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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Royal Highness, by Thomas Mann
+
+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: Royal Highness
+
+Author: Thomas Mann
+
+Translator: A. Cecil Curtis
+
+Release Date: May 3, 2011 [EBook #36028]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROYAL HIGHNESS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Jana Srna and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+  [ Transcriber's Notes:
+
+    Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully
+    as possible, including inconsistencies in spelling, hyphenation,
+    and ellipsis usage. Some corrections of spelling and punctuation
+    have been made. They are listed at the end of the text.
+
+    Italic text has been marked with _underscores_.
+  ]
+
+
+
+
+  ROYAL HIGHNESS
+
+  Translated from the German of
+  THOMAS MANN
+  by A. Cecil Curtis
+
+  GROSSET & DUNLAP
+  Publishers
+  by arrangement with Alfred A. Knopf
+
+
+  COPYRIGHT, 1909, S. FISCHER, VERLAG
+
+  MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+  Prelude                           vii
+
+  CHAPTER I
+  The Constriction                    1
+
+  CHAPTER II
+  The Country                        25
+
+  CHAPTER III
+  Hinnerke the Shoemaker             37
+
+  CHAPTER IV
+  Doctor Ueberbein                   64
+
+  CHAPTER V
+  Albrecht II                       110
+
+  CHAPTER VI
+  The Lofty Calling                 146
+
+  CHAPTER VII
+  Imma                              168
+
+  CHAPTER VIII
+  The Fulfilment                    265
+
+  CHAPTER IX
+  The Rose-Bush                     328
+
+
+
+
+PRELUDE
+
+
+The scene is the Albrechtstrasse, the main artery of the capital, which
+runs from Albrechtsplatz and the Old Schloss to the barracks of the
+Fusiliers of the Guard. The time is noon on an ordinary week-day; the
+season of the year does not matter. The weather is fair to moderate. It
+is not raining, but the sky is not clear; it is a uniform light grey,
+uninteresting and sombre, and the street lies in a dull and sober light
+which robs it of all mystery, all individuality. There is a moderate
+amount of traffic, without much noise and crowd, corresponding to the
+not over-busy character of the town. Tram-cars glide past, a cab or two
+rolls by, along the pavement stroll a few residents, colourless folk,
+passers-by, the public--"people."
+
+Two officers, their hands in the slanting pockets of their grey
+great-coats, approach each other; a general and a lieutenant. The
+general is coming from the Schloss, the lieutenant from the direction of
+the barracks. The lieutenant is quite young, a mere stripling, little
+more than a child. He has narrow shoulders, dark hair, and the wide
+cheek-bones so common in this part of the world, blue rather
+tired-looking eyes, and a boyish face with a kind but reserved
+expression. The general has snow-white hair, is tall and
+broad-shouldered, altogether a commanding figure. His eyebrows look like
+cotton-wool, and his moustache hangs right down over his mouth and chin.
+He walks with slow deliberation, his sword rattles on the asphalt, his
+plume flutters in the wind, and at every step he takes the big red lapel
+of his coat flaps slowly up and down.
+
+And so these two draw near each other. Can this rencontre lead to any
+complication? Impossible. Every observer can foresee the course this
+meeting will naturally take. We have on one side and the other age and
+youth, authority and obedience, years of services and docile
+apprenticeship--a mighty hierarchical gulf, rules and prescriptions,
+separate the two. Natural organization, take thy course! And, instead,
+what happens? Instead, the following surprising, painful, delightful,
+and topsy-turvy scene occurs.
+
+The general, noticing the young lieutenant's approach, alters his
+bearing in a surprising manner. He draws himself up, yet at the same
+time seems to get smaller. He tones down with a jerk, so to speak, the
+splendour of his appearance, stops the clatter of his sword, and, while
+his face assumes a cross and embarrassed expression, he obviously cannot
+make up his mind where to turn his eyes, and tries to conceal the fact
+by staring from under his cotton-wool eyebrows at the asphalt straight
+in front of him.
+
+The young lieutenant too betrays to the careful observer some slight
+embarrassment, which however, strange to say, he seems to succeed,
+better than the grey-haired general, in cloaking with a certain grace
+and self-command. The tension of his mouth is relaxed into a smile at
+once modest and genial, and his eyes are directed with a quiet and
+self-possessed calm, seemingly without an effort, over the general's
+shoulder and beyond.
+
+By now they have come within three paces of each other. And, instead of
+the prescribed salute, the young lieutenant throws his head slightly
+back, at the same time draws his right hand--only his right, mark
+you--out of his coat-pocket and makes with this same white-gloved right
+hand a little encouraging and condescending movement, just opening the
+fingers with palm upwards, nothing more. But the general, who has
+awaited this sign with his arms to his sides, raises his hand to his
+helmet, steps aside, bows, making a half-circle as if to leave the
+pavement free, and deferentially greets the lieutenant with reddening
+cheeks and honest modest eyes. Thereupon the lieutenant, his hand to his
+cap, answers the respectful greeting of his superior officer--answers it
+with a look of child-like friendliness; answers it--and goes on his way.
+
+A miracle! A freak of fancy! He goes on his way. People look at him, but
+he looks at nobody, looks straight ahead through the crowd, with
+something of the air of a woman who knows that she is being looked at.
+People greet him; he returns the greeting, heartily and yet distantly.
+He seems not to walk very easily; it looks as if he were not much
+accustomed to the use of his legs, or as if the general attention he
+excites bothers him, so irregular and hesitating is his gait; indeed, at
+times he seems to limp. A policeman springs to attention, a smart woman,
+coming out of a shop, smiles and curtseys. People turn round to look at
+him, nudge each other, stare at him, and softly whisper his name....
+
+It is Klaus Heinrich, the younger brother of Albrecht II, and heir
+presumptive to the throne. There he goes, he is still in view. Known and
+yet a stranger, he moves among the crowd--people all around him, and yet
+as if alone. He goes on his lonely way and carries on his narrow
+shoulders the burden of his Highness!
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+THE CONSTRICTION
+
+
+Artillery salvos were fired when the various new-fangled means of
+communication in the capital spread the news that the Grand Duchess
+Dorothea had given birth to a prince for the second time at Grimmburg.
+Seventy-two rounds resounded through the town and surrounding country,
+fired by the military in the walls of the "Citadel." Directly afterwards
+the fire brigade also, not to be outdone, fired with the town
+salute-guns; but in their firing there were long pauses between each
+round, which caused much merriment among the populace.
+
+The Grimmburg looked down from the top of a woody hill on the
+picturesque little town of the same name, which mirrored its grey
+sloping roofs in the river which flowed past it. It could be reached
+from the capital in half an hour by a local railway which paid no
+dividends. There the castle stood, the proud creation of the Margrave
+Klaus Grimmbart, the founder of the reigning house in the dim mists of
+history, since then several times rejuvenated and repaired, fitted with
+the comforts of the changing times, always kept in a habitable state and
+held in peculiar honour as the ancestral seat of the ruling house, the
+cradle of the dynasty. For it was a rule and tradition of the house that
+all direct descendants of the Margrave, every child of the reigning
+couple, must be born there.
+
+This tradition could not be ignored. The country had had sophisticated
+and unbelieving sovereigns, who had laughed at it, and yet had complied
+with it with a shrug of the shoulders. It was now much too late to break
+away from it whether it was reasonable and enlightened or not: why,
+without any particular necessity, break with an honoured custom, which
+had managed somehow to perpetuate itself? The people were convinced that
+there was something in it. Twice in the course of fifteen generations
+had children of reigning sovereigns, owing to some chance or other,
+first seen the light in other schlosses: each had come to an unnatural
+and disgraceful end. But all the sovereigns of the land and their
+brothers and sisters, from Henry the Confessor and John the Headstrong,
+with their lovely and proud sisters, down to Albrecht, the father of the
+Grand Duke, and the Grand Duke himself, Johann Albrecht III, had been
+brought into the world in the castle; and there, six years before,
+Dorothea had given birth to her firstborn, the Heir Apparent.
+
+The castle was also a retreat as dignified as it was peaceful. The
+coolness of its rooms, the shady charms of its surroundings, made it
+preferable as a summer residence to the stiff Hollerbrunn. The ascent
+from the town, up a rather badly paved street between shabby cottages
+and a scrubby wall, through massive gates to the ancient ruin at the
+entrance to the castle-yard, in the middle of which stood the statue of
+Klaus Grimmbart, the founder, was picturesque but tiring. But a noble
+park spread at the back of the castle hill, through which easy paths led
+up into the wooded and gently-swelling uplands, offering ideal
+opportunities for carriage drives and quiet strolls.
+
+As for the inside of the castle, it had been last subjected at the
+beginning of the reign of Johann Albrecht III to a thorough clean-up and
+redecoration--at a cost which had evoked much comment. The furniture of
+the living-rooms had been completed and renewed in a style at once
+baronial and comfortable; the escutcheons in the "Hall of Justice" had
+been carefully restored to their original pattern. The gilding of the
+intricate patterns on the vaulted ceilings looked fresh and cheerful,
+all the rooms had been fitted with parquet, and both the larger and the
+smaller banqueting-halls had been adorned with huge wall-paintings from
+the brush of Professor von Lindemann, a distinguished Academician,
+representing scenes from the history of the reigning House executed in a
+clear and smooth style which was far removed from and quite unaffected
+by the restless tendencies of modern schools. Nothing was wanting. As
+the old chimneys of the castle and its many-coloured stoves, reaching
+tier upon tier right up to the ceiling, were no longer fit to use,
+anthracite stoves had been installed in view of the possibility of the
+place being used as a residence during the winter.
+
+But the day of the seventy-two salvos fell in the best time of the year,
+late spring, early summer, the beginning of June, soon after
+Whitsuntide. Johann Albrecht, who had been early informed by telegram
+that the labour had begun just before dawn, reached Grimmburg Station by
+the bankrupt local railway at eight o'clock, where he was greeted with
+congratulations by three or four dignitaries, the mayor, the judge, the
+rector, and the town physician. He at once drove to the castle. The
+Grand Duke was accompanied by Minister of State, Dr. Baron Knobelsdorff,
+and Adjutant-General of Infantry, Count Schmettern. Shortly afterwards
+two or three more ministers arrived at the royal residence, the Court
+Chaplin Dom Wislezenus, President of the High Consistory, one or two
+Court officials, and a still younger Adjutant, Captain von Lichterloh.
+Although the Grand Duke's Physician-in-Ordinary, Surgeon-General Dr.
+Eschrich, was attending the mother, Johann Albrecht had been seized with
+the whim of requiring the young local doctor, a Doctor Sammet, who was
+of Jewish extraction into the bargain, to accompany him to the castle.
+The unassuming, hard-working, and earnest man, who had as much as he
+could do and was not in the least expecting any such distinction,
+stammered "Quite delighted ... quite delighted" several times over, thus
+provoking some amusement.
+
+The Grand Duchess's bedroom was the "Bride-chamber," a five-cornered,
+brightly painted room on the first floor, through whose window a fine
+view could be obtained of woods, hills, and the windings of the river.
+It was decorated with a frieze of medallion-shaped portraits, likenesses
+of royal brides who had slept there in the olden days of the family
+history.
+
+There lay Dorothea; a broad piece of webbing was tied round the foot of
+her bed, to which she clung like a child playing at horses, while
+convulsions shook her lovely frame. Doctor Gnadebusch, the midwife, a
+gentle and learned woman with small fine hands and brown eyes, which
+wore a look of mystery behind her round, thick spectacles, was
+supporting the Duchess, while she said:
+
+"Steady, steady, your Royal Highness.... It will soon be over. It's
+quite easy.... Just once more ... that's nothing.... Rest a bit: knees
+apart.... Keep your chin down...."
+
+A nurse, dressed like her in white linen, helped too, and moved
+lightly about with phials and bandages during the pauses. The
+Physician-in-Ordinary, a gloomy man with a greyish beard, whose left
+eyelid seemed to droop, superintended the birth. He wore his
+operating-coat over his surgeon-general's uniform. From time to time
+there peeped into the room, to ascertain the progress of the confinement,
+Dorothea's trusty Mistress of the Robes, Baroness von Schulenburg-Tressen,
+a corpulent and asthmatic woman of distinctly dragoon-like
+appearance, who nevertheless liked to display a generous
+expanse of neck and shoulders at the court balls. She kissed her
+mistress's hand and went back to an adjoining room, in which a couple of
+thin ladies-in-waiting were chatting with the Grand Duchess's
+Chamberlain-in-Waiting, a Count Windisch. Dr. Sammet, who had thrown his
+linen coat like a domino over his dress-coat, was waiting modestly and
+attentively by the washstand.
+
+Johann Albrecht sat in a neighbouring room used as a study, which was
+separated from the "Bride-chamber" only by a so-called powder closet and
+a passage-room. It was called the library, in view of several manuscript
+folios, which lay slanting in the massive book-shelves and contained the
+history of the castle. The room was furnished as a writing-room. Globes
+adorned the walls. The strong wind from the hills blew through the open
+bow-window. The Grand Duke had ordered tea, and the groom of the
+chamber, Prahl, had himself brought the tray; but it was standing
+forgotten on the leaf of the desk, and Johann Albrecht was pacing the
+room from one corner to the other in a restless, uncomfortable frame of
+mind. His top-boots kept creaking as he walked. His aide-de-camp, von
+Lichterloh, listened to the noise, as he waited patiently in the almost
+bare passage-room.
+
+The Minister, the Adjutant-General, the Court Chaplain, and the Court
+officials, nine or ten in all, were waiting in the state-room on the
+ground floor. They wandered through the larger and the smaller
+banqueting-halls, where trophies of banners and weapons hung between
+Lindemann's pictures. They leaned against the slender pillars, which
+spread into brightly coloured vaulting above their heads. They stood
+before the narrow, ceiling-high windows, and looked out through the
+leaded panes over river and town; they sat on the stone benches which
+ran round the walls, or on seats before the stoves, whose Gothic tops
+were supported by ridiculous little stooping imps of stone. The bright
+sunlight made the gold lace on the uniforms, the orders on the padded
+chests, the broad gold stripes on the trousers of the dignitaries
+glisten.
+
+The conversation flagged. Three-cornered hats and white-gloved hands
+were constantly being raised to mouths which opened convulsively. Nearly
+everybody had tears in his eyes. Several had not had time to get any
+breakfast. Some sought entertainment in a timid examination of the
+operating-instruments and the round leather-cased chloroform jar, which
+Surgeon-General Eschrich had left there in case of emergency. After von
+Bühl zu Bühl, the Lord Marshal, a powerful man with mincing manners,
+brown toupée, gold-rimmed pince-nez, and long, yellow fingernails, had
+told several anecdotes in his quick, jerky way, he dropped into an
+armchair, in which he made use of his gift of being able to sleep with
+his eyes open--of losing consciousness of time and place while retaining
+a steady gaze and alert attitude, and in no way imperilling the dignity
+of the situation.
+
+Dr. von Schröder, Minister of Finance and Agriculture, had had a
+conversation earlier in the day with the Minister of State, Dr. Baron
+Knobelsdorff, Minister of Home Affairs, Foreign Affairs, and the Grand
+Ducal Household. It was a spasmodic chat, which began with a discussion
+on art, went on to financial and economic questions, alluded, somewhat
+disapprovingly, to a High Court official, and did not leave even the
+most exalted personages out of account. It began with the two men
+standing, with their hats in their hands behind their backs, in front of
+one of the pictures in the larger banqueting-hall, each of them thinking
+more than he said. The Finance Minister said: "And this? What's this?
+What's happening? Your Excellency is so well informed."
+
+"Merely superficially. It is the investiture of two Grand princes of the
+blood by their uncle, the Emperor. As your Excellency can see, the two
+young men are kneeling and taking the oath with great solemnity on the
+Emperor's sword."
+
+"Fine, extraordinarily fine! What colouring! Dazzling. What lovely
+golden hair the princes have! And the Emperor ... exactly as he is
+described in the books! Yes, that Lindemann well deserves all the
+distinctions which have been given him."
+
+"Absolutely. Those which have been given him; those he quite deserves."
+
+Dr. von Schröder, a tall man with a white beard, a pair of thin gold
+spectacles on his white nose, a belly protruding slightly underneath his
+stomach, and a bull-neck, which lapped over the stiff collar of his
+coat, looked, without taking his eyes off the picture, somewhat
+doubtfully at it, under the influence of a diffidence which seized him
+from time to time during conversations with the baron. This
+Knobelsdorff, this favourite and exalted functionary, was so
+enigmatical. At times his remarks, his retorts, had an indefinable tinge
+of irony about them. He was a widely travelled man, he had been all over
+the world, he had so much general knowledge, and interests of such a
+strange and exotic kind. And yet he was a model of correctness. Herr von
+Schröder could not quite understand him. However much one agreed with
+him, it was impossible to feel that one really understood him. His
+opinions were full of a mysterious reserve, his judgments of a tolerance
+which left one wondering whether they implied approval or contempt.
+
+But the most suspicious thing about him was his laugh, a laugh of the
+eyes in which the mouth took no part, a laugh which seemed to be
+produced by the wrinkles radiating from the corners of his eyes, or vice
+versa to have produced those same wrinkles in the course of years. Baron
+Knobelsdorff was younger than the Finance Minister; he was then in the
+prime of life, although his close-trimmed moustache and hair smoothly
+parted in the middle were already beginning to turn grey--for the rest a
+squat, short-necked man, obviously pinched by the collar of his
+heavily-laced court dress. He left Herr von Schröder to his perplexity
+for a minute, and then went on: "Only perhaps it might be to the
+interests of a prudent administration of the Privy Purse if the
+distinguished professor had rested content with stars and titles ... to
+speak bluntly, what may all these delightful works of art have cost?"
+
+Herr von Schröder recovered his animation. The desire, the hope of
+understanding the Baron, of getting on to intimate and confidential
+terms with him, excited him. "Just what I was thinking!" said he,
+turning round to resume his walk through the galleries. "Your Excellency
+has taken the question out of my mouth. I wonder what this 'Investiture'
+cost, and all the rest of these wall-pictures. For the restoration of
+the castle six years ago cost a million altogether."
+
+"At least that."
+
+"A solid million! And that amount was audited and approved by Lord
+Marshal von Bühl zu Bühl, who is sitting yonder in a state of
+comfortable catalepsy--audited, approved, and disbursed by the Keeper of
+the Privy Purse, Count Trümmerhauff."
+
+"Disbursed, or owing!"
+
+"One of the two!... This total, I say, debited to a fund, a fund ..."
+
+"In a word, the fund of the Grand Ducal settled estates."
+
+"Your Excellency knows as well as I what that means. No, it makes me run
+cold.... I swear I am neither a skin-flint nor a hypochondriac, but it
+makes me run cold when I think of a man, with present conditions staring
+him in the face, coolly throwing a million away--on what? On a nothing,
+a pretty whim, on the beautification of the family schloss in which his
+babies have to be born...."
+
+Herr von Knobelsdorff laughed. "Yes, Heaven knows romance is a luxury,
+and a mighty expensive one too! Excellency, I agree with you--of course.
+But consider, after all the whole trouble in the Grand Ducal finances is
+due to this same romantic luxury. The root of the evil lies in the fact
+that the ruling dynasty are farmers; their capital consists in land and
+soil, their income in agricultural profits. At the present day.... They
+have not been able up to the present to make up their minds to turn into
+industrialists and financiers. They allow themselves with regrettable
+obstinacy to be swayed by certain obsolete and idealistic conceptions,
+such as, for instance, the conceptions of trust and dignity. The royal
+property is hampered by a trust entailed in fact. Advantageous
+alienations are barred. Mortgages, the raising of capital on credit for
+commercial improvements, seem to them improper. The administration is
+seriously hindered in the free exploitation of business
+opportunities--by ideas of dignity. You'll forgive me, won't you? I'm
+telling you the absolute truth. People who pay so much attention to
+propriety as these of course cannot and will not keep pace with the
+freer and less hampered initiative of less obstinate and unpractical
+business people. Now then, what, in comparison with this negative
+luxury, does the positive million signify, which has been sacrificed to
+a pretty whim, to borrow your Excellency's expression? If it only
+stopped there! But we have the regular expenses of a fairly dignified
+Court to meet. There are the schlosses and their parks to keep up,
+Hollerbrunn, Monbrillant, Jägerpreis, aren't there? The Hermitage,
+Delphinenort, the Pheasantry, and the others.... I had forgotten Schloss
+Zegenhaus and the Haderstein ruins ... not to mention the Old
+Schloss.... They are not well kept up, but they all cost money.... There
+are the Court Theatre, the Picture Gallery, the Library, to maintain.
+There are a hundred pensions to pay,--no legal compulsion to pay them,
+but motives of trust and dignity. And look at the princely way in which
+the Grand Duke behaved at the time of the last floods.... But I'm
+preaching you a regular sermon!"
+
+"A sermon," said the Minister of Finance, "which your Excellency thought
+would shock me, while you really only confirmed my own view. Dear
+Baron"--here Herr von Schröder laid his hand on his heart,--"I am
+convinced that there is no longer room for any misunderstanding as to my
+opinion, my loyal opinion, between you and me. The King can do no
+wrong.... The sovereign is beyond the reach of reproaches. But here we
+have to do with a default ... in both senses of the word!... a default
+which I have no hesitation in laying at the door of Count Trümmerhauff.
+His predecessors may be pardoned for having concealed from their
+sovereigns the true state of the Court finances; in those days nothing
+else was expected of them. But Count Trümmerhauff's attitude now is not
+pardonable. In his position as Keeper of the Privy Purse he ought to
+have felt it incumbent on him to put a brake on his Highness's
+thoughtlessness, to feel it incumbent on him now to open his Royal
+Highness's eyes relentlessly to the facts ..."
+
+Herr Knobelsdorff knitted his brows and laughed.
+
+"Really?" said he. "So your Excellency is of the opinion that that is
+what the Count was appointed for! I can picture to myself the
+justifiable astonishment of his lordship, if you lay before him your
+view of the position. No, no ... your Excellency need be under no
+delusion; that appointment was a quite deliberate expression of his
+wishes on the part of his Royal Highness, which the Count must be the
+first to respect. It expressed not only an 'I don't know,' but also an
+'I won't know.' A man may be an exclusively decorative personality and
+yet be acute enough to grasp this.... Besides ... honestly ... we've all
+of us grasped it. And the only grain of comfort for all of us is this:
+that there isn't a prince alive to whom it would be more fatal to
+mention his debts than to his Royal Highness. Our Prince has a something
+about him which would stop any tactless remarks of that sort before they
+were spoken ..."
+
+"Quite true, quite true," said Herr von Schröder. He sighed and stroked
+thoughtfully the swansdown trimming of his hat. The two men were
+sitting, half turned towards each other, on a raised window seat in a
+roomy niche, past which a narrow stone corridor ran outside, a kind of
+gallery, through the pointed arches of which peeps of the town could be
+seen. Herr von Schröder went on:
+
+"You answer me, Baron; one would think you were contradicting me, and
+yet your words show more incredulity and bitterness than my own."
+
+Herr von Knobelsdorff said nothing, but made a vague gesture of assent.
+
+"It may be so," said the Finance Minister, and nodded gloomily at his
+hat. "Your Excellency may be quite right. Perhaps we are all
+blameworthy, we and our forefathers too. But it ought to have been
+stopped. For consider, Baron; ten years ago an opportunity offered
+itself of putting the finances of the Court on a sound footing, on a
+better footing anyhow, if you like. It was lost. We understand each
+other. The Grand Duke, attractive man that he is, had it then in his
+power to clear things up by a marriage which from a sound point of view
+might have been called dazzling. Instead of that ... speaking not for
+myself, of course, but I shall never forget the disgust on everybody's
+faces when they mentioned the amount of the dowry..."
+
+"The Grand Duchess," said Herr von Knobelsdorff, and the wrinkles at the
+corners of his eyes disappeared almost entirely, "is one of the
+handsomest women I have ever seen."
+
+"That is an answer one would expect of your Excellency. It's an æsthetic
+answer, an answer which would have held quite as good if his Royal
+Highness's choice, like his brother Lambert's, had fallen on a member of
+the royal ballet."
+
+"Oh, there was no danger of that. The Prince's taste is a fastidious
+one, as he has shown. He has always shown in his wants the antithesis to
+that want of taste which Prince Lambert has shown all his life. It was a
+long time before he made up his mind to marry. Everybody had given up
+all hope of a direct heir to the throne. They were resigned for better
+or worse to Prince Lambert, whose ... unsuitability to be heir to the
+throne we need not discuss. Then, a few weeks after he had succeeded,
+Johann Albrecht met Princess Dorothea, cried, "This one or none!" and
+the Grand Duchy had its sovereign lady. Your Excellency mentioned the
+thoughtful looks which were exchanged when the figures of the dowry were
+published,--you did not mention the jubilation which at the same time
+prevailed. A poor princess, to be sure. But is beauty, such beauty, a
+power of happiness or not? Never shall I forget her entry! Her first
+smile, as it lighted on the gazing crowds, won their love. Your
+Excellency must allow me to profess once more my belief in the idealism
+of the people. The people want to see their best, their highest, their
+dream, what stands for their soul, represented in their princes--not
+their money bags. There are others to represent those...."
+
+"That's just what there are not; just what we have not got."
+
+"The more's the pity, then. The main point is, Dorothea has presented us
+with an Heir Apparent."
+
+"To whom may Heaven grant some idea of figures!"
+
+"I agree."
+
+At this point the conversation between the two Ministers ceased. It was
+broken off by the announcement by aide-de-camp von Lichterloh, of the
+happy issue of the confinement. The smaller banqueting-hall was soon
+filled with officials. One of the great carved doors was quickly thrown
+open, and the aide-de-camp appeared in the hall. He had a red face, blue
+soldier's eyes, a bristling flaxen moustache, and silver lace on his
+collar. He looked somewhat excited, like a man who had been released
+from deadly boredom and was primed with good news. Conscious of the
+unusualness of the occasion, he boldly ignored the rules of decorum and
+etiquette. He saluted the company gaily, and, spreading his elbows,
+raised the hilt of his sword almost to his breast crying: "Beg leave to
+announce: a prince!"
+
+"Good!" said Adjutant-General Count Schmettern.
+
+"Delightful, quite delightful, I call that perfectly delightful!" said
+Lord Marshal von Bühl zu Bühl in his jerky way; he had recovered
+consciousness at once.
+
+The President of the High Consistory, Dom Wislezenus--a clean-shaven,
+well-built man, who, as a son of a general, and thanks to his personal
+distinction, had attained to his high dignity at a comparatively early
+age, and on whose black silk gown hung the star of an Order--folded his
+white hands on his breast, and said in a melodious voice, "God bless his
+Grand Ducal Highness!"
+
+"You forget, Captain," said Herr von Knobelsdorff, laughing, "that in
+making your announcement you are encroaching on my privileges and
+province. Until I have made the most searching investigations into the
+state of affairs, the question whether it is a prince or a princess
+remains undecided."
+
+The others laughed, and Herr von Lichterloh replied: "As you wish, your
+Excellency! Then I have the honour to beg your Excellency to assume this
+most important charge...."
+
+This dialogue referred to the attributes of the Minister of State, as
+registrar of the Grand Ducal house, in which capacity he was required to
+satisfy himself with his own eyes of the sex of the princely offspring
+and to make an official declaration on the subject. Herr von
+Knobelsdorff complied with this formality in the so-called powder-closet
+in which the new-born babe was bathed. He stayed longer there, however,
+than he had intended to, as he was puzzled and arrested by a painful
+sight, which at first he mentioned to nobody except the midwife.
+
+Doctor Gnadebusch showed him the child, and her eyes, gleaming
+mysteriously behind her thick spectacles, travelled between the Minister
+of State and the little copper-coloured creature, as it groped about
+with one--only one--little hand, as if she was saying: "Is it all
+right?"
+
+It was all right. Herr von Knobelsdorff was satisfied, and the wise
+woman wrapped the child up again. But even then she continued to look
+down at the Prince and then up at the Baron, until she had drawn his
+eyes to the point to which she wished to attract them. The wrinkles at
+the corners of his eyes disappeared, he knit his brows, tried, compared,
+felt, examined for two or three minutes, and at last asked: "Has the
+Grand Duke yet seen it?"
+
+"No, Excellency."
+
+"When the Grand Duke sees it," said Herr von Knobelsdorff, "tell him
+that he will grow out of it."
+
+And to the others on the ground-floor he reported--"A splendid prince!"
+
+But ten or fifteen minutes after him the Grand Duke also made the
+disagreeable discovery,--that was unavoidable, and resulted for
+Surgeon-General Eschrich in a short, extremely unpleasant scene, but for
+the Grimmburg Doctor Sammet in an interview with the Grand Duke which
+raised him considerably in the latter's estimation and was useful to him
+in his subsequent career. What happened was briefly as follows:
+
+After the birth Johann Albrecht had again retired to the library, and
+then returned to sit for some time at the bedside with his wife's hand
+in his. Thereupon he went into the "powder-closet," where the infant now
+lay in his high, richly gilded cradle, half covered with a blue silk
+curtain, and sat down in an armchair by the side of his little son. But
+while he sat and watched the sleeping infant it happened that he noticed
+what it was hoped that he would not notice yet. He drew the counterpane
+back, his face clouded over, and then he did exactly what Herr von
+Knobelsdorff had done before him, looked from Doctor Gnadebusch to the
+nurse and back again, both of whom said nothing, cast one glance at the
+half-open door into the bride-chamber, and stalked excitedly back into
+the library.
+
+Here he at once rang the silver eagle-topped bell which stood on the
+writing-table, and said to Herr von Lichterloh, who came in, very curtly
+and coldly: "I require Herr Eschrich."
+
+When the Grand Duke was angry with any member of his suite, he was wont
+to strip the culprit for the moment of all his titles and dignities, and
+to leave him nothing but his bare name.
+
+The aide-de-camp again clapped his spurs and heels together and
+withdrew. Johann Albrecht strode once or twice in a rage up and down the
+room, and then, hearing Herr von Lichterloh bring the person he had
+summoned into the ante-room, adopted an audience attitude at his
+writing-table.
+
+As he stood there, his head turned imperiously in half-profile, his left
+hand planted on his hip, drawing back his satin-fronted frock coat from
+his white waistcoat, he exactly resembled his portrait by Professor von
+Lindemann, which hung beside the big looking-glass over the mantelpiece
+in the "Hall of the Twelve Months" in the Town Schloss, opposite the
+portrait of Dorothea, and of which countless engravings, photographs,
+and picture postcards had been published. The only difference was that
+Johann Albrecht in the portrait seemed to be of heroic stature, while he
+really was scarcely of medium height. His forehead was high where his
+hair had receded, and from under his grey eyebrows, his blue eyes looked
+out, with dark rings round them, giving them an expression of tired
+haughtiness. He had the broad, rather too high cheek-bones which were a
+characteristic of his people. His whiskers and the soft tuft on his chin
+were grey, his moustache almost white. From the distended nostrils of
+his small but well-arched nose, two unusually deep furrows ran down to
+his chin. The lemon-coloured ribbon of the Family Order always showed in
+the opening of his waistcoat. In his buttonhole the Grand Duke wore a
+carnation.
+
+Surgeon-General Eschrich entered with a low bow. He had taken off his
+operating-coat. His eyelid drooped more heavily than usual over his eye.
+He looked apprehensive and uncomfortable.
+
+The Grand Duke, his left hand on his hip, threw his head back, stretched
+out his right hand and waved it, palm upwards, several times up and down
+impatiently.
+
+"I am awaiting an explanation, a justification, Surgeon-General," said
+he, with a voice trembling with irritation. "You will have the goodness
+to answer my questions. What is the matter with the child's arm?"
+
+The Physician-in-Ordinary raised his hand a little--a feeble gesture of
+impotence and blamelessness. He said:
+
+"An it please Your Royal Highness.... An unfortunate occurrence.
+Unfavourable circumstances during the pregnancy of her Royal
+Highness...."
+
+"That's all nonsense!" The Grand Duke was so much excited that he did
+not wish for any justification, in fact he would not allow one. "I would
+remind you, sir, that I am beside myself. Unfortunate occurrence! It was
+your business to take precautions against unfortunate occurrences...."
+
+The Surgeon-General stood with half-bowed head and, sinking his voice to
+a submissive tone, addressed the ground at his feet.
+
+"I humbly beg to be allowed to remind you that I, at least, am not alone
+responsible. Privy Councillor Grasanger--an authority on
+gynæcology--examined her Royal Highness. But nobody can be held
+responsible in this case...."
+
+"Nobody ... Really! I permit myself to make you responsible.... You are
+answerable to me.... You were in charge during the pregnancy, you
+superintended the confinement. I have relied on the knowledge to be
+expected from your rank, Surgeon-General, I have trusted to your
+experience. I am bitterly disappointed, bitterly disappointed. All that
+your skill can boast of is ... that a crippled child has been born...."
+
+"Would your Royal Highness graciously weigh ..."
+
+"I have weighed. I have weighed and found wanting. Thank you!"
+
+Surgeon-General Eschrich retired backwards, bowing. In the ante-room he
+shrugged his shoulders, while his cheeks glowed.
+
+The Grand Duke again fell to pacing the library in his princely wrath,
+unreasonable, misinformed, and foolish in his loneliness. However,
+whether it was that he wished to humiliate the Physician-in-Ordinary
+still further, or that he regretted having robbed himself of any
+explanations--ten minutes later the unexpected happened, and the Grand
+Duke sent Herr von Lichterloh to summon young Doctor Sammet to the
+library.
+
+The doctor, when he received the message, again said: "Quite delighted
+... quite delighted, ..." and at first changed colour a little, then
+composed himself admirably. It is true that he was not a complete master
+of the prescribed etiquette, and bowed too soon, while he was still in
+the door, so that the aide-de-camp could not close it behind him, and
+had to ask him in a whisper to move forward; but afterwards he stood in
+an easy and unconstrained attitude, and gave reassuring answers,
+although he showed that he was naturally rather slow of speech,
+beginning his sentences with hesitating noises and frequently
+interspersing them with a "Yes," as if to confirm what he was saying. He
+wore his dark yellow hair cut _en brosse_ and his moustache untrimmed.
+His chin and cheeks were clean-shaved, and rather sore from it. He
+carried his head a little on one side, and the gaze of his grey eyes
+told of shrewdness and practical goodness. His nose, which was too broad
+at the bottom, pointed to his origin. He wore a black tie, and his shiny
+boots were of a country cut. He kept his elbows close to his side, with
+one hand on his silver watch-chain. His whole appearance suggested
+candour and professional skill; it inspired confidence.
+
+The Grand Duke addressed him unusually graciously, rather in the manner
+of a teacher who has been scolding a naughty boy, and turns to another
+with a sudden assumption of mildness.
+
+"I have sent for you, doctor.... I want information from you about this
+peculiarity in the body of the new-born prince.... I assume that it has
+not escaped your notice.... I am confronted with a riddle ... an
+extremely painful riddle.... In a word, I desire your opinion." And the
+Grand Duke, changing his position, ended with a gracious motion of the
+hand, which encouraged the doctor to speak.
+
+Dr. Sammet looked at him silently and attentively, as if waiting till
+the Grand Duke had completely regained his princely composure. Then he
+said: "Yes; we have here to do with a case which is not of very common
+occurrence, but which is well known and familiar to us. Yes. It is
+actually a case of atrophy ..."
+
+"Excuse me ... atrophy ...?"
+
+"Forgive me, Royal Highness. I mean stunted growth. Yes."
+
+"I see, stunted growth. Stunting. That's it. The left hand is stunted.
+But it's unheard of! I cannot understand it! Such a thing has never
+happened in my family! People talk nowadays about heredity."
+
+Again the doctor looked silently and attentively at the lonely and
+domineering man, to whom the news had only just penetrated that people
+were talking lately about heredity. He answered simply: "Pardon me,
+Royal Highness, but in this case there can be no question of heredity."
+
+"Really! You're quite sure!" said the Grand Duke rather mockingly. "That
+is one satisfaction. But will you be so kind as to tell me what there
+can be a question of, then."
+
+"With pleasure, Royal Highness. The cause of the malformation is
+entirely a mechanical one. It has been caused through a mechanical
+constriction during the development of the embryo. We call such
+malformations constriction-formations, yes."
+
+The Grand Duke listened with anxious disgust; he obviously feared the
+effect of each succeeding word on his sensitiveness. He kept his brows
+knit and his mouth open: the two furrows running down to his beard
+seemed deeper than ever. He said: "Constriction-formations, ... but how
+in the world ... I am quite sure every precaution must have been
+taken ..."
+
+"Constriction-formations," answered Dr. Sammet, "can occur in various
+ways. But we can say with comparative certainty that in our case ... in
+this case it is the amnion which is to blame."
+
+"I beg your pardon.... The amnion?"
+
+"That is one of the foetal membranes, Royal Highness. Yes. And in
+certain circumstances the removal of this membrane from the embryo may
+be retarded and proceed so slowly that threads and cords are left
+stretching from one to the other ... amniotic threads as we call them,
+yes. These threads may be dangerous, for they can bind and knot
+themselves round the whole of a child's limb; they can entirely
+intercept, for instance, the life-ducts of a hand and even amputate it.
+Yes."
+
+"Great heavens ... amputate it. So we must be thankful that it has not
+come to an amputation of the hand?"
+
+"That might have happened. Yes. But all that has happened is an
+unfastening, resulting in an atrophy."
+
+"And that could not be discovered, foreseen, prevented?"
+
+"No, Royal Highness. Absolutely not. It is quite certain that no blame
+whatever attaches to anybody. Such constrictions do their work in
+secret. We are powerless against them. Yes."
+
+"And the malformation is incurable? The hand will remain stunted?"
+
+Dr. Sammet hesitated; he looked kindly at the Grand Duke.
+
+"It will never be quite normal, certainly not," he said cautiously. "But
+the stunted hand will grow a little larger than it is at present, oh
+yes, it assuredly will ..."
+
+"Will he be able to use it? For instance ... to hold his reins or to
+make gestures, like any one else?..."
+
+"Use it ... a little.... Perhaps not much. And he's got his right hand,
+that's all right."
+
+"Will it be very obvious?" asked the Grand Duke, and scanned Dr.
+Sammet's face earnestly. "Very noticeable? Will it detract much from his
+general appearance, think you?"
+
+"Many people," answered Dr. Sammet evasively, "live and work under
+greater disadvantages. Yes."
+
+The Grand Duke turned away, and walked once up and down the room. Dr.
+Sammet deferentially made way for him, and withdrew towards the door. At
+last the Grand Duke resumed his position at the writing-table and said:
+"I have now heard what I wanted to know, doctor; I thank you for your
+report. You understand your business, no doubt about that. Why do you
+live in Grimmburg? Why do you not practise in the capital?"
+
+"I am still young, Royal Highness, and before I devote myself to
+practising as a specialist in the capital I should like a few years of
+really varied practice, of general experience and research. A country
+town like Grimmburg affords the best opportunity of that. Yes."
+
+"Very sound, very admirable of you. In what do you propose to specialise
+later on?"
+
+"In the diseases of children, Royal Highness. I intend to be a
+children's doctor, yes."
+
+"You are a Jew?" asked the Grand Duke, throwing back his head and
+screwing up his eyes.
+
+"Yes, Royal Highness."
+
+"Ah--will you answer me one more question? Have you ever found your
+origin to stand in your way, a drawback in your professional career? I
+ask as a ruler, who is especially concerned that the principle of 'equal
+chances for all' shall hold good unconditionally and privately, not only
+officially."
+
+"Everybody in the Grand Duchy," answered Dr. Sammet, "has the right to
+work." But he did not stop there: moving his elbows like a pair of short
+wings, in an awkward, impassioned way, he made a few hesitating noises,
+and then added in a restrained but eager voice: "No principle of
+equalization, if I may be allowed to remark, will ever prevent the
+incidence in the life of the community of exceptional and abnormal men
+who are distinguished from the bourgeois by their nobleness or infamy.
+It is the duty of the individual not to concern himself as to the
+precise nature of the distinction between him and the common herd, but
+to see what is the essential in that distinction and to recognize that
+it imposes on him an exceptional obligation towards society. A man is at
+an advantage, not at a disadvantage, compared with the regular and
+therefore complacent majority, if he has one motive more than they to
+extraordinary exertions. Yes, yes," repeated Dr. Sammet. The double
+affirmative was meant to confirm his answer.
+
+"Good ... not bad; very remarkable, anyhow," said the Grand Duke
+judicially. He found Dr. Sammet's words suggestive, though somewhat off
+the point. He dismissed the young man with the words: "Well, doctor, my
+time is limited. I thank you. This interview--apart from its painful
+occasion--has much reassured me. I have the pleasure of bestowing on you
+the Albrecht Cross of the Third Class with Crown. I shall remember you.
+Thank you."
+
+This was what passed between the Grimmburg doctor and the Grand Duke.
+Shortly after Johann Albrecht left the castle and returned by special
+train to the capital, chiefly to show himself to the rejoicing populace,
+but also in order to give several audiences in the palace. It was
+arranged that he should return in the evening to the castle, and take up
+his residence there for the next few weeks.
+
+All those present at the confinement at Grimmburg who did not belong to
+the Grand Duchess's suite were also accommodated in the special train of
+the bankrupt local railway, some of them travelling in the Sovereign's
+own saloon. But the Grand Duke drove from the castle to the station
+alone with von Knobelsdorff, the Minister of State, in an open landau,
+one of the brown Court carriages with the little golden crown on the
+door. The white feathers in the hats of the chasseurs in front fluttered
+in the summer breeze. Johann Albrecht was grave and silent on the
+journey; he seemed to be worried and morose. And although Herr von
+Knobelsdorff knew that the Grand Duke, even in private, disliked anybody
+addressing him unasked and uninvited, yet at last he made up his mind to
+break the silence.
+
+"Your Royal Highness," he said deprecatingly, "seems to take so much to
+heart the little anomaly which has been discovered in the Prince's body,
+... and yet one would think that on a day like this the reasons for joy
+and proud thankfulness so far outweigh ..."
+
+"My dear Knobelsdorff," replied Johann Albrecht, with some irritation
+and almost in tears, "you must forgive my ill-humour; you surely do not
+wish me to be in good spirits. I can see no reason for being so. The
+Grand Duchess is going on well--true enough, and the child is a
+boy--that's a blessing too. But he has come into the world with an
+atrophy, a constriction, caused by amniotic threads. Nobody is to blame,
+it is a misfortune; but misfortunes for which nobody is to blame are the
+most terrible of all misfortunes, and the sight of their Sovereign ought
+to awaken in his people other feelings than those of sympathy. The Heir
+Apparent is delicate, needs constant care. It was a miracle that he
+survived that attack of pleurisy two years ago, and it will be nothing
+less than a miracle if he lives to attain his majority. Now Heaven
+grants me a second son--he seems strong, but he comes into the world
+with only one hand. The other is stunted, useless, a deformity, he will
+have to hide it. What a drawback! What an impediment! He will have to
+brave it out before the world all his life. We must let it gradually
+leak out, so that it may not cause too much of a shock on his first
+appearance in public. No, I cannot yet get over it. A prince with one
+hand ..."
+
+"'With one hand,'" said Herr von Knobelsdorff. "Did your Royal Highness
+use that expression twice deliberately?"
+
+"Deliberately?"
+
+"You did not, then?... For the Prince has two hands, yet as one is
+stunted, one might if one liked also describe him as a prince with one
+hand."
+
+"What then?"
+
+"And one must almost wish, not that your Royal Highness's second son,
+but that the heir to the throne were the victim of this small
+malformation."
+
+"What do you mean by that?"
+
+"Why, your Royal Highness will laugh at me; but I am thinking of the
+gipsy woman."
+
+"The gipsy woman? Please go on, my dear Baron!"
+
+"Of the gipsy woman--forgive me!--who a hundred years ago prophesied the
+birth of a Prince to your Royal Highness's house--a prince 'with one
+hand'--that is how tradition puts it--and attached to the birth of that
+prince a certain promise, couched in peculiar terms."
+
+The Grand Duke turned on his seat and stared, without saying a word, at
+Herr von Knobelsdorff, at the outer corner of whose eyes the radiating
+wrinkles were playing. Then, "Mighty entertaining!" he said, and resumed
+his former attitude.
+
+"Prophecies," continued Herr von Knobelsdorff, "generally come true to
+this extent, that circumstances arise which one can interpret, if one
+has a mind to, in their sense. And the broadness of the terms in which
+every proper prophecy is couched makes this all the more easy. 'With one
+hand'--that is regular oracle-style. What has actually happened is a
+moderate case of atrophy. But that much counts for a good deal, for what
+is there to prevent me, what is there to prevent the people, from
+assuming the whole by this partial fulfilment, and declaring that the
+conditional part of the prophecy has been fulfilled? The people will do
+so; if not at once, at any rate if the rest of the prophecy, the actual
+promise, is in any way realised, it will put two and two together, as it
+always has done, in its wish to see what is written turn out true. I
+don't see how it is going to come about--the Prince is a younger son, he
+will not come to the throne, the intentions of fate are obscure. But the
+one-handed prince is there--and so may he bestow on us as much as he
+can."
+
+The Grand Duke did not answer, secretly thrilled by dreams of the future
+of his dynasty.
+
+"Well, Knobelsdorff, I will not be angry with you. You want to comfort
+me, and you have not done it badly. But I must do what is expected of
+me...."
+
+The air resounded with the distant cheers of many voices. The people of
+Grimmburg were crowded in black masses behind the cordon at the station.
+Officials were standing apart in front, waiting for the carriages. There
+was the mayor, raising his top-hat, wiping his forehead with a crumpled
+handkerchief, and poring over a paper whose contents he was committing
+to memory. Johann Albrecht assumed the expression appropriate to
+listening to the smoothly worded address and to answering concisely and
+graciously:
+
+"Most excellent Mr. Mayor...." The town was dressed with flags, and the
+bells were ringing.
+
+In the capital all the bells were ringing. And in the evening there were
+illuminations; not by formal request of the authorities, but
+spontaneous--the whole city was a blaze of light.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+THE COUNTRY
+
+
+The country measured eight thousand square kilometres, and numbered one
+million inhabitants.
+
+A pretty, quiet, leisurely country. The tops of the trees in its forests
+rustled dreamily; its broad acres showed signs of honest care; its
+industries were undeveloped to the point of indigence.
+
+It possessed some brick-kilns, a few salt and silver-mines--that was
+almost all. A certain amount of tourist-traffic must also be mentioned,
+but he would be a bold man who described it as a flourishing industry.
+The alkali springs, which rose from the ground in the immediate
+neighbourhood of the capital and formed the centre of an attractive
+bathing-establishment, constituted the claims of the city to be
+considered a health resort. But while the baths at the end of the Middle
+Ages had been frequented by visitors from afar, they had later lost
+their repute, and been put in the shade by other baths and forgotten.
+The most valuable of the springs, that called the Ditlinde spring, which
+was exceptionally rich in lithium salts, had been opened up quite
+recently, in the reign of Johann Albrecht III, and as energetic business
+and advertising methods were not employed, its water had not yet
+succeeded in winning world-recognition. A hundred thousand bottles of it
+were sent away in the year--rather less than more. And but few strangers
+came to drink it on the spot....
+
+The Diet was the scene all the year round of speeches about the "barely"
+satisfactory results of the trade returns, by which was really meant the
+entirely unsatisfactory results, which nobody could dispute, that the
+local railways did not cover their expenses and the main lines did not
+pay any dividends--distressing but unalterable and inveterate facts,
+which the Minister for Trade in luminous but monotonous declarations
+explained by the peaceful commercial and industrial circumstances of the
+country, as well as by the inaccessibility of the home coal-deposits.
+Critics added something about defective organization of the State
+industrial administration. But the spirit of contradiction and negation
+was not strong in the Diet; the prevailing frame of mind among the
+representatives of the people was one of dull and true-hearted loyalty.
+
+So the railway revenues did not by any means rank first among the public
+revenues of a private-investment nature; the forest revenues had ranked
+first for years in this land of woods and plough. The fall in them,
+their startling depreciation, however sufficient reasons there were for
+it, was a much more difficult matter to mend.
+
+The people loved their woods. They were a fair and compact type, with
+searching blue eyes and broad, rather high cheek-bones, a sensible and
+honest, solid and backward stamp of men. They clung to their country's
+forest with all the strength of their nature; it lived in their bones,
+it was to the artists which it bred the source and home of their
+inspirations, and it was quite properly the object of popular gratitude,
+not only in regard to the gifts of soul and intellect of which it was
+the donor. The poor gathered their firewood in the forest; it gave to
+them freely, they had it for nothing. They went stooping and gathering
+all kinds of berries and mushrooms among its trunks, and earned a little
+something by doing so. That was not all. The people recognized that
+their forest had a very distinctly favourable influence on the weather
+and the healthy condition of the country; they were well aware that
+without the lovely woods in the neighbourhood of the capital the
+spa-garden outside would not attract foreigners with money to spend; in
+short, this not over-industrious and up-to-date people could not help
+knowing that the forest stood for the most important asset, the most
+profitable heritage of the country.
+
+And yet the forest had been sinned against, outraged for ages and ages.
+The Grand Ducal Department of Woods and Forests deserved all the
+reproaches that were laid against it. That Department had not political
+insight enough to see that the wood must be maintained and kept as
+inalienable common property, if it was to be useful not only to the
+present generation, but also to those to come; and that it would surely
+avenge itself if it were exploited recklessly and short-sightedly,
+without regard to the future, for the benefit of the present.
+
+That was what happened, and was still happening. In the first place
+great stretches of the floor of the forest had been impoverished by
+reckless and excessive spoliation of its litter. Matters had repeatedly
+gone so far that not only the most recent carpet of needles and leaves,
+but the greatest part of the fall of years past had been removed and
+used in the fields partly as litter, partly as mould. There were many
+forests which had been completely stripped of mould; some had been
+crippled by the raking away of the litter: instances of this were to be
+found in the public woodlands as well as in the State woodlands.
+
+If the woods had been put to these uses in order to tide over a sudden
+agricultural crisis, there would have been no reason to complain. But
+although there were not wanting those who declared that an agricultural
+system founded on the appropriation of wood-litter was inexpedient,
+indeed dangerous, the trade in litter went on without any particular
+reason, on purely fiscal grounds, so it was put--that is to say, on
+grounds which, examined closely, proved to be only one ground and
+object, namely, the making of money. For it was money which was wanted.
+But to get this money, ceaseless inroads were made on the capital, until
+one fine day it was realised with dismay that an unsuspected
+depreciation in that capital had ensued.
+
+The people were a peasant race, and thought that the way to be
+up-to-date was to display a perverted, artificial, and improper zeal and
+to employ reckless business methods. A characteristic instance was the
+dairy-farming ... one word about that. Loud complaints were heard,
+principally in the official medical annual, that a deterioration was
+noticeable in the nourishment, and consequently in the development, of
+the country people. What was the reason? The owners of cows were bent on
+turning all the full-milk at their disposal into money. The spread of
+the dairy industry, the development and productiveness of the milk
+trade, tempted them to disregard the claims of their own establishments.
+A strength-giving milk diet became a rarity in the country, and in its
+stead recourse was had to unsubstantial skimmed milk, inferior
+substitutes, vegetable oils, and, unfortunately, alcoholic drinks as
+well. The critics talked about under-feeding, they even called it
+physical and moral debilitation of the population; they brought the
+facts to the notice of the Diet, and the Government promised to give the
+matter their earnest attention.
+
+But it was only too clear that the Government was at bottom infected
+with the same perversity as the mistaken dairy-farmers. Timber continued
+to be cut to excess in the State forests; once cut it was gone, and
+meant a continual shrinkage of public property. The clearings might have
+been necessary occasionally, when the forests had been damaged in one
+way or another, but often enough they had been due simply to the fiscal
+reasons referred to: and instead of the proceeds of the clearings being
+used for the purchase of new tracts, instead of the cleared tracts being
+replanted as quickly as possible--instead, in a word, of the damage to
+the capital value of the State forests being balanced by an addition to
+their capital value, the quickly earned profits had been devoted to the
+payment of current expenses and the redemption of bonds. Of course there
+could be no doubt that a reduction of the National Debt was only too
+desirable; but the critics expressed the opinion that that was not the
+time to devote extraordinary revenues to the building up of the
+sinking-fund.
+
+Anybody who had no interest in mincing matters must have described the
+State finances as in a hopeless muddle. The country carried a debt of
+thirty million pounds--it struggled along under it with patience and
+devotion, but with secret groans. For the burden, much too heavy in
+itself, was made trebly heavy through a rise in the rate of interest and
+through conditions of repayment such as are usually imposed on a country
+whose credit is shaken, whose exchange is low, and which has already
+almost come to be reckoned as "interesting" in the world of financiers.
+
+The succession of financial crises appeared to be never-ending. The list
+of failures seemed without beginning or end. And a maladministration,
+which was made no better by frequent changes in its personnel, regarded
+borrowing as the only cure for the creeping sickness in the State
+finances. Even the Chancellor of the Exchequer, von Schröder, whose
+probity and singleness of purpose were beyond all doubt, had been given
+a peerage by the Grand Duke, because he had succeeded in placing a loan
+at a high rate of interest in the most difficult circumstances. His
+heart was set on an improvement in the credit of the State: but as his
+resource was to contract new debts while he paid off the old, his policy
+proved to be no better than a well-meant but costly blind. For a
+simultaneous sale and purchase of bonds meant a higher purchase than
+selling price, involving the loss of thousands of pounds.
+
+It seemed as if the country were incapable of producing a man of any
+adequate financial gifts. Improper practices and a policy of
+"hushing-up" were the fashion. The budget was so drawn up that it was
+impossible to distinguish between ordinary and extraordinary State
+requirements. Ordinary and extraordinary items were jumbled up together,
+and those responsible for the budgets deceived themselves, and everybody
+else, as to the real state of affairs, by appropriating loans, which
+were supposed to be raised for extraordinary purposes, to cover a
+deficit in the ordinary exchequer.... The holder of the finance
+portfolio at one time was actually an ex-court marshal.
+
+Dr. Krippenreuther, who took the helm towards the end of Johann
+Albrecht III's reign, was the Minister who, convinced like Herr von
+Schröder of the necessity for a strenuous reduction in the debt, induced
+the Diet to consent to a final and extreme addition to the burden of
+taxation. But the country, naturally poor as it was, was on the verge of
+insolvency, and all Krippenreuther got was unpopularity. His policy
+really meant merely a transfer from one hand to the other, a transfer
+which itself involved a loss; for the increase in taxation laid a burden
+on the national economy which pressed more heavily and more directly
+than that which was removed by the sinking of the National Debt.
+
+Where, then, were help and a remedy to be found? A miracle, so it
+seemed, was needed--and meanwhile the sternest economy. The people were
+pious and loyal, they loved their princes as themselves, they were
+permeated with the sublimity of the monarchical idea, they saw in it a
+reflexion of the Deity. But the economical pressure was too painful, too
+generally felt. The most ignorant could read in the thinned and crippled
+forests a tale of woe. The consequence was that repeated appeals had
+been made in the Diet for a curtailment of the Civil List, a cutting
+down of the appanages and Crown endowments.
+
+The Civil List amounted to twenty-five thousand pounds, the revenues of
+the Crown demesnes to thirty-seven thousand pounds. That was all. And
+the Crown was in debt--to what extent was perhaps known to Count
+Trümmerhauff, the Keeper of the Grand Ducal Purse, a regular stickler,
+but a man of absolutely no business instincts. It was not known to
+Johann Albrecht; at any rate he seemed not to know it, and therein
+followed the example of his forefathers, who had rarely deigned to give
+more than a passing thought to their debts.
+
+The people's attitude of veneration was reflected in their princes'
+extraordinary sense of their own dignity, which had sometimes assumed
+fanciful and even extravagant forms, and had found its most obvious and
+most serious expression in every period in a tendency to extravagance
+and to a reckless ostentation as exaggerated as the dignity it
+represented. One Grimmburger had been christened "the luxurious" in so
+many words,--they had almost all deserved the nickname. So that the
+state of indebtedness of the House was an historical and hereditary
+state, reaching back to the times when all loans were a private concern
+of the Sovereign, and when John the Headstrong, wishing to raise a loan,
+pledged the liberty of the most prominent of his subjects to do so.
+
+Those times were past; and Johann Albrecht III, a true-born Grimmburger
+in his instincts, was unfortunately no longer in a position to give free
+rein to his instincts. His fathers had played ducks and drakes with the
+family funds, which were reduced to nothing or little better than
+nothing. They had been spent on the building of country-seats with
+French names and marble colonnades, on parks with fountains, on splendid
+operas and all kinds of glittering shows. Figures were figures, and,
+much against the inclination of the Grand Duke, in fact without his
+consent, the Court was gradually cut down.
+
+The Princess Catherine, the sister of the Grand Duke, was never spoken
+of in the capital without a touch of sympathy. She had been married to a
+member of a neighbouring ruling House, had been left a widow, and had
+come back to her brother's capital, where she lived with her red-headed
+children in what used to be the Heir Apparent's palace on the
+Albrechtstrasse, before whose gates a gigantic doorkeeper stood all day
+long in a pompous attitude with staff and shoulder-belt complete, while
+life went on with peculiar moderation inside.
+
+Prince Lambert, the Grand Duke's brother, did not come in for much
+attention. There was a coolness between him and his relations, who could
+not forgive him his _mésalliance_, and he hardly ever came to Court. He
+lived in his villa overlooking the public gardens with his wife, an
+ex-dancer from the Court Theatre who bore the title of Baroness von
+Rohrdorf, after one of the Prince's properties; and there he divided his
+time between sport and theatre-going, and struggling with his debts. He
+had dropped his dignities and lived just like a private citizen; and if
+he was generally supposed to have a struggle to make two ends meet,
+nobody gave him much sympathy for it.
+
+But alterations had been made in the old castle itself--reductions of
+expenses, which were discussed in the city and the country, and
+discussed usually in an apprehensive and regretful sense, because the
+people at bottom wished to see themselves represented with due pride and
+magnificence. Several high posts at the Court had been amalgamated for
+economy's sake, and for years past Herr von Bühl zu Bühl had been Lord
+Marshal, Chief Master of the Ceremonies, and Marshal of the Household at
+once. There had been many discharges in the Board of Green Cloth and the
+servants' hall, among the pike-staffs, yeomen of the guard, and grooms,
+the master cooks and chief confectioners, the court and chamber lackeys.
+The establishment of the royal stable had been reduced to the barest
+minimum.... And what was the good of it all? The Grand Duke's contempt
+for money showed itself in sudden outbursts against the squeeze; and
+while the catering at the Court functions reached the extreme limits of
+permissible simplicity, while at the supper at the close of the Thursday
+concerts in the Marble Hall nothing but continual roast beef with sauce
+remoulade and ice-pudding were served on the red velvet coverings of the
+gilt-legged tables, while the daily fare at the Grand Duke's own
+candle-decked table was no better than that of an ordinary middle-class
+family, he defiantly threw away a whole year's income on the repair of
+the Grimmburg.
+
+But meanwhile the rest of his seats were falling to pieces. Herr von
+Bühl simply had not the means at his disposal for their upkeep. And yet
+it was a pity in the case of many of them. Those which lay at some
+little distance from the capital, or right out in the country, those
+luxurious asylums cradled in natural beauties whose dainty names spoke
+of rest, solitude, content, pastime, and freedom from care, or recalled
+a flower or a jewel, served as holiday resorts for the citizens and
+strangers, and brought in a certain amount in entrance-money which
+sometimes--not always--was devoted to their upkeep. This was not the
+case, however, with those in the immediate neighbourhood of the capital.
+There was the little schloss in the Empire style, the Hermitage,
+standing silent and graceful on the edge of the northern suburbs, but
+long uninhabited and deserted in the middle of its over-grown park,
+which joined on to the public gardens, and looked out on its little,
+mud-stiff pond. There was Schloss Delphinenort which, only a quarter of
+an hour's walk from the other, in the northern part of the public
+gardens themselves, all of which had once belonged to the Crown,
+mirrored its untidiness in a huge square fountain-basin; both were in a
+sad state. That Delphinenort in particular--that noble structure in the
+early baroque style, with its stately entrance-colonnade, its high
+windows divided into little white-framed panes, its carved festoons, its
+Roman busts in the niches, its splendid approach-stairs, its general
+magnificence--should be abandoned to decay for ever, as it seemed, was
+the sorrow of all lovers of architectural beauty; and when one day, as
+the result of unforeseen, really strange circumstances, it was restored
+to honour and youth, among them at any rate the satisfaction was
+general.... For the rest, Delphinenort could be reached in fifteen or
+twenty minutes from the spa-garden, which lay a little to the north-west
+of the city, and was connected with its centre by a direct line of
+trams.
+
+The only residences used by the Grand Ducal family were Schloss
+Hollerbrunn, the summer residence, an expanse of white buildings with
+Chinese roofs, on the farther side of the chain of hills which
+surrounded the capital, coolly and pleasantly situated on the river and
+famed for the elder-hedges in its park; farther, Schloss Jägerpreis, the
+ivy-covered hunting-box in the middle of the woods to westward; and
+lastly, the Town Castle itself, called the "Old" Castle, although no new
+one existed.
+
+It was called thus, with no idea of comparison, simply because of its
+age, and the critics declared that its redecoration was more a matter of
+urgency than that of the Grimmburg. Even the inner rooms, which were in
+daily use by the family, were faded and cracked, not to mention the many
+uninhabited and unused rooms in the oldest parts of the many-styled
+building, which were all choked and flyblown. For some time past the
+public had been refused admission to them,--a measure which was
+obviously due to the shocking state of the castle. But people who could
+get a peep, the tradesmen and the staff, declared that there was
+stuffing peeping out of more than one stiff, imposing piece of
+furniture.
+
+The castle and the Court Church together made up a grey, irregular, and
+commanding mass of turrets, galleries, and gateways, half fortress, half
+palace. Various epochs had contributed to its erection, and large parts
+of it were decaying, weather-beaten, spoilt, and ready to fall into
+pieces. To the west it dropped steeply down to the lower-lying city, and
+was connected with it by battered steps clamped together with rusty iron
+bars. But the huge main gate, guarded by lions couchant, and surmounted
+by the pious, haughty motto: "Turris fortissima nomen Domini," in almost
+illegible carving, faced the Albrechtsplatz. It had its sentries and
+sentry boxes; it was the scene of the changing of the guard, with drums
+and martial display; it was the playground of all the urchins of the
+town.
+
+The Old Castle had three courtyards, in the corners of which rose
+graceful stair-turrets and between whose paving stones an unnecessary
+amount of weeds was generally growing. But in the middle of one of the
+courtyards stood the rose-bush,--it had stood there for ages in a bed,
+although there was no other attempt at a garden to be seen. It was just
+like any other rose-bush; it had a porter to tend it, it stood there in
+snow, rain, and sunshine, and in due season it bore roses. These were
+exceptionally fine roses, nobly formed, with dark-red velvet petals, a
+pleasure to look at, and real masterpieces of nature. But those roses
+had one strange and dreadful peculiarity: they had no scent! Or rather,
+they had a scent, but for some unknown reason it was not the scent of
+roses, but of decay--a slight, but plainly perceptible scent of decay.
+Everybody knew it; it was in the guide-books, and strangers visited the
+courtyard to convince themselves of it with their own noses. There was
+also a popular idea that it was written somewhere that at some time or
+other, on a day of rejoicings and public felicity, the blossoms of the
+rose-bush would begin to give forth a natural and lovely odour.
+
+After all, it was only to be expected that the popular imagination would
+be exercised by the wonderful rose-bush. It was exercised in precisely
+the same way by the "owl-chamber" in the Old Castle, which was used as a
+lumber room. Its position was such that it could not be ignored, not far
+from the "Gala Rooms," and the "Hall of the Knights," where the Court
+officers used to assemble on Court days, and thus in a comparatively
+modern part of the building. But there was certainly something uncanny
+about it, especially as from time to time noises and cries occurred
+there, which could not be heard outside the room and whose origin was
+unascertainable. People swore that it came from ghosts, and many
+asserted that it was especially noticeable when important and decisive
+events in the Grand Ducal family were impending,--a more or less
+gratuitous rumour, which deserved no more serious attention than other
+national products of an historical and dynastic frame of mind, as for
+instance a certain dark prophecy which had been handed down for hundreds
+of years and may be mentioned in this connexion. It came from an old
+gipsy-woman, and was to the effect that a prince "with one hand" would
+bring the greatest good fortune to the country. The old hag had said:
+"He will give to the country with one hand more than all the rest could
+give it with two." That is how the prophecy was recorded, and how it was
+quoted from time to time.
+
+Round the Old Castle lay the capital, consisting of the Old Town and the
+New Town, with their public buildings, monuments, fountains, and parks,
+their streets and squares, named after princes, artists, deserving
+statesmen, and distinguished citizens, divided into two very unequal
+halves by the many-bridged river, which flowed in a great loop round the
+southern end of the public garden, and was lost in the surrounding
+hills. The city was a university town, it possessed an academy which was
+not in much request and whose curricula were unpractical and rather
+old-fashioned; the Professor of Mathematics, Privy Councillor
+Klinghammer, was the only one of any particular repute in the scientific
+world. The Court Theatre, though poorly endowed, maintained a decent
+level of performances. There was a little musical, literary, and
+artistic life; a certain number of foreigners came to the capital,
+wishing to share in its well-regulated life and such intellectual
+attractions as it offered, among them wealthy invalids who settled down
+in the villas round the spa-gardens and were held in honour by the State
+and the community as doughty payers of taxes.
+
+And now you know what the town was like, what the country was like, and
+how matters stood.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+HINNERKE THE SHOEMAKER
+
+
+The Grand Duke's second son made his first public appearance on the
+occasion of his christening. This festivity aroused the same interest in
+the country as always attached to happenings within the Royal Family
+circle. It took place after weeks of discussion and research as to the
+manner of its arrangement, was held in the Court Church by the President
+of the High Consistory, Dom Wislezenus, with all the due ceremonial, and
+in public, to the extent that the Lord Marshal's office, by the Prince's
+orders, had issued invitations to it to every class of society.
+
+Herr von Bühl zu Bühl, a courtly ritualist of the greatest
+circumspection and accuracy, in his full-dress uniform superintended,
+with the help of two masters of the ceremonies, the whole of the
+intricate proceedings: the gathering of the princely guests in the Gala
+Rooms, the solemn procession in which they, attended by pages and
+squires, walked up the staircase of Heinrich the Luxurious and through a
+covered passage into the church, the entry of the spectators from the
+highest to the lowest, the distribution of the seats, the observance of
+due decorum during the religious service itself, the order of precedence
+at the congratulations which took place directly after the service was
+ended.... He panted and puffed, smiled ingratiatingly, brandished his
+staff, laughed in nervous bursts, and kept executing retreating bows.
+
+The Court Church was decorated with plants and draperies. In addition to
+the representatives of the nobility, of the Court and country, and of
+the higher and lower Civil Service, tradesmen, country folk, and common
+artisans, in high good humour, filled the seats. But in a half-circle of
+red-velvet arm-chairs in front of the altar sat the relations of the
+infant, foreign princes as sponsors and the trusty representatives of
+such as had not come in person. The assemblage at the christening of the
+Heir Apparent six years before had not been more distinguished. For in
+view of Albrecht's delicacy, the advanced age of the Grand Duke, and the
+dearth of Grimmburg relations, the person of the second-born prince was
+at once recognized as an important guarantee for the future of the
+dynasty. Little Albrecht took no part in the ceremony; he was kept to
+his bed with an indisposition which Surgeon-General Eschrich declared to
+be of a nervous character.
+
+Dom Wislezenus preached from a text of the Grand Duke's own choosing.
+The _Courier_, a gossiping city newspaper, had given a full account of
+how the Grand Duke had one day fetched with his very own hands the large
+metal-clasped family Bible out of the rarely visited library, had shut
+himself up with it in his study, searched in it for a whole hour, at
+last copied the text he had chosen on to a piece of paper with his
+pocket-pencil, signed it "Johann Albrecht," and sent it to the Court
+preacher. Dom Wislezenus treated it in a musical style, so as to speak,
+like a _leit motif_. He turned it inside and out, dressed it in
+different shapes and squeezed it dry; he announced it in a whisper, then
+with the whole power of his lungs; and whereas, delivered lightly and
+reflectively at the beginning of his discourse, it seemed a thin, almost
+unsubstantial subject; at the close, when he for the last time thundered
+it at the congregation, it appeared richly orchestrated, heavily scored,
+and pregnant with emotion. Then he passed on to the actual baptism, and
+carried it out at full length so that all could see it, with due stress
+on every detail.
+
+This, then, was the day of the prince's first public appearance, and
+that he was the chief actor in the drama was clearly shown by the fact
+that he was the last to come on the stage, and that his entry was
+distinct from that of the rest of the company. Preceded by Herr von
+Bühl, he entered slowly, in the arms of the Mistress of the Robes,
+Baroness von Schulenburg-Tressen, and all eyes were fixed on him. He was
+asleep in his laces, his veils, and his white silk robe. One of his
+little hands happened to be hidden. His appearance evoked unusual
+delight and emotion. The cynosure and centre of attraction, he lay
+quietly there, bearing it all, as may be supposed, patiently and
+unassumingly. It was to his credit that he did not make any disturbance,
+did not clutch or struggle; but, doubtless from innate trustfulness,
+quietly resigned himself to the state which surrounded him, bore it
+patiently, and even at that early date sank his own emotions in it....
+
+The arms in which he reposed were frequently changed at fixed points in
+the ceremony. Baroness Schulenburg handed him with a curtsey to his
+aunt, Catherine, who, with a stern look on her face, was dressed in a
+newly remade lilac silk dress, and wore Crown jewels in her hair. She
+laid him, when the moment came, solemnly in his mother Dorothea's arms,
+who, in all her stately beauty, with a smile on her proud and lovely
+mouth, held him out a while to be blessed, and then passed him on. A
+cousin held him for a minute or two, a child of eleven or twelve years
+with fair hair, thin sticks of legs, cold bare arms, and a broad red
+silk sash which stuck out in a huge knot behind her white dress. Her
+peaked face was anxiously fixed on the Master of the Ceremonies....
+
+Once the Prince woke up, but the flickering flames of the altar-candles
+and a many-coloured shaft of sunlight dust blinded him, and made him
+close his eyes again. And as there were no thoughts, but only soft
+unsubstantial dreams in his head, as moreover he was feeling no pain at
+the moment, he at once fell asleep again.
+
+He received a number of names while he slept; but the chief names were
+Klaus Heinrich.
+
+And he slept on in his cot with its gilded cornice and blue silk
+curtains, while the royal family feasted in the Marble Hall, and the
+rest of the guests in the Hall of the Knights, in his honour.
+
+The newspapers reported his first appearance; they described his looks
+and his dress, and emphasized his truly princely behaviour, couching the
+moving and inspiring account in words which had often done duty on
+similar occasions. After that, the public for a long time heard little
+of him, and he nothing of them.
+
+He knew nothing as yet, understood nothing as yet, guessed nothing as to
+the difficulty, danger, and sternness of the life prescribed for him;
+nothing in his conduct suggested that he felt any contrast between
+himself and the great public. His little existence was an irresponsible,
+carefully supervised dream, played on a stage remote from the public
+stage; and this stage was peopled with countless tinted phantoms, both
+stationary and active, some emerging but transiently, some permanently
+at hand.
+
+Of the permanent ones, the parents were far in the back-ground, and not
+altogether distinguishable. They were his parents, that was certain, and
+they were exalted, and friendly too. When they approached there was a
+feeling as if everything else slipped away to each side, and left a
+respectable passage along which they advanced towards him to show him a
+moment's tenderness. The nearest and clearest things to him were two
+women with white caps and aprons, two beings who were obviously all
+goodness, purity, and loving-kindness, who tended his little body in
+every way, and were much distressed when he cried.... A close partner in
+his life, too, was Albrecht, his brother; but he was grave, distant, and
+much more advanced.
+
+When Klaus Heinrich was two years old, another birth took place in the
+Grimmburg, and a princess came into the world. Thirty-six guns were
+allotted to her, because she was of the female sex, and she was given
+the name of Ditlinde at the font. She was Klaus Heinrich's sister, and
+it was a good thing for him that she appeared. She was at first
+surprisingly small and weak, but she soon grew like him, caught him up,
+and the two became inseparable. They shared each other's lives, each
+other's views, feelings, and ideas: they communicated to each other
+their impressions of the world outside them.
+
+It was a world, they were impressions, calculated to produce a
+reflective frame of mind. In winter they lived in the old castle. In
+summer they lived in Hollerbrunn, the summer schloss, on the river, in
+the cool, in the scent of the violet hedges with white statues between
+them. On the way thither, or if at any other time father or mother took
+them with them in one of the brown carriages with the little golden
+crown on the door, all the passers-by stopped, cheered, and took their
+hats off; for father was Prince and Ruler of the country, consequently
+they themselves were Prince and Princess--undoubtedly in precisely the
+same sense as were the princes and princesses in the French stories
+which their Swiss governess told them. That was worth consideration, it
+was at any rate a peculiar occurrence. When other children heard the
+stories, they necessarily regarded the princes which figured in them
+from a great distance, and as solemn beings whose rank was a
+glorification of reality and with whom to concern themselves was
+undoubtedly a chastening of their thoughts, and an escape from the
+ordinary existence. But Klaus Heinrich and Ditlinde regarded the heroes
+of the stories as their own equals and fellows, they breathed the same
+air as them, they lived in a schloss like them, they stood on a
+fraternal footing with them, and were justified in identifying
+themselves with them. Was it their lot, then, to live always and
+continually on the height to which others only climbed when stories were
+being told to them? The Swiss governess, true to her general principles,
+would have found it impossible to deny it, if the children had asked the
+question in so many words.
+
+The Swiss governess was the widow of a Calvinistic minister and was in
+charge of both children, each of whom had two lady's maids as well. She
+was black and white throughout: her cap was white and her dress black,
+her face was white, with white warts on one cheek, and her smooth hair
+had a mixed black-and-white metallic sheen. She was very precise and
+easily put out. When things happened which, though quite without danger,
+could not be allowed, she clasped her white hands and turned her eyes up
+to heaven. But her quietest and severest mode of punishment for serious
+occasions was to "look sadly" at the children--implying that they had
+lost their self-respect. On a fixed day she began, on a hint from higher
+quarters, to address Klaus Heinrich and Ditlinde as "Grand Ducal
+Highness," and from that day she was more easily put out than before....
+
+But Albrecht was called "Royal Highness." Aunt Catherine's children were
+members of the family only on the distaff side, and so were of less
+importance. But Albrecht was Crown Prince and Heir Apparent, so that it
+was not at all unfitting that he should look so pale and distant and
+keep so much to his bed. He wore Austrian coats with flap pockets and
+cut long behind. His head had a big bump at the back and narrow temples,
+and he had a long face. While still quite young he had come through a
+serious illness, which, in the opinion of Surgeon-General Eschrich, was
+the reason for his heart having "shifted over to the right." However
+that might be, he had seen Death face to face, a fact which had probably
+intensified the shy dignity which was natural to him. He seemed to be
+extremely standoffish, cold from embarrassment, and proud from lack of
+graciousness. He lisped a little and then blushed at doing so, because
+he was always criticizing himself. His shoulder-blades were a little
+uneven. One of his eyes had some weakness or other, so that he used
+glasses for writing his exercises, which helped to make him look old and
+wise.... Albrecht's tutor, Doctor Veit, a man with hanging mud-coloured
+moustaches, hollow cheeks, and wan eyes unnaturally far apart, was
+always at his left hand. Doctor Veit was always dressed in black, and
+carried a book dangling down his thigh, with his index-finger thrust
+between its leaves.
+
+Klaus Heinrich felt that Albrecht did not care much for him, and he saw
+that it was not only because of his inferiority in years. He himself was
+tender-hearted and prone to tears, that was his nature. He cried, when
+anybody "looked sadly" at him, and when he knocked his forehead against
+a corner of the nursery table, so that it bled, he howled from sympathy
+with his forehead. But Albrecht had faced Death, yet never cried on any
+condition. He stuck his short, rounded underlip a little forward, and
+sucked it lightly against the upper one--that was all. He was most
+superior. The Swiss governess referred in so many words to him in
+matters of _comme il faut_ as a model. He had never allowed himself to
+converse with the gorgeous creatures who belonged to the court, not
+exactly men and human beings, but lackeys--as Klaus Heinrich had
+sometimes done in unguarded moments. For Albrecht was not curious. The
+look in his eyes was that of a lonely boy, who had no wish to let the
+world intrude upon him. Klaus Heinrich, on the contrary, chatted with
+the lackeys from that same wish, and from an urgent though perhaps
+dangerous and improper desire to feel some contact with what lay outside
+the charmed circle. But the lackeys, young and old, at the doors, in the
+corridors and the passage-rooms, with their sand-coloured gaiters and
+brown coats, on the red-gold lace of which the same little crown as on
+the carriage doors was repeated again and again--they straightened their
+knees when Klaus Heinrich chatted to them, laid their great hands on the
+seams of the thick velvet breeches, bent a little forward towards him,
+so that the aiguillettes dangled from their shoulders, and returned
+various, highly proper answers, the most important part of which was the
+address "Grand Ducal Highness," and smiled as they did so with an
+expression of cautious sympathy, which recalled the words of the old
+song, "The lad that is born to be king." Sometimes when he got the
+chance, Klaus Heinrich went on voyages of discovery in uninhabited parts
+of the schloss, with Ditlinde, his sister, when she was old enough.
+
+At that time he was having lessons from Schulrat Dröge, Rector of the
+city schools, who was chosen to be his first tutor. Schulrat Dröge was a
+born pedagogue. His index-finger, with its folds of dry skin and gold
+stoneless signet-ring, followed the line of print when Klaus Heinrich
+read, waiting before going on to the next word until the preceding one
+had been read. He came in a frock-coat and white waistcoat, with the
+ribbon of some inferior order in his button-hole, and in broad shiny
+boots with brown upper-leathers. He wore a pointed grey beard, and bushy
+grey hair grew out of his big, broad ears. His brown hair was brushed up
+into points on his temples, and so precisely parted as to show clearly
+his yellow dry scalp, which was full of holes like canvas. But thin grey
+hair was visible under the strong brown hair behind and at the sides. He
+bowed slightly to the lackeys who opened the door for him to the big
+schoolroom at whose table Klaus Heinrich sat waiting for him. But to
+Klaus Heinrich he did not confine himself to a superficial bow as he
+entered the room, but made a pronounced and deliberate bow before he
+came up to him, and waited for his exalted pupil to offer him his hand.
+This Klaus Heinrich did; and the fact that he did so twice, not only
+when he greeted him, but also when he took his departure, just in the
+graceful and winning way in which he had seen his father give his hand
+to those who expected it, seemed to him far more important and essential
+than all the instruction which came between the two ceremonies.
+
+After Schulrat Dröge had come and gone any number of times, Klaus
+Heinrich had imperceptibly gained a knowledge of all sorts of practical
+things: to everybody's surprise he was quite at home in every kind of
+reading, writing, and arithmetic, and could reel off to order the names
+of the towns in the Grand Duchy pretty well without an omission. But, as
+has been said, this was not what was in his opinion really necessary and
+essential for him. From time to time, when he was inattentive at his
+lessons, the Schulrat rebuked him with a reference to his exalted
+calling. "Your exalted calling requires you ..." he would say or: "You
+owe it to your exalted calling...." What was his calling, and how was it
+exalted? Why did the lackeys smile as if to say, "The lad that is born
+to be king," and why was his governess so much put out when he let
+himself go a little in speech or action? He looked round him, and at
+times, when he looked steadily and long and forced himself to probe the
+essence of the phenomena around him, a dim apprehension arose in him of
+the "aloofness" of his position.
+
+He was standing in one of the "gala rooms," the Silver Hall, in which,
+as he knew, his father the Grand Duke received solemn deputations--he
+happened to have wandered into it by himself and he took stock of his
+surroundings.
+
+It was winter-time and cold, his little shoes were reflected in the
+glass-clear yellow squares of the parquet which spread like a sheet of
+ice before him. The ceiling, covered with silvered arabesque-work, was
+so high that a long metal shaft was necessary to allow the many-armed
+silver chandelier with its forest of tall white candles to swing in the
+middle of the great space. Below the ceiling came silver-framed
+coats-of-arms in faded colours. The walls were edged with silver, and
+hung with white silk with yellow spots, not to mention a split here and
+there. A sort of monumental baldachin, resting on two strong silver
+columns and decorated in front with a silver garland, broken in two
+places, from the top of which looked down a portrait of a deceased,
+powdered ancestress draped in imitation ermine, formed the
+chimney-piece. On each side of the fireplace were broad silvered
+arm-chairs upholstered in torn white silk. On the side walls opposite
+each other towered enormous silver-framed mirrors, whose glass was
+covered with blind spots, and on each side of whose broad white marble
+ledges stood two candelabra which carried big white candles like the
+sconces on the walls all round, and like the four silver candlesticks
+which stood in the corners. Before the high windows to the right,
+looking over the Albrechtsplatz, whose outer ledges were covered with
+snow, white silk curtains, yellow spotted, with silver cords and trimmed
+with lace, fell in rich, and heavy folds to the floor. In the middle of
+the room, under the chandelier, a moderate-sized table, with a pedestal
+made like a knobby silver tree-stump and a top made of eight triangles
+of opaque mother-of-pearl, stood useless, as there were no chairs round
+it, and it could only serve, and be meant to serve, at the very best, as
+a support for your Highness, when the lackeys opened the doors and
+ushered in the solemn figures in Court dress who came to present their
+respects to you....
+
+Klaus Heinrich looked round the hall, and clearly saw that there was
+nothing here which reminded him of the realities which Schulrat Dröge,
+for all his bows, was always impressing upon him. Here all was Sunday
+and solemnity, just as in church, where also he would have felt the
+calls made on him by his tutor out of place. Everything here was severe
+and empty show and a formal symmetry, self-sufficient, pointless, and
+uncomfortable--whose functions were obviously to create an atmosphere of
+awe and tension, not of freedom and ease, to inculcate an attitude of
+decorum and discreet self-obliteration towards an unnamed object. And it
+was cold in the silver hall--cold as in the halls of the snow-king,
+where the children's hearts froze stiff.
+
+Klaus Heinrich walked over the glassy floor and stood at the table in
+the middle. He laid his right hand lightly on the mother-of-pearl table,
+and placed the left hand on his hip, so far behind that it rested almost
+in the small of his back, and was not visible from in front, for it was
+an ugly sight, brown and wrinkled, and had not kept pace with the right
+in its growth. He stood resting on one leg, with the other a little
+advanced, and kept his eyes fixed on the silver ornaments of the door.
+It was not the place nor the attitude for dreaming, and yet he dreamed.
+
+He saw his father, and looked at him as he looked at the hall, to try to
+grasp his meaning. He saw the dull haughtiness of his blue eyes, the
+furrows which, proudly and morosely, ran from nostril down to his beard,
+and were often deepened or accentuated by weariness and boredom....
+Nobody dared to address him or to go freely up to him and speak to him
+unasked--not even the children: it was forbidden, it was dangerous. He
+answered, it is true: but he answered distantly and coldly, a look of
+helplessness, of _gêne_, passed over his face, which Klaus Heinrich was
+quite able to understand.
+
+Papa made a speech and sent his petitioners away; that is what always
+happened. He gave an audience at the beginning of the Court ball, and at
+the end of the dinner with which the winter began. He went with mamma
+through the rooms and halls, in which the members of the Court were
+gathered, went through the Marble Hall and the Gala Rooms, through the
+Picture Gallery, the Hall of the Knights, the Hall of the Twelve Months,
+the Audience Chamber, and the Ball-room--went not only in a fixed
+direction, but along a fixed path which bustling Herr von Bühl kept free
+for him, and addressed a few words to the assembled throng. Whoever was
+addressed by him bowed low, left a space of parquet between himself and
+papa, and answered soberly and with signs of gratification. Thereupon
+papa greeted them over the intervening space, from the stronghold of
+precise regulations which prescribed the others' movements and warranted
+his own attitude, greeted them smilingly and lightly and passed on.
+Smilingly and lightly.... Of course, of course, Klaus Heinrich quite
+understood it, the look of helplessness which passed for one moment over
+papa's face when anybody was impetuous enough to address him
+unasked--understood it, and shared his feeling of _gêne_! It wounded
+something, some soft, virgin envelope of our existence which was so
+essential to it that we stood helpless when anybody roughly broke
+through it. And yet it was this same something which made our eyes so
+dull, and gave us those deep furrows of boredom....
+
+Klaus Heinrich stood and saw--he saw his mother and her beauty, which
+was famed and extolled far and wide. He saw her standing _en robe de
+ceremonie_, in front of her great candle-lighted glass, for sometimes,
+on solemn occasions, he was allowed to be present when the Court
+hairdresser and the bed-chamber women put the last touches to her
+toilette. Herr von Knobelsdorff also was present when mamma put on
+jewels from the Crown regalia, watched and noted down the stones which
+she decided to use. With all the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes
+showing, he would make mamma laugh with his droll remarks, so that her
+soft cheeks filled with lovely little dimples. But her laugh was full of
+art and grace, and she looked in the glass as she laughed, as if she
+were practising it.
+
+People said that Slav blood flowed in her veins, and that it was that
+which gave the sweet radiance to her deep-blue eyes and the night of her
+raven hair. Klaus Heinrich was like her, so he heard people say, in that
+he too had steel-blue eyes with dark hair, while Albrecht and Ditlinde
+were fair, just as papa had been before his hair turned grey. But he was
+far from handsome, owing to the breadth of his cheek-bones, and
+especially to his left hand, which mamma was always reminding him to
+hide adroitly, in the side-pocket of his coat, behind his back, or under
+the breast of his jacket--especially when his affectionate impulses
+prompted him to throw both his arms round her. Her look was cold when
+she bade him mind his hand.
+
+He saw her as she was in the picture in the Marble Hall: in a short silk
+dress with lace flounces and long gloves, which showed only a glimpse of
+her ivory arm under her puffed sleeves, a diadem in the night of her
+hair, her stately form erect, a smile of cool perfection on her
+strangely hard lips--and behind her the metallic-blue wheel of a
+peacock's tail. Her face was soft, but its beauty made it stern, and it
+was easy to see that her heart too was stern and absorbed in her beauty.
+She slept far into the day when a ball or party was in prospect, and ate
+only yolks of eggs, so as not to overload herself. Then in the evening
+she was radiant as she walked on papa's arm along the prescribed path
+through the halls--grey-haired dignitaries blushed when they were
+addressed by her, and the _Courier_ reported that it was not only
+because of her exalted rank that her Royal Highness had been the queen
+of the ball. Yes, people felt happier for the sight of her, whether it
+was at the Court or outside in the streets, or in the afternoon driving
+or riding in the park--and their cheeks kindled. Flowers and cheers met
+her, all hearts went out to her, and it was clear that the people in
+cheering her were cheering themselves, and that their glad cries meant
+that they were cheered and elevated by the sight of her. But Klaus
+Heinrich knew well that mamma had spent long, anxious hours on her
+beauty, that there was practice and method in her smiles and greetings,
+and that her own pulse beat never the quicker for anything or anyone.
+
+Did she love anyone--himself, Klaus Heinrich, for instance, for all his
+likeness to her? Why, of course she did, when she had time to, even when
+she coldly reminded him of his hand. But it seemed as if she reserved
+any expression or sign of her tender feelings for occasions when
+lookers-on were present who were likely to be edified by them. Klaus
+Heinrich and Ditlinde did not often come into contact with their mother,
+chiefly because they, unlike Albrecht, the Heir Apparent, for some time
+past, did not have their meals at their parents' table, but apart with
+the Swiss governess; and when they were summoned to mamma's boudoir,
+which happened once a week, the interview consisted in a few casual
+questions and polite answers--giving no scope for displays of feeling,
+while its whole drift seemed to be the proper way to sit in an arm-chair
+with a teacup full of milk.
+
+But at the concerts which took place in the Marble Hall every other
+Thursday under the name of "The Grand Duchess's Thursdays," and were so
+arranged that the Court sat at little gilt-legged velvet-covered tables,
+while the leading tenor Schramm from the Court Theatre, accompanied by
+an orchestra, sang so lustily that the veins swelled on his bald
+temples--at the concerts Klaus Heinrich and Ditlinde, in their best
+clothes, were sometimes allowed in the Hall for one song and the
+succeeding pause, when mamma showed how fond she was of them, showed it
+to them and to everybody else in so heartfelt and expressive a way that
+nobody could have any doubt about it. She summoned them to the table at
+which she sat, and told them with a happy smile to sit beside her, laid
+their cheeks on her shoulders or bosom, looked at them with a soft,
+soulful look in her eyes and kissed them both on forehead and mouth.
+Then the ladies bent their heads and their eyelids quivered, while the
+men slowly nodded and bit their lips in order, in manly wise, to
+restrain their emotions.... Yes, it was beautiful, and the children felt
+they had their share in the effect, which was greater than anything
+Schramm the singer could procure with his most inspired notes, and
+nestled close to mamma. For Klaus Heinrich at last realized that it was
+in the nature of things, no business of ours, to have a simple feeling
+and to be made happy by it, but that it was our duty to make our
+tenderness visible to the Hall and to exhibit it, that the hearts of our
+guests might swell.
+
+Occasionally the people outside in the town and park also were allowed
+to see that mamma loved us. For while Albrecht drove or rode--bad rider
+though he was--with the Grand Duke early in the morning, Klaus Heinrich
+and Ditlinde had from time to time to take turns at accompanying mamma
+on her drives, which took place in the spring and autumn at the time of
+the afternoon promenade, with Baroness von Schulenburg-Tressen in
+attendance. Klaus Heinrich was a little excited and feverish before
+these drives, to which unfortunately no enjoyment, but on the contrary a
+great deal of trouble and effort attached. For, directly the open
+carriage came out through the Lions Gate on to the Albrechtsplatz, past
+the grenadiers at the "present," there were a lot of people collected,
+waiting for it--men, women, and children, who shouted and stared full of
+curiosity; and that meant pulling oneself together, sitting up erect,
+smiling, hiding the left hand, and saluting in such a way as to make the
+people happy. And so it went on right through the city and the fields.
+Other vehicles were obliged to keep away from ours; the police looked to
+that. But the foot-passengers stood on the kerb, the women curtseyed,
+the men took off their hats and looked with eyes full of devotion and
+importunate curiosity,--and this was the impression Klaus Heinrich got:
+that they all were there just to be there and to stare, while he was
+there to show himself and to be stared at; and his was far the harder
+part. He kept his left hand in his coat-pocket and smiled as mamma
+wished him to, while he felt that his cheeks were aglow. But the
+_Courier_ reported that the rosy redness of our little duke's cheeks
+showed what a healthy boy he was.
+
+Klaus Heinrich was thirteen years old when he stood at the solitary
+mother-of-pearl table in the middle of the cold silver hall, and tried
+to probe the reality of things around him. And as he scrutinized the
+various phenomena: the empty, torn pride of the room, aimless and
+uncomfortable, the symmetry of the white candles, which seemed to
+express awe and tension and discreet self-obliteration, the passing
+shadow on his father's face when anybody addressed him unasked, the cool
+and calculated beauty of his mother, whose one object was admiration,
+the devoted and importunately curious gaze of the people outside--then a
+suspicion seized him, a vague and approximate conception of his
+situation. But simultaneously horror seized him, terror at such a
+destiny, a dread of his "exalted calling," so strong that he turned
+round and covered his eyes with both his hands--both, the little
+wrinkled left one too--and sank down at the lonely table and cried,
+cried from sympathy with himself and his heart--till they came, and
+wrung their hands and turned their eyes up to heaven and questioned him,
+and led him away.... He gave out that he had been frightened, and that
+was quite true.
+
+He had known nothing, understood nothing, suspected nothing of the
+difficulty and sternness of the life prescribed for him; he had been
+merry and careless, and had given his guardians many a scare. But there
+was no resisting the impressions which soon came thronging upon him and
+forcing him to open his eyes to the real state of things. In the
+northern suburbs, not far from the spa-gardens, a new road had been
+opened: people told him that the City Council had decided to call it
+"Klaus Heinrich Strasse." Once when driving out with his mother and he
+called at a picture-dealer's, they wanted to buy something. The footman
+waited at the carriage door, the public gathered round, the
+picture-dealer bustled about--there was nothing new in all that. But
+Klaus Heinrich for the first time noticed his photograph in the shop
+window. It was hanging next those of artists and great men, men with
+lofty brows, with a look of the loneliness of fame in their eyes.
+
+People were satisfied with him on the whole. He gained dignity with
+years, and self-possession under the pressure of his exalted calling.
+But the strange thing was that his longing increased at the same time:
+that roving inquisitiveness which Schulrat Dröge was not the man to
+satisfy, and which had impelled him to chat with the lackeys. He had
+given up doing that; it did not lead to anything. They smiled at him,
+confirming him by that very laugh in the suspicion that his world of the
+symmetrically marshalled candles presented an unconscious antithesis to
+the world outside, but they were no manner of help to him. He looked
+round about him on the expeditions, in the walks he took through the
+town gardens with Ditlinde and the Swiss governess, followed by a
+lackey. He felt that if they were all of one mind to stare at him, while
+he was all alone and made conspicuous just to be stared at, he also had
+no share in their being and doing. He realized that they presumably were
+not always as he saw them, when they stood and greeted him with
+deferential looks; that it must be his birth and upbringing which made
+their looks deferential, and that it was with them as with the children
+when they heard about fairy princes, and were thereby refined and
+elevated above their work-a-day selves. But he did not know what they
+looked like and were when they were not refined and elevated above their
+work-a-day selves--his "exalted calling" concealed this from him, and it
+was a dangerous and improper wish to allow his heart to be moved by
+things which his exaltedness concealed from him. And yet he wished it,
+he wished it from a jealousy and that roving inquisitiveness which
+sometimes drove him to undertake voyages of exploration into unknown
+regions of the old Schloss, with Ditlinde his sister, when the
+opportunity offered.
+
+They called it "rummaging," and great was the charm of "rummaging"; for
+it was difficult to acquire familiarity with the ground-plan and
+structure of the old Schloss, and every time they penetrated far enough
+into the remoter parts they found rooms, closets, and empty halls which
+they had not yet trodden, or strange round-about ways to already-known
+rooms. But once when thus wandering about they had a rencontre, an
+adventure befell them, which made a great impression on Klaus Heinrich,
+though he did not show it, and opened his eyes.
+
+The opportunity came. While the Swiss governess was absent on leave to
+attend the evening service, they had drunk their milk from tea-cups with
+the Grand Duchess, accompanied by the two ladies-in-waiting, had been
+dismissed and directed to go back hand-in-hand to their ordinary
+occupations in the nursery, which lay not far off. It was thought that
+they needed nobody to go with them; Klaus Heinrich was old enough to
+take care of Ditlinde, of course. He was; and in the corridor he said:
+"Yes, Ditlinde, we will certainly go back to the nursery, but we need
+not go, you know, the shortest, dullest way. We'll rummage a bit first.
+If you go up one step and follow the corridor as far as where the arches
+begin, you'll find a hall with pillars behind them, and if you go out of
+one of the doors of the hall with pillars--clamber up the corkscrew
+staircase, you come to a room with a wooden roof; and there are lots of
+funny things lying about there. But I don't know what comes after the
+room, and that's what we've got to find out. So let's go."
+
+"Yes, let's," said Ditlinde, "but not too far, Klaus Heinrich, and not
+where it's too dusty, for this dress shows everything."
+
+She was wearing a dress of dark-red velvet, trimmed with satin of the
+same colour. She had at that time dimples in her elbows, and light
+golden hair, that curled round her ears like ram's horns. In after years
+she was pale and thin. She too had the broad, rather over-prominent
+cheek-bones of her father and nation, but they were not accentuated, so
+that they did not spoil the lines of her face. But with Klaus Heinrich
+they were strong and emphatic, so that they seemed somewhat to encroach
+upon, to narrow and to lengthen his steel-coloured eyes. His dark hair
+was smoothly parted, cut in a careful rectangle on the temples, and
+brushed straight back from the forehead. He wore an open jacket with a
+waistcoat buttoning at the throat and a white turn-down collar. In his
+right hand he held Ditlinde's little hand, but his left arm hung down,
+with its brown, wrinkled, and undeveloped hand, thin and short from the
+shoulder. He was glad that he could let it hang without bothering to
+conceal it; for there was nobody there to stare and to require to be
+elevated and inspired, and he himself might stare and examine to his
+heart's content.
+
+So they went and rummaged as they liked. Quiet reigned in the corridors,
+and they saw hardly a lackey in the distance. They climbed up a
+staircase and followed the passage till they came to the arches, showing
+that they were in the part of the Schloss which dated from the time of
+John the Headstrong and Heinrich the Confessor, as Klaus Heinrich knew
+and explained. They came to the hall of the pillars, and Klaus Heinrich
+there whistled several notes close after each other, for the first were
+still sounding when the last came, and so a clear chord rang under the
+vaulted ceiling. They scrambled groping and often on hands and knees up
+the stone winding staircase which opened behind one of the heavy doors,
+and reached the room with the wooden ceiling, in which there were
+several strange objects. There were some broken muskets of clumsy size
+with thickly rusted locks, which had been too bad for the museum, and a
+discarded throne with torn red velvet cushions, short wide-splayed
+lion-legs, and cupids hovering over the chair-back, bearing a crown.
+Then there was a wicked-looking, dusty, cage-like, and horribly
+interesting thing, which intrigued them much and long. If they were not
+quite mistaken, it was a rat-trap, for they could see the iron spike to
+put the bacon on, and it was dreadful to think how the trap-door must
+fall down behind the great beast.... Yes, this took time, and when they
+stood up after examining the rat-trap their faces were hot, and their
+clothes stiff with rust and dust. Klaus Heinrich brushed them both down,
+but that did not do much good, for his hands were as filthy as his
+clothes. And suddenly they saw that dusk had begun to fall. They must
+return quickly, Ditlinde insisted anxiously on that; it was too late to
+go any farther.
+
+"That's an awful pity," said Klaus Heinrich. "Who knows what else we
+mightn't have found, and when we shall get another chance of rummaging,
+Ditlinde!" But he followed his sister and they hurried back down the
+turret-stairs, crossed the hall of the pillars, and came out into the
+arcade, intending to hurry home hand-in-hand.
+
+Thus they wandered on for a time; but Klaus Heinrich shook his head, for
+it seemed to him that this was not the way he had come. They went still
+farther; but several signs told them that they had mistaken their
+direction. This stone seat with the griffin-heads was not standing here
+before. That pointed window looked to the west over the low-lying
+quarter of the town and not over the inner courtyard with the rose-bush.
+They were going wrong, it was no use denying it; perhaps they had left
+the hall of the pillars by a wrong exit--anyhow they had absolutely lost
+their way.
+
+They went back a little, but their disquietude would not allow them to
+go very far back, so they turned right about again, and decided to push
+on the way they had already come, and to trust to luck. Their way lay
+through a damp, stuffy atmosphere, and great undisturbed cobwebs
+stretched across the corners; they went with heavy hearts, and Ditlinde
+especially was full of repentance and on the brink of tears. People
+would notice her absence, would "look sadly" at her, perhaps even tell
+the Grand Duke; they would never find the way, would be forgotten and
+die of hunger. And where there was a rat-trap, Klaus Heinrich, there
+were also rats.... Klaus Heinrich comforted her. They only had to find
+the place where the armour and crossed standards hung; from that point
+he was quite sure of the direction. And suddenly--they had just passed a
+bend in the winding passage--suddenly something happened. It startled
+them dreadfully.
+
+What they had heard was more than the echo of their own steps, they were
+other, strange steps, heavier than theirs; they came towards them now
+quickly, now hesitatingly, and were accompanied by a snorting and
+grumbling which made their blood run cold. Ditlinde made as if to run
+away from fright: but Klaus Heinrich would not let go her hand, and they
+stood with starting eyes waiting for what was coming.
+
+It was a man who was just visible in the half-darkness, and, calmly
+considered, his appearance was not horrifying. He was squat in figure,
+and dressed like a veteran soldier. He wore a frock-coat of
+old-fashioned cut, a woollen comforter round his neck and a medal on his
+breast. He held in one hand a curly top-hat and in the other the bone
+handle of his clumsily rolled-up umbrella, which he tapped on the flags
+in time with his steps. His thin grey hair was plastered up from one ear
+in wisps over his skull. He had bow-shaped black eyebrows, and a
+yellow-white beard, which grew like the Grand Duke's, heavy upper-lids,
+and watery blue eyes with pouches of withered skin under them; he had
+the usual high cheek-bones, and the furrows of his sun-burnt face were
+like crevasses. When he had come quite close he seemed to recognize the
+children, for he placed himself against the outer wall of the passage,
+at once fronted round and began to make a number of bows, consisting of
+several short forward jerks of his whole body from the feet upwards,
+while he imparted a look of honesty to his mouth and held his top-hat
+crown-downwards in front of him. Klaus Heinrich meant to pass him by
+with a nod, but was surprised into halting, for the veteran began to
+speak.
+
+"I beg pardon!" he suddenly grunted; then went on in a more natural
+voice: "I earnestly beg your young Highnesses' pardon! But would your
+young Highnesses take it amiss if I addressed to them the request that
+they would very kindly acquaint me with the nearest way to the nearest
+exit? It need not actually be the Albrechtstor--not in the least
+necessary that it should be the Albrechtstor. But any exit from the
+Schloss, if I dare be so free as to address this inquiry to your young
+Highnesses...."
+
+Klaus Heinrich had laid his left hand on his hip, right behind, so that
+it lay almost in his back, and looked at the ground. The man had simply
+spoken to him, had engaged him directly and unavoidably in conversation;
+he thought of his father and knitted his brows. He pondered feverishly
+over the question how he ought to behave in this topsy-turvy and
+incorrect situation. Albrecht would have pursed up his mouth, sucked
+with his short, rounded under-lip lightly against the upper, and passed
+on in silence--so much was certain. But what was the use of rummaging if
+at the first serious adventure one intended to pass on in dignity and
+dudgeon? And the man was honest, and had nothing wicked about him: that
+Klaus Heinrich could see when he forced himself to raise his eyes. He
+simply said: "You come with us, that's the best way. I will willingly
+show you where you must turn off to get to an exit." And they went on.
+
+"Thanks!" said the man. "Ever so many thanks for your kindness! Heaven
+knows I should never have thought that I should live to walk about the
+Old Schloss one day with your young Highnesses. But there it is, and
+after all my annoyance--for I have been annoyed, terribly annoyed,
+that's true and certain--after all my annoyance I have at any rate this
+honour and this satisfaction."
+
+Klaus Heinrich longed to ask what might have been the reason for so much
+annoyance; but the veteran went straight on (and tapped his umbrella in
+regular time on the flags as he went). "... and I recognized your young
+Highnesses at once, although it is a bit dark here in the passage, for I
+have seen you many a time in the carriage, and was always delighted, for
+I myself have just such a couple of brats at home--I mean to say, mine
+are brats, mine are ... and the boy is called Klaus Heinrich too."
+
+"Just like me?" said Klaus Heinrich, overjoyed.... "What luck!"
+
+"There's no luck about it," said the man, "considering he was named
+expressly after you, for he is a couple of months younger than you, and
+there are lots of children in the town and country who are called that,
+and all of them after you. No, one can hardly call it luck...."
+
+Klaus Heinrich concealed his hand and remained silent.
+
+"Yes, recognized you at once," said the man. "And I thought, thank
+Heaven, thought I, that's what I call fortune in misfortune, and they'll
+help you out of the trap into which you have stuck your nose, you old
+blockhead, and you've good reason to laugh, thought I, for there's many
+a one has trudged about here and been guyed by those popinjays, and
+hasn't got out of it so well...."
+
+Popinjays? thought Klaus Heinrich ... and guyed? He looked straight in
+front of him, he did not dare to ask. A fear, a hope struck him.... He
+said quite simply: "They ... they guyed you?"
+
+"Not half!" said the man. "I should think they did, the ogres, and no
+mistake! But I don't mind telling your young Highnesses, young though
+you are, but it'll do you good to hear it, that these people here are a
+set of wasters. A man comes and delivers his work as respectfully as
+possible.... Yes, bless my soul!" he cried suddenly, and tapped his
+forehead with his hat. "I haven't yet introduced myself to your young
+Highnesses and told you who I am, have I?--Hinnerke!" he said,
+"Master-cobbler Hinnerke, Royal warrant-holder, pensioner and
+medallist." And he pointed with the index-finger of his great, rough,
+yellow-spotted hand to the medal on his breast. "The fact is, that his
+Royal Highness, your father, has been graciously pleased to order a pair
+of boots from me, top-boots, riding-boots, with spurs, and made of the
+best quality patent-leather. They're my speciality, and I made them
+myself and took a lot of trouble about them, and they were ready to-day
+and ever so smart. 'You must go yourself,' says I to myself.... I have a
+boy who delivers, but I says to myself: 'You must go yourself, they are
+for the Grand Duke.' So I rig myself out and take my boots and go to the
+Schloss. 'All right,' say the lackeys down below, and want to take them
+from me, 'No!' say I, for I don't trust them. It's my reputation gets me
+my orders and my warrant, let me tell your Highnesses, not because I tip
+the lackeys. But the fellows are spoilt by tips from the
+warrant-holders, and want to get something out of me for their trouble.
+'No,' say I, for I'm not a one for bribing and underhand dealings, 'I'll
+deliver them myself, and if I can't give them to the Grand Duke himself,
+I'll give them to Valet Prahl.' They looked daggers, but they say: 'Then
+you must go up there!' And I go up there. There are some more of them up
+there, and they say 'All right!' and want to take charge of the boots,
+but I ask for Prahl and stick to it. They say: 'He's having his tea,'
+but I'm determined and say, 'Then I'll wait till he's finished.' And
+just as I say it, who comes by in his buckled shoes but Valet Prahl. And
+he sees me, and I give him the boots with a few modest words, and he
+says 'All right!' and actually adds: 'They're fine!' and nods and takes
+them off. Now I'm satisfied, for Prahl, he's safe, so off I go. 'Hi!'
+cries somebody. 'Mr. Hinnerke! You're going wrong!' 'Damn!' says I, and
+right about, and go off in the other direction. But that was the
+stupidest thing I could do, for they had sent me to Jericho, and that's
+just where I don't want to go. I walk on a bit and meet another one, and
+ask him the way to the Albrechtstor. But he spots at once what's up, and
+says: 'Go up the stairs, and then keep to the left and then down again,
+and you'll cut off a large corner!' And I believe he means it kindly and
+do what he says, and get more and more muddled and altogether lose my
+bearings. Then I see that it's not my fault, but the rogues', and it
+strikes me that I have heard that they often play that trick on Court
+tradesmen who don't tip them, and let them wander about till they sweat.
+And my fury makes me blind and stupid, and I get to places where there's
+not a living soul, and don't know where I am and get properly put about.
+And at last I meet your young Highnesses. Yes, that's how it is with me
+and my boots!" ended Shoemaker Hinnerke, and wiped his forehead with the
+back of his hand.
+
+Klaus Heinrich squeezed Ditlinde's hand. His heart beat so loud that he
+absolutely forgot to hide his left hand. That was it. That was a touch
+of it, an outline! No doubt about it, that was the sort of thing his
+"exalted calling" shielded him from, the sort of thing people did when
+they were in the ordinary, work-a-day frame of mind. The lackeys.... He
+said nothing, words failed him.
+
+"I see that your young Highnesses don't answer," said the shoemaker. And
+his honest voice was filled with emotion. "I oughtn't to have told you,
+because it isn't your business to get to know all the wickedness that
+goes on. But yet I don't know," he said, laid his head on one side and
+snapped his fingers, "that it can do any harm, that it can do you any
+harm for the future and later on...."
+
+"The lackeys ..." said Klaus Heinrich, and took a plunge ... "are they
+wicked? I can quite well fancy ..."
+
+"Wicked?" said the cobbler. "Good-for-nothings they are. That's the name
+for them. Do you know what they're good for? They keep the goods back
+when no tip's forthcoming, keep them back when the tradesman delivers
+them punctually at the time ordered, and only hand them over days late,
+so that the tradesman gets blamed, and is considered by the Grand Duke
+to have failed in his duty and he loses his orders. That's what they do
+without scruple, and the whole town knows it...."
+
+"That's most annoying!" said Klaus Heinrich. He listened, listened. He
+hardly realized how much shocked he was. "Do they do anything else?" he
+said. "I'm quite sure they must do other things of the same kind."
+
+"You bet!" said the man, and laughed. "No, they don't miss a chance, let
+me tell your Highnesses, they have all sorts of dodges. There's the
+door-opening joke, for instance.... That's like this. Your father, our
+gracious Grand Duke, grants an audience to somebody, let's suppose he's
+a new hand and it's his first time at Court. And he comes in a frock
+coat all sweat and shivers, for it is of course no trifle to stand
+before his Royal Highness for the first time. And the lackeys laugh at
+him, because they're quite at home here, and tow him into the ante-room,
+and he doesn't know where he is, and absolutely forgets to tip the
+lackeys. But then comes his moment, and the adjutant says his name, and
+the lackeys throw open the double-doors and let him into the room in
+which the Grand Duke is waiting. Then the new hand stands there and bows
+and says what he has to say, and the Grand Duke graciously gives him his
+hand, and so he is dismissed and walks backwards, and thinks the
+folding-doors are going to open behind him, as he has been definitely
+promised. But they don't open, I tell your Highnesses, for the lackeys
+have got their knife into him, because they haven't been tipped, and
+don't stir a finger for him outside there. But he daren't turn round,
+absolutely daren't, because he daren't show the Grand Duke his back,
+that would be grossly bad manners and an insult to his Highness. And
+then he feels behind him for the door-handle and can't find it, and gets
+the jumps and scrabbles around on the door, and when at last by the
+mercy of Providence he finds the knob it's an old-fashioned lock, and he
+doesn't understand it and fiddles and dislocates his arm and tires
+himself out and keeps bowing all the time in his agitation, until at
+last his Highness graciously lets him out with his own hand. Yes, that's
+the door-opening joke! But that's nothing to what I'm going to tell your
+Highness...."
+
+They had been so deep in conversation that they had scarcely noticed
+where they were going, had gone down the stairs and reached the
+ground-floor, close to the Albrechtstor. Eiermann, one of the Grand
+Duchess's grooms-of-the-chamber, came towards them. He wore a violet
+coat and side-whiskers. He had been sent out to look for their Grand
+Ducal Highnesses. He shook his head while still at a distance, in lively
+concern, and pursed his mouth up like a funnel. But when he noticed
+Shoemaker Hinnerke walking with the children and tapping with his
+umbrella, all the muscles of his face relaxed and his jaw dropped.
+
+There was scarcely time for thanks and farewells, Eiermann was in such a
+hurry to part the children from the shoemaker. And with many a gloomy
+prophecy he led their Grand Ducal Highnesses up to their room to the
+Swiss governess.
+
+Eyes were turned to heaven, hands were wrung about their absence and the
+state of their clothes. The worst of all happened, they were "looked at
+sadly." But Klaus Heinrich confined his contrition to the bare minimum.
+He thought: "So the lackeys took money and let the tradesmen wander
+about the corridors if they did not get any, kept the goods back, that
+the tradesmen might get blamed, and did not open the folding-doors, so
+that the suitor had to scrabble. That's what happened in the Schloss,
+and what must it be outside? Outside among the people who stared at him
+so respectfully and so strangely, when he drove by with his hand to his
+hat ...? But how had the man dared to tell it him? Not one single time
+had he called him Grand Ducal Highness; he had forced himself on him and
+offended his birth and upbringing. And yet, why was it so
+extraordinarily pleasant to hear all that about the lackeys? Why did his
+heart beat with such rapt pleasure, when moved by some of the wild and
+bold things in which his Highness bore no part?"
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+DOCTOR UEBERBEIN
+
+
+Klaus Heinrich spent three of his boyhood's years in the company of boys
+of his own age of the Court and country nobility of the monarchy in an
+institution, a kind of aristocratic seminary, which von Knobelsdorff,
+the House Minister, had founded and set in order on his behalf in the
+"Pheasantry" hunting-schloss.
+
+A Crown property for centuries past, Schloss "Pheasantry" gave its name
+to the first stopping-place of a State railway running north-west from
+the capital, and itself took it from a "tame" pheasant preserve,
+situated not far off among the meadows and woods, which had been the
+hobby of a former ruler. The Schloss, a one-storied box-like country
+house with a shingle roof topped by lightning conductors, stood with
+stables and coach-house on the skirts of extensive fir plantations. With
+a row of aged lime trees in front, it looked out over a broad expanse of
+meadowland fringed by a distant bluish circle of woods and intersected
+by paths, with many a bare patch of play-ground and hurdles for obstacle
+riding. Opposite the corner of the Schloss was a refreshment pavilion, a
+beer and coffee garden planted with high trees, which a prudent man
+called Stavenüter had rented and which was thronged on Sundays in summer
+by excursionists, especially bicyclists, from the capital. The pupils of
+the "Pheasantry" were only allowed to visit the pavilion in charge of a
+tutor.
+
+There were five of them, not counting Klaus Heinrich: Trümmerhauff,
+Gumplach, Platow, Prenzlau, and Wehrzahn. They were called "the
+Pheasants" in the country round. They had a landau from the Court
+stables which had seen its best days, a dog-cart, a sledge, and a few
+hacks, and when in winter some of the meadows were flooded and frozen
+over, they had an opportunity of skating. There was one cook, two
+chamber-maids, one coachman, and two lackeys at the "Pheasantry," one of
+whom could drive at a pinch.
+
+Professor Kürtchen, a little suspicious and irritable bachelor with the
+airs of a comic actor and the manners of an old French chevalier, was
+head of the seminary. He wore a stubby grey moustache, a pair of gold
+spectacles in front of his restless brown eyes, and always out-of-doors
+a top hat on the back of his head. He stuck his belly out as he walked
+and held his little fists on each side of his stomach like a
+long-distance runner. He treated Klaus Heinrich with self-satisfied
+tact, but was full of suspicion of the noble arrogance of his other
+pupils and fired up like a tom-cat when he scented any signs of contempt
+for him as a commoner. He loved when out for a walk, if there were
+people close by, to stop and gather his pupils in a knot around him and
+explain something to them, drawing diagrams in the sand with his stick.
+He addressed Frau Amelung, the housekeeper, a captain's widow who smelt
+strongly of drugs, as "my lady" and showed thus that he knew what was
+what in the best circles.
+
+Professor Kürtchen was helped by a yet younger assistant teacher with a
+doctor's degree--a good-humoured, energetic man, bumptious but
+enthusiastic, who influenced Klaus Heinrich's views and conscience
+perhaps more than was good for him. A gymnastic instructor called Zotte
+had also been appointed. The assistant teacher, it may be remarked in
+passing, was called Ueberbein, Raoul Ueberbein. The rest of the staff
+came every day by railway from the capital.
+
+Klaus Heinrich remarked with appreciation that the demands made on him
+from the point of view of learning quickly abated. Schulrat Dröge's
+wrinkled fore-finger no longer paused on the lines, he had done his
+work; and during the lessons as well as while correcting his written
+work Professor Kürtchen seized every opportunity of showing his tact.
+
+One day, quite soon after the institution had started--it was after
+luncheon in the high-windowed dining-room--he summoned Klaus Heinrich
+into his study, and said in so many words: "It is contrary to the public
+interest that your Grand Ducal Highness, during our scientific studies
+together, should be compelled to answer questions which are at the
+moment unwelcome to you. On the other hand, it is desirable that your
+Grand Ducal Highness should continually announce your readiness to
+answer by holding up your hand. I beg your Grand Ducal Highness
+accordingly, for my own information, in the case of unwelcome questions,
+to stretch out your arm to its full length, but in the case of those an
+invitation to answer which would be agreeable to you, to raise it only
+half way and in a right angle."
+
+As for Doctor Ueberbein, he filled the schoolroom with a noisy flow of
+words, whose cheerfulness disguised the teacher's object without losing
+sight of it altogether. He had come to no sort of understanding with
+Klaus Heinrich, but questioned him when it occurred to him to do so, in
+a free and friendly way without causing him any embarrassment. And Klaus
+Heinrich's by no means apropos answers seemed to enchant Doctor
+Ueberbein, to inspire him with warm enthusiasm. "Ha, ha," he would cry
+and throw his head back laughing. "Oh, Klaus Heinrich! Oh, scion of
+princes! Oh, your innocency! The crude problems of life have caught you
+unprepared! Now then, it is for me with my experience to put you
+straight." And he gave the answer himself, asked nobody else, when Klaus
+Heinrich had answered wrong. The mode of instruction of the other
+teachers bore the character of an unassuming lecture. And
+gymnastic-instructor Zotte had received orders from high quarters to
+conduct the physical exercises with every regard to Klaus Heinrich's
+left hand--so strictly that the attention of the Prince himself or of
+his companions should never be drawn unnecessarily to his little
+failing. So the exercises were limited to running games, and during the
+riding lessons, which Herr Zotte also gave, all feats of daring were
+rigorously excluded.
+
+Klaus Heinrich's relations with his comrades were not what one might
+call intimate, they did not extend to actual familiarity. He stood for
+himself, was never one of them, by no means counted amongst their
+number. They were five and he was one; the Prince, the five, and the
+teachers, that was the establishment. Several things stood in the way of
+a free friendship. The five were there on Klaus Heinrich's account, they
+were ordered to associate with him; when during the lessons he answered
+wrong they were not asked to correct him, they had to adjust themselves
+to his capacity when riding or playing. They were too often reminded of
+the advantages they gained by being allowed to share his life. Some of
+them, the young von Gumplach, von Platow, and von Wehrzahn, sons of
+country squires of moderate means, were oppressed the whole time by the
+gratified pride their parents had shown when the invitation from the
+House Minister reached them, by the congratulations which had poured in
+from every side.
+
+Count Prenzlau on the other hand, that thick-set, red-haired, freckled
+youth with the breathless way of speaking and the Christian name
+Bogumil, was a sprig of the richest and noblest family of landowners in
+the land, spoilt and self-conscious. He was well aware that his parents
+had not been able to refuse Baron von Knobelsdorff's invitation, but
+that it had not seemed to them by any means a blessing from the clouds,
+and that he, Count Bogumil, could have lived much better and more in
+accordance with his position on his father's property than at the
+"Pheasantry." He found the hacks bad, the landau shabby, and the
+dog-cart old-fashioned; he grumbled privately over the food.
+
+Dagobert Count Trümmerhauff, a spare, greyhound-looking youth, who spoke
+in a whisper, was inseparable from him. They had a word among themselves
+which fully expressed their critical and aristocratic bent, and which
+they constantly uttered in a biting tone of voice: "hog-wash." It was
+hog-wash to have loose collars buttoning on to one's shirt. It was
+hog-wash to play lawn-tennis in one's ordinary clothes.
+
+But Klaus Heinrich felt himself unequal to using the word. He had not
+hitherto been aware that there were such things as shirts with collars
+sewed on to them and that people could possess so many changes of
+clothes at one time as Bogumil Prenzlau. He would have liked to say
+"hog-wash," but it occurred to him that he was wearing at that very time
+darned socks. He felt inelegant by the side of Prenzlau and coarse
+compared with Trümmerhauff. Trümmerhauff had the nobility of a wild
+beast. He had a long pointed nose with a sharp bridge and broad,
+quivering, thin-walled nostrils, blue veins on his delicate temples and
+small ears without lobes. He wore broad coloured cuffs fastened with
+gold links, and his hands were like those of a dainty woman, with
+filbert nails; a gold bracelet adorned one of his wrists. He half closed
+his eyes as he whispered.... No, it was obvious that Klaus Heinrich
+could not compete with Trümmerhauff in elegance. His right hand was
+rather broad, he had cheek-bones like the men in the street, and he
+looked quite stumpy by Dagobert's side. It was quite possible that
+Albrecht might have been better qualified to join the "Pheasants" in
+their use of "hog-wash." Klaus Heinrich for his part was no aristocrat,
+absolutely none, unmistakable facts showed that. For consider his name,
+Klaus Heinrich, that's what the shoemaker's sons were called all over
+the place. Herr Stavenüter's children over the road too, who blew their
+noses with their fingers, bore the same names as himself, his parents,
+and his brother. But the lordlings were called Bogumil and
+Dagobert--Klaus Heinrich stood solitary and alone among the five.
+
+However, he formed one friendship at the "Pheasantry," and it was with
+Doctor Ueberbein. The Usher Raoul Ueberbein was not a handsome man. He
+had a red beard and a greenish-white complexion with watery blue eyes,
+thin red hair, and unusually ugly, protruding, sharp-pointed ears. But
+his hands were small and delicate. He wore white ties exclusively, which
+gave him rather a distinguished appearance, although his wardrobe was
+scanty. He wore a long great-coat out-of-doors, and when riding--for Dr.
+Ueberbein rode, and excellently well too--a worn-out frock-coat whose
+skirts he fastened up with safety-pins, tight buttoned breeches, and a
+high hat.
+
+Where lay the attraction he exercised on Klaus Heinrich? That attraction
+was very composite. The "Pheasants" had not been long together before a
+report went about that the usher had dragged a child a long time ago, in
+circumstances of extreme peril, out of a swamp or bog, and was the
+possessor of a medal for saving life. That was one impression. Later
+other details of Doctor Ueberbein's life came to be known, and Klaus
+Heinrich too heard of them. It was said that his origin was obscure,
+that he had no father, his mother had been an actress who had paid some
+poor people to adopt him, and that he had once been starved, which
+accounted for the greenish tint of his complexion. These were things
+which did not bear being brought into the light or even being thought
+of, wild, remote things, to which, however, Doctor Ueberbein himself
+sometimes alluded--when, for instance, the lordlings, who could not
+forget his obscure origin, behaved impudently or unbecomingly towards
+him.
+
+"Suck-a-thumbs and mammy's darlings!" he would say then in loud dudgeon.
+"I've knocked about long enough to deserve some respect from you young
+gentlemen!" This fact too, that Doctor Ueberbein had "knocked about,"
+did not fail of effect on Klaus Heinrich. But the especial charm of the
+doctor's person lay in the directness of his attitude towards Klaus
+Heinrich, the tone in which he addressed him from the very beginning,
+and which distinguished him clearly from everybody else. There was
+nothing about him which reminded one of the stiff reticence of the
+lackeys, of the governess's pale horror, of Schulrat Dröge's
+professional bows, or of Professor Kürtchen's self-satisfied deference.
+There was nothing about him to recall the strange, loyal, and yet
+impertinent way in which people outside stared at Klaus Heinrich.
+
+During the first few days after the seminary assembled, he kept silence
+and confined himself to observation, but then he approached the Prince
+with a jovial and cheery frankness, a fresh fatherly camaraderie such as
+Klaus Heinrich had never before experienced. It disturbed him at first,
+he looked in terror at the doctor's green face; but his confusion found
+no echo in the doctor, and in no way discouraged him, it confirmed him
+in his hearty bumptious ingenuousness, and it was not long before Klaus
+Heinrich was warmed and won, for there was nothing vulgar, nothing
+degrading, not even anything designed and school-masterish in Doctor
+Ueberbein's methods--all they showed was the superiority of a man who
+had knocked about the world, and, at the same time, his tender and open
+respect for Klaus Heinrich's different birth and position; they showed
+affection and recognition, at the same time as the cheerful offer of a
+league between their two different kinds of existence. He called him
+"Highness" once or twice, then simply "Prince," then quite simply "Klaus
+Heinrich." And he stuck to the last.
+
+When the "Pheasants" went out for a ride, these two rode at the head,
+the doctor on his stout piebald to the left of Klaus Heinrich on his
+docile chestnut--trotted when snow or leaves were falling, through
+springtime thaws or summer heat, along the edge of the woodlands across
+country, or through the villages, while Doctor Ueberbein related
+anecdotes of his life. Raoul Ueberbein sounds funny, doesn't it? The
+very reverse of _chic_. Yes, Ueberbein had been the name of his adoptive
+parents, a poor, oldish couple of the inferior bank-clerk class, and he
+had a quite legal right to it. But that he should be called Raoul had
+been the decision and mandate of his mother, when she handed over the
+sum agreed on, together with his fateful little person, to the others--a
+sentimental decision obviously, a decision prompted by piety. At least
+it was quite possible that his legal and real father had been called
+Raoul, and it was to be hoped that his surname had been something which
+harmonized with it.
+
+For the rest, it had been rather a wild undertaking on the part of his
+adoptive parents to adopt a child, for "Barmecide had been cook" in the
+Ueberbein establishment, and it was obvious that it had been only the
+most urgent necessity which had made them jump at the money. The boy had
+been given only the scantiest of school educations, but he had taken the
+liberty of showing what he was made of, had distinguished himself to
+some extent, and as he was keen to become a teacher, he had been granted
+out of a public fund the means of obtaining a college education. Well,
+he had finished his college course not without distinction, as indeed it
+was expected of him that he should, and he had then been appointed a
+teacher in a public elementary school, with a good salary, out of which
+he had managed to give occasional doles by way of gratitude to his
+honest adoptive parents, until they died almost simultaneously. And a
+happy release it was for them!
+
+And so he had been left alone in the world, his very birth a misfortune,
+as poor as a sparrow and endowed by Providence with a green face and
+dog's ears by way of personal recommendations. Attractive
+qualifications, were they not? But such qualifications were really
+favourable ones--once for all, so they proved. A miserable boyhood,
+loneliness and exclusion from good fortune and all that good fortune
+brings, a never-ceasing, imperious call to be up and doing, no fear of
+getting fat and lazy, one's moral fibre was braced, one could never rest
+on one's oars, but must be always overhauling and passing others. Could
+anything be more stimulating, when the hard facts were brought home to
+one? What a handicap over others who "were not obliged to" to the same
+extent! People who could smoke cigars in the morning....
+
+At that time, by the bedside of one of his unwashed little pupils, in a
+room which did not smell exactly of spring blossoms, Raoul Ueberbein had
+made friends with a young man--some years older than he, but in a
+similar position and like him ill-fated by birth in so far as he was a
+Jew. Klaus Heinrich knew him--indeed, he might be said to have got to
+know him on a very intimate occasion. Sammet was his name, a doctor of
+medicine; he happened by chance to have been in the Grimmburg when Klaus
+Heinrich was born, and had set up a couple of years later in the capital
+as a children's doctor. Well, he had been a friend of Ueberbein's, still
+was one, and they had had many a good talk about fate and duty. What is
+more, they had both knocked about the world.
+
+Ueberbein, for his part, looked back with sincere pleasure to the time
+when he had been an elementary teacher. His activities had not been
+entirely confined to the class-room, he had amused himself by showing
+also some personal and human concern for his charges' welfare, by
+visiting them at home, by sharing at times their not too idyllic family
+life, and in doing so he did not fail to bring away impressions of a
+most varied kind. In truth, if he had not already tasted the bitterness
+of the cup of life, he would have had plenty of opportunity then to do
+so. For the rest, he had not ceased to work by himself, had given
+private lessons to plump tradesmen's sons, and tightened his waist belt
+so as to save enough to buy books with--had spent the long, still, and
+free nights in study. And one day he had passed the State examination
+with exceptional distinction, had soon received his promotion, had been
+transferred to a grammar school. As a matter of fact, it had been a sore
+grief to him to leave his little charges, but so the fates willed. And
+then it had so happened that he had been chosen to be usher at the
+"Pheasantry," for all that his very birth had been a misfortune.
+
+                   *       *       *       *       *
+
+That was Doctor Ueberbein's story, and Klaus Heinrich, as he listened to
+it, was filled with friendly feelings. He shared his contempt for those
+who "weren't obliged to" and smoked cigars in the morning, he felt a
+fearful joy when Ueberbein talked in his jolly blustering way about
+"knocking about," "impressions," and the bitterness of the cup of life,
+and he felt as if he had been personally an actor in the scenes as he
+followed his luckless and gallant career from his adoption up to his
+appointment as grammar-schoolmaster. He felt as if he were in some
+general sort of way qualified to take part in a conversation about fate
+and duty. His attitude of reserve relaxed, the experiences of his own
+fifteen years of life came crowding in upon him, he felt a longing
+himself to retail confidences, and he tried to tell Doctor Ueberbein all
+about himself.
+
+But the funny thing was that Doctor Ueberbein himself checked him,
+opposed any such intention most decidedly. "No, no, Klaus Heinrich," he
+said; "full stop there! No confidences, if you please! Not but that I
+know that you have all sorts of things to tell me.... I need only watch
+you for half a day to see that, but you quite misunderstand me if you
+think I'm likely to encourage you to weep round my neck. In the first
+place, sooner or later you'd repent it. But in the second, the pleasures
+of a confidential intimacy are not for the likes of you. You see,
+there's no harm in my chattering. What am I? An usher. Not a common or
+garden one, in my own opinion, but still no better than such. Just a
+categorical unit. But you? What are you? That's harder to say.... Let's
+say a conception, a kind of ideal. A frame. An emblematical existence,
+Klaus Heinrich, and at the same time a formal existence. But formality
+and intimacy--haven't you yet learnt that the two are mutually
+exclusive? Absolutely exclusive. You have no right to intimate
+confidences, and if you attempted them you yourself would discover that
+they did not suit you, would find them inadequate and insipid. I must
+remind you of your duty, Klaus Heinrich."
+
+Klaus Heinrich laughed and saluted with his crop, and on they rode.
+
+On another occasion Doctor Ueberbein said casually: "Popularity is a not
+very profound, but a grand and comprehensive kind of familiarity." And
+that was all he said on the subject.
+
+Sometimes in summer, during the long intervals between the morning
+lessons, they would sit together in the empty pavilion, or stroll about
+the "Pheasants" playground, discussing various topics, and breaking off
+to drink lemonade provided by Herr Stavenüter. Herr Stavenüter beamed as
+he wiped the rough table and brought the lemonade with his own hands.
+The glass ball in the bottle-neck had to be pushed in. "Sound stuff!"
+said Herr Stavenüter. "The best that can be got. No muck, Grand Ducal
+Highness, and you, doctor, but just sweetened fruit-juice. I can
+honestly recommend it!"
+
+Then he made his children sing in honour of the visit. There were three
+of them, two girls and a boy, and they could sing trios. They stood some
+way off with the green leaves of the chestnut trees for roof, and sang
+folk-songs while they blew their noses with their fingers. Once they
+sang a song beginning: "We are all but mortal men," and Doctor Ueberbein
+took advantage of the pauses to express his disapproval of this number
+on the programme. "A paltry song," he said, and leaned over towards
+Klaus Heinrich. "A really commonplace song, a lazy song, Klaus Heinrich;
+you must not let it appeal to you."
+
+Later, when the children had stopped singing, he returned to the song
+and described it as "sloppy." "We are all but mortal men," he repeated.
+"God bless us, yes, no doubt we are. But on the other hand we ought
+perhaps to remember that it is those of us who count for most who may be
+the occasion for especially emphasizing this truth.... Look you," he
+said, leaning back and crossing one leg over the other, while he stroked
+his beard up from underneath his chin, "look you, Klaus Heinrich, a man
+who has my intellectual aspirations will not be able to help searching
+for and clinging to whatever is out of the ordinary in this drab world
+of ours, wherever and however it appears--he cannot help being put out
+by such a slovenly song, by such a sheepish abjuration of the
+exceptional, of the lofty and of the miserable, and of that which is
+both at once. You may well say: 'That's talking for effect.' I'm only an
+usher, but there's something in my blood, Heaven knows what--I can't
+find any pleasure in emphasizing the fact that we are all ushers at
+bottom. I love the extraordinary in every form and in every sense. I
+love those who are conscious of the dignity of their exceptional
+station, the marked men, those one can see are not as other men, all
+those whom the people stare at open-mouthed--I hope they'll appreciate
+their destiny, and I do not wish them to make themselves comfortable
+with the slip-shod and luke-warm truth which we have just heard set to
+music for three voices. Why have I become your tutor, Klaus Heinrich? I
+am a gipsy, a hard-working one, maybe, but still a born gipsy. My
+predestination to the rôle of squire of princes is not particularly
+obvious. Why did I gladly obey the call when it came to me, in view of
+my energy, and although my very birth was a misfortune? Because, Klaus
+Heinrich, I see in your existence the clearest, most express, and
+best-preserved form of the extraordinary in the world. I have become
+your tutor that I might keep your destiny alive in you. Reserve,
+etiquette, obligation, duty, demeanour, formality--has the man whose
+life is surrounded by these no right to despise others? Ought he to
+allow himself to be reminded of humanity and good nature? No, come
+along, let's go, Klaus Heinrich, if you don't mind. They're tactless
+brats, these little Stavenüters." Klaus Heinrich laughed, he gave the
+children some of his pocket-money, and they went.
+
+"Yes, yes," said Doctor Ueberbein in the course of an ordinary walk in
+the woods to Klaus Heinrich--they had drifted a little distance away
+from the five "Pheasants"--"nowadays the soul's thirst for veneration
+has to be satisfied with what it can get. Where will you find greatness?
+I only hope you may! But quite apart from all actual greatness and
+high-calling, there is always what I call Highness, select and sadly
+isolated forms of life, towards which an attitude of the tenderest
+sympathy should be adopted. For the rest, greatness is strong, it wears
+jack-boots, it has no need of the knight-services of the mind. But
+Highness is affecting--damme if it isn't the most affecting thing on
+earth."
+
+Once or twice a year the "Pheasantry" journeyed to the capital to attend
+performances of classical operas and dramas in the Grand Ducal Court
+Theatre; Klaus Heinrich's birthday in particular was the signal for a
+visit to the theatre. He would then sit quietly in his carved arm-chair,
+leaning against the red plush ledge of the Court box, whose roof rested
+on the heads of two female figures with crossed hands and empty stern
+faces, and watched his colleagues, the princes, whose destinies were
+played out on the stage, while he stood the fire of the opera-glasses
+which from time to time, even during the play, were directed at him from
+the audience. Professor Kürtchen sat on his left hand and Doctor
+Ueberbein with the "Pheasants" in an adjoining box.
+
+Once they heard the "Magic Flute," and on the way home to "Pheasantry"
+station, in the first-class carriage, Doctor Ueberbein made the whole
+collection of them laugh by imitating the way in which singers talk when
+their rôles oblige them to talk in prose. "He is a prince!" he said with
+pathos, and answered himself in a drawly, sing-song parsonical voice.
+"He is more than that, he is a man!" Even Professor Kürtchen was so much
+amused that he bleated.
+
+But next day, in the course of a private lesson in Klaus Heinrich's
+study, with the round mahogany table, whitened ceiling, and Greek bust
+on the stove, Doctor Ueberbein repeated his parody, and said then:
+"Great heavens, that was something new in its time, it was a piece of
+news, a startling truth! There are paradoxes which have stood so long on
+their heads that one has to put them on their feet to make anything even
+moderately daring out of them, 'He is a man. He is more than that'--that
+is getting gradually bolder, prettier, even truer. The converse is mere
+humanity, but I have no hearty love for humanity, I'm quite content to
+leave it out of account. One must, in a certain sense, be one of those
+of whom the people say: 'They are, after all, mortal men too'--or one is
+as deadly dull as an usher. I cannot honestly wish for the general
+comfortable obliteration of conflicts and gulfs, that's the way I am
+made, for better or worse, and the idea of the _principe uomo_ is to me,
+to speak plainly, an abomination. I am not anxious that it should
+particularly appeal to you.... Look you, there have always been princes
+and exceptional persons who live their life of exception with a light
+heart, simply unconscious of their dignity or denying it outright, and
+capable of playing skittles with the townsfolk in their shirt-sleeves,
+without the slightest attempt at an inward qualm. But they are not very
+important, just as nothing is important which lacks mind. For mind,
+Klaus Heinrich, mind is the tutor which insists inexorably on dignity,
+indeed actually creates dignity, it is the arch-enemy and chief
+antagonist of all human good nature. 'More than that?' No! to be a
+representative, to stand for a number when one appears to be the exalted
+and refined expression of a multitude. Representing is naturally
+something more and higher than simply Being, Klaus Heinrich--and that's
+why people call you Highness."
+
+So argued Doctor Ueberbein, in loud, hearty, and fluent terms, and what
+he said influenced Klaus Heinrich's mind and susceptibilities more,
+perhaps, than was desirable. The prince was then about fifteen years
+old, and therefore quite competent, if not properly to understand, yet
+to imbibe the essence of ideas of that sort. The main point was that
+Doctor Ueberbein's doctrines and apophthegms were so exceptionally
+supported by his personality.
+
+When Schulrat Dröge, the man who used to bow to the lackeys, reminded
+Klaus Heinrich of his "exalted calling," that was nothing more than an
+exaggerated form of speech, devoid of inner meaning and calculated
+mainly to add emphasis to his professional claims. But when Doctor
+Ueberbein, whose very birth had been a misfortune, as he said, and who
+had a green complexion because he had been half starved; when this man
+who had dragged a child out of a bog, who had received "impressions" and
+"knocked about" in all sorts of ways; when he who not only did not bow
+to the lackeys, but who bawled at them in strident tones when the fancy
+took him, and who had called Klaus Heinrich himself straight out by his
+Christian names when he had known him only three days, without asking
+leave to do so,--when he with a paternal laugh declared that Klaus
+Heinrich's "path lay among the heights of mankind" (a favourite
+expression of his), the effect was a feeling of freedom and originality
+which awoke an echo deep down in the prince's soul.
+
+When Klaus Heinrich listened to the doctor's loud and jolly anecdotes of
+his life, of the "bitterness of the cup of life," he felt as he used to
+when he went rummaging with Ditlinde his sister, and that the man who
+could tell such anecdotes, that this "rolling stone," as he called
+himself, did not, like the others, adopt a reserved and deferential
+attitude towards him, but, without prejudice to a free and cheerful
+homage, treated him as a comrade in fate and destiny, warmed Klaus
+Heinrich's heart to inexpressible gratitude and completed the charm
+which bound him to the usher for ever....
+
+Shortly after his sixteenth birthday (Albrecht, the Heir Apparent, was
+at the time in the South for his health) the Prince was confirmed,
+together with the five "Pheasants," in the Court Church. The _Courier_
+reported the fact without making any sensation of it. Dom Wislezenus,
+the President of the High Consistory, treated a Bible text in
+counterpoint, this time to the choice of the Grand Duke, and Klaus
+Heinrich was on this occasion gazetted a Lieutenant, although he had not
+the foggiest notion of things military.... His existence was becoming
+more and more barren of _expertise_. The ceremonial of the confirmation
+also lacked incisive significance, and the Prince returned immediately
+afterwards quietly back to the "Pheasantry" to continue his life amongst
+his tutors and schoolfellows without any alteration.
+
+                   *       *       *       *       *
+
+It was not till one year later that he left his old-fashioned homely
+schoolroom with the torso on the stove; the seminary was broken up, and
+while his five noble comrades were transferred to the Corps of Cadets,
+Klaus Heinrich again took up his abode in the Old Schloss, intending, in
+accordance with an agreement which Herr von Knobelsdorff had come to
+with the Grand Duke, to spend a year at the upper gymnasium classes in
+the capital. This was a well-calculated and popular step, which however
+did not make much difference from the point of view of _expertise_.
+Professor Kürtchen had gone back to his post at the public academy, he
+instructed Klaus Heinrich as before in several branches of knowledge,
+and showed even greater zeal than he had at the seminary, being
+determined to let everybody see how tactful he was. It also appeared
+that he had told the rest of the staff of the agreement reached with
+regard to the two ways in which the Prince should announce his feelings
+with regard to answering a question.
+
+As to Doctor Ueberbein, who had also returned to the academy, he had not
+yet advanced so far in his unusual career as to teach the highest class.
+But at Klaus Heinrich's lively, even insistent request, preferred by him
+to the Grand Duke, not by word of mouth but by official channels, so to
+speak, through the benevolent Herr von Knobelsdorff, the usher was
+appointed tutor and superintendent of home studies, came daily to the
+Schloss, bawled at the lackeys, and had every opportunity of working on
+the Prince with his intellectual and enthusiastic talk. Perhaps it was
+partly the fault of this influence that Klaus Heinrich's relations with
+the young people with whom he shared the much-hacked school-benches
+continued even looser and more distant than his connexion with the five
+at the "Pheasantry"; and if thus the popularity which this year was
+intended to secure was not attained, the intervals, which both in summer
+and in winter were spent by all the scholars in the roomy paved
+courtyard, offered opportunities for camaraderie.
+
+But these intervals, intended to refresh the ordinary scholars, brought
+with them for Klaus Heinrich the first actual effort of the kind of
+which his life was to be full. He was naturally, at least during the
+first term, the cynosure of every eye in the play-ground--no easy matter
+for him, in view of the fact that here the surroundings deprived him of
+every external support and attribute of dignity, and he was obliged to
+play on the same pavement as those whose common idea was to stare at
+him. The little boys, full of childlike irresponsibility, hung about
+close to him and gaped, while the bigger ones hovered around with
+wide-open eyes and looked at him out of the corners of them or from
+under their eyelids.... The excitement dwindled in course of time, but
+even then--whether the fault was Klaus Heinrich's or the others'--even
+later the camaraderie somehow did not make much progress. One might see
+the prince, on the right of the head master or the usher-in-charge,
+followed and surrounded by the curious, strolling up and down the
+courtyard. One could see him, too, chatting with his schoolfellows.
+
+What a charming sight it was! There he leaned, half-sitting on the slope
+of the glazed-brick wall, with his feet crossed, and his left hand
+thrust far behind on his hips, with the fifteen members of the first
+class in a half-circle round him. There were only fifteen this year, for
+the last promotions had been made with the object in view that the
+select should contain no elements which were unfitted by origin or
+personality to be for a year on Christian-name terms with Klaus
+Heinrich. For the use of Christian names was ordered. Klaus Heinrich
+conversed with one of them, who had advanced a little towards him out of
+the semicircle, and answered him with little short bows. Both laughed,
+everybody laughed directly they began to talk to Klaus Heinrich. He
+asked him for instance: "Have you yet done your German essay for next
+Tuesday?"
+
+"No, Prince Klaus Heinrich, not quite yet; I haven't yet done the last
+part."
+
+"It's a difficult subject. I haven't any idea yet what to write."
+
+"Oh, your Highness will.... You'll soon think of something!"
+
+"No, it's difficult.... You got an alpha in arithmetic, didn't you?"
+
+"Yes, Prince Klaus Heinrich, I was lucky."
+
+"No, you deserved it. I shall never be able to make anything of it!"
+
+Murmurs of amusement and gratification in the semicircle. Klaus Heinrich
+turned to another schoolfellow, and the first stepped quickly back.
+Everybody felt that the really important point was not the essay nor the
+arithmetic, but the conversation as an event and an undertaking, one's
+attitude and tone, the way one advanced or retired, the success with
+which one assumed a sympathetic, self-collected, and refined demeanour.
+Perhaps it was the consciousness of this which brought the smile to
+everybody's lips.
+
+Sometimes, when he had the semicircle in front of him, Klaus Heinrich
+would say some such words as "Professor Nicolovius looks an owl."
+
+Great then was the merriment among the others. Such a remark was the
+signal for general unbending, they kicked over the traces, "Ho, ho,
+ho!" 'd in chorus in their newly cracked voices, and one would declare
+Klaus Heinrich to be a "ripping chap." But Klaus Heinrich did not often
+say such things, he only said them when he saw the smile on the others'
+faces grow faint and wan, and signs of boredom or even of impatience
+showing themselves; he said them by way of cheering them up, and at the
+extravagant laughter by which they were followed he wore a look half of
+curiosity, half of dismay.
+
+It was not Anselm Schickedanz who called him a "ripping chap," and yet
+it was directly on his account that Klaus Heinrich had compared
+Professor Nicolovius to an owl. Anselm Schickedanz had laughed like the
+others at the joke, but not in quite the same approving way, but with an
+intonation which implied, "Gracious heavens!" He was a dark boy, with
+narrow hips, who enjoyed the reputation throughout the school of being a
+devil of a chap. The tone of the top class this year was admirable. The
+obligations which membership of Klaus Heinrich's class entailed had been
+impressed on every boy from various quarters, and Klaus Heinrich was not
+the boy to tempt them to forget these obligations. But that Anselm
+Schickedanz was a devil of a chap had often come to his ears, and Klaus
+Heinrich, when he looked at him, felt a kind of satisfaction in
+believing what he heard, although it was an obscure problem to him how
+he could have come by his reputation.
+
+He made several inquiries privately, broached the subject apparently by
+chance, and tried to find out from one or other of his comrades
+something about Schickedanz's devilry. He discovered nothing definite.
+But the answers, whether disparaging or complimentary, filled him with
+the suspicion of a mad amiability, an unlawful glorious humanity, which
+was there for the eyes of all, save his own, to see--and this suspicion
+was almost a sorrow. Everybody said at once, with reference to Anselm
+Schickedanz, and in saying it dropped into the forbidden form of
+address: "Yes, Highness, you ought to see him when you are not there!"
+
+Klaus Heinrich would never see him when he was not there, would never
+get near him, never get to know him. He stole peeps at him when he stood
+with the others in a semicircle before him, laughing and braced up like
+all the rest. Everybody braced himself up in Klaus Heinrich's presence,
+his very existence was accountable for that, as he well knew, and he
+would never see what Schickedanz was like, how he behaved when he let
+himself go. At the thought he felt a twinge of envy, a tiny spark of
+regret.
+
+                   *       *       *       *       *
+
+At this juncture something painful, in fact revolting, occurred, of
+which nothing came to the ears of the Grand Ducal couple, because Doctor
+Ueberbein kept his mouth closed and about which scarcely any rumour
+spread in the capital because everybody who had had a share or any
+responsibility in the matter, obviously from a kind of feeling of shame,
+preserved strict silence about it. I refer to the improprieties which
+occurred in connexion with Prince Klaus Heinrich's presence at that
+year's citizens' ball, and in which a Fräulein Unschlitt, daughter of
+the wealthy soap-boiler, was especially concerned.
+
+The citizens' ball was a chronic fixture in the social life of the
+capital, an official and at the same time informal festivity, which was
+given by the city every winter in the "Townpark Hotel," a big, recently
+enlarged and renovated establishment in the southern suburbs, and
+provided the bourgeois circles with an opportunity of establishing
+friendly relations with the Court. It was known that Johann Albrecht III
+had never cultivated a taste for this civil and rather free-and-easy
+entertainment, at which he appeared in a black frock-coat in order to
+lead off the polonaise with the Lady Mayoress, and that he was wont to
+withdraw from it at the earliest possible moment. This only heightened
+the general satisfaction when his second son, although not yet bound to
+do so, already made his appearance at the ball that year--indeed, it
+became known that he did so at his own express request. It was said that
+the Prince had employed Excellency von Knobelsdorff to transmit his
+earnest wish to the Grand Duchess, who in her turn had contrived to
+obtain her husband's consent.
+
+Outwardly the festivity pursued its wonted course. The most
+distinguished guests, Princess Catherine, in a coloured silk dress and
+cap, accompanied by her red-haired children, Prince Lambert with his
+pretty wife, and last of all Johann Albrecht and Dorothea with Prince
+Klaus Heinrich, made their appearance in the "Townpark Hotel," greeted
+by city officials, with long-ribboned rosettes pinned on their coats.
+Several Ministers, aides-de-camp in mufti, numbers of men and women of
+the Court, the leaders of society, as well as landowners from the
+surrounding country, were present. In the big white hall the Grand Ducal
+pairs first received a string of presentations, and then, to the strains
+of the band which sat in the curved gallery up above, Johann Albrecht
+with the Lady Mayoress, Dorothea with the Lord Mayor, opened the ball by
+a procession round the room.
+
+Then, while the polonaise gave place to a round dance, contentment
+spread, cheeks glowed, the heat of the throng kindled feelings of
+fondness, faintness, and foreboding among the dancers, the distinguished
+guests stood as distinguished guests are wont to stand on such
+occasions--apart and smiling graciously on the platform, at the top of
+the hall under the gallery. From time to time Johann Albrecht engaged a
+distinguished man, and Dorothea engaged his wife, in conversation. Those
+addressed stepped quickly and smartly forward and back, kept their
+distance half-bowing with their heads bent, nodded, shook their heads,
+laughed in this attitude at the questions and remarks addressed to
+them--answered eagerly on the spur of the moment, with sudden and
+anticipatory changes from hearty amusement to the deepest earnestness,
+with a passionateness which was doubtless unusual to them, and obviously
+in a state of tension. Curious guests, still panting from the dance,
+stood in a semicircle round and stared at these purposely trivial
+conversations with a peculiarly tense expression on their faces.
+
+Klaus Heinrich was the object of much attention. Together with two
+red-headed cousins who were already in the army, but were wearing mufti
+that evening, he kept a little behind his parents, resting on one leg,
+his left hand placed far back on his hip, his face turned with his right
+half-profile to the public. A reporter of the _Courier_ who had been
+bidden to the ball made notes upon him in a corner. The Prince could be
+seen to greet with his white-gloved right hand his tutor, Doctor
+Ueberbein, who with his red beard and greenish tint came along the fence
+of spectators; he was seen even to advance some way into the hall to
+meet him.
+
+The doctor, with big enamel studs in his shirt front, began by bowing
+when Klaus Heinrich stretched out his hand to him, but then at once
+spoke to him in his free and fatherly way. The Prince seemed to be
+rejecting a proposal, and laughed uneasily as he did so, but then a
+number of people distinctly heard Doctor Ueberbein say: "No--nonsense,
+Klaus Heinrich, what was the good of learning? Why did the Swiss
+governess teach you your steps in your tenderest years? I can't
+understand why you go to balls if you won't dance? One, two, three,
+we'll soon find you a partner!" And with a continual shower of
+witticisms he presented to the Prince four or five young maidens, whom
+he dropped on without ceremony and dragged forward. They ducked and shot
+up again, one after the other, in the trailing fluctuations of the Court
+curtsey, set their teeth and did their best. Klaus Heinrich stood with
+his heels together and murmured, "Delighted, quite delighted."
+
+To one he went so far as to say: "It's a jolly ball, isn't it?"
+
+"Yes, Grand Ducal Highness, we are having great fun," answered she in a
+high chirping voice. She was a tall, rather bony bourgeoise maiden,
+dressed in white muslin, with fair wavy hair dressed over a pad, and a
+pretty face, a gold chain round her bare neck, the collar-bones of which
+showed prominently, and big white hands in mittens. She added: "The
+quadrille is coming next. Will your Grand Ducal Highness dance it with
+me?"
+
+"I don't know ..." he said. "I really don't know ..."
+
+He looked round. The machinery of the ball was already falling into
+geometrical order. Lines were being drawn, squares were forming, couples
+came forward and called to _vis-à-vis_. The music had not yet started.
+
+Klaus Heinrich asked his cousins. Yes, they were taking part in the
+lancers, they already had their lucky partners on their arms.
+
+Klaus Heinrich was seen to go up behind his mother's red damask chair
+and whisper something excitedly to her, whereupon she turned her lovely
+neck and passed on the question to her husband, and the Grand Duke
+nodded. And then some laughter was caused by the youthful impetuosity
+with which the Prince ran down, so as not to miss the beginning of the
+square dance.
+
+The reporter of the _Courier_, notebook in one hand and pencil in the
+other, peered with neck thrust forward over the hall out of his corner,
+so as to make sure whom the Prince was going to engage. It was the fair,
+tall girl, with the collar-bones and the big white hands, Fräulein
+Unschlitt, the soap-boiler's daughter. She was still standing where
+Klaus Heinrich had left her.
+
+"Are you still there?" he said breathlessly.... "May I have the
+pleasure? Come along!"
+
+The sets were complete. They wandered about for a while without finding
+a place. A man with a ribbon rosette hurried up, seized a pair of young
+people by the shoulders and induced them to leave their stand under the
+chandelier, that his Grand Ducal Highness might occupy it with Fräulein
+Unschlitt. The band had been hesitating, it now struck up, the
+prescribed compliments were exchanged, and Klaus Heinrich danced like
+the rest of the world.
+
+The doors into the next room stood open. In one of them was a buffet
+with flower vases, punch bowls, and dishes of many-coloured cakes. The
+dance extended right into this room, two sets were dancing in it. In the
+other room some white-covered tables were arrayed, which were still
+standing empty.
+
+Klaus Heinrich stepped forwards and backwards, laughed to the others,
+stretched out his hand and grasped theirs, and then again seized his
+partner's big white hand, put his right arm round the maiden's
+muslin-clad waist and revolved with her on their particular patch, while
+he kept his left hand, which also wore a little white glove, on his hip.
+They laughed and talked as they danced. The Prince made mistakes, forgot
+himself, upset figures, and lost his place. "You must keep me straight!"
+he said in the confusion. "I'm upsetting everything! Nudge me in the
+ribs!" and the others gradually plucked up courage and set him right,
+ordered him laughingly hither and thither, even laid their hands on him
+and pushed him a little when necessary. The fair damsel with the
+collar-bones was particularly zealous in pushing him about.
+
+The spirits of the dancers rose with every figure. Their movements
+became freer, their calls bolder, they began to stamp their feet and to
+prance as they advanced and retired, while they held each other's hands
+and balanced themselves with their arms. Klaus Heinrich too stamped, at
+first only by way of signal, but soon more loudly; and as far as the
+balancing with the arms was concerned, the fair maiden looked after that
+when they advanced together. Also every time she danced facing him she
+made an exaggerated scrape before him which much increased the
+merriment.
+
+The refreshment room was full of chatter and babble, which attracted
+everybody's envious glances. Some one had left his set in the middle of
+the dance, purloined a sandwich from the buffet, and was now chewing
+away proudly as he swerved and stamped, to the amusement of the rest.
+
+"What cheek!" said the fair maiden. "They don't stand on ceremony!" and
+the idea gave her no peace. Before you could look round, she was off,
+had dashed lightly and nimbly between the lines of dancers, had seized a
+sandwich from the buffet and was back in her place.
+
+Klaus Heinrich was the one who applauded her most heartily. His left
+hand was a difficulty, and so he managed without it, while with his
+right he beat on the top of his head and doubled up with laughter. Then
+he became quieter and rather pale. He was struggling with himself....
+The quadrille was nearing its end. What he meant to do he must do
+quickly. They had already got to the grand chain.
+
+And as he was already almost too late, he did what he had been
+struggling with himself about. He broke away, ran swiftly through the
+dancers, with muttered apologies when he collided with anybody, reached
+the buffet, seized a sandwich, rushed back, and came sliding into his
+set; that was not all, he put the sandwich--it was an egg and sardine
+one--to the lips of his partner, the damsel with the big white hands;
+she curtseyed a little, bit into it, bit almost half off without using
+her hands, and throwing back his head he stuffed the rest into his
+mouth!
+
+The high spirits of the set found a vent in the grand chain, which was
+just beginning. Right round the hall went the dancers, winding zig-zag
+in and out and stretching out their hands. Then it stopped, the tide
+turned, and once more the stream went round, laughing and chattering,
+with mistakes and entanglements and hurriedly rectified complications.
+
+Klaus Heinrich pressed the hands he grasped without knowing to whom they
+belonged. He laughed and his chest heaved. His smoothly parted hair was
+ruffled, and a bit fell over his forehead, his shirt-front bulged a
+little out of his waistcoat, and in his face and sparkling eyes was that
+look of tender emotion which is sometimes the expression of happiness.
+He said several times during the chain, "What awful fun! What glorious
+fun!" He met his cousins, and to them too he said, "We have had such
+fun--in our set over there!"
+
+Then came the clapping and au revoirs; the dance was over. Klaus
+Heinrich again stood facing the fair maiden with the collar-bones, and
+when the music changed time he once more put his arm round her tender
+waist, and away they danced.
+
+Klaus Heinrich did not steer well and often knocked into other couples,
+because he kept his left hand planted on his hip, but he brought his
+partner somehow or other to the entrance to the refreshment room, where
+they called a halt and refreshed themselves with pineappleade which was
+handed to them by the waiters. They sat just at the entrance on two
+velvet stools, drank and chatted about the quadrille, the Citizens'
+Ball, and other social functions in which the fair maiden had already
+taken part that winter....
+
+It was then that one of the suite, Major von Platow, the Grand Duke's
+aide-de-camp, came up to Klaus Heinrich, bowed and begged leave to
+announce that their Royal Highnesses were now going. He had been charged
+... But Klaus Heinrich gave him to understand that he wished to remain,
+in so emphatic a fashion that the aide-de-camp did not like to insist
+upon his errand.
+
+The Prince uttered exclamations of an almost rebellious regret and was
+obviously bitterly grieved at the idea of going home at once. "We are
+having such fun!" he said, stood up and gripped the Major's arm gently.
+"Dear Major von Platow, please do intercede for me! Talk to Excellency
+von Knobelsdorff, do anything you like--but to go now, when we are all
+having such fun together! I'm sure my cousins are going to stay...." The
+Major looked at the fair maiden with the big white hands, who smiled at
+him; he too smiled and promised to do his best. This little scene was
+enacted while the Grand Duke and the Grand Duchess were already taking
+leave of the city dignitaries at the entrance into the town park.
+Immediately afterwards the dancing on the first floor began again.
+
+The ball was at its height. Everything official had gone, and the king
+of revelry came into his own. The white-covered tables in the adjoining
+rooms were occupied by families drinking punch and eating supper. Youth
+streamed to and fro, sitting excitedly and impatiently on the edges of
+the chairs to eat a mouthful, drink a glass, and again plunge into the
+merry throng. On the ground-floor there was an old-German beer-cellar,
+which was crowded with the more sedate men. The big dancing-hall and the
+buffet-room were by now monopolized by the dancers. The buffet-room was
+filled with fifteen or sixteen young people, sons and daughters of the
+city, among them Klaus Heinrich. It was a kind of private ball in there.
+They danced to the music which floated in from the main hall.
+
+Doctor Ueberbein, the Prince's tutor, was seen there for a minute or
+two, having a short talk with his pupil. He was heard to mention, watch
+in hand, Herr von Knobelsdorff's name, and to say that he was down in
+the beer-cellar and was coming back to take the Prince away. Then he
+went. The time was half-past ten. And while he sat below and conversed
+with his friends over a tankard of beer, only for an hour or perhaps an
+hour and a half, not more, those dreadful things, that simply incredible
+scandal, happened in the buffet-room, to which it fell to him to put a
+stop, though unfortunately too late.
+
+The punch provided was weak, it contained more soda-water than
+champagne, and if the young people lost their equilibrium it was more
+the intoxication of the dance than of the wine. But in view of the
+Prince's character and the solid bourgeois origin of the rest of the
+company, that was not enough to explain what happened. Another, a
+peculiar intoxication, was a factor here on both sides. The peculiar
+thing was that Klaus Heinrich was fully conscious of each separate stage
+in this intoxication, and yet had not the power or the will to shake it
+off.
+
+He was happy. He felt on his cheeks the same glow burning as he saw in
+the faces of the others, and as his eyes, dazed by a soft mist,
+travelled about the room, and rested admiringly on one fair form after
+another, his look seemed to say: "We!" His mouth too said it--said, for
+the pure joy of saying them, sentences in which a "We" occurred. "Shall
+_we_ sit down? shall _we_ have another turn? shall _we_ have a drink?
+shall _we_ make up two sets?" It was especially to the maiden with the
+collar-bones that Klaus Heinrich made remarks with a "We" in them. He
+had quite forgotten his left hand, it hung down, he felt so happy that
+it did not worry him and he never thought of hiding it. Many saw now for
+the first time what really was the matter with it, and looked curiously
+on with an unconscious grimace at the thin, short arm in the sleeve, the
+little, by now rather dirty white kid glove which covered the hand. But
+as Klaus Heinrich was so careless about it, the others plucked up
+courage, the result being that everybody took hold of the malformed hand
+quite unconcernedly in the round or square dances.
+
+He did not keep it back. He felt himself borne along, nay rather whirled
+around by a feeling, a strong, wild feeling of contentment, that grew,
+gathered heat from itself, possessed itself of him more and more
+recklessly, overpowered him even more vehemently and breathlessly,
+seemed to lift him triumphantly from the floor. What was happening? It
+was difficult to say, difficult to be quite sure. The air was full of
+words, detached cries, not spoken but expressed on the dancers' faces,
+in their attitudes, in all they were doing and saying. "He must just
+once! Bring him along, bring him along ...! Caught, caught!" A young
+damsel with a turned-up nose, who asked him for a gallop when the
+"leap-year" dance came, said quite clearly without any obvious
+connexion, "Chucker up!" as she got ready to start off with him.
+
+He saw pleasure in every eye, and saw that their pleasure lay in drawing
+him out, in having him amongst them. In his happiness, his dream, to be
+with them, amongst them, one of them, there obtruded itself from time to
+time a cold, uncomfortable feeling that he was deluding himself, that
+the warm, glorious "We" was deceiving him, that he did not really blend
+in with them, that he was all the time the centre and object of the
+show, but in a different and more unsatisfactory way than before. They
+were his enemies to a certain extent, he saw it in the malice of their
+eyes. He heard as if at a distance, with a peculiar dismay, how the fair
+damsel with the big white hands called him simply by his names--and he
+felt that she did so in quite a different spirit to that of Doctor
+Ueberbein when he did the same. She had the right and the permission to
+do so, in a certain manner, but was nobody here then jealous for his
+dignity, if he himself was not? It seemed to him that they plucked at
+his coat, and sometimes in their excitement made wild, sneering remarks
+about him. A tall, fair young man with pince-nez, with whom he collided
+while dancing, said quite loud so that everybody could hear it: "Now
+then, clumsy!" And there was malice in the way in which the fair young
+maiden, her arm in his and a grin on her lips, whirled round with him
+till he was ready to drop with giddiness. While they whirled he gazed
+with swimming eyes at the collar-bones showing under the white, rather
+rough skin on her neck.
+
+They fell; they had gone too hard at it and tumbled when they tried to
+stop revolving, and over them stumbled a second pair, not entirely by
+themselves, but rather at a push from the tall young man with pince-nez.
+There was a scrimmage on the floor, and Klaus Heinrich heard above him
+in the room the chorus which came back to him from the school-playground
+when he had ventured on a rather daring joke by way of amusing his
+fellows--a "Ho, ho, ho!" only it sounded more wicked and bolder here....
+
+When shortly after midnight, unfortunately a little behind time, Doctor
+Ueberbein appeared on the threshold of the buffet-room, this is what he
+saw: His young pupil was sitting alone on the green plush sofa by the
+left-hand wall, his clothes all disarranged and himself decorated in an
+extraordinary way. A quantity of flowers, which had previously adorned
+the buffet in two Chinese vases, were stuck in the opening of his
+waistcoat, between the studs of his shirtfront, even in his collar;
+round his neck lay the gold chain which belonged to the maiden with the
+collar-bones, and on his head the flat metal cover of a punch-bowl was
+balanced like a hat. He kept saying, "What are you doing? What are you
+doing ...?" while the dancers, hand-in-hand in a semicircle, danced a
+round dance backwards and forwards in front of him with half-suppressed
+giggles, whispers, smirks, and ho, ho, ho's.
+
+An unusual and unnatural flush mantled in Doctor Ueberbein's face. "Stop
+it! Stop it!" he cried in his resonant voice, and, in the silence,
+consternation, and dismay which at once ensued, he walked with long
+strides up to the Prince, tore away the flowers in two or three grasps,
+threw the chain and the cover away, then bowed and said with a stern
+look, "May I beg your Grand Ducal Highness ...
+
+"I've been an ass, an ass!" he repeated when he got outside.
+
+Klaus Heinrich left the Citizens' Ball in his company.
+
+That was the painful event which happened during Klaus Heinrich's year
+at school. As I have said, none of the participators talked about it;
+even to the Prince, Doctor Ueberbein did not mention the subject for
+years afterwards, and, as nobody crystallized the event in words, it
+remained incorporeal and promptly faded away, at least apparently, into
+oblivion.
+
+                   *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Citizens' Ball had taken place in January. Shrove Tuesday, with the
+Court Ball and the big Court in the Old Schloss, which wound up the
+social year--regulation festivities, to which Klaus Heinrich was not yet
+admitted--were past and over. Then came Easter, and with it the close of
+the school year. Klaus Heinrich's diploma examination, that edifying
+formality, in the course of which the question, "You agree, do you not,
+Grand Ducal Highness?" was constantly recurring on the lips of the
+Professor, and at which the Prince acquitted himself admirably in his
+very conspicuous position. This was not a very important phase in his
+life. Klaus Heinrich continued to live in the capital, but after
+Whitsuntide his eighteenth birthday drew near, and with it a complex of
+festivities which marked a serious turning-point in his life, and which
+taxed him severely for days together.
+
+He had attained his majority, had been pronounced to be of age. For the
+first time again since his baptism, he was the centre of attention and
+chief actor in a great ceremony, but while he had then quietly,
+irresponsibly, and patiently resigned himself to the formalities which
+surrounded and protected him, it was incumbent on him on this day, in
+the midst of binding prescriptions and stern regulations, hemmed in by
+the drapery of weighty precedent, to inspire the spectators and to
+please them by maintaining an attitude of dignity and good-breeding, and
+at the same time to appear light-hearted.
+
+It may be added that I use the word "drapery" not only as a figure of
+speech. The Prince wore a crimson mantle on this occasion, a sumptuous
+and theatrical article of raiment, which his father and grandfather
+before him had worn at their coming-of-age, and which notwithstanding
+days of airing, still smelt of camphor. The crimson mantle had
+originally belonged to the robes of the Knights of the Grimmburg
+Griffin, but was now nothing more than a ceremonial garb for the use of
+princes attaining their majority. Albrecht, the Heir Apparent, had never
+worn the family one. As his birthday fell in the winter, he always spent
+it in the South, in a place with a warm and dry climate, whither he was
+thinking of returning this autumn too, and as at the time of his
+eighteenth birthday his health had not permitted him to travel home, it
+had been decided to declare him officially of age in his absence, and to
+dispense with the Court ceremony.
+
+As to Klaus Heinrich, there was only one opinion, especially among the
+representatives of the public, that the mantle suited him admirably, and
+he himself, notwithstanding the way in which it hampered his movements,
+found it a blessing, as it made it easy for him to hide his left hand.
+Between the canopied bed and the bellying chest of drawers in his
+bedroom, that was situated on the second floor looking out on the yard
+with the rose-bush, he made himself ready for the show, carefully and
+precisely, with the help of his valet, Neumann, a quiet and precise man
+who had been recently attached to him as keeper of his wardrobe and
+personal servant.
+
+Neumann was an ex-barber, and was filled, especially in the direction of
+his original calling, with that passionate conscientiousness, that
+insatiable knowledge of the ideal, which gives rise to the highest
+skill. He did not shave like any ordinary shaver, he was not content to
+leave no stubble behind, he shaved in such a way that every shadow of a
+beard, every recollection of one, was removed, and without hurting the
+skin he managed to restore to it all its softness and smoothness. He cut
+Klaus Heinrich's hair exactly square above the ears, and arranged it
+with all the assiduity required, in his opinion, by this preparation for
+the Prince's ceremonial appearance. He managed that the parting should
+come over the left eye and run slanting back over the crown of the head,
+so that no tufts or wisps should stick up on it; he brushed the hair on
+the right side up from the forehead into a prim crest on which no hat or
+helmet could make an impression. Then Klaus Heinrich, with his help,
+squeezed himself carefully into his uniform of lieutenant in the
+Grenadier Guards, whose high-braided collar and tight fit favoured a
+dignified bearing, put on the lemon-coloured silk band and the flat gold
+chain of the House Order, and went down to the picture gallery where the
+members of the family and the foreign relations of the Grand Ducal pair
+were waiting. The Court was waiting in the adjoining Hall of the
+Knights, and it was there that Johann Albrecht himself invested his son
+with the crimson mantle.
+
+Herr von Bühl zu Bühl had marshalled a procession, the ceremonial
+procession from the Hall of the Knights to the Throne-room. It had cost
+him no little worry. The composition of the Court made it difficult to
+contrive an impressive arrangement, and Herr von Bühl especially
+lamented the lack of upper Court officials, which on such occasions made
+itself most severely felt. The Royal Mews had recently been put under
+Herr von Bühl, and he felt himself quite up to his various functions,
+but he asked everybody how he could be expected to make a good
+impression, when the most important posts were filled simply by the
+master of the Buck-hounds, von Stieglitz, and the director of the Grand
+Ducal Theatre, a gouty general.
+
+While he, in his capacity as Lord Marshal, Chief Master of the
+Ceremonies, and House Marshal, in his embroidered clothes and brown
+toupée, covered with orders and with his golden pince-nez on his nose,
+came waddling and planting his long staff in front of him behind the
+cadets, who, dressed as pages, and their hair parted over the left eye,
+opened the procession, he pondered deeply over what came behind him. A
+few chamberlains--not many, for some were wanted for the end of the
+procession--their plumed hats under their arms and the Key on their
+coat-tails, followed close at his heels, in silk stockings. Next came
+Herr von Stieglitz, and the limping theatre-director in front of Klaus
+Heinrich, who, in his mantle between the exalted couple, and followed by
+his brother and sister, Albrecht and Ditlinde, formed the actual nucleus
+of the procession.
+
+Behind their Highnesses came von Knobelsdorff, the House Minister and
+President of Council, his eye-wrinkles all at work; a little knot of
+aides-de-camp and palace ladies came next: General Count Schmettern and
+Major von Platow, a Count Trümmerhauff, cousin of the Keeper of the
+Privy Purse, as military aide-de-camp of the Heir Apparent, and the
+Grand Duchess's women led by the short-winded Baroness von
+Schulenburg-Tressen. Then followed, attended and followed by
+aides-de-camp, chamberlains, and Court ladies, Princess Catherine, with
+her red-haired progeny, Prince Lambert with his lovely wife, and the
+foreign relations or their representatives. Pages brought up the rear.
+
+Thus they went at a measured pace from the Hall of the Knights through
+the Gala Halls, the Hall of the Twelve Months, and the Marble Hall into
+the Throne-room. Lackeys, with red-gold aiguillettes on their brown
+coats, stood theatrically in couples at the open double doors. Through
+the broad windows the June morning sun streamed gaily and recklessly in.
+
+Klaus Heinrich looked round him as he processed between his parents
+through the dreary arabesques, the dilapidated decorations of the
+show-rooms, now not favoured by kindly artificial light. The bright
+daylight cheerfully and soberly showed up their decay. From the big
+lustres with their stiff-bound stems, stripped of their coverings in
+honour of the day, rose thick forests of flameless candles, but
+everywhere there were prisms missing, crystal festoons torn, so that
+they gave a canker-bit and toothless impression. The silk damask
+upholstery of the State furniture, which was arranged stiffly and
+monotonously round the walls, was thread-bare, the gilt of the frames
+chipped off, big blind patches marred the surfaces of the tall
+candle-decked mirrors, and daylight shone through the moth-holes in the
+faded and discoloured curtains. The gold and silver borders of the
+tapestry hangings had torn away in several places, and were hanging
+disconsolately from the walls. Even in the Silver Hall of the Gala
+Rooms, where the Grand Duke was wont to receive solemn deputations, and
+in the centre of which stood a mother-of-pearl table with stumpy silver
+feet, a piece of the silver work had fallen from the ceiling leaving a
+gaping patch of white plaster.
+
+But why was it that it somehow seemed as if these rooms defied the
+sober, mocking daylight, and proudly answered its challenge? Klaus
+Heinrich looked sideways at his father.... The condition of the rooms
+did not seem to worry him. Never of more than medium height, the Grand
+Duke had become almost small in the course of years, but he strode
+majestically on with head thrown back, the lemon-coloured ribbon of the
+Order over his general's uniform, which he had donned to-day, though he
+had no military leanings. From under his high and bald forehead and grey
+eyebrows, his blue eyes, with dull rings round them, were fixed with
+weary dignity on the distance, and from his pointed white moustaches the
+two deep furrows ran down his yellowish skin to his beard, imparting to
+his face a look of contempt. No, the bright daylight could not do any
+harm to the rooms; the dilapidations did not in the least impair their
+dignity, they rather increased it. They stood in their discomfort, their
+theatrical symmetry, their strange musty play-house or church
+atmosphere, cold and indifferent to the merry and sun-bathed world
+outside--stern background of a pompous cult, at which Klaus Heinrich
+this day for the first time officiated.
+
+The procession passed through the pairs of lackeys, who, with an
+expression of relentlessness, pressed their lips together and closed
+their eyes, into the white and gold expanse of the Throne-room. A wave
+of acts of homage, scrapings, bows, curtseys and salutes, swept through
+the hall as the procession passed in front of the assembled guests.
+There were diplomats with their wives, nobility of the Court and the
+country, the corps of officers of the capital, the Ministers, amongst
+whom could be descried the affected, confident face of the new Finance
+Minister, Dr. Krippenreuther, the Knights of the Great Order of the
+Grimmburg Griffin, the Presidents of the Diet, dignitaries of all kinds.
+High up in the little box above the big looking-glass by the entrance
+door could be descried the press representatives peering over each
+other's shoulders and busily writing in their notebooks.... In front of
+the throne-baldachin, itself a torn velvet arrangement, crowned with
+ostrich feathers and framed with gold fillets which would have been all
+the better for a touch-up, the procession divided as in a polonaise, and
+went through carefully prescribed evolutions.
+
+The pages and chamberlains fell aside to right and left. Herr von Bühl,
+his face turned to the throne and his staff uplifted, stepped backwards
+and stood still in the middle of the hall. The Grand Ducal pair and
+their children walked up the rounded, red-carpeted steps to the
+capacious gilded chairs which stood at the top. The remaining members of
+the House, with the foreign princes, ranged themselves on both sides of
+the throne; behind them stood the suite, the maids of honour and the
+grooms of the chambers, and the pages stood on the steps. At a gesture
+from Johann Albrecht, Herr von Knobelsdorff, who had previously taken up
+his stand over against the throne, advanced straight to the
+velvet-covered table, which stood by the side of the steps, and began at
+once to read from various documents the official formalities.
+
+Klaus Heinrich was declared to be of age and fit and entitled to wear
+the crown, should necessity require it--every eye was turned on him at
+this place, and at his Royal Highness Albrecht, his elder brother, who
+stood close to him. The Heir Apparent was wearing the uniform of a
+captain in the Hussar regiment which was called by his name. From his
+silver-laced collar stretched an unmilitary width of civil stand-up
+collar, and on it rested his fine, shrewd, and delicate head, with its
+long skull and narrow temples, the straw-coloured moustache on the upper
+lip, and the blue, lonely-looking eyes which had seen death. He looked
+not in the least like a cavalry officer, yet so slender and
+unapproachably aristocratic that Klaus Heinrich, with his national
+cheek-bones, looked almost coarse beside him. The Heir Apparent pursed
+up his lips when everybody looked at him, protruded his short rounded
+underlip, and sucked it lightly against the upper one.
+
+Several of the country's orders were bestowed on the Prince who had just
+come of age, including the Albrecht Cross and the Great Order of the
+Grimmburg Griffin, not to mention that he was confirmed in the House
+Order whose insignia he had possessed since his tenth birthday.
+Afterwards came the congratulations in the form of a processional Court,
+led by the fawning Herr von Bühl, after which the gala-breakfast began
+in the Marble Hall and in the hall of the Twelve Months.
+
+The foreign princes were entertained for the next few days. A
+garden-party was given in Hollerbrunn, with fireworks and dancing for
+the young people of the Court in the park. Festive excursions with pages
+in attendance were made through the sunny country-side to Monbrillant,
+Jägerpreis, and Haderstein Ruins, and the people, that inferior order of
+creation with the searching eyes and the high cheek-bones, stood on the
+kerb and cheered themselves and their representatives. In the capital
+Klaus Heinrich's photograph hung in the windows of the art-dealers, and
+the _Courier_ actually published a printed likeness of him, a popular
+and strangely idealized representation, showing the Prince in the
+crimson mantle. But then came yet another great day--Klaus Heinrich's
+formal entry into the Army, into the regiment of Grenadier Guards.
+
+This is what happened. The regiment to which fell the honour of having
+Klaus Heinrich as one of its officers was drawn up on the Albrechtsplatz
+in open square. Many a plume waved in the middle. The princes of the
+House and the generals were all present. The public, a black mass
+against the gay background, crowded behind the barriers. Cameras were
+levelled in several places at the scene of action. The Grand Duchess,
+with the princesses and their ladies, watched the show from the windows
+of the Old Schloss.
+
+First of all, Klaus Heinrich, dressed as a lieutenant, reported himself
+formally to the Grand Duke. He advanced sternly, without the shadow of a
+smile, towards his father, clapped his heels together and humbly
+acquainted him with his presence. The Grand Duke thanked him briefly,
+also without a smile, and then in his turn, followed by his
+aides-de-camp, advanced in his dress uniform and plumed hat into the
+square. Klaus Heinrich stood before the lowered colours, an embroidered,
+golden, and half-tattered piece of silk cloth, and took the oath. The
+Grand Duke made a speech in detached sentences and the sharp voice of
+command which he reserved for such occasions, in which he called his son
+"Your Grand Ducal Highness" and publicly clasped the Prince's hand. The
+Colonel of the Grenadier Guards, with crimson cheeks, led a cheer for
+the Grand Duke in which the guests, the regiment, and the public joined.
+A march past followed, and the whole ended with a military luncheon in
+the castle.
+
+This picturesque ceremony in the Albrechtsplatz was without practical
+significance; its effect began and ended there. Klaus Heinrich never
+dreamed of going into garrison, but went the very same day with his
+parents and brother and sister to Hollerbrunn, to pass the summer there
+in the cool old French rooms on the river, between the wall-like hedges
+of the park, and then, in the autumn, to go up to the university. For so
+it was ordained in the programme of his life; in the autumn he went up
+to the university for a year, not that of the capital, but the second
+one of the country, accompanied by Doctor Ueberbein, his tutor.
+
+The appointment of this young savant as mentor was once more
+attributable to an express, ardent wish of the Prince, and indeed, as
+far as the choice of tutor and older companions was concerned, whom
+Klaus Heinrich was to have at his side during this year of student
+freedom, it was considered necessary to give a reasonable amount of
+consideration to his expressed wishes. Yet there was much to be said
+against this choice; it was unpopular, or at least criticized aloud or
+in whispers in many quarters.
+
+Raoul Ueberbein was not loved in the capital. Due respect was paid to
+his medal for life-saving and to all his feverish energy, but the man
+was no genial fellow-citizen, no jolly comrade, no blameless official.
+The most charitable saw in him an oddity with a determined and
+uncomfortably reckless disposition, who recognized no Sunday, no
+holiday, no relaxation, and did not understand being a man amongst men
+after work was done. This natural son of an adventuress had worked his
+way up from the depths of society, from an obscure and prospectless
+youth without means, by dint of sheer strength of will, to being, first
+school teacher, then academic professor, then university lecturer, had
+lived to see his appointment--had "engineered" it, as many said--to the
+"Pheasantry" as teacher of a Grand Ducal Prince, and yet he knew no
+rest, no contentment, no comfortable enjoyment of life.... But life, as
+every decent man, thinking of Doctor Ueberbein, truly observed, life
+does not consist only of profession and performance, it has its purely
+human claims and duties, the neglect of which is a greater sin than the
+display of some measure of joviality towards oneself and one's fellows
+in the sphere of one's work, and only that personality can be considered
+a harmonious one which succeeds in giving its due to each part,
+profession and human feelings, life and performance.
+
+Ueberbein's lack of any sense of camaraderie was bound to tell against
+him. He avoided all social intercourse with his colleagues, and his
+circle of friends was confined to the person of one man of another
+scientific sphere, a surgeon and children's specialist with the
+unsympathetic name of Sammet, a very popular surgeon to boot, who shared
+certain characteristics with Ueberbein. But it was only very rarely--and
+then only as a sort of favour--that he turned up at the club where the
+teachers gathered after the day's work and worry, for a glass of beer, a
+rubber, or a free exchange of views on public and personal
+questions--but he passed his evenings, and, as his landlady reported,
+also a great part of the night, working at science in his study, while
+his complexion grew greener and greener, and his eyes showed more and
+more clearly signs of overstrain.
+
+The authorities had been moved, shortly after his return from the
+"Pheasantry," to promote him to head master. Where was he going to stop?
+At Director? High-school Professor? Minister for Education? Everybody
+agreed that his immoderate and restless energy concealed imprudence and
+defiance of public opinion--or rather did not conceal them. His
+demeanour, his loud, blustering mode of speaking annoyed, irritated, and
+exasperated people. His tone towards members of the teaching profession
+who were older and in higher positions than himself was not what it
+should be. He treated everybody, from the Director down to the humblest
+usher, in a fatherly way, and his habit of talking of himself as of a
+man who had "knocked about," of gassing about "Fate and Duty," and
+thereby displaying his benevolent contempt for all those who "weren't
+obliged to" and "smoked cigars in the morning," showed conceit pure and
+simple. His pupils adored him; he achieved remarkable results with them,
+that was agreed. But on the whole the Doctor had many enemies in the
+town, more than he ever guessed, and the misgiving that his influence on
+the Prince might be an undesirable one was put into words in at least
+one portion of the daily press....
+
+Anyhow Ueberbein obtained leave from the Latin school, and went first of
+all alone, in the capacity of billeter, on a visit to the famous student
+town, within whose walls Klaus Heinrich was destined to pass the year of
+his apprenticeship, and on his return he was received in audience by
+Excellency von Knobelsdorff, the Minister of the Grand Ducal House, to
+receive the usual instructions. Their tenour was that almost the most
+important object of this year was to establish traditions of comradeship
+on the common ground of academic freedom between the Prince and the
+student corps, especially in the interests of the dynasty--the
+regulation phrases, which Herr von Knobelsdorff rattled off almost
+casually, and which Doctor Ueberbein listened to with a silent bow,
+while he drew his mouth, and with it his red beard, a little to one
+side. Then followed Klaus Heinrich's departure with his mentor, a
+dogcart and a servant or two, for the university.
+
+A glorious year, full of the charm of artistic freedom, in the public
+eye and in the mirror of public report--yet without technical importance
+of any kind. Misgivings which had been felt in some quarters that Doctor
+Ueberbein, through mistaking and misunderstanding the position, might
+worry the Prince with excessive demands in the direction of objective
+science, proved unfounded. On the contrary, it was obvious that the
+doctor quite realized the difference between his own earnest, and his
+pupil's exalted, sphere of existence. On the other hand (whether it was
+the mentor's or the Prince's own fault does not matter) the freedom and
+the unconstrained camaraderie, like the instruction, were interpreted in
+a very relative and symbolical sense so that neither the one nor the
+other, neither the knowledge nor the freedom, could be said to be the
+essence and peculiarity of the year. Its essence and peculiarity were
+rather, as it appeared, the year in itself, as the embodiment of custom
+and impressive ceremoniousness, to which Klaus Heinrich deferred, just
+as he had deferred to the theatrical rites on his last birthday--only
+now not with a purple cloak, but occasionally wearing a coloured
+student's cap, the so-called "Stürmer," in which he was portrayed in a
+photograph issued at once by the _Courier_ to its readers.
+
+As to his studies, his matriculation was not marked by any particular
+festivities, though some reference was made to the honour which Klaus
+Heinrich's admission bestowed on the university, and the lectures he
+attended began with the address: "Grand Ducal Highness!" He drove in his
+dogcart with a groom from the pretty green-clad villa, which the Marshal
+of his father's household had leased for him in a select and not too
+expensive square, amid the remarks and greetings of the passers-by, to
+the lectures, and there he sat with the consciousness that the whole
+thing was unessential and unnecessary for his exalted calling, yet with
+a show of courteous attention.
+
+Charming anecdotes of the signs the Prince gave of interest in the
+lectures went about and had their due effect. Towards the end of one
+course on Nature Study (for Klaus Heinrich attended these courses also
+"for general information") the Professor, by way of illustration, had
+filled a metal shell with water and announced that the water, when
+frozen, would burst the shell by expansion; he promised to show the
+class the pieces next lecture. Now he had not kept his word on this
+point at the next lecture, probably out of forgetfulness: the broken
+shell had not been forthcoming--Klaus Heinrich had therefore inquired as
+to the result of the experiment. He had joined in asking questions of
+the professor at the end of the lecture, just like any ordinary student,
+and had modestly asked him: "Has the bomb burst?"--whereupon the
+Professor, full of embarrassment at first, had then expressed his thanks
+with glad surprise, and indeed emotion, for the kind interest the Prince
+had expressed in his lectures.
+
+Klaus Heinrich was honorary member of a student's club--only honorary,
+because he was not allowed to fight duels--and once or twice attended
+their wines, his Stürmer on his head. But since his guardians were well
+aware that the results the influence of strong drink had on his highly
+strung and delicate temperament were absolutely irreconcilable with his
+exalted calling, he did not dare to drink seriously, and his comrades
+were obliged on this point too to bear his Highness in mind. Their rude
+customs were judiciously limited to a casual one or two, the general
+tone was as exemplary as it used to be in the upper form at school, the
+songs they sang were old ones of real poetry, and the meetings were, as
+a whole, gala and parade nights, refined editions of the ordinary ones.
+The use of Christian names was the bond of union between Klaus Heinrich
+and his corps brothers, as the expression and basis of spontaneous
+comradeship. But it was generally observed that this use sounded false
+and artificial, however great the efforts to make it otherwise, and that
+the students were always falling back unintentionally into the form of
+address which took due notice of the Prince's Highness.
+
+Such was the effect of his presence, of his friendly, alert, and always
+uncompromising attitude which sometimes produced strange, even comical
+phenomena in the demeanour of the persons with whom the Prince came into
+contact. One evening, at a soirée which one of his professors gave, he
+engaged a guest in conversation--a fat man of some age, a King's Counsel
+by his title, who, despite his social importance, enjoyed the reputation
+of a great roué and a regular old sinner. The conversation, whose
+subject is a matter of no consequence and indeed would be difficult to
+specify, lasted for a considerable time because no opportunity of
+breaking it off presented itself. And suddenly, in the middle of his
+talk with the Prince, the barrister whistled--whistled with his thick
+lips one of those pointless sequences of notes which one utters when one
+is embarrassed and wants to appear at one's ease, and then tried to
+cover his comic breach of manners by clearing his throat and coughing.
+Klaus Heinrich was accustomed to experiences of that kind, and tactfully
+passed on.
+
+If at any time he wanted to make a purchase himself and went into a
+shop, his entrance caused a kind of panic. He would ask for what he
+wanted, a button perhaps, but the girl would not understand him, would
+look dazed, and unable to fix her attention on the button, but obviously
+absorbed by something else--something outside and above her duties as a
+shop-assistant--she would drop a few things, turn the boxes upside down
+in obvious helplessness, and it was all Klaus Heinrich could do to
+restore her composure by his friendly manner.
+
+Such, as I have said, was the effect of his attitude, and in the city it
+was often described as arrogance and blameworthy contempt for
+fellow-creatures--others roundly denied the arrogance, and Doctor
+Ueberbein, when the subject was broached to him at a social gathering,
+would put the question, whether "every inducement to contempt for his
+fellow-creatures being readily conceded," any such contempt really was
+possible in a case like the present of complete detachment from all the
+activities of ordinary men. Indeed, any remark of that kind he met in
+his unanswerable blustering way by the assertion that the Prince not
+only did not despise his fellow-creatures, but respected even the most
+worthless of them, only considered them all the more sound, serious, and
+good for the way in which the poor over-taxed and over-strained man in
+the street earned his living by the sweat of his brow....
+
+The society of the university town had no time to reach a definite
+verdict on the question. The year of student life was over before one
+could turn round, and Klaus Heinrich returned, as prescribed by the
+programme of his life, to his father's palace, there, despite his left
+arm, to pass a full year in serious military service. He was attached to
+the Dragoons of the Guard for six months, and directed the taking up of
+intervals of eight paces for lance-exercises as well as the forming of
+squares, as if he were a serious soldier; then changed his weapon and
+transferred to the Grenadier Guards, so as to get an insight into
+infantry work also. It fell to him to march to the Schloss and change
+the Guard--an evolution which attracted large crowds. He came swiftly
+out of the Guard-room, his star on his breast, placed himself with drawn
+sword on the flank of the company and gave not quite correct orders,
+which, however, did not matter, as his stout soldiers executed the right
+movements all the same.
+
+On guest-nights, too, at head-quarters, he sat on the colonel's right
+hand, and by his presence prevented the officers from unhooking their
+uniform collars and playing cards after dinner. After this, being now
+twenty years old, he started on an "educational tour"--no longer in the
+company of Doctor Ueberbein, but in that of a military attendant and
+courier, Captain von Braunbart-Schellendorf of the Guards, a fair-haired
+officer who was destined to be Klaus Heinrich's aide-de-camp, and to
+whom the tour gave an opportunity of establishing himself on a footing
+of intimacy and influence with him.
+
+Klaus Heinrich did not see much in his educational tour, which took him
+far afield, and was keenly followed by the _Courier_. He visited the
+courts, introduced himself to the sovereigns, attended gala dinners with
+Captain von Braunbart, and on his departure received one of the
+country's superior Orders. He took a look at such sights as Captain von
+Braunbart (who also received several Orders) chose for him, and the
+_Courier_ reported from time to time that the Prince had expressed his
+admiration of a picture, a museum, or a building to the director or
+curator who happened to be his cicerone. He travelled apart, protected
+and supported by the chivalrous precautions of Captain von Braunbart,
+who kept the purse, and to whose devoted zeal was due the fact that not
+one of Klaus Heinrich's trunks was missing at the end of the journey.
+
+A couple of words, no more, may be devoted to an interlude, which had
+for scene a big city in a neighbouring kingdom, and was brought about by
+Captain von Braunbart with all due circumspection. The Captain had a
+friend in this city, a bachelor nobleman and a cavalry captain, who was
+on terms of intimacy with a young lady member of the theatrical world,
+an accommodating and at the same time trustworthy young person. In
+pursuance of an agreement by letter between Captain von Braunbart and
+his friend, Klaus Heinrich was thrown in contact with the damsel at her
+home--suitably arranged for the purpose--and the acquaintance allowed to
+develop _à deux_. Thus an expressly foreseen item in the educational
+tour was conscientiously realized, without Klaus Heinrich being involved
+in more than a casual acquaintance. The damsel received a memento for
+her services, and Captain von Braunbart's friend a decoration. So the
+incident closed.
+
+Klaus Heinrich also visited the fair Southern lands, incognito, under a
+romantic-sounding title. There he would sit, alone, perhaps for a
+quarter of an hour, dressed in a suit of irreproachable cut, among other
+foreigners on a white restaurant terrace looking over a dark-blue sea,
+and it might happen that somebody at another table would notice him, and
+try, in the manner of tourists, to engage him in conversation. What
+could he be, that quiet and self-possessed-looking young man? People ran
+over the various spheres of life, tried to fit him into the merchant,
+the military, the student class. But they never felt that they had got
+it quite right--they felt his Highness, but nobody guessed it.
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+ALBRECHT II
+
+
+Grand Duke Johann Albrecht died of a terrible illness, which had
+something naked and abstract about it, and to which no other name but
+just that of death could be given. It seemed as if death, sure of its
+prey, in this case disdained any mask or gloss, and came on the scene as
+its very self, as dissolution by and for itself. What actually happened
+was a decomposition of the blood, caused by internal hæmorrhages; and an
+exploratory operation, which was conducted by the Director of the
+University Hospital, a famous surgeon, could not arrest the corroding
+progress of the gangrene. The end soon came, all the sooner that Johann
+Albrecht made little resistance to the approach of death. He showed
+signs of an unutterable weariness, and often remarked to his attendants,
+as well as to the surgeons attending him, that he was "dead sick of the
+whole thing"--meaning, of course, his princely existence, his exalted
+life in the glare of publicity. His cheek-furrows, those two lines of
+arrogance and boredom, resolved in his last days into an exaggerated,
+grotesque grimace, and continued thus until death smoothed them out.
+
+The Grand Duke's illness fell in the winter. Albrecht, the Heir
+Apparent, called away from his warm dry resort, arrived in snowy wet
+weather, which was as bad for his health as it could be. His brother,
+Klaus Heinrich, interrupted his educational tour, which was anyhow
+nearing its close, and returned with Captain von Braunbart-Schellendorf
+in all haste from the fair land of the South to the capital. Besides the
+two prince-sons, the Grand Duchess Dorothea, the Princesses Catherine
+and Ditlinde, Prince Lambert without his lovely wife--the surgeons in
+attendance and Prahl the valet-de-chambre waited at the bedside, while
+the Court officials and Ministers on duty were collected in the
+adjoining room. If credence might be given to the assertions of the
+servants, the ghostly noise in the "Owl Chamber" had been exceptionally
+loud in the last weeks and days. According to them it was a rattling and
+a shaking noise, which recurred periodically, and whose meaning could
+not be distinguished outside the room.
+
+Johann Albrecht's last act of Highness consisted in giving with his own
+hand to the professor, who had performed the useless operation with the
+greatest skill, his patent of nomination to the Privy Council. He was
+terribly exhausted, "sick of the whole thing," and his consciousness
+even in his more lucid moments was not at all clear; but he carried out
+the act with scrupulous care and made a ceremony of it. He had himself
+propped up, made a few alterations, shading his eyes with his
+wax-coloured hands, in the chance disposition of those present, ordered
+his sons to place themselves on both sides of his canopied bed--and
+while his soul was already tugging at her moorings, and floating here
+and there on unknown currents, he composed his features with mechanical
+skill into his smile of graciousness for the handing of the diploma to
+the Professor, who had left the room for a short time.
+
+Quite towards the end, when the dissolution had already attacked the
+brain, the Grand Duke made one wish clear, which, though scarcely
+understood, was hastily complied with, although its fulfilment could not
+do the slightest good to the Grand Duke. Certain words, apparently
+disconnected, kept recurring in the murmurings of the sick man. He named
+several stuffs, silk, satin, and brocade, mentioned Prince Klaus
+Heinrich, used a technical expression in medicine, and said something
+about an Order, the Albrecht Cross of the Third Class with Crown.
+Between whiles one caught quite ordinary remarks, which apparently
+referred to the dying man's princely calling, and sounded like
+"extraordinary obligation" and "comfortable majority"; then the
+descriptions of the stuffs began again, to which was appended in a
+louder voice the word "Sammet."(1) At last it was realized that the
+Grand Duke wanted Doctor Sammet to be called in, the doctor who had
+happened to be present at the Grimmburg at the time of Klaus Heinrich's
+birth, twenty years before, and had, for a long time now, been
+practising in the capital.
+
+  (1) _I.e._, velvet.
+
+The doctor was really a children's doctor, but he was summoned and came:
+already nearly grey on the temples, with a drooping moustache,
+surmounted by a nose which was rather too flat at the bottom,
+clean-shaven otherwise and with cheeks rather sore from shaving. With
+head on one side, his hand on his watch-chain, and elbows close to his
+sides, he examined the situation, and began at once to busy himself in a
+practical, gentle way about his exalted patient, whereat the latter
+expressed his satisfaction in no uncertain fashion. Thus it was that it
+fell to Doctor Sammet to administer the last injections to the Grand
+Duke, with his supporting hand to ease the final spasms, and to be, more
+than any of the other doctors, his helper in death--a distinction which
+indeed provoked some secret irritation amongst the others, but on the
+other hand resulted in the doctor's appointment shortly afterwards to
+the vacancy in the important post of Director and Chief Physician of the
+"Dorothea," a Children's Hospital, in which capacity he was destined
+later to play some part in certain developments.
+
+So died Johann Albrecht the Third, uttering his last sigh on a winter's
+night. The old castle was brightly illuminated while he was passing
+away. The stern furrows of boredom were smoothed out in his face, and,
+relieved of any exertion on his own part, he was subjected to
+formalities which surrounded him for the last time, carried him along,
+and made his wax-like shell just once more the focus and object of
+theatrical rites.... Herr von Bühl zu Bühl showed his usual energy in
+organizing the funeral, which was attended by many princely guests. The
+gloomy ceremonies, the different exposures and identifications,
+corpse-parades, blessings, and memorial services at the catafalque took
+days to complete, and Johann Albrecht's corpse was for eight hours
+exposed to public view, surrounded by a guard of honour consisting of
+two colonels, two first lieutenants, two cavalry sergeants, two infantry
+sergeants, two corporals, and two chamberlains.
+
+Then at last came the moment when the zinc shell was brought by eight
+lackeys from the altar recess of the Court Church, where it had been on
+show between crape-covered candelabra and six-foot candles, to the
+entry-hall, placed by eight foresters in the mahogany coffin, carried by
+eight Grenadier Guardsmen to the six-horsed and black-draped hearse,
+which set off for the mausoleum amidst cannon salvos and the tolling of
+bells. The flags hung heavy with rain from the middle of their poles.
+Although it was early morning, the gas-lamps were burning in the streets
+along which the funeral was to pass. Johann Albrecht's bust was
+displayed amongst mourning decorations in the shop-windows, and
+postcards with the portrait of the deceased ruler, which were everywhere
+for sale, were in great demand. Behind the rows of troops, the gymnastic
+clubs, and veteran associations which kept the road, stood the people on
+tiptoe in the snow-brash and gazed with bowed heads at the slowly
+passing coffin, preceded by the wreath-bearing lackeys, the Court
+officials, the bearers of the insignia and Dom Wislezenus, the Court
+preacher, and covered with a silver-worked pall, whose corners were held
+by Lord Marshal von Bühl, Master of the Royal Hunt von Stieglitz,
+Adjutant-General Count Schmettern, and Minister of the Household von
+Knobelsdorff.
+
+By the side of his brother Klaus Heinrich, immediately behind the
+charger which was led in rear of the hearse, and at the head of the
+other mourners, walked Grand Duke Albrecht II. His clothes, the tall
+stiff plume in the front of his busby, the long boots under his gaudy,
+ample Hussar's pelisse, with the crape band, did not become him. He
+walked as if embarrassed by the eyes of the crowd, and his
+shoulder-blades, naturally rather crooked, were twisted in an awkward
+nervous way as he walked. Repugnance at having to be chief actor in this
+funeral pomp was clearly written on his pale face. He did not raise his
+eyes as he walked, and he sucked his short rounded lower lip against the
+upper....
+
+His demeanour remained the same during the Curialia accompanying his
+accession, which were so arranged as to spare him as much as possible.
+The Grand Duke signed the oath in the Silver Hall of the Gala Rooms
+before the assembled Ministers, and read aloud in the Throne-room,
+standing in front of the rounded chair under the baldachin, the Speech
+from the Throne, which Herr von Knobelsdorff had drawn up. The economic
+condition of the country was touched upon in it with earnestness and
+delicacy, while appreciative mention was made of the unanimity which
+despite all troubles existed between the princes and the country--at
+which place a prominent functionary, who was apparently discontented
+about promotion, was said to have whispered to his neighbour that the
+unanimity consisted in the Prince being as deeply in debt as the
+country--a caustic remark which was much repeated, and ended by getting
+into hostile newspapers.... To end up, the President of the Landtag
+called for a cheer for the Grand Duke, a service was held in the Court
+Chapel, and that was all.
+
+Further, Albrecht signed an edict, by virtue of which a number of
+sentences of fines and imprisonment, which had been imposed for the less
+serious misdemeanours, chiefly infringement of the forest laws, were
+remitted. The solemn procession through the city and the acclamation in
+the Town Hall were omitted altogether, as the Grand Duke felt too tired
+for them. Having been a captain hitherto, he was promoted on the
+occasion of his accession at once to the colonelcy _à la suite_ of his
+Hussar regiment, but scarcely ever put the uniform on, and kept as far
+away as possible from his sphere as a soldier. He made no change
+whatever in his staff, perhaps out of respect to his father's memory,
+either among the Court appointments or in the Ministry.
+
+The public saw him but rarely. His proud and bashful disinclination to
+show himself, to put himself forward, to allow others to acclaim him,
+was so clearly shown from the very beginning as to shock public opinion.
+He never appeared in the large box at the Court Theatre. He never took
+part in the park parade. When in residence at the Old Schloss, he had
+himself driven in a closed carriage to a remote and empty part of the
+suburbs, where he got out to take a little exercise; and in the summer
+at Hollerbrunn he only left the hedged walks of the parks on exceptional
+occasions.
+
+Did the people catch a glimpse of him--at the Albrechtstor it might be,
+when wrapped in his heavy fur coat, which his father had worn before
+him, and on whose thick collar his delicate head now rested, he stepped
+into his carriage--timid glances were levelled at him, and the cheering
+was faint and hesitating. For the lower classes felt that with a prince
+like this there could be no question of cheering him and thereby
+cheering themselves at the same time. They looked at him, and did not
+recognize themselves in him; his refined superiority made it clear that
+they were of different clay from his. And they were not accustomed to
+that. Was there not a commissionaire posted in the Albrechtsplatz that
+very day, who with his high cheek-bones and grey whiskers looked a
+coarse and homely replica of the late Grand Duke? And did one not
+similarly meet with Prince Klaus Heinrich's features in the lower
+classes?
+
+It was not so with his brother. The people could not see in him an
+idealized version of themselves, whom it could make them happy to
+cheer--as it meant cheering themselves too! the Grand Duke's
+Highness--his undoubted Highness!--was a nobility of the usual kind,
+undomestic, and without the stamp of the graciousness which inspires
+confidence. He too knew that; and the consciousness of his Highness,
+together with that of his want of popular graciousness, were quite
+enough to account for his shyness and haughtiness. He began already to
+delegate as far as possible his duties to Prince Klaus Heinrich. He sent
+him to open the new spring at Immenstadt and to the historical
+town-pageant at Butterburg. Indeed, his contempt for any exhibition of
+his princely person went so far that Herr von Knobelsdorff had the
+greatest difficulty in persuading him to receive the Presidents of the
+two Chambers in the Throne-room himself, and not, "for reasons of
+health," as he was minded, to give place to his brother on this solemn
+occasion.
+
+Albrecht II lived a lonely life in the Old Schloss; that was unavoidable
+in the nature of things. In the first place, Prince Klaus Heinrich,
+since Johann Albrecht's death, kept a Court of his own. That was
+demanded by etiquette, and he had been given the "Hermitage" as a
+residence, that Empire Schloss on the fringe of the northern suburbs,
+which, reposeful and charming, but long uninhabited and neglected, in
+the middle of its overgrown park next the Town Gardens, looked down on
+its little mud-thick pond. Some time ago, when Albrecht came of age, the
+"Hermitage" had been freshened up and for form's sake destined to be the
+Heir Apparent's palace; but as Albrecht had always come in summer
+straight from his warm, dry foreign resort to Hollerbrunn, he had never
+used his palace....
+
+Klaus Heinrich lived there without unnecessary expense, with one
+major-domo, who superintended the household, a Baron von
+Schulenburg-Tressen, nephew of the Mistress of the Robes. Besides his
+valet, Neumann, he had two other lackeys for his daily needs; he
+borrowed the game-keeper when necessary for ceremonial shoots, from the
+Grand Duke's Court. One coachman and a couple of grooms in red
+waistcoats looked after the carriages and horses, which consisted of one
+pony-cart, one brougham, one dog-cart, two riding and two carriage
+horses. One gardener, helped by two boys, looked after the park and the
+garden; and one cook with her kitchen-maid, as well as two chambermaids,
+made up the female staff of the "Hermitage."
+
+It was Court Marshal von Schulenburg's business to keep his young
+master's establishment going on the apanage which the Landtag, after
+Albrecht's accession, had voted the Grand Duke's brother after a serious
+debate. It amounted to two thousand five hundred pounds. For the sum of
+four thousand pounds, which had been the original demand, had never had
+any prospect of recommending itself to the Landtag, and so a wise and
+magnanimous act of self-denial had been credited to Klaus Heinrich,
+which had made an excellent impression in the country. Every winter Herr
+von Schulenburg sold the ice from the pond. He had the hay in the park
+mowed twice every summer and sold. After the harvests the surface of the
+fields looked almost like English turf.
+
+Further, Dorothea, the Dowager Grand Duchess, no longer lived in the Old
+Schloss, and the causes of her retirement were both sad and
+uncomfortable. For she too, the Princess whom the much-travelled Herr
+von Knobelsdorff had described more than once as one of the most
+beautiful women he had ever seen, the Princess whose radiant smiles had
+evoked joy, enthusiasm, and cheers whenever she had shown herself to the
+longing gaze of the toil-worn masses, she too had had to pay her tribute
+to time. Dorothea had aged, her calm perfection, the admiration and joy
+of everybody, had during recent years withered so fast and steadily that
+the woman in her had been unable to keep pace with the transformation.
+Nothing, no art, no measures, even the painful and repulsive ones, with
+which she tried to stave off decay, had availed to prevent the sweet
+brightness of her deep blue eyes from fading, rings of loose yellow skin
+from forming under them, the wonderful little dimples in her cheeks from
+turning into furrows, and her proud and hard mouth from looking drawn
+and bitter.
+
+But since her heart had been hard as her beauty, and had been absorbed
+in that beauty, since her beauty had been her very soul and she had had
+no wish, no love, beyond the effect of that beauty on the hearts of
+others, while her own heart never beat the faster for anything or
+anyone, she was now disconsolate and lost, could not accommodate herself
+to the change and rebelled against it. Surgeon-General Eschrich said
+something about mental disturbance resulting from an unusually quick
+climacteric, and his opinion was undoubtedly correct in a sense. The sad
+truth at any rate was that Dorothea during the last years of her
+husband's life had already shown signs of profound mental disturbance
+and trouble.
+
+She became light-shy, gave orders that at the Thursday concerts in the
+Marble Hall all the lights should be shaded red, and flew into a passion
+because she could not have the same thing done at all other festivities,
+the Court Ball, the Private Ball, the Dinner Party, and the Great Court,
+as the kind of twilight feeling in the Marble Hall had been enough by
+itself to call forth many cutting remarks. She spent whole days before
+her looking-glasses, and it was noticed that she fondled with her hands
+those which for some reason or other reflected her image in a more
+favourable light. Then again she had all the looking-glasses removed
+from her rooms, and those fixed in the wall draped, went to bed and
+prayed for death.
+
+One day Baroness von Schulenburg found her quite distracted and feverish
+with weeping in the Hall of the Twelve Months before the big portrait
+which represented her at the height of her beauty.... At the same time a
+diseased misanthropy began to take possession of her, and both Court and
+people were distressed to notice how the bearing of this erstwhile
+goddess began to lose its assurance, her deportment became strangely
+awkward, and a pitiful look came into her eyes.
+
+At last she shut herself up altogether, and, at the last Court Ball he
+attended, Johann Albrecht had escorted his sister Catherine instead of
+his "indisposed Consort." His death was from one point of view a release
+for Dorothea, as it relieved her from all her duties as a sovereign. She
+chose as dower-house Schloss Segenhaus, a monastic-looking old
+hunting-seat, which lay in a solemn park about one and a half hour's
+drive from the capital, and had been decorated by some pious old
+sportsman with religious and sporting emblems curiously intermixed.
+There she lived, eclipsed and odd, and excursionists could often watch
+her from afar, walking in the park with Baroness von Schulenburg-Tressen,
+and bowing graciously to the trees on each side of the path.
+
+Lastly, Princess Ditlinde had married at the age of twenty, one year
+after her father's death. She bestowed her hand on a prince of a
+mediatised house, Prince Philipp zu Ried-Hohenried, a no longer young,
+but well-preserved, cultured little man of advanced views, who paid her
+flattering attentions for some considerable time, did all his courting
+at first-hand, and offered the Princess his heart and hand in an honest
+bourgeois way at a charity function.
+
+It would be wrong to say that this alliance evoked wild enthusiasm in
+the country. It was received with indifference; it disappointed. It is
+true, more ambitious hopes had been secretly entertained for Johann
+Albrecht's daughter, and all the critics could say was that the marriage
+could not be called a _mésalliance_ in so many words. It was a fact that
+Ditlinde, in giving her hand to the Prince--which she did of her own
+free will, and quite uninfluenced by others--had undoubtedly descended
+out of her sphere of Highness into a more free and human atmosphere. Her
+noble spouse was not only a lover and collector of oil paintings, but
+also a business man and tradesman on a large scale.
+
+The dynasty had ceased to exercise any sovereign right hundreds of years
+ago, but Philipp was the first of his house to make up his mind to
+exploit his private means in a natural way. After spending his youth in
+travelling, he had looked around for a sphere of activity which would
+keep him busy and contented, and at the same time (a matter of
+necessity) would increase his income. So he launched out into various
+enterprises, started farms, a brewery, a sugar factory, several
+saw-mills on his property, and began to exploit his extensive peat
+deposits in a methodical way. As he brought expert knowledge and sound
+business instincts to all his enterprises, they soon began to pay, and
+returned profits which, if their origin was not very princely, at any
+rate provided him with the means of leading a princely existence which
+he would otherwise not have had.
+
+On the other hand the critics might have been asked what sort of a match
+they could expect for their Princess, if they viewed the matter soberly.
+Ditlinde, who brought her husband scarcely anything except an
+inexhaustible store of linen, including dozens of out-of-date and
+useless articles such as night-caps and neckerchiefs, which however by
+hallowed tradition formed part of her trousseau--she by this marriage
+acquired a measure of riches and comfort such as she had never been
+accustomed to at home: and no sacrifice of her affections was necessary
+to pay for them. She took the step into private life with obvious
+contentment and determination, and retained, of the trappings of
+Highness, nothing but her title. She remained on friendly terms with her
+ladies-in-waiting, but divested her relations with them of everything
+which suggested service, and avoided giving her household the character
+of a Court.
+
+That might evoke surprise, especially in a Grimmburg and in Ditlinde in
+particular, but there was no doubt that it was her own choice. The
+couple spent the summer on the princely estates, the winter in the
+capital in the stately palace in the Albrechtstrasse, which Philipp zu
+Ried had inherited; and it was here, not in the Old Schloss, that the
+Grand Ducal family--Klaus Heinrich and Ditlinde, occasionally Albrecht
+as well--met now and again for a confidential talk.
+
+So it happened that one day at the beginning of autumn, not quite two
+years after the death of Johann Albrecht, the _Courier_, well-informed
+as usual, published in its evening edition the news that this afternoon
+his Royal Highness the Grand Duke and his Grand Ducal Highness Prince
+Klaus Heinrich had been to tea with her Grand Ducal Highness the
+Princess zu Ried-Hohenried. That was all. But on that afternoon several
+topics of importance for the future were discussed between the brothers
+and sister.
+
+Klaus Heinrich left the Hermitage shortly before five o'clock. As the
+weather was sunny, he had ordered the dogcart, and the open
+brown-varnished vehicle, clean and shining, if not over-new or smart to
+look at, came slowly up the broad drive of the Schloss, at a quarter to
+five, from the stables, which with their asphalt yard lay in the right
+wing of the home farm. The home farm, yellow-painted, old-fashioned
+buildings of one story, made one long line with, though at some distance
+from, the plain white mansion, the front of which, adorned with laurels
+at regular intervals, faced the muddy pond and the public part of the
+park.
+
+For the front portion of the estate, that which marched with the town
+gardens, was open to pedestrians and light traffic, and all that was
+enclosed was the gently rising flower-garden, at the top of which lay
+the Schloss and the very unkempt park behind, which was divided by
+hedges and fences from the rubbish-encumbered waste ground at the edge
+of the town suburbs. So the cart came up the drive between the pond and
+the home farm, turned through the high garden gates, adorned with lamps
+which had once been gilt, passed on up the drive and waited in front of
+the stiff little laurel-planted terrace which led to the garden-room.
+
+Klaus Heinrich came out a few minutes before five. He wore as usual the
+tight-fitting uniform of a lieutenant of the Grenadier Guards, and his
+sword-hilt hung on his arm. Neumann, in a violet coat whose arms were
+too short, ran in front of him down the steps and with his red barber's
+hands packed his master's folded grey over-coat into the cart. Then,
+while the coachman, his hand to his cockaded hat, inclined a little
+sideways on the box, the valet arranged the light carriage rug over
+Klaus Heinrich's knees and stepped back with a silent bow. The horses
+started off.
+
+Outside the garden gates a few promenaders had collected. They greeted
+Klaus Heinrich, smiling with knitted brows and hats lifted, and Klaus
+Heinrich thanked them by raising his white-gloved right hand to the peak
+of his cap and making a succession of lively nods.
+
+They skirted a piece of waste ground along a birch avenue, whose leaves
+were already turning, and then drove through the suburb, between
+poverty-stricken houses, over unpaved streets, where the ragged children
+left their hoops and tops for a moment to gaze at the carriage with
+curious eyes. Some cried, Hurrah! and ran for a while by the side of the
+carriage, with heads turned towards Klaus Heinrich. The carriage might
+have taken the road by the Spa-gardens; but that through the suburb was
+shorter, and time pressed. Ditlinde was particular on points of
+regularity, and easily put out if anybody disturbed her household
+arrangements by unpunctuality.
+
+Yonder was the Dorothea Children's Hospital of which Doctor Sammet,
+Ueberbein's friend, was the Director; Klaus Heinrich drove by it. And
+then the carriage left the squalid neighbourhood and reached the
+Gartenstrasse, a stately tree-planted avenue, in which lay the houses
+and villas of wealthy citizens, and along which ran the tram-line from
+the Spa Gardens to the centre of the city. The traffic here was fairly
+heavy, and Klaus Heinrich was kept busy answering the greetings which
+met him. Civilians took off their hats and looked from under their
+eyebrows at him, officers on horse and on foot saluted, policemen
+front-turned, and Klaus Heinrich in his corner raised his hand to the
+peak of his cap and thanked on both sides with the well-trained bow and
+smile which were calculated to confirm the people in their feeling of
+participation in his splendid personality.... His way of sitting in his
+carriage was quite peculiar--he did not lean back indolently and
+comfortably in the cushions, but he took just as active a part in the
+motions of the carriage when driving as in those of his horse when
+riding; with hands crossed on his sword hilt and one foot a little
+advanced, he as it were "took" the unevennesses of the ground, and
+accommodated himself to the motion of the badly hung carriage.
+
+The carriage crossed the Albrechtsplatz, left the Old Schloss, with the
+two sentries presenting arms, to the right, followed the Albrechtstrasse
+in the direction of the barracks of the Grenadier Guards and rolled to
+the left into the courtyard of the palace of the Princess of Ried. It
+was a building of regular proportions in the pedantic style, with a
+soaring gable over the main door, festooned _oeils-de-boeuf_ in the
+mezzanine story, high French windows in the first story, and an elegant
+_cour d'honneur_, which was formed by the two one-storied wings and was
+separated from the street by a circular railing, on whose pillars stone
+babies played. But the internal arrangements of the Schloss were, in
+contradistinction to the historical style of its exterior, conceived
+throughout in an up-to-date and comfortable bourgeois taste.
+
+Ditlinde received her brother in a large drawing-room on the first floor
+with several curved sofas in pale green silk; the back part of the room
+was separated from the front by slender pillars, and filled with palms,
+plants in metal bowls, and tables covered with brilliant flowers.
+
+"Good afternoon, Klaus Heinrich," said the Princess. She was delicate
+and thin, and the only luxuriant thing about her was her fair hair,
+which used to lie like ram's horns round her ears and now was dressed in
+thick plaits above her face with its high Grimmburg cheek-bones. She
+wore an indoor dress of soft blue-grey stuff with a white lace collar,
+cut in a point like a breast-plate and fastened at the waist with an
+old-fashioned oval brooch. Blue veins and shadows showed here and there
+through the delicate skin of her face, in the temples, the forehead, at
+the corners of her soft and calm blue eyes. Signs of approaching
+maternity were beginning to show themselves.
+
+"Good afternoon, Ditlinde, you and your flowers!" answered Klaus
+Heinrich, as, clapping his heels together, he bent over her little,
+white, rather over-broad hand. "How they do smell! And the garden's full
+of them, I see."
+
+"Yes," she said, "I love flowers. I have always longed to be able to
+live among quantities of flowers, living, smelling flowers, which I
+could watch growing--it was a kind of secret wish of mine, Klaus
+Heinrich, and I might almost say that I married for flowers, for in the
+Old Schloss, as you know, there were no flowers.... The Old Schloss and
+flowers! We should have had to rummage a lot to find them, I'm sure.
+Rat-traps and such things, plenty of them. And really, when one comes to
+think, the whole thing was like a disused rat-trap, so dusty and horrid
+... ugh!..."
+
+"But the rose-bush, Ditlinde."
+
+"Yes, my goodness--one rose-bush. And that's in the guide-books, because
+its roses smell of decay. And the books say that it will one day smell
+quite natural and nice, just like any other rose. But I can't believe
+it."
+
+"You will soon," he said, and looked at her laughingly, "have something
+better than your flowers to tend, little Ditlinde."
+
+"Yes," she said and blushed lightly and quickly, "yes, Klaus Heinrich, I
+can hardly believe it. And yet it will be so, if God pleases. But come
+over here. We'll have a chat together once more...."
+
+The room, on whose threshold they had been talking, was small in
+comparison with its height, with a grey-blue carpet, and furnished with
+cheery-looking silver-grey furniture, the chairs of which were
+upholstered in blue silk. A milk-white china chandelier hung from the
+white-festooned centre of the ceiling, and the walls were adorned with
+oil paintings of various sizes, acquisitions of Prince Philipp's, light
+studies in the new style, representing white goats in the sun, poultry
+in the sun, sun-bathed meadows and peasants with blinking, sun-sprinkled
+faces.
+
+The spindle-legged secretaire in the white-curtained window was covered
+with a hundred carefully arranged articles, knick-knacks, writing
+materials, and several dainty note-blocks--for the Princess was
+accustomed to make careful and comprehensive notes about all her duties
+and plans. In front of the inkstand a housekeeper's book, in which
+Ditlinde had apparently just been working, lay open, and by the table
+there hung on the wall a little silk-trimmed block-calendar, under the
+printed date of which could be seen the pencil note: "5 o'clock: my
+brothers." Between the sofa and a semicircle of chairs over against the
+white swing doors into the reception room stood an oval table with a
+damask cloth and blue-silk border; the flowered tea-service, a jam-pot,
+long dishes of sweet cakes, and tiny pieces of bread and butter were
+arranged in ordered disorder on it, and to one side steamed the silver
+tea-kettle over its spirit-flame on a glass table. But there were
+flowers everywhere--flowers in the vases on the writing-table, on the
+tea-table, on the glass table, on the china-cabinet, on the table next
+the white sofa, and a flower-table full of flower-pots stood in the
+window.
+
+This room, situated at the side and in a corner of the suite of
+reception rooms, was Ditlinde's cabinet, her boudoir, the room in which
+she used to entertain quite intimate friends and to make tea with her
+own hands. Klaus Heinrich watched her as she washed out the tea-pot with
+hot water and put the tea in with a silver spoon.
+
+"And Albrecht ... is he coming?" he asked with an involuntarily
+restrained voice.
+
+"I hope so," she said, bending attentively over the crystal tea-caddy,
+as if to avoid spilling any tea (and he too avoided looking at her). "I
+have of course asked him, Klaus Heinrich, but you know he cannot bind
+himself. It depends on his health whether he comes. I'm making our tea
+at once, for Albrecht will drink his milk.... Possibly too Jettchen may
+look in for a bit to-day. You will enjoy seeing her again. She's so
+lively, and has always got such a lot to tell us."
+
+"Jettchen" meant Fräulein von Isenschnibbe, the Princess's friend and
+confidant. They had been on Christian-name terms since they were
+children.
+
+"In armour, too, as usual?" said Ditlinde, placing the filled tea-pot on
+its stand and examining her brother. "In uniform as usual, Klaus
+Heinrich?"
+
+He stood with heels together and rubbed his left hand, which was cold,
+on his chest with his right.
+
+"Yes, Ditlinde, I like it, I'd rather. It fits so tight, you see, and it
+braces me up. Besides, it is cheaper, for a proper civil wardrobe runs
+into a terrible lot of money, I believe, and Schulenburg is always going
+on about how dear things are, without that. So I manage with two or
+three coats, and yet can show myself in my rich relations' houses."
+
+"Rich relations!" laughed Ditlinde. "Still some way off that, Klaus
+Heinrich!"
+
+They sat down at the tea-table, Ditlinde on a sofa, Klaus Heinrich on a
+chair opposite the window.
+
+"Rich relations!" she repeated, and the subject obviously excited her.
+"No, far from it; how can we expect to be rich, where cash is so short
+and everything is sunk in various enterprises, Klaus Heinrich? And they
+are young and in the making, they're all in the development stage, as
+dear Philipp says, and won't bear full fruit till others have succeeded
+us. But things are improving, that much is true, and I keep the
+household straight...."
+
+"Yes, Ditlinde, you do keep it straight and no mistake!"
+
+"Keep it straight, and write everything down and look after the
+servants, and after all the payments which one's duty to the world
+demands have been made, there is a nice little sum to put by every year
+for the children. And dear Philipp.... He sends his greetings, Klaus
+Heinrich--I forgot, he's very sorry not to be able to be here to-day....
+We've only just got back from Hohenried, and there he is already under
+way, at his office, on his properties--he's small and delicate
+naturally, but when his peat or his saw-mills are in question he gets
+red cheeks, and he says himself that he has been much better since he
+has had so much to do."
+
+"Does he say so?" asked Klaus Heinrich, and a sad look came into his
+eyes, as he looked straight beyond the flower-table at the bright
+window.... "Yes, I can quite believe that it must be very stimulating to
+be so really splendidly busy. In my park too the meadows have been mowed
+a second time this year already, and I love seeing the hay built up in
+steep heaps with a stick through the middle of each, looking for all the
+world like a camp of little Indians' huts, and then Schulenburg intends
+to sell it. But of course that cannot be compared ..."
+
+"Oh, you!" said Ditlinde, and drew her chin in. "With you it's quite
+different, Klaus Heinrich! The next to the throne! You are called to
+other things, I imagine. My goodness, yes! You enjoy your popularity
+with the people...."
+
+They were silent for a while. Then he said:
+
+"And you, Ditlinde, if I'm not mistaken you're as happy as, even happier
+than, before. I don't say that you have got red cheeks, like Philipp
+from his peat; you always were a bit transparent, and you are still. But
+you look flourishing. I haven't yet asked, since you married, but I
+think there's nothing to worry about in connexion with you."
+
+She sat in an easy position, with her arm lightly folded across her lap.
+
+"Yes," she said, "I'm all right, Klaus Heinrich, your eyes don't deceive
+you, and it would be ungrateful of me not to acknowledge my good
+fortune. You see, I know quite well that many people in the country are
+disappointed by my marriage and say that I have ruined myself, and
+demeaned myself, and so on. And such people are not far to seek, for
+brother Albrecht, as you know as well as I do, in his heart despises my
+dear Philipp and me into the bargain, and can't abide him, and calls him
+privately a tradesman and shopkeeper. But that doesn't bother me, for I
+meant it when I accepted Philipp's hand--seized it, I would say, if it
+didn't sound so wild--accepted it because it was warm and honest, and
+offered to take me away from the Old Schloss. For when I look back and
+think of the Old Schloss and life in it as I should have gone on living
+if it had not been for dear Philipp, I shudder, Klaus Heinrich, and I
+feel that I could not have borne it and should have become strange and
+queer like poor mamma. I am a bit delicate naturally, as you know, I
+should have simply gone under in so much desolation and sadness, and
+when dear Philipp came, I thought: now's your chance. And when people
+say that I am a bad Princess, because I have in a way abdicated, and
+fled here where it is rather warmer and more friendly, and when they say
+that I lack dignity or consciousness of Highness, or whatever they call
+it, they are stupid and ignorant, Klaus Heinrich, because I have too
+much, I have on the contrary too much of it, that's a fact, otherwise
+the Old Schloss would not have had such an effect upon me, and Albrecht
+ought to see that, for he too, in his way, has too much of it--all we
+Grimmburgers have too much of it, and that's why it sometimes looks as
+if we had too little of it. And sometimes, when Philipp is under way, as
+he is now, and I sit here among my flowers and Philipp's pictures with
+all their sun--it's lucky that it's painted sun, for bless me! otherwise
+we should have to get sun-blinds--and everything is tidy and clean, and
+I think of the blessing, as you call it, in store for me, then I seem to
+myself like the little mermaid in the fairy-tale which the Swiss
+governess read to us, if you remember--who married a mortal and got legs
+instead of her fish's tail.... I don't know if you understand me...."
+
+"Oh yes, Ditlinde, of course, I understand you perfectly. And I am
+really glad that everything has turned out so well and happily for you.
+For it is dangerous, I may tell you, in my experience it is difficult
+for us to be suitably happy. It's so easy to go wrong and be
+misunderstood, for the nuisance is that nobody protects our dignity for
+us if we don't do it ourselves, and then blame and scandal so readily
+follow.... But which is the right way? You have found it. They have
+quite recently announced my engagement with Cousin Griseldis in the
+newspapers. That was a _ballon d'essai_, as they call it, and they think
+it was a very happy one. But Griseldis is a silly girl, and half-dead
+with anæmia, and never says anything but 'yes,' so far as I know. I've
+never given her a thought, nor has Knobelsdorff, thank goodness. The
+news was at once announced to be unfounded.... Here comes Albrecht!" he
+said, and stood up.
+
+A cough was heard outside. A footman in olive-green livery threw open
+the swing doors with a quick, firm, and noiseless movement of both arms,
+and announced in a subdued voice: "His Royal Highness the Grand Duke."
+
+Then he stepped aside with a bow. Albrecht advanced through the room.
+
+He had traversed the hundred yards from the Old Schloss hither in a
+closed carriage, with his huntsman on the box. He was in mufti, as
+almost always, wore a buttoned-up frock-coat with little satin lapels,
+and patent-leather boots on his small feet. Since his accession he had
+grown an imperial. His short fair hair was brushed back on each of his
+narrow, sunk temples. His gait was an awkward and yet indescribably
+distinguished strut, which gave his shoulder-blades a peculiar twist. He
+carried his head well back and stuck his short round underlip out,
+sucking gently with it against the upper one.
+
+The Princess went to the threshold to meet him. He disliked
+hand-kissing, so he simply held out his hand with a soft almost
+whispered greeting--his thin, cold hand which looked so sensitive and
+which he stretched out from his chest while keeping his forearm close to
+his body. Then he greeted his brother Klaus Heinrich in the same way,
+who had waited for him standing with heels close together in front of
+his chair--and said nothing further.
+
+Ditlinde talked. "It's very nice of you to come, Albrecht. So you're
+feeling well? You look splendid. Philipp wishes me to tell you how sorry
+he is to have to be out this afternoon. Sit down, won't you, anywhere
+you like--here, for instance, opposite me. That chair's a pretty
+comfortable one, you sat in it last time. I've made tea for us in the
+meantime. You'll have your milk directly...."
+
+"Thanks," he said quietly. "I must beg pardon ... I'm late. You know,
+the shorter the road ... And then I have to lie down in the
+afternoon.... There's no one else coming?"
+
+"No one else, Albrecht. At the most, Jettchen Isenschnibbe may look in
+for a bit, if you don't object...."
+
+"Oh?"
+
+"But I can just as well say 'Not at home.'"
+
+"Oh no, pray don't."
+
+Hot milk was brought. Albrecht clasped the tall, thick, studded glass in
+both hands.
+
+"Ah, something warm," he said. "How cold it is already in these parts!
+And I've been frozen the whole summer in Hollerbrunn. Haven't you
+started fires yet? I have. But then again the smell of the stoves upsets
+me. All stoves smell. Von Bühl promises me central heating for the Old
+Schloss every autumn. But it seems not to be feasible."
+
+"Poor Albrecht," said Ditlinde, "at this time of year you used to be
+already in the South, so long as father was alive. You must long for
+it."
+
+"Your sympathy does you credit, dear Ditlinde," answered he, still in a
+low and slightly lisping voice. "But we must show that I am on the spot.
+I must rule the country, as you know, that's what I'm here for. To-day I
+have been graciously pleased to allow some worthy citizen--I'm sorry I
+can't remember his name--to accept and wear a foreign order. Further, I
+have had a telegram sent to the annual meeting of the Horticultural
+Society, in which I assumed the honorary Presidency of the Society and
+pledged my word to further its efforts in every way--without really
+knowing what furthering I could do beyond sending the telegram, for the
+members are quite well able to take care of themselves. Further, I have
+deigned to confirm the choice of a certain worthy fellow to be mayor of
+my fair city of Siebenberge--in connection with which I should like to
+know whether this my subject will be a better mayor for my confirmation
+than he would have been without it...."
+
+"Well, well, Albrecht, those are trifles!" said Ditlinde. "I'm convinced
+that you've had more serious business to do...."
+
+"Oh, of course. I've had a talk with my Minister of Finance and
+Agriculture. It was time I did. Doctor Krippenreuther would have been
+bitterly disappointed with me if I had not summoned him once more. He
+went ahead in summary fashion and laid before me a conspectus of several
+mutually related topics at once--the harvest, the new principles for the
+drawing up of the budget, the reform of taxation, on which he is busy.
+The harvest has been a bad one, it seems. The peasants have been hit by
+blight and bad weather; not only they, but Krippenreuther too, are much
+concerned about it, because the tax-paying resources of the land, he
+says, have once more suffered contraction. Besides, there have
+unfortunately been disasters in more than one of the silver-mines. The
+gear is at a standstill, says Krippenreuther, it is damaged and will
+cost a lot of money to repair. I listened to the whole recital with an
+appropriate expression on my face, and did what I could to express my
+grief for such a series of misfortunes. Next, I was consulted as to
+whether the cost of the necessary new buildings for the Treasury and for
+the Woods and Customs and Inland Revenue Offices ought to be debited to
+the ordinary or the extraordinary estimates; I learnt a lot about
+sliding scales, and income tax, and tax on tourist traffic, and the
+removal of burdens from oppressed agriculture and the imposition of
+burdens on the towns; and on the whole I got the impression that
+Krippenreuther was well up in his subject. I, of course, know
+practically nothing about it--which Krippenreuther knows and approves;
+so I just said 'yes, yes,' and 'of course,' and 'many thanks,' and let
+him run on."
+
+"You speak so bitterly, Albrecht."
+
+"No; I'll just tell you what struck me while Krippenreuther was holding
+forth to me to-day. There's a man living in this town, a man with small
+private means and a warty nose. Every child knows him and shouts 'Hi!'
+when he sees him; he is called 'the Hatter,' for he is not quite all
+there; his surname he has lost long ago. He is always on the spot when
+there is anything going on, although his half-wittedness keeps him from
+playing any serious part in anything; he wears a rose in his buttonhole,
+and carries his hat about on the end of his walking-stick. Twice a day,
+about the time when a train starts, he goes to the station, taps the
+wheels, examines the luggage, and fusses about. Then when the guard
+blows his whistle, 'the Hatter' waves to the engine-driver, and the
+train starts. But 'the Hatter' deludes himself into thinking that his
+waving sends the train off. That's like me. I wave, and the train
+starts. But it would start without me, and my waving makes no
+difference, it's mere silly show. I'm sick of it...."
+
+The brother and sister were silent. Ditlinde looked at her lap in an
+embarrassed way, and Klaus Heinrich gazed, as he tugged at his little
+bow-shaped moustache, between her and the Grand Duke at the bright
+window.
+
+"I can quite follow you, Albrecht," said he after a while, "though it is
+rather cruel of you to compare yourself and us with 'the Hatter.' You
+see, I too understand nothing about sliding scales and taxation of
+tourist traffic and peat-cutting, and there is such a lot about which I
+know nothing--everything which is covered by the expression 'the misery
+in the world'--hunger and want, and the struggle for existence, as it is
+called, and war and hospital horrors, and all that. I have seen and
+studied not one of these, except death itself, when father died, and
+that too was not death as it can be, but rather it was edifying, and the
+whole Schloss was illuminated. And at times I feel ashamed of myself
+because I have not knocked about the world. But then I tell myself that
+mine is not a comfortable life, not at all comfortable, although I
+'wander on the heights of mankind,' as people express it, or perhaps
+just because I do, and that I perhaps in my own way know more about the
+strenuousness of life, its 'tight-lipped countenance,' if you will allow
+me the expression, than many a one who knows all about the sliding
+scales or any other single department of life. And the upshot of that
+is, Albrecht, that my life is not a comfortable one--that's the upshot
+of everything--if you will allow me this retort, and that is how we
+justify ourselves. And if people cry 'Hi!' when they see me, they must
+know why they do so, and my life must have some _raison d'être_,
+although I am prevented from playing any serious part in anything, as
+you so admirably express it. And you're quite justified too. You wave to
+order, because the people wish you to wave, and if you do not really
+control their wishes and aspirations, yet you express them and give them
+substance, and may be that's no slight matter."
+
+Albrecht sat upright at the table. He held his thin, strangely
+sensitive-looking hands crossed on the table-edge in front of the tall,
+half-empty glass of milk, and his eyelids dropped, and he sucked his
+underlip against his upper. He answered quietly: "I'm not surprised that
+so popular a prince as you should be contented with his lot. I for my
+part decline to express somebody else in my own person--I decline to,
+say, and you may think it's a case of sour grapes as much as you like.
+The truth is that I care for the 'Hi!' of the people just as little as
+any living soul possibly could care. I say soul, not body. The flesh is
+weak--there's something in one which expands at applause and contracts
+at cold silence. But my reason rises superior to all considerations of
+popularity or unpopularity. If I _did_ succeed in being a true national
+representative, I know what that would amount to. A misconception of my
+personality. Besides, a few hand-claps from people one does not know are
+not worth a shrug of the shoulders. Others--you--may be inspired by the
+feeling of the people behind you. You must forgive me for being too
+matter-of-fact to feel any such mysterious feeling of happiness--and too
+keen on cleanliness also, if you will allow me to put it thus. That kind
+of happiness stinks, to my thinking. Anyhow, I'm a stranger to the
+people. I give them nothing--what can they give me? With you ... oh,
+that's quite different. Hundreds of thousands, who are like you, are
+grateful to you because they can recognize themselves in you. You may
+laugh if you like. The chief danger you run is that you submerge
+yourself in your popularity too readily; and yet after all you feel no
+apprehensions, although you are aware at this very moment ..."
+
+"No, Albrecht, I don't think so. I don't think I run any such danger."
+
+"Then we shall understand each other all the better. I have no penchant
+for strong expressions as a rule. But popularity is hog-wash."
+
+"It's funny, Albrecht. Funny that you should use that word. The
+'Pheasants' were always using it--my schoolmates, the young sprigs, you
+know, at the 'Pheasantry.' I know what you are. You're an aristocrat,
+that's what's the matter."
+
+"Do you think so? You're wrong. I'm no aristocrat, I'm the opposite, by
+taste and reason. You must allow that I do not despise the 'Hi's' of the
+crowd from arrogance, but from a propensity to humanity and goodness.
+Human Highness is a pitiable thing, and I'm convinced that mankind ought
+to see that everyone behaves like a man, and a good man, to his
+neighbour and does not humiliate him or cause him shame. A man must have
+a thick skin to be able to carry off all the flummery of Highness
+without any feeling of shame. I am naturally rather sensitive, I cannot
+cope with the absurdity of my situation. Every lackey who plants himself
+at the door, and expects me to pass him without noticing, without
+heeding him more than the door posts, fills me with embarrassment,
+that's the way I feel towards the people...."
+
+"Yes, Albrecht, quite true. It's often by no means easy to keep one's
+countenance when one passes by a fellow like that. The lackeys! If one
+only did not know what frauds they are! One hears fine stories about
+them...."
+
+"What stories?"
+
+"Oh, one keeps one's ears open...."
+
+"Come, come!" said Ditlinde. "Don't let's worry about that. Here you are
+talking about ordinary things, and I had two topics noted down which I
+thought we might discuss this afternoon.... Would you be so kind, Klaus
+Heinrich, as to reach me that notebook there in blue leather on the
+writing-table? Many thanks. I note down in this everything I have to
+remember, both household matters and other things. What a blessing it is
+to be able to see everything down in black and white! My head is
+terribly weak, it can't remember things, and if I weren't tidy and
+didn't jot everything down, I should be done for. First of all,
+Albrecht, before I forget it, I wanted to remind you that you must
+escort Aunt Catherine at the first Court on November 1st--you can't get
+out of it. I withdraw; the honour fell to me at the last Court Ball, and
+Aunt Catherine was terribly put out.... Do you consent? Good, then I
+cross out item 1. Secondly, Klaus Heinrich, I wanted to ask you to make
+a short appearance at the Orphan Children's Bazaar on the 15th in the
+Town Hall. I am patroness, and I take my duties seriously, as you see.
+You needn't buy anything--a pocket comb.... In short, all you need do is
+to show yourself for ten minutes. It's for the orphans.... Will you
+come? You see, now I can cross another off. Thirdly ..."
+
+But the Princess was interrupted. Fräulein von Isenschnibbe, the Court
+lady, was announced and tripped in at once through the big drawing-room,
+her feather boa waving in the draught, and the brim of her huge feather
+hat flapping up and down. The smell of the fresh air from outside seemed
+to cling to her clothes. She was small, very fair, with a pointed nose,
+and so short-sighted that she could not see the stars. On clear evenings
+she would stand on her balcony and gaze at the starry heavens through
+opera-glasses, and rave about them. She wore two strong pairs of
+glasses, one behind the other, and screwed up her eyes and stuck her
+head forward as she curtseyed.
+
+"Heavens, Grand Ducal Highness," she said, "I didn't know; I'm
+disturbing you, I'm intruding. I most humbly beg pardon!"
+
+The brothers had risen, and the visitor, as she curtseyed to them, was
+filled with confusion. As Albrecht extended his hand from his chest,
+keeping his forearm close to his body, her arm was stretched out almost
+perpendicularly, when the curtsey which she made him had reached its
+lowest point.
+
+"Dear Jettchen," said Ditlinde, "what nonsense! You are expected and
+welcome, and my brothers know that we call each other by our Christian
+names, so none of that Grand Ducal Highness, if you please. We are not
+in the Old Schloss. Sit down and make yourself comfortable. Will you
+have some tea? It's still hot, and here are some candied fruits, I know
+you like them."
+
+"Yes, a thousand thanks, Ditlinde, I adore them!" And Fräulein von
+Isenschnibbe took a chair on the narrow side of the tea-table opposite
+Klaus Heinrich, with her back to the window, drew a glove off and began
+peering forward, to lay sweetmeats on her plate with the silver tongs.
+Her little bosom heaved quickly and nervously with pleasurable
+excitement.
+
+"I've got some news," she said, unable any longer to contain herself.
+"News.... More than any reticule will hold! That is to say it is really
+only one piece of news, only one--but it's so weighty that it counts for
+dozens, and it is quite certain, I have it on the best authority--you
+know that I am reliable, Ditlinde; this very evening it will be in the
+_Courier_ and to-morrow the whole town will be talking about it."
+
+"Yes, Jettchen," said the Princess, "it must be confessed you never come
+with empty hands; but now we're excited, do tell us your news."
+
+"Very well. Let me get my breath. Do you know, Ditlinde, does your Royal
+Highness know, does your Grand Ducal Highness know who's coming, who is
+coming to the spa, who is coming for six or eight weeks to the Spa Hotel
+to drink the waters?"
+
+"No," said Ditlinde, "but do you know, dear Jettchen?"
+
+"Spoelmann," said Fräulein von Isenschnibbe. "Spoelmann," she said,
+leaned back and made as if to draw with her fingers on the table-edge,
+but checked the movement of her hand just over the blue silk border.
+
+The brothers and sister looked doubtfully at each other.
+
+"Spoelmann?" asked Ditlinde.... "Think a moment, Jettchen, the real
+Spoelmann?"
+
+"The real one!" Her voice cracked with suppressed jubilation. "The real
+one, Ditlinde! For there's only one, or rather only one whom everybody
+knows, and he it is whom they are expecting at the Spa Hotel--the great
+Spoelmann, the giant Spoelmann, the colossus Samuel N. Spoelmann from
+America!"
+
+"But, child, what's bringing him here?"
+
+"Really, forgive me for saying so, Ditlinde, but what a question! His
+yacht or some big steamer is bringing him over the sea of course, he's
+on his holidays making a tour of Europe and has expressed his intention
+of drinking the Spa waters."
+
+"But is he ill, then?"
+
+"Of course, Ditlinde; all people of his kind are ill, that's part of the
+business."
+
+"Strange," said Klaus Heinrich.
+
+"Yes, Grand Ducal Highness, it is remarkable. His kind of existence must
+bring that with it. For there's no doubt it's a trying existence, and
+not at all a comfortable one, and must wear the body out quicker than an
+ordinary man's life would. Most suffer in the stomach, but Spoelmann
+suffers from stone as everybody knows."
+
+"Stone, does he?"
+
+"Of course, Ditlinde, you must have heard it and forgotten it. He has
+stone in the kidneys, if you will forgive me the horrid expression--a
+serious, trying illness, and I'm sure he can't get the slightest
+pleasure from his frantic wealth."
+
+"But how in the world has he pitched upon our waters?"
+
+"Why, Ditlinde, that's simple. The waters are good, they're excellent;
+especially the Ditlinde spring, with its lithium or whatever they call
+it, is admirable against gout and stone, and only waiting to be properly
+known and valued throughout the world. But a man like Spoelmann, you can
+imagine, a man like that is above names and trade-puffs, and follows his
+own kind. And so he has discovered our waters--or his physician has
+recommended them to him, it may be that, and bought it in the bottle,
+and it has done him good, and now he may think that it must do him still
+more good if he drinks it on the spot."
+
+They all kept silence.
+
+"Great heavens, Albrecht," said Ditlinde at last, "whatever one thinks
+of Spoelmann and his kind--and I'm not going to commit myself to an
+opinion, of that you may be sure--but don't you think that the man's
+visit to the Spa may be very useful?"
+
+The Grand Duke turned his head with his stiff and refined smile.
+
+"Ask Fräulein von Isenschnibbe," he answered. "She has doubtless already
+considered the question from that point of view."
+
+"If your Royal Highness asks me ... enormously useful! Immeasurably,
+incalculably useful--that's obvious! The directors are in the seventh
+heaven, they're getting ready to decorate and illuminate the Spa Hotel!
+What a recommendation, what an attraction for strangers! Will your Royal
+Highness just consider--the man is a curiosity! Your Grand Ducal
+Highness spoke just now of 'his kind'--but there are none of 'his
+kind'--at most, only a couple. He's a Leviathan, a Croesus! People will
+come from miles away to see a being who has about half a million a day
+to spend!"
+
+"Gracious!" said Ditlinde, taken aback. "And there's dear Philipp
+worrying about his peat beds."
+
+"The first scene," the Fräulein went on, "begins with two Americans
+hanging about the Exchange for the last couple of days. Who are they?
+They are said to be journalists, reporters, for two big New York papers.
+They have preceded the Leviathan, and are telegraphing to their papers
+preliminary descriptions of the scenery. When he has got here they will
+telegraph every step he takes--just as the _Courier_ and the
+_Advertiser_ report about your Royal Highness...."
+
+Albrecht bowed his thanks with eyes downcast and underlip protruded.
+
+"He has appropriated the Prince's suite in the Spa Hotel," said
+Jettchen, "as provisional lodgings."
+
+"For himself alone?" asked Ditlinde.
+
+"Oh no, Ditlinde, do you suppose he'd be coming alone? There isn't any
+precise information about his suite and staff, but it's quite certain
+that his daughter and his physician-in-ordinary are coming with him."
+
+"It annoys me, Jettchen, to hear you talking about a
+'physician-in-ordinary' and the journalists, too, and the Prince's suite
+to boot. He's not a king, after all."
+
+"A railway king, so far as I know," remarked Albrecht quietly with eyes
+downcast.
+
+"Not only, nor even particularly, a railway king, Royal Highness,
+according to what I hear. Over in America they have those great business
+concerns called Trusts, as your Royal Highness knows--the Steel Trust
+for instance, the Sugar Trust, the Petroleum Trust, the Coal, Meat, and
+Tobacco Trusts, and goodness knows how many more, and Samuel N.
+Spoelmann has a finger in nearly all these trusts, and is chief
+shareholder in them, and managing director--that's what I believe they
+call them--so his business must be what is called over here a 'Mixed
+Goods Business.'"
+
+"A nice sort of business," said Ditlinde, "it must be a nice sort of
+business! For you can't persuade me, dear Jettchen, that honest work can
+make a man into a Leviathan and a Croesus. I am convinced that his
+riches are steeped in the blood of widows and orphans. What do you
+think, Albrecht?"
+
+"I hope so, Ditlinde, I hope so, for your own and your husband's
+comfort."
+
+"May be so," explained Jettchen, "yet Spoelmann--our Samuel N.
+Spoelmann--is hardly responsible for it, for he is really nothing but an
+heir, and may quite well not have had any particular taste for his
+business. It was his father who really made the pile, I've read all
+about it, and may say that I really know the general facts. His father
+was a German--simply an adventurer who crossed the seas and became
+gold-digger. And he was lucky and made a little money through
+gold-finds--or rather quite a decent amount of money--and began to
+speculate in petroleum and steel and railways, and then in every sort of
+thing, and kept growing richer and richer, and when he died everything
+was already in full swing, and his son Samuel, who inherited the
+Croesus' firm, really had nothing to do but to collect the princely
+dividends and keep growing richer and richer till he beat all records.
+That's the way things have gone."
+
+"And he has a daughter, has he, Jettchen? What's she like?"
+
+"Yes, Ditlinde, his wife is dead, but he has a daughter, Miss Spoelmann,
+and he's bringing her with him. She's a wonderful girl from all I've
+read about her. He himself is a bit of a mixture, for his father married
+a wife from the South--Creole blood, the daughter of a German father and
+native mother. But Samuel in his turn married a German-American of
+half-English blood, and their daughter is now Miss Spoelmann."
+
+"Gracious, Jettchen, she's a creature of many colours!"
+
+"You may well say so, Ditlinde, and she's clever, so I've heard; she
+studies like a man--algebra, and puzzling things of that sort."
+
+"Hm, that too doesn't attract me much."
+
+"But now comes the cream of the business, Ditlinde, for Miss Spoelmann
+has a lady-companion, and that lady-companion is a countess, a real
+genuine countess, who dances attendance on her."
+
+"Gracious!" said Ditlinde, "she ought to be ashamed of herself. No,
+Jettchen, my mind is made up. I'm not going to bother myself about
+Spoelmann. I'm going to let him drink his waters and go, with his
+countess and his algebraical daughter, and am not going so much as to
+turn my head to look at him. He and his riches make no impression on me.
+What do you think, Klaus Heinrich?"
+
+Klaus Heinrich looked past Jettchen's head at the bright window.
+
+"Impression?" he said.... "No, riches make no impression on me, I
+think--I mean, riches in the ordinary way. But it seems to me that it
+depends ... it depends, I think, on the standard. We too have one or two
+rich people in the town here--Soap-boiler Unschlitt must be a
+millionaire.... I often see him in his carriage. He's dreadfully fat and
+common. But when a man is quite ill and lonely from mere riches ...
+Maybe ..."
+
+"An uncomfortable sort of man anyhow," said Ditlinde, and the subject of
+the Spoelmanns gradually dropped. The conversation turned on family
+matters, the "Hohenried" property, and the approaching season. Shortly
+before seven o'clock the Grand Duke sent for his carriage. Prince Klaus
+Heinrich was going too, so they all got up and said good-bye. But while
+the brothers were being helped into their coats in the hall, Albrecht
+said: "I should be obliged, Klaus Heinrich, if you would send your
+coachman home and would give me the pleasure of your company for a
+quarter of an hour longer. I've got a matter of some importance to
+discuss with you--I might come with you to the Hermitage, but I can't
+bear the evening air."
+
+Klaus Heinrich clapped his heels together as he answered: "No, Albrecht,
+you mustn't think of it! I'll drive to the Schloss with you if you like.
+I am of course at your disposal."
+
+This was the prelude to a remarkable conversation between the young
+princes, the upshot of which was published a few days later in the
+_Advertiser_ and received with general approval.
+
+The Prince accompanied the Grand Duke to the Schloss, through the
+Albrechtstor, up broad stone steps, through corridors where naked gas
+lamps were burning, and silent ante-rooms, between lackeys into
+Albrecht's "closet," where old Prahl had lighted the two bronze
+oil-lamps on the mantelpiece. Albrecht had taken over his father's
+work-room--it had always been the work-room of the reigning sovereigns,
+and lay on the first floor between an aide-de-camp's room and the
+dining-room in daily use facing the Albrechtsplatz, which the princes
+had always overlooked and watched from their writing-table. It was an
+exceptionally unhomely and repellent room, small, with cracked
+ceiling-paintings, red silk and gold-bordered carpet, and three windows
+reaching to the ground, through which the draught blew keenly and before
+which the claret-coloured curtains with their elaborate fringes were
+drawn. It had a false chimney-piece in French Empire taste, in front of
+which a semicircle of little modern quilted plush chairs without arms
+were arranged, and a hideously decorated white stove, which gave out a
+great heat. Two big quilted sofas stood opposite each other by the
+walls, and in front of one stood a square book-table with a red plush
+cover. Between the windows two narrow gold-framed mirrors with marble
+ledges reached up to the ceiling, the right hand one of which bore a
+fairly cheerful alabaster group, the other a water bottle and medicine
+glasses. The writing-desk, an old piece made of rose-wood with a
+roll-top and metal clasps, stood clear in the middle of the room on the
+red carpet. An antique stared down with its dead eyes from a pedestal in
+one corner of the room.
+
+"What I have to suggest to you," said Albrecht--he was standing at the
+writing-table, unconsciously toying with a paper-knife, a silly thing
+like a cavalry-sabre with a grotesque handle, "is directly connected
+with our conversation this afternoon. I may begin by saying that I
+discussed the matter thoroughly with Knobelsdorff this summer at
+Hollerbrunn. He agrees, and if you do too, as I don't doubt you will, I
+can carry out my intention at once."
+
+"Please let's hear it, Albrecht," said Klaus Heinrich, who was standing
+at attention in a military attitude by the sofa table.
+
+"My health," continued the Grand Duke, "has been getting worse and worse
+lately."
+
+"I'm very sorry, Albrecht--Hollerbrunn didn't agree with you, then?"
+
+"Thanks, no, I'm in a bad way, and my health is showing itself
+increasingly unequal to the demands made upon it. When I say 'demands,'
+I mean chiefly the duties of a ceremonial and representative nature
+which are inseparable from my position--and that's the bond of connexion
+with the conversation we had just now at Ditlinde's. The performance of
+these duties may be a happiness when a contact with the people, a
+relationship, a beating of hearts in unison exists. To me it is a
+torture, and the falseness of my rôle wearies me to such a degree that I
+must consider what measures I can take to counteract it. In this--so far
+as the bodily part of me is concerned--I am at one with my doctors, who
+entirely agree with my proposal--so listen to me. I'm unmarried. I have
+no idea, I can assure you, of ever marrying; I shall have no children.
+You are heir to the throne by right of birth, you are still more so in
+the consciousness of the people, who love you...."
+
+"There you are, Albrecht, always talking about my being beloved. I
+simply don't believe it. At a distance, perhaps--that's the way with us.
+It's always at a distance that we are beloved."
+
+"You're too modest. Wait a bit. You've already been kind enough to
+relieve me of some of my representative duties now and then. I should
+like you to relieve me of all of them absolutely, for always."
+
+"You're not thinking of abdicating, Albrecht?" asked Klaus Heinrich,
+aghast.
+
+"I daren't think of it. Believe me, I gladly would, but I shouldn't be
+allowed to. What I'm thinking of is not a regency, but only a
+substitution--perhaps you have some recollection of the distinction in
+public law from your student's days--a permanent and officially
+established substitution in all representative functions, warranted by
+the need of indulgence required by my state of health. What is your
+opinion?"
+
+"I'm at your orders, Albrecht. But I'm not quite clear yet. How far does
+the substitution extend?"
+
+"Oh, as far as possible. I should like it to extend to all occasions on
+which a personal appearance in public is expected of me. Knobelsdorff
+stipulates that I should only devolve the opening and closure of
+Parliament on you when I'm bedridden, only now and again. Let's grant
+that. But otherwise you would be my substitute on all ceremonial
+occasions, on journeys, visits to cities, opening of public festivities,
+opening of the Citizens' Ball...."
+
+"That too?"
+
+"Why not? We have also the weekly free audiences here--a sensible custom
+without a doubt, but it tires me out. You would hold the audiences in my
+place. I needn't go on. Do you accept my proposal?"
+
+"I am at your orders."
+
+"Then listen to me while I finish. For every occasion on which you act
+as my representative, I lend you my aides-de-camp. It is further
+necessary that your military promotion should be hastened--are you first
+lieutenant? You'll be made a captain or a major straight away _à la
+suite_ of your regiment--I'll see to that; but in the third place, I
+wish duly to emphasize our arrangement, to make your position at my side
+properly clear, by lending you the title of 'Royal Highness.' There were
+some formalities to attend to. Knobelsdorff has already seen to them.
+I'm going to express my intentions in the form of two missives to you
+and to my Minister of State. Knobelsdorff has already drafted them. Do
+you accept?"
+
+"What am I to say, Albrecht? You are father's eldest son, and I've
+always looked up to you because I've always felt and known that you are
+the superior and higher of us two and that I am only a plebeian compared
+with you. But if you think me worthy to stand at your side and to bear
+your title and to represent you before the people, although I don't
+think myself anything like so presentable, and have this deformity here,
+with my left hand, which I've always got to keep covered--then I thank
+you and put myself at your orders."
+
+"Then I'll ask you to leave me now, please; I want to rest."
+
+They advanced towards each other, the one from the writing-table, the
+other from the book-table, over the carpet into the middle of the room.
+The Grand Duke extended his hand to his brother--his thin, cold hand
+which he stretched out from his chest without moving his forearm away
+from his body. Klaus Heinrich clapped his heels together and bowed as he
+took the hand, and Albrecht nodded his narrow head with its fair beard
+as a token of dismissal, while he sucked his short, rounded lower lip
+against the upper. Klaus Heinrich went back to the Schloss "Hermitage."
+
+Both the _Advertiser_ and the _Courier_ published eight days later the
+two missives, which contained decisions of the highest importance, the
+one addressed to "My dear Minister of State, Baron von Knobelsdorff,"
+and the other beginning with "Most Serene Highness and well-beloved
+brother," and signed "Your Royal Highness's most devoted brother
+Albrecht."
+
+
+
+
+VI
+
+THE LOFTY CALLING
+
+
+Here follows a description of Klaus Heinrich's mode of life and
+profession and their peculiarities.
+
+On a typical occasion he stepped out of his carriage, walked with cloak
+thrown back down a short passage through cheering crowds over a pavement
+which was covered with red carpet, through a laurel-decked house-door,
+over which an awning had been erected, up a staircase flanked by pairs
+of candle-bearing footmen.... He was on his way to a festival dinner,
+covered to his hips with orders, the fringed epaulettes of a major on
+his narrow shoulders, and was followed by his suite along the Gothic
+corridor of the town hall. Two servants hurried in front of him and
+quickly opened an old window which rattled in its lead fastenings; for
+down below in the market-place stood the people, wedged together head to
+head, an oblique tract of upturned faces, dimly illuminated by smoky
+torchlight. They cheered and sang, and he stood at the open window and
+bowed, displayed himself to the general enthusiasm for a while and
+nodded his thanks.
+
+There was nothing really everyday, nor was there anything really actual,
+about his life; it consisted of a succession of moments of enthusiasm.
+Wherever he went there was holiday, there the people were transfigured
+and glorified, there the grey work-a-day world cleared up and became
+poetry. The starveling became a sleek man, the hovel a homely cottage,
+dirty gutter-children changed into chaste little maidens and boys in
+Sunday clothes, their hair plastered with water, a poem on their lips,
+and the perspiring citizen in frock-coat and top-hat was moved to
+emotion by the consciousness of his own worth.
+
+But not only he, Klaus Heinrich, saw the world in this light, but it saw
+itself too, as long as his presence lasted. A strange unreality and
+speciousness prevailed in places where he exercised his calling; a
+symmetrical, transitory window-dressing, an artificial and inspiring
+disguising of the reality by pasteboard and gilded wood, by garlands,
+lamps, draperies, and bunting, was conjured up for one fair hour, and he
+himself stood in the centre of the show on a carpet, which covered the
+bare ground, between masts painted in two colours, round which garlands
+twined--stood with heels together in the odour of varnish and
+fir-branches, and smiled with his left hand planted on his hip.
+
+He laid the foundation stone of a new town hall. The citizens had, after
+juggling with the figures, got together the necessary sum, and a learned
+architect from the capital had been entrusted with the building. But
+Klaus Heinrich undertook the laying of the foundation stone. Amid the
+cheers of the population he drove up to the noble pavilion which had
+been built on the site, stepped lightly and collectedly out of the open
+carriage on to the ground, which had been rolled and sprinkled with
+yellow sand, and walked all alone towards the official personages in
+frock-coats and white ties who were waiting for him at the entrance. He
+asked for the architect to be presented to him, and, in full view of the
+public and with the officials standing with fixed smiles round him, he
+conducted a conversation with him for five full minutes, a conversation
+of weighty commonplaces about the advantages of the different styles of
+architecture, after which he made a decided movement, which he had
+meditated to himself beforehand during the conversation, and allowed
+himself to be conducted over the carpet and plank steps to his seat on
+the edge of the middle platform.
+
+There, in his chain and stars, one foot advanced, his white-gloved hands
+crossed on his sword hilt, his helmet on the ground beside him, visible
+to the holiday crowd on every side, he sat and listened with calm
+demeanour to the Lord Mayor's speech. Thereupon, when they came to the
+request, he rose, walked, without noticeable precaution and without
+looking at his feet, down the steps to where the foundation stone lay,
+and with a little hammer gave three slow taps to the block of sandstone,
+at the same time repeating in the deep hush, with his rather sharp
+voice, a sentence which Herr von Knobelsdorff had previously impressed
+upon him. School children sang in shrill chorus, and Klaus Heinrich
+drove away.
+
+On the anniversary of the War of Independence he marched in front of the
+veterans. A grey-haired officer shouted in a voice which seemed hoarse
+with the smoke of gunpowder: "Halt! Off hats! Eyes right!" And they
+stood, with medals and crosses on their coats, the rough beavers in
+their hands, and looked up at him with blood-shot eyes like those of a
+hound as he walked by with a friendly look, and paused by one or two to
+ask where they had served, where they had been under fire.... He
+attended the gymnastic display, graced the sports with his presence, and
+had the victors presented to him for a short conversation. The lithe
+athletic youths stood awkwardly before him, just after they had done the
+most astonishing feats, and Klaus Heinrich quickly strung together a few
+technical remarks, which he remembered from Herr Zotte, and which he
+uttered with great fluency, the while he hid his left hand.
+
+He attended the Five Houses' Fishing festival, he was present in his
+red-covered seat of honour at the Grimmburg horse-races and distributed
+the prizes. He accepted, too, the honorary Presidency and Patronage of
+the Associated Rifle Competition; he attended the prize-meeting of the
+privileged Grand Ducal Rifle Club. He "responded cordially to the toast
+of welcome," in the words of the _Courier_, by holding the silver cup
+for one moment to his lips, and then with heels clapped together,
+raising it towards the marksmen. Thereupon he fired several shots at the
+target of honour, concerning which there was nothing said in the reports
+as to where they hit; next ploughed through one and the same dialogue
+with three successive men, about the advantages of rifle-firing, which
+in the _Courier_ was described as a "general conversation," and at last
+took leave with a hearty "Good luck!" which evoked indescribable
+enthusiasm. This formula had been whispered to him at the last moment by
+Adjutant-General von Hühnemann, who had made inquiries on the subject;
+for of course it would have had a bad effect, would have shattered the
+fair illusion of technical knowledge and serious enthusiasm, if Klaus
+Heinrich had wished the marksmen "Excelsior" and the Alpine Club
+"Bull's-eyes every time!"
+
+As a general rule he needed in the exercise of his calling a certain
+amount of technical knowledge, which he acquired for each succeeding
+occasion, with a view to applying it at the right moment and in suitable
+form. It consisted preponderatingly of the technical terms current in
+the different departments of human activity as well as of historical
+dates, and before setting out on an official expedition Klaus Heinrich
+used to work up the necessary information at home in the Hermitage with
+the help of pamphlets and oral instructions. When he in the name of the
+Grand Duke, "my most gracious brother," unveiled the statue of Johann
+Albrecht at Knüppelsdorf, he delivered on the scene of festivities,
+directly after a performance by the massed choirs of the "Wreath of
+Harmony," a speech in which everything he had noted down about
+Knüppelsdorf was dragged in, and which produced the delightful
+impression everywhere that he had busied himself all his life with
+nothing so much as the historical vicissitudes of that hub of
+civilization.
+
+In the first place, Knüppelsdorf was a city, and Klaus Heinrich alluded
+to that three times, to the pride of the inhabitants. He went on to say
+that the city of Knüppelsdorf, as her historical past witnessed, had
+been connected by bonds of loyalty to the House of Grimmburg for several
+centuries. As long ago as the fourteenth century, he said, Langrave
+Heinrich XV, the Rutensteiner, had signalled out Knüppelsdorf for
+special favour. He, the Rutensteiner, had lived in the Schloss built on
+the neighbouring Rutensteine, whose girdle of proud towers and strong
+walls had sent its greeting to the country for miles round.
+
+Then he reminded his hearers how through inheritance and marriage
+Knüppelsdorf had at last come into the branch of the family to which his
+brother and he himself belonged. Heavy storms had in the course of years
+burst over Knüppelsdorf. Years of war, conflagration, and pestilence had
+visited it, yet it had always risen again and had always remained loyal
+to the house of its hereditary princes. And this characteristic the
+Knüppelsdorf of to-day proved that it possessed by raising a memorial to
+his, Klaus Heinrich's, beloved father, and it would be with unusual
+pleasure that he would report to his gracious brother the dazzling and
+hearty reception which he, as his representative, had here
+experienced.... The veil fell, the massed choirs of the "Wreath of
+Harmony" again did their best. And Klaus Heinrich stood smiling, under
+his theatrical tent, with a feeling of having exhausted his store of
+knowledge, happy in the certainty that nobody dare question him further.
+For he couldn't have said one blessed word more about Knüppelsdorf!
+
+How tiring his life was, how strenuous! Sometimes he felt as if he had
+constantly to keep upright, at a great strain to his elasticity,
+something which it was quite impossible, or possible only in favourable
+conditions, to keep upright. Sometimes his calling seemed to him a
+wretched and paltry one, although he liked it and gladly undertook every
+expedition required of him in his representative capacity.
+
+He travelled miles to an agricultural exhibition, travelled in a badly
+hung cart from Schloss "Hermitage" to the station, where the Premier,
+the Chief of Police, and the directors of the railway company awaited
+him at the saloon carriage. He travelled for an hour and a half, the
+while carrying on, not without difficulty, a conversation with the Grand
+Ducal adjutants, who had been attached to him, and the Agricultural
+Commissioner, Assistant Secretary Heckepfeng, a severe and respectful
+man who also accompanied him. Then he reached the station of the city
+which had organized the agricultural exhibition. The Mayor, with a chain
+over his shoulders, was awaiting him at the head of six or seven other
+official persons. The station was decorated with a quantity of
+fir-branches and festoons. In the back-ground stood the plaster busts of
+Albrecht and Klaus Heinrich in a frame of greenery. The public behind
+the barriers gave three cheers, and the bells pealed.
+
+The Mayor read an address of welcome to Klaus Heinrich. He thanked him,
+he said, brandishing his top-hat in his hand, he thanked him on behalf
+of the city for all the favour which Klaus Heinrich's brother and he
+himself showed them, and heartily wished him a long and blessed reign.
+He also begged the Prince twice over graciously to crown the work which
+had prospered so famously under his patronage, and to open the
+agricultural exhibition.
+
+This Mayor bore the title of Agricultural Councillor, a fact of which
+Klaus Heinrich had been apprised, and on account of which he addressed
+him thus three times in his answer. He said that he was delighted that
+the work of the agricultural exhibition had prospered so famously under
+his patronage. (As a matter of fact he had forgotten that he was patron
+of this exhibition.) He had come to put the finishing touch that day to
+the great work, by opening the exhibition. Then he inquired as to four
+things: as to the economical circumstances of the city, the increase in
+the population in recent years, as to the labour-market (although he had
+no very clear idea what the labour-market was), and as to the price of
+victuals. When he heard that the price of victuals was high, he "viewed
+the matter in a serious light," and that of course was all he could do.
+Nobody expected anything more of him, and it came as a comfort to
+everybody that he had viewed the high prices in a serious light.
+
+Then the Mayor presented the city dignitaries to him: the higher
+District Judge, a noble landed proprietor from the neighbourhood, the
+rector, the two doctors, and a forwarding agent, and Klaus Heinrich
+addressed a question to each, thinking over, while the answer came, what
+he should say to the next. The local veterinary surgeon and the local
+inspector of stock-breeding were also present. Finally they climbed into
+carriages, and drove, amid the cheers of the inhabitants, between fences
+of school-children, firemen, the patriotic societies, through the gaily
+decked city to the exhibition ground--not without being stopped once
+more at the gate by white-robed maidens with wreaths on their heads, one
+of whom, the Mayor's daughter, handed to the prince in his carriage a
+bouquet with white satin streamers, and in lasting memory of the moment
+received one of those pretty and valuable gew-gaws which Klaus Heinrich
+took with him on his journeys, a breast-pin embedded, for a reason she
+could not guess, in _velvet_ (sammet), which figured in the _Courier_ as
+a jewel mounted in gold.
+
+Tents, pavilions, and stands had been erected on the ground. Gaudy
+pennons fluttered on long rows of poles strung together with festoons.
+On a wooden platform hung with bunting, between drapings, festoons, and
+parti-coloured flagstaffs, Klaus Heinrich read the short opening speech.
+And then began the tour of inspection.
+
+There were cattle tethered to low crossbars, prize beasts of the best
+blood with smooth round particoloured bodies and numbered shields on
+their broad foreheads. There were horses stamping and snuffing, heavy
+farm-horses with Roman noses and bushes of hair round their pasterns, as
+well as slender, restless saddle horses. There were naked short-legged
+pigs, and a large selection of both ordinary and prize pigs. With
+dangling bellies they grubbed up the ground with their snouts, while
+great blocks of woolly sheep filled the air with a confused chorus of
+bass and treble. There were ear-splitting exhibits of poultry, cocks and
+hens of every kind, from the big Brahmaputra to the copper-coloured
+bantam; ducks and pigeons of all sorts, eggs and fodder, both fresh and
+artificially preserved. There were exhibits of agricultural produce,
+grain of all sorts, beets and clover, potatoes, peas, and flax;
+vegetables, too, both fresh and dried; raw and preserved fruit; berries,
+marmalade, and syrups.
+
+Lastly there were exhibits of agricultural implements and machines,
+displayed by several technical firms, provided with everything of
+service to agriculture, from the hand-plough to the great
+black-funnelled motors, looking like elephants in their stall, from the
+simplest and most intelligible objects to those which consisted of a
+maze of wheels, chains, rods, cylinders, arms, and teeth--a world, an
+entire overpowering world of ingenious utility.
+
+Klaus Heinrich looked at everything; he walked, with his sword-hilt on
+his forearm, down the rows of animals, cages, sacks, tubs, glasses, and
+implements. The dignitary at his side pointed with his white-gloved hand
+to this and that, venturing on a remark from time to time, and Klaus
+Heinrich acted up to his calling. He expressed in words his appreciation
+of all he saw, stopped from time to time and engaged the exhibitors of
+the animals in conversation, inquired in an affable way into their
+circumstances, and put questions to the country people whose answers
+entailed a scratching behind their ears. And as he walked he bowed his
+thanks on both sides for the homage of the population which lined his
+path.
+
+The people had collected most thickly at the exit, where the carriages
+were waiting, in order to watch him drive off. A way was kept free for
+him, a straight passage to the step of his landau, and he walked quickly
+down it, bowing continuously with his hand to his helmet--alone and
+formally separated from all those men who, in honouring him, were
+cheering their own archetype, their standard, and of whose lives, work,
+and ability he was the splendid representative, though not participator.
+
+With a light and free step he mounted the carriage, settled himself
+artistically so that he at once assumed a perfectly graceful and
+self-possessed pose, and drove, saluting as he went, to the clubhouse,
+where luncheon was prepared. During luncheon--indeed, directly after the
+second course--the District Judge proposed the health of the Grand Duke
+and the Prince, whereupon Klaus Heinrich at once rose to drink to the
+welfare of the county, and city. After the luncheon, however, he retired
+to the room which the Mayor had put at his disposal in his official
+residence and lay down on the bed for an hour, for the exercise of his
+calling exhausted him in a strange degree, and that afternoon he was due
+not only to visit in that city the church, the school, and various
+factories, especially Behnke Brothers' cheese factory, and to express
+high satisfaction with everything, but also to extend his journey and
+visit a scene of disaster, a burnt-out village, in order to express to
+the villagers his brother's and his own sympathy, and to cheer the
+afflicted by his exalted presence.
+
+When he got back to the "Hermitage," to his soberly furnished Empire
+room, he read the newspaper accounts of his expeditions. Then Privy
+Councillor Schustermann of the Press Bureau, which was under the Home
+Secretary, appeared in the "Hermitage," and brought the extracts from
+the papers, cleanly pasted on white sheets, dated and labelled with the
+name of the paper. And Klaus Heinrich read about the impression he had
+produced, read about his personal graciousness and Highness, read that
+he had acquitted himself nobly and taken the hearts of young and old by
+storm--that he had raised the minds of the people out of the ruck of
+everyday and filled them with gladness and affection.
+
+And then he gave free audiences in the Old Schloss, as it had been
+arranged.
+
+The custom of free audiences had been introduced by a well-meaning
+ancestor of Albrecht II, and the people clung to it. Once every week
+Albrecht, or Klaus in his place, was accessible to everybody. Whether
+the petitioner was a man of rank or not, whether the subject of his
+petitions were of a public or personal nature--he had only to give in
+his name to Herr von Bühl, or even the aide-de-camp on duty, and he was
+given an opportunity of bringing his matter to notice in the highest
+quarters.
+
+Indeed an admirable custom! For it meant that the petitioner did not
+have to go round by way of a written application, with the dismal
+prospect of his petition disappearing for ever into a pigeon-hole, but
+had the happy assurance that his application would go straight to the
+most exalted quarters. It must be admitted that the most exalted
+quarters--Klaus Heinrich at this time--naturally were not in a position
+to go into the matter, to scrutinize it seriously and to come to a
+decision upon it, but that they handed the matter on to the
+pigeon-holes, in which it "disappeared." But the custom was none the
+less helpful, though not in the sense of matter-of-fact utility. The
+citizen, the petitioner, came to Herr von Bühl with the request to be
+received, and a day and hour were fixed for him. With glad embarrassment
+he saw the day draw near, worked up in his own mind the sentences in
+which he intended to explain his business, had his frock-coat and his
+hat ironed, put on his best shirt, and generally made himself ready.
+
+But in reality these solemn interviews were well calculated to turn the
+petitioner's thoughts away from the gross material end in view, and to
+make the reception itself seem to him the main point, the essential
+object of his excited anticipation. The hour came, and the citizen took,
+what he never otherwise took, a cab, in order not to dirty his clean
+boots. He drove between the lions at the Albrechtstor, and the sentries
+as well as the stalwart doorkeeper gave him free passage. He landed in
+the courtyard at the colonnade in front of the weather-beaten entrance,
+and was at once admitted by a lackey in a brown coat and sand-coloured
+gaiters to an ante-room on the ground floor to the left, in one corner
+of which was a stand of colours, and where a number of other
+supplicants, talking in low whispers, waited in a state of thoughtful
+tension for their reception. The aide-de-camp, holding a list of those
+with appointments, went backwards and forwards and took the next on the
+list to one side, to instruct him in a low voice how to behave.
+
+In a neighbouring room, called the "Free Audience Room," Klaus Heinrich,
+in his tunic with silver collar and several stars, stood at a round
+table with three golden legs, and received. Major von Platow gave him
+some superficial information about the identity of each petitioner,
+called the man in, and came back in the pauses, to prompt the Prince in
+a few words about the next comer. And the citizen walked in; with the
+blood in his head and perspiring slightly he stood before Klaus
+Heinrich. It had been impressed on him that he was not to go too near
+his Royal Highness, but must keep at a certain distance, that he must
+not speak without being spoken to, and even then must not gabble off all
+he had to say, but answer concisely, so as to leave the Prince material
+for his questions; that he must at the conclusion withdraw backwards and
+without showing the Prince his backside. The result was that the
+citizen's whole attention was centred on not breaking any of the rules
+given him, but for his part contributing to the smooth and harmonious
+progress of the interview.
+
+Klaus Heinrich questioned him in the same way as he was wont to question
+the veterans, the marksmen, the gymnasts, the countrymen, and the
+victims of the fire, smiling, and with his left hand planted well back
+on his hip; and the citizen too smiled involuntarily--and was imbued
+with a feeling as if that smile lifted him far above the troubles which
+had held him prisoner. That common man, whose spirit otherwise cleaved
+to the dust, who gave a thought to nothing, not even to everyday
+politeness, beyond what was purely utilitarian, and had come here too
+with a definite object in view--he felt in his heart that there was
+something higher than business and his business in particular, and he
+left the Schloss elevated, purified, with eyes dim with emotion and the
+smile still on his flushed face.
+
+That was the way in which Klaus Heinrich gave free audiences, that the
+way in which he exercised his exalted calling. He lived at the
+"Hermitage" in his little refuge, the Empire room, which was furnished
+so stiffly and meagrely, with cool indifference to comfort and intimacy.
+Faded silk covered the walls above the white wainscot, glass chandeliers
+hung from the ugly ceiling, straight-lined sofas, mostly without tables,
+and thin-legged stands supporting marble clocks, stood along the walls,
+pairs of white-lacquered chairs, with oval backs and thin silk
+upholstery, flanked the white-lacquered folding-doors, and in the corner
+stood white-lacquered loo-tables, bearing vase-like candelabra. That was
+how Klaus Heinrich's room looked, and its master harmonized well with
+it.
+
+He lived a detached and quiet life, feeling no enthusiasm or zeal for
+questions on which the public differed. As representative of his
+brother, he opened Parliament, but he took no personal part in its
+proceedings and avoided the yeas and nays of party divisions--with the
+disinterestedness and want of convictions proper to one whose position
+was above all parties. Everybody recognized that his station imposed
+reserve upon him, but many were of opinion that want of interest was
+rather repellently and insultingly visible in his whole bearing. Many
+who came in contact with him described him as "cold"; and when Doctor
+Ueberbein loudly refuted this "coldness," people wondered whether the
+one-sided and morose man was qualified to form an opinion on the point.
+Of course there were occasions when Klaus Heinrich's glance met looks
+which refused to recognize him--bold, scornful, invidious looks, which
+showed contempt for and ignorance of all his actions and exertions. But
+even in the well-disposed, loyal people, who showed themselves ready to
+esteem and honour his life, he remarked at times after a short while a
+certain exhaustion, indeed irritation, as if they could no longer
+breathe in the atmosphere of his existence; and that worried Klaus
+Heinrich, though he did not know how he could prevent it.
+
+He had no place in the everyday world; a greeting from him, a gracious
+word, a winning and yet dignified wave of the hand, were all weighty and
+decisive incidents. Once he was returning in cap and greatcoat from a
+ride, was riding slowly on his brown horse Florian, down the birch
+avenue which skirted the waste-land and led to the park and the
+"Hermitage," and in front of him there walked a shabbily dressed young
+man with a fur cap and a ridiculous tuft of hair on his neck, sleeves
+and trousers that were too short for him, and unusually large feet which
+he turned inwards as he walked. He looked like the student of a
+technical institute or something of that sort, for he carried a
+drawing-board under his arm, on which was pinned a big drawing, a
+symmetrical maze of lines in red and black ink, a projection or
+something of the sort. Klaus Heinrich held his horse back behind the
+young man for a good while, and examined the red and black projection on
+the drawing-board. Sometimes he thought how nice it must be to have a
+proper surname, to be called Doctor Smith, and to have a serious
+calling.
+
+He played his part at Court functions, the big and small balls, the
+dinner, the concerts, and the Great Court. He joined in autumn in the
+Court's shoots with his red-haired cousins and his suite, for custom's
+sake and although his left arm made shooting difficult for him. He was
+often seen in the evening in the Court Theatre, in his red-ledged
+proscenium-box between the two female sculptures with the crossed hands
+and the stern, empty faces. For the theatre attracted him, he loved it,
+loved to look at the players, to watch how they behaved, walked off and
+on, and went through with their parts. As a rule he thought them bad,
+rough in the means they employed to please, and unpractised in the more
+subtle dissembling of the natural and artless. For the rest, he was
+disposed to prefer humble and popular scenes to the exalted and
+ceremonious.
+
+A soubrette called Mizzi Meyer was engaged at the "Vaudeville" theatre
+in the capital, who in the newspapers and on the lips of the public was
+never called anything but "our" Meyer, because of her boundless
+popularity with high and low. She was not beautiful, hardly pretty, her
+voice was a screech, and, strictly speaking, she could lay claim to no
+special gifts. And yet she had only to come on to the stage to evoke
+storms of approbation, applause, and encouragement. For this fair and
+compact person with her blue eyes, her broad, high cheek-bones, her
+healthy, jolly, even a little uproarious manner, was flesh of the
+people's flesh, and blood of their blood. So long as she, dressed up,
+painted, and lighted up from every side, faced the crowd from the
+boards, she was in very deed the glorification of the people
+itself--indeed, the people clapped itself when it clapped her, and in
+that alone lay Mizzi Meyer's power over men's souls. Klaus Heinrich was
+very fond of going with Herr von Braunbart-Schellendorf to the
+"Vaudeville" when Mizzi Meyer was playing, and joined heartily in the
+applause.
+
+                   *       *       *       *       *
+
+One day he had a rencontre which on the one hand gave him food for
+thought, on the other disillusioned him. It was with Martini, Axel
+Martini, the compiler of the two books of poetry which had been so much
+praised by the experts, "Evoë!" and "The Holy Life." The meeting came
+about in the following way.
+
+In the capital lived a wealthy old man, a Privy Councillor, who, since
+his retirement from the State Service, had devoted his life to the
+advancement of the fine arts, especially poetry. He was founder of what
+was known as the "May-combat"--a poetical tournament which recurred
+every year in springtime, to which the Privy Councillor invited poets
+and poetesses by circulars and posters. Prizes were offered for the
+tenderest love-song, the most fervent religious poem, the most ardent
+patriotic song, for the happiest lyrical effusions in praise of music,
+the forest, the spring, the joy of life--and these prizes consisted of
+sums of money, supplemented by judicious and valuable souvenirs, such as
+golden pens, golden breast-pins in the form of lyres or flowers, and
+more of the same kind. The city authorities also had founded a prize,
+and the Grand Duke gave a silver cup as a reward for the most absolutely
+admirable of all poems sent in. The founder of the "May-combat" himself,
+who was responsible for the first look-through the always numerous
+entries, shared with two University Professors and the editors of the
+literary supplements of the _Courier_ and the _People_ the duties of
+prize-judges. The prize-winners and the highly commended entries were
+printed and published regularly in the form of an annual at the expense
+of the Privy Councillor.
+
+Now Axel Martini had taken part in the "May-combat" this year, and had
+come off victorious. The poem which he had sent in, an inspired hymn of
+praise to the joy of life, or rather a highly tempestuous outbreak of
+the joy of life itself, a ravishing hymn to the beauty and awfulness of
+life, was conceived in the style of both his books and had given rise to
+discord in the Board of Judges. The Privy Councillor himself and the
+Professor of Philology had been for dismissing it with a notice of
+commendation; for they considered it exaggerated in expression, coarse
+in its passion, and in places frankly repulsive. But the Professor of
+Literary History together with the editors had out-voted them, not only
+in view of the fact that Martini's contribution represented the best
+poem to the joy of life, but also in consideration of its undeniable
+pre-eminence, and in the end their two opponents too had not been able
+to resist the appeal of its foaming and stunning flow of words.
+
+So Axel Martini had been awarded fifteen pounds, a gold breast-pin in
+the form of a lyre, and the Grand Duke's silver cup as well, and his
+poem had been printed first in the annual, surrounded with an artistic
+frame from the hand of Professor von Lindemann. What was more, the
+custom was for the victor (or victrix) in the "May-combat" to be
+received in audience by the Grand Duke; and as Albrecht was unwell, this
+task fell to his brother.
+
+Klaus Heinrich was a little afraid of Herr Martini.
+
+"Oh dear, Doctor Ueberbein," he said when he met his tutor one day,
+"what subject am I to tackle him on? He's sure to be a wild,
+brazen-faced fellow."
+
+But Doctor Ueberbein answered: "Anything; but, Klaus Heinrich, you need
+not worry! He's a very decent fellow. I know him, I'm rather in with his
+set. You'll get on splendidly with him."
+
+So Klaus Heinrich received the poet of the "Joy of Life," received him
+at the "Hermitage," so as to give the business as private a character as
+possible. "In the yellow room, Braunbart if you please," he said,
+"that's the most presentable one for occasions like this." There were
+three handsome chairs in this room, which indeed were the only valuable
+pieces of furniture in the Schloss, heavy Empire arm-chairs of mahogany,
+with spiral arms and yellow upholstery on which blue-green lyres were
+embroidered. Klaus Heinrich on this occasion did not dispose himself
+ready for an audience, but waited in some anxiety near by, until Axel
+Martini on his side had waited for seven or eight minutes in the yellow
+room. Then he walked in hastily, almost hurriedly, and advanced towards
+the poet, who made a low bow.
+
+"I am very much pleased to make your acquaintance," he said, "dear sir
+... dear Doctor, I believe?"
+
+"No, Royal Highness," answered Axel Martini in an asthmatic voice, "not
+doctor, I've no title."
+
+"Oh, forgive me ... I assumed ... Let's sit down, dear Herr Martini. I
+am, as I have said, delighted to be able to congratulate you on your
+great success...."
+
+Herr Martini drew down the corners of his mouth. He sat down on the edge
+of one of the mahogany arm-chairs, at the uncovered table, round whose
+edge ran a gold border, and crossed his feet, which were cased in
+cracked patent-leather boots. He was in frock-coat and wore yellow
+gloves. His collar was frayed at the edges. He had rather staring eyes,
+thin cheeks and a dark yellow moustache, which was clipped like a hedge.
+His hair was already quite grey on the temples, although according to
+the "May-combat" Annual he was not more than thirty years old, and under
+his eyes glowed patches of red which did not suggest robust health. He
+answered to Klaus Heinrich's congratulations: "Your Royal Highness is
+very kind. It was not a difficult victory. Perhaps it was hardly tactful
+of me to compete."
+
+Klaus Heinrich did not understand this; but he said: "I have read your
+poem repeatedly with great pleasure. It seems to me a complete success,
+as regards both metre and rhyme. And it entirely expresses the 'Joy of
+Life.'"
+
+Herr Martini bowed in his chair.
+
+"Your skill," continued Klaus Heinrich, "must be a source of great
+pleasure to you--an ideal recreation. What is your calling, Herr
+Martini?"
+
+Herr Martini showed that he did not understand, by describing a note of
+interrogation with the upper half of his body.
+
+"I mean your main calling. Are you in the Civil Service?"
+
+"No, Royal Highness, I have no calling; I occupy myself exclusively with
+poetry...."
+
+"None at all.... Oh, I understand. So unusual a gift deserves that a
+man's whole powers be devoted to it."
+
+"I don't know about that, Royal Highness. Whether it deserves it or not,
+I don't know. I must own that I had no choice. I have always felt myself
+entirely unsuited to every other branch of human activity. It seems to
+me that this undoubted and unconditional unsuitability for everything
+else is the sole proof and touchstone of the poetical calling--indeed,
+that a man must not see in poetry any calling, but only the expression
+and refuge of that unsuitability."
+
+It was a peculiarity with Herr Martini that when he talked tears came
+into his eyes just like a man who comes out of the cold into a warm room
+and lets the heat stream through and melt his limbs.
+
+"That's a singular idea," said Klaus Heinrich.
+
+"Not at all, Royal Highness. I beg your pardon, no, not singular at all.
+It's an idea which is very generally accepted. What I say is nothing
+new."
+
+"And for how long have you been living only for poetry? I suppose you
+were once a student?"
+
+"Not exactly, Royal Highness; no, the unsuitability to which I alluded
+before began to show itself in me at an early age. I couldn't get on at
+school. I left it without passing my 'final.' I went up to the
+university with the full intention of taking it later, but I never did.
+And when my first volume of poems attracted a good deal of attention, it
+no longer suited my dignity to do so, if I may say so."
+
+"Of course not.... But did your parents then agree to your choice of a
+career?"
+
+"Oh no, Royal Highness! I must say to my parents' credit that they by no
+means agreed to it. I come of a good stock: my father was Solicitor to
+the Treasury. He's dead now, but he was Solicitor to the Treasury. He
+naturally disliked my choice of a career so much that till his death he
+would never give me a farthing. I lived at daggers drawn with him,
+although I had the greatest respect for him because of his strictness."
+
+"Oh, so you've had a hard time of it, Herr Martini, you've had to
+struggle through. I can well believe that you must have knocked about a
+good deal!"
+
+"Not so, Royal Highness! No, that would have been horrid, I couldn't
+have stood it. My health is delicate--I dare not say 'unfortunately,'
+for I am convinced that my talent is inseparably connected with my
+bodily infirmity. Neither my body nor my talent could have survived
+hunger and harsh winds, and they have not had to survive them. My mother
+was weak enough to provide me behind my father's back with the means of
+life, modest but adequate means. I owe it to her that my talent has been
+able to develop under fairly favourable conditions."
+
+"The result has shown, Herr Martini, that they were the right
+conditions.... Although it is difficult to say now what actually are
+good conditions. Permit me to suppose that if your mother had shown
+herself as strict as your father, and you had been alone in the world,
+and left entirely to your own resources ... don't you think that it
+might have been to a certain extent a good thing for you? That you might
+have got a peep at things, so to speak, which have escaped you as it
+is?"
+
+"People like me, Royal Highness, get peeps enough without having
+actually to know what hunger is; and the idea is fairly generally
+accepted that it is not actual hunger, but rather hunger for the actual
+... ha, ha!... which talent requires."
+
+Herr Martini had been obliged to laugh a little at his play upon words.
+He now quickly raised one yellow-gloved hand to his mouth with the
+hedge-like moustache, and improved his laugh into a cough. Klaus
+Heinrich watched him with a look of princely expectancy.
+
+"If your Royal Highness will allow me.... It is a well-known fact that
+the want of actuality for such as me is the seed-ground of all talent,
+the fountain of inspiration, indeed our suggestive genius. Enjoyment of
+life is forbidden to us, strictly forbidden, we have no illusions as to
+that--and by enjoyment of life I mean not only happiness, but also
+sorrow, passion, in short every serious tie with life. The
+representation of life claims all our forces, especially when those
+forces are not allotted to us in overabundant measure"--and Herr Martini
+coughed, drawing his shoulders repeatedly forward as he did so.
+"Renunciation," he added, "is our compact with the Muse, in it reposes
+our strength, our value; and life is our forbidden garden, our great
+temptation, to which we yield sometimes, but never to our profit."
+
+The flow of words had again brought tears to Herr Martini's eyes. He
+tried to blink them away.
+
+"Every one of us," he went on, "knows what it is to make mistakes, to
+run off the rails in that way, to make greedy excursions of that kind
+into the festival halls of life. But we return thence into our isolation
+humbled and sick at heart."
+
+Herr Martini stopped. His look, from under his knotted brows, became
+fixed for a moment and lost in vacancy, while his mouth assumed a sour
+expression and his cheeks, on which the unhealthy redness glowed, seemed
+even thinner than before. It was only for a second; then he changed his
+position, and his eyes recovered their vivacity.
+
+"But your poem," said Klaus Heinrich, with some _empressement_. "Your
+prize poem to the 'Joy of Life,' Herr Martini.... I am really grateful
+to you for your achievement. But will you please tell me ... your
+poem--I've read it attentively. It deals on the one hand with misery and
+horrors, with the wickedness and cruelty of life, if I remember rightly,
+and on the other hand with the enjoyment of wine and fair women, does it
+not?..."
+
+Herr Martini laughed; then rubbed the corners of his mouth with his
+thumb and forefinger, so as to wipe the laugh out.
+
+"And it's all," said Klaus Heinrich, "conceived in the form of 'I,' in
+the first person, isn't it? And yet it is not founded on personal
+knowledge? You have not really experienced any of it yourself?"
+
+"Very little, Royal Highness. Only quite trifling suggestions of it. No,
+the fact is the other way round--that, if I were the man to experience
+all that, I should not only not write such poems, but should also feel
+entire contempt for my present existence. I have a friend, his name is
+Weber; he's a rich young man; he lives, he enjoys his life. His
+favourite amusement consists in scorching in his motor car at a mad pace
+over the country and picking up village girls from the roads and fields
+on the way, with whom he----but that's another story. In short, that
+young man laughs when he catches sight of me, he finds something so
+comic in me and my activities. But as for me, I can quite understand his
+amusement, and envy him it. I dare say that I too despise him a little,
+but not so much as I envy and admire him...."
+
+"You admire him?"
+
+"Certainly, Royal Highness. I cannot help doing so. He spends, he
+squanders, he lets himself go in a most unconcerned and light-hearted
+way--while it is my lot to save, anxiously and greedily, to keep
+together, and indeed to do so on hygienic grounds. For hygiene is what I
+and such as I most need--it is our whole ethics. But nothing is more
+unhygienic than life...."
+
+"That means that you will never empty the Grand Duke's cup, then, Herr
+Martini?"
+
+"Drink wine out of it? No, Royal Highness. Although it would be fine to
+do so. But I never touch wine. And I go to bed at ten, and generally
+take care of myself. If I didn't, I should never have won the cup."
+
+"I can well believe it, Herr Martini. People who are not behind the
+scenes get strange ideas of what a poet's life must be like."
+
+"Quite conceivably, Royal Highness. But it is, taken all round, by no
+means a very glorious life, I can assure you, especially as we aren't
+poets every hour of the twenty-four. In order that a poem of that sort
+may come into existence from time to time--who would believe how much
+idleness and boredom and peevish laziness is necessary? The motto on a
+picture postcard is often a whole day's work. We sleep a lot, we idle
+about with heads feeling like lead. Yes, it's too often a dog's life."
+
+Some one knocked lightly on the white-lacquered door. It was Neumann's
+signal that it was high time for Klaus Heinrich to change his clothes
+and have himself freshened up. For there was to be a club concert that
+evening in the Old Schloss.
+
+Klaus Heinrich rose. "I've been gossiping," he said; for that was the
+expression he used at such moments. And then he dismissed Herr Martini,
+wished him success in his poetical career, and accompanied the poet's
+respectful withdrawal with a laugh and that rather theatrical up and
+down movement of the hand which was not always equally effective, but
+which he had brought to a high pitch of perfection.
+
+Such was the Prince's conversation with Axel Martini, the author of
+"Evoë!" and "The Holy Life." It gave him food for thought, it continued
+to occupy his mind after it had ended. He continued to think over it
+while Neumann was reparting his hair and helping him on with the
+dazzling full-dress coat with the stars, during the club concert at
+Court, and for several days afterwards, and he tried to reconcile the
+poet's statements with the rest of the experiences which life had
+vouchsafed to him.
+
+This Herr Martini, who, while the unhealthy flush glowed under his eyes,
+kept crying: "How beautiful, how strong is life!" yet was careful to go
+to bed at ten, shut himself off from life on hygienic grounds, as he
+said, and avoided every serious tie with it--this poet with his frayed
+collar, his watery eyes, and his envy of the young Weber who scorched
+over the country with village girls: he left a mixed impression, it was
+difficult to come to any certain conclusion about him. Klaus Heinrich
+expressed it, when he told his sister of the meeting, by saying: "Things
+are none too comfortable and easy for him, that's quite obvious, and
+that certainly entitles him to our sympathy. But somehow, I'm not sure
+if I'm glad to have met him, for he has something deterrent about him,
+Ditlinde--yes, after all, he's certainly a little repulsive."
+
+
+
+
+VII
+
+IMMA
+
+
+Fräulein von Isenschnibbe had been well informed. On the very evening of
+the day on which she had brought the Princess zu Reid the great news,
+the _Courier_ published the announcement of Samuel Spoelmann's, the
+world-renowned Spoelmann's, impending arrival, and ten days later, at
+the beginning of October (it was the October of the year in which Grand
+Duke Albrecht had entered his thirty-second and Prince Klaus Heinrich
+his twenty-sixth year), thus barely giving time for public curiosity to
+reach a really high point, his arrival became a fact, a plain actuality
+on an autumn-tinged, entirely ordinary week-day, which was destined to
+impress itself on the future as a date to be remembered for ever.
+
+The Spoelmanns arrived by special train--that was the only distinction
+about their debut to start with, for everybody knew that the "Prince's
+suite" in the "Spa Court" Hotel was by no means dazzlingly magnificent.
+A few idlers, guarded by a small detachment of policemen, had gathered
+behind the platform barriers; some representatives of the press were
+present. But whoever expected anything out of the ordinary was
+disappointed. Spoelmann would almost have passed unrecognized, he was so
+unimposing. For a long time people took his family physician for him
+(Doctor Watercloose, people said he was called), a tall American, who
+wore his hat on the back of his head and kept his mouth distended in a
+perpetual smile between his close-trimmed white whiskers, the while he
+half-closed his eyes. It was not till the last moment that people
+learned that it was the little clean-shaven man in the faded overcoat,
+he who wore his hat pulled down over his eyes, who was the actual
+Spoelmann, and the spectators were agreed that there was nothing
+striking about him. All sorts of stories had been in circulation about
+him; some witty fellow had spread the report that Spoelmann had front
+teeth of solid gold and a diamond set in the middle of each. But
+although the truth or untruth of this report could not be tested at
+once--for Spoelmann did not show his teeth, he did not laugh, but rather
+seemed angry and irritated by his infirmity--yet when they saw him
+nobody was any longer inclined to believe it.
+
+As for Miss Spoelmann, his daughter, she had turned up the collar of her
+fur coat, and stuffed her hands in the pockets, so that there was hardly
+anything to be seen of her except a pair of disproportionately big
+brown-black eyes, which swept the crowd with a serious look whose
+meaning it was hard to interpret. By her side stood the person whom the
+onlookers identified as her companion, the Countess Löwenjoul, a woman
+of thirty-five, plainly dressed and taller than either of the
+Spoelmanns, who carried her little head with its thin smooth hair
+pensively on one side, and kept her eyes fixed in front of her with a
+kind of rigid meekness. What without question attracted most attention
+was a Scottish sheep-dog which was led on a cord by a stolid-looking
+servant--an exceptionally handsome, but, as it appeared, terribly
+excitable beast, that leaped and danced and filled the station with its
+frenzied barking.
+
+People said that a few of Spoelmann's servants, male and female, had
+already arrived at the "Spa Court" some hours before. At any rate it was
+left to the servant with the dog to look after the luggage by himself;
+and while he was doing so his masters drove in two ordinary flies--Mr.
+Spoelmann with Doctor Watercloose, Miss Spoelmann with the Countess--to
+the Spa-Garden. There they got out, and there for six weeks they led a
+life the cost of which it did not need all their money to meet.
+
+They were lucky; the weather was fine, it was a blue autumn, a long
+succession of sunny days from October into November, and Miss Spoelmann
+rode daily--that was her only luxury--with her companion, on horses
+which she hired by the week from the livery stables. Mr. Spoelmann did
+not ride, although the _Courier_, with obvious reference to him,
+published a note by its medical colleague according to which riding had
+a soothing effect in cases of stone, owing to its jolting, and helped to
+disperse the stone. But the hotel staff knew that the famous man
+practised artificial riding within the four walls of his room, with the
+help of a machine, a stationary velocipede to whose saddle a jolting
+motion was imparted by the working of the pedals.
+
+He was a zealous drinker of the healing waters, the Ditlinde Spring, by
+which he seemed to set great store. He appeared first thing every
+morning in the Füllhaus, accompanied by his daughter, who for her part
+was quite healthy, and only drank with him for company's sake, and then,
+in his faded coat and with his hat pulled over his eyes, took his
+exercise in the Spa-Garden and Wandelhalle, drinking the water the while
+through a glass tube out of a blue tumbler--watched at a distance by the
+two American newspaper correspondents, whose duty it was to telegraph to
+their papers a thousand words daily about Spoelmann's holiday resort,
+and who were therefore bound to try to get something to telegraph about.
+
+Otherwise he was rarely visible. His illness--kidney colic, so people
+said, extremely painful attacks--seemed to confine him often to his
+room, if not to his bed, and while Miss Spoelmann with Countess
+Löwenjoul appeared two or three times at the Court Theatre (when, in a
+black velvet dress with an Indian silk scarf of a wonderful gold-yellow
+colour round her fresh young shoulders, she looked quite bewitching with
+her pearl-white complexion and great black pleading eyes), her father
+was never seen in the box with her. He took, it is true, in her company
+one or two drives through the capital, to do some shopping, get some
+idea of the town, and see a few select sights; he went for a walk with
+her too, through the park and twice inspected there the Schloss
+Delphinenort--the second time alone, when he was so much interested as
+to take measurements of the walls with an ordinary yellow rule, which he
+took out of his faded coat.... But he was never seen in the dining-room
+of the "Spa Court," for whether because he was on an almost meatless
+diet, or for some other reason, he took his meals exclusively with his
+own party in his own rooms, and the curiosity of the public had on the
+whole remarkably little to feed on.
+
+The result was that Spoelmann's arrival at the Spa at first did not
+prove so beneficial as Fräulein von Isenschnibbe and many others beside
+her had expected. The export of bottles increased, that was certain; it
+quickly rose to half as many again as its previous figure, and remained
+at that. But the influx of foreigners did not increase noticeably; the
+guests who came to feast their eyes on so abnormal an existence soon
+went away again, satisfied or disappointed, besides it was for the most
+part not the most desirable elements of society that were attracted by
+the millionaire's presence. Strange creatures appeared in the streets,
+unkempt and wild-eyed creatures--inventors, projectors, would-be
+benefactors of mankind, who hoped to enlist Spoelmann's sympathies for
+their hobbies. But the millionaire made himself absolutely inaccessible
+to these people; indeed, purple with rage, he howled at one of them who
+made advances towards him in the park, in such a way that the busybody
+quickly skedaddled, and it was often said that the torrent of begging
+letters which daily flowed in to him--letters which often bore stamps
+which the officials of the Grand Ducal post-office had never seen
+before--was at once discharged into a paper-basket of quite unusual
+capacity.
+
+Spoelmann seemed to have forbidden all business letters to be sent him,
+seemed determined to enjoy his holiday to the utmost, and during his
+travels in Europe to live exclusively for his health--or ill-health. The
+_Courier_, whose reporter had lost no time in making friends with his
+American colleagues, was in a position to announce that a reliable man,
+a so-called chief manager, was Mr. Spoelmann's representative in
+America. He went on to say that his yacht, a gorgeously decorated
+vessel, was awaiting the great man at Venice, and that as soon as he had
+finished his cure he intended to travel south with his party.
+
+It told also, in answer to importunate requests from its readers--of the
+romantic origin of the Spoelmann millions, from their beginning in
+Victoria, whither his father had drifted from some German office stool
+or other, young, poor, and armed only with a pick, a shovel, and a tin
+plate. There he had begun by working as help to a gold-digger, as a day
+labourer, in the sweat of his brow. And then luck had come to him. A
+man, a claim-owner on a small scale, had fared so badly that he could no
+longer buy himself his tomatoes and dry bread for dinner, and in his
+extremity had been obliged to dispose of his claim. Spoelmann senior had
+bought it, had staked his one card, and, with his whole savings,
+amounting to £5 sterling, had bought this piece of alluvial land called
+"Paradise Field," not more than forty feet square. And the next day he
+had turned up, a foot under the surface, a nugget of pure gold, the
+tenth biggest nugget in the world, the "Paradise nugget," weighing 980
+ounces and worth £5,000.
+
+That, related the _Courier_, had been the beginning. Spoelmann's father
+had emigrated to South America with the proceeds of his find, to
+Bolivia, and as gold-washer, amalgam-mill-owner, and mine-owner had
+continued to extract the yellow metal direct from the rivers and the
+womb of the mountains. Then and there Spoelmann senior had married--and
+the _Courier_ went so far as to hint in this connexion that he had done
+so defiantly and without regard to the prejudices generally felt in
+those parts. However, he had doubled his capital and succeeded in
+investing his money most profitably.
+
+He had moved on northwards to Philadelphia, Pa. That was in the fifties,
+the time of a great boom in railway construction, and Spoelmann had
+begun with one investment in the Baltimore and Ohio Railway. He had also
+leased a coal-mine in the west of the State, the profits from which had
+been enormous. Finally he had joined that group of fortunate young men
+which bought the famous Blockhead Farm for a few thousand pounds--the
+property which, with its petroleum wells, in a short time increased in
+value to a hundred times its purchase price.... This enterprise had made
+a rich man of Spoelmann senior, but he had by no means rested on his
+oars, but unceasingly practised the art of making money into more money,
+and finally into superabundant money.
+
+He had started steel works, had floated companies for the turning of
+iron into steel on a large scale, and for building railway bridges. He
+had bought up the major part of the shares of four or five big railway
+companies, and had been elected in the later years of his life
+president, vice-president, manager, or director of the companies. When
+the Steel Trust was formed, so the _Courier_ said, he had joined it,
+with a holding of shares which guaranteed him an income of $12,000,000.
+But at the same time he had been chief shareholder and expert adviser of
+the Petroleum Combine, and in virtue of his holding had dominated three
+or four of the other Trust Companies. And at his death his fortune,
+reckoned in German currency, had amounted to a round thousand million
+marks.
+
+Samuel, his only son, the offspring of that early marriage, contracted
+in defiance of public opinion, had been his sole heir--and the
+_Courier_, with its usual delicacy, interpolated a remark to the effect
+that there was something almost sad in the idea of any one, without
+himself contributing, and through no fault of his own, being born to
+such a situation. Samuel had inherited the palace on Fifth Avenue at New
+York, the country mansions, and all the shares, Trust bonds, and profits
+of his father; he inherited also the strange position to which his
+father had risen, his world-fame and the hatred directed by his
+out-distanced competitors against the power of his gold--all the hatred
+to allay which he yearly distributed his huge donations to colleges,
+conservatories, libraries, benevolent institutions, and that University
+which his father had founded and which bore his name.
+
+Samuel Spoelmann did not deserve the hatred of the out-distanced
+competitors; that the _Courier_ was sure of. He had gone early into the
+business, and had controlled the bewildering possessions of his house
+all by himself during his father's last years. But everybody knew that
+his heart had never been really in the business. His real inclinations
+had been, strange to say, all along much more towards music and
+especially organ music--and the truth of this information on the part of
+the _Courier_ was certain, for Mr. Spoelmann actually kept a small organ
+in the "Spa Court," whose bellows he got a hotel servant to blow, and he
+could be heard from the Spa-Garden playing it for an hour every day.
+
+He had married for love and not at all from social considerations,
+according to the _Courier_--a poor and pretty girl, half German, half
+Anglo-Saxon by descent. She had died, but she had left him a daughter,
+that wonderful blood-mixture of a girl, whom we now had as guest within
+our walls and who was at the time nineteen years old. Her name was
+Imma--a real German name, as the _Courier_ added, nothing more than an
+old form of "Emma," and it might be remarked that the daily conversation
+in the Spoelmann household, though interlarded with scraps of English,
+had remained German. And how devoted father and daughter seemed to be to
+each other! Every morning, by going to the Spa-Garden at the right time,
+one could watch Fräulein Spoelmann, who usually entered the Füllhause a
+little later than her father, take his head between her hands and give
+him his morning kiss on mouth and cheeks, while he patted her tenderly
+on the back. Then they went arm-in-arm through the Wandelhalle and
+sucked their glass tubes as they went....
+
+That is how the well-informed journal gossiped and fed the public
+curiosity. It also reported carefully the visits which Miss Imma kindly
+paid with her companion to several of the charitable institutions of the
+town. Yesterday she had made a detailed inspection of the public
+kitchens. To-day she had made a prolonged tour of the Trinity Almhouses
+for old women, and she had recently twice attended Privy Councillor
+Klinghammer's lectures on the theory of numbers at the university--had
+sat on the bench, a student among students, and scribbled away with her
+fountain-pen, for everybody knew that she was a learned girl and devoted
+to the study of algebra. Yes, all that was absorbing reading, and
+furnished ample food for conversation. But the topics which made
+themselves talked about without any help from the _Courier_ were,
+firstly, the dog, that noble black-and-white collie which the Spoelmanns
+had brought with them, and secondly, in a different way, the companion,
+Countess Löwenjoul.
+
+As for the dog, whose name was Percival, generally shortened to Percy,
+he was an animal of so excitable and emotional a disposition as beggared
+description. Inside the hotel he afforded no grounds for complaint, but
+lay in a dignified attitude on a small carpet outside the Spoelmanns'
+suite. But every time he went out he had an attack of light-headedness,
+which caused general interest and surprise, indeed more than once actual
+obstruction of traffic.
+
+Followed at a distance by a swarm of native dogs, common curs which,
+incited by his demeanour, assailed him with censorious yaps, and which
+caused him no concern whatever, he flew through the streets, his nose
+spattered with foam and barking wildly, pirouetted madly in front of the
+tramcars, made the cab-horses stumble, and twice knocked Widow
+Klaaszen's cake stall at the Town Hall down so violently that the sugar
+cakes rolled half over the Market-place. But as Mr. Spoelmann or his
+daughter at once met such catastrophes with more than adequate
+compensation, as too it was discovered that Percival's attacks were
+really quite free from danger, that he was anything but inclined to bite
+and steal, but on the contrary kept to himself and would let nobody come
+near him, public opinion quickly turned in his favour, and to the
+children in particular his excursions were a constant source of
+pleasure.
+
+Countess Löwenjoul on her side supplied food for conversation in a
+quieter but no less strange way. At first, when her personality and
+position were not yet known in the city, she had attracted the gibes of
+the street urchins, because, while out walking alone, she talked to
+herself softly and deliberately, and accompanied her words with lively
+and at the same time graceful and elegant gestures. But she had shown
+such mildness and goodness to the children who shouted after her and
+tugged at her dress, she had spoken to them with such affection and
+dignity, that her persecutors had slunk away abashed and confused, and
+later, when she became known, respect for her relations with the famous
+guests secured her from molestation. However, some unintelligible
+anecdotes were secretly circulated about her. One man told how the
+Countess had given him a gold piece with instructions that he should box
+the ears of a certain old woman who was understood to have made some
+unseemly proposal or other to her. The man had pocketed the gold piece,
+without, however, discharging his commission.
+
+Further, it was declared as a fact that the Countess had accosted the
+sentry in front of the Fusiliers' Barracks and had told him at once to
+arrest the wife of the sergeant of one of the companies because of her
+moral shortcomings. She had written too a letter to the Colonel of the
+regiment to the effect that all sorts of secret and unspeakable
+abominations went on inside the barracks. Whether she was right in her
+facts, heaven only knew. But many people at once concluded that she was
+wrong in her head. At any rate, there was no time to investigate the
+matter, for six weeks were soon past, and Samuel N. Spoelmann, the
+millionaire, went away.
+
+He went away after having had his portrait painted by Professor von
+Lindemann--an expensive portrait too, which he gave to the proprietor of
+the "Spa Court" as a memento; he went away with his daughter, the
+Countess, and Doctor Watercloose, with Percival, the chamber-velocipede,
+and his servants; went by special train to the South, with the view of
+spending the winter on the Riviera, whither the two New York journalists
+had hastened ahead of him, and of then crossing back home again. It was
+all over. The _Courier_ wished Mr. Spoelmann a hearty farewell and
+expressed the hope that the cure would be found to have done him good.
+
+And with that the notable interlude seemed to be closed and done with.
+Everyday life claimed its due, and Mr. Spoelmann began to fade into
+oblivion. The winter passed. It was the winter in which her Grand Ducal
+Highness the Princess zu Ried-Hohenried was confined of a daughter.
+Spring came, and his Royal Highness Grand Duke Albrecht repaired as
+usual to Hollerbrunn. But then a rumour cropped up amongst the people
+and in the press, which was received at first with a shrug by the
+sober-minded, but became more concrete, crystallized, took to itself
+quite precise details, and finally won itself a dominant place in the
+solid and pithy news of the day.
+
+What was toward? A Grand Ducal Schloss was about to be sold? Nonsense!
+Which Schloss?--Delphinenort. Schloss Delphinenort in the North Park?
+Twaddle! Sold? To whom?--To Spoelmann. Ridiculous! What could he do with
+it?--Restore it, and live in it. That's all very well. But perhaps our
+Parliament might have something to say to that.--They don't care
+twopence. Had the State any responsibility for keeping up Schloss
+Delphinenort?--If they had, it's a pity they hadn't recognized it, dear
+old place. No, Parliament had no say in the matter. Have the
+negotiations advanced at all far?--Rather, they're completed. Goodness
+gracious, then of course the exact price is known?--Naturally. Sold for
+two millions, not a farthing less. Impossible! A Royal Palace! Royal
+palace be blowed! We're not talking of the Grimmburg or of the Old
+Schloss. We're talking of a country house, an unused country house which
+is falling in pieces for lack of funds to keep it up.
+
+So Spoelmann intended to come back every year and spend several weeks in
+Delphinenort?--No. For he intended rather to come and settle among us
+altogether. He was sick of America, wanted to turn his back on it, and
+his first stay amongst us was merely to spy out the land. He was ill, he
+wanted to retire from business. He had always remained a German at
+heart. The father had emigrated, and the son wanted to come back home.
+He wished to take his part in the modest life and intellectual resources
+of our country, and to spend the rest of his days in the immediate
+neighbourhood of the Ditlinde Spa.
+
+All was confusion and bustle, and discussions without end. But public
+opinion, with the exception of the voices of a few grumblers, trended
+after a short hesitation in favour of the idea of sale; indeed without
+this general approval the matter could never have gone very far. It was
+House Minister von Knobelsdorff who first ventured on a cautious
+announcement of Spoelmann's offer in the daily press. He had waited and
+allowed the popular feeling to come to a decision. And after the first
+confusion, solid reasons in favour of the project had made themselves
+felt.
+
+The business world was enchanted at the idea of having so doughty a
+consumer at its doors. The æsthetes showed themselves delighted at the
+prospect of seeing Schloss Delphinenort restored and kept up--at seeing
+the noble old building restored to honour and youth in so unforeseen,
+indeed so romantic a way. But the economically-minded brought forward
+figures which were calculated to cause grave misgivings as to the
+financial position of the country. If Samuel N. Spoelmann settled among
+us, he would become a tax-payer--he would have to pay us his income-tax.
+
+Perhaps it was worth while showing what that meant. Mr. Spoelmann would
+be left to declare his own income, but, from what one knew--and knew
+fairly accurately--his residence would mean a yearly revenue of two and
+a half millions, in taxes alone, not to mention what he paid in rates.
+Worth thinking about, wasn't it? The question was put straight to the
+Finance Minister, Dr. Krippenreuther. He would be wanting in his duty if
+he did not do all he could to recommend the sale in the highest
+quarters. For patriotism demanded that Spoelmann's offer should be
+accepted, and patriotism was paramount above all other considerations.
+
+So Excellency von Knobelsdorff had had an interview with the Grand Duke.
+He had informed his master of the public opinion, had added that the
+price offered, two millions, considerably exceeded the real value of the
+Schloss in its present condition, had remarked that such a sum meant a
+real windfall for the Treasury, and had ended by slipping in a hint
+about the central heating of the Old Schloss, which, if the sale was
+carried through, would no longer be an impossibility. In short, the
+single-minded old gentleman had brought his whole influence to bear in
+favour of the sale, and had recommended the Grand Duke to bring the
+matter before a family moot. Albrecht had sucked his lower lip softly
+against the upper, and summoned the family moot. It had met in the Hall
+of the Knights over tea and biscuits. Only two feminine members, the
+Princess Catherine and Ditlinde, had opposed the sale, on the ground of
+loss of dignity.
+
+"You will be misunderstood, Albrecht!" said Ditlinde.
+
+"They will charge you with want of respect to your high station, and
+that is not right, for you have on the contrary too much; you are so
+proud, Albrecht, that everything is all the same to you. But I say No. I
+do not wish to see a Croesus living in one of your Schlosses, it is not
+right, and it was bad enough that he should have a family physician and
+take the Prince's suite in the Spa Court. The _Courier_ harps on the
+fact that he is a tax-paying subject, but in my eyes he is simply a
+subject and nothing else. What do you think, Klaus Heinrich?"
+
+But Klaus Heinrich voted for the sale. In the first place, Albrecht got
+his central heating; secondly, Spoelmann was not one of the common herd,
+he was not soap-boiler Unschlitt--he was an exception, and there was no
+disgrace in letting him have Delphinenort. Finally Albrecht had, with
+downcast eyes, pronounced the whole family moot to be a farce. The
+people had long ago made up their minds, his Ministers urged the sale,
+and there was nothing left for him to do but to "wave to the
+engine-driver and start the train."
+
+The family moot had taken place in spring. From that time onwards the
+negotiations for sale, which were carried on between Spoelmann on the
+one hand and the Lord Marshal von Bühl zu Bühl on the other, had
+proceeded apace, and the summer was not far advanced before Schloss
+Delphinenort with its park and out-buildings had become the lawful
+property of Mr. Spoelmann.
+
+Then began a scene of bustle and confusion round and in the Schloss,
+which daily attracted crowds to the northern side of the park.
+Delphinenort was improved and partly reconstructed inside by a swarm of
+workmen. For quick, quick, was the order of the day, that was
+Spoelmann's wish, and he had only allowed five months' respite for
+everything to be ready for him to enter into possession. So a wooden
+scaffold with ladders and platforms shot up at lightning speed round the
+dilapidated old building, foreign workmen swarmed all over it, and an
+architect came with carte blanche over the seas to superintend the work.
+But the greater part of the work fell to our native manual workers to
+perform, and the stone-masons and tilers, the joiners, gilders,
+upholsterers, glaziers, and parquet-layers of the city, the landscape
+gardeners and heating and lighting experts, had plenty of remunerative
+work all through the summer and autumn.
+
+When his Royal Highness Klaus Heinrich left his window in the
+"Hermitage" open, the noise of the work at Delphinenort penetrated right
+through to the Empire room, and he often drove past the Schloss amid the
+respectful greetings of the public, in order to satisfy himself of the
+progress of the restoration. The gardener's cottage was painted up, the
+sheds and stables, which were destined to accommodate Spoelmann's fleet
+of motors and carriages, were enlarged; and by October, furniture and
+carpets, chests and cases full of stuffs and household utensils had been
+delivered at Schloss Delphinenort, while it was whispered among the
+bystanders that inside the walls skilled hands were at work fitting
+Spoelmann's costly organ, which had been sent from over the sea, with
+electric action.
+
+There was much excitement to know whether the park belonging to the
+Schloss, which had been so splendidly cleaned up and trimmed, was to be
+fenced off from the public by a wall or hedge. But nothing of the sort
+was done. It was Spoelmann's wish that the property should continue to
+be accessible, that no restraint should be placed on the citizens'
+enjoyment of the park. The Sunday promenaders should have access right
+up to the Schloss, up to the clipped hedge which surrounded the big
+square pond--and this did not fail to make an excellent impression on
+the population; indeed, the _Courier_ published a special article on the
+subject, in which it praised Mr. Spoelmann for his philanthropy.
+
+And behold! when the leaves again began to fall, exactly one year after
+his first appearance, Samuel Spoelmann landed a second time at our
+railway station. This time the general interest in the event was much
+greater than in the preceding year, and it is on record that, when Mr.
+Spoelmann, in his well-known faded coat and with his hat over his eyes,
+left his saloon, loud cheers were raised by the crowd of spectators--an
+expression of feelings which Mr. Spoelmann seemed rather inclined to
+resent, and which not he but Doctor Watercloose acknowledged with
+blinking eyes and a broad smile. When Miss Spoelmann too alighted, a
+cheer was raised, and one or two urchins even shouted when Percy, the
+collie, appeared springing, leaping, and altogether beside himself, on
+the platform. In addition to the doctor and Countess Löwenjoul there
+were two unknown persons in attendance, two clean-shaven and
+decided-looking men in strangely roomy coats. They were Mr. Spoelmann's
+secretaries, Messrs. Phlebs and Slippers, as the _Courier_ announced in
+its report.
+
+At that time Delphinenort was far from ready, and the Spoelmanns at once
+took possession of the first floor of the chief hotel, where a big,
+haughty, paunch-bellied man in black, the steward or butler of the
+Spoelmann establishment, who had preceded them, had made preparations
+for them, and put the chamber-velocipede together with his own hands.
+Every day, while Miss Imma with her Countess and Percy went for a ride
+or a visit to some charitable institution, Mr. Spoelmann hung about his
+house, superintending the work and giving orders, and when the end of
+the year approached, just after the first snow had fallen, prospect
+became fact, and the Spoelmanns took up their abode in Schloss
+Delphinenort. Two motor cars (their arrival had been watched with
+interest--splendid cars they were) bore the six members of the
+party--Messrs. Phlebs and Slippers sat in the hinder one--driven by the
+leather-clad chauffeurs, with servants in snow-white fur coats and
+crossed arms beside them, in a few minutes from the hotel through the
+City Gardens; and as the cars dashed along the noble chestnut avenue
+which led to the drive, the urchins climbed up the high lamp-posts which
+stood at all four corners of the big spa-basin, and waved their caps and
+cheered....
+
+So Spoelmann and his belongings settled down among us, and we basked in
+the light of his presence. His white-and-gold livery was seen and known
+in the city, just as the brown-and-gold Grand Ducal livery was seen and
+known; the negro in scarlet plush who was doorkeeper at Delphinenort
+soon became a popular figure, and when passers-by heard the subdued
+rumble of Mr. Spoelmann's organ from the interior of the Schloss they
+lifted a finger and said: "Hark, he's playing. That means that he's not
+got colic for the moment."
+
+Miss Imma was to be seen daily by the side of Countess Löwenjoul,
+followed by a groom and with Percy capering round, riding, or driving a
+smart four-in-hand through the City Gardens--while the servant who sat
+on the back seat stood up from time to time, drew a long silver horn
+from a leather sheath and wound a shrill warning of their approach; and
+by getting up early one could see father and daughter every morning go
+in a dark-red brougham, or, in fine weather, on foot through the park of
+Schloss "Hermitage" to the Spa-Garden, in order to drink the waters.
+Imma for her part, as already mentioned, again began a course of visits
+to the benevolent institutions of the city, though she appeared not to
+give up her studies for all that; for from the beginning of the
+half-term she regularly attended the lectures of the Councillor
+Klinghammer at the University--sat daily in a black dress with white
+collar and cuffs among the young students in the lecture-theatre, and
+drove her fountain-pen--with her fore-finger raised in the air, a trick
+of hers when writing--over the pages of her notebook.
+
+The Spoelmanns lived in retirement, they did not mix in the life of the
+town, as was natural in view both of Mr. Spoelmann's ill-health and of
+his social loneliness. What social group could he have attached himself
+to? Nobody even suggested to him that he should consort with soap-boiler
+Unschlitt or bank-director Wolfsmilch on confidential terms. Yet he was
+soon approached with appeals to his generosity, and the appeals were not
+in vain. For Mr. Spoelmann, who, it was well known, before his departure
+from America had given a large sum in dollars to the Board of Education
+in the United States, and had also stated in so many words that he had
+no intention of withdrawing his yearly contributions to the Spoelmann
+University and his other educational foundations--he, shortly after his
+arrival at "Delphinenort," put his name down for a subscription of ten
+thousand marks to the Dorothea Children's Hospital, for which a
+collection was just being made; an action the nobleness of which was
+immediately recognized in fitting terms by the _Courier_ and the rest of
+the press.
+
+In fact, although the Spoelmanns lived in seclusion in a social sense, a
+certain amount of publicity attached to their life among us from the
+earliest moments, and in the local section of the daily newspapers at
+least their movements were followed with as much particularity as those
+of the members of the Grand Ducal House. The public were informed when
+Miss Imma had played a game of lawn tennis with the Countess and Messrs.
+Phlebs and Slippers in the "Delphinenort" park; it was noted when she
+had been at the Court Theatre, and whether her father had gone with her
+for an act or two of the Opera; and if Mr. Spoelmann shrank from
+curiosity, never leaving his box during the intervals and scarcely ever
+showing himself on foot in the streets, yet he was obviously not
+insensible to the duties of a spectacular kind which were inherent in an
+extraordinary existence like his own, and he gave the love of gazing its
+due.
+
+It has been said that the "Delphinenort" park was not divided from the
+Town Gardens. No walls separated the Schloss from the outer world. From
+the back one could walk over the turf right up to the foot of the broad
+covered terrace which had been built on that side, and, if bold enough,
+look through the big glass door straight into the high white-and-gold
+garden-room in which Mr. Spoelmann and his family had five-o'clock tea.
+Indeed, when summer came, tea was laid on the terrace outside, and Mr.
+and Miss Spoelmann, the Countess and Doctor Watercloose sat in basket
+chairs of a new-fangled shape, and took their tea as if on a public
+platform.
+
+For on Sunday, at any rate, there was never wanting a public to enjoy
+the spectacle at a respectful distance. They called each other's
+attention to the silver tea-kettle, which was heated by electricity--a
+quite novel idea--and to the wonderful liveries of the two footmen who
+handed the tea and cakes, white, high-buttoned, gold-laced coats with
+swan's-down on the collars, cuffs, and seams. They listened to the
+English-German conversation and followed with open mouths every movement
+of the notable family on the terrace. They then went round past the
+front door, in order to shout a few witticisms in the local dialect to
+the red-plush negro, which he answered with a dental grin.
+
+Klaus Heinrich saw Imma Spoelmann for the first time on a bright
+winter's day at noon. That does not mean that he had not already caught
+sight of her often at the theatre, in the street, and in the town park.
+But that's quite a different thing. He saw her for the first time at
+this midday hour in exciting circumstances.
+
+He had been giving "free audiences" in the Old Schloss till half-past
+eleven, and after they were finished had not returned at once to Schloss
+"Hermitage," but had ordered his coachman to keep the carriage waiting
+in one of the courts, as he wished to smoke a cigarette with the Guards
+officers on duty. As he wore the uniform of that regiment, to which his
+personal aide-de-camp also belonged, he made an effort to maintain the
+semblance of some sort of camaraderie with the officers; he dined from
+time to time in their mess and occasionally gave them half an hour of
+his company on guard, although he had a dim suspicion that he was rather
+a nuisance as he kept them from their cards and smoking-room stories.
+
+So there he stood, the convex silver star of the Noble Order of the
+Grimmburg Griffin on his breast, his left hand planted well back on his
+hip, with Herr von Braunbart-Schellendorf, who had given due notice of
+the visit in the officers' mess, which was situated on the ground floor
+of the Schloss near the Albrechts Gate--engaged in a trivial
+conversation with two or three officers in the middle of the room, while
+a further group of officers chatted at the deep-set window. Owing to the
+warmth of sun outside the window stood open, and from the barracks along
+the Albrechtstrasse came the strains of the drum and fife band of the
+approaching relief guard.
+
+Twelve o'clock struck from the Court Chapel tower. The loud "Fall in!"
+of the non-commissioned officer was heard outside, and the rattle of
+grenadiers standing to arms. The public collected on the square. The
+lieutenant on duty hastily buckled on his sword belt, clapped his heels
+together in a salute to Klaus Heinrich and went out. Then suddenly
+Lieutenant von Sturmhahn, who had been looking out of the window, cried
+with that rather poor imitation of familiarity which was proper to the
+relations between Klaus Heinrich and the officers: "Great heavens,
+here's something for you to look at, Royal Highness! There goes Miss
+Spoelmann, with her algebra under her arm...."
+
+Klaus Heinrich walked to the window. Miss Imma was walking by herself
+along the pavement. With both hands thrust into her big flat muff, which
+was trimmed with pendent tails, she carried her notebook pressed to her
+side with her elbow. She was wearing a long coat of shiny black fox, and
+a toque of the same fur on her dark foreign-looking hair. She was
+obviously coming from "Delphinenort" and hurrying towards the
+University. She reached the main guard-house at the moment at which the
+relief guard marched up the gutter, over against the guard on duty,
+which standing at attention in two ranks occupied the pavement. She was
+absolutely compelled to go round, outside the band and the crowd of
+spectators--indeed, if she wished to avoid the open square with its
+tram-lines, to make a fairly wide detour on the footpath running round
+it--or to wait for the end of the military ceremony.
+
+She showed no intention of doing either. She made as if to walk along
+the pavement in front of the Schloss right down between the two ranks of
+soldiers. The sergeant with the harsh voice stepped forward quickly.
+"Not this way!" he cried and held the butt of his rifle in front of her.
+"Not this way! Right about! Wait!"
+
+But Miss Spoelmann fired up. "What d'you mean?" she cried. "I'm in a
+hurry!"
+
+But her words were not so impressive as the expression of honest,
+passionate, irresistible anger with which they were uttered. How slight
+and lonely she was! The fair-haired soldiers round her towered head and
+shoulders above her. Her face was as pale as wax at this moment, her
+black eyebrows were knitted in a hard and expressive wrinkle, her
+nostrils distended, and her eyes, black with excitement and wide-opened,
+spoke so expressive and bewitching a language that no protest seemed
+possible.
+
+"What d'you mean?" she cried. "I'm in a hurry!" And as she said it she
+pushed the rifle-butt, and the stupefied sergeant with it, aside, and
+walked down between the lines, went straight on her way, turned to the
+left into Universitätsstrasse and vanished.
+
+"I'm dammed!" cried Lieutenant von Sturmhahn. "That's one for us!" The
+officers at the window laughed. The spectators outside, too, were much
+amused, and not unsympathetic. Klaus Heinrich joined in the general
+hilarity. The changing of the guard proceeded with loud words of command
+and snatches of march tunes. Klaus Heinrich returned to the "Hermitage."
+
+He lunched all alone, went for a ride in the afternoon on his brown
+horse Florian, and spent the evening at a big party at Dr.
+Krippenreuther, the Finance Minister's house. He related to several
+people with great animation the episode of the guard, although the story
+had already gone the round and become common property. Next day he had
+to go away, for he had been told by his brother to represent him at the
+inauguration of the new Town Hall in a neighbouring town. For some
+reason or other, he went reluctantly, he disliked leaving the capital.
+He had a feeling that he was missing an important, pleasant, though
+rather disquieting opportunity, which imperatively demanded his
+presence. And yet his exalted calling must be more important. But while
+he sat serene and gorgeously dressed on his seat of honour in the Town
+Hall, and read his speech to the Mayor, Klaus Heinrich's thoughts were
+not concentrated on the figure he presented to the eyes of the crowd,
+but rather were busied with this new and important topic. He also gave a
+passing thought to a person whose casual acquaintance he had made long
+years before, to Fräulein Unschlitt, the soap-boiler's daughter--a
+memory which had a certain connexion with the importunate topic....
+
+Imma Spoelmann pushed the harsh-voiced sergeant aside in her
+anger--walked all alone, her algebra under her arm, down the ranks of
+the big fair-haired grenadiers. How pearly-white her face was against
+her black hair under her fur toque, and how her eyes spoke! There was
+nobody like her. Her father was rich, surfeited with riches, and had
+bought one of the Grand Ducal Schlosses. What was it that the _Courier_
+had said about his undeserved reputation and the "romantic isolation of
+his life"? He was the object of the hatred of aggrieved rivals--that was
+the effect of the article. And her nostrils had distended with anger.
+There was nobody like her, nobody near or far. She was an exception. And
+suppose she had been at the Citizens' Ball on that occasion? He would
+then have had a companion, would not have made a fool of himself, and
+would not have ended the evening in despair. "Down, down, down with
+him!" Phew! Just think of how she looked as she walked, dark and pale
+and wonderful, down the ranks of fair-haired soldiers.
+
+These were the thoughts which occupied Klaus Heinrich during the next
+few days--just these three or four mental pictures. And the strange
+thing is that they were amply sufficient for him, and that he did not
+want any more. But all things considered, it seemed to him more than
+desirable that he should get another glimpse of the pearly-white face
+soon, to-day if possible.
+
+In the evening he went to the Court Theatre, where _The Magic Flute_ was
+being played. And when from his box he descried Miss Spoelmann next to
+Countess Löwenjoul in the front of the circle, a tremor went right
+through him. During the opera he could watch her out of the darkness
+through his opera-glasses, for the light from the stage fell on her. She
+laid her head on her small, ringless hand, while she rested her bare arm
+on the velvet braid, and she did not look angry now. She wore a dress of
+glistening sea-green silk with a light scarf on which bright flowers
+were embroidered, and round her neck a long chain of sparkling diamonds.
+She really was not so small as she looked, Klaus Heinrich decided, when
+she stood up at the end of the act. No, the childish shape of her head
+and the narrowness of her shoulders accounted for her looking such a
+little thing. Her arms were well developed, and one could see that she
+played games and rode. But at the wrist her arm looked like a child's.
+
+When the passage came: "He is a prince. He is more than that," Klaus
+Heinrich conceived the wish to have a talk with Doctor Ueberbein. Doctor
+Ueberbein called by chance next day at the "Hermitage" in a black
+frock-coat and white tie, as usual when he paid Klaus Heinrich a visit.
+Klaus Heinrich asked him whether he had already heard the story of the
+changing of the guard. Yes, answered Doctor Ueberbein, several times.
+But would Klaus Heinrich like to relate it to him again?... "No, not if
+you know it," said Klaus Heinrich, disappointed. Then Doctor Ueberbein
+jumped to quite another topic. He began to talk about opera-glasses, and
+remarked that opera-glasses were a wonderful invention. They brought
+close what was unfortunately a long way off, did they not? They formed a
+bridge to a longed-for goal. What did Klaus Heinrich think? Klaus
+Heinrich was inclined to agree to a certain extent. And it seemed that
+yesterday evening, so people said, he had made a free use of this grand
+invention, said the doctor. Klaus Heinrich could not see the point of
+this remark.
+
+Then Doctor Ueberbein said: "No, look here, Klaus Heinrich, that won't
+do. You are stared at, and little Imma is stared at, and that's enough.
+If you add to it by staring at little Imma, that's too much. You must
+see that, surely?"
+
+"Oh dear, Doctor Ueberbein, I never thought of that."
+
+"But in other cases you generally do think of that sort of thing."
+
+"I've felt so funny for the last few days," said Klaus Heinrich.
+
+Doctor Ueberbein leaned back, pulled at his red beard near his throat,
+and nodded slowly with his head and neck.
+
+"Really? Have you?" he asked. And then went on nodding.
+
+Klaus Heinrich said: "You can't think how reluctant I was to go the
+other day to the inauguration of the Town Hall. And to-morrow I have to
+superintend the swearing-in of the Grenadier recruits. And then comes
+the Chapter of the Family Order. I don't feel a bit in the mood for
+that. I find no pleasure in doing my duty as the representative of my
+people. I've no inclination for my so-called lofty calling."
+
+"I'm sorry to hear it!" said Doctor Ueberbein sharply.
+
+"Yes, I might have known that you would be angry, Doctor Ueberbein. Of
+course you'll call it sloppiness, and will read me a sermon about
+'destiny and discipline,' if I know you. But at the opera yesterday I
+thought of you at one point, and asked myself whether you really were so
+right in several particulars...."
+
+"Look here, Klaus Heinrich, once already, if I'm not mistaken, I've
+dragged your Royal Highness out of the mud, so to speak...."
+
+"That was quite different, Doctor Ueberbein! How I wish you could see
+that was absolutely different! That was at the Citizens' Ball, but it
+was years ago, and I don't feel a twinge in that direction. For she is
+... Look you, you have often explained to me what you understand by
+'Highness,' and that it is something affecting, and something to be
+approached with tender sympathy. Don't you think that she of whom we are
+speaking, that she is affecting and that one must feel sympathy with
+her?"
+
+"Perhaps," said Doctor Ueberbein. "Perhaps."
+
+"You often said that one must not disavow exceptions, that to do so was
+sloppiness and slovenly and good-nature. Don't you think that she too of
+whom we are speaking is an exception?"
+
+Doctor Ueberbein was silent. Then he said suddenly and decidedly, "And
+now I, if possible, am to help to make two exceptions into a rule?"
+
+Thereupon he went out. He said that he must get back to his work,
+emphasizing the word "work," and begged leave to withdraw. He took his
+departure in a strangely ceremonious and unfatherly way.
+
+Klaus Heinrich did not see him for ten or twelve days. He asked him to
+lunch once, but Doctor Ueberbein begged to be excused, his work at the
+moment was too pressing. At last he came spontaneously. He was in high
+spirits and looked greener than ever. He blustered about this and that,
+and at last came to the subject of the Spoelmanns, looking at the
+ceiling and pulling at his throat when he did so. To be quite fair, he
+said, there was a striking amount of sympathy felt with Samuel
+Spoelmann, one could see all over the town how much beloved he was.
+Chiefly of course as an object of taxation, but in other respects too.
+There was simply a penchant for him, in every class, for his
+organ-playing and his faded coat and his kidney-colic. Every errand boy
+was proud of him, and if he were not so unapproachable and morose he
+would already have been made to feel it.
+
+The ten-thousand marks donation for the Dorothea Hospital had naturally
+made an excellent impression. His friend Sammet had told him (Ueberbein)
+that with the help of this donation far-reaching improvements had been
+undertaken in the Hospital. And for the rest, it had just occurred to
+him! Little Imma was going to inspect the improvements to-morrow
+morning, Sammet had told him. She had sent one of her swan's-down
+flunkeys and asked whether she would be welcome to-morrow. She and sick
+children were a devilish funny mixture, opined Ueberbein, but perhaps
+she might learn something. To-morrow morning at eleven, if his memory
+did not mislead him.
+
+Then he talked about other things. On leaving he added: "The Grand Duke
+ought to take some interest in the Dorothea Hospital, Klaus Heinrich,
+it's expected of him. It's a blessed institution. In short, somebody
+ought to show the way, give signs of an interest in high quarters. No
+wish to intrude.... And so good-bye."
+
+But he came back once more, and in his green face a flush had appeared
+under the eyes which looked entirely out of place there. "If," he said
+deliberately, "I ever caught you again with a soup tureen on your head,
+Klaus Heinrich, I should leave it there." Then he pressed his lips
+together and went out.
+
+Next morning shortly before eleven Klaus Heinrich walked with Herr von
+Braunbart-Schellendorf, his aide-de-camp, from Schloss "Hermitage"
+through the snow-covered birch avenue over rough suburban streets
+between humble cottages, and stopped before the neat white house over
+whose entrance "Dorothea Children's Hospital" was painted in broad black
+letters. His visit had been announced. The senior surgeon of the
+institution, in a frock-coat with the Albrechts Cross of the Third
+Class, was awaiting him with two younger surgeons and the nursing staff
+in the hall. The Prince and his companion were wearing helmets and fur
+coats. Klaus Heinrich said: "This is the renewal of an old acquaintance,
+my dear doctor. You were present when I came into the world. You are
+also a friend of my tutor Ueberbein's. I am delighted to meet you."
+
+Doctor Sammet, who had grown grey in his life of active philanthropy,
+bowed to one side, with one hand on his watch-chain and his elbows close
+to his ribs. He presented the two junior surgeons and the sister to the
+Prince, and then said: "I must explain to your Royal Highness that your
+Royal Highness's gracious visit coincides with another visit. Yes. We
+are expecting Miss Spoelmann. Her father has done such a lot for our
+institution.... We could not very well upset the arrangements. The
+sister will take Miss Spoelmann round."
+
+Klaus Heinrich received the news of this rencontre without displeasure.
+He first expressed his opinion of the nurses' uniform, which he called
+becoming, and then his curiosity to inspect the philanthropic
+institution. The tour began. The sister and three nurses waited behind
+in the hall.
+
+All the walls in the building were whitewashed and washable. Yes. The
+water taps were huge, they were meant to be worked with the elbows for
+reasons of cleanliness. And rinsing apparatus had been installed for
+washing the milk-bottles. One passed first through the reception room,
+which was empty save for a couple of disused beds and the surgeons'
+bicycles. In the adjoining preparation room there were, besides the
+writing-table and the stand with the students' white coats, a kind of
+folding table with oil-cloth cushions, an operating-table, a cupboard of
+provisions, and a trough-shaped perambulator. Klaus Heinrich paused at
+the provisions and asked for the recipes for the preparations to be
+explained to him. Doctor Sammet thought to himself that if the whole
+tour was going to be made with such attention to details, a terrible lot
+of time would be wasted.
+
+Suddenly a noise was heard in the street. An automobile drove up tooting
+and stopped in front of the building. Cheers were heard distinctly in
+the preparation room, for all that it was only children that were
+shouting. Klaus Heinrich did not pay any particular attention to the
+incident. He was looking at a box of sugar of milk, which, by the way,
+had nothing striking about it. "A visitor apparently," he said. "Oh, of
+course, you said somebody was coming. Let's go on."
+
+The party proceeded to the kitchen, the milk-kitchen, the big
+boiler-fitted room for the preparing of milk, the place where full milk,
+boiled milk, and buttermilk were kept. The daily rations were set on
+clean white tables in little bottles side by side. The place smelt
+sourish and sickly.
+
+Klaus Heinrich gave his undivided attention to this room also. He went
+so far as to taste the buttermilk, and pronounced it excellent. How the
+children must thrive, he considered, on buttermilk like that. During
+this inspection the door opened and Miss Spoelmann entered between the
+sister and Countess Löwenjoul, followed by the three nurses.
+
+The coat, toque, and muff which she was wearing to-day were made of the
+costliest sable, and her muff was suspended on a golden chain set with
+coloured stones. Her black hair showed a tendency to fall in smooth
+locks over her forehead. She took in the room at a glance; her eyes were
+really almost unbecomingly big for her little face, they dominated it
+like a cat's, save that they were black as anthracite and spoke a
+pleading language of their own.... Countess Löwenjoul, with a feather
+hat and dressed neatly and not without distinction, as usual, smiled in
+a detached sort of way.
+
+"The milk-kitchen," said the sister; "this is where the milk is cooked
+for the children."
+
+"So one would have supposed," answered Miss Spoelmann. She said it
+quickly and lightly, with a pout of her lips and a little haughty wag of
+her head. Her voice was a double one; it consisted of a lower and a
+higher register, with a break in the middle.
+
+The sister was quite disconcerted. "Yes," she said, "it's obvious." And
+a little pained look of bewilderment was visible in her face.
+
+The position was a complicated one. Doctor Sammet looked in Klaus
+Heinrich's face for orders, but as Klaus Heinrich was accustomed to do
+what was put before him according to prescribed forms, but not to
+grapple with novel and complex situations, no solution of the difficulty
+was forthcoming. Herr von Braunbart was on the point of intervening, and
+Miss Spoelmann on the other side was making ready to leave the
+milk-kitchen, when the Prince made a gesture with his right hand which
+established a connexion between himself and the young girl. This was the
+signal for Doctor Sammet to advance towards Imma Spoelmann.
+
+"Doctor Sammet. Yes." He desired the honour of presenting Miss Spoelmann
+to his Royal Highness.... "Miss Spoelmann, Royal Highness, the daughter
+of Mr. Spoelmann to whom this hospital is so much indebted."
+
+Klaus Heinrich clapped his heels together and held out his hand in its
+white gauntlet, and, laying her small brown-gloved hand in it, she gave
+him a horizontal hand-shake, English fashion, at the same time making a
+sort of shy curtsey, without taking her big eyes off Klaus Heinrich's
+face. He could think of nothing more original to say than: "So you too
+are paying a visit to the hospital, Miss Spoelmann?"
+
+And she answered as quickly as before, with a pout and the little
+haughty wag of her head. "Nobody can deny that everything points in that
+direction."
+
+Herr Braunbart involuntarily raised his hand, Doctor Sammet looked down
+at his watch-chain in silence, and a short snigger escaped through the
+nose of one of the young surgeons, which was hardly opportune. The
+little pained look of bewilderment now showed on Klaus Heinrich's face.
+He said: "Of course.... As you are here.... So I shall be able to visit
+the institution in your company, Miss Spoelmann.... Captain von
+Braunbart, my aide-de-camp ..." he added quickly, recognizing that his
+remark laid him open to a similar answer to the last. She responded by:
+"Countess Löwenjoul."
+
+The Countess made a dignified bow--with an enigmatic smile, a side
+glance into the unknown, which had something seductive about it. When,
+however, she let her strangely evasive gaze again dwell on Klaus
+Heinrich, who stood before her in a composed and military attitude, the
+laugh vanished from her face, an expression of sadness settled on her
+features, and for a second a look of something like hatred for Klaus
+Heinrich shone in her slightly swollen grey eyes. It was only a passing
+look. Klaus Heinrich had no time to notice it, and forgot it
+immediately. The two young surgeons were presented to Imma Spoelmann,
+and then Klaus Heinrich suggested that they should continue the tour all
+together.
+
+They went upstairs to the first story; Klaus Heinrich and Imma Spoelmann
+in front, conducted by Doctor Sammet, then Countess Löwenjoul with Herr
+von Braunbart, and the young surgeons in the rear. Yes, the older
+children were here, up to fourteen years of age. An ante-room with
+wash-basins divided the girls' and the boys' rooms. In white bedsteads,
+with a name-plate at the head and a frame at the foot enclosing the
+temperature- and weight-charts--tended by nurses in white caps, and
+surrounded by cleanliness and tidiness--lay the sick children, and
+coughs filled the room while Klaus Heinrich and Imma Spoelmann walked
+down between the rows.
+
+He walked at her left hand, out of courtesy, with the same smile as when
+he visited exhibitions or inspected veterans, gymnastic associations, or
+guards of honour. But every time he turned his head to the right he
+found that Imma Spoelmann was watching him--he met her great black eyes,
+which were directed at him in a searching, questioning way. It was so
+peculiar, he never remembered experiencing anything so peculiar before,
+her way of looking at him with her great eyes, without any respect for
+him or anyone else, absolutely unembarrassed and free, quite unconcerned
+whether anybody noticed it or not.
+
+When Doctor Sammet stopped at a bed to describe the case--the little
+girl's, for instance, whose broken white-bandaged leg stuck straight out
+along the bed--Miss Spoelmann listened attentively to him, that was
+quite clear; but while she listened she did not look at the speaker, but
+her eyes rested in turn on Klaus Heinrich and the pinched, quiet child
+who, her hands folded on her breast, gazed up at them from her
+back-rest--rested in turn on the Prince and the little victim, the
+history of whose case she shared with the Prince, as if she were
+watching Klaus Heinrich's sympathy, or were trying to read in his face
+the effect of Dr. Sammet's words; or maybe for some other reason.
+
+Yes, this was especially noticeable in the case of the boy with the
+bullet through his arm and the boy who had been picked out of the
+water--two sad cases, as Dr. Sammet remarked. "A severed artery,
+sister," he said, and showed them the double wound in the boy's upper
+arm, the entry and exit of the revolver bullet. "The wound," said Doctor
+Sammet in an undertone to his guests, turning his back to the bed, "the
+wound was caused by his own father. This one was the lucky one. The man
+shot his wife, three of his children, and himself with a revolver. He
+made a bad shot at this boy."
+
+Klaus Heinrich looked at the double wound. "What did the man do it for?"
+he asked hesitatingly, and Doctor Sammet answered: "In desperation,
+Royal Highness. It was shame and want which brought him to it. Yes." He
+said no more, just this commonplace--just as in the case of the boy, a
+ten-year-old, who had been picked out of the water. "He's wheezing,"
+said Doctor Sammet, "he's still got some water in his lung. He was
+picked out of the river early this morning--yes. I may say that it is
+improbable that he _fell_ into the water. There are many indications to
+the contrary. He had run away from home. Yes." He stopped.
+
+And Klaus Heinrich again felt Miss Spoelmann looking at him with her
+big, black, serious eyes--with her glance which sought his own and
+seemed to challenge him insistently to ponder with her the "sad cases,"
+to grasp the essential meaning of Doctor Sammet's remarks, to penetrate
+to the hideous truths which were incorporated and crystallized in these
+two little invalid frames.... A little girl wept bitterly when the
+steaming and hissing inhaler, together with a scrapbook full of brightly
+coloured pictures, was planted at her bedside.
+
+Miss Spoelmann bent over the little one. "It doesn't hurt," she said,
+"not a tiny bit. Don't cry." And as she straightened herself again she
+added quickly, pursing up her lips, "I guess it's not so much the
+apparatus as the pictures she's crying at." Everybody laughed. One of
+the young assistants picked up the scrapbook and laughed still louder
+when he looked at the pictures. The party passed on into the laboratory.
+Klaus Heinrich thought, as he went, how dry Miss Spoelmann's humour was.
+"I guess," she had said, and "not so much." She had seemed to find
+amusement not only in the pictures, but also in the neat and incisive
+mode of expression she had used. And that was indeed the very refinement
+of humour....
+
+The laboratory was the biggest room in the building. Glasses, retorts,
+funnels, and chemicals stood on the tables, as well as specimens in
+spirits which Doctor Sammet explained to his guests in few quiet words.
+A child had choked in a mysterious way: here was his larynx with
+mushroom-like growths instead of the vocal chords. Yes. This, here in
+the glass, was a case of pernicious enlargement of the kidney in a
+child, and there were dislocated joints. Klaus Heinrich and Miss
+Spoelmann looked at everything, they looked together into the bottles
+which Doctor Sammet held up to the window, and their eyes looked
+thoughtful while the same look of repulsion hovered round their mouths.
+
+They took turns too at the microscope, examined, with one eye placed to
+the lens, a malignant secretion, a piece of blue-stained tissue stuck on
+a slide, with tiny spots showing near the big patch. The spots were
+bacilli. Klaus Heinrich wanted Miss Spoelmann to take the first turn at
+the microscope, but she declined, knitting her brows and pouting, as
+much as to say: "On no account whatever." So he took the precedence, for
+it seemed to him that it really did not matter who got the first look at
+such serious and fearful things as bacilli. And after this they were
+conducted up to the second story, to the infants.
+
+They both laughed at the chorus of squalls which reached their ears
+while they were still on the stairs. And then they went with their party
+through the ward between the beds, bent, side by side over the
+bald-headed little creatures, sleeping with closed fists or screaming
+with all their might and showing their naked gums--they stopped their
+ears and laughed again. In a kind of oven, warmed to a moderate heat lay
+a new-born baby.
+
+And Doctor Sammet showed his distinguished guests a pauper baby with the
+grey look of a corpse and hideous big hands, the sign of a
+miscarriage.... He lifted a squealing baby out of its cot, and it at
+once stopped screaming. With the touch of an expert he rested the limp
+head in the hollow of his hand and showed the little red creature
+blinking and twitching spasmodically to the two--Klaus Heinrich and Miss
+Spoelmann, who stood side by side and looked down at the infant. Klaus
+Heinrich stood watching with his heels together as Doctor Sammet laid
+the baby back in its cot, and when he turned round he met Miss
+Spoelmann's searching gaze, as he had expected.
+
+Finally they walked to one of the three windows of the ward and looked
+out over the squalid suburb, down into the street where, surrounded by
+children, the brown Court carriage and Imma's smart dark-red motor car
+stood one behind the other. The Spoelmanns' chauffeur, shapeless in his
+fur coat, was leaning back in his seat with one hand on the
+steering-wheel of the powerful car, and watched his companion, the
+footman in white, trying to start a conversation, by the carriage in
+front, with Klaus Heinrich's coachman.
+
+"Our neighbours," said Doctor Sammet, holding back the white net curtain
+with one hand, "are the parents of our patients. Late in the evening the
+tipsy fathers roll shouting by. Yes."
+
+They stood and listened, but Doctor Sammet said nothing further about
+the fathers and so they broke off, as they had now seen everything.
+
+The procession, with Klaus Heinrich and Imma at the head, proceeded down
+the staircase and found the nurses again assembled in the front hall.
+Leave was taken with compliments and clapping together of heels,
+curtseys, and bows. Klaus Heinrich, standing stiffly in front of Doctor
+Sammet, who listened to him with his head on one side and his hand on
+his watch-chain, expressed himself, in his wonted form of words, highly
+satisfied with what he had seen, while he felt that Imma Spoelmann's
+great eyes were resting upon him. He, with Herr von Braunbart,
+accompanied Miss Spoelmann to her car when the leave-taking from the
+surgeons and nurses was over. Klaus Heinrich and Miss Spoelmann, while
+they crossed the pavement between children and women with children in
+their arms, and for a short time by the broad step of the motor car,
+exchanged the following remarks:
+
+"It has been a great pleasure to meet you," he said.
+
+She answered nothing to this, but pouted and wagged her head a little
+from side to side.
+
+"It was an absorbing inspection," he went on. "A regular eye-opener."
+
+She looked at him with her big black eyes, then said quickly and lightly
+in her broken voice: "Yes, to a certain extent...."
+
+He ventured on the question: "I hope you are pleased with Schloss
+Delphinenort?"
+
+To which she answered with a pout: "Oh, why not? It's quite a convenient
+house...."
+
+"Do you like being there better than at New York?" he asked. And she
+answered:
+
+"Just as much. It's much the same. Much the same everywhere."
+
+That was all. Klaus Heinrich, and one pace behind him Herr von
+Braunbart, stood with their hands to their helmets as the chauffeur
+slipped his gear in and the motor car shivered and started.
+
+It may be imagined that this meeting did not long remain the private
+property of the Dorothea Hospital; on the contrary, it was the general
+topic of conversation before the day was out. The _Courier_ published,
+under a sentimental poetical heading, a detailed description of the
+rencontre, which, without too violent a departure from the exact truth,
+yet succeeded in making such a powerful impression on the public mind,
+and evoked symptoms of such lively interest, that the vigilant newspaper
+was induced to keep a watchful eye for the future on any further
+rapprochements between the Spoelmann and Grimmburg houses. It could not
+report much.
+
+It remarked a couple of times that his Royal Highness Prince Klaus
+Heinrich, when walking through the promenade after a performance at the
+Court Theatre, had stopped for a moment at the Spoelmanns' box to greet
+the ladies. And in its report of the fancy-dress charity bazaar, which
+took place in the middle of January in the Town Hall--a smart function,
+in which Miss Spoelmann, at the urgent request of the Committee, acted
+as seller--no small space was devoted to describing how Prince Klaus
+Heinrich, when the Court was making a round of the bazaar, had stopped
+before Miss Spoelmann's stall, how he had bought a piece or two of fancy
+glass (for Miss Spoelmann was selling porcelain and glass), and had
+lingered a good eight or ten minutes at her stall. It said nothing about
+the topic of the conversation. And yet it had not been without
+importance.
+
+The Court (with the exception of Albrecht) had appeared in the Town Hall
+about noon. When Klaus Heinrich, with his newly bought pieces of glass
+in tissue paper on his knee, drove back to the "Hermitage," he had
+announced his intention of visiting Delphinenort and inspecting the
+Schloss in its renovated state, on the same occasion viewing Mr.
+Spoelmann's collection of glass. For three or four old pieces of glass
+had been included in Miss Spoelmann's stock which her father himself had
+given to the bazaar out of his collection, and one of them Klaus
+Heinrich had bought.
+
+He saw himself again in a semicircle of people, stared at, alone, in
+front of Miss Spoelmann, and separated from her by the stall-counter,
+with its vases, jugs, its white and coloured groups of porcelain. He saw
+her in her red fancy dress, which, made in one piece, clung close to her
+neat though childish figure, while it exposed dark shoulders and arms,
+which were round and firm and yet like those of a child just by the
+wrist. He saw the gold ornament, half garland and half diadem, in the
+jet of her billowy hair, that showed a tendency to fall in smooth wisps
+on her forehead, her big, black, inquiring eyes in the pearly-white
+face, her full and tender mouth, pouting with habitual scorn when she
+spoke--and round about her in the great vaulted hall had been the scent
+of firs and a babel of noise, music, the clash of gongs, laughter, and
+the cries of sellers.
+
+He had admired the piece of glass, the fine old beaker with its ornament
+of silver foliage, which she proffered to him, and she had said that it
+came from her father's collection. "Has your father, then, got many fine
+pieces like this?"--Of course. And presumably her father had not given
+the best items to the bazaar. She could guarantee that he had much finer
+pieces of glass. Klaus Heinrich would very much like to see them! Well,
+that might easily be managed, Miss Spoelmann had answered in her broken
+voice, while she pouted and wagged her head slightly from side to side.
+Her father, she meant, would certainly have no objection to showing the
+fruits of his zeal as a collector to one more of a long succession of
+intelligent visitors. The Spoelmanns were always at home at tea-time.
+
+She had gone straight to the point, taking the hint for a definite
+offer, and speaking in an entirely off-hand way. In conclusion, to Klaus
+Heinrich's question, what day would suit best, she had answered:
+"Whichever you like, Prince, we shall be inexpressibly delighted."
+
+"We shall be inexpressibly delighted"--those were her words, so mocking
+and pointed in the exaggeration that they almost hurt, and were
+difficult to listen to without wincing. How she had rattled and hurt the
+poor sister in the Hospital the other day! But all through there was
+something childish in her manner of speech; indeed, some sounds she made
+were just like those children make--not only on the occasion when she
+was comforting the little girl about the inhaler. And how large her eyes
+had seemed when they told her about the children's fathers and the rest
+of the sad story!
+
+Next day Klaus Heinrich went to tea at Schloss Delphinenort, the very
+next. Miss Spoelmann had said he might come when it suited him. But it
+suited him the very next day, and as the matter seemed to him urgent, he
+saw no point in putting it off.
+
+Shortly before five o'clock--it was already dark--he drove over the
+smooth roads of the Town Garden--bare and empty, for this part of it
+belonged to Mr. Spoelmann. Arc-lamps lit up the park, the big square
+spa-basin shimmered between the trees; behind it rose the white Schloss
+with its pillared porch, its spacious double staircase which led by
+gentle degrees between the wings up to the first floor, its high leaded
+windows, its Roman busts in the niches--and Klaus Heinrich, as he drove
+along the approach avenue of mighty chestnuts, saw the red-plush negro
+with his staff standing on guard at the foot of the staircase.
+
+Klaus Heinrich crossed a brightly lighted stone hall, with a floor of
+gilt mosaic and with white statues of gods round it, passed straight
+over to the broad red-carpeted marble staircase, down which the
+Spoelmanns' major-domo, clean shaven, with shoulders squared and arms
+stiff, pot-bellied and haughty, advanced to receive the guest. He
+escorted him up into the tapestried and marble-chimneyed ante-room,
+where a couple of white-and-gold swan's-down footmen took the Prince's
+cap and cloak, while the steward went in person to announce him to his
+master.... The footman held aside one of the tapestries for Klaus
+Heinrich, who descended two or three steps.
+
+The scent of flowers met him, and he heard the soft splash of falling
+water; but just as the tapestry closed behind him, so wild and harsh a
+barking was heard that Klaus Heinrich, half deafened for a moment,
+stopped at the foot of the steps. Percival, the collie, had dashed at
+him in a fury. He pranced, he capered in uncontrollable passion, he
+pirouetted, beat his sides with his tail, planted his forefeet on the
+floor, and turned wildly round and round, and seemed like to burst with
+noise. A voice--not Imma's--called him off, and Klaus Heinrich found
+himself in a winter garden, a glass conservatory with white marble
+columns and a floor of big square marble flags. Palms of all kinds
+filled it, whose trunks and tops often reached close up to the glass
+ceiling. A flower-bed, consisting of countless pots arranged like the
+stones of a mosaic, lay in the strong moonlight of the arc-lamp and
+filled the air with its scent. Out of a beautifully carved fountain,
+silver streams flowed into a marble pool, and ducks with strange and
+fantastic plumage swam about on the illuminated water. The background
+was filled by a stone walk with columns and niches.
+
+It was Countess Löwenjoul who advanced towards the guest, and curtseyed
+with a smile.
+
+"Your Royal Highness will not mind," she said, "our Percy is so
+uproarious. Besides, he's so unaccustomed to visitors. But he never
+touches anybody. Your Royal Highness must excuse Miss Spoelmann....
+She'll be back soon. She was here just now. She was called away, her
+father sent for her. Mr. Spoelmann will be delighted...."
+
+And she conducted Klaus Heinrich to an arrangement of basket chairs with
+embroidered linen cushions which stood in front of a group of palms. She
+spoke in a brisk and emphatic tone, with her little head with its thin
+iron-grey hair bent on one side and her white teeth showing as she
+laughed. Her figure was distinctly graceful in the close-fitting brown
+dress she was wearing, and she moved as freshly and elegantly as an
+officer's wife. Only in her eyes, whose lids she kept blinking, there
+was something of mistrust or spite, something unintelligible. They sat
+down facing each other at the round garden-table, on which lay a few
+books. Percival, exhausted by his outburst, curled himself up on the
+narrow pearl-grey carpet on which the furniture stood. His black coat
+was like silk, with white paws, chest, and muzzle. He had a white
+collar, yellow eyes, and a parting along his back. Klaus Heinrich began
+a conversation for conversation's sake, a formal dialogue about nothing
+in particular, which was all he could do.
+
+"I hope, Countess, that I have not come at an inconvenient time. Luckily
+I need not feel myself an unauthorized intruder. I do not know whether
+Miss Spoelmann has told you.... She was so kind as to suggest my
+calling. It was about those lovely pieces of glass which Mr. Spoelmann
+so generously gave to yesterday's bazaar. Miss Spoelmann thought that
+her father would have no objection to letting me see the rest of his
+collection. That's why I'm here ..."
+
+The Countess ignored the question whether Imma had told her of the
+arrangement. She said: "This is tea-time, Royal Highness. Of course your
+visit is not inconvenient. Even if, as I hope will not be the case, Mr.
+Spoelmann were too unwell to appear...."
+
+"Oh, is he ill?" In reality Klaus Heinrich wished just a little that Mr.
+Spoelmann might be too unwell. He anticipated his meeting with him with
+vague anxiety.
+
+"He was feeling ill to-day, Royal Highness. He had a touch of fever,
+shivering, and a little faintness. Dr. Watercloose was with him for a
+long time this morning. He was given an injection of morphia. There's
+some question of an operation being necessary."
+
+"I am very sorry," said Klaus Heinrich quite honestly. "An operation?
+How dreadful!"
+
+To which the Countess answered, letting her eyes wander: "Oh yes. But
+there are worse things in life--many much worse things than that."
+
+"Undoubtedly," said Klaus Heinrich. "I can quite believe it." He felt
+his imagination stirred in a vague and general way by the Countess's
+allusion.
+
+She looked at him with her head inclined to one side, and an expression
+of contempt on her face. Then her slightly distended grey eyes shifted,
+while she smiled the mysterious smile which Klaus Heinrich already knew
+and which had something seductive about it.
+
+He felt it was necessary to resume the conversation.
+
+"Have you lived long with the Spoelmanns, Countess?" he asked.
+
+"A fairly long time," she answered, and appeared to calculate. "Fairly
+long. I have lived through so much, have had so many experiences, that I
+naturally cannot reckon to a day. But it was shortly after the
+blessing--soon after the blessing was vouchsafed to me."
+
+"The blessing?" asked Klaus Heinrich.
+
+"Of course," she said decidedly with some agitation. "For the blessing
+happened to me when the number of my experiences had become too great,
+and the bow had reached breaking point, to use a metaphor. You are so
+young," she continued, forgetting to address him by his title, "so
+ignorant of all that makes the world so miserable and so depraved, that
+you can form no conception of what I have had to suffer. I brought an
+action in America which involved the appearance of several generals.
+Things came to light which were more than my temper could stand. I had
+to clear out several barracks without succeeding in bringing to light
+every loose woman. They hid themselves in the cupboards, some even under
+the floors, and that's why they continue torturing me beyond measure at
+nights. I should at once go back to my Schloss in Burgundy if the rain
+did not come through the roofs. The Spoelmanns knew that, and that is
+why it was so obliging of them to let me live with them indefinitely, my
+only duty being to put the innocent Imma on her guard against the world.
+Only of course my health suffers from my having the women sitting at
+nights on my chest and forcing me to look at their disgusting faces. And
+that is why I ask you to call me simply Frau Meier," she said in a
+whisper, leaning forward and touching Klaus Heinrich's arm with her
+hand. "The walls have ears, and it is absolutely necessary for me to
+keep up the incognito I was forced to assume in order to protect myself
+against the persecution of the odious creatures. You will do what I ask,
+will you not? Look on it as a joke ... a fad which hurts nobody.... Why
+not?"
+
+She stopped.
+
+Klaus Heinrich sat upright and braced up in his wicker chair opposite
+her and looked at her. Before leaving his rectilineal room, he had
+dressed himself with his valet Neumann's help with all possible care, as
+his life in the public eye required. His parting ran from over his left
+eye, straight up to the crown of his head, without a hair sticking up,
+and his hair was brushed up into a crest off the right side of his
+forehead. There he sat in his undress uniform, whose high collar and
+close fit helped him to maintain a composed attitude, the silver
+epaulettes of a major on his narrow shoulders, leaning slightly but not
+comfortably forward, collected, calm, with one foot slightly advanced,
+and with his right hand above his left on his sword-hilt. His young face
+looked slightly weary from the unreality, the loneliness, strictness,
+and difficulty of his life; he sat looking at the Countess with a
+friendly, clear, but composed expression in his eyes.
+
+She stopped. Disenchantment and disgust showed themselves in her
+features, and, while something like hate towards Klaus Heinrich flamed
+up in her tired grey eyes, she blushed in the strangest of ways, for one
+half of her face turned red, the other white. Dropping her eyelids she
+answered: "I have been living with the Spoelmanns for three years, Royal
+Highness."
+
+Percival darted forward. Dancing, springing, and wagging his tail he
+trotted towards his mistress--for Imma Spoelmann had come in--raised
+himself in a dignified way on his hind legs and laid his fore paws in
+greeting on her breast. His jaws were wide open, and his red tongue hung
+out between his ivory-white teeth. He looked like a heraldic supporter
+as he stood there before her.
+
+She wore a wonderful dress of brick-red silk with loose hanging sleeves,
+and the breast covered with heavy gold embroidery. A big egg-shaped
+jewel on a pearl necklace lay on her bare neck, the skin of which was
+the colour of smoked meerschaum. Her blue-black hair was parted on one
+side and coiled, though a few smooth wisps tended to fall on her
+forehead. Holding Percival's head in her two narrow, ringless little
+hands, she looked into his face, saying, "Well, well, my friend. What a
+welcome! We are glad to see each other--we hated being parted, didn't
+we? Now go back and lie down." And she put his paws off the gold
+embroidery on her breast, and set him on his four paws again.
+
+"Oh, Prince," she said. "Welcome to Delphinenort. You hate breaking your
+promise, I can see. I'm coming to sit next you. They'll tell us when tea
+is ready.... It's against all the rules, I know, for me to have kept you
+waiting. But my father sent for me--and besides you had somebody to
+entertain you." Her bright eyes passed from Klaus Heinrich to the
+Countess and back in a rather hesitating way.
+
+"That's quite true," he said. And then he asked how Mr. Spoelmann was,
+and received a fairly reassuring answer. Mr. Spoelmann would have the
+pleasure of making Klaus Heinrich's acquaintance at tea-time, he begged
+to be excused till then.... What a lovely pair of horses Klaus Heinrich
+had in his brougham! And then they talked about their horses, about
+Klaus Heinrich's good-tempered brown Florian from the Hollerbrunn stud,
+about Miss Spoelmann's Arabian cream, the mare Fatma which had been
+given to Mr. Spoelmann by an oriental prince, about her fast Hungarian
+chestnuts, which she drove four-in-hand.
+
+"Do you know the country round?" asked Klaus Heinrich. "Have you hunted
+with the Royal pack? Have you been to the 'Pheasantry'? There are lots
+of lovely excursions."
+
+No, Miss Spoelmann was not at all clever in finding out new roads, and
+the Countess--well, her whole nature was unenterprising, so they always
+chose the same road, in the Town Gardens, for their ride. It was boring,
+perhaps, but Miss Spoelmann was not on the whole so blasé as to need
+constant change and adventures. Then he said that they must go together
+some time to a meet of the hounds or to the "Pheasantry," whereupon she
+pursed her lips and said that that was an idea which might be discussed
+some time in the future. Then the major-domo came in and gravely
+announced that tea was ready.
+
+They went through the tapestry hall with the marble fireplace, conducted
+by the strutting butler, accompanied by the dancing Percy, and followed
+by Countess Löwenjoul.
+
+"Has the Countess been letting her tongue run away with her?" asked Imma
+_en route_, without any particular lowering of her voice.
+
+Klaus Heinrich started and looked at the floor. "But she can hear us!"
+he said softly.
+
+"No, she doesn't hear us," answered Imma. "I can read her face. When she
+holds her head crooked like that and blinks her eyes it means that she
+is wandering and deep in her thoughts. Did she let her tongue run away
+with her?"
+
+"For a minute or two," said Klaus Heinrich. "I got the impression that
+the Countess 'let herself go' every now and then."
+
+"She has had a lot of trouble." And Imma looked at him with the same big
+searching dark eyes with which she had scanned him in the Dorothea
+Hospital. "I'll tell you all about it another time. It's a long story."
+
+"Yes," he said. "Some other time. Next time. On our ride perhaps."
+
+"On our ride?"
+
+"Yes, on our ride to the meet, or to the 'Pheasantry.'"
+
+"Oh, I forgot your preciseness, Prince, in the matter of appointments.
+Very well, on our ride. We go down here."
+
+They found themselves at the back of the Schloss. Carpeted steps led
+from a gallery hung with big pictures, down into the white-and-gold
+garden room, behind the glass door of which lay the terrace.
+Everything--the big crystal lustres, which hung from the centre of the
+high, white-festooned ceiling, the regularly arranged arm-chairs with
+gilt frames and fancy upholstering, the heavy white silk curtains, the
+elaborate clock and the vases and gilt lamps on the white marble
+chimneypiece in front of the tall looking-glass, the massive,
+lion-footed gilt candelabra which towered on either side of the
+entrance--everything reminded Klaus Heinrich of the Old Schloss, of the
+Representation Chamber, in which he had played his part from his youth
+up; only that the candles here were shams, with yellow electric bulbs
+instead of wicks, and that everything of the Spoelmanns' was new and
+smart in Schloss Delphinenort. A swan's-down footman was putting the
+last touch to the tea-table in a corner of the room; Klaus Heinrich
+noticed the electric kettle about which he had read in the _Courier_.
+
+"Has Mr. Spoelmann been told?" asked the daughter of the house.... The
+butler bowed. "Then there's nothing," she said quickly and half
+mockingly, "to prevent us from taking our places and beginning without
+him. Come, Countess! I advise you, Prince, to unbuckle your sword,
+unless there are reasons unknown to me for your not doing so...."
+
+"Thanks," said Klaus Heinrich, "no, there is no reason why I shouldn't."
+And he was angry with himself for not being smart enough to think of a
+more adroit answer.
+
+The footman took his sword, and carried it off. They took their seats at
+the tea-table with the help of the butler, who held the backs and pushed
+the chairs under them. Then he retired to the top of the steps, where he
+remained in an elegant attitude.
+
+"I must tell you, Prince," said Miss Spoelmann, pouring the water into
+the pot, "that my father won't drink any tea which I have not made with
+my own hands. He distrusts all tea which is handed round ready-made in
+cups. That is barred with us. You'll have to put up with it."
+
+"Oh, I like it much better like this," said Klaus Heinrich, "it's much
+more comfortable and free-and-easy at a family tea like this...." He
+broke off, and wondered why as he spoke these words a side-glance of
+hatred lighted on him from the eyes of Countess Löwenjoul. "And your
+course of study?" he asked. "May I ask about it? It's mathematics, I
+know. Don't you find it too much? Isn't it terribly brain-racking?"
+
+"Absolutely not," she said. "It's just splendid; it's like playing in
+the breezes, so to speak, or rather out of the breezes, in a dust-free
+atmosphere. It's as cool there as in the Adirondacks."
+
+"The what?"
+
+"The Adirondacks. That's geography, Prince. Mountains over in the
+States, with lovely snowfields. We have a country cottage there, where
+we go in May. In summer we used to go to the sea-side."
+
+"At any rate," he said, "I can testify to your zeal in your studies. You
+do not like being prevented from arriving punctually at your lectures. I
+haven't yet asked you whether you reached that one the other day up to
+time."
+
+"The other day?"
+
+"Yes, a week or two ago. After the contretemps with the change of
+guard."
+
+"Dear, dear, Prince, now you are beginning that too. That story seems to
+have reached from hut to palace. Had I known what a bother was going to
+come of it, I would rather have gone three times round the whole
+Schlossplatz. It even got into the newspapers, I'm told. And now of
+course the whole town thinks I am a regular fiend for temper and
+rudeness. But I am the most peaceful creature in the world, and only
+don't like being ordered about. Am I a fiend, Countess? I demand a
+truthful answer."
+
+"No, you're an angel," said Countess Löwenjoul.
+
+"H'm--angel, that's too much, that's too far the other way,
+Countess...."
+
+"No," said Klaus Heinrich, "no, not too far. I entirely believe the
+Countess...."
+
+"I'm much honoured. But how did your Highness hear about the adventure?
+Through the newspapers?"
+
+"I was an eye-witness of it," said Klaus Heinrich.
+
+"An eye-witness?"
+
+"Yes. I happened to be standing at the window of the officers' mess, and
+saw the whole thing from beginning to end."
+
+Miss Spoelmann blushed. There was no doubt about it, the pale skin of
+her face deepened in colour.
+
+"Well, Prince," she said, "I assume that you had nothing better to do at
+the moment."
+
+"Better?" he cried. "But it was a splendid sight. I give you my word
+that never in my life ..."
+
+Percival, who was lying with his forepaws crossed, by Miss Spoelmann,
+raised his head with a look of tense expectancy and beat the carpet with
+his tail. At the same moment the butler began to run, as fast as his
+ponderous frame would let him, down the steps to the lofty side-door
+over against the tea-table, and swiftly pulled aside the whole silk
+portière, sticking his double chin the while into the air with a
+majestic expression. Samuel Spoelmann, the millionaire, walked in.
+
+He was a man of neat build with a strange face. He was clean shaven,
+with red cheeks and a prominent nose, his little eyes were of a metallic
+blue-black, like those of little children and animals, and had an absent
+and peevish look. The upper part of his head was bald, but behind and on
+his temples Mr. Spoelmann had a quantity of grey hair, dressed in a
+fashion not often seen among us. He wore it neither short nor long, but
+brushed up, sticking out, though cropped on the nape and round his ears.
+His mouth was small and finely chiselled. Dressed in a black frock-coat
+with a velvet waistcoat on which lay a long, thin, old-fashioned
+watch-chain, and soft slippers on his feet, he advanced quickly to the
+tea-table with a cross and pre-occupied expression on his face; but his
+face cleared up, it regained composure and tenderness when he caught
+sight of his daughter. Imma had gone to meet him.
+
+"Greeting, most excellent father," she said, and throwing her brown
+little arms, in their loose brick-coloured hanging sleeves, round his
+neck, she kissed him on the bald spot which he offered her as he
+inclined his head.
+
+"Of course you knew," she continued, "that Prince Klaus Heinrich was
+coming to tea with us to-day?"
+
+"No; I'm delighted, delighted," said Mr. Spoelmann no less readily and
+in a grating voice. "Please don't move!" he said at once. And while he
+shook hands (Mr. Spoelmann's hand was thin and half-covered by his
+unstarched white cuff) with the Prince, who was standing modestly by the
+table, he nodded repeatedly to one side or the other. That was his way
+of greeting Klaus Heinrich. He was an alien, an invalid, and a man apart
+as regards wealth. He was forgiven and nothing further was expected of
+him--Klaus Heinrich recognized the fact, and took pains to recover his
+self-control.
+
+"You are at home here in a sense," added Mr. Spoelmann, cutting the
+conversation short, and a passing gleam of malice played round his
+clean-shaven mouth. Then he gave the others an example by sitting down.
+It was the chair between Imma and Klaus Heinrich, opposite the Countess
+and the veranda door, which the butler pushed under him.
+
+As Mr. Spoelmann showed no intention of apologizing for his
+unpunctuality, Klaus Heinrich said: "I am sorry to hear that you are
+unwell this morning, Mr. Spoelmann. I hope you are better."
+
+"Thanks, better, not but all right," answered Mr. Spoelmann crossly.
+"How many spoonfuls did you put in?" he asked his daughter. He was
+alluding to the tea.
+
+She had filled his cup, and she handed it to him.
+
+"Four," said she. "One for each person. Nobody shall say that I stint my
+grey-haired father."
+
+"What's that?" answered Mr. Spoelmann. "I'm not grey-haired. You ought
+to have your tongue clipped." And he took from a silver box a kind of
+rusk which seemed to be his own special dainty, broke it and dipped it
+peevishly in the golden tea, which he, like his daughter, drank without
+milk or sugar.
+
+Klaus Heinrich began over again: "I am much excited at the prospect of
+seeing your collection, Mr. Spoelmann."
+
+"All right," answered Mr. Spoelmann. "So you want to see my glass? Are
+you an amateur? A collector perhaps?"
+
+"No," said Klaus Heinrich, "my love for glass has not extended to my
+becoming a collector."
+
+"No time?" asked Mr. Spoelmann. "Do your military duties take so much
+time?"
+
+Klaus Heinrich answered: "I'm no longer on the active list, Mr.
+Spoelmann. I am _à la suite_ of my regiment. I wear the uniform, that's
+all."
+
+"I see, make believe," said Mr. Spoelmann harshly. "What do you do all
+day, then?"
+
+Klaus Heinrich had stopped drinking tea, had pushed his things away in
+the course of the conversation which demanded his undivided attention.
+He sat upright and defended himself, feeling the while that Imma
+Spoelmann's big, black, searching eyes were resting on him.
+
+"I have duties at Court, with the ceremonies and big occasions. I have
+also to represent the State in a military capacity, at the swearing-in
+of recruits and the presentation of colours. Then I have to hold levées
+as deputy for my brother, the Grand Duke. And then there are little
+journeys on duty to the provincial centres for unveilings and
+dedications and other public solemnities."
+
+"I see," said Mr. Spoelmann. "Ceremonies, solemnities, food for
+spectators. No, that sort of thing's beyond me. I tell you once for all,
+that I wouldn't give a farthing for your calling. That's my standpoint,
+sir."
+
+"I entirely understand," said Klaus Heinrich. He sat up stiffly in his
+uniform and smiled uneasily.
+
+"Of course it needs practice like everything else," Mr. Spoelmann went
+on in a little less bitter tone of voice--"practice and training, I can
+see. For myself I shall never as long as I live cease feeling angry when
+I am obliged to play the prodigy."
+
+"I only hope," said Klaus Heinrich, "that our people are not wanting in
+respect...."
+
+"Thanks, not so bad," answered Mr. Spoelmann. "The people are at least
+friendly here; one doesn't see murder written in their eyes."
+
+"I hope, Mr. Spoelmann," and Klaus Heinrich felt more at his ease, now
+that the conversation had turned, and the questioning lay with him,
+"that, notwithstanding the unusual circumstances, you continue to enjoy
+your stay amongst us."
+
+"Thanks," said Mr. Spoelmann, "I'm quite comfortable, and the water is
+the only thing which really does do me some good."
+
+"You did not find it a wrench to leave America?"
+
+Klaus Heinrich felt a look, a quick, suspicious, shy look, which he
+could not interpret.
+
+"No," said Mr. Spoelmann, sharply and crossly. That was all his answer
+to the question whether he felt it a wrench to leave America.
+
+A pause ensued. Countess Löwenjoul held her smooth little head inclined
+to one side, and smiled a distant Madonna-like smile. Miss Spoelmann
+watched Klaus Heinrich fixedly with her big black eyes, as if testing
+the effect of her father's extraordinary boorishness on the
+guest,--indeed, Klaus Heinrich felt that she was waiting with
+resignation and sympathy for him to get up and take his departure for
+good and all. He met her eyes, and remained. Mr. Spoelmann, for his
+part, drew out a gold case and took out a fat cigarette, which, when
+lighted, diffused a delicious fragrance.
+
+"Smoke?" he asked.... And as Klaus Heinrich found that there was no
+objection, he helped himself, after Mr. Spoelmann, out of the proffered
+case.
+
+They then discussed various topics before proceeding to an inspection of
+the glass--chiefly Klaus Heinrich and Miss Spoelmann, for the Countess's
+thoughts were wandering, and Mr. Spoelmann only interpolated a cross
+remark now and then: the local theatre, the huge ship in which the
+Spoelmanns had crossed to Europe. No, they had not used their yacht for
+the purpose. Its primary object was to take Mr. Spoelmann to sea in the
+evening in the heat of summer, when he was tied to his business and Imma
+and the Countess were in Newport; he used to pass the night on deck. She
+was now lying at Venice. But they had crossed in a huge steamer, a
+floating hotel with concert rooms and gymnasia. "She had five storeys,"
+said Miss Spoelmann.
+
+"Counting from below?" asked Klaus Heinrich. And she answered at once:
+
+"Of course. Six, counting from above."
+
+He got muddled and lost his bearings and it was a long time before he
+realized that she was making fun of him. Then he tried to explain
+himself and to make his simple question clear, explaining that he meant
+to ask whether she included the under-water holds, the cellars so to
+speak, in the five--in short, to prove that he was not lacking in common
+sense, and at last he joined heartily in the merriment which was the
+result of his efforts. As for the Court Theatre, Miss Spoelmann gave it
+as her opinion, with a pout and a wag of the head, that the actress who
+played the _ingénue_ should be strongly recommended to go through the
+cure at Marienbad, coupled with a course of lessons in dancing and
+deportment, while the hero should be warned that a voice as resonant as
+his should be used most sparingly, even in private life.... All the
+same, Miss Spoelmann expressed her warm admiration for the theatre in
+question.
+
+Klaus Heinrich laughed and wondered, a little oppressed by so much
+smartness. How well she spoke, how pointed and incisive were her words!
+They discussed the operas also and the plays which had been produced
+during the winter, and Imma Spoelmann contradicted Klaus Heinrich's
+judgments, contradicted him in every case, just as if she thought that
+not to contradict would show a mean spirit; the superior wit of her
+tongue left him dazed, and the great black eyes in her pearl-white face
+glittered from sheer joy in her dialectic skill, while Mr. Spoelmann
+leaned back in his chair, holding the fat cigarette between his lips and
+blinking through its smoke, and gazed at his daughter with fond
+satisfaction.
+
+More than once Klaus Heinrich showed in his face the look of pained
+bewilderment which he had noticed on a previous occasion on the face of
+the good sister, and yet he felt convinced that it was not Imma
+Spoelmann's intention to wound his feelings, that she did not consider
+him humbled because he was not successful in standing up to her, that
+she rather let his poor answers pass, as if she considered that he had
+no need of a sharp wit to defend him--it was only she who had. But how
+was that, and why? He thought involuntarily of Ueberbein at many of her
+sallies, of the nimble-tongued blusterer Ueberbein, who was a natural
+misfortune, and had grown up in conditions which he described as
+favourable. A youth of misery, loneliness, and misfortune, shut out from
+the blessings of fortune--such a man knew no luxury, no comfort, he saw
+himself clearly and cruelly thrown on his own resources, which assuredly
+gave him an advantage over those who "knew not necessity."
+
+But Imma Spoelmann sat there in her red-gold dress at the table,
+reclining indolently, with the mocking look of a spoiled child; there
+she sat in confident ease, while her tongue ran on sharply and freely,
+as befitted an atmosphere of refinement and lively wit. But why did she
+give it play? Klaus Heinrich pondered the question, the while they
+discussed Atlantic steamers and plays. He sat bolt upright at the table,
+in a dignified and uncomfortable attitude, while he concealed his left
+hand, and more than once he felt a sidelong glance of hatred from the
+eyes of Countess Löwenjoul.
+
+A servant came in and handed Mr. Spoelmann a telegram on a silver
+salver. Mr. Spoelmann tore it open crossly, glanced through it, blinking
+and with the remains of his cigarette in the corner of his mouth, and
+threw it back on the salver, with the curt order: "Mr. Phlebs."
+Thereupon he lighted a new cigarette.
+
+Miss Spoelmann said: "In spite of distinct medical orders, that's the
+fifth cigarette you've had to-day. Let me tell you that the unbridled
+passion with which you abandon yourself to the vice little beseems your
+grey hairs."
+
+Mr. Spoelmann obviously tried to laugh, and as obviously failed; the
+acid tone of his daughter's words was not to his liking, and he flushed
+up.
+
+"Silence!" he snarled. "You think you can say anything in fun, but
+please spare me your saucy jokes, chatterbox!"
+
+Klaus Heinrich, appalled, looked at Imma, who turned her big eyes on her
+father's angry face, and then sadly dropped her head. Of course she had
+not meant any offence, she had simply amused herself with the strange,
+swelling words which she used to poke her fun; she had expected to raise
+a laugh, and had failed dismally.
+
+"Father, darling father!" she said beseechingly, and crossed over to
+stroke Mr. Spoelmann's flushed cheeks.
+
+"Surely," he grumbled on, "you've grown out of that sort of thing by
+now." But then he yielded to her blandishments, let her kiss the top of
+his head, and swallowed his anger. Klaus Heinrich, when peace was
+restored, alluded to the collection of glass, whereupon the party left
+the tea-table and went into the adjoining museum, with the exception of
+Countess Löwenjoul, who withdrew with a deep curtsey. Mr. Spoelmann
+himself switched on the electric light in the chandeliers.
+
+Handsome cabinets in the style of the whole Schloss, with swelling
+curves and rounded glass doors, alternated with rich silk chairs all
+round the room. In these cabinets Mr. Spoelmann's collection of glass
+was displayed. Yes, there could be no doubt that it was the most
+complete collection in either hemisphere, and the glass which Klaus
+Heinrich had acquired was merely a most modest sample of it. It began in
+one corner of the room with the earliest artistic productions of the
+industry, with finds of heathenish designs from the culture of the
+earliest times; then came the products of the East and West of every
+epoch; next, wreathed, flourished, and imposing vases and beakers from
+Venetian blow-pipes and costly pieces from Bohemian huts, German
+tankards, picturesque Guild and Electorate bowls, mixed with grotesque
+animals and comic figures, huge crystal cups, which reminded one of the
+Luck of Edenhall in the song, and in whose facets the light broke and
+sparkled; ruby-coloured glasses like the Holy Grail; and finally the
+best samples of the latest development of the art, fragile blossoms on
+impossibly brittle stems, and fancy glasses in the latest fashionable
+shape, made iridescent with the vapours of precious metals. The three,
+followed by Percival, who also examined the collection, walked slowly
+round the hall; and Mr. Spoelmann related in his harsh voice the origin
+of particular pieces, taking them carefully off their velvet stands with
+his thin, soft-cuffed hand, and holding them up to the electric light.
+
+Klaus Heinrich had had plenty of practice in visits of inspection, in
+putting questions and making adroit remarks, so that he was well able at
+the same time to ponder over Imma Spoelmann's mode of expressing
+herself, that peculiar mode which worried him not a little. What amazing
+freedom she allowed herself! What extraordinary remarks she allowed
+herself to make! "Passion," "vice," where did she get the words from?
+where did she learn to use them so glibly? Had not Countess Löwenjoul,
+who herself dealt with the same topics in a confused sort of way, and
+had obviously seen the seamy side of life, described her as quite
+innocent!
+
+And the description was undoubtedly correct, for was she not an
+exception by birth like himself, brought up like a girl "born to be
+queen," kept apart from the busy strife of men and from all the turmoil
+to which those sinister words corresponded in the life of reality? But
+she had uttered the words glibly, and had treated them as a joke. Yes,
+that was it, this dainty creature in her red-gold gown was merely a
+wielder of words; she knew no more of life than those words, she played
+with the most serious and most awful of them as with coloured stones,
+and was puzzled when she made people angry by their use. Klaus
+Heinrich's heart, as he thought of this, filled with sympathy.
+
+It was nearly seven o'clock when he asked for his carriage to be
+called--slightly uneasy about his long stay, in view of the Court and
+the public. His departure evoked a fresh and terrifying demonstration on
+the part of Percival, the collie. Every alteration or interruption in a
+situation seemed to throw the noble animal off his moral balance.
+Quivering, yelping, and deaf to all blandishments, he stormed through
+the rooms and the hall and up and down the steps, drowning the words of
+leave-taking in his hubbub. The butler did the Prince the honours as far
+as the floor with the statues of gods. Mr. Spoelmann did not accompany
+him any distance. Miss Spoelmann made the position clear: "I am
+convinced that your sojourn in the bosom of our family has charmed you,
+Prince." And he was left wondering whether the joke lay in the
+expression "the bosom of our family" or in the actual fact. Anyhow,
+Klaus Heinrich was at a loss for a reply.
+
+Leaning back in the corner of his brougham, rather sore and battered,
+and yet stimulated by the unusual treatment he had experienced, he drove
+home, through the dark Town Gardens to the Hermitage, returned to his
+sober Empire room, where he dined with von Schulenburg-Tressen and
+Braunbart-Schellendorf. Next day he read the comments of the _Courier_.
+They amounted only to a statement that yesterday his Royal Highness
+Prince Klaus Heinrich went to Schloss Delphinenort for tea, and
+inspected Mr. Spoelmann's renowned collection of fancy glass.
+
+And Klaus Heinrich continued to live his unreal life, and to carry out
+his exalted calling. He uttered his gracious speeches, made his
+gestures, represented his people at the Court and at the President of
+the Council's great ball, gave free audiences, lunched in the officers'
+mess of the Grenadier Guards, showed himself at the Court Theatre, and
+bestowed on this and that district of the country the privilege of his
+presence. With a smile, and with heels together, he carried out all due
+formalities and did his irksome duty with complete self-possession,
+albeit he had at this time so much to think of--about the peppery Mr.
+Spoelmann, the muddle-headed Countess Löwenjoul, the harum-scarum Percy,
+and especially about Imma, the daughter of the house. Many a question to
+which his first visit to Delphinenort had given rise he was not yet in a
+position to answer, but only succeeded in solving as the result of
+further intercourse with the Spoelmanns, which he maintained to the
+eager and at last feverish interest of the public, and which advanced a
+step further when the Prince in the early morning one day, to the
+astonishment of his suite, his servants, and himself--indeed, partly
+involuntarily, and as if carried along by destiny--appeared alone and on
+horseback at Delphinenort, for the purpose of taking Miss Spoelmann,
+whom he disturbed in her mathematical studies at the top of the Schloss,
+for a ride.
+
+The grip of winter had relaxed early in this ever-to-be-remembered year.
+After a mild January, the middle of February had seen the coming of a
+preliminary spring with birds and sunshine and balmy breezes, and as
+Klaus Heinrich lay on the first of these mornings at the Hermitage in
+his roomy old mahogany bed, from one of whose posts the spherical crown
+was missing, he felt himself, as it were, impelled by a strange hand and
+irresistibly inspired to deeds of boldness.
+
+He rang the bell-pull for Neumann (they only had draw-bells at the
+Hermitage), and ordered Florian to be ready saddled in an hour's time.
+Should a horse be got ready for the groom too? No, it was not necessary.
+Klaus Heinrich said that he wanted to ride alone. Then he gave himself
+into Neumann's skilful hands for his morning toilette, breakfasted
+impatiently below in the garden room, and mounted his horse at the foot
+of the terrace. With his spurred top-boots in the stirrups, the yellow
+reins in his brown-gloved right hand, and the left planted on his hip
+under his open cloak, he rode at a walking pace through the soft
+morning, scanning the still bare branches for the birds whose twittering
+he heard. He rode through the public part of his park, through the Town
+Gardens and the grounds of Delphinenort. He reached it at half-past
+nine. Great was the general surprise.
+
+At the main gate he gave Florian over to an English groom. The butler,
+who was crossing the mosaic hall busy on his household duties, stood
+still, taken aback at the sight of Klaus Heinrich. To the inquiry which
+the Prince addressed to him, in a clear and almost haughty voice, about
+the ladies, he did not even reply, but turned helplessly towards the
+marble staircase, gazing dumbly at the top step, for there stood Mr.
+Spoelmann.
+
+It seemed that he had just finished breakfast, and was in the best of
+tempers. His hands were plunged deep in his pockets, his lounge coat
+drawn back from his velvet waistcoat, and the blue smoke of his
+cigarette was making him blink.
+
+"Well, young Prince?" he said, and stared down at him....
+
+Klaus Heinrich saluted and hurried up the red stair-carpet. He felt that
+the situation could only be saved by swiftness and, so to speak, by an
+attack by storm.
+
+"You will be astounded, Mr. Spoelmann," he said, "at this early
+hour ..." He was out of breath, and the fact disturbed him greatly, he
+was so little used to it.
+
+Mr. Spoelmann answered him by a look and a shrug of the shoulders, as
+much as to say that he could control himself, but desired an
+explanation.
+
+"The fact is, we have an appointment ..." said Klaus Heinrich. He was
+standing two steps below the millionaire and was speaking up at him. "An
+appointment for a ride between Miss Imma and myself.... I have promised
+to show the ladies the 'Pheasantry' and the Court Kennels.... Miss Imma
+told me that she knew nothing about the surrounding country. It was
+agreed that on the first fine day ... It's such a lovely day to-day....
+It is of course subject to your approval...."
+
+Mr. Spoelmann shrugged his shoulders, and made a face as if to say:
+"Approval--why so?"
+
+"My daughter is grown up," he said. "I don't interfere. If she rides,
+she rides. But I don't think she has time. You must find that out for
+yourself. She's in there." And Mr. Spoelmann pointed his chin towards
+the tapestry door, through which Klaus Heinrich had already once passed.
+
+"Thanks," said Klaus Heinrich. "I'll go and see for myself." And he ran
+up the remaining steps, pushed the tapestry hanging aside with a
+determined gesture, and went down the steps into the sunlit,
+flower-scented winter garden.
+
+In front of the splashing fountain and the basin with fancy-feathered
+ducks sat Imma Spoelmann leaning over a table, her back turned to the
+incomer. Her hair was down. It hung black and glossy on each side of her
+head, covered her shoulders, and allowed nothing to be seen but a shadow
+of the childlike quarter profile of her face, which showed white as
+ivory against the darkness of her hair. There she sat absorbed in her
+studies, working at the figures in the notebook before her, her lips
+pressed on the back of her left hand, and her right grasping the pen.
+
+The Countess too was there, also busy writing. She sat some way off
+under the palms, where Klaus Heinrich had first conversed with her, and
+wrote sitting upright with her head on one side, a pile of closely
+scribbled note-paper lying at her side. The clank of Klaus Heinrich's
+spurs made her look up. She looked at him with half-closed eyes for two
+seconds, the long pen poised in her hand, then rose and curtseyed.
+"Imma," she said, "his Royal Highness Prince Klaus Heinrich is here."
+
+Miss Spoelmann turned quickly round in her basket chair, shook her hair
+back and gazed without speaking at the intruder with big, startled eyes,
+until Klaus Heinrich had bid the ladies good-morning with a military
+salute. Then she said in her broken voice: "Good-morning to you too,
+Prince. But you are too late for breakfast. We've finished long ago."
+
+Klaus Heinrich laughed.
+
+"Well, it's lucky," he said, "that both parties have had breakfast, for
+now we can start at once for a ride."
+
+"A ride?"
+
+"Yes, as we agreed."
+
+"We agreed?"
+
+"No, don't say that you've forgotten!" he said pleadingly. "Didn't I
+promise to show you the country round? Weren't we going for a ride
+together when it was fine? Well, to-day it's glorious. Just look
+out ..."
+
+"It's not a bad day," she said, "but you go too fast, Prince. I remember
+that there was some suggestion of a ride at some future time--but surely
+not so soon as this? Might I not at least have expected some sort of
+notification, if your Highness will allow the word? You must allow that
+I can't ride like this about here."
+
+And she stood up to show her morning dress, which consisted of a loose
+gown of many-coloured silk and an open green-velvet jacket.
+
+"No," he said, "unfortunately you cannot. But I'll wait here while you
+both change. It's quite early...."
+
+"Uncommonly early. But in the second place I am rather busy with my
+innocent studies, as you saw. I've got a lecture at eleven o'clock."
+
+"No," he cried, "to-day you must not grind at algebra, Miss Imma; you
+must not play in the vacuum, as you put it! Look at the sun!... May
+I?..." And he went to the table and took up the notebook.
+
+What he saw made his head swim. A fantastic hocus-pocus, a witches'
+sabbath of abbreviated symbols, written in a childish round hand which
+was the obvious result of Miss Spoelmann's peculiar way of holding her
+pen, covered the pages. There were Greek and Latin letters of various
+heights, crossed and cancelled, arranged above and below cross lines,
+covered by other lines, enclosed in round brackets, formulated in square
+brackets. Single letters, pushed forward like sentries, kept guard above
+the main bodies. Cabalistic signs, quite unintelligible to the lay mind,
+cast their arms round letters and ciphers, while fractions stood in
+front of them and ciphers and letters hovered round their tops and
+bottoms. Strange syllables, abbreviations of mysterious words, were
+scattered everywhere, and between the columns were written sentences and
+remarks in ordinary language, whose sense was equally beyond the normal
+intelligence, and conveyed no more to the reader than an incantation.
+
+Klaus Heinrich looked at the slight form, which stood by him in the
+shimmering frock, becurtained by her dark hair, and in whose little head
+all this lived and meant something. He said, "Can you really waste a
+lovely morning over all this God-forsaken stuff?"
+
+A glance of anger met him from her big eyes. Then she answered with a
+pout:
+
+"Your Highness seems to wish to excuse yourself for the want of
+intelligence you recently displayed with regard to your own exalted
+calling."
+
+"No," he said, "not so! I give you my word that I respect your studies
+most highly. I grant that they bother me, I could never understand
+anything of that sort. I also grant that to-day I feel some resentment
+against them, as they seem likely to prevent us from going for a ride."
+
+"Oh, I'm not the only one to interfere with your wish for exercise,
+Prince. There's the Countess too. She was writing--chronicling the
+experiences of her life, not for the world, but for private circulation,
+and I guarantee that the result will be a work which will teach you as
+well as me a good deal."
+
+"I am quite sure of it. But I am equally sure that the Countess is
+incapable of refusing a request from you."
+
+"And my father? There's the next stumbling-block. You know his temper.
+Will he consent?"
+
+"He has consented. If you ride, you ride. Those were his words...."
+
+"You have made sure of him beforehand, then? I'm really beginning to
+admire your circumspection. You have assumed the rôle of a Field
+Marshal, although you are not really a soldier, only a make-believe one,
+as you told us long ago. But there's yet one more obstacle, and that is
+decisive. It's going to rain."
+
+"No, that's a very weak one. The sun is shining...."
+
+"It's going to rain. The air is much too soft. I made sure of it when we
+were in the Spa-Gardens before breakfast. Come and look at the barometer
+if you don't believe me. It's hanging in the hall...."
+
+They went out into the tapestry hall, where a big weather-glass hung
+near the marble fireplace. The Countess went with them. Klaus Heinrich
+said: "It's gone up."
+
+"Your Highness is pleased to deceive yourself," answered Miss Spoelmann.
+"The refraction misleads you."
+
+"That's beyond me."
+
+"The refraction misleads you."
+
+"I don't know what that is, Miss Spoelmann. It's the same as with the
+Adirondacks. I've not had much schooling, that's a necessary result of
+my kind of existence. You must make allowances for me."
+
+"Oh, I humbly beg pardon. I ought to have remembered that one must use
+ordinary words when talking to your Highness. You are standing crooked
+to the hand and that makes it look to you as if it had risen. If you
+would bring yourself to stand straight in front of the glass, you would
+see that the black has not risen above the gold hand, but has actually
+dropped a little below it."
+
+"I really believe you are right," said Klaus Heinrich sadly.
+
+"The atmospheric pressure there is higher than I thought!"
+
+"It is lower than you thought."
+
+"But how about the falling quicksilver?"
+
+"The quicksilver falls at low pressure, not at high, Royal Highness."
+
+"Now I'm absolutely lost."
+
+"I think, Prince, that you're exaggerating your ignorance by way of a
+joke, so as to hide what its extent really is. But as the atmospheric
+pressure is so high that the quicksilver drops, thus showing an absolute
+disregard for the laws of nature, let's go for a ride, Countess--shall
+we? I cannot assume the responsibility of sending the Prince back home
+again now that he has once come. He can wait in there till we're
+ready...."
+
+When Imma Spoelmann and the Countess came back to the winter garden they
+were dressed for riding, Imma in a close-fitting black habit with
+breast-pockets and a three-cornered felt hat, the Countess in black
+cloth with a man's starched shirt and high hat. They went together down
+the steps, through the mosaic hall, and out into the open air, where
+between the colonnade and the big basin two grooms were waiting with the
+horses. But they had not yet mounted when with a loud barking, which was
+the expression of his wild excitement, Percival, the collie, prancing
+and leaping about, tore out of the Schloss and began a frenzied dance
+round the horses, who tossed their heads uneasily....
+
+"I thought so," said Imma, patting her favourite Fatma's head, "there
+was no hiding it from him. He found it all out at the last moment. Now
+he intends to come with us and make a fine to-do about it too. Shall we
+drop the whole thing, Prince?"
+
+But although Klaus Heinrich understood that he might just as well have
+allowed the groom to ride in front with the silver trumpet, so far as
+calling public attention to their expedition was concerned, yet he said
+cheerfully that Percival must come too; he was a member of the family
+and must learn the neighbourhood like the rest.
+
+"Well, where shall we go?" asked Imma as they rode at a walk down the
+chestnut avenue. She rode between Klaus Heinrich and the Countess.
+Percival barked in the van. The English groom, in cockaded hat and
+yellow boot-tops, rode at a respectful distance behind.
+
+"The Court Kennels are fine," answered Klaus Heinrich, "but it is a bit
+farther to the 'Pheasantry,' and we have time before lunch. I should
+like to show you the Schloss. I spent three years there as a boy. It was
+a seminary, you know, with tutors and other boys of my age. That's where
+I got to know my friend Ueberbein, Doctor Ueberbein, my favourite
+tutor."
+
+"You have a friend?" asked Miss Spoelmann, with some surprise, and gazed
+at him. "You must tell me about him some time. And you were educated at
+the 'Pheasantry,' were you? Then we must see it, because you're
+obviously set on it. Trot!" she said as they turned into a loose
+riding-path. "There lies your hermitage, Prince. There's plenty for the
+ducks to eat in your pond. Let's give a wide berth to the Spa-Gardens,
+if that does not take us far out of our way."
+
+Klaus Heinrich agreed, so they left the park and trotted across country
+to reach the high-road which led to their goal to the north-west. In the
+town gardens they were greeted with surprise by a few promenaders, whose
+greetings Klaus Heinrich acknowledged by raising his hand to his cap,
+Imma Spoelmann with a grave and rather embarrassed inclination of her
+dark head in the three-cornered hat. By now they had reached the open
+country, and were no longer likely to meet people. Now and then a
+peasant's cart rolled along the road, or a crouching bicyclist ploughed
+his way along it. But they turned aside from the road when they reached
+the meadow-land, which provided better going for their horses. Percival
+danced backwards in front of them, feverish and restless as ever,
+turning, springing, and wagging his tail--his breath came fast, his
+tongue hung far out of his foaming jaws, and he vented his nervous
+exaltation in a succession of short, sobbing yelps. Farther on he dashed
+off, following some scent with pricked ears and short springs, while his
+wild barking echoed through the air.
+
+They discussed Fatma, which Klaus Heinrich had not yet seen close, and
+which he admired immensely. Fatma had a long, muscular neck and small,
+nodding head with fiery eyes; she had the slender legs of the Arab type,
+and a bushy tail. She was white as the moonlight, and saddled, girt, and
+bridled with white leather. Florian, a rather sleepy brown, with a short
+back, hogged mane, and yellow stockings, looked as homely as a donkey by
+the side of the distinguished foreigner, although he was carefully
+groomed. Countess Löwenjoul rode a big cream called Isabeau. She had an
+excellent seat, with her tall, straight figure, but she held her small
+head in its huge hat on one side, and her lids were half closed and
+twitched. Klaus Heinrich addressed some remarks to her behind Miss
+Spoelmann's back, but she did not answer, and went riding on with
+half-shut eyes, gazing in front of her with a Madonna-like expression,
+and Imma said:
+
+"Don't let's bother the Countess, Prince, her thoughts are wandering."
+
+"I hope," he said, "that the Countess was not annoyed at having to come
+with us."
+
+And he was distinctly taken aback when Imma Spoelmann answered casually:
+"To tell the truth, she very likely was."
+
+"Because of your sums?" he asked.
+
+"Oh, the sums? They're not so urgent, only a way of passing the
+time--although I hope to get a good lot of useful information out of
+them. But I don't mind telling you, Prince, that the Countess is not
+enthusiastic on the subject of yourself. She has expressed herself to
+that effect to me. She said you were hard and stern and affected her
+like a cold douche."
+
+Klaus Heinrich reddened.
+
+"I know well," he said quietly, looking down at his reins, "that I don't
+act as a cordial, Miss Spoelmann, or, at any rate, only at a
+distance.... That, too, is inseparable from my kind of existence, as I
+said. But I am not conscious of having shown myself hard and stern to
+the Countess."
+
+"Probably not in words," she replied, "but you did not allow her to let
+herself go, you did not do her the kindness of letting her tongue run a
+little, that's why she's vexed with you--and I know quite well what you
+did, how you embarrassed the poor thing and gave her a cold
+douche--quite well," she repeated, and turned her head away.
+
+Klaus Heinrich did not answer. He kept his left hand planted on his hip,
+and his eyes were tired. Then he said:
+
+"You know quite well? So I act like a cold douche on you too, Miss
+Spoelmann, do I?"
+
+"I warn you," she answered at once in her broken voice, and wagging her
+head from side to side, "on no account to overrate the effect you have
+upon me, Prince." And she suddenly set Fatma off at a gallop and flew at
+such a pace over the fields towards the dark mass of the distant
+pine-woods that neither the Countess nor Klaus Heinrich could keep up
+with her. Not till she reached the edge of the wood through which the
+high-road ran did she halt and turn her horse to look mockingly at her
+followers.
+
+Countess Löwenjoul on her cream was the first to come up with the
+runaway. Then came Florian, foaming and much exhausted by his unusual
+exertion. They all laughed and their breath came fast as they entered
+the echoing wood. The Countess had awakened and chatted merrily, making
+lively, graceful gestures and showing her white teeth. She poked fun at
+Percival, whose temper had again been excited by the gallop, and who was
+careering wildly among the trunks in front of the horses.
+
+"Royal Highness," she said, "you ought to see him jump and turn
+somersaults. He can take a ditch six yards broad, and does it so lightly
+and gracefully, you'd be delighted. But only of his own accord, mind
+you, of his free will, for I believe he'd rather let himself be whipped
+to death than submit to any training or teaching of tricks. He is, one
+might say, his own trainer by nature, and though sometimes unruly he is
+never rough. He is a gentleman, an aristocrat, and full of character.
+He's as proud as you like, and though he seems mad he's quite able to
+control himself. Nobody has ever heard him cry for pain when punished
+and hurt. He only eats, too, when he is hungry, and at other times won't
+look at the most tempting dainties. In the morning he has cream ... he
+must be fed. He wears himself out, he's quite thin under his glossy
+coat, you can feel all his ribs. For I'm afraid he'll never grow to be
+old, but will fall an early victim to consumption. The street curs
+persecute him, they go for him in every street, but he jumps clear of
+them, and if they succeed in joining issue with him, he distributes a
+few bites with his splendid teeth which the rabble don't forget in a
+hurry. One must love such a compound of chivalry and virtue."
+
+Imma agreed, in words which were the most serious and grave which Klaus
+Heinrich had ever heard from her mouth.
+
+"Yes," she said, "you're a good friend to me, Percy, I shall always love
+you. A veterinary surgeon said you were half mad and advised us to have
+you put away, as you were impossible and a constant danger to us. But
+they shan't take my Percy from me. He is impossible, I know, and often
+an incumbrance, but he's always appealing and noble, and I love him
+dearly."
+
+The Countess continued to talk about the collie's nature, but her
+remarks soon became disconnected and confused, and lapsed into a
+monologue accompanied by lively and elegant gestures. At last, after an
+acid look at Klaus Heinrich, her thoughts again began to wander.
+
+Klaus Heinrich felt happy and cheered, whether as the result of the
+canter--for which he had had to brace himself up, for, though a decent
+figure on a horse, his left hand prevented him from being a strong
+rider--or for some other reason. After leaving the pine-wood they rode
+along the quiet high-road between meadows and furrowed fields, with a
+peasant's hut or a country inn here and there. As they drew near the
+next wood, he asked in a low voice:
+
+"Won't you fulfil your promise and tell me about the Countess? What is
+your companion's history?"
+
+"She is my friend," she answered, "and in a sense my governess too,
+although she did not come to us till I was grown up. That was three
+years ago, in New York, and the Countess was then in a terrible state.
+She was on the brink of starvation," said Miss Spoelmann, and as she
+said it she fastened her big black eyes with a searching, startled look
+on Klaus Heinrich.
+
+"Really starvation?" he asked, and returned her look.... "Do please go
+on."
+
+"Yes, I said that too when she came to us, and although I, of course,
+saw quite well that her mind was slightly affected, she made such an
+impression upon me that I persuaded my father to let her be my
+companion."
+
+"What took her to America? Is she a countess by birth?" asked Klaus
+Heinrich.
+
+"Not a countess, but of noble birth, brought up in refined and luxurious
+surroundings, sheltered and protected, as she expressed it to me, from
+every wind, because from childhood she had been impressionable and
+sensitive. But then she married a Count Löwenjoul, a cavalry captain--a
+strange specimen of the aristocracy, according to her account--not quite
+up to the mark, to put it mildly."
+
+"What was wrong with him?" asked Klaus Heinrich.
+
+"I can't exactly tell you, Prince. You must take into consideration the
+rather obscure way in which the Countess puts what she has to say. But,
+to judge from what she has told me, he must have been just about as
+arrant a scamp as one could well imagine--a regular blackguard."
+
+"I see," said Klaus Heinrich, "what's called a hard case, or a tough
+proposition."
+
+"Exactly; we'll say man of the world--but in the most comprehensive and
+unlimited sense, for, to judge by the Countess's remarks, there were no
+limits in his case."
+
+"No, that's what I too gathered," said Klaus Heinrich. "I've met several
+people of that sort--regular devils, so to speak. I heard of one such,
+who used to make love in his motor car, even when it was going at full
+speed."
+
+"Did your friend Ueberbein tell you of him?"
+
+"No, somebody else. Ueberbein would not think it proper to mention
+anything of that sort to me."
+
+"Then he must be a useless sort of friend, Prince."
+
+"You'll think better of him when I tell you more about him, Miss
+Spoelmann. But please go on!"
+
+"Well, I don't know whether Löwenjoul behaved like your roué. Anyhow he
+behaved disgracefully."
+
+"I expect he gambled and drank."
+
+"I guess so. And besides that of course he made love, neglected the
+Countess and carried on with the loose women that are always to be found
+everywhere--at first behind her back, and later no longer behind her
+back but impudently and openly without any regard for her feelings."
+
+"But tell me, why did she ever marry him?"
+
+"She married him against her parents' will, because, as she has told me,
+she was in love with him. For in the first place, he was a handsome man
+when she first met him--he fell off in his looks later. In the second
+place, his reputation as a man of the world had gone before him, and
+that, according to her, constituted a sort of irresistible attraction
+for her, for, though she had been so well sheltered and protected,
+nothing would shake her in her resolve to share her life with him. If
+one thinks it over, one can quite understand it."
+
+"Yes," he said, "I can quite understand it. She wanted to have her
+fling, as it were, to get her eyes opened. And she saw the world with a
+vengeance."
+
+"You may put it like that if you like: though the expression seems to me
+rather too flippant to describe her experiences. Her husband ill-treated
+her."
+
+"Do you mean that he beat her?"
+
+"Yes, he ill-treated her physically. But now comes something, Prince,
+which you too will not have heard about before. She gave me to
+understand that he ill-treated her not only in a temper, not only in
+anger and rage, but also without being exasperated, simply for his own
+satisfaction. I mean, that his caresses were so revolting as to amount
+to ill-treatment."
+
+Klaus Heinrich was silent. Both looked very grave. At last he asked:
+"Did the Countess have any children?"
+
+"Yes, two. They died quite young, both only a few weeks old, and that's
+the greatest sorrow the Countess has had to bear. It would seem from her
+hints that it was the fault of the loose women for whom her husband
+betrayed her that the children died directly after birth."
+
+Both remained silent, and their eyes clouded over.
+
+"Add to that," continued Imma Spoelmann, "that he dissipated his wife's
+dowry, at cards and with women--a respectable dowry it was too--and
+after her parents' death her whole fortune also. Relations of hers too
+helped him once, when he was near having to leave the service on account
+of his debts. But then came a scandal, an altogether revolting one, in
+which he was involved and which did for him once and for all."
+
+"What was it?" asked Klaus Heinrich.
+
+"I can't exactly tell you, Prince. But, according to what the Countess
+has let slip about it, it was a scandal of the very grossest
+description--we agreed just now that there are generally no limits in
+that direction."
+
+"And then he went to America?"
+
+"You're right there, Prince. I can't help admiring your 'cuteness."
+
+"Please go on, Miss Spoelmann. I've never heard anything like the
+Countess's story."
+
+"No more had I; so you can imagine what an impression it made on me when
+she came to us. Well, then, Count Löwenjoul bolted to America with the
+police at his heels, leaving pretty considerable debts behind of course.
+And the Countess went with him."
+
+"She went with him? Why?"
+
+"Because she still loved him, in spite of everything--she loves him
+still--and because she was determined to share his life whatever
+happened. He took her with him, though, because he had a better chance
+of getting help from her relations as long as she was with him. The
+relations sent him one further instalment of money from home, and then
+stopped--they finally buttoned up their pockets; and when Count
+Löwenjoul saw that his wife was no more use to him, he just left
+her--left her in absolute destitution and cleared out."
+
+"I knew it," said Klaus Heinrich, "I expected as much. Just what does
+happen."
+
+But Imma Spoelmann went on: "So there she was, destitute and helpless,
+and, since she had never learned to earn her own living, she was left
+alone to face want and hunger. And you must remember that life in the
+States is much harder and meaner than here in your country; also that
+the Countess has always been a gentle, sensitive creature, and has been
+cruelly treated for years. In a word, she was no fit subject for the
+impressions of life to which she was unceasingly exposed. And then the
+blessing fell to her."
+
+"What blessing? She told me about that too. What was the blessing, Miss
+Spoelmann?"
+
+"The blessing consisted in a mental disturbance. At the crisis of her
+troubles something in her cracked--that's the expression she used to
+me--so that she no longer needed to face life and to bring a clear,
+sober mind to bear upon it, but was permitted, so to speak, to let
+herself go, to relax the tension of her nerves and to drivel when she
+liked. In a word, the blessing was that she went wrong in her head."
+
+"Certainly I was under the impression," said Klaus Heinrich, "that the
+Countess was letting herself go when she drivelled."
+
+"That's how it is, Prince. She is quite conscious of drivelling, and
+often laughs as she does so, or lets her hearers understand that she
+doesn't mean any harm by it. Her strangeness is a beneficent disorder,
+which she can control to a certain extent, and which she allows herself
+to indulge in. It is, if you prefer it, a want of----"
+
+"Of self-restraint," said Klaus Heinrich, and looked down at his reins.
+
+"Right, of self-restraint," she repeated, and looked at him. "You don't
+seem to approve of that want, Prince."
+
+"I consider as a general rule," he answered quietly, "that it is not
+right to let oneself go and to make oneself at home, but that
+self-restraint should always be exercised, whatever the circumstances."
+
+"Your Highness's doctrine," she answered, "is a praiseworthy austerity."
+Then she pouted, and, wagging her dark head in its three-cornered hat,
+she added in her broken voice: "I'll tell you something, Highness, and
+please note it well. If your Eminence is not inclined to show a little
+sympathy and indulgence and mildness, I shall have to decline the
+pleasure of your distinguished company once and for all."
+
+He dropped his head, and they rode a while in silence.
+
+"Won't you go on to tell me how the Countess came to you?" he asked at
+last.
+
+"No, I won't," she said, and looked straight in front of her. But he
+pressed her so pleadingly that she finished her story and said: "And
+although fifty other companions applied, my choice--for the choice
+rested with me--fell at once on her, I was so much taken with her at my
+first interview. She was odd, I could see that: but she was odd only
+from too rich an experience of misery and wickedness, that was clear in
+every word she said; and as for me, I had always been a little lonely
+and cut off, and absolutely without experience, except what I got at my
+University lectures."
+
+"Of course, you had always been a little lonely and cut off!" repeated
+Klaus Heinrich, with a ring of joy in his voice.
+
+"That's what I said. It was a dull, simple life in some ways that I led,
+and still lead, because it has not altered much, and is all much the
+same. There were parties with 'lions' and balls, and often a dash in a
+closed motor to the Opera House, where I sat in one of the little boxes
+above the stalls, so as to be well observed by everybody, for show, as
+we say. That was a necessary part of my position."
+
+"For show?"
+
+"Yes, for show; I mean the duty of showing oneself off, of not raising
+walls against the public, but letting them come into the garden and walk
+on the lawn and gaze at the terrace, watching us at tea. My father, Mr.
+Spoelmann, disliked it intensely. But it was a necessary consequence of
+our position."
+
+"What did you usually do besides, Miss Spoelmann?"
+
+"In the spring we went to our house in the Adirondacks and in the summer
+to our house at Newport-on-Sea. There were garden-parties of course, and
+battles of flowers and lawn-tennis tournaments, and we went for rides
+and drove four-in-hand or motored, and the people stood and gaped,
+because I was Samuel Spoelmann's daughter. And many shouted rude remarks
+after me."
+
+"Rude remarks?"
+
+"Yes, and they probably had reason to. At any rate it was something of a
+life in the limelight that we led, and one that invited discussion."
+
+"And between whiles," he said, "you played in the breezes, didn't you,
+or rather in a vacuum, where no dust came----"
+
+"That's right. Your Highness is pleased to mock my excess of candour.
+But in view of all this you can guess how extraordinarily welcome the
+Countess was to me, when she came to see me in Fifth Avenue. She does
+not express herself very clearly, but rather in a mysterious sort of
+way, and the boundary line at which she begins to drivel is not always
+quite clearly apparent. But that only strikes me as right and
+instructive, as it gives a good idea of the boundlessness of misery and
+wickedness in the world. You envy me the Countess, don't you?"
+
+"Envy? H'm. You seem to assume, Miss Spoelmann, that I have never had my
+eyes opened."
+
+"Have you?"
+
+"Once or twice, maybe. For instance, things have come to my ears about
+our lackeys, which you would scarcely dream of."
+
+"Are your lackeys so bad?"
+
+"Bad? Good-for-nothing, that's what they are. For one thing they play
+into each other's hands, and scheme, and take bribes from the
+tradesmen----"
+
+"But, Prince, that's comparatively harmless."
+
+"Yes, true, it's nothing to compare with the way the Countess has had
+her eyes opened."
+
+They broke into a trot, and, leaving at the sign-post the gently rising
+and falling high-road, which they had followed through the pine-woods,
+turned into the sandy short cut, between high blackberry-covered banks,
+which led into the tufted meadow-land round the "Pheasantry." Klaus
+Heinrich was at home in these parts: he stretched out his arm (the right
+one) to point out everything to his companions, though there was not
+much worth seeing. Yonder lay the Schloss, closed and silent, with its
+shingle-roof and its lightning-conductors on the edge of the wood. On
+one side was the pheasants' enclosure, which gave the place its name,
+and on the other Stavenüter's tea-garden, where he had sometimes sat
+with Raoul Ueberbein. The spring sun shone mildly over the damp
+meadow-land and shed a soft haze over the distant woods.
+
+They reined in their horses in front of the tea-garden, and Imma
+Spoelmann took stock of the prosaic country-house which rejoiced in the
+name of the "Pheasantry."
+
+"Your childhood," she said with a pout, "does not seem to have been
+surrounded by much giddy splendour."
+
+"No," he laughed, "there's nothing to see in the Schloss. It's the same
+inside as out. No comparison with Delphinenort, even before you restored
+it----"
+
+"Let's put our horses up," she said. "One must put one's horses up on an
+expedition, mustn't one, Countess? Dismount, Prince. I'm thirsty, and
+want to see what your friend Stavenüter has got to drink."
+
+There stood Herr Stavenüter in green apron and stockings, bowing and
+pressing his knitted cap to his chest with both hands, while he laughed
+till his gums showed.
+
+"Royal Highness!" he said, with joy in his voice, "does your Royal
+Highness mean to honour me once again? And the young lady!" he added,
+with a tinge of deference in his voice; for he knew Samuel Spoelmann's
+daughter quite well, and there had been in the whole Grand Duchy no more
+eager reader of the newspaper articles which coupled Prince Klaus
+Heinrich's and Imma's names together. He helped the Countess to
+dismount, while Klaus Heinrich, who was the first to the ground, devoted
+himself to Miss Spoelmann, and he called to a lad, who, with the
+Spoelmanns' groom, took charge of the horses. Then followed the
+reception and welcome to which Klaus Heinrich was accustomed. He
+addressed a few formal questions in a reserved tone of voice to Herr
+Stavenüter, graciously asked how he was and how his business prospered,
+and received the answers with nods and a show of real interest. Imma
+Spoelmann watched his artificial, cold demeanour with serious, searching
+eyes, while she swung her riding-whip backwards and forwards.
+
+"May I be so bold as to remind you that I am thirsty?" she said at last
+sharply and decisively, whereupon they walked into the garden and
+discussed whether they need go in to the coffee-room. Klaus Heinrich
+urged that it was still so damp under the trees; but Imma insisted on
+sitting outside, and herself chose one of the long narrow tables with
+benches on each side, which Herr Stavenüter hastened to cover with a
+white cloth.
+
+"Lemonade!" he said. "That's best for a thirst, and it's sound stuff! no
+trash, Royal Highness, and you, ladies, but natural juice
+sweetened--there's no better!"
+
+Followed the driving-in of the glass balls in the necks of the bottles;
+and, while his distinguished guests tasted the drink, Herr Stavenüter
+dawdled a little longer at the table, meaning to serve them up a little
+gossip. He had long been a widower, and his three children, who in days
+gone by had sung here under the trees the song about common humanity,
+the while blowing their noses with their fingers, had now left him. The
+son was a soldier in the capital, one of the daughters had married a
+neighbouring farmer, the other, with a soul for higher things, had gone
+into service in the capital.
+
+So Herr Stavenüter was in solitary control in this remote spot, in the
+three-fold capacity of farmer of the Schloss lands, caretaker of the
+Schloss, and head keeper of the "Pheasantry," and was well content with
+his lot. Soon, if the weather permitted, the season for bicyclists and
+walkers would come round, when the garden was filled on Sundays. Then
+business hummed. Would not his Highness and the ladies like to take a
+peep at the "Pheasantry"?
+
+Yes, they would, later; so Herr Stavenüter withdrew for the present,
+after placing a saucer of milk for Percival by the table.
+
+The collie had been in some muddy water on the way, and looked horrible.
+His legs were thin with wet, and the white parts of his ragged coat
+covered with dirt. His gaping mouth was black to the throat from
+nuzzling for field-mice, and his dark red tongue hung dripping out of
+his mouth. He quickly lapped up his milk, and then lay with panting
+sides by his mistress's feet, flat on his side, his head thrown back in
+an attitude of repose.
+
+Klaus Heinrich declared it to be inexcusable for Imma to expose herself
+after her ride to the invidious springtime air without any wrap. "Take
+my cloak," he said. "I really do not want it, I'm quite warm, and my
+coat is padded on the chest!" She would not hear of it; but he went on
+asking her so insistently that she consented, and let him lay his grey
+military coat with a major's shoulder-straps round her shoulders. Then,
+resting her dark head in its three-cornered hat in the hollow of her
+hand, she watched him as, with arm outstretched towards the Schloss, he
+described to her the life he had once led there.
+
+There, where the tall window opened on to the ground, had been the
+mess-room, then the school-room, and up above Klaus Heinrich's room with
+the plaster torso on the stove. He told her too about Professor Kürtchen
+and his tactful way of instructing his pupils, about Captain Amelung's
+widow, and the aristocratic "Pheasants," who called everything
+"hog-wash," and especially about Raoul Ueberbein, his friend, of whom
+Imma Spoelmann more than once asked him to tell her some more.
+
+He told her about the doctor's obscure origin, and about the money his
+parents paid to be quit of him; about the child in the marsh or bog, and
+the medal for saving life; about Ueberbein's plucky and ambitious
+career, pursued in circumstances calling for resolution and action,
+which he used to call favourable circumstances, and about his friendship
+with Doctor Sammet, whom Imma knew. He described his by no means
+attractive appearance and readily owned to the attraction which he had
+exercised on him from the very beginning. He described his behaviour
+towards himself, Klaus Heinrich--that fatherly and jolly, blustering
+camaraderie which had distinguished him so sharply from everybody
+else--and gave Imma to the best of his ability an insight into his
+tutor's views of life. Finally he expressed his concern that the doctor
+seemed not to enjoy any sort of popularity among his fellow-citizens.
+
+"I can quite believe that," said Imma.
+
+He was surprised, and asked why.
+
+"Because I'm convinced," she said, wagging her head, "that your
+Ueberbein, for all his sparkling conversation, is an unhappy sort of
+creature. He may swagger about the place; but he lacks reserve, Prince,
+and that means that he will come to a bad end."
+
+Her words startled Klaus Heinrich, and made him thoughtful. Then turning
+to the Countess, who awoke with a smile out of a brown study, he said
+something complimentary about her riding, for which she thanked him
+gracefully. He said that anybody could see that she had learnt to ride
+as a child, and she confessed that riding lessons had formed a
+considerable part of her education. She spoke clearly and cheerfully;
+but gradually, almost imperceptibly, she began to wander into a strange
+story about a gallant ride which she had made as a lieutenant in the
+last manoeuvres, and suddenly started talking about the dreadful wife of
+a sergeant in the Grenadiers, who had come into her room the previous
+night and scratched her breasts all over, meanwhile using language which
+she could not bring herself to repeat. Klaus Heinrich asked quietly
+whether she had not shut her door and windows.
+
+"Of course, but anyone could break the glass!" she answered hastily, and
+turned pale in one cheek and red in the other. Klaus Heinrich nodded
+acquiescence, and, dropping his eyes, asked her quietly to let him call
+her "Frau Meier" now and then, a proposal which she gladly accepted,
+with a confidential smile and a far-away look which had something
+strangely attractive about it.
+
+They got up to visit the "Pheasantry," after Klaus Heinrich had taken
+back his cloak; and as they left the garden, Imma Spoelmann said: "Well
+done, Prince. You're getting on," a commendation which made him blush,
+indeed gave him far more pleasure than the most fulsome newspaper report
+of the valuable effect of his appearance at a ceremony which Councillor
+Schustermann could ever show him.
+
+Herr Stavenüter escorted his guests into the palisaded enclosure in
+which six or seven families of pheasants led a comfortable, petted life.
+They watched the greedy, red-eyed, and stiff-tailed birds, inspected the
+hatching house, and looked on while Herr Stavenüter fed the pheasants
+under a big solitary fig-tree for their benefit. Klaus Heinrich thanked
+him warmly for all that he had shown them, Imma Spoelmann regarding him
+the while with her big, searching eyes. Then they mounted at the gate of
+the tea-garden and rode off homewards with Percival barking and
+pirouetting under the horses' noses.
+
+But their ride home was destined to give Klaus Heinrich, in the course
+of his conversation with Imma Spoelmann, yet another significant
+indication of her real nature and character, a direct revelation of
+certain sides of her personality which gave him food for much thought.
+
+For soon after they had left the bramble-hedged by-way and joined the
+high-road, Klaus Heinrich reverted to a subject which had been just
+touched on at his first visit to Delphinenort during the conversation at
+tea, and had not ceased to exercise him ever since.
+
+"May I," he said, "ask you one question, Miss Spoelmann? You need not
+answer it if you don't want to."
+
+"I'll see about that," she answered.
+
+"Four weeks ago," he began, "when I first had the pleasure of a talk
+with your father, Mr. Spoelmann, I asked him a question which he
+answered so curtly and abruptly that I could not help feeling that my
+question had been indiscreet or a false step."
+
+"What was it?"
+
+"I asked him whether he had not found it hard to leave America."
+
+"There you are, Prince, there's another question which is worthy of you,
+a typical Prince-question. If you had had a little more training in the
+use of your reasoning powers you would have known without asking that if
+my father had not been ready and glad to leave America, he most
+assuredly would not have left it."
+
+"Very probably you are right; forgive me, I don't think enough. But if
+my question was nothing worse than a want of thought, I shall be quite
+content. Can you assure me that that is the case?"
+
+"No, Prince, I'm afraid I cannot," she said, and looked at him suddenly
+with her big black eyes.
+
+"Then what has want of thought to do with it? Do please explain. I ask
+you in the name of our friendship."
+
+"Are we friends?"
+
+"I hoped so," he said pleadingly.
+
+"Well, well, patience! I didn't know it, but I'm quite ready to learn
+it. But to return to my father, he really did lose his temper at your
+question--he has a quick temper, and has plenty of occasion to practise
+losing it. The fact is that public opinion and sentiment were not
+over-friendly to us in America. There's such a lot of scheming over
+there--I may mention that I am not posted in the details, but there was
+a strong political movement towards setting the crowd, the common
+people, you know, against us. The result was legislation and
+restrictions which made my father's life over there a burden to him. You
+know of course, Prince, that it was not he who made us what we are, but
+my redoubtable grandfather with his Paradise nugget and Blockhead Farm.
+My father could not help it, he was born to his destiny, and it was no
+gratification to him, because he is naturally shy and sensitive, and
+would much have preferred to have lived for playing the organ and
+collecting glass. I really believe that the hatred which was the result
+of the scheming against us, so that sometimes the people hurled abuse
+after me when I motored past them--that the hatred quite probably
+brought on his stone in the kidneys; it's more than possible."
+
+"I am cordially attached to your father," said Klaus Heinrich with
+emphasis.
+
+"I should have made that, Prince, a condition of our becoming friends.
+But there was another point which made things worse, and made our
+position over there still more difficult, and that was our origin."
+
+"Your origin?"
+
+"Yes, Prince; we are no aristocratic pheasants, unfortunately we are not
+descended from Washington or from the Pilgrim Fathers."
+
+"No, for you are German."
+
+"Oh yes, but there's something besides to get over. Please look at me
+closely. Does it strike you that there is anything to be proud of in
+having blue-black wispy hair like mine, that's always falling where it's
+not wanted?"
+
+"Goodness knows, Miss Spoelmann, you've got glorious hair!" said Klaus
+Heinrich. "I know that you are partly of Southern extraction, for I've
+read somewhere that your grandfather married in Bolivia or thereabouts."
+
+"He did. But that's where the trouble lies, Prince. I'm a quintroon."
+
+"A what?"
+
+"A quintroon."
+
+"That goes with the Adirondacks and the refraction, Miss Spoelmann. I
+don't know what it is. I've already told you that I don't know much."
+
+"Well, it's a fact. My grandfather, thoughtless as he always was,
+married a woman of Indian blood down South."
+
+"Indian blood!"
+
+"Yes. She was of Indian stock at the third remove, daughter of a white
+and a half-Indian, and so a terceroon as it is called. She must have
+been wonderfully beautiful. And she was my grandmother. The
+grandchildren of a terceroon are called quintroons. That's how things
+are."
+
+"Most interesting. But didn't you say that it had affected people's
+attitude towards you?"
+
+"You don't understand, Prince. I must tell you that Indian blood over
+there means a heavy blot--such a blot, that friendships and affections
+are transformed into hatred and abuse if proof of half-blood descent
+comes to light. Of course things are not so serious with us, for with
+quadroons--why, of course, the taint is nothing like so great, and a
+quintroon is to all intents and purposes untainted. But in our case,
+exposed to gossip as we were, it was naturally different, and several
+times when the people shouted abuse after us I heard them say that I was
+a coloured girl. In short, my descent was made an excuse for insults and
+annoyances, and raised a barrier between us and the few who were in the
+same position of life as ourselves--there was always something which we
+had to hide or to brazen out. My grandfather had brazened it out, he was
+that sort of man, and knew what he was doing; besides, his blood was
+pure, it was only his beautiful wife who had the taint. But my father
+was her son, and, sensitive and quick-tempered as he is, he has always,
+ever since he was a boy, resented being stared at, and hated and
+despised at the same time; half a world's wonder and half a monument of
+iniquity, as he used to say. He was fed up with America. That's the
+whole history, Prince," said Imma Spoelmann, "and now you know why my
+father lost his temper over your pointed question."
+
+Klaus Heinrich thanked her for the explanation; indeed, as he saluted
+and took leave (it was lunch time) of the ladies in front of the
+Delphinenort Gate, he repeated his thanks for what he had been told, and
+then rode at foot's pace home, pondering over the events of the morning.
+
+He saw Imma Spoelmann sitting in a languid pose in her red-gold dress at
+the table, with a look as of a spoilt child on her face; sitting in
+comfortable assurance, and uttering remarks with a sting in them, such
+as were good coin in the United States, where clearness, hardness, and a
+ready wit were essentials of life. And why? Klaus Heinrich could
+understand now, and never a day passed that he did not try to realize it
+better. Stared at, hated and despised at the same time, half a world's
+wonder and half a monument of iniquity, that's what her life had been,
+and that had instilled the poison into her remarks, that acidity and
+mocking directness, which looked like offence but really were defence,
+and which evoked a look of bewilderment on the faces of those who had
+never had any occasion for the weapons of wit.
+
+She had demanded of him sympathy and tenderness towards the poor
+Countess, when she let herself go; but she herself had a claim to
+sympathy and tenderness, for she was lonely and her life, like his, was
+a hard one. At the same time a memory haunted him, a long-ago, painful
+memory, whose scene was the refreshment room of the "Citizen Garden,"
+and which ended in a tureen lid----"Little sister!" he said to himself,
+as he quickly dismissed the scene from his thoughts. "Little sister!"
+But most of all his thoughts were busy with planning how soonest to
+enjoy Miss Spoelmann's society again.
+
+He enjoyed it soon and often, in all sorts of circumstances. February
+gave place to threatening March, fickle April and soft May. And all
+these months Klaus Heinrich visited Schloss Delphinenort at least once a
+week, in the morning or in the afternoon, and always in the
+irresponsible mood in which he had presented himself at the Spoelmanns'
+that February morning, as if led by fate without any action of his own
+will. The proximity of the Schlosses made the visits easy, the short
+distance through the park from the "Hermitage" to Delphinenort was
+easily crossed on horseback or in a dogcart, without exciting much
+attention; and when the advancing season brought more people to the
+neighbourhood and made it harder and harder for them to go for rides
+without attracting public attention, the Prince had by this time reached
+a state of mind which can only be described as complete indifference and
+blind recklessness towards the world, the Court, the capital, and the
+countryside. It was not till later that the public interest began to
+play a really important--and encouraging--part in his thoughts and
+actions.
+
+He had not taken leave of the ladies after the first ride without
+suggesting another expedition, a suggestion to which Imma Spoelmann,
+pouting and wagging her head from side to side, had failed to bring any
+serious objection. So he came again; and they rode to the Royal Kennels,
+on the north side of the Town Gardens; on the third occasion they chose
+a third place to ride to, which also they could reach without going near
+the town. Then, when spring enticed the townspeople into the open air
+and the tea-gardens filled up, they preferred an out-of-the-way path,
+which really was no path, but a richly wooded dyke, which stretched far
+away to the north along a swift-running stream.
+
+The quietest way of reaching it was by riding out at the back of the
+"Hermitage" park, and past the river meadows on the edge of the northern
+Town Garden up to the Royal Kennels; then not crossing the river by the
+wooden bridge at the weir, but keeping along this side. The Kennels Farm
+was left behind on the right, and the ride went on through the
+fir-plantations. On the left lay spreading meadows, white and gaily
+coloured with hemlock and anemones, buttercups and bluebells, clover,
+daisies, and forget-me-nots; a village church tower rose in front of
+them beyond the plough-lands, and the busy high-road lay far away at a
+safe distance from the riders. Farther on, the meadows with their
+nut-hedges came close up to the plantations on the left, shutting out
+the view, and enabling them to ride in complete seclusion, generally
+side by side with the Countess behind, as the path was narrow. They
+talked or rode in silence, while Percival jumped over the stream and
+back again, or plunged into it for a bath or a hurried drink. They came
+back the same way as they went.
+
+When, however, the quicksilver fell owing to the lowness of the
+atmospheric pressure, when rain followed, and Klaus Heinrich
+nevertheless felt another peep at Imma Spoelmann to be a necessity, he
+presented himself in his dogcart at Delphinenort at tea time, and they
+stayed indoors. Mr. Spoelmann joined them at tea not more than two or
+three times. His malady got worse about this time, and on several days
+he was obliged to stay in bed with hot poultices. When he did come, he
+used to say: "Hullo, young Prince," with his thin, white-cuffed hand dip
+a rusk in his tea, throw in a cross word here and there into the
+conversation, and end by offering his guest his gold cigarette-case,
+whereupon he left the garden room with Dr. Watercloose, who had sat
+silent and smiling at the table. In fine weather too they sometimes
+preferred not to go outside the park, but to play lawn tennis on the
+trim lawn below the terrace. On one occasion they went for a rapid drive
+in Mr. Spoelmann's motor far out beyond the "Pheasantry."
+
+One day Klaus Heinrich asked: "Is what I have read true, Miss Spoelmann,
+that your father gets such a tremendous lot of letters and appeals every
+day?"
+
+Then she described to him subscription lists which kept pouring in to
+Delphinenort, and which were dealt with as thoroughly as was
+practicable; of the piles of begging letters by every post from Europe
+and America which Messrs. Phlebs and Slippers ran through and weeded out
+for submission to Mr. Spoelmann. Sometimes, she said, she amused herself
+by glancing through the heaps, and reading the addresses; for these were
+often quite fantastic. For the needy or speculative senders tried to
+outdo each other in the deference and servility of their address on the
+envelopes, and every conceivable title and distinction could be found
+mixed up in the strangest way on the letters. But one begging-letter
+writer had quite recently carried off the prize by addressing his
+envelope to: "His Royal Highness Mr. Samuel Spoelmann." But it did not
+get him any more than the others.
+
+On other occasions the Prince fell to talking mysteriously about the
+"Owl Chamber" in the Old Schloss, and confided to her that recently
+noises had again been heard in it, pointing to events of moment in his,
+Klaus Heinrich's, family. Then Imma Spoelmann laughed, and, pouting and
+wagging her head from side to side, gave him a scientific explanation of
+the noises, just as she had done in connexion with the secrets of the
+barometer. Nonsense, she said; it must be that that part of the
+lumber-room was ellipsoidal, and a second ellipsoidal surface with the
+same curvature and with a sound-source at the focus existed somewhere
+outside, the result being that inside the haunted room noises were
+audible which could not be distinguished in the immediate neighbourhood.
+Klaus Heinrich was rather crestfallen over this explanation, and loath
+to give up the common belief in the connexion between the lumber-room
+and the fortunes of his house.
+
+Thus they conversed, and the Countess too took part, now sensible, now
+confused; Klaus Heinrich took considerable pains not to rebuff or chill
+her by his manner, and addressed her as "Frau Meier" whenever she
+appeared to think it necessary for her protection against the plots of
+the wicked women. He recounted to the ladies his unreal life, the gala
+suppers at the students' clubs, the military banquets, and his
+educational tour; he told them about his relations, about his
+once-beautiful mother, whom he visited now and then in the "Segenhaus,"
+where she kept dismal court, and about Albrecht and Ditlinde. Imma
+Spoelmann in her turn related some incidents in her luxurious and
+singular youth, and the Countess often slipped in a few dark sayings
+about the horrors and secrets of life, to which the others listened with
+serious and thoughtful faces.
+
+They took special delight in one kind of game--guessing existences,
+making estimates to the best of their knowledge of the people they
+happened to see in the citizen world--a strange and curious study of the
+passers-by from a distant standpoint, from the terrace or from
+horseback. What kind of young people might these be? What did they do?
+Where did they come from? They were certainly not apprentices, perhaps
+technical students or budding foresters, to judge by certain signs;
+maybe they belonged to the agricultural college; at any rate stout
+fellows enough, though rather rough, with sound careers before them. But
+that little untidy thing who strolled past looked like a factory hand or
+dressmaker's assistant. Girls like her always had a young man in their
+own class, who took them out to tea in the parks on Sundays. And they
+exchanged what they knew about people in general, discussed them like
+connoisseurs, and felt that this pastime brought them closer together
+than any amount of riding or lawn tennis.
+
+As for the motor drive, Imma Spoelmann in the course of it explained
+that she had only invited Klaus Heinrich to it so as to let him see the
+chauffeur, a young American in brown leather, who, she declared,
+resembled the Prince. Klaus Heinrich objected with a smile that the back
+of the driver's neck did not enable him to express an opinion on the
+matter, and asked the Countess to say what she thought. She, after long
+denying the likeness in polite embarrassment, at last, on Imma's
+insistence, with a side glance at Klaus Heinrich, agreed to it.
+
+Then Miss Spoelmann said that the grave, sober, and skilful youth had
+originally been in her father's personal service, driving him daily from
+Fifth Avenue to Broadway and back. Mr. Spoelmann, however, had insisted
+on extraordinary speed, like that of an express train, and the intense
+strain put upon a driver by such speed in the crowded streets of New
+York had proved at last too much for the youth. As a matter of fact no
+accident had happened; the young man had stuck to it and done his deadly
+duty with amazing care. But in the end it had often happened that he had
+to be lifted down in a faint from his seat at the end of a run--a proof
+of the inordinate strain to which he had been daily subjected. To avoid
+having to dismiss him, Mr. Spoelmann had made him his daughter's special
+chauffeur, and he had continued to act in that capacity in their new
+abode.
+
+Imma had noticed the likeness between Klaus Heinrich and him the first
+time she saw the Prince. It was of course a similarity not of features,
+but of expression. The Countess had agreed with her. Klaus Heinrich said
+that he did not in the least object to the likeness, as the heroic young
+man had all his sympathy. They then discussed further the difficult and
+anxious life of a chauffeur, without Countess Löwenjoul taking any
+further part in the conversation. She did not prattle during this drive,
+though later she made a few sensible and pointed remarks.
+
+For the rest, Mr. Spoelmann's craze for speed seemed to have descended
+in some measure to his daughter, for she never lost an opportunity of
+repeating the wild gallop she had started on their first ride; and as
+Klaus Heinrich, stimulated by her gibes, urged the amazed and
+disapproving Florian to the top of his speed, so as not to be left
+behind, the gallop always degenerated into a race, which Imma Spoelmann
+always started at unexpected and arbitrary moments. Several of these
+struggles took place on the lonely river-edged causeway, and one in
+particular was long and bitter. It happened after a short talk about
+Klaus Heinrich's popularity, which was begun brusquely, and broken off
+as brusquely, by Imma Spoelmann. She asked suddenly: "Is it true what I
+hear, Prince, that you are so tremendously popular with the people? That
+you have won all their hearts?"
+
+He answered: "So they say. It must be some characteristics, not
+necessarily good ones. What's more, I'm not sure whether I believe it,
+or even ought to be glad of it. I doubt whether it speaks for me. My
+brother, the Grand Duke, declares in so many words that popularity is
+hog-wash."
+
+"H'm, the Grand Duke must be a fine man: I've got a great respect for
+him. So we see you in an atmosphere of adulation, and everybody loves
+you ... go on!" she cried suddenly, and gave Fatma a cut with her white
+switch. The mare started, and the race began.
+
+It lasted a long time. Never before had they followed the stream so far.
+The view on the left had long become shut in. Lumps of earth and grass
+flew from under the horses' hoofs. The Countess had soon dropped behind.
+When at last they reined in their horses, Florian was trembling with
+exhaustion, and the riders themselves were pale and panting. They rode
+back in silence.
+
+Klaus Heinrich received a visit at the "Hermitage" from Raoul Ueberbein
+the afternoon before his birthday this year. The Doctor came to wish him
+many happy returns, as he expected to be prevented by his work from
+doing so on the morrow. They strolled round the gravel path at the back
+of the park, the tutor in his frock-coat and white tie, Klaus Heinrich
+in his summer coat. The grass stood ready for cutting under the
+perpendicular rays of the midday sun, and the limes were in flower. In
+one corner, close by the hedge which divided the park from the unlovely
+suburbs, stood a little rustic temple.
+
+Klaus Heinrich was telling of his visits to "Delphinenort," as this
+topic lay nearest his heart. He spoke quite clearly about them, but did
+not tell the doctor any actual news, for the latter showed that he knew
+all about them. How was that? Oh, from various sources. Ueberbein had
+never started the subject. So people in the town concern themselves
+about it?
+
+"Heaven forbid, Klaus Heinrich, that anybody should give a thought to
+it, either to the rides, or to the teas, or to the motor drive. You
+don't suppose that that sort of thing is expected to set tongues
+wagging!"
+
+"But we're so careful!"
+
+"'We' is rich, Klaus Heinrich, and so is the carefulness. All the same,
+his Excellency von Knobelsdorff keeps himself accurately posted in all
+your goings-on."
+
+"Knobelsdorff?"
+
+"Knobelsdorff."
+
+Klaus Heinrich was silent; then asked: "And what is Baron Knobelsdorff's
+attitude towards what he learns?"
+
+"Well, the old gentleman hasn't yet had a chance of interfering in the
+developments."
+
+"But the public opinion?--the people?"
+
+"The people of course hold their breath."
+
+"And you, you yourself, my dear Doctor Ueberbein?"
+
+"I'm waiting for the tureen-lid," answered the doctor.
+
+"No!" cried Klaus Heinrich joyfully. "No, there'll be no tureen-lid this
+time, Doctor Ueberbein, for I am happy, oh so happy, whatever
+happens--can you understand? You taught me that happiness was no concern
+of mine, and you pulled me up short when I tried to come by it; and
+right thankful I was to you for doing so, for it was horrible, and I
+shall never forget it. But this is no case of high jinks at a citizens'
+dance, which leave one humiliated and heavy at heart; this is no
+breaking out and running off the rails and humiliation! For can't you
+see that she of whom we are speaking belongs neither to the citizens'
+dance, nor to the aristocratic 'Pheasants,' nor to anything in the world
+but to me--that she is a Princess, Doctor Ueberbein, and as good as me,
+and there can be no question here of a tureen-lid? You have taught me
+that it is silly to maintain that we're all only ordinary men, and
+hopeless for me to act as if we were, and that the happiness I would
+gain by doing so is forbidden to me and must bring me to shame in the
+end. But this is not that silly and forbidden happiness. It is my first
+taste of the happiness which is allowed me, and which I may hope for,
+Doctor Ueberbein, and yield myself to without misgiving, whatever comes
+of it...."
+
+"Good-bye, Prince Klaus Heinrich," said Doctor Ueberbein, though he did
+not at once leave him, but continued walking at his side with his hands
+clasped behind him and his red beard sunk on his breast.
+
+"No," said Klaus Heinrich. "No, not good-bye, Doctor Ueberbein. That's
+just it. I mean to remain your friend, you who have had such a hard
+time, and have shown such pride in your duty and destiny, and have made
+me proud too in treating me as a companion. I have no intention of
+resting on my oars, now that I have found happiness, but will remain
+true to you and to myself and to my exalted calling...."
+
+"It cannot be," said Doctor Ueberbein in Latin, and shook his ugly head
+with its protruding, pointed ears.
+
+"It can be, Doctor. I'm sure it can, they're not incompatible. And you,
+you ought not to show yourself so cold and distant at my side, when I am
+so happy, and, what's more, it's the eve of my birthday. Tell me--you've
+had so many experiences and seen so much of the world in all its
+aspects--have you never had any experiences in this direction? You know
+what I mean--have you never had an attack like this of mine?"
+
+"H'm," said Doctor Ueberbein, and pressed his lips together, till his
+red beard rose, and the muscles knotted in his cheeks. "No doubt I may
+have had one once, _sub rosa_."
+
+"I thought so! Tell me about it, Doctor Ueberbein. You must tell me
+about it!"
+
+The hour was one of quiet sunshine, and the air full of the scent of
+limes. So Doctor Ueberbein related an incident in his career on which he
+had never touched in previous accounts, though it had perhaps a decisive
+influence on his whole life. It had occurred in those early days when
+the Doctor was teacher of the young idea and at the same time working on
+his own account, when he used to draw in his waist-belt and give private
+lessons to sleek tradesmen's children, so as to get money to buy books
+with. With his hands still behind him and his beard sunk on his breast,
+the doctor related the incident in a sharp and incisive tone of voice,
+pressing his lips close together between each sentence.
+
+At that date fate had forged the closest ties between him and a woman, a
+lovely, fair lady who was the wife of an honourable and respected man
+and the mother of three children. He had entered the family as tutor to
+the children, but had subsequently been a constant guest and visitor,
+and with the husband too had reached a footing of mutual confidences.
+The feelings of the young tutor and the fair wife for each other had
+been long unsuspected, and longer still unexpressed in words; but they
+grew stronger in the silence, and more overpowering, till one evening
+hour when the husband had stayed late at his office, a warm, sweet,
+dangerous hour, they burst into flames and were near to overwhelm them.
+
+In that hour their longing had cried aloud for the happiness, the
+tremendous happiness, of their union; but, said Doctor Ueberbein, the
+world could sometimes show a noble action. They felt ashamed, he said,
+to tread the mean and ridiculous path of treachery, and to "clap horns,"
+as the phrase goes, on the honest husband; while to spoil his life by
+demanding release from him as the right of passion was equally not to
+their taste. In short, for the children's sake and for that of the good,
+honest husband, whom they both respected, they denied themselves. Yes,
+that's what happened, but of course it needed a good deal of stern
+resolution. Ueberbein continued to visit the fair lady's house
+occasionally. He would sup there, when he had time, play a game of cards
+with his two friends, kiss his hostess's hand, and say good night.
+
+But when he had told the Prince this much, he concluded in a still
+shorter and sharper tone than he had begun, and the balls of muscle at
+the corners of his mouth showed more prominently than before. For the
+hour which saw their act of renunciation, in that hour Ueberbein had
+said a final farewell to all happiness--"dalliance with happiness," as
+he had since called it. As he failed, or refused, to win the fair lady,
+he swore to himself that he would honour her, and the bonds which bound
+him to her, by achieving something and making himself felt in the field
+of hard work. To this he had dedicated his life, to this alone, and it
+had brought him to what he was. That was the secret, or at least a
+contribution of the riddle of Ueberbein's unsociability,
+unapproachableness, and earnest endeavour. Klaus Heinrich was quite
+frightened to see how unusually green his face was when he took his
+leave with a deep bow, saying: "My greetings to little Imma, Klaus
+Heinrich."
+
+Next day the Prince received the congratulations of the staff at the
+Schloss, and later those of Herr von Braunbart-Schellendorf and von
+Schulenburg-Tressen in the Yellow Room. In the course of the morning the
+members of the Grand Ducal House came to the "Hermitage" to pay their
+respects, and at one o'clock Klaus Heinrich drove to luncheon with
+Prince and Princess zu Ried-Hohenried, meeting with an unusually warm
+reception from the public on the way. The Grimmburgers were mustered in
+full force in the pretty palace in the Albrechtstrasse. The Grand Duke
+too came, in a frock-coat, nodded his small head to each member of the
+party, sucking his lower lip against his upper the while, and drank
+milk-and-soda during lunch. Almost immediately after lunch was finished
+he withdrew. Prince Lambert had come without his wife. The old habitué
+of the ballet was painted, hollow-cheeked, and slovenly, and his voice
+sounded sepulchral. He was to some extent ignored by his relations.
+
+During luncheon the conversation turned for a while on Court matters,
+then on little Princess Philippine's progress, and later almost
+exclusively on Prince Philipp's commercial schemes. The quiet little man
+talked about his breweries, factories, and mills, and in particular
+about his peat-cuttings. He described various improvements in the
+machinery, quoted figures of capital invested and returns, and his
+cheeks glowed, while his wife's relations listened to him with looks of
+curiosity, approval, or mockery.
+
+When coffee had been served in the big flower-room, the Princess,
+holding her gilded cup, went up to her brother and said: "You have quite
+deserted us lately, Klaus Heinrich."
+
+Ditlinde's face with the Grimmburg cheek-bones was not so transparent as
+it had once been. It had gained more colour since the birth of her
+daughter, and her head seemed to be less oppressed by the weight of her
+fair hair.
+
+"Have I deserted you?" he said. "Forgive me, Ditlinde, perhaps I have.
+But there were so many calls on my time, and I knew that there were on
+yours too; for you are no longer confined to flowers."
+
+"True, the flowers have had to take a less prominent place, they don't
+get much thought from me now. A fairer life and flowering now occupies
+all my time. I believe that's where I have got my red cheeks from, like
+dear Philipp from his peat (he ought not to have talked about it the
+whole of luncheon, as he did; but it's his hobby), and it is because I
+was so busy and rushed that I was not cross with you for never showing
+yourself and for going your own way, even though that way seemed to me
+rather a surprising one."
+
+"Do you know what it is, Ditlinde?"
+
+"Yes, though unfortunately not from you. But Jettchen Isenschnibbe has
+kept me well posted--you know she is always a fund of news--and at first
+I was horribly shocked, I don't deny it. But after all they live in
+Delphinenort, he has a private physician, and Philipp thinks they are in
+their way of equal birth with ourselves. I believe I once spoke
+disparagingly about them, Klaus Heinrich; I said something about a
+Croesus, if I remember rightly, and made a pun on the word 'taxpayer.'
+But if you consider them worthy of your friendship, I've been wrong and
+of course withdraw my remarks, and will try to think differently about
+them in future. I promise you. You always loved rummaging," she went on,
+after he had laughed and kissed her hand, "and I had to do it with you,
+and my dress (do you remember it--the red velvet?) suffered for it. Now
+you have to rummage alone, and God grant, Klaus Heinrich, that it won't
+bring you any horrible experience."
+
+"I really believe, Ditlinde, that every experience is fine, whether it
+be good or bad. But my present experience is splendid."
+
+At half-past five the Prince left the "Hermitage" again, in his dogcart,
+which he drove himself, with a groom at his back. It was warm, and Klaus
+Heinrich was wearing white trousers with a double-breasted coat. Bowing,
+he again drove to the town, or more precisely to the Old Schloss. He did
+not enter the Albrechtstor, however, but drove in through a side door,
+and across two courtyards till he reached that in which the rose-bush
+grew.
+
+Here all was still and stony; the stair-turrets with their oblique
+windows, forged-iron balustrades, and fine carvings towered in the
+corners; the many-styled building stood there in light and shadow,
+partly grey and weather-worn, partly more modern-looking, with gables
+and box-like projections, with open porticoes and peeps through broad
+bow-windows into vaulted halls and narrow galleries. But in the middle,
+in its unfenced bed, stood the rose-bush, blooming gloriously after a
+favourable season.
+
+Klaus Heinrich threw the reins to a servant, and went up and looked at
+the dark-red roses. They were exceptionally fine--full and velvety,
+grandly formed, and a real masterwork of nature. Several were already
+full-blown.
+
+"Call Ezekiel, please," said Klaus Heinrich to a moustachioed
+door-keeper, who came forward with his hand to his hat.
+
+Ezekiel, the custodian of the rose-bush, came. He was a greybeard of
+seventy years of age, in a gardener's apron, with watery eyes and a bent
+back.
+
+"Have you any shears by you, Ezekiel?" said Klaus Heinrich, "I should
+like a rose." And Ezekiel drew some shears out of the pocket of his
+apron.
+
+"That one there," said Klaus Heinrich, "that's the finest." And the old
+man cut the thorny branch with trembling hands.
+
+"I'll water it, Royal Highness," he said, and shuffled off to the
+water-tap in a corner of the court. When he came back, glittering drops
+were clinging to the petals of the rose, as if to the feathers of
+waterfowl.
+
+"Thanks, Ezekiel," said Klaus Heinrich, and took the rose. "Still going
+strong? Here!" He gave the old man a gold piece, and climbing into the
+dogcart drove with the rose on the seat beside him through the
+courtyards. Everybody who saw him thought that he was driving back to
+the "Hermitage" from the Old Schloss, where presumably he had an
+interview with the Grand Duke.
+
+But he drove through the Town Gardens to Delphinenort. The sky had
+clouded over, big drops were already falling on the leaves, and thunder
+rolled in the distance.
+
+The ladies were at tea when Klaus Heinrich, conducted by the corpulent
+butler, appeared in the gallery and walked down the steps into the
+garden room. Mr. Spoelmann, as usual recently, was not present. He was
+in bed with poultices on. Percival, who lay curled up like a snail close
+by Imma's chair, beat the carpet with his tail by way of greeting. The
+gilding of the furniture looked dull, as the park beyond the glass door
+lay in a damp mist.
+
+Klaus Heinrich exchanged a handshake with the daughter of the house, and
+kissed the Countess's hand, while he gently raised her from the courtly
+curtsey she had begun, as usual, to make.
+
+"You see, summer has come," he said to Imma Spoelmann, offering her the
+rose. It was the first time he had brought her flowers.
+
+"How courtly of you!" she said. "Thanks, Prince. And what a beauty!" she
+went on in honest admiration (a thing she hardly ever showed), and held
+out her small, ringless hands for the glorious flower, whose dewy petals
+curled exquisitely at the edges. "Are there such fine roses here? Where
+did you get it?" And she bent her dark head eagerly over it.
+
+Her eyes were full of horror when she looked up again.
+
+"It doesn't smell!" she said, and a look of disgust showed round her
+mouth. "Wait, though--it smells of decay!" she said. "What's this you
+have brought me, Prince?" And her big black eyes in her pale face seemed
+to glow with questioning horror.
+
+"Yes," he said, "I'm sorry; that's a way our roses have. It's from the
+bush in one of the courts of the Old Schloss. Have you never heard of
+it? There's something hangs by that. People say that one day it will
+begin to smell exquisite."
+
+She seemed not to be listening to him. "It seems as if it had no soul,"
+she said, and looked at the rose. "But it's perfectly beautiful, that
+one must allow. Well, that's a doubtful joke on nature's part, Prince.
+All the same, Prince, thanks for your attention. And as it comes from
+your ancestral Schloss, one must regard it with due reverence."
+
+She put the rose in a glass by her plate. A swan's-down flunkey brought
+the Prince a cup and plate. They discussed at tea the bewitched
+rose-bush, and then commonplace subjects, such as the Court Theatre,
+their horses, and all sorts of trivial topics. Imma Spoelmann time after
+time contradicted him, interposing polished quotations--to her own
+enjoyment, and his despair at the range of her reading--quotations which
+she uttered in her broken voice, with whimsical motions of her head.
+After a time a heavy, white-paper parcel was brought in, sent by the
+book-binders to Miss Spoelmann, containing a number of works which she
+had had bound in smart and durable bindings. She opened the parcel, and
+they all three examined the books to see if the binder had done his work
+well.
+
+They were nearly all learned works whose contents were either as
+mysterious-looking as Imma Spoelmann's notebook, or dealt with
+scientific psychology, acute analyses of internal impulses. They were
+got up in the most sumptuous way, with parchment and crushed leather,
+gold letters, fine paper, and silk markers. Imma Spoelmann did not
+display much enthusiasm over the consignment, but Klaus Heinrich, who
+had never seen such handsome volumes, was full of admiration.
+
+"Shall you put them all into the bookcase?" he asked. "With the others
+upstairs? I suppose you have quantities of books? Are they all as fine
+as these? Do let me see how you arrange them. I can't go yet, the
+weather's still bad and would ruin my white trousers. Besides, I've no
+idea how you live in Delphinenort, I've never seen your study. Will you
+show me your books?"
+
+"That depends on the Countess," she said, busying herself with piling
+the volumes one on the other. "Countess, the Prince wants to see my
+books. Would you be so kind as to say what you think?"
+
+Countess Löwenjoul was in a brown study. With her small head bent, she
+was watching Klaus Heinrich with a sharp, almost hostile look, and then
+let her eyes wander to Imma Spoelmann, when her expression altered and
+became gentle, sympathetic, and anxious. She came to herself with a
+smile, and drew a little watch out of her brown, close-fitting dress.
+
+"At seven o'clock," she said brightly, "Mr. Spoelmann expects you to
+read to him, Imma. You have half an hour in which to do what his Royal
+Highness wants."
+
+"Good; come along, Prince, and inspect my study," said Imma. "And so far
+as your Highness permits it, please lend a hand in carrying up these
+books; I'll take half."
+
+But Klaus Heinrich took them all. He clasped them in both arms, though
+the left was not much use to him, and the pile reached to his chin.
+Then, bending backwards and going carefully, so as to drop nothing, he
+followed Imma over into the wing towards the drive, on the main floor of
+which lay Countess Löwenjoul's and Miss Spoelmann's quarters.
+
+In the big, comfortable room which they entered through a heavy door he
+laid his burden down on the top of a hexagonal ebony table, which stood
+in front of a big gold-chintzed sofa. Imma Spoelmann's study was not
+furnished in the style proper to the Schloss, but in more modern taste,
+without any show, but with massive, masculine, serviceable luxury. It
+was panelled with rare woods right up to the top, and adorned with old
+porcelain, which glittered on the brackets all round under the ceiling.
+The carpets were Persian, the mantelpiece black marble, on which stood
+shapely vases and a gilt clock. The chairs were broad and
+velvet-covered, and the curtains of the same golden stuff as the
+sofa-cover. A capacious desk stood in front of the bow-window, which
+allowed a view of the big basin in front of the Schloss. One wall was
+covered with books, but the main library was in the adjacent room, which
+was smaller, and carpeted like the big one. A glass door opened into it,
+and its walls were completely covered with bookshelves right up to the
+ceiling.
+
+"Well, Prince, there's my hermitage," said Imma Spoelmann. "I hope you
+like it."
+
+"Why, it's glorious," he said. But he did not look round him, but gazed
+unintermittently at her, as she reclined against the sofa cushions by
+the hexagonal table. She was wearing one of her beautiful indoor
+dresses, a summer one this time, made of white accordion-pleated stuff,
+with open sleeves and gold embroidery on the yoke. The skin of her arms
+and neck seemed brown as meerschaum against the white of the dress; her
+big, bright, earnest eyes in the strangely childlike face seemed to
+speak a language of their own unceasingly, and a smooth wisp of black
+hair hung across her forehead. She had Klaus Heinrich's rose in her
+hand.
+
+"How lovely!" he said, standing before her, and not conscious of what he
+meant. His blue eyes, above the national cheek-bones, were heavy as with
+grief. "You have as many books," he added, "as my sister Ditlinde has
+flowers."
+
+"Has the Princess so many flowers?"
+
+"Yes, but of late she has not set so much store by them."
+
+"Let's clear these away," she said and took up some books.
+
+"No, wait," he said anxiously. "I've such a lot to say to you, and our
+time is so short. You must know that to-day is my birthday--that's why I
+came and brought you the rose."
+
+"Oh," she said, "that is an event. Your birthday to-day? Well, I'm sure
+that you received all your congratulations with the dignity you always
+show. You may have mine as well! It was sweet of you to bring me the
+rose, although it has its doubtful side." And she tried the mouldy smell
+once more with an expression of fear on her face. "How old are you
+to-day, Prince?"
+
+"Twenty-seven," he answered. "I was born twenty-seven years ago in the
+Grimmburg. Ever since then I've had a strenuous and lonely time of it."
+
+She did not answer. And suddenly he saw her eyes, under her slightly
+frowning eye-brows, move to his side. Yes, although he was standing
+sideways to her with his right shoulder towards her, as he had trained
+himself to do, he could not prevent her eyes fastening on his left arm,
+on the hand which he had planted right back on his hip.
+
+"Were you born with that?" she asked softly.
+
+He grew pale. But with a cry, which rang like a cry of redemption, he
+sank down before her, and clasped her wondrous form in both his arms.
+There he lay, in his white trousers and his blue and red coat with the
+major's shoulder-straps.
+
+"Little sister," he said, "little sister----"
+
+She answered with a pout: "Think of appearances, Prince. I consider that
+one should not let oneself go, but should keep up appearances on all
+occasions."
+
+But he was too far gone, and raising his face to her, his eyes in a
+mist, he only said, "Imma--little Imma----"
+
+Then she took his hand, the left, atrophied one, the deformity, the
+hindrance in his lofty calling, which he had been wont from boyhood to
+hide artfully and carefully--she took it and kissed it.
+
+
+
+
+VIII
+
+THE FULFILMENT
+
+
+Grave reports were flying around concerning the state of health of the
+Finance Minister, Doctor Krippenreuther. People hinted at nervous
+break-down, at a progressive stomach-trouble, which indeed Herr
+Krippenreuther's flabby yellow complexion was calculated to suggest....
+What is Greatness? The daily-breader, the journeyman, might envy this
+tortured dignitary his title, his chain, his rank at Court, his
+important office, to which he had climbed so pertinaciously, only to
+wear himself out in it: but not when these all meant the concomitant of
+his illness. His retirement was repeatedly announced to be impending. It
+was said to be due simply and solely to the Grand Duke's dislike of new
+faces, as well as to the consideration that matters could not be
+improved by a change of personnel, that his resignation had not already
+become a fact. Dr. Krippenreuther had spent his summer leave in a
+health-resort in the hills. Perhaps he might have improved somewhat up
+there. But anyhow after his return his recouped strength ebbed away
+quickly again. For at the very beginning of the Parliamentary session a
+rift had come between him and the Budget Commission--serious
+dissensions, which were certainly not from any want of industry on his
+part, but from the circumstances, from the incurable position of
+affairs.
+
+In the middle of September Albrecht II opened the Landtag in the Old
+Schloss with the traditional ceremonies. They began with an invocation
+to God by the Court Chaplain, Dom Wislezenus, in the Schloss Chapel.
+Then the Grand Duke, accompanied by Prince Klaus Heinrich, went in
+solemn procession to the Throne-room. Here the members of both Chambers,
+the Ministers, Court officials, and many others in uniform and civil
+dress greeted the royal brothers with three cheers, led by the President
+of the First Chamber, a Count Prenzlau.
+
+Albrecht had earnestly wished to transfer to his brother his duties in
+the formal ceremony. It was only owing to the urgent objections of Herr
+von Knobelsdorff that he walked in the procession behind the pages. He
+was so much ashamed of his braided hussar's coat, his gaudy trousers,
+and the whole to-do, that he showed clearly in his face his anger and
+his embarrassment. His shoulder-blades were twisted in his nervousness
+as he mounted the steps to the throne. Then he took his stand in front
+of the theatrical chair under the faded baldachin, and sucked at his
+upper lip. His small, bearded, unmilitary head rested on the white
+collar, which stuck out far above the silver hussar-collar, and his
+blue, lonely-looking eyes gazed vacantly in front of him. The jangle of
+the spurs of the aide-de-camp who handed him the manuscript of his
+Speech from the Throne rang through the hall, in which silence now
+reigned. And quietly, with a slight lisp, and more than one sudden burst
+of coughing, the Grand Duke read what had been written for him.
+
+The speech was the most palliatory that had ever been heard, each
+humiliating fact from outside being counter-balanced by some virtuous
+trait or other in the people. He began by praising the industrious
+spirit of the whole country; then admitted that there was no actual
+increase to show in any branch of manufacture, so that the sources of
+revenue failed to show under any head the fertility that could be
+desired. He remarked with satisfaction how the feeling for the public
+good and economical self-sacrifice were spreading more and more through
+the population; and then declared without mincing matters that
+"notwithstanding a general most acceptable increase in the taxation
+returns as the result of the influx of wealthy foreigners" (meaning Mr.
+Spoelmann) "any relaxation of the calls on the said noble self-sacrifice
+was not to be thought of."
+
+Even without this, he continued, it had been impossible to budget for
+all the objects of the financial policy, and should it prove that
+sufficient reduction in the public debt had not been successfully
+provided for, the Government considered that the continuation of policy
+of moderate loans would prove the best way out of the financial
+complications. In any event it--the Government--felt itself supported in
+these most unfavourable circumstances by the confidence of the nation,
+that faith in the future which was so fair a heritage of our stock....
+And the Speech from the Throne left the sinister topic of public economy
+as soon as possible, to apply itself to less disputatious subjects, such
+as ecclesiastical, educational, and legal matters. Minister of State von
+Knobelsdorff declared in the monarch's name the Landtag to be open. And
+the cheers which accompanied Albrecht when he left the hall sounded
+somewhat ironical and dubious.
+
+As the weather was still summery, he went straight back to Hollerbrunn,
+from which necessity alone had driven him to the capital. He had done
+his part, and the rest was the concern of Herr Krippenreuther and the
+Landtag. Quarrels began, as has been said, immediately, and about
+several topics at once: the property tax, the meat tax, and the Civil
+Service estimates.
+
+For, when the deputies proved adamant against attempts to persuade them
+to sanction fresh taxes, Doctor Krippenreuther's meditative mind had hit
+on the idea of converting the income tax which had been usual hitherto
+into a property tax, which on the basis of 13½ per cent. would produce
+an increment of about a million. How direly needed, indeed how
+inadequate such an increment was, was clear from the main budget for the
+new financial year, which, leaving out of account the imposition of new
+burdens on the Treasury, concluded with an adverse balance, which was
+calculated to damp the courage of any economical expert. But when it was
+realized that practically only the towns would be hit by the property
+tax, the combined indignation of the urban deputies turned against the
+assessment of 13½ per cent., and they demanded as compensation at least
+the abolition of the meat tax, which they called undemocratic and
+antediluvian. Add to this that the Commission adhered resolutely to the
+long promised and always postponed improvement of Civil servants'
+pay--for it could not be denied that the salaries of the Government
+officials, clergy, and teachers of the Grand Duchy were miserable.
+
+But Doctor Krippenreuther could not make gold--he said in so many words,
+"I've never learnt to make gold," and he found himself equally unable to
+abolish the meat tax and to ameliorate the conditions in the Civil
+Service. His only resource was to anchor himself to his 13½ per cent.,
+although no one knew better than he that its sanction would not really
+bring things any nearer their solution. For the position was serious,
+and despondent spirits painted it in gloomy colours.
+
+The "Almanac of the Grand Ducal Statistical Bureau" contained alarming
+returns of the harvest for the last year. Agriculture had a succession
+of bad years to show; storms, hail, droughts, and inordinate rain had
+been the lot of the peasants; an exceptionally cold and snowless winter
+had resulted in the seed freezing; and the critics maintained, though
+with little proof to show for it, that the timber-cutting had already
+influenced the climate. At any rate figures proved that the total yield
+of corn had decreased in a most disquieting degree. The straw, besides
+being deficient in quantity, left much to be wished from the point of
+view of quality, in the opinion of the compilers of the report.
+
+The figures of the potato harvest fell far below the average of the
+preceding decade, not to mention that no less than 10 per cent. of the
+potatoes were diseased. As to artificial feeding-stuffs, these showed
+for the last two years results both in quality and quantity which, for
+clover and manure, were as bad as the worst of the years under review,
+and things were no better with the rapeseed harvest or with the first
+and second hay crops. The decline in agriculture was baldly shown in the
+increase of forced sales, whose figures in the year under review had
+advanced in a striking way. But the failure of crops entailed a falling
+off in the produce of taxation which would have been regrettable in any
+country, but in ours could not help having a fatal effect.
+
+As to the forests, nothing had been made out of them. One disaster had
+followed another; blight and moths had attacked the woods more than
+once. And it will be remembered that owing to over-cutting the woods had
+lost seriously in capital value.
+
+The silver-mines? They had for a long time proved barren. The work had
+been interrupted by convulsions of nature, and as the repairs would have
+cost large sums, and the results had never showed signs of coming up to
+expectations, it had been found necessary provisionally to suspend the
+workings, though this threw a number of labourers out of work and caused
+distress in whole districts.
+
+Enough has been said to explain how matters stood with the ordinary
+State revenues in this time of trial. The slowly advancing crisis, the
+deficit carried forward from one year to another, had become burning
+owing to the straits of the people and the unfavourableness of the
+elements. It had begun to cry aloud for remedy, and, when one looked
+around despairingly for the remedy, or even for means of alleviation,
+the most purblind could not fail to see the whole hideousness of our
+financial condition. There could be no thought of voting for new
+expenditure, the country was naturally incapable of bearing much
+taxation. It was now exhausted, its tax-paying powers adversely
+affected, and the critics declared that the sight of insufficiently
+nourished human beings was becoming more and more common in the country.
+They attributed this firstly to the shocking taxes on provisions and
+secondly to the direct taxation which was known to oblige stock-owners
+to turn all their full-milk into cash. As to the other less respectable
+though enticingly easy remedy for dearth of money, of which the
+financial authorities were well aware, namely the raising of a loan, the
+time was come when an improper and inconsiderate use of this means must
+begin to bring its own bitter punishment.
+
+The liquidation of the national debt had been taken in hand for a time
+in a clumsy and harmful way. Then under Albrecht II it had stopped
+altogether. The yawning rifts in the State had received an emergency
+stuffing of new loans and paper issues, and subsequent Finance Ministers
+had grown pale to find themselves faced with a floating consolidated
+debt redeemable at an early date, whose total was scandalously large for
+the total number of heads of the population.
+
+Dr. Krippenreuther had not shrunk from the practical steps open to the
+State in such a predicament. He had steered clear of big capital
+obligations, had demanded compulsory redemption of bonds, and, while
+reducing the rate of interest, had converted short-dated debts over the
+heads of the creditors into perpetual rent-charges. But these
+rent-charges had to be paid; and while this incumbrance was an
+unbearable burden on the national economy, the lowness of the rate of
+exchange caused every fresh issue of bonds to bring in less capital
+proceeds to the Treasury. Still more: the economic crisis in the Grand
+Duchy had the effect of making foreign creditors demand payments at an
+exceptionally early date. This again lowered the rate of exchange and
+resulted in an increased flow of gold out of the country, and
+bank-smashes were daily occurrences in the business world.
+
+In a word: our credit was shattered, our paper stood far below its
+nominal value; and though the Landtag might perhaps have preferred to
+vote a new loan to voting new taxes, the conditions which would have
+been imposed upon the country were such that the negotiation seemed
+difficult, if not impossible. For on the top of everything else came
+this unpleasant factor, that the people were at that moment suffering
+from the burden of that general economical disorder, that appreciation
+in the price of gold, which is still vivid in everybody's memory.
+
+What was to be done to get safe to land? Whither turn to appease the
+hunger for gold which was devouring us? The disposal of the then
+unproductive silver-mines and the application of the proceeds to the
+payment of the debts at high interest was discussed at length. Yet, as
+matters stood, the sale could not help turning out disadvantageously.
+Further, not only would the State lose altogether the capital sunk in
+the mines, but would relinquish its prospect of a return which might
+perhaps sooner or later materialize. Finally, buyers did not grow on
+every bush. For one moment--a moment of psychical despondency--the sale
+of the national forests even was mooted. But it must be said that there
+was still sense enough in the country to prevent our woods being
+surrendered to private industry.
+
+To complete the picture: still further rumours of sales were current,
+rumours which suggested that the financial embarrassment penetrated even
+to quarters which the loyal people had always hoped were far removed
+from all the rubs of the time. The _Courier_, which was never used to
+sacrifice a piece of news to its sympathetic feelings, was the first to
+publish the news that two of the Grand Duke's schlosses, "Pastime" and
+"Favourite," in the open country, had been put up for sale. Considering
+that neither property was of any further use as a residence for the
+royal family, and that both demanded yearly increasing outlay, the
+administrators of the Crown trust property had given notice in the
+proper quarter for steps to be taken to sell them: what did that imply?
+
+It was obviously quite a different case from that of the sale of
+Delphinenort, which had been the result of a quite exceptional and
+favourable offer, as well as a smart stroke of business on behalf of the
+State. People who were brutal enough to give a name to things which
+finer feeling shrinks from specifying, declared right out that the
+Treasury had been mercilessly set on by disquieted creditors, and that
+their consent to such sales showed that they were exposed to relentless
+pressure.
+
+How far had matters gone? Into whose hands would the schlosses fall? The
+more benevolent who asked this question were inclined to find comfort in
+and to believe a further report, which was spread by the wiseacres;
+namely, that on this occasion too the buyer was no one else but Samuel
+Spoelmann--an entirely groundless and fantastic report, which, however,
+proves what a rôle in the world of popular imagination was played by the
+lonely, suffering little man who had settled down in such princely style
+in their midst.
+
+Yonder he lived, with his physician, his electric organ, and his
+collection of glass, behind the pillars, the bow windows, and the
+chiselled festoons of the schloss which had risen from its ruins at a
+nod from him. He was hardly ever seen: he was always in bed with
+poultices. But people saw his daughter, that curious creature with the
+whimsical features who lived like a princess, had a countess for a
+companion, studied algebra, and had walked in a temper unimpeded right
+through the guard. People saw her, and they sometimes saw Prince Klaus
+Heinrich at her side.
+
+Raoul Ueberbein had used a strong expression when he declared that the
+public "held their breath" at the sight. But he really was right, and it
+can be truly said that the population of our town as a whole never
+followed a social or public proceeding with such passionate, such
+surpassing eagerness as Klaus Heinrich's visits to Delphinenort. The
+Prince himself acted up to a certain point--namely up to a certain
+conversation with his Excellency the Minister of State,
+Knobelsdorff--blindly, without regard to the outside world and in
+obedience only to an inner impulse. But his tutor was justified in
+deriding in his fatherly way his idea that his proceedings could be kept
+hid from the world. For whether it was that the servants on both sides
+did not hold their tongues, or that the public had the opportunity of
+direct observation, at any rate Klaus Heinrich had not met Miss
+Spoelmann once since that first meeting in the Dorothea Hospital,
+without its being remarked and discussed. Remarked? No, spied on, glared
+at, and greedily jumped at! Discussed? Rather smothered in floods of
+talk.
+
+The intercourse of the two was the topic of conversation in Court
+circles, salons, sitting- and bedrooms, barbers' shops, public-houses,
+workrooms, and servants' halls, by cabmen on the ranks and girls at the
+gates. It occupied the minds of men no less than women, of course with
+the variations which are inherent in the different ways the sexes have
+of looking at things. The always sympathetic interest in it had a
+uniting, levelling effect: it bridged over the social gaps, and one
+might hear the tram conductor turn to the smart passenger on the
+platform with the question whether he knew that yesterday afternoon the
+Prince had again spent an hour at Delphinenort.
+
+But what was at once remarkable in itself and at the same time decisive
+for the future was that throughout there never seemed for one moment to
+be any feeling of scandal in the air, nor did all the tongue-wagging
+seem merely the vulgar pleasure in startling events in high quarters.
+From the very beginning, before any _arrière pensée_ had had time to
+form, the thousand-voiced discussion of the subject, however animated,
+was always pitched in a key of approval and agreement. Indeed, the
+Prince, if it had occurred to him at an earlier stage to adapt his
+conduct to public opinion, would have realized at once to his delight
+how entirely popular that conduct was. For when he called Miss Spoelmann
+a "princess" to his tutor, he had, quite properly, accurately expressed
+his people's mind--that people which always surrounds the uncommon and
+visionary with a cloud of poetry.
+
+Yes, to the people the pale, dark, precious, and strangely lovely
+creature of mixed blood, who had come to us from the Antipodes to live
+her lonely and unprecedented life amongst us--to the people she was a
+princess--or Fairy-child from Fableland, a princess in the world's most
+wonderful meaning. But everything, her own behaviour as much as the
+attitude of the world towards her, contributed to make her appear a
+princess in the ordinary sense of the word also. Did she not live with
+her companion countess in a schloss, as was meet and right? Did she not
+drive in her gorgeous motor or her four-in-hand to the benevolent
+institutions, the homes for the blind, for orphans, and for deaconesses,
+the public kitchens and the milk-kitchens, to teach herself and to
+stimulate them by her inspection, like a complete princess?
+
+Had she not subscribed to support the victims of flood and fire out of
+her "privy purse," as the _Courier_ was precise enough to declare,
+subscriptions which nearly equalled those of the Grand Duke (did not
+exceed them, as was noticed with general satisfaction)? Did not the
+newspapers publish almost daily, immediately under the Court news,
+reports of Mr. Spoelmann's varying health--whether the colic kept him in
+bed or whether he had resumed his morning visits to the Spa-gardens?
+Were not the white liveries of his servants as much a part of the
+picture in the streets of the capital as the brown of the Grand Ducal
+lackeys? Did not foreigners with guide-books ask to be taken out to
+Delphinenort, there to gloat over the sight of Spoelmann's house--many
+of them before they had seen the Old Schloss?
+
+Were not both Schlosses, the Old and Delphinenort, about equally centres
+and foci of the city? To what circle of society belonged that human
+being who had been born Samuel Spoelmann's daughter, that creature
+without counterpart, without analogy? To whom should she attach herself,
+with whom have intercourse? Nothing could be less surprising, nothing
+more obvious and natural than to see Klaus Heinrich at her side. And
+even those who had never enjoyed that sight enjoyed it in the spirit and
+gloated over it: the slim, solemnly familiar figure of the Prince by the
+side of the daughter and heiress of the prodigious little foreigner,
+who, ill and peevish as he was, disposed of a fortune which amounted to
+nearly twice as much as our national debt!
+
+Then one day a memory, a wonderful disposition of words, took hold of
+the public conscience; nobody can say who first pointed to it, recalled
+it--that is quite uncertain. Perhaps it was a woman, perhaps a child
+with credulous eyes, whom somebody was sending to sleep with
+stories--heaven only knows. But a ghostly form began to show liveliness
+in the popular imagination: the shadow of an old gipsy-woman, grey and
+bent, with an inward squint, who drew her stick through the sand, and
+whose mumbling had been written down and handed down from generation to
+generation.... "The greatest happiness?" It should come to the land
+through a Prince "with one hand." He would give the country, the
+prophecy ran, more with his one hand than others could with two.... With
+one? But was everything all right with Klaus Heinrich's slim figure?
+
+When one thought of it, was there not a weakness, a defect in his
+person, which one always avoided seeing when addressing him, partly from
+shyness, and partly because with charming skill he made it so easy not
+to notice it? When one saw him in his carriage, he kept his left hand on
+his sword-hilt covered with his right. One could see him under a
+baldachin, on a flag-bedecked platform, take up a position slightly
+turned to the left, with his left hand planted somehow on his hip. His
+left arm was too short, the hand was stunted, everybody knew that, and
+knew various explanations of the origin of the defect, although respect
+and distance had not allowed a clear view of it or even its recognition
+in so many words. But now everybody saw it. It could never be
+ascertained who first whispered and quoted the prophecy in this
+connexion--whether it was a child, or a girl, or a greybeard on the
+threshold of the beyond.
+
+But what is certain is, that it was the people who started it, the
+people who imposed certain thoughts and hopes--and quite soon their
+conception of Miss Spoelmann's personality--on the cultured classes
+right up to the highest quarters, and exercised a powerful influence on
+them from below: that the impartial, unprejudiced belief of the people
+afforded the broad and firm foundation for all that came later. "With
+one hand?" people asked, and "the greatest happiness?" They saw Klaus
+Heinrich in the spirit by Imma Spoelmann's side with his left hand on
+his hip, and, still incompetent to think their thought out to its
+conclusion, they quivered at their half-thought.
+
+At that time everything was still in the clouds, and nobody thought
+anything out to its conclusion--not even the persons most immediately
+concerned. For the relations between Klaus Heinrich and Imma Spoelmann
+were wondrous strange, and their minds--his as well--could not be
+brought to centre on any immediate, palpable goal. As a matter of fact,
+that laconic conversation on the afternoon of the Prince's birthday
+(when Miss Spoelmann had showed him her books) had made but the
+slightest, if any, alteration in their relations. Klaus Heinrich may
+have gone back to the "Hermitage" in that condition of heated enthusiasm
+proper to young people on such occasions, convinced that something
+decisive had happened: but he soon learned that his wooing of what he
+had recognized to be his only happiness was only now really beginning.
+
+But, as has been said, this wooing could not aim at any objective
+result, a bourgeois promise or such-like--such an idea was almost
+inconceivable, and besides the Prince lived in too great seclusion from
+the practical world for such an end to present itself to him. In fact
+the object of Klaus Heinrich's pleadings with looks and words from that
+time onward was not that Miss Spoelmann should reciprocate the feelings
+he entertained towards her, but that she might feel impelled to believe
+in the reality and liveliness of those feelings. For that was what she
+did not do.
+
+He let two weeks pass before he sent in his name at Delphinenort again,
+and during these he feasted spiritually on what had already occurred. He
+was in no hurry to supersede that happening with a new one. Besides, his
+time just now was occupied by several representative functions,
+including the annual festival of the Miniature Range Rifle Club, whose
+well-informed patron he was and in whose anniversary festival he
+annually took part. Here he was received in his green uniform, as if his
+sole interest in life was rifle-shooting, by the united members of the
+association with an enthusiastic welcome, was conducted to the butts,
+and, after an unappetizing luncheon with the distinguished members of
+the committee, fired several shots in a gracefully expert attitude in
+the direction of various targets.
+
+When he proceeded--it was the middle of June--to pay another afternoon
+visit to the Spoelmanns, he found Imma in a very mocking mood, and her
+mode of expression was unusually Scriptural and solemn. Mr. Spoelmann
+also was present this time, and although his presence robbed Klaus
+Heinrich of the _tête-à-tête_ he so much desired with the daughter, yet
+it helped him in a quite unexpected way to bear up against the wounds
+which Imma's sharpness gave him; for Samuel Spoelmann was friendly, and
+almost affectionate towards him.
+
+They had tea on the terrace, sitting in basket-chairs of an ultra-modern
+shape, with the breezes from the flower-garden softly fanning them. The
+master of the house lay under a green-silk, fur-lined, and
+parrot-embroidered coverlet, stretched by the table on a cane couch
+fitted with silk cushions. He had left his bed for the sake of the mild
+air, but his cheeks to-day were not inflamed, but of a sallow paleness,
+and his eyes were muddy; his chin protruded sharply, his prominent nose
+looked longer than ever, and his tone was not cross, as usual, but
+sad--a bad sign. By his head sat Doctor Watercloose with his continual
+soft smile.
+
+"Hullo, young Prince ..." said Mr. Spoelmann in a tired tone, and
+answered the other's inquiry as to his health merely with half a grunt.
+Imma, in a shimmering dress with a high waist and green-velvet bolero,
+poured water into the pot out of the electric kettle. She congratulated
+the Prince with a pout on his personal prowess at the rifle festival.
+She had, she said, as she wagged her head backwards and forwards, "read
+an account of it in the daily press with deep satisfaction," and had
+read aloud the description of his exploits as marksman to the Countess.
+The latter was sitting bolt upright in her tight brown dress at the
+table, and handling her spoon gracefully, without in any way letting
+herself go. It was Mr. Spoelmann who did the talking this time. He did
+it, as has been said, in a soft, sad way, the result of all his
+suffering.
+
+He recounted an occurrence, an experience of years gone by, which was
+obviously still fresh to him, and which always brought him new suffering
+on the days when his health was bad. He recounted the short and simple
+story twice, with even greater self-torture the second time than the
+first. He had wished to make one of his endowments--not one of the first
+rank, but a pretty considerable one--he had given a big philanthropic
+institute in the United States to understand in writing that he wished
+to devote a million in railway bonds to the furtherance of their noble
+work--safe paper of the South Pacific Railway, said Mr. Spoelmann, and
+slapped the palm of his hand, as if to show the paper. But what had the
+philanthropic institute done? It had refused the gift, rejected
+it--adding in so many words that it preferred to go without the support
+of questionable and ill-gotten plunder. They had actually done that. Mr.
+Spoelmann's lips quivered as he recounted it, the first time no less
+than the second, and, longing for comfort and expressions of
+disapproval, he looked round the table with his little, close-set,
+metallic eyes.
+
+"That was not philanthropic of the philanthropic institute," said Klaus
+Heinrich. "No, it certainly was not." And the shake of his head was so
+decided, his disgust and sympathy so obvious, that Mr. Spoelmann cheered
+up a little and declared that it was lovely outside to-day and the trees
+down yonder smelt nice. Indeed, he took the first opportunity of showing
+his young guest his appreciation and satisfaction in the clearest
+manner. For Klaus Heinrich had caught a chill with this summer's
+constant alternations between warm weather and cooling showers and
+hailstorms. His neck was swollen, his throat felt sore when he
+swallowed; and as his lofty calling and a certain amount of
+molly-coddling of his person, in request as it was for exhibition, had
+necessarily made him rather delicate, he could not help alluding to it
+and complaining of the pain in his neck.
+
+"You must have wet compresses," said Mr. Spoelmann. "Have you any
+oil-silk?" Klaus Heinrich had none. Then Mr. Spoelmann threw off the
+parrot coverlet, stood up, and went inside the Schloss. He would not
+answer any questions, insisted on going, and went. When he had gone, the
+others asked each other what he intended to do, and Doctor Watercloose,
+fearing lest an attack of pain had seized his patient, hurried after
+him. But when Mr. Spoelmann returned he had in his hand a piece of
+oil-silk, whose existence in some drawer he had remembered: a rather
+creased piece, which he handed to the Prince with precise directions how
+to use it, so as to get the most good out of it. Klaus Heinrich thanked
+him delightedly, and Mr. Spoelmann got contentedly back on to his couch.
+This time he stayed there till the end of tea, when he proposed a
+general walk round the park, in the following order: Mr. Spoelmann in
+his soft slippers between Imma and Klaus Heinrich, while Countess
+Löwenjoul followed at a short distance with Dr. Watercloose.
+
+When the Prince took leave for the day, Imma Spoelmann made some sharp
+remark about his neck and the wet compresses, adjured him half-mockingly
+to nurse himself and to take the utmost care of his sacred person. But
+although Klaus Heinrich had no adequate repartee ready for her--she did
+not expect or want one--yet it was in a fairly cheerful frame of mind
+that he mounted his dog-cart; for the piece of creased oil-silk in the
+back pocket of his uniform coat seemed to him, though unconsciously, a
+pledge of a happy future.
+
+However that might be, for the present his struggle was only beginning.
+It was the struggle for Imma Spoelmann's faith, the struggle to make her
+so far trust him as to be capable of deciding to leave the clear and
+frosty sphere wherein she had been wont to play, to descend from the
+realms of algebra and conversational ridicule, and to venture with him
+into the untrodden zone, that warmer, more fragrant, more fruitful zone
+to which he showed her the way. For she was overpoweringly shy of making
+any such decision.
+
+Next time he was alone with her, or as good as alone, because Countess
+Löwenjoul was the third, it was a cool, over-cast morning, after a break
+in the weather the night before. They rode along the meadow-woods, Klaus
+Heinrich in high boots, with the crook of his crop suspended between the
+buttons of his grey cloak. The sluices at the wooden bridge up stream
+were shut, the bed of the stream lay empty and stony. Percival, whose
+first outburst had died down, jumped here and there or trotted sideways,
+dog-fashion, in front of the horses. The Countess, on Isabeau, kept her
+head on one side and smiled. Klaus Heinrich was saying: "I'm always
+thinking, night and day, about something which must have been a dream. I
+lie at night and can hear Florian over in the stall snuffling, it's so
+quiet. And then I think, for certain it was no dream. But when I see you
+as I do to-day, and did the other day at tea, I cannot possibly think it
+anything more substantial."
+
+She replied: "I must ask you to explain yourself, Sire."
+
+"Did you show me your books nineteen days ago, Miss Spoelmann--or not?"
+
+"Nineteen days ago! I must count up. No; let's see, it's eighteen and a
+half days, unless I'm quite out."
+
+"You did show me your books, then?"
+
+"That is undoubtedly correct, Prince. And I delude myself with the hope
+that you liked them."
+
+"Oh, Imma, you mustn't talk like that, not now and not to me! My heart
+is so heavy, and I have such lots still to say to you, which I couldn't
+get out nineteen days ago, when you showed me your books ... your masses
+of books. How I should love to carry on where we broke off then, and to
+forget all that lies in between...."
+
+"For heaven's sake, Prince, rather forget the other. Why go back to it?
+Why remind yourself and me? I thought you had good reason to observe the
+strictest silence on such subjects. Fancy letting yourself go like that!
+Losing your self-possession to such a degree!"
+
+"If you only knew, Imma, how unutterably pleasant it is for me to lose
+my self-possession!"
+
+"No, thanks. That's insulting, do you know that? I insist on your
+showing the same self-possession towards me as towards the rest of the
+world. I'm not here to provide you with relaxation from your princely
+existence."
+
+"How entirely you misunderstand me, Imma! But I am well aware that you
+do so deliberately and only in fun, and that shows me that you don't
+believe me and don't take what I say seriously...."
+
+"No, Prince, you really ask too much. Haven't you told me about your
+life? You went to school for show, to the University for show, you
+served as a soldier for show, and still wear the uniform for show, you
+hold audiences for show, and play at rifle-shooting and heaven knows
+what else for show; you came into the world for show, and am I suddenly
+to believe that there is anything serious about you?"
+
+Tears came to his eyes while she said this: her words hurt him so much.
+He answered gently: "You are right, Imma, there is a lot of fiction in
+my life. But I didn't make it or choose it, you must remember, but have
+done my duty precisely and sternly as it was prescribed to me for the
+edification of the people. And it is not enough that it has been a hard
+one, and full of prohibitions and privations; it must now take revenge
+on me, by causing you not to believe me."
+
+"You are proud," she said, "of your calling and your life, Prince, I
+know well, and I cannot wish you to break faith with yourself."
+
+"Oh," he cried, "leave that to me, that about being true to myself, and
+don't give it a thought! I have had experiences, I have been untrue to
+myself and have tried to get round the prohibitions, and it ended in my
+disgrace. But since I have known you, I know, I know for the first time,
+that I may for the first time, without remorse or harm to what is
+described as my lofty calling, let myself go like anybody else, although
+Doctor Ueberbein says, and says in Latin, that that must never be."
+
+"There, you see what your friend said."
+
+"Didn't you yourself call him a poor wretch, who would come to a sad
+end? He's a fine character; I esteem him greatly, and owe him many hints
+about myself and things in general. But I've often thought about him
+recently, and as you expressed so unfavourable a verdict upon him then,
+I have spent hours considering your verdict, and was forced to own you
+right. For I'll tell you, Imma, how things stand with Doctor Ueberbein.
+His whole life is hostile to happiness, that's what it is."
+
+"That seems to me a very proper hostility," said Imma Spoelmann.
+
+"Proper," he answered, "but wretched, as you yourself said, and what's
+more, sinful, for it is a sin against something nobler than his severe
+propriety, as I now see, and it's this sin in which he wished to educate
+me in his fatherly fashion. But I've now grown out of his education, at
+this point I have, I'm now independent and know better; and though I may
+not have convinced Ueberbein, I'll convince you, Imma, sooner or later."
+
+"Yes, Prince, I must grant you that! You have the powers of conviction,
+your zeal carries one along irresistibly with it! Nineteen days, didn't
+you say? I maintain that eighteen and a half is right, but it comes to
+much the same thing. In that time you have condescended to appear at
+Delphinenort once--four days ago."
+
+He threw a startled look at her.
+
+"But, Imma, you must have patience with me, and some indulgence.
+Consider, I'm still awkward ... this is strange ground. I don't know how
+it was.... I believe I wanted to let us have time. And then there came
+several calls upon me."
+
+"Of course, you had to fire at the targets for show. I read all about
+it. As usual, you had a rousing success to show for it. You stood there
+in your fancy dress, and let a whole meadowful of people love you."
+
+"Halt, Imma, I beg you, don't gallop.... One can't get a word out....
+Love, you say. But what sort of love is it? A meadow-love, a casual,
+superficial love, a love at a distance, which means nothing--a love in
+full dress with no familiarity about it. No, you've absolutely no reason
+to be angry because I express myself pleased with it, for I get no good
+from it; only the people do, who are elevated by it, and that's their
+desire. But I too have my desire, Imma, and it's to you that I turn."
+
+"How can I help you, Prince?"
+
+"Oh, you know well! It's confidence, Imma; couldn't you have a little
+confidence in me?"
+
+She looked at him, and the scrutiny of her big eyes had never before
+been so dark and piercing. But for all the urgency of his dumb pleading,
+she turned away, and said with a look which betrayed no secrets: "No,
+Prince Klaus Heinrich, I cannot."
+
+He uttered a cry of grief, and his voice shook, as he asked: "And why
+can't you?"
+
+She replied: "Because you prevent me."
+
+"How do I prevent you? Please tell me, I beg."
+
+And, with the reserved expression still on her face, her eyes dropped on
+her white reins, and rocking lightly to her horse's walk, she replied:
+"Through everything, through your conduct, through the way and manner of
+your being, through your highly distinguished personality. You know well
+enough how you prevented the poor Countess from letting herself go, and
+forced her to be clear-brained and reasonable, although it is expressly
+on the ground of her excessive experiences that the blessing of
+craziness and oddness has been vouchsafed to her, and that I told you
+that I was well aware how you had set out to sober her. Yes, I know it
+well, for you prevent me too from letting myself go, you sober me too,
+continually, in every way, through your words, through your look,
+through your way of sitting and standing, and it is quite impossible to
+have confidence in you. I've had the opportunity of watching you in your
+intercourse with other people; but whether it was Doctor Sammet in the
+Dorothea Hospital or Herr Stavenüter in the 'Pheasantry' Tea-garden, it
+was always the same, and it always made me shiver. You hold yourself
+erect, and ask questions, but you don't do so out of sympathy, you don't
+care what the questions are about--no, you don't care about anything,
+and you lay nothing to heart. I've often seen it--you speak, you express
+an opinion, but you might just as well express a quite different one,
+for in reality you have no opinion and no belief, and the only thing you
+care about is your princely self-possession. You say sometimes that your
+calling is not an easy one, but as you have challenged me, I'll ask you
+to notice that it would be easier to you if you had an opinion and a
+belief, Prince, that's my opinion and belief. How could anyone have
+confidence in you! No, it's not confidence that you inspire, but
+coldness and embarrassment; and if I put myself out to get closer to
+you, that kind of embarrassment and awkwardness would prevent me from
+doing so,--there's my answer for you."
+
+He had listened to her with painful tension, had looked more than once
+at her pale face while she was speaking, and then again, like her,
+dropped his eyes on the reins.
+
+"I must indeed thank you, Imma," he answered, "for speaking so
+earnestly, for you know that you don't always do so, but generally speak
+only derisively, and in your way take things as little seriously as I in
+mine."
+
+"How else but derisively can I speak to you, Prince?"
+
+"And sometimes you are so hard and cruel, as for instance towards the
+head sister in the Dorothea Hospital, whom you threw into such
+confusion."
+
+"Oh, I'm well aware that I too have my faults, and need somebody to help
+me to give them up."
+
+"I'll be that somebody, Imma; we'll help each other."
+
+"I don't think we can help each other, Prince."
+
+"Yes, we can. Didn't you speak just now quite seriously and
+unsatirically? But as for me, you are not right when you say that I care
+about nothing at all and lay nothing to heart, for I care about you,
+Imma--about you, I have laid you to heart; and as this matter is one of
+such inexpressible seriousness to me, I cannot fail finally to win your
+confidence. Were you aware of my joy when I heard you talk of putting
+yourself out and coming nearer to me? Yes, put yourself out a little,
+and do not let yourself ever again be confused with that sort of
+awkwardness, or whatever it is, which you are so liable to feel in my
+presence. Ah, I know it, I know only too well, how much to blame I am
+for that! But laugh at yourself and at me when I make you feel like
+that, and attach yourself to me. Will you promise me to put yourself out
+a little?"
+
+But Imma Spoelmann promised nothing, but insisted now on her gallop; and
+many a subsequent conversation remained, like this, without result.
+
+Sometimes, when Klaus Heinrich had come to tea, the Prince, Miss
+Spoelmann, the Countess, and Percival went into the park. The splendid
+collie kept decorously at Imma's side, and Countess Löwenjoul walked two
+or three yards behind the young people; for soon after they had started
+she had stopped for a second, to twine her bent and bony fingers round a
+blossom, and she had never made good the distance she had then lost. So
+Klaus Heinrich and Imma walked in front of her, and talked. But when
+they had covered a certain distance, they turned round, thus getting the
+Countess two or three yards in front of them. Then Klaus Heinrich
+followed up his conversational efforts, and, carefully and without
+looking up, took Imma Spoelmann's small, ringless hand from her side and
+clasped it in both his, the while he imploringly asked whether she was
+taking pains, and had made any progress in her confidence in him.
+
+It displeased him to hear that she had been working, poring over algebra
+and playing in the lofty spheres since they had last met. He would beg
+her to lay her books aside now, as they might distract her and divert
+her from the matter to which all her thinking powers must now be
+devoted. He talked also about himself, about that sobering effect and
+awkwardness which, according to her, his existence inspired; he tried to
+explain it, and in doing so to weaken it. He spoke about the cold,
+stern, and barren existence which had been his hitherto, he described to
+her how everybody had always flocked to gaze at him, while it had been
+his lofty calling to show himself and to be gazed at, a much more
+difficult task. He did his best to make her recognize that the remedy
+for that which caused him to prevent the poor Countess from drivelling
+and to estrange her to his own sorrow, that this remedy could be found
+in her, only in her, and was given over absolutely into her hands.
+
+She looked at him, her big eyes sparkled in dark scrutiny, and it was
+clear that she, she too, was struggling. But then she would shake her
+head or break off the conversation, introducing with a pout some topic
+over which she made merry, incapable of bringing herself to take the
+responsibility of the "Yes" for which he begged her, that undefined and,
+as matters stood, absolutely non-committal surrender.
+
+She did not prevent him from coming once or twice a week; she did not
+prevent him from speaking, from assailing her with prayers and
+asseverations and from taking her hand now and then between his own. But
+she was only patient, she remained unmoved, her dread of taking the
+decisive step, that aversion from leaving her cool and derisive kingdom
+and confessing herself his, seemed unconquerable; and she could not
+help, in her anguish and exhaustion, breaking out with the words: "Oh,
+Prince, we ought never to have met--it would have been best if we
+hadn't. Then you would have pursued your lofty calling as calmly as
+ever, and I should have preserved my peace of mind, and neither would
+have harassed the other!"
+
+The Prince had much difficulty in inducing her to recant, and in
+extorting from her the confession that she did not entirely regret
+having made his acquaintance. But all this took time. The summer came to
+an end, early night-frosts loosened the still-green leaves from the
+trees, Fatma's, Florian's, and Isabeau's hoofs rustled in the
+red-and-gold leafage when they went for a ride. Autumn came with its
+mists and sharp smells--and nobody could have prophesied an end, or
+indeed any decisive turn in the course of the strangely fluctuating
+affair.
+
+The credit of having placed things on the foundation of actuality, of
+having given events the lead in the direction of a happy issue, must for
+ever be ascribed to the distinguished gentleman who had up till now
+wisely kept in the background, but at the right moment intervened
+carefully but firmly. I refer to Excellency von Knobelsdorff, Minister
+of the Interior, Foreign Affairs, and the Grand Ducal Household.
+
+Dr. Ueberbein had been correct in his assertion that the President of
+the Council had kept himself posted in the stages of Klaus Heinrich's
+love affair. What is more, well served by intelligent and sagacious
+assistants, he had kept himself well in touch with the state of public
+opinion, with the rôle which Samuel Spoelmann and his daughter played in
+the imaginative powers of the people, with the royal rank with which the
+popular idea invested them, with the great and superstitious tension
+with which the population followed the intercourse between the Schlosses
+"Hermitage" and Delphinenort, with the popularity of that intercourse:
+in a word, he was well aware how the Spoelmanns, for everyone who did
+not deliberately shut his eyes, were the general topic of conversation
+and rumour, not only in the capital, but in the whole country. A
+characteristic incident was enough to make Herr Knobelsdorff sure of his
+ground.
+
+At the beginning of October--the Landtag had been opened a fortnight
+before, and the disputes with the Budget Commission were in full
+swing--Imma Spoelmann fell ill, very seriously ill, so it was said at
+first. It seemed that the imprudent girl, for some whim or mood, while
+out with her countess, had ventured on a gallop of nearly half an hour's
+duration on her white Fatma in the teeth of a strong north-east wind,
+and had come home with an attack of congestion of the lungs, which
+threatened to end her altogether.
+
+The news soon got about. People said the girl was hovering between life
+and death, which, as luckily soon emerged, was a great exaggeration. But
+the consternation, the general sympathy, could not have been greater if
+a serious accident had happened to a member of the House of Grimmburg,
+even to the Grand Duke himself. It was the sole topic of conversation.
+In the humbler parts of the city, near the Dorothea Hospital for
+instance, the women stood in the evening outside their front doors,
+pressed the palms of their hands against their breasts, and coughed, as
+if to show each other what it meant to be short of breath. The evening
+papers published searching and expert news of the condition of Miss
+Spoelmann, which passed from hand to hand, were read at family
+gatherings and cafés, and were discussed in the tram-cars. The
+_Courier's_ reporter had been seen to drive in a cab to Delphinenort,
+where, in the hall with the mosaic floor, he had been snubbed by the
+Spoelmanns' butler, and had talked English to him--though he found that
+no easy task.
+
+The press, moreover, could not escape the reproach of having magnified
+the whole business, and made a quite unnecessary fuss about it. There
+was absolutely no question of any danger. Six days in bed under the care
+of the Spoelmanns' private physician sufficed to relieve the congestion,
+and to make Miss Spoelmann's lungs quite well again. But these six days
+sufficed also to make clear the importance which the Spoelmanns, and
+Miss Imma's personality in particular, had achieved in our public
+opinion. Every morning found the envoys of the newspapers, commissioners
+of the general curiosity, gathered in the mosaic hall at Delphinenort to
+hear the butler's curt bulletins, which they then reproduced in their
+papers at the inordinate length which the public desired.
+
+One read of greetings and wishes for recovery sent to Delphinenort by
+various benevolent institutions which Imma Spoelmann had visited and
+richly subscribed to (and the wits remarked that the Grand Ducal
+Treasury might have taken the opportunity of offering their homage in a
+similar way). The public read also--and dropped the paper to exchange a
+significant look--of a "beautiful floral tribute," which Prince Klaus
+Heinrich had sent with his card (the truth being that the Prince, so
+long as Miss Spoelmann kept to her bed, sent flowers not once, but
+daily, to Delphinenort, a fact which was not mentioned by those in the
+know, so as not to make too great a sensation).
+
+The public read further that the popular young patient had left her bed
+for the first time, and finally the news came that she was soon to go
+out for the first time. But this going out, which took place on a sunny
+autumn morning, eight days after the patient had been taken ill, was
+calculated to give rise to such an expression of feeling on the part of
+the population as people of stern self-possession labelled immoderate.
+For round the Spoelmanns' huge olive-varnished, red-cushioned motor,
+which, with a pale young chauffeur of an Anglo-Saxon type on the box,
+waited in front of the main door at Delphinenort, a big crowd had
+gathered; and when Miss Spoelmann and Countess Löwenjoul, followed by a
+lackey with a rug, came out, cheers broke out, hats and handkerchiefs
+were waved, until the motor had forced a way through the crowd and had
+left the demonstrators behind in a cloud of vapour. It must be confessed
+that these consisted of those rather doubtful elements who usually
+collect on such occasions: half-grown youths, a few women with
+market-baskets, one or two schoolboys, gapers, loafers, and out-of-works
+of various descriptions.
+
+But what is the public and what should its composition be to make it an
+average public? One further assertion must not be passed over entirely
+in silence which was later disseminated by the cynics. It was to the
+effect that among the crowd round the motor there was an agent in Herr
+von Knobelsdorff's pay, a member of the secret police, who had started
+the cheers and vigorously kept them going. We can leave that in doubt,
+and not grudge the belittlers of important events their satisfaction.
+
+At least, in the case of this particular crowd, it only amounts to
+saying that the agent's task was the mechanical release of feelings
+which must have been there and must have been vivid. At any rate this
+scene, which of course was described at length in the daily press, did
+not fail to impress everybody, and persons with any acumen for the
+connexion of things felt no doubt that a further piece of news, which
+busied men's minds a few days later, stood in hidden relation to all
+these phenomena and symptoms.
+
+The news ran that his Royal Highness Prince Klaus Heinrich had received
+his Excellency the Minister of State von Knobelsdorff in audience at the
+Schloss "Hermitage," and had been closeted with him from three o'clock
+in the afternoon till seven o'clock in the evening. A whole four hours!
+What had they discussed? Surely not the next Court Ball? As a matter of
+fact, the Court Ball had been one among several topics of conversation.
+
+Herr von Knobelsdorff had preferred his request for a confidential talk
+with the Prince in connexion with the Court Hunt, which had taken place
+on October 10th in the woods to the west near Schloss "Jägerpreis," and
+in which Klaus Heinrich and his red-haired cousins, dressed in green
+uniforms, soft felt hats, and top-boots, and hung with field-glasses,
+hangers, hunting-knives, bandoliers, and pistol cases, had taken part.
+Herr von Braunbart-Schellendorf had been consulted, and three o'clock on
+October 12th decided on. Klaus Heinrich himself had offered to visit the
+old gentleman at his official residence, but Herr von Knobelsdorff had
+preferred coming to the "Hermitage." He came punctually, and was
+received with all the affection and warmth which Klaus Heinrich thought
+that propriety demanded in the case of the aged counsellor of his father
+and his brother. The sober little room, in which stood the three fine
+mahogany Empire arm-chairs, with the blue lyre-embroidery on the yellow
+ground, was the scene of the interview.
+
+Though close on seventy, Excellency von Knobelsdorff was vigorous both
+in body and mind. His frock-coat showed not one senile wrinkle, but was
+tightly and well filled with the compact and comfortable form of a man
+of happy disposition. His well-preserved hair was pure white, like his
+short moustache, and parted smoothly in the middle; his chin had a
+sympathetic pit in it, which might pass for a dimple. The fan-shaped
+wrinkles at the corners of his eyes played as livelily as ever--indeed,
+they had gained with the years some little branches and additional
+lines, so that the whole complication of ever-shifting wrinkles imparted
+to his blue eyes an expression of humorous subtlety.
+
+Klaus Heinrich was attached to Herr von Knobelsdorff, though no closer
+relations had been established between them. The Minister of State had
+actually superintended and organized the Prince's life. He had begun by
+fixing on Dröge to be his first tutor; had then called the "Pheasantry"
+into life for him; had sent him later to the University with Dr.
+Ueberbein; had also arranged his military service for show, and had put
+Schloss "Hermitage" at his disposal to live in. But all this he had done
+at second-hand, and had rarely interviewed him in person. Indeed, when
+Herr von Knobelsdorff had met Klaus Heinrich during those years of
+education, he had inquired most respectfully as to the Prince's resolves
+and plans for the future, as if he were in complete ignorance of them;
+and perhaps it was just this fiction, which was firmly bolstered up on
+both sides, which had kept their intercourse throughout within the
+bounds of formality.
+
+Herr von Knobelsdorff began the conversation in an easy though
+respectful tone, while Klaus Heinrich tried to discover the objects of
+his visit. The former then chatted about the hunt of the day before
+yesterday, made some pleasant reference to the amount of ground they had
+covered, and then mentioned casually his admirable colleague at the
+Treasury, Dr. Krippenreuther, who had also taken part in the hunt, and
+whose invalid appearance he regretted. Herr Krippenreuther had really
+not hit a thing.
+
+"Yes, worry makes the hand unsteady," remarked Herr von Knobelsdorff,
+and so gave the Prince the cue for a direct reference to this worry. He
+spoke about the "by no means trifling" shortage in the estimates, about
+the Minister's discussions with the Budget Commission, the new
+property-tax, the rate of 13½ per cent., and the bitter opposition of
+the urban deputies, of the antediluvian meat tax, and the Civil
+Service's cries of hunger; and Klaus Heinrich, who had been surprised at
+first by so many dry facts, listened to him intently and nodded his head
+repeatedly.
+
+The two men, the old and young, sat side by side on a slender, hardish
+sofa with yellow upholstery and wreath-like brass mountings, which stood
+behind the round table opposite the narrow glass door. The latter opened
+on to the terrace, and through it one could see the half-bare park and
+the duck pond floating in the autumn mist. The low, white, smooth stove,
+in which a fire was crackling, diffused a gentle warmth through the
+severely and scantily furnished room. Klaus Heinrich, though not quite
+able to follow the political proceedings, yet proud and happy at being
+so seriously talked to by the experienced dignitary, felt his mood
+growing more and more grateful and confidential. Herr von Knobelsdorff
+spoke pleasantly about the most unpleasant subjects. His voice was
+comforting, his remarks ably strung together and insinuating--and
+suddenly Klaus Heinrich became aware that he had dropped the subject of
+the State finances, and had passed on from Doctor Krippenreuther's
+worries to his, Klaus Heinrich's, own condition. Was Herr von
+Knobelsdorff mistaken? His eyes were beginning occasionally to play him
+tricks. But he wished he could think that his Royal Highness looked a
+little better, fresher, brighter--a look of tiredness, of worry, was
+unmistakable.... Herr von Knobelsdorff feared to seem importunate; but
+he must hope that these symptoms did not arise from any malady, bodily
+or mental?
+
+Klaus Heinrich looked out at the mist. His look was still sealed: but
+though he sat on the hard sofa in his usual stiff, upright attitude, his
+feet crossed, his right hand over his left, and the upper part of his
+body turned towards Herr von Knobelsdorff, yet inwardly his stiffness
+relaxed at this juncture, and, worn out as he was by his strangely
+ineffectual struggle, it did not want much more to make his eyes fill
+with tears. He was so lonely, so destitute of counsellors. Dr. Ueberbein
+had recently kept far away from the "Hermitage." ... Klaus Heinrich
+merely said: "Ah, Excellency, that would take us too far."
+
+But Herr von Knobelsdorff answered: "Too far? No, your Royal Highness
+need not be afraid of being too prolix. I confess that my knowledge of
+your Royal Highness's experiences is greater than I allowed to appear
+just now. Your Royal Highness can scarcely have anything new to tell me,
+apart from those refinements and details which rumour can never collect.
+But if it might comfort your Royal Highness to open his heart to an old
+servant, who carried you in his arms ... perhaps I might not be quite
+incapable of standing by your Royal Highness in word and deed."
+
+And then it happened that something gave way in Klaus Heinrich's bosom,
+and poured out in a stream of confession: he told Herr von Knobelsdorff
+the whole story. He told it as one tells when the heart is full and
+everything comes tumbling out all at once through the lips; according to
+no plan, no chronological order, and with undue emphasis on
+unessentials, but with a burst of passion, and with that concreteness
+which is the product of passionate observation. He began in the middle,
+jumped unexpectedly to the beginning, hurried on to the conclusion
+(which did not exist), tumbled over himself, and more than once
+hesitated and stuck fast.
+
+But Herr von Knobelsdorff's fore-knowledge made the review easier for
+him, enabled him by slipping in suggestive questions to float the ship
+again. And at last the picture of Klaus Heinrich's experiences with all
+their characters and leading actors, with the figures of Samuel
+Spoelmann, of the crazy Countess Löwenjoul, even of the collie,
+Percival, and especially that of Imma Spoelmann, with all its
+contrariness, lay there complete and full, ready to be discussed. The
+piece of oil-silk was referred to in full detail, for Herr von
+Knobelsdorff seemed to attach importance to it. Nothing was omitted,
+from the impressive incident at the changing of the guard to the last
+intimate and distressing struggles on horseback and on foot.
+
+Klaus Heinrich was much wrought up when he finished, and his steel-blue
+eyes in the national cheek-bones were full of tears. He had left the
+sofa, thereby forcing Herr von Knobelsdorff also to get up, and wished
+on account of the heat to open the glass door into the little veranda,
+but Herr von Knobelsdorff stopped this by calling attention to the risk
+of a chill. He begged the Prince humbly to sit down again, as his Royal
+Highness could not conceal from himself the need for a calm discussion
+of the state of affairs. And both sat down again on the thinly cushioned
+sofa.
+
+Herr von Knobelsdorff meditated awhile, and his face was as serious as
+it ever could be with his dimpled chin and the play of his eye-wrinkles.
+Then, breaking silence, he thanked the Prince with emotion for the great
+honour he had shown him by confiding in him. And in direct connexion
+with this Herr von Knobelsdorff, emphasizing each word, announced that
+whatever attitude the Prince had expected him, Herr von Knobelsdorff, to
+assume at this juncture, he, Herr von Knobelsdorff, was certainly not
+the man to oppose the wishes and hopes of the Prince, but much rather to
+show his Royal Highness the way to the longed-for goal to the best of
+his power.
+
+Long silence ensued. Klaus Heinrich looked rapturously at Herr von
+Knobelsdorff's eyes with the fan-like wrinkles. Had he these wishes and
+hopes? Was there a goal? He was not sure of his ears. He said: "Your
+Excellency is kind enough ..."
+
+Then Herr von Knobelsdorff added to his declaration a condition, and
+said: Frankly, on one condition only did he, as first official of the
+State, dare to exercise his modest influence on behalf of his Royal
+Highness.
+
+"On one condition?"
+
+"On condition that your Royal Highness does not take account only of
+your own happiness in a selfish and frivolous way, but, as your lofty
+calling demands, regards your personal destiny from the point of view of
+the Mass, the Whole."
+
+Klaus Heinrich was silent, and his eyes were heavy in thought.
+
+"Perhaps your Royal Highness," continued Herr von Knobelsdorff after a
+pause, "will allow me to leave this delicate and yet quite unavoidable
+topic for a while, and to turn to more general matters! This is the hour
+of confidence and mutual understanding ... I respectfully beg to be
+allowed to take advantage of it. Your Royal Highness is through your
+exalted position cut off from rude actuality, severed from it by
+delicate precautions. I shall not forget that this actuality is not--or
+only at second-hand--a matter for your Royal Highness. And yet the
+moment seems to me to have come for bringing at least a certain portion
+of this rude world to the immediate notice of your Royal Highness,
+entirely for your own sake. I plead beforehand for forgiveness, if I
+chance to stir up your Royal Highness's emotions too harshly by what I
+tell you."
+
+"Please speak on, Excellency," said Klaus Heinrich hastily.
+Involuntarily he sat upright, just as one sits up straight in a
+dentist's chair and collects one's natural powers to withstand an attack
+of pain.
+
+"I must ask for your undivided attention," said Herr von Knobelsdorff
+almost sternly. And then, as a corollary to the discussions with the
+Budget Commission, followed the statement, the clear, exhaustive,
+unembroidered lesson, well primed with figures and explanations of the
+fundamental facts and technical expressions, which showed the economical
+position of the country, the State, and brought our whole miserable
+plight with relentless clearness before the Prince's eyes.
+
+Naturally these things were not entirely new and strange to him. Indeed,
+ever since he had assumed his representative rôle, they had served as a
+motive and subject for those formal questions which he used to address
+to burgomasters, agriculturists, and high officials, and to which he
+received answers which were merely answers and nothing more, and which
+were often accompanied by the smile which he had known all his life and
+which reminded him that he was born to be king. But all this had not yet
+forced itself upon him in its naked actuality, nor made serious claims
+on his thinking powers.
+
+Herr von Knobelsdorff was by no means satisfied to get a few of Klaus
+Heinrich's usual encouraging words; he pressed the matter home, he
+cross-examined the young man, made him repeat whole sentences; he kept
+him relentlessly to the point, and reminded the Prince of a dry and
+skinny index-finger which stopped at each separate place and would not
+go on until convinced that the pupil really understood the lesson.
+
+Herr von Knobelsdorff began at the rudiments, and talked about the
+country and its lack of development from a commercial and industrial
+point of view: he talked about the people, Klaus Heinrich's people, that
+shrewd and honest, sound and reliable stock. He spoke about the
+deficiency in the State reserves, the poor dividends paid by the
+railways, the insufficient coal supply. He touched on the administration
+of the forests, game preserves and stock-raising; he talked about the
+woods, the excessive felling, the immoderate stripping of litter, the
+crippling of the industry, the falling revenues from the forests. Then
+he went more closely into our stock of gold, discussed the natural
+inability of the people to pay heavy taxes, described the reckless
+finance of earlier periods. Thereupon he added up the figures of the
+State debt, which Herr von Knobelsdorff forced the Prince to repeat
+several times. They reached six hundred millions.
+
+The lesson extended further to the debentures, conditions for interest
+and repayment. It came back to Doctor Krippenreuther's present anxiety,
+and described the seriousness of the situation. Suddenly pulling the
+"Annual of the Statistical Bureau" out of his pocket, Herr von
+Knobelsdorff instructed his pupil in the harvest returns for the
+previous years, summed up the untoward events which had caused their
+decline, pointed to the deficiencies in the taxes, the figures of which
+he had brought with him, and referred to the underfed adults and
+children whom one might see throughout the country-side. Then he turned
+to the general condition of the gold market, discoursed on the rise in
+the value of gold and the general economic unsoundness. Klaus Heinrich
+learned also about the lowness of the Exchange, the restlessness of the
+creditors, the leakage of gold, and the bank smashes; he saw our credit
+shaken, our paper valueless, and grasped to the full that the raising of
+a new loan was almost impossible.
+
+The night was closing in, it was long past five, when Herr von
+Knobelsdorff ended his statement of the national economics. At this time
+Klaus Heinrich usually had his tea, but this time he only gave a passing
+thought to it, and nobody outside dared to disturb a conversation whose
+importance was shown by its duration. Klaus Heinrich listened and
+listened. He scarcely realized how much affected he was. But how could
+the other bring himself to say all that to him? He had not called him
+"Royal Highness" one single time during the interview, he had to some
+extent forced him, and grossly ignored the fact that he was "born to be
+king." And yet it was good and stimulating to hear all that and to have
+to bury oneself in it for reality's sake. He forgot to have the lights
+brought, his attention was so much occupied.
+
+"It was these circumstances," concluded Herr von Knobelsdorff, "which I
+had in mind when I begged your Royal Highness to regard your personal
+wishes and plans continually in the light of the general good. I have no
+doubt that your Royal Highness will profit by this talk and by the facts
+I have been bold enough to put before you. And in this connexion I beg
+your Royal Highness to allow me to revert to your more personal case."
+
+Herr von Knobelsdorff waited till Klaus Heinrich had made a sign of
+consent with his hand, and then went on: "If this affair is to have any
+future, it is desirable that it should now advance a step in its
+development. It is stagnating, it remains as formless and prospectless
+as the mist outside. That's intolerable. We must give it form, must
+thicken it out, must mark its outlines more clearly before the eyes of
+the world."
+
+"Quite so! quite so! Give it form ... thicken it out.... That's it.
+That's absolutely necessary," agreed Klaus Heinrich, so much excited
+that he left the sofa and began to walk up and down the room. "But how?
+For heaven's sake, Excellency, tell me how?"
+
+"The next external step," said Herr von Knobelsdorff, and remained
+sitting--so unusual was the occasion--"must be this, that the Spoelmanns
+be seen at Court."
+
+Klaus Heinrich stopped still.
+
+"No," he said, "never, if I know Mr. Spoelmann, will he let himself be
+persuaded to go to Court."
+
+"Which," answered Herr von Knobelsdorff, "doesn't prevent his daughter
+from doing us this pleasure. The Court Ball's not so very far off; it
+rests with you, Royal Highness, to induce Miss Spoelmann to take part in
+it. Her companion is a countess ... a peculiar one, perhaps, but a
+countess, and that helps things. When I assure your Royal Highness that
+the Court will not fail to make things easy, I am speaking with the
+approbation of the Chief Master of the Ceremonies, Herr von Bühl zu
+Bühl."
+
+The conversation now turned for three-quarters of an hour on questions
+of precedence, and the ceremonial conditions under which the
+presentation must be carried out. The distribution of cards was always
+left to Princess Catherine's Mistress of the Robes, a widowed Countess
+Trümmerhauff, who led the ladies' world at the festivities in the Old
+Castle.
+
+But as to the act of presentation itself, Herr von Knobelsdorff had
+managed to secure some concessions of a deliberate, in fact definite
+character. There was no American Consul in the place--no reason on that
+account, explained Herr von Knobelsdorff, for letting the ladies be
+presented by any casual chamberlain; no, the Master of the Ceremonies
+himself requested the honour of presenting them to the Grand Duke. When?
+At what point of the prescribed procession? Why, undoubtedly, unusual
+circumstances demand exceptions. In the first place, then, in front of
+all the débutantes of the various ranks--Klaus Heinrich might assure
+Miss Spoelmann that this would be arranged. It would give rise to talk
+and sensation at Court and in the city. But never mind, so much the
+better. Sensation was by no means undesirable, sensation was useful,
+even necessary....
+
+Herr von Knobelsdorff went. It had become so dark when he took his leave
+that the Prince and he could scarcely see each other. Klaus Heinrich,
+who now first became aware of it, excused himself in some confusion, but
+Herr von Knobelsdorff declared it to be a matter of no importance in
+what sort of light a conversation like that was carried on. He took the
+hand which Klaus Heinrich offered him, and grasped it in both his.
+
+"Never," he said warmly, and these were his last words before he went,
+"never was the happiness of a prince more inseparable from that of his
+people. No, whatever your Royal Highness ponders and does, you will bear
+in mind that the happiness of your Royal Highness by the disposition of
+destiny has become a condition of the public weal, but that your Royal
+Highness on your side must recognize in the weal of your country the
+indispensable condition and justification of your own happiness."
+
+Much moved, and not yet in a condition to arrange the thoughts which
+poured in on him in thousands, Klaus Heinrich remained behind in his
+homely Empire room.
+
+He passed a restless night and went next morning, despite misty and damp
+weather, for a long and lonely ride. Herr von Knobelsdorff had talked
+clearly and voluminously, had given and accepted facts; but, for the
+fusion, modelling, and working up of these multifarious raw products he
+had given only curt, aphoristic instructions, and Klaus Heinrich found
+himself doomed to some heavy thinking while he lay awake at night, and
+later when he went for a ride on Florian.
+
+When he got back to the "Hermitage" he did a remarkable thing. He wrote
+with a pencil on a piece of paper an order, a certain commission, and
+sent Neumann, the valet, with it to the Academy Bookshop in the
+University Strasse: Neumann came back with a package of books, which
+Klaus Heinrich had set out in his room, and which he began at once to
+read.
+
+They were works of a sober and school-bookish appearance, with glazed
+paper backs, ugly leather sides, and coarse paper, and the contents were
+divided up minutely into sections, main divisions, sub-divisions, and
+paragraphs. Their titles were not stimulating. They were manuals and
+hand-hooks of economy, abstracts and outlines of State finance,
+systematic treatises on political economy. The Prince shut himself up in
+his study with these books, and gave instructions that he wished on no
+account to be disturbed.
+
+The autumn was damp, and Klaus Heinrich felt little tempted to leave the
+"Hermitage." On Saturday he drove to the Old Schloss to give free
+audiences: otherwise his time was his own all this week, and he knew how
+to make use of it. Wrapped in his dressing-gown, he sat in the warmth of
+the low stove at his small, old-fashioned, little-used desk, and pored
+over his books on finance, with his temples resting in his hands. He
+read about the State expenditure and what it always consisted of, about
+the receipts and whence they flowed in when things were going well; he
+ploughed through the whole subject of taxation in all its branches; he
+buried himself in the doctrine of the budget, of the balance, of the
+surplus, and particularly of the deficit; he lingered longest over, and
+went deepest into, the public debt and its varieties, into loans, and
+relation between interest and capital and liquidation, and from time to
+time he raised his head from the book and dreamed with a smile about
+what he had read, as if it had been the gayest poetry.
+
+For the rest, he found that it was not hard to grasp it all, when one
+set one's mind to it. No, this really serious actuality, in which he now
+played a part, this simple and rude texture of interests, this system of
+down-right logical needs and necessities, which countless young men of
+ordinary birth had to stuff into their heads, to be able to pass
+examinations in it, it was by no means so difficult to get hold of as he
+in his Highness had thought. The rôle of representation, in his opinion,
+was harder. And much, much more ticklish and difficult were his gentle
+struggles with Imma Spoelmann on horseback and on foot. His studies made
+him warm and happy, he felt that his zeal was making his cheeks hot,
+like those of his brother-in-law zu Ried-Hohenried over his peat.
+
+After thus giving the facts which he had learnt from Herr von
+Knobelsdorff a general academic basis, and also accomplishing a feat of
+hard thinking in bringing together inward connexions and weighing
+possibilities, he again presented himself at Delphinenort at tea-time.
+The lights in the candelabra with the lions' feet and the big crystal
+lustres were burning in the garden room. The ladies were alone.
+
+Klaus Heinrich first asked after Mr. Spoelmann's health and Imma's
+indisposition. He upbraided her freely for her strange impetuosity, to
+which she answered with a pout that as far as she knew she was her own
+mistress, and could do as she liked with her health. The conversation
+then turned to the autumn, to the damp weather which forbade rides, to
+the advanced time of year, and the proximity of winter, and Klaus
+Heinrich suddenly mentioned the Court Ball in connexion with which it
+occurred to him to ask whether the ladies--if unfortunately Mr.
+Spoelmann were prevented by the state of his health--would not care to
+take part in one this time. But when Imma answered, "No, really, she had
+no wish to be rude, but she had absolutely not the faintest desire to go
+to a Court Ball," he did not press the point, but postponed the question
+for the time.
+
+What had he done these last few days?--Oh, he'd been very busy, he might
+say that he'd been chock-a-block with work.--Work? Doubtless he meant
+the Court Hunt at "Jägerpreis."--The Court Hunt? No. He had gone in for
+real study which he had by no means got to the bottom of yet; on the
+contrary he was sticking deep in the literature on the subject.... And
+Klaus Heinrich began to talk about his ugly books, his peeps into
+financial science, and he spoke with such pleasure and respect of this
+discipline that Imma Spoelmann looked at him with her big eyes. But
+when--almost timidly--she questioned him as to the motive and impulse
+for this activity, he answered that it was living, only too burning,
+questions of the day which had brought him to it: circumstances and
+conditions which were certainly not well suited for a cheerful talk at
+tea. This remark obviously offended Imma Spoelmann.
+
+"On what observations," she asked sharply, wagging her head from side to
+side, "did he base his conviction that she was approachable only or
+preferably by way of cheerful conversation?" And she commanded him
+rather than asked him to be kind enough to explain about the burning
+questions of the day.
+
+Then Klaus Heinrich explained what he had learnt from Herr von
+Knobelsdorff, and talked about the land and its state. He was well
+posted on every point at which the skinny index-finger had paused: he
+talked about the natural and the indebted, the general and the
+particular, the inherited and the intensifying misfortunes; he
+emphasized particularly the figures of the State debt, and the burden
+they laid on our national economy--they were six hundred millions--and
+he did not forget to mention the underfed peasants in the country-side.
+
+He did not speak connectedly; Imma Spoelmann interrupted him with
+questions and helped him on with questions. She listened carefully, and
+asked for explanations of what she did not at once understand. Dressed
+in her loose-sleeved, red-silk dress with the broad embroidery on the
+yoke, an old-Spanish chain round her child-like neck, she sat leaning on
+one elbow over the table, her chin buried in her ringless hand, and
+listened with her whole soul, while her big, dark eyes scrutinized the
+Prince's face.
+
+But while he spoke, in answer to Imma's verbal and ocular questions,
+worked at his subject, grew excited and entirely absorbed in it,
+Countess Löwenjoul no longer felt herself restricted to sober clarity by
+his presence, but let herself go and indulged in the luxury of
+drivelling. All the misery, she explained with dignified gestures, even
+the bad harvest, the burden of debt and the rise in the price of gold,
+were due to the shameless women who swarmed everywhere, and
+unfortunately had discovered the way through the floor, as last night
+the wife of a sergeant from the Grenadiers' Barracks had scratched her
+breasts and pommelled her in a horrible way. Then she alluded to her
+Schlosses in Burgundy, through the roofs of which the rain came, and
+went so far as to relate that she had gone as lieutenant in an
+expedition against the Turks, on which she had been the only one who
+"had not lost her head." Imma Spoelmann and Klaus Heinrich threw her a
+kind word now and then, readily promised to call her Frau Meier in
+future, and for the rest took no notice of her.
+
+The cheeks of both were burning when Klaus Heinrich had said all he
+knew--even on Miss Spoelmann's usually pearl-white cheeks there was a
+shade of red to be seen. They then stopped, the Countess too kept quiet,
+with her little head inclined on her shoulder, and staring into vacancy.
+Klaus Heinrich played on the white and sharply folded table-cloth with
+the stem of an orchid, which had stood in a glass by his plate; but as
+soon as he raised his head he met Imma Spoelmann's large, flaming eyes,
+which spoke a message of secret entreaty across the table, a darkly
+eloquent language.
+
+"It has been nice to-day," she said in her broken voice, when she said
+good-bye this time, and he felt her small, soft hands clasp his with a
+firm squeeze. "Next time your Highness honours our unworthy house, do
+bring me one or two of those excellent books you have bought." She could
+not entirely resist mocking him, but she asked him for his finance
+books, and he brought them to her.
+
+He brought her two of them, which he considered the most informative and
+comprehensive; he brought them some days later in his carriage through
+the damp Town Garden, and she thanked him for doing so. As soon as tea
+was over, they retired to a corner of the room, and there, while the
+Countess absently continued sitting at the tea-table, they began their
+common studies in throne-like chairs at a gilt table, bending over the
+first page of a manual called "The Science of Finance." They even read
+the headings to the sections, each reading a sentence softly in turn;
+for Imma Spoelmann insisted on going methodically to work and beginning
+at the beginning.
+
+Klaus Heinrich, well prepared as he was, acted as guide through the
+paragraphs, and nobody could have followed more smartly or
+clear-headedly than Imma.
+
+"It's quite easy!" she said and looked up with a laugh. "I'm surprised
+that it is at bottom so simple. Algebra is much harder, Prince."
+
+But as they went so deeply into things, they did not get far in one
+afternoon, so made a mark in the book at which to start next time.
+
+And so they went on, and the Prince's visits to Delphinenort were
+devoted to dull realities. Whenever Mr. Spoelmann did not come to tea,
+or, with Dr. Watercloose, left them, after eating his rusk, Imma and
+Klaus Heinrich sat down at the gilt table with their books, and plunged
+heads together into the Science of Economics. But as they progressed,
+they compared what they learned with the reality, applied what they read
+to the circumstances of the country, as Klaus Heinrich conceived them to
+be, and made their studies profitable, though it happened not seldom
+that their investigations were interrupted by considerations of a
+personal kind.
+
+"It seems, then," said Imma, "that the issue may be effected either
+directly or indirectly--yes, that's obvious. Either the State turns
+directly to the capitalists and opens a subscription list ... Your hand
+is twice as broad as mine," she said; "look, Prince."
+
+And they looked laughingly at their hands, his right and her left, as
+they lay next each other on the gilt table.
+
+"Or," went on Imma, "the loan is procured by negotiation, and it is some
+big bank, or group of banks, to which the State ..."
+
+"Wait!" he said softly. "Wait, Imma, and answer me one question. Aren't
+you missing the main point? Are you making progress? What about the
+disenchantment and embarrassment, dear little Imma? Have you now just
+one spark of confidence in me?" His lips asked the question close to her
+hair, from which a delicate fragrance arose, and she held her dark head
+still and bent over the book, though she did not answer his question
+frankly.
+
+"But must it be a bank or group of banks?" she pondered. "There's
+nothing about it there; I can't think it would be necessary in
+practice."
+
+She spoke gravely and deliberately on these occasions, for she too for
+her part had to grapple with the mental exercises which Klaus Heinrich
+had successfully managed after the conversation with Herr von
+Knobelsdorff. And when some weeks later he repeated his question,
+whether she would not like to go to the Court Ball, and told her of the
+ceremonial conditions which had been sanctioned for this occasion,
+behold, she replied that she would like to, and would go next day with
+Countess Löwenjoul and leave cards on the widowed Countess Trümmerhauff.
+
+This year the Court Ball took place earlier than usual; at the end of
+November--an arrangement which was said to be due to the wishes of the
+Grand Ducal Party. Herr von Bühl zu Bühl bitterly bewailed this
+precipitation, which obliged him and his subordinates to cancel the
+arrangements for the most important Court function, especially the
+improvements which the Gala Rooms in the Old Schloss so much needed. But
+the wish of the particular member of the Grand Ducal family had had the
+support of Herr von Knobelsdorff, and the Court Marshal had to give way.
+But it happened thus that people's minds scarcely had time to prepare
+themselves sufficiently for what really was the event of the evening, in
+comparison with which the unusual date seemed as nothing. Indeed, when
+the _Courier_ published in leaded type the news of the leaving of cards
+and the invitation--not without expressing in rather smaller type and in
+glowing words its satisfaction thereat, and welcoming Spoelmann's
+daughter to the Court--the important evening was already close at hand,
+and before tongues could get fairly wagging the whole thing was a
+completed reality.
+
+Never had more envy attached to the five hundred favoured ones whose
+names stood on the Court Ball list, never had the bourgeois more eagerly
+devoured the account in the _Courier_--those dazzling columns which were
+written every year by a nobleman who had degenerated through drink, and
+which were such glorious reading that one felt they gave one a peep into
+Fairyland, while as a matter of fact the ball in the Old Schloss went
+off quite modestly and soberly. But the report only extended to the
+supper, including the French menu, and everything that came later,
+especially all the delicate significance of the great occasion, were
+necessarily left to be reported by word of mouth.
+
+The ladies, in a huge olive-coloured motor, had pulled up in front of
+the Albrechtstor at the Old Schloss fairly punctually, though not so
+punctually that Herr von Bühl zu Bühl had not had time to get anxious.
+From a quarter-past seven onwards he had waited in full uniform, covered
+with orders down to his waist, with a bright brown toupée and his gold
+pince-nez on his nose, in the middle of the armour-hung Knights' Hall
+where the Grand Ducal family and the chief officials were collected;
+standing now on one foot, then on the other, and every now and then
+dispatching a footman to the ballroom to find out whether Miss Spoelmann
+had not yet come. He thought of all sorts of unheard-of possibilities.
+If this Queen of Sheba came too late--and what might one not expect of a
+girl who had walked right through the guard?--the entry of the Grand
+Ducal cortège would have to be delayed, and the Court would have to wait
+for her, for she simply must be introduced first, and it was out of the
+question that she should enter the ballroom after the Grand Duke.
+
+But thank heaven! a bare minute before half-past seven she arrived with
+her Countess; and it made a great sensation when the Chamberlains who
+received them arranged them next the diplomats, and so in front of the
+nobility, the Court ladies, the Ministers, the Generals, the Presidents
+of Chambers, and all the Court world. Aide-de-camp von Platow had
+fetched the Grand Duke from his rooms. Albrecht, in hussar uniform, had
+greeted the members of his House with down-cast eyes in the Knights'
+Hall, had offered his arm to Aunt Catherine, and then, after Herr von
+Bühl had tapped three times with his staff on the parquet in the open
+doors, the procession of the Court into the ballroom had begun.
+
+Eye-witnesses asserted later that the general inattention had verged on
+the scandalous during the perambulation of the Grand Duke. As Albrecht
+reached successive spots with his dignified aunt, a hasty bowing and
+billowing without the fitting composure ensued, but otherwise all faces
+were turned to one point only in the ball, all eyes directed with
+burning curiosity on this point alone.... She who stood yonder had had
+enemies in the hall, at least among the women, the female Trümmerhauffs,
+Prenzlaus, Wehrzahns, and Platows, who were plying their fans here, and
+sharp and cold female glances had scrutinized her. But whether her
+position was now too well established for criticism to venture to assail
+her, or her personality itself had conquered the secret opposition--all
+had declared with one voice that Imma Spoelmann was as fine as the
+daughter of the King of the Mountains.
+
+The whole town, the clerk in the Government office, the messenger at the
+street corner, knew her toilette by heart next morning. It had been a
+gown of pale-green crêpe de chine, with silver embroidery and priceless
+old silver lace on the bodice. A tiara of diamonds had glittered in her
+dark hair, which showed a tendency to fall in smooth wisps across her
+forehead, and a long hanging chain of the same stones was wound two or
+three times round her brown throat. Small and child-like, yet strangely
+earnest and sensible-looking, with her pale face and big, strangely
+speaking eyes, she had stood in her place of honour by the side of
+Countess Löwenjoul, who had been dressed in brown as usual, though this
+time in satin. When the cortège reached her, she had, with a kind of coy
+pertness, made a suggestion of a curtsey, without completing it; but
+when Prince Klaus Heinrich, with the yellow ribbon and the flat chain of
+the Family Order "For Constancy" over his tunic, the silver star of the
+Grimmburg Griffin on his chest, and his anæmic cousin on his arm whose
+conversation was limited to "Yes," passed by her directly after the
+Grand Duke, she had smiled with closed lips and nodded to him like a
+comrade--which sent something like a quiver through the company.
+
+Then, after the diplomats had been received by the Grand Ducal party,
+the presentations had begun--begun with Imma Spoelmann, although there
+had been two Countess Hundskeels and one Baroness von Schulenburg-Tressen
+among the débutantes. With an ingratiating smile, which
+showed his false teeth, Herr von Bühl had presented Spoelmann's
+daughter to his master. And Albrecht, sucking his lower lip against his
+upper, had looked down on her coy semi-curtsey, from which she had
+raised herself to scrutinize with her speaking eyes the suffering Hussar
+Colonel in his silent pride. The Grand Duke had addressed several
+questions to her, an exception to an otherwise strict rule; he had asked
+her how her father was, what effect the Ditlinde Spa had, and how she
+liked on the whole being with us--questions which she had answered in
+her broken voice with a pout and a wag of her dark head. Then, after a
+pause, a pause perhaps of internal struggle, Albrecht had expressed his
+pleasure at seeing her at Court; whereupon Countess Löwenjoul had
+executed her curtsey, with an evasive glance from her eyes.
+
+This scene, Imma Spoelmann in the presence of Albrecht, long remained
+the favourite topic of conversation, and although it had passed, as it
+was bound to pass, without anything unusual happening, yet its charm and
+importance must not be overlooked. It was not indeed the climax of the
+evening. That, in the eyes of many, was the Quadrille d'honneur; in the
+eyes of others, the supper,--in reality, however, it was a secret
+duologue between the two chief actors in the piece, a short, unnoticed
+exchange of words, whose contents and actual result the public could
+only guess--the settlement of certain tender struggles on horseback and
+on foot.
+
+As to the Quadrille d'honneur, there were people who declared next day
+that Miss Spoelmann had danced in it, with Prince Klaus Heinrich as her
+partner. Only the first part of this story was correct. Miss Spoelmann
+had taken part in the solemn dance, but as the British Consul's partner
+and Prince Klaus Heinrich's _vis-à-vis_. This was fairly strong, but
+what was still stronger was that the majority of the guests did not
+consider it an unheard-of thing, but on the contrary almost a matter of
+course.
+
+Yes, Imma Spoelmann's position was established; the popular conception
+of her personality--as the public learned next day--had prevailed in the
+Court ballroom, and, what is more, Herr von Knobelsdorff had taken care
+that this conception should be expressed with all the publicity he
+thought desirable. Not with distinctive or aggressive respect; no, Imma
+Spoelmann had been treated ceremoniously, and at the same time with
+systematic, intentional emphasis. The two Masters of the Ceremonies on
+duty--Chamberlains in rank--had introduced selected dancers to her; and
+when she had left her place, close by the low red platform where the
+Grand Ducal family sat on damask chairs, to dance with her partners,
+they had busied themselves, just as when the princesses danced, in
+clearing her a space under the chandelier in the middle and protecting
+her from collisions--an easy task in any case, for a protective circle
+of curiosity had formed round her when she danced.
+
+It was reported that when Prince Klaus Heinrich asked Miss Spoelmann for
+the first time, a deep drawing of breath, a formal "Sh" of excitement
+had been heard in the ballroom, and the Masters of the Ceremonies had
+found it difficult to keep the ball going and to prevent the whole
+company standing round the dancers in gaping curiosity. The women
+especially had watched the pair with an excited delight, which, had Miss
+Spoelmann's position been only a little weaker, would undoubtedly have
+taken on the form of rage and malice. But the pressure and influence of
+public feeling, that powerful inspiration from below, had worked too
+powerfully on every one of the five hundred guests for them to be able
+to regard this spectacle through any eyes other than those of the
+people. It did not seem to have occurred to the Prince to impose any
+restraint upon himself. His name--shortened to "K. H."--appeared twice
+on Miss Spoelmann's programme, and besides he had sat out several other
+dances with her. They had danced yonder. Her brown arm had rested on the
+yellow-silk ribbon that crossed his shoulder, and his right arm had
+encircled her light and child-like figure, while, as usual when he
+danced, he had placed the left on his hip and guided his partner with
+one hand only. With one hand!...
+
+When supper-time came, a further article in the ceremonial conditions
+which Herr von Knobelsdorff had contrived for Imma Spoelmann's visit to
+Court came into staggering force. It was the article which dealt with
+the order of seating at the table. For while the majority of the guests
+supped at long tables in the picture gallery and in the Hall of the
+Twelve Months, supper was laid in the Silver Hall for the Grand Ducal
+family, diplomats, and leading Court officials. In solemn procession, as
+when they entered the ballroom, Albrecht and his party entered the
+supper-room punctually at eleven o'clock. And Imma Spoelmann passed by
+the lackeys, who kept the doors and repelled the uninvited, on the arm
+of the British Consul, and entered the Silver Hall to take her place at
+the Grand Ducal table.
+
+That was unheard of--and at the same time, after all that had gone
+before, so logically consequential, that any surprise or disgust would
+have been idiotic. The motto for the day was to be prepared for anything
+in the way of omens and phenomena. But after supper, when the Grand Duke
+had withdrawn and Princess Griseldis had opened the cotillon with a
+Chamberlain, expectation was again raised to fever point, for the
+general question was, had the Prince been allowed to present Miss
+Spoelmann with a bouquet? His instructions had obviously been not to
+give her the first. He had first given one each to his Aunt Catherine
+and a red-haired cousin; but he had then advanced towards Imma Spoelmann
+with a bouquet of lilac from the Court gardens. As she was about to
+raise the lovely bunch to her nose, she had hesitated for some unknown
+reason with a look of apprehension, and it was not till he had
+encouraged her with a laugh and a nod that she decided to test the
+fragrance of the bouquet. Then they had danced and chatted quietly
+together for a long time.
+
+And yet it was during this dance that that unnoticed duologue, that
+conversation of a palpably bourgeois tenor and practical result, had
+taken place--and this is what it was.
+
+"Are you satisfied this time, Imma, with the flowers I bring you?"
+
+"Of course, Prince, your lilac is lovely and smells quite as it should.
+I love it."
+
+"Really, Imma? But I'm sorry for the poor rose-bush down in the court,
+because its roses disgust you with their mouldy smell."
+
+"I won't say that they disgust me, Prince."
+
+"But they disenchant and chill you, don't they?"
+
+"Yes, perhaps."
+
+"But have I ever told you of the popular belief that the rose-bush will
+one day be redeemed, on a day of general happiness, and will bear roses
+which will add to their great beauty the gift of a lovely natural
+scent?"
+
+"Well, Prince, we'll have to wait for that."
+
+"No, Imma, we must help and act! We must decide, and have done with all
+hesitation, little Imma! Tell me--tell me to-day--have you confidence in
+me?"
+
+"Yes, Prince. I have gained confidence in you latterly."
+
+"There you are! Thank heaven! Didn't I say that I must succeed in the
+long run? And so you think now that I am in earnest, real, serious
+earnest about you and about us?"
+
+"Yes, Prince; latterly I have thought that I can think so."
+
+"At last, at last, irresolute little Imma! Oh, how I thank you, I thank
+you! But in that case you're not afraid, and will let the whole world
+know that you belong to me?"
+
+"Let them know that you belong to me, Royal Highness, if it's all the
+same to you."
+
+"That I will, Imma, loudly and surely. But only on one condition,
+namely, that we don't only think of our own happiness in a selfish and
+frivolous way, but regard it all from the point of view of the Mass, the
+Whole. For the public weal and our happiness, you see, are
+interdependent."
+
+"Well said, Prince. For without our studies of the public weal I should
+have found it difficult to decide to have confidence in you."
+
+"And without you, Imma, to warm my heart, I should have found it
+difficult to tackle such practical problems."
+
+"Right; then we'll see what we can do, each in our own place. You with
+your folk and I--with my father."
+
+"Little sister," he answered quietly, and pressed her more closely to
+him in the dance. "Little bride."
+
+Undoubtedly a peculiar plighting of troth.
+
+To be frank, everything was not yet settled, or nearly settled. Looking
+back, one must say that, if one factor in the whole had been altered or
+removed, the whole would have been in imminent danger of coming to
+nothing. What a blessing, the chronicler feels tempted to cry, what a
+blessing that there was a man at the head of affairs who faced the music
+firmly and undaunted, indeed not without a dash of rashness, and did not
+judge a thing to be impossible just because it had never happened
+before.
+
+The conversation which Excellency von Knobelsdorff had about eight days
+after the memorable Court Ball with Grand Duke Albrecht II in the Old
+Schloss belongs to the history of the times. The day before, the
+President of Council had presided over a session of the Cabinet, about
+which the _Courier_ had been in the position to report that questions of
+finance and the private affairs of the Grand Ducal family had been
+discussed, and further--added the newspaper in spaced type--that
+complete unanimity of opinion had been reached among the Ministers. So
+Herr von Knobelsdorff found himself in a strong position towards his
+young Monarch at the audience; for he had not only the swarming mass of
+the people, but also the unanimous will of the Government at his back.
+
+The conversation in Albrecht's draughty study took scarcely less time
+than that in the little yellow room at Schloss "Hermitage." A pause was
+made while the Grand Duke had a lemonade and Herr von Knobelsdorff a
+glass of port and biscuits. The long duration of the conversation was
+due only to the importance of the material to be discussed, not to the
+Monarch's opposition; for Albrecht raised none. In his close frock-coat,
+with his thin, sensitive hands crossed on his lap, his proud, refined
+head with its pointed beard and narrow temples raised and his eyelids
+sunk, he sucked gently with his lower lip against his upper, and
+accompanied Herr von Knobelsdorff's remarks with an occasional slight
+nod, which expressed agreement and disagreement at the same time, an
+uninterested formal agreement without prejudice to his unassailable
+personal dignity.
+
+Herr von Knobelsdorff plunged straight into the middle of things, and
+spoke about Prince Klaus Heinrich's visits to Schloss Delphinenort.
+Albrecht knew of them. A subdued echo of the events which kept the city
+and the country on tip-toe had penetrated even into his loneliness; he
+knew, too, his brother Klaus Heinrich, who had "rummaged" and gossiped
+with the lackeys, and, then he knocked his forehead against the big
+table, had wept for sympathy with his forehead--and in effect he needed
+no coaching. Lisping and reddening slightly, he gave Herr von
+Knobelsdorff to understand this, and added that, seeing that the other
+had not intervened, but had caused the millionaire's daughter to be
+introduced to him, he concluded that Herr von Knobelsdorff approved of
+the Prince's behaviour, although he, the Grand Duke, could not clearly
+see what it would lead to.
+
+"The Government," answered Herr von Knobelsdorff, "would set itself in
+prejudicial and estranging opposition to the will of the people if it
+thwarted the Prince's projects."
+
+"Has my brother, then, definite projects?"
+
+"For a long time," corrected Herr von Knobelsdorff, "he acted without
+any plan and merely as his heart dictated; but since he has found
+himself with the people on terms of reality, his wishes have taken a
+practical form."
+
+"All of which means that the public approves the steps taken by the
+Prince?"
+
+"That it acclaims them, Royal Highness--that its dearest hopes are fixed
+on them."
+
+And now Herr von Knobelsdorff unrolled once more the dark picture of the
+state of the country, of its distress, of the serious embarrassment.
+Where was a remedy to be found? Yonder, only yonder, in the Town Park,
+in the second centre of the city, in the house of the invalid
+Money-Prince, our guest and resident, round whose person the people wove
+their dreams, and for whom it would be a small matter to put an end to
+all our difficulties. It he could be induced to take upon himself our
+national finances, their recovery would be assured. Would he be induced?
+But fate had ordained an exchange of sympathy between the mighty man's
+only daughter and Prince Klaus Heinrich. And was this wise and gracious
+ordinance to be flouted? Ought one for the sake of mulish, out-of-date
+traditions to prevent a union which embraced so immeasurable a blessing
+for the country and its people? For that it did was a necessary
+hypothesis, from which the union must draw its justification and
+validity. But if this condition were fulfilled, if Samuel Spoelmann were
+ready, not to mince words, to finance the State, then this union was not
+only admissible, it was necessary, it was salvation, the welfare of the
+State demanded it, and prayers rose to heaven for it, far beyond the
+frontiers, wherever any interest was felt in the restoration of our
+finances and the avoidance of an economic panic.
+
+At this point the Grand Duke asked a question quietly, with a mocking
+smile and without looking up.
+
+"And the succession to the throne?" he asked.
+
+"The law," answered Herr von Knobelsdorff, unshaken, "places it in your
+Royal Highness's hand to put aside dynastic scruples. With us the grant
+of an advance in rank and even of equal birth belongs to the
+prerogatives of the monarch, and when could history show a more potent
+motive for the exercise of these privileges? This union bears the mark
+of its own genuineness, preparations have been long in making for its
+reception in the heart of the people, and your entire princely and State
+approval would signify to the people nothing more than an outward
+satisfaction of their inmost convictions."
+
+And Herr von Knobelsdorff went on to speak of Imma Spoelmann's
+popularity, of the significant demonstration in connexion with her
+recovery from a slight indisposition, of the position of equal birth
+which this exceptional person assumed in popular fancy--and the wrinkles
+played round his eyes as he reminded Albrecht of the old prophecy
+current among the people, which told of a prince who would give the
+country more with one hand than others had given it with two, and
+eloquently demonstrated how the union between Klaus Heinrich and
+Spoelmann's daughter must seem to the people the fulfilment of the
+oracle, and thus God's will and right and proper.
+
+Herr von Knobelsdorff said a great deal more which was clever, honest,
+and good. He alluded to the fourfold mixture of blood in Imma
+Spoelmann--for besides the Anglo-Saxon, Portuguese and German, some
+drops of ancient Indian blood were said to flow in her veins--and
+emphasized the fact that he expected the dynasty to benefit greatly by
+the quickening effect of the mixture of races on ancient stocks. But the
+artless old gentleman made his greatest effect when he talked about the
+huge and beneficial alterations which would be caused in the economical
+state of the Court itself, our debt-laden and sore-pressed Court,
+through the heir to the throne's bold marriage.
+
+It was at this point that Albrecht sucked most proudly at his upper lip.
+The value of gold was falling, the out-goings were increasing--increasing
+in pursuance of an economic law which held for the Court
+finances just as much as for every private household; and
+there was no possibility of increasing the revenues. But it was not
+right that the monarch's means should be inferior to those of many of
+his subjects; it was from the monarch's point of view intolerable that
+soap-boiler Unschlitt's house should have had central heating a long
+time ago, but that the Old Schloss should not have got it yet. A remedy
+was necessary, in more than one way, and lucky was the princely house to
+which so grand a remedy as this offered itself.
+
+It was noteworthy in our times that all the old-time modesty as to
+busying oneself in the financial concerns of the Court had vanished.
+That self-renunciation with which princely families used formerly to
+make the heaviest sacrifices, so as to keep the public from
+disenchanting glimpses into their financial affairs, was no longer to be
+found, and law-suits and questionable sales were the order of the day.
+But was not an alliance with sovereign riches preferable to this petty
+and bourgeois kind of device--a union which would exalt the monarch for
+ever high above all economic worries and place him in a position to
+reveal himself to the people with all those outward signs for which they
+longed?
+
+So ran Herr von Knobelsdorff's questions, which he himself answered with
+an unqualified Yes! In short, his speech was so clever and so
+irresistible that he did not leave the Old Schloss without taking with
+him consents and authorizations, delivered to him with a proud lisp,
+which were quite comprehensive enough to warrant unprecedented
+conclusions, if only Miss Spoelmann had done her share.
+
+And so things ran their memorable course to a happy conclusion. Even
+before the end of December names were mentioned of people who had seen
+(not only heard tell of) Lord Marshal von Bühl zu Bühl in a fur coat, a
+top-hat on his brown head, and his gold pince-nez on his nose, get out
+of a Court carriage at Delphinenort, at 11 o'clock on a snow-dark
+morning, and disappear waddling into the Schloss. At the beginning of
+January there were individuals going about the town who swore that the
+man who, this time also in the morning and in fur coat and top-hat, had
+passed by the grinning negro in plush, through the door of Delphinenort,
+and, with feverish haste, had flung himself into a cab which was waiting
+for him, was undoubtedly our Finance Minister, Dr. Krippenreuther. And
+at the same time there appeared in the semi-official _Courier_ the first
+preparatory notices of rumours touching an impending betrothal in the
+Grand Ducal House--tentative notifications which, becoming carefully
+clearer and clearer, at last exhibited the two names, Klaus Heinrich and
+Imma Spoelmann, in clear print next each other.... It was no new
+collocation, but to see it in black on white had the same effect as
+strong wine.
+
+It was most absorbing to notice what attitude, in the journalistic
+discussions which ensued, our enlightened and open-minded press took up
+towards the popular aspect of the affair, namely, the prophecy, which
+had won too great political significance not to demand education and
+intelligence to deal satisfactorily with it. Sooth-saying, chiromancy,
+and similar magic, explained the _Courier_, were, so far as the destiny
+of individuals was concerned, to be relegated to the murky regions of
+superstition. They belonged to the grey middle ages, and no ridicule was
+too severe for the idiots who (very rarely in the cities nowadays) let
+experienced pick-pockets empty their purses in return for reading, from
+their hands, the cards, or coffee-grounds, their insignificant fortunes,
+or for invoking sound health, for a homoeopathic cure, or for freeing
+their sick cattle from invading demons--as if the Apostle had not
+already asked: "Doth God take care for oxen?"
+
+But, surveyed as a whole and restricted to decisive turns in the destiny
+of whole nations or dynasties, the proposition did not necessarily repel
+a well-trained and scientific mind, that, as time is only an illusion
+and, truly viewed, all happenings are stationary in eternity, such
+revolutions while still in the lap of the future might give the human
+brain a premonitory shock and reveal themselves palpably to it. And in
+proof of this the zealous newspaper published an exhaustive composition,
+kindly put at its disposal by one of our high-school professors, which
+gave a conspectus of all the cases in the history of mankind in which
+oracle and horoscope, somnambulism, clairvoyance, dreams, sleep-walking,
+second-sight, and inspiration had played a rôle, a most meritorious
+production, which produced the due effect in cultured circles.
+
+So press, Government, Court, and public closed their ranks in complete
+understanding, and assuredly the _Courier_ would have held its tongue
+had its philosophical contributions been premature and politically
+dangerous at that time--in a word, had not the negotiations at
+Delphinenort already advanced far in a favourable direction. It is
+pretty accurately known by now how these negotiations developed, and
+what a difficult, indeed painful, task our Counsel had in them: the
+Counsel, to whom as proxy of the Court the delicate mission had fallen
+of preparing the way for Prince Klaus Heinrich's courtship, as well as
+the Chief Financial Assessor, who, notwithstanding his infirm state of
+health, insisted on nursing his country's interests by a personal
+interview with Samuel Spoelmann.
+
+In this connexion account must be taken firstly of Mr. Spoelmann's fiery
+and excitable disposition, and secondly of the fact that to the
+prodigious little man a favourable termination to the business from our
+point of view seemed far less important than it did to us. Apart from
+Mr. Spoelmann's love for his daughter, who had opened her heart to him
+and told him of her pretty wish to make herself useful in her love, our
+proxies had not one trump to play against him, and he was the last man
+to whom Dr. Krippenreuther could dictate conditions in virtue of what
+Herr von Bühl had to offer. Mr. Spoelmann always spoke of Prince Klaus
+Heinrich as "the young man," and expressed so little pleasure at the
+prospect of giving his daughter to a Royal Highness to wife, that Dr.
+Krippenreuther, as well as Herr von Bühl, were more than once plunged
+into deadly embarrassment.
+
+"If he'd only learnt something, had some respectable business," he
+snarled peevishly. "But a young man who only knows how to get
+cheered ..." He was really furious, the first time a remark was dropped
+about morganatic marriage. His daughter, he declared once for all, was
+no concubine, and would be no left-handed wife. Who marries her, marries
+her.... But the interests of the dynasty and the country coincided at
+this point with his own. The obtaining of issue entitled to succeed was
+a necessity, and Herr von Bühl was equipped with all the powers which
+Herr von Knobelsdorff had succeeded in extracting from the Grand Duke.
+As for Dr. Krippenreuther's mission, however, it owed its success not to
+the envoy's eloquence, but simply to Mr. Spoelmann's paternal affection,
+the complaisance of a suffering, weary father, whose abnormal existence
+had long ago made him a paradox, towards his only daughter and heiress,
+whom he allowed to choose for herself the public funds in which she
+wished to invest her fortune.
+
+And so came into existence the agreements, which were at first shrouded
+in deep secrecy and only came to light bit by bit, as events developed
+themselves, though here they can be summarized in a few plain words.
+
+The betrothal of Klaus Heinrich with Imma Spoelmann was approved and
+recognized by Samuel Spoelmann and by the House of Grimmburg.
+Simultaneously with the publication of the betrothal in the _Gazette_
+appeared the announcement of the elevation of the bride to the rank of
+countess--under a fancy name of romantic sound, like that which Klaus
+Heinrich had borne during his educational tour in the fair southern
+lands; and on the day of their wedding the wife of the heir-presumptive
+was to be given the dignity of a princess. The two rises in rank, which
+might have cost four thousand eight hundred marks, were to be free of
+duty.
+
+The wedding was to be only preliminarily a left-handed one, till the
+world had got used to it: for on the day on which it appeared that the
+bride was to be blessed with offspring, Albrecht II, in view of the
+unparalleled circumstances, would declare his brother's morganatic wife
+to be of equal birth, and would give her the rank of a princess of the
+Grand Ducal House with the title of Royal Highness. The new member of
+the ruling House would waive all claim to an appanage. As for the Court
+ceremony, only a semi-Court was appointed for the celebration of the
+left-handed marriage, but a Processional Court, that highest and
+completest form of showing allegiance, was fixed for the celebration of
+the declaration of equal birth. Samuel Spoelmann, for his part, granted
+the State a loan of three hundred and fifty million marks, and on such
+fatherly conditions that the loan showed all the symptoms of being a
+gift.
+
+It was the Grand Duke Albrecht who acquainted the Heir Presumptive with
+these conclusions. Once more Klaus Heinrich stood in the great, draughty
+study under the battered ceiling-paintings, in front of his brother, as
+once before when Albrecht had delegated to him his representative
+duties, and standing in an official attitude received the great news. He
+had put on the tunic of a major in the Fusiliers of the Guard for this
+audience, while the Grand Duke had lately added to his black frock-coat
+a pair of dark-red wool mittens, which his aunt had made him to protect
+him from the draught through the high windows of the Old Schloss.
+
+When Albrecht had finished, Klaus Heinrich stepped one pace sideways,
+closed his heels with a fresh salute, and said: "I beg, dear Albrecht,
+to offer my heart-felt and respectful thanks, in my own name and that of
+the whole country. For it is you in the long run who make all these
+blessings possible, and the redoubled love of the people will be your
+reward for your magnanimous resolutions."
+
+He pressed his brother's thin, sensitive hand, which he kept close to
+his chest, and extended to him only to the extent of moving his forearm.
+The Grand Duke had thrust forward his short, round underlip, and his
+eyelids were half-closed. He answered softly with a lisp:
+
+"I am the less inclined to entertain illusions about the people's love,
+as I can, as you know, dispense with such questionable love without a
+pang. So question whether I deserve it is scarcely worth notice. When
+it's time to start, I go to the station and give the signal to the
+engine-driver, which is silly rather than dutiful, but it's my duty. But
+you're in a different position. You're a Sunday child. Everything turns
+out trumps for you.... I wish you luck," he said, raising the lids from
+his lonely-looking, blue eyes. And it was clear at this moment that he
+loved Klaus Heinrich. "I wish you happiness, Klaus Heinrich--but not too
+much, and that you may not repose too comfortably in the love of the
+people. I have already said that everything turns out trumps for you.
+The girl of your choice is very strange, very undomesticated, and, most
+important of all, very original. She has a mixture of blood, I've been
+told that Indian blood flows in her veins. That's perhaps a good thing.
+With a wife like that, there's less danger, perhaps, of your having too
+easy a time."
+
+"Neither happiness," said Klaus Heinrich, "nor the people's love will
+have the effect of making me cease to be your brother."
+
+He left to face a difficult interview, a _tête-à-tête_ with Mr.
+Spoelmann, his personal proposal for Imma's hand. He found he had to
+swallow what his negotiators had swallowed, for Samuel Spoelmann showed
+not the smallest pleasure and snarled several refreshing truths at him.
+But it was over at last, and the morning came when the betrothal
+appeared in the _Gazette_. The long tensions resolved into endless
+jubilation. Dignified men waved pocket-handkerchiefs at one another, and
+embraced in the open square: bunting flew from every flag-staff.
+
+But the same day the news reached Schloss "Hermitage," that Raoul
+Ueberbein had committed suicide.
+
+The story was a vile as well as stupid one, and would not be worth
+relating had not its end been so horrible. No attempt will be made here
+to apportion the blame. The Doctor's death gave rise to two opposing
+factions. One affirmed that he had been driven to take his life owing to
+the misgivings which his desperate act had evoked: the others declared
+with a shrug that his conduct was impossible and crazy, and that he had
+shown all his life a total lack of self-control. The point need not be
+decided. At any rate nothing justified so tragic an end; indeed, a man
+with the gifts of Raoul Ueberbein deserved something better than
+ruin.... Here is the story.
+
+At Easter the year before the professor in charge of the top class but
+one at our Grammar School, who suffered from heart-weakness, had been
+temporarily retired on the ground of his illness, and Doctor Ueberbein,
+notwithstanding his comparative youth, had been given the first vacant
+chair simply in view of his professional zeal and his undeniably
+remarkable success in a lower class. It was a happy experiment, as
+events proved; the class had never done so well as this year. The
+professor on leave, a popular man with his colleagues, had become a
+peevish as well as careless and indolent man as the result of his
+infirmity, with which was combined a sociable but immoderate inclination
+for beer. He had shut his eyes to details and had sent up every year an
+extremely badly prepared batch of pupils into the Select. A new spirit
+had come into the class with the temporary professor, and nobody was
+surprised at it. People knew his uncomfortable professional zeal, his
+single-minded and never-resting energy. They foresaw that he would not
+miss such an opportunity for self-advancement, round which he had
+doubtless built ambitious hopes.
+
+So an end had soon been put to laziness and boredom in the second class.
+Dr. Ueberbein had pitched his expectations high, and his skill in
+inspiring even the most recalcitrant had proved irresistible. The boys
+worshipped him. His superior, fatherly, and jolly, swaggering way kept
+them on the alert, shook them up, and made them feel it a point of
+honour to follow their teacher through thick and thin. He won their
+hearts by going for Sunday excursions with them, when they were allowed
+to smoke, while he bewitched their imaginations by boyishly conceived
+rodomontades about the greatness and severity of public life. And on
+Monday the members of yesterday's expedition would meet for work in a
+cheerful and eager frame of mind.
+
+Three-quarters of the school year had thus passed, when the news went
+round, before Christmas, that the professor on leave, now fairly strong
+again, would resume his duties after the holidays, and would again act
+as professor of the second class. And now it came out what sort of man
+Doctor Ueberbein was, with his green complexion and superior manner. He
+objected and remonstrated; he lodged a vigorous and, in form, not
+incontestable protest against the class with which he had spent
+three-quarters of the year, and whose work and recreation he had shared
+up to the very mouth of the goal, being taken from its professor for the
+last quarter and restored to the official who had spent three-quarters
+of the year on leave. His action was intelligible and comprehensible,
+and one must sympathize with it. He had undoubtedly hoped to send up a
+model class to the head master, who taught the Select, a class whose
+forwardness would put his skill in the best light and would hasten his
+promotion; and it must grieve him to look forward to another's reaping
+the fruits of his devotion. But though his disgust might be excusable,
+his frenzy was not: and it is an unfortunate fact that, when the head
+master proved deaf to his representations, he became simply frenzied. He
+lost his head, he lost all balance, he set heaven and hell to work to
+prevent this loafer, this alcohol-heart, this blankety-blank, as he did
+not hesitate to describe the professor on leave, from taking his class
+from him. And when he found no support among his colleagues, as was
+natural in the case of so unsociable a man, the poor wretch had so far
+forgotten himself as to incite the pupils entrusted to him to rebel.
+
+He had put the question to them from his desk--Whom do you want for your
+master for the last quarter, me or that other fellow? And, wound up by
+his stirring appeal, they had shouted that they wanted him. Then, he
+said, they must take matters into their own hands, show their colours,
+and act as one boy--though goodness knows what in his excitement he
+meant by that. But when after the holidays the returned professor
+entered the class-room, they screamed Doctor Ueberbein's name at him for
+minutes on end--and there was a fine scandal.
+
+It was kept as quiet as possible. The revolutionaries got off almost
+unpunished, as Doctor Ueberbein himself put on record, at the inquiry
+which was at once initiated, his appeal to them. As to the Doctor
+himself, too, the authorities seemed generally inclined to close their
+eyes to what had happened. His zeal and skill were highly valued,
+certain learned works, the fruits of his mighty industry, had made his
+name known, he was popular in high quarters--quarters, be it noticed,
+with which he personally did not come into contact, and which therefore
+he could not incense by his patronizing bearing. Further, his record as
+tutor of Prince Klaus Heinrich weighed in the scales. In short, he was
+not simply dismissed, as one might have expected him to be. The
+President of the Grand Ducal Council of Education, before whom the
+matter came, administered a grave reprimand to him, and Doctor
+Ueberbein, who had stopped teaching directly after the scandal, was
+provisionally retired. But people who knew declared later that nothing
+was intended beyond the professor's transfer to another grammar school;
+that in high quarters the only wish was to hush up the whole business,
+and that the promise of a brilliant future had been actually extended to
+the Doctor. Everything would have turned out all right.
+
+But the milder the authorities showed themselves towards the Doctor, the
+more hostile was the attitude of his colleagues towards him. The
+"Teachers' Union" at once established a court of honour, whose object
+was to secure satisfaction for their beloved member, the alcohol-hearted
+professor rejected of his pupils. The written statement laid before
+Ueberbein in his retirement in his lodgings ran as follows: Whereas
+Ueberbein had resisted the return of the colleague for whom he acted to
+the professorship of the second class; whereas further he had agitated
+against him and in the end had actually incited the pupils to
+insubordination against him, he had been guilty of disloyal conduct to
+his colleague of such a kind as must be considered dishonourable not
+only in a professional, but also in a general sense. That was the
+verdict. The expected result was that Doctor Ueberbein, who had only
+been a nominal member of the "Teachers' Union," withdrew his
+membership--and there, so many thought, he might well have let the
+matter rest.
+
+But whether it was that in his seclusion he did not know the goodwill he
+inspired in higher quarters; that he thought his prospects more hopeless
+than they were; that he could not stand idleness, unreconciled as he was
+to the premature loss of his beloved class; that the expression
+"dishonourable" poisoned his blood, or that his mind was not strong
+enough to stand all the shocks it received at this time: five weeks
+after the New Year his landlady found him on the thread-bare carpet of
+his room, no greener than usual, but with a bullet through his heart.
+
+Such was the end of Raoul Ueberbein, such his false step, such the cause
+of his fall. "I told you so," was the burden of all the discussions of
+his pitiful break-down. The quarrelsome and uncongenial man, who had
+never been a man amongst men at his club, who had haughtily resisted
+familiarity, and had ordered his life cold-bloodedly with a view to
+results alone, and had supposed that that gave him the right to
+patronize the whole world--there he lay now: the first hitch, the first
+obstacle in the field of accomplishment, had brought him to a miserable
+end. Few of the bourgeois regretted, none of them mourned him--with one
+single exception, the chief surgeon at the Dorothea Hospital,
+Ueberbein's congenial friend, and perhaps a fair lady with whom he used
+once to play Casino. But Klaus Heinrich always cherished an honourable
+and cordial memory of his ill-fated tutor.
+
+
+
+
+IX
+
+THE ROSE-BUSH
+
+
+And Spoelmann financed the state. The outlines of the transaction were
+bold and clear; a child could have understood them--and as a fact
+beaming fathers explained it to their children, as they dangled them on
+their knees.
+
+Samuel Spoelmann nodded, Messrs. Phlebs and Slippers got to work, and
+his mighty orders flashed under the waves of the Atlantic to the
+Continent of the Western Hemisphere. He withdrew a third of his share
+from the Sugar trust, a quarter from the Petroleum trust, and half from
+the Steel trust; he had his floating capital paid in to accounts in his
+name in several banks over here; and he bought from Herr Krippenreuther
+at par 350,000,000 new 3½ per cent. consols at one stroke. That is what
+Spoelmann did.
+
+He who knows by experience the influence of the state of mind on the
+human organs will believe that Dr. Krippenreuther cheered up and in a
+short time was unrecognizable. He carried himself upright and free, his
+walk was springy, the yellow look faded from his face, which became red
+and white, his eyes flashed, and his stomach regained its powers in a
+few months to such an extent that his friends were delighted to observe
+that the Minister could give himself up to the enjoyment of blue cabbage
+and gherkin salad with impunity. That was one pleasant though purely
+personal result of Spoelmann's interference in our finances, which was
+of but slight account in comparison with the effects which that
+interference had on our public and economic life.
+
+A part of the loan was devoted to the sinking fund, and troublesome
+public debts were paid off. But this was scarcely needed to secure us
+breathing space and credit on every side; for no sooner was it known,
+for all the secrecy with which the matter was treated officially, that
+Samuel Spoelmann had become the State banker, in fact if not in name,
+than the skies cleared up above us and all our need was changed into joy
+and rapture. There was an end to the scare-selling of active debts, the
+customary rate of interest dropped, our written promises were eagerly
+sought after as investments, and each twenty-four hours saw a rise in
+the quotation of our high-interest loan from a deplorably low figure up
+to above par. The pressure, the nightmare which for decades had weighed
+down our national finances, was removed; Doctor Krippenreuther puffed
+out his chest and spoke in the Landtag in favour of all-round reduction
+in taxation. This was adopted unanimously, and the antediluvian meat tax
+was finally buried amid the rejoicings of all those who cared for their
+fellow-men.
+
+A distinct improvement in the pay of the Civil Service, and in the
+salaries of teachers, clergymen, and all State functionaries was readily
+voted. Means were now available for restarting the closed-down
+silver-mines; several hundred workmen were given work, and productive
+veins were unexpectedly struck. Money, money was forthcoming, the
+standard of economic morality rose; the forests were replanted, the
+litter was left in the woods, the stock-owners no longer were compelled
+to sell their milk, they drank it themselves, and the critics would have
+sought in vain for ill-nourished peasants in the fields. The nation
+showed gratitude towards their rulers, who had brought so boundless a
+blessing to land and people.
+
+Herr von Knobelsdorff needed but few words to induce Parliament to
+increase the Crown subsidy. The orders for the putting up for sale of
+the Schlosses "Pastime" and "Favourite" were cancelled. Skilled workmen
+invaded the Old Schloss, to instal central heating from top to bottom.
+Our agents in the negotiations with Spoelmann, von Bühl and Dr.
+Krippenreuther, received the Grand Cross of the Albrechts Order in
+brilliants; the Finance Minister was also ennobled, and Herr von
+Knobelsdorff was made happy with a life-size portrait of the exalted
+couple--painted by the skilful hand of old Professor von Lindemann and
+exquisitely framed.
+
+After the betrothal the people gave rein to their fancy in calculating
+the dowry which Imma Spoelmann was to receive from her father. It made
+them giddy; they were possessed by a mad desire to scatter figures of
+truly astronomical dimensions about. But the dowry did not exceed an
+earthly figure, comfortably big though it was. It amounted to a hundred
+million.
+
+"Gracious!" said Ditlinde zu Ried-Hohenried, when she first heard it.
+"And my dear Philipp with his peat." Many another had the same thought;
+but Spoelmann's daughter allayed the nervous anger which might arise in
+simple hearts in face of such monstrous wealth, for she did not forget
+to do good and share her good fortune, and on the very day of the public
+betrothal she gave a sum of 500,000 marks, the yearly interest on which
+was to be divided among the four county councils for charitable and
+generally useful purposes.
+
+Klaus Heinrich and Imma drove in one of Spoelmann's olive-coloured,
+red-cushioned motors on a round of visits to the members of the House of
+Grimmburg. A young chauffeur drove the sumptuous car--the one in which
+Imma had found a likeness to Klaus Heinrich. But his nervous tension was
+but small on this trip, for he had to restrain the motor's giant
+strength so far as possible and go slowly--so closely were they
+surrounded by admiring crowds; for as the more remote authors of our
+happiness, Grand Duke Albrecht and Samuel Spoelmann, each in his own
+fashion, concealed themselves from the crowd, the latter heaped all its
+love and gratitude on the heads of the exalted couple. Boys could be
+seen through the plate glass of the motor throwing their caps in the
+air, the shouts of men and women came surging in, clear and shrill, and
+Klaus Heinrich, his hand to his helmet, said admonishingly: "You must
+respond too, Imma, to your side, otherwise they'll think you cold."
+
+They drove to Princess Katharine's, and were received with dignity. In
+the time of Grand Duke Johann Albrecht, her brother, said the aunt to
+her nephew, it would never have been allowed. But the times moved fast,
+and she prayed Heaven that his betrothed would accustom herself to the
+Court. They proceeded to Princess zu Ried-Hohenried's, and there it was
+love she met with. Ditlinde's Grimmburg pride found comfort in the
+assurance that Leviathan's daughter might become Princess of the Grand
+Ducal House and Royal Highness, but could never be Grand Ducal Princess
+like herself; for the rest, she was overjoyed that Klaus Heinrich had
+rummaged out for himself anything so sweet and precious. As the wife of
+Philipp with his peat, she had the best reasons for knowing how to value
+the advantages of the match, and cordially welcomed her sister-in-law to
+her arms.
+
+They drove too to Prince Lambert's villa, and while the Countess-bride
+struggled to keep up a conversation with the dazzling but very
+uneducated Baroness von Rohrdorf, the old petticoat-hunter congratulated
+his nephew in his sepulchral voice on the unprejudiced choice he had
+made, and on so boldly snapping his fingers at Court and Highness. "I am
+not snapping my fingers at my Highness, uncle; not only have I had an
+eye to my own happiness in no inconsiderable measure, but I have acted
+throughout with the Mass, the Whole, in view," said Klaus Heinrich
+rather rudely; whereupon they broke off, and drove to Schloss
+"Segenhaus," where Dorothea, the poor Dowager, held her dreary Court.
+She cried as she kissed the young bride on the forehead, without knowing
+why she did so.
+
+Meanwhile Samuel Spoelmann sat at Delphinenort surrounded with plans and
+sketches of furniture and silk carpet-patterns, and drawings of gold
+plate. He left his organ untouched, and forgot the stone in his kidney,
+and got quite red cheeks from merely having so much to do; for however
+small the opinion he had formed of "the young man," or the hope he held
+out of his ever being seen at Court, yet his daughter was going to be
+married, and he wanted the arrangements to be worthy of his means. The
+plans had to do with the new Schloss "Hermitage," for Klaus Heinrich's
+bachelor quarters were to be razed to the ground, and a new Schloss
+built on its site, roomy and bright and decorated, by Klaus Heinrich's
+wish, in a mixture of Empire and modern styles, combining cool severity
+with homely comfort. Mr. Spoelmann appeared one morning in person, after
+drinking the waters in the spa-garden, in his faded great-coat at the
+"Hermitage," in order to find out whether this or that piece of
+furniture could be used for the new Schloss. "Let's see, young Prince,
+what you've got," he snarled, and Klaus Heinrich showed him everything
+in his sober room--the thin sofas, the stiff-legged tables, the
+white-enamelled tables in the corners.
+
+"Gimcrack," said Mr. Spoelmann, "no use for anything." Three arm-chairs
+only in the little yellow room, of heavy mahogany, with snail-shaped
+convolute arms and the yellow covers embroidered with blue lyres, found
+favour in his eyes.
+
+"We can put those in an ante-room," he said, and Klaus Heinrich was
+relieved that these arm-chairs should be contributed to the furnishing
+by the Grimmburg side; for of course it would have been rather painful
+to him if Mr. Spoelmann had had to find every single thing.
+
+But the ragged park and flower-garden at the "Hermitage" had to be
+cleared and restocked; the flower-garden in particular was honoured with
+a special ornament which Klaus Heinrich had asked his brother to give
+him as a wedding-present. For it was arranged that the rose-bush from
+the Old Schloss should be transplanted to the big middle bed in front of
+the approach; and then, no longer surrounded by mouldy walls, but in the
+air and sunshine and the stiffest clay obtainable, it should be seen
+what sort of roses it could bear in future--and give the lie to the
+popular report, if it were obstinate and arrogant enough.
+
+And when March and April had passed, May came, bringing the great event
+of Klaus Heinrich's and Imma's marriage. It was a glorious day, with
+golden clouds in the sky, and its dawn was greeted by a choir from the
+town-hall tower. The people streamed in on foot and in carts, that fair,
+thick-set, healthy, reliable stock with blue, meditative eyes and broad,
+high cheek-bones, dressed in the handsome national dress--the men in red
+jackets, top-boots, and broad-brimmed black-velvet hats, the women in
+brightly embroidered bodices, thick, wide skirts, and big black veils as
+a head-dress. They joined the throng of town-folk in the streets between
+the Spa-Garden and the Old Schloss, which had been transformed into a
+processional route with garlands and wreathed stands and white-enamelled
+poles covered with flowers.
+
+Banners of the Trades Unions, rifle-corps, and gymnastic associations
+began early in the morning to be carried through the streets. The fire
+brigade turned out in gleaming helmets. The officers of the Corps of
+Students drove round in open landaus in full state with banners flying.
+Maids of Honour in white, with rose-twined staves, stood about in
+groups. The offices and factories were deserted, the schools closed,
+festival services were held in the churches. And the morning editions of
+the _Courier_ and _Gazette_ contained, in addition to cordial leading
+articles, the announcement of a comprehensive amnesty, in pursuance of
+which cancellation or remission of sentence was granted to several
+prisoners by the grace of the Grand Duke. Even the murderer Gudebus, who
+had been condemned to death, and then to penal servitude for life, was
+released on ticket of leave. But he soon had to be put back into prison
+again.
+
+Two o'clock was the hour fixed for the City Council's luncheon in the
+hall of the Museum, with an orchestra and telegrams of respectful
+congratulations. But the public made merry outside the gates, with fried
+chips and currant-loaf, a fair, lucky-booths and shooting galleries,
+sack-races, and men's climbing competitions for treacle cakes. And then
+came the moment when Imma Spoelmann drove from Delphinenort to the Old
+Schloss. She did so in processional pomp.
+
+The banners fluttered in the spring breeze, the thick garlands,
+interwoven with red roses, stretched from one pole to another, the crowd
+was packed in a black mass on the balconies, roofs, and steps; and
+between the fences of rifle-corps and firemen, guilds, unions, students,
+and school-children, the bridal procession advanced slowly amid
+tumultuous uproar along the sand-strewn road. Two out-riders in laced
+hats and shoulder-knots, preceded by a moustachioed equerry in a
+three-cornered hat, came first. Then came a four-horsed carriage, in
+which the Grand Ducal Commissary, an official of the Board of Green
+Cloth, who had been deputed to fetch the bride, rode with a chamberlain.
+Next a second four-horsed carriage, in which sat the Countess Löwenjoul,
+looking askance at the two maids of honour in the carriage with her,
+whose morals she mistrusted. Then came ten postilions on horseback, in
+yellow breeches and blue coats, who played: "We wind for thee the
+maiden's wreath." Then twelve girls in white, who strewed roses and
+sprigs of arbor vitæ on the road.
+
+And lastly, followed by fifty master-mechanics on powerful horses, the
+six-horsed transparent bridal coach. The red-faced coachman in the laced
+hat proudly extended his gaitered legs on the high white-velvet box,
+holding the reins with arms similarly extended; grooms in top-boots
+walked at the head of each pair of horses, and two lackeys stood behind
+the creaking carriage in great state, showing in their impenetrable
+faces no signs that plotting and underhand dealing were part of their
+daily life. Behind the glass and gilded window-frames sat Imma Spoelmann
+in veil and wreath, with an old Court lady as lady of honour at her
+side. Her dress of shimmering silk glittered like snow in the sunshine,
+and on her lap she held the white bouquet which Prince Klaus Heinrich
+had sent her an hour before. Her strangely childlike face was as pale as
+an ocean-pearl, and a smooth wisp of dark hair fell across her forehead
+under the veil, while her big black eyes threw glances of pleading
+eloquence over the close-packed throng. And what was that din, that
+barking close by the coach-door? It was Percival, the collie, more
+beside himself than anyone had ever seen him. The confusion and the slow
+pace at which the procession went excited him beyond measure, robbed him
+of all self-restraint, and convulsed him almost beyond bearance. He
+raged, he danced, he leaped, he circled blindly round and round in the
+intoxication of his nerves, and the shouts redoubled in the balconies
+and street and on the roofs on both sides as the people recognized him.
+
+That is how Imma Spoelmann drove to the Old Schloss, and the boom and
+buzz of the bells mingled with the cheers of the people and Percival's
+mad bark. The procession crossed the Albrechtsplatz at a walk and went
+through the Albrechtstor. In the Courtyard of the Schloss the mounted
+corps of the guilds rode to one side, and took up their position as a
+guard of honour, and in the corridor, in front of the weather-beaten
+front door, Grand Duke Albrecht, dressed as a Colonel of Hussars,
+received the bride with his brother and the rest of his House, offered
+her his arm and conducted her up the grey stone steps into the
+state-rooms, at whose doors guards of honour were posted and in which
+the Court was assembled. The princesses of the House stayed in the Hall
+of the Knights, and it was there that Herr von Knobelsdorff, surrounded
+by the Grand Ducal family, executed the civil marriage. Never, it was
+said later, had the wrinkles played round his eyes more lively than
+whilst he joined Klaus Heinrich and Imma Spoelmann in civil wedlock.
+When this was over, Albrecht II commanded that the church festivities
+should begin.
+
+Herr von Bühl zu Bühl had done his best to get together an imposing
+procession--the bridal procession, which passed up Heinrich the
+Luxurious's staircase and along a covered way into the Court Chapel.
+Stooping under the weight of years, yet in a brown toupée and with a
+youthful waddle, he marched, covered with orders down to his waist and
+planting his long staff in front of him, in front of the chamberlains,
+who walked along in silk stockings with their feather hats under their
+arms and a key embroidered on their coat-tails. The young pair drew
+near; the foreign-looking bride in a shimmer of white and Klaus
+Heinrich, the Heir Presumptive, in a Grenadier uniform with the yellow
+ribbon across his chest and back. Four maidens belonging to the nobility
+of the land, with demure looks, carried Imma Spoelmann's train,
+accompanied by Countess Löwenjoul, who looked suspiciously out of the
+corners of her eyes. Behind the bridegroom walked Herr von
+Schulenburg-Tressen and Herr von Braunbart-Schellendorf. The Master of
+the Royal Hunt, von Stieglitz, and the ballet-loving Grand Duke walked
+in front of the young monarch, who sucked quietly at his upper lip. At
+his side came Aunt Catherine, followed by the Minister of the Household,
+von Knobelsdorff, the Adjutant, the princely zu Ried-Hohenried couple,
+and the remaining members of the House. The rear of the procession was
+brought up by more chamberlains.
+
+Inside the Court Chapel, which was decorated with plants and draperies,
+the invited guests had awaited the procession. There were diplomats with
+their wives, the Court and county nobility, the corps of officers in the
+capital, the Ministers, amongst them the beaming face of Herr von
+Krippenreuther, the Knights of the Grand Order of the Grimmburg Griffin,
+the Presidents of the Landtag, and all sorts of dignitaries. And as the
+Lord Marshal had ordered invitations to be sent to every class of
+society, the seats were filled with tradesmen, countrymen, and simple
+artisans with hearts attuned to the event. In front of the altar the
+relations of the bridegroom took their places in a semicircle in
+red-velvet arm-chairs. The voices of the choir rang pure and sweet under
+the vaulted ceiling, and then the whole congregation sang a hymn of
+thanksgiving with full organ accompaniment. When it died away, the
+musical voice of the President of the High Consistory, Dom Wislezenus,
+was heard, as with his silver hair, and a convex star on his silk gown,
+he stood before the exalted pair and preached an eloquent sermon. He
+built it on a theme, to borrow a musical expression. And the theme was
+the passage from the Psalms which runs: "He shall live, and unto him
+shall be given of the gold of Arabia." There was not a dry eye left in
+the chapel.
+
+Then Dom Wislezenus completed the marriage, and at the moment when the
+bridal pair exchanged rings, fanfares of trumpets blared forth, and a
+salvo of three times twelve guns began to roll over city and
+country-side, fired by the soldiers on the wall of the "Citadel."
+Directly afterwards the fire brigade let off the town guns by way of
+salute; but long pauses occurred between each detonation, giving rise to
+inexhaustible laughter among the people.
+
+After the blessing had been pronounced, the procession re-formed and
+returned to the Hall of the Knights, where the House of Grimmburg
+congratulated the newly married pair. Then came the Court, and Klaus
+Heinrich and Imma Spoelmann walked arm-in-arm through the Gala Rooms,
+where the Court was drawn up, and spoke to various members of the
+company, smiling across an interval of shining parquet; and Imma pouted
+and wagged her head as she spoke to anyone who curtsied low and answered
+deferentially. After the Court there was a State supper in the Marble
+Hall, and a Marshal's supper in that of the Twelve Months, and
+everything was of the best that money could buy, out of regard to what
+Klaus Heinrich's wife had been accustomed to. Even Percival, now
+restored to his senses, was among the guests, and was given some roast
+meat. After supper the students and the populace had arranged in honour
+of the young couple a demonstration with serenades and a torchlight
+procession on the Albrechtsplatz. The square outside was a blaze of
+light, and resounded with shouts.
+
+Lackeys drew aside the curtains from one of the windows in the Silver
+Hall, and Klaus Heinrich and Imma advanced to the open window. They
+threw it open, and stood in the opening just as they were, for outside
+it was a warm spring night. Next them, in a dignified attitude and
+looking most imposing, sat Percival, the collie, and looked down like
+his mistress.
+
+Several of the town bands played in the illuminated square, which was
+packed tight with human beings, and the upturned faces of the people
+were lighted to a smoky dark red by the students' torches as they
+marched past the Schloss. Cheers broke forth when the newly married
+couple appeared at the window. They bowed their thanks, and then stayed
+there awhile, looking and letting themselves be looked at. The people,
+looking up, could see their lips moving in conversation. This is what
+they said:
+
+"Listen, Imma, how thankful they are that we have not forgotten their
+need and affliction. What crowds there are, standing there and shouting
+up to us! Of course many of them are scoundrels, and take each other in,
+and sadly need to be elevated above the work-day and its reality. But
+they are really grateful when one shows oneself conscious of their need
+and affliction."
+
+"But we are so stupid and so lonely, Prince--on the peaks of humanity,
+as Doctor Ueberbein used always to say--and we know absolutely nothing
+of life."
+
+"Nothing, little Imma? What was it, then, which at last gave you
+confidence in me, and brought us to study so practically the public
+weal? Knows he nothing of life who knows of love? That shall be our
+business in future: Highness and Love--an austere happiness."
+
+
+
+
+  [ Transcriber's Note:
+
+    The following is a list of corrections made to the original.
+    The first line is the original line, the second the corrected one.
+
+  The Swiss governess was the widow of a Calvanistic minister and was in
+  The Swiss governess was the widow of a Calvinistic minister and was in
+
+  The opportunity came. While the Swiss governness was absent on leave to
+  The opportunity came. While the Swiss governess was absent on leave to
+
+  where it's too dusty, for this dress shows everything.
+  where it's too dusty, for this dress shows everything."
+
+  compared with Trümmerhauff. Trümmerhauf had the nobility of a wild
+  compared with Trümmerhauff. Trümmerhauff had the nobility of a wild
+
+  rather broad, he had cheek bones like the men in the street, and he
+  rather broad, he had cheek-bones like the men in the street, and he
+
+  annouce that their Royal Highnesses were now going. He had been charged
+  announce that their Royal Highnesses were now going. He had been charged
+
+  exploratory operation, whch was conducted by the Director of the
+  exploratory operation, which was conducted by the Director of the
+
+  Lastly, Princess Ditlande had married at the age of twenty, one year
+  Lastly, Princess Ditlinde had married at the age of twenty, one year
+
+  Albrecht bowed his thanks with eyes downcast and underlip protuded.
+  Albrecht bowed his thanks with eyes downcast and underlip protruded.
+
+  Jettchen, as provisional lodgings."
+  Jettchen, "as provisional lodgings."
+
+  architect from the captital had been entrusted with the building. But
+  architect from the capital had been entrusted with the building. But
+
+  suite" in the "Spa Court" Hotel was by no means dazzingly magnificent.
+  suite" in the "Spa Court" Hotel was by no means dazzlingly magnificent.
+
+  temperature-and weight-charts--tended by nurses in white caps, and
+  temperature- and weight-charts--tended by nurses in white caps, and
+
+  his tail, At the same moment the butler began to run, as fast as his
+  his tail. At the same moment the butler began to run, as fast as his
+
+  upon me, Prince." And she suddenly sat Fatma off at a gallop and flew at
+  upon me, Prince." And she suddenly set Fatma off at a gallop and flew at
+
+  Spoelman took stock of the prosaic country-house which rejoiced in the
+  Spoelmann took stock of the prosaic country-house which rejoiced in the
+
+  "Yes, though unfortunately not from you. But Jettchen Isenschnibble has
+  "Yes, though unfortunately not from you. But Jettchen Isenschnibbe has
+
+  had withdrawn and Princes Griseldis had opened the cotillon with a
+  had withdrawn and Princess Griseldis had opened the cotillon with a
+
+  ]
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Royal Highness, by Thomas Mann
+
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