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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: UTF-8 + +*** 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 + + + + + + +</pre> + + + +<div id="tnote"> +<p class="center"><b>Transcriber's Notes:</b></p> + +<p class="no-indent">Every effort has been made to replicate this text +as faithfully as possible, including inconsistencies in spelling, +hyphenation, and ellipsis usage.</p> + +<p>Some corrections of spelling and punctuation have been made. +<span class="screen">They are marked <ins title="transcriber's note">like +this</ins> in the text. The original text appears when hovering the cursor +over the marked text.</span> A <a href="#tn-bottom">list of amendments</a> is +at the end of the text.</p> +</div> + +<h1>ROYAL HIGHNESS</h1> + +<p class="center" style="margin: 2em auto 4em auto;"><i>Translated from the German of</i><br/> +<big>THOMAS MANN</big><br/> +<i>by</i> <span class="small-caps">A. Cecil Curtis</span></p> + +<p class="center">GROSSET & DUNLAP<br/> +<i>Publishers<br/> +by arrangement with Alfred A. Knopf</i></p> +<p class="center page-break">COPYRIGHT, 1909, S. FISCHER, VERLAG</p> + +<p class="center" style="margin-top: 6em;">MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA</p> + +<h2><a class="pagenum" name="Page_v" title="v"> </a>CONTENTS</h2> + +<table id="contents" summary="Contents"> +<tr> + <td class="small-caps">Prelude</td> + <td class="right"><a href="#Page_vii">vii</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chapter" colspan="2">CHAPTER I</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="small-caps">The Constriction</td> + <td class="right"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chapter" colspan="2">CHAPTER II</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="small-caps">The Country</td> + <td class="right"><a href="#Page_25">25</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chapter" colspan="2">CHAPTER III</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="small-caps">Hinnerke the Shoemaker</td> + <td class="right"><a href="#Page_37">37</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chapter" colspan="2">CHAPTER IV</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="small-caps">Doctor Ueberbein</td> + <td class="right"><a href="#Page_64">64</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chapter" colspan="2">CHAPTER V</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="small-caps">Albrecht II</td> + <td class="right"><a href="#Page_110">110</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chapter" colspan="2">CHAPTER VI</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="small-caps">The Lofty Calling</td> + <td class="right"><a href="#Page_146">146</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chapter" colspan="2">CHAPTER VII</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="small-caps">Imma</td> + <td class="right"><a href="#Page_168">168</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chapter" colspan="2">CHAPTER VIII</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="small-caps">The Fulfilment</td> + <td class="right"><a href="#Page_265">265</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chapter" colspan="2">CHAPTER IX</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="small-caps">The Rose-Bush</td> + <td class="right"><a href="#Page_328">328</a></td> +</tr> +</table> + +<h2><a class="pagenum" name="Page_vii" title="vii"> </a>PRELUDE</h2> + +<p class="no-indent"><span class="small-caps">The</span> 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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>And so these two draw near each other. Can this rencontre +lead to any complication? Impossible. Every +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_viii" title="viii"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_ix" title="ix"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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….</p> + +<p>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!</p> + +<h2><a class="pagenum" name="Page_1" title="1"> </a>I<br/> +<small>THE CONSTRICTION</small></h2> + +<p class="no-indent"><span class="small-caps">Artillery</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_2" title="2"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_3" title="3"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The Grand Duchess's bedroom was the “Bride-chamber,” +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_4" title="4"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>“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….”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Johann Albrecht sat in a neighbouring room used as a +study, which was separated from the “Bride-chamber” only +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_5" title="5"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_6" title="6"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“Absolutely. Those which have been given him; those +he quite deserves.”</p> + +<p>Dr. von Schröder, a tall man with a white beard, a pair +of thin gold spectacles on his white nose, a belly protruding +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_7" title="7"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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?”</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_8" title="8"> </a> +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.”</p> + +<p>“At least that.”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“Disbursed, or owing!”</p> + +<p>“One of the two!… This total, I say, debited to a fund, +a fund …”</p> + +<p>“In a word, the fund of the Grand Ducal settled estates.”</p> + +<p>“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….”</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_9" title="9"> </a> +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!”</p> + +<p>“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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_10" title="10"> </a> +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 …”</p> + +<p>Herr Knobelsdorff knitted his brows and laughed.</p> + +<p>“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 …”</p> + +<p>“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:</p> + +<p>“You answer me, Baron; one would think you were contradicting +me, and yet your words show more incredulity +and bitterness than my own.”</p> + +<p>Herr von Knobelsdorff said nothing, but made a vague gesture +of assent.</p> + +<p>“It may be so,” said the Finance Minister, and nodded +gloomily at his hat. “Your Excellency may be quite right. +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_11" title="11"> </a> +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…”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_12" title="12"> </a> +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….”</p> + +<p>“That's just what there are not; just what we have not +got.”</p> + +<p>“The more's the pity, then. The main point is, Dorothea +has presented us with an Heir Apparent.”</p> + +<p>“To whom may Heaven grant some idea of figures!”</p> + +<p>“I agree.”</p> + +<p>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!”</p> + +<p>“Good!” said Adjutant-General Count Schmettern.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>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!”</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_13" title="13"> </a>“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.”</p> + +<p>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….”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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?”</p> + +<p>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?”</p> + +<p>“No, Excellency.”</p> + +<p>“When the Grand Duke sees it,” said Herr von Knobelsdorff, +“tell him that he will grow out of it.”</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_14" title="14"> </a>And to the others on the ground-floor he reported—“A +splendid prince!”</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_15" title="15"> </a> +ante-room, adopted an audience attitude at his writing-table.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“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?”</p> + +<p>The Physician-in-Ordinary raised his hand a little—a feeble +gesture of impotence and blamelessness. He said:</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_16" title="16"> </a>“An it please Your Royal Highness…. An unfortunate +occurrence. Unfavourable circumstances during the pregnancy +of her Royal Highness….”</p> + +<p>“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….”</p> + +<p>The Surgeon-General stood with half-bowed head and, +sinking his voice to a submissive tone, addressed the ground +at his feet.</p> + +<p>“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….”</p> + +<p>“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….”</p> + +<p>“Would your Royal Highness graciously weigh …”</p> + +<p>“I have weighed. I have weighed and found wanting. +Thank you!”</p> + +<p>Surgeon-General Eschrich retired backwards, bowing. In +the ante-room he shrugged his shoulders, while his cheeks +glowed.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_17" title="17"> </a> +sent Herr von Lichterloh to summon young Doctor Sammet +to the library.</p> + +<p>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 <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">en brosse</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>Dr. Sammet looked at him silently and attentively, as if +waiting till the Grand Duke had completely regained his +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_18" title="18"> </a> +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 …”</p> + +<p>“Excuse me … atrophy …?”</p> + +<p>“Forgive me, Royal Highness. I mean stunted growth. +Yes.”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>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 …”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“I beg your pardon…. The amnion?”</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_19" title="19"> </a>“That is one of the fœtal 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.”</p> + +<p>“Great heavens … amputate it. So we must be thankful +that it has not come to an amputation of the hand?”</p> + +<p>“That might have happened. Yes. But all that has happened +is an unfastening, resulting in an atrophy.”</p> + +<p>“And that could not be discovered, foreseen, prevented?”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“And the malformation is incurable? The hand will remain +stunted?”</p> + +<p>Dr. Sammet hesitated; he looked kindly at the Grand +Duke.</p> + +<p>“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 …”</p> + +<p>“Will he be able to use it? For instance … to hold +his reins or to make gestures, like any one else?…”</p> + +<p>“Use it … a little…. Perhaps not much. And he's +got his right hand, that's all right.”</p> + +<p>“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?”</p> + +<p>“Many people,” answered Dr. Sammet evasively, “live and +work under greater disadvantages. Yes.”</p> + +<p>The Grand Duke turned away, and walked once up and +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_20" title="20"> </a> +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?”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“Very sound, very admirable of you. In what do you +propose to specialise later on?”</p> + +<p>“In the diseases of children, Royal Highness. I intend to +be a children's doctor, yes.”</p> + +<p>“You are a Jew?” asked the Grand Duke, throwing back +his head and screwing up his eyes.</p> + +<p>“Yes, Royal Highness.”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_21" title="21"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“Your Royal Highness,” he said deprecatingly, “seems to +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_22" title="22"> </a> +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 …”</p> + +<p>“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 …”</p> + +<p>“‘With one hand,’” said Herr von Knobelsdorff. “Did +your Royal Highness use that expression twice deliberately?”</p> + +<p>“Deliberately?”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“What then?”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_23" title="23"> </a>“What do you mean by that?”</p> + +<p>“Why, your Royal Highness will laugh at me; but I am +thinking of the gipsy woman.”</p> + +<p>“The gipsy woman? Please go on, my dear Baron!”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>The Grand Duke did not answer, secretly thrilled by dreams +of the future of his dynasty.</p> + +<p>“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….”</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_24" title="24"> </a>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:</p> + +<p>“Most excellent Mr. Mayor….” The town was dressed +with flags, and the bells were ringing.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<h2><a class="pagenum" name="Page_25" title="25"> </a>II<br/> +<small>THE COUNTRY</small></h2> + +<p class="no-indent"><span class="small-caps">The</span> country measured eight thousand square kilometres, and +numbered one million inhabitants.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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….</p> + +<p>The Diet was the scene all the year round of speeches about +the “barely” satisfactory results of the trade returns, by +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_26" title="26"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_27" title="27"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_28" title="28"> </a> +one fine day it was realised with dismay that an unsuspected +depreciation in that capital had ensued.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_29" title="29"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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. +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_30" title="30"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_31" title="31"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_32" title="32"> </a> +complete, while life went on with peculiar moderation inside.</p> + +<p>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 <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">mésalliance</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_33" title="33"> </a> +threw away a whole year's income on the repair of the +Grimmburg.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_34" title="34"> </a>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The Old Castle had three courtyards, in the corners of +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_35" title="35"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_36" title="36"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>And now you know what the town was like, what the country +was like, and how matters stood.</p> + +<h2><a class="pagenum" name="Page_37" title="37"> </a>III<br/> +<small>HINNERKE THE SHOEMAKER</small></h2> + +<p class="no-indent"><span class="small-caps">The</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The Court Church was decorated with plants and draperies. +In addition to the representatives of the nobility, +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_38" title="38"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>Dom Wislezenus preached from a text of the Grand Duke's +own choosing. The <i>Courier</i>, 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 <i>leit motif</i>. 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.</p> + +<p>This, then, was the day of the prince's first public appearance, +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_39" title="39"> </a> +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….</p> + +<p>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….</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_40" title="40"> </a>He received a number of names while he slept; but the +chief names were Klaus Heinrich.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>When Klaus Heinrich was two years old, another birth +took place in the Grimmburg, and a princess came into the +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_41" title="41"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_42" title="42"> </a> +found it impossible to deny it, if the children had asked the +question in so many words.</p> + +<p>The Swiss governess was the widow of a <ins title="Calvanistic">Calvinistic</ins> 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….</p> + +<p>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, +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_43" title="43"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">comme il faut</i> 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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_44" title="44"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>After Schulrat Dröge had come and gone any number +of times, Klaus Heinrich had imperceptibly gained a knowledge +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_45" title="45"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_46" title="46"> </a> +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….</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_47" title="47"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">gêne</i>, passed over his face, which Klaus Heinrich was quite +able to understand.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_48" title="48"> </a> +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 <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">gêne</i>! 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….</p> + +<p>Klaus Heinrich stood and saw—he saw his mother and her +beauty, which was famed and extolled far and wide. He +saw her standing <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">en robe de ceremonie</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>He saw her as she was in the picture in the Marble Hall: +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_49" title="49"> </a> +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 <i>Courier</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_50" title="50"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_51" title="51"> </a> +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 +<i>Courier</i> reported that the rosy redness of our little duke's +cheeks showed what a healthy boy he was.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_52" title="52"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_53" title="53"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The opportunity came. While the Swiss <ins title="governness">governess</ins> was +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_54" title="54"> </a> +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.”</p> + +<p>“Yes, let's,” said Ditlinde, “but not too far, Klaus Heinrich, +and not where it's too dusty, for this dress shows <ins title="everything.">everything.”</ins></p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_55" title="55"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_56" title="56"> </a>“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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_57" title="57"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“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….”</p> + +<p>Klaus Heinrich had laid his left hand on his hip, right behind, +so that it lay almost in his back, and looked at the +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_58" title="58"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>“Just like me?” said Klaus Heinrich, overjoyed…. +“What luck!”</p> + +<p>“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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_59" title="59"> </a> +and country who are called that, and all of them after you. +No, one can hardly call it luck….”</p> + +<p>Klaus Heinrich concealed his hand and remained silent.</p> + +<p>“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….”</p> + +<p>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?”</p> + +<p>“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, +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_60" title="60"> </a> +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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_61" title="61"> </a> +me and my boots!” ended Shoemaker Hinnerke, and wiped +his forehead with the back of his hand.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“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….”</p> + +<p>“The lackeys …” said Klaus Heinrich, and took a plunge +… “are they wicked? I can quite well fancy …”</p> + +<p>“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….”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“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, +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_62" title="62"> </a> +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….”</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_63" title="63"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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?”</p> + +<h2><a class="pagenum" name="Page_64" title="64"> </a>IV<br/> +<small>DOCTOR UEBERBEIN</small></h2> + +<p class="no-indent"><span class="small-caps">Klaus Heinrich</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_65" title="65"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_66" title="66"> </a> +the lessons as well as while correcting his written work Professor +Kürtchen seized every opportunity of showing his tact.</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_67" title="67"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_68" title="68"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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. <ins title="Trümmerhauf">Trümmerhauff</ins> 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 <ins title="cheek bones">cheek-bones</ins> 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.</p> + +<p>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. +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_69" title="69"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_70" title="70"> </a> +was nothing about him to recall the strange, loyal, and yet +impertinent way in which people outside stared at Klaus +Heinrich.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">chic</i>. 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. +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_71" title="71"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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!</p> + +<p>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….</p> + +<p>At that time, by the bedside of one of his unwashed little +pupils, in a room which did not smell exactly of spring blossoms, +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_72" title="72"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<hr class="thought-break"/> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_73" title="73"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>Klaus Heinrich laughed and saluted with his crop, and on +they rode.</p> + +<p>On another occasion Doctor Ueberbein said casually: +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_74" title="74"> </a> +“Popularity is a not very profound, but a grand and comprehensive +kind of familiarity.” And that was all he said on +the subject.</p> + +<p>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!”</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_75" title="75"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>“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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_76" title="76"> </a> +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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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, +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_77" title="77"> </a> +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 <i lang="it" xml:lang="it">principe uomo</i> 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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_78" title="78"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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….</p> + +<p>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 <i>Courier</i> 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 <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">expertise</i>. +The ceremonial of the confirmation also lacked incisive significance, +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_79" title="79"> </a> +and the Prince returned immediately afterwards +quietly back to the “Pheasantry” to continue his life amongst +his tutors and schoolfellows without any alteration.</p> + +<hr class="thought-break"/> + +<p>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 <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">expertise</i>. 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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_80" title="80"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_81" title="81"> </a> +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?”</p> + +<p>“No, Prince Klaus Heinrich, not quite yet; I haven't yet +done the last part.”</p> + +<p>“It's a difficult subject. I haven't any idea yet what to +write.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, your Highness will…. You'll soon think of something!”</p> + +<p>“No, it's difficult…. You got an alpha in arithmetic, +didn't you?”</p> + +<p>“Yes, Prince Klaus Heinrich, I was lucky.”</p> + +<p>“No, you deserved it. I shall never be able to make anything +of it!”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Sometimes, when he had the semicircle in front of him, +Klaus Heinrich would say some such words as “Professor +Nicolovius looks an owl.”</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_82" title="82"> </a> +of cheering them up, and at the extravagant laughter by which +they were followed he wore a look half of curiosity, half of +dismay.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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!”</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_83" title="83"> </a> +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.</p> + +<hr class="thought-break"/> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Outwardly the festivity pursued its wonted course. The +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_84" title="84"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_85" title="85"> </a> +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 <i>Courier</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>To one he went so far as to say: “It's a jolly ball, isn't +it?”</p> + +<p>“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?”</p> + +<p>“I don't know …” he said. “I really don't know …”</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_86" title="86"> </a>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 +<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">vis-à-vis</i>. The music had not yet started.</p> + +<p>Klaus Heinrich asked his cousins. Yes, they were taking +part in the lancers, they already had their lucky partners on +their arms.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The reporter of the <i>Courier</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>“Are you still there?” he said breathlessly…. “May I +have the pleasure? Come along!”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_87" title="87"> </a> +white-covered tables were arrayed, which were still standing +empty.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_88" title="88"> </a> +between the lines of dancers, had seized a sandwich from the +buffet and was back in her place.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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!</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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!”</p> + +<p>Then came the clapping and au revoirs; the dance was +over. Klaus Heinrich again stood facing the fair maiden +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_89" title="89"> </a> +with the collar-bones, and when the music changed time he +once more put his arm round her tender waist, and away they +danced.</p> + +<p>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….</p> + +<p>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 <ins title="annouce">announce</ins> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_90" title="90"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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: +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_91" title="91"> </a> +“We!” His mouth too said it—said, for the pure joy of saying +them, sentences in which a “We” occurred. “Shall <em>we</em> +sit down? shall <em>we</em> have another turn? shall <em>we</em> have a drink? +shall <em>we</em> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_92" title="92"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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….</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_93" title="93"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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 …</p> + +<p>“I've been an ass, an ass!” he repeated when he got outside.</p> + +<p>Klaus Heinrich left the Citizens' Ball in his company.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<hr class="thought-break"/> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_94" title="94"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>As to Klaus Heinrich, there was only one opinion, especially +among the representatives of the public, that the mantle +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_95" title="95"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_96" title="96"> </a>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_97" title="97"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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…. +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_98" title="98"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_99" title="99"> </a> +which would have been all the better for a touch-up, the +procession divided as in a polonaise, and went through carefully +prescribed evolutions.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Several of the country's orders were bestowed on the Prince +who had just come of age, including the Albrecht Cross and +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_100" title="100"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Courier</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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, +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_101" title="101"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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, +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_102" title="102"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_103" title="103"> </a> +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….</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>A glorious year, full of the charm of artistic freedom, in +the public eye and in the mirror of public report—yet without +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_104" title="104"> </a> +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 <i>Courier</i> to +its readers.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_105" title="105"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Such was the effect of his presence, of his friendly, alert, +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_106" title="106"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_107" title="107"> </a> +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….</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_108" title="108"> </a> +aide-de-camp, and to whom the tour gave an opportunity of +establishing himself on a footing of intimacy and influence +with him.</p> + +<p>Klaus Heinrich did not see much in his educational tour, +which took him far afield, and was keenly followed by the +<i>Courier</i>. 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 <i>Courier</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">à deux</i>. 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.</p> + +<p>Klaus Heinrich also visited the fair Southern lands, incognito, +under a romantic-sounding title. There he would +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_109" title="109"> </a> +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.</p> + +<h2><a class="pagenum" name="Page_110" title="110"> </a>V<br/> +<small>ALBRECHT II</small></h2> + +<p class="no-indent"><span class="small-caps">Grand Duke Johann Albrecht</span> 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, <ins title="whch">which</ins> 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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_111" title="111"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_112" title="112"> </a> +“comfortable majority”; then the descriptions of the stuffs +began again, to which was appended in a louder voice the +word “Sammet.”<a name="FNanchor_1" href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">(1)</a> 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.</p> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_1" href="#FNanchor_1" class="label">(1)</a> +<i>I.e.</i>, velvet. +</p> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_113" title="113"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_114" title="114"> </a> +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….</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">à la +suite</i> 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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_115" title="115"> </a> +out of respect to his father's memory, either among the Court +appointments or in the Ministry.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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?</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_116" title="116"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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….</p> + +<p>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, +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_117" title="117"> </a> +as well as two chambermaids, made up the female staff of the +“Hermitage.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_118" title="118"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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, +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_119" title="119"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>Lastly, Princess <ins title="Ditlande">Ditlinde</ins> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">mésalliance</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_120" title="120"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>So it happened that one day at the beginning of autumn, +not quite two years after the death of Johann Albrecht, the +<i>Courier</i>, 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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_121" title="121"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Outside the garden gates a few promenaders had collected. +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_122" title="122"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_123" title="123"> </a> +unevennesses of the ground, and accommodated himself to the +motion of the badly hung carriage.</p> + +<p>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 <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">œils-de-bœuf</i> in the mezzanine +story, high French windows in the first story, and an elegant +<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">cour d'honneur</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_124" title="124"> </a>“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!…”</p> + +<p>“But the rose-bush, Ditlinde.”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“You will soon,” he said, and looked at her laughingly, +“have something better than your flowers to tend, little Ditlinde.”</p> + +<p>“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….”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_125" title="125"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“And Albrecht … is he coming?” he asked with an involuntarily +restrained voice.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“Jettchen” meant Fräulein von Isenschnibbe, the Princess's +friend and confidant. They had been on Christian-name terms +since they were children.</p> + +<p>“In armour, too, as usual?” said Ditlinde, placing the filled +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_126" title="126"> </a> +tea-pot on its stand and examining her brother. “In uniform +as usual, Klaus Heinrich?”</p> + +<p>He stood with heels together and rubbed his left hand, +which was cold, on his chest with his right.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“Rich relations!” laughed Ditlinde. “Still some way off +that, Klaus Heinrich!”</p> + +<p>They sat down at the tea-table, Ditlinde on a sofa, Klaus +Heinrich on a chair opposite the window.</p> + +<p>“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….”</p> + +<p>“Yes, Ditlinde, you do keep it straight and no mistake!”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“Does he say so?” asked Klaus Heinrich, and a sad look +came into his eyes, as he looked straight beyond the flower-table +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_127" title="127"> </a> +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 …”</p> + +<p>“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….”</p> + +<p>They were silent for a while. Then he said:</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>She sat in an easy position, with her arm lightly folded +across her lap.</p> + +<p>“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, +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_128" title="128"> </a> +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….”</p> + +<p>“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 <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">ballon +d'essai</i>, as they call it, and they think it was a very happy +one. But Griseldis is a silly girl, and half-dead with anæmia, +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_129" title="129"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>Then he stepped aside with a bow. Albrecht advanced +through the room.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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….”</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_130" title="130"> </a>“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?”</p> + +<p>“No one else, Albrecht. At the most, Jettchen Isenschnibbe +may look in for a bit, if you don't object….”</p> + +<p>“Oh?”</p> + +<p>“But I can just as well say ‘Not at home.’”</p> + +<p>“Oh no, pray don't.”</p> + +<p>Hot milk was brought. Albrecht clasped the tall, thick, +studded glass in both hands.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_131" title="131"> </a> +better mayor for my confirmation than he would have been +without it….”</p> + +<p>“Well, well, Albrecht, those are trifles!” said Ditlinde. +“I'm convinced that you've had more serious business to +do….”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“You speak so bitterly, Albrecht.”</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_132" title="132"> </a>“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….”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_133" title="133"> </a> +‘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 <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">raison d'être</i>, 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.”</p> + +<p>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 <em>did</em> 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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_134" title="134"> </a> +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 …”</p> + +<p>“No, Albrecht, I don't think so. I don't think I run any +such danger.”</p> + +<p>“Then we shall understand each other all the better. I have +no penchant for strong expressions as a rule. But popularity +is hog-wash.”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“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….”</p> + +<p>“Yes, Albrecht, quite true. It's often by no means easy to +keep one's countenance when one passes by a fellow like that. +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_135" title="135"> </a> +The lackeys! If one only did not know what frauds they +are! One hears fine stories about them….”</p> + +<p>“What stories?”</p> + +<p>“Oh, one keeps one's ears open….”</p> + +<p>“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 …”</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_136" title="136"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>“Heavens, Grand Ducal Highness,” she said, “I didn't +know; I'm disturbing you, I'm intruding. I most humbly beg +pardon!”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>“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 <i>Courier</i> +and to-morrow the whole town will be talking about it.”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_137" title="137"> </a>“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?”</p> + +<p>“No,” said Ditlinde, “but do you know, dear Jettchen?”</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>The brothers and sister looked doubtfully at each other.</p> + +<p>“Spoelmann?” asked Ditlinde…. “Think a moment, +Jettchen, the real Spoelmann?”</p> + +<p>“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!”</p> + +<p>“But, child, what's bringing him here?”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“But is he ill, then?”</p> + +<p>“Of course, Ditlinde; all people of his kind are ill, that's +part of the business.”</p> + +<p>“Strange,” said Klaus Heinrich.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“Stone, does he?”</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_138" title="138"> </a>“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.”</p> + +<p>“But how in the world has he pitched upon our waters?”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>They all kept silence.</p> + +<p>“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?”</p> + +<p>The Grand Duke turned his head with his stiff and refined +smile.</p> + +<p>“Ask Fräulein von Isenschnibbe,” he answered. “She has +doubtless already considered the question from that point of +view.”</p> + +<p>“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 Crœsus! People will come from miles away to +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_139" title="139"> </a> +see a being who has about half a million a day to spend!”</p> + +<p>“Gracious!” said Ditlinde, taken aback. “And there's dear +Philipp worrying about his peat beds.”</p> + +<p>“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 +<i>Courier</i> and the <i>Advertiser</i> report about your Royal Highness….”</p> + +<p>Albrecht bowed his thanks with eyes downcast and underlip +<ins title="protuded">protruded</ins>.</p> + +<p>“He has appropriated the Prince's suite in the Spa Hotel,” +said Jettchen, <ins title="as">“as</ins> provisional lodgings.”</p> + +<p>“For himself alone?” asked Ditlinde.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“A railway king, so far as I know,” remarked Albrecht +quietly with eyes downcast.</p> + +<p>“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.’”</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_140" title="140"> </a>“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 Crœsus. I am convinced that his riches are steeped in the +blood of widows and orphans. What do you think, Albrecht?”</p> + +<p>“I hope so, Ditlinde, I hope so, for your own and your +husband's comfort.”</p> + +<p>“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 Crœsus' 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.”</p> + +<p>“And he has a daughter, has he, Jettchen? What's she +like?”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“Gracious, Jettchen, she's a creature of many colours!”</p> + +<p>“You may well say so, Ditlinde, and she's clever, so I've +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_141" title="141"> </a> +heard; she studies like a man—algebra, and puzzling things +of that sort.”</p> + +<p>“Hm, that too doesn't attract me much.”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“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?”</p> + +<p>Klaus Heinrich looked past Jettchen's head at the bright +window.</p> + +<p>“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 …”</p> + +<p>“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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_142" title="142"> </a> +importance to discuss with you—I might come with you to +the Hermitage, but I can't bear the evening air.”</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>This was the prelude to a remarkable conversation between +the young princes, the upshot of which was published a few +days later in the <i>Advertiser</i> and received with general approval.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_143" title="143"> </a> +antique stared down with its dead eyes from a pedestal in one +corner of the room.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“Please let's hear it, Albrecht,” said Klaus Heinrich, who +was standing at attention in a military attitude by the sofa +table.</p> + +<p>“My health,” continued the Grand Duke, “has been getting +worse and worse lately.”</p> + +<p>“I'm very sorry, Albrecht—Hollerbrunn didn't agree with +you, then?”</p> + +<p>“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….”</p> + +<p>“There you are, Albrecht, always talking about my being +beloved. I simply don't believe it. At a distance, perhaps—that's +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_144" title="144"> </a> +the way with us. It's always at a distance that we are +beloved.”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“You're not thinking of abdicating, Albrecht?” asked +Klaus Heinrich, aghast.</p> + +<p>“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?”</p> + +<p>“I'm at your orders, Albrecht. But I'm not quite clear yet. +How far does the substitution extend?”</p> + +<p>“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….”</p> + +<p>“That too?”</p> + +<p>“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?”</p> + +<p>“I am at your orders.”</p> + +<p>“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 <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">à la suite</i> of your regiment—I'll +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_145" title="145"> </a> +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?”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“Then I'll ask you to leave me now, please; I want to +rest.”</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>Both the <i>Advertiser</i> and the <i>Courier</i> 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.”</p> + +<h2><a class="pagenum" name="Page_146" title="146"> </a>VI<br/> +<small>THE LOFTY CALLING</small></h2> + +<p class="no-indent"><span class="small-caps">Here</span> follows a description of Klaus Heinrich's mode of life +and profession and their peculiarities.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_147" title="147"> </a> +and top-hat was moved to emotion by the consciousness of +his own worth.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <ins title="captital">capital</ins> 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.</p> + +<p>There, in his chain and stars, one foot advanced, his white-gloved +hands crossed on his sword hilt, his helmet on the +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_148" title="148"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Courier</i>, 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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_149" title="149"> </a> +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 <i>Courier</i> 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!”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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, +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_150" title="150"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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!</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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, +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_151" title="151"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_152" title="152"> </a>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 <em>velvet</em> (sammet), which figured in the <i>Courier</i> +as a jewel mounted in gold.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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, +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_153" title="153"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>With a light and free step he mounted the carriage, settled +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_154" title="154"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>And then he gave free audiences in the Old Schloss, as it +had been arranged.</p> + +<p>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 class="pagenum" name="Page_155" title="155"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_156" title="156"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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, +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_157" title="157"> </a> +with eyes dim with emotion and the smile still on his flushed +face.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_158" title="158"> </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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_159" title="159"> </a> +disposed to prefer humble and popular scenes to the exalted +and ceremonious.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<hr class="thought-break"/> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_160" title="160"> </a> +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 <i>Courier</i> and the <i>People</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_161" title="161"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>Klaus Heinrich was a little afraid of Herr Martini.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“I am very much pleased to make your acquaintance,” he +said, “dear sir … dear Doctor, I believe?”</p> + +<p>“No, Royal Highness,” answered Axel Martini in an +asthmatic voice, “not doctor, I've no title.”</p> + +<p>“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….”</p> + +<p>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, +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_162" title="162"> </a> +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.”</p> + +<p>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.’”</p> + +<p>Herr Martini bowed in his chair.</p> + +<p>“Your skill,” continued Klaus Heinrich, “must be a source +of great pleasure to you—an ideal recreation. What is your +calling, Herr Martini?”</p> + +<p>Herr Martini showed that he did not understand, by describing +a note of interrogation with the upper half of his +body.</p> + +<p>“I mean your main calling. Are you in the Civil Service?”</p> + +<p>“No, Royal Highness, I have no calling; I occupy myself +exclusively with poetry….”</p> + +<p>“None at all…. Oh, I understand. So unusual a gift +deserves that a man's whole powers be devoted to it.”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>It was a peculiarity with Herr Martini that when he talked +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_163" title="163"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>“That's a singular idea,” said Klaus Heinrich.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“And for how long have you been living only for poetry? +I suppose you were once a student?”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“Of course not…. But did your parents then agree to +your choice of a career?”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“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!”</p> + +<p>“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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_164" title="164"> </a> +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.”</p> + +<p>“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?”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_165" title="165"> </a>The flow of words had again brought tears to Herr Martini's +eyes. He tried to blink them away.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“But your poem,” said Klaus Heinrich, with some <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">empressement</i>. +“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?…”</p> + +<p>Herr Martini laughed; then rubbed the corners of his +mouth with his thumb and forefinger, so as to wipe the laugh +out.</p> + +<p>“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?”</p> + +<p>“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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_166" title="166"> </a> +at a mad pace over the country and picking up village girls +from the roads and fields on the way, with whom he<span style="white-space: nowrap;">——</span>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….”</p> + +<p>“You admire him?”</p> + +<p>“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….”</p> + +<p>“That means that you will never empty the Grand Duke's +cup, then, Herr Martini?”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>Some one knocked lightly on the white-lacquered door. It +was Neumann's signal that it was high time for Klaus Heinrich +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_167" title="167"> </a> +to change his clothes and have himself freshened up. For +there was to be a club concert that evening in the Old Schloss.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<h2><a class="pagenum" name="Page_168" title="168"> </a>VII<br/> +<small>IMMA</small></h2> + +<p class="no-indent"><span class="small-caps">Fräulein von Isenschnibbe</span> had been well informed. On the +very evening of the day on which she had brought the Princess +zu Reid the great news, the <i>Courier</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <ins title="dazzingly">dazzlingly</ins> 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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_169" title="169"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>They were lucky; the weather was fine, it was a blue autumn, +a long succession of sunny days from October into November, +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_170" title="170"> </a> +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 <i>Courier</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_171" title="171"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Courier</i>, 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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_172" title="172"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>That, related the <i>Courier</i>, 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 <i>Courier</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_173" title="173"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Courier</i> 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.</p> + +<p>Samuel, his only son, the offspring of that early marriage, +contracted in defiance of public opinion, had been his sole +heir—and the <i>Courier</i>, 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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_174" title="174"> </a> +institutions, and that University which his father had +founded and which bore his name.</p> + +<p>Samuel Spoelmann did not deserve the hatred of the out-distanced +competitors; that the <i>Courier</i> 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 <i>Courier</i> 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.</p> + +<p>He had married for love and not at all from social considerations, +according to the <i>Courier</i>—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 <i>Courier</i> 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….</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_175" title="175"> </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 <i>Courier</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_176" title="176"> </a>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_177" title="177"> </a> +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 <i>Courier</i> wished Mr. Spoelmann +a hearty farewell and expressed the hope that the cure would be +found to have done him good.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>So Spoelmann intended to come back every year and spend +several weeks in Delphinenort?—No. For he intended rather +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_178" title="178"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_179" title="179"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“You will be misunderstood, Albrecht!” said Ditlinde.</p> + +<p>“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 Crœsus +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 <i>Courier</i> 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?”</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_180" title="180"> </a> +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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_181" title="181"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Courier</i> +published a special article on the subject, in which it praised +Mr. Spoelmann for his philanthropy.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Courier</i> announced in its report.</p> + +<p>At that time Delphinenort was far from ready, and the +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_182" title="182"> </a> +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….</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>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; +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_183" title="183"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Courier</i> and the +rest of the press.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_184" title="184"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_185" title="185"> </a>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_186" title="186"> </a> +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….”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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!”</p> + +<p>But Miss Spoelmann fired up. “What d'you mean?” she +cried. “I'm in a hurry!”</p> + +<p>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, +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_187" title="187"> </a> +spoke so expressive and bewitching a language that no protest +seemed possible.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>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….</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_188" title="188"> </a>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 <i>Courier</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>In the evening he went to the Court Theatre, where <i>The +Magic Flute</i> 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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_189" title="189"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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?”</p> + +<p>“Oh dear, Doctor Ueberbein, I never thought of that.”</p> + +<p>“But in other cases you generally do think of that sort +of thing.”</p> + +<p>“I've felt so funny for the last few days,” said Klaus Heinrich.</p> + +<p>Doctor Ueberbein leaned back, pulled at his red beard near +his throat, and nodded slowly with his head and neck.</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_190" title="190"> </a>“Really? Have you?” he asked. And then went on nodding.</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>“I'm sorry to hear it!” said Doctor Ueberbein sharply.</p> + +<p>“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….”</p> + +<p>“Look here, Klaus Heinrich, once already, if I'm not mistaken, +I've dragged your Royal Highness out of the mud, so +to speak….”</p> + +<p>“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?”</p> + +<p>“Perhaps,” said Doctor Ueberbein. “Perhaps.”</p> + +<p>“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?”</p> + +<p>Doctor Ueberbein was silent. Then he said suddenly and +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_191" title="191"> </a> +decidedly, “And now I, if possible, am to help to make two +exceptions into a rule?”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Then he talked about other things. On leaving he added: +“The Grand Duke ought to take some interest in the Dorothea +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_192" title="192"> </a> +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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>Klaus Heinrich received the news of this rencontre without +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_193" title="193"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_194" title="194"> </a> +door opened and Miss Spoelmann entered between the sister +and Countess Löwenjoul, followed by the three nurses.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“The milk-kitchen,” said the sister; “this is where the milk +is cooked for the children.”</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>The sister was quite disconcerted. “Yes,” she said, “it's +obvious.” And a little pained look of bewilderment was +visible in her face.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“Doctor Sammet. Yes.” He desired the honour of presenting +Miss Spoelmann to his Royal Highness…. “Miss +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_195" title="195"> </a> +Spoelmann, Royal Highness, the daughter of Mr. Spoelmann +to whom this hospital is so much indebted.”</p> + +<p>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?”</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_196" title="196"> </a>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 <ins title="temperature-and">temperature- and</ins> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Yes, this was especially noticeable in the case of the boy +with the bullet through his arm and the boy who had been +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_197" title="197"> </a> +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.”</p> + +<p>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 <em>fell</em> into the +water. There are many indications to the contrary. He had +run away from home. Yes.” He stopped.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_198" title="198"> </a> +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….</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 class="pagenum" name="Page_199" title="199"> </a> +a kind of oven, warmed to a moderate heat lay a new-born baby.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>They stood and listened, but Doctor Sammet said nothing +further about the fathers and so they broke off, as they had +now seen everything.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_200" title="200"> </a> +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:</p> + +<p>“It has been a great pleasure to meet you,” he said.</p> + +<p>She answered nothing to this, but pouted and wagged her +head a little from side to side.</p> + +<p>“It was an absorbing inspection,” he went on. “A regular +eye-opener.”</p> + +<p>She looked at him with her big black eyes, then said quickly +and lightly in her broken voice: “Yes, to a certain +extent….”</p> + +<p>He ventured on the question: “I hope you are pleased +with Schloss Delphinenort?”</p> + +<p>To which she answered with a pout: “Oh, why not? It's +quite a convenient house….”</p> + +<p>“Do you like being there better than at New York?” he +asked. And she answered:</p> + +<p>“Just as much. It's much the same. Much the same everywhere.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Courier</i> 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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_201" title="201"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_202" title="202"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>“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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_203" title="203"> </a> +how large her eyes had seemed when they told her about the +children's fathers and the rest of the sad story!</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_204" title="204"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>It was Countess Löwenjoul who advanced towards the guest, +and curtseyed with a smile.</p> + +<p>“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….”</p> + +<p>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, +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_205" title="205"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>“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 …”</p> + +<p>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….”</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“I am very sorry,” said Klaus Heinrich quite honestly. “An +operation? How dreadful!”</p> + +<p>To which the Countess answered, letting her eyes wander: +“Oh yes. But there are worse things in life—many much +worse things than that.”</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_206" title="206"> </a> +smile which Klaus Heinrich already knew and which had +something seductive about it.</p> + +<p>He felt it was necessary to resume the conversation.</p> + +<p>“Have you lived long with the Spoelmanns, Countess?” he +asked.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“The blessing?” asked Klaus Heinrich.</p> + +<p>“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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_207" title="207"> </a> +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?”</p> + +<p>She stopped.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>She wore a wonderful dress of brick-red silk with loose +hanging sleeves, and the breast covered with heavy gold embroidery. +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_208" title="208"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_209" title="209"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“Has the Countess been letting her tongue run away with +her?” asked Imma <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">en route</i>, without any particular lowering +of her voice.</p> + +<p>Klaus Heinrich started and looked at the floor. “But she +can hear us!” he said softly.</p> + +<p>“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?”</p> + +<p>“For a minute or two,” said Klaus Heinrich. “I got the +impression that the Countess ‘let herself go’ every now and +then.”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“Yes,” he said. “Some other time. Next time. On our +ride perhaps.”</p> + +<p>“On our ride?”</p> + +<p>“Yes, on our ride to the meet, or to the ‘Pheasantry.’”</p> + +<p>“Oh, I forgot your preciseness, Prince, in the matter of +appointments. Very well, on our ride. We go down here.”</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_210" title="210"> </a> +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 <i>Courier</i>.</p> + +<p>“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….”</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_211" title="211"> </a> +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?”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“The what?”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“The other day?”</p> + +<p>“Yes, a week or two ago. After the contretemps with the +change of guard.”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“No, you're an angel,” said Countess Löwenjoul.</p> + +<p>“H'm—angel, that's too much, that's too far the other way, +Countess….”</p> + +<p>“No,” said Klaus Heinrich, “no, not too far. I entirely +believe the Countess….”</p> + +<p>“I'm much honoured. But how did your Highness hear +about the adventure? Through the newspapers?”</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_212" title="212"> </a>“I was an eye-witness of it,” said Klaus Heinrich.</p> + +<p>“An eye-witness?”</p> + +<p>“Yes. I happened to be standing at the window of the +officers' mess, and saw the whole thing from beginning to +end.”</p> + +<p>Miss Spoelmann blushed. There was no doubt about it, +the pale skin of her face deepened in colour.</p> + +<p>“Well, Prince,” she said, “I assume that you had nothing +better to do at the moment.”</p> + +<p>“Better?” he cried. “But it was a splendid sight. I give +you my word that never in my life …”</p> + +<p>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 <ins title="tail,">tail.</ins> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“Greeting, most excellent father,” she said, and throwing +her brown little arms, in their loose brick-coloured hanging +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_213" title="213"> </a> +sleeves, round his neck, she kissed him on the bald spot which +he offered her as he inclined his head.</p> + +<p>“Of course you knew,” she continued, “that Prince Klaus +Heinrich was coming to tea with us to-day?”</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>She had filled his cup, and she handed it to him.</p> + +<p>“Four,” said she. “One for each person. Nobody shall +say that I stint my grey-haired father.”</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_214" title="214"> </a>Klaus Heinrich began over again: “I am much excited +at the prospect of seeing your collection, Mr. Spoelmann.”</p> + +<p>“All right,” answered Mr. Spoelmann. “So you want to +see my glass? Are you an amateur? A collector perhaps?”</p> + +<p>“No,” said Klaus Heinrich, “my love for glass has not extended +to my becoming a collector.”</p> + +<p>“No time?” asked Mr. Spoelmann. “Do your military +duties take so much time?”</p> + +<p>Klaus Heinrich answered: “I'm no longer on the active +list, Mr. Spoelmann. I am <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">à la suite</i> of my regiment. I wear +the uniform, that's all.”</p> + +<p>“I see, make believe,” said Mr. Spoelmann harshly. “What +do you do all day, then?”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“I entirely understand,” said Klaus Heinrich. He sat up +stiffly in his uniform and smiled uneasily.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_215" title="215"> </a>“I only hope,” said Klaus Heinrich, “that our people are +not wanting in respect….”</p> + +<p>“Thanks, not so bad,” answered Mr. Spoelmann. “The people +are at least friendly here; one doesn't see murder written +in their eyes.”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“Thanks,” said Mr. Spoelmann, “I'm quite comfortable, +and the water is the only thing which really does do me +some good.”</p> + +<p>“You did not find it a wrench to leave America?”</p> + +<p>Klaus Heinrich felt a look, a quick, suspicious, shy look, +which he could not interpret.</p> + +<p>“No,” said Mr. Spoelmann, sharply and crossly. That was +all his answer to the question whether he felt it a wrench +to leave America.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“Smoke?” he asked…. And as Klaus Heinrich found +that there was no objection, he helped himself, after Mr. +Spoelmann, out of the proffered case.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_216" title="216"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>“Counting from below?” asked Klaus Heinrich. And she +answered at once:</p> + +<p>“Of course. Six, counting from above.”</p> + +<p>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 <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">ingénue</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_217" title="217"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_218" title="218"> </a>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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“Silence!” he snarled. “You think you can say anything +in fun, but please spare me your saucy jokes, chatterbox!”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“Father, darling father!” she said beseechingly, and crossed +over to stroke Mr. Spoelmann's flushed cheeks.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_219" title="219"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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!</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_220" title="220"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Courier</i>. +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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_221" title="221"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_222" title="222"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“Well, young Prince?” he said, and stared down at +him….</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“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…. +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_223" title="223"> </a> +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….”</p> + +<p>Mr. Spoelmann shrugged his shoulders, and made a face +as if to say: “Approval—why so?”</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>Miss Spoelmann turned quickly round in her basket chair, +shook her hair back and gazed without speaking at the intruder +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_224" title="224"> </a> +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.”</p> + +<p>Klaus Heinrich laughed.</p> + +<p>“Well, it's lucky,” he said, “that both parties have had breakfast, +for now we can start at once for a ride.”</p> + +<p>“A ride?”</p> + +<p>“Yes, as we agreed.”</p> + +<p>“We agreed?”</p> + +<p>“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 …”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“No,” he said, “unfortunately you cannot. But I'll wait +here while you both change. It's quite early….”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_225" title="225"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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?”</p> + +<p>A glance of anger met him from her big eyes. Then she +answered with a pout:</p> + +<p>“Your Highness seems to wish to excuse yourself for the +want of intelligence you recently displayed with regard to +your own exalted calling.”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“I am quite sure of it. But I am equally sure that the +Countess is incapable of refusing a request from you.”</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_226" title="226"> </a>“And my father? There's the next stumbling-block. You +know his temper. Will he consent?”</p> + +<p>“He has consented. If you ride, you ride. Those were +his words….”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“No, that's a very weak one. The sun is shining….”</p> + +<p>“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….”</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>“Your Highness is pleased to deceive yourself,” answered +Miss Spoelmann. “The refraction misleads you.”</p> + +<p>“That's beyond me.”</p> + +<p>“The refraction misleads you.”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“I really believe you are right,” said Klaus Heinrich sadly.</p> + +<p>“The atmospheric pressure there is higher than I thought!”</p> + +<p>“It is lower than you thought.”</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_227" title="227"> </a>“But how about the falling quicksilver?”</p> + +<p>“The quicksilver falls at low pressure, not at high, Royal +Highness.”</p> + +<p>“Now I'm absolutely lost.”</p> + +<p>“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….”</p> + +<p>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….</p> + +<p>“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?”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“Well, where shall we go?” asked Imma as they rode at a +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_228" title="228"> </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.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_229" title="229"> </a> +pricked ears and short springs, while his wild barking echoed +through the air.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>“Don't let's bother the Countess, Prince, her thoughts are +wandering.”</p> + +<p>“I hope,” he said, “that the Countess was not annoyed at +having to come with us.”</p> + +<p>And he was distinctly taken aback when Imma Spoelmann +answered casually: “To tell the truth, she very likely was.”</p> + +<p>“Because of your sums?” he asked.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>Klaus Heinrich reddened.</p> + +<p>“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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_230" title="230"> </a> +of having shown myself hard and stern to the Countess.”</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>Klaus Heinrich did not answer. He kept his left hand +planted on his hip, and his eyes were tired. Then he said:</p> + +<p>“You know quite well? So I act like a cold douche on +you too, Miss Spoelmann, do I?”</p> + +<p>“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 <ins title="sat">set</ins> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_231" title="231"> </a> +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.”</p> + +<p>Imma agreed, in words which were the most serious and +grave which Klaus Heinrich had ever heard from her mouth.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_232" title="232"> </a> +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:</p> + +<p>“Won't you fulfil your promise and tell me about the +Countess? What is your companion's history?”</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>“Really starvation?” he asked, and returned her look…. +“Do please go on.”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“What took her to America? Is she a countess by birth?” +asked Klaus Heinrich.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“What was wrong with him?” asked Klaus Heinrich.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“I see,” said Klaus Heinrich, “what's called a hard case, or +a tough proposition.”</p> + +<p>“Exactly; we'll say man of the world—but in the most comprehensive +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_233" title="233"> </a> +and unlimited sense, for, to judge by the Countess's +remarks, there were no limits in his case.”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“Did your friend Ueberbein tell you of him?”</p> + +<p>“No, somebody else. Ueberbein would not think it proper +to mention anything of that sort to me.”</p> + +<p>“Then he must be a useless sort of friend, Prince.”</p> + +<p>“You'll think better of him when I tell you more about him, +Miss Spoelmann. But please go on!”</p> + +<p>“Well, I don't know whether Löwenjoul behaved like your +roué. Anyhow he behaved disgracefully.”</p> + +<p>“I expect he gambled and drank.”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“But tell me, why did she ever marry him?”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_234" title="234"> </a>“Do you mean that he beat her?”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>Klaus Heinrich was silent. Both looked very grave. At +last he asked: “Did the Countess have any children?”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>Both remained silent, and their eyes clouded over.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“What was it?” asked Klaus Heinrich.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“And then he went to America?”</p> + +<p>“You're right there, Prince. I can't help admiring your +'cuteness.”</p> + +<p>“Please go on, Miss Spoelmann. I've never heard anything +like the Countess's story.”</p> + +<p>“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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_235" title="235"> </a> +pretty considerable debts behind of course. And the Countess +went with him.”</p> + +<p>“She went with him? Why?”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“I knew it,” said Klaus Heinrich, “I expected as much. +Just what does happen.”</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>“What blessing? She told me about that too. What was +the blessing, Miss Spoelmann?”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“Certainly I was under the impression,” said Klaus Heinrich, +“that the Countess was letting herself go when she drivelled.”</p> + +<p>“That's how it is, Prince. She is quite conscious of drivelling, +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_236" title="236"> </a> +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<span style="white-space: nowrap;">——</span>”</p> + +<p>“Of self-restraint,” said Klaus Heinrich, and looked down +at his reins.</p> + +<p>“Right, of self-restraint,” she repeated, and looked at him. +“You don't seem to approve of that want, Prince.”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>He dropped his head, and they rode a while in silence.</p> + +<p>“Won't you go on to tell me how the Countess came to you?” +he asked at last.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“Of course, you had always been a little lonely and cut off!” +repeated Klaus Heinrich, with a ring of joy in his voice.</p> + +<p>“That's what I said. It was a dull, simple life in some +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_237" title="237"> </a> +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.”</p> + +<p>“For show?”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“What did you usually do besides, Miss Spoelmann?”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“Rude remarks?”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“And between whiles,” he said, “you played in the breezes, +didn't you, or rather in a vacuum, where no dust came<span style="white-space: nowrap;">——</span>”</p> + +<p>“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?”</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_238" title="238"> </a>“Envy? H'm. You seem to assume, Miss Spoelmann, that +I have never had my eyes opened.”</p> + +<p>“Have you?”</p> + +<p>“Once or twice, maybe. For instance, things have come +to my ears about our lackeys, which you would scarcely +dream of.”</p> + +<p>“Are your lackeys so bad?”</p> + +<p>“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<span style="white-space: nowrap;">——</span>”</p> + +<p>“But, Prince, that's comparatively harmless.”</p> + +<p>“Yes, true, it's nothing to compare with the way the Countess +has had her eyes opened.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>They reined in their horses in front of the tea-garden, and +Imma <ins title="Spoelman">Spoelmann</ins> took stock of the prosaic country-house which +rejoiced in the name of the “Pheasantry.”</p> + +<p>“Your childhood,” she said with a pout, “does not seem +to have been surrounded by much giddy splendour.”</p> + +<p>“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<span style="white-space: nowrap;">——</span>”</p> + +<p>“Let's put our horses up,” she said. “One must put one's +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_239" title="239"> </a> +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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>“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!”</p> + +<p>Followed the driving-in of the glass balls in the necks of +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_240" title="240"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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”?</p> + +<p>Yes, they would, later; so Herr Stavenüter withdrew for +the present, after placing a saucer of milk for Percival by the +table.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_241" title="241"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“I can quite believe that,” said Imma.</p> + +<p>He was surprised, and asked why.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>Her words startled Klaus Heinrich, and made him thoughtful. +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_242" title="242"> </a> +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 manœuvres, 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.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_243" title="243"> </a> +mounted at the gate of the tea-garden and rode off homewards +with Percival barking and pirouetting under the horses' +noses.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“May I,” he said, “ask you one question, Miss Spoelmann? +You need not answer it if you don't want to.”</p> + +<p>“I'll see about that,” she answered.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“What was it?”</p> + +<p>“I asked him whether he had not found it hard to leave +America.”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“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?”</p> + +<p>“No, Prince, I'm afraid I cannot,” she said, and looked at +him suddenly with her big black eyes.</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_244" title="244"> </a>“Then what has want of thought to do with it? Do please +explain. I ask you in the name of our friendship.”</p> + +<p>“Are we friends?”</p> + +<p>“I hoped so,” he said pleadingly.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“I am cordially attached to your father,” said Klaus Heinrich +with emphasis.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“Your origin?”</p> + +<p>“Yes, Prince; we are no aristocratic pheasants, unfortunately +we are not descended from Washington or from the Pilgrim +Fathers.”</p> + +<p>“No, for you are German.”</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_245" title="245"> </a>“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?”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“He did. But that's where the trouble lies, Prince. I'm a +quintroon.”</p> + +<p>“A what?”</p> + +<p>“A quintroon.”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“Well, it's a fact. My grandfather, thoughtless as he always +was, married a woman of Indian blood down South.”</p> + +<p>“Indian blood!”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“Most interesting. But didn't you say that it had affected +people's attitude towards you?”</p> + +<p>“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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_246" title="246"> </a> +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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_247" title="247"> </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<span style="white-space: nowrap;">——</span>“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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_248" title="248"> </a> +path, but a richly wooded dyke, which stretched far away to +the north along a swift-running stream.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_249" title="249"> </a> +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.”</p> + +<p>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?”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_250" title="250"> </a> +connexion between the lumber-room and the fortunes of his +house.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>As for the motor drive, Imma Spoelmann in the course of +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_251" title="251"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>For the rest, Mr. Spoelmann's craze for speed seemed to +have descended in some measure to his daughter, for she never +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_252" title="252"> </a> +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?”</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_253" title="253"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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?</p> + +<p>“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!”</p> + +<p>“But we're so careful!”</p> + +<p>“‘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.”</p> + +<p>“Knobelsdorff?”</p> + +<p>“Knobelsdorff.”</p> + +<p>Klaus Heinrich was silent; then asked: “And what is +Baron Knobelsdorff's attitude towards what he learns?”</p> + +<p>“Well, the old gentleman hasn't yet had a chance of interfering +in the developments.”</p> + +<p>“But the public opinion?—the people?”</p> + +<p>“The people of course hold their breath.”</p> + +<p>“And you, you yourself, my dear Doctor Ueberbein?”</p> + +<p>“I'm waiting for the tureen-lid,” answered the doctor.</p> + +<p>“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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_254" title="254"> </a> +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….”</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>“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….”</p> + +<p>“It cannot be,” said Doctor Ueberbein in Latin, and shook +his ugly head with its protruding, pointed ears.</p> + +<p>“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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_255" title="255"> </a> +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?”</p> + +<p>“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, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">sub rosa</i>.”</p> + +<p>“I thought so! Tell me about it, Doctor Ueberbein. You +must tell me about it!”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_256" title="256"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_257" title="257"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_258" title="258"> </a> +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.”</p> + +<p>“Do you know what it is, Ditlinde?”</p> + +<p>“Yes, though unfortunately not from you. But Jettchen +<ins title="Isenschnibble">Isenschnibbe</ins> 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 Crœsus, 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.”</p> + +<p>“I really believe, Ditlinde, that every experience is fine, +whether it be good or bad. But my present experience is +splendid.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_259" title="259"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“Call Ezekiel, please,” said Klaus Heinrich to a moustachioed +door-keeper, who came forward with his hand to his +hat.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>“That one there,” said Klaus Heinrich, “that's the finest.” +And the old man cut the thorny branch with trembling hands.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The ladies were at tea when Klaus Heinrich, conducted +by the corpulent butler, appeared in the gallery and walked +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_260" title="260"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“You see, summer has come,” he said to Imma Spoelmann, +offering her the rose. It was the first time he had brought +her flowers.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>Her eyes were full of horror when she looked up again.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>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, +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_261" title="261"> </a> +thanks for your attention. And as it comes from your +ancestral Schloss, one must regard it with due reverence.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“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?”</p> + +<p>“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?”</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_262" title="262"> </a>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.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_263" title="263"> </a> +its walls were completely covered with bookshelves right up +to the ceiling.</p> + +<p>“Well, Prince, there's my hermitage,” said Imma Spoelmann. +“I hope you like it.”</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“Has the Princess so many flowers?”</p> + +<p>“Yes, but of late she has not set so much store by them.”</p> + +<p>“Let's clear these away,” she said and took up some books.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“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?”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>She did not answer. And suddenly he saw her eyes, under +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_264" title="264"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>“Were you born with that?” she asked softly.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“Little sister,” he said, “little sister<span style="white-space: nowrap;">——</span>”</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>But he was too far gone, and raising his face to her, his eyes +in a mist, he only said, “Imma—little Imma<span style="white-space: nowrap;">——</span>”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<h2><a class="pagenum" name="Page_265" title="265"> </a>VIII<br/> +<small>THE FULFILMENT</small></h2> + +<p class="no-indent"><span class="small-caps">Grave</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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, +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_266" title="266"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_267" title="267"> </a> +influx of wealthy foreigners” (meaning Mr. Spoelmann) “any +relaxation of the calls on the said noble self-sacrifice was not +to be thought of.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_268" title="268"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_269" title="269"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_270" title="270"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_271" title="271"> </a> +suffering from the burden of that general economical disorder, +that appreciation in the price of gold, which is still +vivid in everybody's memory.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Courier</i>, 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?</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_272" title="272"> </a> +been mercilessly set on by disquieted creditors, and that their +consent to such sales showed that they were exposed to relentless +pressure.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_273" title="273"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">arrière pensée</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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. +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_274" title="274"> </a> +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?</p> + +<p>Had she not subscribed to support the victims of flood and +fire out of her “privy purse,” as the <i>Courier</i> 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?</p> + +<p>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!</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_275" title="275"> </a>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?</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_276" title="276"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_277" title="277"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">tête-à-tête</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_278" title="278"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_279" title="279"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_280" title="280"> </a>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.</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>She replied: “I must ask you to explain yourself, Sire.”</p> + +<p>“Did you show me your books nineteen days ago, Miss +Spoelmann—or not?”</p> + +<p>“Nineteen days ago! I must count up. No; let's see, it's +eighteen and a half days, unless I'm quite out.”</p> + +<p>“You did show me your books, then?”</p> + +<p>“That is undoubtedly correct, Prince. And I delude myself +with the hope that you liked them.”</p> + +<p>“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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_281" title="281"> </a> +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….”</p> + +<p>“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!”</p> + +<p>“If you only knew, Imma, how unutterably pleasant it is +for me to lose my self-possession!”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“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….”</p> + +<p>“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?”</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>“You are proud,” she said, “of your calling and your life, +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_282" title="282"> </a> +Prince, I know well, and I cannot wish you to break faith +with yourself.”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“There, you see what your friend said.”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“That seems to me a very proper hostility,” said Imma +Spoelmann.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“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. +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_283" title="283"> </a> +In that time you have condescended to appear at Delphinenort +once—four days ago.”</p> + +<p>He threw a startled look at her.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“How can I help you, Prince?”</p> + +<p>“Oh, you know well! It's confidence, Imma; couldn't you +have a little confidence in me?”</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>He uttered a cry of grief, and his voice shook, as he asked: +“And why can't you?”</p> + +<p>She replied: “Because you prevent me.”</p> + +<p>“How do I prevent you? Please tell me, I beg.”</p> + +<p>And, with the reserved expression still on her face, her eyes +dropped on her white reins, and rocking lightly to her horse's +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_284" title="284"> </a> +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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_285" title="285"> </a>“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.”</p> + +<p>“How else but derisively can I speak to you, Prince?”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, I'm well aware that I too have my faults, and need +somebody to help me to give them up.”</p> + +<p>“I'll be that somebody, Imma; we'll help each other.”</p> + +<p>“I don't think we can help each other, Prince.”</p> + +<p>“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?”</p> + +<p>But Imma Spoelmann promised nothing, but insisted now +on her gallop; and many a subsequent conversation remained, +like this, without result.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_286" title="286"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>She did not prevent him from coming once or twice a week; +she did not prevent him from speaking, from assailing her +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_287" title="287"> </a> +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!”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_288" title="288"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Courier's</i> 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.</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_289" title="289"> </a>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.</p> + +<p>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).</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_290" title="290"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Herr von Knobelsdorff had preferred his request for a confidential +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_291" title="291"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_292" title="292"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_293" title="293"> </a> +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?</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_294" title="294"> </a> +arms … perhaps I might not be quite incapable of standing +by your Royal Highness in word and deed.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_295" title="295"> </a>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.</p> + +<p>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 …”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“On one condition?”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>Klaus Heinrich was silent, and his eyes were heavy in +thought.</p> + +<p>“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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_296" title="296"> </a> +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.”</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_297" title="297"> </a> +go on until convinced that the pupil really understood the +lesson.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_298" title="298"> </a>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.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>“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?”</p> + +<p>“The next external step,” said Herr von Knobelsdorff, and +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_299" title="299"> </a> +remained sitting—so unusual was the occasion—“must be +this, that the Spoelmanns be seen at Court.”</p> + +<p>Klaus Heinrich stopped still.</p> + +<p>“No,” he said, “never, if I know Mr. Spoelmann, will he +let himself be persuaded to go to Court.”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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….</p> + +<p>Herr von Knobelsdorff went. It had become so dark when +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_300" title="300"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>They were works of a sober and school-bookish appearance, +with glazed paper backs, ugly leather sides, and coarse paper, +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_301" title="301"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_302" title="302"> </a> +happy, he felt that his zeal was making his cheeks hot, like +those of his brother-in-law zu Ried-Hohenried over his peat.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_303" title="303"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_304" title="304"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_305" title="305"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>And they looked laughingly at their hands, his right and +her left, as they lay next each other on the gilt table.</p> + +<p>“Or,” went on Imma, “the loan is procured by negotiation, +and it is some big bank, or group of banks, to which the +State …”</p> + +<p>“Wait!” he said softly. “Wait, Imma, and answer me one +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_306" title="306"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Courier</i> 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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_307" title="307"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Courier</i>—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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>But thank heaven! a bare minute before half-past seven she +arrived with her Countess; and it made a great sensation when +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_308" title="308"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_309" title="309"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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; +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_310" title="310"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">vis-à-vis</i>. 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_311" title="311"> </a> +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!…</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_312" title="312"> </a> +had withdrawn and <ins title="Princes">Princess</ins> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“Are you satisfied this time, Imma, with the flowers I bring +you?”</p> + +<p>“Of course, Prince, your lilac is lovely and smells quite +as it should. I love it.”</p> + +<p>“Really, Imma? But I'm sorry for the poor rose-bush down +in the court, because its roses disgust you with their mouldy +smell.”</p> + +<p>“I won't say that they disgust me, Prince.”</p> + +<p>“But they disenchant and chill you, don't they?”</p> + +<p>“Yes, perhaps.”</p> + +<p>“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?”</p> + +<p>“Well, Prince, we'll have to wait for that.”</p> + +<p>“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?”</p> + +<p>“Yes, Prince. I have gained confidence in you latterly.”</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_313" title="313"> </a>“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?”</p> + +<p>“Yes, Prince; latterly I have thought that I can think so.”</p> + +<p>“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?”</p> + +<p>“Let them know that you belong to me, Royal Highness, +if it's all the same to you.”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“Well said, Prince. For without our studies of the public +weal I should have found it difficult to decide to have confidence +in you.”</p> + +<p>“And without you, Imma, to warm my heart, I should have +found it difficult to tackle such practical problems.”</p> + +<p>“Right; then we'll see what we can do, each in our own +place. You with your folk and I—with my father.”</p> + +<p>“Little sister,” he answered quietly, and pressed her more +closely to him in the dance. “Little bride.”</p> + +<p>Undoubtedly a peculiar plighting of troth.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_314" title="314"> </a> +of the times. The day before, the President of Council had +presided over a session of the Cabinet, about which the <i>Courier</i> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_315" title="315"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“Has my brother, then, definite projects?”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“All of which means that the public approves the steps +taken by the Prince?”</p> + +<p>“That it acclaims them, Royal Highness—that its dearest +hopes are fixed on them.”</p> + +<p>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, +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_316" title="316"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>At this point the Grand Duke asked a question quietly, +with a mocking smile and without looking up.</p> + +<p>“And the succession to the throne?” he asked.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_317" title="317"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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?</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_318" title="318"> </a> +comprehensive enough to warrant unprecedented conclusions, +if only Miss Spoelmann had done her share.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Courier</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Courier</i>, 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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_319" title="319"> </a> +sound health, for a homœopathic cure, or for freeing their +sick cattle from invading demons—as if the Apostle had not +already asked: “Doth God take care for oxen?”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>So press, Government, Court, and public closed their ranks +in complete understanding, and assuredly the <i>Courier</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_320" title="320"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Gazette</i> appeared the announcement +of the elevation of the bride to the rank of countess—under +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_321" title="321"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_322" title="322"> </a> +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.”</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“Neither happiness,” said Klaus Heinrich, “nor the people's +love will have the effect of making me cease to be your +brother.”</p> + +<p>He left to face a difficult interview, a <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">tête-à-tête</i> 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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_323" title="323"> </a> +last, and the morning came when the betrothal appeared in +the <i>Gazette</i>. 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.</p> + +<p>But the same day the news reached Schloss “Hermitage,” +that Raoul Ueberbein had committed suicide.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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. +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_324" title="324"> </a> +They foresaw that he would not miss such an opportunity +for self-advancement, round which he had doubtless built +ambitious hopes.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_325" title="325"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_326" title="326"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_327" title="327"> </a> +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.</p> + +<h2><a class="pagenum" name="Page_328" title="328"> </a>IX<br/> +<small>THE ROSE-BUSH</small></h2> + +<p class="no-indent"><span class="small-caps">And</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>A part of the loan was devoted to the sinking fund, and +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_329" title="329"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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. +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_330" title="330"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_331" title="331"> </a> +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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_332" title="332"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_333" title="333"> </a> +future—and give the lie to the popular report, if it were +obstinate and arrogant enough.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Courier</i> and <i>Gazette</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_334" title="334"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_335" title="335"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_336" title="336"> </a>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_337" title="337"> </a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<a class="pagenum" name="Page_338" title="338"> </a> +couple a demonstration with serenades and a torchlight procession +on the Albrechtsplatz. The square outside was a +blaze of light, and resounded with shouts.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<div id="tnote-bottom"> +<p class="center"><a name="tn-bottom"><b>Transcriber's Note:</b></a></p> +<p>The following is a list of corrections made to the original. The +first passage is the original passage, the second the corrected one.</p> + +<ul id="corrections"> +<li><a href="#Page_42">Page 42</a>:<br/>The Swiss governess was the widow of a <span class="correction">Calvanistic</span> minister<br/>The Swiss governess was the widow of a <span class="correction">Calvinistic</span> minister</li> +<li><a href="#Page_53">Page 53</a>:<br/>The opportunity came. While the Swiss <span class="correction">governness</span> was<br/>The opportunity came. While the Swiss <span class="correction">governess</span> was</li> +<li><a href="#Page_54">Page 54</a>:<br/>and not where it's too dusty, for this dress shows <span class="correction">everything.</span><br/>and not where it's too dusty, for this dress shows <span class="correction">everything.”</span></li> +<li><a href="#Page_68">Page 68</a>:<br/>compared with Trümmerhauff. <span class="correction">Trümmerhauf</span> had the nobility<br/>compared with Trümmerhauff. <span class="correction">Trümmerhauff</span> had the nobility</li> +<li><a href="#Page_68">Page 68</a>:<br/>His right hand was rather broad, he had <span class="correction">cheek bones</span> like the<br/>His right hand was rather broad, he had <span class="correction">cheek-bones</span> like the</li> +<li><a href="#Page_89">Page 89</a>:<br/>bowed and begged leave to <span class="correction">annouce</span> that their Royal Highnesses<br/>bowed and begged leave to <span class="correction">announce</span> that their Royal Highnesses</li> +<li><a href="#Page_110">Page 110</a>:<br/>and an exploratory operation, <span class="correction">whch</span> was conducted<br/>and an exploratory operation, <span class="correction">which</span> was conducted</li> +<li><a href="#Page_119">Page 119</a>:<br/>Lastly, Princess <span class="correction">Ditlande</span> had married at the age of twenty,<br/>Lastly, Princess <span class="correction">Ditlinde</span> had married at the age of twenty,</li> +<li><a href="#Page_139">Page 139</a>:<br/><span class="correction">protuded</span>.<br/><span class="correction">protruded</span>.</li> +<li><a href="#Page_139">Page 139</a>:<br/>said Jettchen, <span class="correction">as</span> provisional lodgings.”<br/>said Jettchen, <span class="correction">“as</span> provisional lodgings.”</li> +<li><a href="#Page_147">Page 147</a>:<br/>necessary sum, and a learned architect from the <span class="correction">captital</span> had<br/>necessary sum, and a learned architect from the <span class="correction">capital</span> had</li> +<li><a href="#Page_168">Page 168</a>:<br/>means <span class="correction">dazzingly</span> magnificent. A few idlers, guarded by a<br/>means <span class="correction">dazzlingly</span> magnificent. A few idlers, guarded by a</li> +<li><a href="#Page_196">Page 196</a>:<br/>the <span class="correction">temperature-and</span> weight-charts—tended by nurses in<br/>the <span class="correction">temperature- and</span> weight-charts—tended by nurses in</li> +<li><a href="#Page_212">Page 212</a>:<br/>and beat the carpet with his <span class="correction">tail,</span> At the same moment<br/>and beat the carpet with his <span class="correction">tail.</span> At the same moment</li> +<li><a href="#Page_230">Page 230</a>:<br/>suddenly <span class="correction">sat</span> Fatma off at a gallop and flew at such a pace<br/>suddenly <span class="correction">set</span> Fatma off at a gallop and flew at such a pace</li> +<li><a href="#Page_238">Page 238</a>:<br/>Imma <span class="correction">Spoelman</span> took stock of the prosaic country-house which<br/>Imma <span class="correction">Spoelmann</span> took stock of the prosaic country-house which</li> +<li><a href="#Page_258">Page 258</a>:<br/><span class="correction">Isenschnibble</span> has kept me well posted—you know she is<br/><span class="correction">Isenschnibbe</span> has kept me well posted—you know she is</li> +<li><a href="#Page_312">Page 312</a>:<br/>had withdrawn and <span class="correction">Princes</span> Griseldis had opened the cotillon<br/>had withdrawn and <span class="correction">Princess</span> Griseldis had opened the cotillon</li> +</ul> +</div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Royal Highness, by Thomas Mann + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROYAL HIGHNESS *** + +***** This file should be named 36028-h.htm or 36028-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/0/2/36028/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Jana Srna and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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