius to Grunwald, and thus I could not have stayed +at Berkow any longer at best. I also sat down to compose my sermon. I +had so far succeeded in avoiding every call to show my theological +talent of declamation, and now I felt, to my horror, that I had +completely forgotten the pulpit-talk, and, what was worse, the pulpit +logic. Three nights in succession I began my Sisyphus work, but I never +got farther than 'My dear brethren!' In the third night, when I had +gone to bed quite in despair, and had fallen asleep in great sorrow, +thinking what my good father and my worthy grandfather, whom I had +known still, would have said if they could see their son and grandson +in full incredulity, after he had been so carefully trained in +orthodoxy, I had the following curious dream, which no doubt partly +arose from an animated description Frau von Berkow had given me of the +Louvre. + +"I dreamt, then, I was entering into a lofty, large hall, with pictures +and statues on all the walls. There sat God the Father himself, a +handsome, bearded old man, and held forth his hand and created heaven +and earth; then came Adam and Eve, in white marble--Eve pretty well +preserved, but Adam had lost his head; then 'Cain's Fratricide,' a +large oil-painting, and by its side 'Adam and Eve find the corpse of +murdered Abel,' on which the form of the deadly pale youth, who looked +like broken white lilies, was deeply touching. Thus I went on and on, +looking at statue after statue and painting after painting. I was not +alone in the hall; on the contrary, a crowd of people was moving along +the walls and amid the forest of statues. Large groups were standing +before some of the most prominent works; for instance, the passage of +the children of Israel through the Red Sea, a gigantic fresco, and +smaller groups before other paintings, less remarkable for historic +importance than for the piquancy of the scene they represented. Thus I +was much annoyed by a crowd of young people who stood before 'Lot +drunk,' and put their heads together and laughed. Altogether, the +deportment of the company appeared to me highly improper. The women +were laughing and talking and coquetting; the men chatted and ogled, +and a few, with long legs and long teeth,--probably English,--actually +kept their hats on. Almost all had a book in their hands, into which +they looked conscientiously from time to time, when they wished for +information about one of the works of art. This book seemed to be a +catalogue of the Museum, and I wished to obtain one, because I had +forgotten the order in which the prophets came, and thus could not tell +whether the bearded man in No. 8 was Habakkuk, and the young man in No. +9 Zephaniah, or not; I turned, therefore, to an old gentleman whom I +had seen busy with a fly-brush, and whom I therefore took to be one of +the keepers. As I approached him the man turned round, and what was my +surprise when I recognized my own grandfather. 'What do you desire, +young man?' he asked, in a severe tone. I repeated timidly my question. +'Here is a catalogue,' he said, taking one of the books which lay in +large numbers on the table and handing it to me, 'it costs half a +dollar.' I opened the book; 'I wanted a catalogue,' said I, 'you have +given me--' 'To be sure,' said the old man, in a melancholy tone of +voice, 'this is the catalogue of the Old Museum; the door to the New +Museum, in which you will find the works of art from the year one of +our Christian Era till the year 1793, when the Christian religion was +abolished, and the goddess Reason ascended the throne--is there.' He +pointed towards a fine flight of broad stairs, which led up to the +other halls. 'You will do well to buy another catalogue there. It costs +much less, and you must speak about it to your father, who holds there +the same office which I fill here.' And thereupon the old man turned +his back to me and began once more to dust the statues and pictures +with his tall fly-brush. 'Excuse me, dear grandfather,' I said.--'I am +not your grandfather,' replied the old man, quietly going on with his +occupation. 'Well, are you the keeper?' I asked. 'Yes, indeed, keeper +of the Museum, nothing else.'--'And where have they put all the works +of art which have been produced since that time?'--'Since that +memorable year,' said the old man, 'nothing worth speaking of has been +achieved. A few schools of art have been formed here and there, but +they have produced nothing that can be called artistic. The artists +lack the proper faith, and without faith nothing great can be painted +or sculptured or written'--when he said this he looked at me +reprovingly--'Or written,' I repeated, abated, thinking of my +unsuccessful efforts--'Or written,' he continued, 'and then the world +has become so indifferent, and critics have become so very sharp and +severe, that they have lost that naive simplicity and dreamy security +without which, unfortunately--but now I must beg you to leave; the bell +has been ringing for some time, and you are the very last.' He +accompanied me to the entrance, showed me the door, and invited me with +a stiff bow to walk out. I did so--the door closed with a crash and--I +awoke. + +"After that dream," continued Bemperlein, "I made no more efforts. +Without faith no sermon can be written, I said to myself, and even if +one could be written it could not be delivered, at least not by a man +like yourself, who has a little conscience left, and neither chick nor +child, such as have tempted many an honest man to write and say things +which he can only on that plea defend before God and the world. I felt +clearly that I could not become a minister of the gospel, and I +therefore wrote this morning to the patron of that church, thanking him +for the honor he had done me, and declining his offer, because I had +decided to accompany Julius to Grunwald. For, as I was writing the +sentence, the idea occurred to me. I went at once to Frau von Berkow to +tell her of my resolution, and she seemed to be delighted. Now, my dear +sir, after you have had the goodness to listen to this long story of +mine, pray tell me, what would you do in my place? Consider that +I am already twenty-eight years old, and that I still have all my +twenty-eight teeth. The wisdom-teeth have not yet appeared, perhaps +because Nature has forgotten them, or because of a wise provision of +Fate, which remembered how little I would often have to bite in this +life." + +"What I would do in your place," said Oswald, "if I were such a brave, +conscientious, excellent----" + +"Pray don't, my dear sir," said Bemperlein, blushing all over. + +"I say conscientious, excellent man? Well, that question can easily be +answered. I would do what you have already done. I would cheerfully +turn my back upon the paradise of naive thoughtlessness and harmless +orthodoxy, after having, tasted of the tree of knowledge. I would not +allow myself to be cooped up in that stall in which the hypocrites, the +vile dogs in the sheeps' clothing of humility, are whining and howling +so fearfully." + +"Very well, very well!" said Mr. Bemperlein, rubbing his hands with +delight, "and what would you do next, my dear sir?" + +"Then," replied Oswald, "if I were you, I would remember what +sufferings I had endured as a weak boy, and what industry and +perseverance I had shown, simply in order to acquire a vast mass of +knowledge which I am now glad to be able to forget again. I would +remember this, I say, and now study a science which I should not wish +to forget again, because I could be a pupil there without first +fettering my reason, and because this science is fruitful for myself +and fruitful for my fellow-beings." + +"Excellent! excellent!" said Mr. Bemperlein. "Go on, go on!" + +"In one word, I would devote myself," continued Oswald, "with all my +strength to those sciences which you have already tried, and I would, +for that purpose, return to Grunwald and enter my name once more as a +student, but not in order to study Theology, but this time Medicine." + +"The Medical Faculty in Grunwald is excellent," said Mr. Bemperlein. + +"It is acknowledged to be one of the best in Germany," continued +Oswald. "Then I would go to some other universities as long as the +money lasts." + +"Money like hay, money like hay," continued Mr. Bemperlein--"for six +years a princely income and full board--I pray you, my dear sir, I have +enough to live on for half a century." + +"Then I would become a famous physician----" + +"Do you know," said Bemperlein, standing still and looking back at the +boys, in a whisper, "I have already poisoned some of Julius' rabbits +secretly, and dissected them afterwards, and the frogs in the swamps +behind our park have no reason to be friends of mine." + +"Well done!" laughed Oswald. "And then I would marry." + +"Really?" said Bemperlein. + +"Well, of course, and--have a half-dozen little Bemperleins who would, +after a while, all turn out great Bemperleins, bright, shining lights +in modern science." + +"And the girls?" said Bemperlein, laughing. + +"The girls will marry brave, truthful men, and thus help to bring on +the good time when we shall have, 'Oh Liberty, sweet liberty!'" + +"Yes, yes," cried Mr. Bemperlein, "so must it come. Thanks, a thousand +thanks, my dear friend; you have scattered the last clouds of doubt by +your encouraging words. Tomorrow I go with Julius to Grunwald." + +"I will give you a letter of introduction to Professor Berger," said +Oswald; "he is connected with all the great men in Natural Science." + +He tore a leaf from his pocket-book, wrote a few lines to Berger, and +gave it to Bemperlein. + +"Thanks! many thanks!" said the latter, taking the note. "The +acquaintance with such a man may become very useful to me." + +"Most assuredly. Speak quite candidly with him, without any reserve +whatever, and then you may feel assured that he will not conceal from +you anything that is in his heart. Perhaps he will advise you to go at +once to a larger University, as, for instance, that at the capital. You +must follow his advice." + +"_Nous verrons! nous verrons!_" said Mr. Bemperlein. "But here we are +at the park gate. Won't you come in?" + +"No, no," replied Oswald, hastily. "I must get back to Grenwitz." + +"Well, then, farewell! As soon as I have installed Julius in Grunwald, +and as soon as I have obtained all the information I want from Berger, +I shall be back again to take formal leave. In the mean time, farewell, +my dear sir." + +"Good-by, good-by!" said Oswald, pressing Bemperlein's hand, and then +Julius', and taking Bruno back with him into the forest, as if an angel +with a flaming sword was keeping watch at the park-gates of Berkow. + + + + + CHAPTER XIX. + + +The boy and he walked for a time in silence through the wood. Bruno was +too proud to begin a conversation with one who seemed to have forgotten +him entirely, and Oswald was too busy with his own thoughts.... Every +person with whom we happen to come in contact is a mirror which +reflects our own image, and Oswald had beheld his own face in the +crystal clear mirror of that man's pure, childlike soul--but how +beheld? torn by passion, darkened by doubt, so that he was startled. +"And this man," he said to himself, "comes to you for advice! the +seeing to the blind, the healthy to the sick! He discovers an error in +the account of his life, and he sits down and counts and counts till +the sum is right, and all is smooth and as it ought to be again, while +you, you rush through life like a reckless merchant, adding debt to +debt, rushing from one speculation into another, unconcerned about the +day of reckoning. That man would sooner cut off his right hand than use +it to seize anything which he has not earned in the sweat of his +face--you accept the gifts of the golden Aphrodite, and whatever else +kind fate offers you, as if it were due to you, and grumble to find it +not more than it is. Now you are already dissatisfied with Melitta's +love, for which you ought to thank her on your knees; now you want her +to have loved you before she knew you, or at least to drown all +recollection of this man. 'If I could kill memory,' she said. Well, +what is indifferent to us we forget easily enough, and what we do not +and cannot forget--that is not indifferent to us. Then she hates this +man? But hatred is the brother of sweet love! Perhaps she loves him +still?--And where did he come from just now? From her! No doubt--Bruno, +does this byroad lead anywhere else, except to Berkow?" + +"No; and I really do not think the road is interesting enough to walk +it twice the same day. Here is another one, which will bring us out of +the forest and then along the edge of the wood almost to the house. +Shall we go this way?" + +"Very well!" said Oswald, falling back into his bad dreams. "Then he +came from her. But that cannot be ... 'A rolling wheel has formed the +woman's bosom; the lily-hills conceal what ever changes:'--the baron +may have read that in the Fritjofs Saga as well as I. He is a learned +man, and baron, and rich.--The man cannot miss it; but Melitta shall +give me an account of it; she shall tell me that I have reason to hate +the man as I do." + +Bruno had walked in silence on the opposite side of the road. He +noticed Oswald's excitement; he saw how his face grew darker and +darker, how his lips trembled with pain, how his hand closed angrily; +he saw that his friend was not happy. More was not needed to make the +generous boy forget all his own sensitiveness, his own complaints; he +came gently up to Oswald, and seizing his hand, he said:-- + +"What is the matter, Oswald? why do you not talk? Are you angry with +me?" + +"I, angry with you?" that was all the young man said; but there was +enough in the tone in which he uttered these words, and in the look +with which he accompanied them, to convince Bruno that his suspicion +was groundless, and to let the long pent-up torrent of his affection +break forth in wild haste. He embraced Bruno and caressed him amid sobs +and tears. + +"Bruno, Bruno, what does that mean?" called out Oswald, frightened by +the boy's passionate tenderness. + +"I thought you had ceased to love me," sobbed Bruno; "and look here, +Oswald, if you cease loving me, I'll die." + +The pale, death-like image, of which Oswald had dreamt so fearfully in +his feverish excitement, reappeared before his mind's eye and gave a +terrible meaning to the passionate words of the boy. Speechless with +emotion, he drew the sobbing boy to his heart, and repeated within +himself the vow to be a brother to the poor forsaken boy. Thus they +stood in close embrace ... Red evening lights were playing in the tops +of the pine-trees--the soft plaintive song of a little bird came from +the forest--a sweet, solemn moment. + +Suddenly hideous sounds fell upon their ear; they came from near +by; loud threatening voices of men who seemed to be angrily +disputing--scolding, cursing--then for a moment deep silence, and +finally the loud cry: "Great God! Help! help! Is no one near! Here!" + +Oswald and Bruno, who had listened for a moment breathlessly, rushed at +full speed towards the place from which the cries came. They reached a +place close to the forest, where people had been cutting wood, and here +and there cords of wood were piled up in long rows. By the side of a +four-horse wagon a man was lying on the ground, who kicked with hands +and feet, while another man was bending over him, either to calm or to +ill-treat him--they could not distinguish which! As they approached the +latter rose--it was the steward, Wrampe--and cried: "Quick, doctor, for +God's sake! The fellow is dying before my eyes." + +The appearance of the man who lay on the ground was indeed fearful in +the extreme. His face was distorted, the eyes rigid, so as to show only +the white, foam on his lips, his hands closed, the body in spasms; +Oswald could hardly recognize the gigantic servant who had excited +Bruno's anger by his cruelty towards the horses. + +Oswald had knelt down by his side; he wiped the foam from his mouth, he +loosened his stiff cravat, and tried to make him lie easier. + +"Is there nothing to put under his head?" he called to the steward, +whose red-bearded face, full of helpless anxiety, looked inexpressibly +foolish. + +"Under his head? under his head? here!" and he pulled off his coat and +put it as a cushion under the man's head. + +"Is there no water near by?" asked Oswald again. + +"Water near by? No; but in the coat pocket is a bottle--there it +is--that may be as good--great God!" + +Oswald washed the sick man's forehead with the brandy; he became more +quiet. + +"How did this happen?" he asked. + +"Why, I don't know," cried the steward, in a sad voice. "I came riding +up here because the fellow was idling too long in the wood, to help him +to move faster; there he sits on a stump and does not stir. What are +you sitting there for? I say. Why should I not sit here? says he. Are +you drunk again? says I, for I saw his eyes were quite watery and his +bottle lay empty by his side. Drunk yourself! says he. You infamous +rascal! says I. Rascal yourself! says he. Well, doctor, I couldn't +stand that, of course. So, down from my horse and a few good licks +upon his back was all done in a moment. He, in perfect rage, makes at +me--all of a sudden he falls down like an ox, and commences--a, great +God, he is at it again. I never saw the like in all my life!" + +The man had another attack of spasms. Oswald began to fear the worst +"Quick, quick!" he said. "Down with the wood from the wagon; we must +drive him home slowly. In the mean time somebody must go for the +doctor." + +"Yes, yes; I'll go for the doctor!" cried the steward, glad to escape, +and one foot in the stirrup. + +"You stay here!" commanded Oswald; "how can I lift the man without you? +Are you not ashamed, Mr. Wrampe, to be such a coward? Take an example +of Bruno!" + +Bruno had helped Oswald as well as he could; now he was standing on the +wagon, throwing down the wood with great energy. "I will go for the +doctor, Oswald!" he said, jumping down. + +"I presume that will be the best, Bruno," said the latter. "You know +the road, and I cannot well leave him. Shorten his stirrups, Mr. +Wrampe!" + +"Directly," said the latter, but Bruno had done it already, and with +one effort, without using the stirrups, he was in the saddle and had +the bridle in his hand. The fiery horse, feeling the light burden, +reared. + +"He'll throw you," said the steward. + +"Never mind," replied the boy. "Your whip! Up, _allez!_" and he cut the +horse over the neck and galloped off at full speed. Oswald just saw how +he leapt the broad ditch and took a short cut through the wood in order +to reach the highroad more quickly, and thus to get through Fashwitz to +the little town where the doctor lived. + + + + + CHAPTER XX. + + +The steward and Oswald had in the mean time succeeded, though not +without difficulty, in putting the patient on the wagon, after having +made him a kind of couch with the aid of some clothes and hay from the +adjoining meadow. Mr. Wrampe's giant power seemed to be perfectly +paralyzed by the fright. Oswald got into the wagon to support the +servant, who was now in a state of lethargy, and the steward undertook +to drive. Fortunately the distance was not very great, as the cottages +lay on this side of the barns and outbuildings, and therefore much +nearer than the chateau itself. + +"You know where the man lives?" asked Oswald, as they came near the +village. + +"The very first house," answered Mr. Wrampe, turning round in the +saddle and pointing with his whip at a cottage, which looked more like +a large kennel than a habitation of men. + +"Is he married?" + +"Has been married," replied Mr. Wrampe, "but his poor wife--" here he +broke off, casting a shy look at the man's pale face, as if he meant to +say: Of the dead and deadly sick we ought to speak no evil. + +"Has he any children?" + +"Two; there they are at Mother Claus' door. Mother Claus! he! Jake has +had his troubles again; put the children out of the way or they'll be +frightened." The steward's sense of propriety had evidently been +wonderfully developed by his wrong. The old woman seemed to be enjoying +the last rays of the sun before the door of her cottage, while two +little children were playing in the sand at her feet. + +When the old woman looked up, Oswald recognized the old lady with whom, +the day before, on his way to church, he had had the singular +conversation about immortality. The old woman cast a look at the wagon, +took the children, led them into the house, and came out again just as +the wagon stopped at the door. + +"Is he dead?" she asked, coming near. + +"No, mother," said Oswald. + +"Why, to be sure, the young gentleman again! Well, I like that in you, +that you take pity on a poor fellow. Just carry him in, will you? I +have put the children up stairs." + +The steward and Oswald lifted the man, who was perfectly motionless, +out of the wagon, and carried him, bending low, through the house-door +through a narrow passage into the low room, where they put him on a +broad bed with a blue counterpane. The old woman followed them, asked +the steward to help her in undressing the man, and then said to him: + +"Well, you can go now. Mr. Stein and I can manage Jake." + +The steward was very glad to receive permission to go. With a few +unintelligible words he left the room, and Oswald saw through the +window how he took a long pull from his bottle before he mounted his +horse, as if he were standing in special need of some such refreshment +after the unusual physical and mental efforts which he had made. + +Oswald had taken a seat on a low settee near the small open window. He +looked around him and saw, at the first glance, that a good spirit was +prevailing in the humble cottage in spite of the coarse drunkard on his +bed. The bed itself was freshly covered; the ceiling and the walls were +scrupulously clean, the floor sprinkled with white sand. The air in the +room was fresh and sweet; the small window-panes as bright as their old +age and greenish hue would permit Mother Claus had seated herself by +the bed and performed, as it seemed to Oswald, some mysterious, perhaps +magnetic, passes over the sick man, who had apparently fallen into a +pleasant sleep. She rose and said: "I will put the children to bed, if +you will stay here while I am away." + +When Oswald promised to do so, she went away; but after a quarter of an +hour she came back and sat down by the young man near the window. She +had her knitting in her hand, and knit with marvellous rapidity, for +one so old, a little baby's sock. There she sat, now listening for the +sick man's breathing, and now counting the meshes of her knitting; at +times glancing at Oswald with a look of kindly interest from her gray, +deep-set eyes. + +"I know what that is," she said suddenly, as a bright ray from the +setting sun fell through the window upon Oswald's face. "I must have +seen you before." + +"Why, to be sure," said Oswald, "yesterday, on the heath." + +"No, no--not yesterday, no, a few years ago--perhaps forty--let me see, +fifty years ago." + +"How old are you, Mother Claus?" asked Oswald, surprised to hear her +speak of forty and fifty years as a few years. + +"I'll be eighty-two next Christmas coming," replied the old woman, +resuming her knitting as if she had been warned that she would not have +much time left. + +"Eighty-two!" cried Oswald, astonished; "and have you lived all the +time in this village?" + +"Yes, here and at the big house. I was born there, on Holy Christmas +Eve, in the year one thousand seven hundred and sixty-four, on the same +day and in the same hour as the father of the late baron----" + +"How long is it since he died?" + +"Well, it may be some forty years--he would be just as old as I am, +eighty-two years, hm, hm, eighty-two years--I wonder how he would +look--wrinkled like me? and he was a fine fellow--yes, he was a fine +fellow!" + +The memory of the third baron, counting upwards, seemed to have a +special interest for the old woman; she let the thin brown hands, with +the knitting, sink into her lap, and stared dreamily into vacancy. "A +fine fellow!" she whispered once more, and her wrinkled face brightened +up with a sweet smile; then two big tears slowly appeared between the +cast-down lashes and rolled down the wrinkled brown cheeks, upon her +wrinkled brown hands.... What was she looking at in that moment, the +old woman? Did she see herself again as she was sixty-five years ago, a +tall, beautiful thing, with large gray eyes full of fire, and an +abundance of soft, dark blonde hair, as she stole down at night into +the garden of the chateau, to give a rendezvous to the young baron? The +wild young baron, with whom she had grown up like a sister, and whom +she loved like a brother--and like her best beloved, since he vowed he +would make her a baroness as soon as he was master at Grenwitz. Then +she was young and he was young; and the sun shone in those days so warm +and mild into her young, fresh heart, and the larks sang so merrily, +and the moonlight danced about slyly in the park, and the nightingale +sobbed and wailed in the shrubbery as if her full little heart was +breaking with loving joy and loving pain--for alas! the young baron had +gone away that morning--how far? Beyond the sea, sent to Sweden to his +relations there, to make an end to that foolish story with pretty +Lizzie. And he sent her not a word, not a word, for one, two, three +years, and when he came back from Sweden--great God! he was not alone +then--a beautiful young wife sat by his side, and the old master and +mistress were delighted, and the servants cheered, and they danced and +shouted for joy. But in the thickest shrubbery near the chateau a girl +had hid herself, the prettiest of all the girls far and near, and she +was sobbing gently, gently, and the tears were rolling down one by one, +and from much weeping her beautiful eyes were sunk deep down, and the +glorious hair had turned gray, and--there she was now sitting, an old, +immensely old woman--and the tears were still rolling down, one by one, +over the wrinkled brown cheeks, over the wrinkled brown hands. + +"A fine fellow," she said. "I have never in my life seen so fine a one +again until yesterday morning, when you were suddenly standing before +me on the heath. Then you looked so familiar to me, and now I know +wherefore. By your leave, young master, how old are you now?" + +"Twenty-three!" + +"Twenty-three years; yes, yes, I know that, twenty-three years--you +have not grown old, you are still young and fair." + +Again she looked at Oswald, not with the careful look of shy +examination, but openly and joyously, as an old grandmother looks upon +her grandchild by her side. Suddenly she rose, went up to Oswald, and +putting her withered, trembling hands on his head, she said slowly and +solemnly, in a voice which did not seem to be hers, but to belong to +another world: "The Lord bless thee and preserve thee, Oscar!" Then she +sat down again on her low chair and began her knitting once more, +busily, busily, that the needles sang, and she nodded her gray head and +smiled so happy, as if a voice, which she alone could hear, was telling +her an old, long-lost fairy tale of wondrous beauty about youth and +love and the songs of nightingales. + + + + + CHAPTER XXI. + + +It began to darken in the low room; the needles of the old woman were +still clicking busily; the cuckoo clock in the corner was ticking +louder and louder in the deep silence, and Oswald was still sitting by +the open window, his head leaning on his hand, as in a dream. + +The rolling of a vehicle which came up the village street aroused him. +A light open carriage, with two horses, stopped at the cottage door; a +man stepped out lightly and entered the room. + +"Good evening," said a dear, rather decided voice. "Doctor Stein?--very +glad to make your acquaintance--my name is Braun. Bruno told me I would +find the Good Samaritan here--how is our patient?--ah, there in the +bed?--what do you say, my good woman, could you get us a light, while +Doctor Stein has the kindness to tell me all he knows about the case?" + +Oswald described what he had seen as well as he could. + +"I thought so," said Doctor Braun; "it is an attack of epilepsy. Has +your son ever had an attack before?" he asked the old woman, who was +coming back, protecting a thin tallow candle with her hand, so that +only a faint gleam fell upon her wrinkled face. + +"He is not my son, and his wife was not my daughter," said Mother +Claus, placing the candle on a settee near the bed; "but his children +are my dear grandchildren." + +The doctor cast a searching glance at the face of the old woman--and +then his eye turned to Oswald--but he kept the remark he was going to +make to himself, took the light, and examined the face of the sick man. + +Oswald took the candle and said: "Please let me help you." + +"Thank you," said the doctor, examining the patient + +In the mean time Oswald looked more closely at the newcomer. He was a +man of from twenty-five to thirty, tall and rather thin, dressed in a +simple, comfortable, but elegant summer costume. His head was +remarkably well formed, and thickly covered with very dark hair, which +refused to curl, and stood like a kind of cap around the firm, somewhat +prominent forehead. The nose did not belong to any well-defined class, +but it was finely cut and full of expression; so was also the mouth, +with its lips sharply defined, and yet delicately formed, as we find +them in antique heads, especially in Mercuries, as if they might fully +part for the sake of a pleasant, intelligent word. A thick silky beard +covered chin and cheeks, harmonizing in color and feature with the +hair, and completing the manly fair character of the face. Oswald also +noticed, as the doctor was raising the eyelids of his patient, that his +hands were of almost womanly delicacy and beauty of form. + +"It is as I thought," said Doctor Braun, rising; "an epileptic attack. +I can prescribe nothing; nature will help. For the present he must be +kept quiet. To-morrow he will be rather weak, but otherwise quite well +again." + +"Then such attacks are not dangerous?" asked Oswald. + +"They can become fatal," replied the doctor, "especially when the +patient is a hard drinker, as I presume is the case here. A radical +cure is not to be expected, at least not under these circumstances; it +is always long and tedious." + +"I had made up my mind to spend part of the night here," said Oswald; +"but now, I suppose that is not necessary?" + +"By no means! Rest, as I said, is all that is required. The man is a +widower?" he added, looking around in the room. + +"Annie is dead," said Mother Claus; "but I'll take care of Jake. Old +people like myself don't need much sleep; we shall soon have time +enough to sleep. You can safely go home, young gentleman. You are very +good; I always said so. Good-by, doctor; many thanks for Jake, as he +can't thank you himself, and perhaps he wouldn't thank you even if he +could. Good-by, young master." + +With these words she showed the two to the door and out of the house. + +"Will you come with me a little way?" said the doctor, as they were +standing outside the door. "I shall go by Berkow, where I have to make +a call in the village, and you can get out whenever you wish. The +evening is really magnificent, and you are, at any rate, too late for +supper at Grenwitz, as I can tell you from best authority, for I have +taken supper there myself." + +"You have taken supper there?" said Oswald, taking a seat in the +doctor's carriage; "did Bruno not find you at home?" + +"The poor boy had his ride for nothing; for while he was racing at full +speed to my house, I was quietly enjoying myself at Grenwitz." + +"And may I ask what brought you to Grenwitz?" + +The doctor laughed. "_O tempora, o mores_--there you are! Mentor +protects and nurses other people's children and does not know that his +own Telemachus is lying dangerously ill at home." + +"You are pleased to joke." + +"Indeed I do; Malte is as well as a boy can be who wants to have no +lessons to-morrow. But he had taken a long walk and was tired; this +looked to the baron and the baroness like the beginning of typhus +fever, and as there was no sensible man present to raise his voice +against it, they sent at once for the unlucky man who enjoys the +unenviable privilege of having to account for all the nonsense that can +be found in people's heads--I mean the doctor. We had just finished +supper, which--as you know, or, to speak with the baroness, as you +ought to know--is always punctually served at eight o'clock, and I was +just stepping into my carriage when that jewel of a boy, Bruno, came at +full speed into the court-yard. You ought to have seen the horror of +the baron and the baroness! He told us in breathless haste that Jake +was about to die, and that Doctor Stein was by his bedside, and that I +must come instantly. But, _a propos_, what does it mean that the old +woman called you in that odd way, 'Young master?' I suppose I shall +have to call you Baron Stein hereafter?" + +"What an idea!" laughed Oswald, who was very much pleased with the +manner of his new acquaintance. "No; I am as little of noble birth as +Mother Claus, who, I cannot imagine why, but probably misled by some +dim recollections of her early days, insists upon making me her young +master." + +"She is a strange old woman," said the doctor. "Just see how +beautifully the moon rises there over the edge of the forest, and how +lightly the mist is resting on the meadows--a very strange woman! +I remember now that I have been struck by her before--she looks +like--well, like what?" + +"Like an old, old woman from Grimm's Fairy Tales, who at the proper +time changes into a beautiful princess!" + +"That is it--she has a wonderful fire in her deep-sunk eyes. She always +looks to me as if her old face was only a mask under which she hides a +youthful soul." + +"So it is in reality," said Oswald, and he told the doctor the strange +conversation he had had with Mother Claus the day before on the heath, +and how her words had appeared to him as natural and truthful as the +song of the lark on the heath, and how little he had been pleased +afterwards with the sermon of the self-sufficient preacher. + +"Yes indeed," said the doctor. "There is truth in Goethe's words: It +annoys men to find the truth so simple. They always try to make people +believe truth is a marvel, a great wonder, and therefore they adorn it +with all kinds of gay rags and fragments, and then carry it about in +procession; while such people, like our old woman, read only one +chapter in the great book of the universe, but they read it again and +again, for sixty, seventy years, till they know it by heart. And as the +whole book is but one great revelation, they learn in the end just as +much as the great crowd of partially learned men, who turn in restless +haste leaf after leaf, pick out a little here and a little there, and +are finally about as wise or as stupid as they were before." + +"Yes indeed," said Oswald; "a striking proof of the justness of your +remark is, for instance, the Baroness Grenwitz. What has she not read! +German, French, English, and Swedish; sacred books and profane books; +the best and the worst books. To-day I find her reading Rousseau's +Confessions, to-morrow a catchpenny novel; to-day she studies +Schleiermacher's religious discourses, to-morrow she is deep in the +last horror by Dumas or Eugene Sue. In small matters she has good sense +enough, but as soon as you approach the higher mysteries of our life +here below, or as soon even as the question arises how a general +conclusion can be obtained from the mass of details, she begins to talk +nonsense, and produces such foolish aristocratic commonplace phrases +that my head swims." + +"This tendency of the baroness, I should think, does not serve to make +your position in Grenwitz very pleasant?" + +"Not exactly," replied Oswald, lightly; "but I try to weaken the +addition of wormwood by avoiding as much as I can the philosophical +effusions of the baroness, and by confining my intercourse with the +family generally to the least possible frequency." + +"But with all consideration to your time and your disposition, might +you not have fixed these limits a little too narrow?" said the doctor, +knocking off the ashes of his cigar. + +"How so?" asked Oswald, not without some surprise. + +"You will pardon my indiscretion," said the other, turning more fully +towards Oswald, so as to look at him with his bright intelligent eyes. +"You know that physicians are condemned to play the disagreeable part +of confidential friends in the families in which they practise. At one +or the other point, everything in life is, after all, closely connected +with our body, and as we have the control of that part of our patients, +we gradually are made judges of everything, even of such things which +seem to belong before any other forum rather than that of the +physician. And even if there happens to be no connection whatever +between the two questions of soul and of body, the patient is very apt +to think: If you have told him so much you may just as well tell him a +little more. Thus the baroness could not help telling me to-day--I am +not going to flatter you or to annoy you, but only to give you a hint, +which you may follow or not, just as you like--that you, who possessed +such a very great gift to make yourself agreeable, and who could, if +you chose, be so perfectly at home in well-bred society, were rather +disposed to make no use of these talents. She regretted this all the +more, she added, as this reserve caused a great loss to Malte, who was +by nature a domestic boy and never so happy as in the family circle, +and who now could not enjoy the privileges which he would otherwise +derive from being in your society and becoming intimate with you." + +"Is it not strange," said Oswald, after a short pause, "what +inapproachable beings some of us children of Adam are? What you have +just told me, I have told myself more than once. I have admonished +myself that having once agreed to sell my time and my talents +for the benefit of this family, I am bound to make all necessary +concessions--and yet, now that I hear you say the same thing, it wounds +my feelings.... But I beg to assure you that it is not you I blame, but +only myself, and that I am all the more pleased with myself because the +hint you are giving me with such kind intentions ought certainly not to +have disturbed me for a moment." + +"I was sure," said the doctor, "that I had to do with a man who knows +how to separate the chaff from the grain; if I had not been sure of +that, you may be convinced I would not have spoken." + +There followed another pause in the conversation of the two young +men; the doctor repented perhaps in silence having been led by his +good-nature to perform the ungrateful duty of giving advice unasked, +while Oswald pursued his thoughts, and seemed to forget entirely that +the pine-trees were swiftly gliding past him, and the doctor's swift +horses had nearly accomplished the distance between Grenwitz and +Berkow. He started in great surprise when he saw a light shining +through the branches to the right of the road. He knew it came from the +house of the forester at Berkow. On the other side a path led up to the +clearing in the forest, where Melitta's hermitage stood. At this very +place where they now were, the baron's carriage had been waiting for +him the day before. + +"Pray let me get out here," he said hurriedly to the doctor. "I am +amazed to see that we are actually near Berkow. It is high time for me +to return." + +The carriage stopped and Oswald got out. + +"I hope," he said, shaking hands with the doctor, "that this has not +been the only distance nor the longest distance on the great road of +life on which we shall keep each other company." + +"I hope and wish the same," replied the other. "It seems to me as if +our thoughts and feelings had much in common with each other, and to +meet thus a kindred nature is far too fortunate a thing to be easily +given up again. At all events, I shall soon be again in this +neighborhood. In the mean time, good-by." + +The carriage rolled away; the sounds soon ceased to be heard; the light +in the forester's house disappeared--Oswald was alone amid darkness and +silence. + +And at once Melitta's image appeared again before his mind's eye, and +swiftly glided before him along the narrow forest path on which he now +crept stealthily and silently like a poacher. Suddenly he found himself +on the clearing; he stopped, frightened as if lightning had fallen by +his side--there was a light in the window of the cottage! He had left +Melitta at the chateau, and she was here, not fifty yards from where he +stood--he had only to cross the meadow and to ascend a few steps--to +open a door. Oswald leant against the trunk of a beech-tree to calm his +wildly beating heart. And if anybody should see him here! If he should +recklessly endanger Melitta's reputation! Breathless he listened ... +the night was silent ... he heard nothing but those strange, mysterious +voices which are never heard in broad daylight, and which are born at +the break of night: a whispering and twittering up in the branches, a +rustling and rushing below in the dry leaves on the ground--the subdued +barking of a dog far out in a village. An owl came swiftly and silently +on its broad wings and nearly touched his face; it flew off like an +arrow. Otherwise all around still as the grave. But what is that? A +low, threatening growl, close to his ear? It was Melitta's gigantic +dog, who kept watch and guard at the entrance to the cottage. The +faithful guardian probably had discovered the presence of a stranger, +for he rose, jumped down the steps, and came bounding along, running +around the house like a shepherd's dog around his flock. + +"Bonc[oe]ur?" called Oswald, as the animal came near him; "_ici!_" + +The intelligent creature started at the well-known call, which he heard +so constantly from the lips of his mistress, and quickly recognizing +Oswald, he came rushing up to him and welcomed him by putting his huge +paws on his breast and his shoulders. + +"Ah!" said Oswald, caressing the beautiful animal, "ah! you permit me +then to see your mistress? Come!" + +Holding the dog by his long, curly hair, Oswald went across the meadow. +On the steps the noise of Bonc[oe]ur's paws deadened the sound of his +own light footsteps, and thus he crept along on the veranda which +surrounded the cottage till he came to the window. The window was open, +and through the Venetian ivy which had been trained over it Oswald +looked into the room. On the table stood a burning lamp, the globe of +which was covered with a red veil, so that the sacred image of Venus +looked, in the rosy light, as if it were alive. Melitta was sitting at +the foot of the statue near a table, turning her face toward Oswald. +She had an open book before her, but she was evidently not reading; the +delicate hand which supported her head was buried in the dark, abundant +hair, and she seemed to be buried in thought. An inexpressibly touching +expression, full of plaintive melancholy and of surpassing happiness, +lay on her chaste, childlike features. Oswald had to make a great +effort not to destroy the incomparably beautiful picture as it stood +before him in the frame of the small window. At last he whispered her +name. + +Melitta raised her head, and fixing her large eyes fully upon the +window, she listened for a moment. But then she smiled sadly, as if she +wished to say: It was but a dream, and rested her head again in her +hand. + +"Melitta--it is I." + +This time she had not dreamt. She started up with a cry of joy, to the +door, to meet Oswald. She wound her arms around his neck, she felt his +burning lips again and again on her own; she laid her head on his +bosom; she looked through her tears up at him and said: "See, Oswald, I +was just thinking of you. I said to myself: If he loves you he will +come, he will surely be here to-day, and if he does not come, he does +not love you! Oswald, you do love me--don't you? Not as much as I love +you, but still, you love me a little, eh, Oswald?" + +Speechless with emotion and happiness, Oswald embraced her again and +again. + +"Melitta, you are inexpressibly good and beautiful--whoever loves you +must love you boundlessly." + +Before the door of the hermitage, on a straw mat, his colossal head +between his forepaws, lies Bonc[oe]ur. The swift motion of his ears, as +soon as he hears a noise from the forest, shows he is keeping faithful +watch. He would tear any one to pieces who should dare to intrude upon +this temple of love. + + + + + CHAPTER XXII. + + +Several days had passed since that evening. + +Bemperlein and Julius had gone to Grunwald, and the former had already +written letters to Melitta and to Oswald. His pupil had found a home in +the family of a government officer, who had two sons of nearly the same +age as Julius. He wrote Oswald that he had a long and most interesting +conversation with Professor Berger, the results of which he promised to +tell his friend on his return to Berkow, some time in the next week, in +order to take a final farewell. This only he added, that he was more +decided than ever, and ready to enter immediately upon his new +profession. + +The day after Bemperlein's departure, the surveyor had arrived at +Grenwitz; he had stayed only a few hours, however, to hold a conference +with the baron and the baroness, and then he had gone to another estate +which was to be surveyed, and where, as he told Oswald, he would "raise +his wigwam" for the present. Oswald had found him to be a very lively, +witty, and apparently well-read man, quite young yet, but well +educated, and he was glad to have a prospect of seeing more of him, as +Mr. Timm was soon to come to Grenwitz to make plats and drawings. The +baroness, always looking forward, had already ordered two rooms in the +same wing in which Oswald lived to be prepared for him, and large +tables had been arranged there. + +For next Sunday the family at Grenwitz, with Doctor Stein, had been +invited to dine with Baron Barnewitz, Melitta's cousin. Oswald had been +very much tempted to refuse the invitation at once, but he had yielded +to Melitta's advice and accepted. + +"What am I to do there," he had said to Melitta, "they only invite me +either because they want partners for the dance, or to pay a compliment +to the old baron, but surely not for my own sake. I shall be looked +upon there like a Mohican among the Iroquois, like a spy in the camp. I +know the nobles. The nobleman is only courteous and agreeable to the +not nobly born as long as the two are alone; if there are several +nobles present, they run together like mercury, and show their _esprit +de corps_ to the outsider. I tell you, Melitta, I know the nobles, and +I hate them." + +"But you love me, Oswald, and I also belong to the proscribed class." + +"Unfortunately," said Oswald, "and that is the only defect, sweet one, +which I have ever seen in you. But then you are so very sweet and good, +and you go through all the mire without receiving a single stain on +your robe. And much as you must gain by comparison with these vain, +stupid peacocks, I can yet not help fearing that unawares some spark of +the fiery hatred which I feel for the whole concern, may fall upon you +also. Now you are my queen, my chatelaine, who has stolen away from her +chateau to embrace her beloved by stealth for a moment, and I forget +your rank, your greatness here in this charming forest solitude. You +are nothing to me but she whom I love, whom I worship,--just what you +would be to me if you were the beggar's daughter,--but there, in the +brilliantly lighted rooms, surrounded by your great people, flattered +and honored by everybody, there I cannot shut my eyes, and shall be +painfully reminded that I ought not to have raised my eyes so high." + +"Now, Oswald," said Melitta, fixing her eyes firmly on his, "is that +kind in you? Are you mocking me when you talk so? I hear it in the +harsh tone of your voice; I see it in the restless flashing of your +eyes, which contrasts so strangely with their usual calm and steady +light, that you feel very well how you appear in our midst like a born +ruler, thanks to your mind, your superb manly beauty and strength. I +have given myself to you; you are my lord and master; I would willingly +accede to your maddest whim; I would bear everything from your hand, +even death would not seem cruel to me coming from you--but why will you +pour even a drop of wormwood into the cup of love, from which I drink +with such thirsty, eager desire? Oswald, do not laugh at me." + +"I do not, Melitta; I am sure of your love, although I deserve it so +little; I know that your love is humble, as all love is which beareth +all things and believeth all things--but you see, darling, that is the +curse of these abominable institutions, that they sow distrust and +hatred and discord in the hearts of men, even in such hearts which God +has created for each other. And this poisonous seed flourishes and +kills the roses of true love. I do not blame you for this; I blame no +single person, who perhaps unconsciously suffers as much under these +social distinctions as I do. But be sure it is so. The Catholic will +never see his equal--his brother--in the Protestant, nor the noble in +the humbly born, nor the Christian in the Jew--and vice versa. Nathan's +pious wish, that man might at last be content with being a man, is +still far from fulfilment: who knows whether it will ever be +fulfilled." + +"And until then," said Melitta, in her usual playful manner, pushing +Oswald's hair from his brow, "until then, you dreamy dreamer, and +incorrigible censor of the world, we will enjoy the fleeting moments, +and that is why you must go to Barnewitz to-morrow. Pray, pray, dear +Oswald, come,--and I will talk with no one else, dance with no one +else,--I must go to this party in order to gain the right to refuse ten +others, at which I--at which I--would feel less free than here. And +without you I shall not have the least benefit from going; on the +contrary, I shall be as sad as a little bird that has been caught and +put in the cage. But if you are there, dearest, I will be cheerful and +dance and sing--no, not sing--but I will look pretty, very pretty, for +your sake. Shall I go in white? with a camellia in my hair, or a rose? +You have never told me yet how you like me best. Oh! what a wooden +knight you are!" + +Next day, it was a Sunday, in the afternoon, at five o'clock, the +gala-coach was waiting at the portal of the chateau at Grenwitz. The +heavy bays had the best harness with the silver ornaments; the silent +coachman wore his state-livery; the baron appeared in evening costume, +with the decoration in his button-hole, which one of the many German +princes in miniature had long ago bestowed upon him; and even the +baroness appeared in a costume which made her exceptionably look only +five years older than she really was. After the necessary ballast of +cloaks and shawls for the return had been stowed away, and the +baroness, already seated, had once more invested Mademoiselle +Marguerite with the dignity of chatelaine--she would have much +preferred going too--she stopped the coachman in order to examine the +pretty French-woman once more for ten minutes on all the points on +which she had obtained precise orders and regulations. Then only the +order to start was given, and the coach moved with that solemnity which +happily suited the disposition of the bays and the temper of the silent +coachman equally well. As they passed under the bridge Bruno appeared +above, at the head of Malte and a lot of hired boys who were weeding in +the garden, and gave three cheers, an idea which induced even the grim +baroness to smile. However, the good lady seemed to be to-day in an +unusually mild and even communicative humor, perhaps in order to +prepare herself for the party. She thought the weather quite fine, only +a little too warm; the road excellent, only rather dusty; she hoped for +cooler weather on the return, only she feared there might be a +thunderstorm brewing, for a cloud on the western horizon looked to her +very suspicious. Then they discussed the question whether Miss +Marguerite, if the storm should really come up,--a case for which no +instructions had been left,--would have the good sense to order the +upper windows to be closed, and then, whether she would generally do +her duty. As it was not feasible to obtain a majority of votes, the +baroness denying the question at once, Oswald affirming it as +positively, and the old baron being unable to form any opinion +whatever, the discussion was abandoned, and they proceeded to inquire +with far greater solemnity into more important questions. Had Count +Grieben recovered from his attack of acute rheumatism, and would he be +able to be present to-night? How would Baron Trantow's gout be, and so +on, till they had easily drifted into the regular family gossip, which +is as current among the high and highest nobility as among Tom, Dick, +and Harry; only they speak there of Tom and Dick, and here only of Dick +and Tom. Generally, when this favorite subject was mooted, Oswald had a +habit of not listening, an art in which he had become quite an adept in +the short time of his residence at Grenwitz; but to-day, when he was to +see himself all the persons of whom they spoke, the topic had a little +more interest for him, especially as Melitta's name was repeatedly +mentioned. He learnt on this occasion that Baron Barnewitz and Melitta +were first cousins, and that Melitta's father, Baron Barnewitz's +brother, had been an officer in the Swedish service, had fought as such +in the campaign against Napoleon, and died very soon after the marriage +of Melitta with Baron Berkow. + +"However, you know, Grenwitz," said the baroness, "Melitta will not be +there to-night!" + +Oswald listened attentively. + +"How do you know, dear Anna Maria?" replied the baron. + +"The servant showed me the list of invited guests; I always make him do +so, in order to know whom I shall meet. I read it carefully. Frau von +Berkow was not on it." + +"Perhaps a mistake?" + +"I think not. You know Melitta and her cousin, the baroness, are not +very good friends. It would not be the first time they choose not to +invite Melitta. But then there will be another remarkable personage +there--just guess, Berkow?" + +"The Prince of Putbus," said the old gentleman, almost frightened, and +regretting in his heart that he was not in full official costume; +"surely not the Prince?" + +"No. Can you guess, doctor?" + +"The man from the moon?" + +"Well, a man who is scarcely less famous: Baron Oldenburg. His name +stood close behind ours on the list." + +"The Oldenburgs are of ancient family?" asked Oswald, who had learnt to +understand the meaning of that remark. + +"The Oldenburgs are, after the Grenwitzes, the oldest noble family in +the country," said the baroness, with grand self-satisfaction. "The +Grenwitzes can trace their pedigree up to the beginning of the twelfth +century; the Oldenburgs date from the end of the thirteenth century, +when Adalbert, the founder of that noble family, was created a baron by +the Emperor." + +"And the name of Oldenburg?" asked Oswald. + +"The Oldenburgs would be sovereigns, like the dukes of their name, if +they were legitimate." + +"And what makes such a remarkable personage of the baron, aside from +his illustrious descent?" asked Oswald. + +The baroness was rather embarrassed by his question. What was in her +eyes so very remarkable in the baron, his sovereign contempt of rank, +his sarcastic, ironical manner to those of his own caste--this +remarkable feature, which appeared almost immaterial in her eyes, was +not exactly a fit subject to be discussed with a man of low birth. She +contented herself; therefore, with the vague answer:-- + +"The baron has very eccentric views about most things in the world, so +that I am often afraid for his mind." + +At that moment a horseman came galloping from a by-road and stopped his +horse as the carnage passed. It was a young man with a pleasant, dark +face, on which a blond mustache appeared to advantage. + +"Ah, baroness--baron--delighted to see you," he called out, doffing +his hat and riding up to the coach--"have not had the honor for an +eternity----" + +"That is, _mon cher_," said the baroness, with her sweetest smile, +"because you have not been at Grenwitz for an eternity." + +"Ah, very kind, baroness--very kind--baroness, you have not had the +goodness yet to introduce me--Baron Felix, I suppose?" continued the +dandy, lifting his hat to Oswald. + +"Doctor Stein," said the baroness, "my son's tutor--Baron Cloten----" + +"Ah, ah, indeed," said Baron Cloten; "delighted--indeed--yes, yes, what +I was going to say, baroness, where are you going? if I may ask." + +"To Barnewitz." + +"Ah, just my way--quiet, Robin, quiet!" + +"But, Baron Cloten, it will be a large party," said the baroness, +looking at his top-boots and hunting-coat. + +"Impossible, baroness; Barnewitz asked me yesterday, as I met him +accidentally, to come over to a game of whist; but he did not say a +word about a dinner-party." + +"It was a joke of his, you may be sure." + +"Ah--very likely! Barnewitz has such funny notions. Quiet, +Robin!--devil of a fellow, that Barnewitz--no doubt thought it great +fun to see me come into the dining-room in top-boots--spoil the fun--I +beseech you, baroness--gentlemen--tell nobody you have seen me. In a +quarter of an hour at Barnewitz. _Au revoir!_" + +Thereupon the young man threw his horse round and galloped off at full +speed in the direction from which he had come. + +Soon afterwards the carriage drove across a rather rough corduroy road, +which led straight across the farm-yard of Barnewitz up to the lawn +before the great house. + +A servant approached to open the carriage door; in the door appeared +the figure of a broad-shouldered, bearded man, who would have been +superb-looking if indolence and high living had not seriously impaired +the harmony of his features. It was Melitta's brother, Baron Barnewitz. + +"You are the very first we see," he said, showing his guests into the +large room on the right hand of the hall, where they were received by +Frau von Barnewitz, a pretty blondine. + +"You know how much I value punctuality," replied the baroness, taking +the offered seat on the sofa. + +"Capital quality," replied Baron Barnewitz; "entirely my +conviction--always been--main thing in life and at +snipe-shooting--snipe comes up--puff--lies--punctually! Ha--ha--ha!" + +"How is it?" asked the baroness, turning to her hostess; "are we going +to have a large company?" + +"Only forty, or fifty at most." + +"That means pretty nearly our whole circle." + +"Pretty nearly." + +"And--we were discussing the question on the way--will your charming +cousin be here also?" + +"You must ask my husband; he has attended to the invitations." + +"Ha, ha, ha!" laughed the latter. "Capital joke--must tell you before +the others come. You know we travelled with Melitta all over Italy, and +there Baron Oldenburg joined us. Well, we had a very merry time--for +Oldenburg can be very pleasant when he chooses. All of a sudden our +peace is gone!--all to the devil--excuse me, ladies--one went here, +another there. Melitta and Oldenburg said nothing but sharp things to +each other, and one fine morning Oldenburg had disappeared--gone--left +a note; the air in Sicily too oppressive for a consumptive--would make +a little trip to Egypt. Since then three years are gone--now Oldenburg +back again--but he only called here to see me, as he said--to see my +wife, as I say----" + +"But Charles----" + +"Well, dear Hortense, among friends--you know, a mere joke--well then, +to see us both. When I ask him to come, he says: Yes, if your cousin is +not to be there. A few days ago I meet Melitta--I ask her and she says: +Yes, if your friend Oldenburg is not to be there. Of course, I assured +both of them they might be quite sure they should not meet the object +of their detestation. To make the thing still safer, I sent out two +servants with two different lists--on one was Melitta's name--on the +other, Oldenburg's. And now they will both come--is not that a capital +joke?--Excuse me, I pray, I hear a carriage coming up." + +Gradually the room filled up, and then the adjoining suite of lofty and +superb rooms, which ended in the rear of the house in a large hall, +from which two steps led through folding-doors into the garden. + +Oswald had been presented to several ladies and gentlemen, who returned +his bow with that cold politeness which the nobles always adopt towards +a man of low birth, especially when he fills a position which, in their +eyes, is a very subordinate one. He had then withdrawn to one of the +deep bay-windows, from which he could observe the new arrivals outside +and the company inside at once. A young man with pleasing features and +kindly blue eyes joined him there. + +"I have the pleasure of addressing Doctor Stein?" he said. Oswald +bowed. + +"My name is Langen. I am told you were a student at Berlin. Did you +know a Mr. P. there? He studied physiology and was my best friend +there. I should like to know what has became of him." + +It so happened that Oswald knew him and could give Baron Langen the +desired information. The sincere interest which the latter manifested +for a man who, as Oswald knew, had no earthly recommendation beside his +natural abilities and unwearied industry, prepossessed him in favor of +his new acquaintance. He was well pleased, therefore, in spite of his +inner restlessness, to see the conversation go on, and he felt somewhat +more at ease in thus having found one man among so many unknown ones +who cared to make his acquaintance. + +"What do you say, Baron Langen," he said, after some time, "if in +return for my information you were now in your turn to give me some +information about the company? Who, for instance, is that old gentleman +there in the blue dresscoat with the white hair and red face, who +speaks so fearfully loud, as if he wished to make himself heard by +somebody standing on the other side of a mountain torrent?" + +"That is Count Grieben, one of our richest noblemen. Do you know the +pretty story they have about him and the king?" + +"No, please let me hear it." + +"The king was on a journey and came to our seaport. At the wharf, where +the highest officials, the nobility, and so forth had formed in order +to receive him, stood the count's carriage with six magnificent bays; +on each wheel-horse a jockey in the count's rich livery. The king +admired the superb turnout 'All my own raising, your Majesty,' cries +the count, with a bold gesture of the hand. 'Including the jockeys?' +replied the witty monarch." + +"Not so bad," said Oswald; "and who is that fat lady with the masculine +features who is just coming in with her three pretty daughters?" + +"A Baroness Nadelitz. She is a Catherine of Russia in miniature. +Formerly she kept the geese of her future husband. She is said to have +been so wonderfully beautiful that everybody fell in love with her, and +yet so kind-hearted that no one went away mortified. Their marriage, +however, was not over happy." + +"At all events, she has very pretty daughters," said Oswald. "Then the +baron is dead?" + +"Yes, and since then she is virtually the master. She shows it +literally, for I have seen her myself walking across the fields with +her steward, in top-boots and heaven knows what. To be sure the soil +was clay, and she sank every moment in above the ankles." + +"Who are the two pretty girls who are just now coming across the room, +walking arm in arm?" + +"Emily von Breesen and Lisbeth von Meyen. They have but just been +confirmed last Easter, and wear to-day, as far as I know, for the first +time, long dresses. Shall I introduce you?" + +Oswald did not reply, for at that moment the door opened, and Baron +Barnewitz, whose face was beaming with delight at the surprise he had +so cunningly contrived, ushered in a gentleman whose appearance +evidently created quite a sensation. The loud voice of Count Grieben +was hushed, several gentlemen put their heads together, and in the +circle of the ladies around the hostess there followed quite a pause of +expectation. The new-comer was a man of tall, but almost too slim +figure, whose careless carriage brought out still more forcibly the +disproportion between height and breadth. Upon the long body sat a +small head, whose well-formed outlines were partly hid by the short, +thick black hair. A beard of the same kind covered chin and cheeks and +mouth, so that only the upper part of his face could be examined +successfully. But on this half more than one riddle was clearly +written. The forehead was rather high than wide, but surrounded by +exceedingly fine and yet bold outlines. The brows, drawn as with a +pencil, passed in a bold curve over the gray eyes, the expression of +which was not very pleasant, at least as they swept at that moment over +the company; as unpleasant was the smile which flashed like sheet +lightning every now and then around the finely chiselled nose with the +sensitive nostrils. Both smile and glance seemed to be all the answer +the man vouchsafed to give Baron Barnewitz, who overwhelmed him with +polite speeches as he led him up to the place where the lady of the +house received her guests. She rose to greet the new-comer, who kissed +her hand, and, after a slight bow to the other ladies, fell into an +empty chair near her, beginning at once a lively conversation with her, +without paying the slightest attention to anybody else. + +Oswald had watched the new-comer with the eye of an Indian who follows +the track of his mortal enemy, for he had instantly recognized that +horseman who had met him and Bemperlein in the forest. It was Baron +Oldenburg. + +"Now look," said Baron Barnewitz, walking up to Oswald and rubbing his +hands with delight. + +"I am all eye," said Oswald, with a somewhat constrained smile. + +"What are you to look for?" asked Langen, while Barnewitz was turning +to another group. + +"Baron Barnewitz has had the goodness to call my attention to Baron +Oldenburg, as a most interesting man." + +"Ah! That is Oldenburg!" said Langen; "I had not seen him yet." + +Another carriage drove up, and Oswald recognized Melitta as she stepped +out. It was fortunate for him that Langen was eying the party on the +sofa at that moment, for he would not have been able to conceal his +excitement. The few minutes which Melitta spent in the dressing-room +appeared to him an eternity. At last she entered through the open door, +and Oswald thought the whole room was filled with light and with roses. +Melitta wore a white dress, which covered up bosom and shoulders, while +the delicate neck was enclosed in a lace frill. A light shawl hung +around her sloping shoulders. A deep red camellia in her hair, this was +her only ornament. But what ornament is needed where beauty and grace +are combined, and Melitta's appearance was so beautiful and graceful +that her entrance created even a greater sensation than Oldenburg's. +The older men broke off their conversation to pay their respects to +her; a few younger men hastened up to get, if possible, the first +waltz, the second polka--anything that could be had, and she smiled at +old and young, answered here a question, begged there for patience, and +all this while she was crossing the large room to join the other +ladies. Baron Oldenburg had quietly remained sitting on his chair while +the lady of the house had risen to advance toward her cousin. His arm +resting on the back of the chair, he did not even turn round to look at +the cause of the general commotion. But then Melitta's name must have +struck his ear, for he started up, looked around, and stood face to +face before Melitta, whom her cousin held by the hand. Oswald had been +drawn, as by a magnetic power, toward the place, so that not a word, +not a look escaped him. He saw Melitta turn pale, and her eyes flash as +if in anger, when Oldenburg made her a low bow. + +"Ah, madam," he said with a peculiar smile, "when we met last the sun +of Sicily was shining over us, and now----" + +"The moon shines--you mean to say," replied Melitta, and around her +lips there appeared a line of bitter irony which Oswald had not yet +seen. "On the contrary, dear baron, when we met last the moon was +shining. Do you not remember, it was in the garden of the Villa Serra +di Falco, near Palermo--and now that we meet again, the sun is shining, +at least for myself." + +The meaning of these last words was probably a secret for all except +for him for whom they were spoken. Melitta had noticed Oswald, as she +turned half round to speak to Oldenburg, and had so kindly smiled upon +him that Baron Barnewitz interrupted his enjoyment of the skilfully +prepared scene to ask him, "You knew my cousin before?" + +"Yes!" said Oswald, leaving him and bowing deeply to Melitta. + +"Ah, doctor," said Melitta, with well-assumed surprise, "that is nice, +that I meet you here. Just think, Bemperlein has written already; +Julius is well--but sit down here and I will tell you all at +leisure--Julius is perfectly well and has become quite a dandy in the +five days he has spent at Grunwald. He has been at a children's ball, +has danced a cotillon, just think! a cotillon, and that against the +remonstrances of half a dozen young gentlemen." + +"The poor fellow," laughed Oswald, "he will have to fight half a dozen +duels." + +"May be! But you know Julius is as brave as a lion, and will risk all +for the lady of his heart--Ah! Baron Cloten, is that really you? I was +told you and Robin had broken your necks at the last fox-hunt?" + +"_Quelle idee, madame!_--no doubt invention of Barnewitz. Devilish +clever fellow, Barnewitz! Beg ten thousand pardons! Am quite well, +thanks! Ah, yes--would beg for a dance, if possible, the cotillion. +Must try once more, if I cannot persuade you to sell me Brownlock." + +"_Non, mon cher_; for such a purpose you shall not get the cotillon, +nor any other dance. But if you will leave me Brownlock, to enjoy him +in peace, you shall have the first waltz. I shall probably not stay for +the cotillon. Are you satisfied?" + +"Ah, madam--satisfied--_quelle idee!_ happy!...." + +"I pray you, Baron Cloten, calm yourself. Have you a _vis-a-vis_?" + +"No, not yet. Look for one at once." + +"Here, ask Doctor Stein--let me introduce----" + +"Ah! Have had the pleasure," said the dandy, apparently noticing Oswald +now for the first time, though he had been standing within a yard of +him. + +"All the better," said Melitta; "that is settled then?" + +Cloten and Oswald bowed, and then Melitta sent them both away with a +graceful wave of the hand. "I wonder," said Langen to Oswald, as he +returned to the window, "how you can speak so freely to her; I would +not have the courage." + +"You are jesting." + +"Upon my word, no! There is something in that woman's look and in her +voice which would make me fear for the salvation of my soul. I know I +am not alone in that." + +"Perhaps I am not sufficiently concerned for the salvation of my soul," +said Oswald. + +In the mean time Oldenburg had studiously watched the group of Melitta +in a huge mirror, while he appeared to converse with several gentlemen +in perfect indifference. + +"See there, Cloten, how are you, _mon brave_?" he said, suddenly +turning to the young man, as he came near him. + +"Baron Oldenburg! 'pon honor, would not have known you--such a horrible +beard!" + +"Horrible, _mon cher_? Do not make me unhappy; I have cultivated it now +for three years, and it has cost me at least a million." + +"Ah, nonsense," said the dandy, stroking his handsome mustache. + +"Upon my word and honor," said Oldenburg. "The thing is simply this:--I +made in Cairo the acquaintance of an English family, whom I met +frequently on the Nile; I was lucky enough to render them some service. +The family consisted of father, mother, and daughter--but what a +daughter! _mon cher_, I tell you----" + +"Ah, yes, I understand!" said Cloten, "thoroughbred! These English +misses, divine--beautiful--saw one in Baden Baden--never forget her in +all my life." + +"Just so was my Mary," said Oldenburg. + +"Not possible?" + +"You may rely upon it. All English misses look alike, as one lily looks +like another. _Eh bien!_ The girl falls in love with the man who has +saved her life. The father likes me; the mother consents. I am not a +millionaire, like Mr. Brown; but then he was only a retired dealer in +iron, and I an old German baron. Enough, we ratify the bargain. Then +Mary says one evening--it seems as if it had been yesterday--we were +sitting in the moonlight on the terrace of the temple at Philae, and +looked dreamily at the quiet river, and emptied drop by drop the full +cup of love. Then she says, coming close up to me,--oh! I hear +her voice still so distinctly,--Adalbert, says she--What, sweet +one?--Adalbert, pray, dearest love, cut off your horrible beard--it's +so vulgar." + +"Ah, yes! divine, divine--these English misses.--But what did she +mean?" + +"She meant to say: My boy, beards are vulgar in England. Cut it off!" + +"Why, that was too bad!" + +"That is exactly what I told her. She begged, she besought me; at last +she fell on her knees. I remained firm like the Colossus before us. +Then she sprang up, and arming herself with all the pride of England, +and raising her hand to the starry heavens, she exclaimed: 'Sir, either +you cut off your beard or I must cut your acquaintance.'" + +"Then cut my acquaintance," said I. + +"Famous!" said Cloten. "What did she do?" + +"Oh, nothing! Apropos, who is that young man with whom you were talking +just now? There he is, standing near the door, with old Grenwitz." + +"Well, guess?" + +"How can I guess? I suppose it is his nephew, Felix." + +"That is what I thought. And now just think, _cher baron_, the man is a +fellow of low birth, not noble at all; his name is Stein, Doctor Stein, +I believe, and he is--well, guess again!" + +"From the horror in your face I should conclude that he was the son of +the executioner of Bergen." + +"Executioner! _Quelle idee!_ What strange notions you and Frau von +Berkow always have! No--tutor at Grenwitz. Is not that wonderful?" + +"I do not see anything wonderful in that. There must be tutors in the +world, as there must be laborers in the arsenic mines, although I +should not like to be the one or the other." + +"But the fellow looks almost genteel?" + +"Almost genteel? My dear friend, he looks not only almost genteel, but +extremely genteel, more so than any gentleman in the whole company, you +and myself not excepted." + +"Ah, baron, you are again in your divine humor to-day." + +"Do you think so? Well, I am glad of it. But that does not prevent me +from thinking the man genteel; and, what is probably of still greater +value in your eyes, he has not only the air of a well-bred man about +him, as we find it in any nation on earth, but he has the particular +type of the nobility of this region." + +"Oh, I thought typhus was a disease!" + +"Typus, _mon cher_, not typhus. Type means, when several people have +the same nose, boots, eyes, and gloves. Now, look for yourself, if all +that does not agree in Doctor Stein; for instance, in comparison with +yourself, for surely you have everything that is characteristic in our +nobility most highly developed. He is tall and well made, like +yourself, only half a head taller, and a few inches broader in the +shoulders. He has the same light brown, curly hair, only you have your +hair curled by the hair-dresser, and his curls naturally. He has blue +eyes like yourself, and you must admit that his eyes are large and +expressive." + +"Ah, yes--I admit, he is a deuced handsome fellow," said the dandy, +angrily, casting a sidelong glance at the object of his forced +admiration. + +"Well, and as to his manners," continued Oldenburg, "I would give one +of my farms if I could move with the same dignity and the same +gracefulness." + +"That is strong--why?" + +"Because the women love dearly to see such a small foot, a well-shaped +leg, and so forth. Such pretty dolls like the doctor are born +Alexanders; they fly from one conquest to another, and generally die +young at Babylon." + +"Ah, baron, what a man you would be if you were not so furiously +learned." + +"Do you think so? May be! I have inherited that disease. It was my +mother's fault; she used to read the racing almanac and many a novel +besides. That explains the bad features in my character." + +"Gentlemen, would you like to try my new pistols?" asked their host, +who came up just then. + +"I thought there would be dancing?" said Cloten. + +"After dinner. You are coming, Oldenburg?" + +"Of course. You know my motto: _Aux armes, citoyens._" + + + + + CHAPTER XXIII. + + +The company had all assembled, and were gradually finding their way +from the close rooms into the garden, where the superb afternoon +attracted them all. The elderly ladies and gentlemen walked up and down +in the shady avenues, or inspected the superb greenhouses; the younger +people tried to arrange games on a beautiful lawn, which was partly +overshadowed by old, broad-branching trees; and from a corner in the +park, where a shooting-gallery had been improvised, firing was heard at +intervals. Melitta remembered the adage, that the reputation of young +women is made by old women, and thought that as she intended to enjoy a +certain degree of liberty at the ball, she had better pay for it now by +a few small sacrifices; she joined therefore a party of old ladies, the +Countess Grieben, the Baroness Trantow, and others. Oswald had at first +joined the young people, to whom Langen had introduced him, and had +helped to arrange some games which he had known in the capital, and +which he adapted skilfully to the exigencies of the day. The company +had met his suggestions with universal applause, and he was on the high +way of becoming eminently popular. But when he saw that Melitta would +not join the circle in which he was, he availed himself of a suitable +opportunity to escape. Langen had followed him, and overtook him in a +narrow path between two rows of bushes, where Oswald enjoyed the +innocent pleasure of picking gooseberries. + +"God be thanked!" said Langen, following Oswald's example and +plundering a currant-bush, which hung full of blood-red clusters. "We +have escaped that horror! Curses be upon the man who invented social +games! Are the gooseberries ripe?" + +"Delicious!" + +"You must pay me a visit soon. My estate is only an hour or so from +Grenwitz. My wife, who has presented me a few weeks ago with a beauty +of a little girl, and who is not yet strong enough to go to large +parties, will be glad to make your acquaintance. If you will fix a day, +I will send my carriage for you." + +"I accept your invitation with pleasure," said Oswald, who was almost +put to shame by this extraordinary kindness on the part of a man from +that class which he denounced so severely. "Suppose we say next +Sunday?" + +"You are always welcome. If you would like to bring the boys, do so; I +have a couple of ponies, which the boys will like better than Nepos and +Ovid together.--Ah me! _Incidit in Scyllam qui vult vitare Charybdim!_ +There comes the Countess Grieben at the head of her staff. _Sauve qui +peut!_" + +The young men slipped into another garden walk which crossed the first +at right angles, and were soon beyond the reach of the ladies' eyes. +Oswald, for his part, would have liked to stay, for he had noticed +Melitta in the "staff," and had hoped to catch a look in passing; but +he considered it his duty not to abandon his new friend, who had shown +himself so very amiable during the whole afternoon. + +"You do not seem to be very fond of society. Baron Langen," he said, +smiling at the hurry of the young man. + +"That society--no! I was brought up in almost absolute solitude. My +father, who is not very wealthy, sacrified society to the interest of +his children. Then I was sent to school. I should have liked to go to a +university, but my father needed me on the farm, especially as he grew +older and could not do as much as formerly himself. Since then my good +father has left us, and I have hardly ever been away from the _paterna +rura_. Are you anything of a sportsman?" + +"No; I have never yet had an opportunity to cultivate the Nimrod +talent, which no doubt is quietly slumbering somewhere in my nature." + +"Oh! that is a pity. But that will come. We have excellent sport: +wild-fowl and hares. You ought at first to practise a little with the +pistol. One learns to take aim and to have a steady hand." + +"Well, pistol-shooting I have practised perhaps too much in my life," +replied Oswald. "My father, a teacher of languages and a very peaceful +man, had a real passion for pistol-shooting; it was his only amusement. +He shot as I have never seen anybody shoot, with marvellous skill. I +have never found out what could have given him such a passion for it. +Once I thought I would ask him about it. I shall never forget the tone +in which he answered; 'There was a time when I hoped I should be able +to kill a man who had mortally offended _him_. When I was perfectly +sure of my aim--the man died. Since then I fancy I am firing at him; +every ace of spades which my ball hits is his false, cruel heart.' I +begged him to give me the name of the man. 'That I cannot do,' he +answered; 'but if you choose to have your share in my feelings--take it +for granted that the ace of spades is the heart of some nobleman or +other.'" + +"_Mon Dieu!_" said Langen; "and have you really inherited this fanatic +hatred against my caste from your father?" + +"Only partially," said Oswald, "as I have only inherited a part of his +skill in pistol-shooting.--Shall we go for a moment to the stand? I +judge from the sound we must be quite near." + +"Bravo, bravo!" cried a number of voices from there; "Cloten, I bet on +you." + +"I bet on Breesen," said another voice. + +They found at the stand half a dozen gentlemen perhaps, all greatly +excited, with the exception of Baron Oldenburg, who, leaning against +his tree, and his hands in his pockets, looked at the marksmen and +hummed stanzas from the Marseillaise through his teeth. + +"Bravo, Cloten. Again the bull's-eye--the fellow shoots like the +devil!" cried several voices. + +"Has anybody else a desire to bet?" said Cloten, looking all around +with a wonderfully self-complacent air. + +"I should like to bet, if you please," said Oswald. + +"You?" said the dandy, with a look of speechless surprise. + +"I bet a sovereign on the gentleman," said Oldenburg, grinning. "Who +will take it?" + +"Done! Done!" cried several voices. + +"I take it all!" said Oldenburg, who seemed to enjoy the joke of the +thing highly. + +"Our bets have been a dollar so far--does that suit you?" said Cloten +to Oswald. + +"Of course." + +"But Doctor Stein does not know the pistols," said Langen; "and Cloten +has no doubt become quite familiar with them. That is hardly fair." + +"If it was only a question of money," said Oswald, "I should try. But +as others choose to bet on my shooting, I should like to have a trial +shot first." + +"Of course," said Breesen; "that is a matter of course," cried Baron +Barnewitz. + +"Won't help him much," said Cloten, in a low tone. + +"Do you see that pine cone up there, Baron Langen?" said Oswald, when +they had handed him a loaded pistol; "that one at the extreme end of +the branch?" + +"Yes; but that is at least fifty feet." + +"Never mind. These pistols look as if they would be safe even at a +greater distance." + +Oswald raised his pistol. All eyes were intently gazing at the pine +cone. + +"Ah, yes!" said Oswald, dropping his pistol again. "Would you have the +kindness. Baron Barnewitz, to introduce me to the gentleman who has +been pleased to form so good an opinion of my skill?" + +"Quite forgot. Beg ten thousand pardons. Baron Oldenburg--Doctor +Stein." + +"Ah, Baron Oldenburg," said Oswald, lifting his hat with his left hand. +"I hope you see the pine cone, baron." + +"Quite distinctly!" replied Oldenburg, bowing politely. + +Oswald raised his pistol once more, aimed a second--the pine cone came +down, shattered to pieces. + +"Famous!" cried Baron Barnewitz. "Cloten, you have found your master." + +"_Nous verrons!_" said Cloten. "You have the first fire, Doctor." + +Oswald took the other pistol and fired, almost without taking aim. + +"Centre!" cried the servant at the target, making a bow to the marksman +before putting a patch on the hole. + +"Cloten, pay forfeit!" cried Oldenburg, jingling money in his pocket. + +"Centre!" was heard once more from the target + +"You see?" said Cloten, handing his pistol to another servant to be +loaded again. + +"I think we had better take another aim or a greater distance," said +Oswald; "with a bull's-eye the size of a dollar, and only forty feet +off, Baron Cloten and I will have to fire a long time before the match +is decided. Are there any cards to be had?" + +"I am content," said Cloten. + +"Have you any cards, Frederick?" Baron Barnewitz asked. + +"Yes, sir!" + +"Take away the target and nail an ace of spades against the tree!" + +"Of course, we shall only count the balls that pierce the ace itself, +or at least touch it," said Oswald. + +"Of course!" said Cloten. + +"Now the thing is fairly under way," said young Breesen, and rubbed his +hands with delight. + +"Cloten, pay forfeit," said Oldenburg once more, and sang through his +teeth: + + + "Pine cones--ace of hearts-- + Why, my love, why, it smarts? + Is it hatred--is it love?" + + +Cloten aimed carefully, but whether the new aim disturbed him, or his +hand had become nervous, his ball only grazed the upper edge of the +card. Oswald stepped forward, his eye took in the whole number of +noblemen who surrounded him. "Take it for granted that the ace of +spades is the heart of some nobleman or other," he heard a well-known +voice whisper.... He fired, and in the place of the ace there was a +hole a little smaller than his ball. + +"Console yourself, Cloten," said Oldenburg. "'_Non semper arcum tendit +Apollo_'--that means: failures must come." + +"Really superb," said Baron Barnewitz, showing the card to the company; +"the ace cut out clean." + +"Do you wish your revenge, Baron Cloten?" asked Oswald. + +"No, thank you, some other time. Feel my hand is not quite steady +to-day." + +"Why did you not pay forfeit, Cloten?" laughed Oldenburg, pocketing the +money he had won. + +"Here they are! here they are!" said suddenly a dozen girls' voices, +and from behind the shrubbery which separated the shooting-gallery from +the path there appeared Emily von Breesen, her cousin Lisbeth von +Meyen, and one of the three Misses Nadelitz, like so many white +butterflies. + +"You are nice gentlemen--spoilers of fun--instantly you come back with +us!" said one after another. + +"Surely, you might do something better, Adolphus, than to spend the +whole afternoon here with your stupid firing," said Emily to her +brother. + +"He must come, too," cried Lisbeth, "we take them all captive. +You, Emily, take the doctor, you are the strongest and he is the +leader--Natalie, Natalie, hold Baron Langen! he wants to run away." + +"Gentlemen!" said Oswald, "resistance would be high treason!--Ladies! +we surrender unconditionally," and he offered Emily von Breesen his +arm. + +The two other gentlemen followed his example, and the three handsome +couples ran off laughing. + +"An elopement in _optima forma_," grinned Oldenburg. + +"I suppose we had better go too," said Barnewitz, "for I fear if we +were to wait till the young ladies come for us we would have to wait +forever." + +"_Allons, enfants de la patrie!_" sang Oldenburg, in the falsest +possible tone, and with a voice which sounded very much like the +crowing of a hoarse rooster on a rainy day, and took Cloten under the +arm. + +"Cloten, _mon brave_, we are growing old," he said, as they were +walking towards the house, a little behind the others. "If we do not +make haste to get married we shall lose all our prospects of conjugal +happiness, legitimate paternity, and a speedy death. Amen!" + +"Ah, nonsense! Baron, you are at least five years older than I am." + +"That did not prevent the young ladies from treating us both like +dogs." + +"That little Emily is a prodigiously pretty little girl." + +"_Si, signore_, and what eyes she made the doctor! Great, big, gray +eyes, full of love! At sixteen that is doing well." + +"Wretched doll-baby." + +"Who? Miss Emily?" + +"Ah! that man, the doctor." + +"Ah, indeed! Did I not tell you so? The girls are crazy about him. And +how the man shoots! Cloten! I should not like to stand at ten feet +distance from him, with the seconds behind us?" + +"Ah! Thank you! Don't fight with a man of low birth. Too unfair. Don't +you think so, baron?" + +"Perhaps the man owes his life to a visit of the sons of heaven to the +daughters of earth?" + +"What does that mean?" + +"Don't you know that was the way before Abraham to speak of the +children of nobles who had married beneath their rank?" + +"No, never heard of it before! Sons of heaven? famous! Generally, Holy +Writ too severe for me. Just imagine, baron--that idea--all men from a +single pair! Nobles and not nobles!--Nonsense, impossible, ridiculous! +Always thought Holy Writ must have been translated by men of low birth. +Always annoyed when old tutor explained it otherwise." + +"Cloten," said Oldenburg, standing still and placing his hand on his +companion's shoulder. "Cloten! You are a great man. That thought is +worthy of the deepest thinker of all ages!" + +"Ah, pshaw!--are you in earnest, baron, or are you trying to chaff me +again?" + +"My dear Cloten," said Oldenburg, passing his arm again under the arm +of his companion and continuing on his way; "let me tell you once for +all, I am invariably and terribly in earnest in all I say, and the +subject of which we were speaking is really of such immense importance +that it won't bear joking. Hear then--but you must not make any +improper use of what I am going to say--Cloten." + +"Certainly not--_parole d'honneur!_" + +"Hear then, that the same question which your genius has answered in an +instant with unfailing tact, has occupied my mind for years. I also +said to myself: The distinction between nobles and not nobles is not a +mere distinction of name, of caste--it is a distinction of blood, of +mind, of soul--_enfin_, of our whole nature. How can men so entirely +different from each other, descend from the same original pair? Where +would be the difference, if that were so? It overwhelms the mind to +think of the consequences!" + +"Why, baron, at last you talk like----" + +"Like a baron. I know. Hear again! This question occupied me so +persistently that I at last determined to solve it, cost what it might. +You all make fun of my solitary life, my studies, and so on. Do you +know, Cloten, what I was studying while you were amusing yourselves +with hunting and gambling?" + +"No--'pon honor." + +"Aramaeic, Chaldaic, Syriac, Mesopotamic, Hindoostanee, +Gangobramaputric, Sanscrit----" + +"For Heaven's sake! Why, that is horrible! What for?" + +"Because I was firmly convinced that there must be, somewhere in the +convents of Armenia, in the catacombs of Egypt, or elsewhere in the +East, a Manuscript which explains the matter. When I had learnt to +speak all these languages as fluently as French and German, I began +three years ago my great journey to the East. In passing through Italy +I searched all the libraries there. In Rome I met the Barnewitz party. +This meeting was very disagreeable to me, to tell the truth. I had to +accompany them to Sicily, as a matter of politeness. But in Palermo I +escaped as soon as I could." + +"Ah, that explains your sudden disappearance--the 'Interrupted +Sacrifice,' great opera, and so forth." + +"'Interrupted Sacrifice?' You never recollected that expression, +Cloten?" + +"No--'pon honor--an invention of Hortense's; I mean of the Baroness +Barnewitz," the young man corrected himself. "She insists upon +it--_entre nous_, baron--that your meeting in Rome was not quite so +accidental on your part, and the whole journey from Rome to Palermo--is +not that the name of the place--was a perfect triumph for the Berkow; +Sacrifice--'Interrupted Sacrifice.' Ha, ha, ha!" + +"But I do not understand you, Cloten?" + +"Well, _entre nous_, Hortense has a good deal to say about that +journey. For instance, a scene during the passage from Ciproda----" + +"Procida, you mean," said Oldenburg. + +"Procida, I don't care which. I can't remember all those absurd names. +Well, from Procida to Naples." + +"Well?" + +"But, really, baron, you put the thumb-screws on too tightly. You had a +little fisher-boat, and there came a real storm--the waves were as high +as houses, and you were expecting the boat to capsize every moment. +Then you said in Italian----" + +"The Barnewitz does not understand a word of Italian, as far as I +know," said Oldenburg. + +"Not Hortense, but the boatmen, who told her afterwards." + +"Then," growled Oldenburg, "she examined them. Well!" + +"Then you said to the Berkow: Dear soul, to be drowned with you is +worth more than to live a hundred years with your cousin, or any other +woman!" + +"Indeed! Does Hortense tell her friends such pretty stories? Well, +Cloten, I'll give you a piece of advice: Believe in every kiss that you +have had from Hortense's lips, or that you are going to have----" + +"Ah, nonsense, baron!" said the dandy, with that smile which is meant +to be modest, and which is so horribly impudent. + +"But do not believe a single word she utters. Can you really think that +I should have had nothing better to do than to court Melitta von +Berkow, when such grave, yes, such almost holy things filled my soul? +Let me tell you: I went from Sicily to Egypt, then up the Nile to Aboo +Simbul, back to Cairo, from there to Palestine, Persia, India--examined +every temple, every ruin, every crevice in the rocks. I did not find +what I looked for. At last--I was almost desperate--in the library of +the great monastery on Mount Athos----" + +"Where is that, Baron?" + +"Between the Indus and Oregon--there in the old library I discovered at +last the long-looked for Manuscript. There I found the whole story." + +"What was it?" + +"There it was stated in purest High-Bramaputric, that--translate all +that into our modern notions and expressions----" + +"Yes, for Heaven's sake do so, or I won't understand a word." + +"That there were, from the beginning, two pairs of human beings +created; as it could not well be otherwise: the one noble and the other +not noble. The name of this first noble race is not recorded in the +Manuscript. At the very place where it once stood, there is now a big +blot. So much is certain, it was not Oldenburg; it began with a C, and +somewhere in the middle there was a t." + +"Perhaps Cloten," said the other. + +"It may be, but I cannot swear to it. Nor is it said what family his +wife belonged to; she is simply called a noble damsel." + +"But I thought she was made from the rib of man?" + +"Why, you would not believe that stupid nonsense, Cloten? She is +expressly called a noble damsel, and so she must have been of noble +blood." + +"But that is a curiously complicated story." + +"Not so very complicated as you imagine. Enough, the noble gentleman +and the noble damsel, who soon became a noble lady, had a villa, which +was called Paradise--why should not a villa be called Paradise, +Cloten?" + +"Nevertheless, very curious name." + +"Why? Does not one call his place Solitude, another Sans Souci, and +still another Bellevue--why should not one of them have called his +Paradise? _Eh bien!_ The nobleman's servant was called Adam. Good name +for a man-servant. When he became old and stiff, they called him old +Adam--have you ever heard of a noble who was called Adam, Cloten?" + +"Never in my life." + +"You see there is the best proof at once. He called his servant Adam, +and his wife's chambermaid Eve--little Evy, very nice name for a maid. +My mother had a charming little maid, and her name was Evy. But Adam +was a bad fellow, just as our servants nowadays are bad fellows. And +Eva was no better. At last the old gentleman took his riding-whip and +drove both from the place. In their deportment-book he wrote: Dismissed +on account of dishonesty, fondness of dress, and laziness. That is the +story, of course only in the outline." + +"Really, very remarkable, quite famous! 'pon honor! Did you bring the +book home with you, baron?" + +"No; but an authenticated copy, endorsed by the justice of the peace of +the place." + +"Are there justices of the peace out there?" + +"But, my dear friend, how could there be a country and no justices?" + +"To be sure. Still, it would be better if we had the book itself." + +"Perhaps we can get it. The monks are wretchedly obstinate. I had a +great mind to poison them all with prussic acid. I shall probably do it +yet, if I ever get to that district again. Until then, we must be +satisfied with a copy." + +"I say, baron, could you not let me have a copy like yours? Of course I +mean in the translation, and not in Bramaputrid, or what the nonsense +is." + +"Hm! But you must promise not to show it to anybody?" + +"Rely upon it." + +"Perhaps to one or the other of our own circle." + +"Ah! May I do that?" + +"Oh yes! But do not mention my name. Tell them it was a mere hypothesis +of yours----" + +"A what?" + +"A mere idea, which had not yet been confirmed. When we get hold of the +original, then comes the time for your triumph and the triumph of the +good cause at once." + + + + + CHAPTER XXIV. + + +The summer sun had set for some time behind the tall trees of the park; +dark shadows were falling upon the thick bosquets; here and there a +bird was still chirping, before he put his head under his wing for the +night; otherwise all had become silent in the garden, where just before +all had been noise and uproar. But it was all the louder inside the +house. The dazzling light of a hundred wax candles on lustres and +girandoles shone from the windows upon the great lawn before the garden +room. Music resounded through the opened folding-doors, and the +peasantry, who were standing around at a respectful distance, saw +through the open window the dancing couples float by one by one. In the +rooms adjoining the ball-room card-tables had been placed for the older +guests, and Count Grieben's screeching voice could continually be +heard, as Baron Grenwitz, who was a very indifferent player, missed a +trick, or, led away by his timidity, committed one of those blunders +which jar so painfully on the mind of an accomplished player. Baron +Barnewitz and his wife cut in, so that one of them could always be in +one or the other room, and no party was favored at the expense of the +other. At first, Hortense had intended to dance all the evening; but +after two or three dances she became so angry at the admiration which +her cousin excited, that she proposed this arrangement to her husband, +who was all the more willing to accede to it, as he was, in spite of +his corpulency, very fond of dancing. He not only danced very well +besides, but was a great admirer of married and unmarried ladies in +ball toilet. And such were not wanting. There was a bevy of beauties +there such as would have enchanted more thoughtful men than the baron +was. The most beautiful and most lovely of all was, in the judgment of +the gentlemen at least,--for the opinion of the ladies was very much +divided on the subject,--beyond all doubt, Melitta. Her cheeks, +generally rather pale, were slightly flushed from dancing, her eyes +beamed with light and life, her slender elastic form moved along with +marvellous grace in rhythmical change--thus she floated over the smooth +parquet of the ball-room like the very Muse of the Dance. By the side +of this dazzling apparition the pretty women of her age looked mere wax +dolls, and the younger girls very nice marionettes. Thus it seemed at +least to Oswald, as he saw her fly by him in the waltz or met her +halfway in the cotillon. A strange mixture of contradictory sensations +filled his heart. Since the moment when he had seen Baron Oldenburg's +portrait for the first time in Melitta's album, he had never been able +to get rid of the thought. What were their relations? But, often as +that question had been on his lips, he had never dared to utter it, and +the higher the sun of his love arose on the heavens, the paler became +the threatening shadow. But to-day his half-dormant doubts had been +cruelly aroused by Barnewitz's story, by the appearance of the man +himself, and by Melitta's conduct. Again the question arose on his +lips, and again he drove it back to its secret place in his heart. He +was angry with Melitta, that she should cause him such suffering; he +was angry with himself, that he had been persuaded by her to follow her +to this party, into this world of nobles, who, he knew, only tolerated +him; into this world of frivolous enjoyment and haughty conceit, this +noisy, blinding world, which contrasted so miserably with his romantic +love and seemed to scoff at the blissful, almost sublime solitude at +the forest cottage! It seemed to him an old, old fairy tale, that he +had held this wonderful woman in his arms--that he had pressed his lips +upon her rosy lips, alas! how often! she looked to him so changed, a +perfect stranger. He could not persuade himself that this was Melitta, +who was laughing with young Breesen and talking with Cloten, and +answering his foolish sallies so politely. And then again, when her +bright eye met his, when her hand in the cotillon pressed his so +sweetly, when on such an occasion a: Sweet love! you darling!--became +barely audible to him--then it was again Melitta, his Melitta! And once +more doubts, rising to insane anxiety, chased after certainty, which +filled him with unspeakable happiness, as dark shadow and bright +sunlight are chasing each other across a fair summer landscape; and in +order to escape this sweet anguish, this bitter delight, he sipped with +hasty, eager desire the intoxicating beverage, which consists of +dazzling light, joyous music, and voluptuous perfumes, and in a +ball-room excites and confuses so strangely the senses of all the +guests, till they approach Bacchanalian rapture. + +Oswald laughed and talked as if in the best humor; here a reckless, +bold word, there a delicate compliment here a satirical sneer, there a +sentimental appeal. The ladies seemed entirely to have forgotten his +low birth: he was such a capital, indefatigable dancer; so handsome a +man, so skilful a flatterer. And if here and there an anxious mother +scolded her noble daughter for her intimacy with that young man. Doctor +Stein, the words fell, golden as they were, on sterile soil, and the +girl consoled herself, in her noble conscience, by saying to herself: +Well, it is only for to-night! There can be no doubt that Oswald's +success with the ladies on that evening deeply disgusted many a noble +soul; but the expressions of such hostility remained confined to an +occasional sneer, which never reached Oswald's ear, and to a few angry +looks, which, if he chanced to notice them, only increased his +enjoyment. He knew perfectly well how slippery the ground was; but the +presence of danger, which paralyzes weak minds, only steels strong +hearts; and the consciousness that he might be insulted by impertinence +at any moment, gave to his manner towards the great men present a +boldness, a security, which challenged their indignation, but also +warned them that the consequences would be serious. Besides, it must be +said to the honor of these young nobles, that among twelve or fourteen +there were at least two or three who were not so blinded with +prejudices that they should not have appreciated Oswald's chivalrous +manner. Such was Baron Langen, who took Oswald familiarly by the arm, +and during a pause between the dances, walked up and down with him +through the ball-room; such also young Breesen, the handsomest and +cleverest of the crowd, who asked Oswald to give him some lessons in +pistol-shooting, and who, when his sister had made a mistake in the +dance, and interrupted the tour, asked his pardon in her name, and +carried him up to her so that she might make her own apologies. Such +was, of course, also Baron Oldenburg, who praised Oswald's virtues as a +dancer and a marksman to many friends, although he left it undecided +whether he did so from sincere conviction or in order to annoy his +young companions. + +He was not very courteous to others. When Baron Barnewitz had asked him +if he would like to take a hand, he had replied: Oh yes! if you will +play faro! and when Lisbeth von Meyen had wondered why he did not +dance, he had said: Ah, at this moment I regret, for the first time +in my life, that my dancing-master never succeeded in teaching me +the difference between the first and the second position, nor my +music-teacher to distinguish a waltz from an anthem. Thus he sauntered +about among the card-tables, and excited Count Grieben's ire by looking +into everybody's hands by turns, and then offering good, or rather bad +advice to them all. Now again he was seen in the ball-room, looking at +the dancing couples with the eyes of a good-natured tomcat who sees +black and white mice play merrily on the barn-floor before him. In this +pleasing occupation he was interrupted by Baron Barnewitz, who came +hurrying in and said: + +"Oldenburg, as you have nothing to do----" + +"Why, my dear friend, I have a great deal to do." + +"Come with me in the dining-room and help me arrange the seats. Please +come!" + +"Your confidence in my organizing capacity is highly honorable to me, +_mon ami_," said Oldenburg, and followed his host across the hall, +up the well-carpeted staircase, into the brilliantly illuminated +dining-room, where the servants were just finishing setting the tables. + +"Here, Oldenburg, are the cards, all written; now tell me, shall +we----" + +"Honored sir," said Oldenburg to a servant, "could you, perhaps, bring +me the useful and ingenious instrument by which this bottle might be +opened? There, thanks--_Festina lente!_ Barnewitz, that means: thou +shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn! Your health, my +boy! This young Cliquot is one of the more virtuous members of his +numerous race. Really drinkable," and he sipped one glass after +another. "Now, here I am at your service. Put the bottle on that +side-table, my man in the gold lace! there are some glasses +left--Countess Grieben--Baron Oldenburg--Baroness Nadelitz--are you +mad, Barnewitz? I to sit two hours hemmed in between the two mummies! I +had rather help to wait. No, we'll do it so. The whole of the old +people go to one end of the table, and Young Germany to the other. You +can go with your flock of he-goats and she-goats to the East, and I +will go to the West with my kids and little sheep." + +"Well, I suppose that's the best," said Barnewitz. "Here are your +cards." + +The servants had left the room; the two gentlemen, beginning at +opposite ends, began to put the cards on the napkins. + +"Miss Klaus," said Oldenburg, holding up a card; "who, by all the +Olympic gods, is Miss Klaus?" + +"Our governess. Have you not noticed her? A little thing, very pretty, +and with eyes bursting with high treason. We could not well leave her +in the nursery--Great heavens! Here is again husband and wife side by +side!--because we wanted her in the cotillons. You can give her to +Doctor Stein. Like and like, you know." + +"Well!" said Oldenburg, and grinned. + +"Who is to have the Berkow?" + +"Oh, pray, leave me alone! You, for all I care." + +"_Bon!_" said Oldenburg, and drank a glass of champagne. + +After a short pause. + +"Who is to have the honor of sitting by your wife?" + +"Great heavens!--to be sure, that is important. You know, Oldenburg, +give her the most significant; no one can say anything to that!" + +"All right," said Oldenburg, and looked among the cards till he had +found the right one. "I will pay you for your unauthenticated +fisherman's stories," he growled between his teeth. + +"Have you done, Oldenburg?" + +"Directly--now!" + +"Well, baron, now let us do this: you go into the ballroom and tell +every gentleman what lady he is to take in, and I will do the same in +the card-room." + +"_Ainsi soit-il!_" laughed Oldenburg, following his host + +As he entered the ball-room, they were just arranging a cotillon. +Immediately after that they were to go to table. + +"This is a good opportunity," he said, and, like a black-feathered, +long-legged bird who picks out frogs on a wet meadow, he walked up and +down with great gravity behind the line of the dancers and whispered to +each gentleman, as the opportunity offered, the name of his lady. +Oswald was dancing with the Baroness Barnewitz, who had taken the place +of Miss Klaus until the latter should have carried an important order +to the kitchen; their _vis-a-vis_ were Cloten and Melitta. Oldenburg +had informed all the gentlemen of their fate, which seemed to be +favorable to all, for they nodded with a well-contented air. At the +very last he slipped up to Cloten and whispered to him: + +"Cloten, I have given you the Barnewitz." + +Then to Oswald: "Doctor, you will take Frau von Berkow." + +Then he went away hurriedly. + +"Hortense," whispered Cloten, overjoyed, to his lady, "do you know who +is to take you in?" + +"Not you, Arthur?" she asked, frightened. + +"Yes, my angel." + +"Impossible, Arthur. Go straight back to Oldenburg and tell him he must +give you another lady." + +"But----" + +"Hush, not so loud! You are mad. I tell you Barnewitz is very +suspicious. That would make him more so than ever." + +"_Changez les dames!_" + +"Melitta; I am to take you to table." + +"Impossible, Oswald. You must try to have it changed." + +"Why," whispered Oswald, and his brows met. + +"Do not look so angry, darling. I will explain it to you." + +Miss Klaus appeared in the adjoining room. As soon as Oldenburg saw her +he walked up to her, and reverently bowing to her, he said, in a tone +of unusual gentleness: + +"Miss Klaus, I am to have the pleasure of taking you to supper." + +The poor little thing was thunderstruck. Baron Oldenburg, the strange, +mysterious baron, to take her in! + +She looked up to him with an air of serious doubt. + +"I have arranged the seats myself, Miss Klaus; if you have any special +preference tell me so, and I shall be very happy to do what you like +best." + +"Oh no, baron----" + +"_Eh bien, nous voila d'accord!_ Will you give me your arm? I see they +are making ready." + +At that moment Cloten came up, out of breath. + +"One word, Oldenburg--pardon me, Miss Klaus--Oldenburg, you must get me +another lady. I cannot go with Hortense." + +"_Pourquoi pas, mon cher?_" + +"Because--oh, pshaw!--because----" + +"_Je suis au desespoir, mon brave_; but Barnewitz has proposed you +himself!" + +"Are you sure?" + +"You may rely on it." + +He hastened back to his lady, his face beaming with joy. + +"Oswald," said Melitta, "I have reconsidered it. It is better so--there +is no prospect for the cotillon. Now come, give me your arm, and be +good again." + +The older people had gone into the dining-room first, and were standing +behind their chairs; the company from the ball-room came now. Baron +Barnewitz came for a moment across to see that all was right. He looked +very black when he saw his wife on Cloten's arm, and Melitta standing +by Oswald, and still more so when Oldenburg himself entered, leading +his lady like a princess by the hand. + +"Oldenburg, what a mess you have made!" whispered Barnewitz, furiously. +"I do not want Cloten to sit by my they are quite enough talked about +already." + +"Well, my dear fellow, you told me to take the most insignificant; that +left me no doubt!" + +"And Melitta with the doctor; you with Miss Klaus--that is too absurd." + +"Well, Barnewitz, it's done now, and please do me the favor not to +interfere any more with my arrangements. Go quietly to your seat, the +Countess Grieben is looking for you with her big owl eyes!" + +"I wash my hands of it," growled Barnewitz, hurrying away. + +"And I drink a bottle of champagne in honor of my successful _coup +d'etat_," grinned Oldenburg, sitting down by the little governess, just +opposite Melitta and Oswald, and not far from Cloten and Hortense. + +"Ladies and gentlemen," he said, "I hope you will join me in drinking, +silently but enthusiastically, the health of the man who has assigned +us all our places, and who, while he looked to the common welfare of +all, yet has known how to fulfil the wishes of every guest. I pray you +will bear in mind that a want of enthusiasm at this solemn moment would +deeply wound the feelings of that man, and at the same time +inexpressibly pain one of your neighbors, whom you are bound to love at +least as your neighbor. Ladies and gentlemen, drink with me the health +of your and my best friend, Adalbert Oldenburg!" + +As a matter of course, no one within reach of the Baron's moderately +strong voice dared to refuse to join in this ironical toast. The +glasses clinked, and soon a lively conversation began all around the +table, like fire in a bundle of straw which has been set on fire on all +sides at once; that humming, chirping, chuckling, tittering, laughing +conversation, in which very soon the most brilliant witticism and the +most foolish remark have the same value. + +"Mind your eyes, Oswald," said Melitta, in that rapid manner in which +speech can hardly be distinguished from mere breathing, and when yet +every syllable is distinctly heard--"Your sweet love-letters are caught +on the way by profane eyes, broken open, and read." + +Cloten had in vain tried to convince Hortense that it had been her +husband's own wish that he should lead her to table. + +"Don't be such a fool, Arthur," she said, "it is a trick of +Oldenburg's, you may rely on it. Have you ever talked with Oldenburg +about me?" + +"Never, Hortense--_parole d'honneur_!" + +"I am sure you have done it. You will ruin me with your foolish way of +talking." + +"But, Hortense----" + +"Hush, Oldenburg is watching us all the time." + +"Cloten," said the Baron. + +"What, baron?" + +"Will you go with me to Italy next fall? You know in that matter?" + +"Should like it furiously, baron; but, you know, a thousand reasons +against it; first, hunting season; secondly, races; thirdly, I hate +travelling; fourthly, I do not understand a word of Italian." + +"Well, that is the least of all. What one has to know is only, _Si_, +_signore_, _anima mia dolce_, and all other things you learn by +examining boatmen." + +Cloten blushed to the root of his hair, for, as Oldenburg said these +words he felt Hortense's foot on his own, and heard her whisper in a +voice half drowned by tears: + +"There, you see, Arthur; did I not tell you?" + +Melitta also, who had become quite silent ever since she found herself +sitting opposite Oldenburg, seemed to be particularly struck by this +remark. She suddenly cast down her long lashes, as if she wished to +conceal what was going on in her heart. + +"I appeal to you to bear me witness," said Oldenburg to her. "Has your +Italian been of much use to you?" + +"On the contrary," said Melitta, and her dark eyes flashed brightly. +"It only made me listen to many a false, untruthful word, which would +otherwise have remained unintelligible." + +"Yes, yes, the Italians are great liars," laughed Oldenburg. + +"Let us rather say, there is much lying done in Italy," replied +Melitta. + +"Defeated again," murmured the baron. "That woman is still as beautiful +as an angel and as wise as a serpent. Yes, she is more beautiful than +ever. Her eyes are larger and more brilliant; her shoulders are +rounder; her voice is softer and sweeter--and all that for the sake of +the handsome fellow by her side! Hm!--Doctor, will you do me the honor +to take a glass of champagne with me? I thought I saw a cloud on your +forehead. Let us drive it away! You know: _Dulce est desipere in +loco._" + +"What kind of a horrible lingo is that again, baron?" asked Cloten. + +"Low-Bramaputric, _mon cher_. Your health, doctor!" The more the meal +approached its end, and the quicker the servants filled the ever-empty +champagne glasses, the noisier and coarser became the conversation, so +that it drowned even the voice of Count Grieben, which had heretofore +been heard as distinctly as the screeching of a parrot in a menagerie. +The thin varnish of outer culture, which constituted the whole +so-called refinement of this privileged class, began to give way under +the influence of streams of wine which were incessantly poured over it. +The sight was a frightful one; naked, wretched nature lay open. The +young men told the young ladies their adventures in hunting, at the +races, their heroic deeds while they were in the army, or they were +pleased to converse in a manner which they meant to be airy and witty, +but which was heavy and coarse in the eyes of every well-bred woman. +Unfortunately, however, the young ladies seemed to be but too well +accustomed to this kind of conversation to feel any unpleasant effect. +On the contrary, they allowed themselves to be forced to drink one +glass of champagne after another; they were dying with laughter at the +odd notions of some of the young men, and especially of young Count +Grieben, a very tall, very thin, and very blond youth, whose appearance +reminded one irresistibly of a giraffe. Oldenburg seemed himself to +worship Bacchus more zealously than usual, or at least to take special +pleasure in increasing the Bacchanalian tumult around him; he drank and +talked incessantly, and urged others continually to drink. He did this +especially with Cloten, who, at the beginning, frightened by Hortense's +reproaches, had kept very quiet and looked embarrassed, but who had no +sooner emptied a bottle than he forgot all the precaution which his +lady-love had impressed upon him as absolutely necessary, and now +replied to her reproachful looks with fiery glances, and to her +whispered: "But, Arthur, have a care what you are doing," with an +almost audible: "But, child, what do you mean; nobody sees us." The +young nobleman carried his imprudence so far that he once, when picking +up Hortense's napkin, kissed her hand, and at another time exchanged +her glass for his; in short, he took every means to let the world know +what they had heretofore but vaguely suspected. + +"I am going immediately after this is over," said Melitta to Oswald, +who had for the last quarter of an hour spoken almost exclusively to +Emily von Breesen, his left-hand neighbor. + +"I wish you had never come, or left me at home," said the young man, +bitterly. + +"Scold me?" said Melitta, and her lips trembled with pain. "Ah, Oswald, +I wish you could come with me, and forever!" + +"Perhaps Baron Oldenburg will permit us," replied Oswald, who had +noticed how the baron's gray eyes continually watched Melitta and +himself, while he seemed to devote himself altogether to little Miss +Klaus. + +Melitta said nothing, but the tear which suddenly glittered in her long +eyelashes, and which she quickly wiped away with a quiet gesture, was +answer enough. + +"Pardon me, Melitta," whispered Oswald, "but I am very unhappy." + +"I am not less so--perhaps more so--and that is exactly why I wish you +at least were happy, and I could make you so." + +"You can do it by a word." + +"What is that, Oswald?" + +"Tell me that you love me." + +"Oswald, love does not ask so; that is jealousy." + +"Is there any love without jealousy?" + +"Yes, true love, that feareth nothing and believeth all things." + +"Then my love is not true love. To be sure, we, who are not noble, +cannot lay claim to anything that is true, I suppose; our mothers and +sisters wear glass instead of diamonds; we ourselves have no true +honor, no true love, that is clear." ... If Oswald could have looked +into Melitta's heart as he was uttering these mad words, if he had but +cast a glance at her face, he would have died for shame. Melitta did +not answer; she did not cry; she only looked fixedly before her, as if +she could not comprehend the fearful thing, that the hand which she had +stooped to kiss had slapped her face, that the foot which she had knelt +to wash with ointment had repelled her cruelly ... How she had looked +forward to this evening; how happy she had fancied she would be in the +midst of the crowd, alone with the beloved one, listening to his words, +stealthily pressing his hand, and while beautiful women are slyly +coquetting with him on all sides, to read in his eyes: I love only you, +Melitta! And beyond this evening she had looked into a rosy future--a +land of hope--not in clear outlines, but full of peace and love and +sunshine ... And then her past had come up like a gray venomous mist, +and had covered the promised land with its thick veil ... and now the +face of the beloved one looked to her, through the foul mist, as if it +were disfigured by hatred, and his voice sounded strange to her ears. +Was that his face? Was that his voice which now said: "Baroness, they +are rising from table: may I offer you my arm?" + +As they passed down the stairs Melitta said nothing; Oswald also was +silent. When they had reached the reception-room he bowed deep; and +when he raised his head, he looked for an instant into her face. He saw +that pain made her lips tremble; he saw a touching complaint dim her +eyes, but his heart was locked, and he turned to a group of young girls +and men who seemed to be disposed to continue the reckless table-talk +yet for a while. Melitta followed him with her looks for a moment, saw +how pretty Emily von Breesen turned to him eagerly, and how he met her +with a merry jest, how she replied as merrily and tapped his arm with +her fan. That was all she saw; when she came to herself again she found +herself seated in a corner of her carriage. The bright light of the +lamps fell upon the trees and hedges as they danced by the windows, but +Melitta saw it all through a dim veil of mist, for her heart and her +eyes were full of tears. + + + + + + Part Second. + + + + + CHAPTER I. + + +With Melitta the good genius seemed to have left the company, and given +it up to the agency of demons. The violins sounded louder and louder, +the glances of the men became bolder, their words freer, and the +motions of the dancers more passionate and more energetic. And still +champagne was flowing in streams. New candles had been put into +chandeliers and candelabras throughout the house; It looked as if there +was to be no end to the enjoyment. The elderly people had returned to +their card-tables, and from a smaller room adjoining, to which five or +six gentlemen had retired some time ago, the rolling of gold-pieces +could be heard, and the hoarse cry: "_Faites votre Jeu, messieurs!_" + +Oswald had at the beginning of the second ball, as they called it, +looked all around for Baron and Baroness Grenwitz, for he had not +noticed, and was told only now, that they had both left the house +before the company went to table, and that the carriage would be sent +back for him. He had thought to find Melitta, who had not reappeared in +the ball-room, in one of the other apartments. A servant, who passed +him with a waiter full of wine-glasses, answered his question if he had +seen Frau von Berkow: "The lady has just left. Lemonade or champagne?" +Oswald took a glass of wine and drained it at once. "Gone away without +farewell! Excellent!" He went back to the ball-room and the darkness +increased in his soul. Now he was no longer angry with himself for +having insulted her whom he loved, and for having let her go with that +feeling in her heart, but he was angry with her, that she had left +without giving him an opportunity to ask her pardon. He felt as a soul +may feel that has gone to hell for its sins, because it disdained to +receive the priest's absolution, and which now rages against itself and +against the priest. Mad thoughts floated in his excited brain--he would +have been delighted if one of these young noblemen had taken offence at +his haughtiness and insulted him mortally. He actually tried to provoke +a collision; he scoffed and scorned in the most reckless manner; but +either the half-drunk young men did not comprehend him, or they had +sense enough left to remember that a duel with a man whose ball never +misses was not an agreeable amusement. He tried to persuade himself +that among the other young ladies more than one was as beautiful and +lovely as Melitta--that it was folly to grieve for one, where there +were so many ready to give him comfort. Why should he not fall in love +with Emily von Breesen? Why not? She was a lady who in a day might +unfold into a magnificent rose. Why should he not watch the transition +and enjoy the first balmy fragrance as the full-blown flower opened to +new-born love? And was she not tall and lithe like a deer? And were her +rosy lips not half opened as if for a kiss? And did she not look up to +him with her dark-gray, half-shy, half-bold eyes, full of curiosity, +and yet so full also of intelligence, as he bent over the back of her +chair and chatted with her? + +"You must call on us, Mr. Stein! I shall invite Lisbeth, and then we +can ride out together." + +"You can leave Miss Lisbeth at home. I prefer duos to trios, +decidedly." + +"Is that really so? But my cousin is very pretty. Don't you think so?" + +"Miss Lisbeth is a charming creature, who has but one defect--that you +are her cousin, and who makes but one mistake--to stand too frequently +by your side." + +"Come, come! I shall tell her." + +"You would expose me to her hatred, and then you would owe me a +compensation." + +"And can I afford you any compensation?" + +"Yes; I see it in your eyes." + +"Oh, you wicked man! Come, it is our turn now." + +Oswald had sauntered about after his dance for some time. When he came +back to the ball-room he saw Emily nowhere. Partly looking for her, and +partly without any plan or purpose, he wandered through a suite of +rooms which connected with the ball-room on the other side of the +house, and in which he had not yet been. Here only a few lights were +still burning in a chandelier or before a pier-table, and showed him, +as in a bad dream, an old family portrait or his own pale face. The +chairs stood all about in disorder. The windows were curtained. Through +a crevice here and there the moon was shining in, and drew occasionally +a bright line across the carpets. Oswald went to one of the windows to +get a breath of fresh air. As he drew back the heavy, dark curtain, a +white figure, which had been sitting on a low chair in the deep +embrasure of the window, lost in thought, started up frightened and +uttered a low cry of surprise. Oswald was just about to let the curtain +drop again and to retire, when the form approached him and stretched +out a hand toward him.... And two soft arms encircled him, and a +swelling bosom rose passionately before him, and two burning lips +pressed on his, and a low voice breathed: "Oswald, oh my God, Oswald!" + +A boy who in playing with his little sister wounds her seriously, +cannot be more thoroughly frightened at seeing her blood flow than +Oswald was when he felt the tears of the girl on his cheeks. His mad +intoxication of love and jealousy was gone in a moment. What had he +done? He had played the wicked part of the bird-catcher; he had lured +the poor little bird with flattering words and loving glances, until it +came fluttering up to him and sought peace on his bosom ... + +"Miss Emily," he whispered, trying gently to raise the head of the +girl, who was now bitterly sobbing on his bosom, "Emily, my dear child, +for Heaven's sake, calm yourself. Consider, if anybody should see you +here, or hear you----" + +"What do I care for the others? I love you," whispered the girl. + +"My dear Miss Emily, I beseech you, collect yourself and make me not +wretched----" + +"Then you do not love me?" said the passionate girl, raising herself +suddenly, "then you do not love me? Well, I am going----" + +She took a step towards the curtain, but the storm of passion had +exhausted her strength. She uttered a loud sob, and would have fallen +down if Oswald had not caught her in his arms. His situation was +extremely painful. He feared every moment to hear voices in the room, +to see the curtain drawn back,--and yet, to leave the poor child +fainting there, especially as he could not well send anybody to her +assistance,--it was out of the question. And yet he must tear himself +away, for he felt that the fever in his senses, suppressed for a +moment, was returning with tenfold strength the longer this trying +situation continued ... Tender, affectionate, passionate words began to +mingle, he did not himself know how, with his low beseeching prayers; +an irresistible force made the youthful form cling closer to his arms, +and, ere he well knew what was done, their lips met, the soft hair +mingled with his ... But, more than any words could have done, the +contact, these signs of the love of a passionate child, brought him +back to his self-respect. + +"Then you do love me, Oswald?" she whispered, clinging more closely +than ever to him. + +"Yes, yes, sweet one; who could be cruel enough not to love you dearly. +But by your love I beseech you leave me now, before it is too late. I +shall see you again in the ballroom." + +The girl put her small head once more to his bosom, as if she felt that +it was the first and the last time she should ever rest there, and +raised her rosy and willing lips once more, as if she knew that such +sweet stolen kisses would not be given to her again in this life ... +The lithe white form had disappeared, and only the pale moonlight fell +upon the dark red curtains which separated the window from the room. +And now, as Oswald put his hand on the curtain, in order to return by +some roundabout way to the ball-room, he heard the voices of two men, +who were just then entering the room. + + + + + CHAPTER II. + + +"Who on earth was that?" said one voice,--it was Baron Oldenburg,--"was +not that the pretty Emily? What has the little angler been fishing for +here in these troubled waters?--But now, Barnewitz, I ask with Hamlet: +Whither do you lead me? Speak, I will go no further. Twice I have +brought my baronial knees into unpleasant contact with coarse +chair-legs, thanks to the abominable _clair obscur_ which prevails in +these rooms. Heaven be thanked! here is a causeuse: _eh bien, mon ami; +que me voulez-vous?_" + +"I pray you, Oldenburg, be serious for a moment," said Baron Barnewitz, +and his voice sounded strangely subdued--"I really do not feel in the +least like laughing." + +"You are a strange creature! You and the like of you. You think an +honest fellow cannot utter a serious word without making a face like a +mute's. Humor is an unknown luxury here. Well then, my serious friend, +what is the matter?" + +"Listen, Oldenburg----" + +"Hush! Are you quite safe here? It seemed to me I heard a cat behind +the hangings." + +"It was nothing." + +"_Eh bien_; then announce to me your fatal tale in the fewest possible +words." + +The voices of the speakers became lower, but not so low that Oswald +could not hear every word distinctly. He deplored his position, which +compelled him to listen, but he saw no chance of escaping. As Oldenburg +had recognized Emily von Breesen, he would have compromised her honor +if he had shown himself now. He tried to open the window, in order to +escape by a bold leap over the gooseberry bushes, which were right +underneath, into the garden, and from there through the open door back +again into the ball-room; but he abandoned the plan as too hazardous, +and tried to reconcile himself as well as he could, though not without +secretly cursing his evil star, to his half-ludicrous, half-painful +situation. + +"Oldenburg," said Barnewitz, "did Cloten ask you to let him sit by my +wife, or was it a notion of your own?" + +"Why do you ask that curious question?" + +"Never mind. Just answer." + +"Not before I know what you are aiming at." + +"I want an answer and no subterfuge," said the furious nobleman. + +"Your threats do not terrify me, Cassius," replied Oldenburg, in a +tone, the royal dignity of which contrasted strongly with the hoarse, +passionate voice of the other. "I tell you once more, Barnewitz, either +you tell me what you mean by that question, or I refuse to answer." + +"Well then, the thing is briefly this: Cloten is in love with +Hortense!" + +"Oh! and _vice versa_: is your wife in love with this lovely youth?" + +"I wish he were where the pepper grows!" + +"A very charitable wish, in which I join you with all my heart. Since +when has this comedy been played?" + +"Since our return from Italy." + +"And what evidences have you?" + +"A thousand!" + +"And what do you mean to do?" + +"Great Heavens! Oldenburg. You ask me as if I had been playing whist! I +want to kill the rascal; I want to drive him from my place here with +the whip!" + +"_Bon!_ And will you mention one of the thousand proofs?" + +"Well, I should think to-night had given proof enough. First, she lets +him take her to table; then she coquets with him in the most impudent +manner----" + +"Stop! Who told you all that?" + +"Young Grieben." + +"Then tell young Grieben that he might employ his sparrow-brains for a +better purpose than to invent such foolish stories, and to report them +to you. I sat nearer than he, and I am sure I observe as well as he, +and I tell you that your wife and Cloten have behaved just as well at +table, as,--well, as you can expect from a nobleman and a lady. And +then, please consider that the whole arrangement was only a notion, +and, as I now see, a bad notion of mine." + +"I can rely upon that, Oldenburg?" + +"I generally mean what I say." + +"But it is nevertheless true," screamed Barnewitz. + +"My dear friend, I have no opinion about that, and you would oblige me +very much indeed if you would leave me out of the matter entirely. But +if you want my friendly advice, I am quite at your service." + +"What ought I to do?" + +"Hang your horsewhip on its hook and avoid in every way making a +scandal, in which no one suffers more in the end than he at whose +expense the whole spectacle is performed, I mean the husband. Then I +advise you to remember that our _chronique scandaleuse_ is rich in such +stories, and that, if every king among us should in each such case use +his whip, there would soon not be saddlers enough in the country. +Thirdly, I beg leave to advise you: abolish half of your kennel and all +of your mistresses, if you have any. Let the hares eat their cabbages +in peace, and the young fellows in the village kiss the pretty girls +themselves; take some pains about Hortense, who, like all wives, asks +for nothing better than to be beloved, and who is far too sensible not +to appreciate your attractions at once, if she has any choice between +yourself and Cloten; and finally, let us go again among men, for this +philosophic controversy in this mystic twilight has nearly exhausted +me, and I long heartily for a glass of champagne." + +"Ha, ha, ha!" laughed the drunken host, who, as it generally happens to +simple men, fell from one extreme into the other; "yes, you are right, +I am a very different sort of a man from Cloten, a miserable +whippersnapper, and Hortense knows that pretty well. Ha, ha, ha! you +are right, I have lived rather fast of late. You see that journey to +Italy has demoralized me. Those wonderful women with their bright black +eyes--yes, and _a propos_ of bright eyes, I always wanted to ask you, +is it all over with yourself and the Berkow?" + +"With me and Frau von Berkow? What a mad notion is that now! what is to +be over between us?" + +"Why, Oldenburg, you don't want to persuade an old fox like myself that +you only looked at the sweet grapes from a distance?" + +"Listen, my jewel," said Oldenburg, and his voice sounded like a +two-edged sword; "you know I take a joke like anybody, but he who dares +touch Melitta's honor, by the great God, he dies by my hand!" + +"Well, now, you see how you flare up again!" + +"I flare up! I am as cool as iced champagne.--Yes, as I told you, +Barnewitz; promise me not to do anything in this matter to-day, nor +to-morrow, nor at any time, till you have conferred with me; especially +don't let your wife see anything--you hear, Barnewitz, not the least +sign?" + +"Well, your good advice comes too late," said Barnewitz. "I told +Hortense in passing a few words; she turned pale like a sheet. The +rascal." + +"That was very wrong, and not very chivalrous, my good knight of the +sorrowful countenance," said Oldenburg; "old women talk, but men act. +Such scenes between a noisy husband and a weeping wife are beyond all +measure plebeian and vulgar, and if we know that we are right and +others are wrong, we should be doubly mild, delicate, and tolerant. To +be wrong and to have to confess it is punishment enough." + +"Ah, Oldenburg, that is too refined for me; and then you don't know the +women, if you think they take such matters very much to heart. In at +one ear and out at the other. Come, Oldenburg, and convince yourself, +if you can see, that I told Hortense ten minutes ago I would break +every bone in Cloten's body if the abominable story was not instantly +brought to an end!" + +"Yes, you are a genuine Othello! And I, in my stupid good-nature, must +try to wash this brutal Moor into a civilized European! _Quelle +betise!_" + +When Oswald heard the voices of the two men no longer, and the music +sounding across from the ball-room indicated that dancing had begun +again, he came forth from his concealment. He expected that this suite +of rooms ended in a long passage, which he had noticed in going up to +the dining-room. He was not mistaken. There was a door into the passage +in the next room; from there he slipped into the hall, and thence, +unobserved, into the reception-room. Here and there they were still at +whist, but most of the players had gone to the ball-room, where the +German was to be danced. Oswald followed the crowd. His eyes sought and +soon found Emily von Breesen. He hardly trusted his eyes, she looked so +changed; the wild hoyden of just now had grown up into a young lady. +She appeared taller and more dignified; her face, rosy before, was pale +now, but her eyes shone with an unusual fire, and the jests of her +partners elicited not even a smile. As soon as she saw Oswald, a smile +flashed over her face. She turned towards him as he approached and +said: + +"One word, doctor,"--and then in a low voice, "I shall dance the German +with you; I know you are not engaged. I have driven Count Grieben to +such despair, he is gone off with the old people. He thought, no doubt, +he would stun me--the fool! Pardon me, Baron Sylow, I am too tired yet. +Dance with my cousin, she will be glad--Heaven be thanked! He is +gone.--Oswald, you love me? love me really? I can hardly believe it. My +head swims; I could scream for joy. Oh, please don't look at me so, or +I must--I must fall on your neck and kiss you as just now. Are you +angry, Oswald? It was bad in me, very bad, I know. But you see I could +not help it. Why don't you talk, Oswald?" + +"Because it is sweeter to listen to you." + +"I am such a child, am I not? But why do you talk so formally?" + +"Do you think we only love those we treat unceremoniously?" + +"No, but we drop ceremony with those we love. Oh, I like that so much! +Heaven be thanked, the polka is over. Come, let us try and find a good +place; there by the window." + +The gentlemen were busy obeying the ladies' orders and arranging the +chairs; the circle was almost formed, when all of a sudden, high above +the tuning of the obstinate instruments of the musicians and the +clinking of glasses on waiters and of cups in the hands of thirsty +people, voices were heard in an adjoining room which did not sound very +festive. There were loud voices, hoarse with wine and rage--threats +fell here and there--only a few words, but just enough to startle all +who were in the ball-room, for a moment, out of their forgetfulness of +the world. It was only for a moment, for a quarrel in coarse words was +by no means a rarity in this refined society, and often lasted much +longer than this time. Nor would this interruption have made any more +impression than many others on similar occasions, if a second +occurrence in the ball-room itself had not lent to the former a +peculiar significance, which was quite clear to the cleverer part of +the company. For hardly had the hoarse, threatening voices in the next +room been silenced by a third voice, which seemed to exercise an +undisputed authority over them, than Hortense, who was just about to +dance the German, seized the arm of her partner and fell fainting +on a chair, which the latter had just had time enough to draw up. +The consternation was, of course, very great. Although a dozen +smelling-bottles were at once ready, and cologne was poured on brow, +eyes, and temples of the fainting beauty, it still lasted several +minutes before she recovered enough to smile her thanks, with pallid +lips, and to beg them, more by looks than by words, to take her back to +the other room. This was done promptly, and those who remained behind +looked at each other as if they did not know what to make of the event. + +"I suppose the ball is over now?" asked Adolph von Breesen, who was to +dance the German with Lisbeth, whom he adored, of Oswald, in an under +tone. + +"I am afraid so," replied the latter. + +"Are we going to dance?" asked a third. + +"Impossible," replied Langen; "I have ordered my horses." + +"What was the meaning of that affair between Barnewitz and Cloten just +now?" asked still another. + +"Who knows? They had taken a glass too much. That is all," said Langen. + +"I should be glad if that were all," said Breesen, "but I fear there is +more behind it. They tell me Cloten left the house on the spot." + +Baron Barnewitz appeared by Oldenburg's side in the ball-room. The face +of the latter looked as calm as ever, but that of his host was purple +with excitement, anger, and overmuch wine; his eyes were swimming, and +his voice was unsteady, as he tried to persuade the gentlemen to go on +dancing. + +"Go home?--nonsense--can't let you go--Halloh! Champagne +here--Home?--why? My wife faints at any time, for reasons and without +reasons--why? I couldn't see anybody if that--Music! Hi! Go on, music!" + +But in spite of these hospitable words, the effect of which was +seriously impaired by the evident excitement of the speaker, and in +spite of the first notes of the orchestra, which began with a truly +fearful discord, very few only were disposed to continue the ball. All +the others discovered suddenly that it was quite late, that they had +been much longer at table than they imagined, and that it would be +unwarrantable to continue festivities in which the hostess herself +could take no part--and all the phrases of that kind with which people +try to excuse their retreat when they have once determined to leave. +One carriage after the other drove up to the door. Mothers looked for +their daughters; these for their shawls and fans; everybody was making +ready, saying good-by, dropping here a loud joke, there a malicious +remark, and at times a stealthy word of love.--Oswald hardly saw +anything else but the form of the pretty, impassioned child who had +become so dear to him in a few moments.--Love is such a very strange +thing that even the mere consciousness of having set loose the +supernatural power in others suffices to awaken in us a sensation, +which may not be love itself, but which resembles love most strikingly. +Love itself is a mirror which reflects our image beautified, so that +even the wisest and the most modest cannot help feeling gratified at +the sight. Love makes gods of us, and we would not be men, would not be +brothers of Phaeton and Ixion, if we did not all of us desire once upon +a time to play the god, or at least to dine for once at the table of +the gods. But what nectar can be as sweet as the kisses from the dewy +lips of a young, lovely creature? as the glances from the eyes of a +girl whose bosom swells, for the first time in her life, with loving +longing?--as her words, confused and yet so intelligible, like the +twittering of a young bird, who would like to break forth in full +melodies and still cannot find the right notes _as yet_. + +And Oswald had felt the touch of such lips; Oswald saw such young, +beaming eyes rise to his full of bliss, and Oswald heard such low, +love-breathing words. Was it a wonder that he spent the last few +minutes of his interview with her in giving love for love; that he +looked forward to the moment of parting with hardly less dread than she +herself, who nearly broke out in tears when her carriage was announced? +Emily had availed herself of the opportunity, when Oswald led her back +to her aunt, to present him to this lady, who stood to her in her +mother's place. A few clever and complimentary words had quickly won +him the favor of the matron, who liked nothing better, thoroughly +kind-hearted as she was, than to laugh a little at other people's +expense. She also invited Oswald to come and see her very soon at +Candelin (the estate of Emil's father, who was laid up with the gout, +and could not go out). + +"Yes, and then we'll have some pistol-shooting," said Adolphus, who +came up to tell the ladies that the carriage was ready; "I shall invite +a few other gentlemen, so that you won't be too badly bored at our +house." + +"I have only a very modest talent for being bored, and besides, I think +the presence of these ladies, and your own, will be a better preventive +against that malady than the company of a hundred persons," said +Oswald, with a polite bow. + +"You see, Adolphus," said the lively old lady, "Doctor Stein says +exactly what I have told you a thousand times: only slow people are +bored; you, for instance, and your sister, who are both dying a hundred +times a day for sheer _ennui_." + +"I am never bored, dear aunt," said Miss Emily, eagerly. + +"Child, you begin to talk wildly; it is high time you should get home. +Then _au revoir, monsieur_." + +"I beg you will allow me to see you to your carriage," said Oswald, +offering the old lady his arm. + +"_Vous etes bien aimable, monsieur_," she replied, accepting the +offered arm; "are you quite sure, Mr. Stein, you are not of noble +birth?" + +"As sure as of my existence, madam. Why?" + +"This: you have in your whole manner something chivalrous, that we do +not often see nowadays, and then only in our young men of the best +families. Adolphus has still much to learn in that direction. Do you +hear, Adolphus?" + +"I always hear what you say, dear aunt," replied the young man, who +followed them with his sister, "even when I have heard your words once +or twice before. Emily, child, where are your eyes? That carriage was +on the point of driving over you." + +The ladies had taken their seats; Adolphus gave the coachman on the box +some instructions about the road he was to take. Oswald was standing by +the still open door; the aunt had snugly ensconced herself in her +corner, and Emily was bending forward a little. The light of the +carriage lamps and those at the house door fell upon her face. Her eyes +were fixed upon Oswald; but she hardly saw him, for they were veiled by +tears; she dared not speak; her trembling lips were eloquent enough. +Her brother jumped into the carriage, and drew the door to. "All +right!" The horses pulled. A little hand in a white glove beckoned from +the window. That was the last sign. The next moment another carriage +was on the same spot. + +Oswald returned into the house. The company was quite small now, and +among the few who were still there, waiting for their carriages and +wrapped up in cloaks and shawls, there was no one of those with whom +Oswald had come in contact during the day. Langen had been the first to +leave, after repeatedly asking his new friend to be sure and pay him +soon a visit. Oswald had inquired of the servants if the Grenwitz +carriage had come back for him, but they had seen nothing of it. The +smaller the company grew, the more embarrassing became his situation. +He saw himself already, in imagination, the very last of all the +guests, and had resolved rather to return on foot than to have to claim +the hospitality of Baron Barnewitz. Just then, however, Oldenburg came +from an adjoining room, and seemed to look for somebody. As soon as he +saw Oswald, he came up to him and said: + +"What do you say, doctor, I think we had better go." + +"I should have been gone long ago," replied Oswald, "but just now I am +without horses and carriage; I suppose the baron's coachman, who was to +come back for me, has fallen asleep on the way." + +"I take special pleasure in offering you a seat in my carriage," said +the baron. "For the little _detour_ which I shall have to make, in +order to set you down at Grenwitz, I shall be amply compensated by the +pleasure of your company." + +"I accept your kind offer very thankfully." + +"_Eh bien, partons!_" + +In the hall they met their host, who was evidently scarcely able any +longer to perform his duties as such. His eyes were bloodshot, his +voice had become most unpleasantly rough and hoarse. He talked of all +sorts of things incoherently, while he made an effort to dismiss every +one of his guests with a civil little speech, as he saw them to their +carriage. "Want to go already--well, stay at home well--John, your +carriage for your mistress--My respects to your husband! Ah! +Poggendorf! old boy! Had not seen you here at all! Don't let that wife +of yours go home alone! Glass champagne? Eh?--Oldenburg, doctor, not +already? Nonsense! Glad to make your acquaintance--shoot devilish +well--all right that you put down that Cloten--all right--famous +fellow, doctor (tender embrace)--you are my bosom friend (sobbing)--my +best friend (another embrace)--you ought to have killed him--the +blackguard." + +"Come, Barnewitz, I have to tell you something," said Oldenburg, +slapping his host vigorously on the shoulder, and leading him a few +steps aside from the carriage; "Excuse me a moment, doctor; Charles! +make room, so the other carriages can come up!" + +The two men walked up and down for some time in eager conversation, now +disappearing in the dark part of the courtyard, and now visible again +in the illuminated semicircle before the door. Oswald could readily +imagine the subject of their conversation. Several times Barnewitz +raised his voice, but he lowered it instantly upon a 'St! or a Hush! as +a wild beast in a menagerie breaks out in a howl or a growl, and is +instantly hushed by the look or the whip of the keeper. "That man has a +magic power over others," said Oswald to himself, as he watched the +tall, grim form of the baron walking alongside of Barnewitz, who was a +head shorter, like Conscience in person by the side of a poor sinner. +"I feel something of his dominion myself. There is a demon in that man, +a demon which one must either love or hate, or rather love and hate at +once; for I feel disposed to hate that man and I cannot do it. And what +is he to me after all? If he still loves Melitta, as I think he does, I +am more of an enemy to him than he to me. But why did Melitta never +tell me how she stands with regard to that long ghost there? I would +not have offended her to-day. Poor Melitta! How she looked at me--and +what would she say if she had witnessed the scene in the window? Oh, +that sweet, charming girl! And her eyes, too, were full of tears, as +she sat in the carriage and looked at me so fixedly! Oh! who can be +cruel enough to refuse the love of such a heart? And yet + + + 'All this blending of heart with heart + Brings but pain to us from the start.' + + +Ah, Goethe! Goethe! What have you not to answer for? You also did not +disdain the lily because the rose was so fair, and that is why they +surround your head so often with a wreath of lilies and roses. You too +would have accepted Emily's great heart, and you would have smoothed +her brown hair and kissed her tenderly on her tender eyes! Oh, ye +everlasting stars, how lovely the child was at that moment! For, all in +all, she is but a child, and to-morrow she will awake in her soft +little bed and think she has dreamt the scene in the bay-window during +her sleep." + +Thus Oswald tried to silence the voice of his conscience--for the +moment he was successful. + +"Will you get in now, doctor?" the baron said, as he came up with his +host. "You understand, Barnewitz?" + +"Rely upon it, I'll do what I promised," said the latter, who seemed to +be very much benefited by the conversation with his Mentor and the cool +night air. "Rely upon it, I give you my word of honor, that I----" + +"Hush! Are you comfortable, doctor? Good-by, Barnewitz! All right, +Charles!" + + + + + CHAPTER III. + + +The horses started; the light wagon rattled over the rough road across +the court-yard. In an instant the chateau, with its still brilliantly +lighted windows, the dark barns and stables, and the little cottages +all lay behind them, and they were far off between waving grain-fields +and mist-covered meadows. The short summer night was already waning. In +the East a faint streak of light announced the new day; the early dawn +covered the whole landscape as with a thin veil. From the North, +however, came sheet lightning, and rent from time to time the thick +fog. All was silent yet in the fields; even the lark, the herald of +day, was still asleep. Oswald was leaning back in his corner and looked +dreamily into the twilight; only at times, when the smoke from the +baron's cigar floated by him, he looked at the latter, who seemed to be +lost in thought as he sat there, with his hat pushed back a little, the +collar of his coat drawn up, and his long legs stretched out to their +full length. They might have been sitting thus for a quarter of an +hour, when the baron suddenly said: + +"You don't smoke?" + +"No." + +"May I offer you a cigar?" + +"Thanks! I never smoke." + +"That is strange." + +"Why so?" + +"Because I cannot understand it, how a man can endure this nineteenth +century of ours without smoking tobacco or opium, without eating +hasheesh, or trying in some other way to deaden the desperate disgust +with which this age fills our hearts. And I understand this least of +all in your case." + +"Why just in my case?" + +"Because, if I am not totally mistaken, you are affected with the +poet's deadly disease--the longing after the Blue Flower--and will die +one of these days of your unsatisfied longing. You recollect the +beautiful story in Novalis' works? The Blue Flower, after which the +great Minnesinger was longing? The Blue Flower! Do you know what that +is? That is the flower which mortal eye has never yet seen, and the +fragrance of which fills the whole world. Not every creature is +delicately enough made to be able to perceive the perfume; but the +nightingale is intoxicated with it when it sings and sobs and sighs in +the moonlight or at early daybreak; and all foolish men have been and +are drunk with it when they cry in prose and in poetry to heaven, +pouring out their sorrow and their grief; and all the countless +millions to whom the gift was denied to utter what they suffer, and who +in their speechless sorrow look up to merciless Heaven. Ah! and there +is no cure for that malady! No cure but death! He who has once breathed +the perfume of the Blue Flower, has no more peace and quiet in this +life. As if he were an accursed murderer, as if the angel with the +flaming sword were after him, he is driven on and on, although his sore +feet pain him and he yearns to lay down his weary head to rest. He +asks, in his torments of thirst, for a drink at this or that cottage +door, but he returns the emptied cup without thanks, for there was a +fly in the water, or the cup was not quite clean, or--well, well, he +was not refreshed by the drink. Refreshed! Where is the eye which +satisfies us so that we would never like to look into another again, +more brilliant, more fiery than the first? Where is the bosom on which +we have once rested, which keeps us from desiring to listen to the +beating of another heart, more ardent, more burning with love? Where? I +ask you where?" + +The baron paused: Oswald was strangely moved. What the eccentric man by +his side had been saying, more to himself than to be heard, in an +almost elegiac tone, which contrasted strikingly with his ordinarily +sharp, strident voice--it was his own thoughts, which he had had often +and often, from early boyhood up, so that he was almost frightened by +the close resemblance of his Double. He had no answer for the baron's +question, which he seemed to have propounded to himself. + +"I have always been thinking about the necessity," continued the baron, +"which forces men first to forget their own existence more or less, +before they reach the condition which we call happiness, for want of a +better word, and that they are the happier, the more fully they can +forget it. 'The best of life is but intoxication,' says Byron. Yes +indeed! The love of Romeo and Juliet, for which we face death as +readily, as we go to a feast, is also but intoxication. 'To sleep is +better than to be awake,' says the wisdom of the East; but the best of +all is death." + +"And yet comparatively few men kill themselves," said Oswald. + +"Yes, and that is remarkable enough," replied the baron; "especially in +our day, when most people are not afraid any more even of Hamlet-dreams +that might trouble us in our eternal sleep." + +"Might not that be a proof that, after all, the much talked of +unhappiness of such people is not so very great?" + +"Perhaps so; but perhaps, also, it only proves that man is very +reluctant to abandon his last hope. Why does the wanderer who has lost +his way drag himself forward through the deep snow? Why does the poor +shipwrecked mariner strain his eyes for half a century gazing over the +wild waste of waters? Why does the criminal condemned for life not dash +his brains out against his prison walls? Why does the poor fellow who +is to be hanged on the morrow not hang himself the night before? Before +their unhappiness is not so very great? Pshaw! You do not believe that. +Simply because a faint glimmer of hope still shines through the hell of +their suffering, like the pale streak there in the east. If that faint +gleam too should fade away, then, yes, then old Mother Night would have +to take back her poor lost child, the mild, good, loving Night of +Death." + +After a short pause, during which the baron had been puffing great +clouds of smoke from his cigar, he continued in a somewhat calmer +tone:-- + +"I am several years older than you, and Fate has allowed me to see in a +short time more of life than is commonly given to man. I have that, of +which Goethe's friend in gray wished him the greatest possible amount: +Experience. I might have learnt, and I ought to have learnt, therefore, +that there is no hope in life for me and people like me; but, although +I say: I have no more hope! I still go on hoping in secret that some +happiness will come, as the consumptive ever hopes to be cured. Take +for instance a party like that which we have just left. I know how +hollow the joys of these people are; how many care-worn faces, how many +guilty blushes are hid behind the smiling company-masks; I know that +this pretty girl will be, ten years hence, an unhappy wife, if she is +not an idiot; that this handsome fellow, who carries his head so high, +and looks as if he could perform the twelve labors of Hercules in a +single day, will be a coarse country bumpkin, who ill-treats his +tenants and strikes his wife; I know that, and I know more than that, +and I have seen it a thousand and ten thousand times in life, and yet I +am not blase for all that. This treacherous Fata Morgana has yet charms +for me; every budding girl-flower awakens the hope in me, I might +really for once love and be loved; every fine manly fellow makes me +believe once more in friendship. Would you have believed me such a +fool?" + +"I should not have thought you could think and feel thus." + +"And you were perfectly right," said the baron. "I only think and feel +so when I am dead drunk, as now.--What was that?" + +A loud cry came from a little distance through the silent morning--and +once more, louder, desperate, as if a woman, for it was a woman's +voice, sees the murderer's knife raised in his hand. Before them lay a +piece of woodland; the road went around it; the cry must have come from +the other side, which was hid from them by a few detached oak-trees and +thick underwood. + +"Go on, Charles, faster!" cried the baron. + +The coachman whipped his horses. The noble creatures, as if amazed at +such undeserved treatment, rushed headlong forward, so that the two men +in the carriage began to tremble. In an instant they were at the +corner. As soon as they could see the other side they beheld a strange +sight--A strangely dressed, dark-complexioned woman, with a piece of +red stuff twisted like a turban around her bluish-black hair, ran +shrieking after three horsemen, who spurred their horses to make their +best speed, and instantly disappeared behind another turn in the road. +As the baron's carriage came thundering up, the woman jumped aside and +cried, with screaming voice, lifting her hands as if in prayer: "My +child--my child! they have robbed me of my child!" + +The coachman found it hard to stop the horses. Oswald, who had at once +recognized the Brown Countess in the woman, had jumped down from the +carriage. + +"Save my child, sir, save my child!" cried the gypsy, throwing herself +down before him and embracing his knees. + +The baron laughed. + +"A very romantic situation, doctor," he said from the wagon. "Morning +dawning, woods whispering, gypsy, the king's highway--really, quite a +novel! In the mean time, while you console the bereft mother I will +pursue the robbers, who are probably only sheep in wolf's clothing, a +couple of empty-headed gentlemen of our neighborhood, who look upon the +whole as capital fun." + +"The one on the gray horse was Baron Nadelitz," said the coachman, who +could hardly hold his horses, turning half around. + +"Drive on!" said the baron. "We'll give them a lesson." + +The carriage went off thundering. + +The gypsy had raised herself again. She looked after the carriage, +which flew with mad speed over the rough forest road and now +disappeared behind some trees. A strange smile passed over her face as +she stood there, listening in breathless excitement. Then, as her ear +ceased to hear the rolling of the wheels, she crossed her bare arms on +her full bosom, the restless heaving of which alone spoke of the +violent storm which had just shaken her whole system, and stared +rigidly before her. Suddenly she raised her head and said, fixing her +glittering eyes on Oswald: + +"Do you know the dark man who brings me my Czika back?" + +"Yes, Isabel." + +"Is he your friend?" + +"No." + +"But he will be?" + +"Perhaps." + +"Is he a good man?" + +"I think so." + +"Do you remember the evening on the edge of the water, sir?" + +"Yes, Isabel." + +"Could you find the place again?" + +"I believe I could. Why?" + +"Will you bring the dark man to that place when the full moon stands in +the heavens as it does now? Oh say yes! I beseech you by your love to +the beautiful, kind lady, by the bones of your mother, say yes!" + +The gypsy was kneeling once more before Oswald, and looked, with folded +hands, imploringly up to him. + +"Get up, Isabel," said the young man, "I will do what you wish, if I +can." + +The gypsy seized his hands, as he stretched them out to help her get +up, and kissed them with passionate gratitude. Then she started up, +hastened across the road toward the forest, and had the next moment +disappeared in the dense underwood, through which she sped with the +strength and the swiftness of a deer. + +Before Oswald could recover from the speechless astonishment which the +conduct of the Brown Countess had caused him, he heard the rolling of +the carriage, which returned as swiftly as it had left. But before the +wagon had reached the trees, behind which it had before disappeared, it +suddenly stopped, and the baron appeared, bareheaded, and carrying +little Czika on his arm. + +"We have hunted, we have caught," he called out from afar. "The +cowardly wolves let the fair booty go as soon as they saw us in +pursuit, and escaped in haste.--There, little Ganymede, now see if your +feet will carry you again." + +The baron let the child glide down. "But what has become of the mother, +or whoever that brown woman was?" he asked, surprised to find Oswald +alone. + +Oswald told him, in a few words, what had happened during his absence. + +"Well, that is not so bad," said the baron; "the thing becomes more and +more romantic. Full moon, edge of lake, gypsy women, cunning of Egypt, +and two simple German boys, who are cheated! What are we to do with +little Czika, as you call the little princess?--for I am sure she is a +king's daughter, stolen from the cradle----" + +"If we do not wish to leave her on the high-road, we shall have to take +her with us, I suppose." + +"But will the child go with us? Listen, little Czika, will you go with +me?" + +"Yes, sir!" said the child, who had so far shown no sign of +apprehension, fear, or anxiety. + +"Hm!" said the baron, "here I have an adopted child without asking for +it!" + +He had become very serious of a sudden. He stroked Czika's bluish-black +curls and her fine brow, and looked at her steadily. + +"How beautiful the child is," he murmured, "how very beautiful! And how +it has grown!--Come with me, little Czika, you shall be happy at my +house, very happy; I will love you more than your mother, who has left +you so basely, has ever loved you." + +"Mother has not left Czika," said the child, quietly looking up at the +baron; "mother is where Czika is; mother is everywhere." + +Turning away from the two gentlemen, she put her little hands to her +mouth, and sent a cry into the silent forest exactly like the call of a +hungry young falcon. + +The child inclined her head on one side and listened; the baron and +Oswald instinctively held their breath. + +There came from the forest, but evidently from a great distance, the +answer; the clear, wild cry of the old falcon when he has spied out his +quarry far down below him. + +"You see, sir," said the child, "mother does not leave Czika; if you +wish to take Czika with you, Czika will go with you." + +"Well, then, come, young falcon," said the baron, taking the child by +the hand. "Come, doctor! I believe Charles has mended the strap which +broke just around the corner. There he is. All right again, Charles?" + +"Yes, sir." + +The gentlemen got in and took the child between them. + +"Go on," said the baron. "Let them trot out." + +They soon came upon the wide heath which extends from Fashwitz to +Grenwitz, the same heath on which Oswald had met the old woman from the +village. It wanted yet half an hour to sunrise. On the eastern sky a +series of purple streaks rose one above the other. The air came cool +from the sea across the damp moor. + +The little Czika had come up close to the baron and was fast asleep. + +"How thinly the child is dressed," said the latter; "it will take cold +in the fresh morning air!" + +He rose, pulled off his overcoat, wrapped it around the little one, +took her in his lap, and rested her head on his bosom. + +"So, so!" he said, kindly! and then to Oswald, who had been silent, +meditating on the enigmatical character of the man by his side: + +"I look to you a little crazy, doctor, eh?" + +"No," said the other, looking up, "not in the least." + +"That is because you suffer of the same disease as I do; what makes +others speechless with amazement appears to us perfectly natural; and +what the good people and bad musicians consider a matter of course, +seems to us nothing less than fabulous. You will, for instance, readily +believe that I have met this same child now for the third time in my +life, and that I am superstitious enough to see in this threefold +meeting much more than a mere accident. Besides, like Wallenstein, I +believe in no accident." + +"And where and when do you think you have seen Czika?" + +"The first time, four years ago, in England. I was riding with a couple +of English friends in a distant part of Hyde Park. As we turned round a +corner at full speed, a child was standing before us--a brown child, +with big black eyes, raising its tiny hands imploringly. I scarcely +noticed it, being engaged in an animated conversation. After we had +gone on perhaps a hundred yards, I felt suddenly as if spirits were +drawing me back. I cannot describe the sensation. I felt, however, as +if my riding past the sweet, helpless creature had been a crime, which +made me perfectly wretched. I turned round; I raced back to the place +like a madman. The child was gone. I called after her; I searched the +shrubbery all around; my friends aided me, in spite of my madness, as +they called it; but all in vain. + +"The next time, I saw the child in Egypt. It is now two years. We--I +mean a small caravan of Nile travellers, who had met by accident,--were +riding on our little donkeys through the narrow winding streets of +Asqut. By the side of an open door, through which we could look into +the silent shady court of a mosque, stood, in a niche in the wall, a +child, older than that in Hyde Park, and younger than that here in my +arms, but the same brown child, with the bluish-black curls, and the +bright gazelle eyes. Again she stretched out her little hands towards +the passers-by, and called the cry you hear everywhere in Egypt: +Bakshish! howadjee, bakshish! I saw the child, and yet I did not see +it; for I was in those desperate fits of humor which occasionally +overcome me, when eyes and ears are wide open, and yet neither see nor +hear. As we turned round the next corner, I felt precisely the same +sensation as in Hyde Park. I left my donkey; I ran back as fast as I +could.--The niche was empty. The door leading to the mosque was open, +as I said. The yard had on the other side a second door, which was also +open, and which led upon one of the main streets, where, at this +hour,--it was towards sunset,--men, camels, and donkeys were closely +crowded together. The child was gone, and I returned to my companions +with a heavy heart; as usual, they had explained my sudden +disappearance by assuming a fit of madness.--Do you think it possible +that this child, which I first saw amid English mists, and next under +the bright sky of Egypt, should cross my path a third time in a German +beechwood?" + +"And even if it were not the same child,--and, to tell the truth, I +consider it highly improbable that it is the same,"--replied Oswald, +"it would be the same to you. I believe in an eternal, ever-changing, +ever-constant world-spirit. I believe that that lark which there rises +from the heath, and wings its way singing to the sky, is the same lark +which I followed, enchanted, as a boy, until it was lost in the blue +ether even to my sharp eyes. I believe that all heroes are brethren, +and that every sufferer is that neighbor whom heart and reason alike +command us to love like unto ourselves.--It matters little whether this +child is the same which you have twice sought in vain, it matters only +that the appeals of the poor forlorn creature every time pierced +through the triple brass around your bosom into your very heart.... You +will pardon, I am sure, such language in a man who is so far inferior +in experience and intelligence, and who draws courage to speak them +only from the regard he feels for you, almost instinctively. And allow +me to add one word: if you could make up your mind to love this child, +it would be a gift to you more precious than Aladdin's marvellous lamp. +Love is everywhere except in hell, says a deep word of one of the +Minnesingers; it means, where there is no love, there is hell. Love is +the fragrance of that Blue Flower, which, as you said just now, fills +the whole world, and you will find the Blue Flower, which you have +sought in vain all your life long, in every being which you love with +all your heart." A strange melancholy smile played around the baron's +lips as Oswald spoke these words. + +"You cannot solve the riddle," he said sadly, in a low voice; "for this +very condition, that we must love with all our heart, if we wish to get +rid of the torment which makes life a hell, is the impossible thing. +Which of us can love with all his heart? We are all so driven, so +weary, that we have no longer the strength nor the courage which true, +real love requires. I mean that love which knows neither rest nor +repose till it has made its own every thought of our mind, every +sentiment of our heart, and every drop of our blood. If you are still +young and ingenuous enough for such a love, I congratulate you! For my +part, I can only repeat: I have given it up to find the Blue Flower, +that wondrous flower which blooms only for the happy one who is still +able to love with all his heart.--But here we are at the gates of +Grenwitz, and must break off a conversation which I trust we shall very +soon continue. Farewell, and come and inquire as soon as you can after +the well-being of the little creature who is your protegee almost more +than mine." + +The carriage rolled off. Oswald followed it long with his eyes; then he +crossed the bridge, bowing his head, and went up to the chateau. The +sun had risen, and was flooding the gray walls with rosy lights; in the +dewy garden the birds were singing their carols--but Oswald saw a dark +gray veil drawn over the charming morning, for in his ear sounded yet +the baron's words: Which of us is still able to love with all his +heart? Which of us has yet a whole heart? + + + + + CHAPTER IV. + + +"Do you fell refreshed by your nap, dear Grenwitz?" asked the baroness. + +"I thank you, dear Anna Maria, very much!" replied the old baron. It +was the afternoon after the eventful ball at Barnewitz; the speakers +were in the same room, looking out upon the garden, in which, a week +before, the conversation between Melitta and the baroness had taken +place. The baroness was again sitting, as then, near the open +glass-doors which led upon the great lawn, on which Melitta's eyes had +for the first time fallen upon Oswald, and again the admirable lady was +sewing industriously, as if she had to earn her daily bread by her +needle. The baron sat opposite to her, in the same rocking-chair which +Melitta had occupied. He was just awaking from an afternoon nap, and +looked, with his old glazed eyes, through the open door upon the lawn, +where his pet, the peacock, displayed his gorgeous plumage in the +bright sunlight. + +"Very much," he repeated, stretching his limbs. + +"But you look very tired yet," said the baroness, fixing her cold gray +eyes searchingly upon the baron's faded features; "these pretentious, +noisy parties are real poison for you, and I have reproached myself, +while you were sleeping, that I did not make you go home sooner +yesterday." + +"But I assure you, my dear Anna Maria, I am very well; I mean, not +worse than usually; not much worse," said the good old man, timidly; +for he was too well trained ever to contradict his Anna Maria, whom he +loved and honored above all things. + +"But you must take particularly good care of yourself these days," said +the latter, sewing busily; "we must start at least in a week from +to-day, and you will need all your strength to bear the fatigue of such +a journey. Would to God we were all safely back again! I really am very +reluctant to go! Your feeble health--the dangers of a sea-voyage--and +then: will Heligoland really benefit you? Doctor Braun says so, to be +sure, but who can trust all physicians? If their advice brings success, +they are triumphant; if not, why, it is not their fault, but the +patient's, who has not done all he ought to have done. And what does it +matter for the doctor, whether you come back sick or well, whether you +live or die--but I, but we--oh Grenwitz, what would become of us if you +should be taken from us!" + +The baroness looked up from her work, and in her eyes appeared +something which in other women would have been a tear. + +The old baron rose from his chair, approached his wife, and kissed her +tenderly on her forehead. + +"You must not give way to such thoughts, dear Anna Maria," he said most +kindly. "God will not let me die so very soon; I pray every morning, +and thank Him for every additional day which He grants me, not for my +sake--for I am an old man and we must all of us die--but for your sake, +because I know how much my death would grieve you, and also because I +should like to see your and Helen's future secured before I die." + +The old man had resumed his seat, and taken a pinch from a gold +snuff-box, which was standing near him on a small round table, in order +the better to overcome the emotion into which he had talked himself; +the baroness quietly resumed her work. + +"You are so kind," she said, "much too kind; for you are so even to +those who do not deserve your kindness, and thus you prepare for +yourself much trouble, which you might easily avoid by a little more--I +will not say egotism, for I hate the word, but--discretion. Now you are +concerned for my future and Helen's future--and justly so. This concern +you would be relieved of if you had not leased your estates, when you +fell heir to the entail twenty-four years ago, to people who have grown +rich at your expense, and crown their impudence by accusing us of +avarice, because we are unwilling to renew the leases on the same +terms. And if you had not then assumed Harald's enormous debts--a thing +I never understood, and never will understand--you would not have had +to use for their payment all that we could save with the utmost +economy." + +The old baron did not seem to relish the subject his wife had entered +upon; he took one pinch after another while she was speaking, and at +last he said, not without some animation: + +"I cannot say, dear Anna Maria, that you are altogether wrong, nor yet +that you are altogether right. The old leases are very favorable to the +tenants, that is true; but then the times were different in those days. +Money was very scarce after the war, land was quite low, and our +estates had been thoroughly neglected in consequence of Harald's mode +of life. The tenants, surely, found it at first no easy task, and if +they have since become rich and impudent, that is not exactly my fault. +I meant it well, God knows. But as to my conduct with regard to +Harald's creditors, I really do not know, even to-day, how I could have +acted otherwise. The honor of my family made it my duty to assume his +debts, for the creditors knew very well that they had lent their money, +not to Baron Harald Grenwitz, who could never break the entail, and +consequently never pay them, but to the great Grenwitz family, who +would never permit any member to be dishonored. And besides, I was +under obligations to my cousin. When he and I were young officers +together in the same regiment, and later in life, he had always behaved +like a brother to me. It is true I have never abused his kindness, and +for every hundred dollars of my debts which he paid then, I have paid a +thousand of his debts afterwards; but I am sure he would have helped me +under all circumstances, for his generosity knew no bounds." + +"You excite yourself without necessity, dear Grenwitz, quite without +necessity," said the baroness, calmly, as the old man sank back into +his chair, exhausted by his unusually long and lively speech; "I do not +dream of reproaching you. You know how little I value riches for +myself, how modest my wants are, and that, if I do care for the future, +it is not for my sake, but for my children's sake." + +"I know that, dear Anna Maria," said the baron, "I know that; I did not +mean to hurt your feelings, and I ask your pardon if I was excited." + +During the pause which followed, the baroness sewed more industriously +than ever; the baron had put on spectacles, taken a newspaper, which +the servant had brought an hour ago from the office, and began to +plunge into its perusal, moving his lips slightly--for reading and +writing had never been the forte of the old man. + +"Army personalities," he murmured. "Colonel--Major--all old +acquaintances. Young Grieben First Lieutenant? Rapid advancement. +Second Lieutenant Felix Baron Grenwitz--resignation accepted--why, what +is that? I thought Felix was to ask for leave of absence, and here I +read he has resigned." + +"Indeed!" said the baroness, reading the paragraph which her husband +pointed out to her; "well, I am glad of it, very glad. I must tell you, +Grenwitz, I advised Felix to do that, and made his resignation one of +the conditions for his obtaining Helen's hand." + +"But why that?" asked the baron, in surprise. + +"Why?" answered the baroness. "Well, I should think, dear Grenwitz, the +reason was clear enough. I think it is high time Felix should begin +another kind of life, and as long as he remains in those circles in +which he now moves, we can hardly expect such a change; I see from the +step he has taken--for I did not think he would act so promptly--that +he must really be in earnest about Helen, and therefore I say again I +am glad of it, very glad indeed." + +"But, dearest Anna Maria," said the baron, rubbing his nose almost +angrily, "we thus assume a responsibility which we may not be able to +discharge. If our child, if Helen----" + +"Should not agree, you mean," interrupted him the baroness, rising in +her chair and contracting her eyebrows; "oh, I think she will agree; I +think she will have learned that a child owes some obedience to its +parents." + +"But if she cannot love Felix?" said the old man, concerned. + +"Why, Grenwitz! I do not understand you," replied the baroness: "this +match has for a long time been our favorite plan. Helen has no fortune, +aside from the few thousand dollars which we have saved, and what else +we may yet be able to save; for Stantow and Baerwalde do not belong to +us as yet, but, thanks to the generosity of Baron Harald--to any +adventurer who may have the impudence to present a few forged documents +and to claim the farms. Felix's estates are, to be sure, heavily +mortgaged; but he can retrieve his fortunes, I am sure, if he is in +earnest, and if we help him a little. And if Malte should--God forbid +it! but in such things we must think of everything, even the worst--if +Malte should die before his time, Felix becomes master of Grenwitz, and +I should imagine you would be pleased to think that your daughter +would, as it were, thus step into Malte's place." + +At that moment the door opened slowly, a face with spectacles looked +cautiously in, and a squeaking voice asked: + +"May I enter, madam?" + +"Ah, see there! Our pastor!" said the baron, advancing towards the +new-comer; "heartily welcome! Will you sit down?" + +"Pray, pray, baron--don't trouble yourself--I can find a seat--a +thousand thanks," said the reverend gentleman. "I did not intend to +detain you--thank you--prefer this chair--I only wished to inquire how +you and the baroness were, for I was told this morning that you had +both honored the brilliant festivities at Barnewitz with your presence. +No bad effects, I hope! Not very well! Ah! the baroness really looks a +little tired;" and the minister looked with an expression of deep +commiseration at the great lady, inclining his head, like a sick +parrot, towards the right shoulder. + +"I am tolerably well," said the latter, resuming her work, which had +rested for a moment; "but Grenwitz seems to have paid more dearly for +the enjoyment." + +"Oh, indeed!" said the minister, quickly inclining his head on the left +shoulder. "May I offer you my drops, baron? from six to twelve on a +lump of sugar." + +"You are a true physician for body and soul," said the baroness, while +the minister, after the baron's refusal, wrapped up his phial again in +a newspaper and put it in his pocket. + +"Yes, yes, _mens sana in corpore sano_, a sound, that is, a pious body +in a sound, pious soul--I learnt that as a boy at school and I now try +to practise it as a man. But where are the dear boys? Still at school? +Yes, Dr. Stein seems to be a very industrious, ambitious young man by +whose instruction the two young gentlemen will soon make great +progress, with help from on High." + +The reverend gentleman thought that by praising Oswald he would please +the baron and even more the baroness. Oswald's calm, self-possessed +manner had made a great impression on his cowardly soul; Primula Veris, +whose opinions on men and things were gospel to him, had been singing +for a week the praise of her new friend, who had paid her more +compliments in an hour than she ordinarily received in a year; and this +morning a lady of the neighborhood had called on Mrs. Jager to bring +her a full report of the ball that had taken place the night before. +This lady, who had grown-up daughters, but liked to be considered quite +youthful yet, was delighted with Oswald, who had assured her solemnly +that she might safely pass for the youngest of the daughters. She told +Primula, who listened, all eagerness, what a sensation Oswald's skill +in pistol-shooting had produced among the men; what an impression his +fine figure and his good manners had made upon the ladies; how he had +danced with Hortense, taken Frau von Berkow to table, and, in fine, how +he had been the lion of the evening. The mere fact that Oswald had been +invited to a party given to such an exclusive set of people was, in the +eyes of the minister, who knew them well, a remarkable sign, full of +deep meaning. And, in addition to all this, there was another +circumstance which made the minister desire the favor and friendship of +Doctor Stein. The holy man was not without ambition. He felt he was +intended for better things than to preach the gospel to the boors of +Fashwitz. He did not wish to have ruined his eyesight in vain in +searching old manuscripts at Grunwald, nor to have published in vain a +most learned dissertation on the long-forgotten fragments of a +long-forgotten father of the Church. He was a doctor, and wanted to +become a professor--professor in the same University town through whose +streets he had crept fifteen years ago as a poor forlorn student of +divinity. + +He wished it all the more eagerly as Primula wished it; Primula, who +was heartily tired of the fields, in which her "Cornflowers" had +bloomed forth, and who saw herself, in imagination, preside at an +aesthetic tea-table of the seat of the Muses, the congenial wife of a +famous professor. In order to attain this lofty end, Professor Berger +could be of infinite use to him; for his vote was decisive in the +appointing board. It is true he thoroughly detested him in his heart, +as an avowed adherent of Voltaire and Spinoza, a declared atheist; +nevertheless he had more than once made great efforts to obtain his +patronage. A recommendation from Oswald was worth more than a learned +dissertation--consequently, Oswald's friendship a "consummation most +devoutly to be wished for," and an occasional eulogy, which might come +to his ears, "no bad theology." + +Thus the minister thought and calculated. + +What was therefore his surprise, when the baroness answered his +gracious phrase in a tone of voice which promised nothing good: + +"Tell me sincerely, Mr. Jager, what do you think of the young man?" + +To hear the pupil of Berger, the favorite of Primula, the lion of the +party of last night, called simply a "young man!" He did not trust his +own ears. He looked over his round glasses at the baroness, to see if +her face furnished him perhaps a commentary on the enigmatical +question. As he saw himself disappointed in his hope, and was +absolutely uncertain what he ought to reply, he resorted to his usual +remedy in such critical cases: he raised his shoulders and his eyebrows +as much as he could, and he drew down the corners of his mouth to their +full extent, leaving the indiscreet questioner to interpret his gesture +in any way _she_ chose. + +"You hesitate to answer," said the baroness; "I admit it is not very +easy to understand Doctor Stein. He certainly has some very estimable +qualities, and his manners are surprisingly good for a man of such +humble birth. Only yesterday Countess Grieben thought I was trying to +mystify her, when I told her that the young man who came with us was +our tutor. But, unfortunately, a tolerable carriage, clever speeches +and such things are not all, and I am not quite sure yet whether we +have really made a good acquisition in the young man." + +"But, dearest Anna Maria," said the baron, "why not rely on Professor +Berger, who----" + +"Dear Grenwitz, I rely on no one but myself. The professor may have +been won over by Stein's pleasant manners, as well as you and others, +and suppose even that his literary qualifications are really +satisfactory----" + +"Well, that is, I think, settled, madam," said the minister, who wished +to be safe on that side at least, even though he saw he would have to +sacrifice Oswald; "it cannot be presumed for a moment that the +professor should have allowed himself to be imposed upon by an +ignoramus, with whom he has been so intimate. We may think what we +choose of his unchristian, or at least unchurchlike views, but his +sagacity and his erudition are undisputed." + +"I assume no judgment in literary matters," said the baroness; "and I +believe readily that Doctor Stein may have found time for strictly +scientific studies, as well as for pistol-shooting, in which I am told +he excels; but no one can have good manners, and learning into the +bargain, and yet be an immoral man." + +"But, dearest Anna Maria," said the old baron, quite frightened, while +the minister was drawing down the corners of his mouth and nodded +assent. + +"I repeat it, an immoral man. If I had known, what I have unfortunately +learnt too late, that the professor, with all his far-famed erudition, +is looked upon by many as an atheist and democrat,--I do not know which +of the two is the worst, for he who does not honor God cannot honor the +king, and _vice versa_--I say, if I had known that the professor is a +freethinker and a man of revolutionary ideas, I should never have +allowed him a voice in the choice of an instructor for my son." + +"But, dearest Anna Maria," said the baron, "it is quite possible after +all that your fears with regard to Doctor Stein may be unfounded. I +never have heard a word from him, as far as I can remember, which would +confirm your terrible suspicion." + +"Well, Mr. Jager," said the baroness, "are you also firmly convinced of +the young man's innocence?" + +"I should not honor the truth," said the latter, with an air of deep +regret, "if I were to deny that I have heard him say things which +approach to frivolity, I might almost say, to sacrilege; they pained me +deeply. But I consoled myself with the thought that the best of wines +is apt to be tasteless and muddy in the time of fermentation, and +relied on the goodness of Him who changed Saul into Paul." + +"That is very fine and very Christian," said the baroness, "but it does +not comfort me at all. If my child's _soul_ is poisoned, then it +matters very little to me whether the poisoner repents his crime or +not, and I confess that the events of last night have almost convinced +me of the suspicions which, I can safely say, I have cherished against +Stein from the very first moment." + +"Did anything special occur, madam?" asked the minister, drawing his +chair half an inch nearer to her. + +"I do not like to speak of it," replied the baroness; "and if I do it +now, it is only because I know you as an old friend of our house, and +can rely on your discretion." + +"My sacred duty, madam," said the minister, bowing deep and putting his +hand on his heart. + +"You know Baron Oldenburg?" continued the baroness. + +"Not personally, madam; only what I heard you and the baron say when I +have been kindly permitted to listen to your conversation." + +"Then you know what his sad reputation is! You know that we have to +endure the sorrow of seeing the last scion of one of our oldest and +noblest families running with open eyes--for the baron is a remarkably +gifted man--into his own destruction." + +"But, dearest Anna Maria," said the baron, who was nervously moving +about on his chair, "I should not think the subject of this +conversation was exactly suited----" + +"I know what I owe to my rank," said the baroness, "and I shall act +accordingly. The baron's apostasy from the faith of his ancestors is +unfortunately so notorious that I am sure I need not use any reserve on +that subject with a friend of the nobility (the minister bowed twice), +and a friend of our house (the reverend gentleman placed his hand on +his heart). You know, Mr. Jager, that the baron avoids our society in +order to frequent that of all kinds of people whom we generally try to +escape; that he is constantly talking of friends of the truth and +lovers of the people, and that to be distinguished by him is almost +equivalent to being a lost man, if his favor falls upon one whose +social position is so very far below his own. Now, last night, the +baron distinguished Mr. Stein in a most striking, not to say offensive +manner; he not only did his best to introduce him to everybody, but he +also treated him as his own and as our equal, and to crown his conduct, +which I do not care to designate more accurately, he took him in his +own carriage, because the Grenwitz carriage had not had time to come +back for him. He actually brought him as far as the gates, thus making +a detour of at least two miles!" + +"But, dearest Anna Maria, anybody would----" + +"Pardon me, dear Grenwitz; anybody else would not have done so, and +least of all the baron, whose rough, unpleasant manner, even to men of +his own rank, has become proverbial, if he had not found in Mr. Stein a +man of his own way of thinking, an atheist, and an enthusiast for +so-called Liberty, _enfin_, an immoral man, to repeat the word which +excited your indignation, and which I hope you will now concede is not +ill-applied in Mr. Stein's case." + +The baroness paused, proudly conscious of having victoriously defended +her view; the minister remained silent, in order not to interrupt his +noble patroness in her enjoyment, and the baron said nothing, because +he had nothing at all to say. This compound silence was suddenly +interrupted by a noise from the hall, upon which the door opened, the +mewing of a cat, and immediately afterwards the angry bark of a dog. +Such a noise was unheard of at Castle Grenwitz, where neither cats nor +dogs were admitted, and hence all three looked amazed. + +"What can that be?" asked the baron, rising and opening the door. + +"Ah! I see you, baron!" a clear loud voice sang out. + +"It is Mr. Timm!" said the latter, turning round to his ends in the +room, and then to the person outside. + +"Will you come in, Mr. Timm?" + + + + + CHAPTER V. + + +The invitation was immediately accepted by a young man of perhaps +twenty-five, although the fresh complexion of a perfectly beardless +face made him at first sight appear several years younger. The +well-shaped head was covered with smooth blond hair, long enough to be +brushed back, and to leave the very white forehead free, which rose +boldly above his light-blue eyes; at least such appeared to be their +color, as seen through the glasses which he wore. His figure was of +medium size, but broad in the shoulders, and his compact muscular frame +seemed to be made to bear fatigue easily. The young man seemed to care +little for his appearance. His costume consisted of a light summer-coat +of doubtful color, which seemed to have been exposed to many a tempest, +and of trousers of the same material, color, and quality. His linen had +evidently been whiter when it left the hands of the laundress. His +carriage corresponded with his appearance: it was less elegant than +easy, and agreed in this point also, that Mr. Timm might easily have +improved it if he had chosen. + +"Beg ten thousand pardons," he said, laughing, as he made a very +informal bow to the baroness and gave a familiar nod to the minister, +"if I have interrupted an interesting conversation by my lyric +Intermezzo; but I really did not know what else to do, as I have not +the honor, madam, to know your servants by name, and in vain looked for +a bell in this part of the house. I had peeped into several doors +already, and if I could have suspected that the fifth, which I had not +even noticed before, should have been opened by the baron himself, I +should have saved myself my musical performance, which was intended +solely for the less sensitive ear of some serving spirit--How are you, +madam? Fatigued by the heat? Shouldn't wonder--eighty-five in the +shade--real hot-house temperature.--I bring you much love from your +wife, Mr. Jager; saw her an hour ago in Fashwitz. She'll come towards +evening with the one-horse chaise, to fetch you home. I have surveyed +the whole of Sassitz, baron. If you agree, we'll draw up the plats at +once, if the baroness will have the kindness to give me a room in the +chateau." + +Mr. Timm paused, and put his hand in his pocket to take out his +handkerchief and to wipe his forehead, on which the perspiration stood +in big drops. But as he recollected in time that this very useful part +of his toilet was by no means in a fit condition to be exhibited in +such company, he left it where it was, passed his hand over his +forehead and his hair, and looked as cheerful and happy as if he was +the sole and legitimate heir to the Grenwitz estates, which he had to +survey in the sweat of his face. + +"Certainly," said the baroness, who liked Mr. Timm on account of his +unpretending manner, and who, imperious as she was, or rather because +she was so imperious, instinctively appreciated a man who was afraid of +no one and whom nothing could disconcert for a moment; "certainly, Mr. +Timm. You know you are always welcome. You will be better able to work +here, where nothing interrupts you, than in town, and it is our mutual +advantage to have the work done as soon as possible. You have brought +your things, I hope?" + +"Is all in the hall, where the rustic youth, who guided the ponies +which brought me here in a fair dog-trot, has put them down," said Mr. +Timm, whose "things" consisted of a small trunk of melancholy +appearance, filled with some clean and not much soiled linen, a few +articles of a wardrobe which no one could call extravagant, and a large +portfolio with drawings, surveys, etc. "I only need the guidance of one +of your serving-spirits to show me the room you may have kindly +appropriated to my use, and I shall at once establish my domestic +altars there." + +"Will you have the kindness to pull that bell-rope twice?" said Anna +Maria, with a gracious smile. + +"With pleasure," said Mr. Timm; "this instrumental method of conjuring +up the spirits of the deep is more convenient than my vocal method, and +also more efficient, as I see." + +The servant who entered received his orders to show Mr. Timm his room. + +"It has been ready for you several weeks, Mr. Timm," said the baroness. + +"You are kind and provident, like providence itself, madam," said Mr. +Timm, rising, and unceremoniously kissing the baroness' hand; "_au +revoir_, gentlemen, till supper, at which I hope to see you in the same +frame in which I shall appear--I mean in good-humor and with still +better appetite," and then he briskly followed the servant. + +"Really a nice man, this Mr. Timm," said the baroness; "so harmless, so +unpretending, so perfectly aware of his position in society, and never +assuming any airs, like certain other people." + +"Yes indeed!" affirmed the minister; "a very nice, modest young man. He +really deserves encouragement, both on account of his talents, which +are quite eminent, and on account of the good family to which he +belongs. + +"Gustava knows his family and all about them very well; I also +recollect, from my time in Grunwald, his father, a distinguished +lawyer, who lost his large fortune, shortly before his death, by some +unlucky speculation. His relations are still in very good places. One +of his uncles is a major in the army. Mr. Timm himself was intended for +the army, and, I believe, actually served as ensign; but his father's +losses compelled him to abandon that career and to become an engineer +or surveyor. He is very desirous to attend lectures at the Institute at +the capital, but unfortunately he lacks----" the minister here made a +sign with his thumb and forefinger as if he were counting money. + +"Why, what a pity!" said the baroness. "I wish we could help the poor +fellow. Could not his uncle the major lend him a few hundred dollars? +But, to be sure, these gentlemen in the army have generally hard enough +work themselves.--_Ah! mademoiselle, vous arrivez bien a propos! +Veuillez avoir la bonte!_" + +The baroness had risen to give her instructions to Mademoiselle +Marguerite. + +"Would you like to see my beehives, Mr. Jager?" said the baron. + +"With the greatest pleasure," replied the latter, taking his hat and +cane. + +"Don't stay away too long," said the baroness, "we shall have a little +supper.--_Que voulais-je dire? Ah oui! Du chocolat, mais pas si +enormement sucre que la derniere fois et prenez garde_, ..." + +The evening had come, and with it Mrs. Jager, in the one-horse chaise. +Primula wore the same dress of raw silk in which she had appeared to +Oswald last Sunday, and, fatigued as she was by the great heat of the +day, she looked more than ever like a sick canary-bird. Her husband had +taken the first opportunity, after the long-winded greeting between her +and the baroness was finished, to whisper to her, that it would be +better not to appear too enthusiastic about her new friend. He told her +that the young man seemed by no means to enjoy the favor of the baron +and the baroness in a very high degree--a piece of news which so +astounded the "dweller in higher regions," that she was hardly able to +return Oswald's salutation when he appeared in the parlor, shortly +before supper was announced. + +Oswald's good-humor would have probably been excited by this strange +conduct of his enthusiastic hostess of the Sunday before, if he had +only become aware of it. But unfortunately he was in that state of mind +in which, as Oldenburg said, we have eyes and ears wide open without +seeing or hearing anything. The shadow of the events of the last day +and last night were still lying on his soul and on his brow. His usual +vivacity had given way to melancholy calmness; he looked pale and +thoughtful, but so very handsome and distinguished, that Primula's +delicate soul began once more to feel the charm which the young +stranger had exercised on his first meeting with her. She forgot, thus, +the warning of her husband all the more completely, as she noticed the +particular courtesy with which the baroness and her husband treated the +man who had just now been denounced to her as a fallen greatness. She +was in her heart preparing a sermon which she was to deliver to Mr. +Jager on their return journey, because he had, as usually, not seen +"the forest amid so many trees." The worthy minister was himself, at +first, not a little disconcerted by the contrast between the words and +the actions of the baroness. But he knew better than anybody else that +men do not always appear such as they really are, and that they are not +always what they seem to be; he thought it best, therefore, faithfully +to imitate the manner of his patroness, an effort which was not +difficult for such a master in the noble art of hypocrisy. + +Nevertheless, the conversation at the supper-table would probably have +been very far from lively, in spite of the apparent concord and harmony +of the company, if Mr. Timm had possessed the happy gift of assuming +the color of the company in which he found himself; this was, however, +not at all the fact. + +Mr. Timm had fully come up to his promise to appear at table in +good-humor and with a better appetite. He found the chocolate, which +was by no means _enormement sucre_ excellent, the bread excellent, the +butter excellent, everything excellent; and what a delightful idea to +have the table set just on that part of the terrace from which one had +such a charming view of the garden! How wonderfully fine those lights +and shades were on the tall trees beyond the lawn! Really, a genuine +Claude Lorraine! "Really, baron, if I were not Diogenes I should like +to be Alexander! But then we cannot all dwell in marble palaces; there +must be dwellers in tubs also, and happy the man whose tub is to him a +castle! You ought to immortalize that thought in an epigram, Mrs. +Jager! You have such a decided talent for that branch of poetry; even +in your best lyric poems I have often found an epigrammatic turn. Thus +in the charming little poem on the May Bug. How was the last line, 'The +false image of May?' or like that? That is in itself already an +epigram. Do you know that in Grunwald they have never yet got over your +desertion? Only quite lately Professor Shylight, whom I met at Dean +Black's, said: It is unwarrantable that a certain great scholar, whom I +will not name, should bury the great wealth of his erudition in the +solitude of a village. I replied that it was still more unwarrantable +in the author of the 'Cornflowers' to live forever among cornflowers." + +Thus he rattled on with great alacrity, and yet all that Timm said +seemed to drop accidentally from his lips, as if he had not the +slightest idea of being clever or witty. One listened to him as to a +merry canary-bird, too loud perhaps in his merriment, but who sees the +sun come into his cage, and takes it into its little head to pour +out all its songs and melodies for once. Oswald, however, could not +help thinking at times that Timm's humor was, after all, not always +quite as natural as it seemed to be. He fancied Timm was playing his +well-studied and well-calculated part in a perfectly natural manner, to +be sure, but so as to ridicule and chaff the whole company, while he +seemed to be a good-natured _bon vivant_ and an ingenuous child of +nature. He was confirmed in his suspicions by the fact that Timm always +assumed an entirely different tone whenever he spoke to him, as if he +meant: I must not venture upon such tricks with you; but they do not +find me out so easily. + +None of the others, however, seemed to share this suspicion, which +suggested itself all the more naturally to Oswald, as he himself +frequently amused himself thus at the expense of the company, for whom +he felt such thorough contempt. Perhaps Bruno might have thought +something like it. He was sitting by his side, more sombre and reserved +than usual, and never moving a muscle to smile, even when everybody +around him--Oswald included--was laughing aloud, especially towards the +end of the supper, when Mr. Albert Timm began a conversation with his +neighbor, Mademoiselle Marguerite, in which he mingled French and +German in the most ludicrous manner. The pretty bashful Genevese girl +had taken great pains to follow Mr. Timm in all his odd sayings during +the conversation, turning continually with a sudden: _Que veut dire +cela?_ to her neighbor on the other side; but Malte answered these +questions but rarely, as he himself did not understand more than half +of what the inexhaustible talker had said till the latter commenced the +amusing jargon with her, breaking off, however, with great tact as soon +as he saw that the pretty girl was embarrassed by the laughter of the +others. + +It had become quite dark, when the baroness rose and invited Mr. and +Mrs. Jager, who were thanking her in many words for the delightful +evening they had spent, before taking formal leave, to stay and play an +old-fashioned game of whist with the baron and herself, "such a staid +old game, you know, Mr. Jager, as suits staid old people like +ourselves." + +Malte had gone to bed. Oswald and Bruno, Albert and Mademoiselle +Marguerite were walking in pairs around the lawn and in the nearest +garden-walks. + +"You never told me yet, Oswald," said Bruno--he now called his friend, +when they were alone, always Oswald simply--"whether you saw Aunt +Berkow yesterday?" + +"Yes, Bruno." + +"Did she look pretty?" + +"As ever." + +"Did she send me her love?" + +"Of course." + +"Do you know, Oswald, I think Aunt Berkow is quite fond of you?" + +"Why, little fool?" + +"She was always looking at you so the other evening--so very +kindly--and I don't know how--but her eyes looked brighter--and she +sometimes looks at me so, when she strokes my hair, and still it was +not quite the same way." + +"Ah, Bruno, you do not know what you are saying." + +"I know it very well, but I cannot express it as well as you big, +clever people. I was quite jealous of you that evening, for before that +she was almost most kind to me. I should not know how Aunt Berkow looks +when she is fond of somebody! I know it perfectly well!" said Bruno, +defiantly. + +"And I know more than that," he continued, after a pause. "I ought not +to tell, because aunt warned me against letting anybody know; but now I +think she was not in earnest when she said so." + +"What was that?" asked Oswald, with assumed indifference. + +"I will tell you," said Bruno. "Last Saturday, in the afternoon, when +you were writing letters, I had gone into the forest towards Berkow, +because that is my favorite walk. Suddenly aunt comes riding up, quite +alone, not even Bonc[oe]ur with her. She rode Brownlock, whom she +always takes when she wants to go fast, and she must have been riding +fast then, for Brownlock's neck and chest, and even her riding-habit, +were all covered with white foam. Why, Bruno! she said, offering me her +hand, where are you going to? Nowhere, aunt, as usually, said I, but +where are you going to!--Nowhere, like yourself, she answered, +laughing; so we can continue on our way together.--If you will walk +your horse, I said, not otherwise. And thus we went for half an hour or +more through the forest, and the whole time we talked of nothing but of +yourself, and aunt asked me if I was fond of you, to which I replied, +of course, No! How you looked and if you were cheerful? Whether you +studied much? and a hundred other things, which I have forgotten. At +last she charged me to give you her regards, and to ask you if you +still had the engravings you had been speaking of, and if you would not +send them to her--and then she called me back, and said I had better +not remind you of them, and not tell you that she had spoken of +you--but, as I told you, now I do not think she meant exactly what she +said." + +"Why not now, Bruno?" + +"Because----" the boy was silent; suddenly he said in a low tone, as +if he feared the dark bushes would hear it: + +"Tell me, Oswald, how is it, when people are in love?" + +"How do you mean?" asked Oswald, not a little embarrassed by the boy's +question. + +"I mean, what kind of love is that of which the books have so much to +say? I love you, love you very much, but I think there must be some +other kind of love. Thus I never understood why we should not love +anybody we choose to love. Now, I love my Aunt Berkow above all things. +I could do anything for her! I sometimes wish she would fall into the +water and I could jump after her; or, as it happened the other day, +Brownlock would be rearing and I would seize the reins and struggle +with him, and not let him go again, although he should trample upon me +with his hoofs.--Now, such wishes never occur to me when I am near you, +Oswald, or when I think of you at a distance." + +"Because I am a man, Bruno, and you know that I could and would help +myself, without aid from others. But the love we feel for a woman +partakes of the consciousness that we must protect her who cannot +defend herself with our superior strength and courage, and that makes +our love deeper, and fuller of sympathy. And then there is still +another feeling mixed up with it, of which I can only tell you that it +is pure as nature itself, but also as chaste, and which therefore must +not be awakened before the right time, if it is not to become as fatal +to rash man as the boldness of the youth, whom the thirst for knowledge +drove to Sais and to the temple where she dwelt, hid in close veils, +Isis, the chaste, holy goddess of nature." + +"I do not quite understand you, Oswald." + +"The world and life are full of riddles, Bruno. Life is a Sphinx and we +are [Oe]dipus. And it is the curse of [Oe]dipus that he must solve the +enigma, although the solution makes him unhappy." + +"You are not angry with me, Oswald?" + +"I angry, darling! Why should _I_?" + +"Because I trouble you with such absurd questions." + +"You ought to ask me, Bruno; ask me about everything which causes you +doubt or trouble. Your soul ought to lie open before me like a book, +which I may peruse over and over again. Would to God I could write +nothing but what is wise and good on its white pages." + +"You are always kind, so very kind towards me, Oswald, and I return +only ingratitude and obstinacy!" + +"No, you do not do that--and then, are we not brothers? Brothers must +love, and bear, and support each other, and have no right to keep their +troubles apart. Bruno, if I could cherish the pious faith of many, that +the spirits of the departed hover around the beloved ones whom they +have left behind upon earth, I would say: From yonder, in the bright +starry sky, our mothers are looking down upon us, and rejoice at our +union and our love. Let us stand by each other in this wild strife of +life, for defence and offence. It will not be long before you are a man +like myself, and would to God a better man than I am. Then the last +difference, the difference of years, which I do not feel even now, will +have disappeared. It may be that then I will look up to you, as you now +look up to me; then you will repay me a hundred-fold what I may be able +to do for you now; then I shall be--oh, so willingly!--your debtor!" + +"Ah, that will never be!" said Bruno. "You will always be unattainably +far ahead of me. I shall never be what you are even now." + +"You little fool!" said Oswald, and affectionately caressed Bruno's +hair. "Now you are sitting in the pit before the stage of life, and the +pasteboard roll looks to your enthusiastic eye a huge mountain, and all +the tinsel genuine gold. When you are on the stage yourself, the sweet +rosy veil of illusion will drop from before your eyes, and you will see +your mistake. But be it so! After your first painful disappointment, +you will soon understand that it cannot be otherwise; you will not +despise your brother, because you now see that his proud knightly +cloak is of faded silk, and sadly patched, and his spurs nothing but +brass--but hush! here comes Mr. Timm and mademoiselle! It seems Mr. +Timm improves the opportunity to cultivate his French. We will not +disturb him in his praiseworthy purposes. Let us turn off here." + +Mr. Timm, who had not noticed Oswald and Bruno, now came by, arm in arm +with Mademoiselle Marguerite, speaking eagerly, but carefully softening +his clear, loud voice. He had indeed known how to improve the +"opportunity," though in another sense than that to which Oswald +alluded. The young man attached very little importance to his +pronunciation of French, but very much to the evident advantages he +might derive from the good-will of the young lady, who seemed to +preside over the interior of the household. As he would probably spend +several weeks at the chateau, this was a matter of great interest to +him, and he had taken prompt measures to secure the favor of the little +Frenchwoman, which might in many ways mitigate the monotony of country +life. During the delightful, cosey little _tete-a-tete_, the +conversation had been carried on in German, with an occasional use of +French, as mademoiselle spoke German quite fluently and Mr. Timm spoke +French very badly, and the harmless, innocent, and truth-loving young +man hated nothing more than the possibility of being understood +imperfectly, or, worse than that, of being misunderstood. + +"And you have been here long?" he asked. + +"Three years." + +"Is it possible? And you did not die of _ennui_! You must have a famous +constitution." + +"_Plait-il?_ + +"I mean, it is desperately tiresome to live year after year in this +hole, and, moreover, to live here in such very charming society. But I +suppose you have much to do?" + +"_Enormement!_ I have to work like a _forcat_." + +"Like what?" + +"_Vous ne savez pas ce que c'est qu'un forcat?_" + +"No--never mind. We'll say, like a horse; that will do, I dare say. You +say then, they make you work like a _forcat_?" + +"_Justement!_ I have to open and to lock all doors----" + +"That's not so bad," remarked Timm. + +"I must hear all the day: Mademoiselle, do this! Mademoiselle, do that! +And the evening, when I am tired that I cannot keep open the eyes, I +must read the stupid old books till madam has the kindness to say: +_C'est assez!--Non, madame, ce n'est pas assez; c'est trop--mille fois +trop!_" said the lively little lady, and stamped with the foot. + +"You seem to have a lively temper," said Mr. Timm. "But that is all +right; relieve yourself--that makes the heart lighter--but if the +baroness has so much confidence in you, I suppose you are in high favor +with her?" + +"_Au contraire!_ She me uses, because she me needs. She would give me +my _conge_ rather to-day than to-morrow. She me likes, because I not +need much sleep and I eat little." + +"Well, then, I shall never be in favor with her," said Mr. Timm. "But +you, poor child, are in a horrible position here. Much work and no +thanks; early rising, and, in return, late retiring; all day threshing +corn, like the good-natured beast in the Bible, but no privileges +granted, as there recorded--who can stand that? You ought to get +married, mademoiselle?" + +Marguerite shrugged her shoulders. "Who will marry me? _Je suis si +pauvre et si laide!_" + +"What is that?" + +"I say: I am poor and I am ugly!" + +"I grant the former," said Mr. Timm; "the other is vile slander. You +ugly? _Au contraire_: you are pretty, mademoiselle, _tres_ pretty, very +_belle_----" + +"_Vouz plaisantez, monsieur_." + +"No jest," said Mr. Timm. "You are a strikingly handsome girl. In the +first place, you have a charming figure----" + +"_Trop petite_," said Marguerite. + +"Not a bit," replied Mr. Timm; "secondly, you have prodigiously fine +brown eyes, a charming hand, an enchanting little foot----" + +"_Mais, monsieur!_" + +"Well, what? It is true, and we can say what is true. I bet _monsieur +le docteur_ Stein is of my opinion. Do you love the doctor?" + +"I him love?" said the little Frenchwoman, with much animation. "I him +love? I him 'ate!" + +"Come, come!" laughed Mr. Timm; "why should you? He is a fine-looking +man." + +"_C'est un bel homme, mais c'est un fat_." + +"_Un_ what?" + +"He is one fool, _oui_, one fool, _qui est monstrueusement amoureux de +lui-meme; mais avec toute sa fierte je me moque de lui, je me moque de +sa fierte, oui, je m'en moque, moi._" + +"Pray, don't get excited, and above all speak German, if you wish me to +understand you. What harm has the unfortunate man done you?" + +"_Lui malheureux? Il n'est pas malheureux, ce monsieur la! Tout le +monde le flatte, le cajole_----" + +"But for Heaven's sake speak German, I say!" + +"Do you believe that he has ever spoken ten words to me since that he +is here?" + +"That is abominable, to be sure. Ugh! there, I have hurt my foot once +more against a miserable root. I am as blind in the dark as a mole. You +would really do a work of charity if you would take my arm and help me +a little." + +"_Tres volontiers, monsieur_." + +"Ah, a vain man is this Doctor Stein," said Mr. Timm, holding pretty +Marguerite's arm very close and firm, probably because he was so very +near-sighted; "well, who would have thought so! Do you know, dear +Marguerite--what a pretty name that is: Marguerite!--I may call you +Marguerite, may I?--well, as I was going to say: Don't trouble yourself +about the foolish man, dear Marguerite! If he does not speak to you, +that is his own loss, and if he does not think you pretty, other +people think very differently. I, for instance, although I am very +near-sighted, especially in this dark avenue, where one can hardly see +the hand before one's eyes.--Are you afraid, little Marguerite? No? Why +does your heart beat so? Or could you really, by mere chance, be a +little fond of me? Are you a little fond of me, dear Marguerite? Don't +hesitate; I am an easy kind of man. People say anything to me. Or, +rather, say nothing and give me a kiss.--You won't?--Well, that is +sensible; you French people, and especially you Frenchwomen, are a +charming nation. But why do you cry, little simpleton? Is it high +treason with you to give a man a kiss, and that in the dark?--Pshaw! +There comes that fool, the doctor, with his monkey.... _Bon soir_, +gentlemen, we can play at hide and seek here." + +"Or blindman's buff," said Oswald, "and that without bandages. I +suppose we had better go in. If I mistake not, the baroness has been +inquiring for mademoiselle." + +Mr. and Mrs. Jager had taken leave with many protestations of their +respect and their gratitude, in order to return in the one-horse chaise +to "their lowly roof" in Fashwitz; Bruno had retired some time before, +and Timm and Oswald were walking up the broad staircase which led to +their rooms. + +"This is your room, I think, Mr. Timm," said Oswald, stopping at one of +the many doors which opened upon the passage. The latter led, sometimes +rising a few steps, sometimes descending, in many windings, through the +whole of the older part of the chateau in which Oswald and Mr. Timm +were quartered, and in which several of the less elegant guest-chambers +were situated. + +"And where is your tent, doctor?" + +"A few doors further on." + +"Are you very sleepy?" + +"Not particularly so." + +"Well, then, permit me to go with you to your room for a few minutes. I +feel the very natural desire to smoke a good cigar in sensible company +after all the nonsense which I have heard talked and which I have +talked myself." + +"Well, come," said Oswald, who would much rather have been alone, but +who had too high an idea of the duty of hospitality to refuse so direct +a request. "I am doubtful, however, whether my cigars will be good +enough and my company sensible enough." + +"For Heaven's sake! No more compliments for to-day," cried Mr. Timm. "I +have had more than enough, I assure you. Pray, show me the way----" + +"A charming tent," said Mr. Timm, as they entered the room. Oswald +lighted the lamp on the table before the sofa and took a box of cigars +from his bureau. "A very nice tub for a cynic who occasionally attends +lectures with the Sybarites; really famous, too comfortable for my +taste. That big arm-chair in the window, from which one can look so +cosily on one side into the garden, and on the other, 'still and deeply +moved,' upon that beautiful Apollo there; nature and art _vis-a-vis_ +and one's self between, as the aeronaut said when he fell from his +balloon.--This cigar is superb, genuine Habana, and no stinkador--do +you smoke? no? and you keep such a weed for your friends and +acquaintances!--Most noble of men! Saint Crispin is a highwayman in +comparison with you! What is that in the very suspicious-looking bottle +up there on the book-shelf? I verily believe it is Cognac----" + +"And very good old Cognac," said Oswald. "At least my friend Mr. +Wrampe, the steward, says so, who has almost forced me to accept this +bottle,--probably smugglers' ware----" + +"And never yet opened! _Me Hercule!_ We must really see if the steward +has told the truth. Do you ever drink grog?" + +"Never! But don't let that keep you," said Oswald, good-naturedly +taking down the bottle and drawing the cork. "I'll make you hot water +in an instant." + +"No indeed! Why such ceremonies? Cold water answers just as well, +especially in small quantities,--this is a charming evening," said Mr. +Timm, rubbing his hands joyfully. "Now please sit down in that corner +there, on the sofa, so that I feel you are comfortable, if one who does +not smoke and does not drink ever can be comfortable. I will move this +big chair up,--what a weight the fellow has! And now let us have a +chat, as two good people ought to talk, who laugh at all the absurdity +of the so-called great world and good society." + +With these words Mr. Timm drew up with his foot another light chair, to +rest his legs upon, and then stretched himself out comfortably, bending +his head back a little, to be able to look the longer at the smoke of +his cigar. + +The light of the lamp fell full upon his face, and Oswald now noticed, +for the first time, that Mr. Timm's features were really surprisingly +handsome and interesting, especially seen in profile, when the bold, +clear-cut outlines were fully seen. This discovery was by no means a +matter of indifference to Oswald. He went a step farther than Voltaire, +thinking that the _genre ennuyeux_ was the worst not only of books, but +of men also; and as his sense of the beautiful in forms was very keenly +alive, he allowed himself so very largely to be governed by his love +for all that was picturesque or statuesque, that his sense for the True +and the Good frequently suffered. It was so in this case. Mr. Timm's +unceremonious manner and his thinly veiled materialism had offended him +more than once in the course of the evening, and he had half and half +determined to limit his intercourse with the impudent fellow to the +absolutely necessary meetings; but as he now followed with his eye and +his mind the outlines of the handsome face, he forgot quickly his +resolution. + +"Will you please keep still for a few minutes," he said, instinctively +seizing his pencil, in order to sketch Albert's profile on the first +piece of paper which he found on the table amid books and papers. + +"Half an hour, if you wish it," replied the other; "I am perfectly +comfortable as I am; only let me smoke, talk, and occasionally take a +sip of this earth-born nectar." + +"That will not interfere in the least," said Oswald, drawing busily. + +"This old castle is after all a strange old box," said Albert, +dreamily. "I do not think I have any mind for romance, and yet I have +only to put my foot on the winding staircase which leads up this wing, +and I feel all the horrors of the middle ages. Even my language +changes, and I begin to talk, as you hear, like a novel-writer. What +walls! we would make a dozen of them now! If there were people in those +days, as I presume, who could storm doors and walls, what thick skulls +they must have had!" + +"Would you be good enough to take off your spectacles," said Oswald? + +"With pleasure. If I had lived in the middle ages I should not have +ruined my eyes by reading dusty old books. If the middle ages really +had any advantages over ours, it was this, that people were not +compelled to learn so much. Just imagine: no schools, no Cornelius +Nepos, no history of the middle ages, no examinations, only a few +sparring lessons with an old soldier who had served a number of masters +and knew how to tell a good story of every one of them, and then if a +man wanted to be very highly cultivated, a few lessons on the lute from +a strolling minstrel--a merry, boisterous fellow, who was full of +pretty songs and gay tricks, who had sung under a thousand windows and +kissed a thousand girls,--what a life it must have been! And above all, +this facility of changing your residence; this perfect freedom to move +about at will, limited at most by a couple of stout fellows, who +knocked your brains out in a hollow lane, if they pleased. Georges Sand +has said a pretty thing in one of her novels, the only one I remember, +probably because it was spoken as from my soul: 'What is there finer +than a highroad?' Is not that well said? I could kiss the woman for +that sentence, though she is a blue-stocking, and I hate blue-stockings +like poison. I won't say like the devil, because he is after all but an +unappreciated man of genius, and therefore deserves the sympathy of +every educated man. But if a man of our day is pursued by the devil's +own knaves, his creditors, where can he flee to? Then in those good old +times a man would pack his knapsack some fine morning, or, if he had +none, pack himself and march out of the city gate, and after a quarter +of an hour, when he was outside the corporation, he was safe, and +before evening came he had passed through so many adventures already +that he had long since forgotten the old city and the pretty nut-brown +maid, for whom but yesterday he vowed to live and die. Have you done? +Well, let us see! Hm! You draw like some great painters, the face not +as nature has made it, but as nature ought to have made it, if she had +not unfortunately been blind at the proper moment. Very pretty, indeed, +but I prefer the original. And you are a poet, too, as I see!" + +"How so?" + +"Well, the other side of this paper, I see, is covered with verses, and +above all, sonnets, which I love passionately. May I read them?" + +"They are not worth reading," said Oswald, visibly embarrassed by +Albert's question.--The verses were addressed to Melitta; they had been +written in memory of their first meeting in the forest cottage! He +thought he had put the papers carefully away in his writing-desk, and +now bitterly repented his imprudence, which had placed them now in the +hand of his impertinent guest, whom he had every reason to fear was by +no means discreet. Fortunately, Melitta's name was not mentioned. + +"Not worth reading?" said Albert; "we'll see that directly. Poets have +no clear idea of their productions. Think for a moment that I had +written these verses and felt impelled to read them to you? Listen! +'She loves me.' The beginning is as original as truthful. But you must +admit that so old a subject cannot well be treated in a novel manner in +our day. Albert read the two sonnets which he found in the paper +clearly and intelligently, almost with a certain air of feeling. Oswald +was grateful to him. He had been afraid the impudent fellow would have +profaned his poems, which he only valued, after all, as true +expressions of what he had really felt. He was glad to get off so +cheap. + +"Do you never make verses?" he asked, taking the paper, and adding it +to some others, which seemed likewise to contain poetry. + +"I?" said Mr. Timm, refreshing himself heartily from his glass, "Heaven +save me! I am much too practical. Practical and poetical views of the +world agree like cat and dog. When the little kitten Poetry mews in her +tenderest tones, the dog Prose begins to bark furiously and the little +enthusiast is silenced. Why would you, for instance, die instantly, 'if +Fate should deny you such wondrous bliss?' That is as unpractical as it +can be. Why should you poets anyways insist upon purposely spoiling all +the little pleasure that is left us on this melancholy planet? But, to +be sure, I talk as the blind man talks of colors. Perhaps you are, +after all, better off in your home in the clouds than we on this dark +earth, where one has to suffer much of corns and other earthly +sensations which are unknown to you airy dwellers on high. I have +often wished I had a decided talent for one or the other arts: poetry, +music, operations on corns, painting, grimacing, sculpture, +prestidigitation--anything, any notion, which might console me when the +waves of life wash over my head. I remember I once saw a badger at a +fair, who showed me what a blessing such a talent is in misfortune. All +the other brutes, without talents, were running about like mad in their +cages, or roared from hunger and rage, or at best resigned themselves +to their fate in despair. But Master Badger, true to his artistic +instinct, worked indefatigably at the imaginary den in his cage, +scratching, scratching, all the time scratching, from morn till +evening. This evidently made him forget hunger and cold, even his +captivity; he found perfect happiness in the exercise of his talent, +even under such desperately unfavorable circumstances. I wish I were a +badger!--That Cognac is really capital! You ought to take a glass too, +doctor, to drive away those clouds on your Apollo brow. When I was a +boy people looked upon me as a marvel because I could imitate +everything, precisely as the magpie whistles what others play. That boy +will be a great genius, said the foolish people, whenever I astounded +them by some _tour de force_ of my memory, which retained good things +and bad things equally well. I wish I had been forced to sit still and +to study, like the other poor boys whose compositions I then wrote, and +who are now great men, while I am little better than a vagabond. But +_vive la joie! vive la bagatelle!_ There must be vagabonds also in the +world, simply because otherwise there would be no staid, respectable +people. Vagabonds are the salt of the earth, or at least the seeds +flying about which scatter vegetation over the whole earth, instead of +letting it be confined to a few spots. Vagabonds founded Carthage, +vagabonds founded Rome. An honest fellow, born in Europe without a +cigar in his mouth--gold spoons are out of fashion, I believe--can do +nothing better than to emigrate to America, if he feels an earnest +desire to smoke a really good cigar and does not choose to steal it, or +if he has not the good luck to stumble over a nice young man like +yourself, who keeps cigars and Cognac for his friends, and listens to +their idle talk till his eyes droop with sleepiness. Upon my word! I +have diminished the contents of that bottle by a third! How swiftly all +here below passes away! _Buona notte, Don Oswaldo!_ Sleep well and +dream _dolcemente_ of the _begli occhi della donna bella, amata, +immaculata_ of your sonnets. I for my part will follow Hamlet's example +and go to my prayers, for unfortunately I have not even a talent for +sleeping, much less for dreaming. Good-night, _dottore!_" + +"Good-night!" said Oswald, rising half asleep from his sofa and +accompanying Mr. Timm to the door. + +"Not a step farther, _dottore_," said the latter. "Everything with +moderation!" and when the door had closed behind him he remained +standing there a moment, put the thumb of his right hand to his nose, +quickly moving the other four fingers--a gesture which was less +complimentary to Oswald than expressive of the childlike, ingenuous +mind of Mr. Timm. + + + + + CHAPTER VI. + + +The oppressive heat which had prevailed of late was followed by a few +cool, rainy days. + +On such days Castle Grenwitz looked more grim and lonely even than +ordinarily. On other days, if no one else came there, the light of the +sun at least entered in at the windows, and penetrated into all the +rooms, even those locked-up staterooms in the upper stories, with their +costly though faded brocade furniture, and greeted here and there a +portrait which it knew now for a hundred years or more. On other days, +if no one else was merry, the sparrows at least twittered, who had made +their nests in the crevices of the old tower and the stucco-ornaments +of the new addition, and who quarrelled as unconcernedly about their +private affairs as if the baronial mansion was a common cottage or a +miserable barn. And if you felt, in spite of all that, too lonely and +deserted in the chateau, you could go down into the garden, where the +flowers shone in much fairer and brighter colors than the tapestry and +the chairs and the sofas in the staterooms, where gay butterflies +hovered over the gay flowers, where the birds were caroling, the bees +humming busily, and everywhere rich, active life was going on, full of +joy and brightness for him who had eyes to see and ears to hear. + +On rainy days all that was changed. Then the portraits on the wall +could tell each other undisturbed old, old stories, to their hearts' +content, and the curious sunlight would never so much as see them +blush; then even the sparrows were at peace for a time, or fought at +least in silence for the best and the driest places, and in the garden +the flowers hung their rain-washed heads, and all the rich, gay life +looked as if it had died out. In the wet walks and over the parterres +cold winds played with each other, and mercilessly tore pretty, +delicate flowers to pieces, and upset tall beanpoles, and swept up the +trees to shake the branches, and make an infinite ado. + +This melancholy weather harmonized with Oswald's state of mind. Since +the day he had passed at Barnewitz a great change had taken place in +him, which he could hardly explain himself. He felt as if suddenly a +close veil had fallen on his eyes, which made everything look to him +discolored and unattractive; he felt as if a hostile hand had mixed a +drop of wormwood with his cup of life, from which he had recently drunk +so eagerly. Even the image of the beautiful lady who was enthroned in +the holiest of his heart seemed to have lost its magic power. Where was +now all the happiness he used to feel when he recalled her and the +sunny hours he had spent with her? Where the restless longing to see +her face, to hear her voice? Where the feverish impatience with which +he followed the course of the sun and wished for the night, so he might +steal down the narrow stairs that led from his room into the garden and +hasten to the forest, to spend hours and hours watching around the +forest chapel? And yet he knew that she was mourning for him now in her +solitude; that she had long since forgiven his boyish defiance and his +childish impatience; that not a word of reproach, not a glance of +reproof would receive him if he should return; that she would open her +arms wide, and welcome him to her loving heart! Alas! It was not she +whom he doubted, nor her love; it was himself and his own love that he +doubted! Oldenburg's last words: Who of us is still able to love with +all his heart? Who of us still has a whole heart? fell again and again +upon his ear like the low tolling of a bell, like the song at the +grave. And a voice which he could not silence whispered to him, +wherever he went and stood, by night and by day: Not you! Not you!--Is +it not written in the lines of your hand? Did not the brown woman in +the forest see it at the first glance? Not you! Not you!--And when you +fell at Melitta's feet, and when you stammered the vow of love and +faithfulness, did she not hastily and anxiously close your lips, as if +she wished to save you from the crime of perjury: Oh, do not swear! I +may swear to you love now and evermore, but not you! not you! + +Rainy weather! How the wind drives the big drops against the panes, so +that they become dim, like eyes that have wept too much! How heavy and +low the clouds are drifting, the gray mourning cloaks, as if they must +touch the tops of the poplar trees on the castle wall with their hems! +Ah! that I was lying out there beneath the wet black soil, relieved of +all anguish of doubt or repentance! Ah! that I could partake of the +deep peace of Nature! Be one with the elements! Rush along with the +wind, flare up to heaven with the flame, pass away with the water of +the stream in the ocean! + +Are the wise men of the East right when they say that the whole life of +man is but one great mistake? Are we all of us lost sons, who have +forsaken our good old father's house to feed upon the husks? And is it +true that we may return to him at any time, if we only wish to do so +with all our heart? Who of us has still a whole heart for living or for +dying? Not you! Not you! + +Self-confidence is like the cloud sent by the gods, which surrounds us, +and then we are enabled to walk unhurt through all the troubles of +life, and when we fall to fall like heroes, with the death-wound on our +brow or in our brave hearts. Doubt of ourselves is like a sudden +vertigo, which seizes us on a steep height, which chills our blood, +loosens the strength of our sinews, and at last hurls us irretrievably +into the abyss. + +In such painful moments man is apt to join any one who wanders merrily +along the path of life, defying the perils of the road, as a lost child +in the woods runs up to the first one it meets. + +Such a bold wanderer Oswald thought his new acquaintance, and thus it +came about that he sought in these evil days most industriously the +company of Albert Timm, who was ever ready to laugh and to joke and to +play tricks. This readiness surprised him all the more, as he was +generally most fastidious in the choice of his friends. + +Albert needed as little time to make himself perfectly at home in a new +place as the Arab needs to pitch his tent. Arrangements he had none to +make. He left it to his things, which were not many in number, to seek +their place in his room. If one boot preferred standing bolt upright +on top of a chair, and the other liked to lie on the floor, heel +upwards--he did not object. If his dress-coat, the only really +respectable garment he owned, preferred to forget its existence, rolled +up in a little ball and put away between sorted linen in a corner of +his melancholy little portmanteau, he did not disturb its enjoyment. +And he himself, the happy owner of all these treasures, was standing +there in his shirt-sleeves, in spite of the cool weather, bending over +his drawing-board, whistling, drawing, singing, and laughing at Oswald, +who came to visit him on account of what he called his mute's look. + +"Dottore, dottore!" he said, "you look as if you suffered excruciating +pain from the grog which I have drunk last night. Upon my word, you +disgrace the weather! Did you ever sit, as a boy, in a garret window, +sending from a short clay pipe beautiful soap-bubbles into the bright +air, while down stairs among the leaden soldiers a half-finished +exercise was lying, which was to earn you, a few hours later, a sound +whipping on the part of your teacher? You see, that is a picture of +life. Our knowledge is a half-finished exercise, and our best exercises +remain fragments; the most brilliant soap-bubbles will burst, and the +hardest whipping is forgotten in an hour or two. All is vanity, but +especially our regret that all is vanity! Why? I did not make the +world, and, as far as I know, you did not make it Why, then, should we +two rack our brains about it? I rack my brains about nothing, for +instance, not even about this line, which I have evidently made too +short, and which I must now at random extend gracefully till it meets +this angle--by the by, a most romantic corner of the wood, where I met +a most charming little red-cheeked peasant girl, who, no doubt, is the +cause of my mistake. Well, no matter! The account does not always +tally, why else should we have fractions, and the Grenwitz entail +remains, for all that, a very beautiful invention, especially for that +poor boy Malte. Is the boy really as stupid as he looks?" + +"By no means," replied Oswald, who shared the little sofa in the room +with a tin box for dried plants, from which a stocking of blue yarn was +bashfully peeping forth. "Malte can count up to five, and considerably +beyond. He has a decided talent for many things, especially for +arithmetic, while Bruno, who lacks that talent, remains a long way +behind him." + +"Yes, Providence is wise," said Albert, preparing his sepia within a +little porcelain vessel; "it gives to him who is to eat turtle-soup in +life, a gold spoon at his birth, and he to whom she doles out the +ship-biscuit of poverty receives kindly a number of hollow teeth, so +that he need not be long annoyed by his hard fare. I, for my part, +received by mistake a set of excellent teeth, and thus I relish my +hard-tack prodigiously,--so much, in fact, that I can never feel very +angry at these empty-headed, thick-bellied children of my step-mother +Nature, who are eating turtle-soup with gold spoons, and are thoroughly +spoilt in the bargain. But one thing I should like, and that is, if +there should turn up a claimant to the codicil in the last will of +Baron Harald, who died in delirium tremens, and no doubt now sleeps in +the bosom of Father Abraham." + +"Then you know the sad story?" asked Oswald. + +"Who does not know it?" replied Albert, lighting a cigar and seating +himself on the back of his chair so that his feet rested on the seat of +the chair. "Do they not publish it every year, to the infinite dismay +of the haughty Anna Maria, who is as miserly as she is haughty? Still, +I hardly think it has been done these last years!" + +"I am only astonished," said Oswald, "that I never heard a word of the +whole story till I came here, and never read anything about it in the +papers." + +"You know nobody reads court advertisements, proclamations, and the +like, as long as he has nothing to hope and nothing to fear from such +advertisements. Nor would I, in all probability, know anything more of +the original idea of this defunct baron, if my father had not felt a +lawyer's interest in the matter, and, I believe, himself had something +to do with it. Perhaps he was engaged in forming the codicil to the +testament, or in writing the latter. The proclamation was, besides, +expressed in very vague terms, and amounted to little more than this: +The young lady in question, or her child, male or female, if one had +been born within a certain period, I do not exactly remember when, were +called upon to present their claims--of course, duly authenticated in +all formality since a considerable legacy had been left to them by +Baron Harald, who had been 'gathered to his fathers,' probably a set of +men not much better than their profligate descendant. The amount of the +legacy was not mentioned. I, however, know, as many other people also +know, that it amounts to nothing less than the two magnificent estates +of Stantow and Baerwalde, situated on this very island. I know them +very well, since I surveyed them only last summer." + +"It would indeed be a charming surprise for our amiable family here if +such a claimant should present himself," said Oswald. + +"I should think so," replied Albert "Unfortunately there is very little +prospect for it, as the bequest only continues valid twenty-five years, +and then relapses into the family. Of these twenty-five years, at least +twenty-two or three must have elapsed, for I am now twenty-six, and I +recollect I always used to regret that I had not the prescribed age." + +"Why?" + +"I might have indulged at least in the charming uncertainty, whether I +might not by chance be the Ivanhoe who wanders about on earth, unknown +and driven from his paternal inheritance; who has to make friends with +swine-herds in spite of his knightly descent, and to borrow money from +dirty old Jews, until he can at last drop his incognito and lead the +beautiful Rowena home as his wife, although I would, for my part, +attach less importance to the last-mentioned event." + +"Did you ever communicate this wish to your father, when you conversed +with him about this mysterious affair? It would have been so peculiarly +complimentary to him." + +"I do not remember; but if I ever did it, my father was liberal enough +to think such a childish idea perfectly natural. We cannot help +ourselves in that respect: we must have a father, although this wise +institution is at times highly inconvenient, as, for instance, when we +have done a foolish thing, or mean to do one; and therefore I do not +see why I should not prefer a father who leaves me two magnificent +farms, to another father who sends me into the wide world as the +crocodile pitches its young into the water, I mean, with two rows of +excellent teeth and nothing to bite withal. It matters very little to +me, I am sure, if the former has adopted in his life oriental +Mahommedan views with regard to certain usages, which are differently +interpreted in Christian countries." + +"That is a matter of taste," said Oswald. + +"Certainly," replied Albert, "although I am persuaded that if you give +one hundred men the alternative, not as a problem, but in tangible +reality, ninety-nine would confess to share my views--perhaps with a +blush of modesty--or they might claim to hold your view, but they would +seize the bequest, nevertheless, if they could. Did not even the great +Goethe feel such a temptation, although his tall size made him +naturally look for golden apples higher up, and suggested to him an +emperor as father, while I would be content with a baron!" + +"The great Goethe was, at the time when he felt thus tempted, very +small Goethe, and had, like other children, childish notions." + +"Well, I do not know whether the old Excellency would not have bid the +two estates welcome, too; for in certain matters, for instance, in a +preference of roasted apples over raw potatoes, we all of us remain +children, even at the age of Methuselah. But let that be. If you are +specially bent upon being your father's son, I would do wrong to +interfere with your enjoyment. What do you say, doctor; shall we +continue our philosophic conversation as peripatetics in the open air? +The sky looks, to be sure, still like a wet rag, but it has ceased +raining, at least for the moment, and I, for my part, prefer swimming +about in a deluge to sitting all day in Noah's ark, even if I should be +compelled to stay there, if we may believe the record thereof, without +the corresponding representative of the fair sex. You know how to +swim?" + +"Oh yes!" said Oswald, laughing. + +"Well, then, put on your cap and let us go; the boys are busy down +stairs, and can dispense with their Mentor for an hour, I am sure." + +The two new friends went down the narrow staircase, which led close to +Oswald's room, through the immensely thick wall into the garden. It had +ceased raining; the wind also did not blow any more, but the sky was +still covered with heavy lowering clouds, which seemed to sink lower +every moment. The raindrops were standing in the flowers like bright +tears in overflowing children's eyes. Now and then a wailing sound was +heard in the broad branches of the trees, where little birds sat +shivering; all else was silent like the grave. + +Inexpressible sadness filled Oswald's heart. Life seemed to him nothing +but a heavy, harassing dream, through which beloved forms were gliding +with veiled faces. He thought of Melitta as if she were dead. + +Albert also had become silent in the quiet garden. "Let us go on," he +said; "this is like a graveyard." + +They went out of the decayed gates, across the drawbridge, into the +forest, on the way to Berkow, the same road under the tall, solemn +pine-trees on which Oswald had come in the carriage the first evening +of his arrival at Grenwitz, and which he had since seen so often again +with very different sensations. + +That evening had made a division in his life, the importance of which +he only now began to feel. Since that evening the wide world beyond the +silent woods had disappeared for him, and a new world had arisen, a +paradisiac world, full of love and happiness. And now he felt as if +this world also were disappearing, and the old world outside, beyond +those silent woods, was lying beyond his reach. Should he ever return +into that world with fresh, bold mind? Would he not ever yearn to +return to the Blue Flower, which had here bloomed near to him, nearer +than ever, so near that the fragrance had entered his very heart? What +had become of the high notions which he had formerly loved to dwell +upon? What of the great plans he had cherished? Was it all over? And +over for the sake of a woman whom he loved, and who yet could never be +his own? + +No! A thousand times No! He must tear himself away from this +intoxicating magic world, and should it break his heart? What mattered +it to any one? He had no whole heart to lose besides. But she? What was +to become of her? + +"I believe your melancholy is contagious, dottore," said Albert, after +they had walked for some time silently by each other. "How can a man of +your cleverness allow himself to be thus influenced by the weather, or +whatever else it may be! You melancholy men are, after all, odd +creatures! You are always going from one extreme to the other. Horace's +_aurea mediocritas_ has been preached to you in vain. You will not +listen to it, because your pride is offended at being taught to be +mediocre, and yet you ought to see that we mediocre children of nature +are ten thousand times happier than you. Really, dottore, your +portrait, taken at this moment, might be hung up among the family +portraits of the Grenwitz up stairs; no one would doubt your being a +member. They all look so miserably melancholy. It seems to me the whole +race shows that every one of them must go to the dogs, one way or +another, and surely they have done it, as far as I know, without +exception so far. The faces--I examined them to-day after dinner, one +by one--would make admirable illustrations for terrible robber and +murder stories. They speak of a thousand evil deeds, of nights of hard +drinking, and, above all, of many, many fair women who have kissed them +till they died of them. For such faces must be perfectly irresistible +for women, especially when they belong, as in this case, to rich +barons. I was especially struck by Harald, the veritable rat-catcher of +Hameln. He is not as handsome as his cousin Oscar, whom you resemble, +by the way, strikingly when you look so dismal as just now,--but he +looks the very type of this grandly noble and greatly dangerous race, +with his large, seductive blue eyes, and his delicate and yet so +voluptuous lips." + +"You really do me undeserved honor, if you couple me thus +unceremoniously with this noble set," said Oswald. + +"No, jesting aside," replied Albert, "you really have in your face the +fatal feature of the Grenwitz race. I do not mean that as a compliment, +for others, for instance I myself, prefer decidedly not to have it. I +go even farther than that, I bet my plats against the estate, that if +you came in possession of the entail, you would lead the very same life +which has heretofore been the hereditary manner of life with the main +line. The side branch, which is now in possession, has sadly +degenerated." + +"You really overwhelm me with your benevolence, and the good opinion +you seem to have of my talents and my inclinations." + +"You may be as ironical as you choose. I insist upon it, you would do +just as these mad barons have done before, in spite of your pretended +aversion, which you perhaps only cherish like the dog that is put into +traces to pull a wheelbarrow, and snarls at the dog that is running +about free." + +"But what in heaven's name makes you think so? What justifies your +presumption?" + +"My profound though superficial studies of physiognomy," replied +Albert. "I have been an adept in that science from my boyhood, perhaps +even a martyr, for my excessive zeal in pursuing that study often +earned me a terrible whipping at school. Instead of listening +attentively, I used to draw the cleverest caricatures of the sparrows, +the monkeys, sheep, and other heads all around me; for I need not tell +you that the best way to find out the character of a face or a figure +is to try to caricature it. Now, if I bring out the melancholy feature +in your face with special emphasis, it becomes the veritable face of a +Grenwitz, sad, and yet irresistibly sensual,--the very face which a +poor innocent maiden would lose her soul for. I will be hanged if you +are not going to be the luckiest man alive, as far as women are +concerned--unless you have been so already." + +"And if I assure you of the contrary?" + +"Then Baron Harald was not the rat-catcher of Hameln, but a +night-watchman, and he did not die from his excessive fondness of wine +and women, but from over-study; then little Marguerite--who is by the +way a really charming girl, and not unnaturally reserved--told me a +story when she said she hated you, which in our language means: I am +desperately in love with him; then report has lied when it couples your +name with that of another lady, fairer and of far higher pretensions +than poor little Marguerite." + +"What do you mean?" asked Oswald, feeling that the blood was rushing to +his face. + +"Nothing, _mon prince_, nothing," replied Albert, laughing; "is it +absolutely necessary always to mean something when we say something? I +was only to beat the bush to see if the birds would fly out. For one +needs no glasses such as I have to wear, nor the knowledge of a +Lavater, to see that the weather is not alone to be blamed for your +melancholy. Whenever one of us is melancholy, a pair of black or blue +eyes is invariably at the bottom of it. Now I do not ascribe it to Miss +Marguerite's pretty black eyes, for I have seen the sovereign +indifference with which you treat the poor child; so it must be another +pair of eyes, and consequently, if that is so, these eyes must belong +to somebody, and if that is so----" + +"Enough, enough!" said Oswald, laughing at the merry jingling talk of +his companion in spite of his melancholy state of mind; "you will +presently prove that I am the man in the moon, and about to plunge head +over heels into the great ether from love for a fair princess who lives +on the star Sirius." + +"Why not?" asked Albert "I am the wise Merlin; I know all the whims a +man can have in his head; I hear a report, which I may have started +myself, long before it comes near me, and I prophesy that if we do not +reach some shelter before five minutes have passed, we shall be washed +clean as we never were before." + +The two men were on an open field between the forest and the tenants' +cottages belonging to Grenwitz. Albert's prophecy seemed to be on the +point of being fulfilled. The dark heavy masses sank lower and lower, +so that it looked almost like night at the early afternoon hour; a few +big drops came pattering down. + +"_Sauve qui peut_," cried Albert. "What do you say, dottore, shall we +have a little race to that cottage?" + +"Well!" said Oswald. + +"Ah! That was in the nick of time," said Albert, when they were safe +under the projecting roof of the hut, and shook himself like a dog. "My +coat might have been benefited by the washing, but I prefer being here. +How it rains! Shall we go in and see the interior of this palazzo, +dottore, or do you think the old woman there, who is looking at us from +the little window, is the same old witch who has conjured up this +abominable weather?" + +"Good-day, Mother Claus," said Oswald, recognizing his old friend whom +he had met on his way to church. + +"Many thanks, young master," said Mother Claus, and nodded kindly. "I +expected you. Just come in, and the other one too, if he is your +friend." + +"Well, now--what does that mean?" asked Albert, surprised. + +"Just follow me," replied Oswald. "You shall make the acquaintance of a +remarkable old woman." + +And, not without stooping low, they entered through the door into the +hut. + + + + + CHAPTER VII. + + +"Walk in here," said Mother Claus, seizing Oswald by the hand and +drawing him from the dark passage into a little room with one window, +opposite to the larger room on the other side, into which Oswald, aided +by the steward, had carried the sick servant the other day. She did not +trouble herself about Albert, as if she knew that the young man +possessed a talent for finding his way in the dark. "I have looked for +you; for I know from of old that you love to run about in such weather, +to cool your hot youthful blood. Are you quite wet through again, as +usually? Well, not so badly this time! There, sit down in the +easy-chair. None of you have ever sat there since the day on which +Baron Oscar died in it, forty-three years ago." + +"Not a particular recommendation for superstitious minds," said Albert, +seating himself on a large wooden chest in the background of the room, +while the old woman was pushing Oswald into the easy-chair and sat down +at his feet on a footstool; "but honor to whom honor is due. You look +quite grand, doctor, on that single gala-piece of furniture in this +otherwise very plain room, especially in the Rembrandt light that falls +on you, and with the old woman, Murillo fashion, at your feet, like a +banished king who seeks shelter with an old fairy in the forest, while +his faithful squire sits modestly in the background. I really believe +our race has tired me, and I could sleep a few moments. Wake me, +dottore, when it stops raining--" and Albert stretched himself full +length on the old chest, put his hands under his head, and, in spite of +the uncomfortable position, he seemed to have fallen asleep after a few +minutes, while the monotonous ticking of the old cuckoo clock in the +corner, and the dripping of the falling rain, alone interrupted the +profound silence in the little room. + +Mother Claus had taken up her knitting and was at work as busily as the +other day at a tiny child's sock, busily, busily, that the needles +clinked merrily. Only from time to time she would look up at Oswald and +nod kindly, as if she was glad that he was sitting so comfortably in +the soft old armchair, here in the cosey room, while the rain came down +pitilessly outside. + +"Is it not a good chair, young master?" she said, laying down her +knitting for a moment, and putting her right hand on Oswald's knee. +"The baroness gave it to me after the baron died. She could not bear to +look at it, she said; for it reminded her always of the moment when +they brought him in, after he had fallen with Wodan, and put him into +that chair; and Harald came running in and cried, when he saw his +father so pale and disfigured, and she, too, was running about in the +room and wringing her hands, and I stood by the baron and wiped the +cold sweat from his forehead. I had no time for crying then, but I knew +I would have time enough afterwards." + +"And how old was Baron Harald when his father died?" asked Oswald. + +"Ten years," answered Mother Claus, "and it would have been better for +him if he had died too--for him and many others." + +The old woman had taken up her knitting again, which had been lying +idle in her lap, and was knitting more busily than ever, as if she +wanted to make up for lost time. + +"Yes, yes," she said; "it would have been better. Then he was a +beautiful, innocent boy, with rosy cheeks and violet eyes, and when he +died----" + +The old woman paused--the needles clinked and the rain beat against the +panes. + +"Well," said Oswald, "and when he died----" + +"Then he was a bad man, and it was a bad death. I alone know it, for I +alone was with the poor man when death seized him with the iron hand. +Then they struggled with each other, strong Harald and strong Death, +and it was a horrible sight, so horrible that all the others ran away; +but I would not abandon him in his last hour, for he was, after all, +Oscar's son, and I had borne him in my arms when he was an innocent +babe, and rocked him on my knees. So I held on and prayed, while he +swore and cursed God, till Death struck him on the heart, and he cried +out aloud and fell back on his pillow. Then it was all over with him, +and his poor soul was at rest." + +"And had the baron no friend who might have stood by him in his last +hour?" + +"Friends enough, and men among them who were not afraid of a death-bed; +but they were afraid of Harald; he would have strangled and torn to +pieces any one who would have come to him at that hour. I only wish +they had come, one after the other; there was not one among them but +deserved to have his neck twisted." + +"And who were these sad friends?" + +"First, Baron Barnewitz, not the one at Sullitz, who is still +alive,--he is a good man and harms no one,--but he at Smittow, who +afterwards lost all his money at play to Baron Berkow, and then sold +him his daughter to pay his debts." + +"Melitta!" groaned Oswald, and his hands seized nervously the back of +his chair. + +"What ails you, young master?" asked the old woman. + +"Nothing, nothing," murmured Oswald, with a supernatural effort to +overcome a mingled feeling of horror, pity, hatred, and revenge, which +arose in his heart when he saw the image of his beloved one thus +dragged through the mire of vulgar passions.--Melitta sold, sold by her +own father, to a man who did not love her, whom she only married to +save her father from disgrace! Oswald felt that such a thought would +madden him if he followed it out, and at the same time he was afraid +that cunning Mr. Timm, of whose profound slumbers he was by no means +quite convinced, in spite of an occasional snore from the great chest, +might notice his emotion. He forced himself, therefore, to sit still +and to ask, with apparent calmness: + +"Was Baron Berkow one of Harald's friends? Was he not too young at that +time?" + +"He was the youngest," said Mother Claus, "and the best too. He did +what he saw the others did, without thinking whether it was right or +wrong. He was not as powerful as the others. When he drank one bottle, +Harald drank three, and yet Harald remained master of himself and +Berkow fell under the table." + +"Was he a handsome man?" asked Oswald. + +"Not as handsome as Harald, and far less so than you are, young master. +He was smaller and weaklier than either of you, and Harald could have +mastered six like him. But then there was far and near no one as bold +and as strong as Harald. He could stop the wildest horse running at +full speed, and make it as gentle and obedient as a dog, and he always +jumped in the saddle without touching the stirrup. They told wonderful +stories of his gigantic strength, but it was just as I tell you. When +he was angry--and he was very often angry--he would break a heavy oaken +chair or table as if it were glass. Then the veins on his forehead +would swell like thick branches, and white foam would froth at his +mouth, so that it was a horrible sight; but when he laughed and was in +good humor, you could not help loving him again. Then he could be so +sweet, and say such nice things; no one would have thought him such a +bad man. For bad he was, after all; whatever pleased him he must have, +cost what it might, and if everything else should perish." + +"Were you all that time up at the castle?" + +"Why do you speak so politely to me, young master? You never did it +before, I am sure. Yes, I was up at the castle. You know my husband was +dead, and the boys were dead, and the girls, and I was the only one who +looked a little after things up there since the death of the baroness. +I did not like to stay there, Heaven knows, for Castle Grenwitz was no +better than Sodom and Gomorrah. Every day came friends, and often half +a dozen other visitors besides, and then playing and drinking till late +in the morning." + +"Did ladies ever come to the castle?" + +"No, even the boldest were afraid of these wild men. And most of them +were not married then, like Baron Berkow; or their wives had died, like +Baron Barnewitz, and thus they could carry it on undisturbed. There +never were any women there I would speak of, except one, except +one----" + +"And who was that one?" + +"The last one--a beautiful, innocent angel, who might have converted +devils even; but Harald and his companions were worse than devils." + +"What was her name? Where did she come from?" + +"We called her Miss Marie; where she came from I never heard, nor where +she went to." + +"Then she did not take her own life, as people say?" + +"No--she was too good and too pious to do that; she would have borne +her cross to Golgotha. Oh! she was so young and fair, and so gentle and +so sweet; my eyes have never seen anything like it before or after. If +I had known they meant her when Baron Harald, over the wine, betted +Baron Barnewitz I do not know how many thousand dollars that the girl +should follow him, of her own free will, to Castle Grenwitz--I would +have poisoned them all in their wine, like a nest of vile rats." + +"And how did Baron Harald go about to win his wager?" + +"That is a long story, young master, and I will tell you. I tell you, +if all the drops that are now falling out there were tears, and all +were wept for the sake of the poor child--I would say they were not +nearly enough. + +"When Harald made that terrible wager with Baron Barnewitz, they had +just been absent together for two or three weeks; I know not where, but +I believe they had gone to a large city, far away, and there, I think, +they had seen the poor child. Soon afterwards he left again, and this +time he stayed two months. At last he wrote he would come back, but not +alone. His Aunt Grenwitz, he wrote, would come too, and I was to air +the rooms of the late baroness and let the furniture be attended to, +and prepare everything for her reception. Now I knew the baron had a +great-aunt, his grandfather's sister, but she must be eighty years and +more; she had never in her life been at Grenwitz, and had never +troubled herself about Harald, nor he about her. I was, therefore, not +a little surprised at the strange idea to undertake such a journey at +her time of life, for she lived many, many miles from here; but I did +as I was ordered. They arrived on the appointed day; I received them +and wondered how active the old lady was, though she walked with a +crutch and had silver-gray hair and eyebrows. Harald was full of +respect for her; he led her on his arm through all the rooms of the +castle, and showed her everything very carefully, especially the family +portraits in the gallery, where her own was hanging, as a girl of +eighteen.--They stopped before it and laughed immoderately, and the old +lady began to cough, and Harald slapped her on the back. I did not know +why they laughed so--I thought it was because the pretty girl had +become such an ugly woman, for then I did not suspect anything of the +disgraceful plot. + +"Early the next day the baron sent for his carriage and he and the aunt +drove off. 'We shall be back to-night,' he said, 'though perhaps very +late. We shall bring a young lady home, a young companion for Aunt +Grenwitz. She is to have the room next door, do you hear?'--'But, +master,' I said, 'the baroness died in the red-room, and everything is +left there exactly as it was on the day of her death.'--'Then let +everything be cleared out,' he said; 'do you hear, everything, and have +it put in another room. Put some furniture in it. The young lady must +sleep near Aunt Grenwitz.'--'What do you say, dear Harald?' asked the +aunt, who was deaf in one ear and did not hear particularly well in the +other ear, so that she could never understand me, even when I spoke +ever so loud. 'Nothing, nothing, dear aunt,' said the baron, 'all +right, Jake!' + +"It was late in the night when they returned. I had sent all the +servants to bed except the new valet, which the master had brought home +with him from his travels. The young lady was in the carriage. When +they entered the hall and the light of the candles, which the man--his +name was Baptiste--carried in his hand, fell upon the rosy face of the +young lady, his features grinned most unpleasantly. But I saw Harald +frown and make a sign with his eyes, and at once Baptiste was all +submission and zeal again. + +"'Show the ladies to their rooms, old one,' said Harald to me, and then +he bowed gracefully and wished the ladies a good-night. + +"'Will you give me your arm, dear Marie?' said the aunt, as I was +showing the way with the light in my hand; 'my limbs are a little +fatigued after the long ride to-day.'--'How shall I ever thank you for +your kindness?' said the girl, with a voice so soft and sweet, that I +could not help turning round and looking at her. The old woman and the +girl were standing on the landing of the steps. There were three +candles in the branches which I held, and the light fell bright upon +the two, and I shall never forget the sight, if I were to live another +eighty years. The aunt had never looked so hideously ugly to me, and in +all my life I had never seen anything half as fair and sweet as the +young lady. 'You know best, dear child,' said the old lady, making a +good-natured grimace, which made her look still uglier, if that was +possible. 'I have only one wish upon earth; it lies with you to see it +fulfilled or not.' The girl did not answer, but great tears started in +her eyes, and then she bent her tall, slim figure quite low and kissed +the old witch's hand. 'Well, well,' she said, 'you are a good child; +we shall agree, I doubt not, and my Harald, my pet, will be happy +yet.--Tell them to give you your candle, dear Marie; I know the home of +my ancestors well enough, although I have not seen it for more than +sixty years now. You can go to bed, Claus; I do not like to trouble the +servants unnecessarily.' + +"And that was true. We heard her bell very rarely. She dressed herself +and undressed herself; it took her several hours, it is true, but none +of us was allowed to render her the slightest assistance; once, when +one of the maids had come into her chamber while she was dressing, she +was very angry, and ever after locked herself in. She had strange ways +about her, the old lady. Thus she never was tired at night, and I have +seen her wander about in her room till early dawn; but then she slept +till late in the afternoon. At table she never had any appetite, but in +her room she could eat and drink without end; sometimes she had two, +and sometimes three bottles of wine sent up stairs. But the most +remarkable thing was this: to-day she looked fifty, and tomorrow she +looked eighty; at one time she was stone deaf, and at another time she +could hear a mouse slip across the room; now she scarcely could drag +herself along with her crutch, and then she came down the steps faster +than I, although I was only sixty then, and quite active yet. I felt +very uncomfortable about the old lady, and was glad when I could keep +out of her way." + +"And what was Miss Marie doing in the mean time?" + +"She was almost always with Harald. I saw them together early in the +morning, wandering among the dewy flowers in the garden, arm in arm; +she with bashfully cast-down eyes, he talking eagerly to her. I saw +them in the afternoon, sitting in the cool rooms which face the park; +he reading aloud from a book, or more frequently his arm leaning on the +back of her chair, and she looking up at him very happy, whereupon he +would cast burning glances at her, and smooth from time to time her +silken brown hair. I saw them in the evening, wandering once more in +the garden, or slowly walking up and down in the brilliantly lighted +rooms, while Aunt Grenwitz was sitting on the sofa, reading, or +pretending to read. Ah! those were glorious times for the poor child, +and she always looked so perfectly happy that I feared and trembled how +it all was to end; and when she met me she always had a kind word for +me: 'How are you, dear Mrs. Claus?' or, 'Can I help you, dear Mrs. +Claus? You work too hard. I am ashamed to be so idle here.' + +"One afternoon I met her in the garden. It was a hot, sunny day; she +wore a white dress, and a broad-brimmed straw hat was hanging on her +fair round arm. The baron was out riding, the first time for a long +while, and the aunt still asleep. I had long determined to speak to the +girl at the first opportunity, and to open her eyes. I gathered +courage, therefore, as she was about to pass by me with a 'Good-day, +Mother Claus, how are you?' and said: 'Many thanks. Miss Marie, have +you a moment's time? I should like to say a few words to you.'--'What +is the matter?' she said, and as she looked into my face, which was +probably quite sad and sober, she cried: 'For heaven's sake, I hope +nothing bad has happened?'--'No, Miss Marie,' I said, 'but that might +easily come about if you do not look about you; and I should be +heartily sorry for that, for you are so young and good, and you look so +chaste and good, and as innocent as an angel.'--'What do you mean?' +said the poor child, and turned deep red. 'Come this way, Miss Marie,' +I said, and drew her into the beech avenue, where we could not be seen +from the castle; 'I will tell you everything I have on my conscience. I +am an old woman and you are a young girl who knows little how the world +goes, and how things go here in Grenwitz!' And then I described to her +the life at the castle as it had been before she came, and what a wild, +sad man Harald was, and how he was as false and as cruel as a tiger. +She turned to me with glowing cheeks, never once raising her long +silken eyelashes to look at me with her beautiful blue eyes, and +without interrupting me once; then she said, in a low voice: 'I thank +you, Mrs. Claus--but what you tell me I have long known.' I was +thunderstruck. 'You knew it, and yet you accompanied the old lady here? +You know it, and you remain here. You know it, and you are not afraid +to stay alone with the baron for hours and days? Oh, child, child! what +must I think of you?'--'Think nothing that is bad of me,' she said, +placing her hand on my shoulder, 'and think a little better of the +baron. He will never again be as wild and as bad as he has been.'--'How +do you know, Miss Marie?' 'Because he has promised me.'--'And you think +he will keep his promise?'--'Oh, certainly.'--'Why?'--'Because he loves +me!'--'Oh, child! child!' I cried, 'for heaven's sake, it is high time: +flee, or you are surely lost. Poor child! to believe his vows! He +shoots the horse that he likes no longer, and he breaks the vow that +becomes a burden to him. What he has promised you is an old song; he +sings it as a bird whistles his air, without thinking what he does. +What he has promised you he has promised a hundred others, who perhaps +were no better than he is.'--'Stop,' said Miss Marie, vehemently, 'I +cannot and must not listen to you any longer.' And then she added, +smiling: 'You will soon see, my good woman, how you have wronged my +Harald--how you have wronged Baron Harald.'--'Your Harald?' I said, +'poor child! He'll never be your Harald. He takes whatever chance +throws in his way, and as you happen to be here----' 'And if I should +not happen to be here,' she said, laughing merrily; 'if I should not be +here for the sake of the baroness, but the baroness for my sake, and if +I should not go away again, but remain here forever?----' At that +moment Harald came suddenly into the avenue in which we were walking up +and down. He started when he saw me alone with the girl. 'Miss Marie,' +he said, 'I believe my aunt wants you.' And when the girl had left us, +he came up to me and said, hissing the words through his white teeth: +'What did you tell her, old one?'--'That you cheat her, Harald.'--'I +shall twist your neck for that,' he said, and the vein swelled on his +forehead. 'Better that than to break the poor thing's heart.'--'Listen, +old one,' he said, 'what if I meant it in good earnest this time? What +if I am really tired of this wild life, which must, after all, lead me +sooner or later to the devil? What if I want to marry the girl?'--'Is +she of noble birth?' said I, Harald laughed: 'She is a tailor's +daughter. I shall have to put a goose and the shears in my coat of +arms.'--'If she is not of noble birth,' I said, 'you will never marry +her, and at best it would only be one cruel act more. The poor creature +would die amid the gibes of your friends, like a hunted stag under the +teeth of the dogs. Send the girl home; I beseech you, Harald, rather +to-day than to-morrow. And the old baroness, too,' I added. He looked +at me with open eyes, and laughed and said: 'You are less clever than I +thought, old one.' Then he turned his back on me and went singing into +the castle. + +"I did not know what to make of all that. Had Harald really promised to +marry the girl? Did she, who knew his former manner of life, really +believe he would keep his promise? She looked so bright and sensible, +with her big blue eyes; how could she let him deceive her so? How had +Harald gone about to get the better of her so completely? It troubled +me day and night, until I was made sick. I should have liked so much to +save the poor innocent child, and to save Harald that additional sin. +But I did not know how to go about it. Since that conversation in the +garden Miss Marie avoided me everywhere; the aunt did not leave her +rooms till evening, and kept her head wrapped up, in spite of the warm +weather. Harald had not said another word to me for days. He really +seemed to have changed entirely. Since Miss Marie had been at the +castle he had not been drunk once; he had not beaten the servants; he +had not killed a horse by furious riding, while formerly not a day +passed without some such calamity. Then he had flown into a rage upon +the slightest provocation; now he was mild and kind towards everybody, +only not towards myself, because he knew he could not impose on me, who +had known him from childhood up,--and towards his new valet. That was a +hideous creature, constantly smiling, and constantly running after the +girls, who could not bear him. He had nothing to do all day long but to +lounge about, his hands in his pockets, and to make faces at everybody. +He did nothing for the baron since Harald had one day kicked him, so +that he was disabled for a fortnight. None of us could understand why +the baron did not turn him out.--During this whole time not one of the +gentlemen had been here who formerly used to come and go at the castle. +I had been hoping some of them might come, so that I might have a +chance of speaking to Miss Marie. But Harald never left her alone. If +they formerly had seemed to be fond of each other, matters were very +much worse now. Whenever they thought themselves unobserved they were +in each other's arms, and such kissing and caressing! Well, well, such +things happen between lovers, and I did not do differently when I was a +young girl, and I knew myself very well how the Barons Grenwitz flatter +the girls,--but I also knew what the girls have to pay for it in the +end. One fine morning, when I met Miss Marie again and asked her how +she was, she turned purple and stood and trembled like an aspen leaf. +When I saw that I knew what had happened, and my heart felt so heavy +that I sat down on a bench and cried. When Miss Marie saw that she +began to cry too, and sat down by me, and wound her arm around my +neck and said: 'Don't you cry, dear Mother Claus! It will all +come right!'--'God grant it, child!' said I, 'but I don't believe +it'--'But,' said she, 'don't you see yourself how kind and good the +baron is, and yet he is so only because he loves me, and if he did not +mean to marry me, why should he have brought the aunt here? And if the +aunt does not object, she who Harald says is so proud and haughty, how +can the other relations say anything against it?'--'Then you are not +the old lady's companion?' I asked, surprised.--'No!' she said, 'I saw +her here for the first time!'--'But how in Heaven's name did you get +here, if you did not come as her companion?'--The poor child cried more +violently than before. 'I must not tell you,' she cried. 'I have +promised the baron to keep it from everybody till----' she paused +as if she had said too much already. 'I dare not tell you,' she +repeated, 'but you may believe me, I am not a bad girl, as you seem to +think.'--Then she kissed me on my forehead and hurried away toward the +castle. + +"After that day I saw that Miss Marie had often been crying. She had +cause enough for it, the poor child. Harald did what I had long +apprehended: he commenced his old life again; of course only gradually. +The friends did not come to the castle yet, but he himself rode out +frequently and remained away half a day or a whole day. When he +returned he was often in bad humor, treating the servants to whippings +and kickings, and demolishing the furniture; still times were golden in +comparison with what had been before, and he was still always quite +gentle with Miss Marie, especially after his violence had once +frightened her nearly to death. With the aunt he seemed to have nothing +at all to do, after they had been quarrelling once or twice in the +parlor at night, so that we heard it down stairs. I thought the old +lady was scolding him, and so I sent her as many good dishes and as +much wine to her room as she wished, although it was inconceivable what +she could consume. + +"Then it was that I was one night walking through the house after all +had gone to bed, as I always did, to see if all the lights were out, +that suddenly a bright light struck me, which came towards me in the +passage that leads from the tower to the old castle, where the ladies +were staying. In my fright, and hardly knowing where the danger was, I +cried Fire! Fire! as loud as I could. At the same time I ran along the +passage towards the place where the fire was. Suddenly Harald was by my +side. I knew but too well where he had been.--'Hush, old one,' he said, +'it is only a curtain!' And then he commenced to tear it down and to +stamp the fire out with his boots. Suddenly the door opened which led +to the rooms of the baroness, and which lay just opposite the burning +window, and out rushes the old witch with a bundle under her arm, and +the valet with a still larger bundle on his shoulder. They had nearly +run over us; but Harald seized the valet by the shoulder and hurled him +back so violently that man and bundle rolled on the ground. 'Are you +again together, rascals,' he roared at the old woman, who began to +tremble in all her limbs when she saw the baron in such a fury; 'trot +back to your room or I'll help you!' All of a sudden he commenced +laughing again, and I also could not help laughing when I saw that the +old lady, in her hurry, had forgotten to put on her wig, and her own +red hair was hanging down from her soiled cap in not very short braids. +This and some other changes made her look so different that I hardly +recognized her.--'Go to the devil, old witch,' cried Harald, still +laughing heartily, 'and get yourself painted up again, or the world +will see too clearly where you come from.'--The old lady murmured +something which I did not understand, and went back to her room; the +valet had in the mean time gathered himself up again and slipped down +the narrow staircase which led from the passage into the garden. 'Go to +bed, old one,' said the baron to me, 'and think you have dreamt all +this, or think what you like. It is all the same to me. The comedy has +lasted long enough.' + +"And the comedy was played out. Next morning the old lady and the valet +were not to be found, and none of us has ever heard or seen anything of +either of them; none of us has learnt where they came from and who they +were. This only was certain, that the old lady was as little the +baron's aunt as I was his mother. The servants laughed and the baron +laughed, although they had carried off as much plate and clothing as +they could manage; but I did not laugh, and there was somebody else who +did not laugh. The poor dear child! At first she would not believe it +that the baron had deceived her so badly. She walked about with open, +fixed, and tearless eyes, and when she met me she looked so sad, so +anxious and grieved; it wrung my heart. Alas! I could not help her! I +could only weep with her, and that I did as soon as the poor child had +recovered from her first horror and found tears once more. We were now +often together, for since that night Harald cared less for Miss Marie. +He rode out every day, and now the gentlemen also came back to the +castle, as of old, and the former life began once more. Harald became +wilder and more reckless than I had ever seen him, and the servants +avoided him wherever they could. Perhaps he wished to silence his +conscience or make up for lost time; who knows? + +"One evening, when the gentlemen were again at the castle--it was about +seven o'clock, and they had been at table since three--Miss Marie was +in my room, where she now spent most of her time, when Harald suddenly +came in. I saw at the first glance that he was drunk. His face was all +aglow, and his eyes shone like those of a wildcat. When he saw Marie, +who had started up at his entrance, frightened, he laughed and said: +'Do I find you here, my dove? I have looked all over the house for +you. Come, pet, I want to introduce you to my friends; one you know +already--but you must be quite nice and polite, you hear?' + +"Marie had turned pale as death when he said this, and was trembling in +all her limbs. I saw how she moved her lips to reply, but she did not +produce a sound. I could not bear it any longer. + +"'Are you not ashamed, Harald,' I said, 'to tease the poor, innocent +lamb in this way? Fie, Harald--I have always known you were bad, but I +did not think you were so bad!'--He started up with one bound and +seized me by the throat.--'Say another word,' he ground out from +between his teeth, 'and I break your neck, old witch.'--I knew he could +do what he threatened, but I was not afraid of death. 'Do what you +like,' I said, calmly, 'but as long as I have a breath in me, I will +tell you to your face you are a wretch.' I looked firmly into his eye; +I saw how his anger rose in him, and I felt that his fingers were +encircling my throat as with an iron band. I thought my last hour had +come.--Suddenly Marie was standing by our side; she put her hand on +Harald's arm, and said, in a low voice: 'Let her go, Harald, I will go +with you!'--That was all she said, but it was enough to move even +Harald's wild heart. He dropped his arms and stared at Marie, as if he +were aroused from a dark dream. Suddenly he fell on his knees before +her, hid his burning face in the folds of her dress, and sobbed: +'Forgive me, Marie, forgive me!' Then he started up when he saw her +smiling, lifted her up in his arms like a child, carried her up and +down in the room, caressing and kissing her. Then he put her down into +an arm-chair, the same chair you sit in, and knelt down before her, +kissing her hands and her dress, and turning to me, he said: 'Go, old +one, and tell Charles to have the horses saddled. I am unwell, or +whatever they choose to say, but I cannot see the gentlemen to-day +again, nor to-morrow. Is that right so, darling? I am not quite so bad, +am I, as the old one says?' I went, crying for joy, and thought: 'Maybe +after all it will all come right!' + +"But it did not. After a few days all was as of old. Similar scenes +occurred again and again, but Harald's good resolves lasted only a few +days, and we had to pay with bitter tears for every laughing remark of +the gentlemen. I say we, for I loved the poor girl now as if she had +been my own child. And now the poor child needed help and counsel more +than ever. She was sorely concerned for the fate of the child she knew +she bore--'What is to become of me,' she said, 'matters little. I would +die to-day if I could; but I must live and will live for my child's +sake. And I will not cry and complain any more; it does no good, and +Harald says he hates nothing more than red eyes.'--I asked her if she +had no parents, no relations, no friends, to whom she might go. She +shook her head sadly: 'I have no one in this wide world; no one but +you, good Mother Claus, and one other, who would do anything for me, if +he knew where I was; but he does not know it, and never shall know +it.'--She had never said anything about her former life: 'I have +promised the baron to keep it secret till he is publicly married to me, +and,' she added, sadly smiling, 'you see yourself that it will probably +remain secret forever.' + +"She hardly ever left me now, and as for Harald, he seemed to have +forgotten of late that Marie was still at the castle. Only at times, +when I was alone with him, he would ask a few abrupt questions about +her, which showed me that he knew everything about her condition. + +"Thus matters were standing. The summer had come to an end; autumn +came, with wind and rain, and the dry leaves were dropping fast from +the trees. It was one afternoon, when Harald had been away for several +days; I was with Marie in the garden, and tried to comfort her, as she +was particularly sad that day. Suddenly a Jew, a pedler, looked over +the fence, and when he saw us he cried into the garden: 'Nothing you +want? Nothing you want?' I happened just then to be in need of +something, I forget what, and so I called him in. He came. It was a +dirty old man, with a white beard and spectacles of blue glass on his +nose. He showed us his goods, and as the things were nicer than what +such people generally had, Marie and I bought several things. He asked +very moderate prices, but yet it amounted to more than we had, and I +went back to the castle to get money. By chance I could not at once +find the key to my drawer, and when I had found it, it occurred to me +that I had to attend to something in the kitchen; thus half an hour +might have passed before I came back in the garden. I found Marie +alone. 'Where is the Jew?' I asked.--'He is coming back to-morrow.' +'What is the matter, child?' I asked, for I saw that she had been +crying, and looked very much troubled.--Then she fell on my neck, +crying, but much as I asked her to tell me what had happened, I could +learn nothing. + +"The Jew did not come back the next day, but Baron Harald. He brought +several gentlemen with him. They had been hunting, and were very tired. +This made them retire earlier, after having drunk a few bottles of +wine. + +"I might have been a few hours in bed without being able to sleep, for +it rained and blew that night fiercely, and the shutters creaked, and +the hounds howled.--Then I heard a soft step in the passage before my +door, and a hand seeking the knob of my door; somebody came in and +walked up to my bed.--'Who is that?' I cried. 'It is I, Mother Claus,' +said a low voice. It was Marie. 'Are you sick, child?'--'No,' she said, +sitting down on my bed, 'I only come to say good-by to you, and to +thank you for all the love and kindness you have shown me.' I thought +she was going to take her own life, and said, horrified: 'For God's +sake, child, what do you mean?'--'Don't be afraid, Mother Claus,' she +said, and embraced me amid hot tears; 'I am going, but only from here. +I have long wished it, and now the hour has come.'--'Why now?' I asked, +'where will you go to now, at night, and in such a night? Don't you +hear how rain and wind howl with the hounds? And you know not the +way.... You run into the jaws of death, and if you do not think of +yourself, think at least of the child.'--'I am thinking of it,' she +replied. 'It must not see the light here where its mother has been so +very wretched; it must never know who its father was. Farewell, dear +Mother Claus! may God bless you and preserve you! And fear not for me: +I am not going alone; I have somebody with me, who will protect me and +watch over me, and who would give his life for me.'--'Are you quite +sure of that, child? I thought you had learnt what to think of the vows +of men? Who is it?'--'I cannot tell you,' she replied, 'and now I must +be gone.' She had risen from the bed. 'Wait,' I said, 'I will at least +see you out of the castle.' + +"She begged me to stay, but I did not mind her; I had soon put on some +clothes; I was firmly determined not to let her go, till I was quite +sure that she knew what she was about. I was still afraid she might +think of suicide. + +"When she saw that I was not to be turned aside from my purpose, she +helped me to dress, and said: 'Well, then, come, Mother Claus; at least +he will see now, that I have not been forsaken by everybody here.' + +"We went, holding each other's hand, on tip-toe down the passages, then +down the staircase which leads from the old castle into the garden. It +had ceased raining, and the moon was shining at intervals through the +black drifting clouds. I still held Marie's hand in mine; she hastened +onward, drawing me after her through the familiar avenues. When we +passed a bench in one of the darker walks, where she had often been +sitting with Harald, she stopped for a moment, and I felt her hand +tremble. But she recovered herself instantly. 'No, no,' she whispered: +'he is right, Harold has never loved me, and I must not stay here any +longer.' + +"We went through the garden into the court-yard, and through it and the +great gates into the forest, on the road to Berkow. When we had gone a +few hundred yards, a man came to meet us. 'It is he,' said Marie; 'you +must leave me now, Mother Claus; I have promised him to come alone, and +not to tell anybody that I am going.'--'You ought not to have promised +that, child; I think I have a right to know what is to become of you.' + +"In the mean time the man had come near, 'Is that you, Marie?' he said. +'Why do you not come alone?'--'Because I did not let her,' I said, 'and +because I shall not let her go until I know what is to become of +her.'--'She is in God's care and under the protection of a friend,' +said the man. His words sounded so truthful and safe, that all my +anxiety vanished in a moment. + +"The moon peeped forth from the clouds, and I could see the man, who +was now walking by our side, more distinctly. He was small, and not +very young, and had a hooked nose, like the Jew of the day before. He +had on a long overcoat, and when the wind blew it open I noticed by the +light of the moon the muzzle of a pistol, which he wore in a belt +around his waist. + +"A few yards farther, a carriage with two horses was standing. 'It is +high time,' said the man on the box. He spoke Low German, and I thought +I knew his voice. 'Quick, quick,' said the man with the spectacles, and +drew Marie to the step, which had been let down. 'Good-by, good-by,' +she sobbed, embracing me once more; and as her head was resting for a +moment on my shoulder, she whispered in my ear: 'Tell him I have +forgiven all, all!'--'Quick, quick! Marie,' exclaimed the man +impatiently, stamping with his foot, and helped her into the carriage; +then he turned to me: 'If you really love the unfortunate girl,' he +said, 'keep this secret for forty-eight hours. I am prepared for +everything, but I should wish for Marie's sake that we should have no +use for this;' and he struck his hand upon the pistol.--'Rely on me,' I +said, 'and I will rely on you.'--'You can do that safely,' he replied; +'all men are not scoundrels and barons.' + +"He jumped into the carriage and closed the door. The horses started, +and already, a few minutes later, I heard nothing but the wind in the +pine-trees. + +"I walked slowly back to the castle, and reached my room without having +been seen by anybody. I locked myself in; then I threw myself on my bed +and wept as if a dear child of mine had died; and yet I was happy, and +thanked God that he had taken pity on the poor child and rescued her +from this hell. + +"When I awoke next morning the sun was already standing high in the +heavens. It was a cool, bright morning, and Harald went hunting with +his guests. I was glad of it, for thus Marie's flight could be kept +from him at least till evening. The servants, to be sure, had to be +told towards noon that I could not find Miss Marie,--had they seen her +anywhere? They were not a little frightened, for there was not one who +had not liked the gentle, beautiful girl. They searched the houses, the +country around, the forest down to the shore, and even the great fosse; +for they all agreed that the poor child must have taken her own life. + +"Late at night Harald came back. He was alone. As he entered the house +he read in the disturbed faces of the servants that something had +happened. His bad conscience told him at once what it was. 'Is she +dead?' he asked, and turned as white as chalk. 'We do not know, +master,' said old Jake, 'we have been looking all day, but we have not +found her.' + +"He went past the servants to his room without saying a word. When he +was in the door, he turned around and beckoned to me. + +"He was walking up and down in the room; at last he stopped before me, +and said, with a hollow voice: 'Did Marie ever tell you she would +take her own life?'--'No,' I said. 'Was she particularly sad of +late?'--'Yes.' + +"Again he walked up and down, with uneven steps, and murmuring +unintelligible words. Then he stopped once more before me. 'And if she +has taken her life, I am her murderer,' he said.--'Who else?' + +"He started as if a knife had been thrust in his heart. 'It cannot be,' +he said, 'it would be too fearful.' + +"I knew the anguish he was feeling at that moment; but I also knew that +the proud man would rather know her dead than belonging to anybody +else, and besides, I had promised secrecy. Thus I remained silent, and +waited to see what he would do. + +"He ordered me to ring and send for all the servants. They came. + +"'Those of you who are tired may go to bed,' he said; 'those who are +willing to search on with me shall have whatever they may ask.' + +"All expressed themselves willing to help him, not for the sake of the +reward, but because any way none of them would have been able to sleep +from excitement. + +"He ordered all the lights to be brought that could be found, and now +they commenced the search once more--below in the cellars, through all +the rooms down stairs and up stairs, in the garrets, up into the old +tower,--Harald always ahead, searching every nook and corner, with his +eyes everywhere, giving his orders with a firm voice, indefatigable, +till morning broke. + +"Now the women were sent to bed, but the men followed him still, as +many as could stand it. With these he searched the shrubbery, the +garden, from the fosse to the drawbridge, and the fosse itself. It was +raining that day as fast as it could come down, and the servants were +nearly exhausted; but Harald, for the first time in his life, I +believe, spoke to them kindly, and besought them not to give it up, and +promised them a mint of money. Thus they stood it till noon; but then +they had to give it up. Now Harald took the others, who had rested in +the mean while, and with these he went out on the moor near Fashwitz, +and into the forest of Berkow, and down to the sea-shore. + +"Towards evening they came back, dripping with rain and the moor-water, +in which they had been wading about for hours. The men were so tired +they slept as they walked, but Harald's strength was unbroken. He told +me to bring a few bottles of wine, and while he poured them down his +throat he said to me, 'Listen, old one; I do not believe she has +drowned herself. It would be too horrible; it would drive me mad. She +cannot have intended to avenge herself on me so cruelly; she was too +good for that, and she was too fond of me. Did she ever tell you that +she would leave me? Did she ever speak to you of a man who was at all +times ready to receive her at his house?' + +"I thought I ought to leave Harald some little hope, and said: + +"'Yes, Maria has often told me so, especially of late.' + +"'You see,' he said, and put the glass out of which he had been +drinking, so violently down on the table that it broke into pieces; +'now the hounds scent the track. Now we'll have a regular fox-chase.' + +"He pulled the bell-rope till the handle came off. 'Order horses!' he +cried to old Jake, who came in, 'instantly!' + +"I begged him to sleep at least a few hours, for I saw that his eyes +were burning with fever, and he trembled in all his limbs. + +"'Pshaw!' he said, 'I sleep? I have other things to do than to sleep. I +do not know how long I shall be away, old one, but I shall either bring +her back or,--will you make haste!' he cried into the hall; 'I'll teach +you how to hurry, you scamps!' + +"And he went off without having changed his clothes, even. He stayed +away four weeks; no one knew where he had been. One evening he came +back. The first question he asked me was: 'Have you heard from +her?'--He looked so pale and haggard that I hardly knew him again. His +eyes had sunk deep into his head and were burning like coals of fire. +'I did not find her,' he said, when we were alone in the room; 'give me +wine, old one; I must drown the hellish fire that burns within me in +wine.' + +"I pitied the unhappy man; for I felt now only how very dearly I loved +him. I told him all I knew about Maria's flight. Contrary to my +expectation, he remained quite calm! 'It amounts all to the same,' he +said, 'whether she is dead or not. She is dead for me; she could not +help herself; she had to leave me; she was too proud to suffer herself +to be treated like a dog,--I have treated her like a dog, worse than a +dog,--wretch that I am!' + +"He beat his forehead with his closed hand; then he threw himself into +an arm-chair, put his head in his hands and sobbed. 'And yet I loved +her! And I love her still! Oh my God, my God!' + +"It was a fearful sight to see wild Harald weep! I lifted up his head; +he put it against my bosom and wept, as he had often wept there when he +was a boy. I begged him to calm himself. I told him what Marie's last +words had been: 'I forgive him all!' + +"'And if she has forgiven me, I shall never forgive myself,' he cried. +'Go to bed, old one; we will talk about it tomorrow.' + +"But when old Jake came into his room next morning, Harald was lying in +high fever. That lasted seven days, seven terrible days. Then it was +all over with Harald Grenwitz!" + +The old woman paused, smoothed the sock she was knitting over her knee, +folded it up and said: + +"Well, young master, now you go home. I have to look after the +children, who are sleeping in the other room on Jake's bed. It does not +rain just now, but it is going to rain worse. Therefore don't stop on +the way. Good-by!" + +"Come!" said Oswald to Albert, who had just risen from his hard couch +and was yawning and stretching his arms. "It is high time, if we mean +to reach the chateau in time for supper. Good-by, Mother Claus." + +"Good-by, good-by, young master," said the old woman. + +When the young men found themselves in the muddy village street, Albert +pointed with his thumb over his shoulder at the hut they had just left, +and said: + +"Odd old lady that! Was not that a famous story, dottore?" + +"You were not asleep, then?" + +"Not a bit! At first I wanted to sleep, but you did not let me sleep, +and then when she commenced the story about Baron Harald I could not +sleep. But I remained quietly where I was, and snored from time to time +to reassure the old lady, who evidently did not want anybody to hear it +but her young master. Why does she always call you her young master, +dottore?" + +"I do not know," said Oswald. + +"Or you do not mean to know," replied Albert; "well, no harm done. We +must not wish to know everything. Why did Baron Harald want to know +what had become of that pretty girl Marie? Without that quite +superfluous curiosity he might have drunk his Burgundy to-day. Strange +that a sensible man should have had such absurd romantic notions in his +head! Can you understand it, dottore?" + +"Well, perhaps I can," said Oswald; "but let us speak of something +else." + +"As you like it, my dear sir. What do you think of immortality?" + + + + + CHAPTER VIII. + + +On the following day the weather had cleared up. The morning sun had +been hid behind thick mists, but a few hours later it had rent the gray +veil, and was now pouring its golden light upon the refreshed earth. In +the garden of the chateau all looked paradisiacally fresh and fragrant, +as on the first day of creation. The flowers raised their heads again, +and if here and there a few drops were still hanging in a calyx, they +looked in the bright sunshine like sparkling tears of joy; the birds +were singing with delight in the thick branches of the trees, and the +little worms that had been waiting patiently in all the crevices, under +the leaves and under the stones, came forth in restless activity. + +And around the gray walls of the castle, which were now flooded with +rosy light, swift swallows were flitting to and fro, and on the roof, +in the gutters, between the stucco ornaments quarrelsome sparrows were +resuming their difficulties. In the large hall, where the portraits of +Grenwitz barons and baronesses were hanging on the walls in long rows, +from the fabulous Sven down to the great-aunt of the baron, "as she had +been at eighteen," and to Oscar, "who fell with Wodan," and Harald's, +"who would have done better to weep himself to death at his father's +coffin;"--the atoms were dancing about, as they rose from the old +gala-furniture with the faded damask covers, in the three slanting +bridges of light formed by the three arched windows. + +Down stairs, in the breakfast-room, the baron and the baroness were +enjoying their frugal meal. They looked ready for their journey, and +Anna Maria had already put on her huge bonnet with wide projecting +wings, as it had been worn some twenty years ago. The great travelling +carriage was waiting at the door. The four heavy bays whisked their +bobtails thoughtfully to and fro, and the silent coachman cracked his +whip regularly every five minutes, from mere force of habit, and not to +admonish his master to be in a hurry, for that would have been +incompatible with the respect he owed them as well as with his +phlegmatic nature. + +"I knew it," said the baroness, offering her husband half a glass of +Moselle wine,--"drink that, dear Grenwitz, it will give you strength +for the journey,--I knew it. He refuses our kind offer because he is +not very well! Ridiculous." + +"He really looks as if he were not very well," said the old baron, +"ever since we were at Barnewitz, and then it does not look quite well, +it seems to me, that we should ask him to accompany us just when the +carriage is at the door! We ought to have done it sooner, perhaps." + +"I do not understand you, dear Grenwitz," said the baroness. "Don't you +talk as if Mr. Stein was our equal! No wonder that the young man is +running over with pride. To ask him a week ahead to pay a visit in the +neighborhood! That would be nice! Why, we have not even mentioned our +Heligoland journey to him!" + +"I should have done so long ago, if you could only have come to some +definite conclusion about it," said the old gentleman, scratching +himself behind the ear. + +"I have now formed my resolution," said the baroness, angrily; "formed +this very moment. If he does not choose to accompany us on a little +trip in the neighborhood for three days, if it gives him too much +trouble to go with us when we take leave of our neighbors, who have all +treated him with the utmost condescension, then he shows clearly that +he does not mean to take leave, and so he may stay where he is." + +"But, dear Anna Maria," said the baron, "that is, after all, not +exactly the same thing; and then where is he to stay in the mean time, +and how can we get along with the two boys quite alone?" + +"I tell you, dear Grenwitz," replied the baroness, "I do not care where +he stays. He likes generally to go his own way--let him go his own way +in this case also. He can make a pedestrian tour through the island, or +visit his friend Oldenburg, or at worst remain here, although that +would, of course, be more inconvenient. Our journey is expensive +enough, and he would only be a burden to us. He will, as usual, +interest himself exclusively in Bruno's welfare, and leave Malte +entirely on our hands. If he stays, Bruno will be compelled to be more +with Malte, and as the question during vacation is only about a little +supervision of the boys, I am willing to intrust them to John as +readily, and perhaps rather than to Mr. Stein. Besides, if we bring +Helen back with us, we would not have room for him in the carriage. No, +no; let him stay here; I see my way clear now--quite clear." + +"I do not know," said the old gentleman, out of humor. + +"But I do know," said the baroness, rising; "and formerly that was +enough for you, dear Grenwitz. Come, it is time for us to start, if we +wish to reach Count Grieben's for dinner. There is Malte. I hope you +are warmly dressed. Where on earth is Bruno?" + +"Up stairs with the doctor. He wants to stay if the doctor stays." + +"There you see, dear Grenwitz; there you have it. A nice education, +indeed. At once go up stairs, Malte! Bruno must get ready instantly; do +you hear, instantly!" + +"I won't tell him any such thing," replied Malte. "You can do it +yourself." + +"So I will," said the baroness, ringing the bell. "Tell Dr. Stein I beg +him to come down for a moment!" she said to the servant. + +The servant disappeared; the baroness walked up and down in the room +with rapid strides. + +"Only for Heaven's sake no scene, dear Anna Maria," said the old +gentleman, who had risen. + +The baroness did not vouchsafe an answer, for at that moment the door +opened, and Oswald and Bruno came in--Bruno with a dark, defiant face +and traces of recent tears in his eyes, but quite ready to start; a +straw hat covered with oil-cloth in his hand. + +"You wish to see me, madam," said Oswald, bowing to the baroness. + +The baroness was not a little disconcerted by this unexpected solution +of the difficulty. + +"I was told Bruno refused to accompany us," she said "and so I +thought----" + +"Pardon me, madam," said Oswald, interrupting her; "of course, a +refusal on the part of Bruno to obey your orders is utterly out of +question. Bruno would have preferred to keep me company. It required +only a word, however, to remind him that he must not on my account +forget for a moment what he owes to you and the baron." + +"Well, that is what I thought," said the baroness, who in her heart was +very glad to have escaped a "scene" with Oswald, of whom she was more +or less afraid, little as she was willing to confess this humiliating +weakness even to herself. "He shall not repent having complied with our +wishes. The weather is splendid, and I hope we shall have a delightful +ride. What a pity, dear doctor, you cannot be one of us! Well, I hope +we shall find you quite well again when we return--probably in two or +three days.--Ah, mademoiselle, everything in readiness? Well, let us +start, dear Grenwitz. Adieu, my dear doctor! _Adieu, mademoiselle; +n'oubliez pas ce que je vous ai dit!_ Ah, Mr. Timm! really, I had +nearly forgotten you." + +"Very flattering and very natural," said Mr. Timm, who had just made +his appearance, his pencil stuck behind his ear, and his toilet in very +imperfect condition, in order to bid them good-by, and who now helped +the baroness into the carriage. "_Bon voyage._ My kindest regards to +Count Grieben! famous old gentleman, who keeps a capital glass of wine! +All right! Up!" and Mr. Timm gave the nearest horse a sound blow with +his open hand, and then kissed his hand to the people in the carriage +as it began to get into motion. + +"God be thanked," he said, as the carriage had disappeared, and rubbed +his hands with delight "Now we are all alone among the girls. What +shall we do for sheer delight! _Qu'en dites-vous, Monsieur le docteur? +Qu'en dites-vous, Mademoiselle?_" + +"I have to write some letters, and will go to my room," said Oswald, +going into the house. + +"Then we'll take a French lesson in the garden, little Marguerite," +said Mr. Timm, putting the young lady's arm unceremoniously in his own. + +"I have not time," said the pretty Frenchwoman, trying to withdraw her +arm. + +"Ah, nonsense!" said Albert "If you have not time now that the old +scarecrow is gone, when will you have time? We have made very good +progress already in the verb _aimer_: _J'aime_--_tu aimes_--_nous +aimons_!" + +And Albert drew willing Marguerite into the garden, and those who took +a special interest in the romantic couple, could see them roam about +there, arm in arm, till dinner-time, and notice, moreover, that they +decidedly preferred the divers shrubberies and darker avenues to the +more exposed parts, which was perfectly natural in the burning +sunlight. + +It was afternoon, and Oswald was sitting at his writing-table, which he +had only left to share a very silent dinner with Albert and Margerite, +when a servant brought him a note. Oswald had, since he lived at +Grenwitz, received so few letters that he was quite surprised, and +asked the bearer from whom it came. + +"From Baron Oldenburg," was the answer, "and the baron's carriage is at +the door." + +Oswald opened the note. It ran thus: + +"Dear friend! If you can get rid of the studious boys, and have nothing +better to do, I wish you would come and keep a lonely hypochondriac +company for a few hours, and convince yourself, at the same time, how +well the little heath flower has borne the transplanting into a strange +soil. My coachman brings you this. He has orders to return with you or +upon you. You may choose! Your Oldenburg." + +Oswald hesitated what he should do. With the sunshine his longing for +Melitta had returned. He could not comprehend how he could have let +three days pass without making an attempt to see her. And yet he was +reluctant to take the first step towards a reconciliation, although he +knew that the cloud conjured up by the scene in the ball-room had long +since disappeared, and that he had himself repented a thousand times +his grievous wrong. We all know the contradictions in which so young a +heart is apt to lose itself when pride and love contend for the +mastery! And Oswald's proud heart had to beat many years yet before it +learnt true love, which the Bible knows under the beautiful image of +Charity, that beareth all things and believeth all things. True love +can live only in hearts that have lived much and suffered much, as the +sweetest and most highly prized fruits hang on those trees which the +autumnal winds begin to strip of their summer dress of rich leaves. + +Oswald took a sheet of paper to write the baron, that he could not +accept his invitation, but the next moment he had taken up his hat and +run down. The same elegant light wagon in which the baron had brought +him back from Barnewitz, with the two fiery black horses, was at the +door. The coachman, a handsome young man with an immense beard, smiled +when he saw him, remembering the liberal fee he had received on that +evening. As he got in, Albert called out over the garden wall: + +"Can you take me with you, _Monsieur le docteur_?" + +"Not very well!" said Oswald. + +"Well, then, go alone!" said Albert; "to the devil," he added, as the +carriage rolled away. "You are right, Marguerite," he said to the +little Frenchwoman, who now came out of the shrubbery in which she had +hid from Oswald, "the doctor is really a _fat_, as you say, and I shall +soon be near hating him." + +In the mean time the object of Mr. Timm's rising hatred was driving +through the smaller gate towards the lane which went all around the +ramparts into the beechwood. The latter came up to this place from the +sea-shore, and had to be passed by all who drove from Grenwitz to Cona, +the old home-place of the Oldenburgs. It was a delightful drive through +the lofty cool halls of beech-trees, where the blue sky shone through +the thick green tops of the trees; and on the left, when the underwood +in places flourished less thickly between the grand old trunks, the +blue sea occasionally flashed through, at first at rare intervals only, +then, as they approached the edge of the forest, more and more +frequently, till at last, at the end of the wood, it lay before them +blue and boundless, sparkling in the glorious sunlight. + +The road followed the bluffs above the beach,--at times coming quite +near to the brink, so that the roaring of the breakers among the great +rocks below could be distinctly heard,--then again receding for some +distance. On the right the eye swept over enormous grain-fields, which +covered the whole table-land. The tall, strong stalks bent under the +burden of the full ears, and waved to and fro in the mild breezes which +came from the sea. Here and there a lark was fluttering, whose nest was +close by the road, and then winged its way singing up into the blue +sky. + +Then the road descended into a low valley, through which a considerable +brook, the outlet of the Fashwitz moor, was hurrying towards the sea. A +village extended along the brook and close down to the sea, in which +mostly fishermen lived, who paid rent to Baron Grenwitz, The carriage +had to pass through the village, which looked very pretty with its +small, tidy cottages, and the little gardens before the doors, in which +all the flower-beds were edged with shells. At the door of one of the +larger houses, which bore a sign with a large ship sailing swiftly +through the green waves, and thus announced itself as an inn, a +horseman was stopping. He was on a marvellously beautiful thoroughbred. +He wore a long overcoat, and Oswald could not see his face, as he was +just bending down to take a glass of brandy, which a pretty blue-eyed +girl with a charming little snub nose held up to him. + +"That horse is worth his two hundred pounds," said the coachman, who +was a connoisseur. + +"Who is the gentleman?" asked Oswald. + +"Can't tell; I could not see his face." + +Behind the fishermen's village the road ascended quite suddenly to a +greater height than before. The landscape also changed its aspect +entirely. The ground was less level; instead of golden grain, russet +heather covered the soil--a desert, with large and small stones here +and there, and at times with large plains of sand, on which a few spare +signs of turf appeared at intervals. The air even seemed to be less +mild, and where the road approached nearer to the brink of the steep +bluff one could hear the roaring of the sea very distinctly. A +sea-eagle was drawing its vast circles on high, and at times its blue +shadow would darken for a moment the sunlit, rocky road. + +"Is it far to Cona?" asked Oswald. + +"The farm lies in that direction," said the coachman, pointing with his +whip to the right across the heath; "you cannot see it from here. I +have orders to drive you to the Swiss cottage." + +"And where is that?" + +"Straight before us, in the pines." + +A small wood of pines crowned the highest point on the shore, to which +the road now led upwards, becoming more and more rocky and steep. When +Oswald turned round to look back, he noticed, at a distance of four or +five hundred yards, the horseman whom he had seen at the inn. He rode +keeping pace with the carriage, and when the latter stopped +accidentally, because something was out of order in the harness, he +also checked his horse till the carriage moved on again. Oswald, who +had been struck by this man[oe]uvre, asked the coachman a few minutes +later to stop again. He turned round: the horseman also was stopping. +He repeated the same man[oe]uvre once more with the same success. + +"That is very strange," said Oswald. + +"Yes," replied the coachman; "I do not know what it can mean." + +At that moment the horseman left the road and trotted off across +the heath in the direction in which the coachman had said the +farm-buildings of Cona were lying. + +The carriage had reached the pines, which stood so close that one could +not see the sea, and only heard its roaring as it mingled with the rush +of the wind in the tall trees. Then it suddenly flashed up again at a +turn in the road, and they saw before them, upon an open place looking +upon the sea, a house built in Swiss cottage style, Oldenburg's +summer-house. + + + + + CHAPTER IX. + + +When the carriage stopped on the open space before the door, surrounded +by trees, and covered with dry brown leaves as with a carpet, Oldenburg +appeared up stairs on a gallery, which divided the two stories and ran +around the whole house. The next moment he was down at the door and +shook Oswald heartily by the hand. + +"There you are," he said. "I was almost afraid you would have done like +most people, who, when they have once been in my company, do not care +to renew the experiment." + +"I do not know, baron, whether you show yourself to most people as you +did to me," said Oswald; "if that is so, then I have at least a +different taste from most people." + +"Really, a salam in _optima forma_," said Oldenburg, smiling; "a couple +of old gray-bearded sons of Mohammed could not do it better. Nothing is +wanting but that we should now kiss the tips of our fingers. But come +into the house; we'll be more-comfortable there." + +They stepped into a small hall, from which they reached, by means of an +easy, wide staircase, a larger hall in the upper story, which was +lighted from above. From here they went into a large, quite high room; +a glass door opened upon the broad gallery, which afforded an +uninterrupted view upon the sea, and seemed to overhang the steep +precipice, although there was still a distance of about thirty yards +between it and the brink. Below was the surf howling between the +shingle and huge blocks of stone. + +The view from this elevated point out upon the blue, boundless sea, and +upon the high white chalk-cliffs, which stretched far to the left, and +ended finally in a cape crowned with the beech forest of Grenwitz, was +indescribably grand, and Oswald could not suppress a loud cry of +admiration. + +"Well," said Oldenburg, leaning over the railing of the gallery by +Oswald's side, "was it not a good idea of my worthy grandfather's to +build a house at this point, which, by the way, is one of the highest +in the whole island. I recall the old gentleman yet, with his long +snow-white beard, and can see him even now sitting here on this +gallery, and looking out with his dying eye upon the sea, like the king +of Thule. He revered it as a grandson reveres his grandmother, and +loved it as a young man loves the idol of his heart. I wish he could +have bequeathed to me, beside his size, also his capacity of enjoying +the beauties of nature. Unfortunately I have missed inheriting that." + +"Are you in earnest?" asked Oswald. + +"Certainly," said Oldenburg. "I have often enough regretted it in +travelling, and been heartily ashamed of my aesthetic stupidity, which +kept me from feeling anything at places where others would make +summersets for pleasure or weep sentimental tears. I tried in vain to +do like the English misses and sob: Beautiful, very fine indeed! I read +in vain in Byron and Lamartine till I knew them nearly by heart,--it +was all in vain. I never could do more than poor Werther, who saw in +nature but a well-varnished picture; and a couple of beggar-boys, who +fought in the sand by the sea-shore, or a poor fellah turning his heavy +water-wheel, were more interesting to me than the Gulf of Naples and +the Nile. I delight in men and the manners of men,--Nature is beyond +me." + +"But why do you exile yourself into this solitude? Why do you, who +could so easily afford it, not rather live on the _Boulevard des +Capucines_, or in Pall-Mall, London, than on this northern shore?" + +"For the same reason that the falcon is made to fast twenty-four hours, +before he is taken out on the gazelle-hunt,--to sharpen my hunger after +my favorite dish. When I have lived here a few weeks my senses become +fresh again and susceptible, and the sight of man's busy life has its +old charms for me once more." + +"And how much longer do you expect to stay here?" + +"I do not know yet. My Solitude--this is the name my grandfather gave +this place--pleases me this time better than usual. I have led an odd +sort of life for the last few years, and seen so many children of Adam +of various races and degrees of civilization that at last they all +looked alike to me, an evidence that my senses had become dull and a +new fast was necessary. You and Czika must see to it that I do not +starve altogether." + +"And where is our little foundling?" + +"Somewhere on the heath, where she lies down in the blooming broom and +stares at the sky; or on the beach, where she climbs about among the +rocks and claps her hands with delight if a wave wets her bare feet. +She has not been persuaded yet to put on shoes; I leave her in perfect +freedom since she declared, on the second day of her stay here, when I +refused to let her run out in the most inclement weather: Czika dies if +she cannot go in the rain!" + +"Does she pine after her mother?" + +"Do you really think that brown woman, whom I at least saw only in +passing, is her mother?" + +"Certainly! The likeness between Czika and the Brown Countess is +unmistakable." + +"From whom have I heard that expression before?" said Oldenburg, +thoughtfully; "probably from you the other day, but it sounded so +familiar to me. Does the name come from you?" + +"No; from Frau von Berkow," said Oswald, fixing his eye upon Oldenburg. + +"Ah, indeed!" said the baron. + +This was the first time that Melitta's name was mentioned by the two +men, and it was characteristic enough, that at once a pause occurred in +the conversation. + +"On what occasion did Frau von Berkow make the acquaintance of the +gypsy?" asked the baron, after a little while. + +Oswald told him in a few words the story of the Brown Countess, as he +had heard it from Melitta. + +Oldenburg smiled. "Yes," he said, "now I remember. Frau von Berkow told +me that anecdote some years ago. The story is a very pretty one, +especially for those who take an interest in Frau von Berkow, because +it is very characteristic of the amiable lady, who is as kind-hearted +as she is fond of such little _escapades_." + +The baron said this as simply and calmly as if there had never been a +period when he would have risked his life for a smile of this "amiable +lady." + +"But had we not better go in?" he continued; "I see Hermann, my raven +and my factotum, has put all kinds of nice things on a table, and there +comes Thusnelda, his wife and my nurse, to invite us solemnly to take +some refreshments." + +A venerable-looking old lady of large size appeared in the glass door, +dropped a low courtesy and said: + +"Master, the table is set." + +"Very well," said Oldenburg. "Have you seen the Czika?" + +"I thought she was here," replied the matron, looking anxiously around. + +"No. Bring her up if she comes while we are at table. Just go and look +out for her. Come, doctor, I hope the long drive has made you hungry, +or at least thirsty; Thusnelda has prepared for both cases." + +While they took their seats at the richly served table, Oswald looked +around in the room. The large apartment was well filled with chairs and +sofas of various shapes, which seemed to have no fixed place, and a +large writing-table of oak. Along the walls stood huge oak cases filled +with books. Books were lying upon the tables and on the sofas and +chairs; books strewed the floor. A few busts, copies from the antique, +and some large engravings, were the only ornaments of the room, which +evidently had no special claims to elegance. Between two of the +bookcases, where an engraving ought to have hung, there was a green +silk curtain, which conceded either an awkwardly placed window, or a +portrait that was not to be seen by the curious eye of stray visitors. + +Then his attention returned once more to the baron himself, who +appeared to him to-day, in his long coat of yellow linen hanging +loosely around his tall, thin form, quite another man. But then the +altered costume struck Oswald even less than the changed expression in +his face. The ironical line near the mouth, which even the close black +beard could not effectually conceal, the small, sharp wrinkles on the +high forehead, around the eyes, and near the nostrils--all these were +to-day effaced by a benevolent smile, which gave an expression of +mildness and goodness to the usually sharp eyes. Oswald could hardly +trust his eyes, although he had overcome much of his former prejudice +against the baron. Now the thought that a woman could and might love +this man with her whole heart did not appear to him any more so very +strange as at the ball at Barnewitz. He thought of the leaf in +Melitta's album; he thought of his own words: This man will never be +happy, because he will never desire to be happy, and of Melitta's +answer: "Therefore this man is taken out of my life, as his portrait is +taken out of my album;" and he said to himself: Ah, he might have been +happy if he had desired to be so! Why did he not desire it? What has +parted the two?--Which of them spoke the word that parted them, as it +seems, forever? + +These thoughts no longer awakened in Oswald that wild jealousy which +had torn his heart on the day when he first met the baron in the +forest. But the mysterious darkness which brooded over these events +which he could not penetrate, and, what was worse, which he did not +dare to penetrate, filled his soul with that sadness, that pity, which +we feel for ourselves when our devotion is interrupted just when we +most desire to pour out our overflowing heart in prayer. + +Oswald tried to master his emotion; he felt as if the baron's sharp +eyes were able to read what was going on in his soul. But the latter +remained apparently quite unconcerned, and entirely preoccupied by the +subject of their conversation: Czika and the Brown Countess. Both men +tried in vain to solve the enigma of this remarkable affair with all +their ingenuity. What could have induced the Brown Countess to leave +her child, which she seemed to love most devotedly, so unceremoniously +in the hands of strangers? How could she gather courage to part +with her at the very moment when the brutal jokes of the young +noblemen--young Count Grieben's groom had told the whole story to +Oldenburg's coachman--and the playful elopement with the child had +excited her rage to such a degree? Had she given the girl to Oswald or +to the baron, or had she not given her but merely sold her, postponing +the day of payment for a month, in the hope that the two men, or either +of them, would in the mean time become so attached to the child that +she would receive a higher price for her? + +"My special apprehension," said Oldenburg, "is that the Brown Countess +may repent of her bargain and take the child again from me, or that the +Czika cannot resist the longing after her young life, and vanishes some +fine morning or other. I confess it would be a severe blow for me. Your +prophecy that I would find in the sweet child a treasure more precious +than Aladdin's magic lamp, seems to have been fulfilled. I should like +to be the child's father! I should like to endow this silent heart with +speech, to see my own thoughts beautified and ennobled in the new +language. I should like to bind her to me with all the ties that can +bind a daughter to her father, a father to his daughter--of course only +in order to see these ties torn, and some jackanapes come and ask me to +throw her into his arms, because his coat fits him a little better than +his neighbor's! I am now in that period of life when one longs to have +children; when one is not a Swiss, who, you know, proposed to eat +children, though not from love; I long for them as a tired wanderer +desires a staff to support his weary limbs. When we feel that we have +reached the turning-point in our life, and that we must go down hill +henceforth, while the land of our youth is gradually disappearing +behind the top of the hill, then we would like to hear joyous +children's voices reach us from the other side, which recall to us our +own happy childhood. You will ask me why I do not yield to my prosaic +desires and marry?--Or perhaps you will not ask me so; for you will see +yourself that marriage is out of question for a man who has spent the +ten best years of his life in all kinds of _liaisons dangereuses_ and +_innocentes_, I do not want a wife who does not wish me to say to her: +I love you! and how can I tell her so without making myself ridiculous +in my own eyes, after having said so to I know not how many in all the +languages I know? No, no! With such views a man may become a Turk and +establish a harem, but he is too bad in all conscience for marriage in +the highest and purest sense, which is a wonderful alchemy changing two +into one." + +"And yet," said Oswald, "genuine love has a purifying, hallowing power, +which scatters all doubts as the rays of the sun scatter fogs and +mists. True love, like true hatred, wipes 'all foolish stories from the +tablets of memory,' and changes us in an instant from wild barbarians +into Hellenes of delicate feelings. Rude strength, which before simply +asserted itself in destruction or in production, now assumes a pleasing +shape, and where before it created a Siva, whose fiery glance destroyed +all creatures, it now creates an Olympic Zeus, who blesses all creation +with his paternal eyes." + +"Well said," replied the baron; "will you try this hock, a wine of some +merit,--very well said and also perhaps true,--only not for Problematic +Characters." + +"What do you call Problematic Characters?" + +"It is an expression which Goethe uses in a place that has ever given +me much trouble of mind. There are problematic characters, says +Goethe,--I believe in his Fact and Fiction,--who are not equal to any +position in which they may happen to be, and who are not satisfied with +any. This, he adds, produces a violent contradiction, and leads to the +consumption of life without enjoyment.--It is a fearful word of his, +for it is a sentence of death pronounced with Olympic calmness on a +numerous class of men, of whom we have but too many in our day, who are +very good men and very bad musicians.--There is Czika!" + +"Where?" + +"Behind you!" + +Oswald turned round. Within the open door which led out on the balcony +stood the pretty child, surrounded by the red light of the setting sun. +Her luxuriant bluish black hair fell in long ringlets on both sides of +her face upon her shoulders, which rose from a blue Turkish blouse, +while a light shawl of red silk was tied around her slender waist +Turkish trousers reached down to her feet. When she had seen that there +was a stranger in the room, she had been about to slip away again as +stealthily as she had come, till the baron's words had arrested her and +Oswald had turned around. At seeing him a joyous smile passed over her +dark, solemn face, and her brown gazelle eyes looked almost tenderly up +at him, as he now was standing before her, holding one of her hands in +his own, and parting with the other her luxuriant hair. + +"Czika knows you," she said. "You are very kind. You love the poor; the +poor love you." + +"A declaration of love!" said Oldenburg, who had remained seated at the +table; "how many have you had, doctor, this week? Doctor, you are a +dangerous man, and I shall see myself compelled to forbid you the +house?" + +"Why are you not always here?" asked Czika, turning her large eyes from +the baron upon Oswald. "Czika will sit by you near the great water; +Czika will gather flowers for you on the heath. Why are you not always +here?" + +"He cannot be always here, Czika," said the baron, "but he will come +very often. Won't you, doctor?" + +The door to the anteroom opened, and Mrs. Muller, or Thusnelda, as the +baron called her, looked in. + +"I cannot--ah! there she is! Where have you been, darling doll? Come, I +will put you a little to rights. How you look again!--quite covered +with heather, as usual; what are the gentlemen to think?" + +With these words the matron led the child out of the room. + +"You must know that there is a strong attachment between the two," said +the baron. "My old nurse has had many blooming children who have all +died young. Other women's hearts often grow hard under such calamities; +hers has remained soft, and now she loves the Czika as if she were her +first-born. But that is just as if a dove had hatched a falcon. Czika's +determination to enjoy unbounded liberty causes the old lady ten times +every day infinite trouble and despair. And then, another difficulty. +Thusnelda is very pious, and Czika has--_horribile dictu_--no religion +whatever, unless it be some mysterious worship of the stars, which she +performs at night, when she steals away from her couch and dances in +the moonlight on the beach, as Thusnelda swears she has seen her do, to +her own unspeakable horror and disgust. And, to tell the truth, I +believe Thusnelda is right. At least I have noticed more than once that +if the gypsies have any object of worship it is the sun, the moon, and +the stars." + +"Have you often had opportunity in your travels to come in contact with +this interesting race?" + +"Oh yes!" said the baron, "even into very close contact, especially +once in Hungary--now twelve years ago." + +The baron paused, filled his glass, and drank the wine slowly, fixing +his eyes on the tablecloth like a person whose thoughts are completely +preoccupied with some recollection. + +"Well," said Oswald, "how was that?" + +"What?" said the baron, as if awakening from a dream; "oh yes; well, +you shall hear what I had to do with gypsies in Hungary." + +"I presume that was a romance?" + +"Of course," replied the baron; "I was at that time at an age when +every man is more or less romantic, unless he be born a mere stick. I +was enthusiastic about moonlit magic nights, about wells and forest +noises, and, above all, I was enthusiastic about slender maidens, with +or without a guitar and a blue ribbon. + +"All my views of life were eminently romantic, especially my morality. +The whole of life had no more meaning for me than a puppet-show at a +fair, and sovereign irony was the only real feeling which I +appreciated. In a word, I was a nice fellow, and if they had hung me on +the nearest gallows it would have been my just punishment, and, I +trust, a good warning for others. + +"I was heartily tired of my student's life at Bonn and at Heidelberg. I +had looked in vain into a thousand books to solve the mystery about +which so many better men have racked their brains, and I wanted to try +it in a new way. I wrote to my guardian, and conveyed to him my +intention to travel a few years. My guardian approved the plan, as he +approved everything I ever suggested,--so he could get rid of me for a +time,--he sent me money and letters of introduction, and I went on my +journey. I travelled over Southern Germany, Switzerland, and Northern +Italy. But if you were to ask me even for a superficial account of my +journey I would be seriously embarrassed. I know as much of those +countries as of the landscapes I have seen in my dreams. Last, I went +to Hungary. Chance, which was always my only guide, had led me there. +In Vienna I had become acquainted with a Hungarian nobleman, whose +father owned large estates at the foot of the Tetra mountains. He had +invited me to visit him, and I went. We led quite an idyllic life; the +main features of which were wine, women, and dice. He had a couple of +beautiful sisters, with whom I fell in love one by one. Then I became +enthusiastic about the French _dame de compagnie_ of his mother, who +had just come from Paris and put all the young Hungarian ladies to +shame by the grace of her manners, her taste in matters of toilette, +and her skill in conversation. + +"Once I was roaming about in the forest, my mind full of this sweet +goddess, whom I then believed in as I did in genuine pearls and real +gold, but whom I afterwards met again in Paris under different +circumstances; I was dreaming, and thus lost myself, or was led by my +guide, Chance, to a clearing which a band of gypsies had chosen for +their temporary encampment. A few small huts built of clay and +wickerwork in very archaic style, a fireplace over which an old dame +was roasting a stone-martin, deerskins and rags hanging on the branches +to dry--this was the picture which suddenly met my eye. The whole band +was away with the exception of the old witch, a few little babies who +rolled about in the sand in paradisiac nakedness, and one young girl of +about fifteen--" + +The baron filled his glass and drank it at one gulp. + +"Of about fifteen--perhaps she was older--it is difficult to determine +the age of gypsy girls. She was slender and agile like a deer, and her +dark eyes shone with such a magic, supernatural fire, that I was seized +by a rapture of delight as I looked deeper and deeper into them, while +she was telling me my fortune by reading the lines in my hand. My fate +could be read much more clearly in her eyes than in my hand. I was +delighted, enraptured, beside myself--the world had disappeared in an +instant. You must bear in mind that I was twenty years old, and +romantic as few men are, even at that early age; but I felt that to be +a gypsy, to feed upon stone-martins, and to sun one's self in the eyes +of a gypsy girl was the true and only purpose of life upon earth. I +stayed with the gypsies I know not how many days. My friends at the +chateau thought I had been torn by wolves. But one evening, when the +sun had already disappeared behind the mountain wall which protected +our encampment towards the north, and while the band were still away, I +was sitting with the Zingarella at the foot of an old oak-tree, and was +happy in my young love--when---- + +"I verily believe there is somebody coming"--the baron said, +interrupting himself--"was not that a strange voice?" + +"I hope not," said Oswald. + +The door opened; old Hermann looked in and said:-- + +"Baron Cloten wishes to present his respects, sir; are you at home?" + +"Oh no!" replied Oldenburg; "but, to be sure, I cannot very well +decline seeing him; he comes to--hm, hm!" + +"Do not let me prevent you from being hospitable," said Oswald, rising. + +"I pray, stay!" said the baron; "I hope he will not remain long. He +comes in a certain affair in which he wants my advice. That is all. +Show him up stairs, Hermann." + +A moment afterwards Baron Cloten entered. He wore a riding-coat and +top-boots, and seemed to have had a long ride. At least he looked very +much heated. Oswald's presence seemed to annoy or to embarrass him; at +least he spoke to him with striking formality, after having shaken +hands with the baron. + +"Very warm to-day," he snarled, seating himself in the chair which the +baron had offered him; "Robin is covered with sweat,---told your groom +to rub him down with a wisp of straw. Keeps an animal marvellously +well. Pleasant wine--what is it?--famous wine--had some the other day +at Barnewitz--not half as good. Apropos Barnewitz--no bad effects, +baron? Left somewhat early--heat really abominable----" + +"Won't you put down your hat, Cloten?" + +"Thanks! Am going away directly. Only wanted to see--quite near +here--was at Grenwitz--everybody out there--came over here to see how +all were." + +"But you surely have a few minutes?" + +"Not a moment--'pon honor," said Cloten, emptying his glass and rising; +"call in to-morrow, perhaps. Good-by, baron." + +Cloten again bowed very formally to Oswald and went to the door, +accompanied by the baron. + +"I pray, don't trouble yourself," said Cloten. + +"I just want to have a look at Robin," replied Oldenburg, and then to +Oswald; "excuse me a moment, doctor." + +Oswald was alone. The remarkably cool manner of the young nobleman had +offended his pride, though he tried to convince himself that he +despised him. He walked up and down in the room, much excited. His +hatred of the nobility had been fanned into a flame; even Oldenburg's +manner seemed to him to have been less cordial while Cloten was there. + +His eye fell upon the green silk curtain between the two bookcases, +which had struck him before. + +"I wonder what this veiled image means? Perhaps a voluptuous Correggio. +At all events, a key to the better knowledge of this strange man. +You'll excuse my curiosity, _monsieur le baron_?" + +Oswald pulled the silken cord of the curtain, and the youth at Sais, +who lifted the veil before the sacred image of Isis, could not have +been more startled than Oswald was when he saw, not a richly tinted +Italian painting, but in a niche, a bust of chaste white marble, which, +in spite of the antique hair-dress and a slight attempt to idealize, +was nothing else than a striking portrait of Melitta. There was her +rich waving hair; there her beautiful smooth brow, the straight, +delicate nose; there were the soft lips, looking dewy even in marble! + +Before Oswald could recover from his amazement to find himself thus +face to face with his beloved one, the baron entered. + +"Please excuse my indiscretion," said Oswald, who had not been able to +draw the curtain back again; "but why do you keep veiled images here +which belong in a sanctuary, and not in a common reception-room?" + +"You are right," replied the baron, without a trace of confusion; "this +green veil is, like most veils, only a provocation; and, by the way, it +is very foolish to conceal the copy when the original can be seen at +any time by those who will take the trouble of going to Palermo and +asking for leave to see the villa Serra di Falco." + +"Indeed?" said Oswald, annoyed by the imperturbable calmness with which +the baron tried to make him swallow his story. "Ah! in Palermo? I had +been tempted to look for the original nearer home." + +"You mean in Berlin, at the Museum!" said the baron. "There is a Muse +there which looks very much like this bust, but if you examine it more +closely you will soon see the difference." + +"Yes," replied Oswald; "the nose there is more decided, and the +carriage of the head is slightly different, and altogether the +resemblance with Frau von Berkow much less striking than in this bust." + +"Do you think so?" said the baron, rising and going up to the bust. +"Really, you are right. There is really a slight resemblance between +this bust and Frau von Berkow. Well, that does not make me like the +work any less, as there are few ladies in the world whom I love more to +be reminded of than that amiable and clever lady." + +The baron drew the curtain over the bust, as if he wished to end the +conversation. + +"Come, doctor," he said, "sit down and try to forget that Cloten, this +cleverest of all young men, has ever been here." + +"I believe it is high time for me to be gone," said Oswald; "the sun is +near setting--I should not like to get home too late, to-night +especially." + +"As you like it," said the baron. "Welcome the coming and speed the +parting guest! I have a great mind to accompany you some distance. Are +you fond of riding?" + +"Rather so." + +"Then we'll go on horseback, if you like it I will take one of my +servants. Excuse me a moment--I must change my dress and give a few +orders." + + * * * * * + +"You sit your horse very well, doctor," said the baron, as they were +slowly riding along on the height of the bluff a quarter of an hour +later. "It is really remarkable what talents you have in these things. +I believe there is no branch of bodily skill in which you would not +quickly become a master." + +"It is all the more remarkable, because my plebeian descent and my +modest education do not entitle me to any of these aristocratic gifts." + +"What a pity my name is not Cloten," said the baron. + +"Why?" + +"Because then I would not suspect your irony in the most remote way, +and, on the contrary, be moved by your touching modesty to overcome an +antipathy amounting almost to hatred." + +"Is that Baron Cloten's sentiment towards me?" + +"Do you think any dandy likes to see another man surpass him in +pistol-shooting, dancing, courting, etc., if that is the pride of his +little soul? Women and weak men never forgive that superiority. I +amused myself royally that night at Barnewitz to watch the faces they +were making at you, of course behind your back, and unfortunately +enjoyed the malicious pleasure of doing everything to fan the flame of +their jealousy." + +"Why unfortunately? I assure you I mind very little whether these +gentlemen think well of me or not." + +"Oh, no doubt you do. But as long as you live in this neighborhood you +are compelled to meet these people, and it is a rule of the simplest +wisdom of the world not to offend your fellow-passengers by treading on +their corns.--Who on earth comes racing over there across the fields?" + +This exclamation was caused by the mysterious horseman whom Oswald had +noticed at his arrival, and who was now trotting across the heath so as +to reach the road at a distance of perhaps six hundred yards ahead of +them. + +Oswald told the baron his experience with the horseman. + +"We must find that out," said the baron; "let us trot." + +They had scarcely trotted a few yards when the man before them started +his horse also. It looked as if he were stealthily turning round now +and then, but as the twilight had come on it was not easy to be quite +sure of that. + +"Let us try a gallop," said Oswald; "I see the mysterious man is +repeating his man[oe]uvres of the afternoon." + +They were on a wide level plain, which sloped off gradually towards the +fishermen's village, following the stony and less level ground on which +Oldenburg's villa was built. The soil was nothing but a thin crust of +earth, covered with meagre heather, and spread directly over the rock +itself, so that the horses going faster and faster beat hard upon the +stony subsoil. + +The mysterious man had no sooner heard the sound of their hoofs than he +had followed their example; he was now galloping before his pursuers, +keeping exactly the same distance. + +"Stern chase is a long chase!" said Oldenburg, who seemed to take +pleasure in the matter. "That fellow must have a capital horse. Just +look how he flies, scarcely touching the ground! Don't you know, +Charles, who that can be?" + +"No, sir," said the groom, who was now riding in a line with the two +gentlemen. "It cannot be anybody from the neighborhood, or we would +have overtaken him long since." + +"Charles flatters himself with the idea, you see, that he commands the +best and the fastest horses far and near," observed the baron. + +"He won't stand it long, sir!" said Charles. + +"We must see that," replied the baron. + +"Suppose we make an end of the matter by giving the reins to our +horses," said Oswald, a few minutes later. "We shall then soon see +whether we can overtake him or not." + +"Very well," said Oldenburg, "_en avant!_" + +The three riders gave the reins to their horses. The noble animals, +delighting in their freedom, and as if they knew that their reputation +as the best racers in the whole neighborhood was being tested, rushed +along with maddening speed, first breast to breast, till Oldenburg's +black horse took the lead and maintained it in spite of all efforts on +the part of the other two horses. + +The mysterious man had allowed his pursuers to approach him to within +about four hundred yards. They thought already the chase was over and +the groom had saved his own honor and that of his horses, when suddenly +the man before them gave the spur to his thoroughbred, and, bending his +head low down upon the mane of the animal, shot off with a speed which +soon made even the incensed groom aware that it was useless to try to +overtake him. + +"I believe it is the devil himself," he said, through his teeth. + +Oldenburg laughed. "So do I," he said. "Let us give it up." + +It took some time before the excited horses could calm down again. The +mysterious man was still riding at full speed, and in a few moments he +had disappeared in the lane which led down to the fishermen's village. + +Half an hour afterwards they reached the gates of Grenwitz. Oswald got +off his horse and gave the reins to the groom, to shake hands with the +baron. + +"If you were not too much bored," said the latter, "I hope we may +repeat the experiment soon again. Good-by!" + +Oswald reached his room without having met a soul in the quiet +courtyard or in the silent house. As he was leaning out of the open +window and looked down into the darkening garden, he saw two persons +walking up and down in the avenue, whispering and laughing. They were +Albert and Marguerite. They had evidently improved the good opportunity +to advance in their conjugation of _aimer_. + + + + + CHAPTER X. + + +"DEAR SIR! To succeed in all undertakings equally well is not given to +any one, not even to the most favored knight. You will therefore, it is +hoped, understand why a person, who has watched with much astonishment +the process you have made in the favor of a certain lady, is anxious to +become personally acquainted with the magic charm you possess, and +therefore desires to see you. If you are disposed to afford him this +pleasure, you are requested to take a walk this evening, at eleven +o'clock, near the smaller Grenwitz gate. Under the old beech-tree on +the road to Berkow you will, if you consent, find a carriage to convey +you to the place of rendezvous. There you will find everything required +to begin a more intimate acquaintance. + +"It need hardly be mentioned, that, of course, an affair of so much +delicacy has to be treated with the utmost secrecy. The coachman will +ask you '_Qui vive_,' and if you answer '_Moi_,' he will know that you +are the right person. _Au revoir, monsieur!_" + +This was the text of a letter which the mail-carrier from the +neighboring town handed Oswald on the evening of the next day. + +He read the odd note several times before he could recover from his +surprise. Who was the "person" who wished to make his personal +acquaintance? What "lady" was meant? Had the mystery of the forest +chapel fallen into indiscreet hands? Could Baron Cloten be the author +of the challenge? The peculiar, cool manner of the young nobleman at +their last meeting favored this presumption. Or was the meeting +accidental, and the mysterious rider the real writer? Was he, perhaps, +one of Cloten's spies? On the other hand, was not the conversation +which Baron Barnewitz had had with Oldenburg, and which Oswald had +heard as an unwilling listener, sufficient evidence that Cloten had +quite enough to do with his own difficulties? + +Oswald passed in his mind all the young nobles in review whose +acquaintance he had made at the ball, and his suspicion was finally +fixed upon young Count Grieben, that tall blonde youth who made such +amusing efforts to be brilliant, and to win favor with the coquettish +Emily--efforts in which he failed with equal success. He seemed to be +most likely to be the author of some of the phrases in the letter. + +What was he to do? Should he expose himself to the perhaps very ignoble +vengeance of the young noblemen? Should he enter the lists without +knowing anything of the weapons, the witnesses, the place, or even his +adversaries? Could any fair-minded man blame him if he took no notice +of the challenge of an anonymous writer? + +But he probably had not to deal with fair-minded men. Had he not +already found out, and seen it proved by his experience, that in these +privileged circles the pleasure of the individual stood for right, and +the most frivolous whim of the moment served as a motive for action? +Had he not found this to be so even in the two characters which were so +far above the common mass, in Melitta and Oldenburg? + +And would they not charge him, if he declined the challenge, with want +of that delicate sense of honor of which these nobles were so proudly +boasting? + +No, no; he must take up the gauntlet, however contemptible the hand +might be that had thrown it down in the dark. He must show these young +noblemen that he was not afraid to meet their revenge alone, +friendless, and unarmed. + +His blood was boiling. He walked up and down in his room in great +excitement. + +"Come on! Come on!" he hissed through his teeth. "I wish they would +place themselves one by one opposite to me; my hatred would give me +strength to overthrow them all. Quite right! Quite right! What have I +to do here among these wolves? To be torn or to tear. I ought to have +foreseen that." + +Oswald felt how a new evil spirit rose from the deepest bottom of his +soul, which his eye had never yet fathomed. A wild passion, a burning +thirst for revenge, a mad desire to destroy seized upon him; it was the +intense, frantic hatred of the nobility which he had felt as a boy, +while he loaded the pistols for his father behind the city wall, when +the latter shot at the ace of spades and each time aimed at the heart +of a noble man; when he read at school, in Livy, of the haughty +arrogance of the Tarquins, or in his room, of the tearful story of +Emilia Galotti. And they were no fictions! Here, in this castle, +perhaps in these same rooms which he now occupied, a victim of the +cruelty of a nobleman had bled to death; here the poor, unhappy, and +beautiful Marie had paid with a thousand burning tears for her folly in +believing the word of a noble tempter. + +She had been victimized because she was a frail woman, and because she +had no weapons but tears--tears which found no pity. Those tears had +never been atoned for. How if he should arise as her avenger--if he +should avenge those tears of a low-born maid in the blood of a +nobleman? + +Such thoughts passed through Oswald's mind while he was making a few +hasty preparations for the case of an unlucky event--little as he +thought it likely to happen, for he saw himself only in the part of an +avenger. He burnt a few letters which he did not wish to fall into +strange hands; he arranged his other papers, and finally wrote a few +lines to Professor Berger; but he soon tore them up again and threw +them into the fire. + +"_Tant de bruit pour une omelette_," he said, "the wretches do not +deserve that I should give myself so much trouble for their sake." + +He awaited the appointed hour with impatience. + +At last the great clock struck ten. He heard the servants going to bed; +even from Albert's room a light was shining down upon the dark garden. +It struck half-past ten. Oswald dressed himself carefully, took a rose +from a bouquet which he had gathered in the garden, and put it in his +button-hole. + +Then he slipped noiselessly down the narrow steps on which Marie, on +that stormy night had escaped from the chateau into the garden, through +the garden and out at the gate which led into the courtyard, and from +which it was only a short distance to the little gate where he was told +he would find the carriage. + +The night sky was covered with clouds, through which a few scattered +stars only pierced their way; it was so dark that Oswald had to walk +very slowly, until his eye had become accustomed to the darkness, if he +did not wish to risk falling into the ditch on either side of the road. + +Suddenly a large dark object loomed up before him, and at the same +moment a rough, deep voice cried out: "_Qui vive?_" + +"_Moi!_" answered Oswald. + +He saw the outlines of a tall form which opened the door of the +carriage and let down the steps. + +As soon as he had got in the door was closed after him, and the horses +started; he could not see whether the person had jumped upon the box, +or whether it was the coachman himself. + +Coachman and horses must have known the road well, or be able to see as +well at night as in open daylight, for the carriage drove with a +swiftness to which even an impatient lover could have had no objection. +The road was in good order, and although now and then a stone was lying +in the track, the carriage was so well hung on excellent springs that +one hardly perceived the jolt. + +Oswald leaned back in the swelling cushions. The soft velvet seemed to +exhale a perfume, which filled the narrow compartment like the boudoir +of a pretty woman. Oswald even fancied it was the same perfume which +Melitta ordinarily used. And suddenly he felt as if Melitta were +sitting by his side--as if her soft warm hand were touching his--as if +he felt her breath on his brow--as if her lips were lying lightly like +a zephyr on his own. + +And this delicious dream effaced the reality. Oswald forgot what was +before him; he did not think of the future; he knew not where he +was--and only she, she herself filled his soul. The memory of her sweet +grace, her goodness, her intoxicating beauty overcame him like a +spring-tide of bliss. The precious images of those happy hours which he +had spent by her side, at her feet, rose before his mind's eyes with +marvellous clearness; he saw them all, from his first meeting on the +lawn behind the chateau at Grenwitz, to the moment when she turned from +him, tears in her eyes, in that night of hapless memory, when the demon +of jealousy struck its sharp claws into his wounded heart. + +"Forgive me, Melitta! forgive me!" he groaned, burying his head in the +cushions. + +Suddenly the carriage stopped. The door opened, the tall man who had +let down the steps before helped him get out, gave him his hand, led +him a few steps up to a large glass door, where, through the red +curtains, a faint light was bidding him welcome. The door opened, and +Oswald found himself in the garden-room in Melitta's chateau, and +Melitta wound her arms around his neck, and Melitta's voice whispered: +"Forgive me, Oswald! Forgive me!" + +"You cruel man," said Melitta, after the first wild storm of delight, +with its showers of joyous tears, had passed away. "How could you shut +up your heart for so many days when you knew I was standing outside +knocking for admission? But I will not scold. You are here and all is +right again." + +She leaned her head on his breast and looked up at him smiling through +her tears. "Is it not, darling? Is not all right again? Now Melitta is +again what she was before to you, what she will ever be to you, in +spite of all pretty girls of sixteen, be their name Emily or----" + +"Melitta!" + +"Or Melitta! For there is but one Melitta, if thousands bore that name, +and that one am I! And how could you forget such a weighty matter! What +trouble you have caused old Baumann! I will say nothing of myself, for +joy follows grief and grief follows joy, and if two love each other +honestly, a few tears more or less, a few sleepless nights, a few +letters begun and torn to pieces again, matter, after all, very +little--but poor Baumann! Just imagine! The first day I was very calm, +for I thought: he will come soon enough, and fall down at your feet and +ask your pardon! But when you did not come, nor on the second, nor on +the third day, then my heart failed me, and I dare say I looked +wretched enough, for as I was sitting here, resting my head in my +hands, I suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder, and when I looked up, +good old Baumann was standing before me, and said: Shall I go and see +why he is staying away so long?--Ah do, dear Baumann, I said. Then the +good soul went, without saying a word, and did not return till late at +night. Did you see him?--Yes, ma'am! He is well and hearty; I have had +a race with him." + +"Then old Baumann was the mysterious horseman?" + +"Of course, and he laughed in his quiet way when he told me that you +had been after him, as if he meant to say: The children! They thought +they could overtake me on Brownlock!" + +"Then that was Brownlock, of whom Bruno has told me so much! Well, now +I can explain it all." + +"Can you? Then you will also explain it, I hope, why Baumann sat down +and wrote that letter at my dictation. The old man refused, and said: A +duel is no child's play, and that is carrying the joke too far. But I +laughed and wept till he gave way; so he took Brownlock once more this +morning and rode to town to mail the letter." + +"And if I had not accepted the challenge?" + +"Baumann asked me the same question, and I answered: Fie, are you not +ashamed to say such a thing, Baumann?" + +Oswald laughed. "Of course! we must always be ashamed when we say or do +something that does not suit the world, as it exists in your little +heads." + +Melitta made no reply, and Oswald saw that a shadow flitted across her +face. He knelt down before her and said, seizing her hand as it hung by +her side: + +"Have I offended you, Melitta?" + +"No," she said, "but you would not have said so a week ago." + +"How do you mean?" + +"Come, get up! Let us go into the garden. It is hot in the house; I +long to breathe the cool night air!" + +They went down into the garden and walked up and down, arm in arm, till +they came to the low terrace, where Oswald had found Melitta when he +called upon her that Sunday afternoon. They sat down under the +pine-tree, which spread its branches over them as if in protection. The +night was marvellously silent. The trees stood quiet, not a leaf +stirring, as if they were fast asleep; fragrant perfumes filled the +warm, dry air, and glow-worms were wandering through the night like +bright tiny stars. + +"You did not answer my question, Melitta," said Oswald. "What is it the +last eight days have changed in me? Am I not the same I was; only that +the bitter regret at having hurt your feelings has made my love for you +deeper and warmer?" + +Melitta made no reply; suddenly she said, speaking low and quick: + +"Have you seen much of him since that Sunday at Barnewitz?" + +"Of whom, Melitta?" + +"Well, of--of Baron Oldenburg. God be thanked, I have said it. It is so +childish and foolish in me to have hesitated so long to speak of +Oldenburg, and to tell you what our relations have been,--and yet I +felt you had a right to know it, and I was bound to lift the veil from +my past, wherever it might appear dark to you. This feeling grew so +overwhelming in me, especially when I found that you had become +intimate with the baron, that I wanted to see you at any price, and +this suggested to me the foolish plan." + +"I have no such right as you say," replied Oswald, "to be foolishly +curious. I have to be grateful for the love which you grant me, and I +am grateful for it, as for a sweet gift from on high. There was a time, +I confess, when my love still knew what doubt was, but that was not yet +true, genuine love. Now I cannot imagine that I could ever cease to +love you, or that you could ever do so. I feel even as if this love was +not only intended to be eternal, but had actually existed before, in +all eternity. I do not know if you ever loved before; it may be, but I +do not comprehend it, and would not comprehend it, even if you were to +say so expressly." + +"And I assure you," said Melitta tenderly, coming closer to Oswald, "I +have never loved till I saw you; for what I before called love was only +unsatisfied longing after an ideal which I bore in my heart, which I +could find nowhere, and which I had long despaired of ever finding." + +"And you fancy that I am this personified ideal? Poor Melitta! How soon +you will awake from this dream! Awake, Melitta! awake--it is time yet!" + +"No, Oswald, it is too late. There is a love which is as strong as +death, and there is no awaking from it. No! No awaking. I feel it. I +know it. And if you were to turn your face from me, and if you were to +push me from you--with you I know not what offended love, what insulted +pride are--nothing but immeasurable, unfathomable, inexhaustible love. +Till now I only knew that I could love; how much I could love, you +first have taught me.... + +"And now also I can speak freely of the time when I did not yet know +you--for then my life was only apparent life and all I felt and thought +was only a vague dreaming without connection and sense. I know that +now--now since I have opened my eyes in the sunlight of your love, and +life lies clear and transparent before me, so that the deep night which +surrounds us looks to me brighter than formerly the brightest day. Now +I can speak of the Melitta of former days as of a strange person for +whose doings and sayings I am no longer responsible; now I can and will +tell you what that portrait in my album means--that detached leaf which +frightened you so, darling.--Yes, I saw it all; you changed color, and +you did not comprehend how I could ask your opinion of a man whom you +could not but think my lover. And yet Oldenburg never was my lover, or +there must be strange degrees in love, of which the lowest is as far +from the highest as the earth is from heaven. + +"I knew Oldenburg from my childhood. My father's estate adjoined Cona, +where you were yesterday. My aunt, who undertook my education after my +mother's death, and Oldenburg's mother were warm friends, and met +almost daily. So did we children. Oldenburg was several years older +than I, but as girls are always ahead of boys in their development, we +did not feel the difference in age much; we played and worked together; +we were good comrades--ordinarily, for not unfrequently we fell out, +and then we had sharp words and quarrels and tears. I rarely gave cause +for them, for I was not obstinate, and always ready to give way, but +Adalbert was excessively sensitive, stubborn, and self-willed. The +double nature of his character, which he afterwards tried to harmonize +and to conceal from all but the most sharp-sighted, was then very +evident. It was impossible not to become interested in him, but I doubt +if anybody really loved him. This he felt, and this feeling, which he +bore about with him like a concealed wound, made him early a +hypochondriac and a misanthrope. It was of little use to him that +everybody admired his eminent talents, and that no one doubted his +courage, his love of the truth--his stubborn, self-willed ways repelled +all and offended all. Even his tall, ungraceful figure and his awkward +motions contributed to turn the hearts of men away from him. At least +it was so with me. I had from childhood up felt irresistibly attracted +towards all that was beautiful and graceful, and had a real horror of +what was ugly and ill-shapen. I could not love Adalbert, although he +was sincerely attached to me with great tenderness, which he carefully +hid under an appearance of coldness and rudeness. When his passionate +temper got the better of his attempted calmness, he would even reproach +me bitterly on account of my heartlessness and my fickleness. + +"Such were our relations till Adalbert, at sixteen, went to college, +for he had persuaded his guardian--his mother had also died in the mean +time--to let him go to the city. Now he came but rarely to Cona, and +then only for a few days. Then I was for two years at boarding-school. +Thus it came about that we met only in passing, till he went to the +University at Heidelberg. When he returned from there, and from a long +journey, I had been married two years. + +"He did not come to Berkow till a considerable time afterwards. Our +meeting was strange enough. He seemed to accept the changed state of +things only as a _fait accompli_, which we submit to because we cannot +help ourselves. He did not trouble me with questions; he asked for no +confidential communication, which the sole friend of my childhood and +early youth might well have demanded. He did not reproach me; he did +not tell me that he had loved me, that he had hoped to obtain my hand, +although I afterwards learned that that had been so, and that the news +of my marriage, which he received at Heidelberg, had nearly driven him +mad, and laid him for weeks and months upon the sick-bed. He tried by +silent observation to obtain a clear idea of my situation. I saw that +nothing escaped him, that not a word I uttered, not a gesture I made +remained unnoticed. This consciousness of being continually watched by +such sharp eyes was by no means agreeable, especially as there was much +that ought to have been very different from what it actually was. Soon +we were as we had been in childhood; only there occurred no violent +scenes, as our passions had subsided. As he then had brought me all the +pretty shells, and stones, and flowers which he found on the beach, +among the rocks, and in the garden, so he now told me all his +indefatigably active mind could discover in the field of science: now a +fine poem and now a deep thought--and he felt it not less deeply now, +if I treated his treasures as carelessly as I had done with the flowers +which I allowed to perish, and the stones and shells which I threw +away. I knew I had no better friend than he, and he knew that in all I +felt for him there was no love; all the more disinterested was his +friendship, and all the more unwarrantable the fickleness with which I +treated him. + +"His friendship was soon to be proved. The melancholy into which Carlo +had fallen, soon after Julius' birth, assumed a more and more dangerous +form. Attacks of unexpected violence, the precursors of the last +fearful catastrophe, became more frequent. He would now admit no one +near him but Adalbert, although he, the _bon-vivant_ of former days, +had been in the habit of laughing ruthlessly at the baron, who was his +junior, and yet thoughtful and melancholy himself. How often had he +ridiculed him, how often called him contemptuously the Youth of Sais! +Now he accompanied him everywhere; now Oldenburg's voice was the only +one which could drive away the dark demons that fought for his mind, at +least for the moment. And the self-sacrificing spirit with which +Oldenburg performed this service of love cannot be sufficiently +praised, and I ought to thank him for it all my life long. Then came +the catastrophe. Oldenburg stood faithfully by me in those dark days, +or rather, he took all the burden and the responsibility upon himself, +and managed all and everything with such energy and sagacity that I had +only to consent. + +"Carlo had been carried to an Asylum at the South, and I was left alone +here at Berkow, devoting myself entirely to the education of my Julius, +who was then five years old, and for whom I had secured Bemperlein as a +teacher and a friend, thanks to Oldenburg's recommendation. The baron +came less frequently than formerly, but still quite frequently, as I +thought. It seemed to me that a tender note mingled at times with his +friendship, and hardly had I noticed this than I thought it my duty to +point out to him, as gently as I could, that his visits were probably +too frequent. This was perhaps very ungrateful in me, but we women find +it very difficult to be grateful to those whom we do not love. + +"Next day Oldenburg had left the country. No one knew where he was. +Somebody reported him, six months afterwards, in Paris; a year later he +was seen in London. He was here, and there, and everywhere, carried +about by his wild heart and his insatiable thirst for information. + +"Thus four years had elapsed and little had changed in my position. I +thought but rarely of Oldenburg; I had nearly forgotten him. I yielded +then--now three years ago--to the persuasions of my cousin and his wife +to accompany them on a trip to Italy. One evening as we were in the +Coliseum Oldenburg suddenly stood before us. 'At last!' he said, +pressing my hand. He pretended to have met us quite accidentally; but +he confessed to me afterwards that he had heard in Paris, I know not +from whom, of our proposed journey, that he had followed us from Munich +and missed us everywhere, till at last he had overtaken us here. I must +confess I was heartily glad to meet him, and was a little gratified to +find that it was not quite accidental. Everything combined to give +Oldenburg a good reception. We easily become attached even to strangers +in travelling; how much more welcome is the friend of our youth whom we +unexpectedly meet with abroad? Oldenburg had travelled all over Italy, +and knew the painter of every altar-painting in every church and +convent. His instructive conversation contrasted most markedly with the +stupid talk of my relatives, and besides, Oldenburg had by this time +polished off the rough edges of his character in the intercourse with +good society. His manner was, in spite of his almost extreme abandon, +as you now see it, thoroughly aristocratic. In a word, he now impressed +me in a manner which I would have believed impossible before. It was +not love that I felt for him, but it was more than the cool friendship +which I had so far offered him alone. But, strange enough, the more I +felt my secret antipathy, which I had cherished from early childhood, +give way to an almost cordial attachment, the harsher and colder became +his manner towards me. When we were all together, he addressed his +conversation almost exclusively to my cousin, and treated me like a +spoilt child, who is only indulged to keep it from crying. This +offended my vanity; and this offended vanity, and the jealousy I began +to feel of my cousin, made me try in good earnest to win Oldenburg's +affection, which I feared I had lost by some unknown cause. This +produced an entire revolution in Oldenburg's manner. He overwhelmed me +with attentions; he seemed completely to forget Hortense, and whenever +we were alone he exhibited a passion which first made me wonder and +then frightened me. And yet he avoided any open declaration, and left +me continually in doubt whether this was one of the mad freaks in which +he still quite frequently indulged, or the expression of a deep-rooted +attachment. It was impossible not to admire Oldenburg at that time. His +genius unfolded its most brilliant powers. He was the soul of every +society; they vied with each other who was to have him, and as he spoke +French, English, Italian, and I know not how many languages, with +fluency, every nation seemed to be willing to admit him as one of their +own. And yet he made me the queen of every festivity, he compelled all +to do homage to me; he displayed the treasures of his richly stored +mind only to lay them at my feet;--what wonder that I could not long +remain indifferent, and that I soon fancied I loved him? Without openly +encouraging him, I let him go on, and permitted him, when we were +alone, to treat me with the familiarity of our childish years; when we +met in company, to show me all those attentions which we generally +accept only from a declared lover." + +"Hush, Melitta, I think I hear somebody in the garden." + +"I heard nothing." + +"Are we quite safe here?" + +"Quite so. But let us go into the house; it seems to me the night dew +is beginning to fall." + +They rose and went arm in arm towards the steps which led from the +terrace into the garden. As they came down the last step, a man +suddenly stood before them. The meeting was so unexpected to Oswald and +Melitta that they involuntarily started back. But it was impossible +to escape it, and besides, Mr. Bemperlein--for it was he, and no one +else--had already recognized them, as the stars had come out in full +splendor, and the light from the window of the garden-room fell +directly upon their faces. + +"Great heavens, madam! what brings you here?" cried Mr. Bemperlein. + +"And I ask that of you," said Melitta; and then to Oswald, whose arm +she was still holding, in a low voice: "Be calm, darling, he will not +betray us." + +"Julius has not had an accident? Speak, Mr. Bemperlein, I have no +secrets for--Oswald." + +Mr. Bemperlein seized Oswald's hand and pressed it, as if he wished to +say: Now I know all, you may rely on me. + +"No," he said, "Julius is well and hearty. But I have received a letter +from Doctor Birkenhain, who says that Baron Berkow's condition is such +that they expect his end every day. It is not thought that he will +recover his consciousness before he dies; but Doctor Birkenhain thought +it his duty to let you know how matters stand. I presume at least that +this is what the enclosure means. I brought it myself, so that you may +dispose of me at once, if you should decide to go on. The carriage in +which I came is still at the door; I cut across the garden." + +The three had reached the garden-room by this time. Melitta had drawn +her arm from Oswald's and gone up to the lamp to read the letter which +Bemperlein had brought. Oswald saw her turn very pale, and her hand +which held the letter tremble nervously. Bemperlein stood there, +turning his eyes from Oswald to Melitta, and back again from Melitta to +Oswald, like one who has been suddenly roused and cannot convince +himself whether what he sees is reality or a dream. + +Melitta had read the letter. "There, Oswald," she said, "read and tell +me what I must do." + +Oswald glanced at the letter, which summoned Melitta, as Bemperlein had +presumed, to start immediately for Birkenhain if she wished to see her +husband once more before his death. + +"You must go, Melitta, beyond doubt," said Oswald, folding up the +letter. "You would never forgive yourself if you neglected this duty." + +Melitta threw herself passionately into his arms: "I meant from the +beginning to go, but I wanted you to confirm my decision," she said. "I +shall start to-night, instantly. Will you go with me, Mr. Bemperlein?" + +"That is what I came for," said Bemperlein. "We have prepared the whole +plan. If we start in an hour we shall reach the ferry by sunrise. On +the other side we can take post-horses to B----, and thence go by +railway. Thus we reach Birkenhain day after to-morrow, at the latest." + +"You dear, good friend," said Melitta, taking both of Bemperlein's +hands in her own and pressing them cordially. + +"Pray, pray, madam," cried Mr. Bemperlein, "quite on the contrary--I +mean--only my duty, nothing more." + +"I will get ready at once," said Melitta, taking a candle. "You stay +here, Oswald. If any one should see you here, you will have come with +Bemperlein. But no one will see you." + +Melitta had left the room. Soon the silent house awoke to the sound of +hurried steps, of doors which were hastily opened and closed, and of +low voices speaking anxiously one to another. + +Of the two men, neither dared for a time to break the silence. Both +felt the strange nature of the position in which they suddenly found +themselves, especially Bemperlein, who had not yet been able to recover +from his surprise. Melitta stood so unattainably high in his eyes that +he found it absolutely impossible to comprehend how any mortal could +attain so high; and yet he was so accustomed to look upon everything +she did as undoubtedly right and good, that he dared not make an +exception of this case. + +"We meet quite strangely again, Mr. Bemperlein," Oswald said at last. + +"Yes indeed, yes indeed!" replied Mr. Bemperlein. "My coming here was +neither expected nor desired, I understand that perfectly. The poor +lady! But what courage! What decision! I have always said she is not +made of common clay. A real blessing that Doctor Birkenhain had the +good idea not to write to her directly. Thus I can do something, little +though it be, for her support." + +"You happy man!" said Oswald "You can work for her and help her, while +I can do nothing but wish her a pleasant journey, and then fold my +hands idly in my lap." + +"I really pity you with all my heart, really," said Mr. Bemperlein. "It +is a hard task which you are expected to perform; but where there is +much light there is also much shade. We will write diligently. You +shall hear of every step we take. And then, I hope, our journey will +not be long, and especially I trust we shall find Baron Berkow dead +when we get there." + +"You hope that? And yet you seem to think it important to go there?" + +"Assuredly!" said Mr. Bemperlein. "There are certain sad duties which +must be performed--not to please the world, which could, and might not, +blame us if we left them unfulfilled, nor for the sake of others whom +we could benefit by what we do, but because of the respect we owe to +ourselves. But you know all that, of course, much better than I do. You +have yourself advised this journey, although you lose most by it. It +must be a terrible sensation to be thus suddenly torn from one's +paradise! Strange, strange! The more I think of it, the more natural it +seems to me. Yes, yes; that you should love this glorious woman is +perfectly natural, is,--I might say, so logical that the contrary would +be sheer nonsense. Everybody must love her, and the nobler the soul is +that loves her the deeper the love. Your heart is a noble heart, your +soul harmonizes with all that is beautiful, hence you cannot but love, +love with all your heart and soul this best and most beautiful of all +women. And on the other side: Is she not free? If not before men, +certainly before the Judge who looks into the heart? Did she ever love +her husband? Could she love him, sold as she was by her own father to a +man who bought her with money, at a time when she was too young still, +and too innocent even to suspect such villany? Oh! it makes my blood +boil to think of it! I am so glad it has all come about in this way! I +congratulate you most heartily. I am a plain, insignificant man, and +would never have dared to lift up my eyes so high; but when I see +another man boldly and bravely stand on that eminence my heart fills +with admiration, which is perfectly free from envy, and once more I +wish you joy and all blessings with my whole heart!" + +Mr. Bemperlein seized both of Oswald's hands and pressed them warmly. +His eyes filled with tears; he was deeply moved. + +"And I thank you with all my heart," said Oswald, touched. "The good +opinion of a man whom I esteem is worth a thousand times more to me +than that of the whole stupid world. The world will condemn our love, +but the world knows nothing of justice." + +"No," said Mr. Bemperlein, "and yet it does judge us, and we have to +submit to its sentence whether we choose or not. And this thought alone +casts a deep shadow on the sunny pictures of such pure, disinterested +love. But I will not make your head heavier at such a moment, when it +is no doubt heavy enough. Fortune favors the brave and the strong. You +are bold and strong; you are doubly so since you love, and faith is +said to be able to move mountains. What faith can, love surely will not +find impossible. But hush! there comes the baroness." + +The door opened, and Melitta appeared in her travelling costume. Old +Baumann stood by her. + +"I am ready, dear Mr. Bemperlein," she said, and then throwing herself +into Oswald's arms: "Farewell, darling, farewell!" + + + + + CHAPTER XI. + + +The Baroness Grenwitz had more than one good reason for not taking +Oswald with them on their projected trip to Heligoland, and during the +three days' visiting at all the neighbors, she had considered maturely +how she might manage this without compromising her dignity. She was +delighted therefore when Oswald, at her return,--the day after +Melitta's departure,--eagerly seized upon her question: If he would not +prefer using the time of their absence for his own recreation. She was +still more delighted when he went so far as to express his intention +not even to remain at the chateau, but to make an excursion, perhaps +over the island, which he had not yet seen, or perhaps to Berlin, where +he was expected by friends. Anna Maria was so enchanted with this +unexpected result that she did not trouble herself about the motives +that might have influenced Oswald, nor about his sombre, absent manner, +and the indifference with which he witnessed the preparations for their +journey, and with which he even took leave of Bruno on the day of their +departure. Perhaps he was angry because they did not invite him; +perhaps he did not know where he was to stay. At all events, he would +not remain at the chateau, and perhaps he might actually have his +knapsack on his back at one gate, while the family coach with the four +heavy bays and the silent coachman was grandly rolling out at the great +portal. + +But Mr. Albert Timm was allowed to stay. He had no such absurd +pretensions as the haughty Dr. Stein; he was easily satisfied; and then +he could work so comfortably in the lonely house, and it was so +important to have the plats completed promptly. Mademoiselle had been +ordered to provide everything for Mr. Timm. Strangely enough, it had +never occurred to the baroness that it might not be considered quite +proper to leave a young girl of twenty and a young man of twenty-six in +a lonely chateau with only a handful of servants, who were under the +control of the young girl. The virtuous lady would have turned up her +nose, she would have thought it unpardonable, if she had been told that +young Count Grieben and Emily von Breesen had been left alone in a room +for five minutes, but the surveyor, Albert Timm, and the housekeeper, +Marguerite Hoger--good Heavens! what was the use troubling one's self +about such people? that would have been asking too much! And Marguerite +had not even a father or a mother to whom one might have been +answerable--she had no relations whatever--how can one be expected to +be responsible for a person who is standing quite alone in the world? +They had, however, asked Mrs. Jager to see from time to time that the +orders of the baroness were strictly carried out. Mrs. Jager was an +excellent lady, consequently Marguerite was under excellent +supervision. + +Little Marguerite was under such excellent supervision that Albert +could not sufficiently praise the wise foresight of the baroness. + +"I wish they would never return," he said to the pretty Genevese as +they promenaded in the garden arm in arm; "I wish they would capsize +between Heligoland and the Downs, where it is deepest and we could live +here, in clover, to the end of our lives. What do you think, little +Margerite, would you like to be the wife of Albert Timm, Esquire, owner +of Castle Grenwitz, etc.? Wouldn't it be famous? Then I would keep you +a carriage and horses, and even a housekeeper, which you could plague +as they plague you now." + +"I am content with little if I can it share with you." + +"Noble thought! But better is better, and--well, we'll see all that +when we are married." + +"And you will marry me, really? Ah, I can it believe scarcely! Why +should a man, _comme vous_, to whom the whole world is open, marry a +poor girl who not even is handsome?" + +"That is my business. And besides, you are richer than I am. Three +hundred dollars----" + +"Three hundred twenty-five dollars," said Mademoiselle Marguerite. + +"All the better--that is something to begin with. If I add my own +fortune"--Mr. Timm felt in his pocket and produced a few coins--"we +have three hundred and twenty-five dollars, seventeen silber-groschen +and eightpence. That is quite a capital." + +"We shall buy for it a little house." + +"Of course." + +"I shall give lessons in French." + +"Of course." + +"And you will be industrious and work." + +"_Comme un forcat_--oh, it is going to be a charming life," and Mr. +Timm seized the little Frenchwoman around the waist and waltzed her +around in the bower in which they were chatting. + +"I must go in now, to give the servants their supper," said Marguerite, +withdrawing herself. + +"Then run, you little monkey, and come back again as soon as you can," +said Mr. Timm. + +He looked after her as she ran away. "Stupid little woman," he said; +"really thinks I am going to marry her. What a fool I should be--for +three hundred dollars! Formerly I lost as much at play in a night. It +is grand, what these girls fancy; and yet this one is not as stupid as +she looks, and seems to have studied the great Goethe, in spite of her +horrible jargon, to some advantage: 'Yield to no thief, but with the +ring on your finger.' Hm, hm! I shall have to buy her a wedding-ring, +after all! The three hundred dollars would not be so bad! These +abominations of creditors! Not even here they leave me alone." + +Mr. Timm felt in his breast pocket and drew from it several letters of +suspicious appearance, which he carefully unfolded and perused, after +having ensconced himself in the corner of the bench. His face, +generally merry enough, grew darker and darker. "Upon my word," he +growled, "these fellows are becoming insolent. If I could satisfy the +roaring lions with a couple of hundreds they might be silent, at least +for a while." + +"Hm, hm! The three hundred dollars which little Marguerite has in the +Savings Bank would be very convenient. It would, after all, be better +for her to be poor. For, of course, every sensible man can see that I +am not going to fulfil my promise to marry her unless I am forced to do +so. If I am under moral obligations only, I fear I am not quite safe to +her; but if I should be under pecuniary obligations to her, her chances +are decidedly better. I can make her believe I will invest her money +where she can obtain a better interest, or some such thing. When the +stupid little things are in love they'll believe anything. And can she +invest her money better than in the purchase of a handsome fellow for +her husband, who would otherwise not think of marrying her? _Me +Herculem!_ I feel quite raised in my estimation by the thought, to +become a benefactor of the poor little girl. I must see at once what I +can do with her. If she refuses, I shall have to respect her for her +wisdom, but I won't be able to love her any more." + +Albert rose and slowly walked up to the chateau, his hands folded +behind his back, as was his habit when his ingenious brain was busy +with the solution of a problem. Marguerite was busy in the lower +regions near the kitchen, and Albert went up to his room, in order to +give a few more moments undisturbed to his great purpose. + +He bent over the paper which was stretched out on his drawing-board, +and on which he had done nothing since the departure of the family, +that is, for a whole week. + +"If that goes on so, Anna Maria will marvel at the progress I have +made," he said; "it is really amazing what a superb talent for idleness +I have, or, to express it more elegantly, for the _dolce far niente_. +There are evidently in life enchanted lazzaroni, as there are enchanted +princes, and I am unmistakably such an enchanted son of sunny Naples, +who has been changed into a surveyor, compelled to eat his bread in the +sweat of his face. But how did it come about, I wonder, that I have +thus given way to my natural disposition for a whole week? Is little +Marguerite alone to blame for it? Hardly! Oh yes! Now I remember! I +want a map from the archive-room, and asked for the key a week ago. I +must go and get that map, or, by my burning love for little Marguerite, +this unfinished plat will remain a fragment for all eternity." + +Albert went into the archive-room, a large apartment on the ground +floor of the old castle. The walls were covered, from the ceiling to +the floor, with receptacles full of old yellow documents and papers of +every kind, many of which were extremely old and would have been of +very great interest to the antiquarian. While he was looking among +these archives for the old map, a small bundle of letters fell into his +hand, which he would have hurled back, in all probability, into its +ancient home, like so many others, if his curiosity had not been +excited by the address on the outside: "For Baron Harald Grenwitz, at +Grenwitz." As excessive discretion was by no means one of Mr. Timm's +most prominent qualities, he broke unceremoniously the red tape with +which the letters had been bound together, and began to read one after +another--an occupation which proved so deeply interesting that he +forgot everything else, and did not even hear a carriage, which stopped +at the great portal, and caused no small sensation in the chateau. + + + + + CHAPTER XII. + + +Oswald had spent the week which had elapsed since the departure of the +family in the solitude of a fisherman's village, not far from Berkow, +where he had been entirely cut off from all intercourse with the world. +How he had got there he hardly knew himself. + +Since Melitta had been so suddenly snatched away from him, he had been +seized with boundless indifference for everything that was not in some +way connected with her. She filled his whole soul. In this apathy he +had parted even with Bruno quite easily. He acceded to the wishes of +the baroness all the more readily, as he longed for solitude in his +present frame of mind. Thus he said yes to everything, and when he saw +the carriage start with the family inside, he felt as if he had been +relieved of a heavy burden. He hurriedly said good-by to Mr. Timm and +Marguerite, who remained at home, and flinging a light knapsack, which +dated still from his university years, upon his back, he wandered gayly +out at the door, like the hero in a fairy tale, without knowing where +he was going, or where he was to rest his weary head that night. + +The sun was burning hot; Oswald remembered that it would be fresh and +cool in the forest. He turned off the road, and soon the pine-trees +were rustling overhead. The low whispering of the thousand green leaves +lulled him into sweet reveries. Dreamily he wandered on till he +suddenly came out upon the clearing where Melitta's chapel stood, under +the shelter of a broad, branching beech-tree that counted many hundred +years. + +The door of the cottage was locked, the green blinds were closed, the +steps and the veranda carefully swept, as directed by the strict +regulations of old Baumann, who was now ruling supreme. He sat down +outside, lost in thought and resting his head in his hand. In the +branches of the beech-tree overhead, a little bird was twittering his +monotonous song in ever-repeated melancholy.... How lonely he felt--how +lonely and forsaken! Like a child which on its way back to beloved +parents has lost its way on the great heath. Here, at this very place, +he had been seated, the night before the party, with Melitta; she had +rested her head on his shoulder and her lips had whispered the +sweetest, most precious words of love. Now all was silent--so silent +that he could hear the beating of his own heart. Longing thoughts of +the absent one passed through his soul, as birds in their flight to the +South pass through the blue ether. + +A ray of the sun, which made its way, hot and piercing, through the +foliage, admonished him that it was time to go on. He was not in a +hurry, it is true. It was an early hour of the afternoon, and he was +likely to find some place or other where he might stay over night. Thus +he sauntered through the forest on a path which he had not trod before, +and which led him, before he was aware of it, down to the beach. Now he +followed the strand, sometimes high up on a bluff, if the sea washed +the foot of the chalk cliffs so as to leave no path; at other times on +the clean shingle of the narrow beach. Here and there a brook came +rushing out from the interior of the island, breaking its way through +the tall ramparts, and covering by its moisture the whole dell with an +almost Southern vegetation. But, with the exception of these few green +oases, the eye saw nothing but bare rocks, sterile sand, the monstrous +blue ocean, and here and there a white summer-cloud immovable on the +blue sky, while below a lonely sail would dot the wide expanse. And +with this monotonous view harmonized the monotonous music of the +breakers, interrupted at times by the cry of a gull or the melancholy +piping of a sandpiper. + +The monotony of these lines, these hues, these sounds, would have been +intolerable for a heavy, fresh mind, but it suited Oswald's state of +mind. There are hours when we welcome rainy weather or a dismal +landscape as old friends, on whose faces we can read their sympathy +with our sorrow; hours when sunshine and birds' songs and the merry +purling of a lively brook appear to us like an insult. Oswald's +melancholy mood harmonized with this sober mood of nature that seemed +to ignore happiness and joy, but knew all the more of the sorrows and +sufferings of life. Did not the sudden cry, the shrill piping of the +seamen sound like plaintive notes? Did it not sound as if the sea was +perpetually murmuring the confused riddle of life in half insane tones, +as the waves were breaking unceasingly and in monotonous accents +against the strand? And his own life appeared to him as aimless and +hapless as his wandering about among the rocks on the shore. Was it any +better than the mark he made on the hard sand which the next wave +washed away forever? Why was he born? why did he cause so much grief +and pain to himself and others, if it was all to end in nothing? And if +fortune really for once seems to smile, it is but for a moment; it is +but an illusion which a wicked fairy summons up from the inhospitable, +restless sea, to sink us the next instant in its unfathomable depth, +just as we fancy we are reaching the shore, with its waving palm-trees +and gorgeous palaces. + +A small village which lay before Oswald was hid in the innermost +recesses of a little bay, surrounded on all sides by tall chalk cliffs, +except only a small opening towards the sea. There the water was as +smooth and silent as a pond in a garden. A few huts lay near the beach; +others followed the banks of the brook, which here fell into the sea, +after having washed its way through the deep and wide dell. Little +gardens, adorned with bright shells, were before the doors; on the +passages within, seen through the open entrance, and strewn with white +sand, nets were hanging on long poles; a couple of red-cheeked boys +were busy tarring a new boat, and before one of the larger cottages sat +three women knitting nets. + +Oswald went up to them, and as they looked up with curiosity when they +heard his footstep, he asked them if he might be permitted to rest a +little there, and if they could get him a glass of water and a piece of +bread. + +"Stine," said the oldest of the three women--a matron of stately +proportions, and an exceedingly good-natured, sunburnt face--to one of +the two young girls by her side, "get up and give the gentleman your +seat. Don't you see he is tired and hungry? Go into the house and bring +out what we have. Sit down, sir. You are, no doubt, a painter?" + +"Why should I be a painter?" asked Oswald, taking the proffered seat. + +"Well, no man in his senses would climb about in such a heat; it is +only people who are not quite right there (pointing with her forefinger +at her forehead) that do so. Well, never mind, Mr. Painter, I have had +one of your companions to stay with me here, who stayed two weeks; and +if you are as steady and orderly as he was, you may stay also with +Mother Carsten; but you must not bedaub the walls, I tell you that at +once." + +Oswald could not help smiling as he saw himself thus unceremoniously +transformed into a travelling landscape painter. How? Should he accept +the harmless part which chance seemed to allot to him? He was perfectly +indifferent as to the place where he might stay; all he wanted was +solitude, and could he find deeper solitude than here in this secluded +bay, among these simple-hearted, good-natured people, who would not +mind it if he should spend half his days climbing about among the +rocks? And then he was near Berkow, from which he did not wish to go +far, since he had arranged it with Melitta, that if her absence should +be unexpectedly protracted, old Baumann would take charge of their +correspondence. + +"Then you would let me stay here a few days?" he asked. + +"Yes, but you must not bedaub the walls," said Mother Carsten. + +"I promise I will not do that," said Oswald, smiling. + +"Then you can stay as long as you choose. That is right, Stine, move +the table closer up to the gentleman; and look here, get some of the +old Cognac which Claus brought from England; pure water does no good in +this unreasonable heat." + + * * * * * + +Oswald had been staying nearly a week in the village, and he had never +repented for a moment his acceptance of Mother Carsten's invitation. He +enjoyed her highest favor. He had not made a line on the white-washed +walls of his little bedroom; he always had a kindly word for everybody, +even for the immensely old and almost crazy father of Mother Carsten, +who sat all day long in his easy-chair, staring at the sun and at the +sea, if his weary old eyes did not close in sleep, as was generally the +case. Mother Carsten said Oswald was as "orderly and staid" a man as +his predecessor, but that he was still less "right here,"--and the +forefinger went up to the forehead again,--than the other one. Mother +Carsten was induced to make such a strange remark by the fact that +Oswald not only did not cover the walls of his bedroom with charcoal +sketches of ships under sail, with cliffs around which the gulls were +fluttering, and with original faces of weather-beaten sailors, as his +predecessor had done, but that he did not draw or paint at all, but +simply ran about all day long on the strand, or pulled himself all +alone in a small boat so far out into the offing that they could hardly +make him out in the distance! How he could amuse himself all the time. +Mother Carsten could not divine; she would have probably thought it as +mysterious as ever if she had seen Oswald, as soon as he was alone, +draw a letter from his pocket which an old, odd-looking man had handed +to him several days before, and read it over and over again, as if he +had not long since known every word and every letter by heart. The +odd-looking old man, who rode one of those high-legged, long-necked +horses that Claus had seen in England, was, of course, no one else but +old Baumann on Brownlock. Oswald had sent him word, the day after his +arrival at the village, that he intended for the present to stay there, +and the same information had been sent to Grenwitz. The next day +already had brought him a letter from his beloved. It contained only a +few words, hastily written on the journey, just before retiring, in a +small town of Central Germany--a few words, confused and sad, but sweet +and precious, like kisses from beloved lips at the moment of wedding. +He had sent his answer back by Baumann, and was now looking daily for +another and a fuller letter with an impatience which was by no means +altogether joyous. + +All minds busy with ideals are apt to complain that nothing here below +is perfectly pure, and that often as we strive to ascend into brighter +and purer regions, a painful burden of earthy matter drags us soon down +again to the eternal level. + +Oswald also had frequently suffered from this difficulty; it had spoilt +many of his pleasures, it had made him dislike many good people and bad +musicians, it threatened even now to become fatal to his love. Not long +ago he had made the terrible discovery in his own heart that treachery +was lurking there when he thought it altogether filled with love. He +had excused himself, it is true, as to the scene in the bay-window at +Barnewitz, by saying: I was beside myself; I did not know what I was +doing--but can jealousy ever be an excuse for faithlessness? And then: +Was that jealousy at least perfectly dead now? Had it not blazed up +again in bright flames when he found Melitta's image behind the curtain +in the baron's room? Had he not listened to Melitta's recital with +breathless apprehension, ever fearing lest now a fact might come out +which would after all confirm his suspicions about that man--lest she +might, after all, have loved this remarkable man, perhaps without +knowing it herself? Had she not said: "I thought I loved him!" And at +the very moment when her story had reached the catastrophe which was to +explain everything, even her evident antipathy to Oldenburg at this +time--just then a message is brought of such a strange and weird nature +that it ends in upsetting Oswald's overwrought mind! It was not enough, +that he had in Baron Oldenburg a rival facing him in bodily presence; +he must now encounter, besides, a husband, or at least the ghost of a +husband, who rises from a night of insanity that has lasted seven +years, to beckon her to his dying bed--her, his beloved, his Melitta! +Oswald felt as if his own mind would give way were he to follow out +this thought. He had so completely forgotten that Melitta had ever been +married, that she had ever lain in the arms of another man, it mattered +little whether she had loved him or not--that she had ever accepted his +caresses--he crushed her letter, he could have cried aloud with pain, +he felt like dashing his head against the rocky cliffs. Why this poison +in the cup of his love? Why must the pure garments of his angel be +dragged through the mire of vulgar life? Why must a foul worm have been +gnawing at the beautiful flower? And if she were only free now! But +even when the night of insanity was to be swallowed up in the night of +death, she would not be free yet. She is the mother of her child, of +his child, and this consideration, forgotten for the moment, will +resume its place in the foreground, and she will have to give me up! +And yet, why should it not be so? Can I, the enthusiast for liberty, +ever marry the aristocrat? Can I dream of intruding upon a class of men +who will ever look at me askant? No! No! Rather live like these poor +fishermen, who must earn their daily bread at the risk of their lives +in their strife with the cruel ocean. + +Thus Oswald's mind was wandering restlessly about in a labyrinth of +painful doubts as he himself was wandering among the cliffs on the +lonely shore, and who knows where this constant brooding on painful +riddles might have led him in the end, if an event had not occurred +which forced him unexpectedly, and very much against his will, to +return to that society which he hated so bitterly. + + + + + CHAPTER XIII. + + +For when he returned on the next following day, towards evening, from a +long absence to the village, he found a carriage and two horses +standing before the door of Mother Carsten's cottage. This was so very +unusual an event in this secluded part of the world, that Oswald at +once presumed something extraordinary must have happened. Women and +children, and the few men who were not out fishing, stood staring +around the carriage and the door of the cottage. They wanted to know if +Stephen, Mother Carsten's father, was really going to die this time, or +whether the young doctor whom Mother Carsten had sent for a few hours +ago, would once more save him in spite of his fearful cough. + +This was what Oswald learned when he came in their midst. They stood +there with troubled faces, and were very talkative, contrary to their +usual habit. For Father Stephen was the patriarch of the village, +honored by all, even by Oswald, who, forgetful of his incognito, at +once hastened into the house and the sitting-room. The white-haired old +man sat there pale and languid, but apparently out of danger--thanks to +the opportune assistance of Doctor Braun, who was just trying to escape +from the expressions of gratitude with which he was overwhelmed by +Mother Carsten, her daughters, and half a dozen other women. + +"Welcome!" he said to Oswald, as the latter entered, "Welcome indeed, +for I have a commission for you; will you permit me to deliver it at +once, as my time is short?" + +The doctor took Oswald unceremoniously by the arm and led him out of +the house. + +"Pardon my impatience," he said, as they were walking down the beach +arm in arm, "but you see I am running away from the thanks of these +good people; and secondly, I look upon you, although we have, to my +regret, met only once before, as an old acquaintance, for you have been +very much in my thoughts since we met last at Mother Claus' cottage. +But now for my message! You probably do not know that the Grenwitz +family have all returned from their great journey, which I had +prescribed a few days ago." + +"No!" said Oswald, very much astonished. + +"How should you know it, to be sure, in this secluded village, +inhabited only by rude ichthyophagi? Enough, they are all back! The +baron--so says reliable Anna Maria had a terrible attack of fever in +Hamburg. The doctor who was called in declared it would be madness to +undertake a sea-voyage under such circumstances, and advised a return +home. Anna Maria, who had always opposed the journey, approved highly +of his advice--_bref!_ they packed the whole family, Miss Helen +included, into the old family coach, and here they are back again since +last night! Of course they sent immediately for me. I have been there +this afternoon, and when I accidentally mentioned that I would have to +come to this village, the baroness begged me to tell you that they +would be delighted at Grenwitz to see you once more within the old +walls of the chateau. I replied that it gave me very particular +pleasure to execute their commission, and that I would offer you my +carriage and my company, if you were ready to return with me--an offer +which I herewith most respectfully beg leave to repeat." + +Doctor Braun said this cheerfully and with much animation, as was his +wont, fixing his gray eyes, with the bright brown stars, steadily upon +Oswald. "I am not very welcome, I see; you need not conceal it from +me!" he added. + +"Not at all," replied Oswald, "I mean I know very well to distinguish +the messenger from the message, as Achilles did when they stole his +Brisaeis." + +"And who is the beautiful Brisaeis they have stolen from you?" asked the +doctor. + +"Solitude!" replied Oswald. + +"Well, I do not blame myself much for that," said the other, laughing; +"solitude is like the perfume of poisonous plants, sweet, but +intoxicating, and in time downright fatal, even for the strongest +constitutions. Will you follow my advice? Let the fair Brisaeis go her +way unhindered, wherever she wants to go; take a seat in my carriage, +and let us drive to Grenwitz, where you will, moreover, find a girl +that will make you cry out, at first sight: Here is more than Brisaeis!" + +"Miss Helen?" + +"Miss Helen--also a Greek name, and one of better sound than the other. +But the sun, or rather Helios, is lowering his chariot, and my horses +are becoming impatient. You will come?" + +"Certainly!" said Oswald. + + * * * * * + +Fifteen minutes later the carriage with the two young men was already +rolling swiftly towards Grenwitz, which was only an hour's distance +off. Oswald had been compelled to promise Mother Carsten that he would +soon come back again. Old and young had crowded around him with great +cordiality, calling Good-by, sir! after him, and thus showing that +without any effort on his part he had succeeded, during the short time +of his stay there, in winning the favor of the harmless good people in +a high degree. + +The evening was extremely beautiful. The sun was hanging like a red +ball on the horizon and poured a magic light over the lonely landscape. +In the tall heather the cicadae were chirping; right and left, while +above the swallows were swiftly shooting to and fro in the clear soft +air. Oswald felt for the first time almost cheerful again, and had to +admit that the wise man by his side was right in saying that the +pleasures of solitude were paid for too dear. + +"How sorry I am," he said, "that we have not been able to carry out our +intention of meeting more frequently." + +"_L'homme propose et Dieu dispose_," replied Doctor Braun. "We must try +to do better hereafter. You will remain, I am told, for some time in +this neighborhood, and I also will probably not move to Grunwald as +soon as I had intended." + +"You mean to settle there?" + +"At least for a time. I am in competition here with an excellent man, +who has certainly far more experience than I have, but who still +suffers by the good luck I have had in some cases where I have cured my +patients, and because the world is ever running after something new, +though it may not be any better than what they had before. Two +physicians, however, is too much for this neighborhood; my colleague is +old and has to support a large family; I am young and as yet only +engaged to be married--consequently it is for me to make room for him." + +"That is very generous." + +"It may look so, but it is not quite so generous. I only pour out +the good water because I hope to find it still better. My future +father-in-law is one of the first physicians in Grunwald. Half of his +practice I shall certainly fall heir to when he retires, which he +contemplates doing. My future wife is at home in Grunwald, and as every +fish is most comfortable in its own little pond, and as I am, besides, +heartily tired of the company of Cyclops and Ichthyophagi--well, you +see my generosity does not go very far, after all." + +"Would it be indiscreet to ask you the name of your lady?" + +"Not at all: Miss Roban." + +"I have often had the pleasure of meeting Miss Roban in company, when I +lived in Grunwald. My worthy friend, Professor Berger, used to call her +the only swan in an enormous flock of geese." + +"You lived some time in Grunwald?" + +"I have but just left it, after having led a most idyllic life in the +shady, silent street of the good old town for half a year, and after +having passed through my examinations under Berger's auspices." + +"But--I fear you will complain of my indiscretion--what induced you, +when you once had that bridge of the blind and the lame behind you, to +prefer the still life of a tutor in a noble family to a sphere of +action in a larger circle? You have evidently all the qualifications +for the latter, while here it is simply impossible for you to develop +your full powers?" + +"What induced me?" replied Oswald; "I hardly know myself. This only I +know: I always had an innate horror of what the world calls a permanent +place; then the influence of Professor Berger, who advised me earnestly +not to tie myself down before my time, but first to wander a few years +about in the world. My present engagement actually binds me to do so, +as soon as my pupils shall have wings able to bear them abroad." + +"Do you know, I fear, or rather I hope, you will not be able to carry +out the plans of your eccentric friend as far as he intended?" + +"Why?" + +"Because--pardon me if I am too candid--because you are here in a false +position, which must sooner or later become unbearable. Such a position +is good only for one who cannot stand on his own feet, and is compelled +to lean upon others; one who is accustomed from childhood up to +subordinate his will to that of others, or rather, one who has no will +and no opinion of his own. You are nothing of the kind. You are far too +important for these people. They annoy you, and _vice versa_. You think +the baroness, what she really is, an ambitious, proud, avaricious +person, stupid in spite of her reading; the baroness thinks you, what +you are not, an immensely conceited, supercilious fool. You live in the +same house, you eat at the same table, and yet you have no more points +of contact than if a world lay between you. You stay together because +neither of you chooses to say the word that will part you till the +moment comes when one or the other will be compelled to utter it. Am I +right?" + +"I cannot deny it." + +"You see! And the matter will be worse and worse." + +"Why so?" + +"Till now you had in this house of fools only one noble being whom you +could love and pity, that admirable boy, Bruno; now, when you return, +you will find there a second client. I fear the poor girl has been +dragged away from her idyl, at the Hamburg boarding-house, in order to +play the principal part in a family tragedy. I fear there is a terrible +tempest ready to break upon the fair head of the unfortunate girl. As I +know you, you will try to ward off the blow and you will be +disconsolate if you fail. You look at me with open eyes, and I see that +you know as good as nothing of the secrets of the family with whom you +have been living now for three months. The thing is this: Anna Maria +lives in constant fear of the death of the baron, because, as soon as +he dies, she loses not only an old husband, but also the prospect of +laying up quite a fortune out of the surplus of her revenues. That is +why Malte is of less importance to her. Nevertheless, she fears for +him also, because at his death the entail passes out of the family, +and into the hands of a younger line, of which Felix Grenwitz, an +ex-lieutenant and well-known roue, is the representative. And now comes +the deviltry: to secure her influence even after the death of the baron +and of Malte, Anna Maria has concocted a match between Miss Helen and +her excellent cousin Felix. The poor child knows nothing as yet of this +interesting project; but I fear the great Felix knows all the more. He +is coming to Grenwitz in a few days--as the baroness says, to recover +his worn-out health, far from the exciting life of the city, in the +peaceful retirement of country life. In a word, it is the usual +_misere_ of Credit and Debit, the ordinary farce in which an innocent +doll-baby is trained and prepared, and you will have the happiness to +be allowed admittance to this sublime performance." + +"That shall never be," exclaimed Oswald. + +"Then you will give up your place." + +"I suppose I must--or----" a tempest of passion filled Oswald's soul. +He thought of unhappy Marie, who now frequently appeared to him in his +dreams, with her hands crossed on her bosom, and looking like a +martyred saint; he thought of Melitta, who had been sold by her own +father! Now the rascality was to be repeated--before his eyes. + +"Never, never!" he said. + +"Then you will give up your place?" + +"No; at least not till I have defeated that plan in some way or +other--before I have done all in my power to defeat it!" + +"But what do you think you can do? My dear friend, generosity is a +virtue which has to be examined very closely, lest the crown of the +hero, of which we dream, changes into a fool's cap! Think of the noble +knight of La Mancha, and how his knightly body was beaten and bruised +for his benevolent intentions!--And then, are you sure that the +Andromeda, whose Perseus you propose to become, really desires to be +liberated? I do not know Baron Felix--perhaps he is better than his +reputation; I never said two words to Miss Helen--perhaps she is by no +means as good and sweet as she is beautiful." + +"She is so, rely upon it," cried Oswald, warmly. + +"It is well for you, you are not thirty yet!" laughed the doctor. + +"Why?" + +"Because you know what happens to enthusiasts at that time of life, +according to Goethe? They die--on the same cross which they have been +dragging through life so far. But here we are at the gates. Will you +permit me to set you down here? I have to make a visit in the village +and this is the nearest way; if I went through the castle it would +detain one too long. Day after to-morrow I shall be in Grenwitz. I hope +your pulse will be calmer then. I told you before: Solitude is simply +poison for your system. Adieu!" + + + + + CHAPTER XIV. + + +It was a superb sight which the courtyard of Castle Grenwitz presented +when Oswald entered through the dark portal,--a sight well calculated +to lull a careworn heart to slumber. The red evening sun was still +lying warm on the highest tops of the magnificent linden-trees, which +led up to the portal of the chateau, and upon the lofty battlements of +the old castle; but deep shadows had fallen already upon the space +beneath the trees, the sides of the walls, and the tall grass, which +everywhere cropped out between the pavement. The crowns of the +linden-trees, which were covered with a snow of white blossoms, exhaled +a sweet perfume which filled the whole atmosphere. All around reigned +such perfect stillness that the busy hum of insects was distinctly +heard; on the brim of the basin of the headless Naiad sat a little bird +and sang to the setting sun; high up in the rose-colored air a few +swallows were still swiftly shooting to and fro, as if they could not +leave the glorious bright air for their homes below. + +Slowly, almost reluctantly, Oswald approached the chateau. He felt the +charm of this evening hour, and knew that the first word spoken by man +would break it. But he met no one. The whole courtyard was deserted. He +ascended the winding staircase and went through the long passages, in +which his footsteps sounded loud, to his room. The windows were open; +the arm-chair stood in its right place; on the table, before the sofa, +stood a vase filled with fresh flowers, and the head of the Belvedere +Apollo had also been crowned with ivy. The room had been righted up by +one who knew the owner's peculiarities. Evidently Bruno had been at +work here. + +Oswald was most pleasantly surprised by this silent and yet eloquent +welcome. It was like a warm hand which kindly pressed his own,--like a +breath that whispered his name. The storm in his soul, which had been +roused by the doctor's words, had passed away, and its place was filled +by melancholy sadness. + +Oswald had been sitting at the window, leaning his head on his hand. +Suddenly he thought he heard voices from the lawn on the other side of +the chateau. He recollected that it was time he should seek out the +company and speak to them. He dressed, took a carnation from the +bouquet, and went down. + +As he opened the door of the sitting-room, from which the glass door +led upon the lawn, he heard the voices more distinctly, and when he had +entered the empty room, he saw a part of the company busy upon the lawn +with the favorite game of the baroness. He softly went up to the door, +and remained standing at the very spot from which Melitta on that +afternoon had seen him for the first time, when he came from under the +trees, arm in arm with Bruno. + +The company consisted of the baron and the baroness, Mademoiselle +Marguerite and Mr. Timm, Malte and Bruno, and a young lady who was +turning her back to Bruno, so that he could only see the slender, lithe +figure, whose charming outlines a simple white robe set off to great +advantage, and the luxuriant, slightly curling black hair, which, +parted in the middle, was taken up behind in countless braids and +plaits, following the contour of the marvellously well-shaped head. + +Oswald's eyes were attracted, as if by magic spell, by this youthful +figure who stood there motionless, without leaving the place for a +moment, and who only at regular intervals raised the arms in order to +receive the graces sent to her with unerring accuracy by her neighbor +Bruno, or to send them on to Malte, who let them as regularly drop, and +bitterly complained that Helen was throwing so badly. He added that she +only did it to spite him, and that somebody else ought to take his +place. + +"Then come here, Helen," said the baroness. "You really throw too +badly." + +Mother and daughter exchanged places, and Oswald could now see Helen's +face. + +It was one of those faces that are never forgotten again; one of those +faces which we remember with melancholy pleasure half a century later, +as we remember a warm summer evening on which we little school-boys +were playing in a garden and the laughing of the big girls came from +the garden-house; one of those faces which smile upon us when we are +most sad, like a ray of the sun on a dismal autumnal day, which, when +all is sad and sorrowful in our hearts, make us believe once more in +poetry, and in all that is good and divine. + +Oswald was standing there lost in admiration, as we remain standing in +adoration before a sublime painting. It was not the lovely oval of the +charming face; it was not the large, dark, dreamy eyes which shone +forth from under the long, black lashes with such magic light; it was +not the full, rosy lips that laughed so bewitchingly, nor the dark +carnation of her velvety complexion--it was all and everything. Who can +catch the sunbeams? Who can reduce the song of the nightingale to +notes? Who can analyze beauty? Oswald did not attempt it; he only felt +that he never had seen, and never would see anything more beautiful in +all his life, and he fancied a sweet dream he had so often dreamt was +at last fulfilled, and he had found the Blue Flower for which he had +been looking everywhere in vain. + +Oswald wished to speak to the company, but he felt as if he were +chained to the ground. An inexplicable anxiety seized him, a timid +fear, as if something fearful must happen next; as if at that moment +the secret powers of Fate were deciding on his weal and woe for +life.... He would have liked to fly away to the deepest solitude. + +He noticed just then that the old baron, who might have found it too +cool out of doors, had left the circle, and was coming up to the house. +He made an effort and stepped through the glass door to meet him. His +appearance was of course noticed at once, and a universal: Ah, see +there, Doctor Stein! See there, the doctor! greeted him, while Bruno, +running and leaping up to him, had embraced him long before the others +could come near to greet him. + +"Why, this is charming, doctor," said the baroness, with her most +gracious smile. "We were inconsolable at the thought that we would miss +you for weeks yet, and now you are here in our midst. What do you say +to our coming back so soon? Poor Grenwitz! he was very sick. Go in, +dear Grenwitz, it is really quite cool out here. We will all go in. And +our circle has been added to in the mean time. Where is Helen?--_Helene, +viens ici, ma chere!_ Let me present my daughter Helen to you. I have +made her hope that you will be kind enough to help her in supplying +the many things she ought to have learnt and has not learnt. For you +do not know how very imperfect the education of girls in boarding-schools +is in point of science! I am sure you will admit the little one among +your pupils? _Mademoiselle, n'avez-vous pas mon fichu? Ah, le voila. +Merci bien! et dites-donc qu'on allume la lampe!_ I think we will all +go into the salon." + +"Certainly," said Mr. Timm, who had been unusually quiet so far. "Hard +weeks, pleasant Sundays, work in the day-time, and a merry bowl at +night, as the old Privy Councillor says. No allusion, madam, I assure +you!" + +"But you would not be sorry, I am sure, if we understood the allusion, +eh?" said the baroness, apparently determined to charm everybody +to-night. + +"I would not be true to myself if I were to deny it," said Mr. Timm, +placing his hand on his heart, "and you know, madam, I hate all want of +truthfulness." + +"_Eh bien_," said the baroness, "and you shall yourself select the +ingredients. Will you arrange it with mademoiselle?" + +"Famous," said Mr. Timm; "madam, permit me to kiss your hand," and +after having obtained and used the permission, he drew the little +Frenchwoman aside to teach her the receipt for a famous bowl of punch. + +They had been sitting perhaps for an hour in the salon, pleasantly +chatting, Mr. Timm had sung several comic songs of his own composition +with the accompaniment of the piano, and performed a few burlesque +scenes, in which he represented two or three different persons with as +many different voices,--in short, he had done all in his power to amuse +the somewhat silent company, and yet been compelled to drink his +self-brewed punch almost alone,--when the baroness proposed that they +should retire. Mr. Timm requested, as his only reward for his efforts, +the permission to kiss the ladies' hands, which was granted him very +graciously by the baroness. Miss Helen, however, refused, and told him +curtly, and slightly contracting her beautifully arched brows, that the +artist's reward was in himself. Mr. Timm began to remonstrate, but +Oswald cut the matter short by wishing everybody "Good-night!" and +leaving the room with Bruno (Malte had gone to bed before), thus +compelling Mr. Timm, who lived in the same part of the building, to +follow his example. Altogether Oswald had not treated his old friend +exactly well, and it required all the good-nature and the humility of +the latter to bear it quietly, and to continue in his usual reckless +way of talking till they had reached their rooms. + +"God be thanked!" said Oswald, when he saw himself alone in his room +with Bruno, "at last we are rid of the eternal talker. And I have not +yet been able to ask your pardon, Bruno, for my coldness and +indifference at our last parting, nor to thank you for forgetting it +all like a good brother.--Was it you who prepared me such a friendly +welcome? Who put those flowers there?" + +"Yes----" + +"And the ivy wreath around the head of Apollo?" + +"Yes." + +"And you put the arm-chair in its place?" + +"Yes----" + +"You dear, dear fellow! Come, let us both sit down in it, and now you +must tell me all about your wanderings, of the cities you have seen, of +the Cyclopes you have blinded, of the sufferings you have endured--all, +all in order, you know, as Polyphemus milks his sheep." + +Oswald had thrown himself into the chair, and drawn Bruno down on his +lap. Thus they sat; the boy came close up to his only friend and began +to tell,--first describing ironically the journey; how now the baron +and now Malte had been unable to sit with their backs to the horses; +how, at last, both had taken a seat on the box, while the postilion +came into the carriage--and how much he, Bruno, had enjoyed it to see +ever new towns and villages, and at last Hamburg itself. + +Then his recital assumed another tone. He described quite seriously the +impression made upon him by the city, the fine, stately houses, the +crowd in the streets, the activity in the harbor, the great basin, in +which the brilliant gas-lights were reflected, and what a superb effect +that produced, and how he had come near falling into the water, if +Helen had not held him. And when he had once mentioned Helen's name it +turned up continually, like a bright star amid dark clouds; how Helen +had wept upon leaving Hamburg; how she had dried her tears at her +mother's words: "You seem to be quite sorry to return to your parents," +and how she had scarcely ever smiled after that during the whole +journey. For she is very proud, he added, but also very, very kind +towards all she loves, for instance, towards her father and also +towards me, although I would not pretend to say that she is fond of me. +Only this, the boy said, he knew, that one evening, when it was very +late and he very tired from the long ride, so that he could not keep +his eyes open any longer, she had sat very quietly and patiently, with +his head resting on her shoulder. He should never forget her for that; +and if ever the opportunity offered to render her any service, he only +wished it would be a matter of life and death, else it would not be +enough for him. + +Thus the boy talked on, and the words fell like fiery sparks from a +house in full blaze, and his cheeks were all aglow. Oswald noticed that +the beautiful girl had made a deep impression upon the wild boy, but he +did not suspect how deep, how all-powerful this impression was, and +what a revolution this first sudden affection had produced in his +precocious and overflowing heart. He laughed at his pet's fiery +enthusiasm all the more wittily, as he shared it in no inconsiderable +degree, and Bruno, who accepted anything from Oswald, laughed too, and +laughing and joking they said "Good-night" to each other. Bruno went to +his room; Oswald sat down again in his chair. + +The lamp was burning on the table before the sofa, but so dimly that +even the faint gleam of the moon, which was just rising above the +forest, could be distinctly seen in the room. A single star near the +delicate crescent shone from the nightly blue of the sky. The soft +balsamic air came in through the open window--it was so still that the +noise of the falling dew-drops could be distinctly heard. And now, as +Oswald sat and listened, he heard suddenly the sounds of a piano, +coming to him like the echo of an AEolian harp. It was evidently a most +skilful hand that produced them; first low, quite low, as if she feared +to awake night from her slumber, then very gradually louder and louder. +The accords floated slowly into a melody, and soon a soft alto voice +began to sing the song to which the melody belonged. Oswald could not +hear the words, but they seemed to be soft and sad as the air, which +spoke wondrously to the heart with its simple touching complaint. + +Such music at such an hour would have charmed Oswald even if he had not +suspected who the singer was. But now that he knew there was no one +else who could sing here but the beautiful girl, before whom he had +that night bowed his soul in adoration as before an apparition from on +high, at seeing whom he had felt as if a new revelation was vouchsafed +to him--now it touched the innermost chords of his heart, and he felt +as if he must seek words to give vent to the overwhelming impression +which he could not otherwise master. He rose like a drunken man from +his seat at the window, he went to the table and wrote in wild, +incoherent words, which gradually arranged themselves and finally +assumed the shape of a sonnet. He locked it up carefully and went +back to the window. The moon and the stars were hid behind a dark +storm-cloud, which had risen behind them and now overhung that part of +the heavens. The song had ceased and the night wind alone sang in the +trees. + +He closed the window and went to his couch. A heavy sleep fell upon +him, disturbed by anxious dreams. Now he was in a terrible fire, and +now he was to be torn by wild beasts; then again he felt that +indescribable anguish which seems to be a horror coming down to us from +another world, but always at the moment of greatest need an angel +appeared at his side and stretched a protecting hand over him, and this +angel bore the features of--Melitta. + + + + + CHAPTER XV. + +As Oswald was looking for something among the papers on his +writing-table, on the following morning, he came upon a note, which he +had overlooked the night before. He recognized at once the handwriting, +which was as problematic as the writer, with its now bold and grand, +now scribbled and confused characters. Oldenburg wrote:-- + + +"I have just received information which compels me to start immediately +on a distant journey, which may be extended I know not how long. +Certainly not less than a week. I write these lines to drop them at +Grenwitz, if I should not see you, which I would regret very much, as I +have much to tell you. I take our Czika with me, as the solitude does +not seem to me a safe place for her during my absence. I shall +certainly be back for the day appointed by the gypsy woman. Until then, +farewell. + +"In great haste, and with still greater friendship, + + "A. O." + + +Oswald was strangely impressed by this letter, for that divining power +which plays so prominent a part in matters of the heart, made him at +once suspect some connection between this sudden departure of Oldenburg +and Melitta's departure. Whether much that he heard about the relations +existing between the two appeared to him now in a new light since +Melitta's recital, or whether it was merely the vagueness of +Oldenburg's statement--enough, Oswald resented it as a kind of insult, +that he was continually encountering riddles in that direction. He +determined to go across to Berkow this very day, and to see if old +Baumann had a letter for him from Melitta. + +Then his thoughts turned into another channel when his eye fell upon +the verses he had written the night before. He smiled now as he read +them over. "There your wretched imagination has played you another +trick," he said to himself. "You have only to hear of a pretty girl who +is to marry somebody else and not your highness, and you have a +paroxysm of pity with the girl and a paroxysm of hate against the man. +And then you have only to see the girl, and to find that she has large +bright eyes, and looks more attractive than half-grown girls generally +do, and a boy has only to tell you stories about this half-grown girl, +and you are forced to write miserable verses like these, which I +would put instantly in the fire if we were not unfortunately in the +dog-days." + +But Oswald held no _auto da fe_, although the light of a candle would +have done him the same service, but put the paper away again in his +desk. + +The morning greeted him so kindly from the dew-refreshed garden, that +Oswald could not resist the temptation to saunter about a little among +the flower-beds and in the shady avenues. Besides, it was early yet, +almost two hour's time, and the boys were still asleep. + +Oswald hastened down and went to his favorite place, the immense wall +which encircled the chateau, the garden, and the courtyard, and on +which he loved to walk under the beeches and the walnut-trees, +especially in the morning, when the red rays of the sun were peeping +through the waving branches, and the half-wild ducks were enjoying +themselves heartily on the moss-grown moat. + +Oswald sauntered leisurely along, enjoying all the charming details of +the delicious morning, and giving himself up to the enjoyment all the +more heartily to-day, as the loveliness, the soft beauty that +surrounded him here on all sides contrasted very strangely with the +sombre monotony of the seacoast, which he had of late continually had +before his eyes. Now he could hardly understand how he had been so +completely overcome by his bad humor. The doctor was right: solitude is +a sweet intoxicating poison which finally kills. I must consult the +doctor frequently. A clear head, which sees men and things always in +the right light. But still he is mistaken about the proposed match +between Miss Helen and her cousin. In the first place, she is much too +young; secondly, she is too beautiful; and thirdly, I won't have it. Do +you hear, _madame la baroness_? I won't have it! You will not carry out +your nice plan, however much you may stare at me with your big and +presumptuous eyes, and draw yourself up to your full height. + +It was fortunate that Oswald was not pronouncing these words grandly +and pathetically, but murmured them merely in his beard, for just as he +was turning round the corner of the walk, which a projecting shrub made +still sharper, he found himself suddenly face to face with Miss Helen. +The meeting was so surprising to both parties that the young girl +scarcely succeeded in suppressing a loud cry, and Oswald, contrary to +his habit, became exceedingly embarrassed, and hardly knew whether to +speak to the young lady or pass her with a silent bow. + +Miss Helen, however, relieved him from his doubts; for she found it +quite natural that the young tutor, whose powers of conversation had +not shone forth very brightly the night before, should not have the +presence of mind to start immediately a conversation. She thought it, +therefore, quite proper to help him, by making a harmless remark about +the fine morning. + +"The fine morning, I see, has brought you out too." + +"Yes, the morning is really very fine." + +"Delicious. Have you always had such fine weather of late?" + +"Always--I mean, a few rainy days excepted." + +"When one sees the sky looking so deep blue, one would be tempted to +consider bad weather a fairy fable--don't you think so?" + +"Certainly." + +Miss Helen probably thought the very clever conversation had lasted +quite long enough, and as they happened to have come to a place where a +narrow flight of steps led down from the wall into the garden, she +availed herself of this opportunity to end the scene in her own +interest and that of her monosyllabic companion. + +"Have you any idea what time it is?" + +"Half-past six." + +"Already? Then I must make haste to get back to the house before mamma +finds out that I am not there." + +Miss Helen nodded carelessly with her head, stepped down the steep +steps, and went slowly between the flower-beds towards the house. + +"The happy know no hour," said Oswald to himself, following the slender +youthful figure with his eyes; "my meteorological observations have +evidently not made her happy, and she was less anxious to get back to +the house than to get away from me. At all events, she seems to have +time enough to gather a pretty bouquet. It is no doubt intended for me. +I have evidently made a conquest. How she looked at me with her, +wonderful eyes, half pitying, half contemptuous, as if she meant to +say: I do you a great favor if I leave you alone with your bashfulness! +She is proud, says Bruno, but how well that pride becomes her! How can +a girl with such a face, such eyes, and such hair, be anything else but +proud? It is her atmosphere, in which alone she can live, as the eagle +in the highest regions of the air. The eagle is proud, too, and no one +blames him for it.... How very beautiful she is! A superb beauty that +need not be afraid of broad daylight, and that seems to be the greater +the more costly the frame is in which it is set. A weird kind of +beauty, too, that enchains us, and transfixes us as that of the deadly +beautiful Medusa. Ah! now I know it! It is the very face of the +Grenwitz family, of which Albert spoke--divine, and yet not without its +trace of the Evil One! Feature by feature! it is Harald's face +translated into the other sex; the same demoniac eyes, the same +intoxicating feature around the full, almost exuberant lips, the same +strength in the luxuriant bluish black hair which curls high up on the +broad, firm forehead!--Gracious mamma! You are sorely mistaken if you +fancy that forehead will easily bow to your decrees! Excellent Baron +Felix, you will have to do great credit to your name as the lucky one, +if you wish to succeed here! The morning is really delightful, and one +would really be tempted to consider bad weather a fairy tale when one +sees the skies so deep blue." + +Oswald had of late been so exclusively occupied with his own affairs +that he now felt the want, for a change, to interest himself in the +affairs of others. The baroness was surprised at the sympathy with +which he entered upon her ideas at table, and during a long +conversation after dinner. He actually discussed with her several +questions which she raised about his instruction: Would it not be +expedient during the hot terms to commence the lessons at seven instead +of eight? Might not the afternoon lessons be altogether omitted? Did he +think the books which Helen had so far used for her studies of History +and Literature still suitable for her? Would two lessons a week suffice +for her? and did he think the morning or the evening better for the +purpose? + +The old baron also was pleasantly surprised when Oswald proved an +attentive listener to the long history of his complaints. Oswald had +always treated him with great courtesy, and he had looked upon him as a +good and amiable young man, in spite of the decided opposition of Anna +Maria and the somewhat doubtful assent of the Reverend Mr. Jager. He +was glad, therefore, to be able to express this opinion today in +harmony with Anna Maria. The journey seemed in fact to have produced a +most happy influence on the baroness. Mademoiselle Marguerite, who +certainly had the means of forming an opinion on that subject, told +Albert: "She is changed _totalement_, she me has not scolded a single +time the whole day;" whereupon the ingenuous Albert said: "Yes; I think +myself the old dragon is quite enjoyable to-day." In a word, such peace +and harmony reigned to-day at Castle Grenwitz as had not been known +there for many a year. Everybody seemed to have forgotten his reasons +for being discontented with the others. This might indeed be the result +of different causes in each case, but as the effect was very pleasing +to all, they took for good coin what everybody offered as such--of +course reserving the right to pay him back in the same coin. + +Oswald had not forgotten his meeting with Miss Helen in the morning, +and, fully conscious of the impression he had then produced on the +beautiful, proud young lady, he was pleased to find more than one +opportunity during the day to make his natural advantages more +prominent. When they asked him at table to tell what had happened to +him during the absence of the family, he described his solitary life in +the fishermen's village, assuming a half-amusing, half-sentimental part +in the little drama, and taking good care to leave the romantic mystery +undisturbed, in which he concealed his stay there. Good Mother Carsten +became an heroic dame; her red-haired daughters, Stine and Line, were +changed into lovely Undines, and the old half-idiotic Father Stephen +into a wise Merlin. The chalk cliffs of the coast rose to immeasurable +heights, and the breakers thundered amid the rocks with Ossianic +majesty. The company, although feeling the exaggeration, listened +nevertheless with breathless interest, and Oswald felt, as the fairest +reward for his fantastic improvisation, that Helen's large brilliant +eyes were immovably fixed upon him during his recitals, half in wonder +and half in doubt. + +He had become so completely the soul of the company that they seemed +almost to resent it when he declared, directly after supper, that he +could not join them on their proposed walk through the beech forest, +because it was mail-day the next day, and he had to write several +important letters. If Oswald meant by this refusal to comply with the +well-known rule, that we must retire at the very moment when we have +made ourselves necessary to the company, then he could be well +satisfied with his success. Miss Helen, at least, condescended to ask +him downright to stay, and as he insisted, she turned so abruptly from +him that her anger was evident. + +But Oswald had in this case other and better motives to keep him from +staying any longer. The bright star which had just risen above the +horizon, had not blinded him so completely that he should have +forgotten the other constellation which had looked down upon him so +long, and with such a constant, faithful, loving light. He had hoped to +find a letter yesterday already; he was afraid old Baumann might have +inquired after him the same evening on which he had left the village +with the doctor. He had told Mother Carsten, to be sure, that he was +going back to Grenwitz; but old Baumann could of course not bring him +Melitta's letter to the chateau, where it might so easily fall into +wrong hands. And yet Oswald longed anxiously for the long-expected +letter. + +As soon, therefore, as he had left the company he stole away through +the garden and the big gate, which led almost immediately into the pine +forest between Grenwitz and Berkow. It was dark already under the tall +trees, with their broad overhanging branches. The wood, warmed by the +heat of the day, gave out a fragrant aroma in the cool evening. The +whole forest lay buried in almost painful stillness. + +And now in this solemn evening hour, in this imposing forest temple, +the memory of Melitta overcame Oswald's heart. Her tall form, so lovely +in all its round fulness; her rich brown hair, which flowed so softly +in swelling waves from the head down upon the shoulders; her dark +affectionate eyes, her lovely playful manner,--and alas! above all, her +unspeakable goodness and love,--how clearly her image stood before his +soul! how ardently he vowed never, never to be faithless to her, the +good, the sweet, the lovely one, not even in thought, and to return +infinite love for her love, come what may! + +Then he heard the hoofs of a horse on the soft ground of the silent +forest, and soon a horseman rose in the twilight, who came up at a +rapid trot. Oswald started with joyful surprise when he recognized old +Baumann on Brownlock. + +"A letter? Do you have a letter?" he cried, with such vehemence that +Brownlock started aside. + +"Quiet, Brownlock, be quiet!" said the old man, patting the horse's +slender neck. "Good evening, sir! I have looked for you down at the +village, but whereas I was informed that you had already yesterday gone +to Grenwitz, I was on the point of riding over there----" + +"But how if you had not found me there? and under what pretext could +you gain admittance there?--But never mind--where is the letter?" + +"Here," said the old man, who had in the mean time got down from his +horse, drawing quite a considerable package from the deep pocket of his +long overcoat. + +"Hand it here!" + +"Be patient, I pray, sir! I have thought of everything. This package, +as you may see, is well tied up and sealed, and bears the inscription: +'Herewith the kindly lent books, with many thanks. Baumann will hand +you the others as soon as I have read them,' and the signature: 'Your +most obedient, B.'--that means, of course, Bemperlein as well as +Baumann, eh?" + +Old Baumann had, while he was speaking, untied the string, and taken +from one of the three books which it contained a letter, which Oswald +hastily opened and held towards the light to read. But the darkness was +too great already under the trees; he could only decipher the +signature: dearest darling. + +"I cannot see," he said, sadly. + +"If you had remained in the village, as you intended doing the other +day, or if you had yesterday sent word to old Baumann, you would have +been in possession of my mistress' letter before daylight was gone." + +Oswald felt the reproach hid in these calmly spoken words, and he found +no difficulty to confess his wrong to Melitta's faithful servant and +friend. + +"I beg your pardon," he said, "that I have given you all this trouble. +I have blamed myself all day long for my thoughtlessness, and now I am +severely punished for it, for I hold the dear letter in my hand, and +yet I cannot see how Frau von Berkow is, whether she is well, if she +has reached the town, and a thousand other things which I should like +to know, and which, no doubt, are all mentioned here"--and he tried +once more to read the letter. + +"Well, well," said old Baumann, "don't trouble yourself about me; ten +miles more or less don't matter much to me or to Brownlock; and as for +the news you want to hear, I can tell you something about that, +considering that Mr. Bemperlein has sent me a letter, in which he tells +me at full length all about the journey and what has happened when they +arrived there." The old man had hung the reins over his arm and walked +by Oswald's side; the latter hastened his steps to get out of the +forest, and to reach Grenwitz and his room as soon as possible. + +"My mistress--God bless her," said the old man, "accompanied by Mr. +Bemperlein, reached her destination on the third day, and without +accident Mr. Bemperlein at once communicated with Dr. Birkenhain, and +learnt that Baron Berkow was still alive, but not restored to +consciousness, and so weak that his dissolution was expected every +hour. That continued so till the day when the letter was posted, on +which day my mistress, in company with Mr. Bemperlein and----" + +The old man paused and coughed. + +"Well, and----?" asked Oswald, whose suspicions about Baron Oldenburg +were once more aroused. + +"Well, and the doctor, of course, who else?" said the old man. "Well, +what was I going to say? You have confused me with your question, sir. +Ah, yes! In company with Mr. Bemperlein and the doctor went to see the +baron for a few minutes. He did not recognize her, and the baron was so +changed that he looked to my mistress, as she had said herself, like a +perfect stranger. He also spoke a few words, but not one could be +understood. Then they went away again, and immediately the baron had +fallen once more into a deep sleep, and the doctor said that would +probably be his condition till he died--which the Lord may bring about +very soon by his mercy, so that the poor man may be relieved of his +sufferings and my mistress may at last be able to breathe freely." + +"Amen!" said Oswald. + +"For you see, sir," continued the old man, "my mistress has not had +much happiness all her life long, and that grieves me, for I love her +as if she were my own child, and perhaps better. For I have never had +any children myself, but I see how other fathers do with their +children, and how they are not ashamed to treat them not as fathers, +and not even as Christian men. And the father of my mistress--well, he +was my master, and I have fought through many a campaign with him, and +we ought not to speak evil of the departed--but he was a bad man, and +yet not exactly bad either, only wild and reckless, like the youngest +officer in the regiment. The madder an undertaking was, the better he +liked it, and mad deeds and bad deeds often look so much alike it is +hard to distinguish them. He meant no harm with them, however, even +when he remained as fond of ladies after his marriage as he had been +before, but he broke my mistress' heart nevertheless, and she died when +her only child was only two years old. Then there was nobody there to +take care of her but old Baumann. I took her and played with her, and +afterwards, when she grew up, I learnt to read and write with her, for +I did not know it before, and a little French, and whatever else I +could get into my old head. And then I taught her how to ride, so that +she has not her equal on horseback, and thus I grew once more young +with her, and never wanted any children of my own, for she was my +precious, darling child, although I was but a poor ignorant cavalryman, +and she a great lady of high and mighty family. And I have often +thought in my mind, if she would not have had a better life of it if +she had really been my child? For to be great and rich is all very +well, but I think, nevertheless, those whom God loves are born poor. I +should never have dreamt of selling my own blood and flesh for vile +Mammon; I should never have been on my knees before my own child, +beseeching her to marry such and such a person to save her father from +disgrace, when I knew very well she did not love him, but that he had +money enough to pay all my debts and to keep enough for her and for +him. And matters were not quite so bad yet with Baron Barnewitz. What +he had lost at play he might have won again at play, and he did win a +good deal back again, so that he often told me afterwards, when he had +taken a little too much: 'If I had known, Baumann, that I would have +such luck at faro, then the--it is an ugly word and an honest man don't +like to use it too often--then I would have given that man Berkow +something else, but not my daughter. My only consolation is, he won't +live long, and then she can marry to please her heart.' Well, my master +did not live long himself, but long enough to see with his own eyes the +mischief he had done. Then he would have given his life to undo what he +had done, but those who deal with the devil need not wonder if God +leaves them to their master. So the beautiful young lady became a +widow, and yet she was not a widow. She had money enough now, but I +think she would have been happier if she had lived under a thatched +roof with a good man, than so miserably alone in a big, lonely house, +There was Julius, to be sure; but one swallow does not make a summer, +and a child is not a family. You see, sir, that often made my heart +bleed, and when I saw my mistress wander so lonely through the garden +of an evening, I have often prayed to God to take poor Baron Berkow in +mercy up into heaven, and to let my poor mistress be happy for once in +her life, like other women who are not worthy to unloose the latchet of +her shoes. The man need not be rich, for she has enough for both, if +wealth there must be--but he ought to have a head and a heart of the +right sort, and he ought to love her better than the apple of his eye. +And if I knew such a man, and could get her such a husband, and saw her +happy by the side of such a man--then I should pray: Now, Lord, let thy +servant depart in peace!--But here we are at the gate. Well, goodnight, +sir! If you should have an answer ready to-morrow morning to the letter +of my mistress, I will wait for it, between five and six, a little +distance down the forest. My mistress would be glad, I am sure, if you +were to write soon." + +"I shall be there punctually at five," said Oswald. + +"Well, half an hour does not matter," said Old Baumann, mounting his +horse again. "The mail does not leave before eight o'clock, and till +then Brownlock can make the way twice. I wish you once more good-night, +sir." + +The old man touched his cap, turned Brownlock round, and trotted +through the pine-trees back to Berkow. + +Oswald hastened to his room without meeting anybody, as the company had +not yet returned from their promenade. With trembling hand he opened +the letter, and perused it with breathless haste, in order to read it +over and over again, as we read letters in which every word touches us +like kisses that come from lips we love. + +When he sat down late at night to write his answer, he heard the same +voice singing which had produced such overflowing enthusiasm in him the +preceding night; but to-day he closed the window, for he felt that his +admiration for the beautiful girl was, after all, treason against his +love of Melitta, although he tried, of course, after the manner of men, +to silence the voice of his conscience as well as he could. + + + + + + Part Third. + + + + + CHAPTER I. + + +Unfortunately, the next day was to give him ample occasion for +practising that wicked art. + +For that very morning, as he returned from his meeting with Baumann, +who had been waiting for him in the forest at the appointed place to +take his letter, he could not deny himself the pleasure of walking +about a little in the garden. He intended only to stay a few minutes, +to walk just once around on the great wall, but he had now made the +turn twice from the great portal back again to the great portal, and +was beginning to make it for the third time, for the morning was really +delightful, and, if his eyes did not deceive him, a light dress was +shining through the trees and shrubs on the other side. Probably one of +the village girls at work in the garden. How he was surprised, +therefore, when he found soon after that it was Miss Helen! He could +not think of avoiding her. There were only a few flights of steps +leading down into the garden. There was nothing left, therefore, but to +cross his hands behind his back and to saunter slowly on, watching the +birds as they fluttered about in the branches, and the ducks below in +the moat, and to be a little surprised when he met Miss Helen precisely +at the same time and the same place as yesterday. + +Miss Helen returned his bow with that calm reserve which harmonized so +well with the somewhat sombre character of her beauty, although it +seemed almost too cold and too haughty for a girl of her youthful age. +Perhaps her greeting would not have been quite so formal if Oswald had +not on purpose suppressed every trace of pleasant excitement. Then +followed a short conversation, by no means overflowing with cleverness, +on the weather, and a few indifferent questions on Oswald's part about +the promenade of last night, with short answers by Helen. Then once +more a polite and cool exchange of formal phrases. Miss Helen continued +her walk; Oswald had finished his promenade, which he "always enjoyed +between six and seven on the wall,"--a statement by no means founded on +truth,--and went back to his room. "What a pity," he said to himself, +"that such splendid beauty should hold, after all, but an ordinary +soul! What would Professor Berger say, if he saw his lovely bud +unfolded now into a dark-red rose? Would he weave another wreath of +sonnets and press it on her rich hair? Good, dear Berger, was it a +suggestion of your good or your evil angel, both of whom continually +struggle for the mastery in your great soul, to send me here into the +camp of our enemies? I was to return laden with trophies, scalps of +slain Iroquois which we were to hang up in our wigwams to feast our +eyes--what would you say if you heard of the narrow escapes your Uncas +has had from being scalped himself? But I will keep one promise: I will +not fall in love with this early praised beauty--no, and if she were as +clever as she is beautiful." + +When Oswald came down to dinner he was most pleasantly surprised to +find Doctor Braun, who had come a few minutes before, and had accepted +the baroness' invitation to stay to dinner. + +The doctor appeared in a larger circle to as much advantage as in +private; an easy, sociable, and refined man, who evidently had very +unusual powers of conversation and perfect self-possession. And what +was still more attractive, and really won Doctor Braun the hearts of +all, at least of all men of sense, was his real or apparent +unconsciousness of all these advantages. Nothing was evidently farther +from him than to make an exhibition of himself; on the contrary, he +took pleasure in leading others to a clearer understanding of their +views, and thus he was not less a good and patient listener than a +skilful speaker--two virtues rarely found united. + +Oswald saw with surprise that if the doctor distinguished any one in +the company, it could only be Miss Helen, and with still greater +surprise, that the young lady, when speaking to him, laid aside a part +of her haughty reserve. They had made music together before dinner, +playing a sonata for four hands; then Helen had sung a few songs, while +the doctor accompanied her. At table they sat by each other, and +conversed with animation about the different styles of music; the +doctor displaying a thorough knowledge of composition, and Miss Helen +at least a lively appreciation of matters of music; and when he took +leave, directly after dinner, she regretted his eagerness to go so +warmly, and begged him so earnestly to be sure and send the promised +music very soon,--no, rather to bring it himself, so that they might +play it together,--that the doctor might have boasted of a great +success if it had been his intention to make a favorable impression on +the young lady. + +"You are not fond of music?" he asked Oswald, whom he had accompanied +to his room for the few minutes till the horses should be ready. + +"No, and the harmony of sweet notes has so few attractions for me that +I closed my window last night when Miss Helen sang that barcarolle +which seemed to give you such delight." + +"That is indeed remarkable. I do not remember ever having heard such +a--what shall I say--such a mystic alto voice." + +"Might not the beauty of the performer affect the impartiality of the +judgment?" + +"No; I assure you I judge quite impartially, although I must admit that +such spiritual beauty seems to belong more to the realm of dreams than +to stern reality." + +The doctor had taken a seat in Oswald's arm-chair, and blew the smoke +of his cigar, which he had just lighted, in blue clouds through the +open window. + +"Hers is a beauty," he said, "that would drive a painter to despair, +because her most delicate bloom cannot be expressed by lines and +colors; music alone can translate it. I wish Beethoven had seen her, or +Robert Schumann, and then you ought to hear the ghost-like, demoniac +composition which she would have inspired!" + +"But which of us is now the enthusiast?" asked Oswald, smiling; "you or +I?" + +"You!" said the doctor, "for the highest grade of ecstasy is silence. +He who still finds words for his enthusiasm has the reins still in his +hands. And then I can see a beautiful girl and admire her, without +enjoying, as you see, my cigar any the less. But you are capable of +forgetting eating and drinking and everything else, of throwing +yourself head over heels into the Charybdis of your enthusiasm, without +bestowing a thought upon the way out!" + +"Are you quite sure of that?" + +"Quite sure; I have studied you of late thoroughly, and I have found +that you are one of the finest specimens of a species of our race, +which is quite common in our day--descendants of the departed Doctor +Faust, _faustuli posthumi_, so to say, who have cut off their long +doctors' beards and exchanged the romantic costume of the Middle Ages +for the modern dress coat, without, however, losing their relish for +all kinds of enjoyment, and, like Faust, starving in the midst of +enjoyment." + +"Problematic characters, Baron Oldenburg calls them," said Oswald. + +"A capital definition," answered the doctor. "To be sure, the baron +ought to know, for he belongs to the brotherhood, and I dare say he +ranks high among them. At least I judge so from what I hear, for I have +never spoken to him, and seen him only once." + +"The baron is an enigmatic character, whom it is very difficult to +judge fairly." + +"How else could he be a problematic character? I am told you are one of +the baron's special friends--one of the few he has on earth. And that +is why I speak frankly. I cannot approve it, that a man of such eminent +talents should waste his life in idleness--in a kind of busy idleness, +the greatest reproach, in my opinion, that can be made against a man in +our day, when there is so very much to be done." + +"How can the poor baron help it, if the bread and butter of every day's +life are not to his taste?" + +"Do you think I like it?" said Doctor Braun, and he flushed up and his +eyes sparkled; "do you think that the great god Apollo, when he watched +the cattle of Admetus, and ate the mean food of a slave in the shade of +an oak-tree, did not long for the ambrosia and nectar on the golden +tables in the house of Zeus? Nevertheless he bore his fate and endured +it, as a greater one did after him. But I have always thought that the +true lot of man upon earth is to be subject to all that is human, and +yet never to forget the heavenly part within him; to contend until +death with the raving wolves of tyranny and falsehood, and to bear the +cross of all that is vulgar and mean, for the sake of that which +follows after Golgotha." + +The doctor had risen; he walked a few times up and down the room +with rapid strides; then he stopped before Oswald and said, with +heart-winning kindliness: "Pardon me if I have offended you by one or +the other word I have spoken; perhaps I have been inconsiderate. But it +always excites me to see a superior man remain idle or follow false +lights. The former is the sin against the Holy Ghost, the gravest of +all our sins; the other is less grave, but almost equal. I absolve you +from the former, but I cannot but declare you guilty of the latter. You +know what I told you the other day about your position here; now, after +having seen you myself in this circle, I consider it still more +objectionable. Give it up before it is too late! It may be +unwarrantable indiscretion in me to speak to you thus, but you know we +physicians have the privilege of being indiscreet. Are you angry?" + +"I should be the greatest fool if I were so weak," replied Oswald. "On +the contrary, I am very grateful to you for the sympathy you show me, +and which I am not deserving, I fear. But I think you look upon things +as a little too dark----" + +"Only too dark?" said the doctor, laughing; "I do not see them gray nor +black; I do not see them at all; I am blind, purblind, in both eyes. +Adieu, _mon cher_, adieu! If after some days you should not feel quite +as well as you do at this hour, send for me! You shall see I am not a +doctor for the well only, but also for the sick!" + +With these words the doctor hastily left the room, and a moment +afterwards Oswald heard the grating of the wheels on the gravel before +the portal of the chateau. + + + + + CHAPTER II. + + +We all know that it is the fate of good advice invariably to come too +late, or only at the moment when it ought to be followed at once, but +for one or the other reason cannot well be followed. The doctor's +advice was excellent; even Oswald saw that, especially as he had always +thought in the same way about his false position in this high and noble +family. But he could not find the way out of this labyrinth; at least +not for the moment. It was so natural that of late his love for Melitta +should have made him forget everything else, and lead him to consider a +measure which might remove him from her as the greatest misfortune. And +even now, when Melitta's journey and Baron Berkow's impending death +surrounded the present and the future alike with dark mystery, he could +not possibly decide on a step which was as important for Melitta as for +himself. And then, leaving Melitta out of the question, he had no +plausible reason for abandoning a position which he had bound himself +to retain for several years, unless he should resort to a violent +rupture. Such a _coup d'etat_, however, would always have been painful +and repulsive to a Hamlet-like nature, such as Oswald's was; and now, +when the baroness evidently made efforts to live in peace and harmony +with all the world, he could not even find an adversary to pick up the +gauntlet that he might choose to throw down for the purpose. + +Besides, he had quite recently shown a most lively interest in the +plans of the baroness for the education of the boys, up to the time +when they should be ready for the proposed tour through Germany, +France, England, and perhaps also Italy. This interest would now appear +absurd or worse, if it should turn out that he never meant to carry out +these plans. He had also readily acquiesced in the desire of the +baroness to resume with Miss Helen several branches of study which she +had pursued at the boarding-school, and these lessons, which the +baroness proposed to attend for her own improvement, were to begin on +the very next day. + +And, setting all this aside, he should have had to leave Bruno if he +went away from Grenwitz;--Bruno, whom he really loved like a brother, +whose brilliant talents he hoped to develop, and whom he desired most +ardently to introduce into the realm of science, and afterwards into +life itself. + +The little trip seemed to have had a most happy effect upon Bruno, as +upon all the others. He had lost much of his sombre reserve; he sought +out company which he had formerly avoided, in common with Oswald, and +persuaded his teacher even to take part in promenades and other joint +excursions of pleasure. He did not suspect that Oswald was by no means +making a sacrifice when he yielded to his entreaties, but only +pretended to be reluctant in order to excuse himself in his own heart +for his inconsistency. When Oswald teased Bruno about this new interest +in persons and things which had formerly been indifferent to him, the +latter replied that he did not know what had happened to him; but that +he felt like a bird who, after being kept in a cage, had recovered his +freedom; like a flower when the sun was coming out, after storm and +rain. And really Bruno was merry like a bird, and, in his joyousness, +beautiful like a flower which is just opening to the light of day. One +could not help admiring the glorious boy; his kind ways were as +irresistibly charming as his defiance was repelling and at times +offensive. All agreed on this one point, that a great change had taken +place in Bruno, but how it had been brought about no one knew and no +one suspected. + +And yet the cause would hardly have escaped an acute observer, nor +Oswald himself, if he had not been fully occupied with his own affairs. +The very first conversation with Bruno on the evening of his arrival +might have furnished him the key. As then Helen's name was continually +reappearing in his recitals, so now all he said and did had some +reference to Helen, although he was instinctively careful to place +others in the foreground, and to appear least interested in Helen +herself--just as a bird tries to lure the pursuer away from his nest by +his anxious fluttering to and fro. For not only shame is born in +secret; love springs forth in the same way, especially when the heart +that bears it is still young and innocent, so innocent that it hardly +knows what is going on, and only feels the one thing, that a god has +touched it. "What is the matter with the boy?" they asked, when they +saw how his eyes shone, how bold and proud his carriage was, how +elastic his step; when they heard his voice, which was now as soft as +the evening breeze, and then, in the excitement of a game, or whenever +his energy was roused, as clear and powerful as the sound of a trumpet. + +And if it really looked at times as if Bruno had abandoned his secluded +habits only for his cousin's sake, this could surprise the others all +the less, as everybody seemed to have undergone some change, and was +ready to worship the newly risen star. Why else was the baroness now +all mildness and goodness? Why did she now always appear with a smiling +face at table, and endeavor not to let the conversation die out during +the meal? Why did the baron annoy the silent coachman by ordering the +fat bays whenever anybody but uttered a wish to visit this or that +remote place--an order which before the trip would have been looked +upon as an event? Why had Mr. Timm, for the first time, drawn forth his +dress coat from its corner in his trunk, and assumed, as it looked, +with the coat a less careless and easy manner? Why did Miss +Marguerite's voice sound less sharp now than formerly? And why had she +just now remembered that there were in her wardrobe a few pretty bows, +which had lain there unused for years? Why did even Malte pay attention +to the game when they played at graces, and try to catch the hoops +occasionally? + +Did Miss Helen know that she was the cause of all these great and small +changes? It was hard to tell whether Miss Helen observed anything at +all; whether she was in good or in bad humor; even whether certain +members of the company existed or not, as far as she was concerned. Her +calm proud air rarely varied, and the smile she occasionally deigned to +show was so fleeting in its very beauty that it never betrayed the +share which the heart had in it. To her parents she was in all respects +the attentive and obedient daughter; to her brother the older sister, +who, if she knew how to respect his foibles, would also insist upon +being respected by him; to Mademoiselle Marguerite she was the kind +mistress, who is always fully conscious of the difference in their +relative positions; to Oswald and Albert quite the young lady, who has +been fully instructed how low the bow of a person in a humbler position +of life ought to be--and only to Bruno she was more cordial; in her +intercourse with him alone she gave up something of her haughty +reserve, which at other times seemed to be as much a part of herself as +the dark color of her magnificent hair, and the deep brilliancy of her +large gray eyes. + +But even if the baroness complained to her husband of the very great +reserve in Helen's manner, and often remarked that her long absence +from home seemed, after all, to have alienated her in some degree from +her family, the fault lay less with the young lady than with the +baroness herself. It had been her own wish to keep Helen so many years +from the paternal house; it was she who had explained to her weak +husband, when he longed for his dear child, how very advantageous it +would be to Helen to be trained early in the strict discipline of a +school, and to remain there as long as possible. Long ago, already when +the little girl had affectionately leaned against her, she had only +replied with a cold air and a few cool French phrases, until the child, +growing older, had seen how hopeless the effort was to reach her +mother's heart, and abandoned the hope to soften it by her caresses. +The poor girl had to pay dear for the misfortune of not being a boy, +and of being unable to contribute anything towards securing the entail +to the family, and she would probably have been allowed to live a long +time yet in exile if her mother had not suddenly conceived the plan of +making her, after all, useful for that purpose by marrying her to +Felix, the heir-presumptive of the estate. The energetic woman doubted +not a moment that she would be able to carry out her project. Felix had +not only approved of it highly, but taken already all the steps which +the clever baroness had suggested to him as necessary for success. He +had thrown up his commission; he had left the city, the theatre of his +deeds, and gone to his estates, perhaps in order to look at the place +where the beautiful forests once stood which he had mercilessly cut +down to pay his most pressing creditors. Baron Felix was in the habit +of promising anything and everything to those who lent him money--why +should he not promise the baroness to marry her daughter if she engaged +to pay his debts and to help him to make his exhausted and ill-managed +estates once more productive? On that side, therefore, there were no +difficulties to encounter. On Helen's side she expected as little +trouble, or rather, up to this time, she had never thought of the +possibility of resistance. She had forgotten that she had not seen her +daughter for three years; that three years can make great changes, and, +among others, can make a proud young lady of seventeen of a timid and +submissive child of thirteen. She had forgotten that Helen had learnt +not to tremble any more before her mother, and had become far too +independent, thanks to her training by a strict but high-toned +governess, to submit her will thus _sans facon_ to that of another, +whoever he might be. + +The baroness saw this almost at the first glance, when she met her +daughter in the reception-room of the Institute at Hamburg. There was +nothing to be said against the carriage of the young lady, who advanced +towards her mother neither too hastily nor too slowly, who kissed her +hand, and then, as if awaiting further orders, remained there calmly +and composedly. But the big eyes looked so firm and so proud, and the +words fell so well measured from her lips, that the mother felt she +could no longer count upon childlike submission or loving obedience +from this daughter, who looked to her almost a stranger. The great +project which she bore in her head quite ready, suddenly appeared to +her in a very uncertain light, and the first words she said to her +husband were: "I think, dear Grenwitz, we shall have to be very +cautious with our plan about that match. You would oblige me by leaving +the matter entirely in my hands. An awkward beginning, nay, even a hint +at the wrong time, might spoil it all,"--a suggestion which the old +gentleman was very willing to obey, as even his strong faith in Anna +Maria's infallibility had not been able to quiet all his scruples about +the proposed match. + +The baroness saw that if Felix should not find favor in Helen's +eyes--and such a case was at least possible--nothing could be done by +intimidation or violence, and that gentle measures were not merely the +safest but the only way. This is what made her so kind, after her +fashion, so exceedingly kind to her daughter; and in order that the +others might not find out her purpose, or in order to keep in practice, +she was kind to them also. It was strange, however, that this sunshine +of favor seemed to warm her least for whom it was specially intended; +Helen did not change her calm, measured manner, her coldly polite +formality, in the least; the boarding school, which the baroness had +always praised to the skies, had evidently produced in Helen a model +young lady. + +And yet this heart, apparently so cold and inaccessible, was well able +to feel warmly. When she took leave of her friends and her beloved +governess she had wept burning tears, though she dried them instantly +when her mother remarked on them,--she showed her father many little +attentions not easily suggested by mere politeness, and she could give +money to a poor child and then take him by the hand and speak kindly to +him. Her friends, of whom, however, she had only few, never found cause +to complain of heartlessness in her, and the letters she wrote from +Grenwitz proved that she was neither cold nor reserved with those she +loved. Thus she wrote, among others, to Mary Burton, a pretty young +English girl, whom she loved best of all her friends, and who had had a +great influence over her: + +"But those are _tempi passati_, my dear Mary! I have now to learn to +enjoy my music alone, and to submit patiently to the company of people +among whom you are not. I miss you everywhere; I miss some of the +others also, and I do not yet see how it will be possible for me to be +happy without you. Do not think, however, that they are unkind to me +here! On the contrary, I must acknowledge that my good people here have +all met me most kindly. I did not expect anything else from papa, you +know--but, you have read my mother's letters! You thought they +resembled each other like so many flakes of snow. But she also is much +less severe than she used to be, and I may do and not do what I like, a +thing we always thought would be perfect bliss when we were at school. +My rooms are in the first story of the old castle, just above the +garden, and a door opens from my salon right upon it. Thus I can live +quite undisturbed, although I can reach the sitting-rooms through a +passage by a few steps. You know I was always afraid I would not be +able to indulge here in my favorite amusement of playing at night, when +everything is quiet. I have no such fear now, and I have enjoyed my +music every night since I have come here. I disturb nobody, unless it +be a couple of gentlemen who live somewhere above me in the same part +of the castle, but who fortunately belong to the class of men whom we +candidly call nobodies. They are the tutor, a certain Mr. Stein, and a +surveyor, whom papa employs, and who enjoys the aristocratic name of +Timm. Both might pass for handsome, or, to tell the truth, I almost +suspect you would call Mr. Stein 'handsome and very gentlemanly +indeed,' but you need not think for all that that either of them has +made an impression upon me. I have an antipathy against people in such +subordinate positions, as I dislike calico dresses and false jewelry. +They may do for governesses and such people, but not for us. I see them +at dinner and in the evening--otherwise I ignore their existence. I +sometimes meet Mr. Stein in the morning, when he takes his early walk +in the garden. For the birds are singing here so close to my windows +that I must get up, whether I choose or not. I would rather not meet +him, but what can I do? The poor man has to give six or seven lessons +in the forenoon, and so I cannot well forbid him to enjoy the only +morning hour he has free; and if I were to go later I should lose the +cream of the morning. I have to submit, you see, and can only say, _Non +sono rose senza spine!_ However, this Mr. Stein, although only an +imitation diamond, is so well polished that a less practised eye might +well take him for genuine. He has more self-control and better manners +than we generally find with people of low birth. He has a way of +telling you a compliment or an impertinence with the calmest air in the +world, as if he did not care in the least who you might be, which +amuses me at times. + +"Thus he asked me yesterday, when we met the third time at the same +hour and the same place on the great wall, and had exchanged the same +phrases about the weather, if it would not be better hereafter to say +simply: 'As yesterday,' unless the weather should have changed. We +should thus avoid meeting in silence, which was always painful for +people staying at the same house, and yet reduce the cost of +conversation to a minimum, a saving which was not unimportant even for +the cleverest among us--and an ironical bow. That was pretty strong; +but, as I tell you, he says these things with such a quiet smile that +it is hard to tell whether he is in earnest or not. They all seem to +have a certain respect for him here, even mamma. But with Bruno he +stands on a very peculiar footing, and it is really a beautiful sight +to see them saunter through the garden, arm in arm, not at all like +tutor and pupil, but rather like two intimate friends, a real Orestes +and Pylades. This touching friendship, however, does not prevent Bruno +from playing at being my knight on every occasion. The boy reads in my +eyes what I want, or rather he guesses it and knows it even without my +looking at him. At times this almost frightens me. When I think during +the promenade: I might as well lay aside my shawl! Bruno is sure to +say: Shall I carry your shawl, Helen? At table he sits at my side, and +only hands me what I like; the other dishes he lets pass, and says: I +know you don't eat that, Helen! He is a darling of a boy, although that +name hardly suits him, for he will soon be sixteen, and he is tall and +strong like a youthful Achilles. I believe he would go through the fire +for me; into the water he jumped only yesterday for my sake. We were +walking in the evening on the wall, and the wind blew my straw hat into +the moat. My poor hat! I cried. Do you want it? asked Bruno.--Why, of +course, I said--but only jesting, for I knew the moat is quite deep, +and at that place it was some twenty feet wide. The hat was floating +towards the middle. Bruno was down the wall in an instant, and into the +water. I was frightened, and I believe I actually cried out. Don't be +troubled, said Mr. Stein, fortunately no one else was present,--Bruno +swims like a Newfoundland dog, and even if he should not return, he +would have died like a knight in the service of the fair. That is +always a consolation.--Fortunately, Bruno came swimming back after two +or three anxious minutes. Mr. Stein helped him on shore, and then they +went off laughing, and left me quite alone--a touching picture, no +doubt, with the soaked hat in my hand. But Mr. Stein seems to be quite +offended at me for having exposed his pet to such danger. At least he +did not appear this morning at the promenade; at table he was quite +monosyllabic, and begged me to excuse him from the lesson in +literature, which he gives me twice a week, because he had 'a +headache.' This fortunately did not prevent him from standing out in +the garden, in the broiling afternoon sun, for half an hour or more, as +I noticed from my window. He remained there almost immovable, with +folded arms, staring into the basin of a fountain, from which a Naiad +looked smiling down upon him.--He is a strange kind of a saint...." + +The young lady had no doubt intended to state nothing but the truth in +this letter, which evidently revealed more of her innermost soul than +she probably supposed, but as to the reason for Oswald's sombre and +absent-minded ways she was nevertheless mistaken. + + + + + CHAPTER III. + + +It was the evening of the same day on which Helen was watching Oswald +near the fountain of the Naiad, from her window, that in a room of the +Hotel Bellevue, at N., a place celebrated on account of Doctor +Birkenhain's famous asylum for insane persons, a lady and a gentleman +were sitting near a door opening upon a balcony. Twilight had come; +guests were returning, dust-covered, from their afternoon excursions; +from time to time a carriage rolled by, in which beautiful ladies +were sitting, comfortably reclining on soft cushions. Then the street +became more quiet, and over the gardens rose the evening star in the +saffron-colored sky. The lady in the balcony door sat with her eyes +fixed on the star; the gentleman, who sat further back in the room, +looked at her. Both had not spoken a word for the last half-hour; now +the gentleman rose, came close up to the lady's chair, and said in a +low tone: + +"I must go, Melitta." + +"When will you call to-morrow?" + +"I shall not come again to-morrow; I shall leave N. this very evening." + +"But you promised to stay as long as possible, that is, till the +appointment with the Brown Countess forced you to return?" + +"I meant to do so, but it is useless. I have had a long conversation +to-day with Doctor Birkenhain; he thinks it impossible that Berkow will +awake again before he dies. And suppose he should be roused, what does +it help him if I am present? The other day I came in twice, and what +did he want? Nothing--to ask me if the testament was securely kept! +That was all!" + +"But he might change his last will----" + +"No. At the time when he wrote his last will, before myself and old +Baumann, he was still in possession of his mind, though sick and +feeble; he made you his sole heir, as he was bound to do. He knew he +owed you at least that sign of repentance. He meant to say by that: I +am not quite as bad as you thought me; I see at least that I have made +you very unhappy, and I would try to undo what I have done, if it were +in my power." + +"Let us drop that subject!" said Melitta, rising and leaning over the +railing of the balcony to look down into the dark street. Then she came +back into the room and said: + +"Do you go straight back to Cona?" + +"No, I mean to spend the time that is left me by going up the Rhine; +perhaps I shall come back here on my return." + +"Then leave Czika here, will you? As a pledge that you do come back." + +"Do you really wish it, Melitta?" + +"You have once more been very kind to me." + +"Then it is simply from gratitude?" + +"And--friendship." + +"Farewell, Melitta!" + +"Happy journey, Oldenburg!" + +The baron went slowly towards the door; there he stopped, and came back +once more to say: + +"Have you always been convinced that I was your friend, Melitta?" + +"Yes." + +"Have you always been convinced that I loved you?" + +Melitta was silent. + +"No? Never, at any time?" asked the baron, in a low voice. + +"Let us bury the past!" + +"No, Melitta, let us speak of it. I may not find another such +opportunity in my life. No, no! For our old friendship, or whatever you +call it, is dead, since I was fool enough to let you see that I loved +you--and there is no bridge to span that abyss. For the moment we are +united by common distress; as soon as I leave this room we shall be +strangers again to each other. Melitta, by our former friendship, by +the memory of our common youth and its happiness, tell me, did you +never believe that I loved you?" + +"I do not know----" + +"That is hard," said the baron, "that is hard." He sank into a chair, +leaned his arm on the back, and hid his face in his hand. + +He rose again, walked up and down with long strides, crossing his arms +on his breast, and said, as if speaking to himself: "Why should men +complain, who love and are loved again, if they are cheated out of +their hopes in one way or another? Why do they complain who love and +are not loved again, but at least have the consolation of seeing that +their grief is respected, and that others pity their suffering? No--to +love, as a son of earth can love, with all his soul, with every drop +of blood in his veins, and then to learn--not that he is not loved +again--pshaw, that is nothing--but that he is looked upon as a +pretender, a mere trifler--ha, ha, ha!--that is real bliss such as is +dealt out to the poor devils who are undergoing torture." + +"And if I cannot believe that you love me, who is to blame for it? Who +arranged that scene in the garden of the village Serra di Falco? You or +I?" + +"What?" said the baron, stopping suddenly, "are you really such a +novice in love that I must give you an explanation of that farce? Do +you really think that I--who do not easily overlook anything--had not +long since seen you behind the myrtle hedge before I sank at Hortense's +feet and invoked the sun, which had set long ago, and the moon, that +was not shining, and the stars, that knew better, to witness my burning +passion? Could you take that for a moment in earnest?" + +"What else?" + +"It was an allegory. I wished to show you: See, that is what you will +have left if you refuse me. You force me, who wish to worship a saint, +to seek forgetfulness in the arms of a----. Melitta, Melitta, confess! +You knew perfectly well it was a farce, but you found it convenient to +take it in earnest. You wished to get rid of me, and even at the price +of a misunderstanding!" + +"And if that had been my wish--suppose it was my wish--is not the +gentleman's duty to honor the lady's will, especially if he loves that +lady?" + +"And did I not honor it? Did I not leave that very night at a word, at +a mere sign? Have I not wandered about for three years, like Ahasuerus, +in foreign countries, and have I not, after my return, avoided every +opportunity to meet you, because I apprehended a misfortune? Was it my +will which made us meet at the ball at Barnewitz? Was it my desire +which brought us here together? No, Melitta, you cannot complain of me. +I have kept my love for you concealed in my bosom for long, long +years,--for I have loved you ever since I could think; since I knew +that the song of nightingales and sunshine and the roaring of the waves +are precious things,--and if I was fool enough to forget for a moment +how hopeless my passion was, I have paid dearly for my folly. I knew as +a boy already, that you loved your horse and your dog better than me, +and yet I checked my pride, and yet I humbled myself again and again +before you, I who never yet in all my life could utter a request to +human being!" + +The baron continued his restless wandering through the room for a time, +and after some silence he paused again before Melitta and said: + +"I humbled myself still more. I saw the woman whom my soul yearned for +as Dives did for a drop of water beloved by another; I saw her return +him a love for which I would have thanked God on my knees a thousand +times--and I did not stir! I tried my best not to hate the fortunate +man, I met him with cordiality and took him by the hand, I tried to win +his confidence and his affection, not to betray him and you, but +because I felt that your happiness was dearer to me than everything +else, and that the man whom you loved must either be loved by me too, +or die by my hand!" + +"You are terrible, Oldenburg," cried Melitta, half rising from her +chair; "it seems I cannot hide the secret of the innermost recesses of +my soul from you." + +"I am not terrible," said the baron, "I am only in the way, that is the +privilege of a friend. Do not think I have obtained your secret by +stealth! I have only kept my eyes open, that is all! Or do you think we +do not at last learn to understand the faintest vibration in the face +which we constantly see when we are awake, and, alas! but too often +also in our dreams? And when we have at last abandoned all hope of +being loved, we wish at least to be sure that he who is more fortunate +is not unworthy of his good luck." + +"Oldenburg!" + +"He is not unworthy, but--I am your friend, Melitta! He is not quite +worthy of you. He has many good and noble qualities, I know; but his +character has not been steeled in the thrice sacred fire of misfortune, +and thus he cannot appreciate good fortune. He is marvellously +susceptible for all that is beautiful and graceful, and so he adores +you; but this very susceptibility for all that is beautiful makes it +very difficult for him not to forget a fair and lovely object for the +sake of one that is fairer and lovelier. He cannot be constant. He is a +poet, and the poet's love is the ideal. He is capable of pushing aside +a precious jewel with contempt, if his sharp eye should notice the +smallest flaw; he seizes whatever the earth offers him with eagerness, +and casts it aside because it is of the earth; and even if it were +divine he would despise it if it had but a remnant of earthy matter +about it." + +"You tell me only, Oldenburg, what I have told myself a hundred and a +thousand times." + +"I know I do. You cannot find it difficult to understand such +characters, for they are akin to your own. But you are a woman, and +women do not go to the same extreme. You are, after all, willing to +submit at last, in spite of long resistance, and then you are proud of +your chains; man may boast of them for a time, as long as they are new, +but after a while he throws them aside. And so it will be here." + +"No, no!" + +"Yes, Melitta! It will be so, and--now I know what the dark storm-cloud +meant which I saw the other day hang over your head. You may be sure +the blow will fall upon you sooner or later, and when you are cast down +by its violence and do not wish to live any longer,--though you cannot +yet die,--then, Melitta, then you will perhaps be able to understand +what I suffer; then you will be sorry in your heart for the wrong you +have done me. Would to God you could be spared that awaking! The +penalty is so enormous! But, but--you will have to pay it. Farewell, +Melitta! Pardon me if I have pained you; it shall not happen again; it +is the first and the last time I have spoken thus to you. Farewell, +Melitta!--Melitta, have you not one kind word for me?" + +Melitta had pressed her face into her hands; the twilight which reigned +in the room concealed all but the mere attitude of her form--she would +not or could not answer. + +The baron held both his hands over her head. + +"God help you, Melitta!" he said, and the voice of the proud, stern man +sounded soft and mild like a father's voice. + +When Melitta heard the door close behind him, she started up from her +chair and stepped forward hurriedly. But halfway she paused. + +"No, no!" she murmured; "it is better so; I must not leave him a ray of +hope." + +She went slowly back to her chair. She sat down again and covered her +face once more with her hands. And now the long pent-up tears broke in +streams from her eyes. "I know it will come so," she murmured, "but why +must he cruelly break the short dream of my happiness?" + + + + + CHAPTER IV. + + +The postman who carried Helen's letter in the evening to town, had been +there once before in the morning of the same day. He had brought Oswald +a letter from one of his friends in Grunwald, who was at the same time +one of the few with whom Professor Berger was intimate. This gentleman, +a teacher at the University, wrote Oswald that he thought he was bound +to inform him promptly of an event which had created, the day before, +the greatest consternation in the city. Professor Berger had suddenly +become insane; at least no one had had the slightest suspicion of his +affection. He had come, as usual, at four o'clock to deliver his +lecture on Logic, and had commenced his discourse as ably and +ingeniously as ever. Then his words had gradually become more and more +confused, so that one student after the other had laid down his pen, +staring at his neighbor in wonder and terror. "Do you know, gentlemen," +he had said, "what the youth of Sais beheld when he raised the veil +that hid the great secret?--the great secret which was to be the key to +all the confused riddles of life? You see, gentlemen, I take my head, I +open it thus, one-half in this hand, the other in that hand, what do +you see in this head of the great Professor Berger, at whose feet you +sit listening to his wise words, and taking them down with hideously +grating pens in your tiresome note-books? What do you see? Exactly what +the youth of Sais saw, when he raised the veil of truth: Nothing! +Absolutely nothing, nothing in itself, nothing for itself! And this +lesson, that all our best endeavors amount to nothing, that we spend +our life's blood for nothing, that, gentlemen, deprived the youth of +Sais of his senses, that has made me mad, and will one of these days +send you to an asylum, if you have any brains in your empty heads. And +now, gentlemen, shut up your stupid note-books, so that the scribbling +may come to an end, and join me in the noble and significative song: +There is a fly on the wall, a fly, a fly!" Berger had then commenced to +sing in a loud voice, beating his desk with his hands; had run along +the walls of the lecture-room, trying to catch imaginary flies, and had +each time opened the hand cautiously, looked in, and cried out +triumphantly: "Nothing, gentlemen, you see nothing, and ever nothing!" + +Oswald's correspondent closed with the news that Professor Berger had +immediately been sent to the celebrated Insane Asylum of Doctor +Birkenhain, in N., and that he had allowed his friends to dispose of +him as they thought best, after they had persuaded him that he was +going to see there the Original Nothing. + +Oswald was deeply moved by the contents of that letter. He had loved +and honored Berger as a friend; he had won his good-will in an unusual +degree, and been allowed to see more than anybody else, perhaps, of the +inner life of the eccentric man. How often had he listened to his +marvellous eloquence, when he, suddenly leaving the world of logic, had +entered upon a world of which all we know has been revealed to us by +intuition; a world so fantastic, so fabulous, but also so divinely +beautiful and pure, that Oswald forgot everything else, and fancied he +was walking bodily about in this Fata Morgana, till the magician let +the gorgeous image sink and vanish by a word of bitter contempt and +wild despair! And now this noble mind, with all its wealth, was +destroyed! This lofty intellect buried in the hideous night of +insanity! + +Oswald felt as if the world was out of joint--so fearful, so +inconceivable appeared to him this calamity. Must not all fall to ruin +if such a magnificent pillar could stand no longer? Then friendship and +love also were probably nothing but fables--then it was, perhaps, also +more than a mere accident which betrayed to him this morning +Oldenburg's present whereabouts?--For when Oswald had glanced at the +letters which the postman had taken out of his mail-bag, to select his +own, he had noticed one, which was evidently directed in Oldenburg's +peculiar and unmistakable handwriting. The letter was for his steward +at Cona. Why should the baron not write to his steward? But Oswald also +noticed the stamp, which showed where the letter came from; and that +was the same town to which Berger had just been sent--the same place +where Baron Berkow had been living for seven years--the same place +where Melitta had now been a fortnight, two days longer than +Oldenburg's mysterious journey! Melitta, in her long letter which +Oswald had received through Baumann, had not said a word about the +baron; Bemperlein, however, must have written Baumann all about it, and +hence the old man had been so embarrassed when he mentioned the persons +who had been present at Melitta's visit to her husband. Why this +mysterious manner in a man who looked like frankness and candor itself? +Had he received orders to the purpose, or did he know his mistress so +perfectly, that he preferred not to tell the whole truth in a case like +this? + +These were the evil thoughts which filled Oswald's heart, as he was +standing bareheaded in the hot afternoon sun, staring at the water in +the fountain with the Naiad, while Miss Helen, at her writing-table, +was wondering whether she was perhaps herself the cause of this +troubled state of mind. But before she could come to any satisfactory +conclusion about it, there came a knock at the door. The young lady +immediately locked her portfolio, and seemed to be deep in Lamartine's +_Voyage en Orient_, when upon her invitation the door opened and the +baroness entered. + +"Do I disturb you, dear Helen?" + +"Not at all, my dear mamma," said the young girl, rising and going to +meet her mother. + +"You were staying so unusually long in your room to-day, that I thought +I had better see what keeps you here. Lamartine's _Voyage_! Well, quite +a nice book, but a little too romantic, I should say. To be sure, at my +age the views of life change, and with them our views on books and men. +But I am glad you are not idle, as you have the talent to occupy +yourself. I was almost afraid our monotonous life here would contrast +too badly with the gay animation of the Institute, and you might feel +the difference unpleasantly. We can do so little for your amusement +here! That was always my reply when your father wanted you to come home +from boarding-school." + +"But I assure you, dear mamma, you trouble yourself quite +unnecessarily," said Miss Helen, kissing her mother's hand +respectfully. "I am very happy here, and how could it be otherwise? I +am once more in my paternal home, where everybody meets me with love +and kindness. I have all I can wish for. I should really be very, very +ungrateful, if I were to forget that for a moment." + +"You are a dear, sensible girl," said the baroness, kissing her +beautiful daughter on the forehead. "You will give me great joy yet. +That is my certain hope, as it is my daily prayer. Ah, my dear child, +believe me, I stand in need of such a prospect, if I am not to succumb +to the many cares which oppress me." + +The baroness had taken a seat on a small sofa; she looked quite +excited, and dried her eyes with her handkerchief. + +"Why, dear mamma," said Miss Helen, with sincere sympathy, "I am only a +simple, inexperienced girl, but if you feel confidence in me, tell me +what it is? Even if I cannot advise or help, I can perhaps comfort you, +and that would give me very great pleasure." + +"My dear child," said the baroness, "you have been away from your +father's house so very long,--come, sit down here, and let us have a +nice confidential chat,--that you know of course very little about our +circumstances. You think we are rich, very rich; but the truth is +almost the contrary; at least as far as we women are concerned. +The whole large fortune goes to your brother after your father's +death--which God Almighty will, I hope, defer for a long time yet--I +shall have nothing but the small insurance, and you, my poor child, +will be left without anything at all." + +"But, mamma, I have always heard that Stantow and Baerwalde belong to +papa, and that he can dispose of them as he likes?" + +"You are mistaken, my child; the two estates do not belong to him; they +may belong to him one of these days, if the real heir does not come +forward within a certain time. I cannot tell you all about that now, my +dear child, because that involves certain facts connected with your +uncle Harald, which are better not mentioned. Enough, we cannot count +upon the two farms with any certainty. All that is left us will amount +to a few thousand dollars, which your father and I have been able to +lay by from the annual revenue." + +"Dear mamma, I wish you would not trouble yourself about me," said Miss +Helen. "I have not been spoilt in Hamburg, and the luxuries with which +your kindness surrounds me here are quite new to me. I shall be able to +be content with little--and then our dear papa is, God be thanked, so +active and hearty again, and has so quickly recovered from his fever +attack in Hamburg, that I hope we shall enjoy for a long time yet his +love and his excellent management." + +"God grant it," said the baroness, "but I fear we shall have to be +prepared for the worst. Your father is by no means as hearty as you +think. He is always suffering, although he does not let us see it. The +doctor in Hamburg thought his case a very grave one. If he should be +taken from us you might easily have an opportunity to prove your powers +of endurance. But, dear child, you do not know what life is. It is much +easier to talk of poverty than to bear it. I know it from experience; I +was a poor girl when your father married me; I know what it means to +have to turn a dress again and again, for want of money to buy a new +one; I know what painful mortifications a poor girl of good family has +to endure." + +"I cannot think, dearest mamma, that things will ever be quite so bad +as that. Perhaps it is because I am so young, or the fine summer-day +outdoors--but I cannot see the clouds that you speak of so sadly. I +shall----" + +"Marry a rich and deserving man," said the baroness, with a smile which +did not render her more attractive. + +"But, mamma----" + +"I know you meant to say something else, my child. It is a jest now, +which, however, will soon change into reality, I hope. You are at an +age now when a young girl may very well begin to give a place to such +thoughts in her heart. Happy is she who chooses well; happier still, if +she leaves the choice to her parents, who wish nothing but to see her +happy, and who are aided in their efforts by the rich experience of a +long life." + +"But, mamma, that is a long way off yet." + +"Very likely, my child; however, we cannot know what Heaven may have +decreed. We have to leave these, as in fact all things in our life, to +His direction.--But who in the world is that man who is standing there +so immovable near that tree? I have left my glasses in my room." + +"That is Mr. Stein, mamma; he has been standing there for half an hour; +I believe he has grown to the place." + +"A strange man, that man Stein," said the baroness. "He has something +uncomfortable for me. I cannot by possibility understand him. How do +you like him, dear Helen?" + +"Why, mamma, I have never thought about it, and with such people there +can be hardly a question about liking or not liking. I think they are +all pretty much alike, and the few points of difference are so +unimportant that they are hardly noticed. One is called Stein, the +other is called Timm, and that is nearly all." + +"You are right, dear child," said the baroness. "These people are mutes +on the stage; they are only seen when the principal personages are +going out. Fortunately, I can promise you soon better and more +agreeable company." + +"Who is that?" + +"Your cousin Felix. I have just received a letter from him, the postman +is still in the kitchen; you can give him a letter if you think of +writing a few lines to Hamburg,--he announces his coming for to-morrow +or the day after. But was not that your father's voice? Good-by, dear +child; get ready; we shall dine a little earlier and go to pay some +visits." + +The baroness kissed her daughter on the forehead and left the room. +Miss Helen drew out the letter she had so hastily hidden, in order to +add: "Mamma, who has just left me, is, after all, very kind indeed. She +told me of a visitor who is coming: Felix Grenwitz (the lieutenant). We +shall have a little more life now at Grenwitz, for it seems we can no +longer count upon Mr. Stein. Adieu, dearest, dearest Mary." + + + + + CHAPTER V. + + +If anyone should have taken a special interest in Mr. Timm, he would +have noticed that something extraordinary must have happened to him +lately. The black dress coat which he now daily wore, and the greater +care which he bestowed on his appearance, together with other kindred +changes in his general manner, might have been explained by Miss +Helen's presence, and the higher style which seemed to prevail at +Grenwitz. But what meant the grave expression which was now frequently +seen on his white forehead and in his blue eyes? What the silence to +which he, the talkative man, now condemned himself for hours? What, +especially, the restless industry with which he stood all day long bent +over his drawing-board, busy with pencil and brush? Up to the day on +which the family returned, Mr. Timm had given himself entirely to the +pleasures of a pleasant rural retreat; but from the hour at which he +had gone into the archive-room, and there found a small package of +letters tied up with a red silk cord, all had changed. Not that it had +been in Albert's nature to repent of his _dolce far niente_ during that +pleasant week--he, besides, worked so rapidly and easily that it was a +trifle to him to make up for lost time. It was surely not the plats and +the surveys, therefore, which troubled him now. Any one might have seen +that by looking on that afternoon into his room, which he had, to his +habit, carefully locked after him. + +Mr. Timm was sitting on a lounge in his room, one leg crossed over the +other, his head resting in his hands, and blowing mighty clouds from +his cigar, while he was evidently thinking deeply. By his side, on the +lounge, lay the letters which he had found among the archives. There +were not many of them, all written in the same delicate handwriting, +and upon rather grayish paper, such as was universally in use, even for +letters, some forty years ago. The letters were rather old, apparently, +for the ink was very much faded; but no contrary date was to be found +anywhere. + +"These letters ought to be valuable in some way," said Albert, speaking +confidentially to his best friend and only intimate, his dear own self, +"only I do not know how. If I should succeed in finding the answers, it +would go hard indeed if a clever fellow, such as I am, could not ferret +out the whole of the great secret. Besides, I think I am on the track. +It is improbable, though not impossible, that both should have died, +mother and child alike. Marie was evidently a fine girl, and that +little trouble and heart-sore could hardly have cost her her life. And +the child, illegitimate as it was, enjoyed, in all probability, the +proverbial good luck of such children. Therefore, the mother may be +alive, and the child may be alive. If they are both alive,--and I do +hope and wish it,--they either know something of the codicil to the +will of the noble scapegrace, or they do not. If they have been +informed of it,--which again is not very probable, since it would be a +perfectly sublime height of stupidity to shut the mouth against such a +roast pigeon flying about and seeking to be devoured,--they must be +made to apply for their property. If they should know nothing of it, +which is more likely, we must assist them in their lamentable +ignorance. In any case we must first of all find out where they are. It +is not to be presumed that they have concealed themselves in the +neighborhood. For in the first place Harald would have found them, when +he spared no money and left no means unemployed in his search; and +secondly, such people are very apt to run, on like occasions, as far as +they can; and thirdly, this Monsieur d'Estein seems to have been a very +sly fox, who would be sure to hide his little dove as safely as could +be done from the fierce lion. This monsieur is every way a very +inconvenient quantity in the problem, which I should like to eliminate +if I knew how to do it. If he did not die soon afterwards, he probably +did a good deal of mischief yet; perhaps he even married little Marie, +adopted the child, carried both of them back to France or to America, +and spoilt the whole game for me--who knows? That would be disgraceful; +for the story might really become highly interesting to me and to +others. I should like to see the faces of the two, if I appeared +before them and said: My good friends, what will you give me if I help +you to a nice little fortune of a hundred thousand dollars or so? Or +perhaps--and that might be the more convenient way of doing the +thing--I might present myself before dear Anna Maria some fine +afternoon, and say to her: Pardon me, madam, if I interrupt you, but I +found among the papers of my father, who, as you know, did business for +your departed cousin Harald, certain documents which enable me to trace +the legal owners of Stantow and Baerwalde with tolerable accuracy. My +sense of justice, and the special respect I entertain for you and your +daughter, are contending in my bosom. The one compels me to report my +discovery to the proper court; the other whispers to me to keep the +matter secret. What do you say, madam, if you were to re-enforce my +disinterested veneration by a few thousand dollars, which, upon my +honor, are very much needed just now?" + +This suggestion seemed to inspire Mr. Timm. He jumped up from the +lounge and walked up and down in the room, gesticulating actively. +"That might become a gold mine for me," he said to himself. "I should +worry the old woman till her big gray eyes were twice as large. I +should put the thumbscrews on her, and every time I wanted money I +would give a turn or two. She would do anything rather than risk a +lawsuit. Then I should be, so to say, master in the house; then I could +drop the fool's mask and show myself in my true form. Then I might say +who was to marry Miss Helen; why, I might marry her myself if I chose, +and calmly look forward to the arrival of my good friend Felix, which +dear Anna Maria has just confided to me as a great secret. Not that I +am much troubled by it, any way, for friend Felix was the worthy pupil +of his master, and handled the cards as well as I did and would +probably not have fared any better than I did if he had not belonged to +an old family. As it was, Ensign Baron Felix Grenwitz escaped with a +reprimand, while Ensign Albert Timm had to quit the service. I am +curious how we shall meet. Perhaps he won't recognize me; perhaps he'll +try to get rid of the troublesome guest as soon as possible. Ha! How +things would change if these wretched letters did not skip over the +most important points with a levity and carelessness of which women +alone are capable!" Albert sat down again and commenced his letters +once more, although he nearly knew them by heart. He had carefully +numbered them, and perused them in the order in which they came. + + +No. 1.--"Sir:--I do not know you, and if you are the same person who, a +few weeks ago, intruded upon a conversation between myself and my +companion, and were so energetically rebuked by the latter, the same +who every evening pursues me when I return home from the store--then +you will find it but natural that I should decline making your +acquaintance. I pray you to spare me further requests, and all other +letters. I should have left this note unanswered like the others, if I +were not afraid to encourage your boldness by my silence. Surely no man +would refuse the request of a lady, and especially of an unprotected, +helpless woman? + + "Marie Montbert." + + +No. 2.--"Sir:--You seem indeed to know how to obtain the forgiveness of +a woman whom you have offended.--Whatever may have been the motives +that induced you--you have dried many tears, you have saved a whole +family from despair. I myself was unable to do anything for my poor +countrymen--I could only pray to God to send them help. He sent you. +Show yourself worthy of such favor! Remember that he who asks for +reward has his reward already, and do not let your left hand know what +your right hand has done. + + "Your humble servant, + + "Marie Montbert." + + +No. 3.--"What do you know of my father's fate? For heaven's sake, sir, +do not trifle with the heart of a child! You say you have learnt from a +French colonel of the Grand Army, in whose regiment my father made the +campaign against Russia, everything about his experiences during that +year, and all the minor details about his death, shortly before the +passage of the Beresina. All this sounds so very improbable--and yet +how could you know anything about it except from good authority?--even +the colonel's name is right, as I see from my father's letters to my +mother. I do not know what to believe--but why will you not give me +this information, which you know must be of inestimable value to +myself, in my house, I mean in the house of the good lady who has been +in my mother's place for several months now? Why ask for a secret +rendezvous? Why force a child, who expects information about the death +of her father, to take a step which that father, if he were still +alive, could never approve of? I am not appealing in vain to your +generosity, I am sure. + +"My lodgings are Ann Street, No. 21. If you are not afraid of three +flights of steps, I shall be ready to receive you tomorrow morning, +between 10 and 12 o'clock. + + "Your humble servant, + + "Marie Montbert." + + +No. 4.--"You insist upon a rendezvous which you say is by no means +secret, as it is to take place in the open street, in one of the most +frequented parts of the city, and at a time when the streets are still +crowded with pedestrians. You will state yourself, you say, your +reasons for declining to comply with my wish, 'however painful such a +step may be,' and you vow I shall approve of your motives as soon as I +hear them. Are you quite sure of that? But, it is true, you offer to +give--I am to receive--and so I must needs give way to your wishes. I +cannot, I will not, imagine that you mean to deceive me. You have been +so generous towards poor and unhappy people, you will surely not be +less so towards a poor unprotected girl. + + "M. M." + + +No. 5.--"Dear Baron! Once more my heartiest thanks! Thanks also for the +delicacy with which you had arranged it all! How much I have wronged +you! But could I anticipate that you would make me acquainted with +Colonel St. Cyr himself? That I would hear from the lips of that +veteran, in my beloved mother-tongue, the heroic death of my father? +You would not have it that the colonel should find the daughter of a +hero, the last scion of a once rich and illustrious family, in such +reduced circumstances; you wished to spare me the mortification of +having to receive the Count of St Cyr and Baron Grenwitz in a garret. +You preferred to present me to him as the governess of a family whom +you knew, and it was after all perfectly right and proper that I should +call in your company upon the old gentleman, tired as he was from his +long journey, at his hotel. Once more a thousand thanks! Thanks also +for the silence by which you honored my renewed grief during the long +drive from the hotel to my lodgings! I know how hard it must have been +to a man of your liveliness. How have I deserved the interest you take +in my fate? Ah! I have been so ill-behaved towards you! You ask me, +finally, whether I believe now that you mean it well with me? This +letter may give you the answer. You leave the city tomorrow--farewell, +and may the enclosed little keepsake, worked by my hand at night, +remind you sometimes of + + "Your grateful + + "Marie Montbert." + + +"Now the little doll is ready and well trained," said Albert, who read +the familiar letter, with a strange and unnatural zeal, over and over +again. He sat there like a conjurer studying the rules of a rival in +the Black Art. "This Harald, it cannot be denied, was the real +Ratcatcher of Hameln. I should like to know what kind of a colonel that +was who invented the pretty story of the 'heroic death, shortly before +the passage of the Beresina.' Perhaps a colonel of devils; at all +events, one of his associates--the thing must have cost Baron Harald an +immense amount of money. However, it was spent to some purpose, for in +No. 6 he has made great progress!" + + +No. 6.--"I can hardly recover from my surprise. You back again! And +back for my sake! Back, because your desire to see me left you no rest! +Oh God! What is to become of it all! You are a rich nobleman--I am a +poor girl, who, whatever my ancestors once may have been, must now earn +my daily bread by hard work. My judgment tells me that all this can +only bring wretchedness upon me; that I ought to avoid you, flee from +you. What did I tell you yesterday? What did I promise? Oh, give me +back my promise! I cannot, I must not see you. I must never see you +again. I beseech you, leave the city. You must do it if you really love +me. Farewell. Thousand thanks! + + "Your Marie." + + +"What eight days' absence must have done!" said Albert, lighting his +cigar again, which had gone out during his perusal of the last note. +"'Your Marie!' How the brave Harald must have chuckled when he read +this tearful epistle--here are the traces of the tears now. But let us +go on." + + +No. 7.--"You must take back the costly jewels which an unknown man left +here to-day. How have I deserved it, that you should think so meanly of +me? You know that I love you in spite of my reason, which reproaches me +constantly for it; I have not been able to conceal it from you any +longer, nor did I wish to do so; but you ought at least to leave me the +consolation that my love is pure and disinterested. These costly +rubies, this red gold, it burns in my hand like coals of fire--leave me +as you found me! If the poor simple girl could win your love, you see +yourself that poverty and simplicity are perfectly compatible with +love. + + "M. M." + + +"Prettily expressed," said Albert, putting the letter on top of the +others, "but very stupid! Poverty and love are as compatible as fire +and water. I should like to know the burning love that would not be +extinguished if a bucket of poverty were poured on it! Pshaw! I ought +to know better. I think I would be capable of marrying poor little +Marguerite if I were a dignitary with an ample income guaranteed by the +State; but as I am nothing but a poor devil, with a famous appetite and +a real patent stomach, it would be a clear case of suicide if I were to +share the scanty ration with another person. Love! Nonsense! Love is a +most acceptable dessert after the dinner of life. A good dinner without +a dessert--_bon!_ a dinner with a dessert--still better; but a dessert +without a dinner--well, women may be able to do even with that, but it +does not suit my constitution. I wonder whether sweet Marie, if she is +alive, as I fervently hope, does not sometimes regret having rejected +the 'costly rubies and the red gold' for the benefit of other young +ladies, who deserved them less well? In the next letter the virtuous +little damsel becomes quite rampant." + + +No. 8.--"Aha! my dear, we can be jealous, can we? Who would have +suspected Baron Harald Grenwitz of such plebeian foibles? I must change +my lodgings--why? That I may not perish with cold in winter and with +heat in summer; that I do not risk every day breaking my neck on the +steep narrow staircase? Oh no! Simply because my good lord does not +like Mrs. Black, with whom I live, and because my good lord has found +out that a young Frenchman, a Monsieur d'Estein, lives on the same +story with me; that I am quite well acquainted with said monsieur, and +have actually been seen with him arm in arm late at night in the +street! Horrible! But in good earnest, dearest Harald, you have no +cause to complain. Mrs. Black is a very respectable, excellent woman, +to whom I am deeply indebted, and who has been like a mother to me as +far back as I can think; and as for Monsieur d'Estein, your jealousy +will be lulled to sleep, I hope, when I tell you that he is the same +little old gentleman on whose arm you saw me the first time in the +Park. Monsieur d'Estein could very well be my father, and really was my +father's friend. He is, like ourselves, descended from a family of +French refugees, and would long since have gone back to the land of his +fathers, since he has no relatives nor even friends here, if he was not +justly afraid that he would starve there, since everybody there speaks +the language which he here teaches to earn his daily bread. He is very +eccentric, but the kindest heart in the world. He would go for me +through fire and water, and be _au desespoir_ if he had the slightest +suspicion of our friendship. All this I would have told you last night, +but I wished to see if you could bear contradiction. Are you satisfied +now? _Au revoir, Monsieur le baron_. + + "_Votre tres mechante_ + + "Marie M." + + +"This is the only notice about this Monsieur d'Estein," said Albert, +letting the letter fall back in his lap, and puffing out clouds of +reflection from his cigar; "no doubt the same man who afterwards +reappears as the Jew pedler in the old woman's story, when he first +reconnoitred the locality and then eloped with the oppressed Innocence. +I fear several letters must have been lost here, because the next +following note shows matters very much advanced." + + +No. 9.--"I have just received the--why should I not tell you?--the +long-expected letter of your aunt. She writes me in a trembling but +legible hand, that she values the happiness of her nephew more highly +than the peace of her few remaining days; that she was even pleased to +have such a motive for returning to her ancestral home, the place of +her birth, where she now also expects to die. She says she will start +on her journey, the last before the great journey home, on the 13th, so +as to reach Grenwitz before me, 'as you fear a _tete-a-tete_ with my +wild nephew' so much. I cannot tell how deeply I am touched by so much +goodness and love! How grateful I am to the dear old lady, and how I +long to kiss her withered old hands! Yes, Harald, if she, the matron, +the oldest of your knightly race, has thought me worthy of you, if she +blesses our union, I am willing to become yours. What pains me is only +this, that I am to steal away like a thief at night from the woman whom +I love as a mother, and from the man who has been both father and +brother to me. But then--it cannot be helped. You are right. They would +only make the parting harder; they would blame the whole as a romantic +adventure. They do not know you; they do not know how good and noble +you are! But I may at least bid them good-by in writing! Thank them in +a few words for all their love and kindness, and hold out a bright +future to them as a compensation for the grief I must needs cause them +now. Ah, that that future were the present! Your new valet, whom I, by +the way, like much less than the old one with the good face, told me +last night that all was prepared for day after to-morrow. I am glad I +am to travel in your carriage, and accompanied by your servants; the +thought of so long a journey rather frightens me. I hope soon to see +you, my dearly beloved. + + "M. M." + + +"Well, now the little bird is in the net," said Albert, adding this +letter to the others, and tying them all up again with the red-silk +ribbon. "I could imagine the rest, even if I did not know it from the +old woman's story. I believe the old witch, the dear friend of my +excellent neighbor Stein; could tell a good deal more if she chose. I +must try to win her favor and to obtain admittance to her salons. I +wonder if she has not some things that belonged to Miss Innocence in +her possession, that might lead to further discoveries? The little one +can assuredly not have cleared all her chests and drawers so +completely, before her hurried flight at night, that the old woman +should not have gleaned a nice store of ribbons, shoes and stockings, +and perhaps also letters. She may keep all that in perfect security at +the bottom of that big wooden chest on which I lay myself sore that +afternoon, where it is now awaiting a joyful resurrection. There is an +idea for you!" + +Albert had risen and gone before the mirror, probably in order to see +how such a clever head looked. "There is an idea," he repeated, and +kissed his hand to his double in the glass, who returned the compliment +promptly, "a very famous idea, which must be carried out at any hazard. +Perhaps the Jew pedler may have been a real Israelite, and agent of +Monsieur d'Estein; perhaps he only brought the girl a letter which +contained the plan for the elopement, and perhaps this letter might, if +found, put us on the track of the fugitives." + +Mr. Timm suddenly paused in his monologue, and his face grew dark: +"Confound it," he murmured, "there is no money, that _nervus verum_, +that divining-rod by which alone treasures can be raised! Of course I +shall have to make several trips in order to find it all out. I must go +to Berlin, Ann Street, No. 21, third story, to look for information. +But travelling costs money, and my assets amount to about five +groschen, one of which I believe is counterfeit. I must make a forced +loan. Marguerite must help. I was near enough doing it the other day, +when the agreeable family suddenly returned and abruptly terminated our +idyllic life. To be sure, these miserable plats must first be finished; +otherwise Anna Maria won't let me go. I must submit to it." + +And Mr. Timm lighted another cigar, unlocked the door, bent over his +drawing-board, and worked with a zeal as if he had no other plans and +knew nothing else in the world but the simple duty of a first-class +surveyor. + + + + + CHAPTER VI. + + +Baron Felix had arrived--in the middle of the night. He had left the +ferry early in his own carriage, when his valet suddenly remembered +that his master's dressing-case might not be with the rest of the +luggage, as he had placed it on board the boat between his feet and +probably left it there. A timid suggestion to that end--terrible +indignation on the part of Baron Felix, threats of boxes on the ear, +beatings and dismissal--a thorough search in the middle of the +road--finally return, as the _corpus delicti_ was really missing. The +ferry-boat, however, had unfortunately gone back in the mean time, and +with it the precious box. Several hours had to pass before it would +return, for the wind had lulled, and the men had to pull desperately +with their heavy oars. Baron Felix watched them through his pocket +telescope and became furious. At last, when the evening had come, the +baron could start a second time, this time with the dressing-case. He +was in a terrible state of mind. He had promised to arrive in Grenwitz +early that day, as he could not await the moment to see his fair +cousin. The delay might be interpreted unfavorably, and it was better, +therefore, to arrive at night than not at all. On the other hand, it +suited the taste of the ex-lieutenant by no means to travel by night +through the forest and over damp moors, especially in an open carnage. +He suffered--probably in consequence of indescribable exertions on the +parade ground and at drill of rheumatism, and feared a cold like the +plague. He chose, therefore, the least of two evils, and only +threatened Jean, his valet, to make his punishment on the next morning +depend on the nature of his cold. + +It was therefore a matter of great rejoicing to Jean when his master +awoke next day in very good humor. They had tried to disturb the +sleepers at the chateau as little as possible, and had quietly taken +possession of the long-prepared rooms, with the aid of one of the more +wakeful servants. Baron Felix ordered his cacao to be brought to his +bed, and when he was dressed--he did very little of it himself--he sent +Jean to ask Mr. Timm to come and see him for a few minutes in his room. +For Albert's presence had been one of the first things he learnt when +inquiring about the state of things at the chateau. + +"Ah _voila_, dear Timm, how do you do?" said Baron Felix, emphasizing +the last word in a peculiar manner, when Mr. Timm entered. "Pardon me +for troubling you so early; but I--why on earth has the donkey brought +me hot water again instead of warm water?--excuse me--Jean, warm water, +rhinoceros!--now tell me how are you, Timm? Glad to meet you here by +accident. How do you do?" and the baron held out one of the fingers of +the left hand, which he had just been drying. + +"Thank you, baron, tolerably!" said Albert, touching the proffered +finger very lightly with two fingers of his own hand, for it was not +one of Albert's foibles to let himself be overawed by haughty +insolence--"I really thought _you_ would have forgotten me and my +name." + +"Oh no!" said Felix, "I thought of it directly this morning, when Jean +counted out the company.--But how divine you look in citizen's dress! +ha, ha, ha! if our comrades could see you! really divine! upon honor!" +and Felix, a hair-brush in one hand and a small looking-glass in the +other, remained standing before Albert, and stared at him from head to +foot as if he were examining an animal from foreign lands. + +"Do you think so?" asked Albert, dryly; "glad of it. Am sorry cannot +return the compliment. This much I can tell you, however--you don't +look any younger. Have you another cigar? or is the Havana you are +smoking the last of the Mohicans?" + +"There, on the table," said Felix, "in the ebony box--press the spring +down--not younger? but I hope not older, I mean perceptibly--at least +you see I still enjoy all my teeth, and five-sixths of my hair," and +Felix brushed with infinite satisfaction the very pretty crisp curls +which covered his well-shaped head in surprising abundance. + +"Well, the hair is tolerably fair," said Albert, pitilessly; he had +taken a seat on the sofa and examined Felix, as he stood before the +long mirror, with great delight; "but what has given you all those +wrinkles in your face? The bright morning light is really not good for +you any more. Formerly I used to compliment you on your likeness to +Byron; but now you are more like Byron's father. And then--you never +were particularly stout, but now you are really reduced to a minimum." + +"The slimmer the more elegant," replied Felix, "and besides that comes +back. I have been kept rather short of late by my doctor." + +"The old story?" + +"Well, perhaps a new edition." + +"Revised and augmented?" + +"So, so; but it is all right now. We have become steady; we are going +to settle down. How do you like these trousers? I had them built. A +clever combination of the military cut and the civilian cut. We are +going to marry----" + +"You ought to leave that alone, baron." + +"Why?" + +"At least you ought to many a sensible elderly woman." + +"Why?" + +"Because ere long you will need a motherly friend much more than a +pretentious young wife." + +"Pshaw! _mon cher_, I have the honor to come from a race in which men +can live fast and yet long. A little rheumatism--that is the worst. How +do you like this coat?" + +"Why, I cannot say. You know I never understood anything about these +things." + +"I know. You were always the unclean vessel into which our good colonel +discharged his wrath. Do you know the poor devil has killed himself?" + +"No; why?" + +"Some say on account of debts; others, because he could not survive the +disgrace of having had a whole company appear in white trousers, +instead of cloth trousers, at the last parade. The commanding general +reprimanded him publicly." + +"May he be happy!" + +"Amen! Apropos, how long have you been here? I am told several weeks; +you must know the company inside and outside. Oh, what I wanted to ask +you! How is my worthy uncle and my excellent aunt? And how does my +cousin look? Did you ever see such a watch! Double second-hand--the +hand above shows months and days--direct from London--I believe it is +the first that ever was brought to the Continent. Apropos, who on earth +was that pretty black-eyed little thing we roused last night, and who +slipped by us in the passage, in a delicious little night-costume---she +looked like a sort of housekeeper, or some such thing? There is no +other visitor here now?" + +"No----" + +"Ah, quite _en famille_, then? Will you please pull the bell just over +your head? I think I look uncommonly well today?--Jean, did I not tell +you, you camel, that you must not wear that coat here?--go instantly +and put a new one on! and then go and ask if I can pay my respects to +the baron and the baroness." + +"The baron has asked already twice after the baron." + +"Well, then say I am coming directly--_au revoir_, dear Timm; I hope to +see you at dinner"--and with a last look at the mirror, and after +pouring some Cologne on his handkerchief, Felix left the room, while +Jean respectfully held the door open, without deigning to notice +Albert, who followed close behind him. + +Mr. Timm looked after his friend with a bitter smile on his thin fine +lips. "Dear Timm," he murmured, "I'll teach you to say Dear Timm, you +monkey!" + +It was the evening of the same day. They had just finished dinner, +which was always served on the terrace when the weather was good, and +were getting ready for a walk through the beech-forest down to the +beach, which the baroness had proposed. Oswald would have preferred +remaining behind, but Felix, who seemed to take a great fancy to the +silent, sober man, had begged him so earnestly not to spoil the +pleasure, that at last he decided to accompany them. Bruno was +rejoiced. They all started together, and soon reached the wood, where +the red evening lights were still playing merrily in the green +branches. Felix had offered his arm to the baroness, and Miss Helen +walked by the side of her father; Oswald, Albert, and the boys, and +Mademoiselle Marguerite, went before or behind, now singly, and now in +pairs, as the narrow forest path permitted. Felix, whom the physician +had warned against catching cold, found it cooler and damper in the +forest than he had thought, and wished in his heart the excursion might +soon come to an end. But he thought it best not to give utterance to +his secret wishes, but to compliment the suggestion of this romantic +promenade. + +"I am glad I have anticipated your wishes," said Anna Maria. "I confess +I had not expected you would have so much taste for the simple +pleasures of country life. How fortunate it is that Helen has the same +taste! You will lead a very sensible, quiet life one of these days, as +it suits your position." + +"Well, my position, dear aunt----" + +"Will be very good, I doubt not; but you will have to work hard, dear +Felix, till you can breathe quite freely again. How long it has been +before we could remove the most serious obstacles here in our own +position! And, after all, our position will not be perfectly secured +till Stantow and Baerwalde are positively our own, and the other farms +are in the hands of new tenants. You ought to have your estates also +surveyed anew, Felix. You would find Timm a clever and diligent +workman. I was quite surprised to hear that you knew him before, as +cadet, I suppose?" + +"Yes, dear aunt; he was a great----" + +"Favorite--I doubt not. We all like him very much." + +"I did not mean to say that exactly," replied Felix, laughing. "Still, +they were generally quite fond of him. He was an indefatigable joker, +and whenever some bold prank was to be played he was sure to lead. +However, it is well to keep an eye upon him; he is one of those people +who, if you give them the little finger, are sure to take the whole +hand." + +"Ah! indeed!" said Anna Maria, raising her eyebrows; "I took the young +man to be modesty personified; he certainly is far more modest than, +for instance, Mr. Stein." + +"Really!" said Felix. "Why, I thought Mr. Stein was fully aware of his +position!" + +"Well, you will learn to know him better. He is one of the most +arrogant men of his class I have ever known." + +"We'll soon get that out of him," said Felix, twirling his very +diminutive moustache. "With such people short answers are best. I know +that. These low-bred people are all alike. As soon as they find out +that we really mean to be what we are by right--the masters at home and +in the State--they become submissive. It is our own fault if they are +impertinent. They have to be kept down in a proper knowledge of their +position. You have been too kind to that man, that is all. To tell the +truth, I was wondering at dinner why Miss Helen should submit so very +patiently to some correction or other." + +"Well, Helen is not generally a friend of his. She has a thoroughly +aristocratic aversion to everything plebeian. I hope you will encourage +her in these principles. Besides, that is the nearest way to her +heart." + +"Well, I hope the way will not be so difficult to find," said Felix, +with a self-complacent smile; "I have some experience in that line, _ma +chere tante_." + +"Which you will all need in this case, dear Felix. Helen is a very +peculiar character, hard to understand. I confess I have not ventured +yet to tell her of our plan. I wished first to see what impression you +would produce on her heart. You have the finest opportunity here to +show yourself in the most favorable light; there is not even a rival to +fear. We live very retired, and I shall take good care that our +retirement is interrupted as rarely as possible while you are staying +with us." + +"Pardon me, dear aunt," said Felix, "if I differ with you on that +point. I should really have to pay forfeit if I had to be afraid of a +comparison with the young men of my class here in the country. On the +contrary, I am very anxious to measure myself with these goslings! +Every one of them whom I defeat is a step nearer to my goal, if it is +really so far off. No! Ask as much company as you choose. Make Helen's +presence and mine the pretext for giving little dinners, suppers, teas. +etc.; and then sum it all up in a great ball, on which occasion our +engagement can be proclaimed, and thus produce a sensation such as +these people have not often experienced." + +"You are bold, dear Felix," said the baroness, who liked this method +all the less that it was rather expensive. + +"What else would have been the use of my wearing a sword by my side so +long?" replied Felix, gallantly kissing her hand. + +While the baroness and Felix were disposing so coolly of Helen and her +fate, she and her father had had a conversation which oddly crossed the +cunning plans of the baroness, and the idea of the victorious race +which the young ex-lieutenant so naively expected to win. + +The old baron loved his beautiful daughter with all the love of which +his good heart was capable; he loved her all the better, as he had +always had great doubts about the justice of the law which excluded the +young girl from the entailed property. Besides, he felt the +indifference with which his wife had so far treated their daughter, +although he had been too weak to take measures to counteract it, and +especially to make an end to the exile in Hamburg. He had, likewise, +consented to the proposed match only because Anna Maria had persuaded +him that thus the inequality in the fortunes of the two children could +best be remedied, since Helen, as Felix's wife, would obtain possession +of the whole estate, if Malte should die without heirs. But here also +he had stipulated that Helen must give her free consent, and in return +he had pledged himself to leave the whole management of this delicate +affair in the hands of his wife, and especially not to divulge the +project before the time. + +Recent events, however, had seriously shaken his resolution. In the +first place, he had thought of it while lying ill with fever in +Hamburg, that he might die soon, and Helen would then stand quite +alone, without his counsel, without his veto, which he was determined +to interpose between her and her mother's plans if it should come to +the worst. He had always loved his child, but now he almost worshipped +her. She was so beautiful, so proud, and yet so kind and modest with +him, that his heart was filled with anguish and sadness at the thought +of leaving this world without having secured her fate. If Felix had +been such a man as he desired for her, it would have been easier. But +Felix was far from pleasing him. The old baron had been a soldier in +his time, like Felix. He knew perfectly well to what temptations a rich +young man of good family is exposed in the army; he had himself not +always escaped from such temptations, and now, when his naturally +serious mind had developed itself fully, he repented bitterly of the +sins of his reckless youth. He had seen in his cousin Harald a fearful +illustration of the terrible effects which unbridled passions have even +on a superior man, and his experience in these cases made him see at a +glance that his nephew Felix had been a slave to similar passions, and +probably was so still. He had seen the young man a few years ago, when +he first entered the army. Then he recollected him as a slender, +well-built youth, with a fresh, handsome face, and bright, clear eyes; +now he found nothing but a sad shadow of the pleasing form of those +days. A ghastly leanness, deep furrows in the precociously old face, +the large blue eyes looking glassy, or shining in feverish glow, and +always with that impertinent, fixed gaze which speaks more eloquently +than a whole biography--his gestures sudden and short, evidently in +order to hide the weariness within; loud and quick in speech, and +judging all things with the same superficial arrogance--his whole being +eaten up with a diseased vanity--this was what the concerned father saw +in Felix, in spite of his good-natured efforts to cover up the worst +parts of the picture. + +He regretted now having promised his wife not to interfere with her in +this matter. It seemed to him as if he had been too hasty, and at all +events he did not think he was breaking his promise if he tried to +sound Helen, how she felt herself on the subject. After they had been +walking for some time in silence, he said, therefore, taking her arm in +his: + +"How is your health, my child?" + +"Thank you, papa, pretty good; why?" replied Miss Helen, rather +surprised at the question. + +"I thought you looked a little pale." + +"That is the unfavorable light here under the green trees," replied the +young girl, merrily; "but I am really perfectly well." + +"I was always afraid the sudden change of air, of diet, and even of +friends, might injure you. You have been a long time away from home." + +"That was not my fault, dear papa." + +"I know--I know! Nor was it my fault; I always advocated your return +from school, but----" + +"Well, I am here now, and mean to make up for lost time. We will take a +great many walks together; I will read to you all your favorite books, +and we are going to have a quiet, happy life," and the young girl took +her father's hand and carried it to her lips. + +"You are a dear, sweet child," said the baron, and his voice trembled +slightly; "God grant that I may long enjoy your presence here!" + +"But, dear papa, don't give way to such melancholy thoughts! You are, +God be thanked, quite as well and as hearty again as ever. Why should +we not live a long time happily together?" + +"But if you should leave us?" + +"I am not going to die so soon, you may take that for granted," said +Miss Helen, laughing. + +"God forbid! But children part with their parents in other ways besides +dying. When you marry we shall have to give you up once more, after +having but just gotten you back." + +"Why, papa, don't you speak as if I were to marry tomorrow morning! I +have not even thought of it. Mamma, too, began to talk about that +yesterday. I am afraid you want, both of you, to get rid of me again." + +"Ah, indeed! Your mother has spoken to you about that, hm, hm?" said +the baron, thinking of course that the baroness must have come out with +her long-prepared project, and admiring the skill with which she had +chosen the time, the day before Felix arrived; "ah, indeed? hm, hm! +Well, and how do you like your cousin?" + +"Whom? Felix?" asked Helen, as yet not in the least suspecting the +connection of this question with what had gone before. + +"Yes." + +"He looks to me like the champagne we drank at dinner. The first drops +tasted very good; but when the glass had been standing a little while, +I found the wine quite flat and tasteless.--But you do not really +intend me for Cousin Felix?" asked Miss Helen, very eagerly, as the +thought suddenly flashed through her mind. + +"Oh, no, by no means--unless you choose; I mean--we shall never force +your will in this respect," replied the old baron, rather confused, as +he dared not tell the whole truth, and yet did not choose to state an +untruth. + +Helen made no reply; but the thought she had awakened was actively at +work in her mind. She compared the conversation she had had the day +before with her mother with her father's words just now.... It required +much less ingenuity than she possessed to discern the connection +between many casual remarks and the two interviews. Her proud heart +rebelled at the thought that her fate had been decided and her hand +disposed of without consulting her wishes, and asking her own opinion; +that this Felix, against whom her chaste heart was instinctively rising +in arms, might already look upon her as his own! These thoughts +occupied her mind so fully that she could not fall in with the loud +admiration of the company, as they stepped out of the forest upon the +bluff near the shore. + +And yet it was a sight well worthy of enthusiastic admiration. The sun +had just sunk into the ocean, and seemed to draw down with it the +clouds shining brilliantly in a variety of gold and crimson hues. From +the point where it had set bright streaks of light were shooting up in +all directions, piercing the clouds, and losing themselves high up in +the deep blue ether. The sea was like a mass of fire near the horizon, +and golden sparks came dancing towards the shore on the crests of +the waves. The chalk cliffs, with their colossal clefts, and the +beech-trees crowning them, flamed up in the red evening light as in a +blaze. All around was solemn stillness, broken only by the dash of the +waves below upon the shingle, and now and then the shrill cry of a gull +fluttering restlessly over the waters. + +The company stood about in groups, lost in admiration of the glorious +sight, which changed every moment Oswald, tired of the continuous Ahs +and Ohs, in which especially the baroness and Felix vied with each +other, had gone aside from the others and seated himself upon the +exposed root of an immense beech-tree. + +"Have you room for me there?" asked Helen, coming up to him. + +"I pray you will take my seat," said Oswald, starting up. + +"Only for a moment; I do not know why, but the walk has tired me more +than usually." + +"Perhaps you stayed too long in the garden this morning?" + +"No, but _a propos_. how does it happen that I have not seen you +to-day--nor yesterday?" + +"A mere accident." + +"I am glad to hear that." + +"Why?" + +"To tell the truth, I was afraid I had driven you out of the garden; I +thought this constant meeting with one and the same person would have +become quite intolerable to you." + +"You are too modest, I am sure." + +"No, do not laugh at me; I really thought so--yes, and worse still; you +have become very silent since day before yesterday, and, as I fancied, +especially reserved towards me. Nor did you give me my lesson in +literature yesterday, which I anticipated with so much pleasure. Have I +given you, unknowingly, cause to----" + +"What can you mean?" + +"Well, sometimes I say things that sound harsh or arrogant; at least I +have been told so; but really I do not mean them----" + +As Helen looked up at Oswald with her full, dark eyes, he stood before +her utterly lost in admiration of her beauty, and in wonder at her +sudden and inexplicable gentleness and sympathy. + +"Why do you look at me so astonished?" + +"Because I did not know so much kindness could be hid behind so much +pride." + +"Do you think the world deserves seeing our heart?" + +"A strange question from the lips of so young a lady." + +"To be sure, we are not expected to think. At best we are pretty dolls, +to play with and to be given away to the first man who looks as if he +would like to have us." + +"Cousin!" called Felix, "we are going down to the beach; will you join +us?" + +"No," answered Helen, without looking round at the speaker. + +"It is a charming walk," added Felix. + +"May be," replied the young girl, curtly, without changing her +position. + +But Felix was not the man to be defeated so easily. He came up to the +place where Oswald and Helen were sitting, and said: + +"But, Helen, surely you will not refuse me the first request I ever +made of you?" + +"Why not?" replied the other, and her voice sounded peculiarly harsh +and bitter. "I cannot bear begging and beggars, and you had better +learn that at once." + +"Have you twisted your foot, dearest cousin?" asked Felix. + +"Why?" + +"Because you sit so still, and are in such awful humor," replied Felix, +laughing, and went to join the others, without giving a sign that he +had been hurt by Helen's manner. + +"Will you not join the company, doctor?" asked Helen, on whose cheeks +the excitement of the last little scene was still glowing, while the +others began the somewhat steep path which led down to the beach. + +"Do you wish to be alone?" + +"Oh, no! on the contrary, I am glad you mean to stay. After the very +witty conversation at dinner, and since, I feel the want of talking +sense for a little while. You have not told me yet whether I have hurt +your feelings unwittingly, by some thoughtless word, perhaps?" + +"No, not in the least. But I received some news night before last which +has distressed me deeply.... Do you remember a Professor Berger, whom +you met at Ostend three years ago?" + +"Oh, very well! He is not so easily forgotten. I can see him now before +me, with his magnificent eyes under the heavy eyebrows, and always +something clever on his lips. What of him? He is not dead?" + +"No, worse--than that--he is insane!" + +"For God's sake! Professor Berger? The very picture of a clear and +lofty mind. How can that be? Did you tell papa and mamma?" + +"No, and I beg you will not tell them; I could not bear just now to +hear the matter discussed." + +"You were very fond of the professor?" + +"He was my best, perhaps my only friend." + +"How I pity you!" said Helen, and she showed very clearly in her +beautiful face the sympathy she felt. "Such a loss must be terrible. +And you are here quite alone with your grief, and no one to sympathize +with your suffering?" + +"I have been accustomed to that all my life." + +"Have you no parents, no near relatives?" + +"My mother died when I was an infant; my father died many years ago; I +never had brother or sister, nor have I ever known any relatives of +mine." + +Helen was silent, drawing lines in the sand with the point of her +sun-shade. + +Suddenly she raised her head and said, in a tone that sounded half like +complaint and half like defiance: + +"Do you know that one may have parents and brothers--yes! and even +relatives, and yet be quite alone, and feel very lonely! And you are, +after all, well off, for you are a man; you can act for yourself, +while----" + +The young girl broke off here, as if she was afraid of being carried +away by her feelings. She rose and went a few steps beyond Oswald, +close to the edge of the precipice. It was a wondrously beautiful +picture, this proud, tall figure on the bright background of the golden +evening sky, which surrounded her glorious head as with a halo, while +the sea-breeze was playing with her dark curls. And to Oswald she +looked like a good angel, dropping kind, sympathizing words in his +sickened heart, like soft rain falling upon a withered flower. And now, +for the first time, he recollected his conversation with the doctor as +they returned from the village. It was true, then! This sweet, this +glorious creature was to be sold, to be sold like Melitta! She had said +so herself. He had just heard it from her own lips! She was standing +alone in the world; she could not act for herself; and yet she had +still sympathy and comfort for him, she who stood in such need of +sympathy and consolation herself. To protect the weak and the helpless +is man's right and duty--there would probably have been few adventures +into which Oswald would not have plunged without hesitation for the +sake of the fair sufferer. He did not remember that the knight's first +duty is to be faithful to the lady of his heart, and that to break a +lance for another, at the risk of losing her, speaks neither of wisdom +nor of generosity. + +Suddenly a cry arose from the beach, where the others had in the mean +time arrived, and as Helen, who was quite free from vertigo, stepped to +the very brink and bent over the abyss, a second cry was heard, still +more piercing and more anxious. + +"For Heaven's sake," cried Helen; "what can have happened? I thought I +heard Bruno's voice. Let us make haste and get down." + +The two young people were quickly down, although the path which led +down in zigzag on the chalk cliff was steep and dangerous. When they +reached the beach, out of breath, they saw Bruno fainting and lying in +Albert's arms, while the others were standing around helpless. + +"Fetch some water, quick!" said Oswald, taking the boy, untying his +neckerchief and unbuttoning his clothes. Nobody had thought of it. + +"How did it happen?" asked Helen, taking Bruno's cold hands in her own, +and gazing anxiously in his fair, pale face. + +"None of us know how," said the baroness. + +"Perhaps an attack of vertigo," suggested Felix. + +In the mean time water had been brought, and Oswald had washed the +boy's forehead and temples and chest. Helen remembered that she had a +flacon of Cologne in her pocket, and helped Oswald in his efforts to +revive the boy. He soon came to himself again. He opened slowly his +large eyes, and his first glance fell upon Helen, who was bending over +him. + +"Are you dead, quite dead?" he murmured, closing his eyes again. + +They thought he had lost his mind. + +"Collect yourself, Bruno," said Helen, passing her hand lightly over +the boy's brow and eyes. + +Bruno seized the hand and pressed it firmly upon his eyes, while two +big tears came oozing out from between the closed lids; then he raised +himself, with Oswald's assistance. + +"I am quite right again," he said; "have I really been fainting? How +long have I been so?" + +"Only a little while," replied Oswald, wiping Bruno's face with his +handkerchief and setting his clothes in order again. + +"You have really frightened us; what in the world was the matter?" +asked the baroness. + +"I do not know," replied the boy, whose pale cheeks suddenly flashed in +deep purple glow; "it came very suddenly. Thank you, thank you, I think +I can get on very well if Mr. Stein will help me." + +"We'll go back," said the baroness. "How provoking that every little +pleasure must be spoilt by some mishap or other." + +They made their way slowly up again, and returned, out of temper, +through the forest. Felix, who was afraid of taking cold, urged them to +make haste; Oswald remarked, dryly, he did not wish to detain the +company, and would follow slowly with Bruno. Helen declared her +intention to stay with Bruno; and the old baron, who had exhibited +throughout very warm, but very useless sympathy, proposed that the +company should divide into a vanguard and a rearguard; he meant himself +to stay with the latter. + +"You will catch cold, dear Grenwitz," said the baroness; "I think you'd +better come with us." + +"No, I prefer staying with the others," said the old baron, with an +earnestness which surprised all of them, and himself perhaps most. + +He gave his arm to his daughter, but remained near Oswald and Bruno, +chatting with them leisurely, as he liked to do, and inquiring from +time to time how the boy came on. + +"I am quite well, quite well," said Bruno, again and again; but Oswald +felt that he leaned heavily on his arm, and that his hands were cold. + +Thus they reached the house, one by one. The old baron disappeared, +wishing Bruno a speedy recovery, while Oswald carried the boy at once +to his room and sent him to bed. + +"You are worse, Bruno, than you wish to confess," he said, sitting down +on the edge of the bed; "you have your old pain, have not you?" + +"Yes," said Bruno, and his teeth chattered, and cold perspiration broke +out on his forehead. + +Oswald hastened to use the same remedy as before; and he succeeded in +this case also in relieving the patient, at least as far as the pain +was concerned. + +"Will you not tell _me_, Bruno, what brought on the attack?" asked +Oswald. + +"Oh yes!" said the boy. "I only did not like to tell while the others +were present, because they would have laughed at me. I had stayed +behind a little, and a projecting rock hid the others from my sight I +thought I could overtake them at any moment, and so I was walking on +slowly, often looking upward. Suddenly I saw Helen come so close to the +edge of the precipice, which there comes down a hundred feet or more, +that it looked as if she must fall if she moved ever so little. I cried +out in my anxiety--then she came still nearer, actually bending over, +and everything turned around me well, you know the rest. But there is +Malte coming. Goodnight, Oswald." + +"Good-night, you mad boy." + +Oswald kissed his pet on his forehead and went in deep thought to his +room. He leaned out of the open window and looked down in the garden, +lost in meditation. The night was dark; only here and there a single +star peeped for a moment through the canopy of clouds. At times a sound +came from the trees, as if they were speaking to each other in low, +confused murmurs; the fountain of the Naiad splashed gently and +abruptly, as if it were telling a weird old story. + +"Your life is like this night," said Oswald to himself; "here and there +a star, which vanishes again, and then chaos and darkness. You were +right, dear Berger, our life is nothing, and quite sad enough to make +any man who has sense wish to get rid of it quickly. Now you are where +Melitta is, and Oldenburg too. Perhaps you see them pass by your cell, +arm in arm; perhaps that will make your mind return to you, while +others lose it at the sight. I might make a little trip to N., to see +my good friends. Who knows? The place might prove so pleasant that I +might stay there altogether." + +"How is Bruno?" asked a voice from below. It was Helen's voice. Oswald +saw her white dress shine in the dark. + +"Thank you; he is well," he replied. + +"Good-night." + +And the light dress vanished in the shrubbery. + +"No, life is more than an empty nothing," murmured Oswald as he closed +the window. "If Berger had seen this girl, he would not have given up +life. And yet he has seen her, admired her, sung her praises even in +sweet verses, and yet he has lost his mind--oh, it is a fearful thing +this life--dark and ghost-like, and nothing real in it but the sweet +voice that bids you good-night!" + + + + + CHAPTER VII. + + +There are in the life of every family, as in that of nations, moments +when all the members feel more or less distinctly that something great +and extraordinary is going to happen. The dark future casts its shadow +far back upon the present, filling the minds of some with dismay and of +others with hope, but everywhere causing a restlessness which, in its +turn, contributes to bring about the crisis. + +Such a time of feverish excitement had come for the company at Castle +Grenwitz also. Just now they had been so quiet--But Bruno's accident +might have told the acute observer that beneath the smooth even +surface, with its polite courtesy and its painful compliance with +social forms, there was something seething and heaving; secret love and +deep-hidden hate; hostility masked by the appearance of perfect peace +and good-will--heartfelt sympathies under the cover of indifference and +even antipathy. The very face of life had changed. The stillness, so +perfect as almost to become oppressive, which had formerly reigned in +the chateau, was now frequently interrupted. Baron Felix, who had +little disposition to play the hermit, could not deny himself the +pleasure of taking up one or the other of his favorite pursuits. The +day after his arrival his two superb saddle-horses had already come, +and thus larger excursions were made possible, when the carriage could +be escorted by at least two of the gentlemen on horseback. In a remote +part of the garden a rough shooting-gallery was knocked up, and during +the late afternoon hours the short, sharp crack of rifled pistols could +be heard in the quiet rooms that looked upon the garden. As riding, +shooting, and hunting are amusements which demand numbers, Oswald, +Albert, and even Bruno were never safe, lest Felix should come and beg +them and plague them till they yielded to his wishes, and became his +companions in one or the other of his pastimes. Felix was one of those +men who are never idle, without ever being well occupied; he would +spend hours at his toilet, and read between Beranger's songs or a few +chapters in the _Liaisons Dangereuses_, his two favorite books; or he +would play the first bars of a piece of music, stopping abruptly to +complete the training of his handsome pointer, and thus continually +waste very valuable natural gifts in the pursuit of frivolous and +bootless purposes. For Felix had been richly endowed by nature, and +even his idle and reckless life had not been able to destroy them all. +No one could mistake the desire for something better that was in him, +although it would show itself unfortunately only in a feverish +restlessness with which he took up everything that was new, in an +ambition to be everywhere the first, or at least to appear to be first, +nay, even in his unmeasured vanity, and the incredible attention which +he bestowed upon his appearance. He might have been saved, perhaps, if +he had ever discovered the higher purposes of life, or at least had +been forced to eat the bread of poverty. As it was, he slowly and +pleasantly drifted down the current of his passions towards the point +where he must infallibly sink and drown if a miracle did not intervene +to save him. + +Could he have been in earnest in the change of life which he so often +discussed with the baroness? It may be doubted. He had become tired of +living in garrison, and his position was such that when he applied for +an extended leave of absence he was given to understand that he had +better leave the army altogether, if his health was so very feeble. +Just at that critical moment the baroness came with her offer about +Helen. Felix found here a resource of which he had never thought,--for +Anna Maria's views of money matters were well known to him from sad +experience,--and he seized it with both hands; although he by no means +liked the idea of marrying, still he was ready to yield that point. +Great was his surprise, therefore, when he found in his cousin, whom he +had never seen before, a girl more beautiful and more attractive than +any lady he had ever known before,--a being whom the proudest on earth +would be happy to call his own. Thus not two days had gone by before +Felix's heart was filled with a passion for his fair cousin, which, +closely examined, was probably nothing but sheer vanity, but which +appeared to him like a miracle. Selfish men are vain of everything, +even of their simple and natural feelings, and thus Felix never tired +of speaking to the baroness of his love, as of an eighth wonder of the +world, and overflowed even towards Oswald with his admiration of his +own bold hopes. Was his passion returned? Felix did not doubt it for a +moment. Had he not so far succeeded in all cases? Had not his luck with +women become proverbial among his comrades, each one of whom looked +upon himself as a Paris? And had he not seen again and again that love +is fond of hiding under the mask of indifference? It is true, his fair +cousin seemed to carry the comedy almost too far; she treated him with +a coldness, a contempt, which became almost offensive at times--but +this did not disturb him in his firm faith in his irresistible charms, +and he laughed at the baroness whenever she advised him to be cautious. +For Anna Maria, undisturbed by personal vanity, saw much clearer in +this matter than Felix. She could not help even admiring the consistent +uniformity of Helen's manner, and the modest firmness with which she +uttered and sustained her views; for the baroness valued energy of +character above other things, and most so in herself. There was +something in the haughty beauty of her daughter which she was +compelled to respect--a light from a higher world than that, filled +with self-interest and petty ambition, in which she was living +herself--Helen had, since that evening on the beach, become, if +possible, more quiet and reserved than before. She retired, whenever +she could do so, to her room. When she appeared in company she +generally attached herself to her father, or tried to manage it so that +Bruno became her companion when they walked out. She always had some +little service to give him to do; now he had to carry her hat or her +mantilla, and now to gather a flower on the other side of the ditch, or +to give her his hand in climbing up the steep shore. Bruno performed +every duty with a gentle earnestness which often provoked Baron Felix +to mockery; but the others, who knew the boy, and the unbridled +passions in his heart, were unspeakably touched. His whole being seemed +to be changed when Helen's eye rested on him. He became gentle and +kind, ready to help and to serve; a word from her, a mere sign of her +long, dark eyelashes, and he became quiet after a sudden burst of +temper. He rarely, however, showed his violence now, except against +Felix, for whom he entertained a hatred and a contempt which he hardly +attempted to conceal. He always had a scornful word for him in +readiness, and the many little exposures to which his unmeasured vanity +made him liable, found in Bruno a pitiless censor. He became all the +more annoying to Felix as his youth prevented the usual weapons from +being used against him, while a skilful blow from above was apt to be +parried with still greater skill. Felix himself felt this to a certain +degree, and if the boy appeared to him insignificant, he still proved +very troublesome. Wherever Helen appeared, there was Bruno also; and if +she ever had stayed behind during a walk, and Felix was just on the +point of speaking to her of his love, Bruno was sure to join them, as +if by agreement, and Felix, who knew nothing at all of botany and +mineralogy, had to leave the two to their scientific researches. How +would he have wondered if he could have found out that these +"researches," as he called them, were broken off the moment he was out +of sight, and that Bruno, tearing the flower in his hand to pieces, +cried out: "Look, Helen, that is the way you will tear my heart, if you +ever love this man Felix!"--"The old story, Bruno?"--"Yes, the old +story, and I will tell it as long as there is a breath in my bosom. Do +you think I do not know what it means when aunty and Felix put their +heads together, and look from time to time stealthily at you? Oh, I +have sharp eyes, and good ears, too! Yesterday, as I passed them, the +fine gentleman said: She'll come to her senses! She--that was you; and +come to your senses meant: She will forget her self-respect and marry a +wretched, vain peacock like myself"--"But how can you imagine such +things, Bruno?"--"Well, I think that is not so difficult. And you +imagine them too, I know, or why do you look so often straight before +you, in deep thought, and then suddenly at Felix or Oswald, as if you +were comparing the two with each other? Yes, just compare them! Then +you will see the difference between a man and--an ape!"--"Are you very +fond of Mr. Stein, Bruno? Is he always so sad and silent?"--"Oh, no! He +can be as wild as a colt; I don't know what is the matter with him now, +or rather I know it, but----" --"But?"--"But I must not tell--yes, I +think I can tell you; for you are not like the others. I always feel as +if you ought to look right down into my heart, as they say God does; as +if I ought to have no secret for you."--"But I do not want you to +betray a secret"--"I won't betray anything, because Oswald has never +said a word to me. I only know that he is so sad and silent since Aunt +Berkow is gone. We were talking of it at dinner to-day, how long she +would stay away, and whether she would marry again after Uncle Berkow's +death, and I saw how Oswald turned pale, and did not raise his eyes +from his plate during the whole conversation. And then, when Felix +remarked that Baron Oldenburg might be able to answer that question, as +he had gone to N. after Aunt Berkow, he suddenly raised his head, with +an angry look, and opened his lips as if to say something; but he said +nothing and bit his lips; and to-night he is sadly out of humor."--"And +all that means----" --"All that means, simply, that Oswald is very fond +of Aunt Berkow, and does not like her to be talked about; just as +little as I like it when aunty and Felix talk of you."--"Ah, you do not +know what you are talking about"--"Of course, that is always the +refrain: I don't know what I am talking about! I am a foolish boy, +hurrah! hurrah! I have no ears to hear, no eyes to see. Why? Because I +am only sixteen, and my beard is not as long as it might be." + +How did Helen receive this news? Was she disappointed in her heart? Or +did she find another explanation for the melancholy look in Oswald's +blue eyes? Perhaps she would not have been able to explain it to +herself, but at all events it did not diminish the interest she had +felt for Oswald ever since that evening on the strand. She began to +observe him more closely than heretofore; she watched every one of his +words; she played and sang by preference the music he liked best, and +when he appeared once more in the garden in the morning, she was +rejoiced. She thanked him in her heart if he, who was so silent +everywhere else, always had some kind word for her, and entered +cheerfully upon every subject she suggested, sometimes seriously, +sometimes jestingly, but always in the cordial manner of an elder +brother. Did the charm of Oswald's personal appearance really begin to +have an effect upon the proud girl, susceptible as she was for +everything beautiful and noble? Was it jealousy, or was it simply a +kind of opposition to the plans of her mother, which appeared daily +more clearly, that made her take such an interest in a man whom her +aristocratic eye would otherwise have carelessly overlooked? The most +contrary sentiments contended in her heart, as often, on a deep blue +summer sky, light gray clouds are drifting aimlessly about till the +tempest breaks forth in its full power. + + + + + CHAPTER VIII. + + +The baroness had found herself inclined to follow Felix's advice, to +take a more active part in the social intercourse of the surrounding +nobility. She had reflected on it for some time, and then formed her +decision. Not a day passed now that the family was not either invited +out, or, more frequently, entertaining company at the chateau. People +seemed to be delighted at seeing Castle Grenwitz once more the place of +meeting for all the busy idlers of the neighborhood, and thus regaining +its ancient fame for hospitality. They approved highly of Anna Maria's +determination to exchange the convent life which she had led so far for +a new life, more brilliant, and more suitable to the old renown of her +noble family; they paid her so many compliments on her powers of +conversation, her talent to arrange large entertainments, that she +tried to plead the absolute necessity for such an outlay before her own +conscience, when it charged her with recklessness in going to all the +expense paused by the unusual hospitality. + +It had happened in this manner that Oswald had met once more with +several persons whom he had seen at the ball at Barnewitz; but none of +those for whom he felt a special interest. It was a remarkable accident +which brought one afternoon almost all the persons together who had +then become better known to him. Some had been invited, others had come +by chance. Thus he saw, with very different feelings. Baron Barnewitz +and his wife Hortense enter the room; then Count Grieben and a few +others; but his interest in the matter became a very special and +downright painful one when at last, and quite unexpectedly, another +carriage drove up, bringing Adolphus and Emily von Breesen, with their +aunt, whose toothless mouth and sharp tongue Oswald had by no means +forgotten. + +"This way, my fine young gentleman," cried the old lady, when she +noticed him after the first introduction. "Why did you not come to see +us, as you promised? Was that my reward for holding you up to my nephew +as a pattern of a well-bred young man who knows what he owes to ladies? +And for praising your pronunciation of French to my niece? Are you very +much ashamed? I honor you with my displeasure!" + +"I do not deserve it, madam," said Oswald. "I was not able to come as I +would have liked to do; and even if I really should have committed such +a sin of omission, I am sure I have lost enough to be spared the +punishment of your displeasure." + +"Oh yes--fine phrases, you never want them. You are not less uncivil, I +fear, than the other young men; you are only a little less awkward, and +I see I shall have to pardon you. Here is my hand, and now see how you +can make your peace with my niece without her scratching out your +pretty eyes." + +Thereupon the lively old lady turned her back upon Oswald, and left him +to a _tete-a-tete_, for which he had no desire just then, with pretty +Miss Emily, who stood there before him with slightly flushed cheeks and +heaving bosom, not daring to raise her eyes from the ground. + +Oswald was determined not to renew the childish and yet dangerous play +with the impassioned girl. He wished and hoped she would have seen her +folly. He was rather pleased, therefore, when Miss Emily answered the +few indifferent words which he addressed to her with apparent +unconcern, and then joined a group of girls who surrounded Helen, and +admired the new-fashioned cut of a dress which she wore for the first +time to-day. + +His meeting with Baron Cloten also was less uncomfortable than he had +anticipated from his manner when they saw each other at Baron +Oldenburg's house. The young nobleman pretended to be very glad to +see him again; he inquired eagerly after Oldenburg, spoke of their +pistol-shooting at Barnewitz, and asked if Oswald would now give him +satisfaction. + +Oswald was rather curious to see the meeting between Cloten and +Barnewitz. To his great surprise, however, there seemed to be an +excellent understanding between the two gentlemen; Oldenburg had +evidently proved an excellent diplomat in this affair. The fact was, he +had persuaded both that each one was eager to drink the blood of the +other, and thus induced the two men to listen to his suggestions for an +amicable arrangement, as they found, both of them, life far too +pleasant to risk it without very grave provocation. He had represented +Cloten's little trifling with Hortense as mere child's play to +Barnewitz, and vowed that he was persuaded Cloten had never stood in +any other relation to the good lady than many other acquaintances, he +himself for instance,--a wretched ambiguity, which the somewhat simple +husband, however, gratefully accepted as an evidence of his wife's +innocence. The young rustic Don Giovanni, on the other hand, he had +advised to be once or twice very rude, and even impertinent to +Hortense, in her husband's presence, and, above all, to pick out some +pretty girl among his friends, and to court her publicly. Cloten was +very glad to get off so cheap; he had followed Oldenburg's advice to +the letter, and begun, on the spot, to pay the most devoted attentions +to Emily von Breesen. So far, however, he had not been successful in +his efforts. Far from it. The thoughtless girl had overwhelmed him with +pitiless scorn and scoffing; his assurances of love and devotion were +met with ironical remarks, and his chivalrous services were accepted +with an indifference which would have driven him to despair if he had +been in earnest. And, as it happens in such things, he had gradually +come to be in earnest; Miss Emily was by no means one of those young +ladies whom one could with impunity see and serve almost daily. She was +so charming even in her wanton recklessness, so lovely even in her +insolence, that the unlucky bird-catcher caught himself, from day to +day, more and more in his own net, and would now have given almost +anything for a single kind word from the lips he adored. What was +therefore his delight when Miss Emily, whom he hardly dared to +approach, to-day met him with the greatest friendliness, chose him as +her companion during the promenade they made through the garden, sent +him to gather flowers for her, and to bring her a handkerchief she had +forgotten at the house, and, in a word, seemed to do everything to make +amends in an hour for all the insults of the last weeks! + +Cloten was overwhelmed with happiness; his watery blue eyes beamed with +delight; he twisted his little moustache unceasingly, and smiled with +stupid vanity whenever some one whispered to him: "Well, Cloten, all +right, eh?" or, "That's right, Cloten, don't be afraid." + +Oswald did not know what to make of the comedy. At first he thought +Emily only wanted to show him that she did not want admirers, for he +could not believe that so clever a girl, who, with all her faults and +foibles, was very lovely and exceedingly pretty, should take a fancy to +such a stupid man as Cloten. When evening came the company gradually +retired into the rooms adjoining the lawn, but Emily and Cloten +remained almost alone outside, and Oswald had at last to fall in with +the unanimous opinion of the company, that the engagement between Baron +Cloten and Miss Emily could no longer be doubted. He was sorry for the +girl, who could throw herself away in this manner; but then he thought +again: It was not worth while to reproach yourself so much about so +heartless a girl! They are, after all, in all probability, quite worthy +of one another. I wonder if Cloten is not ashamed to play such a farce +before the eyes of the woman he has loved? + +He turned to Hortense, who was standing alone in the embrasure of one +of the windows. The pretty blonde seemed to-day to be pleased with this +neglect on the part of the gentlemen, although it was most +extraordinary, as she generally was one of the best-attended ladies. + +"Are you not going to dance to-night, baroness?" asked Oswald. + +"Are they going to dance?" she replied, as if awaking from a dream. + +"Oh, certainly. They are just carrying the piano into the large salon. +Mr. Timm has offered to play. May I have the honor of the first dance, +if I am not too late?" + +"Too late? Oh, no! Those times are gone by when I used to be engaged +for weeks ahead. I leave that to the younger ones now." + +"You are pleased to jest." + +"By no means; you are the first who asks me, and as I am afraid you +will be the last also, I think I had better not begin at all. I would +rather say: Come and sit down a little by me here, and let us have a +nice little chat while they are dancing. What do you say?" + +"The question requires no answer," said Oswald, drawing up a chair for +Hortense. + +"Won't you sit down? I am told, doctor, you have a great talent for +satire. Let me see a proof of your talent; you cannot be in want of +material, if you cast a glance at the company from our place here. +Which of the ladies do you think the prettiest?" + +"You mean the least plain?" + +"You scamp! It is true, though, that there is not much to be seen that +is pretty. A few nice dresses, perhaps. How do you like Helen +Grenwitz?" + +"I do not see her at all. Where can she be?" + +"There, on the right, near the door. She is speaking to her Cousin +Felix. How do they stand with each other? Has Cousin Felix yet made his +declaration?" + +"Certainly not to me." + +"I suppose not. But do you think he will propose?" + +"No." + +"Why?" + +"Because I consider the whole thing quite inexplicable." + +"Are you enthusiastic about Miss Helen?" + +"Infinitely so." + +"I suppose you take a special interest in all girls who are fresh from +school?" + +"Only when they are really interesting." + +"Not always. Or do you really mean to say that Emily von Breesen +deserves being called so?" + +"I have never been enthusiastic about her." + +"Well--but then she has been all the more so about you. Lisbeth was the +confidante of her grief, and Lisbeth has of course told me the whole +story." + +"Oh, that is simply impossible." + +"Don't be excited! You see the child has found consolation. To-day she +is hand in glove with Cloten; to-morrow she will have somebody else. +That girl has talent. She will do much in that line. I am only sorry +for poor Cloten." + +"But why does he expose himself to the danger?" + +"Certainly--and without his Mentor's advice?" + +"Who is that?" + +"Baron Oldenburg. He probably has misunderstood his friend's advice, +and will marry little Emily from mere blundering." + +"You are pleased to speak to me in unfathomable riddles." + +"I beg your pardon. Tell me, have you really become the baron's bosom +friend in this short time, as report says?" + +"Report has, as usually, changed the mote into a beam." + +"Do you think I mean it well with you?" said Hortense, and looked +Oswald full in the face. + +"I have no reason to suppose the contrary," replied the latter, who +began to be peculiarly interested in the conversation, which he had +begun without any purpose whatever. + +"Then follow my advice: have a care of the baron as of your bitterest +enemy." + +"Why?" + +"Because he is false to the core of his heart." + +"Do you know him well? And--pardon me if I cannot at once believe so +grave an accusation of a man whom, I confess, I have esteemed very +highly until now--have you any evidence of his being false?" + +"A thousand!" + +"Can you mention one?" + +"You will not betray what I am going to tell you?" + +"I promise." + +"Then listen. You know my cousin Melitta. Well, she has foibles as well +as all of us, but at the bottom she is a charming woman, whom I love +dearly, and whom I should be extremely sorry to see once more in hands +from which I thought I had rescued her forever. If Melitta is not as +good as she could be, Oldenburg alone has that on his conscience. He +turned her head, when she was quite young, with his foolish notions, so +that at last she knew no longer what was right and what was wrong. +Then, when she made that capital match with Baron Berkow, he disturbed +their good relations by his interference, and it was no wonder that +Berkow at last lost his mind from jealousy. I saw how that came about. +At last I succeeded in persuading Melitta to send Oldenburg away for a +few years. He went, but when we shortly afterwards were travelling in +Italy he reappeared, I know not whether by accident or called in by +Melitta. From her manner I should have supposed the latter. The old +story began once more. Solitary walks, low whisperings and vows, which +took place even in the presence of third persons--in short, it was a +downright unpleasant sight for one who, like myself, thinks rather +strictly in such matters. In vain I begged and besought Melitta to +think of her sick husband and of her child. I preached to deaf ears. +Then I determined to use desperate means. In order to prove to her +Oldenburg's worthlessness--of which I had heard on all sides fabulous +accounts--I pretended to let him fall in love with myself. It did not +require much effort, for the baron is both treacherous and reckless in +his passions. After a little while he pursued me with his adoration--of +course without committing himself before Melitta. At the same time he +spoke so heartlessly, so wickedly of my poor cousin, that I was +scarcely able to wear the mask which I had assumed. And yet I had to do +it till Oldenburg should be impassioned enough to run blindly into the +net which I had prepared. I managed it so that one day, in the garden +of the villa Serra di Falco, near Palermo, he made me a declaration of +love, while Melitta was standing a few feet from us behind a myrtle +hedge. Poor woman! It was a painful operation, but it was necessary. +Oldenburg disappeared of course the next morning. I tried to amuse +Melitta as well as I could, and I must confess she bore the bitter +disappointment, the cruel humiliation, better than I had expected. I +hoped the severe lesson would have opened her eyes, as to Oldenburg, +forever, especially when I found that the baron gave her time for +reflection by staying away for several years. But suddenly he turns up +again a few weeks ago. I anticipated evil at once--for the appearance +of this man is always the signal for some calamity. How he has managed +to regain Melitta's favor, and how it is possible that Melitta could be +weak enough to readmit him to her house, is more than I can tell. Both +of them possess a remarkable talent of concealing their actions from +the eyes of the world. I only know that a reconciliation has taken +place,--which I presume must have been a complete one between two +persons of such experience,--and, to keep the solemnity duly secret, +they have made a journey together, and where? To Fichtenau, the place +where Melitta's husband has been confined for seven years! Really, I am +sorry for Melitta. If she intended to ruin her reputation, she could +not have done more. For even if Berkow is really on the point of death, +what can Oldenburg have to do there, he who is the cause of the whole +misery? And does Melitta really think she can marry Oldenburg after +Berkow's death? Alas! If Oldenburg had to marry all the women to whom +he has vowed love in his life he would have a nice seraglio, from the +duchess to the maid, in which all nations and all races would be +represented. But, heavens! what is the matter with you? You look like a +corpse. Are you unwell?" + +"It is only the excessive heat," said Oswald, rising. "Pardon me, I +pray, for leaving you so abruptly. I must try if the cool evening air +will help me." + +He made Hortense a very formal bow, and went without waiting for her +answer. + +"Well, what does that mean?" asked the latter, looking after him as he +hastened out. "Has my excellent cousin made another conquest there? And +have I unwittingly killed two birds with one stone? I meant only to rob +Oldenburg of his new friend; but if I have robbed Melitta at the same +time of a new admirer, so much the better. I should think that young +man could be made useful. To be sure, I must be a little cautious, +for Barnewitz has become a real Othello since that affair with +Cloten--there he is now.... My dear Barnewitz, do you look a little +after your poor, forlorn little wife? I have been sitting here all the +evening waiting for you." + +"Why don't you dance?" + +"Do you think I like to dance when you are away?" + +"I have arranged a little game at cards with Grieben and some others, +but I can jump about with you some little time. Come! They are just +beginning a waltz! That is exactly my forte." + +And the happy couple entered the room where the dancers were. + +In the mean while Oswald was wandering about in the garden, restless, +like one who suffers terrible pain. From the open doors and windows +came bright lights and merry voices; around the lawn colored paper +lanterns had been hung by Anna Maria's direction, and the moonlight +became almost superfluous. From time to time a few couples would come +out and promenade in the balsamic night air. It was a pleasant, festive +scene, which, however, offended Oswald in his present frame of mind, as +when a friend smiles at our suffering. He went up on the wall, sat down +on a bench and stared, his head resting on his hand, into the water of +the moat, on which the rays of the moon were dancing in weird +confusion. + +"Would it not be better you made an end to your miserable life?" he +murmured, "than to drag the burden of life still farther, to your own +harm and to nobody's joy? Will you vegetate on and on till every +illusion has been killed, and you have thrown everything overboard that +was once dear and sacred to you? Will you wait till your patience is +fully exhausted, like poor, great-hearted Berger? That, then, is the +true portrait of the woman before whom you knelt as before a saint! +That is the man whose hand you thought it an honor to press! You never +were anything but a foot-ball for her high and noble caprices; and he +condescended to make glorious baronial fun of you. But it cannot, +cannot be! Why not? Is not their whole life an unbroken intrigue? Here +the wife betrays the husband, and there the husband the wife? The +father sells his daughter for money, and the mother disposes of her own +flesh and blood. The friend cheats the friend. One coquette proclaims +aloud the secrets of another coquette, and you think they would treat +you better--you, the plebeian, who have to work for your daily +bread?--And yet! and yet! It is horrible! The wife whom you adored like +a goddess, perhaps even now in the arms of another, deceiving him, +deceiving you, only to be deceived by him in her turn! And you, +good-natured fool, you struggle like a madman against your passion for +the sweet, the glorious creature, the only pure one among these +witches; for she is pure and good, or there is nothing pure left in +this world. No, no! And if all around you is cheat and deceit, if all +betray you, look up to this high star; it is your star, for only what +is unattainably high is worthy of your love! Let the lizards and the +toads quarrel about the will-o'-the-wisp as they dance over the +morass." + +A slight noise near him made him start up. A tall, slender figure in a +white dress was standing before him. Through a little opening in the +foliage above, a ray of the moon fell upon the slim form. + +It was Emily. + +"Hush!" she said, as Oswald rose with a suppressed cry of astonishment +"Keep where you are! I saw you leave the salon; I followed you, because +I wish to speak to you. I must do so. I shall not detain you long. I +only ask one word--one single word--that is to decide my whole life. Do +you love me? Yes or no?" + +The young girl had seized Oswald's hand and held it with nervous +violence. "Yes or no?" she repeated, in a tone of voice which betrayed +but too clearly the intensity and madness of her passion. + +But there was no echo to that voice in Oswald's heart; it remained +closed, like the house of a man who has been robbed the night before. + +"You mistake no doubt the person," he said, with cutting sarcasm. "My +name is Oswald Stein; Baron Cloten is, as far as I know, somewhere in +the house," and he tried to loosen his hand from that of the girl. + +"Have I deserved that?" she said, in a voice almost stifled by tears, +and let her arms sink in utter despair. + +"The night is cool," said Oswald, rising; "the dew begins to fall; you +will take cold in your light dress. May I have the honor to take you +back to the house?" + +"Oh my God! my God!" murmured Emily; "I cannot endure this! Oswald, do +not treat me thus! How I have longed for this moment! How I have +repeated to myself a thousand times all I would say to you. How I hoped +you would again take me in your arms as ... oh God! what am I saying? +Oswald, have pity on me! You cannot wish to punish my thoughtlessness +of this evening so cruelly! I only wanted to tease you a little. I +thought every moment you would come up and tell me,--but you did not +come, and I had to keep up the comedy, _bon gre, mal gre_." + +"Are you quite sure, Miss Emily, you are not playing comedy at this +very moment?" + +Emily made no reply. She sank with a groan upon the bench; she pressed +her face in her hands, and sobbed as if her heart were breaking. + +Oswald was not one of those men who can see a woman weep unmoved. He +stepped close up to the unfortunate girl and said: + +"Will you listen to me calmly a few moments?" + +Emily's only answer was a violent sobbing. + +"Believe me," Oswald continued, "I am heartily sorry for you; that such +a scene should at all have been possible; and I feel that I, and I +alone, am to blame for it. If I had told you that night what I must +tell you to-day, your pride would long since have made an end to the +matter.--I cannot love you. That sounds very strange, spoken to a woman +of such loveliness and sweetness, but it is nevertheless true. Why then +will you waste your love on one who shows himself so utterly unworthy +of such a precious gift? Why not render somebody happy by it, who has +more talent for being happy and for making others happy?--I am just now +so low-spirited that I am more than usually incapable of looking at men +and things in the right light. Pardon me, therefore, if I have offended +you just now by my bitter words. I had no right to use them; it was +thoughtless in me; I blame myself for them. I pray, I beseech you, +forget all that has happened between us! And do not allow this +mortification to lead you to sudden resolves, which you may and will +regret hereafter. You see what it is to bestow your affections upon an +unworthy person. If this cruel experience should aid you in the +selection which you will sooner or later make, I am willing to endure +for the moment your hatred and even your contempt." + +Emily had, while Oswald spoke, gradually ceased to weep. Now she rose +and said, in an almost calm voice: + +"Quite enough! I thank you. You have opened my eyes. You shall never be +troubled again, as far as I am concerned. Tell me only this one thing: +Am I victimized for the sake of another? Do you love another person?" + +"Yes!" said Oswald, after a little hesitation. + +"Very well! And now listen _you_! As I have loved you with all the +warmth of my heart, so I hate you now; and as a few minutes ago I would +have willingly given my love for you, so I wish now to be avenged on +you for this disgrace. And I will be avenged; I will----" + +Again she broke out into passionate tears; but she checked herself +quickly. + +"You do not deserve it, that I shed so many tears for you. Now crown +your conduct and follow me into the house, so that the whole world may +see what a fool I have been!" + +And she hastened away from Oswald, down the wall, across the lawn, into +the salon, where they were dancing merrily. Cloten, who had in vain +looked for her everywhere, and now stood melancholy, leaning against a +door-frame, saw her at once and hurried to meet her. + +"Why, Miss Emily! Caused me real anguish! Upon my word, was _au +desespoir_! Thought, in fact, one of the heavenly ones had eloped with +you." + +"I have been quietly reflecting. Baron Cloten, on what you told me a +little while ago," replied Emily. + +"'Pon my word! Are an angel! and I may hope?" asked Cloten, who of +course interpreted the reddened eyelids and the excited manner of the +young girl in his own favor. + +"Go to my aunt!" + +"Really? 'pon honor? I can't believe it!" exclaimed the young man, and +his surprise was by no means fictitious. + +"Then do not go!" replied Miss Emily, in a tone which would have made +anybody else very much afraid about the firmness of the tie that was +about to be formed here. + +"Great God! Emily, angel, do not be angry. I hasten, I fly----" + +And Baron Cloten went away in most abject confusion to seek out the +aunt. + +Emily remained standing on the same spot, pale, her arms folded, her +eyes fixed upon the groups of dancers, without seeing anything more +than if she had stared into vacancy. + +"You are wiser than others," said a voice close by her. + +It was Baron Felix; he had thrown himself into a chair, and wiped the +perspiration from his brow with a delicate handkerchief. + +"Ridiculous to jump about in this heat; I think it is time to stop. And +now Helen has relieved Mr. Timm at the piano. That girl has strange +notions. Don't you think so, Miss Emily?" + +"Perhaps she had no one to dance with." + +"Impossible." + +"Well, perhaps not the right one." + +"_C'est-a-dire?_" + +"The one she likes to dance with." + +"I have always been here." + +"You do not imagine _you_ are the happy one?" + +"Who else?" + +"Don't you know what has become of Mr. Stein?" + +"No, why?" + +"I only ask for Miss Helen's sake. Do you not see how her big, proud +eyes are searching steadily, but unceasingly, all over the salon?" + +"You are surely not in earnest?" + +"Why not? Is not Mr. Stein a very handsome man? And has not Miss Helen +very strange notions?" + +"Miss Emily," said Felix, gravely, "will you do me the honor to tell me +whether you have any special reasons for such an assertion?" + +"Of course I have special reasons." + +"And will you have the kindness to mention them?" + +"That I cannot." + +At that moment Baron Cloten returned, his face beaming with delight. + +"Miss Emily," he said, "your aunt wishes to speak to you. May I have +the honor to take you to her?" + +"Directly," said Emily, and then to Felix: "Rely on what I told you. +You have sharp eyes and ears." + +She took Cloten's arm. + +"I must find that out," said Felix to himself when he was alone again. +"Helen's manner has really been extraordinary of late." + +He went up to the piano. "Shall I turn the music for you, Helen?" + +"Thanks," Helen replied dryly. "I play from memory." + +After a short pause: "Please, cousin, go away. It makes me nervous to +have anybody stand so close behind me." + +"It seems to me Doctor Stein stood yesterday half an hour behind you +and you did not show any great nervousness." + +"Then I will rise," said Helen. She wound up with a short finale and +left the piano, without paying any attention to the general Ah! of the +dancers. + +"That is rather strong," said Felix to himself. + +"Why did Helen stop playing so suddenly?" asked the baroness, who had +watched the scene from a distance, and now came up. + +"I do not know. She probably took something I said amiss. She is more +capricious and obstinate than I thought. Don't you think, aunt, that +man Stein, with his corrupt notions, may exercise a bad influence on +Helen as well as on Bruno?" + +"I have always told you I have no faith in that man." + +"Why don't you turn him out?" + +"Without any cause?" + +"Pshaw! That is easily found. Will you give me permission to find one?" + +"But there must be no scene?" + +"Let me manage that." + +"You must bring it about that he shall himself ask to be relieved." + +"Why?" + +"I have my reasons.--And, Felix, do not speak of it to Grenwitz. Of +late he has become very self-willed. I am even afraid he thinks of +interfering with our plan. I pray you, Felix, be cautious! I should be +beside myself if we fail, after having represented the whole matter +everywhere as a _fait accompli_!" + +"Pshaw! aunt! Anxious again? Rely on me; I'll carry out what I have +begun!" + + + + + CHAPTER IX. + + +When Oswald came to his room, after the painful scene with Emily von +Breesen,--for he found it impossible to return to the company,--he +found on his table a parcel, which must have been placed there during +his absence. The words: "Enclosed the books, with many thanks. Your +faithful B.," told him at a glance who had brought the parcel and what +it contained. And, strange! he hesitated to open it. He felt as if he +had no right to Melitta's letters, since his heart was no longer +entirely hers, as if, above all, she, who had never entirely given him +her heart, had no right to give him this sign of her love. At last, +almost mechanically, he opened the package. There were three books +within. From the middle one fell two letters--one from Melitta and one +from Bemperlein. Melitta's letter contained only a few cordial words, +complaining "of the long separation, during which, besides the long +distance, other disturbing elements also might come to stand between +their hearts," and finally expressed the hope of a speedy reunion. The +letter had no signature. "It might fall into wrong hands," said Oswald, +bitterly. "I will be still more generous; I will destroy this witness +of a love of which she begins to be ashamed." He burnt the paper in the +flame of his candle. Bemperlein's letter was fuller, but it spoke +almost exclusively of Professor Berger. Bemperlein had, during his +residence in Grunwald, seen very much of Professor Berger, to whom he +had carried letters from Oswald, and had become as enthusiastically +fond of him as the professor had become attached to himself. His +dismay, therefore, was great when Doctor Birkenhain informed him one +day that Professor Berger had just been brought to the asylum. +Bemperlein wrote Oswald that he had at once asked permission to visit +Berger; the permission had been granted, and he had since spent daily +several hours with the patient, who preferred his company to any other. +Berger, he said, spoke reasonably on all subjects except his fixed idea +of the Nothing. He was perfectly reconciled to being in an asylum, +"for," he said, "the difference between the people inside and the +people outside is only this, that the latter may and probably will soon +become what the people inside already are. If, for instance, Doctor +Birkenhain would just have the kindness to take his head to pieces, he +would perceive its utter emptiness with his own eyes, and choose a +nice, sunny room in his house, in order to meditate undisturbed on the +great Original Nothing." Bemperlein wrote that Berger's aberration of +mind was considered only temporary, and that Doctor Birkenhain hoped to +be able to restore the great man very soon to his friends and pupils. + +"As for us," concluded Bemperlein, "the baroness will have told you all +that is of interest. I only add that we shall (God willing) not remain +here much longer. Baron Berkow is sinking fast; the consumption makes +rapid progress. Birkenhain gives him only a few days more. We shall +stay here, at all events, until all is settled. I anticipate that +moment with some impatience, which is perfectly disinterested. The +death of this unfortunate man, who has for long years already ceased to +live, will give new life to two persons--two persons who are +unspeakably dear to me." + +"Really," said Oswald, letting the letter drop in his lap, "are you +quite sure of that, good Bemperlein? To be sure, your innocent heart +knows nothing of most noble treason and baronial cunning! And yet: Why +does he also say nothing of Oldenburg's presence? Why does he keep it +secret, when he knows of how much interest it must be for me? Is he too +in the plot? Well, then I will henceforth trust no one except myself. +We must howl among the wolves, and he is a fool who would be honest +among cheats and liars. If you deceive, I can do so too; if you play a +farce, I won't sit in the pit; if you laugh at others, I do not mean to +cry, and all's well that ends well. Ha, ha, ha!" + +"I am glad to find you in such excellent humor," said a voice behind +him. + +Oswald started up from his chair and stared, frightened at the tall, +slim form which seemed to have come out of the ground. + +It was Baron Oldenburg. + +"I beg your pardon," he said, offering Oswald his hand, which the +latter took with some hesitation, "that I present myself thus +unannounced, and coming, like Nicodemus, by night. But I have this +moment returned from my journey, and learnt from a servant who passed +me in the hall, with a waiter full of glasses and cups, that you had +gone up to your room. The man had just time to tell me the way, and to +go on with his glasses.--And here I am, and, as I said, delighted to +find you so merry; otherwise I should hardly have the courage to tell +you what brings me here. Do you know where we were a month ago this +day? It is the night which the Brown Countess appointed for our +rendezvous. If you are still sufficiently interested in myself and our +little ward to follow me, we can go to the appointed place." + +"I shall be at your disposal in a few minutes," said Oswald; "permit me +only to change my dress." + +He took one of the two candles that stood on the table and went into +the adjoining room. + +"Dress yourself warm," cried Oldenburg after him; "it is very cool now +towards morning, especially in the woods." + +"Hm!" he murmured, when Oswald had left him; "he looks pale and +haggard, and was less friendly than usual. I hope he has heard nothing +of my having been at Fichtenau. I wanted to keep it from him. I must +try to find it out. It would be unpleasant, for I do not like to talk +to anybody about Melitta and myself, and least of all to him." + +In the mean time Oswald said, while dressing, to himself: + +"Now, be wise as the serpent. If you play with me, I can play with +you." + +He came back to Oldenburg. + +"I am ready." + +"Then let us go.--My carriage is at the door," said the baron, as they +went down the staircase that led into the garden. "The Czika is sitting +inside, wrapped in my cloak. Don't you agree with me that it is better +to take the child with us to the interview? If the gypsy woman is +really the child's mother, we owe her at least this attention. At all +events she can see that the child is alive and well, and tolerably well +contented with her new home.--But what does all this stir mean at the +chateau? Anna Maria is not ordinarily a friend of festivities. Did +Malte run away and come back, and is this the feast of the fatted +calf?" + +"The question is not about a lost son but upon a returning daughter," +said Oswald, forcing himself into a light tone; "Miss Helen has come +back from school. Since then there has been no end of festivities." + +"_Tempora mutantur_," Oldenburg said, laughing, as they were crossing +the lawn; "I am exceedingly curious to see this marvel. I hope nobody +will notice us." + +He went towards the steps which led up to the terrace. The doors were +now closed, as the air had cooled off outside; the windows likewise; +but the curtains had not been let down, and one could see from the +outside all that was going on in the brilliantly lighted rooms. + +As they approached the window, they saw Helen sit just opposite to them +at the piano. Felix was standing behind her chair. He bent over her and +seemed eagerly to speak to her. Oldenburg's sharp eye had instantly +caught the group. + +"Who is that young man?" he asked. + +As Oswald made no reply, the baron looked at him and saw that he was +biting his under lip, while his eyes were fixed upon the two at the +piano. Felix was bending still lower; Oswald bit his lip till the blood +trickled down. Suddenly Helen rose and walked through the group of +dancers, who were startled by the sudden ceasing of the music, straight +to the window where Oldenburg and Oswald were standing. They moved back +into the shade. When she reached the window she remained quiet, +crossing her arms on her bosom and fixing her large gray eyes on the +moon, whose golden disc was floating in the deep blue night sky. It was +a face of irresistible power, mysteriously lovely and fatally +beautiful.--A gentleman--Adolphus--approached her and spoke to her. She +answered briefly, without changing her position, without scarcely +moving her lips. He bowed and went away. Then, as if she had +reconsidered, she turned round, went back to the piano, sat down and +began to play again. As if touched by a magic wand, the dancers resumed +their dance, and the gay picture which Oldenburg and Oswald had seen at +first was quite restored. + +"Who was the fool who caused this intermezzo?" asked Oldenburg, as they +were going down the garden. + +"Felix Grenwitz, her cousin." + +"A nice little puppy; and the young beauty is to have him for her +husband--is that so?" + +"I believe so." + +"And what do you say to that?" + +"What Hamlet said: 'Weary, stale, flat and unprofitable seem to me all +the uses of the world!'" + +"My evil anticipations are about to be fulfilled," said Oldenburg, +through his teeth. + +"You said?" + +"I was wondering whether Charles had raised the top of the carriage, so +that my little Czika does not sit quite in the open air. I believe, +however, she would like it best if she never had any other ceiling +above her. During our journey she always was delighted when we +travelled at night, and she could see her beloved stars on high." + +"And may I ask what took you away so suddenly from our neighborhood?" +asked Oswald, and his voice trembled. + +"A matter of business which interests me only indirectly. The illness +of a man whose death may be of the utmost importance to two persons who +are dear to me." + +The baron waited to see if Oswald would reply. + +"I was vain enough to fancy that my departure would make some noise in +our society here," he added, when Oswald remained silent; "this seems, +however, not to have been the case." + +"Everybody has been so accustomed for years to see you come and go of a +sudden that they no longer wonder," said Oswald; "but I think there is +the carriage!" + +"Where is Czika, Charles?" asked the baron. + +"She is fast asleep in the carriage, sir," replied the coachman, who +had come down from his seat to let down the steps. "I have covered her +carefully." + +"We will take her between us, as the other day when we found her on the +high-road on our return from Barnewitz." + +The baron was already inside. + +"Is that you, master?" asked the child, awaking. + +"Yes, my darling!" + +"Who is the man with you?" + +"Your friend, the man with the blue eyes." + +"He must stay with us," Czika murmured, overcome by sleep and pressing +close up to Oswald, who had taken his seat. "Czika is tired; Czika +wants to sleep in your arms!" + +"I believe," said the baron, when the carriage was in motion, "you have +made an indelible impression upon the child. She often speaks of you, +and asks why the man with the blue eyes does not come back again? She +always calls you so. The human heart is, after all, a curious thing. +The wisest of the wise has no key to it. What trouble I have taken to +win the heart of this child! I should like so much to call some one +being in this wide world my own! And have I succeeded? I hardly know. +She follows me, but only as a child would do when the mother has said: +Go with that gentleman, and behave well! I have surrounded her with the +tenderest affection, and yet I am to her now only what I was to her the +first day. She accepts everything, like a gift which we do not refuse +merely because we do not wish to offend the giver." + +"But is not that more or less the way with all children?" replied +Oswald. "Is it not their privilege to be loved without being specially +grateful for it? And then: what is a love which counts upon a reward? +Is it not here also true, that he who asks for a reward has already his +reward?" + +"I hope you may never experience that in your own case," said the +baron, with much feeling. "And may others never learn it through your +agency! You would not say so if you knew what hopeless love is; what it +means to carry about in you the feeling that your love, true, warm +love, is returned with indifference and coldness! No, no! A heart that +loves us is a treasure which we must not despise, and if we owned every +heart in the world; to have pained a heart that loves us is a +recollection which sears our conscience, and which no new love can ever +extinguish." + +"And have _you_ had such experience?" + +"Unfortunately I have! I have formed and broken many ties of love, +without feeling any remorse about it. I knew too well that I would not +break the dear hearts! Only once--I was quite young yet, and that must +be my excuse, if there can be one--only once I became guilty of the +crime of rewarding a woman, who I knew loved me truly and faithfully, +with vile ingratitude. The story would be ever present to my mind, even +if the Brown Countess had not recalled it to me in a strange way. Did I +not tell you how I met, quite accidentally, many years ago and far away +in Hungary, a gypsy girl----" + +"Yes," said Oswald, "I recollect your story very well. Baron Cloten's +arrival interrupted you. I forgot afterwards to ask you for the +continuation. Was it not this way? You were on a visit to a friend whom +you had known in Vienna. You found the girl in a gypsy camp, as you +were roaming through the woods far from the house. The band had gone +away and left her behind. To see her and to love her was one. You spent +several days with her in romantic bliss. The story ended with the +following tableau: A gypsy encampment in the forest--sunset--under the +overhanging shelter of a broad, branching beech-tree, a loving pair on +a soft moss carpet----" + +"You have a good memory," said the baron, "and you have reproduced my +state of mind at that time very faithfully. I was sitting then with the +Zingarella--Xenobia was her sweet name--in the manner mentioned by you. +I was singing the old song of love which would never end, and the poor +little bird trusted the false old melody, and came closer and closer to +my heart. Suddenly horses' tramp was heard in the silent woods, and +laughing and talking of a merry cavalcade. I had hardly time to push +the little one rudely from my lap and to rise, when the troop came +galloping from under the tall trees into the clearing. They were my +friends: the young Count Cryvanny, with his sisters, and several ladies +and gentlemen from the neighborhood. You may imagine the scene that +followed--I was at once surrounded and overwhelmed with questions. +Where had I been? How did I get there?--I thought you had been torn by +wolves! said one--or you had killed yourself from unrequited love! +cried another.--I have the key to the secret! Love is the cause, but by +no means unrequited love.--Look there! and he pointed with the handle +of his riding-whip at my poor Xenobia, who had crept behind the trunk +of the tree. Universal laughter rewarded the witty man. One face only +looked black. It was the youngest and prettiest of the three sisters, +whom I had courted last, and who, I believe, honored me with her favor +in her way--which, to be sure, did not amount to much. I was suddenly +very much ashamed of my poor Xenobia, and had only one wish, to get out +of this embarrassment without offending the proud Georgiana. I +pretended to be indignant; I said I had wandered about in the woods, +and that I had but just reached the encampment. 'But where does the +girl get the gold chain from around her neck, which we admired +only the other day, when you wore it?' asked Georgiana.--'She must +have stolen it from me,' I said, 'while I slept here, tired by my +wanderings.'--Then take it back.--I could have murdered Georgiana, but +I had bound myself by my bold falsehood. I could not recall it. Xenobia +anticipated me.--Here, sir! she said; take what I have stolen! and she +handed me the chain. I shall never in my life forget the trembling +hand, the face disfigured by pain and indignation. Let us get back +home! cried Count Cryvanny, there is a storm coming up!--I took the +horse of one of the servants, and off we went through the darkening +forest. I dared not look back at Xenobia. Georgiana, by whose side I +was riding, would never have forgiven me. I had fully reconquered her +favor, but at what cost? On the evening of the following day--I could +not get away sooner I hastened to the forest to make amends for my +wrong, but I found, after a long search, only the place of the +encampment. Xenobia was gone. The band had no sooner found their +retreat discovered than they had broken up their tents and moved, no +one knew where? I have never seen a trace again of Xenobia." + +The baron was silent, and puffed the smoke of his cigar in mighty +clouds high into the air. + +"You see," he began again, after a long pause, "I am pious enough, or +superstitious enough, if you prefer it, to believe that this wicked +deed of mine has brought upon me a curse which no repentance can +remove. That curse is fulfilled in my aimless life. From that day it +has been my fate to sow love and to reap indifference. And now you will +also understand what Czika is to me--an angel in the highest sense of +the word, a sweet messenger from on high, who sings Peace! Peace! to my +sick heart. The child's face, you know, has been for years before my +mind's eye, and I have told you how I thought twice to be near the +realization of my dreams. Here is the red rose Xenobia once more, but +in the morning dew of sweetest innocence. The red rose has no doubt +long since faded and withered amid the storms of life, and even if I +had kept it at that time--what would the world, the cold, impudent, +slandering world have said of the romantic love of a baron and a +zingarella! I was too young then, and could not have defended my poor +wife against the world: now I am a man, and have to protect a child +only, a foundling. I shall give the gypsy whatever she may ask, and my +warmest, sincerest thanks into the bargain. I hope she has not +forgotten the appointment--stop, Charles!--We must get out here and +walk through the woods. I know the way from of old. This is the hour +appointed by the Brown Countess. We are just in time." + +"Had we not better leave the child here," said Oswald. + +"Why?" inquired the baron, who had left the carriage. + +"The child is so very much attached to the woman, who, after all, may +be her mother. Perhaps when she sees her again her old love of the +forest life may awake, and we shall at the very least have a painful +scene." + +Oswald spoke in a low voice, for Czika was moving in his arms. + +"Czika wants to go too," she said suddenly. "Czika wants to go into the +woods and see the moon and the stars dance in the branches. Czika knows +every tree and every bush." + +She was standing on the damp wood-soil and clapped her hands with +delight, and danced and laughed and said: + +"Come! come! You, master, and you man with the blue eyes! Czika will +show you a beautiful place; Czika knows every tree and every bush along +the whole road." + +She slipped ahead on a narrow path, which left the road where the +carriage was standing, to enter the forest sideways, and then she ran +on, gliding through the bushes like a wild cat. The two men had much +trouble to follow. Czika was not to be persuaded to moderate her zeal. +Her only answer to all the Not so fast! of the two men was the clear +merry cry of the young falcon, which she uttered again and again, +louder and shriller each time. Suddenly an answer came through the +forest, the same proud cry which Oldenburg and Oswald remembered so +well from that morning when the gypsy woman answered the child's cry +from a great distance. + +Now a rosy sheen became visible through the trees, which grew brighter +and brighter at every step. "We shall soon be there," said the baron, +who walked ahead. + +In a few minutes they really came out upon the clearing, which Oswald +had seen on the afternoon when he saw Melitta for the first time at her +house. At the same place, near the edge of the pool, where the gypsies +were then cooking their meal, a fire was now burning, but large and +bright, as if to throw a flood of light upon the scene. The tops of the +mighty trees glowed in rich purple or were lost in dark shade as the +flames of the pile of wood blazed up or sank low; on the black mirror +of the pool another fire shone in dim glow, and surrounded by this +magic illumination the Brown Countess was seen on her knees before +Czika, whom she overwhelmed with kisses and caresses. The child tried +in vain to draw her up, and at last threw herself down by her side, +hiding her head in the bosom of the woman. This was the sight that +greeted the two men when they reached the clearing at last, completely +out of breath. + +They stood there silent and motionless, almost overawed by the strange, +touching spectacle. + +Then the gypsy rose, and taking the child by the hand she came up to +the two, and said to Oldenburg, who stared at her with his eyes wide +open: + +"Do you know me, master?" + +At that moment the flames blazed high up and fell with the brightness +of daylight upon every feature in the noble, proud face of the Egyptian +woman, and upon every line of her slight, lofty figure. + +"Xenobia!" cried the baron, opening his arms, "Xenobia!" + +The brown woman threw herself, with a cry of mad rapture, on his bosom, +and held him as if she would never part again with the man of her love. +But the very next moment she tore herself away from him, stepped back, +and stood there motionless, her arms crossed on her bosom. Czika was +standing between her and the baron, turning her large dark eyes full of +amazement from the one to the other. + +The baron took her by the hand, and stepping up to the gypsy woman, he +said to her, in a tone which, in spite of all his efforts, betrayed his +deep emotion: + +"Xenobia, is this child----" + +He could not continue; in vain he tried to utter the word. At last he +stammered: + +"Your and my child?" + +"Yes, master," said the gypsy, without stirring, but fixing her dark, +bright eyes on the baron. + +Oldenburg lifted the child in his arms and pressed her to his bosom. +Oswald felt he ought to leave the three alone, and went back into the +wood. There he sat down near the edge. It was the same place where he +had been lying the other day dreaming such glorious things of Melitta, +and where he had afterwards heard Czika play the lute, while the Brown +Countess was busy with the fire, and sang with her deep, sonorous voice +the Hungarian melody. What changes had taken place since that day! How +much he had lost and won since! Then his heart beat high with +expectation; now his soul was filled with sadness and grief. Why had +she made him so indescribably happy if her love was, after all, but the +sovereign whim of a moment, only an amusing play to fill up a vacant +day? Had he not all the time felt in his soul that she, the haughty +aristocrat, would drop him again sooner or later? Had he not, the very +first time when he heard Oldenburg's name mentioned, recognized in that +man almost instinctively his rival? And he had to confess now that that +man possessed everything calculated to kindle a heroic passion in a +great lady. Rank and riches, eminent talents, the courage of a knight +without fear or reproach, and just enough of the character of a man of +the world to captivate the fancy of a woman whose heart is not +absolutely pure. + +And how attractive even his weariness of the world was, and his air of +suffering! One would imagine, hearing him complain as he did, that he +was on the point of going into the desert, to live there on locusts. +Now he will probably take the gypsy to his solitude, to while away the +hours till Melitta returns.... + +Oswald increased thus wilfully his own troubles of mind. The new +passion which inflamed his imagination made him deaf to the voice of +his conscience, blind to the evident proofs of the utter groundlessness +of his assertions. He had an indistinct consciousness of his own +weariness and exhaustion; he felt sick at heart, and perfectly unable +to come to any clear conclusions about himself. He pressed his face +into his hands, to see nothing, to hear nothing.... + +A hand, which touched his shoulder, aroused him from his revery. It was +Oldenburg. The baron was alone. The fire of the piled-up wood blazed up +fitfully, and was on the point of expiring. The moon, half covered by +drifting gray clouds, twinkled ghastly in the dark water of the pool. +The wind was whispering and wailing through the long reeds near the +shore. + +"Where is Czika?" asked Oswald. + +"Gone," replied the baron. "Let us go. It is late." + +"Is she not coming back?" + +"I do not know." + +"And you have allowed this child, your child, to follow the wild gypsy +woman into the wide world?" + +"What could I do? Is she not her child a thousand times more than mine? +Has she not borne it amid pains, fed it, sheltered it many, many years, +in rain and in sunshine, in need and in poverty, in the dark woods and +on the open highway? Has she not begged and robbed and done worse +things than that perhaps for her child? What have I done for my child? +Nothing! Nothing but to stamp the mother as a thief before the eyes of +a mob of nobles, nothing but to drive her from me like a lost dog, for +the sake of a wretched coquette! No! No! I have no right to the child!" + +While the baron was speaking he pushed with his foot the half-consumed, +glowing firebrands into the pool, so that they turned black one by one. + +"Why did the Brown Countess wish to see you, then? Why did she manage +to put the child into your hands? Why did she herself appoint this +rendezvous?" + +"She wished to see once more the beloved of her youth, the only man she +had ever really loved. She wished to put his child into his hands and +then dive back into the darkness of the woods. But she cannot live +without the child, and the child cannot live without her. I had to let +them go both!" + +"But why not take them both with you to Cona?" + +"Shall I chain the falcon? The falcon is happy only in the immeasurable +ether on high; he dies in the foul air of our houses. Come! It is high +time for us civilized men to go to bed!" + +The baron pushed the last firebrand into the water; the men turned to +go. + +From between the hurriedly drifting clouds the moon was peeping +blear-eyed at the dark water of the pool, and the long reeds that grew +near the edges whispered: Here is a pleasant resting-place for all the +sorrows of earth! + + + + + CHAPTER X. + + +"Well! That embarrassment is luckily over!" said Albert, pushing a +parcel of bank-notes into a bulky, worn-out pocket-book, which +contained among other things a number of mercantile communications, +unanswered yet in spite of their ancient date. "After all, she is a +nice little woman; not over-bright--but that is in this case only an +additional virtue. I really think I could deny my nature and marry the +little Samaritan. Perhaps it would not be so bad. Who knows? There may, +after all, be somewhere within me the germ of a most excellent steady +citizen, which only needs the warmth of a domestic hearth to sprout +merrily. The thing is problematic, I admit, but not impossible, for all +that I see myself walking soberly of a Sunday, by the side of my wife, +through the fields, listening to the quarrels among the sparrows and +the complaints of my better half against the extortionate bills of +butchers and bakers, while before us walk two young citizens of the +world who bear a slight resemblance to myself, and behind us, in a +little wagon drawn by a maid of all works, a shrill little voice is +heard, which furnishes unmistakable evidence of my wife's admirable +qualities! Oh!..." + +Albert groaned as if he had sprained his foot on a real stone during +this imaginary promenade. He started up from the sofa, and walked +thoughtfully up and down in the room, folding his hands behind +his back. "The plats are ready," he said, stopping before his +drawing-board; "Anna Maria has paid me; I have nothing more to do here, +and the baroness' question, when I thought I would leave, was clear +enough. How I hate this proud, good-for-nothing race--all of them, not +one excepted, not even the beautiful, high-nosed Helen, who always +looks at me with such cool contempt in her big, cold eyes; and least of +all my noble friend Felix, who I think would be delighted if he could +cut me out with Marguerite. If I could but play you all a good trick, +that you should think of me your life long! If I could, for instance, +discover the heir to Stantow and Baerwalde in the person of--Ah! There +is the rub! In whose person?" + +"I can do something with the letters I have, but not much. As yet I +cannot even frighten excellent Anna Maria with them. If I could only +have a chance of examining that big chest of Mother Claus'! It is a +fixed idea of mine that there must be something to be gotten there. But +I have in vain reconnoitred the whole house; I have in vain watched it +by day and by night, to find a moment when the old witch should leave +it for a moment--she sits there like a toad in the rock.--_Apropos_ of +that amiable young man! I thought of making him the Pretender, _nolens +volens_, for he is too stupidly honest to look at the whole thing as a +merry, and at the same time profitable, masquerade. It is wonderful how +honest people are when they have all they want! The best way to get rid +of thieves would be to pension every one of them. And this Stein is not +even so lucky as that. He cannot have any money--why else would he +plague himself with these boys? He would be just the man to spend a +fortune handsomely. And so far everything seems to fit exactly. He has +the requisite age; he has told me himself that he has never known his +mother, or--his father excepted--any other relative. And, besides that, +he has a striking likeness to the older line of the Grenwitz family. I +only wish I were he, that is to say, with my brains added to what he +has ..." + +A timid knock at the door interrupted Albert's meditations. As upon his +"Come in!" no one entered, he went to open the door. A little peasant +boy, fair-haired and bare-footed, stood there, looking at him with his +stupid eyes wide open. + +"Whom do you want, my boy?" + +"Are you the candidate here?" + +"To be sure!" said Albert, always ready for any fun or joke. + +"Mother Claus sends me----" + +"Who?" +"Mother Claus sends me----" + +"Come in, little one," said Albert, taking the boy by the hand and +locking the door when they were both inside. + +"What does Mother Claus want of me?" + +"Mother Claus is dying, and sends me to tell the candidate to come and +see her." + +The boy breathed deep when he had relieved himself of the fearful +burden of his message. Albert took up his cap. + +"I'll come directly. You run on and tell her I am coming directly. And +look here: If anybody in the house asks you whom you come from, just +say you have delivered your message. Here is a groschen, and now make +haste to get home again." + +The boy scampered off, proud of Albert's generous present, and of +course utterly forgetful of the order to run home. When he had reached +the courtyard, he sat quietly down on the fountain of the Naiad, to +decide at leisure whether he should buy at once the whole world, or for +the present only a bullfinch, which another boy had offered him that +morning. + +He might have been sitting there a quarter of an hour when he fell fast +asleep, tired as he was from running about all day. Thus Oswald found +him when he returned from a lonely walk. As the sight of the ragged +sleeping boy on the edge of the fountain looked picturesque, he walked +up to him. The boy started up and rubbed his eyes in bewilderment. + +"How do you get here, boy?" asked Oswald. + +"Mother Claus sent me!" said the boy, not knowing at that moment +whether he had delivered his message or not. + +"What is the matter with Mother Claus?" asked Oswald, who at once +suspected that something must have happened to his old friend. + +"Mother Claus sends me," repeated the boy; "she is dying, and sends me +to tell the candidate to come and see her!" + +Oswald did not stop to hear more. He thought of the poor old woman, in +whom he had from the beginning taken so warm an interest, now lying on +her deathbed, perhaps alone, helpless, and no kind hand to smooth her +pillow--and he hurried as fast as he could through the small gate on +the road that led to the tenants' cottages, taking the same road on +which Albert had passed a quarter of an hour before.... + +Albert had slipped through the small gate and the garden as soon as the +boy was out of sight. No one had seen him leave the chateau. The family +had gone out, and he thought Oswald was in his room. + +"_Fortes fortuna juvat_," he thought as he was running along under the +willow trees. "They are all out in the fields now. The old woman could +not have died at a more suitable hour. I only hope she is dead when I +get there, for I do not want to have to explain...." + +He had reached the village in a few minutes, but he avoided the main +street, running along the little gardens behind the cottages, till he +came to Mother Claus' hut. Here he jumped over a low fence and entered +through the open back door into the passage. He listened. Nothing was +stirring. He only heard the ticking of the large Black Forest clock in +Jake's room, and from the village street the laughter of a couple of +children--Mother Claus' foster-children--who were wrestling in the sand +to enjoy the evening sun. + +"Now I hope to heavens there won't be some benevolent soul in the +room," murmured Albert, cautiously pushing open the door which led into +the old woman's room. + +He entered on tip-toe. It was quite dark in the low, small chamber. +Albert's first glance fell upon the chest, which was safe in its place +in the corner; his next upon the old woman. She was sitting in the +large arm-chair, "in which Baron Oscar had died." She had dressed +herself in her Sunday costume, her oaken stick was by her side--one +might have imagined she had been ready to go to Fashwitz to church, and +had fallen asleep a little before undertaking the long, long journey. + +"Is that you, young master?" she said, with trembling voice, and +raising her head with the snow-white hair to look at the door. "Come +nearer, quite near, that I may touch you. Where are you? It is all dark +around me; I cannot see you. Is not the moon shining through the trees? +Do you hear the nightingale sing? Listen! How sweet! how beautiful! +Oscar, you must not abandon Lizzie; she will cry till she blinds her +beautiful eyes; and you must tell Harald not to worry poor Marie +so much, else she'll go out into the black night. Good-by, dear +child!--Yes, I'll burn everything; it is all safe in the chest. Mother +Claus cannot read, but the right man will come at the right time!" + +The head of the poor woman fell on her bosom. Albert thought she +was dead. He went to the chest, raised the heavy top, and hastily +searched the contents. There were women's dresses, which could not have +belonged to Mother Claus--city-made dresses, such as young ladies wore +twenty-five years ago! withered bouquets, faded ribbons, a few simple +articles of jewelry; a string of red corals; a little gold cross on a +black velvet ribbon. All this might be of very great interest to +somebody else; but Albert pushed it impatiently aside. And still he +went on searching and found not what he looked for. At last--there! at +the very bottom of the chest, in a corner, and hid under a black silk +dress, quite a parcel--letters, documents--there they were! He slipped +it into the pocket of his coat; he took with both arms what he had +pulled out and stuffed it in again, pell-mell, as it came, closed the +lid; and as he rose from his knees, was not that somebody coming? In an +instant he was at the little window that looked upon the small garden +behind the house. He opened it, he squeezed himself through the narrow +aperture with a rapidity which would have done credit to an experienced +housebreaker, crept on all fours through the currant-bushes, leaped the +low fence, and disappeared amid the golden waves of a field of rye. + +Just as Albert thus accomplished his retreat through the window, Oswald +entered the room, breathless with haste. He feared he had come too +late; he knelt down by the side of the old woman and chafed her +withered, cold hands in his own. + +And this touch seemed to restore the dying woman once more to life. She +raised herself, and placing her hand on his head, she said, with a +voice which sounded as if it came already from beyond the grave: "The +Lord bless thee and preserve thee! The Lord give thee peace!" + +"Amen," said Oswald. + +The hands of the old woman fell gently on her knees. Oswald looked up. +The light of the setting sun fell through the low window upon her face; +it looked as if it were spiritualized in the rosy light. But the rosy +light vanished, and the gray evening looked upon the pale face of the +dead. + +Oswald closed her eyes. From the other side of the house came the +ticking of the big clock, from the street the laughing and shouting of +the children at play.--What does life know of death? what death of +life? What does eternity know of either? + + + + + CHAPTER XI. + + +Next morning before breakfast Mr. Timm was gone. He had asked the baron +to send him to the nearest town from which he could take post-horses. +The baron asked him hospitably why he was in such a hurry, and if he +would not stay a few days to recover from his arduous labors? But +Albert pretended to have received an important order--the postman had +indeed brought him a letter--and the baron ordered the taciturn +coachman to get ready his heavy bays. Mr. Timm bade all a brief +farewell and drove off. Nobody missed him--nobody, with the exception +of the little Genevese. But she shed her tears in the retirement of her +chamber, and the company saw nothing of her grief but her eyes red from +weeping, which she intended to explain by a pretended headache, if +anybody should inquire. But no one inquired. + +They all had enough to do with themselves! All were fully occupied with +what was nearest to their own hearts. + +The death of the old woman was another blow to Oswald. Again he had +lost one of the few beings in whom he was interested. It seemed as if +his troubled mind was never to have any peace--as if the last bright +light was to fade on his sky, and deep night was to surround him on all +sides. He had seen Mother Claus but rarely, and yet it had always been +under such peculiar circumstances as to make in each case a deep and +lasting impression on his mind; he felt as if he had lost an old +relative, whose tender affections he had rewarded with indifference and +ingratitude. When he was last at her hut with Albert, he had determined +not to lose sight again of the old woman, to ask her if he could help +her, to inquire if anything could be done for her. She had thought of +him in her last hour, while he had not had a minute for her in all +these days! She had wished to bless him before she died--what had he +ever done to deserve such a blessing?--It was of little use now that he +provided for her funeral, that he and Bruno accompanied her to her last +resting-place when they carried the simple coffin on a farm wagon to +the graveyard at Fashwitz. It was of no use that he wrote to Grunwald, +ordering a small marble tablet, so that her grave might not be too soon +obliterated. But he thought how she would have thanked him during her +lifetime for the smallest part of all the trouble he took for her now +that she was dead! + +Was it because he had not deserved it, that the blessing was not +fulfilled? The peace which she had implored for him with the last +breath of her lips would not come to his heart. Like a desperate man he +struggled with the maddening passion which had overwhelmed him of a +sudden like a fierce hurricane, but every day convinced him but more +and more of his inability to resist. He spent daily several hours in +the company of the beautiful girl; she met him with her kindly smile on +her proud lips as soon as the bright summer morning had ended the short +night, which yet to him seemed so long! At table he sat opposite to +her; her lessons by his side, and a hundred other occasions, inevitable +in so small a family at a country place, brought him again and again in +contact with the lovely one. He himself called his passion not love, +but friendship, deep interest--he tried to persuade himself that he +would have felt the same friendship, the same interest, if his +relations to Melitta had remained unchanged,--if accident had never +revealed to him Melitta's image in a new light Oswald would have been +the first to discover that it spoke neither of prudence nor of loyalty +to make deceitful accident the judge of the weal or woe of a woman he +loved so dearly, and that all these boastful reasonings were nothing +more than cunning sophisms of a wild passion; he would have discovered +this in any one else; but we lack only too frequently that prudence and +loyalty in our own affairs which we always have ready for others, and +to think and talk wisely and to act foolishly are, it is well known, +different things, which still can very well go hand in hand. + +It is true that an impassioned heart could not very well resist being +touched by so much beauty, grace, and mind combined in one person. All +who came in contact with Helen felt the charm, the wonderful charm, she +possessed; it seemed almost impossible not to take at once part for or +against her with enthusiasm, so that even in the servants' hall lively +scenes occurred, in which her attractions were discussed. The taciturn +coachman would growl out that all was not gold that glitters, and the +good old cook would reply that the angels of course never came to visit +bad and envious men; then followed an angry and unprofitable discussion +about bad men in general and in particular, which led to strange and +sharp sayings on both sides, while the master and his family were +handled without gloves, and much was said down stairs that would have +struck horror into the hearts of the company up stairs. Thus they were +pretty well agreed in those lower regions that Baron Felix had not come +to Castle Grenwitz for amusement only, and his valet hinted that some +people could say a good deal about that, if discretion was not the +first duty of a good servant. He only desired to add, that his master +was apt to carry out whatever he undertook, and that, in his opinion, +there was not a young lady in this world who could resist his master +for any length of time--an assertion which called forth most violent +opposition on the part of the ladies present. + +What these people discovered, Oswald's eye, sharpened a hundred-fold by +love, could not overlook. He saw daily how the baron made every effort +to win his fair cousin's love, how he brought into play all the skill +he had acquired in a thousand intrigues on the smooth floor of +brilliant salons in the capital, all the cleverness with which Nature +had lavishly endowed him, and all the advantages he enjoyed as a near +relative. He could not fail to see that the baroness sustained these +efforts with wise discretion in every useful way, seconding Felix as +indefatigably as ably. He would say: No! or remain silent, when Bruno, +after dinner or during a walk, would tell him, with angry face, of some +new impudence of "that ape Felix," but he knew very well that the boy +had seen or heard right, and his only consolation was that Helen's +pride would never consent to a union with a man so totally unworthy of +her hand. + +As for Miss Helen, she went her quiet way, apparently looking neither +to the right nor the left, only she had become still more reserved in +her manner, and more sparing of her smiles. She also felt perfectly +well that she would have to stand alone in the struggle which was +impending; that she would appeal in vain to the heart of a cold, +selfish mother, the weak mind of an old father, or the courtesy of a +frivolous, reckless man like Felix, and that she would have to rely on +no one but herself. But this consciousness, which would have +overwhelmed any other girl of Helen's age, only served to rouse and to +inflame the courage of this high-hearted creature, in whom the whole +power of the family seemed to be concentrated, only in a nobler and +purer form. The reconciliation which had taken place between her and +her mother had only been apparent. Two persons are never more strongly +opposed to each other than when they aim at different ends, and yet are +equally well endowed with strength of will and powers of endurance. +There was no permanent union possible between the baroness, who knew +and pursued only worldly purposes, and her daughter, who followed an +ideal which might have been exaggerated, but was always lofty and pure. +Helen spoke freely of this in the letters, which she wrote more +frequently now than formerly, to her dearest and most intimate friend, +Miss Mary Burton. "Dearest Mary," she said in one of them, "how often +have you accused your fate, which loaded you with riches but robbed you +of all--parents, brothers and sisters, and even cousins--all those +friends of both sexes, which nature herself gives us for our way +through life! But, believe me, dear girl, there is a sadder fate than +yours. The melancholy you feel when you think of your loneliness in the +world has something sweet about it. How often have you spoken to me of +your brother Harry, whom you lost in the fall vigor of early youth, and +of your sister Hetty, who died a mere bud. You told me then that they +were not and could never be dead for you, because they lived brighter +and fairer in your memory. You said that the shades of the departed +were everywhere hovering around you, and that you felt far happier in +their society than among the cold, selfish men of this world. Oh, +surely life is not the first of earthly gifts, but love is. To live +without love is useless; love without life can still be sublime. Your +relatives are dead, but they live in you; my relatives live, but they +are dead for me. It is a sad word, darling Mary, but I will not blot it +out again, for it is true; and we have pledged each other to conceal +nothing, even though the confession be ever so painful. Yes, they are +dead for me, my relatives, and although I would give half of my life to +call them back to life, good wishes can do nothing here. Who lives for +us? Surely only those in whose hearts we can always find an asylum, to +protect us against every grief that oppresses us and against every +doubt that distresses us--those who wish only our happiness, and do not +find it in the fulfilment of their own wishes, in the gratification of +their own desires. And yet, this is the case with my relatives. Can I +open my heart to them? Must I not always fear to offend them if I speak +what I think? Do they care for my wishes? Do they not rather distress +me with their plans and suggestions, which make the blood curdle in my +veins? To be sure, my dear old papa--he would not abandon me if matters +came to the worst; but, great Heavens, is it not bad enough to have to +fear a worst? Ah, Mary, I cannot tell you how strange, how painful even +the spirit that reigns in this house is to me; how I long to be back at +school, where, if the outer world was closed to us, a fairer and a +richer world was open to us in our dreams, and especially in our +cordial friendship! Here I have no one whom I could admit into this +inner world, no one but a boy, who, of course, cannot understand me, +and a man whom I could love if he were my brother, but from whom I am +parted by an impassable gulf. You know of whom I speak. I will not +conceal from you that of late I have become more deeply interested in +this man than I should ever have thought possible--a confession which +may challenge your scorn, but which I owe to you, notwithstanding, from +the sacred nature of our covenant. He stands alone in the world like +yourself; his mother he has never known; his father died years ago, and +he never had brother or sister. He is quite young yet, but great hearts +live fast in a little while, and he must have seen and suffered much. +There is a shadow of melancholy on his brow, and in his large, dark +blue eyes, which is irresistibly touching to me; at times his lips +quiver with pain, so that I would give anything if I could go up to him +and say: Tell me what pains you, perhaps I can help you, and if I +cannot do that, I can at least sympathize with you. You know, dear +Mary, that I am a thoroughbred aristocrat, and that I have an innate +antipathy to all that is common and plebeian. We have both of us grown +up in the conviction that the lower classes lack not merely the +nobility of birth, but also the nobility of thought, and that we cannot +count, in them, upon an appreciation of what is best and highest in the +world. I must tell you now that I have changed my views in this respect +somewhat since I have come back to Grenwitz; that I have at least found +how this rule also has its exceptions. Stein is such an exception. I +never yet heard a word from his lips that would betray the plebeian, +but, on the contrary, many that were spoken from my soul, and that +found a loud echo in my heart. He speaks with more music in his voice +than I ever heard before, so that I often try for hours afterwards to +recall to my mind the manner and modulation with which he said one or +the other thing. There is an indescribable charm for me in his sweet, +melodious voice. I always felt as if men were speaking from the heart, +and I could say, after a few words: This man has a good heart, and that +man has a bad heart. And with Stein this proves to be correct. I have +seen many proofs of his good heart. Thus, there died a few days ago an +immensely old woman in the village, who was once upon a time +housekeeper at the chateau, and drew a little pension from papa. Nobody +took any notice of her except Stein, and he took care of her burial, +and accompanied, together with Bruno, her remains to the grave-yard. +They have blamed him for that at the house here, and I had to hear very +heartless remarks about it; especially from a certain person, who ought +to thank God if she ever thinks of a kind act, much less does one. But +I will not honor this person by saying anything more about her. I have +determined that she shall henceforth no longer exist for me, and hence +I will not even speak of her any more...." + +This letter, in which Miss Helen spoke so unreservedly about the +persons by whom she was surrounded, never was answered, for it never +reached its destination. + + + + + CHAPTER XII. + + +It was in the afternoon. The old baron was napping in the sitting-room. +He sat in his large rocking-chair; the newspaper he had been reading +had fallen from his feeble, withered hand. He looked very much worsted, +like a really old man who had not many years to live, and whose life +might be very suddenly ended by a trifling attack. Anna Maria, no +doubt, thought so as she sat opposite to him in her accustomed seat, +looking at him long and attentively, apparently lost in deep thought. +Now she rose and spread a thin handkerchief over the sleeper's face. +Then she looked at the clock on the mantel-piece. It was nearly four, +the hour at which, according to the unchanging rules of the house, +coffee was served--in the garden, if the weather permitted it. The +baroness was on the point of rousing her husband, but she reconsidered, +went through the open door into the garden, and asked the servant who +was carrying the coffee if Baron Felix had been called already?--Not +yet, ma'am! Then go up stairs and tell him I beg he will come at once +to see me, and--wait! tell mademoiselle she need not come to help to +coffee; I'll do it myself; she had better stay in the linen-room.--And, +what was it? Oh yes! You need not tell the others yet that coffee is +ready! + +The man went on his errands. Anna Maria passed the garden-house and +entered a long, perfectly shady avenue of beech-trees, which led from +the lawn to a copse, in which an old ruined chapel was standing. She +seemed to have forgotten entirely that she had sent for Felix, for she +went on and on, her eyes fixed upon the ground, till she reached the +end of the avenue and the little chapel. + +It was a sweet, pleasantly melancholy place. Very old trees of gigantic +size overhung it with their broad leafy branches, so that not a ray +could pierce. The ground was covered with thick moss; long, luxuriant +grass was growing between the broken stones; the crevices in the old +walls were all covered with dark-green ivy, and here and there a tall +blooming shrub rose from the ruins. Upon the weather-beaten stone cross +in the empty window sat a little bird and sang. That was the only sound +heard far and near. It seemed only to make the stillness around more +deeply felt. + +A lover of solitude would have been delighted with the place. But the +baroness hardly raised her eyes from the ground to look hastily around. +She had at all times little eye for the rays of the sun that came +trembling through thick foliage, for dark shadows and other features in +a beautiful landscape, and now her mind was preoccupied with very +different thoughts. She sat down on a stone bench immediately under the +empty window frame in which the little bird was singing, took a letter +from her pocket and began to read it once more. + +It was the letter which Helen had written that morning, in the belief +that her mother's assurance she would never inquire about her +correspondence was to be relied on. Fully trusting in the sacredness of +letters, she had given it to her maid, with orders to carry it to the +kitchen, where the postman was refreshing himself with a cup of coffee. +The maid had met the baroness in one of the passages, and the latter +had asked her whose letter that was? Upon her answer that her mistress +had given it to her, the baroness had taken it with the remark, that +she would give it herself to the postman when her own letters were sent +down. + +Thus Helen's letter had fallen into her mother's hands. It was an +accident--one of those accidents which evil spirits seem to bring +about, for the very purpose of confusing doubting minds still further, +and of leading them more surely away from the right path. Without this +accident it would probably never have occurred to the baroness that she +might thus find a way to her daughter's heart. But her plan of marrying +Helen to Felix had become a fixed idea in her mind, as it happens often +with selfish and self-willed characters. The state of her husband's +health seemed to her--justly or unjustly--very dangerous; Malte had +from his birth been very delicate, and the over-anxious tenderness of +his parents had made him still more so; thus it appeared to her more +than probable that Felix might ere long be master at Grenwitz, and she +thought it therefore wise policy to bind him to her interests as much +as she could. At first she had looked in this to Helen's advantage +almost as much as to her own, and found it very convenient that her and +her daughter's interest could be so pleasantly combined. Felix seemed +to be made to become the son-in-law of an imperious mother-in-law. He +was trifling, yielding, averse to business, and always disposed to let +things go as they chose to go, if he had but money or credit enough. +The baroness did not remember that such men are the hardest to manage, +because reckless frivolity and intense selfishness can very well go +hand in hand, and that these men are ever ready to sacrifice all who +oppose their selfish desires. She thought she had nothing to fear from +Felix. He had won her whole heart, as far as she had any heart, by his +courteous, accommodating manner, and his ever ready: As you like it, +dear aunt--do you settle that, please, dear aunt! + +All the greater was her concern about Helen. She could not conceal from +herself that all her attempts to draw her daughter nearer to herself +had so far been fruitless. Of course, she blamed only Helen's "childish +disposition" and her "overwrought notions" for the failure, but that +did not change the matter itself. And now she had to see, moreover, +that Helen had evidently more confidence in her father than in herself, +that she was more warmly attached to Bruno than to her brother Malte, +and that she treated Oswald, and even Mr. Timm, more courteously than +her cousin. Felix had laughed when the baroness told him what she had +noticed; he had even said it was a good sign. The ruder the better! +was the ex-lieutenant's doctrine, which he accompanied with a +gallant comparison between horses and girls strongly smacking of the +guard-house. But the baroness had the habit of trusting her own eyes, +and her own eyes confirmed daily the correctness of her observation. At +last Felix also had begun to feel less sure of success. Emily's words +on that night had pierced his self-complacency like a barbed arrow. +Jealousy has hawk's eyes. Emily knew that only the love of another +could have produced such a change in Oswald, and that wonderful +instinct which in women more than replaces the slow logic of men, had +in an instant revealed to her that her rival could be no one else but +the beautiful Helen. Felix, in his rash manner of trying to get rid of +a troublesome thought, had at once communicated the matter to the +baroness, and she had meditated on it till she had come to the +conclusion that Emily's suggestion was too probable not to be +thoroughly investigated. + +Just then accident had placed Helen's letter in her hand. This letter, +intended only for her daughter's most intimate friend, would probably +furnish her the key to her daughter's heart, and confirm or destroy her +suspicion. That, this key in her hand became a thief's tool--what did +it matter? She must have certainty at any price. And has not a mother +the right to know her daughter's secrets? And if this daughter, as she +feared, was going astray on a dangerous path, was it not the mother's +sacred duty to bring her back by any means in her power? + +Thus the baroness had tried to quiet her conscience. Man never is in +want of excuses for an act which he has determined to commit at all +hazard. + +And there she sat now on the stone bench by the old walls of the +chapel, with the little bird merrily twittering above, and the letter, +the unlucky letter, in her hand. She knew it almost by heart. The fruit +from the tree of knowledge, which he had so wickedly stolen, was +bitter, very bitter! She had never loved her daughter; now she hated +her daughter. It was true then! Her worst suspicions were confirmed. +Black ingratitude the only return for all her kindness! Helen on the +best terms with the two persons she hated most! Baron Grenwitz's only +daughter in love with a hireling, a low-born person, who received wages +and his board from her parents! For what meant, after all, those fine +phrases about Oswald's goodness of heart, and the sympathy she felt for +his secret sorrow? The baroness did not know much of the language of +love; but she did know that indifference does not speak thus. It had +come to this then! Helen wanted war! Well--war she should have. They +would soon see who was the stronger--the mother or the daughter. Could +she yield now? Let the disobedient child have her way? Sacrifice her +long-cherished plans to a foolish girl's whims? No, and a thousand +times, No! + +But what was she to do? Try kindness once more, or drop the mask, and +command where prayers had been of no avail? And above all, how much of +the secret was she to tell Felix? Would his pride be roused if he saw +how little Helen thought of him, how she despised him, in fact? Might +he not draw back, and would not Helen then triumph after all? + +Before the baroness could quite settle this point in her mind, she +heard steps near by. She hastily folded up the letter and concealed it +in the pocket of her dress. + +It was Felix. He had found no one in the garden-house, and accidentally +looking down the avenue, he had thought he saw the baroness at the +other end. + +"Ah! it is you," he said, as the baroness rose when he came near, "I +really did not know if it was you. The coffee is waiting, but, like +King Philip in the play, lonely and alone. Everybody seems to have +slept too long, like myself." + +"Sit down here, Felix," said the baroness; "the coffee can wait. We can +talk here more at ease than over there." + +"A charming secret place for a nice little rendezvous," replied Felix, +laughing, and sitting down by the side of the baroness. + +At that moment the little bird ceased to sing that had been sitting on +the cross in the window, and flew into one of the trees. The pale face +of a boy, framed in dark curls, showed itself for a moment in the +opening, and looked down, but disappeared instantly at the sight of the +two on the stone bench. + +"You are still always ready for a joke, dear Felix," said the baroness. + +"Still!" replied Felix, "what has happened that I should cry? I suppose +you cannot forget what I told you the other night? Pshaw! I have long +since recovered from the fright; it was a false alarm, you may believe +me." + +"I wish I could share your confidence, dear Felix; but I have my good +reasons for differing with you on that point. I have observed Helen +more carefully since then, and I cannot get rid of the idea that there +is something in the suggestion." + +"But, pardon me, dear aunt. You have a marvellous talent for seeing +everything in dark colors. It was a childish notion of the little +Breesen; she wanted to annoy me--_voila tout_. I cannot imagine that +Helen would prefer a schoolmaster to myself. Why, it would be +ridiculous, _horriblement_ ridiculous," said the ex-lieutenant, and +looked with pleasure at his patent boots. + +"And suppose Helen should not forget herself so far--or suppose it +should be only a child's caprice, to vanish with the next moment, are +you so well pleased with her manner towards yourself?" + +"She will change her manner when she finds I am in earnest." + +"And if she does not change it?" + +"Well, then, we are, heaven be thanked, not married yet," said Felix, +lost in admiration of his boot, and hardly knowing what he was saying. + +"Then we had better break off our conversation," said the baroness, +rising; "if you can speak with such indifference of the failure of a +plan which, I think, we both of us look upon with no small interest, it +is hardly worth while to discuss it any further." + +"But, my dearest aunt," said Felix, starting up and kissing the +baroness' hand, "you are really in an awful humor today. How can you be +so offended at a word, which did not mean anything at all, 'pon honor? +It just slipped out so. You know my tongue often says things for which +I should by no means like to be held responsible. Sit down again, pray! +You were saying that Helen's manner towards me might not change. My +solemn answer is: I shall many her nevertheless. Those things come all +right when one sits in the carriage and is off for the wedding tour; at +first tears, then sobs, then pouting, then a little smile, and----" + +"Enough," said the baroness, "you are an incorrigible wag, who----" + +"Succeeds wherever he wants to succeed. And therefore let your scruples +go, and give us our coffee or it will be cold." + +"Not quite so fast," said the baroness; "what would you advise now?" + +"What I have always advised. Since I am not allowed to have anything to +do with the matter myself, you had better tell Helen: You marry your +cousin Baron Felix Grenwitz, and moreover within so and so many days! +That is settled! Selah!" + +"Are you in earnest?" + +"In full earnest! When are you going to give your great ball?" + +"Day after to-morrow." + +"Good! that is a capital opportunity to make our engagement public. +Just tell Helen: If you are not Felix's betrothed by Thursday evening, +you march back to school on Friday morning. You will see that will +settle it." + +"I am afraid the threat will have the opposite effect. They have spoilt +Helen in Hamburg. I believe she had rather go back to-day than Friday." + +"_Eh bien!_ Then send the little obstinate damsel to Grunwald, to the +model institute of Miss Bear. The little Breesen has been brought up +there, and she told me the other day it was rather a kind of +penitentiary than a boarding-school; but the harder it is the more +effective--I mean the threat. For I will be hanged if _ma chere +cousine_ lets matters go to such an extremity--pardon me, dear aunt, I +know you do not like such strong expressions." + +"It is certainly a very bad habit of yours," said the baroness, rising. +Felix followed her example. + +"Which I shall try to lay aside to please you," he added, offering his +arm to the baroness. + +"One thing more," said the latter, pausing a moment, "do you believe +Grenwitz will consent?" + +"If I believe it?" cried Felix, laughing in a manner which was by no +means flattering for the poor old gentleman, "if I believe it? _Ma foi, +chere tante_, has not my most worthy uncle been nearly twenty years +under your orders? How long is it since I have the honor of serving +under you? A few weeks, and I think I have learnt to obey pretty well +already!" + +"You are a flatterer," said the baroness, graciously, "but nobody can +be angry with you." + +And the worthy pair went off arm in arm. + +When the voices could no longer be heard, the boy's face became visible +once more in the open window. It was even paler than before. The boy +threatened the two with a gesture of his arms, and his lips moved as if +they were murmuring a grim malediction. Then, when the two had +disappeared out of sight, he let himself down upon the bench where they +had been sitting. By the bench on the thick moss lay a badly folded +letter, which the baroness had dropped from her pocket. The boy picked +it up, and when he saw that it was in Helen's handwriting he pressed it +to his lips with passionate tenderness. Then he concealed it carefully +in his breastpocket, looked once more cautiously around, and the next +moment he had disappeared in the bushes. + + + + + CHAPTER XIII. + + +When the ex-lieutenant's cunning valet had spoken of the irresistible +power of his master in all love affairs, the fair sex of the kitchen +had cried out against him as uttering an insult to them all. But the +man of much experience had smiled mysteriously, leaning back in his +chair, after the manner of his master, and looking askant, but with a +most expressive twinkle of the eye at one of the ladies, who had shown +the deepest moral indignation, and the highest degree of eloquence in +the unprofitable discussion. At this glance pretty Louisa had suddenly +turned very red and become silent, so that she attracted the notice +even of the taciturn coachman, who gravely repeated his former remark, +that all was not gold that glitters. Thereupon pretty Louisa had begun +to cry, and the old cook had risen and openly charged the valet with an +unfair attempt to injure a poor girl by vile insinuations and "hateful +looks." The adroit fellow, seeing that he had gone too far, immediately +retraced his steps and assured them that his remarks had not been +intended for anybody present, and that the twinkling of his eye was +perfectly accidental. This very loyal and perfectly parliamentary +explanation had finally restored peace in the company assembled around +the kitchen fire. + +Unfortunately, however, matters were exactly as the great man had +suggested--betraying, it is true, the secrecy which was due to his +master as a faithful servant, and which he was disposed to claim as a +special merit of his own. Baron Felix had the bad habit--bad for +himself and bad for his valet--of falling in love with every pretty +girl whom he met on his way through life, although it might be only for +a few days, hours, or even minutes, and to avail himself of every +possible opportunity for an intrigue. Thus he had not been twenty hours +at the chateau before he had found out that mademoiselle and pretty +Louisa were the two persons who might help him kill time at this +tiresome place, and during his troublesome courtship. Albert, his old +comrade in many a similar heroic affair, when they were both cadets, +had given him information about mademoiselle, and Jean, the valet, had +received orders to see how the land lay about pretty Louisa. Albert had +considered for a moment, thinking it might not be amiss to favor Felix, +so as to make his intimacy with mademoiselle a pretext for himself, if +he should wish to break with her at some future time. But finally the +hatred he felt against his former comrade, the lucky fool, and a kind +of jealousy he felt most unaccountably, had carried the day. He assured +Felix that mademoiselle had told him herself of her positive engagement +"to a candidate of divinity," heaven knows where, probably in Grunwald; +that he had tried himself to get into her good graces, but as he had +failed, he was quite sure any effort to succeed with the "black-eyed +Genevese girl" would be fruitless. + +Felix was not generally the man to be intimidated by such suggestions, +but he was quite willing to abandon this enterprise, as his experienced +scout had reported to him, as the result of his reconnaissance in the +other direction, that there success was easy and sure. Don Giovanni +Felix had thereupon opened the trenches in due form, and was, of +course, by no means surprised when, a few days later, the little +fortification surrendered at discretion. + +And yet it was by no means easy to carry out a gallant adventure in the +chateau. It had such a labyrinth of passages, so many large and small +staircases, which landed you suddenly in stories to which you had no +intention of going, and so many doors which all looked alike, and made +you enter any room but your own, that one who was not perfectly at home +there was almost sure to go astray. Felix had paid the penalty of being +a stranger, and had lost his way more than once by night, succeeding in +regaining his room only after much trouble and hours of fruitless +efforts. He preferred, therefore, to lie in wait for his little beauty +in the garden, where shady walks and discreet bowers offered many a +safe place for rendezvous, and which was as accessible to the denizens +of the lower regions as to the great people of the chateau. + +Thus he had stolen out this night also, and was waiting for his poor +little victim in one of the bosquets, from which one could see the +offices as well as the lower windows of the chateau. The great clock +struck twelve--the hour fixed for the rendezvous. The moon was shining +brightly; the dewdrops on leaves and flowers glittered in its rays; +Felix could see by his watch that the castle clock was a quarter of an +hour behind time. The lights in the chateau had disappeared one by one; +only in two windows of the lower story towards the garden the light of +a lamp was still shining through the red curtains. Felix saw the vague +outlines of a figure at regular intervals appear, and then disappear +again--evidently the occupant was walking up and down in the room. Then +she must have sat down again at the piano, for single notes were heard, +like the notes of a bird, who tries to sing his songs as he dreams in +the moonlight; then they mingled into full accords, and at last +Beethoven's glorious _Sonate pathetique_ poured forth its rich +melodies, as if angels were singing while they hovered at midnight, +with outspread wings, over the earth, gathering all the joys and all +the sorrows of this world in their godlike hearts, and pouring them +forth in one solemn anthem full of unspeakable sadness and heavenly +sweetness. It would have been strange if Felix had really dared to lift +up his eyes and to raise his hands towards the pure, chaste girl who +was playing, without some feeling of remorse; for as he stood there, +leaning against a column with an urn on top, and listening, he felt his +own want of purity. He was not altogether without feeling; he could +even become enthusiastic about what was really great and beautiful, +although his enthusiasm did not last but a few moments, and vanished +like a pretty bright soap-bubble, with its thousand varying hues, at +the first rising of a frivolous thought. Who knows but that, at that +moment, he resolved to lead another life hereafter, and to lay aside +his follies?--and he had such a very good opinion of himself that no +doubt he thought it sufficient to resolve in order to succeed. He +listened to the music with a vague sense of reverence. His knowledge of +music told him that the Sonata could not have been played better, or +with more expression; he whispered at one or two passages: Brava! +brava! as if he had been in a concert-room. But Helen and Beethoven, +virtue and music, and whatever else might at that moment have passed +through his mind--all vanished in an instant, like a Fata Morgana, when +his ear heard a stealthy step approaching. It came from another +direction than that from which Felix expected his friend. But, then, +pretty Louisa might have gone out of her way to avoid the walks which +the moon lighted up with its bright light. The steps came nearer and +nearer, and Felix, conceiving the original idea of playing hide and +seek, stole back into the shrubbery. But what was his surprise when he +saw, instead of pretty Louisa, Bruno glide past him! He could not help +laughing at his mistake; but the next moment it occurred to him how +this might endanger his rendezvous, and that it would probably be wiser +to go back to the house. "Who knows how long the boy may loiter about +here? may be he is in love, or he is crazy? He looks as if he might be +either. Or he is moon-struck, and walks about here for a few hours. The +rascal! He is always in my way; I have a great mind to give him a +tangible proof of my friendly attachment for him. At all events I had +better leave here. It is not too late yet to plead my love of moonlight +for being out, but in a little while the excuse would hardly avail. I +mean, however, to tell my excellent aunt of these night excursions of +Mr. Stein's pupils." + +Felix had nearly reached the house on his return without seeing Bruno, +and was already hoping the boy might have left the garden, and his +rendezvous might still be accomplished, when he suddenly caught sight +of Bruno, just as he was crossing the lawn. The boy was sitting on a +bench, his eyes fixed on Helen's window, from which music was still +pouring forth; and so perfectly lost in devotion that he did not notice +Felix till the latter was quite near him. + +"What are you doing here so late at night?" asked Felix, whose anger +sought vent at least in a few rough words; "I shall tell your aunt." + +"Mind your own affairs," said Bruno, who had started up in the first +surprise, advancing a few steps; but now, as he recognized Felix, whom +he hated, he stopped in bold defiance. + +"You are an impertinent boy," said Felix. + +"And you a blackguard," replied Bruno, standing before him with folded +arms. + +"Who will punish you for your insolence," said Felix, boxing the boy's +ears. Bruno staggered back a few steps. Felix saw, half frightened, how +the boy's eyes began literally to burn; then he uttered a low, fierce +cry from the depth of his throat--a great leap, like that of a leopard +pouncing upon his victim, and the next moment Felix lay on the ground, +and Bruno's powerful hands held his throat with an iron grip. Felix +struggled desperately to shake off the boy and to rise again, but in +vain. As often as he rose a little, trying to push Bruno aside with his +arms, he felt his efforts paralyzed by superior strength, and the +slender fingers enclosed his throat firmer and firmer. + +"Let me go, Bruno," he groaned. + +"Commend your soul to God, for you must die," Bruno growled. + +Felix felt his strength giving way, while that of his adversary seemed +to increase every moment. Deadly anguish fell upon him. He wanted to +call for help, but his trembling lips could not utter a sound; he felt +a low buzzing in his ears, which grew stronger and stronger; it became +dark before his eyes, though millions of small stars were shooting +about; fearful thoughts drifted like storm-laden clouds through his +brains.--Suddenly, when the last glimmer of consciousness seemed to be +extinguished, he felt the horrible burden leave his chest, and when he +at last gathered strength to rise from the ground, he was alone. The +moon was shining on the dark blue sky, the light in Helen's room had +disappeared, the music was at an end, and Felix might have fancied his +struggle with Bruno but a dream, if the reality had not been too well +attested by the violent pains he felt in more than one part of his +body, the sand that covered his clothes, and the ground turned up all +around him. + +With a heart filled with shame and rage he went back to the house, like +a wolf who had attempted to surprise a flock, and had been driven back +to the woods, bitten and wounded by a noble watch-dog. + + + + + CHAPTER XIV. + + +The baroness had missed Helen's letter the same evening. This discovery +caused her no small dismay. The letter might so easily fall into wrong +hands--hands that might return it to the girl, and thus expose her in +her own daughter's eyes to sad disgrace! She should then irretrievably +lose all the advantage which she had obtained by this insight into +Helen's state of mind, and which she thought of rendering profitable to +herself by frequent allusions and threatenings. It was unlucky, +extremely unlucky! + +The baroness remembered very distinctly having put the letter into the +pocket of her dress as Felix was coming up the avenue. The probability +therefore was, that she had lost it near the chapel. She remembered +also having pulled put her handkerchief once during the conversation, +in order to play the offended lady with greater effect. But it was too +late that night to make any search for it; she had to spend a sleepless +night, and wake up next morning with a violent headache. As soon as she +could, she went into the garden and to the chapel. There was no letter +to be seen, neither there nor in the beech avenue nor in the bower. +Very much disconcerted, the baroness returned to the house. + +There new trouble awaited her. Oswald sent word that Bruno had passed a +sleepless night and was very unwell; would it not be better to send a +messenger on horseback for Doctor Braun? He also begged that Malte +might be kept down stairs, as he wished Bruno to be alone till the +doctor came. The baroness sent back word that she hoped his +indisposition would soon be over, and cause no interruption in the +regular lessons. As for the doctor, she would let him know when they +sent to town. + +A few hours afterwards Felix sent his excuses for not coming to +breakfast; he was quite unwell, but would be certainly down to dinner. + +Felix was indeed rather worsted by his encounter with Bruno. First and +foremost, the burning disgrace of having succumbed to a boy, and of +having escaped with his life only, thanks to an accident or a sudden +fit of generosity. It required the whole power of his frivolity to get +over that painful thought. He tried to persuade himself--and after a +while he did persuade himself--that the thing had not been so serious, +and that, if he had not slipped so unluckily just when Bruno had leaped +upon him, and if his "abominable rheumatism" had not paralyzed his +arms, he "would have shaken off the boy like a troublesome fly, and +treated him, besides, to a sound drubbing." That, however, in the mean +time he had received the drubbing, and the fly had taken good hold of +him, was clearly shown by the brown and blue spots which Felix had +carried off. On neck and shoulders as sure signs of his defeat. His +great valet was not a little surprised when he found his master in a +condition which reminded him forcibly of former days, when he was still +a cadet, and Cognac and Goulard Water formed regularly part of his +toilet. The great man, however, quickly proved that he had no more +forgotten the art of curing contusions and discolorations than his +master had forgotten the art of getting them, and by dinner-time Felix +was in a fit state to present himself in the drawing room. Still, he +was doubtful whether he ought to appear at table or not. It was +extremely painful to him to think of meeting Bruno, to see the boy's +dark eyes rest upon him, full of scorn and satisfaction, and perhaps to +have read in Oswald's face that he had been fully informed of the +events of last night. He felt, therefore, no small relief when Jean +told him that the company would be very much reduced at dinner to-day, +as Mr. Stein and Bruno would not appear. He only cast a glance at the +looking-glass, dropped a little more Ess. Bouquet than usually on his +lawn handkerchief, and passed through the door which Jean obsequiously +opened as light and free and as irresistible as ever, although burdened +with the memory of his recent defeat. + +The baroness also felt no small relief when she found that Helen showed +no change in her manner or on her face, and in her large eyes. The +baroness was more attentive than ever to her daughter. + +Nevertheless dinner was duller than usual, although Felix did his best +to make conversation. The old baron had gone himself to inquire after +Bruno, and was angry that the doctor had not yet been sent for, and +said that "if a wagon was going to town in the evening, to bring +various things for the ball to-morrow, that was no reason why one of +the servants might not have gone in on horseback early in the morning." +The baroness did not relish the imputed blame, and replied that it was +true she had forgotten that it was for Bruno and not for herself, +although she had suffered from a very bad headache, nor for Felix, who +had been quite sick during the night and the forenoon. Helen hardly +raised her eyes from her plate, and said nothing, while little +Marguerite's eyes were even more inflamed from weeping than on the +preceding days. Felix and Malte quickly exhausted their topics of +conversation, and thus the whole company was soon as silent as if they +had been attending a funeral meal in Egypt. + +The baroness and Felix were left alone after dinner, as the old baron +withdrew to his rooms. Felix had been considering during dinner whether +he had not better mention the occurrence of last night--of course in +his own way--before Bruno should have an opportunity of speaking of it +to any one else beside Oswald. He therefore availed himself of the +_tete-a-tete_ with the baroness for that purpose. Laughing, and begging +her not to let the odd story get any farther, he then told her how the +beautiful moonlight had tempted him to go into the garden, how he had +found Bruno hovering around Helen's room in a very suspicious manner, +and how at last the boy, refusing to go to bed as he had ordered him to +do, had begun a quarrel, and made him slip and fall. He added, that as +soon as he had recovered from the surprise he had inflicted due +punishment on Bruno, who was probably still suffering from the +consequences. + +The baroness was by no means pleased with this humorous account of a +very serious matter. Her apprehensions about the letter were excited +anew. Bruno late at night near Helen's windows! What could he have to +do there? The circumstance looked very suspicious. Could Bruno have +found the letter? Could he have wished to restore it to her? The +baroness groaned at the thought. + +"What is the matter, dear aunt?" + +"Oh, nothing! I only sigh at the trouble that man Stein has already +brought upon our house. If I regret anything in my life, it is that I +did not send him off the very first time I saw him. I had a great mind +to do so that evening, for hardly ever has anybody made so unfavorable +an impression upon me as that young man." + +"But, dear aunt, why don't you do now what you omitted to do then? Turn +him out. I really do not understand why you hesitate." + +The baroness was not disposed to acknowledge that she would have to pay +Oswald a thousand dollars if she broke the contract during the first +year. This sum she was by no means willing to sacrifice. But before she +could get an answer ready, the Reverend Mr. Jager's voice was heard, +inquiring if he would be permitted to see the baroness. + +The next moment the reverend gentleman entered the room, accompanied by +his wife. + +There was no difficulty in seeing that something extraordinary had +occurred to the worthy couple. The minister wore his new black dress +coat, which he only displayed on the most solemn occasions, and Primula +had adorned her bonnet with a most picturesque wreath of wheat-ears, +which made her look a shade more yellow than usual. The minister's eyes +tried in vain to assume their wonted expression of humility, the very +glasses seemed to sparkle with triumph, and as for Primula, her poetic +mind had evidently been freed from all earthly shackles; she could show +herself now as she really was. + +"I come, madam," said the minister, gallantly kissing the baroness' +hand, "partly in order to inquire how you and all the dear ones are +to-day, and partly to report to you an event which we--I hope I may +venture to say we to my noble friend--which we have long looked for, I +may add, long hoped for, and which yet has come at last very +unexpectedly. I have received an appointment as professor at the +University of Grunwald." + +"At first only as adjunct professor," added Primula; "but the full +professorship will follow soon." + +"At the same time I have received a call to the University Chapel." + +"Yes," added Primula, "Professor Darkling wrote expressly about that." + +"Why, that is capital news," said the baroness. "Permit me to present +my nephew, Baron Felix--the Rev. Mr., I meant to say, Professor Jager +and Mrs. Jager, dear Felix--capital news indeed! At last, then! Well, I +always said it must come sooner or later; it is true we shall be the +losers, but then our friends will gain so much, and that ought to be +our first consideration. Let me congratulate you most heartily." + +"And me too," said Felix. + +"Thank you, madam, thank you, baron, very much obliged indeed," said +the professor, rubbing his hands with delight; "yes, yes; better late +than never. I have been looking for this ever since the reviews spoke +so--I may be permitted to say--so very handsomely of my last important +work, in which I established beyond all dispute the real text of the +long-lost works of Philochrysos, one of the fathers of the church." + +"When are you going to leave us?" + +"Well, probably in the fall; but possibly sooner. I propose to deliver +during the winter session three courses of lectures, and one special +course on the lost writings of Philochrysos." + +"You attempt too much, Jager, too much!" breathed Primula in tender +accents: "oh these men! these men! Every one of them is a Prometheus +ready to take Olympus by storm." + +"And who has inspired me with such bold hopes, if it is not you +yourself?" said the minister, gratefully pressing Primula's hand. + +"Do you like pistol-shooting?" asked Felix, to turn the conversation. + +"Well, a little, that is, no, I cannot say I like it. I used to be +tolerably successful in shooting hares and partridges, but since the +higher church authorities have pronounced very energetically against +such amusements, 'my irons lie idle in the hall,' as the poet says." + +"Perhaps you might take up again the noble sport, now that you are a +professor," said Primula. "Ah, I think it must be glorious to meet an +enraged boar with a loaded pistol in your hand ..." + +"I should advise your husband," said Felix, laughing, "not to venture +upon such an encounter without a rifle, and possibly a good stout +hunting-knife by his side. But seriously, professor, will you come and +let us have a little shooting at a mark?" + +"Certainly, certainly!" cried the minister, starting up; "I am at your +service, at your service." + +The reverend gentleman had turned rather pale; from his excitement one +might have imagined he was rushing to fight a duel where his life was +in deadly peril. + +"Had you not better stay here?" asked Primula, who suddenly took a very +dismal view of the matter. "You are not quite as composed to-day as +usual. If an accident should happen just now, when you have reached the +goal of your wishes, Jager, I should not survive it," and the poetess +broke out in tears and clung to her husband, whose efforts to relieve +himself of the sweet burden were by no means very energetic. + +"Gustava," he whispered, "dearest Gussy, it is not so dangerous as you +fancy. Are your pistols provided with hair-triggers, baron?" + +"Certainly," replied Felix, not a little amused by this scene. "When +they are cocked you must not sneeze, or I will not be responsible for +the consequences." + +"Stay, oh stay! husband mine!" Primula said imploringly. + +"I suppose there is not much danger," said the minister, his lips pale +with terror. + +"So said a friend of mine the other day," added Felix. "Have a care, +said I.--Nonsense said he, and took the pistol by the mouth. The next +moment he had lost one of his fingers." + +"That is decisive," said Primula, rising; "Jager, you stay, I insist +upon it, I command you to stay. Do not meddle with things of which you +know nothing. Pistol-shooting is no child's play." + +Such strong arguments were irresistible even for a great mind like the +Reverend Mr. Jager's. He sank back in his chair and said, wiping the +perspiration from his brow: + +"You see, baron, married men are not their own masters. When you are +married you will see how the brilliant cavalier will change into the +prudent father of a family. But how is it, may I not offer you my +congratulations?" + +And the minister inclined his head on the right shoulder, to smile at +the baroness, and then on his left shoulder, to bestow the same favor +on Felix. + +"You may ask me again a few days hence," replied the baron, evasively. +"But, as I was going to say: Your appointment will make up for the loss +the university has suffered in Professor Berger. Are the two events +perhaps connected with each other?" + +"Not directly, at least," said the minister, "although I am not +disposed to deny that Professor Berger would have used his influence by +no means in my favor, and thus his attack may be looked upon as a +favorable event, as far as I am concerned." + +"Is there any explanation how this sudden attack has come on?" asked +the baroness. + +"No, madam, sudden it can hardly be called," replied the new professor, +assuming a most grave manner, and drawing down the corners of his +mouth; "I confess I was by no means surprised, because I have always +looked upon the professor as partially insane. A man who can maintain, +as he did, that all so-called arguments in favor of the existence of +God, the Almighty Maker of heaven and earth, are but a false +conclusion, a _petitio principii_, such a man is already half insane. A +man who can talk frivolously about the sacred institutions of kings, +ruling by the grace of God, and of an hereditary nobility, is already +mad, although he be a professor and his lectures be attended by +hundreds of admiring listeners. I know very well it is written: Judge +not, that ye be not judged; but, nevertheless, I cannot but say that I +see the hand of God in this punishment." + +"How would you like a game of ten-pins?" said Felix, who had been +standing in the open door, and who had heard nothing of the +conversation. + +"With pleasure," replied the professor; "I understand all about those +balls. I used to be great at ten-pins when I was a student at +Grunwald." + +"After coffee, dear Felix," said the baroness; "I have to talk with Mr. +Jager about some important business.--Is it not terrible, dear Mr. +Jager, that we must have a pupil of this abominable man in our own +house? That I should have to leave the innocent soul of my poor child +in such hands? For Heaven's sake advise me, what must I do to get rid +of the man in a decent way?" + +"You cannot send him off unceremoniously?" + +"We are mutually bound for four years, and therefore if we----" + +"I see, I see," said the professor, who was fully aware of Anna Maria's +avarice; "hm, hm! We must find out some good reason! There is a law +which requires tutors, who are at the same time candidates for the +ministry, to obtain testimonials from the nearest minister, showing +their good standing as to morals, etc. We might make it very difficult +for Mr. Stein to obtain such a certificate," and the reverend gentleman +smiled cunningly. + +"Do you know the last news?" cried Felix, holding a note in his hand, +which one of the servants had just brought him, as coffee was served in +the bower; "Cloten is engaged to little Emily; here he sends me, as his +best friend, the first information; others will not hear of it till +to-morrow." + +"I can beat you there," said the professor; "who do you think, madam, +returned last night?" + +"Well?" + +"Frau von Berkow." + +"Impossible!" + +"I am quite sure of it. She has, in compliance with her husband's +wishes, brought his body to be interred at Berkow. The coffin will +arrive to-night, and to-morrow I shall hold the usual services." + +"Then we cannot invite the fair lady to our ball to-morrow?" asked +Felix. + +"But, Felix!" said the baroness, with a reproachful glance. + +"Coffee is served," announced the servant. + +"Then let us go in," said the baroness. + + + + + CHAPTER XV. + + +In the mean time Oswald had spent some sad, anxious hours at Bruno's +bedside. He had noticed of late Bruno's excited state of mind, and felt +deeply concerned about it. Explosions of violent passion, such as +Oswald had witnessed when he first came, but which had then almost +entirely disappeared for a time, had now again become more frequent and +violent than ever. A contradiction, a failure, a slighting remark at +table from the baroness, were sufficient to unchain the demon. In vain +had Oswald begged and besought him to control his temper, which exposed +him to the attacks of his adversaries and prevented his friends from +defending him--"I cannot help it," was his invariable answer; "it is a +power I cannot resist. It boils up within me, it gnaws at my heart, it +beats in my temples, and then I do not know any longer what I am saying +or doing."--If Oswald replied that he was not in earnest with his +efforts to control himself, Bruno answered angrily: Well, scold me as +the rest of them do; make common cause with them. I do not want +lukewarm friends; he who is not for me is against me.--Then, when he +saw how he had hurt Oswald's feelings by such speeches, he would throw +himself passionately into his arms and beg his pardon amid burning +tears.--Have pity on me, he said. You do not know how thoroughly +wretched I am.--In vain that Oswald urged him to tell him what it was +that oppressed him.--I do not know myself, Bruno replied; I only wish I +were far, for away from here, never to return any more; and then, +again, I do not want to go, not for anything in the world; I do not +know what it is; I believe I should like best to be dead. + +Oswald tried his best to find out what could be the cause of this +strange state of mind; but, though often on the point of discovery, he +never found out the real mystery, which the poor boy concealed in his +innermost heart, perhaps from himself as much as from others. It is a +well-known fact, that even clever men often commit the strangest +blunders in their judgment of those who are nearest to them, while +others, at a distance, see clearly and distinctly. Impossible! exclaims +a father, who is told what a bad son he has; impossible! cries a +brother, when he first hears that his sister has engaged herself to his +best friend. At times we are blinded by affection, at other times by +antipathy; here it is indifference which makes us ignore a miracle that +happens before our eyes; there it is noble shame which makes us cast +down our eyes in order not to see a cheek blushing with guilt. No +prophet is accepted in his own country, and in most cases the heart of +one brother is to the other a book sealed with seven seals. + +Thus it was the case here. Oswald consoled himself with the thought +that the years of transition from boyhood to manhood were always an age +of storms, within and without, and that strong, passionate characters +like Bruno's must, of course, suffer more than others. He knew, from +frequent conversations on such subjects, that Bruno's mind was a noble +one, and that his heart was pure "as the heart of waters." He was, +therefore, quite reassured on this score; but he did not suspect that +Bruno, noble and pure as he was, loved his beautiful cousin with all +the power of his strong heart, with all the fire of youthful passion, +with the unbounded happiness of a first attachment, with the silent +despair of a first passion which is not returned and cannot be +returned. + +He had never before seen Helen. When he was brought to the house of his +relatives, three years ago, the young girl had already been sent to the +boarding-school. They mentioned her very rarely in the family, and when +they did so, it was with a few cool words only--a circumstance which +probably excited Bruno's attention. With that sympathy which the poor +have for the poor, and the forsaken for the forsaken, he felt +instinctively that she was, like himself, a sufferer and an outcast. +Gradually he formed in his mind a kind of ideal form of the absent +beauty, an image of all that his fancy could suggest. The very name of +Helen had something intoxicating for him, like the perfume of a +hyacinth, and contributed still farther to make this ideal image dear +to him. Then there had come a time when Aunt Berkow had for a while +usurped the throne in his heart, becoming to him the personification of +all that is highest and fairest in woman; when a kind word of Melitta, +a simple: You dear boy! or a passing caress from her soft white hand +could have sent him to brave every kind of deadly danger. It was just +at the time when Oswald first came to Grenwitz, that this enthusiasm +for Aunt Berkow had been at its highest. He had treated Melitta's son +like a younger brother, as he was in the habit of treating the mother, +in her youthful beauty, like an elder sister. Melitta used in those +days to come quite frequently to Grenwitz, and to bring Julius, and +Bemperlein, always mindful of his pupil's interests and pleasures, did +all in his power to foster this intercourse; thus Bruno had constant +opportunities of seeing Aunt Berkow, of rendering her a hundred little +services, to wait on her like a page, when she mounted her horse or +wanted somebody to hold her hat, her gloves, or her riding-whip. Aunt +Berkow was in those days incessantly on his lips, and Oswald had had no +objection to his telling him countless stories, in which Aunt Berkow +invariably played the principal part Melitta had no doubt contributed +largely to the rapid development of the boy, who passed in a few months +through stages which detain less fiery characters for years. It is a +very common error which women commit, to fancy that they can treat +boys, who are almost men already, still as children, and permit them +certain liberties which, a year hence, would be utterly inadmissible. +They do not bear in mind that a young man's heart is, at that age, in a +state of morning dawn, which may be disturbed by the slightest touch--a +slow fire, glimmering almost unseen in the green wood, which the least +puff of wind may fan into a blaze. They would be distressed if they +were told that they had, in all innocence, destroyed the innocence of a +friend, and yet that is but too often what they are doing. + +Melitta saw herself, at last, that she could no longer put Bruno on the +same footing with Julius, or even with Malte, as she had done +heretofore, and when she now was speaking of the "boys," she meant +exclusively the latter two. She had commenced treating Bruno like a +friend or a younger brother; like a page who for the present does +woman's service, but who at need may be called upon to show his brave +heart and his strong arm. And indeed Bruno was so powerfully built that +in any personal conflict the odds would have been with him as a matter +of course. The classic statue of a Mercury, a Bacchus, or a youthful +Faun could not have been more symmetrically formed or more delicately +modelled than Bruno's lithe and yet powerful figure. His mere walk was +a pleasure to an experienced eye. Oswald, whom nature had endowed with +a keen sense of the beautiful, was delighted when he saw Bruno, before +taking his bath near the sea-shore, leap lightly from rock to rock, +with an accuracy which admitted of no doubt or fear, and then plunge +headlong into the waves from the last projecting cliff. Bruno, in fact, +knew no danger, and refused to see it where others trembled. Whenever a +venture, was to be risked, from which everybody shrank, when a runaway +horse was to be checked, a cherry to be reached on the topmost branch +of a tree, or a ditch to be leaped which seemed to be impassable--Bruno +would undertake it at once; he trembled with eagerness, his cheeks +burnt, he cast imploring glances at those he loved, and they could not +refuse him. They let him go, for they knew he could do more than +others. Such was Bruno: a youth rather than a boy, with a fire in his +heart that could have warmed a world. + +Thus he saw Helen. + +And all the melodies that had been slumbering within him awoke, and all +that he dreamt of as most lovely and beautiful, stood bodily before +him. The boy hardly trusted his own eyes; he was dazzled, almost +intoxicated; he was like a person who awakes from a beautiful dream to +a still more beautiful reality, and dares not speak, or breathe, in +order not to lose what he thinks may be merely an illusion of his +senses. Thus when the family first returned he went about the house as +in a dream, mild and kind towards everybody, contrary to his usual +manner. But then the blissful dream vanished, and his delight at the +glorious reality became almost painful. He had never been at peace with +himself, and his heart had ever been heavy; now he became the victim of +unceasing restlessness, which deprived him of sleep, and hunger and +thirst, which burnt within him like a fierce fever, and his poor heart +felt like a man who carries what is dearest to him on earth on his +shoulders, trying to escape from the enemy, and dreading every moment +to be overtaken and spoilt. He dared not utter Helen's name for fear of +betraying himself; he dared not open his eyes before her, and yet he +saw everything that happened, and the plan of the baroness was no +secret to him. His hatred of Felix was boundless, and he took no pains +to conceal his feelings. He defied the roue on every occasion by +scornful or satirical remarks, always hoping Felix would at last take +up the gauntlet; but the ex-lieutenant, like most people who despise +the world and themselves, submitted to much, and replied to the boy's +sarcasm with more or less clever witticisms, so that he always kept the +laugh on his side. And then he had, on the other hand, far too good an +opinion of himself to enter into a serious contest with an adversary +whom he thought so far beneath himself. Matters would not have come to +a point, even on the preceding night, if he had not been so very angry +with Bruno, or if Bruno had expressed himself a little less violently. + +And Felix might have congratulated himself that he had escaped so well +from the encounter. He had been nearer to death than he thought. Bruno +had been maddened by the events of the last days, and Felix's brutal +treatment made the vessel of his indignation and hatred to overflow. +And now that the lava stream had once broken through the crater, what +could stop it on its destructive course? While Bruno was for a moment +contending with Felix, and as he knelt on his breast, there was but one +bloody red thought in the darkness of his soul: that Felix must die by +his hand; that God had delivered him into his hand so that he might, at +any cost, free the woman he worshipped from the monster he abhorred. A +few minutes, a few seconds, perhaps, and Felix would never have risen +again. + +Just then Bruno had been startled in his terrible thoughts by a cry +close by him. Looking up, he had caught a glimpse of a female figure, +which he had at first taken for Helen. He had released his victim and +risen. The person had moved away; he had followed her till she had +vanished in the direction of the offices, and he had found out his +mistake. To fall once more upon his enemy, after having abandoned him, +seemed to be unmanly to him; he saw how Felix rose at last, after +several painful efforts. That had contented him; he had stolen away to +his chamber and his bed, his soul free from the guilt of murder. And +yet he was as much excited as if he had shed blood. His heart was +beating, his pulse went quick, and burning heat and cold chills +alternated with each other. The confused image of the scene of his +conflict ever presented itself to his mind, and the triumph of having +conquered his deadly enemy was sadly embittered by the recollection +that, after all, Helen was not free yet. This caused him far more +suffering than the violent pains he felt in his side as soon as he +became quiet again; they would not cease; on the contrary, they grew +worse and worse, and seemed to spread from the small point where they +had first commenced in all directions. + +It was a long, painful night for the unfortunate boy, this short summer +night. Towards morning his exhaustion made him fall into a state which +only differed from waking by the increased horrors that filled his +brain. He started up, aroused by pain; he tried to rise in order to +wake Oswald, who slept next door (Malte had been sleeping down stairs +for some weeks), but he could not. At last--his pride resisted for a +long time--he called Oswald's name. A few moments more and Oswald was +by his bedside. + +He started as he saw the boy, whose face was sadly disfigured by his +sufferings. His black hair hung in dishevelled locks over his pale +face; his dark eyes had sunk deep into the head and were burning with +fever. + +"Give me some water!" said Bruno, as soon as he saw Oswald. + +"For heaven's sake, what does this mean, Bruno?" cried Oswald, while +the boy was eagerly draining the glass he had handed him. "Why did you +not call me before? you never yet have had so bad an attack." + +"It is not one of my usual attacks," said Bruno; "but it will soon +pass; I am better already. Don't trouble yourself, Oswald; when I am +lying on my side I feel it much less, hardly at all. It was only so bad +during the night; now that you are here, and the sun shines, it will be +better directly." + +"Somebody must go for Doctor Braun directly," said Oswald, starting up. + +"No, no!" Bruno begged; "don't do that. You know how I dislike that. +Nobody is up yet in the house, I am sure; you would only have your +trouble for nothing, and then--I want to ask you something. Come, sit +down again on the bed. I feel I shall not be able to get up, and this +letter must reach Helen at once." + +Oswald thought Bruno was delirious; he felt his pulse instinctively. + +Bruno smiled. It was a sad smile. + +"No, no!" he said. "Don't fear; I am perfectly conscious; just listen, +and you will see that what I say is quite clear and coherent." + +Bruno then reminded Oswald that he had said from the beginning Felix +had come to win Helen. Until yesterday he had had no absolute proof of +this, but since yesterday he was sure of it. He told him then how he +had in the afternoon sauntered down to his favorite place in the +garden, the old chapel, where he was wont to indulge in his reveries, +and how voices near by had roused him from the slumber into which he +had fallen during the heat of the day. He explained to him the manner +in which he had obtained possession of the letter, and how his desire +to return it at night to Helen, when she was, as usual, playing near +the open window, had brought about his encounter with Felix. + +These passionate but clear and convincing words made naturally a +profound impression on Oswald. To-morrow, then, the fearful sacrifice +was to be made, and yet she herself knew probably nothing of it. They +evidently wished to take her by surprise--to force her to make a +promise which she would afterwards be too proud to take back again. And +what could this letter mean, which was evidently directed in Helen's +handwriting, and had been sealed with her signet ring--how could the +baroness lose her daughter's letter? It was not difficult to see that +there was treason in this, and that it was absolutely necessary to +return the letter to Helen, so that she might know the weapons with +which she was to be attacked, and might be enabled to prepare herself +for the impending crisis. The only question was, how the letter could +reach Helen? Bruno wanted Oswald to carry it himself to her, and to +tell her at the same time what Bruno had heard during the conversation +of the baroness with Felix. But Oswald declared such a thing utterly +out of question; Bruno, as a near relative and acknowledged favorite, +might risk such an indiscretion, but he, a stranger, could not possibly +venture to allude to such delicate matters. + +"But," cried Bruno, "I thought you were her friend, I thought you were +fond of her? And yet here her whole life and happiness are at stake, +and you refuse to help her because it is not etiquette to do this and +that! Just think of it--if they make her say yes! It will drive me mad; +I shall not survive it." + +"And yet, Bruno, I cannot speak about such a matter,--not I." + +"Why not you?" + +"Because--I told you, because I am a stranger; because she might say to +me: Sir, what is that to you? I will give her the letter; it is her +property, and she has a right to expect that the finder should restore +it to her as soon as possible. Don't you see, too, that this one fact +speaks volumes? She will know at once what she may expect from the +other side, and the attack will find her forewarned." + +"Then you will give her the letter?" + +"Yes, I will, and at once. I presume she will come down to take her +usual morning walk. But how are you?" + +"Better, much better!" said Bruno, suffering agonizing pain, but +fearing Oswald might lose his opportunity to see Helen, "much better! +If I press my hand to my side thus, I hardly feel any pain. Make haste +and go into the garden and listen! Give her my love and don't tell her +I am sick! Say I am a little unwell--you know I am not really sick." + +The boy sank back on his bed and tried to smile at Oswald. But it was a +smile full of pain, and when the door had closed behind Oswald, Bruno +hid his face in the pillows to smother his deep groans, the effect of +his heart's anguish as much as of his bodily pain. + + + + + CHAPTER XVI. + + +Oswald had in vain waited for Helen long after the hour at which she +usually came down into the garden. To-day she came not. He went +repeatedly past her window, but without seeing her. At last, when the +house began to be astir, he went back to Bruno, who was looking for him +impatiently. Bruno was beside himself when he heard of Oswald's +failure, and Oswald tried in vain to convince him that the baroness and +Felix would, in all probability, postpone the execution of their plan +to the last moment, and that therefore to-morrow morning would be time +enough for the letter to reach Helen. + +"And now," said Oswald, "I must make arrangements to have the doctor +sent for; I cannot bear the suspense about your condition any longer." + +Unfortunately, Oswald's efforts remained fruitless. The baroness had +sent a servant to tell him that "a wagon would go to town any way in +the course of forenoon;" but the man had not dared to carry him such a +message, and had told him a messenger would be sent at once. Thus he +waited patiently till noon. Then the old baron came to inquire after +Bruno. He had not heard whether anybody had yet gone to town, but he +promised to send at once. The old gentleman had been quite angry at +this "remissness." Oswald thought that now, surely, efforts would be +made to get a physician. But one hour after another passed, the evening +came, and no Doctor Braun appeared. He went down stairs to inquire +himself what was the matter. "The wagon that had gone to town had just +returned, but the doctor had been called away and would not return for +twenty-four hours. Another physician had been recommended, but as the +servant had received no orders for such a case, he had not dared to +bring him." Oswald was incensed at such neglect. He went at once to the +baron, whom he found with the rest of the company in the garden, and +asked for a horse to ride himself to town, so that something might at +last be done in the matter. + +"I dislike leaving Bruno," he said, "but I see no other way." + +"The sickness, I presume, is not so very serious," said Anna Maria. + +"I can judge of that as little as you," replied Oswald, sharply; "it +seems to me that Bruno is in a critical condition, and I consider it my +duty to act accordingly, until somebody who understands such matters +has taken his case in hand." + +"Come," said the old baron, "we will send old Jake. You need not leave +Bruno. Jake is an intelligent person. You can rely upon him." + +Oswald bowed formally to the company and left with the baron. + +"It is nice when a young man has such decided, self-assured manners," +said the Reverend Mr. Jager, ironically. + +"The Apollo of Belvedere," said Primula, ironically, or under the +inspiration of poetic ecstasy. + +"I fancy His Highness will shortly come down from his pedestal," said +Felix. + +"Strict masters do not rule long," said the baroness, with a look of +intelligence at the professor, which the latter answered with a cunning +wink of his right eye over his spectacles. + +"Bruno has all the time something the matter with him," said Malte, +powdering his strawberries with sugar. + +Helen said nothing. She sat quiet, fixing her eyes upon the ground. +Then she rose and went, without saying a word out of the bower and +towards the castle. + +"You are coming back, Helen?" Anna Maria called after her. + +"I hardly think I shall," replied Helen, turning round; "I feel rather +cool out here." + +She went on. The baroness and Felix exchanged significative glances. + +Jake went to town and came promptly back to say that he had been unable +to secure the other town physician also, who had been sent for to a +great distance to set a broken arm. They had, however, promised to let +the doctor know as soon as he returned, and thought he would certainly +come out as soon as he possibly could. + +Oswald found it hard to rest contented, but what could he do? Bruno's +condition was much the same. The pain was perhaps less acute, but it +had spread over a larger surface. He tried his best to calm Oswald, +whose anxiety increased as hour after hour passed and no medical +assistance came to his relief. "It is nothing; I'll be better +to-morrow. I am much more troubled about the letter than about my +sickness. Could you not try, Oswald, to throw it through the open +window into her room? That is what I wanted to do yesterday. If you +should meet Felix, you can tell him to remember last night, and you'll +see how he will run; or rather, say nothing, but do what I ought to +have done, and kill him at once." + +At last, when all hope was abandoned, a doctor came. It was an old man, +whom the repeated calls of the day had made impatient, and who murmured +something about "trifling complaints, not worth troubling old men +with," through his teeth. He scarcely looked at Bruno, said it was +nothing, and promised to come again next day, when he would bring a +lotion. + +"Now we are as wise as before," said Oswald, when the doctor had left +them again. + +"I told you there was nothing the matter with me. Go to bed, Oswald, +you need sleep as much as I do." + +But neither of them found any rest that night. Oswald had had his sofa +moved by the side of Bruno's bed, and did not undress, so as to be +ready at any moment. Bruno's condition remained the same; only his +restlessness increased and he wanted continually to drink. Towards +morning Oswald had fallen asleep; Bruno waked him when the sun was +about an hour above the horizon. + +"Oswald, I cannot let you sleep any longer, sorry as I am for it. You +must go into the garden; it is high time. If you cannot find Helen +to-day I shall have to get up myself to give her back her letter, and +if it should be my death." + +"How do you feel?" + +"Better." + +"You always say so!" + +"Make haste!" + +Oswald went into the garden and up the wall where he had met the +beautiful girl so many mornings when his heart was light. But he had +never felt sadder than he did this morning. Bruno's sickness, the +impending catastrophe in the family drama, whose gradual progress he +had watched with such painful interest, and in which he saw himself now +compelled to play the unpleasant part of go-between--all this weighed +heavily on his soul and kept him from enjoying the beautiful morning. +He saw neither the warm sunlight nor the bluish shadows of the morning; +the perfume of countless flowers, the whirling and dancing of myriads +of merry insects, and the jubilees of joyous birds in the trees, all +left him untouched. The flowers would not restore his beloved to +health, and the birds could not attract Helen! + +But see there! Her dress was shining through the trees and the shrubs +on the other side. It must be she. She was walking more rapidly, now +she had noticed him; she evidently wished to speak to him. + +"God be thanked that I find you at last," she said, from a distance, +already; "I have not closed my eyes all night long from care and +anxiety. He is better--is he not? You would not have left him if he +were not, I am sure!" + +"He is better, at least Bruno says so. But I fear he is anything but +well. You know he is a hero in endurance." + +"Yes, indeed," said Helen. "I love him as I love my brother, no--much +more than my brother. I cannot bear the thought of losing him. You +cannot imagine how it troubles me to know that he is suffering." + +"He is not less troubled about you," said Oswald. + +"How so?" asked Helen, fixing her large eyes interrogatively on +Oswald's face. + +"I do not wish to lose the precious moments of this interview by a long +introduction," said Oswald "This letter which I hold in my hand, +evidently directed in your handwriting, was found night before last by +Bruno near the old chapel, directly after a conversation between the +baroness and Felix. Bruno, who happened to be in the chapel, had not +well been able to avoid hearing it all. He has requested me to return +your property to you. I need not tell you that it has been held sacred +from the moment it fell into Bruno's hands." + +Helen's embarrassment had increased with every word spoken by Oswald. +Her beautiful face now blazed up crimson, and now turned ghastly pale. +Her bosom rose, her hand trembled as she took the letter from the young +man's hand, recognizing it at the first glance as her own letter +written to Mary Burton. Horror at the treachery by which she had been +victimized; maidenly shame at seeing her innermost feelings thus +profaned, and indignation at the consciousness that somebody, whoever +it might be, had been made aware how disgracefully she was treated by +her family, by her own mother--all these feelings rushed at once upon +her like a hurricane, that threatened utterly to overwhelm her. + +And it was this last sense of insulted pride which first found +expression. + +"I thank you," she said, rising to her full stately height, "for your +zeal to serve me. But you and Bruno have probably attached greater +importance to the matter than it deserves. I have on purpose kept this +letter, because it contained several things which mature reflection +made me desirous should not be made known; I have probably dropped it +unawares. I remember I was near the chapel night before last; I----" + +She could not continue; the tears she had repressed so long gushed +forth irresistibly and rolled down her cheeks. She turned aside, as if +she felt she could no longer control herself, and beckoned Oswald to +leave her alone. + +Oswald was probably not less indignant than Helen. His whole love for +the proud, beautiful girl, for whom he would have cheerfully given his +life, and by whom he was in danger now of being so entirely misjudged, +rose within him like a well of boiling water, and filled his bosom to +overflowing. He would have liked to fall at her feet, to confess all he +had so long concealed from her; but he controlled himself by a +supernatural effort, and said, as calmly as he could: + +"I assure you, Miss Helen, that this scene cannot be more painful to +you than it is to me, and that I should not have given occasion for it, +if Bruno's feverish impatience had allowed me any choice. I am grieved, +deeply grieved at appearing in a false light before you; I apprehended +at once, that it would be impossible for you to distinguish between the +message and the messenger." + +He bowed before the weeping girl and turned to go away. + +"No, no!" she cried, stretching out her hand as if to retain him. "You +must not leave me thus. Let those who have driven me to extremities +answer for it if I am forced to expose the honor of my own family. Yes, +you have rendered me a service, a very great service. This letter has +fallen by treachery into the hands of those who have been so little +able to preserve their booty. This letter separates me forever from +them. But it shall not cut me off also from Bruno, whom I love dearly, +nor from you, who have always been so kind and friendly. I have always +looked upon you as a friend; always esteemed and honored you--how much +so, you may learn from this letter. Read it if the whole world knows +what I think of you, you may surely know it too." + +And the young girl handed Oswald the letter. Her face was crimson, but +not with anger or shame. Her dark eyes shone, but like the eyes of a +heroine who is about to sacrifice herself for a holy cause. + +"Read it, I tell you!" she said, with a peculiar smile, as Oswald stood +gazing at her. "Fear not that I shall afterwards repent of it. I know +your heart belongs to a friend who has returned yesterday. I do not ask +you for anything but what I have already--your friendship. Read the +letter, and when you have read it, burn it!" + +Before Oswald could sufficiently recover from his boundless amazement +at these strange words, to utter a single word, the young girl had +already reached the courtyard below and was hurriedly walking through +the rich parterres towards the chateau. + +"What was that?" Oswald asked, trembling; "am I in a dream? Melitta has +returned? And just now?--now? ha, ha, ha!" + +It was a fearful laugh. Oswald started and looked around to see if +anybody else had laughed, perhaps some grim demon enjoying his +sufferings. + +The letter was still in his hand. He felt as if to read it meant to +lose Melitta entirely, and to cut the last tie that bound him to her. +For a moment Helen appeared to him like a beautiful witch, who had come +to tempt him.... If he should burn the letter without reading it? Might +not then all come right? Might not Melitta remain his after all? + +And while he was thinking this over, he had mechanically opened the +letter and commenced reading it.... + +He had finished it.... he sat, his head resting in his hand, on the +corner of the bench upon which he had sunk down unconsciously. Before +him, on the green turf, bright lights and shadows were playing to and +fro; in the thick foliage overhead the morning breeze was whispering, +and birds were singing in subdued tones.... he saw it all, he heard it +all, but he felt nothing, nothing but the one great fact, that if there +ever had been a paradise for him on earth, he had been driven from that +paradise forever. + + + + + CHAPTER XVII. + + +It was a few hours later. The baroness was sitting in her room, in her +accustomed place near the open glass door. She had an embroidery in her +lap; but her hands were idle, and only when steps were heard +approaching the door, which opened upon the passage, she quickly took +up her work and sewed a few stitches, letting it drop again in her lap +when the steps had passed. This was several times repeated, for there +was an active movement going on at the chateau. Everybody was more or +less busy with preparations for the evening, and the economical +baroness found it very difficult to sit still, doing nothing, when her +presence was so necessary in kitchen and pantry. But she had sent a +request to Miss Helen to come and see her when she had done with her +practising, and she wanted her daughter to find her calm and disposed +to enter into a friendly, though serious, conversation. + +At least externally calm. For in her heart there was little peace. The +trouble about the letter, it is true, seemed to be uncalled for. It had +evidently not been carried back to Helen, and that was, for the moment, +the main point. She felt at liberty to use all the arrows which she had +gathered from the letter, without being afraid of their rebounding upon +the archer. Nevertheless, the clever and courageous lady had never in +her life so anxiously looked forward to a conversation with any one. +And yet she had had many very serious interviews, as nearly the whole +administration of the large estate was resting on her shoulders alone. +She did not think very well of men generally, and valued each one +according to the price for which he would probably give up his +convictions. For the baroness believed that everybody had his price, a +belief shared by everybody who, like herself, served the god Mammon +with his whole heart, his whole soul, and his whole mind. + +She would have liked to consider her daughter also under the general +rule, of which she herself did not claim to be an exception, but she +found it impossible. A secret voice, which she could not silence, told +her: Helen will not sell her soul for thirty pieces of silver, nor for +so many millions, nor for anything in the world. Another mother would +have been delighted with such an idea; she would have respected her +daughter as her better self, and worshipped her as her beau ideal. The +baroness knew no such enthusiasm. The spirit that throned on her +daughter's proud brow, and looked so great, so noble in her dark +eyes--that spirit was to her a strange, unnatural, and hostile spirit. +She had nothing in common with such thoughts. Helen was the child of +her mind, but not of her heart. Helen had inherited the gentle +disposition, and the honest upright character of her father the very +qualities against which the baroness was, in truth, continually +struggling. But she had, besides, the powerful intellect of her mother, +and was thus enabled to protect the holy things of her heart with the +sharp sword of the mind, without yet ever desecrating it by using it in +a bad cause and this combination made her so irresistibly attractive to +noble souls, so hateful to low and ignoble souls. + +At this moment, however, the baroness took much trouble to show a +conciliatory, peaceful, and friendly disposition. The effort made her +almost disposed to tears. It may be that she looked upon tears as, +after all, probably the best means to touch her noble daughter's heart, +and to win her for her own selfish views. + +There came a knock at the door, The baroness snatched up her work. +Upon her: Come in! Helen entered the room. The baroness was rather +near-sighted, and did not at once notice that the noble, proud face of +the young girl was deadly pale--not with that painful pallor which +cowardice gives to the cheeks, but with that marble paleness which +harmonizes very well with eyes full of heroic fire. + +"I am sorry, dear child," said the baroness, "to have to interrupt you +in your early studies. I sent for you in order to speak to you about a +matter of the utmost importance. But sit down! Take that chair in which +your father usually sits." + +"Thank you," said Helen, and remained standing. + +The measured, almost curt tone, in which these two words were uttered, +made the baroness look up from her work. She noticed now for the first +time the pale cheeks of her daughter, and her own cheeks lost their +color. + +"I hope you are not unwell," she said, and her voice was less firm than +usual. "If you are, we will postpone our conversation till another +time. You will need all your strength for to-night." + +"I am perfectly well," replied the young girl; "I was myself on the +point of asking you to grant me an interview, since I also have to +speak to you of matters of importance." + +"You to me?" said--the baroness, fixing her large, deep-sunk eyes upon +her daughter's pale face. "You to me? What can that be? Speak out!" + +"It is this!" said Helen; "I found night before last near the chapel a +letter----" + +The baroness raised her head, and cast at Helen a look in which +consternation, wrath, fear, and defiance were strangely mingled. + +"A letter," continued Helen, "which I had written and given to Louisa +to be sent to the post-office. It was, of course, sealed when I gave it +to Louisa; when I found it, it had been broken open. I can hardly +imagine that Louisa, who is so very warmly attached to me, should take +sufficient interest in my correspondence to commit such a wrong at the +risk of being immediately turned out of the house. I must, therefore, +assure you that there is somebody else in the house who takes the +trouble to play the spy upon me. I intended, therefore, to come and ask +you what I ought to do?" + +The baroness had been steadily sewing at her work while Helen was +speaking. Now she looked up and asked: + +"For whom was the letter intended?" + +"For Mary Burton." + +"Did you speak very freely in your letter?" + +"As friends write to friends." + +"Did the letter contain things which you would not like to be seen by +others?" + +"Certainly." + +"Not even by your parents?" + +Helen made no answer. + +"Not even by your parents?" + +"Yes." + +"For instance, that your parents are dead for you, as well as your +other relations." + +"You read the letter?" + +"You see I did." + +"Then I have nothing more to say or to ask." + +Helen bowed and was about to leave the room. + +"Stay!" said the baroness; "if you have nothing more to say, I have +some questions to ask, which you will be good enough to answer. As for +the letter, you need not give yourself any more trouble about it. When +parents permit their children to correspond without surveillance, they +expect that their children will be worthy of such a privilege. When +they see themselves deceived in this expectation they withdraw the +privilege. That is perfectly natural. But it is not at all natural that +a child, after having received nothing but affection from her parents, +should abandon them at once; it is not natural, when a child has the +boldness to conceive such a thought, to write it down, and to +communicate her disgrace to others. What can you say in reply?" + +"Nothing." + +"And if such a child takes all the love she owes her parents, and all +the affection she owes her other relatives, and bestows them upon +strangers, for instance, upon a so-called friend, whose only merit +consists in having been at the same boarding-school, or upon a boy who +has been taken into the house from charity, or upon a paid servant of +her parents,--yes, miss! a paid servant, with whom the parents, +moreover, are very much dissatisfied,--what can you say to that?" + +"Nothing." + +"And if your parents are still willing to forgive you, if your +relatives, whose affection you do not deserve, are disposed not to give +you up, if you see that parents and relatives join hands in order to +save your imperilled honor,--if they propose to give you in the person +of a husband a friend and protector, who will keep you hereafter from +committing such follies, to use no harsher name, and if one of your +relatives is willing to assume this difficult task of being your +husband, friend, and tutor,--have you nothing to say to that also?" + +"Oh yes," replied Helen, who had been standing there, pale and +motionless, without moving a muscle, fixing her large dark eyes with an +expression of invincible courage, till she had risen to confront her, +"Oh yes! I have to reply to that, that I prefer death a thousand times +to becoming Felix's wife." + +She said this calmly, slowly, weighing, as it were, every syllable. + +"And if your parents insist?" + +"Then I cannot and shall not obey." + +"And if they announce to-night your engagement to Felix to the +assembled guests?" + +"Then I shall say to the assembled guests what I have just said to +you." + +"Is that your final decision?" + +"It is, so help me God!" + +"Well, then I give you up, as you have given me up! Go then, and throw +yourself into the arms of that beggar. But no! God be thanked, we have +still means to conceal such a disgrace from the world. To-morrow you +will pack your things, and day after to-morrow you will go back to +school." + +A ray of joy broke from Helen's dark eyes, and a slight blush covered +her pale cheeks. + +"I am perfectly willing to go!" + +"But not to Hamburg," said the baroness, and there was cruel irony in +her words. "I have had enough of Mary Burton. You will go to Grunwald. +I have already written to Miss Bear. She is not quite as indulgent as +Madame Bernard, but there is no call for kindness and indulgence now. +Go to your room now. At six you will be ready dressed for the ball. +Consider once more what you are going to do. I give you time till then. +Now you can go." + +Helen went to the door without saying a word. As she was about to go +out, the old baron entered. + +"Where are you going to, my darling?" he said, cordially stretching out +his hand towards her. + +Helen seized his hand, pressed it to her lips, and said: + +"Do not condemn me till you have heard me, papa!" + +Then she hastened out of the room. + +"What is the matter with the girl?" said the old gentleman, looking +after her in astonishment. + +"Come, Grenwitz," said the baroness, "I have to speak to you about some +important matters." + + + + + CHAPTER XVIII. + + +The conversation between the baroness and her husband lasted for some +time, but Anna Maria was unlucky today in her diplomatic negotiations. +She had not been able to bend her daughter's pride, and she was not +able, now, to convert her husband to her views, yielding as he +generally was. It is a well-known fact, that very pliant persons are +apt to become most obstinate and self-willed on some points. It looks +as if these points were impregnable fortresses, places of refuge for +the will of such men, to which they retire when they have been beaten +and overcome everywhere else, in order to defend their independence +here to the uttermost. The baroness had experienced this more than once +during her lone dominion over her husband. The latter generally +confided blindly in her, and worshipped her with a kind of idolatry; +but every now and then a spirit of opposition had risen in him, and +frequently in matters where she had least expected resistance. She had +always known how to avoid difficulties in such cases, by prudent and +timely concessions. She had paid little attention to these occurrences, +because they were generally caused by mere trifles. But if she had +compared these cases of "stubbornness" of the old gentleman with each +other, she would have found that they always showed the plain, honest +good sense, and the inexhaustible goodness of the baron, as arrayed +against some cunning, selfish measure on the side of his wife. The old +gentleman might not be considered very clever, but there was something +in him that was more powerful than all his wife's sophisms; a divine +spark which, if needs be, could still blaze up in a flame. This spark +of divine fire was the power of forgetting himself for the sake of +others, and of finding his own happiness in the happiness of others. +For there never was a greater truth uttered, than that charity is high +above all the knowledge and the highest powers of man, and the greatest +of all virtues. + +People who look upon charity and love as very superfluous articles of +luxury, and who have little opportunity to see their efficacy in +themselves, are apt to forget these elements in their calculations. +This is what happened to the baroness. It had never occurred to her +that the baron might really love his child, and that he then would +naturally value her happiness more highly than all worldly advantages. +And now an almost incredible thing happened. The old gentleman declared +most positively that, if Helen was sure she could not love Felix, the +matter was settled once for all times. He did not deny the advantages +which such a match could not fail to secure to all the parties +interested, nor the pleasure with which he himself would have seen such +a union. But he insisted upon due regard being paid to Helen's peace +and happiness. And here he took his stand. Anna Maria did not spare +words; she even had recourse to tears. She painted Helen's defiance and +her improper conduct during the last interview in the darkest colors; +she threatened the old man that she would resort to extremities, and +leave him to choose between herself and his disobedient child, as she +did not mean to be disgraced by seeing her daughter triumph over her in +her own house--it was all in vain; the old gentleman maintained his +position with the utmost tenacity. He would not admit that Helen was a +bad girl; she might have been carried away by passion, but she was not +bad at heart; she would soon come and ask her mother's pardon. And even +if she should be less good than he believed her, even if she had +behaved badly towards her mother, that was yet no reason why she should +be forced into a hateful union. All the baroness could obtain was, that +Helen, if she still refused, should leave home for a time. The father +consented to this, because he thought it best for mother and daughter +to part for a time, until the passions should have subsided a little on +both sides. He did not object to Helen's going to Grunwald instead of +Hamburg, because that would enable him to see her more frequently, and +because he looked upon the whole arrangement only as a provisional one, +which would, in all probability, not last long. Anna Maria, on the +other hand, had to be content with this result, as she had constantly +to fear that Helen, driven to bay, might make that unpleasant affair of +the letter known to her father. This fear had made her less energetic +in the whole conversation than she usually was. Her bad conscience had +made a coward of her, and this cowardice had made it easier for the +baron to triumph. He kissed his wife on the forehead, as he always did +after a scene of more or less painful controversy, thanked her for her +readiness to fall in with his views and wishes, and expressed a hope +that the peace of the family would ere long be fully restored. + +"I should feel wretched, if I had to see those I love best upon earth +divided among themselves," the good old man said, with tears in his +eyes. "I have prayed to God all these days for light to show me what I +ought to do in this matter. I should be sorry to have in any way +offended you, dear Anna Maria, for I know how much I owe you; but I +have also duties towards my daughter, and I cannot consent that you +should make her unhappy, with the best intentions in the world. God +knows, I desire nothing but your happiness; and now, my dear Anna +Maria, let us go to dinner, for, if I am not mistaken, dinner has been +announced twice already." + +The baroness was to have no rest to-day. + +The melancholy dinner, at which neither Oswald, who would not leave +Bruno, nor Helen, who excused herself on the plea of a bad headache, +had made their appearance, was over, and the baron had just gone out to +have a talk with Helen and to inquire after Bruno. The baroness had +remained alone with Felix, and knew she would have to tell him the +disagreeable news that their joint plans had been utterly defeated by +Helen's obstinate resistance and the baron's stubbornness. How could +she make such a confession, she who had boasted so much of her +unlimited power over her husband; she who had not only originated the +plan, but who had carried on the whole transaction! It was a hard task +for the selfish, ambitious woman. + +How much she now regretted ever having read that letter! It had told +her little more than what she already knew, and how she had compromised +herself! She could no longer use her full authority against Helen, for +her daughter had a formidable weapon in her hands. Anna Maria knew full +well that the baron would never approve of such a breach of faith, +especially in his present state of mind. Nor could she be more candid +with Felix. She had to tell him that the battle was lost, and had not +even the consolation to be able to show him that it was lost only by an +unfortunate accident. + +The bitter cap had to be drained. Felix could not trust his ears. He, +Felix, Baron Grenwitz, had been refused, spurned with contempt, in the +one single case in which he had been in earnest! And by whom? By a girl +fresh from school! And possibly for the sake of an obscure person, +whose sole merit was that he looked almost like a gentleman. Felix +behaved as if the world must come to an end now. To lose Helen well, he +might have found consolation for that; but to lose, with her, also the +prospect of seeing his debts paid, or rather, of seeing his credit +considerably improved, that was far worse, and a very serious matter to +a man like Felix. Helen's dower, the sums which his uncle had promised +to advance in order to enable him to make his exhausted estates once +more productive, all to be lost--no! they could not trifle with him in +this way! He had done all he could do; he had thrown up his commission +(better: he had been forced to leave the army); he had been authorized +by the baroness to make his engagement publicly known, and now--his +commission, his future wife, his honor--all lost! + +"I shall blow out my brains," he cried pathetically. + +The baroness tried to calm him--and she succeeded very quickly--by +promising him that, in spite of the failure in his courtship, the other +parts of the agreement should stand as if he had succeeded. + +When they had settled this important point they were able to discuss +with a little more composure the question as to what might be the real +reason for Helen's refusal. To Felix's great astonishment, the baroness +insisted upon it, that there existed a regular attachment between +Oswald and her daughter. She would not tell what made her think so with +certainty; but she was so persistent that Felix at last admitted "the +thing might be possible, ridiculous as it was." "That man is a cunning +fox," he said. "Timm warned me against him from the beginning; I did +not attach much importance to what he said, because he and Stein seemed +to be good friends. But I see now Timm was right." + +A servant brought the baroness a letter from Grunwald, that had been +sent by a special messenger. + +"From Mr. Timm," she said, surprised, when she had opened the letter. +"I am quite curious to see what he can have to write. I hope he was +paid properly. Excuse me, dear Felix." + +Her face, however, gradually assumed such an expression of +astonishment, consternation, and terror, as she went on reading, that +Felix could not keep from saying: + +"But, dearest aunt, what is the matter? You have turned as white as the +wall!" + +"Oh, it is hideous!" said the baroness. "It is scandalous! These +scoundrels! It is a regular plot! These scoundrels!" + +"But, for Heaven's sake, what is the matter?" cried Felix. + +"There, you may read yourself!" said the baroness, handing him the +letter, trembling with rage. + +Felix took the letter and read: + + +"Madam:--It is not my fault if the contents of this letter should prove +unpleasant to you. You know the veneration I feel for yourself and your +whole family; you know the zeal I have always shown in your service, +and the gratitude I have felt for your amiable hospitality in former +days, and especially during the last happy days. If I must, therefore, +speak and act in a manner which seems to contradict these sentiments, I +hope you will see at once that the contradiction is only apparent, and +that I am compelled to act by a principle which is even higher than +personal friendship and individual respect: I mean the duty we all owe +to Justice. + +"This innate sense of right, which I have no doubt inherited from my +sainted father, forces me to inform you, without the slightest delay, +of a most remarkable discovery which I have recently made. + +"You know that my father was a lawyer in Grunwald; that his practice +was as large as his reputation for uprightness, conscientiousness, and +ability was extensive, and that he counted the very first families of +the province among his clients. Thus he stood also in his business +relations with Baron Harald Grenwitz, and was, moreover, as I have +often heard him relate, bound to him by personal friendship. At least +my father frequently mentioned that the late baron intrusted him with +the management of the most delicate family matters. The truth of this +assertion is strongly confirmed by the discovery of which I have spoken +before. + +"It consists in this: I have found, by chance, several packages of +papers and letters, all of which once belonged to Baron Harald, and +were by him intrusted to my father for unknown purposes (as there is no +explanation given anywhere in the baron's handwriting, or in my +father's). In all probability they were intended to help my father in +discovering the child to which the baron had, in a special codicil, +bequeathed a considerable fortune. There is no doubt, at all events, +that such a search can only be begun by the aid of these letters and +papers, and, of course, they are indispensable for success. I am also +persuaded that nothing but my father's sudden death has prevented him +from obtaining such a result, and that an able lawyer could easily take +up the thread of his investigations where it dropped from the hand of +my father. + +"The papers consist of, 1. A bundle of letters of a certain +Mademoiselle Marie Montbert, addressed to Baron Harald Grenwitz; 2. A +like bundle of letters written by the baron to the young lady; 3. +Several letters from a certain Monsieur d'Estein to Mademoiselle +Montbert; 4. Several family documents concerning Mademoiselle Montbert; +5. A perfect copy of the last will of Baron Harald, together with the +codicil, which contains, as you know, not only the conditions attached +to the legacy, but also the means by which the child in question may +most easily be discovered and authenticated. You know that the codicil +contains, in this part, the names of Mademoiselle Montbert and of +Monsieur d'Estein, and it need not be stated that these persons are the +same as those who wrote the above-mentioned letters. + +"So far, all I have reported to you has nothing especially surprising +for those who are not personally interested in the affair. But what I +have to say next is so extraordinary that I must ask your permission to +state it in person, I can only tell you, that in Mr. d'Estein's letters +the name occurs which that gentleman proposed to adopt after having +succeeded in rescuing Mademoiselle Montbert, and that this name, if you +simply leave off the d' and the E, agrees with that of a gentleman who +has been living for some time in your family. I may add that, for my +part, I am fully convinced of the identity of this person with the +unknown heir to Stantow and Baerwalde, especially in consequence of +communications made to me by that person himself about his family and +his early youth. + +"While this is my personal conviction, I have yet taken care not to +mention it as yet to the person in question, as, after all, there might +be some doubt about it yet, and I did not wish to excite hopes which +might possibly not be realized. + +"I break off here, in order not to anticipate too fully my oral report +(perhaps you will shortly be in Grunwald? or do you desire me to come +to Grenwitz?), and also in order not to risk too much in confiding +these valuable secrets to a letter. + +"Accept, madam, the assurances of my," etc., etc., etc. + +"Here is a 'Turn-over,'" said Felix, turning over the last page. + +"P.S.--As the papers are scarcely quite safe in my own rooms, I mean to +place them in the hands of a lawyer, in case _you should not, very +promptly, dispose of them otherwise_. + +"Ha, ha, ha!" laughed Felix; "there the fox shows his cunning! In case +you should not otherwise dispose of them, underscored: _i. e_., have the +goodness to name the sum which you think you can afford to pay for +these papers, and the secret goes no farther!--Ha, ha, ha! Yes, yes, +Timm is a clever fellow, I always knew that." + +"Then you think he has really found the papers?" asked the baroness, in +astonishment. + +"Why not?" said Felix. "The thing looks extremely probable, and I +advise you to buy the papers before they rise in the market." + +"And do you also think that this--that this man--I can hardly speak of +it calmly--that this Stein is really Harald's son?" + +"It is by no means impossible," said Felix. + +"No, it _is_ impossible," cried the baroness, with great vehemence; +"the whole is a wretched plot, an abominable conspiracy between the two +sharpers. The letters are forgeries; they have been concocted and +written by the two rascals when they were here together. It is a mere +invention to frighten us and to extort money from us--or perhaps, ha! +now I see! Don't you see, Felix, what they are after? They want Helen! +One is to have the money, the other the girl! Ha, ha, ha! Capital! What +a pity Helen did not say anything of that also in her letter to Mary +Burton, for I wager she is in the plot too. But they shall not get +anything, not a dollar!" + +"Do not take the matter too lightly, dearest aunt," said Felix. "I tell +you Timm is a clever fellow, and if the letters are really forgeries, +you will find they are prodigiously well done. They will give you +trouble. Will you listen to my advice?" + +"Well!" + +"Let me go to-morrow, or at some time, to Grunwald and talk with Timm. +I have had, in former times, many a conversation with him, and he knows +that I am not easily hoodwinked. We shall have to pay something, I am +sure, but I can get the papers cheaper than anybody else." + +"And what is to be done with Mr. Stein?" + +"He must be turned out in disgrace. Will you leave that also to me?" + +"Yes, do what you like. Only relieve me of that man." + +"I'll do it. There will probably be an occasion for it this very night. +The more noise is made about it the better. He shall lose all desire to +have anything more to do with us. But you must not say a word of it to +uncle." + +"For heaven's sake no!" said the baroness. "He is capable of +introducing Mr. Stein, this very night, to the whole company as our +esteemed relative. He is almost childish now, and I can no longer trust +him in anything." + +"Well then," said Felix, kissing his aunt's hand, "rely upon me. We'll +carry the matter through, I am sure. But I think, dear aunt, it must be +high time to get ready. For heaven's sake, it is five o'clock, and some +of the guests will come at six! How can I get ready in an hour?" + + + + + CHAPTER XIX. + + +Carriage after carriage came thundering through the great portal, drove +round the courtyard, and stopped before the door. Ladies and gentlemen +in full dress got out and followed the servants into dressing-rooms. A +few minutes later the folding-doors were thrown open, and they were +received by the old baron and Felix in the great reception-rooms in the +lower story. + +Thus the whole nobility of the neighborhood had gradually assembled. +Not only the gala carriages in which they had come,--some with four, +and a few even with six high-bred horses, to say nothing of the +outriders in bright liveries,--but also the evening dress of the +gentlemen and the brilliant toilettes of the ladies showed that they +had come prepared for a magnificent entertainment. They thought, +moreover, they could tell what was the special occasion for this party, +as the baroness and Felix had not been sparing of allusions to an event +which might possibly take place in a short time! The baroness and Felix +had got themselves into a serious difficulty by these allusions, and +were now on the point of learning how much more troublesome it is to +silence gossip than to start it. The more modest among the guests +looked full of expectation, curious friends ventured upon allusions, +and a few impertinent neighbors even asked direct questions, till +they could scarcely preserve their polite equanimity during such a +cross-fire of examination. The company seemed to be determined to +believe in the engagement, and patiently waited till supper-time, when +they thought the truth would come out at last. A few only were +sharp-sighted enough to notice certain indications which made them +think the end not quite so near yet. They pointed out the unusually +formal manner of the baroness, who was at times almost embarrassed; the +frequent mistakes of the old baron, who was more absent-minded than +ever, and by no means looked like a happy father; and, above all, the +distance at which Baron Felix kept from Miss Helen, who looked more +like a beautiful statue of cold marble than like a young girl on the +day on which her engagement was to be made public. + +For a time, however, the attention of the company was somewhat +preoccupied by the appearance of a lady and gentleman who were in good +earnest engaged, and presented themselves to-day for the first time as +such in public: Miss Emily Breesen and Arthur Baron Cloten. The young +couple had already paid the visits usual on such occasions in that +province, but the neighborhood was very large and some had not been +reached at all, while others had been unfortunately away from home. +There were, therefore, countless congratulations yet to receive and to +return. Emily and Baron Cloten formed the centre of a large circle of +ladies and gentlemen respectively, who found little else to talk of but +their happiness. Cloten seemed to be overjoyed; he was talking and +laughing incessantly, and it seemed to be miraculous that a single +little hair was surviving in his diminutive moustache--so very +industriously did he twist and twirl it through his fingers. Emily +seemed to bear her good fortune with more composure; the minority of +sharp-sighted observers even thought they noticed a dim cloud on her +brow, in spite of the efforts she made to smile upon everybody; they +also fancied that her eye was ceaselessly examining the company, +without ever resting for a moment on her happy betrothed. + +There was evidently abundant food for gossip to-night. + +The intimacy between Baron Cloten and Baron Barnewitz's lovely, but +dangerous wife, Hortense, had of course remained no secret in a society +so full of spies and tale bearers, and the last large party at +Barnewitz, with its unpleasant scenes between Cloten and Hortense's +husband, during which the unlucky lady fainted so inopportunely, had +lifted the last thin veil from this liaison. Everybody, therefore, was +full of curiosity to see how Hortense would bear her loss, and +especially to find out whom the blonde Loreley would choose for +Cloten's successor. Some supposed it would be Count Grieben, others +Adolphus Breesen. Both were equally eager to win the good-will of the +dangerous Circe. The former was a rejected lover of Emily's, and +therefore seemed to be specially fitted to become Cloten's successor; +the latter was by far the handsomest and cleverest young man in the +whole set--qualities which Hortense, with her own cleverness, +appreciated fully. + +"I bet upon Grieben," said young Sylow; "a basket of champagne. Who +takes the bet?" + +"I," cried Nadelitz; "pshaw! Don't I know Breesen?" + +"Six bottles forfeit, up to the cotillon to-night?" + +"Ha, ha! Do you hear? He is losing courage already; but I take it. +Done!" + +"Really a famous woman, the Barnewitz," said Hans Pluggen; "I wish I +were one of the candidates!" + +"Well, that wouldn't be so very difficult," said somebody else. + +"I cannot imagine what you see in the Barnewitz," replied young Sylow. +"Now, if it were the Berkow! I wish she were here!" + +"I dare say there are plenty who wish so," said one, laughing. "But you +know, I suppose, that Berkow is dead and the widow has come back?" + +"Old news!" + +"Well, do you know, too, that Oldenburg is going to be married?" + +"Nonsense!" + +"You may rely upon it. I have it from the Barnewitz. She surely must +know." + +"Is Oldenburg coming to-night?" + +"Felix said he had promised to come; but Oldenburg has his own ways." + +Melitta's return and her husband's death were discussed in other +circles also besides those of the young men. Melitta was one of the +most popular ladies in society, and yet she had, strange enough, few +enemies and rivals. Now and then people spoke of her "eccentricities," +of a desire to be apart and different from others; some said she was +too learned, others, she was coquetting with liberal politicians--but +generally her loveliness, her kindness, and unpretending manners were +readily acknowledged. Aside from such remarks, moreover, the charms of +her person were above all criticism. Hence, everybody seemed to be glad +that she had at last been relieved of the terrible burden, which she +had borne so sweetly, and was eager to know whom she would make happy +by giving him her hand. For no one doubted that so young a widow would +soon marry again. In some indefinite way a report had of late obtained +currency that Baron Oldenburg had the best prospect; it was even +whispered quite secretly, and as a mere _on dit_, for which no one +wished to be held responsible, that the intimacy between the baron and +Melitta was of old date, and that Baron Berkow had lost his mind very +opportunely. A few details even were mentioned, by those who claimed to +be particularly well informed, which could not have been true without +compromising Melitta's reputation very seriously. No one knew with whom +these reports originated. The sharp-sighted observers, again, ascribed +them to Hortense Barnewitz, who, they said, had thus avenged herself on +Oldenburg for a piece of advice he had given Cloten, which had led the +latter in his blind obedience to find himself engaged to Emily Breesen +before he well knew what he was doing. + +In the mean time eight o'clock had come, and with it the hour at which +the ball was to commence. The baroness opened it with Count Grieben. +Count Grieben found it difficult to make himself heard, in spite of his +screaming voice, as the music preceded them during the old-fashioned +polonaise through all the rooms, and then, thanks to a happy +inspiration of his genius, across the lawn, through the darkest parts +of the garden, and back again into the principal ball-room, where it +ended in a solemn slow waltz. + +"That is a good old fashion, baroness!" he screamed, delighted, into +his partner's ear; "my sainted father had it so, and my sainted +grandfather, and a great many more, no doubt. The old ones knew a thing +or two. Young folks are stupid folks. Don't you think so?" + +"Yes, indeed, indeed!" replied the baroness. + +Dance followed dance. The violins screamed, the bass growled. The faces +of the dancers began to look heated; the ladies used their fans +vehemently, and the servants, who continually went around with large +waiters of refreshments, saw them disappear more and more rapidly--but +there was no real enjoyment, and it seemed as if a cloud were resting +on the whole company. + +"What on earth can be the matter to-night?" said young Grieben, wiping +his forehead during one of the pauses, and addressing a group of +dancers who stood in the very centre of the room; "we work ourselves to +death and nothing comes of it; there is no _en train_ in the matter." + +"Well, you can dance a long time before your long legs are tired," said +young Sylow; "but you are right; I have drunk a couple of bottles, and +yet the more I drink the sadder I become." + +"That is exactly my case," said a third; "I do not know what it can be, +but the ball at Barnewitz was a good deal merrier." + +"What it can be?" said Breesen. "Well, I should think that was clear +enough. The old baron looks like a wet chicken in the rain; the old +baroness like a dethroned Hecuba--isn't it Hecuba? Felix quarrels with +everybody who comes near him, and Miss Helen has not said three words +all the evening. And you expect people to enjoy themselves? I feel as +if it were a funeral." + +"Well, there is a sick man at all events," said Pluggen; "the old baron +just told me: Bruno has been sick in bed since yesterday." + +"Ah, I suppose that is the reason why Doctor Stein has not come down?" +said Count Grieben; "I thought he was correcting exercises, perhaps, +and would come down after a while, ha, ha, ha!" + +"Hush, Grieben," said Hans Pluggen; "the other day you spoke very +differently about the doctor." + +"I said he was a consummate fool, whom I would enlighten on the subject +of his position, and I say so again." + +"Why, that is word for word what Felix was saying just now; the doctor +seems to be a great favorite with the gentlemen." + +"He is all the more liked by the ladies," observed Nadelitz, +ironically. + +"Yes, indeed," added Breesen; "he is said to have made three sisters at +once unhappy at the ball the other day." + +"At least they have not cried their eyes out, as they say Miss Emily +has done," replied Nadelitz, annoyed by Breesen's allusion to his three +sisters. + +"You must not say such things!" cried Breesen, angrily. + +"What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander." + +"I called no names." + +"Because everybody knew idiom you meant." + +"But, gentlemen, _tant de bruit pour une omelette_!" said Pluggen. "I +wonder if you are going to quarrel about that man? why, that would be +the very way to make people believe that he is a favorite with the +ladies." + +"Do you know the last news?" said Cloten, suddenly pushing his blonde +moustache into the group. + +"Well?" + +"Just imagine that Stein--but hush, there is Grenwitz--not a word, I +pray you!" + +"Well, gentlemen!" said Felix, "will you please form a cotillon? I have +already twice given notice!" + +Felix said this in a somewhat irritated tone of voice. His face, +generally pale, was deep red. He had evidently taken a good deal of +wine. + +When the dance was over the same gentlemen, whose conversation Felix +had interrupted, met once more as if by agreement. + +"Well, where is Cloten with his last piece of news?" asked Sylow. + +"Here," said Cloten, coming up. "Just imagine this Stein--we are quite +_entre nous_ here?" + +"Oh yes! Go on!" + +"Has the impudence--well, guess! to fall in love with whom?" + +"Ah, Cloten, you are unbearable! Are you going to tell us or not?" + +"With Helen Grenwitz!" said Cloten, in a hollow voice. + +"Well, not so bad!" said Sylow. + +"That is just like the fellow," added Grieben. + +"_Hinc illae lacrimae!_" laughed Breesen, who had retained a few Latin +phrases from his school-days. + +"And the best of it is," continued Cloten, "Miss Helen is by no means +averse; _au contraire_, she is head over ears in love with him. Now, is +not that charming?" + +"Who on earth has made you believe that bloody story?" asked Breesen. + +"I have it from very good authority," replied Cloten, with a +significative wink of the eye towards that part of the room where Emily +was standing in conversation with Helen. + +"Hm, hm!" said Breesen. + +"The story is not improbable," remarked Sylow. "That explains the deep +melancholy of all the Grenwitz family; they look like mutes." + +"Did not I always say there was something the matter tonight?" remarked +Breesen, again. "I am quite glad now I did not become more intimate +with the fellow; at first, I confess, I liked him very well. The man +has really something very winning about him." + +"He is a famous shot!" said Sylow, meditatively. + +"Famous or not famous!" said Cloten, "I verily believe you give him a +wide berth, gentlemen, because he is a tolerably good shot. No, +gentlemen, that will not do, really, that will not do! I propose that +we make amends for our first blunder and treat the man, if he should +ever show himself again among us, as he deserves--with the utmost +contempt." + +"'Pon honor!" said Grieben, "Cloten, is right I shall make the fellow +acquainted with my hunting-whip." + +"It is a pity he is not here, so that you could carry out your threat +at once!" said Breesen, ironically. + +"_Quand on parle du loup_," said Sylow; "there he is! And his Pylades, +Oldenburg, as a matter of course, by his side." + +The open folding-doors were really just then showing Oldenburg and +Oswald in the adjoining room. They conversed for a few minutes with +each other; then Oldenburg entered the ball-room, while Oswald was held +back by the old baron. + + + + + CHAPTER XX. + + +Oswald had spent nearly the whole day by Bruno's bedside after he had +returned from his memorable interview with Helen. He had tried to +forget himself while nursing his dear patient. + +Bruno himself forgot his pain when he heard that Oswald had seen Helen +and given her the letter; he was so happy he did not even notice +Oswald's pale face and disturbed manner. + +"Now all is right again," he said; "now she knows how she stands. Now +they cannot hurt her any more, for now she is forewarned. Oh, that +thought makes me feel quite well again." + +Unfortunately, he was far from being well. The pain in his side +returned after a few minutes with increased violence. Oswald hoped the +doctor would certainly keep his promise and return in the course of the +forenoon. But the forenoon passed and no doctor came. Bruno's condition +did not grow worse, but neither did it mend, and Oswald knew too little +of medicine to be aware that a condition which does not improve grows +worse. However, when noon came without bringing the doctor, he did not +rest till a messenger on horseback had been sent to town. The man +brought back the lotion which the doctor had himself ordered at the +drug-store, but reported that the doctor was not in town, and that +Doctor Braun was not expected back till nightfall. He had been at the +house of the latter, and left word to send the doctor as soon as he +should return. Oswald felt very grateful to the considerate man, who +seemed to take a warm interest in Bruno's sickness. He breathed more +freely when he heard of Doctor Braun's coming, for he had great +confidence in him. In the mean time, however, he did not neglect the +means prescribed by the other physician; but it had so little effect +that Bruno at last begged not to be troubled any more with the useless +remedy. Thus the long, long hours passed one after another with a +weariness which only the sick man knows, who tosses restlessly on his +couch, and the friend who sits, his heart full of unutterable, and, +alas! helpless anxiety, by his bedside, waiting for the doctor who does +not come, or a symptom of change which never appears. + +The old baron sent several times to inquire how Bruno was, and in the +afternoon he came up stairs himself. He thanked Oswald with great +cordiality for his kindness, patted Bruno on his hot cheeks, and +promised to give him the horse he had long wished for as soon as he +should be well again. + +"I am exceedingly sorry," he said to Oswald, as the latter accompanied +him to the door, "that we must have company just to-day. It is very +painful to me to think that the house is open, and dancing going on, +while a member of my family is lying dangerously ill." + +Oswald tried his best to quiet the good old gentleman, although his own +heart was full of anxiety. Nor did he dare to mention to the baron at +this time a resolution which he had formed during the last hours. + +He had come to the conclusion that he could not remain any longer in +this house. + +How he should be able to live without Bruno; how he should tear himself +away from the happiness of seeing Helen every day, he could not tell. +He only knew he must go. + +This he repeated to himself, over and over again, as he smoothed +Bruno's pillow, as he took his burning hands in his own, brushed his +hair from his brow, or moistened his parched lips. There was almost +womanly tenderness in these loving attentions. + +"If my mother were alive, she could not nurse me better," said Bruno, +pressing his hand gratefully. + +"You never knew your mother, Bruno." + +"I was only three years old when she died; but I remember my father," +and now the boy began to speak of his father with feverish excitement; +how tall and strong and beautiful he had been; "not as slender as you, +but broader in the shoulders, and with long, dark locks that flowed +down upon his shoulders, like King Harfagar;" and of the little farm, +high up in Dalecarlia, which the father had worked with two servants +only, and how clever he had been at everything; and how he had wielded +his axe, although he had been page at the queen's court in his youth, +carrying her long silk train on state occasions; and of Thor, the fast +trotter, whom the father put into his sleigh; and of the northern +winter nights, when the stars on the black sky sparkled like diamonds, +rubies, and emeralds, so bright that the snow glittered in their light; +and of the northern lights, how they suddenly blazed up on the horizon +and stretched out their fiery arms to the zenith. + +"We must make a trip to Sweden together," he said; "here winter is mere +child's play; there you will see real snow and ice! Here it is hot, +intolerably hot--I wish I were amid snow and ice!" And the boy tossed +his head restlessly on his pillow and asked for water. + +Just then music was heard from the garden. + +"What is that?" he said, standing up. + +Oswald went to the window. + +"It is the whole company," he said; "they are just coming out from +among the trees. Count Grieben and your aunt are at the head of the +procession. They were going to pass right under our window, but the +baron, who came next to Count Grieben, is telling them to take the +other way. The first couples are out of sight now, but more and more +couples are coming out." + +"Has Helen come by yet?" asked Bruno, raising himself. + +"No, not yet." + +"Oh, why must I be in bed!" cried Bruno, sinking back exhausted by the +effort and the increased pain. + +"There she is now!" + +"Not with Felix, I hope?" + +"No, with a young man I have never seen before." + +"Never mind," said Bruno, "so she is not with Felix." + +"Now the last have gone by," said Oswald, taking his seat again by +Bruno's bedside. + +Bruno's restlessness seemed to have been increased by this direct +reference to Helen, which had heretofore been carefully avoided by both +of them. He began once more to speak of Helen. Oswald had to tell him +what she wore, whether she looked handsome, very handsome, handsomer +than any of the other ladies? whether she had smiled? or looked up at +his window? + +"Oh, if I could but get up! if I could but see her for a moment!" + +"You will see her soon again, Bruno!" + +"I don't know; I want to see her so much just to-day, only for a +moment. I feel as if I had something to tell her that oppresses my +heart. And then, if she refuses Felix,--and she will certainly do +so,--she is to go back to school, and then it may be a long time before +I ever see her again. But I won't stay here if she goes away. Come, +Oswald, let us go to Hamburg. You are clever and know so much; you will +easily find employment, and I too--any kind of work, if I can only be +near her and see her from time to time." + +He fell into a kind of stupor, and then again he suddenly started up. + +"Why did Helen go away?" + +"You are dreaming, Bruno; she has not been here." + +"Nor Aunt Berkow?" + +"No, Bruno." + +"And yet I saw them both so distinctly. They came in hand in hand +through that door; Helen dressed in white, with a wreath of dark-red +roses in her hair; aunt Berkow in black, and her hair as she always +wears it. Aunt Berkow led Helen up to you, and you fell into each +other's arms and wept and kissed each other; and then aunt Berkow came +to my bed and said: Now, Bruno, now you can go to sleep. Then my eyes +closed; it grew dark around me; I sank with the bed lower and lower, +and quicker and quicker--then the fright waked me up." + +"Do you feel worse, Bruno?" asked Oswald, troubled by these flights of +his imagination. + +"On the contrary," replied Bruno; "that sleep has done me a great deal +of good. My pain is not as bad as before; but I feel very tired. I +think I could sleep now." + +He turned his head, but a few moments afterwards he started up once +more. + +"Oswald, will you do me a very, very great favor?" + +"Certainly; what is it?" + +"Pray dress yourself and go down stairs." + +"Not for anything in the world." + +"But, I pray you, do it for my sake! You see I am much better now, and +I should like to sleep, and I am going to sleep. You cannot help me +when I am sleeping?" + +"But what am I to do down stairs?" + +"You see, Oswald," said Bruno, "I should like to see Helen more than +anything in this life. And I cannot do it. I have no strength in my +limbs. But, if you see her, I shall feel as if I also had seen her. +Please, please go down stairs! You need not speak to anybody; only, +if you can manage it, tell Helen I send her my best, my very best +love--and perhaps she will say something in reply, perhaps she will +say: Give my love to Bruno! Then you must come straight back to me, so +as not to forget the tone of her voice when she said it. And listen, +Oswald, before I forget it. It might be, you know, that I die suddenly, +no--don't laugh, I am quite serious then, do not let them undress me; I +want to be put in the coffin just as I am. Look here!--You know I +always wear a medallion on my heart; it is my mother's; but that is not +the only reason why it is so sacred to me; there is a lock of Helen's +hair inside, which I cut off a long time ago in jest. If they should +take the medallion from me, I think I could not be quiet in my grave. +And now, please go! or it will be too late." + +Oswald did not know what to do. If he did not do what the boy wished, +he might bring back his feverish excitement, which seemed to have +abated considerably. On the other hand, he did not like at all to leave +him, even for a moment. And yet he would have been delighted to see +Helen--only for an instant--so much must have taken place during these +last hours. + +Bruno soon made an end to his doubts. + +"You promised me," he said, sadly, "and now you will not do it. You do +not love me." + +What could he do now? Oswald went into the adjoining room, his +bed-chamber, and changed his dress. He had probably never in his life +dressed for a party in a similar state of mind. The whole thing looked +to him like hideous irony. He started back when he saw his own +distorted face in the looking-glass. The last few hours seemed to have +aged him as many years. + +He came back to Bruno's bed. + +"Let me look at you," said the boy, half rising. "How well you look! So +stately and handsome!--kiss me, Oswald." + +Oswald took the boy in his arms and kissed him on his fine, proud +lips--so pale and parched, alas! Then he let him sink softly back on +his pillow. + +"I feel quite well, quite well," said Bruno. "Do not hurry yourself. I +shall sleep delightfully till you come back." + + + + + CHAPTER XXI. + + +In the hall down stairs Oswald met Oldenburg. + +"I have a great mind to turn back again," said Oldenburg, after a +rather formal greeting, "I did not expect to find so large a party, and +came on horseback, so that I am not exactly fit for a ball, as you see. +Who is there?" + +"I am but just coming down," replied Oswald; "Bruno has been quite sick +since day before yesterday; now he has sent me away because he wanted +to sleep." + +"Oh, I am sorry to hear that," said Oldenburg; "I hope the boy is not +going to be really sick. Did you not tell me he was a great favorite of +yours?" + +"Yes. Have you any news about----" + +"About my Czika? No." + +Oldenburg's face was clouded over. "Shall we go in?" he asked. + +In one of the reception-rooms they met the old baron. Oldenburg +exchanged a few words with him, and then went into the ball-room, while +Oswald had to give the baron a circumstantial account of Bruno's +condition during the last hours. + +"Well, that is nice, that is very nice," he said; "I hope he will +escape being really sick. I was almost afraid it might turn into +typhoid fever. Go and tell my daughter that Bruno is better; I know she +will be glad to hear it. She has asked me several times." + +Oswald went into the ball-room. They were just commencing a new dance, +the last one before the great pause, during which supper was to be +served in the great dining-hall up stairs. There was a low divan +running all around the ballroom, and Oswald remained standing on the +step that led to it, near the door. The dancers near him were +continually changing. Once Emily and her betrothed came to stand almost +immediately before him. She pretended not to notice him; she laughed +and talked aloud, perhaps a little too loud, but it is difficult not to +exaggerate when one is playing a part which requires an effort; Baron +Cloten, on the contrary, availed himself to the fullest extent of the +privilege men in his position have a right to enjoy, and whispered +unceasing nonsense in his lady's ear with a most expressive smile. + +Oswald had heard of the sudden engagement of the two; he knew probably +better than anybody else how it had come about. He recollected how +disparagingly Emily had spoken of Baron Cloten that night at Barnewitz. +Now she had promised to marry him! How happy they will be, Oswald +thought, and he had to confess that, if harm came of it, no one was to +blame but himself. + +A few moments afterwards Helen found herself near him. She was dancing +with Sylow. Oswald had observed her for some time, and noticed that she +was standing cold and silent, like a marble statue, by the side of her +partner, who seemed to have discovered his utter inability to begin a +conversation, and was studying the chandelier with praiseworthy +industry. As soon as she saw Oswald, a flash of life seemed to pass +over her beautiful but sad features. She beckoned him with the eye to +come near her. + +"How is Bruno?" + +"Thank you, better; he was going to sleep." + +"Are you going to stay?" + +"No, I am going back directly." + +"Give my love to Bruno--and here--take this rosebud to him." + +Helen took a rosebud from the bouquet she was holding in her hand and +gave it to Oswald, who took it, bowing deeply. He noticed that Sylow +had suddenly withdrawn his attention from the chandelier and was fixing +his eyes upon his own face with an expression which was by no means +agreeable. + +The next moment another couple was standing in this place. + +"Did you see your old admirer, Emily?" asked Cloten. + +"Who do you mean?" + +"Why, Dr. Stein! he was standing right behind us." + +"Ah, yes! My old admirer? Are you mad, Arthur?" + +"Well, well. You need not be angry. I don't believe a word of the whole +story. But, for Heaven's sake! just look! He is speaking to Helen +Grenwitz--she gives him a rose. Well, that is too bad! Upon my word, +that caps the climax!" + +"I told you there was an understanding between them. He beats you all." + +"Upon my word! That is too bad! But I have taken care to make the +matter known." + +"What have you done?" + +"Well, I have told everybody what you mentioned to me in secret. The +whole ball-room knows it now, ha, ha, ha!" + +"But I did not give you leave to do so." + +"I thought you meant me to do so. Mr. Stein will pay for it if he does +not get out of the way immediately with his rosebud." + +"What are you going to do?" + +"I am not going to do anything myself, but we mean to teach the fellow +how to behave. It will be a glorious affair, I tell you. You shall hear +all about it when its over. Ha, ha, ha!" + +The happy man led his betrothed back to her place, as the dance was at +an end, and turned to Sylow, who was coming towards him. + +"Did you see it, Cloten?" + +"I should think so." + +"Is not it a scandal?" + +"I am only sorry for poor Felix." + +"We must tell him all about it. Do you know where he is?" + +"He said just now he was tired dancing. He was going to the +card-tables. I think Barnewitz is keeping bank somewhere. Suppose we +go, too? There will be no more dancing until supper. We have just time +to win a few louis. What do you say?" + +"Of course I'll go." + +Emily had watched their conversation from a distance. She saw them +leave the ball-room, laughing, arm in arm. Oswald also had disappeared. +Suddenly, a terrible fear overcame her. She had been the first to +couple Oswald's name with Helen's name, to gratify her mad desire to be +avenged on him, and it was she who had, for the same purpose, informed +Felix of her pretended discovery. She had commenced telling the same +story to-night again, merely for the purpose of making an end to +Cloten's stupid teasing. Now only she became aware that she had gone +too far, and that she had, in all probability, exposed Oswald to very +great danger. And yet she loved him still with the whole strength of +her passionate heart. She might have murdered him with her own hands +when the fit of mad jealousy was on her, but the thought of exposing +him to brutal ill-treatment at the hands of Cloten and others was +terrible to her. She looked around in the ball-room to see where help +might be found. + +Her brother happened to come near her. She called him: + +"What do you want, little one?" + +"Have you seen Doctor Stein?" + +"Yes, why?" + +"Did you not intend asking him out for a few days during the hunting +season? I am afraid it would look badly if we were to drop him so +suddenly altogether." + +Emily had blushed deep purple as she said these words; her usual +presence of mind seemed to have forsaken her utterly. + +"Invite him out!" cried Adolphus; "well, would not that be nice? So as +to make the stupid report immortal that Lisbeth has started about you +and him,--invite him to our house?--why, rather----" + +"I pray you, Adolphus, be quiet! They can hear you all over the room!" + +"Listen to me, little one," said the young man, in a low but very +decided tone of voice; "I do not like that. You know I love you dearly, +just as much as a brother can love his sister; but, for that very +reason, I must take care to keep you from doing foolish things. And I +shall take care, I assure you!" + +With these words he turned his back upon her and went to join the +others. + +Emily could hardly repress her tears. Her anxiety increased with every +hour. She must find means--one way or another. The resolute girl +bethought herself of a desperate step. + +She went up to Helen, who was sitting not far from her on the divan, +with some other ladies, and said: + +"One word, Helen." + +"What is it?" asked Helen, rising. + +"Come a little more this way.--Helen, you like Doctor Stein? I know you +do!" + +"What do you mean?" asked Helen, and the tell-tale blush rose to her +pale cheeks. + +"Never mind. I like him, too. Like him very much indeed, if you will +have it,--and that is why I ask you to tell him--you can do it, and I +cannot do it, or I would do it myself--to leave the party. Cloten, and +my brother, and the other men are furious about him. I am afraid they +have made a plot against him. Pray, pray, Helen, tell him to go--at +once--I should be beside myself if the slightest difficulty arose +between him and my brother or Cloten." + +"But where is he?" said Helen, who knew, from other reasons, how very +probable Emily's apprehensions were. "I believe he has gone up stairs +again." + +"If you are not sure of it, make it sure. Why not ask that servant +there?" + +"Have you seen Doctor Stein anywhere?" asked Helen. + +"He is on the other side of the house, in the card-room." + +"Oh God! what shall we do?" asked Emily. + +"Baron Oldenburg!" called Helen, "will you have the kindness to come +here for a moment?" + +"With pleasure, Miss Helen," said the baron, who had been examining a +picture on the wall, his hands folded behind his back. + +"What are you going to do, Helen?" + +"Never mind! Will you do me a favor, baron?" + +"_Mais, sans doute!_" + +"Do please find out Doctor Stein; he is in the card-room, and tell him +I wish he would go back to Bruno at once. Do you hear: at once?" + +It needed not Oldenburg's sagacity to see that this message, which +might have been carried just as well by a servant, had a deeper +meaning. Helen had taken the very greatest pains to state her request +in a natural tone of voice, but the effort was visible, and this and +Emily's intent gaze, together with her ghastly pale face, furnished a +very clear commentary to Helen's words. + +"Is that all?" + +"Yes." + +"I shall obey your orders promptly and literally," said the baron, +bowing, and leaving the ball-room with longer strides than usual. + +In the mean time, Oswald had wandered about in the room without a fixed +purpose. He had at first intended, as soon as he had spoken to Helen, +to return to Bruno, but it occurred to him that the boy might be really +asleep, and that he should then only disturb him. Perhaps, also, the +vague hope of seeing Helen once more, and that demoniacal power which +drives men, unconsciously and unwillingly, to drift towards their fate, +kept him from carrying out his resolution. Hardly knowing how he had +come to that part of the house, he suddenly found himself in one of the +rooms on the other side of the chateau, where a number of gentlemen +were crowding around a large table. Some were seated, others standing. +Baron Barnewitz sat in the middle and held bank. He had apparently had +much luck. Large piles of gold and silver and bank-notes lay before +him, and were continually increasing. Felix sat near him. He played +passionately, but, as it seemed, without luck. His face was very red, +his eyes bloodshot, and the veins on his forehead swollen into knots. +He hardly listened to what some of his friends behind him said; some of +whom tried to encourage him, while others dissuaded him. Oswald +happened to come to stand right opposite him; Felix only noticed him +after some time, and it was very perceptible that his restlessness +increased more and more. He drank glass after glass from a bottle that +was standing at his elbow, and doubled and trebled his stakes, without +any other result than that he lost twice and thrice as much as he had +done before. + +Another roll of gold had just wandered from his place to the great pile +before Barnewitz; Felix drew out his pocketbook, and selected a very +large bank-note from the papers it contained. + +"You do not mean to venture the whole sum at once, Grenwitz?" asked +Grieben, bending his giraffe-like neck over him. + +"Are you mad, Grenwitz?" said Cloten, who had just entered with Sylow. + +"Ah, pshaw!" replied Felix. "That shortens the process." + +"_Faites votre jeu, messieurs!_" cried Barnewitz, taking a new pack of +cards in his hand. + +"Have you done, Grenwitz?" + +"Yes. All right!" + +"Queen of hearts for me. Ladies always for me. Thanks, Grenwitz. Glad +to see you again in that way." + +Felix did not look as if he could reply to such a friendly wish. His +confused glance wandered around the table, and at last remained fixed +on Oswald. + +"Ho, there!" he cried, at the top of his voice, "bring me a glass of +wine, sir!" + +It was not until all eyes were turned upon Oswald, that he became aware +of being himself the person to whom these rude words were addressed. + +"The fellow does not seem to hear well," exclaimed Felix. "I say, bring +me a glass of wine, do you hear?" + +"I believe a glass of water would be more useful," replied Oswald, in a +calm, firm voice, and without changing his position. + +It was so still in the room, one might have heard a needle drop. + +"How do you like that, gentlemen?" said Felix, looking around. "My +uncle keeps a nice set of servants, don't you think so?" + +"You had better show him who is master in the house," said Sylow. + +"Or let him stay in school an hour longer," suggested Grieben. + +"Or better still: Give him the switch, with which he punishes the poor +boys," said Cloten. + +"Or punish him with the contempt he deserves," added Breesen. + +Oswald turned his eyes from one to the other, like a lion who is +undecided whether he shall fall upon the dogs that bark at him or not. +He had drawn himself up to his full height. His hand, which he had laid +on the table, quivered a little, but surely not from want of courage. + +"Are you going, or not?" cried Felix, jumping up and placing himself +directly before Oswald. + +"Do not carry the impertinence too far," said Oswald, putting the +rose-bud, which Helen had given him for Bruno, into his button-hole; +"else I must make an example of you for the benefit of the other boys." + +Felix extended his arm to seize Oswald. The moment he touched him, +Oswald took him in his strong arms, lifted him up bodily and threw him +on the ground, so that the glasses and the money on the table shook and +trembled. + +"Who wants to be the next?" he called out, with a voice of thunder; +"Come on, you cowardly wolves, who hunt in packs." + +His eyes shone with a wild desire to fight; his breast rose and sank +quickly, his hands closed instinctively, and he did not think his life +worth a pin at that moment. + +All saw this, and no one dared to accept the challenge. + +Felix had risen again, but only to fall into the arms of his nearest +neighbor. He was stunned by the heavy blow; the blood was streaming +from his nose and mouth. + +A threatening murmur passed through the large room. Single voices were +heard, exclaiming: "Shall we submit to that?--Knock him down!--Don't +let him get away alive!" + +They crowded around him; fierce cries and low mutterings were heard on +all sides; Oswald was looking for the one whose turn it was to be next. + +Suddenly Oldenburg stood by his side. + +"How, gentlemen!" he exclaimed, raising himself to his full stately +height; "twenty against one! The odds are too unfair in all conscience. +Perhaps you would like to call in a few servants to help you!" + +His words acted like a charm. Everybody saw at once the disgraceful +scene in its true light. The more sensible felt obliged to the baron +for having saved them from the disgrace in which they would have been +involved a minute later. A few only seemed to take his interference +amiss. + +"The matter does not concern you, baron," cried Grieben, angrily. + +"Pardon me, Count Grieben," replied Oldenburg; "the matter does concern +me in two ways. First, because I think it is every gentleman's duty to +see that such affairs are carried out, I will not say decently, but at +least honestly; and secondly, because I have the honor of calling Dr. +Stein my friend. If you or any of your friends here desire to hold me +to an account for what I have said, I am at your service. In the mean +time, however, I beg you will allow me to arrange the difficulty of my +friend, Doctor Stein, in a manner fit for gentlemen. I shall be back +here in a few moments, to place myself at your disposal. You will give +me your arm, Doctor Stein?" + +The baron took Oswald's arm into his, and led him out of the room, +through the midst of the young noblemen, who readily made way for him. + +When they were outside, he said: "Now you must go to your room. I will +follow you in a few minutes. Of course you are the challenger?" + +"Yes." + +"Then I shall challenge Felix Grenwitz in your name. You choose +pistols." + +"Yes. You will please challenge him, and whoever else may desire to +meet me." + +"We will content ourselves for the present with Grenwitz. You do not +care for the others half as much, I suppose. When?" + +"As soon as possible. To-morrow morning, as far as I am concerned." + +"_Bon_, Ten paces distance!" + +"Or five." + +"Ten is enough. Leave the rest to me. _Au revoir_, then, in your room." + +The baron returned to the card-room, where the last scene had taken +place. Twenty tongues at once were discussing the matter, but they all +became silent when he entered. Oldenburg delivered his message to +Grieben, who had undertaken to act as Felix's second. They agreed upon +a meeting at five o'clock on the next morning, or at ten, if Felix +should not have sufficiently recovered before, and the place was to be +a small copse on Baron Cloten's estate. Then the gentlemen returned--it +may be imagined in what state of mind to the ball-room, where +the ladies had been waiting for some time, to escort them to the +supper-rooms. Felix had been carried off by his friends to his rooms; +he was too drunk and too much stunned by his fall to appear again in +the company. Oldenburg returned to Oswald. + +As he did not find him in his room, and presumed he was with Bruno, +from whose room a light fell through the half-open door, he went softly +across and found Oswald bending over the boy's bed. + +"How is he?" he asked. + +"I am afraid he is very ill," replied Oswald, looking up; "his sleep is +very restless, and his pulse galloping furiously." + +"Let me see," said Oldenburg; "I know something of these things." + +"He is indeed very ill," he continued, after a short pause. "How long +has this been so, and how did it come about?" + +Oswald gave him, in a few short words, an account of Bruno's case. + +"And the pain had entirely left him an hour ago?" asked Oldenburg. + +"Yes, almost entirely----" + +"Then you must be prepared for the worst I presume he has received a +serious internal injury, and now mortification has set in. One of us +must go for the doctor."--He looked at his watch. "It is ten; I was +going to return home before supper. My Almansor stands saddled at the +door. Do you go to town. I am perhaps of more use here, now, than you. +You have bright moonlight. The road is good. It is a little over two +miles to town. You can be there in ten minutes. Pull off your dress +coat and put on an overcoat. There! You will not want a whip or spurs. +Almansor is quite fresh. Now, don't spare him!" + +The baron had helped Oswald to put on his coat, and placed his hat on +his head. Oswald submitted to it all. He came to himself only when he +was on Almansor's back, when the night-wind was whistling past his +ears, and houses and trees, hedges and fields, and gardens on both +sides were gliding by him spectre-like in the pale moonlight. + +And now he was on the vast heath, which extended behind the village as +far as Fashwitz. He saw the moonshine glitter mysteriously on the black +water in the deep peat cuttings; he heard from time to time the hoarse +cry of a marsh-bird, whom he had frightened from his nest; otherwise +not a sound, nothing but the dull thunder of Almansor's hoofs and the +night-wind as it swept wailing and complaining across the heath. + +And now, while he was in the very heart of the heath was not that +another horse he heard, or was it merely the echo? It came nearer and +nearer; Almansor pointed his ears and went faster and faster, as if he +were trying to escape from death. And yet it came closer and closer. +Oswald turned round, and vague horror seized him as he saw behind him a +black figure on a black horse, whose hoofs did not seem to touch the +ground. + +A second more and the black horseman was by his side; the horses were +racing head by head and snorted at each other with wide open nostrils. + +"What do you wish?" asked Oswald, mastering his terror. + +"Not much!" replied the black horseman, in a deep, hollow voice. "Wish +only to report that my mistress has been back since day before +yesterday; thought the young gentleman might not know it. No harm done, +sir! Beg pardon! Good-night and good luck!" + +The horseman threw his horse around, Almansor raced on, and the next +moment Oswald was quite alone once more. + +Was it the offspring of his overwrought imagination? Was it reality? +Was it a phantom? Was that really old Baumann on Brownlock? Oswald +could not tell to save his life. + +And again houses and gardens, hedges and trees flew by him on the right +and on the left, spectre-like, in the pale moonlight. A dog snapped +with a yell at Almansor's hoofs. The next moment all had vanished, and +boundless fields of grain waved and whispered on both sides of the high +road. + +Then lights began to shine from afar; they came nearer and nearer. A +bell struck loud once; already a quarter to eleven! and once more +houses right and left, trees, and hedges, and gardens. Then a dark +town-gate, and then Almansor's hoofs on the hard pavement. + +"Where does Doctor Braun live?" + +"Down the street; the last house on the left." + +Before that house a carriage was waiting. Lights shone from the open +house-door and the open windows of the lower story. + +"Is the doctor at home?" + +"Here!" said Doctor Braun, from a window. "Where from?" + +"From Grenwitz. It is I. Make haste--Bruno is dying." + +"Was just coming," called Doctor Braun, already at the door. "Take a +seat with me. I will drive myself. Charles can ride your horse back +slowly. Are you in? Good. Now let us be off." + +The carriage thundered through the dark streets, through the narrow +gate, out into the silent moonlit night, which lay dreamily on fields +and gardens, on meadows and forests, full of sweet fragrance. They went +back the same way Oswald had come. The doctor's powerful horses trotted +fast; in a few minutes they were on the heath. + +Neither of them had said much. Oswald had told Doctor Braun of Bruno's +complaint, like most laymen, dwelling on trifles and leaving out what +was most important. Doctor Braun had asked a few brief questions. Then +both had been silent for some time. + +"You must be prepared for the worst," began Doctor Braun. "From what +you tell me, I should not wonder if we found Bruno no longer alive." + +Oswald made no reply. He uttered a groan, like a man under torture when +the screws have had another turn. + +The doctor whipped the horses, who now went off at full speed. + +A few minutes later the carriage was at the great portal of the +chateau. Every window was bright with light. From the supper-room loud +music was heard. The servants were busily running to and fro. + +When they entered Bruno's room. Baron Oldenburg rose from the bed, over +which he had been bending. + +"God be thanked that you are coming," he said; "I have watched by many +a sick-bed, but I have never felt a longer hour than this." + +He wiped his brow; his sad face was pale; he seemed to be deeply moved. + +Dr. Braun examined the patient; then he remained standing by the +bedside, without looking at the others. + +"Is there no hope?" + +"None." + +Then Bruno raised himself slightly. + +"Is that you, mamma? Do you come to sing me to sleep? How was the old +song?" + +And in a wondrously sweet voice, low, very low, like the notes of an +AEolian harp, he began to sing a Swedish song, as his mother might have +sung it to him years ago. + +He was leaning back again on his pillow. Through the deep stillness of +the room Oswald's sobs alone were heard; the eyes of the other two men +were filled with tears. + +"Is that you, Oswald?" asked Bruno; "why do you cry? Good evening, +doctor; where do you come from? I suppose I am at the end of my life. +Where is Baron Oldenburg? Give me your hand. You have been very kind to +me. Doctor, must I die? Yes?--tell me, I am no coward; I knew it +yesterday already; must I die? Then, Oswald, one more request; bend +over me, I will whisper it in your ear." + +Oswald did as he was asked. + +He rose and went to the door. Oldenburg had followed him. + +"I know what Bruno wants. He has asked for her a hundred times. I will +call her. It is the last prayer of a dying man." + +He went out; Oswald approached the bed again. + +"Is she coming?" + +"Yes." + +"Put my pillow a little higher, Oswald, and put the lamp there, so that +the light falls right upon her. Thank you; that is right." + +"She is not coming--yes, was not that her voice? Screw the lamp down, +Oswald, it is too bright in the room.--Helen!" + +A blissful smile passed over his features. + +"Helen! How pale you are; and yet how beautiful! Give me that rose on +your bosom. Oh, do not cry! Let me kiss your hand, Helen!" + +Helen bent over him and kissed him on his lips. + +Bruno put his arms around her neck. + +"I love you, Helen." + +His arms sank back on the coverlet Dr. Braun gently raised Helen. He +bent over the bed and listened for a moment. As he rose again he softly +passed his hand over the eyes of the departed. + + + + + CHAPTER XXII. + + +It was three days after the events of that night. + +Early in the morning it had been raining. Now in the later forenoon the +sun was peeping at times through the heavy clouds, which rolled slowly +toward the east, driven by a damp west wind. + +In the graveyard at Fashwitz, in the avenue of linden-trees which leads +from one end to the other, dividing the graves of the nobles from the +graves of the common people, two persons were walking up and down in +earnest conversation. At one of the gates of the graveyard which opened +immediately upon the high-road, an elegant carriage and two was +standing. Near by, a groom was leading two beautiful saddled horses by +the bridle. Coachman and groom conversed in subdued tones, as if they +did not wish to disturb the meditations of the old man with the long +snow-white moustache, who sat on one of the curbstones of the gate, and +looking from time to time, from under his heavy, overhanging brows, at +the two persons inside. + +They were Melitta and Oldenburg. Melitta was not in mourning, but her +sweet, fair face had an expression of melancholy which it had never +worn before. Even the smile with which she replied to many a remark of +her companion was not the old joyous smile; it resembled the glimpses +of the sun through the dismal, melancholy clouds. + +"And you mean really to go?" she asked, breaking a pause which had +occurred in their conversation. + +"I rode over to Berkow to pay my farewell visit and to ask if you had +any commands for me. You see that it was not an idle ceremony, or I +would not have followed you here to the graveyard, although graves and +graveyards, you know, are not the places I love particularly to +frequent." + +"And where are you going now?" + +"I do not know yet. What can I do here? As I cannot live for her for +whom alone I care to live, and as our miserable age has no great +purpose to which a man may devote his life, I mean to go, like another +Peter Schlemihl, in search of my own shadow. I only fear I shall never +find it, or, if I do find it, it will leave me again at once, like the +last time." + +"Have you never tried to find the Brown Countess?" + +"No. It would have been of no avail. Wandering gypsies leave no traces +behind them; they are like ships sailing through the water. If I should +not return, Melitta, you must send for your bust, which I ordered from +young Goldoni in Rome. It is in my study at Cona; or would you like to +have it at once?" + +"No," said Melitta, "you had better keep it. Your unbounded kindness +deserves a better reward than cold marble." + +"Or marble coldness?" asked Oldenburg, smiling. + +"That I do not give you, Oldenburg," said Melitta, with warmth; "really +not. I love you as one would love a brother who is a few years older, +who stands somewhat in the place of a father, and to whom one looks up +with cheerful respect and gratitude. It is our fate, that you must +needs love me in a different way, and that I cannot love you in any +other way." + +"It is our fate, indeed, Melitta, and now let us say nothing more about +it. Against fate nothing can be done. We can only bow our head, and +accept the laurel wreath or the death-blow in silence. I might have +learnt that in these last days, if I had not known it before. And now, +Melitta, since you yourself have called me a brother, let me speak to +you like a brother. May I?" + +"Yes," said Melitta, who had lowered her head at these last words of +Oldenburg's, after a short pause, and in a low voice. + +"Overcome your love for Oswald! I cannot advise you to pull out the +arrow by one single effort, because I fear the wound might bleed till +you die; but do not resist the effect of time, which is almost as +powerful as almighty Fate. After a few weeks, or a few months, you will +think more calmly about it; will you promise me, like a good sister, +not to look upon these calmer and wiser thoughts as a sin against your +love?" + +"Yes." + +"For, Melitta, he is lost to you, even if he should overcome this last +passion of his. His mad hunt after an Ideal, which he cannot find +anywhere upon earth, because it only lives in his imagination, will +lead him to another and another love. He will ever think: This is what +you have been looking for in vain; and he will ever discover the +illusion, until he will take at last, in his bitterest disappointment, +a step which will relieve him of all further care for this wretched +world. These last days have brought him much nearer to this unavoidable +end." + +"How are matters at Grenwitz?" + +"Felix is out of danger, although at first he was given up. But he +will, in all probability, be an invalid for life--a heavy punishment +for one who has so long 'enjoyed the sweetness of flowers and broken +every flower.' Oswald's ball missed its aim only by a hair's breadth. +Felix owes his life to Bruno's death. Oswald did not say a word during +the whole duel; his face remained unchanged, only when Felix fell a +kind of smile passed over his features; he looked the very image of +perfect composure, and only the close observer could have noticed that +it was the snow on a volcano, and that from time to time a feverish +tremor ran through his limbs. He bore himself in the whole affair with +consummate tact, and even the host of adversaries had to acknowledge +that Cloten actually said, in his admiration, he was very sorry the man +was not born noble." + +"And Helen?" + +"Helen left, a few hours after the duel, with her father for Grunwald. +I believe they are going to keep the girl there for a time, in a kind +of honorable exile, till they have brought about a reconciliation with +her mother. In the mean time the good woman is simply beside herself, +and would have moved heaven and earth, and the police besides, to +destroy Oswald, if Cloten and others had not told her that Felix had +given the first provocation, and that a duel was simply unavoidable." + +"And--Oswald?" + +"I thought he had written to you?" + +"Yes, but nothing about his plans for the future." + +"Nor do I know anything about them. We have not exchanged three words +with each other. I only know that he has been staying with Doctor Braun +in town, to await what would come of the duel. I am glad he has chosen +so well. His new friend, Braun, seems to be a man of as much character +and cleverness as of goodness of heart. God grant that he may be a +wiser Mentor for our Telemachus than I have been able to be, with the +best will in the world. But now I must go, Melitta. Else my Almansor +will beat his hoofs to powder. Have you anything more to do here?" + +"No," said Melitta, "we can go." + +"Will you often come to this place?" + +"Hardly. I only wished to see if my orders had been attended to. You +know, best of all, that the deceased, whom I came to see, has not been +alive for me for long years, and, properly speaking, never." + +"Then let us go, Melitta." + +The baron took the arm of the young widow, and led her down the avenue. +They did not say another word. Old Baumann opened the door of the +carriage. Oldenburg helped Melitta in and stood a moment, hat in hand, +by the open carriage. When the horses were about to start, Melitta gave +him her hand; he pressed it to his lips. He remained motionless for a +few moments, and looked after the carriage as it rolled away. Then he +beckoned to his groom, mounted Almansor, and rode off at full speed in +the opposite direction. + +Two men had been watching this last scene, who had come into the +graveyard at the very moment when Melitta and Oldenburg left through +the gate opposite. They had placed a couple of wreaths on a new grave +near the gate, on the side of the nobles. They were Oswald and Doctor +Braun; both in travelling costume. They stood, arm in arm, on the steps +of the church, and thus witnessed the parting scene between Oldenburg +and Melitta. When the baron kissed Melitta's hand, an ironical smile +passed over Oswald's pale, sunken face. + +"Let us make haste to get away from here," he said. "I feel as if the +ground were burning under my feet." + +"I am ready," said the doctor. "If you had followed my advice you would +have left here long ago, and if you follow my advice now, you will +never return here. Our journey will give you back to yourself. You have +lost much, but nothing that cannot be regained. You have despised +reason and science, man's highest power, and yet you can never hope for +happiness except by such help, for,--you recollect the words of your +favorite poet: + + + '----what Amor has taken from us + Apollo only can restore: + Peace, happiness, and harmony, + And pure and powerful aspirations--' + + +Come--let the dead bury the dead! You must begin a new life now!" + + + + FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 1: "Illustrirte Zeitung," Leipzig, 9th February, 1867. +"Bibliothek der deutchen Classiker." Hildburghausen. Band xxix, p. +683.] + +[Footnote 2: Curtis's "_Nile Notes of a Howadji_," 1857; Emerson's +"_English Traits_," 1857; a volume of American Poems, 1859; sec. ed., +1865: Roscoe's "_Lorenzo di Medici_," 1859, etc.] + +[Footnote 3: Since the above was in type we have become acquainted with +some charming "Novellen" by Spielhagen, but lately published, of which, +however, we cannot now speak. (His later works are: "The Fair American +Ladies," "Hans and Grete," "The Village Coquette;" his latest, and +perhaps most remarkable work, "Hammer and Anvil," has just been +completed. He also lately published two volumes of "Critical Essays," +which are highly praised by the German reviewers. Two of the essays are +devoted to careful and appreciative criticisms of the American poets +Bryant and Poe.)] + +[Footnote 4: "_Die von Hohenstein_ is by some considered to be superior +to _Problematic Characters_; not so romantic and poetic, but equally +rich in psychological truth, and more concentrated in form, more +crystallized."] + + + + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Problematic Characters, by Friedrich Spielhagen + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PROBLEMATIC CHARACTERS *** + +***** This file should be named 34748.txt or 34748.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/7/4/34748/ + +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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