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diff --git a/23223-0.txt b/23223-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a913a00 --- /dev/null +++ b/23223-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1525 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Good Blood, by Ernst Von Wildenbruch + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Good Blood + +Author: Ernst Von Wildenbruch + +Release Date: October 27, 2007 [EBook #23223] +Last Updated: November 20, 2016 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GOOD BLOOD *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + + +GOOD BLOOD + +By Ernst Von Wildenbruch + + +Is it possible that there are people quite free from curiosity? People +who can pass on behind any one they see gazing earnestly and intently +toward some unknown object without feeling an impulse to stop, to follow +the direction of the other’s eyes, to discover what odd thing he may be +looking at? + +For my part, if I were asked whether I counted myself among that class +of cold natures, I do not know that I could honestly answer “Yes.” At +any rate, there was once a moment in my life when I was not only goaded +by such an impulse, but when I actually yielded to the temptation and +fell into the way of any mere curiosity seeker. + +The place in which it happened was in a wine-room in the old town where +as Referendar {1} I was practising at court; the time was an afternoon +in summer. + + 1 The title conferred in Prussia on the candidate who has + passed the first of the two examinations held before + appointment as judge. + +The wine-room, situated on the ground floor of a house in the great +square which from the window one could look out upon in every direction, +was at this hour nearly empty. To me this was all the more agreeable, +for I have ever been a lover of solitude. + +There were three of us: the fat waiter, who from a gray, dust-covered +bottle was pouring out the golden-yellow Muscatel into my glass; then +myself, who sat in a nook of the cozy, odd-cornered room and smacked the +fragrant wine; and still another guest, who had taken his place at one +of the two open windows, a tumbler of red wine lying before him on +the window-sill, in his mouth a long brown, smoke-seasoned meerschaum +cigar-holder, out of which he wrapped himself in a cloud of smoke. + +This man, who had a long gray beard framing a ruddy face tinged bluish +in places, was an old retired colonel, whom every one in town knew. He +belonged to that colony of the Superannuated who had settled down in +this pleasant place to wearily drag out the end of their days. + +Toward noon they could be seen strolling deliberately in groups of twos +or threes down the street, shortly to disappear into the wine-room, +where between twelve and one they assembled at the round table to +gossip. On the table stood pint bottles of sourish Moselle, over the +table floated a thick mist of cigar smoke, and through the mist came +voices, peevish, grating, discussing the latest event in the Army +Register. + +The old colonel, too, was a regular patron of the wine-room, but he +never came at the hour of general assembly, but later, in the afternoon. + +He was a man of lonely disposition. Rarely was he seen in the company of +others; his lodging was in the suburbs on the other side of the river, +and from the window of his room one could look out over a wide stretch +of meadow land which the river regularly inundated every spring, when it +overflowed its banks. Many a time have I passed by his lodging and seen +him standing at the window, his bloodshot eyes, rimmed with deep bags +beneath, thoughtfully gazing out toward the gray waste of water beyond +the embankment. + +And now he sits there at the window of the wine-room and gazes out upon +the square, over whose surface the wind sweeps along in a whirl of dust. + +But what is he looking at, I wonder? + +The fat waiter, bored to death over his two silent fees, had his +attention already drawn toward the colonel’s behavior; he stood in the +middle of the room, his hands clasped behind the tail of his coat, and +was gazing through the other window out on to the square. + +Something must surely be going on there. + +Quietly as possible, so as not to break the interest of the other two, +I rose from my seat. But there was really nothing to be seen. The square +was nearly empty; only in the center, under the great street lamps, +I noticed two schoolboys who were facing each other in threatening +attitude. + +Could it be this, then, that so fixed the attention of the old colonel? + +But having once begun, such is the nature of man, I could not withdraw +my attention before knowing whether this threat of a fight would really +swell to an outbreak. The boys had just come from afternoon school +session; they were still carrying their portfolios under their arms. +They may have been of equal age, but one was a head taller than the +other. This bigger one, a tall, lank, overgrown schoolboy, with an +unpleasant look in his freckled face, was blocking the way of the other, +who was short and plump and had an honest face with chubby, red cheeks. +The-bigger boy seemed to be nagging at the other with taunting words, +but by reason of the distance it was impossible to understand what he +said. After this had been going on for a while, the quarrel suddenly +broke out. Both boys dropped their portfolios to the ground; the little +chubby boy lowered his head, as though to ram his opponent in the +stomach, and then rushed at him. + +“The big fellow there will soon have him in a fix,” now said the +colonel, who was earnestly following the movements of the enemy, and who +seemed not to approve the tactics of the little chubby boy. + +For whom he intended these words it would be hard to say; he spoke them +to himself without addressing any one of us. + +His prediction was at once justified. + +The big fellow dodged the onset of his enemy; the next moment he had +his left arm squeezed around the other’s neck, so that the head of the +latter was caught as in a noose; he had him, as they say, “in chancery.” + With his right hand he gripped the right fist of his opponent, who was +trying to pummel him with it on the back, and when he had regularly +trapped him and brought him completely under his power he dragged him +again and again round and about the lamp-post. + +“Clumsy lad,” muttered the old colonel, continuing his monologue, +“always to let himself get caught in that way.” He was plainly +disappointed in the little chubby boy, and could not endure the long, +lanky one. + +“They fight that way every day,” he explained, noticing the waiter, to +whom he seemed willing to account for his interest in the matter. + +Then he turned his face again toward the window. “Wonder if the little +one will turn up.” + +Scarcely had he mumbled this to the end when there came rushing from the +city park that adjoined the square a slender little slip of a lad. + +“There he is,” said the old colonel. He swallowed a mouthful of red wine +and stroked his beard. + +The little fellow, who one felt sure by the resemblance must be a +brother of little Chubby Cheeks, but a finer and improved edition, ran +up, lifted high his portfolio with both hands and gave Long-Shanks a +blow on the back that resounded away over to where we sat. + +“Bravo!” said the old colonel. + +Long-Shanks kicked like a horse at this new assailant. Little-Boy +dodged, and the same instant Long-Shanks got a second blow, this time on +the head, that sent his cap flying. + +Nevertheless, he still kept his prisoner held in the trap and fast by +the right hand. + +Then Little-Boy tore open his portfolio with frantic haste; from the +portfolio he drew out a pen-case, from the pen-case a pen-holder, which +all at once he began jabbing into the hand of Long-Shanks that held his +brother prisoner. + +“Clever lad!” said the colonel to himself. “Fine lad!” His red eyes +fairly gleamed with delight. + +The affair was now becoming too hot for Long-Shanks. Stung with pain, +he released his first opponent to throw himself with furious blows on +Little-Boy. + +But the latter was now transformed into a veritable little wild-cat. +His hat had flown from his head, his curly hair clung round his fine, +deathly pale face, out of which his eyes fairly burned; the portfolio +with all its contents was lying on the ground--over cap, portfolio and +all he went for the anatomy of Long-Shanks. + +He threw himself on the enemy, and with little, clenched, convulsive +fists belabored him so on stomach and body that Long-Shanks began to +retreat step by step. + +In the mean while Chubby-Cheeks had recovered himself, snatched up +his portfolio, and with blow after blow on the sides and back of his +oppressor, pushed into the fight again. + +Long-Shanks at last threw off Little-Boy, took two steps backward and +picked up his cap from the ground. The fight was drawing to a finish. +Panting and out of breath, the three stood looking at one another. +Long-Shanks showed an ugly grin, behind which he tried to hide the shame +of his defeat; Little-Boy, with fists still doubled, followed every +one of his movements with blazing eyes, ready at a moment to spring once +more upon the enemy should the latter renew the attack. But Long-Shanks +did not advance again; he had had enough. Sneering and shrugging his +shoulders, he kept drawing away farther and farther until he had reached +a safe distance, when he began to call out names. The two brothers now +collected the belongings of Little-Boy that lay scattered about, stuffed +them into the portfolio, picked up their caps, whipped the dust from +them, and turned home ward. On the way they passed the windows of our +wine-room. I could now plainly see the brave little fellow; he was a +thoroughbred, every inch of him. Long-Shanks was again approaching +from behind and bawling after them through the length of the square. +Little-Boy shrugged his shoulders with fine contempt. “You great, +cowardly bully,” said he, and stopping suddenly, turned right about and +faced the enemy. At once Long-Shanks stopped too, and the two brothers +broke out into derisive laughter. + +They were now standing directly under the window at which the old +colonel was sitting. He leaned out. + +“Bravo, youngster!” said he, “you are a plucky one--here--drink this on +the strength of it.” He had taken up the tumbler and was holding it +out of the window toward Little-Boy. The boy looked up, surprised, then +whispered something to his older brother, gave him his portfolio to +hold, and gripped the big glass in his two little hands. + +When he had drunk all he wanted, with one hand he held the glass by +its stem, with the other took back the portfolio from his brother, and +without asking by your leave, handed the glass over to him. + +Chubby-Cheeks then took a long swallow. + +“The blessed boy,” muttered the colonel to himself. “I give him my +glass, and without further ado he makes his _cher frère_ drink out of +it, too.” + +But by the face of Little-Boy, who now reached the glass up to the +window again, one could see that he had only been doing something which +seemed to him quite a matter of course. + +“Do you like the bouquet?” asked the old colonel. + +“Yes, thanks, very well,” said the boy, who snatched at his cap +politely, and went on his way with his brother. + +The colonel looked after them until they had turned a corner of the +street and disappeared from his sight. + +“With boys like that”--then said the colonel, returning to his +soliloquizing--“it is often an odd thing about boys like that.” + +“That they should fight so in the public streets!” said the fat waiter +with disapproval, still standing at his post. “One wonders how the +teacher can allow it; and they seem to belong to good family, too.” + +“It isn’t that that does the harm,” grunted the old colonel. “Young +people must have their liberty, teachers can’t always be keeping an eye +on them. Boys all fight--must fight.” + +He rose heavily from his place so that the chair creaked beneath him, +scraped the cigar butt out of its holder into the ash-tray, and walked +stiffly over to the wall where his hat hung on a nail. At the same time +he continued his reverie. + +“In young blood like that nature will show itself--everything, just as +it _really_ is--afterward, when older, things look all much alike--then +one is able to study more carefully--young blood like that.” + +The waiter had put his hat into his hand; the colonel took up his +tumbler again, in which there were still a few drops of the red wine. + +“God bless the youngsters,” he murmured; “they have hardly left me a +drop.” He looked, almost sadly, into what remained of the wine, then set +the tumbler down again without drinking. + +The fat waiter became suddenly alive. + +“Will the colonel, perhaps, have another glass?” + +The old man, standing at the table, had opened the wine list and was +mumbling to himself. + +“H’m--another sort, maybe--but one can’t buy it by the glass--only by +the bottle--somewhat too much.” + +Slowly his gaze wandered over in my direction; I read in his eyes the +dumb inquiry a man sometimes throws his neighbor when he wants to go +halves with him over a bottle of wine. + +“If the colonel will allow me,” I said, “it would give me great pleasure +to drink a bottle with him.” + +He agreed, plainly not unwilling. He pushed the wine list over to +the waiter, lining with his finger the sort he wanted, and said in a +commanding tone: “A bottle of that.” + +“That is a brand I know well,” he said, turning to me, while he threw +his hat on a chair and sat down at one of the tables--“it’s good blood.” + +I had placed myself at a table with him so that I could see his face in +profile. His look was again turned toward the window, and as he gazed +past me up into the heavens, the glow of the sunset was reflected in his +eyes. + +It was the first time I had seen him at such close quarters. + +By the look of his eyes he was lost in dreams, and as his hand played +mechanically through his long beard, there seemed to rise before him out +of the flood of the years that had rushed behind, forms that were once +young when he was young, and which were now--who can say where? The +bottle which the waiter had brought and placed at a table before us +contained a rare wine. An old Bordeaux, brown and oily, poured into our +glasses. I recalled the expression which the old man had used a short +time before. + +“I must admit, colonel, that this is indeed ‘good blood.’” + +His flushed eyes came slowly back from the far away, turned upon me, and +remained fixed there, as if he would say: “What do you know about it?” + +He took a deep draft, wiped his beard, and gazed at his glass. +“Strange,” he said, “when a man grows old--he recalls the earliest days +far easier than those that come later.” + +I was silent; I felt that I ought neither to speak nor question. When +a man is lost in recollections he is making poetry, and one must not +question a poet. + +A long pause followed. “What an assortment of people one has to meet +with,” he continued. “When one thinks of it--many who live on and on--it +were often better they did not live at all--and others have to go so +much too early.” He passed the palm of his hand over the surface of the +table. “Beneath that lies much.” + +It seemed as if the table had become to him as the surface of the earth, +and that he was thinking of those lying beneath the ground. + +“Had to keep thinking of this a little while ago”--his voice sounded +hollow--“when I saw that little fellow. With a boy like that nature +comes right out, fairly gushes out--thick as your arm. You can see blood +in it. Pity, though, that good blood flows so freely--more freely than +the other. I once knew a little chap like that.” + +And there it was. + +The waiter had seated himself in a back corner of the room; I kept +perfectly quiet; the heavy voice of the old colonel went laboring +through the stillness of the room like a gust of wind that precedes a +storm or some serious outbreak in nature. + +His eyes turned toward me as if to search me, whether I could bear to +listen. He did not ask, I did not speak, but I looked at him, and my +look eagerly replied: “Go on.” + +But not yet did he begin; first he drew from the breast pocket of his +coat a large cigar-case of hard, brown leather, took out a cigar and +slowly lighted it. + +“You know Berlin, of course,” said he, as he blew out the match and +puffed the first cloud of smoke over the table. “No doubt you have +traveled before this on the street railway--” + +“Oh, yes; often.” + +“H’m--well, then, as you go along behind the New Friedrich Street from +Alexander Square to the Jannowiz Bridge, there stands there on the +right-hand side in new Friedrich Street, a great ugly old building; it +is the old military school.” + +I nodded. + +“The new one over there in Lichterfelde I do not know, but the old one, +that I do know--yes--h’m--was even a cadet there in my time--yes--that +one I do know.” + +This repetition of words gave me the feeling that he knew not only the +house, but probably many an event that had taken place in it. + +“As you come from Alexander Square,” he continued, “there first comes +a court with trees. Now grass grows in the court; in my time it was not +so, for the drills took place there and the cadets went walking there +during the hours of recreation. After that comes the great main building +that encloses a square court, which is called the ‘Karreehof,’ and +there, too, the cadets used to walk. Passing by from the outside, you +can’t see into the court.” + +I nodded again in confirmation. + +“And then comes still a third court; it is smaller, and on it stands +a house. Don’t know what it is used for now; at that time it was the +infirmary. You can still see there the roof of the gymnasium as you pass +by; then next to the infirmary was the principal outdoor gymnasium. In +it was a jumping ditch and a climbing apparatus and every other possible +thing--now it has all gone. From the infirmary a door led out into the +gymnasium, but it was always kept locked. When one wanted to go into the +infirmary, one had to cross the court and enter in front. The door +then, as I said, was always locked; that is, it was opened only on some +special occasion, and that, indeed, was always a very mournful occasion. +For behind the door was the mortuary, and when a cadet died he was laid +therein, and the door remained open until the other cadets had filed by, +and looked at him once more--and he was then taken out--yes--h’m.” + +A long pause followed. + +“Concerning the new house over there in Lichterfelde,” continued the old +colonel in* a somewhat disparaging tone, “I know nothing, as I said, but +have heard that it is become a big affair with a great number of +cadets. Here in New Friedrich Street there were not so many, only four +companies, and they divided themselves into two classes: Sekundaner +and Primaner, and to these two were added the Selektaner, or special +students, who afterward entered the army as officers, and who were +nicknamed ‘The Onions,’ because they had authority over the others and +were barely tolerated in consequence. + +“Now in the company to which I belonged--it was the fourth--there +were two brothers who sat together in the same class with me, the +Sekun-daner. Their name is of no consequence--but--well, they were +called, then, von L; the older of the two was called by the superiors +L No. I, and the smaller, who was a year and a half younger than the +other, L No. II. Among the cadets, however, they were called Big and +Little L. Little L, indeed--h’m--” + +He moved in his chair, his eyes gazed out into vacancy. It appeared that +he had reached the subject of his reveries. + +“Such a contrast between brothers I have never seen,” he continued, +blowing a thick cloud from his meerschaum pipe. “Big L was a strapping +fellow, with clumsy arms and legs and a big fat head; [1] Little L was like +a willow switch, so slender and supple. He had a small, fine head, and +light, wavy hair that curled of itself, and a delicate nose like a young +eagle’s, but above all--he was a lad--” + + 1 “Die Bollen,” a term of dislike among the Berlin + cadets. + +The old colonel drew a deep sigh. “Now you must not think that all +this was a matter of indifference to the cadets; on the contrary. The +brothers had scarcely entered the Berlin Cadet. School from the +preparatory school (they came from the one at Wahlstatt, I believe) when +their status was at once fixed: Big L was neglected, and Little L was +the universal favorite. + +“Now with such boys it is an odd thing: the big and the strong, they are +the leaders, and on whomsoever these bestow their favor, with that boy +all goes well. It also procures for him respect from the others, and no +one ventures lightly to attack him. Such boys--here again nature stands +right out--much as it is with the animals, before the biggest and +strongest all the rest must crouch.” + +Fresh, vigorous puffs from the meerschaum accompanied these words. + +“When the cadets came down at recreation time those who were good +friends together met and would go walking arm in arm around the +‘Karreehof and toward the court where the trees stood, and so it was +always until the trumpet sounded for return to work. + +“Big L--well--he attached himself just wherever he could find +attachment, and stalked sullenly ahead by himself--Little L, on the +contrary, almost before he could reach the court was seized under the +arm by two or three big fellows and compelled to walk with them. And +they were Primaners at that. For ordinarily, you must know, it never +occurred to a Primaner to go with a ‘Knapsack,’ or Plebe, from the +Sekunda; it was far beneath his dignity; but with Little L it was +different, there an exception was made. And yet he was no less loved by +the Sekundaner than by the Primaner. One could see that in class, where +we Sekundaner boys, you know, were by ourselves. In class we were ranged +according to alphabet, so that the two L’s sat together very nearly in +the centre. + +“In their lessons they stood pretty nearly even. Big L had a good head +for mathematics; in other things he was not of much account, but in +mathematics he was, as you might say, a “shark,” and Little L, who was +not strong in mathematics, used to “crib” from his brother. In all other +respects Little L was ahead of his older brother, and in fact one of the +best in his class. And right here appeared the difference between the +brothers; Big L kept his knowledge to himself, and never prompted; +Little L, _he_ prompted, he fairly shouted--yes, to be sure he did--” + +A tender smile passed over the face of the old man. + +“If any one on the front form was called upon and did not know the +answer--Little L hissed right across all the forms what he ought to +say: when it came the turn of the back benches little L spoke the answer +half-aloud to himself. + +“There was there an old professor from whom we took Latin. During nearly +every lesson he would stop short in the middle of the class; ‘L No. +II,’ he would say, ‘you are prompting again! And that, too, in a most +shameless fashion. Have a care, L No. II, next time I will make an +example of you. I say it to you now for the last time!” + +The old colonel laughed to himself. “But it always remained the next to +last time, and the example was never made. For though Little L was no +model boy, more often quite the contrary, he was loved by both teachers +and officers as well--but how indeed could it have been otherwise? He +was always in high spirits, as if receiving a new present every day, +yet nothing ever got sent to him, for the father of the two was in +desperately poor circumstances, a major in some infantry regiment or +other, and the boys received hardly a groschen (2.4 cents) for pocket +money. And always as if just peeled out of the egg, so fresh,--without +and within--eh, eh, altogether--” + +Here the colonel paused, as if searching for an expression that would +contain the whole of his love for this former little comrade. + +“As if Nature had been for once in a proudly good-humor,” he said, “and +had stood that little follow upright on his feet and cried: ‘There you +have him!’ + +“Now this was to be observed,” he continued, “that just so much as the +brothers differed, one from the other, the more they seemed to cling +to each other. In Big L, indeed, one did not notice it so much; he was +always sullen and displayed no feeling; but Little L could never conceal +anything. And because Little L felt conscious of this, how much better +he himself was treated by the other cadets, it made him sorry for his +brother. When we took our walks around the courtyard, then one could see +how Little L would look at his brother from time to time, to see if he, +too, had some one to walk with. That he prompted his brother in class +and allowed him to copy from himself when sight-exercises were dictated +was all a matter of course; but he also took care that no one teased +his brother, and when he observed him quietly from the side, as he often +did, without drawing his brother’s attention to it, then his little face +was quite noticeably sad, almost as if he were a great care to him--” + +The old man pulled hard at his pipe. “All that I put together for myself +afterward,” said he, “when everything happened that was to happen; he +knew at the time much better than we did how matters stood with Big L, +and what was his brother’s character. + +“This was, of course, understood among the cadets, and it helped Big L +none the more, for he remained disliked after it as before, yet it made +Little L all the more popular, and he was generally called ‘Brother +Love.’ + +“Now the two lived together in one room, and Little L, as I said, was +very clean and neat; the big one, on the contrary, was very slovenly. +And so Little L fairly made himself servant to his brother, and it +turned out that he even cleaned the brass buttons on his uniform for +him, and just before the ranks formed for roll-call would place himself, +with clothes-brush in hand, in front of his brother, and once more +regularly brush and scrub him--especially on those days when the ‘cross +lieutenant’ was on duty and received roll-call. + +“Well, in the morning the cadets had to go down into the court for +roll-call, and there the officer on duty went up and down between the +lines and inspected their uniforms to see if they were in order. + +“And when the ‘cross lieutenant’ attended to this, then there reigned +the most woful anxiety throughout the company, for he always found +something. He would go behind the cadets and flip at their coats with +his finger to make the dust fly, and if none came, then he would lift +their coat-pockets and snap at them, and so, beat our coats as much as +we would, there was sure to be left some dust lying on them, and as soon +as the ‘cross lieutenant’ saw it, he would sing out in a voice like that +of an old bleating ram: ‘Write him down for Sunday report,’ and then +Sunday’s day off might go to the devil, and then that got to be a very +serious matter.” + +The old colonel paused, took a vigorous swallow of wine, and with the +palm of his hand squeezed the beard from his upper lip into his mouth +and sucked off the wine drops that sparkled on the hair. Recollection of +the “cross lieutenant” made him plainly furious. + +“When one considers what sort of meanness it takes to so deprive a poor +little fellow of the Sunday holiday he has been hugging for a whole +week, and all for a trifle--bah! it’s downright--whenever I have seen +any one annoying my men--in later days that sort of thing didn’t happen +in my regiment; they knew this, that I was there and would not tolerate +it.--To be rough at times, ay, even to the extreme if necessary, to +throw one into the guard-house, that does no harm--: but to nag--for +that it takes a mean skunk!” + +“Very true!” observed the waiter from the back part of the room, and +thus made it known that he was following the colonel’s story. + +The old man calmed himself and went on with his story. + +“Things went on this way for a year, and then came the time for +examinations, always a very special occasion. + +“The Primaners took their ensign’s examination, and the Selektaners, +who, as I have said, Were called ‘Onions,’ the officer’s examination, +and as fast as any had passed the examination, they were dismissed +from the cadet corps and sent home, and it came about that the second +classmen, or Sekundaner, who were to be promoted to first class, still +remained Sekundaner for a time. + +“Well, this state of affairs lasted until the new Sekundaner entered +from the preparatory school and the newly dubbed ‘Onions’ returned, and +then once more the wheelbarrow trudged along its accustomed way. But in +the meantime a kind of disorder prevailed, more especially just after +the last of the Primaners had left--they were examined in sections, you +know, and then despatched, after which everything went pretty much at +sixes and sevens. + +“There was now in the dormitory where the two brothers lived a certain +Primaner, a ‘swell,’ as he was called by the cadets, and because he had +made up his mind, as soon as he should pass the examination and breathe +the fresh air again, to conduct himself like a fine gentleman, he had +had made for himself, instead of a sword-belt like those the cadets +procured from the institution and wore, a special patent-leather belt of +his own, thinner and apparently finer than the ordinary regulation belt. +He was able to afford this much, you see, for he had money sent to him +from home. He had displayed this belt about everywhere, for he was +inordinately proud of it, and the other cadets admired it. + +“Now as the day arrived for the Primaner to pack together his scattered +belongings in order to go home, he looked to buckle on his fine +belt--and all at once the thing was missing. + +“A great to-do followed; search was made everywhere; the belt was not to +be found. The Primaner had not locked it in his wardrobe, but had put it +with his helmet in the dormitory behind the curtain where the helmets of +the other cadets lay openly--and from there it had disappeared. + +“It could not possibly have disappeared in any other way;--some one must +have taken it. + +“But who? + +“First they thought of the old servant who was accustomed to blacken the +boots of the cadets, and keep the dormitory in order--but he was an old +trusty non-commissioned officer, who had never during the course of his +long life allowed himself to be guilty of the least irregularity. + +“It surely could not be one of the cadets? But who could possibly think +such a thing? So the matter remained a mystery, and truly an unpleasant +one. The Primaner swore and scolded because he must now leave wearing +the ordinary institution belt; the other cadets in the room were +altogether silent and depressed; they had at once unlocked all their +wardrobes and offered to let the Primaner search them, but he had merely +replied: ‘That’s nonsense, of course; who could think of such a thing?’ + +“And now something remarkable happened, and caused more sensation than +all that went before; all at once the Primaner got back the belt. + +“He had just left his room with his portmanteau in his hand, and had +reached the stairs, when he was hastily called from behind, and as +he turned about, Little L came running up, holding something in his +hand--it was the Primaner’s belt. + +“Two others happened to be passing at the time, and they afterward told +how deathly pale Little L was, and how every member of his body was +literally shaking. He had whispered something into the ear of the +Primaner, and the two had exchanged all quietly a couple of words, and +then the Primaner affectionately stroked the other’s head, took off his +regulation belt, buckled on the fine one and was gone; he had handed +the regulation belt over to Little L to carry back. Naturally the story +could now no longer be concealed, and it all came out accordingly. + +“A new assignment of rooms was ordered; Big L was transferred; and just +at the time all this was taking place, he had completed his removal to +the new quarters. + +“Afterward it occurred to the cadets that he had kept strangely quiet +about the whole affair--but one always hears the grass growing after it +has grown. So much, however, was certain; he had allowed no one to help +him, and when Big L put his hands to the work, he became quite rough +toward his little brother. But Little L, ready to help as he always was, +did not allow himself to be deterred by this, and as he was taking out +of his brother’s locker the gymnasium drill jacket that was lying neatly +folded together, he felt all at once something hard within--and it was +the belt of the Primaner. + +“What the brothers said to each other at the moment, or whether they +spoke at all, no one has ever learned; for Little L had still so much +presence of mind that he went noiselessly from the room. + +“But hardly was he out of the door and in the corridor, when he threw +the jacket on the ground, and without once thinking of what might be +made out of the affair, he ran up behind the Primaner with the belt. + +“But now, of course, it could no longer be helped; in five minutes the +story was the property of the whole company. + +“Big L had allowed himself to be driven by the devil and had become +light-fingered. Half an hour later it was whispered softly from room to +room: ‘To-night, when the lamps are turned out, general consultation in +the company hall!’ + +“In every company quarters, you must know, there was a larger room, +where marks were given out, and certain public actions proceeded with, +in what was called the company hall. + +“So that evening, when the lamps were out, and everything was quite +dark, there was a general movement from all the rooms, through the +corridor; not a door ventured to slam, all were in stocking feet, for +the captain and the officers still knew nothing and were allowed to know +nothing of the meeting, else we would have brought a storm about our +ears. + +“As we came to the door of the company hall, there stood near the door +against the wall one as white as the plaster on the wall--it was Little +L. At the same moment a couple took him by the hands. ‘Little L can +come in with us,’ they said; ‘he is not to blame.’ Only one of them all +wished to oppose this; he was a long, big fellow--he was called--name +of no consequence--well, then, he was called K. But he was overruled at +once; Little L was taken in with us, a couple of tallow candles were lit +and placed on the table, and now the consultation began.” + +The colonel’s glass was empty again. I filled it for him, and he took +a long swallow. “Over all this,” he went on, “one can laugh now if one +wills; but this much I can say for us, we were not in a laughing mood, +but altogether dismal. A cadet a rascal--to us that was something +incomprehensible. All faces were pale, all speaking was but half aloud. +Ordinarily it was considered the most despicable piece of meanness if +one cadet reported another to the authorities--but when a cadet had done +such a thing as to steal, then he was for us no longer a cadet, and it +was for this reason that the consultation was being held, whether we +ought to report to the captain what Big L had done. + +“Long K was the first to speak. He declared that we ought to go at +once to the captain and tell him everything, for at such meanness all +consideration ceases. Now Long K was the biggest and strongest boy +in the company; his words, therefore, made a marked impression, and +besides, we were all of his opinion at bottom. + +“No one knew anything to object to this, and so there fell a general +silence. All at once, however, the circle that had formed around the +table opened and Little L, who had till now been flattening himself +against the farthest corner of the room, came forward into the centre. +His arms hung limp at the side of his body, and his face he kept lowered +to the ground; one saw that he wished to say something, but could not +find the courage. + +“Long K was again laying down the law. ‘L No. II,’ said he, ‘has no +right to speak here.’ + +“But this time he was not so fortunate. He had always been hostile to +the two, no one quite knew why, especially Little L. Moreover, he +was not a bit popular, for as such youngsters have once and for all a +tremendously fine instinct, they may have felt that in this long gawk +lay hidden a perfectly mean, cowardly, wretched spirit. He was one of +those who never venture to attack their equals in size, but bully the +smaller and weaker ones. + +“At that broke out a whispering on all sides: ‘Little L _shall_ speak! +All the more reason for him to speak.’ + +“As the little fellow, who was still standing there, ever motionless +and rigid, heard how his comrades were taking his part, suddenly the +big tears rolled down his cheeks; he doubled his two little fists and +screwed them into his eyes and sobbed so heart-breakingly that his whole +body shook from top to bottom and he could not utter a word. + +“One of them went up to him and patted him on the back. + +“‘Take it easy,’ said he; ‘what is it you wish to say?’ + +“Little L still kept on sobbing. + +“‘If--he is shown up--’ he then broke out at long intervals--‘he will be +dismissed from the corps--and then what will become of him?’ + +“There was silence everywhere; we knew that the young one was perfectly +right, and that such would be the consequence if we reported him. Added +to this we also knew that the father was poor, and involuntarily each +thought of what his own father would say if he should learn the same of +his son. + +“‘But you must see yourself/ continued the cadet to Little L, ‘that your +brother has done a very contemptible thing and deserves punishment for +it.’ + +“Little L nodded silently; his feelings were entirely with those who +were censuring his brother. The cadet reflected a moment, then he turned +to the others. + +“‘I make a proposition,’ said he; ‘and if it be accepted we will not +disgrace L No. I for life. We will prove on his body whether he has any +honorable feelings left. L No. I. himself shall choose whether he wishes +us to report him or whether we shall keep the matter to ourselves cudgel +him thoroughly for it, and then let the affair be buried.’ + +“That was an admirable way out. All agreed eagerly. + +“The cadet laid his hand on Little L’s shoulder. ‘Go along, then,’ said +he, ‘and call your brother here.’ + +“Little L dried his tears and nodded his head quickly--then he was out +of the door and a moment after was back again, bringing his brother with +him. + +“Big L ventured to look at no one; like an ox that has been felled on +the forehead, he stood before his comrades. Little L stood behind him, +and never once did his eyes leave his brother’s slightest movement. + +“The cadet who had made the foregoing proposition began the trial of L +No. I. + +“‘Does he admit that he took the belt?’ + +“‘He admits it.’ + +“‘Does he feel that he has done something that has made him absolutely +unworthy of being a cadet any longer?’ + +“‘He feels it.’ + +“‘Does he choose that we report him to the captain or that we thrash him +soundly and that the matter shall then be buried?’ + +“‘He prefers to be soundly thrashed.’ + +“A sigh of relief went through the whole hall. + +“It was determined to finish the matter at once then and there. + +“One of the boys was sent out to fetch a rattan, such as we used for +beating our clothes. + +“While he was gone we tried to induce Little L to leave the hall, so +that he should not be present at the execution. + +“But he shook his head silently; he wished to remain on hand. + +“As soon as the rattan came, Big L was made to lie face down on the +table, two cadets seized his hands and drew him forward, two others +took him by the feet so that his body lay stretched out lengthwise. The +tallow candles were taken from the table and lifted up high, and the +whole affair had an absolutely gruesome look. + +“Long K, because he was the strongest, was to perform the execution; he +took the rattan in his hand, stepped to one side, and with the force +of his whole body let the cane come whistling down on to Big L, who was +clothed only in drill jacket and trousers. + +“The young fellow fairly rose under the fearful blow and would have +cried out; but in a second Little L rushed up to him, took his head in +both hands and smothered it against himself. + +“‘Don’t scream,’ he whispered to him; ‘don’t scream, else the whole +affair will get out!’ + +“Big L swallowed down the cry and choked and groaned to himself. + +“Long K again lifted up the cane, and a second swish resounded through +the hall. + +“The body of the culprit actually writhed on the table, so that the +cadets were scarcely able to hold him down by his hands and feet. Little +L had wrapped both arms around the head of his brother, and was crushing +it with convulsive force against himself. His eyes were wide open, his +face like the plaster on the wall, his whole body was quivering. + +“Throughout the hall was a stillness like death, so that one could only +hear the wheezing and puffing of the victim whom the little brother was +smothering against his breast. + +“All eyes were hanging on the little fellow; we all had a feeling that +we could not look on at it any longer. + +“When, therefore, the third blow had fallen and the whole performance +repeated itself just as before, a general excited whisper followed: +‘Now, it is enough--strike no more!’ + +“Long K, who had become quite red from the exertion, was raising his +arm again for the fourth blow, but with one accord, three or four threw +themselves between him and Big L, tore the rattan from his grasp, and +thrust him back. + +“The execution was at an end. + +“The cadet aforesaid raised his voice once more, but only half aloud. + +“‘Now, the affair is over with and buried,’ said he, ‘let each one +give his hand to L No. I., and let him that breathes even a word of the +matter be accounted a rascal.’ + +“A general ‘Yes, yes,’ showed that he had spoken entirely in accord with +the mind of the others. They stepped up to Big L and stretched out their +hands to him, but then, as at a word of command, they threw themselves +upon Little L. There formed a regular knot about the lad, first one +and then another wished to grasp him by the hand and shake it. Those +standing at the back stretched out their hands ‘way across those in +front, some even climbed on to the table to get at him; they stroked +his head, patted him on the shoulder, and with it all was a general +whispering: ‘Little L, you glorious rascal, you superb Little L.’” + +The old colonel lifted his glass to his mouth--it was as if he were +forcing something down behind it. When he set it down again, he drew a +deep sigh from the bottom of his heart. + +“Boys like that,” said he, “they have instinct--instinct and sentiment. + +“The lights were turned out, all stole hushed through the corridor back +to their rooms. Five minutes later every boy was lying in his bed, and +the affair was ended. + +“The captain and the other officers had heard not a sound of the whole +matter. + +“The affair was ended”--the voice of the speaker grew thick; he had +buried both hands in his trousers’ pockets and was gazing before him +through the fumes of the smoking cigar. + +“So we thought that night, as we lay in bed.--Did Little L sleep that +night? In the days following, when we assembled in class, it did not +seem so. Before, it had been as if an imp were sitting in the place +where the lad sat, and, like a rooster, had crowed it over the whole +class--now it was as if there were a void in the place--so still and +pale he sat in his place. + +“As when a man flicks the dust from the wings of a butterfly--so was it +with the little lad--I can not describe it otherwise. + +“On afternoons one always saw him now walking with his brother. He may +have felt that Big L would now find less companionship than ever among +the others--so he provided company for him. And there the two went, +then, arm in arm, always around about the Karreehof and across the court +with the trees in it, one as well as the other with head bent to the +ground, so that one scarcely saw that they ever spoke a word.” + +Again there came a pause in the narrative, again I had to fill the empty +glass of the colonel, who smoked his cigar faster and faster. + +“But all this,” he continued, “would perhaps have worn itself out in +course of time and everything have gone on as before--but for people!” + +He laid his clenched fist on the table. + +“There are people,” said he, scowling, “who are like the poisonous weed +in the field, at which beasts nibble themselves to death. With such +people the rest poison themselves! + +“So, then, one day we were having lessons in physics. The teacher was +showing us experiments on the electric machine, and an electric shock +was to be passed through the whole class. + +“To this end each one of us had to give his hand to his neighbor, so as +to complete the circuit. + +“As now Big L, who was sitting next to Long K, held out his hand to him, +the lubber made a grimace as if he were about to touch a toad and drew +back his hand. + +“Big L quietly shrank into himself and sat there as if covered with +shame. But at the same instant Little L is up and out of his place, over +to his brother’s side, at whose place, next to Long K, he seats himself, +whose hand he grips and smashes with all the force of his body against +the wooden form, so that the long gawk cries out with pain. + +“Then he grabbed Little L by the neck and the two now began regularly to +fight in the middle of class. + +“The teacher, who had been tinkering all this time at his machine, now +rushed up with coat-tails flying. + +“‘Now! Now! Now!’ he cried. + +“He was, you must know, an old man for whom we had not exactly a great +respect. + +“The two were so interlocked that they did not break away, even though +the professor was standing directly in front of them. + +“‘What disgraceful conduct!’ cried the professor. ‘What disgraceful +conduct! Will you separate at once!’ + +“Long K made a face as if he were about to cry. + +“‘L No. II began it,’ he said, ‘though I did nothing at all to provoke +him.’ + +“Little L stood straight up in his place--for we always had to stand +when a professor spoke to us--big drops of perspiration coursed slowly +down either cheek; he said not a word; he had bitten his teeth together +so hard that one could see the muscles of his jaw through the thin +cheeks. And as he heard what Long K said a smile passed over his face--I +have never seen anything like it. + +“The old professor expatiated at some length in beautiful set phrases +over such disgraceful behavior, spoke of the ‘utter depths of abysmal +bestiality, which such conduct betrayed’--we let him talk on; our +thoughts were with Little L and Long K. + +“And scarcely was the lesson at an end and the professor out of the +door, when from the back a book came flying through the air the whole +length of the class straight at the skull of Long K. And as he turned +angrily toward the aggressor, from the other side he received another +book on his head, and now there broke out a general howling: ‘Knock him +down! Knock him down!’ The whole class sprang up over tables and benches +and there was a rush for Long K, whose hide was now so thoroughly tanned +that it fairly smoked.” + +The old colonel, pleased, smiled grimly to himself and contemplated his +hand as it still lay with fist doubled on the table. + +“I helped,” said he, “and with hearty good-will--I can tell you.” + +It was as if his hand had forgotten that it had grown fifty years older; +as the fingers closed convulsively one could see that it was in spirit +once again pummeling Long K. + +“But as people must belong once and forever to their own kind,” + he continued his narrative, “so this Long K had to be naturally a +revengeful, spiteful, malicious, _canaille_. He would much rather have +gone to the captain and resentfully told him everything, but in our +presence he did not dare; for that he was too cowardly. + +“But that he had received a thrashing before the whole class, and that +Little L was to blame for it, for that he did not forgive Little L. + +“One afternoon, then, as recreation hour came round again, the cadets +went walking in the courts; the two brothers, as usual, by themselves; +Long K linked arm in arm with two others. + +“To get from the Karreehof to the other court where the trees were, one +had to pass under one of the wings of the main building, and it was +a rule that the cadets must not pass through arm in arm, so as not to +obstruct the passageway. + +“On this particular afternoon, as ill-luck would have it, Long K, as he +was about to pass through with his two chums from the Karreehof to the +other court, met the two brothers at the corridor, and they, deep in +their thoughts, had forgotten to let go of one another. + +“Long K, although the affair was no concern of his, when he saw this +stood still, opened his eyes wide and his mouth still wider, and called +out to the two: ‘What does this mean,’ said he, ‘that you go through +here arm in arm? Do you intend to block the way for honest people, you +set of thieves?’” + +Here the colonel interrupted himself. + +“That is now fifty years ago,” said he, “and more--but I remember it as +if it had happened yesterday. + +“I was just going with two others from the Karreehof, and suddenly we +heard a scream come from the corridor--I can not describe at all how it +sounded--when a tiger or other wild beast breaks loose from his cage and +throws himself on some one, then, I think, one would hear something like +it. + +“It was so horrible that we three let our arms drop and stood there +quite paralyzed. And not only we, but everything in the Karreehof +stopped and suddenly grew quiet. And then everything that had two legs +to run with kept rushing up at full speed toward the corridor, so that +it fairly swarmed and thickened black around the corridor. I, naturally, +with the rest--and what I saw there-- + +“Little L had climbed on to Long K like a wildcat--nothing else--and +with his left hand hanging on by the latter’s collar so that the tall +gawk was half-choked, with his right fist he kept up a crack--crack--and +crack right in the middle of Long K’s face, wherever it happened +to strike, so that the blood was pouring from Long K’s nose like a +waterfall. + +“Now from the other court came the officer who was on duty and broke +his way through the cadets. ‘L No. II, will you leave off at once!’ he +thundered--for he was a man tall as a tree and had a voice that could be +heard from one end of the Academy to the other, and we had a wholesome +respect for him. + +“But Little L neither heard nor saw, but kept on belaboring Long K +in the face still more, and with it came again and again that fearful +uncanny shriek that thrilled through us all, marrow and bone. + +“When the officer saw that he-took hold himself, gripped the little +fellow by both shoulders, and by main force tore him away from Long K. + +“As soon as he stood upon his feet, however, Little L rolled up the +whites of his eyes, fell his full length to the earth, and writhed on +the ground in a convulsion. + +“We had never yet seen anything like it, and were shocked and, stared at +it in absolute terror. + +“But the officer, who had been bending down over him, now straightened +himself: ‘The lad certainly has a most serious convulsion,’ said he. +‘Forward, two take hold of his feet’--he himself lifted him under the +arms--‘over to the infirmary!’ + +“And so they bore Little L over to the infirmary. + +“While they were carrying him there we went up to Big L to learn just +what had happened, and from Big L and the other two who had been with +Long K we then heard the whole story. + +“Long K was standing there like a whipped dog and wiping the blood from +his nose, and had it not been for this nothing would have saved him from +receiving another murderous thrashing. But now all turned silently +away from him, no one ever spoke another word to him; he made himself a +social outcast.” + +The top of the table resounded as the old colonel struck it with his +fist. + +“How long the others kept him in Coventry,” said he, “I know not. I sat +in class with him for a whole year longer and spoke never a single word +more to him. We entered the army at the same time as ensigns; I did +not give him my hand at parting; do not know whether he has become an +officer; have never looked for his name in the army register; don’t know +whether he has fallen in one of the wars, whether he still lives or is +dead--for me he was no more, is no more--the only thing I regret is that +the person ever came into my life at all and that I can not root out the +remembrance of him forever, like a weed one flings into the oven! + +“The next morning came bad news from the infirmary: Little L was lying +unconscious in a burning, nervous fever. In the afternoon his older +brother was called in, but the little fellow no longer recognized him. + +“And in the evening, as we all sat at supper in the big common +dining-hall, a rumor came--like a great black bird with muffled beat of +wings it passed through the hall--that Little L was dead. + +“As we came back from the dining-hall into company quarters, our captain +was standing at the door of the company hall; we were made to go in, and +there the captain announced to us that our little comrade, L No. II, had +fallen asleep that night, never to wake again. + +“The captain was a very good man--he fell in 1866, a brave hero--he +loved his cadets, and as he gave us the news, he had to wipe the tears +from his beard. Then he ordered us all to fold our hands; one of us had +to step forward and before all say ‘Our Father’ out loud--” + +The colonel bowed his head. + +“Then for the first time,” said he, “I felt how really beautiful is the +Lord’s Prayer. + +“And so, the next afternoon, the door that led from the infirmary to the +outdoor gymnasium opened, the hateful, ominous door. + +“We were made to step down into the court of the infirmary; we were to +see once more our dead comrade. + +“Our steps shuffled with a dull and heavy sound as we were marched over +there; no one spoke a word; one heard only a heavy breathing. + +“And there lay little L, poor little L! + +“In his white little shirt he lay there, his hands folded on his breast, +his golden locks curled about his forehead, which was white like wax; +the cheeks so sunken that the beautiful, delicate little nose projected +quite far--and in his face--the expression--” + +The old colonel was silent, the breath came choking from his bosom. + +“I have grown to be an old man,” he went on falteringly--“I have seen +men lying on the field of battle--men on whose faces stood written +distress and despair--such heart sorrow as I saw in the face of this +child I have never seen before or since--never--never--” + +A deep stillness took possession of the wine-room where we were sitting. +As the old colonel became silent and spoke no word more, the waiter rose +softly from his corner and lit the gas-jet that hung over our heads; it +had grown quite dark. + +I took up the wine bottle once more, but it was now almost empty--just +one tear still crept slowly out--one last drop of the good blood. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Good Blood, by Ernst Von Wildenbruch + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GOOD BLOOD *** + +***** This file should be named 23223-0.txt or 23223-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/2/2/23223/ + +Produced by David Widger + +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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