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diff --git a/35889-h/35889-h.htm b/35889-h/35889-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e20c24a --- /dev/null +++ b/35889-h/35889-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,26247 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<title>Seed-time and Harvest.</title> +<meta name="Author" content="Fritz Reuter"> +<meta name="Publisher" content="J. B. Lippincott & Co."> +<meta name="Date" content="1878"> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"> +<style type="text/css"> +body {margin-left:10%; + margin-right:10%; background-color:#FFFFFF;} + + + +p.normal {text-indent:.25in; text-align: justify;} +p.center {text-align:center; margin-top:9pt;} + + +p.right {text-align:right; margin-right:20%;} + +p.continue {text-indent: 0in; margin-top:9pt;} +.text10 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:10%; margin-right:0px; font-size:90%;} +.text20 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:20%; margin-right:0px; font-size:90%;} + + +.poem { + margin-top: 24pt; margin-left: 20%; + margin-right: 10%; text-align: left; + margin-bottom: 24pt; font-size:90%} + + .poem .stanza { + margin : 1em 0; + margin-top:24pt; + } + + +.poem0 { + margin-top: 24pt; margin-left: 0%; + margin-right: 0%; text-align: left; + margin-bottom: 24pt; font-size:90%} + + +.t0 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0em; margin-right:0px;} +.t1 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:1em; margin-right:0px;} +.t2 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:2em; margin-right:0px;} +.t3 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:3em; margin-right:0px;} +.t4 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:4em; margin-right:0px;} +.t5 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:5em; margin-right:0px;} +.t6 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:6em; margin-right:0px;} +.t7 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:7em; margin-right:0px;} +.t8 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:8em; margin-right:0px;} + +.quote {font-size:90%; margin-top:24pt; margin-bottom:24pt} +.dateline {text-align:right; font-size:90%; margin-right:10%; margin-top:24pt; margin-bottom:24pt} + +h1,h2,h3,h4,h5 {text-align: center;} + +span.sc {font-variant: small-caps; font-size:100%;} +span.sc2 {font-variant: small-caps; font-size:90%;} + +hr.W10 {width:10%; color:black;} + +hr.W20 {width:20%; color:black;} + +hr.W50 {width:50%; color:black;} +hr.W90 {width:90%; color:black;} + +p.hang1 {margin-left:1em; text-indent:-1em;} +p.hang2 {margin-left:1em; text-indent:0em;} + + +</style> + +</head> + +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Seed-time and Harvest, by Fritz Reuter + +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: Seed-time and Harvest + A Novel + +Author: Fritz Reuter + +Release Date: April 16, 2011 [EBook #35889] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SEED-TIME AND HARVEST *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by the Web Archive + + + + + +</pre> + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p class="hang1">Transcriber's Note:<br> + +1. Page scan source: http://www.archive.org/details/seedtimeandharv00reutgoog<br> +<br> +2. Compare the "Authorized Edition" issued in Leipzig (1878) under +the title "An Old Story of My Farming Days (<i>Ut Mine Stromtid</i>)".</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h1>SEED-TIME AND HARVEST</h1> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3><i>A NOVEL</i>.</h3> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h4>TRANSLATED FROM THE "UT MINE STROMTID" OF</h4> +<br> + +<h3>FRITZ REUTER.</h3> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h4>PHILADELPHIA:</h4> + +<h3>J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO.</h3> + +<h3>1878.</h3> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<hr class="W90"> + +<h5>Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870, by</h5> + +<h4>LITTELL & GAY,</h4> + +<h5>In the Office of the Library of Congress at Washington.</h5> +<hr class="W90"> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<div style="margin-right:80%"> +<hr class="W10"> + +<h4 style="margin-bottom:0pt"><span class="sc2">Lippincott's Press.</span></h4> +<h5 style="margin-top:2pt"><i>Philadelphia</i>.</h5> + +<hr class="W10"> +</div> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h1>Seed-Time and Harvest;</h1> + +<h5>OR,</h5> + +<h2>"DURING MY APPRENTICESHIP."</h2> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER I.</h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">In the year 1829, on St. John's day, a man sat in the deepest +melancholy, under an ash-tree arbor, in a neglected garden. The estate, +to which the garden belonged, was a lease-hold estate, and lay on the +river Peene, between Anclam and Demmin, and the man, who sat in the +cool shade of the arbor, was the lease-holder,--that is to say, he had +been until now; for now he was ejected, and there was an auction to-day +in his homestead, and all his goods and possessions were going to the +four winds.</p> + +<p class="normal">He was a large, broad-shouldered; light-haired man, of four and forty +years; and nowhere could you find a better specimen of what labor could +make of a man than she had carved from this block. "Labor," said his +honest face,--"Labor," said his firm hands which lay quiet in his lap, +folded one upon another as if for praying.</p> + +<p class="normal">Yes, for praying! And in the whole broad country of Pomerania, there +might well have been no one with greater need and reason to speak with +his Lord God, than this man. 'Tis a hard thing for any one to see his +household goods, which he has gathered with labor and pains, piece by +piece, go wandering out into the world. 'Tis a hard thing for a farmer +to leave the cattle, which he has fed and cared for, through want and +trouble, to other hands that know nothing of the difficulties which +have oppressed him all his life. But it was not this which lay so heavy +on his heart; it was a still deeper grief which caused the weary hands +to lie folded together, and the weary eyes to droop so heavily.</p> + +<p class="normal">Since yesterday he was a widower, his wife lay upon her last couch. His +wife! Ten years had he striven for her, ten years had he worked and +toiled, and done what human strength could do that they might come +together, that he might make room for the deep, powerful love which +sung through his whole being, like Pentecost bells over green fields +and blossoming fruit-trees.</p> + +<p class="normal">Four years ago he had made it possible: he had scraped together +everything that he had; an acquaintance who had inherited from his +parents two estates had leased one of them to him,--at a high rent, +very high--no one knew that better than himself,--but love gives +courage, cheerful courage, to sustain one through everything. Oh, it +would have gone well, quite well, if misfortunes had not come upon +them, if his dear little wife had not risen before the daylight and ere +the dew was risen, and got such feverish red spots on her cheeks. Oh, +all would have gone well, quite well, if his landlord had been not +merely an acquaintance but a friend--he was not the latter; to-day he +allowed his agent to hold the auction.</p> + +<p class="normal">Friends? Such a man as the one who sat under the ashen arbor, has he no +friends? Ah, he had friends, and their friendship was true; but they +could not help him, they had nothing either to give or to lend. +Wherever he looked, there seemed a gloomy wall before his eyes, which +narrowed around him, and pressed him in, until he must needs call upon +the Lord to deliver him out of his distresses. And over him in the +ashen twigs sang the finches, and their gay plumage glittered in the +sun, and the flowers in the neglected garden gave out their fragrance, +all in vain,--and the fairest bridal pair in the world might have sat +there, and never have forgotten either the place or the day.</p> + +<p class="normal">And had he not often sat under these shade trees with a soft hand in +his hard one? Had not the birds sung, had not the flowers been +fragrant? Had he not under the ash-trees dreamed of their cool shade +for his old age? And who was it that had brought to him here a +refreshing drink after a hot day's labor? Who was it that had shared in +and consoled all his cares and sorrows?</p> + +<p class="normal">It was gone--all gone!--Here was care and trouble about the auction, +and the soft, warm hand was cold and stiff. And so it is much the same +to a man as if the birds sang no longer, and the flowers had lost their +fragrance, and the blessed sun shone for him no more; and if the poor +heart keeps on beating it reaches out, beyond birds and flowers and +beyond the golden sun, higher up after a Comforter, in whose presence +these earthly joys shall fade and fall, but before whom the human soul +shall stand forever.</p> + +<p class="normal">So sat Habermann before his God, and his hands were folded, and his +honest blue eyes bent to the ground, and yet there shone in them a +clear light, as from God's sun. Then came a little maiden running to +him, and laid a marigold blossom on his lap, and the two hands unfolded +themselves and clasped the child,--it was his child,--and he rose up +from the bench, and took her on his arm, and from his eyes fell tear +after tear, and he kept the marigold flower in his hand, and went with +the child along the path through the garden.</p> + +<p class="normal">He came to a young tree which he had planted himself; the straw-rope +with which it was bound to its prop had loosened, and the tree was +sagging downwards. He reached up and bound it fast, without thinking +what he was doing, for his thoughts were far away, but care and helping +were part of his nature.</p> + +<p class="normal">But when a man's thoughts are in the clouds, were it even in the blue +heavens, if his daily duties come before his eyes,--the old accustomed +handiwork,--and he does them, he helps himself in so doing, for they +call him back from the distance and show him what is near by, and what +is in need of help. And it is one of our Lord's mercies that this is +so.</p> + +<p class="normal">He walked up and down the garden, and his eyes saw what was around him, +and his thoughts came back to earth; and though the black, gloomy +clouds still overspread the heaven of his future, they could not +conceal one little patch of blue sky,--that, was the little girl whom +he bore on his arm, and whose baby hand played with his hair. He had +thought over his situation, steadily and earnestly he had looked the +black clouds in the face; he must take care that he and his little one +were not overpowered by the storm.</p> + +<p class="normal">He went from the garden toward the house. Good Heavens, how his courage +sank! Indifferent to him, and absorbed in their petty affairs, a crowd +of men pressed around the table where the actuary was holding the +auction. Piece by piece the furniture acquired by his years of industry +was knocked down to the highest bidder; piece by piece his household +gear had come into the house, with trouble and anxiety; piece by piece +it went out to the world, amid jokes and laughter. This sideboard had +been his old mother's, this chest of drawers his wife had brought with +her, that little work-table he had given her while she was yet a bride. +Near by stood his cattle, tied to a rack, and lowing after their +pasture; the brown yearling which his poor wife herself had brought up, +her special pet, stood among them; he went round to her, and stroked +her with his hand.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr," said the bailiff Niemann, "'tis a sad pity"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Niemann, 'tis a pity; but there's no help for it," said he, and +turned away, and went toward the men who were crowding around the +auctioneer's table.</p> + +<p class="normal">As the people noticed him, they made room for him in a courteous and +friendly manner, and he turned to the auctioneer as if he would speak a +few words to him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Directly, Herr Habermann," said the man, "in a moment. I am just +through with the house-inventory, then-- A chest of drawers! Two +thalers, four shillings! Six shillings! Two thalers eight shillings! +Once! Twice! Two thalers twelve shillings! No more? Once! Twice! +and--thrice! Who has it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Brandt, the tailor," was the answer.</p> + +<p class="normal">Just at this moment, a company of country people came riding up the +yard, who apparently wished to look at the cattle, which came next in +order in the sale. Foremost rode a stout, red-faced man, upon whose +broad features arrogance had plenty of room to display itself. This +quality was very strongly marked; but an unusual accompaniment was +indicated by the little, crafty eyes, which peered out over the coarse +cheeks, as if to say, "You are pretty well off, but we have something +to do to look after your interests." The owner of these eyes was the +owner also of the estate of which Habermann had held the lease; he rode +close up to the cluster of men, and, as he saw his unhappy tenant +standing among them, the possibility occurred to him that he might fail +of receiving his full rent, and the crafty eyes, which understood so +well how to look after their own interests, said to the arrogance which +sat upon mouth and mien, "Brother, now is a good time to spread +yourself; it will cost you nothing;" and pressing his horse nearer to +Habermann he called, so that all the people must hear, "Yes, here is +your prudent Mecklenburger, who will teach us how to manage a farm! +What has he taught us? To drink wine and shuffle cards he might teach +us, but farming--<i>Bankruptcy</i>, he can teach us!"</p> + +<p class="normal">All were silent at these hard words, and looked first at him who had +uttered them, and then at him against whom they were directed. +Habermann was at first struck, by voice and words together, as if a +knife had been plunged into his heart; now he stood still and looked +silently before him, letting all go over his head; but among the people +broke out a murmuring--"Fie! Fie! For shame! The man is no drinker nor +card-player. He has worked his farm like a good fellow!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What great donkey is this, who can talk like that?" asked old Farmer +Drenkhahn, from Liepen, and pressed nearer with his buckthorn staff.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That's the fellow, father," called out Stolper the smith, "who lets +his people go begging about, for miles around."</p> + +<p class="normal">"They haven't a coat to their backs," said tailor Brandt, of Jarmen, +"and by all their labour they can only earn victuals."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," laughed the smith, "that's the fellow who is so kind to his +people that they all have nice dress-coats to work in, while he does +not keep enough to buy himself a smock-frock."</p> + +<p class="normal">The auctioneer had sprung up and ran towards the landlord, who had +heard these remarks with unabashed thick-headedness. "In God's name, +Herr Pomuchelskopp, how can you talk so?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said one of his own company, who rode up with him, "these folks +are right. You should be ashamed of yourself! The poor man has given up +everything that he had a right to keep, and goes out into the world +to-morrow, empty-handed, and you go on abusing him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, indeed," said the auctioneer, "if that were all! But his wife died +only yesterday, and lies on her last couch, and there he is with his +poor little child, and what prospect has the poor man for the future?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The murmur went round among the people of the landlord's company, and +it was not long before he had the place to himself; those who came with +him had ridden aside. "Did I know that?" said he peevishly, and rode +out of the yard; and the little, crafty eyes said to the broad +arrogance, "Brother, this time we went rather too far."</p> + +<p class="normal">The auctioneer turned to Habermann. "Herr Habermann, you had something +to say to me?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes--yes--" replied the farmer, like a man who has been under torture, +coming again to his senses. "Yes, I was going to ask you to put up to +auction the few things I have a right to keep back,--the bed and the +other things."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Willingly; but the household furniture has sold badly, the people have +no money, and if you wish to dispose of anything you would do better at +private sale."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have not time for that, and I need the money."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then if you wish it, I will offer the goods at auction," and the man +went back to his business.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Habermann," said Farmer Grot, who came with the company on horseback, +"you are so lonely here, in your misfortunes; come home with me, you +and your little girl, and stay awhile with us, my wife will be right +glad----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I thank you much for the good will; but I cannot go, I have still +something to do here."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Habermann," said farmer Hartmann, "you mean the funeral of your good +wife. When do you bury her? We will all come together, to do her this +last honor."</p> + +<p class="normal">"For that I thank you too; but I cannot receive you as would be proper, +and by this time I have learned that one must cut his coat according to +his cloth."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Old friend, my dear old neighbor and countryman," said Inspector +Wienk, and clapped him on the shoulder, "do not yield to +discouragement! things will go better with you yet."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Discouragement, Wienk?" said Habermann, earnestly, pressing his child +closer to himself, and looking steadily at the inspector, with his +honest blue eyes. "Is that discouragement, to look one's future +steadily in the face, and do one's utmost to avert misfortune? But I +cannot stay here; a man avoids the place where he has once made +shipwreck. I must go to some house at a distance, and begin again at +the beginning. I must work for my bread again, and stretch my feet +under a stranger's table. And now good-bye to you all! You have always +been good neighbors and friends to me. Adieu! Adieu! Give me your hand. +Wienk,--Adieu! and greet them all kindly at your house; my wife----' He +had still something to say, but he seemed to be overcome, and turned +almost quickly and went his way.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Niemann," said he to his bailiff, as he came to the other end of the +farm-yard, "Tell the other people, to-morrow morning early, at four +o'clock, I will bury my wife." With that, he went into the house, into +his sleeping-room. It was all cleaned out, his bed and all the +furniture which had been left to him; nothing remained but four bare +walls. Only in a dark corner stood an old chest, and on it sat a young +woman, the wife of a day-laborer, her eyes red with weeping; and in the +middle of the room stood a black coffin in which lay a white, still, +solemn face, and the woman had a green branch in her hand, and brushed +the flies from the still face.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Stina," said Habermann, "go home now; I will stay here."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, Herr, let me stay!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, Stina, I shall stay here all night."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Shall I not take the little one with me?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, leave her, she will sleep well."</p> + +<p class="normal">The young woman went out: the auctioneer came and handed him the money +which he had received for his goods, the people went away from the +court-yard; it became as quiet out of doors as in. He put the child +down, and reckoned the money on the window-seat. "That pays the +cabinet-maker for the coffin; that for the cross at the grave; that for +the funeral. Stina shall have this, and with the rest I can go to my +sister." The evening came, the young wife of the laborer brought in a +lighted candle, and set it on the coffin, and gazed long at the white +face, then dried her eyes and said "Goodnight," and Habermann was, +again alone with his child.</p> + +<p class="normal">He raised the window, and looked out into the night. It was dark for +that time of year, no stars shone in the sky, all was obscured with +black clouds, and a warm, damp air breathed on his face, and sighed in +the distance. From over the fields came the note of the quail, and the +land-rail uttered its rain-call, and softly fell the first drops on the +dusty ground, and his heart rose in thanks for the gift of sweetest +savor known to the husbandman, the earth-vapor in which hover all +blessings for his cares and labor. How often had it refreshed his soul, +chased away his anxieties, and renewed his hope of a good year! Now he +was set loose from care, but also from joy; a great joy had gone from +him, and had taken with it all lesser ones.</p> + +<p class="normal">He closed the window, and, as he turned round, there stood his little +daughter by the coffin, reaching vainly toward the still face, as if +she would stroke it. He raised the child higher so that she could +reach, and the little girl stroked and kissed the cold, dead cheek of +her silent mother, and looked then at her father with her great eyes, +as if she would ask something unspeakable, and said "Mother! Oh!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said Habermann, "mother is cold," and the tears started in his +eyes, and he sat down on the chest, took his daughter on his lap, and +wept bitterly. The little one began to weep also, and cried herself +quietly to sleep. He laid her softly against his breast, and wrapped +his coat warmly about her, and so sat he the night through, and held +true lyke-wake over his wife and his happiness.</p> + +<p class="normal">Next morning, punctually, at four o'clock, came the bailiff with the +other laborers. The coffin was screwed up; the procession moved slowly +toward the church-yard; the only mourners himself and his little girl. +The coffin was lowered into the grave. A silent Pater Noster,--a +handful of earth,--and the image of her who had for years refreshed and +comforted him, rejoiced and enlivened, was concealed from his eyes, and +if he would see it again he must turn over his heart like a book, leaf +by leaf, until he comes to the closing page, and then,--yes, there will +the dear image stand, fair and lovely before his eyes once more.</p> + +<p class="normal">He went among his people, shook hands with every one, and thanked them +for this last service which they had rendered him, and then said +"Good-bye" to them, gave to the bailiff the money for the coffin, cross +and funeral, and then, absorbed in thought, started on his lonely way +out into the gloomy future.</p> + +<p class="normal">As he came to the last house in the little hamlet, the young laborer's +wife stood with a child on her arm before the door. He stepped up to +her.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Stina, you took faithful care of my poor wife in her last +sickness,--here, Stina," and would press a couple of dollars into her +hand.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr, Herr," cried the young wife, "don't do me that injury! What have +you not done for us in good days? Why should we not in hard times make +some little return? Ah, Herr, I have one favor to ask; leave the child +here with me! I will cherish it as if it were my own. And is it not +like my own? I have nursed it at my breast, when your poor wife was so +weak. Leave me the child!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Habermann stood in deep thought. "Herr," said the woman, "you will have +to separate from the poor little thing, sooner or later. See, here +comes Jochen, he will speak for himself."</p> + +<p class="normal">The laborer came up, and, as he heard of what they were speaking, said, +"Yes, Herr, she shall be cared for like a princess, and we are healthy, +and well to do, and what you have done for us, we will richly repay to +her."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," said Habermann, lifting himself from his thoughts, "that won't +go, I can't do it. I may be wrong to take the child with me upon an +uncertainty; but I have left so much here, this last thing I cannot +give up. No, no! I can't do it," cried he hastily and turned himself to +go, "my child must be where I am. Adieu, Stina! Adieu, Rassow!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"If you will not leave us the child, Herr," said the laborer, "let me +at least go with you a little way, and carry her for you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, No!" said Habermann, "she is no burden for me;" but he could not +hinder the young woman from stroking and kissing his little daughter, +and ever again kissing her, nor that both these honest souls, as he +went on his way, should stand long looking after him. She, with tears +in her eyes, thought more of the child, he, in serious reflection, more +of the man.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Stina," said he, "we shall never again have such a master."</p> + +<p class="normal">"The Lord knows that," said she, and both went sadly back to their +daily labor.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER II.</h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">About eight miles from the place where Habermann had left his wife in +her quiet grave, lay in Mecklenburg a farm of less than medium size, +which was tenanted by his brother-in-law, Jochen Nüssler. The +farm-buildings had never been very substantial, and were now much in +need of repair, and moreover things were very disorderly; here a little +refuse heap, and there another, and the wagon and farm implements stood +here and there, and mingled together, like the people at a fair, and +the cart said to the wagon, "Brother, how came you here?" and the rake +laid hold of the harrow and said, "Come, dear, we will have a dance." +But the music was lacking, for it was all still in the farm-yard, quite +still. This lovely weather, all were in the meadow, haying, and even +from the little open windows of the long, low, straw-roofed farm-house +came no sound, for it was afternoon; the cook had finished her baking, +and the housemaid her cleaning, and both had gone together to the +meadow; and even the farmer's wife, who usually had something to say +for herself, was nowhere visible, for she also had gone from the +farm-yard with a rake in her hand; the hay must all be gathered into +great stacks before night-fall.</p> + +<p class="normal">But there was yet life in the house, though of a little, quiet kind. In +the room at the right of the porch, in the living-room, where the +blue-painted corner-cupboard stood,--the <i>schenk</i>, they called it, and +the sofa covered with black glazed linen, which was freshly polished up +with boot-blacking every Saturday and the oaken chest of drawers with +gilt ornaments, sat two little maidens of three years, with round +flaxen heads, and round rosy cheeks, playing in a heap of sand, making +cheeses with mother's thimble, and filling the damp sand into two +little shilling pots, which they turned upside down, laughing and +rejoicing if the lump stood firm.</p> + +<p class="normal">These were Lining and Mining Nüssler, and they looked, for all the +world, like a pair of little twin apples, growing on one stem; and they +were so indeed, for they were twins, and one who did not know that +Lining was not Mining, and Mining was not Lining, would be puzzled from +morning to night, for their names were not written in their faces, and +if their mother had not marked them with a colored band on the arm, +there would have been grave doubts in the matter, and their father, +Jochen Nüssler, was even yet in some uncertainty; Lining was properly +Mining, and Mining Lining, they had been as it were shaken up together +at the outset of their little lives. At present, there was no occasion +for such perplexity, for the mother had tied a blue ribbon in Lining's +little flaxen curls, and a red one in Mining's; and if one kept that in +mind, and observed them carefully, one would see plainly that Jochen +Nüssler was wrong, for Lining was half an hour older than Mining, and, +slight as the difference was, the seniority made itself quite evident, +for Lining took the lead in everything; but she comforted her little +sister also, when she was in trouble.</p> + +<p class="normal">Besides this little, unmistakable pair of twins, there was yet another +pair of twins in the room; but an old, experienced, circumspect couple, +who looked down from the chest of drawers on the children, and shook +their heads hither and thither, in the light breeze which came in at +the open window; these were grandfather's peruke, and grandmother's +state-cap, which were paraded on a pair of cap-stocks, and which +to-morrow,--Sunday,--would play their part.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Look, Lining," said Mining, "there is grandfather's puk." She could +not get the "r" quite right yet.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You always say 'puk;' you must say 'p-u-k,'" said Lining, for she also +was not quite up to the "r;" but being the eldest she must needs direct +her little sister in the right way.</p> + +<p class="normal">With that the little pair of twins got up and stood before the chest of +drawers, and looked at the old pair of twins on the cap-stocks, and +Mining, who was still very thoughtless, reached after the peruke stock, +and took down grandfather's peruke, turned it over on her head as +seemed well to her, and, placing herself before the glass, performed +just as grandfather did on Sundays. Now was the time for Lining to +exercise her authority, but Lining began to laugh, and catching the +joke took down grandmother's cap from the other stock, and imitated +grandmother's Sunday performances, and then Mining laughed, and then +both laughed, and then took hold of hands and danced "Kringelkranz, +Rosendanz," and let go, and laughed again and joined hands again and +danced.</p> + +<p class="normal">But Mining was quite too thoughtless, she had the little pot still in +her hand, and as they were in the midst of their fun--crash! she let it +fall on the floor, and there was an end of the pot, and an end of the +sport also. Now began Mining to cry and lament over her pot, and Lining +cried with her, like a little echo; but when that had lasted a while, +Lining began to console:--</p> + +<p class="normal">"See here, Mining, the wheelwright can mend it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said Mining, crying more quietly, "the wheelwright can mend it;" +and upon that the two little mourners started out of the door, quite +forgetting that they had grandfather's and grandmother's sacred Sunday +gear upon their heads.</p> + +<p class="normal">One may wonder that Lining should go to the wheelwright with such an +affair, but anybody who has known a regular wheelwright in that region, +will understand that such a man can do everything. If a sheep is sick, +they say, "Call the wheelwright!" If a window-pane is broken, the +wheelwright must nail on a board to keep out wind and weather; has an +old chair dislocated its leg, he is the doctor; if one wishes a plaster +spread for a sick cow, he is the apothecary; in short, he can mend +everything, and so Lining showed herself a little maiden of good sense +in going with her pot to the wheelwright.</p> + +<p class="normal">As the little girls went through the yard, in at the gate came a little +man, with a red face and a right stately red nose, which he carried in +the air; on his head he had a three-cornered cap, with a tassel in +front of no particular color; he wore a grey linen coat with long +skirts, and his short legs, which turned outward as if they had been +screwed into his long body the wrong way, were stuck into short +blue-striped trowsers, and long boots with yellow tops. He was not +exactly stout, but certainly not lean, and one might see that he was +beginning to grow a little pot-bellied.</p> + +<p class="normal">The little girls must meet him on their way, and as they came near +enough for the Herr Inspector--for the man with the little legs held +such a post--to perceive their approach, he stood still, and raised his +yellow bushy eyebrows so high that they went quite up under the visor +of his cap, as if these eyebrows, being the finest of his features, +must first of all, under such dangerous circumstances, be placed in +security. "God bless us!" cried he, "Where are you going? What sort of +doings are these? What! you have the entire Sunday finery of the two +old people upon your heads!" The two little girls quite patiently +allowed themselves to be despoiled of their finery, and showed the +broken pieces of the pot, saying that the wheelwright would mend it. +"What!" said the Herr Inspector Bräsig, for that was his name, "Who in +the world would have believed in such stupidity? Lining, you are the +oldest, I thought you had more sense; and Mining, don't cry any more, +you are my little god-child, I will give you a new pot at the next +fair. But now, along with you! into the house!"</p> + +<p class="normal">As he entered the living-room, and found no one there, he said to +himself, "To be sure! All are gone after the hay. Yes, I ought to be +looking after my hay; but the little madcaps have left these things in +such a state, that they would be in sad disgrace if the two old +grannies should see them as they are now; I must try to repair damages +a little." With that he drew out a little pocket-comb,--which he kept +by him because he was growing bald, and must needs comb forward his +back hair,--and began to labour at the peruke. That did very well; but +now came the cap. "How the mischief, Lining, have you contrived to do +it? To make it look decently again is not a possible thing! No, I must +try to recollect how the old lady looks of a Sunday afternoon. In front +she has a comely bunch of silken curls, and the front part of the old +toggery hangs over about three inches, so the thing must be set forward +more. On top she has nothing in particular, her bald head always shines +through; but behind she always has a puff, which she staffs out with a +bunch of tow; that the little girl has quite disarranged; that must be +pulled out better;" and with that he stuck his fist in the cap, and +widened out the puff.</p> + +<p class="normal">But in the back part of the puff there was a drawing-string, and as he +was doing his work thoroughly the cord broke, and the whole puff flew +out. "Now there, stupid!" cried he, and his eyebrows went up again. +"How? This isn't fastened worth a snap! With yarn! And one can't tie +knots in it. God bless my soul! What do I know about millinery? But +hold on! We will fix you yet." And with that he pulled from his pocket +a handful of strings--every good inspector must have such on hand--and +began to disentangle them. "Pack thread is too coarse; but this here, +this will do well enough." and he began to put a nice stiff cord +through the hem. But the job was a slow one, and before he was half +through, somebody knocked at the door. He threw his handiwork down on +the nearest chair, as if ashamed of it, and cried, "Come in!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The door opened, and Habermann, with his little daughter on his arm, +stepped in. Inspector Bräsig started up. "May you--keep the nose on +your face," he was going to say, but when anything serious happened to +him he had an unfortunate habit of falling into Platt-Deutsch,--"Karl +Habermann, where do you come from?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good day, Bräsig," said Habermann, and put the child down.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Karl Habermann," cried Bräsig again, "where do you come from?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"From a place, Bräsig, where I have now nothing more to look for," said +his friend. "Is my sister not at home?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"They are all in the hay; but how shall I understand you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"That it is all over with me; day before yesterday all my goods were +sold at auction; and yesterday morning"--here he turned to the +window--"yesterday morning I buried my wife."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What? what? Oh, dear Lord!" cried the kind-hearted inspector. +"Your wife? your dear, good wife?"--and the tears ran over his red +face--"Friend, old friend, say, how did that happen?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, how did it happen?" said Habermann, and seated himself, and +related his misfortunes in few words.</p> + +<p class="normal">Meanwhile, Lining and Mining went slowly and shyly toward the strange +child, saying nothing, but ever drawing a little nearer, till Lining +mustered courage, and took hold of the sleeve of her dress, and Mining +showed the fragments of her pot: "Look my pot is broken." The little +new-comer however looked around shyly with her large eyes, and fixed +them at last closely upon her father.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," Habermann closed his short story, "it has gone hard with me, +Bräsig, and you still hold my note for two hundred thalers; but don't +press me, if God spares my life, you shall be honourably paid." +"Karl Habermann,--Karl Habermann," said Bräsig, and wiped his eyes, and +blew his stately nose, "You are--you are a sheep's-head! Yes," said he, +and stuffed his handkerchief fiercely into his pocket, and elevated his +nose again, "You are just the sheep's-head you always were!" And as if +it occurred to him that his old friend should be diverted to other +thoughts, he picked up Lining and Mining like a couple of dolls, and +set them on Habermann's knee,--"There, you little rogues, that is your +uncle!"--exactly as if Lining and Mining were playthings, and Habermann +a little child, who might be comforted by them in his trouble; and he +himself took Habermann's little Louise on his arm, and danced with her +about the room, and all this time the tears were running down his +cheeks, and for a happy ending he put the child down in a chair, +and, as it happened, exactly the chair on which he had deposited his +half-finished millinery.</p> + +<p class="normal">By this time the house-people were coming back from the hay-field, and +a loud, clear, female voice was heard without, urging the maids to +hasten. "Hurry, hurry, come out with your milk-pails, the sun is going +down, and this year the pasture is so far off; we shall have to milk to +night in the twilight. Girl, where are your trenchers? Quick, run in +and fetch them. Go right along; I must look after my little ones +first." And into the room came a tall young woman, of seven and twenty +years, full of life and energy in face and figure, her cheeks red with +health and labor and the heat of the summer day, hair and eyes light, +and forehead white as snow, so far as the chip hat had sheltered it +from the sun. At the first glance one saw the likeness between her and +Habermann, but his features and demeanor seemed reserved, and hers +quite fresh and open; her whole appearance showed that she was as +active a worker from temperament as he was from honor and duty.</p> + +<p class="normal">To see her brother, and to fly toward him was all one. "Karl, my +brother Karl, my other father!" cried she, and hung about his neck; +but, as she looked more closely into his eyes, she held him back from +herself: "Tell me what has happened, tell me what dreadful thing has +happened! what is it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Before he could answer, her husband entered the door, and going up to +Habermann gave him his hand, and said slowly, as if with an effort; +"Good day, brother-in-law; take a seat."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let him tell what has happened to him," cried his wife, impatiently.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said Jochen, "sit down, and then tell. Good day to you also, +Bräsig; sit down too, Bräsig," and with that Jochen Nüssler, or as he +was generally called young Jochen, sat down himself in a corner by the +stove, which piece of furniture he had bought with his own separate +money. He was a long lean man, who carried himself with stooping +shoulders, and it seemed as if all his limbs had particular objections +to being put to the ordinary use. He was well on toward forty, his face +was pale, and as dull as his speech, and his soft sandy hair hung in +front and behind of equal length, over his forehead and the collar of +his coat, and never had known any fashions of parting or curling; his +mother had from his childhood up combed the hair over his face, and so +it had stayed, and when it looked rather tangled his mother would say: +"Never mind, Joching, the rough foal makes the smartest horse." Whether +it was because his eyes must always peer through this long hair, or +from his nature, his glance had something shy, as if he could not see +things clearly or make up his mind positively, and though he was +right-handed, his mouth was askew. This came from tobacco-smoking, for +that was the one business which he followed with perseverance, and as +he kept the pipe hanging in the left corner of his mouth, it had drawn +it down in that direction, and, while looking at him from the right it +seemed as if he could not say "zipp," from the left he appeared like an +ogre who would devour children.</p> + +<p class="normal">Now he sat there in his own especial chimney-corner, and smoked out of +his peculiar mouth-corner, and while his impulsive wife for sorrow and +compassion lamented over Habermann's story as if it had all happened to +herself that very day, and now it was her brother, and now his little +daughter that she kissed and comforted, he sat and looked over at the +chief actors, from the side next Bräsig, and with the tobacco smoke +came now and then a couple of broken words from the left side of his +mouth: "Yes, it is all so, as you say. It is all as true as leather. +What shall we do about it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The Herr Inspector Bräsig was the exact opposite of young Jochen; now +he ran about the room, now he sat down on a chair, and now on a +table, and worked his little legs with jumping up and down, like a +linen-weaver, and when Frau Nüssler kissed and stroked her brother, he +kissed and stroked him also, and when Frau Nüssler took the little +child in her arms and patted her, then he took her up afterward, and +carried her about the room, and sat her down again in a chair, but +always on grandmother's cap.</p> + +<p class="normal">"God bless me!" cried the house wife suddenly, "have I clean forgotten +everything? Bräsig, you should have thought of it. All this time you +have had nothing to eat and drink!" and with that she ran to the +cup-board, and brought fair, white, country bread, and fresh butter, +and went out and brought in sausages and ham and cheese, and a couple +of bottles of the strong beer brewed especially for grandfather, and a +pitcher of milk for the little ones; and when all was neatly arranged +on the white table-cloth, she drew her brother to the table, and taking +up the little girl, chair and all, sat her down to the table also, and +cut bread, and served them, and all so nimble with hand and foot, and +as nimble with mouth and speech. And so bright were knife and fork, and +as bright mien and eye; and so pure and white apron and table-cloth, +and as pure and white her good heart!</p> + +<p class="normal">"You shall have something next," said she to her little twin-apples, +and stroked the little flaxen heads. "Little cousin comes first. +Bräsig, sit up to the table. Jochen, you come too."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, I may as well," said Jochen, took a long, last pull at his +pipe, and brought his chair and himself to the table.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Karl," said Bräsig, "I can recommend these sausages, your sister has +an uncommon knack at them, and I have many a time told my housekeeper +she should get the recipe, for the old woman messes all sorts of +unnatural things together, which don't harmonize at all; in short there +is no suitability or connection, although the ingredients are as good +as a swine fed exclusively on peas can furnish."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Mother, help Bräsig," said Jochen.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thank you, Frau Nüssler; but with your leave I will take my drop of +Kümmel. Karl, since the time when you and I and that rascal +Pomuchelskopp were serving our apprenticeship under old Knirkstädt, I +have accustomed myself to take a little Kümmel with my breakfast, or +with my bit of supper, and it suits me well, thank God! But, Karl, how +came you to get in with that rascal Pomuchelskopp? I told you long ago +the beggar was not to be trusted; he is such an old snake, he is a +crafty hound, in short, he is a Jesuit."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, Bräsig," said Habermann, "we won't talk about it. It is true he +might have treated me differently, but still I was to blame; why did I +fall in with his proposal? Something else is in my head now. If I could +only have a place again!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Of course, you must have a place again. My gracious Herr Count is +looking out for a competent inspector for his principal estate; but, +Karl, don't take it ill of me, that wouldn't suit you. Do you see, +you must be rigged every morning with freshly blacked boots and a +tight-fitting coat, and you must talk High-German to him, for he +regards Platt-Deutsch as uncultivated, and then you have all the women +about your neck, for they rule everything there. And if you could get +along with the boots and the dress-coat, and the High-German,--for you +used to know it well enough, though you may be a little out of practice +now,--yet the women would be too much for you. The gracious Countess +looks after you in the cow-stable and in the pig-pen. In short it is a +service like--what shall I say? like Sodom and Gomorrah!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Look here!" cried the mistress of the house, "it just occurs to me +that the Pumpelhagen inspector is going to leave on St. John's day; +that will be the place for you, Karl."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Frau Nüssler is always right," said Bräsig. "What the Herr +Kammer<i>rath</i> von Pumpelhagen is,"--for he laid the emphasis in the man's +title always upon <i>rath</i>, so that it seemed as if he and the Kammerrath +had served in the army together, or at least had eaten out of the same +spoon and platter,--"what the Herr Kammerrath von Pumpelhagen is, +nobody knows better than I. A man who thinks much of his people, and +gives a good salary, and is quite a gentleman of the old school. He +knew you too, in old times, Karl. That is the right place for you, and +to-morrow I will go over there with you. What do yow say to it, young +Jochen?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said Herr Nüssler, "it is all as true as leather."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bless me!" cried the young wife, and an anxious look overspread her +handsome face, "how I forget everything to-day! If grandfather and +grandmother knew that we were sitting down to supper with company, and +they not called, they would never forgive me. Sit a little closer +together, children. Jochen, you might have thought of it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, what shall I do about it now?" said Jochen, as she was already +out of the room.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was not long before the two old people came back with her, shuffling +in with their leathern slippers. Upon both their faces lay that lurking +expectation and that vague curiosity which comes from very dull +hearing, and which quite too easily passes into an expression of +obstinacy and distrust. It has justly been said that married people, +who have lived long together, and have thought and cared and worked for +the same objects, come at last to look like each other; and even if +that is not true of the cut of the features, it holds good for the +expression. Both looked like people who never had allowed themselves +any pleasure or satisfaction which would be in the least expensive; +both looked shabby and dingy in their clothing, as if they must still +be sparing and tug at the wheel, and as if even water cost money. No +look of comfort in their old age, no pleasure sparkled in their eyes, +for they had had but one pleasure in their whole lives,--that was their +Jochen and his good success; now they were laid aside and heaviness lay +on their natures, and on their only joy, for Jochen was quite too +heavy; but for his success they still cared and toiled,--it was the +last goal of their lives.</p> + +<p class="normal">The old man was almost imbecile, but the old woman still kept her +faculties, and her eyes glanced furtively into all the corners, like a +pair of sharpers watching their opportunity.</p> + +<p class="normal">Habermann rose and gave his hand to the two old people, and his sister +stood by, looking anxiously in their faces to see what they thought of +the visit. She had already told them the occasion of her brother's +coming, and that might have been the reason why their faces looked +sourer than usual; or it might have been on account of the luxurious +supper with which the table was spread.</p> + +<p class="normal">The old folks sat down to the table. The old woman looked sharply at +Habermann's little girl. "Is that his?" she asked.</p> + +<p class="normal">The young woman nodded.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Going to stay here?" she asked further.</p> + +<p class="normal">The young woman nodded again.</p> + +<p class="normal">"So!" said the old woman, and prolonged the word, as if to indicate all +the damage which she expected her Jochen to suffer on that account. +"Yes, times are hard," she began, as if she must have a fling at the +times, "and one has enough to do to carry oneself through the world."</p> + +<p class="normal">The old man all the time was looking at the beer bottles and Bräsig's +glass. "Is that my beer?" asked he.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," shouted Bräsig into his ear, "and it is fine beer, which Frau +Nüssler has brewed, a good cordial for a thin, weak person."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Too extravagant! Too extravagant!" muttered the old man to himself. +The old woman ate, but kept looking away, over the table, toward the +chest of drawers.</p> + +<p class="normal">The young wife, who must have studied attentively the old woman's +behavior, looked in the same direction, and perceived with horror that +the cap was missing from the stand. "Good heavens! what had become of +the cap?" She had herself that very morning plaited it and hung it up +on the stand.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Where is my cap for to-morrow?" asked the old woman, at last.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Never mind now, mother," said the young woman, bending toward her, "I +will get it for you by and by."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is it all plaited?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The young woman nodded, and thought surely now grandmother would be +satisfied; but the old woman glanced her eyes sideways about the room, +as, fifty years ago, she had been used to look at young men. The Herr +Inspector Bräsig called his sins to mind, as they began to talk about +the cap, and tried, in a couple of hasty glances, to ascertain what had +become of the affair; but he had not much time, for there shot over the +old woman's face such a bitter-sweet, venomous grin, that she reminded +one of the dry bread steeped in poisonous syrup with which one catches +flies.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Are you sure you plaited it?" said she, and pointed to Habermann's +little Louise.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good heavens, what is that!" cried the young woman, and sprang up and +perceived an end of the cap-string hanging out under the child's little +dress. She lifted the child, and would have taken the head-gear, but +the old woman was quicker. Hastily she seized her disordered finery, +and, as she perceived the burst-out puff and Bräsig's half-inserted +drawing-string, the venom broke out, and, holding up the cap, +"Mischievous child!" cried she, and made a motion as if she would box +the child's ears with it.</p> + +<p class="normal">But Bräsig caught her arm, and cried, "The child knows nothing about +it;" and to himself he muttered, "The old dragon!" And behind +grandmother's chair began a great crying, and Mining sobbed, "Won't do +it again! Won't do it again!" and Lining sobbed also, "Won't do it +again! Won't do it again!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bless my soul!" cried the young woman, "our own children have done the +mischief. Mother, it was our own children!" But the old woman had all +her life understood too well what was for her own advantage, not to +know in her old age how to profit by her grievances; what she would not +hear, she did not hear, and she would not hear this. She called and +beckoned to the old man: "Come!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Mother, mother," begged the young woman, "give me the cap, I will make +it all right again."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who is up in the pasture?" asked the old woman, and went with old +Jochen out of the door.</p> + +<p class="normal">Young Jochen lighted his pipe. "God bless me!" said the young woman, +"she is right, I must go to the pasture. Grandmother will not think +well of me for the next four weeks."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Gruff was an old dog," said Bräsig, "but Gruff had to give in at +last."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't cry any longer, you poor little things," said the mother, drying +her children's tears. "You didn't mean any harm, but you are too +heedless. And now behave well, and play with little cousin. I must go. +Jochen, look after the children a little," and with that she put on her +chip hat and went to the pasture.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Mothers-in-law are the devil's claw!" said Bräsig. "But you, young +Jochen," turning to the man, who sat there as if his mother and his +wife were no concern of his, "you should be ashamed of yourself to let +your wife be so abused by the old woman."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes? what shall I do about it, being her son?" said young Jochen.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You cannot beat her, to be sure, since they are unfortunately your +parents; but you might give a filial admonition, now and then, like a +dutiful son, that the devil in her must be cast out, if she will not +keep peace in the family. And you, Karl Habermann, don't take this +little quarrel too much to heart; for your dear sister has a good +temper and a joyous heart. She soon gets over it, and the old termagant +must give in at last, for they can do nothing without her. The young +woman is the mainspring of the house. But"--here he drew out from his +pocket an immense double-cased watch, such a thing as one calls a +warming-pan--"really, it is close upon seven! I must hurry, for my +people need looking after."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hold on," said Habermann, "I will go part way with you. Good-bye for +so long, Jochen."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good-bye, also, brother-in-law," said Jochen, and remained sitting in +his corner.</p> + +<p class="normal">As they came out of doors, Habermann said, "But, Bräsig, how can you +speak so of the old people, in their son's presence?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He is used to it, Karl. No devil could endure those two old +dogs-in-the-manger. They have embroiled themselves with the whole +neighborhood, and as for the servants, they run miles to get out of +their way."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good heavens," said Habermann, "my poor sister! She was such a joyous +child, and now in such a house, and with such a lout of a man!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"There you are right, Karl, he is an old lout (Nüss), and Nüssler is +his name; but he does not treat your sister badly, and, although he is +an old blockhead and has no sort of smartness about him, he is not yet +so dull that he cannot see how your sister manages the whole concern."</p> + +<p class="normal">"The poor girl! On my account, that she might not be a burden on me, as +she said, and that our old mother might see one of her children settled +before her death, she took the man.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know all about it, Karl, I know it from my own experience. Don't you +remember? It was in rye-harvest, and you said to me, 'Zachary,' said +you, 'your activity is a disadvantage to you, you are carrying in your +rye still damp.' And I said, 'How so?' For on Sunday we had already had +Streichelbier, and your sister was there also, and with such weather +why shouldn't I get in my rye? And then I told you, unless I am +mistaken, that of my three partners I would marry no other than your +sister. Then you laughed again, so mischievously, and said, she was +still too young. 'What has her youth to do with it?' said I. Then you +said again my other two partners had the first chance, and laughed, not +believing I was in earnest; and so the matter dawdled along for awhile, +for my gracious Herr Count would not give his consent, and allowed no +married inspectors. And next thing it was too late, for young Jochen +had spoken for her, and your mother was on his side. No, it was not to +be," said the honest old fellow, looking pensively along his nose, "but +when I see her little rogues of twins, and think to myself that they +ought rightly to be mine, listen to me, Karl, then I feel as if I could +trample the old woman and old Jochen and young Jochen into the ground +together. But it is a real blessing to the old Jesuits that your sister +has came into the house, with her kind heart and cheerful disposition; +for if they had had a daughter-in-law of a different sort, they would +long since have been dead and buried."</p> + +<p class="normal">With these words, they had come out of the hamlet, and as they turned +by the farm-garden Habermann exclaimed, "Good heavens, can it be that +the two old people are standing on that hill?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said Bräsig, with a scornful laugh, "there is the old pack of +Jesuits again at their place of retirement."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Retirement!" exclaimed Habermann. "On a hill-top!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is even so, Karl. The old reptile trusts nobody, not her own +children, and if she has something to say which her ordinary gestures +and pantomime will not suffice for, then they always come here to this +steep hill, where they can see all around if any one is within hearing, +and then they shout their secrets in each other's ears. Yes, now they +are in full conclave, the old woman has laid a dragon's egg, and they +are setting on it together."</p> + +<p class="normal">"She is so hasty and passionate," said Habermann. "Just see how the old +woman gesticulates! What would she have?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know right well what they are deliberating and ruminating upon. I +can understand a hundred paces off, for I know her of old. And Karl," +he added, after a little thought, raising his eyebrows, "it is best you +should know all, that you may hold yourself ready; they are talking of +you and your little one."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Of me, and my little girl?" asked Habermann, in astonishment.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Karl. You see if you had come with a great bag of money, they +would have welcomed you with open arms, for money is the one thing +which they hold in respect; but in your temporary embarrassment they +look upon you and your little girl as nothing better than a couple of +intruders, who will take the bread from their mouths, and from their +old blockhead of a Jochen."</p> + +<p class="normal">"God bless me!" cried Habermann, "why didn't I leave the child with the +Rassows? What shall I do with the poor little thing? Do you know any +expedient? I cannot leave her here, not even with my own sister can I +leave her here."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But naturally, you wish to have her near you. Now I will tell you, +Karl, tonight you must stay with the Nüssler's; tomorrow we will go to +the Herr Kammerrath at Pumpelhagen. If that goes well, then we can find +a place for the child here in the neighbourhood; if not, we will ride +to the city, and there we must find some opening,--if not otherwise, +with the merchant Kurz. And now good-bye, Karl! Don't take the matter +too much to heart,--things will improve, Karl!" whereupon he departed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, if all were like you," said Habermann, as he went back to his +sister's house, "then I should get over the steep mountain; but get +over it I must, and will," and the cheerful courage, which had been +nurtured by labor and his feeling of duty, broke through the gloom, +like the sun through a mist. "My sister shall suffer no inconvenience +on my account, and I will take care of my child myself."</p> + +<p class="normal">In the evening, when the milk had been cared for, Habermann walked with +his sister along the garden-path, and she spoke of his, and he of her, +troubles.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh, Karl," said she, "don't fret about me! I am used to it all now. +Yes, it is true, the old folks are very selfish and irritable; but if +they sulk at me for a week, I forget it all the next hour, and as for +Jochen, I must own that he lays nothing in my way, and has never given +me a hard word. If he were only a little more active and ready,--but +that is not to be looked for in him. I have enough to do in my +house-keeping, but I have to concern myself with the out-of-door work, +too, which is not a woman's business, and there Bräsig is a real +comfort to me, for he has an eye to the fields and the farm-yard, and +starts Jochen up a little."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Does the farming go well on the whole, and do you come out right at +the year's end?" asked the brother.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It does not go as well as it ought. We are too sparing for that, and +the old folks will not allow us to make any changes or improvements. We +come out right, and the rent is always paid promptly, but there are +Jochen's two old brothers-in-law, the merchant Kurz, and the Rector +Baldrian--they made quite a stir about it, and set the old people and +us by the ears because they wanted their share of the property. The +Rector doesn't really need it, but he is such an old miser; but Kurz +could use his money, for he is a merchant, and will yet have a large +business. But the two old people wish to give almost everything to +Jochen, and with that which they have kept back for themselves they +cannot part, and the old woman has an old rhyme, which she always +quotes, if one touches on the subject:--</p> +<div class="poem"> +<p class="t0" style="text-indent:-8px"> +'Who to his children gives his bread,<br> +Himself shall suffer need instead,<br> +And with a club be stricken dead.'</p> +</div> + +<p class="continue">But it is wrong, all wrong, and no blessing can come of it, for one +child is as good as another, and at first I said that right out to the +old people. Oh, what an uproar there was! They had earned it, and what +had I brought into the family? Upon my knees I ought to thank God and +them, that they would make a man of Jochen. But I have persuaded +Jochen, so that to Kurz at least he has from time to time given upwards +of fifteen hundred thalers. The old woman has noticed it, to be sure, +and has reckoned it all up, but she does not know yet the truth of the +matter; because, since Jochen is rather slow, and is not used to +reckoning, I keep the purse myself, and there I positively will not +allow grandmother to interfere. No, grandmother, I am not so stupid as +that! If I have a house of my own, I will have my own purse. And that +is their great grievance, that they can no longer play the guardian +over Jochen; but Jochen is almost forty, and if he will not rule +himself, then I will rule him, for I am his wife, and the nearest to +him, as our Frau Pastorin says. Now, tell me, Karl, am I right or am I +wrong?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are right, Dürten," said Habermann.</p> + +<p class="normal">With that they said good-night, and went to bed.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER III.</h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">The next morning came Bräsig in good season, to go with Habermann to +Pumpelhagen. The young wife sat in the living-room, and was paying off +the work-people; Jochen sat close by her, and smoked tobacco,--he +attended to that business. The old people were not yet visible, for +grandmother had said to her daughter-in-law, she at least could not go +out to-day, since she had nothing to put on her head; and grandfather +had said that merry-making would go on better without him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is really considerate of the old people," said Bräsig, "not to +spoil our dinner; for, Madam Nüssler, I am going to stay here to dinner +to-day, with Karl. But, Karl, we must go. Good-bye, little rogues!"</p> + +<p class="normal">As they went through the farm-yard, Bräsig all of a sudden stood still. +"Just see, Karl, doesn't it look like the desert of Sahara? Here a +dung-heap and there a dung-heap! And yet, see, old Jochen has had these +ditches opened, so that all the dirty water can run off, in a body, to +the village pond. And then the roofs!" said he, walking on. "They have +straw enough for new roofs,--it is merely that the old folks grudge +the expense of repairing them. I come here properly only from two +motives,--one relates to my health, the other to my heart; for I find +that it agrees with me, when I have eaten too hearty a dinner, to get +comfortably angry, and, on account of my heart, I go for the sake of +your sister and the little rogues, since I can be of some assistance to +her. For young Jochen behaves usually quite too much like a wheel on a +baggage-wagon, in the winter, between here and Rostock. If I could but +once have him before a cart, with three or four on top of the load, and +then lay on the whip!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"See," said Habermann, as they went through a field, "they have some +fine-looking wheat there."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, yes, it has a good color; but what do you think they sow here? +Rye! And why so? Because old Jochen, for twenty-five years, has always +had rye in the winter field."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Does this field extend over the hill yonder?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, Karl, the old lynx is not so fat as that; fry lard in butter, and +eat it with a spoon! No, Karl, that field over the hill happens to be +mine."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh, how one can forget, in a couple of years! So your land comes thus +far?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Karl, for Warnitz stretches out finely in length; on this side it +comes to this point, and on the other it turns round toward Haunerwiem. +But see here, from this rising-ground I can show you the whole region. +Where we stand belongs to your brother-in-law, and his land goes on the +right up to my wheat, and on the left to that little clump of firs, for +Rexow is quite small. He has also a small field on the other side of +the hamlet. The land to the right, behind my wheat field, also belongs +to Warnitz, and before us, where the ploughed ground begins, lies +Pumpelhagen; and here on the left, behind the fir-trees, is Gurlitz."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Warnitz is then the largest?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, Karl, not so either. Pumpelhagen has eight lasts more, and is a +first-class estate also in value,--two-and-forty lasts natural wheat +land. Yes, if the rest were all of a piece! No, the Kammerrath is a +good man, and a good countryman; but you see, there he sits in +Schwerin, and cannot trouble himself about Pumpelhagen, where he has +often had <i>such</i> inspectors! And he bought the property in dear times, +and a crowd of leeches stand ready to drain the last drop from his +veins; and then his lady, the Kammerräthin, rides grandly in her +carriage visiting and entertaining. But he is the right sort of man, +and is good to his people, and although the von Rambows are of old +descent,--for my gracious Herr Count often invites him to dinner, and +he thinks a great deal of ancestry,--yet he carries himself quite +pleasantly and without any formality."</p> + +<p class="normal">Habermann had listened attentively to this information, for these +things might by a fortunate chance have some connection with his +future; but, interested as he was, his thoughts still recurred to his +present difficulty. "Bräsig," said he, "have you any idea in your head +about my little girl?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What wouldn't I do for her, Karl! But--the devil knows! I believe we +must after all go to the city to Kurz, the merchant. She, Frau Kurz, is +a good sort of woman, and he--well, he is in the vocative, like all +shop-keepers. Just think, last summer the rascal sold me a piece of +stuff for breeches, for Sunday wear; it was a kind of chocolate-colour. +And, think, when I went one morning in the dew, through my clover, they +turned up to the knee, like a mess of crabs, pure scarlet! And he sent +me some Kümmel, the Prussian kind, the old sweet-meats, tinkered up +with all sorts of drops. But I sent it back to him again, with a good +scolding; the breeches, however, he would not take back, and sent me +word he didn't wear breeches. No, did the rascal think I was going to +wear red ones! And Karl, see, here at the left is Gurlitz.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is that the Gurlitz church-tower?" asked Habermann.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Karl,"--and Bräsig stood still, turned up his nose, sent +his eyebrows up under his cocked hat,--for he wore a hat on +Sundays,--opened his mouth wide, and stared at Habermann with a pair of +eyes which seemed to look him through and through, and then lose +themselves in the distance.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Karl!" he cried finally, "since you speak of the church-tower,--God +bless you! the Gurlitz pastor must take your little girl."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Pastor Behrens?" asked Habermann.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Pastor Behrens, who was our private instructor at old +Knirkstädt's."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, Bräsig, I will confess I have thought of it almost the whole +night, whether that would be possible, if I should remain in the +neighbourhood."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Possible? He must! He would like nothing better than to have a little +child growing up near him, since he himself has no children; and he has +rented his farm, and now has nothing to do but to read and study his +books, which it would make another man turn green and yellow merely to +look at from a distance. That is what he enjoys! And she, the Frau +Pastorin, is so fond of children, that all the girls in the village tag +after her; and she is an excellent, kind-hearted woman, and always +cheerful, and the best of friends with your sister."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, if that might be!" exclaimed Habermann. "You and I owe everything +to that man, Zachary! Do you remember, when he was still a candidate, +at old Knirkstädt's, how he gave us private lessons in the winter +evenings, and taught us writing and arithmetic, and what a friend he +was to us two stupid youngsters?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Karl, and how Zamel Pomuchelskopp used to lie and snore of an +evening, till the beams shook, while we were in the pursuit of +learning. Do you remember, in the arithmetic, when we came to the Rule +of Three,--you seek the fourth unknown quantity, and first get the +ratio, and then it goes! In quickness I was your superior, but you were +mine in accuracy, and also in orthography. But in letter-writing and in +High-German, then I was better again; and these last I have ever since +studied diligently, for every man has his favorite pursuit. And when I +go to see the Pastor, I always thank him for his assistance in my +education; and then he laughs, and says he is more indebted to me, +because I have rented his farm for him, and he is now sure of a good +contract. He thinks something of me, and if you stay here, we will go +over to him, and you shall see he will do it."</p> + +<p class="normal">By this time they had arrived at Pumpelhagen, and Bräsig quite +impressed Habermann by his distinguished manners, as he sailed up to +the old servant, and inquired if the Herr Kammerrath was at home, and +could be spoken with.</p> + +<p class="normal">He would announce the gentlemen the man said; wasn't it the Herr +Inspector, Bräsig?</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said Bräsig. "Do you see, Karl he knows me, and the Herr +Kammerrath knows me too. And, did you notice? regularly announcing us! +The nobility don't do things meanly. My gracious Herr Count always has +people announced to him by three servants; that is, one announces to +the other, until the valet finally announces to him, and by this custom +we sometimes have amusing occurrences,--as, the other day, with the +kammerjäger. The first announced to the second, instead of kammerjäger, +oberjäger, and the second added a meister, and the third announced to +the Herr Count an oberjägermeister; and, as my gracious Herr Count +prepared to receive the strange gentleman with proper ceremony, it was +the old rat-catcher Tibaul."</p> + +<p class="normal">The servant came back, and led them into a spacious room, which was +very comfortably but not splendidly furnished. In the centre stood a +large, plain table, covered with papers and accounts. Behind the table +stood, as they entered, a rather tall, thin man, who had on his face a +thoughtful expression, and in his whole appearance an air of quiet +reflection; and in his dress, although it was quite suited to his +circumstances, there was the same simplicity as in the furnishing of +the room. He might have been about fifty, and his sandy hair was +thickly sprinkled with gray; also he was evidently quite shortsighted, +for, as he came around the table to receive the two guests, he reached +after an eye-glass, which, however, he did not use, but went up close +to his visitors. "Ah, Herr Inspector Bräsig," said he quietly. "What +can I do for you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Uncle Bräsig was so put out in his elaborate address, that he could not +collect himself of a sudden; not to hurry him, the Herr Kammerrath +looked quite closely at Habermann. "You want---- But," he interrupted +himself, "I ought to know you. Wait a moment,--were you not for ten or +twelve years in service with my brother?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Herr Kammerrath, and my name is Habermann."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Right, right! And to what do I owe the pleasure of seeing you here?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have understood that the Herr Kammerrath was looking for an +inspector; and as I am in search of such a place----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"But you have a farm in Pomerania, as I think I have heard," +interrupted the proprietor.</p> + +<p class="normal">But now it was high time for Bräsig, if he had anything of importance +to say, to charge into the midst. "That he had, Herr Kammerrath von +Rambow, he <i>had</i> it, but the Jews will give nothing for it now. He, +like many another farmer, got into difficulties, and the pitiful +meanness and baseness of his landlord have ruined him. What do you say +to that, Herr Kammerrath?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Behind the old fellow's back at these words sounded a hearty laugh, and +as he looked around he saw the bright face of a ten or twelve years' +old boy, which seemed to say, "Wait a bit, there is more coming." The +Kammerrath also turned his face away to laugh a little; but happily for +uncle Bräsig, it never occurred to him that the laughing was from any +other cause than natural pleasure at his well-chosen language. He +concluded therefore, quite seriously. "And so he has gone head over +heels."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am heartily sorry," said the Kammerrath; "Yes," he added with a +sigh, "these are hard times for the countrymen; but we must hope that +they will improve. As regards your wish,--Axel, go out and see if +breakfast is ready,--your supposition is correct. I have just dismissed +my late inspector,--I will tell you, because of carelessness in his +accounts,--and I am looking for a suitable man to fill his place. But," +said he, as his son appeared at the door, and announced that breakfast +was ready, "if you have not yet breakfasted, we can arrange the matter +best at the breakfast-table."</p> + +<p class="normal">With that, he went to the door, but stood there, and made a motion with +his hand for them to pass out first. "Karl," whispered Bräsig, "didn't +I tell you? Just like one of us!" But as Habermann quietly passed on, +accepting the invitation, he threw up his eyebrows, and stretched out +his hand as if he would draw his friend back by the coat-tails, then +stood with his little twisted legs turned out, and bowed like a +clasp-knife.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh, how could I! I beseech you! Herr Kammerrath should always have +precedence!" And his waiting was not of a bad order, for he had a long +body and short legs, and they belong properly to waiters.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Herr Kammerrath had to take himself out of the way of his +compliments, that the old fellow might not dislocate his spine. At the +breakfast-table the business was discussed and decided; Habermann was +engaged on a good, sufficient salary, which was to be increased every +five years; and the only condition which the Kammerrath insisted upon +was that he should occupy the place at once.</p> + +<p class="normal">The new inspector agreed to this, and the day was set for his entering +on his duties, so that the Kammerrath before his departure could go +with him about the place and tell him what he wanted done; and Bräsig +having concluded a brief sketch of the troubled life-career of the +fifteen years' old full-blooded Wallach, which he had cared for in his +business at the farm,--how he had "had the honor to know the old +carrion ever since it was born;" how the creature in its younger +years had been "such a colt as you read of in books," but afterward +"with shying and spavin and all manner of devilish tricks had so +disgraced himself that he was now punished by being harnessed to the +dung-cart,"--the two inspectors took their leave.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bräsig," said Habermann, when they were outside, "a stone, has been +taken from my heart. Thank God, I shall be employed again! And that +brings me to other thoughts. Now for Gurlitz! Ah, if we may only be as +fortunate there!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Karl, you may well say fortunate; for--don't take it ill of +me--you don't understand the way of life and the fine etiquette of +noble society. How could you do such a thing! How could you go through +the door before the Herr Kammerrath?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bräsig, when he invited me I was his guest, and he was not yet my +master; now, I should not do it, and, rely upon it, he would not do it +either."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, Karl, so I think; but at the Pastor's leave the business to me; +there some finesse will be needed."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Zachary, gladly. Were, it not for my poor little girl, I should +not have the courage to ask so great a favor of any man. If you will +undertake it for me, I shall consider it a real piece of friendship."</p> + +<p class="normal">As they came toward the Gurlitz church, they knew by the singing that +the service was not yet over; and, as they went into the Pastor's +house, and into the living-room, they were met by a little, quick, +round woman, upwards of forty years of age. Everything about her was +round,--arms and hands and fingers, head and cheeks and lips; and the +eyes looked so round and bright out of her soft round face, as if the +eyelids had never been pressed down with trouble and sorrow, and such a +cheery life over flowed from her mien and motions, that one believed he +could almost see how the fresh, red blood throbbed through the warm +heart.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good-day, Herr Bräsig, sit down! Sit down, also! Yes, that is right, +my Pastor is still in church; he would scold well if you had gone away. +Pray sit down, Herr--what shall I call you? Yes, I would gladly have +gone to church to-day, but just think, last Sunday the Pastor's pew was +broken in halves. Bless me, how every body crowded around, and we +couldn't say 'No.' And our old cabinetmaker Prüsshawer was going to +mend it, and he is sick with a fever."</p> + +<p class="normal">The round little mouth rolled out the words as if they were round, +smooth, white billiard balls, which a playful child shoots here and +there over the green cloth.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bräsig now introduced Habermann as the brother of Frau Nüssler.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are her brother? Her brother Karl? Now sit down, sit down! How +glad my Pastor will be! When Frau Nüssler is here, we always talk about +you; something good you may be sure,--the Herr Inspector knows. Bless +you, Bräsig, what are you doing with my hymn-book? Let me put the book +away! you don't want to read it, you are an old heathen. Those are +funeral-hymns, and what have you to do with funeral-hymns? You will +live forever! You are no better than the Wandering Jew! But, dear +heart! one must think sometimes about dying, and so, since our +church-pew is broken, and the old cabinet-maker has a fever, I have +been reading a couple of hymns 'On preparation for death.'" And with +that she flew round like quicksilver, and laid the books on one side, +and whisked off a little dust here and there, where none was visible, +and rubbed and polished about in the room, which was as neat as a +dressing-box. All at once she stood still, listened toward the kitchen +and cried, "Just so, I must go and look after the soup!" and was gone.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Didn't I tell you, Karl?" said Bräsig. "There's a temperament for you! +And what splendid health! Now leave me alone; I will manage it all," +and he went out after the Frau Pastorin.</p> + +<p class="normal">Habermann looked around him in the room. How neat and comfortable every +thing was, so homelike and so full of peace. There hung, above the +sofa, a beautiful head of Christ, and around and beneath it were the +portraits of the parents of the Herr Pastor and the Frau Pastorin, and +their relations, some in colors, some in crayon, some large, others +small; and the Lord Jesus had his hands raised in blessing, and the +Frau Pastorin had arranged under their shadow all her relations, +putting them the nearest, that they might have the best of the +blessing.</p> + +<p class="normal">Her own picture, painted in early years, and that of her Pastor, she +had in humility hung by the window, a little further off; but the sun, +which looked in through the snow-white curtains, and gilded the +other portraits, touched these two pictures first. There was a small +book-case full of religious and secular books, a little mixed together, +but still making a fine appearance, for they were arranged more with +reference to their bindings than their contents. And if any one +supposed, because she talked Platt-Deutsch, that she had no +appreciation or enjoyment of High-German literature, he needed merely +to open a book, where a mark lay, and he would find that the marked +places had been read with heart and feeling,--that is to say, if he had +as much heart and feeling as the Frau Pastorin; and, had he opened the +cookbook, he would have seen that the Frau Pastorin was as good a +student as the Herr Pastor, for she had just like him her notes written +on the margin, and where nothing was written one might understand that +those were the Herr Pastor's favorite recipes,--"And by those," said +she, "I don't need to make any marks, for I know them by heart."</p> + +<p class="normal">And here in this peaceful abode, in this pretty, comfortable nest, +shall Habermann, if God in mercy grant it, leave his child to pass her +early years. These hands of the Saviour shall be stretched out in +blessing over her, this blessed sun shall shine upon her, and the noble +thoughts, which great and good men have written in books for the world, +shall awaken her young soul out of childhood's dreams, and give it life +and joy.</p> + +<p class="normal">He was getting very soft-hearted. But, as he still sat between hope and +fear, the Frau Pastorin came in at the door, her eyes red with weeping. +"Don't say a word, Herr Habermann, don't say a word! Bräsig has told me +everything, and Bräsig is an old heathen, but he is a good man, and a +true friend of yours,--and my Pastor thinks just as I do, that I know, +for we are always one,--and that dear little thing! God bless you, yes! +The old Nüsslers are a hard-hearted set," and she tapped the floor +briskly with her foot.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The old woman," said Bräsig, who was by this time close beside them, +"the old woman is a real horse-leech."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Right, Bräsig, she is that, but my Pastor shall talk the old people +into reason; not on account of the little girl, she shall come here, or +I don't know my old Pastor!"</p> + +<p class="normal">While Habermann was expressing his heart-felt thanks, her Pastor came +in,--she always called him "her" Pastor, because he was truly hers, +body and soul, and her "Pastor," on account of his own dignity, and +because the title belonged to him from his office. He came bare-headed +across the church-yard and parsonage-yard, for these high soft-hats, +which make our good Protestant ministers look like Russian priests, +were not then in fashion, at least not in the country; and, instead of +the great ruff, as broad as the white china platter on Which the +daughter of Herodias presents the head of John-Baptist to her +step-father, he had a pair of little innocent bands, which his dear +wife Regina had, with all Christian reverence, stitched, stiffened, +pressed and tied around his neck with her own hands. She held correctly +that these little simple things were the distinctive ministerial +uniform, and not the little four-cornered cape which was worn over the +coat-collar. "For," said she, "my dear Frau Nüssler, our sexton wears +just such a little cape, but he dare not wear bands; and when I see my +Pastor, with the ornaments of his office, standing in the chancel, I +don't know, they seem to me, the two little things, as they rise +and fall with his words, now one, now the other, like a pair of +angel-wings, on which one might rise directly to Heaven,--only my +Pastor has his wings in front, and the angels have theirs behind."</p> + +<p class="normal">No, he wasn't an angel, this good Pastor of hers, and he was the last +person to set himself up for one. But with all the sincerity that shone +from his face, and seemed to know no dissimulation, there was such a +friendly forbearance, such a quiet, kindly expression, that one must +hold him at the first glance for a brave man, and although his whole +life had been given up to self-denying labor, yet he could--naturally +after the Frau Pastorin had taken off his cape and bands--show in his +eyes his joyous heart, and utter innocent jests with his lips; and, +when he put off the ecclesiastic, he stood forth as a man who, in +worldly matters also, could give sensible counsel, and reach forth a +helping hand.</p> + +<p class="normal">As he stepped into the room, he recognized Habermann immediately, and +went right up to him. "My dear friend, do I see you once more! How are +you? Good-day, Herr Inspector!" And as Habermann returned the greeting, +and Bräsig began to tell the reason of their visit, the Frau Pastorin +sprang between them, and seized her Pastor by his ministerial gown, and +cried, "Not a word, Herr Habermann; Bräsig, will you be so good? You +shall know it all from me," said she to her husband, "for, though the +story is a sad one,--yes, Herr Habermann, quite too sad,--yet there +will be a pleasure for you. Come, come!" and with that she drew him +into his study. "For I am the nearest to him," she called back from the +door, in apology.</p> + +<p class="normal">After a while the Pastor came back with his wife into the room, and +went, with a determined step and resolved expression on his face, up to +Habermann. "Yes, dear Habermann, yes! We will do it, and, so far as in +us lies, do it gladly,"--and he pressed his hand--"but," he added, "we +have no experience in the care of children, yet we can learn. Isn't it +so, Regina, we can learn?" as if with this little joke he would help +Habermann over the deep emotion which struggled in his face and in his +whole being.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr Pastor," he broke out, finally, "You have long ago done a great +deal for me, but this--" And the little Frau Pastorin reached after her +means of consolation and implement of all work, which she took in hand +at every surprise of joy or sorrow,--after her duster,--and dusted here +and there, and would have wiped away Habermann's tears with it, if he +had not turned aside, and she called out at the door after Frederica: +"Now, Rika, run quickly over to the weaver's wife, and ask her to lend +me her cradle,--she doesn't use it," she added, to Bräsig.</p> + +<p class="normal">And Bräsig, as if it devolved on him to sustain the honor of the +Habermann family, said to her impressively: "Frau Pastorin, what are +you thinking of? The little girl is quite hearty!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And the Frau Pastorin ran again to the door, and called back the +maiden. "Rika, Rika, not the cradle,--ask her to lend me a little crib, +and then go to the sexton's daughter, and see if she can come this +afternoon,--God bless me, to-day is Sunday! But if your ass has fallen +into a pit, and so forth,--yes, ask her whether she can help me stuff a +couple of little beds. For it is not heathenish, Bräsig, it is a work +of necessity, and quite another thing from your Herr Count having his +wheat brought in Sunday afternoon. And, my dear Herr Habermann, the +little girl must come to us to-day, for Franz," said she to her +husband, "the old Nüsslers would not give the poor little thing even +her dinner if they could help it, and, Bräsig, bread which is not +freely given----" here she was a little out of breath and Bräsig went +on: "Yes, Frau Pastorin, one may grow fat on grudged bread, but the +devil take such fatness!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You old heathen, how can you swear so, in a Christian Pastor's house?" +cried the Frau Pastorin. "But the long and the short of the matter is, +the little girl must come here to-day."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Frau Pastorin," said Habermann, only too happy, "I will bring her +to-day. My poor sister will be sorry, but it is better for her, and for +the peace of her family, and also for my child."</p> + +<p class="normal">He went up to the two worthy people, and thanked them so warmly, from +the depths of his grateful heart; and when they had taken leave, and +were outside, he drew a long breath, and said to Bräsig, "How gloomy +the world looked this morning, but now the sun shines in my heart +again! I have yet a disagreeable business to attend to; but it is a +lucky day, and that may go well also."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What have you got to do now?" asked Bräsig.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I must go to Rahnstadt, to old Moses. I gave him, six months ago, my +note for six hundred dollars; I have not heard from him since my +bankruptcy, and I must try to make some arrangement with him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That you must, Karl; and I would do it at once, for old Moses isn't +the worst man in the world, by a long way. Now I will tell you what +shall be our order of battle for to-day: we will both go back to Rexow, +and eat our dinner; after dinner young Jochen must lend you his horses, +and you can take your little one to Gurlitz; go from there to the city, +and come back in the evening to me, at Warnitz, and stay over night; +and to-morrow you can go over to Pumpelhagen, since the Herr Kammerrath +depends on your speedy coming.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Right," said Habermann, "it shall be so."</p> + +<p class="normal">They arrived, the dinner was eaten, and Bräsig asked of young +Jochen the loan of his wagon and horses. "Of course," cried Frau +Nüssler,--"Yes, of course," said Jochen, and went out himself +immediately, to order the horses harnessed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Karl," said the sister, "my dear brother, how glad, how heartily glad, +I should be, if---- But you know the reason; Bräsig has told you. But, +dear heart, if one could only keep peace in the family! Don't believe +that Jochen thinks differently from me, only he hasn't the energy to +stand up for his rights. But I will look after your child as if she +were my own, though it will not be needful at the Parsonage."</p> + +<p class="normal">The wagon drove up. "What the devil!" cried Bräsig, "young Jochen, you +have got out your state-equipage, the old yellow coach!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Herr," said Christian, who sat up in front. "May we only get safe +home again with the old thing, for it is fearfully crazy in the box, +and the wheels clatter as if one were spinning flax."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Christian," said Bräsig, "you must first drive a little way through +the village pond, and then through the Gurlitz brook; and then, before +you get to Rahnstadt, though the frog-pond. That will tighten the +wheels."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh!" said Christian; "one might as well go a sea-voyage!"</p> + +<p class="normal">As Habermann had taken leave, and put his little girl in the wagon, +young Jochen pressed out through the company in such haste that all +made way for him, and his wife cried out, "What is the matter now?" +"There," said he and placed in the hand of the little Louise a pound of +Fleigen Markur, for he smoked no other tobacco; but it was only in +outward appearance, for, as Habermann looked closer, he found a great +piece of white bread, which young Jochen had merely wrapped up in +tobacco-paper, because he had nothing else at hand.</p> + +<p class="normal">The equipage started. Christian took the pond and the brook on his way, +as Bräsig had recommended; the little one was given up at Gurlitz, and +I will not try to describe how the pretty little dear was handed from +one to the other, with kisses and petting, and seemed in her +uncomprehending innocence to find herself at home with the good people. +Habermann drove on Rahnstadt, to see Moses.</p> + +<p class="normal">Moses was a man of about fifty. He had large, wise-looking eyes, under +strong, black eyebrows, although his head was nearly white; heavy +eyelids and dark lashes gave him an aspect of mildness; he was of +middle size and of comfortable fulness; his left shoulder was a little +higher than his right, and that was in consequence of his grip. When he +got up from his stool, he stuck his left hand in his left coat pocket, +and took hold of his breeches on the left side, which was always +slipping down; for he wore but one suspender, and that was on the right +side. "What's the use?" said he to his Blümchen, when she would +persuade him to wear a second suspender. "When I was young and poor and +had no money, I managed my business with one suspender, and courted my +Blümchen with one suspender; and now that I am old and rich, and have +money, and have Blümchen, why do I need two suspenders?" And then he +would pat his Blümchen, give a grip at the left coat-pocket, and go +back to his business.</p> + +<p class="normal">As Habermann entered he sprang up. "O heavens! it is Habermann. Haven't +I always told you," turning to his son, "Habermann is good, Habermann +is an honest man?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Moses," said Habermann, "honest truly,--but----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Stand up, David, give the seat to Herr Habermann; sit here by me. Herr +Habermann has something to say to me, and I have something to say to +Herr Habermann. Do you see?" he added to his son, "David, what did you +say? 'I should declare myself before the Prussian Justice.' What did I +say? 'I will not declare myself before the Prussian Justice; Herr +Habermann is an honorable man.' I declared myself once, it was in a +business with a Prussian candidate. I had reminded the fellow of his +debt, and he wrote me a letter, saying I should read a verse out of the +Christian hymn-book,--David, what was it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It was an infamous verse," said David.</p> +<div class="poem"> +<p class="t0" style="text-indent:-10px">"'Moses cannot accuse me.</p> +<p class="t1">My conscience knows no fears,</p> +<p class="t0">For He who has pronounced me free</p> +<p class="t1">Will pay all my arrears.'"</p> +</div> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," cried Moses, "that was what he said. And when I showed the +letter, the Prussian Justice laughed, and when I showed my note, he +shrugged his shoulders and laughed again. 'Ha, Ha! I said, you mean the +paper is good, but the fellow is good for nothing.' Then they said I +had the right on my side. I could have him locked up, but it would cost +something. 'Do you take me for a fool? should I pay the fees and costs +and summons, and the whole lawsuit, merely to give that swine his +fodder? Let him run!' said I. No, Herr Habermann is better for me than +the Prussian Justice."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, that is all very good, Moses," said Habermann, anxiously, "but I +can't pay you, at least not at present."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No?" said Moses, and looked at him in a questioning way. "You must +have kept something over?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not a red shilling," said the farmer with emotion.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thou just Heaven!" cried Moses, "not a red shilling!" and he sprang up +and began ordering his son about. "David, what are you standing there +for? What are you looking at? Why are you listening? Go and bring my +book!" With that he began to walk restlessly up and down the room.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Moses," said Habermann, "only give me time, and you shall have +principal and interest to the last farthing."</p> + +<p class="normal">Moses stood still, and listened with deep attention. "Habermann," +said he at last, in Platt-Deutsch,--for these old-fashioned Jews, +when anything goes to the heart, talk Platt-Deutsch, just like +Christians,--"Habermann, you are an honorable man." And as David came +back with the book, the old man said, "David, what do we want of the +book? Take the book away. Now, what is it?" turning to Habermann. "I +began with nothing, you also began with nothing, I had my business, you +had yours, I had good luck, you had bad luck. I was industrious, you +were industrious too, and you understood your business. What we can't +do to-day may be done to-morrow; to-morrow you may again have a +situation, and then you can pay me, for you are an honest man."</p> + +<p class="normal">"A situation?" said Habermann, with a much lighter heart, "I have that +already, and a good one, too."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Where?" asked Moses.</p> + +<p class="normal">"With the Kammerrath, at Pumpelhagen."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good, Habermann, good! He is a good man. Though he has had some +experience of the hard times, he is yet a good man; he does no business +with me, but he is a good man, for all that. Blümchen!" he cried at the +door, "Herr Habermann is here. Bring in two cups of coffee!" and as +Habermann would have declined the coffee, he added, "Allow me, Herr +Habermann, allow me! When I was young, and went about the country with +my pack, and it was cold weather, your mother has often given me a hot +cup of coffee; when you were inspector you have given me many a ride +for nothing. No, we are all human beings. Drink! Herr Habermann, +drink!"</p> + +<p class="normal">So this business also came out right, and as Habermann went back to +Bräsig that evening his heart was lighter, much lighter; and, as he +that evening in bed thought over the events of the day, the thought +came to him whether a beloved voice had not prayed for him, up above, +and whether a beloved hand had not smoothed out the tangled skein of +his future, that it might run henceforth with a clear thread.</p> + +<p class="normal">The next morning he reported himself at Pumpelhagen; and when the +Kammerrath and his little son rode away, two days after, he found +himself already acquainted with his new duties, and in full activity. +And so he remained in quiet content for many years. Grief had +withdrawn, and the joy he had was of the kind that a man does not enjoy +alone, which he must share with his fellow-men.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + +<p class="normal">In the field by the mill there was wheat again this year, as in the +year in which Habermann took charge of the estate. The property was +divided into eleven fields; and eleven years had passed since that +time. The inspector came out of the church, for it was Sunday, and he +had been to hear the Pastor's sermon, and to visit his little daughter. +He went on foot along the path from the church, for the way was short, +and the day was fine, the finest of midsummer weather; he went through +his wheat-field, and one of the purest joys came over him, this, that +one sees the visible blessing of God on what in human hope, but also in +human uncertainty, his hands have sown. He was not enriched by the +blessing,--that belonged to his master; but the joy was his, and it +made his heart light and his mind clear, and in the clear mind, joyous +thoughts darted, like fish in a limpid brook. He whistled a merry tune +to himself, and almost laughed when he heard his own whistling, for +such an outburst of mirth rarely happened to him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"So," said he, "this is the eleventh year I have been over that field, +and the worst is over; yet once more! then the overseeing shall be done +by other eyes."</p> + +<p class="normal">He took the way through the garden, which lay on high ground, and +joined a little grove of oaks and beeches, where the drive and +foot-path had been freshly cleared and raked out, for the Kammerrath +and his family were coming to-day, and had sent word that they might be +expected by the middle of the afternoon. As he came up the ascent he +stood still and looked back over the wheat-field, and laughed to +himself. "Yes, it doesn't look much as it did eleven years ago, when I +let them mow it. This is something like! This time we have had a better +year. What will the old Herr say? Between now and harvest, there is +some time yet, but the rape is now as good as sure. If he only hasn't +sold it all beforehand, again!" sighed he. "The cuckoo knows!" and he +recalled the sums which had been borrowed during these eleven long +years. "The old Herr will go no farther, and will go no farther; but, +God bless him, there are his five daughters, and two sons-in-law who +drain him, and then the gracious lady, who believes because money is +round that it must run away, and then the son--it must be very +expensive in the Prussian cuirassiers! Yes, the times are better than +they were in my day; but if a man once gets into a tight place--it is +hard, and he looks too old altogether."</p> + +<p class="normal">He had time to spare. To-day they were waiting dinner for the Herr +Kammerrath, although he had not given orders to that effect. "It was +proper to do so," Habermann had said. "Yes," said he once more, and +seated himself in the cool shade, "he will rejoice over the wheat, and +it will be a help to him, for it is worth something, and times are +better than they were."</p> + +<p class="normal">Yes, the times were tight again, for what are "the times," for the +North German people, and for all mankind, but long, long threads +stretched far out over England and America and all the world, and +knotted at the ends, and so managed that they lie sometimes quite +slack, and whatever is fastened to them--and that is for our people +almost the whole country--cannot move itself; and then again they are +stretched tight, so that everything dances merrily back and forth, and +all are shifted about, even in the remotest corners.</p> + +<p class="normal">In this little corner of the world also, the thread was stretched +tight, and young Jochen's porcelain pipe-bowl, and leaden tinder box, +and his blue-painted corner-cupboard, and the waxed sofa, were all +cleared out of the house, and the old crazy yellow coach out of the +carriage-house; and in their place he had a meerschaum pipe adorned +with silver, and a mahogany secretary, and an immense creature of a +divan, in the living-room, and in the carriage-house there was a +vehicle which Bräsig always called the "phantom," because in looking at +the bill he had taken an "e" for an "n," and an "n" for an "m:" and he +was not far wrong, for the thing was almost of the kind one sees in a +dream.</p> + +<p class="normal">And the same thread had also guided the hand of Bräsig's Herr Count, so +that finally, after almost twenty years, he had given him in writing +the desired permission to marry, and also a bond promising "a suitable +pension for his old age."</p> + +<p class="normal">And upon this thread, when it was slack, the little Frau Pastorin had +caught herself, like a top which the boys rig up, and now that it was +stretched she buzzed about her Pastor, and hummed daily in his ears; +when the minister's meadow should be rented again, it would bring as +good as double. And as Moses, at the close of the last year, added up +his sum-total, and wrote underneath a little one and four great +ciphers, the thread caught him by the arm, and the four ciphers changed +to six. "David, lay the book away," said he, "it balances."</p> + +<p class="normal">But while these threads, as to how far apart the knots are, and how +lightly they are stretched, are governed a good deal by human +instrumentality,--even although the Lord is above, and superintends the +whole, so that the slack-lying and the tight-stretching happen in +moderation, and mankind are not left to lie still on a hillock and +stick there, or get tangled and run wildly together, as when a sack +full of peas is shaken about,--a single human being has as much +volition on these threads as the chafer has on his, when the children +play with it; it can buzz about, here and there. Another thread, +however, governs the world: it reaches from the highest to the lowest, +and God himself has fastened the ends; no chafers buzz on it, nor is it +in any sense a game. This thread was twisted a little, and Zachary +Bräsig got a touch of the gout. It was stretched a little tighter, and +the two old Nüsslers lay on their last couch; and then the knots at +their end of the thread were cut, and they were buried.</p> + +<p class="normal">Zachary Bräsig, indeed, scolded and fretted terribly when he felt the +twitching, and in his ignorance did not understand, but blamed the new +fashion of sewed dress-boots, and the damp, cold spring, for what he +should have laid to the account of his hearty dinners and his usual +little drop of Kümmel. He was snappish as a horse-fly, and Habermann +would rally him, whenever he visited him in such a temper, about the +writing in his possession which he had received from the Herr Count, +granting him permission to marry and a pension, and then Bräsig would +be angry, terribly angry, and would say, "Now just think, brother, in +what an outrageous dilemma that paper of the gracious Count places me! +If I want to marry, then says my gracious Count I am too young to need +a pension, and if I ask for the pension, then I must say to myself, I +am too old to marry! Oh! my gracious Count is not much better after all +than a regular Jesuit; he says the words and you see them under your +eyes, but virtually he has put all sorts of mocking paragraphs in the +paper, that a man who for eight and twenty years has worn out his bones +in his service cannot request a pension without depreciating himself +personally, or that a man who could have had three brides twenty years +ago, now that he is fifty years old cannot marry one. Oh, I laugh at +the gracious paragraphs and at the gracious Count!"</p> + +<p class="normal">One man's owl is another man's nightingale. Bräsig was spiteful over +the twitching of the thread; but in young Jochen's house, after the +knots were cut a guest entered, whom the young wife indeed had many +times invited at the door, but who had never before crossed the +threshold, and that was Peace. Now he had established himself +comfortably on the new divan, and ruled over the whole establishment. +The young woman cared for him, as if her nearest relative had come to +the house, and the two little twin-apples did everything to please him, +and young Jochen himself invited the guest in, and said it was all as +true as leather, and did his duty as the head of the family. He +continued to be monosyllabic, to be sure, and desired no other tobacco +than Fleigen Markur, and did not trouble himself about the oversight of +the farm. For, after the death of the old people, Habermann and Bräsig +had taken the charge of out-door affairs quite out of his hands, and +had changed the crops, and had introduced improvements, and because the +old people had stowed away under the pillows, and in the stocking-box, +and about the stove, and here and there in other places, many a bag of +gold which they had forgotten to take with them, the business went very +quickly and without much ceremony; and as it was all dispatched young +Jochen said, "Yes, what shall I do about it?" and let things take their +course.</p> + +<p class="normal">But the comfort and prosperity which surrounded him roused him up a +good deal, and his natural kind-heartedness, which had so long been +repressed by the avarice of the old people, became evident; and, if he +was a little rough about the head, it was no matter,--as the +schoolmaster with the red vest said at the funeral: "It is no matter, +Herr Pastor, since the heart is not bad!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And how was it now with the Frau Pastorin and her Pastor? There the +Lord had touched the thread very lightly; he had done like young +Jochen, he had said: "What shall I do about it; let things take their +course!" And if the Pastor now and then perceived a little light touch +on his arm, and looked around, it was only his little friendly wife who +stood behind him, always with her dusting cloth, and polished away at +his arm-chair, and asked whether he would have the perch fried or +boiled; and if his sermon happened to be about Peter's wonderful +draught of fishes, or the evangelist's story of the meal of fish on the +shore, then all sorts of foolish, unchristian thoughts would dart +across his mind, of fried fish, and horse-radish, and butter to eat on +it, so that he had some trouble in going on with his sermon, and +sustaining the dignity of his office. But what were these little +troubles, to which his Regina had accustomed him from the first, in +comparison with his great joy?</p> + +<p class="normal">God bless me! I have just received from my friend the gardener, Juhlke, +of Erfurt, a beautiful lily-bulb; and now in the March sun the first +leaves are sprouting, and my first thought in the morning is to see how +much the leaves have sprouted during the night; and I give it a little +pull to find out how the roots are striking, and I move it away from +the cool window to the warm stove, and back from the dark stove to the +light window, in the blessed sunshine, and it is as yet only a green +shoot springing out of the earth, with no sign of a flower-bud, and it +is but a plant, and not a human life, and yet how I rejoice over its +sprouting and growth and greenness! And the pastor had received also a +beautiful lily-bulb from his friend the Gardener, the Lord in heaven, +and he and his little wife had tended and watched it, and now a +flower-bud was growing, a human flower-bud, and the warm May sun shone +upon it, and the Frau Pastorin ran to her darling the first thing in +the morning, and buzzed about her at noon, and rejoiced over her +healthy appetite, and heaped another spoonful on her plate; "For," said +she, "life must have something to live on." And at evening, under the +lindens before the door, she wrapped the little maiden under the same +sheltering mantle with herself, on the side toward the warmth; and when +it was bedtime, then she gave her a good-night kiss: "God bless you, my +daughter; to-morrow morning early, at five o'clock, you must be up +again!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And the Pastor's first thought was also of her; and he watched and +waited as leaf after leaf was growing green, and gave her a prop at her +side, and bound her to it that she might grow right up toward heaven, +and kept away all weeds and noxious insects. And when he went to bed at +night he would say, as full of hope as a child, "Regina, she must +blossom soon."</p> + +<p class="normal">And so it came about, without the consciousness of the dear old people, +or of the child herself, that she became the angel of the household, +about whom everything turned, turned joyfully, without grumbling or +snarling, without clashing or force. As she in her simple dress, with a +little silk handkerchief tied around her neck, her fresh cheeks, and +unbound, floating hair, went dancing up and down in her glee, she was a +living spring of joy to the whole house; and when she sat still beside +her foster-father, and learned, and looked at him with her great eyes, +as if there must be something still more beautiful to come, and at last +with a deep sigh closed the book, as if it were a pity that it was all +done, and yet at the same time good that it was all done, because the +little heart could hold no more,--then the Frau Pastorin stole up +behind her, in stocking feet, with her dusting-cloth under her apron, +and her slippers lying at the door. "For," said she, "teaching children +is a different thing from making sermons; the old people are only +affected now and then when one hits them right hard with hell-torments; +but a child's soul,--one must touch that merely with a tulip-stalk, and +not with a fence-pole!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Habermann's little daughter was always fair, but she looked the fairest +when, a step in advance, she held her father by the hand, and brought +him into the parsonage yard, where the good people sat under the great +linden; then shone out all the virtues which usually sleep quietly in +the human heart, and only now and then come to the light of day,--love +and gratitude, joy and pride,--from her sprightly face; and, if +Habermann walked beside her silent and half-sad that he could do so +little for his child, one could read in her eyes a sort of festal joy, +as if she thought to discharge all the debt of gratitude which she owed +her good foster-parents, by bringing to them her father. She was just +entering her thirteenth year and her young heart took no reckoning of +her feelings and actions, never in her life had she asked herself why +her father was so dear to her. It was otherwise with the Pastor and his +wife, there she was daily conscious how kind and good were their +intentions toward her, and she had daily opportunities of repaying +their love by little acts of duty and friendliness. But here--she knew +merely it was her father; he spoke often to her words that must come +from his heart, and he looked at her with such quiet, sad looks, that +must go to her heart. Reckoning up all they had done, these good people +had deserved more from her; but yet--the Lord must have knit these +human threads very closely together, up above, they run into each other +so, and cannot be separated.</p> + +<p class="normal">To-day, as Habermann sat in the cool shade, it had been again a +festival day for his child, and it was one for him also. He overlooked +the whole region. The spring was over, the summer sun shone warm +through the light, fleecy clouds; a light breeze cooled the air, and +lifted the green corn into the sunlight, as if the earth were waving a +green, silken banner before her commander, the sun. The regimental +music, from the band of a thousand birds, had ceased with the spring, +and only the cuckoo's cry and the call of the quail still echoed, as if +a puff of wind bore with it out of the distance the sound of drums and +cymbals. But instead of music and singing the wind brought over the +fields a sweet odor which came indeed from a field of slaughter, where +thousands and thousands of slain lay in rows and heaps, who knew +nothing of bloody misery, however, and were a pleasure to mankind: the +hay-harvest had begun, and Habermann sat on the hill in the cool arbor, +and overlooked the fields, far and near. How beautiful is such a +region, where the fields in a thousand green and yellow stripes and +bands stretch to the summits of the hills, and shine far around like a +many-colored garment which industry has woven for the earth! But it +seems restless and anxious, when we tear the turf and the soil with +digging and scratching, and every one has his own task, and troubles +himself solely about the miserable profits he is to dig from his own +little piece of earth,--and all these green and yellow bands and +stripes only bear witness to our poverty. I know well it is not so, but +it seems so. Here it is otherwise: far out to the blue forest extend +the fields of one kind of grain; the rape fields stretch themselves out +like a great sea in the golden morning sunlight; broad pastures and +slopes harbor the bright-colored cattle, and over the green meadows +stretch in an oblique direction the long rows of mowers in white +shirt-sleeves; everything is of a piece, all works together; and +wherever one casts his eyes, he sees rest and security as the result of +riches. I know right well it is not so, but yet it seems so. But that +is an afterthought. The eye sees merely the riches and the rest, and +these, in the cool shade, with the humming of bees and the playing of +butterflies, sink softly into the heart.</p> + +<p class="normal">So was it to-day with Habermann; he was in such a quiet, happy mood, +and thankfully he thought over the last eleven years. All was good and +growing better. He had paid his debts to Bräsig and Moses, with his +employer he stood on the best footing. His intercourse with him was +almost confidential, for, although the Kammerrath was not at all in the +habit of discussing his private affairs with every body, Habermann's +behavior was so perfectly sure, he knew so exactly how to keep himself +in his place, that the Kammerrath often talked over matters with him, +which pertained more to himself than to the farm; of his family +affairs, however, he had never spoken. It was to happen otherwise +to-day.</p> + +<p class="normal">When the inspector had been sitting a little while, he heard a couple +of carriages drive up before the door. "Good heavens, they are coming!" +he cried, and sprang up to go and receive the company.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Kammerrath came with his wife and three daughters and his son; they +were to stay six weeks on the estate, and enjoy the country air. "Dear +Herr Habermann," said he, "we have come upon you a little sooner than +you expected, but my business at Rostock was dispatched more quickly +than I believed possible. How is it here? Is everything prepared for +the ladies?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"All is in readiness," said Habermann, "but I fear the dinner may be a +little late."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No misfortune! The ladies can be making their toilet meantime, and you +can show me our wheat. And," turning to his son who stood at his side, +a stately young man, in handsome uniform, "you can take your mother and +sisters into the garden, by and by, for in matters of domestic +economy," here he made a sickly attempt to laugh a little, "you take no +interest."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dear father, I----" said the son, rather uneasily.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, let it go, my son," said the father, in a friendly tone. "Come, +Herr Habermann, the wheat stands close behind the garden."</p> + +<p class="normal">Habermann went with him. How old the man had become in so short a time! +And it was not age merely which seemed to weigh upon him, he seemed +oppressed by some other burden. As he caught sight of his wheat, he +became a little enlivened, and cried, "Beautiful, beautiful! I never +thought to have seen such wheat in Pumpelhagen."</p> + +<p class="normal">That pleased Habermann, but, as is the way with these old inspectors, +he did not let it be noticed, and because he was laughing inwardly, he +scratched his head and said, "If we can make sure of this on the hill, +and it will be worth a good deal, and that down there by the meadow, +the devil may have his game with the rest."</p> + +<p class="normal">"We cannot prevent what may still happen," said the Kammerrath. "It is +a real pleasure that you have given me to-day, dear Herr Inspector. +Ah," added he, after a little while, "why didn't we know each other +twenty years ago? It would have been better for you and for me!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Habermann no longer scratched his head; the trace of humor, which +sometimes lightened his serious disposition, was gone, and he looked +anxiously at his master. They had come to the boundary of Gurlitz. "The +wheat over there doesn't look so well as ours," said the Kammerrath.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," said Habermann. "The soil is quite as good as ours, however; that +is the Gurlitz Pastor's field, but he has not received his due for it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Apropos," went on the Kammerrath, "do you know that Gurlitz is sold? A +few days ago it was sold in Rostock for 173,000 thalers. Farms are +rising, isn't it so, Habermann, farms are rising considerably. If +Gurlitz is worth 173,000 thalers, Pumpelhagen would be a good bargain +at 240,000 thalers;" and with that, he looked impressively at +Habermann.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That it would, Herr Kammerrath; but the sale of Gurlitz means +something else for you; by contract, the Pastor's field falls out of +the estate, upon its sale, and it runs like a wedge into our land,--you +must rent the Pastor's field!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, dear Habermann, don't talk of my renting!" cried the Kammerrath, +and turned about, and went slowly back, as if he might not look at the +beautiful piece of land, "I have already too much on my shoulders. I +have no desire for new trouble."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You should have no trouble about it. If you will give me authority, I +will arrange the matter with the Herr Pastor."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no, Habermann, it won't do! The expenditure, the advance of rent, +the increased inventory! I have besides so many expenditures, my hair +stands on end!" and with that the man moved so wearily up the ascent, +and stumbled so at every stone, that Habermann sprang toward him, +and offered him his arm; close by the garden the Kammerrath had an +attack of dizziness, so that Habermann was obliged to hold him up, and +could scarcely get him into the arbor. Here, in the cool shade, he soon +recovered from his attack; but his appearance was so altered that the +inspector in this weak-spirited, broken man could hardly recognize his +tranquil, decided friend of former years. The man became talkative, it +seemed as if he must unburden his heart. "Dear Habermann," said he, and +grasped his hand, "I have a favor to ask; my nephew Franz,--you used to +know him,--has finished his studies, and is going to undertake the care +of his two estates. He will follow my advice,--my deceased brother +appointed me his guardian,--he means to become a practical farmer, and +I have recommended you to him as his instructor. You must take the +young man here, he is an intelligent youth,--he is a good fellow."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said Habermann. That he would do gladly, and so far as in him +lay it should not fail; he had known the young man from a child, he was +always a dutiful boy.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah," cried the Kammerrath, "if my own boy had gone the same way! Why +was I weak enough to yield to my wife against my better judgment? +Nothing would do but he must be a soldier. But now it comes, now it +comes, my old friend, we have got into debt, deeper than I can tell, +for I see by his oppressed and shy manner, that he has not confessed +all to me. If he would only do so, then I could know where I stood, and +I could save him out of the hands of usurers. And if I myself should +fall into those hands!" he added gloomily, after a little, in a weak +voice.</p> + +<p class="normal">Habermann was frightened by the words and the tone, but still more by +the appearance of his master. "It will not be so bad as that," he said, +for he must say something, "and then the Herr will yet have the +receipts from about fifteen hundred bushels of rape; for so I reckon +the crop."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And for seventeen hundred bushels, which I have sold, I have already +received the money, and it is already paid out; but that is not the +worst, we could get over that. Ah, what a torment!" cried he, as if he +must shoulder his burden again. "My business at Rostock is not all +wound up, as I said to you before my family; I have taken a debt for +one of my sons-in-law, of seven thousand thalers, and cannot raise the +money in Rostock, and in three days it must be paid. The money is +promised to the purchaser of Gurlitz, and he is to pay the purchase +money day after to-morrow. Give me your advice, old friend! You have +been in similar circumstances, you know how you helped yourself--don't +take it ill of me! you were always an honest man. But I cannot bear not +to feel sure in my possessions or in my honourable name."</p> + +<p class="normal">Yes, Habermann had been in such a condition, and he had failed for a +couple of hundred thalers; and this was seven thousand.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Have you spoken with the purchaser of Gurlitz?" he asked, after some +thought.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," was the reply, "and I told him the plain truth about my +difficulties."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And what was the answer?" said Habermann. "But I can imagine, he was +in pressing need of money himself."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It was not that, as it seemed to me; but the man seemed to have a +spite against me, he was too short and abrupt, and when he noticed my +embarrassment his offers were too crafty, so that I broke off the +negotiation, because I still hoped to procure the money elsewhere. But +that is at an end, and I find myself more embarrassed than ever."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know of but one immediate resource," said Habermann, "you must go +and see Moses, at Rahnstadt."</p> + +<p class="normal">"The Jew money-lender?" asked the Kammerrath. "Never in the world!" +cried he. "I could not bear to feel myself in such hands. No, I will +rather bear the insolence of Herr Pomuchelskopp."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who?" shouted Habermann, as if a wasp had stung him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why, the purchaser of Gurlitz, of whom we were speaking," said the +Kammerrath, and stared at him as if he could not interpret his +behavior.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And he is a Pomeranian, from the region on the Peene, short and stout, +with a full face?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said the Kammerrath.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And he is going to be our neighbor? And you would enter into business +relations with him? No, no, Herr Kammerrath, I beg, I implore you, +don't allow yourself to get involved with that man! you most bear me +witness that I have never made mention, for good or for evil, of the +man who has ruined me; but now that you are in danger, now I hold it my +duty,--this man is the cause of my misfortunes," and with that he had +sprung up, and from his usually tranquil, friendly eyes shot such a +flash of hatred, that even the Kammerrath, absorbed as he was in his +own affairs, was terrified.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," cried the inspector, "yes! that man has driven me out of house +and home, that man has heaped all sorts of tormenting anxieties upon me +and my poor wife, and she has gone to her grave in consequence! No, no! +Have nothing to do with that man!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The warning was too impressive to be disregarded by the Kammerrath. +"But who will help me?" asked he.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Moses," said Habermann, quickly and decidedly. The Kammerrath would +make objections, but Habermann placed himself before him, and said +still more impressively, "Herr Kammerrath, Moses. After dinner we will +ride over there, and if I know him, you will have no reason to repent."</p> + +<p class="normal">The Kammerrath stood up, and took Habermann's arm; he leaned not merely +upon that--no, evidently he was also sustained by the resolute advice +of the inspector. For a quiet man, when he is once aroused from his +repose, exercises a great influence upon another human being, even if +he be not so ill and in such perplexity as the Kammerrath; and +difference in rank goes down at the double-quick, in such an emergency, +before personal merit.</p> + +<p class="normal">The conversation at dinner was but feebly sustained,--every one was +occupied with his own affairs; Habermann thought of his new, suspicious +neighbor, the Kammerrath of his money affairs, and the lieutenant of +cuirassiers looked as if he had lost himself in a calculation of +compound interest, and could not find the way out; and if the gracious +mama had not mounted her high horse a little, and talked of the visits +she must make to people of rank in the neighborhood, and the young +ladies had not revelled in the prospect of country delights and +unlimited grass and flowers, it would have been as silent as a funeral.</p> + +<p class="normal">After dinner the Kammerrath drove with his inspector to Rahnstadt. As +they stopped at the door of Moses' house, the Kammerrath felt in much +the same mood as if he had dropped a louis-d'or in the filth, and must +stoop to pick it out with his clean hands. A musty odor met them, at +the entrance, for a "produce business" does not smell like otto of +roses, and the wool, when it has just left the mother-sheep's back, has +quite a different smell from that which it has after it has been about +the world a little, and got aired, and lies as a bright-colored carpet +on a fine lady's parlor, sprinkled with perfume.</p> + +<p class="normal">And how disorderly it was in the passage and in the room! For Blümchen +was a very good wife, to be sure, but she did not understand how to +ornament an entry and a counter with a cow's head and a heap of +mutton-bones; for Moses said shortly, that belonged to the business, +and David was constantly bringing in new treasures and turned the house +into a real rat's paradise, for those pleasant little beasts run after +the smell of a regular produce business, like doves after anise-seed +oil.</p> + +<p class="normal">In the room, the Kammerrath did not find himself more agreeably +disposed, for Moses was orthodox, and on the Christian Sabbath, unless +his business demanded the contrary, he wore his greasiest coat, in +order to keep himself quite opposed to the customs of the dressed-up +Gentiles; and as he now, with his grip at his left coat-pocket, sprang +up and ran toward the Kammerrath,--"O heavens! the Herr Kammerrath! the +honor!" and shouted to David, who was improving the Sunday-afternoon +quiet in the "produce business" by napping a little on the sofa, +"David, where are you sitting? Where are you lying? What are you +lounging there for? Stand up! Let the Herr Kammerrath sit down," and as +he now endeavoured to force the Kammerrath into the place already +warmed by David, then would the Kammerrath gladly have left the +louis-d'or lying in the dirt; but--he needed it quite too pressingly.</p> + +<p class="normal">Habermann threw himself into the breach, and set a chair for the +Kammerrath by the open window, and undertook the first introduction of +the business; and as Moses observed what the talk was to be about, he +hunted David about till he got him out of the room,--for although he +let him do a good deal in the produce business, he did not consider him +quite ripe, at six and thirty years, for the money business,--and when +the air was free,--that is to say, of David,--he exclaimed once and +again, what a great honor it was for him to have dealings with the Herr +Kammerrath. "What have I always said, Herr Habermann? 'The Herr +Kammerrath is a good man, the Herr Kammerrath is good.' What have I +always said, Herr Kammerrath? 'The Herr Habermann is an honest man; he +has toiled and moiled to pay me the last penny.'"</p> + +<p class="normal">But as he perceived of what a sum they were speaking, he was startled, +and held back, and made objections, and if he had not held Habermann in +such high esteem, and read plainly in his looks that he seriously +advised him to the business, then indeed nothing might have come of it. +And who knows but the matter might still have fallen through, if it had +not been mentioned casually that the money was to go for the purchase +of Gurlitz, and that otherwise the Kammerrath must enter into +negotiations with Pomuchelskopp. But as this name was uttered, Moses +made a face, as if one had laid a piece of tainted meat on his plate, +and he cried out, "With Pomuffelskopp!" for he pronounced the name in +that way, "Do you know what sort of fellow he is? He is like that!" and +with that he made a motion as if he would throw the bit of tainted meat +over his shoulder. "'David,' said I, 'don't have anything to do with +Pomuffelskopp!' But these young people,--David bought some wool of him. +'Well!' said I; 'you will see,' I told him. And what had he done? There +he had smuggled in with the washed wool the tangles, the wool from dead +animals, he had smuggled in dirty wool from slaughtered sheep, he had +smuggled in two great field-stones. <i>Two great field-stones</i> had he +smuggled in for me! When he came to get his money--'Good!' said I--I +paid him in Prussian treasury notes, and I made little packets of a +hundred thalers, and in the middle of each packet I smuggled in some +that were no longer in circulation, or counterfeit, and in the last +packet I laid in two played-out lottery-tickets--'Those are the two +great field-stones,' said I. Oh, but didn't he make an uproar? When he +came with the Notary Slusuhr,--he is such an one to look at,"--here he +again threw the bit of tainted meat over his shoulder,--"like one of +David's rats,--his ears stand out, and he lives so well, he lives just +like the rats, feeds on rubbish and filth, and gnaws open other +people's honest leather. Oh, but they made a disturbance, they would +bring a lawsuit against me! 'What is a lawsuit?' said I; 'I don't have +lawsuits. As the ware is, so is the money.' And do you know, gentlemen, +what else I said? 'The Herr Notary, and the Herr Pomuffelskopp and I +are three Jews, but four might be made of us if the two gentlemen could +count for three.' Oh, they made an uproar! They abused me all over the +city. But the Herr Burgomeister said to me, 'Moses, you do a great +business, but you have never yet had a law-suit, let them work!' Herr +Kammerrath, you shall have the money to-day, at your offer, of +commission and interest, for you are a good man, and you treat your +people well, and you have a good name in the land, and you shall not +have to deal with Pomuffelskopp."</p> + +<p class="normal">To borrow money is a hard piece of work, and he who writes this knows +it by many years' experience, and can speak of it accordingly; but it +makes a difference whether one appeals to the kindness of an old +friend, or turns to a man who makes a business of this business. The +Kammerrath had debts on his estate, quite a number of debts; but they +were not significant bills of exchange, and his money affairs had +usually been arranged by writing, or through the medium of lawyers or +merchants; he was now for the first time not in a situation to raise +money easily, in the old way, he had been obliged to go himself to a +money-Jew--for so he called this sort of people; the repulsion which he +felt for this course, the very different place, and manner, and +disposition which he found here, the anxiety caused by the objections +of Moses at the outset, and now at last the speedy help which relieved +him from his pressing emergency, had overpowered the sick man; he +turned pale and sank back in his chair, and Habermann called for a +glass of water.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr Kammerrath," cried Moses, "perhaps a little drop of wine, I can +have half a pint brought from the merchant, in a moment."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, water! water!" cried Habermann, and Moses ran out of the door, and +nearly upset David,--for David had been listening a little to the money +business, in order that he might finally become ripe,--"David what are +you doing, why don't you bring some water?"</p> + +<p class="normal">And David came, and the Kammerrath drank water, and recovered himself, +and Moses told out the louis-d'ors on the table, and the Kammerrath +picked them out of the dirt, and looked at his hands, and they seemed +quite as clean as before; and as he got into the carriage, and looked +back from it into Moses' entry, it seemed to him as if among Moses' +pelts and mutton bones, there was a great bundle, and that was his own +trouble. And Moses stood in the door, and bowed and bowed, and looked +round at his neighbors to find whether they saw that the Herr +Kammerrath had been to him.</p> + +<p class="normal">But for all the great honor, he did not sink under it. He held up his +head, and got Habermann aside, and said, "Herr Inspector, you are an +honest man; when I agreed to this business, I did not know the man was +so sick. You must promise me that the money shall be secured on the +estate. It is a matter of life and death. What am I doing with a sick +man and a note!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The Kammerrath was relieved from his embarrassment; his agitation +subsided, his health improved, he looked at the world with quite +different eyes; and as Habermann, a few days later, again mentioned the +renting of the Pastor's field, he listened, and gave Habermann +permission to talk with Pastor Behrens. He did so, and during the +interview the little Frau Pastorin bustled about in the room, and it +sounded in the ears of the Pastor and Habermann continually,--"A higher +sum! A higher sum!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said Habermann, "that is understood. Frau Pastorin, the rent +must be raised; times are better, but there will be no difficulty in +the matter,--the advantage lies on both sides."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Regina," said her Pastor, "it occurs to me that the flowers at the end +of the garden have not been watered."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, my dear life!" cried the Pastorin, and bustled out of the door, +"the flowers!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"So," said the Pastor, "now we can soon settle it. I must confess to +you, that I prefer to have a renter from outside, rather than one +belonging to the place; there are so many little differences which +spring from such immediate neighborhood, and make such a relation so +doubtful and annoying, as it ought not to be between landlords and +ministers. And the Kammerrath is personally much dearer to me than the +new owner,--I have known him so many years. And you think I may demand +a higher rent?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, indeed, Herr Pastor, and I am authorized to offer you the half +more. If I wished to rent the land myself, I could offer you still +more; but----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"We understand each other, dear Habermann," said the Pastor, "we are +agreed in the matter."</p> + +<p class="normal">And when the Frau Pastorin again bustled in with the little Louise, and +cried out, "It was not necessary! Louise had already attended to the +matter!" then was her Pastor's business all settled, and the dear +little Louise hung around her father's neck: "Ah, father, father, that +is so good!" Why should she hang about her father's neck? What had she +to do with rent-contracts? Much, much! Her father would now be a little +nearer to the Pastor's garden, ploughing and harvesting, and she should +see him the oftener.</p> + +<p class="normal">As Habermann went back through the church-yard, he met Zachary Bräsig, +who had passed happily, out of his dreadfully unphilosophical stage of +the gout, into the philosophical, as generally happened when his +troubles were over. "Good-day, Karl," said he, "I have been in your +quarters a while waiting for you. But the time seemed long, so I made +my compliments, meanwhile, to the Herr Kammerrath. He was very glad to +see me, and treated me with the greatest kindness; but how the man +looks!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Yes, said Habermann, his master had--God bless him--grown very old and +weak, and he for his part feared he was soon to lose the friend he +esteemed so highly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," nodded Bräsig, "but what is life, Karl? What is human life? See +here, Karl, turn it over and over, like a leather money-bag, and not a +shilling falls out."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bräsig," said Habermann, "I don't know what other people think about +it, but it seems to me as if life and labor were one and the same."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ho, ho, Karl! now I hear you run on; you got that sentence from Pastor +Behrens. He has sometimes talked with me on this subject, and he has +given me a description of human life, as if here below it was merely +the manuring time, and the Christian belief was the sun and the rain, +which made the seed grow, and there above, in the upper regions, came +the harvest; but man must work, and take pains and do his part. But +Karl, it don't agree, it goes against the Bible. The Bible tells about +the lilies of the field; they toil not, and they spin not, and yet our +Heavenly Father cares for them. And if our Lord takes care of them, +then they live, and they don't labor, and when I have this infamous +gout and do nothing,--nothing at all but hunt away the cursed, +tormenting flies from my face,--is that labor? and yet I live under the +good-for-nothing torture. And Karl," said he, and pointed to the right +across the field, "see those two lilies, that are picking their way +over here, your gracious Herr Lieutenant, and the youngest Fräulein, +have you ever heard that the lieutenant of cuirassiers troubled himself +with labor, or that the gracious Fräulein did any spinning? And yet +they are both coming, with living bodies, over your rape-stubble."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Will you wait a moment, Zachary?" said Habermann; "they are coming in +this direction, possibly they wish to speak to us."</p> + +<p class="normal">"For all me!" said Bräsig. "But just look at the Fräulein, how she +wades through the rape-stubble with her long skirts and her thin shoes! +No, Karl, life is trouble! And it begins always with the extremities, +with the legs, and you may observe that with me from my confounded +gout, and in the case of the Fräulein by the rape-stubble and her thin +shoes. But what I was going to say, Karl--you have had your best time +here, for when the Herr Kammerrath is dead, there look out! You will be +astonished at the gracious lady, and the three unmarried daughters, and +the Herr Lieutenant. Karl," he began again, after a little thought, "I +would hold to the crown-prince."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh, what! Bräsig, what are you talking about?" said Habermann, +hastily, "I shall go right on my way."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Karl, so should I, and so would every body who was not a Jesuit. +But look at the gracious Fräulein once more! She goes right on her way +too, but through the rape-stubble. Karl----" But the young people were +too near, he could say no more; only in an aside he added, "A Jesuit? +No! But he is a vocative."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I thank you, Herr Habermann, that you have waited here for me," said +Axel von Rambow, as they came up. "My sister and I are bound on two +different expeditions; she is seeking corn-flowers, and I colts; she +has found no corn-flowers, and I no colts."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Gracious lady," said Bräsig, "if you mean by corn-flowers our common +field blossoms,--but," he interrupted himself, "how this infamous +stubble has ruined your pretty dress, all the flounces torn off!" and +with that he bent down as if he would render the young lady the service +of a maid.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No matter!" cried the Fräulein, drawing back a little, "it is an old +dress. But where are the corn-flowers?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will show you,--it is a real pleasure,--here close by, near +Gurlitz, corn-flowers, and scarlet-runners, and white-thorn, and +thistle-blows,--in short, a whole plantation."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That will do nicely, dear Fidelia," said the lieutenant. "You go with +the Herr Inspector Bräsig for the corn-flowers, and I beg Herr +Habermann to accompany me to see the colts. For, do you know," said he +to Habermann, "my good old papa was in such a good humor this morning, +that he has given me permission to select the best of the four-year-old +colts for my own use.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will show you the animals with pleasure," said Habermann, "there are +some fine fellows, among them."</p> + +<p class="normal">So the two companies separated, and Habermann only heard further how +Bräsig said to the Fräulein Fidelia he was very glad to make her +acquaintance, because he had once had a dog which was also named, +"Fidèle," and she was a famous rat-catcher!</p> + +<p class="normal">Habermann went with the Herr Lieutenant toward the colt-paddock. They +talked together, naturally about farming matters,--the lieutenant was a +lively young fellow, and Habermann had known him from childhood,--but +the man had learned nothing about them, all his views were too far +beyond, and none of his questions were to the point, so that Habermann +said to himself, "He is good natured, very good-natured, but he knows +nothing, and yet--God bless him--when the old Herr is gone, he must +take the estate, and make his living off it!"</p> + +<p class="normal">As they were come to the paddock, and had mustered the colts, the +lieutenant placed himself before Habermann, and asked, "Now, what do +you say? which shall I take?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"The brown," said Habermann.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I would rather choose the black. Look at the beautiful neck, the fine +head!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr von Rambow," said Habermann, "you don't ride on head and neck, +you ride on back and legs; you want a horse for use, and the brown is +worth three of the black."</p> + +<p class="normal">"There seems to be English blood in the black."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is true, he is descended from Wildfire; but there is old +Mecklenburg blood in the brown, and it is a shame that one should let +that go,--that one should not value the good which the fatherland +offers, and exchange them for English racers."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That may be true," said Axel, "but in our regiment my comrades have +only black horses,--I decide for the black."</p> + +<p class="normal">That was a reason which Habermann did not rightly understand, so he was +silent, and as they went back, the conversation was a little one-sided; +but as they were near the house--right before the door, as if he had +spared himself to the last moment--the lieutenant held back the +inspector, and with a deep sigh, as if he would shake off a burden from +his heart, he said, "Habermann, I have long wished to speak to you +privately. Habermann, I have debts,--you must help me! It is nine +hundred dollars that I must pay, I must have it."</p> + +<p class="normal">That was a hard request for Habermann, but in truly serious business, +age makes itself respected; he looked the young man of three-and-twenty +full in the face, and said shortly, "Herr von Rambow, I cannot do it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Habermann, dear Habermann, I have such pressing need of the money."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then you must tell your father."</p> + +<p class="normal">"My father? No, no! He has already paid debts for me, and now he is +sick, it would vex him too much."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Still you must tell him. Such business must not be done with strange +people, it should be settled between father and son."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Strange people?" asked Axel, and looked him so beseechingly and +affectionately in the eye, "Habermann, am I then so strange to you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, Herr von Rambow, no!" cried Habermann, and grasped after the young +man's hand, but did not reach it. "You are not strange to me. Anything +that I <i>could</i> do for you, I would do quickly. The matter itself is a +little thing, and if I could not do it alone, my friend Bräsig would +help me out; but dear Herr von Rambow, your father is your natural +helper, this step ought not to be delayed."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I cannot tell my father," said Axel, plucking at a willow-bush.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You <i>must</i> tell him," said Habermann as impressively as he could. "He +suspects that you have concealed debts from him, and it troubles him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Has he spoken to you about it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, but only in consequence of his own great embarrassment, which is +known to you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know," said Axel, "and I know also the spring at which he has +pumped. Well, what my father does, I can do also," added he coldly and +shortly, and went in at the court-yard gate.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr von Rambow," cried Habermann, and followed him hastily, "I +beseech you, for heaven's sake, not to take this course; it will be in +vain, or it will only plunge you into greater difficulty."</p> + +<p class="normal">Axel did not listen.</p> + +<p class="normal">A couple of hours later, the Lieutenant von Rambow stood with +Moses among the woolsacks and the hides in the entry of the Jew's +house,--where David had his pleasure among the mutton-bones, like a bug +in a rug,--and was making apparently a last, despairing attack upon +Moses' cautious money-bags; but Moses held firmly to the decision: +"Really and truly, Herr Baron, I can not. Now, why not, then? Why +should I not? I can still serve you, I can still serve you well in the +business. See, Herr Baron, there stands David. David where are you, +what are you staring at? Come here, David. You see, Herr Baron, there +he stands,--he stands before you and he stands before me. I will not +wink, I will not blink, I will go into the other room; now you +may ask David." And with that, he shoved himself with his right +suspender-shoulder, back into the room.</p> + +<p class="normal">The poor lieutenant's business must stand a bad chance if he had to +settle it with David, for if he looked in his shining uniform as if he +were riding before the king's carriage, David's outside looked as +shabby as if he had been in the marl and dirt-cart. But this business +depended less on a stately outside, than on who could best get the cart +out of the mud, and at that David was terribly expert. He had three +things in and about himself which stood him in good stead; in the first +place he had a particularly gorgeous Jew-lubber face, and as he stood +there before the lieutenant, and chewed cinnamon-bark, which he stole +out of his mother's pantry, on account of the evil odor of the +business, and with his head askew, and his hands in his pockets, stared +at him, he looked as impudent as if the spirits of all the dead and +gone rats, through the long years of the produce business, had entered +into him; and then, in the second place, his feelings were tough, much +tougher than his father's, and they were not softened by his daily +intercourse with the toughest business in the world, with wool, and +hides, and flax; and, thirdly, he could make himself as repulsive as he +pleased to any one, thanks to this same business.</p> + +<p class="normal">With such a happily gifted being, the lieutenant could not pull at the +same rope. He went very shortly, with a heavy heart, out of the door; +and David was so rejoiced over his own style and manners, that he +became really compassionate, and he gave him on his way the Christian +advice that he should go to the Notary Slusuhr. "He has it," said he, +"and he can do it."</p> + +<p class="normal">Scarcely was the young man out of the door, when Moses sprang out of +the room; "David, have you a conscience? I will tell you some news; you +have none! How could you send that young man among those cut-throats?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have only sent him to his own people," said David, churlishly; "if +he is a soldier, he is a cut-throat himself. If the notary cuts his +throat, what do you care? And if he cuts the notary's throat, what do I +care?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"David," said the old man, and shook his head, "I say, you have no +conscience."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What is a conscience?" muttered David to himself; "when you are doing +business, you drive me away; when you won't do business, you call me +in."</p> + +<p class="normal">"David," said the old man, "you are still too young!" and went into the +room.</p> + +<p class="normal">"If I am too young now," said David spitefully, "I shall always be too +young; but I know a place where I am not too young."</p> + +<p class="normal">With that, he put on another coat, and went the same way that the +lieutenant had gone, to the Notary Slusuhr's.</p> + +<p class="normal">What he had to do there, and what else was done there, I know not. I +know merely that the young Herr von Rambow, the same evening at +Pumpelhagen, wrote a number of letters, and sealed up money in them; +and that when he had finished, he sighed deeply, as if he had thrown +off a burden. The first necessity was met; but he had done like the old +woman in the story, he had heated water in the kneading-trough.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER V.</h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">A couple of days later, the sun looked down in the morning right out of +a rain-cloud, over the landlord's garden at Gurlitz. Her daughter, the +Earth, had been having a great washing, and now she would help her dear +child a little with the drying. It was, as it is always, a great +pleasure to see the old mother settle herself to the task, and with her +broad, friendly face peer out, now here, now there, from the white +cloud-curtain, and again grasp the sprinkler, to dampen the bleached +clothes a little more. On such an occasion she was always very +sportive; she had the drollest fancies, and played as many tricks in +her old age as the youngest girl, when she is beloved for the first +time,--now she was sad enough to cry, and again she laughed heartily.</p> + +<p class="normal">To-day, moreover, the old woman had reason to laugh, as she looked down +into the Gurlitz garden. "Now, just look there!" cried she, and smiled +right goldenly over the meadow and the green corn, "how strangely +things go on in this crazy world! For long years I have always seen +down there that pretty, white fellow standing, and holding out a staff +to me, that the poor hungry creatures of the human race might be able +to know when it was mid-day, and time for their dinners; and now there +stands in his place a stout, malicious-looking beast, with green +breeches, smoking tobacco. Nowhere do things go on so strangely as in +the world!" And with that the old woman laughed from the bottom of her +heart over the landlord Herr Pomuchelskopp, who stood in his yellow +nankeen coat and green plaid trowsers, by the sun-dial, in the very +place where the handsome heathen god, Apollo, had stood, only instead +of a lyre he had a short pipe in his hand; and yet a shadow often +passed over her face when her eyes fell on her handsome, friendly +secretary, who had for so many years recorded her doings with his +pencil, and now lay among burdocks and nettles in the grass. But she +had to laugh again, for all that.</p> + +<p class="normal">Pomuchelskopp laughed also; there were no indications of mirth in his +face, but, whenever, from the height which his short stature allowed, +he looked around him, he laughed in his heart: "All mine! All mine!" +The sunbeam which brightened the world was not noticed by him, it +touched neither his face nor his heart; the sunbeam which shone for him +was properly a sum in arithmetic, which warmed his heart, but there +were no signs of it in his face; there must be a joke, an actual joke, +to make him laugh outwardly, and that was not wanting at the present +moment.</p> + +<p class="normal">His two youngest children, Nanting and Philipping, had come out, and +Philipping had made a rod of burdocks and nettle stalks tied together, +and was flogging the poor, white heathen god, so that Father +Pomuchelskopp laughed heartily; and Nanting ran into the kitchen and +brought a coal, to give him a pair of moustaches, but his father would +not allow this. "Nanting," said he, "let that go, it might disfigure +him, and we may possibly be able to sell him yet. But you may beat +him,"--and they did beat him, and Father Pomuchelskopp laughed as if he +would shake himself out of his green trowsers.</p> + +<p class="normal">Meanwhile the "Madam" also walked out, the dryer half of Pomuchelskopp. +She was of an extremely tall figure, and as dry as the seven lean kine +of King Pharaoh. Her eyebrows were always puckered up into wrinkles, as +if the cares of the whole world weighed o'er her mind, or her forehead +was drawn into peevish lines above her nose, as if all the crockery +broken by the maid-servants in this world, during a whole year, had +belonged to her; and her mouth looked as sour as if she had drank +vinegar and fed on sorrel all her days. She wore in the morning at this +warm season of the year, a black merino over-sack, which she had once +bought in a time of mourning and still wore; and through the day, +cotton garments dyed olive-green with alder-bark, and to make up for +the extravagance of Pomuchelskopp's new blue dress-coat with bright +buttons, she bundled up her head with old bandages and caps, out of +which her anxious face peered like a half-starved mouse out of a bunch +of tow; and about the rest of her body she heaped one old thing above +another, till her poor little legs looked like a couple of pins lost in +a bundle of rags. However, I would advise every servant to keep out of +her way, for even when her poor bones flew around frivolously on velvet +and silken wings, her troubled soul was anxiously reckoning the expense +and the wearing out.</p> + +<p class="normal">She was such a mother as one reads of in books,--she planned day and +night how she might make over Malchen's coat into an under-jacket for +Philipping; she loved her children according to the Scriptures, and +chastened them in like manner, and Nanting could often show for one +spot on his jacket two on his back, and for every one on his trousers +two on the flesh they covered. Yes, she was strong against herself and +against her own flesh and blood, but she could rejoice also, according +to the scriptures, with moderation; and, as she came out to-day, and +saw the joyous activity of her youngest offspring, there flew over her +face such a hopeful light as when the February sun looks down on the +fast-frozen soil, and says, "Patience! there will be a good crop of +potatoes here this year."</p> + +<p class="normal">And she was also such a wife as one reads of in books; no neighbor +could charge her with neglecting her duties a hair's breadth in +thought, word or deed, all her days, although Pomuchelskopp was in her +opinion quite light-minded, because often when joking was going on he +would laugh right out loud, which she thought unbecoming in the father +of a family, and she feared he would at length ruin his fortunes and +bring herself and her children to beggary. She did another thing, which +the minister had not inculcated at her betrothal,--she condemned his +failings, and gave him daily of her own vinegar to drink and of her +sorrel to eat. She tutored him--that is to say when they were alone--as +she did her youngest child, her Philipping, and as if Pomuchelskopp +still wore his green plaid trousers fastened behind; in short, she +drove him just as she pleased. She did not beat him--God forbid! all +was with dignity. Merely by her manner of speaking, she knew how to +express her opinion of him: if he was unusually frivolous, she called +him sharply and shortly by the last syllable of his name, just "Kopp!" +ordinarily she called him by the middle syllable, "Muchel," and when he +was quite after her own heart, and sat sulkily in the sofa-corner +striking at the flies, she called him by the first syllable, and in an +affectionate tone, "Pöking."</p> + +<p class="normal">She did not call him "Pöking" to-day. "Kopp!" said she, on account of +his light-minded behavior with the children, "Kopp, why do you stand +there smoking like a chimney? I think we should call at the Pastor's."</p> + +<p class="normal">"My Klücking," said Pomuchelskopp, reluctantly taking the pipe from his +mouth, "we can go. I will put on my dress-coat directly."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dress-coat! Why so? Do you think I shall dress up in black silk? It is +only our Pastor." She emphasized the "our," as if she had spoken of her +shepherd, and as if she considered the Pastor merely their hired +servant.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Just as you please, my Häuhning," said Pomuchelskopp, "I can put on my +brown overcoat. Philipping, let the beating go; Mama doesn't like it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Kopp! let the children alone, attend to yourself. You can keep on your +nankeen coat, it is clean and good."</p> + +<p class="normal">"My Klücking," said Pomuchelskopp, "always noble, my dear Klücking! If +we owe nothing to the Pastor's family, we owe something to ourselves. +And, if Malcheh and Salchen are going too, they must dress themselves +up, and then we will set out."</p> + +<p class="normal">This argument gained Pomuchelskopp the permission to array himself in +his brown overcoat. He was so rejoiced at having carried his point, a +thing which did not often happen, that in his gratitude he desired to +confer some pleasure upon his Klücking, and make her a sharer in his +own satisfaction; for no one must do Pomuchelskopp the injustice to +suppose that he was overbearing in his own house,--no! there he was +rather humble and depressed. He pointed, therefore, across the fields +and said, "Just look, that is all ours!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Muchel, you point too far," said the lady shortly; "all that over +yonder belongs to Pumpelhagen."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are right, that is all Pumpelhagen. But"--he added, and the little +eyes looked greedily towards Pumpelhagen, "who knows? If God spares my +life, and I sell my property in Pomerania at a good bargain, and times +continue good, and the old Kammerrath dies, and his son gets into +debt----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Muchel," interrupted his wife, and across her face flitted that +derisive gleam, which was the only approach to a smile ever seen on it, +"yes, just as old Strohpagel said: 'If I were ten years younger, and +hadn't this lame leg, and hadn't a wife--you should see what a fellow I +would be!'"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Häuhning," said Pomuchelskopp, making a face as if he were grieved to +the heart, "how can you talk so? As if I wished to be rid of you! +Without the thirty thousand dollars, which your father left you, I +never could have bought Gurlitz. And what a fine estate Gurlitz is! +See! this is all Gurlitz!" and he pointed again over the fields.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Kopp," said his wife, in a hard tone, "all but the Pastor's +field, which you have let slip out of your fingers."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, Klücking," said Pomuchelskopp, as they left the garden, +"always the Pastor's field! what can I do? See, I am an honest, +straight-forward man; what can I do against such a pair of sly old +fellows as Habermann and the Pastor? But the day is not over yet, +Monsieur Habermann! We shall have something to say to each other yet, +Herr Pastor!"</p> + +<p class="normal">At the Pastor's house, this morning, three pretty little girls were +sitting in the Frau Pastorin's neat parlor, busy as bees, their fingers +sewing and their tongues chatting at the same time, and looking, amid +the white linen, as fresh and red as ripe strawberries on a white +plate; these were Louise Habermann and the little twins, Mining and +Lining Nüssler.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Children," said the little, round Frau Pastorin, as she now and then +looked in from the kitchen, "you cannot think what a pleasure it is to +one in my old age, when I put away my clean linen in the linen-trunk, +and think with every piece when it was spun and when it was sewed! And +how prudent it makes one, to know for oneself how much pains it has +cost! Mining, Mining, your seam is crooked! Good heavens, Louise! I +believe you are looking off half the time, yet you sew right along, and +get no knots in your thread. But now I must go and take up the +potatoes, for my Pastor will be here soon," and with that she ran out +of the door, looking back, however, to say, "Mining and Lining, you +must stay here to dinner to-day!" And so she flew from the kitchen to +the parlor, and from the parlor back to the kitchen, like the pendulum +of a clock, and kept everything in running order.</p> + +<p class="normal">But how came Lining and Mining Nüssler to be in the Frau Pastorin's +sewing-school? It happened in this way.</p> + +<p class="normal">When the little twins had got so far that they could speak the "r" +plainly, and no longer played in the sand, and ran after Frau Nüssler +all day long, saying, "Mother, what shall we do now?" then Frau Nüssler +said to young Jochen that it was high time the children went to school; +they must have a governess. Jochen had no objections, and his +brother-in-law, the Rector Baldrian, undertook the task of procuring +one. When she had been six months at Rexow, Frau Nüssler said she was a +cross old thing, she scolded the little girls from morning to night and +made them so skittish that they did not know how to behave; she must +go. Thereupon Kaufman Kurz looked up another; and one day, when nobody +in Rexow dreamed of impending evil, a sort of grenadier walked in at +the door, with heavy black eyebrows, and sallow complexion, and with +spectacles on her nose, and announced herself as the new "governess." +She began to talk French to the little twins, and as she observed that +the poor little creatures were so ignorant that they could not +understand her in the least, she turned, in the same language, to young +Jochen. Such a thing had never happened to young Jochen in his life; he +let his pipe fall from his mouth, and as they were drinking coffee he +said, in order to say something, "Mother, ask the new school-ma'am to +take another cup."</p> + +<p class="normal">This one was a "governess" over the whole house, and Frau Nüssler stood +it bravely for a while; but finally she said, "Stop! This won't do; if +anybody is to command here it is I, for I am the nearest, as Frau +Pastorin says;" and she gave the grenadier her marching orders. Then +uncle Bräsig offered his assistance, and engaged a teacher,--"A smart +one," he said, "always in good spirits, and she can play you dead on +the harpsichord." He was right; one evening in the winter, there +arrived at Rexow a little blue-cheeked, hump-backed body, who, after +the first ten minutes, attacked the new piano, which Jochen had bought +at auction, and belaboured it as if she were threshing wheat. When she +had gone to bed, young Jochen opened the piano, and when he saw that +three strings were broken, he shut it up again, and said, "Yes, what +shall we do about it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">There were lively times in the house now; the girl-governess ran and +romped with the little girls, until Frau Nüssler came to the conclusion +that her oldest, Lining, had really more sense than the mamselle. She +wished to inform herself how the mamselle managed the children in +school-hours; she requested, therefore, to be shown a plan of their +studies, and the next day Lining brought her a great sheet of paper +with all the "branches" marked out. There was German and French, +Orthography and Geography, and Religion, and Biblical History, and +other History, and also Biblical Natural History, and then to conclude +with, music, and music, and music.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh!" said Frau Nüssler to Jochen, "she may teach them all the music +she wants to, for all me, if the religion is only of the right sort. +What do you say, Jochen?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said Jochen, "it is all as true as leather!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Well, she might have stayed, if Lining had not let out, accidentally, +that mamselle played jack-stones with them in the Biblical History; and +as Frau Nüssler heard one day, during the "Religion" hour, such a +romping in the school-room that she opened the door suddenly, to see +what kind of religion was going on, behold! Mamselle was playing +"Cuckoo" with the children. Madam Nüssler could not approve of this +lively sort of religion, so Mamselle "Hop-on-the-hill" hopped after the +grenadier.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was very inconvenient, because it was now the middle of the fourth +quarter, and if Frau Nüssler complained that the children were running +wild, Jochen only said; "Yes, what shall I do about it?" But he began +to study the Rostock "Times" with uncommon interest; and one day he +laid aside the "Times," and ordered Christian to get out the "phantom." +His good wife was considerably astonished, for she had no idea what he +was thinking of; but as she looked at the pipe side of his face, and +noticed that his mouth was stretched wider than usual, which +represented a friendly smile, she gave herself no more anxiety, and +said, "Let him go! He has something good in his head."</p> + +<p class="normal">After three days Jochen returned with an elderly, almost +transparent-looking lady, and it went through the whole region like a +running fire: "Only think! young Jochen has got a governess himself."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bräsig came the next Sunday to see her; he was tolerably contented with +her, "But," said he, finally, "look out, young Jochen, she has nerves."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bräsig was not only a good judge of horses, but a judge of human +nature; he was right,--Mamselle was nervous, very nervous indeed. The +poor little twins went about on tiptoe, Mamselle took away Lining's +ball, because she had accidentally thrown it at the window, and locked +up the piano, so that Lining could no longer play, "Our cat has +nine kittens," the only piece which she had learned from Mamselle +"Hop-on-the-hill." Before long Mamselle added cramps to her nerves, and +Madam Nüssler must run with sundry bottles of "drops," and both Fika +and Corlin must sit up with her nights, because either one alone would +be afraid. "Send her away," said uncle Bräsig; but Frau Nüssler was too +good for that, she sent rather for the doctor. Dr. Strump was summoned +from Rahnstadt, and after examining the patient, he pronounced it a +very interesting case, the more so that he had lately been studying +"the night-side of Nature."</p> + +<p class="normal">Young Jochen and his wife thought nothing worse from that than that the +doctor had lately been a good deal out of his bed o' nights, but he +meant something quite different.</p> + +<p class="normal">One day, when the doctor was with the mamselle, Corlin called from the +stairs:--</p> + +<p class="normal">"Frau, Frau! there is mischief going on. The doctor has been stroking +her over her face, and now she is asleep, and talking in her sleep. She +told me I had a lover."</p> + +<p class="normal">"God bless me!" cried Bräsig, who happened to be there, "what sort of +business is the woman carrying on?" and he went up-stairs with Frau +Nüssler. After a while he came down, and asked, "Now, what do you say +to, it young Jochen?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Jochen reflected awhile, and then said, "Yes, that doesn't help the +matter, Bräsig."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Jochen," said Bräsig, going up and down the room with great strides, +"I said to you before, 'send her away;' now I say, don't send her away. +I asked her if it would rain to-morrow, and she said to me, in her +somnambulic state, that it would rain torrents. If it rains torrents +to-morrow, then take down your barometer from the wall,--barometers are +of no use, and yours has stood there two years, always at fair +weather,--and hang her up there; you can benefit yourself and the whole +region."</p> + +<p class="normal">Young Jochen said nothing, but when next morning it rained torrents, he +was silent indeed, and his astonishment kept him dumb for three days.</p> + +<p class="normal">The rumor spread in the neighborhood, that young Jochen had a +fortune-teller at his house, and that she had prophesied the great rain +on Saturday, and also that Corlin Kräuger and Inspector Bräsig would be +married within a year. Dr. Strump naturally did his share toward +setting this interesting case in a clear light, and it was not long +before Frau Nüssler's quiet house became a kind of pilgrim's shrine, to +which resorted all who were curious, or scientific, or interested in +physical science; and, because Frau Nüssler would have nothing to do +with it, and Jochen was incapable, Zachary Bräsig undertook the +business, when the doctor was not there, and ushered troops of visitors +into the mamselle's room, and explained her somnambulic condition; and +before the bed, by the mamselle, sat Christian the coachman, who was +not afraid of the devil himself, for Corlin and Fika would no longer +watch by her, even in the day time, having taken it into their heads +that she was not respectable; because they translated Bräsig's +expression, "sonnenbuhlerisch" (somnambulic), into Platt-Deutsch, and +said the mamselle was "sünnenbuhlerisch" (no better than she should +be).</p> + +<p class="normal">Among the visitors, who came to see this wonder, was the young Baron +von Mallerjahn of Gräunenmur, who came daily to investigate the +physical sciences and thought no harm of going into mamselle's room +without Bräsig. Frau Nüssler was disturbed by the impropriety of the +thing, and requested Jochen to put a stop to the nuisance, upon which +Jochen replied that they might put Christian up there; but when +Christian came down one day, and said the Herr Baron had sent him away, +because he smelled too strong of the stable, then Frau Nüssler's +annoyance broke out in a flood of tears, and, if Bräsig had not arrived +just then, she would herself have treated the Herr Baron to a scolding; +but Bräsig, like a true knight, took the business upon himself.</p> + +<p class="normal">He went up-stairs, and said very courteously and decidedly, "Gracious +Herr Baron, will you have the kindness to step the other side of the +door for a moment."</p> + +<p class="normal">It was possibly too fine for the Herr Baron's comprehension, he laughed +rather confusedly, and said he stood for the moment in magnetic +<i>rapport</i> with the mamselle.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Monetic apport!" said Bräsig. "We need none of your money here, and +none of your apporters either; Christian was put here on purpose to +prevent such doings."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bräsig himself stood in magnetic <i>rapport</i>, without being conscious of +it, for when Frau Nüssler wept he fell into a passion, and in great +wrath he cried to the baron, "Herr, be off with you, out of the house!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The baron was naturally astonished at this speech, and inquired rather +haughtily whether Bräsig was aware that he was growing rude.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do you call that rudeness?" cried Bräsig, taking the baron by the arm. +"Then I will show you something else!"</p> + +<p class="normal">But the disturbance awoke the mamselle out of her sleep; she sprang +from the sofa and grasped the baron by the other arm: she wouldn't stay +here, nobody here understood her, he alone understood her, she would go +with him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The best thing you can do," said Bräsig. "Don't let us detain you! Two +birds with one stone!" and he assisted her down stairs.</p> + +<p class="normal">The carriage of the Herr Baron was all ready, and drove up to the door; +the Herr Baron himself was in great perplexity, but the mamselle held +fast.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, there's no help for it," said young Jochen, as he watched their +departure.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Young Jochen," said Bräsig, as the equipage left the yard, "she is +like leather, she is tough. And you, madam," said he to Frau Nüssler, +"let the man go, now he can see as much as he likes of his monetic +treasure."</p> + +<p class="normal">Habermann had been absent a good deal of late, on business for his +master, and, when he came home for a day or two, he had so much to +attend to on the estate that he could not trouble himself about other +people's affairs. He had been at his sister's however, and had +comforted her about the mamselle, that it was merely sickness and would +pass over; but as he came home this time, the report was all over the +neighborhood that young Jochen's sleeping mamselle had gone off with +the Baron von Mallerjahn, but that she had previously infected Bräsig +with prophesying, and Christian with sleeping. Bräsig prophesied +wherever he went, and Christian fell asleep even on his feet.</p> + +<p class="normal">Habermann went to Pastor Behrens, and inquired what he knew of the +story, and asked him to go with him to his sister's.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Willingly, dear Habermann," said the Pastor; "but I have not troubled +myself much about this matter, for good reasons. I know very well that +in our good fatherland many of my brethren in Christ have occupied +themselves in healing the possessed, and casting out devils; but I +think such cases belong rather to the department of the physician, +or"--with a rather peculiar laugh--"to that of the police."</p> + +<p class="normal">When they came to Rexow, the cheerful, active Frau Nüssler, who could +usually shake off easily the worst misfortune, or the most annoying +vexation, seemed quite another person.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr Pastor," said she, "Brother Karl, that crazy woman has gone, and +I had trouble enough about her, and so have they all gone, that I have +had; but that is no matter, I shall get over that. What troubles me is +my poor little girls, who know nothing and learn nothing. And when I +think how the poor little dears will seem among their elders and equals +like a couple of fools, knowing nothing that is talked about, and not +even knowing how to write a letter--no, Herr Pastor, you, who have +learned so much, you cannot know how one feels, but I know, and, Karl, +you can understand it too. No, Herr Pastor, even though my heart should +break, and I should go about alone with Jochen in this great house, +like one in a dream, I will give up my little girls to go away to +school, rather than have them remain stupid all their lives. You see, +when Louise comes here, she is intelligent; one can talk with her, and +she can read the newspaper to Jochen. Min can read too, but if she +comes to a strange word, she begins to stammer. For instance the other +day Louise read 'Burdoh,' and the place is called so,--and Min read +'Bo-ur-de-aux.' What is the good of 'Bo-ur-de-aux,' when the city is +called 'Burdoh?'"</p> + +<p class="normal">The Pastor had risen during this speech, and walked thoughtfully about +the room; at last he came to a stand before Frau Nüssler, looked at her +observantly and said, "My dear neighbor, I will make you a proposition. +Louise is a little more advanced, to be sure, but that makes no +difference; you shall not be separated from your little ones,--let me +instruct them."</p> + +<p class="normal">Frau Nüssler had never thought of such an offer, and it seemed to her +like drawing the great prize in the lottery, or as if she had stepped +out of shadow into sunshine. She stared at the Pastor with her +wide-open, blue eyes; "Herr Pastor!" she cried, springing up from her +chair, "Jochen, Jochen, did you hear? The Herr Pastor offers to teach +the children himself."</p> + +<p class="normal">Jochen had heard, and was also on his feet, trying to say something; he +said nothing, however, only fumbled and grappled for the Herr Pastor's +hand, until he grasped it, then pressed it warmly, and drew him to the +sofa, behind the supper table, which was spread; and when Frau Nüssler +and Habermann had fully expressed their pleasure, he also had become +capable of expression, and said, "Mother, pour out a cup for the Herr +Pastor."</p> + +<p class="normal">So Mining and Lining were now daily guests at the Gurlitz parsonage. +They were as clearly a pair of twins as ever; only that Lining as the +eldest was perhaps half an inch taller than Mining, and Mining was a +good half inch larger round the waist, and--if one looked very +closely--Mining's nose was a trifle shorter than Lining's.</p> + +<p class="normal">And so on the day when Pomuchelskopp set out to make his first call at +the parsonage, the twins were in the Frau Pastorin's sewing-school, for +the Frau Pastorin also meant to do her duty by the children, when the +Pastor was occupied with the business of his calling.</p> + +<p class="normal">"God bless me!" exclaimed the Frau Pastorin, running into the room, +"children put your work aside; take it all into the bedroom, Louise; +Mining, pick up the threads and scraps; Lining, you put the chairs in +order! Here come our new landlord with his wife and daughters, across +the church-yard, right up to the house,--and, bless his heart! my +Pastor has gone to Warnitz to a christening!" And she grasped +unconsciously her duster, but had to lay it aside directly, for there +was a knock at the door, and upon her "Come in!" Pomuchelskopp with his +wife and his two daughters, Malchen and Salchen, entered the room.</p> + +<p class="normal">"They did themselves the honor," said Pomuchelskopp, endeavoring to +make a graceful bow, which on account of his peculiar build was +rather a failure, "to wait upon the Herr Pastor, and the Frau +Pastorin--acquaintance--neighborhood----"</p> + +<p class="normal">Frau Pomuchelskopp stood by, as stiff and stately as if she had that +morning been plated with iron, and Malchen and Salchen, in their gay +silk dresses, stared at the three little maidens in their clean cotton +garments, like a goldfinch at a hedge-sparrow.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Frau Pastorin was the most cordial person in the world, to her +friends; but when she met strangers, and her Pastor was not present to +speak for himself, she took his dignity also upon her shoulders. She +drew herself up to her full height, looking as round and full as a +goose on the spit, and with every word that she spoke the cap ribbons +under her little double chin wagged back and forth with a dignified +air, as if they would say, "Nobody shall take precedence of me!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"The honor is quite on our side," said she. "Unfortunately my Pastor is +not at home. Won't you sit down?" and with that she seated the two old +Pomuchelskopps on the sofa, under the picture-gallery.</p> + +<p class="normal">Meanwhile, as the older people were discussing indifferent topics with +an appearance of interest, as the custom is, and now one and now +another advancing opinions to which the rest could not assent, Louise +went, in a friendly way, as was proper, to the two young ladies, and +shook hands with them, and the little twins followed her example, as +was also proper.</p> + +<p class="normal">Now Malchen and Salchen were just eighteen and nineteen years old. They +were not handsome; Salchen had a gray, pimpled complexion, and Malchen, +though she was not to blame for it, bore too striking a resemblance to +her father. But they were <i>educated</i>--save the mark! and had recently +attended the Whitsuntide fair and Trinity ball, at Rostock, so there +was really a great difference between them and the little girls, and +since they were not very kindly disposed, they looked rather coldly on +the little maidens.</p> + +<p class="normal">These, however, either did not notice it, or took it as a matter of +course that their advances should be received with coolness, and Louise +said with great admiration to Malchen, "Ah, what a beautiful dress you +have on!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Even an educated young lady might be pleased at that, and Malchen +became a little more friendly, as she said, "It is only an old one; my +new one cost, with the trimming and dress-making, all of ten dollars +more."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Papa gave them to us for the Trinity ball. Ah, how we danced there!" +added Salchen.</p> + +<p class="normal">Now Louise had heard in sermons about Sundays before and after Trinity, +but of a Trinity ball she knew nothing; in fact she had no definite +conception of a ball itself, for though the Frau Pastorin in her youth +had taken pleasure like other people, and had occasionally set foot in +a ball-room, yet, out of consideration for her present dignified +position, she always answered Louise's questions what a ball was +like,--"Mere frivolity!"</p> + +<p class="normal">As for Lining and Mining they would have known nothing of balls, for +though their mother danced in her younger days, it was merely at +harvest feasts, and young Jochen had indeed once gone to a ball, but +upon reaching the door of the saloon he was so frightened that he beat +a retreat,--but Uncle Bräsig's descriptions had given the children a +confused idea of many white dresses with green and red ribbons, of +violins and clarionettes, of waltzes and quadrilles, and many, many +glasses of punch. And as Uncle Bräsig had described it all, he had also +given an illustration, with his short legs, of the sliding step, and +the hop step, so that they laughed prodigiously; but what a "ball," +such a ball as the last governess had taken away from Mining, had to do +with it all, they had never comprehended. So Mining asked quite +innocently, "But, if you dance, how do you play with a ball?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Mining was a thoughtless little girl, and she should not have asked +such a question; but, considering her youth and inexperience, the +Misses Pomuchelskopp need not have laughed quite so loud as they did.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh dear!" cried Salchen, "that is too stupid!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, good gracious! so very countrified!" said Malchen, and drew +herself up in a stately attitude, as if she had lived under the shadow +of St. Peter's tower in Rostock from her babyhood, and the first +burgomeister of the city had been her next door neighbor.</p> + +<p class="normal">Poor little Mining turned as red as a rose, for she felt that she must +have made a great blunder, and Louise grew red also, but it was from +anger. "Why do you laugh?" she cried hastily, "why do you laugh because +we know nothing about balls?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"See, see! How excited!" laughed Malchen. "My dear child----"</p> + +<p class="normal">She went no further in her wise speech, being interrupted by hasty +words from the group on the sofa.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Frau Pastorin, I say it is wrong; I am the owner of Gurlitz, and if +the Pastor's field was to be rented----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It was my Pastor's doing, and the Kammerrath is an old friend, and one +of our parishioners, and the field joins his land as well as it does +yours, and Inspector Habermann----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is an old cheat," interrupted Pomuchelskopp.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He has already done us an injury," added his wife.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What?" cried the little Frau Pastorin, "what?"</p> + +<p class="normal">But her dear old heart thought in a minute of little Louise, and she +overcame her anger, and began to wink and blink. It was too late; the +child had heard her father's name, had heard the slander, and stood now +before the arrogant man, and the cold, hard woman.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What is my father? What has my father done?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Her eyes shot fiery glances at the two who had spoken evil of her +father, and the young frame which up to this time had known constant +peace and joy, quivered with passion.</p> + +<p class="normal">People tell us that sometimes the fair, still, green earth trembles, +and fire and flame burst forth, and showers of gray ashes bury the +dwellings of men, and the temples of God. It seemed to her that a +beautiful temple, in which she had often worshipped, had been buried +under gray ashes, and her grief broke forth in streaming tears, as her +good foster-mother put her arms around her, and led her from the room.</p> + +<p class="normal">Muchel looked at his Klücking, and Klücking looked at her Muchel; they +had got themselves into trouble. It was quite another thing from having +one of his laborer's wives come to him, in tears, and a pitiful tale of +sorrow and distress--he knew what to do in such cases; but here he had +no occasion for reproaches or advice, and, as he glanced about him in +his confusion, and saw upon the wall the hands of Christ stretched out +in blessing, it seemed to him that the flashing eyes of Louise had +turned appealingly toward them, and he remembered how Christ had said, +"Suffer little children to come unto me, for of such is the kingdom of +Heaven." He did not feel exactly comfortable.</p> + +<p class="normal">His brave Klücking also, was quite disturbed. She had heard her own +children screaming many a time under her vigorous discipline, but this +was a different matter; Malchen and Salchen had often shot fire from +their eyes, and stamped their feet, but this was a different matter. +She recovered herself soon, however, and said,--</p> + +<p class="normal">"Kopp, don't make such a stupid face! What did she say about her +father? Is Habermann her father?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," answered Mining and Lining, through their tears, "that is Louise +Habermann." And they followed their little friend into the next room, +to cry with her; for though they did not know how deeply her heart was +wounded, they reckoned themselves one with her, in joy and sorrow.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I did not know that," said Pomuchelskopp; the very words he had used +years before, when Habermann's wife lay in her coffin.</p> + +<p class="normal">"A foolish girl!" said his Häuhning. "Malchen and Salchen, come, we +will go; the Pastor's wife won't come back again."</p> + +<p class="normal">And so they went off, like the year 1822, of which Häuhning represents +the 1, on account of her leanness, and because she would always be +number 1, Pomuchelskopp the 8, on account of his size and rotundity, +and the two daughters the two figure 2's,--for such a 2 always looks to +me like a goose swimming on the water.</p> + +<p class="normal">As they stepped out of the door, the Pastor was just returning from his +duties at Warnitz, and had brought Uncle Bräsig home with him. He knew +by their appearance that they had been making a ceremonious visit, and +sprung hastily from the carriage, that he might be in time for a part +of it.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, good day! How do you do? But," he added in surprise, "where is my +wife?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"She went off and left us," said Frau Pomuchelskopp, stiffly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh, there must be some mistake! Do come in again, I shall be back +directly," and he ran into the house.</p> + +<p class="normal">Meanwhile Bräsig had gone up to his old comrade Pomuchelskopp: "Good +day, Zamel, how are you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thank you, Herr Inspector, very well," was the reply.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bräsig elevated his eyebrows, looked him square in the face, and +whistled square in his face. If Frau Pomuchelskopp wished to make him a +courtesy, she might do so, but only to his back, for he turned about +and went into the house.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Come, Kopp," said she sharply, and the procession moved off.</p> + +<p class="normal">As the pastor entered the house, he found nobody there; he went through +into the garden, and called, and it was not long before he saw the +little twins sitting under a raspberry hedge, with red eyes, and they +pointed to the birch-tree arbor, with anxious looks, as if to say he +must go there if he would find out what the trouble was. He went to the +arbor, and there sat his Regina, with the child in her lap, trying to +comfort her. When she saw her Pastor, she put the child gently down on +the bench, drew him out of the arbor, and told him the matter.</p> + +<p class="normal">Pastor Behrens listened in silence; but as his wife repeated the wicked +word that the Herr Landlord had used, there flashed over his +intelligent, quiet face a look of bitter anger, and then his clear eyes +shone with the deepest compassion. He said to his wife that she might +go in, and he would speak to the child. So it had come at last! his +lovely flower had been pierced by a poisonous worm; the pitiless world +had grasped this soft, pure heart with its hard, coarse hand, and the +finger-marks could never be effaced; now it had entered upon the great, +never-ending struggle, which is fought out here on earth until hearts +cease to beat. It must come, yes, it must come, he knew that well +enough; but he knew also that the greatest art of one who would train a +human soul lies in keeping away, as long as possible, the hard hand +from the tender heart, until that also had become harder, and then, if +the evil grip should be even worse, the black fingers will not leave +such deep marks upon the heart, until then innocent of the never-ending +struggle. He went into the arbor. Thou art still happy, Louise; well is +it for one who in such an hour is blessed with a faithful friend!</p> + +<p class="normal">Frau Pastorin, meanwhile, went into the parlor, and found Bräsig. +Bräsig, instead of sitting down on the comfortable sofa, under the +picture-gallery, or at least in a reasonable chair, had seated himself +on a table, and was working like a linen-weaver, in his excitement over +Pomuchelskopp's ceremonious behavior. "There you see me, there you have +me!" he cried angrily. "The Jesuit!" As the Frau Pastorin came in, he +sprang from his table, and cried,--</p> + +<p class="normal">"Frau Pastorin, what should you say of anybody you had known forty +years, and you meet him, and you speak to him, and he calls you +"Sie?"<a name="div2Ref_01" href="#div2_01"><sup>[1]</sup></a></p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, Bräsig----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is what Pomuchelskopp has done to me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let the man alone! He has done worse mischief here;" and she related +what had happened.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bräsig was angry, exceedingly angry, over the injury which he had +received, but when he heard this he was angry beyond measure; he +stormed up and down the room, and made use of language for which the +Frau Pastorin would have reproved him severely, had she not been very +angry herself; at last he thrust himself into the sofa corner, and sat, +without saying a word, looking straight before him.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Pastor entered, his Regina looked at him inquiringly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"She is watering the flowers," he said, as if to compose her, and he +walked in his quiet way, up and down the room, finally turning toward +Bräsig. "What are you thinking of, dear friend?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hell-fire! I am thinking about hell-fire, Herr Pastor!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why of that?" asked the Pastor.</p> + +<p class="normal">But instead of replying, Bräsig sprang to his feet, and said:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Tell me, Herr Pastor, is it true that there are mountains that vomit +fire?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Certainly," said the Pastor.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And are they good or bad for mankind?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"The people who live in the neighbourhood consider the eruptions a good +thing, because then the earthquakes are not so violent."</p> + +<p class="normal">"So? so?" said Bräsig, apparently not quite satisfied with the answer. +"But it is true, isn't it," he went on, "that such mountains send forth +flame and smoke, like a chimney?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Something so," said the Pastor, who had not the slightest idea what +Bräsig was driving at.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well," said Bräsig, stamping with his foot, "then I wish that the +devil would take Zamel Pomuchelskopp by the nape of his neck, and hold +him over one of those fire-spouting holes till he got his deserts."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Fie, Bräsig!" cried the little Pastorin, "you are a heathen. How can +you utter such an unchristian wish in a minister's house!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Frau Pastorin," said Bräsig, going back into the sofa-corner, "it +would be a great benefit to mankind."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dear Bräsig," said the Pastor, "we must remember that these people +used the disgraceful expression without any intention of hurting us."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is all one to me," cried Bräsig, "with or without intention. He +provoked me with intention, but what he did here without intention was +a thousand times worse. You see, Herr Pastor, one must get angry +sometimes, and we farmers get angry regularly two or three times a +day,--it belongs to the business; but moderately, what I call a sort of +farm-boy anger. For example, yesterday I was having the fallow-ground +marled, and I had ordered the boys to form a line with their carts. +Then I stood in the marl-pit, and all was going nicely. Then, you see, +there came that lubber, Christian Kohlhaas,--a real horned-beast of a +creature,--there he was with his full cart coming back to the pit. 'You +confounded rascal!' said I, 'what under heaven! are you going to bring +the marl back again!' Do you believe, that blockhead looked me right in +the face, and said he wasn't quite ready to empty the cart, and would +go into the line. Well, I was angry, you may be sure; but there are +different sorts of anger. This was a proper farm-boy anger, and that +kind agrees with me, especially after dinner; but here--I can't scold +Pomuchelskopp as I do the farm-boys. It all stays here, I can't get rid +of it. And you will see, Frau Pastorin, to-morrow I shall have that +cursed gout again."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bräsig," said the Frau Pastorin, "will you do me a favour? Don't tell +Habermann anything of this."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh, why should I, Frau Pastorin? But I will go to little Louise, and +comfort her, and tell her that Samuel Pomuchelskopp is the meanest, +most infamous rascal on the face of the earth."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no," said the Pastor, hastily, "let that go. The child will get +over it, and I hope all will be well again."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No? Then good-bye," said Bräsig, reaching for his cap.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Surely, Bräsig, you will stay to dinner with us?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thank you kindly, Frau Pastorin. There is reason in all things. One +must be angry sometimes, to be sure; but better after dinner than +before. I had better go and work in the marl-pit; but Christian would +do well not to come back today with his full cart to the marl-pit. So +good-bye, once more." And with that he went off.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER VI.</h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">Habermann heard nothing of this occurrence. His child said nothing to +him about it, only treated him with increased tenderness and reverence, +if that were possible, as if with her greater love to make up to him +the wrong which had been done him. Frau Nüssler, who had heard the +whole story from her little girls, could not find it in her heart to +say a word to her brother which could grieve him, or make him +suspicious of others. The Pastor and his wife had the same reason for +silence, and also the wish that the whole matter should be forgotten by +Louise.</p> + +<p class="normal">Jochen Nüssler said nothing of consequence, and Bräsig also held his +peace, that is toward Habermann. It happened, however, through +his feeling of injury at this self-restraint, and the attack of +gout,--which came as he said it would the next day,--that he excited +the whole neighborhood against Pomuchelskopp; and as the latter made no +special efforts towards friendship and sociability, it was not long +before his intercourse with his neighbors was like my wife's kitchen +floor at Pentecost, so naked and bare was he left in this respect.</p> + +<p class="normal">Pomuchelskopp looked upon social intercourse as a garden merely, in +which he could plant his pride-beans; whether the garden gave him +shade, or produced flowers, was of little importance to him provided +that he had room for himself and what belonged to him to spread and +grow. He had come into Mecklenburg, in the first place, because he +could buy Gurlitz at a good bargain; but, secondly because he had a +vague idea of his future prospects as a landlord.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Häuhning," said he to his wife, "here in Pomerania, every body rules +us, and the landrath says, 'It shall be so and so,' but in Mecklenburg +we shall be law-givers ourselves, I among others. And I have heard it +is customary there for rich burghers, who live like the nobility, to +become ennobled in time. Think, Küking, how it would seem to be called +'my gracious lady von Pomuchelskopp!' but one must not throw himself +away!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And he took pains not to throw himself away, giving up, for that +purpose, one of his chief pleasures, the boasting and bragging of his +money, in order not to associate too familiarly with the farmers and +inspectors of the neighborhood. For that purpose, he had greeted old +Bräsig with "Sie," and had honored only Bräsig's Herr Count with a +formal visit. He went in his blue dress-coat, with bright buttons, and +the new coach with four brown horses, and was as welcome there as a hog +in a Jew's house. When he came home, he sat out of humor in the +sofa-corner, and struck at the flies; and as his wife who always became +affectionate when he was cross, said, "Pöking, what is the matter?" he +grumbled, "What should be the matter? Nothing is the matter, only these +confounded nobility, who are friendly to look at, and when you come +nearer it is good for nothing. Oh, yes, he asked me to sit down, and +then he inquired very politely how he could serve me. I don't want +anything of him, I am better off than he; but I could think of nothing +to say, at the moment, and then there was such a silence that I must +needs go."</p> + +<p class="normal">But for all that, Pomuchelskopp would not throw himself away,--by no +means! He trailed after the nobility like the tail after a sheep, and +although he would never advance a penny of wages to his own people, and +the poor tradesmen in the city had to wait till the year's end for +their hard-earned pay, he had money for any spendthrift young +gentleman. And, while every poor devil of a fellow who went through his +fields was fined without pity, for trespassing, Bräsig's gracious Herr +Count had permission, even in harvest time, to go over them with the +whole hunt; and while he cheated the Pastor shamefully in his +Easter-lamb, the Herr Count's hunter could shoot the roe-buck before +his very door, and he made no complaint. No! Zamel Pomuchelskopp did +not throw himself away!</p> + +<p class="normal">Habermann kept out of his way. He was not a man for strife and +contention, and was too well satisfied with his situation, to be +looking here and there after other things. He was like a man, who, +after being out in a storm, sits warm and dry in the chimney-corner; +and his only trouble was his anxiety about his good master. He had some +time before received a letter from him, in a strange hand, and with a +black seal, which said that he had had a stroke of paralysis, and had +not yet recovered the use of his right hand; but the greatest +affliction which had befallen him was the loss of his wife, who had +died suddenly, in full health. And it said also that his nephew Franz +would arrive at Pumpelhagen, at Michaelmas, in order to learn farming. +"It is his own wish to handle the spade and learn everything for +himself. I also think it best." These words were written in the +Kammerrath's own hand. A couple of weeks later he received another +letter, in which the Kammerrath informed him that he had resigned his +post in Schwerin and intended, after the next Easter, to reside at +Pumpelhagen, with his three unmarried daughters; through the winter, he +must remain in Schwerin, on account of his health. Habermann should +however retain complete management of everything.</p> + +<p class="normal">This would be a change, which would have some effect upon his +situation; and, though he had no occasion to dread the eye of the +master, and would gladly exert himself to do anything for his comfort, +yet he could not help saying to himself that the quiet peace and +simplicity of his life were over, and how long would it be before +greater changes must come?</p> + +<p class="normal">Michaelmas came, and with it came Franz von Rambow. He was not what is +called a handsome young man; but he was healthy and strong, and upon +nearer view one was struck by the earnestness of his manner, and the +good-nature in his eyes. A shadow of sadness sometimes fell upon his +face, which may have been owing to the fact that he lost his parents in +early youth, and had since stood as an orphan, alone in the world. As +one might infer from his appearance, he was no fool; he had good +natural talents, which had been developed at the school in which he had +fitted for the university, and he had also learned a more important +lesson, how to labor. He was a young tree, raised in a nursery in a +hard soil, and the wood had grown slowly, but firmly; he had shot out +no rank shoots into the air, his branches were low, but wide-spread, +and when he should be transplanted he would need no prop. "Let him be," +the gardener would say, "he is tough and strong, he can stand alone."</p> + +<p class="normal">At present, he was twenty years old, and the three years' child whom +Habermann recollected had become a steady young man, with future +prospects such as few young men in the country were possessed of. He +owned two fine estates, which had become freed from debt by prudent +management during his minority. It was before his recollection, to be +sure, that Habermann had served as inspector with his father; but he +had been told how friendly the inspector had always been toward him, +and when a good, simple-hearted man knows that another has carried him +in his arms, as a child, confidence easily glides into his heart, and +he seems to see the little pillow in the cradle, and the tired head +lies softly down, and the dreams of childhood return once more.</p> + +<p class="normal">Habermann returned this confidence, heartily and gladly. He cautiously +and quietly led the young man along, in the new and unaccustomed path; +he instructed him in matters of the farm-yard and of the field; he told +him the reasons why such a thing should be done, and why it should be +done just so, and not in a different manner. At the same time, he +endeavored to spare him; but as he noticed that his scholar had no wish +to be spared, and desired faithfully to fill his post, he let him have +his way, saying to himself, like the gardener, "Let him alone, he needs +no prop."</p> + +<p class="normal">But to these contented companions another was to be added, who would +bring life into the house, and that was Fritz Triddelsitz.</p> + +<p class="normal">The little Frau Pastorin had a brother-in-law, the apothecary +Triddelsitz, at Rahnstadt, and when he heard that Habermann had taken a +pupil to be instructed in farming, he took it into his head that his +Fritz, who was a foppish stripling of seventeen, should learn how to +manage an estate under Habermann's tuition. "Merely the higher +branches," said Fritz; "I know all about common things already, for I +have been twice in the dogdays at the miller's in Bolz, and helped +about the harvesting."</p> + +<p class="normal">The little Frau Pastorin was not quite pleased with the proposal, for +she knew her greyhound of a nephew, and did not wish that Habermann +should be troubled with him; but her brother-in-law persevered, and the +matter was brought forward. Habermann would have gone through fire and +water for the Pastor and his wife; but he could not decide such a +question on his own responsibility. He wrote to his master about it: +young Triddelsitz wanted to come in as a third, he had many crotchets +in his head, but was good-hearted; his chief recommendation was that he +was the Frau Pastorin's nephew, to whom Habermann was under great +obligation, as the Herr Kammerrath was aware. For the rest, his father +would pay, for two years, a hundred dollars for board. Would it be +agreeable to the Herr Kammerrath, that Fritz Triddelsitz should come to +Pumpelhagen, to learn farming?</p> + +<p class="normal">The Herr Kammerrath answered by return post; there was no question of +board, the hundred dollars were for tuition, and with that he had +nothing to do, that was Habermann's business; if he thought best, let +him take the young man, and welcome.</p> + +<p class="normal">This was a great joy to Habermann; nothing more was said of board or +tuition money, for he could now discharge a small portion of the great +debt which he owed to the Pastor and his wife.</p> + +<p class="normal">So Fritz Triddelsitz came, and in such a way! He was his dear mother's +only son,--to be sure she had a couple of daughters,--and she fitted +him out for his new place, so that he could represent an apprentice, a +travelling agent, an inspector, or a farmer and landlord, according to +the occasion, or as the whim took him to play at farming, in this +manner or that. He had dress-boots and working boots, laced boots and +top-boots; he had morning shoes, and dancing shoes, and fancy slippers; +he had button-gaiters, and riding-gaiters, and other gaiters; he had +dress-coats, and linen frocks, and cloth coats and pilot-coats; +overcoats and under-jackets, and rain-coats, and a variety of long and +short trousers, too numerous to mention.</p> + +<p class="normal">This outfit for a gentleman farmer arrived at Pumpelhagen one fine day, +in several large boxes, with a fine, soft bed, and a great clumsy +secretary; and the carrier volunteered the news that the young +gentleman would soon be there, he was on the way, and was merely +detained by a struggle with his father's old chestnut horse, who would +come no further than the Gurlitz parsonage, because that had been the +limit of his journeys hitherto. How the contest terminated he did not +see, because he came away; but the young gentleman was coming. And he +came, and as I said before, in what a guise! Like an inspector over two +large estates belonging to a count, and who has the privilege of riding +to the hounds with his gracious Herr Count, in a green hunting-jacket, +and white leather breeches, top-boots with yellow tops, and spurs, and +over the whole a water-proof coat, not because it was likely to rain, +but it was new, and he wanted to hear what people would say about it. +And he came upon his father's old chestnut, and, from the appearance of +both, it was evident that their present relations were the result of a +contest. The horse had come to a stand in the middle of the great +puddle before the Pastor's house, with a fixed determination to go no +further, and Fritz had exercised him for a good ten minutes with whip +and spur, to the great dismay of the little Frau Pastorin, before he +could persuade him to advance; so when he dismounted at Pumpelhagen, +his rain-coat looked as if he had been pelted with mud.</p> + +<p class="normal">The old chestnut stood before the house, and he pricked up his ears, +and said to himself, "Is he a fool, or am I? I am seventeen years old, +and he is seventeen years old. He has had his way this time, next time +I will have mine. If he treats me so with whip and spur and kicks, next +time I will lie down in the puddle."</p> + +<p class="normal">When Fritz Triddelsitz came into the room where Habermann, and young +Herr von Rambow, and Marie Möller, the housekeeper, were sitting at +dinner, the old inspector was struck dumb with astonishment, for he had +never seen him before. In his green hunting-jacket, Fritz looked like +one of those long asparagus stalks which spring up in the garden, and +he was so thin and slender that he looked as if one could cut him in +two with his riding-whip. He had high cheek bones and a freckled face, +and something so assured, and yet awkward in his whole demeanor, that +Habermann said to himself, "God bless me! am I to teach him? He feels +above me already."</p> + +<p class="normal">His reflections were interrupted by a burst of laughter from Franz von +Rambow, in which Marie Möller secretly joined, holding her napkin +before her mouth.</p> + +<p class="normal">Fritz had begun, "Good-day, Herr Inspector, how do you do?" when he was +interrupted by the laughter; he saw his old schoolmate at Parchen, +shaking with fun; he looked at him rather doubtfully? but it was not +long before he joined in the laugh himself, and then steady old +Habermann could refrain no longer, he laughed till his eyes ran over. +"Man!" said Franz, "how you have rigged yourself up!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Always noble!" said Fritz, and Marie Möller disappeared again behind +her napkin.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Come, Triddelsitz," said Habermann, "sit down to dinner,"</p> + +<p class="normal">Fritz accepted the invitation--the fellow was in luck, for he had come +at the best season for good living, in the roast-goose season, and as +it happened, a fine, brown bird stood before him, and this beginning of +his study of farming might well be agreeable. He was not at all sparing +of the roast goose, and Habermann reflected silently that if he sat on +horseback as well as at table, paid as much attention to farm-boys as +to roast goose, knew as much about horses' fodder as of his own, and +cleared up business as completely as he did his plate, something might +be made of him in time.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, Triddelsitz," said Habermann, when dinner was over, "now you +can go to your room, and change your clothes, and put this smart +riding-suit away where the moths will not get at it, for you won't need +it again this two years. We don't ride much here, we go on foot, and if +there is any riding to do, I do it myself, by the way."</p> + +<p class="normal">Before long, Fritz re-appeared, with a pair of greased boots, short +breeches, and a grass-green pilot-coat.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That will do," said Habermann; "now come, and I will give you some +instructions to begin with."</p> + +<p class="normal">They went over the farm, and next morning Fritz Triddelsitz stood with +seven of the farm laborers in the Rahnstadt road, and let the water out +of the puddles,--an agreeable business, especially in November, with a +drizzling rain all day long. "The devil!" said Fritz Triddelsitz, +"farming isn't what I took it for!"</p> + +<p class="normal">A couple of weeks after his arrival, Bräsig came riding into the yard, +one Sunday noon. Fritz had by this time become so far subdued by +Habermann, his monotonous work, and the everlasting rainy weather, that +he began to comprehend his situation as an apprentice, and his natural +good-heartedness made him ready for little services. So he started out +of doors, to assist Bräsig down from his horse, but Bräsig screamed, +"Don't come near me! Don't touch me! Don't come within ten feet of me! +Tell Karl Habermann to come out."</p> + +<p class="normal">Habermann came: "Bless you, Bräsig, why don't you get down?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Karl--no, don't touch me I just get me a soft chair, so that I can get +down by degrees, and then bring a blanket or a sheepskin or something +soft to spread under it, for I have got this confounded gout."</p> + +<p class="normal">They did as he asked, spreading mats under the chair, and Bräsig +crawled down from the horse, and hobbled into the house.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why didn't you send me word you were ill, Bräsig?" said Habermann. "I +would gladly have gone to you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You can do nothing for me, Karl; but I couldn't stay in that +confounded hole any longer. But what I was going to say is--I have +given it up."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Given what up?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Getting married. I shall take the pension from my gracious Herr +Count."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, Bräsig, I would do that, in your place."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh, Karl, it is all very well to talk; but it is a hard thing for a +man of my years to give up all his cherished hopes, and go to a +water-cure; for Dr. Strump is determined to send me there. I don't +suppose Dr. Strump knows anything about it, but he has had the accursed +gout himself, and when he sits by me and talks so wisely about it, and +talks about Colchicum and Polchicum, it is a comfort to think that such +a learned man has the gout too."</p> + +<p class="normal">"So you are going to a water-cure?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Karl; but not before spring. I have made my plans; this winter +I shall grumble along here, then in the spring I will go to the +water-cure, and by midsummer I will take the pension, and go to live in +the old mill-house at Haunerwiem. I thought at first I would go to +Rahnstadt, but there I should have no house rent-free, and no village, +and they would take me for a fat sheep and fleece me and skin me; it +would be contemptible, and also too expensive."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are right, Bräsig; stay in the country, it is better for you; and +stay in our neighborhood, for we should miss you sadly, if we did not +see your honest old face, every few days."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, you have society enough; you have these young people, and, I was +going to say, old Bröker at Kniep, and Schimmel of Radboom would be +glad to send you their boys also. If I were you I would put on an +addition to the old farm-house, to have plenty of room, and establish a +regular agricultural school."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That does very well for a joke, Bräsig. I have enough to do with +these."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes? How do they get along."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, Bräsig, you know them both, and I have often thought I should +like to ask your opinion."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I can't tell, Karl, till I have seen how they go. Young farmers are +like colts, one can't judge merely by looking at them, one must see +them put through their paces. See, there goes your young nobleman; call +him a little nearer, and let me examine him."</p> + +<p class="normal">Habermann laughed, but complied with Bräsig's request, and called the +young man.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hm," said Bräsig, "a firm gait, not too rapid, holds himself together +well, and has his limbs under control. He'll do, Karl. Now the other +one!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr von Rambow," said Habermann as the young man came up, "where is +Triddelsitz?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"In his room," was the answer.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hm," said Bräsig, "resting himself a little."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I don't know."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Tell him to come down," said Habermann, "and come back yourself. +Coffee will be ready presently."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Karl," said Bräsig, when they were alone, "you will see, the +apothecary's son has been taking a nap."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No harm if he has, Bräsig; he is young, and has been at work all the +morning, giving out corn for fodder."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But he oughtn't, Karl; it isn't good for young folks to sleep after +dinner. See, there he comes! Now send him somewhere, past the window, +so that I can see how he goes."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Triddelsitz," called Habermann from the window, "go to the stables, +and tell Jochen Boldt to be ready to take Herr Inspector Bräsig home, +by and by. He may take the two fore-horses----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bon!" said Fritz Triddelsitz, and skipped vivaciously along the +causeway.</p> + +<p class="normal">"God preserve us!" cried Bräsig, "what an action! Just look how awkward +he is! See the weakness of his ankles, and the thinness of his flanks! +It will take you a good while to fat him up. He is a greyhound, Karl, a +regular greyhound, and, mark my words, you will make nothing of him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh, Bräsig, he is so young, he will outgrow these peculiarities."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Outgrow them? Sleeps in the afternoon? Says 'Bong' to you? And now +look here--for all the world he is coming back again, and hasn't been +near the stables."</p> + +<p class="normal">Fritz was coming back again, to be sure; he came to the window and +said, "Herr Inspector, didn't you say Jochen Boldt should go?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said Bräsig snappishly, "Jochen Boldt shall go, and shall not +forget what he is told. You see now, Karl, am I right?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bräsig," said Habermann, a little annoyed by Fritz's stupidity, "let +him go! we are not all alike; and, though it may cost a good deal of +trouble, we will bring him through."</p> + +<p class="normal">Vexation was an infrequent guest with Habermann; and, whenever it came, +he showed it the door. Thought, anxiety, sorrow of heart, he admitted, +when they overpowered him; but this obtrusive beggar, which borrows +something from each of the others, and lies all day at a man's ears, +with all sorts of complaints and torments, he thrust out of doors, +headforemost. So it was not long before the conversation became lively +and pleasant again, and continued so until Bräsig departed.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER VII.</h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">The winter passed away without any special incidents. Habermann was +accustomed to a uniform life, and desired no other, for himself; but +the young people were sometimes wearied by it, and by their seclusion, +especially Franz von Rambow. Fritz Triddelsitz had his aunt, the Frau +Pastorin, close by, and a little farther off, his dear mother at +Rahnstadt and, nearer than either, Marie Möller the house-keeper, who +often comforted him with a bit of roast goose, or a morsel of sausage, +so that they soon came into friendly relations. Sometimes they were +together like mother and child, for Marie was seven years older than +Fritz,--she was four and twenty; sometimes they seemed more like +lovers, for four and twenty is no great age, after all; and Fritz +instead of learning his Latin at school, had fed upon romances, and had +been a regular customer at the circulating library, so that he was +quite well informed about such matters, and as his father had advised +him to study human nature, and Habermann often repeated the advice, he +thought it a good opportunity to improve his knowledge of love-affairs; +but don't be alarmed, there is nothing serious coming--nothing more +tender than roast goose and sausage.</p> + +<p class="normal">Habermann had no occasion to trouble himself about Fritz; it was only +for Franz he felt anxious. He had taken him already once to the +parsonage, and when Christmas time came, they were invited there to +spend Christmas eve. The young Herr accepted,--Fritz had gone home to +Rahnstadt for the holidays--and as they drove up in the sleigh--for +it was fine sleighing--to the front door, which opened into the +living-room, there stood the little, plump Frau Pastorin, motioning +with both hand and foot:--</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, Habermann, no! you mustn't come in here! Herr von Rambow, if you +will have the kindness, just go round to my Pastor's study."</p> + +<p class="normal">And, as they entered the study, Louise sprang towards her father, and +kissed him, and whispered in his ear what presents she had made, and +how she had arranged them, and who was to knock the Yule raps, and had +scarcely time to give Herr von Rambow a hasty courtesy. But the Pastor +made up for her neglect; he shook the young man's hand, and said that +he was heartily glad that he had come to celebrate this joyous feast +with them. "But," he added, "we must be under subjection; my Regina +takes the rule to-day, and her head is never clearer and brighter than +on Christmas eve."</p> + +<p class="normal">He was right in that; for every few moments her head was thrust in at +the door: "Wait just a minute longer! Sit perfectly still! The bell +will ring directly." And once she whisked through the room, with a blue +package peeping from under her apron, and then in the next room they +heard her merry laugh.</p> + +<p class="normal">At last, at last, the bell rung, and the door flew open, and there +stood the Christmas tree, in the centre of the room, on the round +table, and under the tree were as many dishes full of apples and nuts +and ginger-bread as there were members of the family, and two more, for +Habermann and the young gentleman. The Frau Pastorin fluttered about +the tree, and then taking Habermann and Herr von Rambow by the hand, +she led them up to the table. "This is your dish, and this is yours, +and Louise and my Pastor have already found theirs!" then turning +around, she cried, "Now all come in!" for the Pastor's man, George, and +the two maids, Rika and Dürten, were all standing at the door, waiting +for their Christmas boxes,--"now all come in! Where the bright dollars +are sticking in the apples, those are your dishes, and the red cloth +lying here is for the two maids, and this red vest is for George. And +Louise--yes, yes, yes!" She could go no further, for Louise had grasped +her about the neck, and was kissing the words from her lips, and in her +hand she held a bright cherry merino dress: "This is from you, mother!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Here it must be confessed, the Frau Pastorin so far forgot herself as +to equivocate, not in words, to be sure, but by shaking her head, and +nodding towards her Pastor, and Louise sprang upon him: "Then it is +you!"</p> + +<p class="normal">But he also shook his head, and professed to know nothing about it, and +Louise grasped her own father by the arm, and cried: "No, no! It is +from you!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The good old inspector was much affected at receiving from his child +the thanks which were due to others; he stroked her soft hair, and his +eyes grew moist, as he took her hand and led her back to the Frau +Pastorin, saying, "No, darling, no! Your thanks belong here."</p> + +<p class="normal">But the Frau Pastorin had no time now to receive thanks. She was +busy with her Pastor, whom she had drawn aside to see how his new +dressing-gown fitted. It was fortunate that it did not happen to be a +pair of pantaloons, for in the joy and excitement of this evening, the +impropriety would never have occurred to her mind. The gown fitted +well, and looked finely, and she drew back a couple of steps and looked +at her Pastor, like a child when it has set up a new doll in the +sofa-corner, and as she turned round she saw a package lying on her +dish, which her Pastor had secretly placed there. Hastily she untied +the string, and took off the wrappings, chattering all the while. What +could it be? How strangely it felt! Somebody was surely playing a joke +on her,--and at last, there was a beautiful black silk dress. Now the +joy was at its height. Habermann had found a new pipe on his plate, and +held it in his mouth, puffing contentedly, although it was quite cold, +the Pastor lay back in the sofa-corner, like the new doll, and the Frau +Pastorin and Louise walked up and down the room holding up the stuff +for their new dresses, and looking down at them, as if the dresses were +already finished.</p> + +<p class="normal">And Franz! Franz sat a little aside, and a slight sadness stole over +him, at the thought of the joys he had missed since his childhood. He +rested his head on his hand, and the Christmas eves of his life passed +before him; kind friends and relatives brought him their greetings, but +the two faces which hung in his room, under the wreath of immortelles, +were missing. He felt that he did not belong here, but he would not +disturb their joy; he recalled his thoughts, and as he raised his head +he looked into a pair of great, beautiful, childish eyes, full of +thought and compassion, as if they had read his heart.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yule rap!" cried Rika's loud voice, and a package flew in at the door, +"For the Frau Pastorin." It was a nice roller, and nobody knew where it +came from. "Yule rap!" again; and this time it was a new stuffed +cushion for the Pastor's arm-chair; but nobody had made it. Oh, what +fibs they told that evening at the parsonage! "Yule rap!" There was a +letter for the Frau Pastorin, and in it a ticket with a number, +referring to another ticket up-stairs, and when she had got this, it +referred her to another down in the cellar, and that to another, and +another,--and if the Frau Pastorin wanted the pretty embroidered collar +designed for her, she must chase it all over the house, to find it, at +last, close by, in her husband's boot-leg. Another "Yule rap!" All, +that was a great package! "To the Herr Pastor," it was addressed, but +when the first wrapper was taken off, it was for the Frau Pastorin, and +then for George, and then for Rika, and finally for Louise, and when +the last paper had been taken off, there was a little work-table, +exactly such a work-table as her father had given years ago to her dead +mother. He knew where it came from, no one else.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then another "Yule rap!" Books for Louise. "Yule rap!" again--an +embroidered foot-cover for Habermann. All this time Rika had not been +visible. Now she came in and gathered up the wrapping paper and string. +Then the door opened once more, a clear bell-like voice cried "Yule +rap!" and, as the package was examined, it was found to be "For the +Honourable Herr Franz von Rambow," and while they were looking, a +little maiden crept softly in on tip-toe, a great joy beaming in her +face.</p> + +<p class="normal">Franz was taken by surprise, but when he opened his package, he +found a letter from his youngest cousin Fidelia, and the three +unmarried daughters of the Kammerrath had sent him their Christmas +gifts--Albertine a smoking-cushion, and he never smoked on a +sofa,--Bertha a saddle-cover, and as yet he had no horse,--and Fidelia +a cigar-case, and in fact he never smoked at all. But what of that? +Whether one can use them or not, it is all one; not the gift, but the +giver, and the good-will is the important thing at Christmas time. +Franz no longer felt so lonely; and as he saw the pleasure in Louise's +face, when she returned, he laughed and joked with her about his +presents, and, whether she liked it or not, she must receive his +thanks, because he had recognized her voice.</p> + +<p class="normal">Rika came in again, saying, "Frau Pastorin, they are all here."</p> + +<p class="normal">"So? Then we will go out."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, dear Regina," said the Pastor, "let them come in."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, Pastor, they will bring in so much snow on their feet!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Never mind! Rika will get up early to-morrow morning, and clean it all +up. Eh, Rika?"</p> + +<p class="normal">To be sure, Rika would do it gladly; so the door was opened, and in +came head after head, flaxen heads and dark heads, all the little +people in the village, and they stood there rubbing their noses, and +opening their eyes wider and wider, and stared at the apples and +ginger-nuts, with their mouths also wide open, as if to invite the +dainties to walk in.</p> + +<p class="normal">"So!" said Frau Pastorin, "now let the godchildren come first. +Habermann," added she, "we are next to their parents, my Pastor and I, +in fact we are nearest to our godchildren." And more than half of the +company pressed forward, for the Pastor and his wife had stood +godparents to at least half the village children. One boy, who wanted +to deceive, pushed forward with the others, that was Jochen Ruhrdanz, +who had said last year that the godchildren got more than the others; +but Stina Wasmuths noticed him, and pushed him back, saying, "You are +not a godchild," so that his impudent attempt was unsuccessful.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then the Herr Pastor came forward, with a pile of books under his arm, +and all the godchildren, who had during the winter come to him for +instruction, received every one a hymn-book, and the others received +writing-books and slates and primers and catechisms, according as they +needed them, and all the children said, "Thank you, godfather!" but +those who had hymn-books said, "Thank you very much, Herr Pastor." That +was an old custom.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then came the Frau Pastorin. "So! I will take the nuts; Louise, you +take the ginger-nuts, and, Herr von Rambow, will you take the +apple-basket? And now, each in his turn! Come, children, put yourselves +in rows, and hold your dishes ready."</p> + +<p class="normal">It was not a very quiet proceeding, there was some pushing and shoving, +for each one wished to be in the front row, and each held out whatever +he had brought, to receive his Christmas gift. The little girls had +their aprons, but the boys had brought anything they could lay hands +on; one had a platter, another a peck-measure, a third his father's +hat, and one a great corn-sack, which he evidently expected to get +almost if not quite full. Now began the dividing.</p> + +<p class="normal">"There, there, there--hold!" said the Frau Pastorin, as she came to a +mischievous rogue of a boy. "Herr von Rambow, that boy is to have no +apples, because he helped himself from the garden, last summer."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, Frau Pastorin----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Boy, didn't I see you myself, up in the great apple-tree by the wall, +knocking off the apples with a stick?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"But, ah, Frau Pastorin----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not a word! Boys who steal apples can't expect to have any at +Christmas." So she went on, but stopped again when she came to Jochen +Ruhrdanz. "Didn't I see you, last week, fighting with Christian +Rusborn, before the parsonage, so that my Rika had to go out and +separate you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Frau Pastorin, but he said----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hush! Louise, he gets no ginger-nuts."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Frau Pastorin, but we made it all up again."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah! Then you may give him some, Louise."</p> + +<p class="normal">So they went through the rows, and then the children went off with +their Christmas boxes, saying only, "Good evening!" for thanks were not +the custom, at this stage of the proceedings.</p> + +<p class="normal">When they were gone, quite a different set of people came coughing +and limping in at the door; these were the old spinning-women, and +broom-tyers, and wooden-shoemakers, out of the village, and also some, +who were no longer capable of any work. With these the Pastor spoke a +few friendly, Christian words, and the Frau Pastorin gave each one a +great loaf of plain, wholesome cake, and they went away, wishing God's +blessing upon the Pastor and his wife.</p> + +<p class="normal">About nine o'clock the Pastor's George brought Habermann's sleigh to +the door, and the two guests said "Good night!" and, as Habermann came +out, he went up silently to the horses, and took off their bells, for +up in the church-tower other bells were ringing which rung for the +whole world.</p> + +<p class="normal">They drove slowly through the village. Here and there burned a +Christmas candle in the cottages of the poor laborers, and up in the +heavens God had lighted up his great Christmas tree with a thousand +shining lamps, and the world lay stretched out beneath like a Christmas +table, and winter had spread it with a cloth of whitest snow, that +spring, summer and autumn might cover with Christmas gifts.</p> + +<p class="normal">As they came out of the village, Franz noticed the lighted windows of +Pomuchelskopp's house; "They are keeping Christmas there, too," said +he. They gave presents; but it was not a real Christmas after all.</p> + +<p class="normal">Pomuchelskopp had bought nothing at Rahnstadt; everything came from +Rostock. "Always noble!" said he. He told also how much Malchen and +Salchen's clothes had cost, and when Malchen heard that Salchen's dress +was two dollars dearer than her's, she felt badly, and Salchen thought +herself quite superior to her sister. And Philipping and Nanting began +to quarrel about a sugar doll, and when Pomuchelskopp said that his +favorite, Philipping, should have it, Nanting was angry, and threw a +toy-box at Philipping, which unfortunately hit the great looking-glass, +and broke it into a thousand pieces. Then their mother took the +government into her hands, and got the strap out of the cupboard, and +punished Nanting first for his misdeeds, and then Philipping, and +afterwards the other boys for company. And not once in the whole +evening did she say "Pöking" to her husband; not even when he brought +out the new winter hat with great feathers, that he had bought for her; +she said only, "Kopp, do you want to make me look like a scarecrow?"</p> + +<p class="normal">As Franz went to bed that night, he said to himself that he had never +spent so pleasant a Christmas eve, and when he asked himself the +reason, the joyous face of Louise Habermann appeared before his mind's +eye, and he said, "Yes, yes, such a joyous child belongs properly to +Christmas time!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Between Christmas and New Year's, a very unusual event occurred. Jochen +Nüssler's blue cloak with seven capes drove over to Pumpelhagen in the +"phantom," and when Habermann went out there sat Jochen himself inside +the coat. He could not get out,--Oh, no!--he had been from home an hour +and a half already; but he had been at the parsonage, and they were all +coming to spend St. Sylvester's eve, and Bräsig also, and he wanted his +brother-in-law to come, and bring the two young people with him, and he +would do what he could to entertain them with a big bowl of punch.</p> + +<p class="normal">Having uttered this long speech, he stopped abruptly, and when +Habermann had accepted the invitation, and Christian had turned the +horses' heads, a murmur came out of the seven capes, which sounded +like, "Good-bye, brother-in-law!" but Christian looked back and said, +"You must all come to coffee, Herr Inspector! The Frau told me so +expressly."</p> + +<p class="normal">Franz forwarded the invitation to Fritz, who was still at Rahnstadt, +and wrote him that, as his vacation would be over, he could come to +Rexow the last day of the year, and go home with them to Pumpelhagen.</p> + +<p class="normal">As Habermann and Franz drove up to the Rexow farm house, at the +appointed time,--it was a wet day,--there stood Jochen in the door, in +his new black dress-coat and trousers, a Christmas present from his +wife, and the red smoking-cap which Mining had given him, looking for +all the world like a stuffed bullfinch.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Look alive, Jochen," called Bräsig from within, "and do the +'honneurs,' that Karl's young nobleman may have some opinion of your +manners."</p> + +<p class="normal">After Jochen had received them, and the greetings with the family and +the Pastor and his wife were over, Frau Nüssler began to talk to her +brother about her domestic affairs, the Pastor engaged in conversation +with the young Herr von Rambow, the Frau Pastorin asked the little +girls about their Christmas presents. Jochen sat silently in his old +corner by the stove, and Bräsig in his great seal-skin boots which came +nearly up to his waist, went from one to another, as if it were +Christmas eve over again, and he were playing St. Nicholas, to frighten +the children.</p> + +<p class="normal">The sun looked in at the window now and then, the room was warm and +comfortable, the coffee-steam rose in little clouds and mingled with +the smoke-wreaths from the Pastor's pipe, till it seemed like a summer +day, with light, feathery clouds floating in the sunshine. Only, near +the stove, it looked as if a thunder-shower was coming up, for there +sat Jochen, smoking as if for a wager. His wife had taken away the +"Fleigen Markur" from his tobacco-pouch, and filled it for the occasion +with "Fine old mild," and he could not get the strength of the "Markur" +from this more delicate quality of tobacco, without using a double +portion.</p> + +<p class="normal">But a cloud was coming up outside, not exactly in the heavens, nor yet +from the earth beneath,--which would disturb the repose of this quiet +room.</p> + +<p class="normal">One of Frau Nüssler's maids came in to say that there was a man outside +with a cart, who had brought a travelling trunk from the apothecary at +Rahnstadt, and where should it be put?</p> + +<p class="normal">"God bless me!" cried the Frau Pastorin, "that is Fritz's trunk. You +will see, Pastor, my brother-in-law is so inconsiderate, he has let the +boy come on horseback again. Nobody ought to ride that wild horse, +Habermann."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, don't be troubled, Frau Pastorin," said Habermann, laughing a +little, "the horse is not so bad----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, Habermann, but I saw him before, when he first came to +Pumpelhagen; the creature would not stir a step."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Frau Pastorin," said Bräsig, "it is not so bad if a beast is balky as +when the rascal takes to running; then the Latin riders used to fall +off."</p> + +<p class="normal">But the little Frau Pastorin could not rest; she opened the window, and +asked the man who had driven the cart whether Fritz was riding, and was +the horse very vicious?</p> + +<p class="normal">"Like a lamb," was the reply. "If he does nothing to the horse, the +horse will do nothing to him. He will be here directly."</p> + +<p class="normal">That was comforting, so the Frau Pastorin seated herself again on the +sofa, saying, with a sigh,--</p> + +<p class="normal">"My poor sister! I tremble for her, whenever I set eyes on the boy. He +plays too many stupid jokes."</p> + +<p class="normal">"He will be up to something of the sort, now?" said Bräsig.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bräsig was right. In the time between Christmas and New Year's Fritz +had accomplished a great deal of folly, all the time in his wonderful +inspector suit; for, though the weather had been cold and disagreeable, +he had worn the green hunting-jacket, white leather breeches, and +yellow top-boots, not merely in the day-time, but occasionally through +the night. Once, at least, after he had come home late from a lively +company of young farmers, the maid-servant found him next morning lying +in bed in his boots and spurs. He had met an old friend that evening, +Gust Prebberow by name, who went round half the year in yellow +top-boots, and the pleasure of seeing him, together with the lively, +agricultural conversation, had been a little too much for Fritz. Gust +Prebberow had given him all sorts of useful advice, how to manage "the +old man," as he called Habermann, and to pull the wool over his eyes, +and had told incidents from his own experience in the management of +farm-boys; and, after discussing these branches of agriculture, they +came to the subject of horses. Fritz related his adventures with the +old chestnut, who was naturally a very gifted horse, and good-natured, +for the most part, but like his own father the apothecary, old Chestnut +had always been suspicious of him, and on the look-out for mischief. He +had evidently made up his mind that Fritz knew nothing about the +management of horses, although Fritz had made repeated efforts to bring +him to a better way of thinking. His greatest fault was that he +positively would not stir a step farther than he pleased, neither kicks +nor kindness, whipping nor spurring, could alter this determination +when once he had taken it into his stupid head.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And do you allow that?" said Gust Prebberow. "Now, brother, I will +tell you what to do. See, next time you mount him, take a good sized +earthen pot full of water, and ride gently along just as usual, till +you come to the place where he balks, and then give it to him with the +spurs in the ribs, and break the pot over his head,--all at once!--so +that the fragments of the pot will clatter down, and the water will run +into his eyes."</p> + +<p class="normal">Fritz paid close attention to this advice, and when he started to-day +in his smart inspector suit, he took the bridle in his left hand, the +riding-whip under his left arm, and in his right hand a great jar full +of water. He could not ride fast, without spilling the water, and old +Chestnut had no desire to run away, so they jogged along very peaceably +until they reached Rexow farm.</p> + +<p class="normal">Here Fritz wished to ride up to the house in a brisk trot, so he drove +the spurs into old Chestnut's ribs, but Chestnut, having a bad +disposition and still bearing Fritz malice, on account of his adventure +in the Pastor's mud-puddle, all of a sudden stood still. Now was the +time. A stroke of the whip behind, spurs in his ribs, and crash! the +pot between his ears. "Uff!" grunted Chestnut, shaking his head, in +token that he would not stir a step, but the blow must have stunned him +a little, for he lay down directly. Fritz went too, of course, and +though he had sense enough to fall clear of the horse, he could not +prevent himself from lying at his side.</p> + +<p class="normal">The company in Frau Nüssler's parlor had witnessed the scene, and at +first the little Frau Pastorin had lamented her poor sister's +misfortune, but as she observed old Chestnut's quiet behaviour, and saw +Fritz safely landed upon the soft and somewhat cold "bed of honor," +which the rain and dew of heaven and Jochen Nüssler's dung-heap had +prepared for him, she was compelled to join in the general laughter, +and said to her Pastor, "It is good enough for him!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said Bräsig, "and if he takes cold, it won't hurt him. What +business has he to behave so with that old creature!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Fritz now approached, looking on one side like a plough-boy, black and +muddy, on the other still smart and shining.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are a dainty sight, my son," cried the Frau Pastorin, from the +open window. "Don't come in here like that! Fortunately, your trunk has +arrived, and you can change your clothes."</p> + +<p class="normal">He followed her advice, and entered the room, before long, in his most +distinguished apparel, a blue dress-coat and long black trousers, like +a young proprietor, but in great vexation, which Bräsig's jokes and his +aunt's observations did not tend to diminish. Franz, on the contrary, +was in the most cheerful temper. He joked to his heart's content with +the three little girls, and looked at their Christmas gifts, laughing +himself half dead as the little twins finally dragged forward a great +foot-sack, which Uncle Bräsig had given them, "that the little rogues +might keep their toes warm, and not get the cursed Podagra." Franz had +never in his life enjoyed opportunities of intercourse with little +girls younger than himself, and this confidential chatter and contented +mirthfulness, making merry over things which in his eyes seemed nothing +at all, made such an impression upon him, that when they sat down to +supper, he kept among the little folks, decidedly refusing the pressing +invitations of Frau Nüssler, who wished him, as a nobleman, to take a +higher place.</p> + +<p class="normal">That was a joyous evening meal; talk went briskly back and forth, every +one taking his share except Fritz and Jochen. Fritz could not get over +his annoyance, and was vexed that he could not enjoy himself as Franz +was doing. Jochen said nothing to be sure, but he laughed continually; +if Bräsig merely opened his mouth, Jochen stretched his from ear to +ear, and when the punch was brought in, and Lining, as the most +judicious of the little ones, undertook the task of serving it out, he +found a voice, and endeavored to discharge his duties as host, saying +now and then very quietly, "Lining, help Bräsig!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The punch helped Fritz, also, to the use of his tongue. He was still in +ill-humor, especially at Franz's undignified behavior. The little girls +had hitherto seemed to him very small fry, but if one talked to them at +all, one should employ a higher style of conversation. Accordingly he +took up the <i>rôle</i> which he had played at the Rahnstadt ball, when he +had danced with the burgomeister's daughter, aged twenty-seven, and +addressed Louise as "Fräulein Habermann." The child looked at him in +astonishment, and as he again uttered his "Fräulein," she laughed +innocently in his face: "I am no Fräulein, I am only Louise +Habermann,"--and Franz could not help laughing also.</p> + +<p class="normal">That was annoying for Fritz, but he knew what was proper, and how one +should converse with ladies; he refused to be snubbed, and went on +relating his experiences at the ball, what he said to the +burgomeister's daughter, and what she had said to him, "fräulein" ing +also the little twins, right and left. And as this caused a great +tittering and giggling among the little folks, he naturally talked +louder and louder, in order to be heard, till at last the whole company +were looking at him in silence. Jochen, who sat next him, had turned +round and stared at him, as if to see how it were possible that one +human being could talk so much. Bräsig looked over Jochen's shoulder +with an uncommonly happy face, rejoicing at his own knowledge of human +nature, and nodding now and then to Habermann, as if to say, "You see, +Karl, didn't I say so? A good-for-nothing puppy!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Habermann, annoyed, looked down at his plate, Frau Nüssler was in great +perplexity to know what she ought to do as hostess, in such an +emergency, the Pastor gently shook his head back and forth; but the +most excited of all was the little Frau Pastorin. She bent down her +head till the cap-strings rustled under her chin, and moved uneasily on +her chair, as if the place were too hot for her, and as Fritz finally +attempted to give a visible illustration of the schottische, how the +gentleman embraced the lady, she could no longer contain herself. She +sprang up and cried, "All keep still! As his aunt, I am the nearest to +him! Fritz, come here directly!" And as he slowly rose, and very coolly +and politely walked round to her, she took hold of his coat and pulled +him along: "My dearest boy, come out here a moment!" With that, she +drew him out of the door. The company inside heard fragments of a short +sermon, which was interrupted by no reply, and then the door opened and +the Frau Pastorin led Fritz back again, and, pointing to his place, +said, "Now sit down quietly, and behave like a reasonable being."</p> + +<p class="normal">Fritz followed her advice, that is to say the first part of it; the +second was not so easy, and ought not to have been expected. After +fashionable talk, reasonable talk seemed to him very tame, and why +should he spoil a good beginning by a bad ending?</p> + +<p class="normal">As Franz and the little girls gradually resumed their lively chatter, +and the older people travelled on in the country road of reasonable +talk, with a jolt now and then, when Bräsig drove against a stone, +Fritz sat and grumbled to himself, feeding his anger with punch, which +served as oil to the flame, and inwardly called Franz "a crafty +rascal," and the little girls, "foolish children," who understood +nothing of polite conversation.</p> + +<p class="normal">In spite of this, and of the contempt which he felt for such childish +intercourse, his anger was mingled with a little jealousy at not being +himself "cock of the walk," and as he perceived that Franz seemed most +taken with Louise Habermann, he vowed secretly that <i>that</i> should come +to an end; he himself, Fritz Triddelsitz, would see what he could do, +provided, that is, that his aunt would keep out of the way.</p> + +<p class="normal">By this time it was growing late, but no one thought how late it was, +until suddenly a strange figure appeared in the room, wrapped from +top to toe in all sorts of warm garments, and he blew a horn, which +was fearful to hear, and then began to sing, which was more fearful +still. It was Gust Stöwsand, who was not more than half-witted, +and, because he was fit for nothing else, Jochen Nüssler had made him +night-watchman. And the boys and girls looked in at the door, to see +how Just would manage his business, and they laughed, and pushed and +pulled one another back and forth. Then congratulations began, and all +wished each other "Happy New Year!" and after all was quiet again, the +Herr Pastor made a little speech, which began quite playfully but ended +seriously, how with every year one came a step nearer to the grave, and +one must comfort oneself by this, that with every year new knots were +tied, and friendship and love bound more closely together. As he +finished his good words, he looked around the circle; the little Frau +Pastorin had slipped her arm in his, Jochen stood by his wife, +Habermann and Bräsig held each other by the hand, the two little +twin-apples had their arms around each other, and Franz stood by Louise +Habermann. Fritz was nowhere to be seen, he had gone off in his +vexation.</p> + +<p class="normal">So ended the year 1839.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">When Easter came, Bräsig set out for the water-cure, and the Kammerrath +arrived at Pumpelhagen, with his three daughters, Albertine, Bertha, +and Fidelia.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He will never go away again, he is near his end," said Habermann to +himself, and Franz thought the same, and they spoke sadly of it to each +other as they sat together the evening after his arrival. Franz +naturally took his meals after this with his uncle and cousins, and +Habermann found himself very lonely in the old farm-house, he had +become so accustomed to the young man's society, and found it so +pleasant.</p> + +<p class="normal">During the first week the Kammerrath had a visitor. Pomuchelskopp came, +in his blue dress-coat with bright buttons, and in his new coach, which +was rendered more splendid than ever, since it was adorned with a coat +of arms, which he had ordered from Vienna for half a louis-d'or. It +represented a haddock's head (Dorsch Kopp) on a blue field (Fell), +which the stupid laborers, who understood nothing about haddocks and +blue fields called "a block head (das Kopp) in a blue coat" (Fell); +having possibly discerned a personal resemblance between the escutcheon +and their master.</p> + +<p class="normal">He had given up the idea of intercourse with Bräsig's Herr Count, and +no other families of nobility lived in the neighborhood, so he found +the Kammerrath's arrival quite apropos. But the man was unfortunate. As +he made known his errand to Daniel Sadenwater, the Kammerrath's old +servant, in a melancholy tone--that he felt constrained to make +personal inquiries after the Herr Kammerrath, and added that he had +known the Herr Kammerrath very well at Rostock,--old Daniel went off +with a peaceful face to announce him, but came back with a face quite +as placid to say that the Herr Kammerrath regretted he was not in a +state of health to receive callers. That was truly vexatious for +Pomuchelskopp, and he sat all the afternoon sulking in the sofa-corner, +and his dear wife, who always became so cheerful and affectionate on +such occasions, called him "Pöking" incessantly, which certainly should +have amply compensated for his disappointment.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Kammerrath, in his illness, felt the need of no other society than +he found at home. His two oldest daughters thought of nothing else from +morning to night but to amuse and comfort him, and the youngest, who +was the pet child of the whole family, and who continued a little too +young to suit her elder sisters, and perhaps prided herself a little +upon her childlike joyousness, sought for means to enliven him. Franz, +in the kindness of his heart, had assumed the office of secretary to +his uncle, and took upon himself all the little annoying cares, which +are not wanting in a household where sickness has entered; but the +Kammerrath took especial pleasure in the society of Habermann, and +consulted him not only about farming matters, but in all his affairs +and perplexities.</p> + +<p class="normal">Habermann had little time, now, to visit at the parsonage, and if +Louise wished to speak to her father, she must seek him in the fields, +or at noon in the farm-house. So it happened that she often came in the +way of the Fräulein Fidelia, and as it is an old story that young girls +who are growing to be rather old girls, hovering on the line between +youth and age, always incline to the youthful side, and enjoy the +society of those younger than themselves, it was quite natural that +Fräulein Fidelia should take a great fancy to Louise, and in a little +while they were the closest friends.</p> + +<p class="normal">It is generally a good thing for a young girl to have such a friend, +older than herself, but I would not say it is always so. It depends +greatly upon the circumstances of the older lady. Louise took no harm +from the intimacy, for Fräulein Fidelia was very kind-hearted; she was +also a little tired of the frivolity and ceremony of high society, and +when her blessed mama--the gracious old lady, as Daniel Sadenwater +called her,--had endeavored to make her more ceremonious and dignified, +the Kammerrath had always taken his darling's part. He was a little to +blame for her childishness; she had always frolicked with him, from her +babyhood, and had laughed away his cares and troubles, and she kept on +doing so from force of habit.</p> + +<p class="normal">She spoke of this daily task of amusing her father in such a manner +that Louise thought of nothing but how to comfort and assist her; and +what might have been dangerous under different circumstances became now +rather a preventive of contagion. Louise had too much good sense to +look among Fräulein Fidelia's little fripperies of behavior for manners +suitable to herself. But she not only received benefit, she gave it. If +Louise had little knowledge of the world of fashion, Fräulein Fidelia +had as little of the world in which she lived and moved--and there +Louise could give the best instruction.</p> + +<p class="normal">But a vexatious thing was first to occur, which gave Fräulein Fidelia +great annoyance. It happened in this way. The Kammerrath had sent to +Schwerin for a beautiful dress, for her birth-day present, Fräulein +Albertine had given her a new summer hat, and Fräulein Bertha, a pretty +shawl, and when the presentation was over, the two elder sisters had +arrayed their pet in the new finery, and stood looking at her right and +left, admiring her fine appearance, and Fräulein Bertha exclaimed, "She +is a little fairy!" (fée).</p> + +<p class="normal">Corlin Kegels, one of the maids, was going through the room at the +moment, and had nothing better to do than to say in the kitchen: "What +do you think, girls? Fräulein Bertha says that our little Fräulein +looks like a little cow (vieh)." The joke took, and Fräulein Fidelia was +soon known among the servants only as "the little cow." Of course it +must come to her ears, sooner or later, and then there was a great +uproar and a great investigation, and Corlin Kegels, in spite of her +weeping and begging, was turned out of doors. Louise came in just then, +and met Corlin crying on the door-steps, and found Fräulein Fidelia +crying in the parlor. One word led to another, and when Louise knew the +whole affair, she said, placing her hands compassionately on the +Fräulein's shoulders, "Ah, the poor things didn't mean any harm."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, indeed they did," cried the Fräulein, hastily. "The rough, +unmannerly common people!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no! Don't say that!" exclaimed Louise, really distressed. "Our +people are not rough; they have as much feeling as distinguished +people. My father says one must learn to know them, and that is not so +easy, their language separates them from their masters."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Very likely," said Fidelia. "I call 'little cow' a rough, coarse +expression."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It was a misunderstanding," said Louise. "The word 'fée' is unknown to +them, and this sounds like it, and seemed comical to them. They had no +idea of offending you. Dear Fräulein, you are the idol of all your +servants."</p> + +<p class="normal">This last sugar-plum, which Louise administered with no thought of +flattery, pacified the Fräulein, and at last, in the kindness of her +heart, she resolved upon a nearer acquaintance with her people, and +Corlin Kegels was taken again into favor.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Fräulein made inquires of Franz, and he praised the Pumpelhagen +people highly, the Kammerrath, also, gave them a good character, and +said that their ancestors had lived on the estate since the memory of +man. "The first Herr von Rambow of whom we have intelligence," said he, +"bad two servants, one of whom was called 'Asel' and the other 'Egel.' +These had many namesakes, and in time a great confusion arose among the +different 'Egels' and 'Asels.' One Egel would take home the bushel of +wheat, which another Egel should have had, and one Asel would get the +load of hay which properly belonged to another. This confusion had +reached such a point under one of my forefathers, who--I am sorry for +the family to confess--had a very short memory, that the Frau von +Rambow, who was a good deal quicker-witted than her husband, undertook +to remedy matters. She had an idea, and as she had the rule she could +carry it out. All the fathers of families in the village were called +together, One Sunday morning, and every one must tell his christened +name and his father's name, and she wrote them down,--for she knew how +to write,--and then took the first letter of the christened name, and +the father's name together, and baptized the whole village. So 'Karl +Egel' became 'Kegel,' and 'Pagel Egel' 'Pegel' and 'Florian Egel' +'Flegel,' and 'Vullrad Asel' was changed to 'Vasel,' and 'Peter Asel' +to 'Pasel,' and 'David Asel' to 'Däsel,' and so on. And, it is a thing +to be noted, the old story said the ancestor of the Egels was a +flax-head, and that of the Asels a black-head, and so it is among their +namesakes to this day. And the resemblance was not merely external, +they inherited mental peculiarities as well; for the first Egel was +greatly skilled in cutting spoons and ladles, and making rakes and +wooden shoes, while the first Asel was an uncommonly fine singer, and +the gifts have remained in the families,--the night-watchmen have +always been chosen from the Asels, and the wheelwrights from the Egels; +you know at this day, Fidelia, David Däsel is the watchman, and Fritz +Flegel is the wheelwright."</p> + +<p class="normal">Fräulein Fidelia was excessively pleased with this story, and in her +restless and frolicsome humor she ran about to all the laborer's +cottages, chatting with the housewives by the hour, and keeping them +from their work, and bestowing cast-off finery upon the children. If +Louise Habermann had not been with her, she would have given Pasel's +eleven-year-old Marie a riding-hat with feathers and veil, and Däsel's +Stina, who watched the goslings in the duck-pond, would have got a +gorgeous pair of light blue satin slippers. The old fathers of the +village shook their heads over such doings; but the old mothers +defended her, saying that if she were not so sensible as she might be, +yet she meant well; and instead of calling her merely "little cow," as +before, they called her "a nice good, pretty little cow."</p> + +<p class="normal">Pastor Behrens shook his head, also, when he heard of this new sort of +beneficence. The Pumpelhagen people were the best in his parish, he +said, and they had good reason to be, in having such a good old master, +the Gurlitz people had suffered greatly from the change of proprietors; +but nothing was so bad for people as indiscriminate and unmerited +beneficence,--he must talk to the Fräulein about it.</p> + +<p class="normal">He did so at the next opportunity; he told her that the Pumpelhagen +people were so situated that unless in case of sickness, or the death +of a cow, or some other misfortune, an industrious fellow and a tidy +housewife could take care of themselves, and that unnecessary favors +only taught them to look too much to others for assistance. These +people must go their own, free way, just like others and one must be +careful of intruding into their concerns, even to benefit them.</p> + +<p class="normal">I am glad to say that Fräulein Fidelia saw the justice of these +remarks, and limited her benefactions in future to the people who could +no longer help themselves, to the old and the sick, and for these she +was changed from a little "vieh" to a little "fée." Louise helped her +in these Good-Samaritan labors, and as Franz now and then met them in +the cottages, he saw to his surprise that the little maiden had a good +deal of experience, and was both wise and skilful in action, and that +the lovely eyes rested with as much sweetness and compassion upon a +poor old sick laborer's wife, as upon him, that Christmas eve. He +rejoiced at this, without rightly knowing why.</p> + +<p class="normal">The spring was over, summer had come, and one Sunday morning Habermann +received a letter from Bräsig, at Warnitz, saying that he must stay at +home that day; Bräsig had returned from the water-cure and was coming +to see him in the afternoon. So it happened; Bräsig came on horseback, +and dismounted with a spring, as if he would send both feet through the +causeway.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ho, ho!" cried Habermann. "How active you are, you are as quick as a +bird!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Freshly sharpened, Karl! I have made a new beginning."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, old fellow, how did it go?" asked Habermann, when they were +established on the sofa, and had started their pipes.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Listen, Karl! Damp, cold, soaking wet, that is only the beginning. +They make a man into a frog, and before human nature changes to +frog-nature a man suffers so much that he wishes he had come into the +world as a frog, to begin with; but it is good, for all that. You see, +the first thing in the morning is generally sweating. They wrap you up +in cold, wet cloths, and then in woolen blankets, so tightly that you +can move nothing but your toes. After that they take you into a bathing +room, ringing a bell to keep the ladies away, and then they put you +into a bathing-tub, and pour three pailfuls of water over your bald +head, if you happen to have one, and then you may go where you please. +Do you think that is the end? You may think so, but it is only the +beginning; but it is good, for all that.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, then you go walking, for exercise. I have done a good deal of +walking in my time, raking and harrowing and sowing peas, and so forth; +but I always had something to do. Here, however, I had nothing at all. +And then you drink water from morning to night. It is just like pouring +water through a sieve, and they stand there and groan, and say, 'Ah, +the beautiful water!' Don't you believe them, Karl, they are +hypocrites. Water is bad enough, outside, but inside it is fearful; it +is good, though, for all that.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then you take a sitz-bath--can you imagine how that feels, four +degrees above freezing point? Just as if the devil had got you on a +red-hot iron stool, and kept putting fresh fire under; but then it is +good for you. Then you walk again, till noon, and then you eat your +dinner.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But you have no conception, Karl, how people eat at a water-cure! The +water must sharpen the stomach famously. Karl, I have seen ladies, as +slender and delicate as angels, who would eat three great pieces of +steak, and potatoes--preserve us! enough to plant half an acre! The +water-doctors are to be pitied, for one must eat them out of house and +home. After dinner, you drink water again, and then you can talk with +the ladies; for in the morning they won't speak to you, they go about +in strange disguises, some with wet stockings, as if they had been +crabbing, others with their heads tied up in wet cloths, and their hair +flying. You can talk to them as you please, but you will find it hard +to get answers, unless you inquire about their diseases, whether they +have had an eruption, or swellings or boils, for that is polite +conversation at a water-cure. After you have amused yourself in this +manner, you must go to the 'Tüsche,'<a name="div2Ref_02" href="#div2_02"><sup>[2]</sup></a> +but don't think that it is +black,--no, nothing but clear cold water; it is good, though. You must +take notice, Karl, everything that is particularly disagreeable and a +man's especial horror, is good for the human body."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You should be cured of your gout, then, Bräsig, for you have a special +horror of cold water."</p> + +<p class="normal">"One may see very well, Karl, that you have never been at a water-cure. +You see, the doctor explained it to me at length, this confounded +Podagra is the chief of all diseases,--it is the mother of all +mischief,--and it comes from the gout-stuff that lodges in the bones +and ferments there, and the gout-stuff comes from the poison stuff that +you swallow by way of nourishment, for example, Kümmel and tobacco, or +the things you get from the apothecary. And if you have the gout you +must be sweated in wet sheets, till all the tobacco which you have ever +smoked, and all the Kümmel you have ever drank, is sweated out. So you +see the poison-stuff goes away, and then the gout-stuff, and then the +cursed Podagra itself."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Was it so with you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No? why didn't you stay longer, then? I would have held out till the +end."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Karl, you may talk. Nobody holds out,--no human being could. They had +one man there who was sweated till he smelt so strong of tobacco that +the doctor called the patients in, that their own noses might testify, +and it was put down in the books; but it came out afterward that the +rogue had been smoking a cigar, which is forbidden,--and Kümmel is +forbidden also. But to go on with the daily life. After the Tüsche, you +walk again, and by that time it is evening. You may still walk about in +the twilight, if you please, and many of the gentlemen and ladies do +so, or you may amuse yourself in the house, with reading. I used to +read the water-books which a certain Russian has written, his name is +Frank, one of the chiefs of the water-doctors. Karl, there is +everything in those books, everything in brief. But it is hard for a +man to understand, and, on that account, I did not get beyond the +second page. That was quite enough for me, for after I had read it I +was as dizzy as if I had been standing on my head half an hour. Do you +think, Karl, that fresh air is fresh air? Not a bit of it! And do you +think that water out of your pump is water? You are quite mistaken! You +see, fresh air is composed of three parts, oxygen and nitrogen and +carbonic acid gas. And the pump water is composed of two parts, oxygen +and hydrogen. The entire water-cure system is founded upon fresh air +and water. And you see, Karl, how wisely nature has provided; we go +about in the open air, and we breathe in the black carbonic acid, +and the nitrogen, for they cannot be separated, and then comes the +water-cure and turns these ugly things out of doors, for the oxygen of +the water unites with the carbonic acid, and the hydrogen drives out +the nitrogen from the body, in the sweating process. Do you understand, +Karl?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," said Habermann, laughing heartily, "not a word of it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You shouldn't laugh at things that you don't understand, Karl. You +see. I know the nitrogen is driven out, I have smelt it myself; but +what becomes of the black carbon? That is the point, and I never could +get beyond it, in my water-cure science, and do you suppose Pastor +Behrens understands it? I asked him yesterday, and he knows nothing at +all about it. But you will see, Karl, the black carbonic acid is still +in my body, and so I shall have the cursed Podagra again."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But, Zachary, why didn't you stay a little longer, until you were +thoroughly cured?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Karl," said Bräsig, dropping his eyes, with a confused expression, "it +wouldn't do! Something happened to me, Karl," looking Habermann in the +face again. "You have known me since I was a child, have you ever +noticed any disrespectful behavior to the ladies?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No indeed, Bräsig, I can testify to that."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, then, just think how it must have troubled me! A week ago this +last Friday, I had an infamous grumbling in my great toe,--for it +always begins at the extremities,--and the water-doctor said, 'Herr +Inspector, you must have an extra packing. Dr. Strump's confounded +Colchicum is doing the mischief, and we must have it out.' So he packed +me himself, and bandaged me up so tight that I could scarcely draw +breath, saying I did not need air so much as water, and upon that he +was going to shut the window. 'No,' said I, 'I understand enough to +know that I must have fresh air; leave the window open,' and he did so, +and went off. I lay there quietly, thinking no harm, when suddenly I +heard a humming and a buzzing, and as I looked up, a whole swarm of +bees came in at the window, and the leader,--for I knew him, Karl, you +know I am a bee-master, I went out one spring at Zittelwitz with the +schoolmaster, and took seven and fifty hives--and this leader made +straight for the blanket which the doctor had drawn over my head. Well, +what was I to do? I could not stir,--I blew and blew at him, till I had +no breath left; not the slightest use. The beast fastened himself on my +bald head,--for I always left off my peruke, in order not to injure +it--and the whole swarm came hovering over my face. I rolled myself out +of bed, fell on the floor, struggled out of the blankets and wet +sheets, and ran out of the door, with the devils after me, and cried +for help. God be praised, the assistant of the water-doctor--the man's +name is Ehrfurcht,--met me, and took me to another room, and got me +necessary clothing, so that after resting awhile I could go down into +the dining-room, that is to say, with half a score bee-stings in my +body. I began to talk to the gentlemen, and they laughed. I turned to +one of the ladies, and made a friendly remark about the weather, and +she blushed. Why should the weather make her blush? I don't know, nor +you either, Karl. Why do you laugh? I turned to another lady, who was a +singer, and asked her very politely to sing a song, that she had sung +every evening. What do you think she did, Karl? She turned her back on +me. As I stood there wondering what it all meant, the water-doctor came +to me, and said, 'Herr Inspector, don't take it ill, but you made +yourself quite noticeable this afternoon.' 'How so?' said I. 'Yes,' said +he, 'when you sprang out of the door, Fräulein von Hinkefuss was +crossing the corridor, and she has told it in confidence to all the +rest.' 'And on that account, am I to be deprived of all pity? Shall the +gentlemen laugh, and the ladies turn their backs on me? I did not come +here for that! If Fräulein von Hinkefuss had got half a score of +bee-stings in her body, I should inquire after her every morning, with +the greatest interest. But let her go! One cannot buy sympathy in the +market. But now come, Herr Doctor, and take the bee-stings out of me.' +If you believe me Karl, he couldn't do it. 'What,' said I, 'not take a +bee-sting out of my skin?' 'No,' said he, 'I <i>could</i>, to be sure, but I +dare not, it would be a surgical operation, and according to the +Mecklinburg laws I am not qualified for it.' 'What?' said I, 'you can +drive the poison out of my bones, and not draw the stings out of my +body? You dare not touch the skin of the outer man, and you clear out +his inside with your confounded water? I am obliged to you!' and from +that moment, Karl, I lost confidence in the whole concern, and without +that it could do me no good, they say so themselves to everybody, when +he first arrives. So I came away, and had the stings taken out by old +Surgeon Metz, at Rahnstadt. And so ends my story of the water-cure. It +is a good thing, though; one gets quite a different view of things, and +even if the cursed Podagra is not cured, one gets an idea of what a +human being can endure. And, Karl, I brought you home a water-book, you +can study the science in the winter evenings."</p> + +<p class="normal">Habermann thanked him, and the conversation turned to farming matters, +and so, by degrees, to the apprentices.</p> + +<p class="normal">"How does your young gentleman get along?" inquired Bräsig.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Very well indeed, Bräsig, he is equally good at everything. I am only +sorry that cannot see more of him. He does his duty, wherever he is, +and Daniel Sadenwater tells me that he watches many a night with our +poor, sick master, though he is very tired. He is a model young man. He +has interest in his work, and a kind heart for his friends."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, Karl, and your greyhound?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, he is not so bad; he has a good many maggots in his head, but the +youth is not vicious. He does what he is told, when he doesn't forget +it. Well! we were young once ourselves."</p> + +<p class="normal">"The best of your young folks is that they are so hearty. I was at +Christian Klockmann's, you see, lately, he has a son, fourteen years +old, just confirmed. He is tired all day, falls asleep while he is +walking, when he ought to eat he won't eat, and if he is sent to the +field he perishes with cold."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, no! my two are not like that," said Habermann.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And the young gentleman watches at night by the old master?" said +Bräsig. "It is sad for the young man! The Herr Kammerrath is then very +feeble? Give him my respects, Karl, I must say adieu, I have an +appointment to meet my gracious Herr Count." Whereupon Bräsig departed.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Kammerrath had indeed grown very feeble, of late; he had suffered +another slight shock, but had fortunately retained his speech, and this +evening Franz came to ask Habermann to go over and see his uncle, who +wished to speak with him.</p> + +<p class="normal">When the Inspector entered the room, Fidelia was there, chattering to +the old gentleman of this and that; the poor child knew not how long +she might be able to talk with her good father. The Kammerrath bade her +leave him alone with Habermann, and when she was gone he looked at the +inspector with deep sadness, and said, feebly, "Habermann, dear +Habermann, when that which has always given us pleasure pleases us no +longer, the end is near." Habermann looked at him, and could not conceal +from himself the sad truth, for he had seen many death-beds; his eyes +fell, and he asked, "Has the doctor been here to-day?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, dear Habermann, what good can the doctor do me? I would rather see +Pastor Behrens once more. But I must speak to you first of other +affairs. Sit down here, near me."</p> + +<p class="normal">He went on hastily, yet with frequent interruptions, as though time and +breath were both growing short for him. "My will is at Schwerin. I have +thought of everything, but--my illness came so suddenly--my wife's +death--I fear my affairs do not stand quite so well as they should." +After a short pause, he resumed, "My son will have the estate, my two +married daughters are provided for, but the unmarried ones--poor +children! they will have very little. Axel must take care of them--God +bless him, he will have enough to do to take care of himself. He writes +me that he wishes to remain another year in the army. Very well, if he +lives carefully, something may be saved to pay debts. But the Jew, +Habermann, the Jew! Will he wait? Have you said anything to him?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, Herr Kammerrath; but Moses will wait; at least I hope so. And if +not, there is a good deal of money coming in from the farm, much more +than last year."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, yes, and real estate has risen. But what good is it? Axel +understands nothing of farming; but I have sent him books, through +Franz, books about agriculture,--he will study them; that will help +him, won't it, Habermann?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"God bless the poor old Herr!" thought Habermann. "He was always so +practical and reasonable himself, he wouldn't have said that when he +was strong and well; but let him take what comfort he can," so he said +yes, he hoped so.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And, dear friend, you will stay with him," said the Kammerrath +earnestly, "give me your hand upon it, you will stay with him?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said Habermann, and the tears stood in his eyes, "so long as I +can be useful to you or your family, I will not leave Pumpelhagen."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I was sure of it," said his master, falling back exhausted upon the +pillows, "but Fidelia shall write--see him once more,--see you and him +together."</p> + +<p class="normal">His strength was gone, he drew his breath with difficulty.</p> + +<p class="normal">Habermann rose softly, and pulled the bell, and as Daniel Sadenwater +came, he took him into the ante-room, "Sadenwater, our master is worse, +I am afraid he cannot last long; call the young ladies, and the young +Herr, but say nothing definite about him."</p> + +<p class="normal">A shadow fell upon the old servant's face, as when the evening wind +passes over a quiet lake. He looked through the half-opened door of the +sick-room as if it came from thence, and said to himself as if in +excuse, "God bless him, it is now thirty years----" turned away, and +left the room.</p> + +<p class="normal">Franz and the young ladies came. The poor girls had no idea that their +father was failing so rapidly; they had thought surely the doctor would +be able to help him, and the Lord would spare him a little longer. They +had taken turns in watching by him, of late, and it struck them +strangely that they should all be there at once, with Franz, and +Habermann, and Daniel Sadenwater.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What is it, what is it?" began Fidelia, to the old inspector.</p> + +<p class="normal">Habermann took her hand, and pressed it. "Your father has become worse, +he is very ill, he wishes to see your brother---- Herr von Rambow, if +you will write a couple of lines, I am going to send the carriage for +the doctor, and the coachman can take the letter to the post. In three +days your brother can be here, Fräulein Fidelia."</p> + +<p class="normal">"He will not last three hours," said Daniel Sadenwater, softly, to +Habermann as they came out of the sick-room.</p> + +<p class="normal">And the three daughters stood around their father's bed, weeping and +lamenting, and would fain hold fast the prop that had upheld them so +long, and each was thinking anxiously for something to alleviate and +help, and the three hearts beat more and more anxiously and quickly, +and the one heart ever more slowly and feebly.</p> + +<p class="normal">Franz sat in the ante-room, listening to every sound, and now and then +going into the sick-room. He had never before seen the departure of +human life, and he thought of his own father, whom he had always +imagined like his uncle, and it seemed as if his own father were dying +a second time. He thought also of his cousin, who was not here, and +whose place he filled, and thought that he should love him the more, +all his life.</p> + +<p class="normal">Habermann stood at the open window, and looked out into the night. It +was just such a warm, damp, cloudy night as that in which his heart had +come so near to breaking. Then it was his wife, now his friend; who +would come next? Would it be himself, or---- No, no, God forbid! that +could not be.</p> + +<p class="normal">And Daniel Sadenwater sat by the stove, and did what he had done every +evening for thirty years; he had a basket of silver forks and spoons on +his lap, and on the chair near him lay a polishing cloth, and a silk +pocket-handkerchief; and he rubbed alternately the spoons and forks +with the handkerchief, and as he looked at his master's name on the +fork which he had polished every evening for thirty years, his eyes +were so dim that he couldn't see whether it were bright or not, and he +set the basket down, and looked at the fork till his eyes ran over with +tears.</p> + +<p class="normal">Amid all this trouble and sorrow, the pendulum of the old clock moved +steadily back and forth, back and forth, as if old Time sat by a cradle +and rocked his child safely and surely to sleep.</p> + +<p class="normal">And he slept. Two eyes closed themselves forever, the dark curtain +between Here and Beyond dropped softly down, and this side stood the +poor maidens, lamenting and vainly stretching their arms after that +which was gone, and wringing their hands over that which was left +behind. Fidelia threw herself down by her father's body, and sobbed and +cried until she was taken with spasms. Franz, full of sympathy, lifted +her in his arms, and carried her out of the room, and her two sisters +followed, in new anxiety for their darling, and Habermann was left +alone with Daniel Sadenwater. He pressed down the eyelids of the dead, +and after a little turned away with a heavy heart; but Daniel sat on +the foot of the bed, looking with his quiet face into the still more +quiet face of his master, and he held the fork still in his hand.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER IX.</h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">Axel arrived three days after, having travelled by extra post, too late +to hear the last words of his father, but not too late to render the +last honors to his remains. The postillion blew lustily on his horn, as +he drove into the court-yard, and at the door of the mansion-house +appeared three pale mourners in black raiment. The young master knew +what had happened. Everything came upon him at once,--thoughts for +which he was, or was not accountable,--God's providence, his own +weakness and frivolity, his sisters' desolate condition and his own +inability to help them, more than all, his father's thoughtfulness and +kindness, which were never wanting in good or evil times. He was quite +beside himself. His nature was one to be easily excited even by less +serious causes than the present. He wept and mourned and lamented, and +kept asking how this and that had happened, and, when he heard from +Franz that the last words of his father had been spoken to Habermann, +he took the old Inspector aside and questioned him, and the latter made +a clean breast of it, and told him that his father's last earthly care +had been about his future, and how he and his sisters might get along +by a prudent management of the estate.</p> + +<p class="normal">Ah, yes, that should be done! Axel swore it to himself, under the blue +heavens, as he walked alone through the garden; he would turn the +shillings into dollars, he would retire from the world and from his +comrades. He could do it easily; but he would not resign from the army +immediately, and take up the study of farming, as Habermann advised; he +was too old for that, and it did not suit his position as an officer, +and there was really no necessity. When he came by and by to live on +the estate, he should learn about it, naturally; meantime he would live +sparingly, pay up his debts, and study agricultural books, as his +father desired. So a man deceives himself, even in the holiest and most +earnest hours.</p> + +<p class="normal">The next day was the funeral. No invitations had been sent out; but the +Kammerrath had been too much beloved in the region not to have many +followers at his burial. Bräsig's Herr Count came, and it seemed as if +he thought he was receiving an honor instead of conferring one. Bräsig +himself was there, and stood in the room by the coffin, and while +others bowed their heads and dropped their eyes, he stretched his wide +open, and raised his eyebrows, and as Habermann passed by, he grasped +his coat-sleeve, and, shaking his head, asked impressively, "Karl, what +is human life?" but he said nothing more, and Jochen Nüssler, standing +by his side, said softly to himself, "Yes, what shall we do about it?" +And the laborers stood around, all the Pegels and Degels, and Päsels +and Däsels, and as Pastor Behrens came from the other room, leading the +youngest daughter by the hand, and, standing by the coffin, spoke a few +words which would have gone to the heart even of a stranger, then many +tears fell from all eyes. Tears of thankfulness were they, and tears of +anxiety; the one for what they had enjoyed under the old master, the +other for their unknown future under the new master.</p> + +<p class="normal">When his remarks were ended, the procession started for the Gurlitz +church-yard. The coffin was placed in a carriage, and Daniel Sadenwater +sat by it, with his quiet old face as stiff and motionless as if he +were set up for a monument at his master's grave. Then came the +carriage with the four children, then the Herr Count, then Pastor +Behrens and Franz, who wished to take Habermann with them, but he +declined, he would go with the laborers; then Jochen Nüssler and +others, and finally Habermann, on foot, with Bräsig and the laborers.</p> + +<p class="normal">Close by Gurlitz, Bräsig touched Habermann, and whispered, "Karl, I +have it, now."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What have you, Zachary?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"The pension from my gracious Herr Count. The last time I was with you, +I went round to see him, and he gave it to me, paragraph for paragraph: +two hundred and fifty thalers in gold, a living, rent free, in the +mill-house at Haunerwiem,--there is a little garden there too, for +vegetables,--and a bit of land for potatoes."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, Zachary, I am glad you have such a comfortable provision for +your old age."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh, yes. Karl, that does very well, and with my interest from the +capital which I have laid up, I shall want for nothing. But what are +they stopping for, ahead?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, they are going to take the coffin from the carriage," said +Habermann, and he turned to the laborers, "Kegel, Päsel! you must come +now and carry the coffin." And he went forward with those who should do +this office, and Bräsig followed.</p> + +<p class="normal">Meanwhile, the people were getting out of the carriages, and, as Axel +and his sisters stepped down, they were met by the little Frau Pastorin +and Louise in mourning raiment, and the Frau Pastorin pressed the hands +of the two older sisters, with the greatest friendliness and +compassion, although she had hitherto held herself rather aloof from +them, on account of the difference in rank. But death and sympathy +bring all to a level, the lofty bow themselves under the hand of God, +knowing that they are as nothing before him, and the lowly are lifted +up, because they feel that the pity which stirs in them is divine. Even +David Däsel might have taken the gracious Fräuleins by the hand to-day, +and they would have recognized his honest heart in his wet eyes.</p> + +<p class="normal">Louise held her friend Fidelia in her arms, and knew not what to say or +what to do. "There!" she cried, with a deep sob, pressing into her hand +a bunch of red and white roses, as if she gave with it the love and +sympathy of which her heart was full.</p> + +<p class="normal">All eyes were turned upon the child of fourteen years,--was she still a +child? When the barberry bush turns green after a warm rain, are they +buds still which it bears, or are they leaves? And for the human soul, +when its time has come, every deep emotion is like a warm rain, that +changes the buds to leaves.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who is that?" asked Axel of Franz, who looked steadfastly at the +child. "Who is that young maiden, Franz?" asked he again, taking his +cousin by the arm.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That young maiden?" said Franz, "do you mean that child? That is +Inspector Habermann's daughter."</p> + +<p class="normal">Habermann had seen his child also, and the thought recurred which had +come to him in the night, when the Kammerrath was dying. "No," said he +again, "the good Lord will not suffer it." Strange! she was not ill; +and yet who could tell? His poor wife had just such beautiful rosy +cheeks.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What comes now?" said Bräsig, rousing him from these gloomy thoughts. +"Truly! Just look, Karl, Zamel Pomuchelskopp! With a black suit on!"</p> + +<p class="normal">It was so indeed. Pomuchelskopp came forward and bowed to the young +ladies, the most melancholy bow which it was possible for a man of his +build to achieve, and then, turning to the Herr Lieutenant: "He would +excuse--neighborly friendship--deepest sympathy on this melancholy +occasion--highest respect for the departed--hope for a future good +understanding between Pumpelhagen and Gurlitz"--in short, whatever he +could think of at the moment, and, as the lieutenant thanked him for +his friendly interest, he felt as light as if he had discharged himself +of all the sympathy that was in him. He looked around over the company +and, seeing that there were no proprietors present besides the Count, +he managed in the walk through the church-yard to follow closely behind +him, and tread in his very footsteps, a proceeding to which the +gracious Herr Count was utterly indifferent, but which gave +Pomuchelskopp the liveliest satisfaction.</p> + +<p class="normal">The body was buried. The mourners stopped for a few moments at the +parsonage, and partook of a little refreshment. The little Frau +Pastorin was quite beside herself, torn into two halves, one part of +her would gladly have remained on the sofa by the three daughters, +endeavouring to comfort them, the other would be fluttering about the +room, offering her guests bread-and-butter and wine, and, when Louise +assumed the latter office, and the Pastor the former, the poor Pastorin +sat down, quite unhappy, in her arm-chair, as if old Surgeon Metz of +Rahnstadt had been putting together her two halves, and she had found +the process a painful one.</p> + +<p class="normal">Louise filled her office well, for it was not long before the followers +took leave, one after another; Jochen Nüssler was the last, and, when +he had bowed awkwardly to the lieutenant, he went up to the Frau +Pastorin, and took her hand and pressed it as affectionately as if she +had just buried her father, and said very sadly, "Yes, it is all as +true as leather."</p> + +<p class="normal">The Pastor also had discharged well the office of comforter, but it is +easier to fill an empty stomach with bread-and-butter and wine, than to +fill an empty heart with hope and joy. He began however, in the right +way, touching lightly upon the thought of the love and protection which +they had lost, and turning to what should come next, plans for the +future, what would be most reasonable to do, and where they should +live, so that when the three ladies went back with their brother to the +desolate house, their future lay before them like a piece of cloth, +which they must cut out with the shears, and turn this way or that as +suited the pattern best, and fashion from it such raiment as they +could.</p> + +<p class="normal">Other people were looking at the future, also, and calculating on what +<i>might</i> happen and what <i>must</i> happen. Out of the Kammerrath's grave +grew not only daisies, but, from the blight upon the fortunes of +Pumpelhagen, burdock and nettles and henbane shot up also, and the +golden daisies bloomed in strange company. Whoever would harvest here +must not be afraid of a little poison, or mind being pricked by the +briars and nettles. He who has to do with nettles must grasp them +firmly, and the man who stood in the Gurlitz garden, looking over +toward Pumpelhagen, had a firm grip, but he could wait till the right +time,--the daisies must go to seed first.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The stone was out of the way," he said to himself, with satisfaction, +"and it was the corner-stone. What was left now? The Herr Lieutenant? +He would fatten him first, feed him with mortgages and bills of +exchange, and processes and procurations, until he should be fat +enough, and then knock him on the head. Or, could he do better? Malchen +was a pretty girl, or Salchen either,--Herr von Zwippelwitz said the +other day, when he borrowed the money for that chestnut colt, that +Salchen had a pair of eyes like--now, what was it? like fire-wheels, or +like cannon-balls? Well, Salchen would know.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But no, on the whole, no! He understood the other way best, he would +not meddle with this. To be sure, it might do, in case of necessity; +but safe was safe, better keep the cork in the bottle.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then there was Habermann! Infamous, sneaking scoundrel! That very +morning he wouldn't speak to him. Did he think it was for Pomuchelskopp +to speak first? To a servant? What was he but a servant? No, let me +first have the lieutenant well in my clutches, and then I will see to +him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bräsig, too, shall he keep putting stones in my way? The fool doesn't +know that I have got him out of Warnitz; that upon my suggestion +Slusuhr has put a flea in the Herr Count's ear, about the bad +management at Warnitz. Now he must stay at Haunerwiem. And then the +Herr Pastor! Oh, the Herr Pastor! I shall go round to his house +to-morrow, and we shall be so friendly--oh, I know his friendliness! +there lies the pastor's field before my eyes! To pretend friendship +under such circumstances! Well, only wait a little, I will be even with +him yet, for I have it. I have money." And with that, he slapped his +fat hand upon his trowsers' pocket, till the golden seals on his watch +chain danced merrily; but he quieted down suddenly, as he felt a hard +hand on his shoulder, and his Häuning said, "Muchel, you are wanted in +doors."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who is there, my Küking?" asked Pomuchelskopp gently, damped as usual +by his wife's presence.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Slusuhr the notary, and old Moses' David."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good, good!" said Pomuchelskopp, throwing his arm around her, so that +the pair resembled a basket embracing a hop-pole,--"but just look over +at Pumpelhagen and that beautiful field. Is it not a sin and a shame it +should be in such hands? But that those two should come to-day, don't +it seem like a special providence, Klücking?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are always dreaming, Kopp! You had better come in and talk to the +people. Such plans as you have in your head take too long to carry out +to suit me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Gently, gently, my Klücking, slow and sure!" said Pomuchelskopp, as he +followed his wife into the house.</p> + +<p class="normal">Slusuhr and David were standing, meanwhile, in Pomuchelskopp's parlor. +David had been suffering torments, for, as ill luck would have it, +he had made himself fine with his great seal ring, and his gold +watch-chain, and, as he entered the room, and stood with his back to +the window, Philipping had spied the ring on his finger, and Nanting +the watch-chain knotted across his vest, and they darted on him like a +couple of ravens, tugging at the ring, and pulling at the chain, and +Nanting trod on poor David's corns, and Philipping, who had got up on +his knees in a chair, kept hitting him in the shins, and David's corns +and shin-bones were tender points, especially the latter, since they +bore the entire weight of his body, and nature had omitted to assist +them with appropriate calves.</p> + +<p class="normal">Slusuhr stood at the other window, before Salchen, who sat there +embroidering a landscape painting on a sofa cushion for her father. +It represented a long barn and a plum-tree thickly set with blue +plums, and before the barn hens were scratching, and a wonderful +bright-colored cock, while ducks and geese, beautiful as swans, were +swimming in a little pond, and in the foreground lay a fat young +porker.</p> + +<p class="normal">Old Moses was right about the notary; he did look like a rat. His ears +stuck out like a rat's ears, he was small and lean, like the rats in +Rahnstadt,--exception being made of those who were so fortunate as to +have a share in David's "produce business,"--he had grayish-yellow +complexion and eyes, and also grayish-yellow hair and moustaches; but +Malchen and Salchen Pomuchelskopp said he was "extremely interesting."</p> + +<p class="normal"><i>Interested</i>, Bräsig said; he knew well enough how to talk, only it +must be about himself and his own meannesses. Bat was it not quite +natural for the notary, to prefer talking about his own cunning +craftiness, rather than the stupidity of other people? Was the notary +to blame if his wisdom was too great to be concealed under a bushel? It +had increased to such an extent, indeed, that he was able to +accommodate it only by turning out his entire stock of honesty. We are +not competent judges of such people; rat-nature is rat-nature, David +himself said,--if you spoke of rats, they were too many for him.</p> + +<p class="normal">To-day, he was telling Salchen, with great enjoyment, about an +uncommonly stupid man, for whom he had promised a rich wife, and how on +every journey to see the lady, he had plucked from the poor cock now a +wing-feather, and now a tail-feather, until the last journey found him +thoroughly stripped. "Extremely interesting," said Salchen, just as +Pomuchelskopp entered the room.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah! Delighted to see you, Herr Notary! Good day, Herr David!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Salchen would have gone on laughing, but Father Pomuchelskopp motioned +with his hand toward the door, so she gathered up her plums, chickens, +geese and pigs, and saying, "Come, Nanting and Philipping, father has +business to attend to," she went out with them.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr Pomuchelskopp," said David, "I came about the hides, and I wanted +to ask about the wool. I got a letter----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh, what? wool and hides!" cried the notary. "You can talk about those +afterward. We came for this particular business that you know about."</p> + +<p class="normal">One may observe that the notary was a cunning business man, who could +dispense with preliminaries, he took the bull by the horns, and that +was what Pomuchelskopp liked,--he knew how to pull up nettles.</p> + +<p class="normal">He went up to the notary, shook his hand, and motioned him to the sofa. +"Yes," said he, "it is a difficult, far-reaching piece of business."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hm? Well, we can make it long or short, as you like. But difficult? I +have managed much harder case's. David has a bill for two thousand five +hundred; I myself lent him last quarter eight hundred and thirty. Would +you like the note? Here it is."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is good paper," said Pomuchelskopp, gently and composedly, and he +stood up and took the money for it out of his pocket.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Will you have mine too?" asked David.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will take yours also," said Pomuchelskopp, nodding his head with +dignity, as if he were doing a great work for humanity. "But, +gentlemen," he added, "I take them on this condition. Make out a bill, +in my name, that you are indebted to me for the amount, and keep these +notes and worry him with them. He must be only worried, for if we carry +it too far he will get the money somewhere else, and the right time +hasn't come yet."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said the notary, "we understand; we can manage the business; but +David has something else to tell you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said David, "I have a letter from P----, when he has been with +his regiment, from Marcus Seelig, who writes me that he can buy up +about two thousand dollars of the lieutenant's paper, and if you would +like--what do you say?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hm?" said Pomuchelskopp, "it is a good deal to take at one time; +but--yes, you may get it for me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But I have a condition, too," said David. "You must sell me the wool."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, why not?" said Slusuhr, slily treading on Pomuchelskopp's toes. +"Let him go and look at it."</p> + +<p class="normal">Pomuchelskopp understood the sign, and complimented David out of doors +that he might go and examine the wool, and, when he returned and seated +himself on the sofa by the notary, the latter laughed loudly, and said, +"We know each other!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What do you mean?" asked Pomuchelskopp, feeling as if he had stepped +out of his coach into the mud.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My friend," said the notary, slapping him on the shoulder, "I have +known all along what you wanted, and, if you will pull at the same rope +with me, you shall not fail of securing it."</p> + +<p class="normal">Good heavens, what a sly fox! Pomuchelskopp was frightened.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr Notary, I don't deny----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No need of words between us. If things go as they should, you shall +get Pumpelhagen in time, and David shall have his compound interest, +and I--ah, I could manage the business myself, but it is a little too +much for me to undertake,--I will take a mill or a farm, and by and by +set up as a landed proprietor myself. But it will cost you a good deal +of money."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That it will, God knows, a great deal of money; but that is no matter. +It torments me too much to look over at that beautiful estate; isn't it +a sin and a shame it should be in such hands?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The notary looked askance at him, as if to say, "Do you really mean +that?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well," said Pomuchelskopp, "what do you look at me so for?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Are you sure you are not joking?" said the notary, laughing. "If you +want the end, you must use the means. You don't think that you can +bring such an estate as Pumpelhagen to bankruptcy with a trumpery +thousand thaler note? You must go to work on an entirely different +plan; you must buy up all the mortgages on the estate."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will do that," whispered Pomuchelskopp, "but there is Moses, with +his seven thousand thalers not to be got at."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have nothing to do with Moses, and desire nothing to do with him; +but there is David, perhaps he can get it for us. But that is not all, +by a great deal, that you must do. You must get on good terms with the +lieutenant; as a friend, you can assist him in some temporary +embarrassment, and then, in a temporary embarrassment of your own, sell +his note,--to me, if you like,--so that I can worry him a little, and, +finally, when the whole concern is ready to smash, then----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will do it," whispered Pomuchelskopp impressively, "I will do it +all; but I must have him here first. You must go to him directly with +the notes, so that he may be obliged to leave the army."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is a small thing; if there is nothing more----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, yes, but there is something more," said Pomuchelskopp, still +whispering, as if he feared being betrayed by a listener, "there is +that Habermann; and so long as that sly old watch-dog is there, we +cannot get him into our power."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, how stupid you are!" and the notary laughed in his face. "Did you +ever hear of a young man in pecuniary difficulties making a clean +breast of it to an old friend like Habermann? I take it, the lieutenant +is not different from the rest of the world. No, Habermann may stay at +Pumpelhagen, for all that; but yet, if it is possible, we must get him +away. He is too good a steward, and, if he manages Pumpelhagen as well +as he has so far, the lieutenant can afford to keep us waiting a good +while yet."</p> + +<p class="normal">"He a good manager! He didn't manage very well for himself."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, let him go! One mustn't undervalue things. But he must go."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, but how can we bring it about?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I can't do anything," laughed the notary, "but you--when you get the +Herr Lieutenant with the bright dollars under his eyes, it will be easy +to get an old, worn-out inspector turned off. The devil is in it, if +you can't."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, yes," cried Pomuchelskopp, in a tone of annoyance; "but all that +takes so long, and my wife is so impatient."</p> + +<p class="normal">"She will have to wait," said the notary, very quietly, "such things +are not done precipitately. Only think how long Pumpelhagen has been in +the Rambow family; the change cannot take place in a hurry. But now, +stop! David is coming; not a word of this before David! Do you +understand? Say nothing to him but about his money affairs."</p> + +<p class="normal">As David entered the room, he saw a couple of remarkably jolly faces. +Pomuchelskopp was laughing as if the Herr Notary had made an uncommonly +witty remark, and the Herr Notary laughed, as if Pomuchelskopp had been +telling the best joke in the world. But David was not so stupid as he +appeared at the moment; he knew very well that he had been made an +April fool of; and that his two colleagues had been discussing +something beside jokes. "They have their secrets," said he to himself; +"I have mine." He sat down by the table, with the stupidest Jew-lubber +face, and nodding to Pomuchelskopp said, "I have looked at it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well?" inquired Pomuchelskopp.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well," said David, shrugging his shoulders, "you say it has been +washed, and it may have been washed, for all I know."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What! Don't you believe me? Do you mean to say it isn't white as +swan's-down?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, if it is swan's-down it may be swan's-down for all me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What are you driving at?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Look here! We got a letter from Löwenthal in Hamburg; the great +Löwenthal house in Hamburg--the stone is fourteen dollars and a half."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know all that; you are always writing about that nonsense."</p> + +<p class="normal">"A house like the Löwenthals doesn't write about nonsense."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh, children," interrupted the notary, "this isn't business, this +looks like a quarrel. Pomuchelskopp, let us have a couple of bottles of +wine."</p> + +<p class="normal">The Herr Notary was extremely familiar with the Herr Proprietor; but +the Herr Proprietor rang, and, as Dürting came, he said in a very +friendly and pleasant way, for he was always pleasant in his own house, +and especially to the women-kind, from his Häuning down to the little +girls, "Dürting, two bottles of wine, from those with the blue corks."</p> + +<p class="normal">When the wine stood on the table, Pomuchelskopp filled three glasses, +and then emptied his own; but David merely sipped at his. As the notary +finished his glass, he said, "Now, gentlemen, let me tell you +something," and he winked at David across the table, and under the +table he trod on Pomuchelskopp's toes.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You, David, can have fifteen dollars for the stone, and you, +Pomuchelskopp"--here he trod on his toes again--"you don't care for +ready money at present, if you can get good bonds you would like it all +the better"--</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said Pomuchelskopp, seeing the drift of the notary's remarks, +"if you can get me the Pumpelhagen bonds from your father, I will give +you up the surplus of the wool money."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why not?" said David, "but how about the knots?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"The knots!" repeated Pomuchelskopp. "We can compromise----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hold on!" cried the notary, "you can settle about the knots, when you +bring the bond."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why not?" said David again.</p> + +<p class="normal">When they had finished their wine, and were getting into their wagon, +the notary said softly and very jokingly to Pomuchelskopp, "To-morrow +David can begin to worry the Herr Lieutenant, and next week I will +tread on his toes."</p> + +<p class="normal">And Pomuchelskopp pressed his hand as gratefully as if the notary had +saved his Philipping from drowning, and, after they were gone, he sat +down with his Hänning, and cut and clipped contentedly at the web of +the future, and the notary sat in the wagon highly pleased, well +satisfied with himself that he was wiser than the others, and David sat +at his side, and said to himself, "We shall see! You have the secrets, +and I have the knots."</p> + +<p class="normal">But it was not all right about the knots yet; for when David told the +business to his father, and wanted the bond, the old man looked at him +sideways, over his shoulder, and said, "So! If you have been with that +notary, that cut-throat, and that Pomuchelskopp,--he is another +cut-throat,--and bought wool, you may pay for it with your own bonds +and not with mine. Do business with rats if you like, but I shall have +nothing to do with them."</p> + +<p class="normal">That was not so favorable for David and the knots.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER X.</h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">But it was worse for the poor Herr Lieutenant next morning, when David +entered the room. David was never handsome,--nobody could say that, not +even his own mother, but he had not improved since the lieutenant first +made his acquaintance. Then, when he got the money for him at the +notary's, there was something quite friendly in his appearance; but +now, when he wanted the money again, he looked so tough and sour, that +the lieutenant, without thinking what he was doing, drew on his gloves +before speaking to him.</p> + +<p class="normal">Speak with him he must, however, though David's face seemed to him as +if Moses and all the prophets were looking out from behind it; and when +David said, "Take off your gloves, Herr Lieutenant, and write," he took +off his gloves, and wrote across the note, and David's face became as +friendly as at their first interview.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thank God!" said the Herr Lieutenant, "that is done with."</p> + +<p class="normal">But a few days later a wagon drove into the yard, and in the wagon sat +the notary Slusuhr, and Habermann shook his head, and said, "God +preserve me, with <i>him</i> too?"</p> + +<p class="normal">And as the notary entered the room, the Herr Lieutenant said also, "God +preserve me, him too?"</p> + +<p class="normal">But he got on with him a little better than with David; the notary +looked like a man of some cultivation, he always dressed well, and +appeared outwardly like a gentleman, he understood also how to preserve +such an appearance in his language,--that is to say, as long as he +liked. This was the case at present; the lieutenant invited him to a +seat on the sofa, and ordered coffee, and there followed what seemed a +very friendly chat about the weather and the neighborhood and the bad +conduct of people in general, for in the latter topic the Herr Notary +was well posted, because he had cultivated the habit of looking around +him, and never acquired that of looking within. "Yes," said he, telling +about a merchant in Rahnstadt, "Just think, Herr von Rambow, how wicked +men are! There, out of pure kindness,--that is, on account of the +interest which I must pay, for I hadn't so much money lying idle, I had +to borrow it myself,--I lent him the money, and helped him out of his +difficulties, and he was so thankful,--and now--now that I want it +again, must have it, he is rough, he threatens to complain of me for +charging illegal interest."</p> + +<p class="normal">Of course there was not a word of truth in this story, the notary only +told it to frighten the Herr Lieutenant, and it answered the purpose. +In order to turn the conversation, he asked what sort of business the +merchant was engaged in.</p> + +<p class="normal">But the notary was not to be diverted; he did not answer the question, +but went on with his story.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But I have entered a complaint against him, and now let him look out! +His credit is good for nothing,--and then the disgrace! It is not +exactly entered yet, to be sure, but I have written it myself. What do +you say to that?" The poor lieutenant was terribly distressed, the +prospect looked as dark as if this was but the few drops before a heavy +storm. He coughed, and cleared his throat, but said nothing, for he +could think of nothing to say. It made no difference to the notary, he +went on:</p> + +<p class="normal">"But, thank God! I don't often have to deal with such idiots, +this fellow is an exception. And since we are talking of money +business,"--here he drew out his pocket-book,--"will you allow me to +give you back your note?"</p> + +<p class="normal">He held out the note for eight hundred and thirty dollars, and the +rat-like ears seemed to erect themselves, and the grey eyes to protrude +from the grayish yellow face, and the dry lips to moisten, like a rat +when he smells bacon. The poor lieutenant took the note, and attempted +to put aside the matter with a semblance of indifference.</p> + +<p class="normal">Yes, he said, he would send him the money; he had started so suddenly, +and the occasion of his journey had been so sad, that he had not +thought of the matter.</p> + +<p class="normal">Yes, replied the notary, he believed him, he knew how it was when his +own father died; at such a time, a man thinks of nothing but his +loss,--and he put on such a melancholy face, that the lieutenant took +fresh courage,--but, said the notary, he had thought a great deal of +this note lately, he depended on it, for he was under engagements, and +to meet them,--he must have money.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But this is such a trifling matter," interrupted Axel.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, yes," said the notary, taking other papers from his pocket-book; +"but then these little matters too!" and he laid on the table the notes +for over two thousand dollars, which David had bought up at the +lieutenant's garrison town.</p> + +<p class="normal">The lieutenant was startled out of his show of indifference.</p> + +<p class="normal">"How did you come by these papers?" he exclaimed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr von Rambow, I believe the name 'exchange' is applied to such +bills because they are transferable by their possessors; you cannot be +surprised that I should take them instead of cash payment, all the more +since I was saved a good deal of writing and postage money."</p> + +<p class="normal">The lieutenant became more and more perplexed, but the idea that all +this was a concerted game did not yet occur to him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But, my dear Herr Notary, I have for the moment no money on hand."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No?" cried the notary, shrugging his shoulders with an expression +which let one look straight into the black depths of his soul, and +revealed the compact that he had made with the devil. "No?" he +repeated; "I don't believe it." And, in spite of all the lieutenant's +assurances the notary stood before him, hard and cold, saying +insolently, to his face, that he did not believe him; it was only that +he <i>would</i> not pay. Finally, the good old means of prolongation came +upon the carpet, to which Axel would gladly have agreed at the first, +if it had been proposed to him; but that would not have suited the +notary. He wanted more commission than David, and he meant to take his +satisfaction in the business, for he was a man who enjoyed a joke, and +the best of all jokes to him was when he could say to himself, "No one +can match you in craftiness; you set your foot on the necks of high and +low, and it is good sport to watch their struggles."</p> + +<p class="normal">These were the troubles and distresses in which Axel von Rambow sat, up +to the neck, and they distracted him from his grief about his father. +From a deep sorrow, of God's sending, a soul works itself out fresh and +pure, like a man over whom the waves of the sea have rolled; he may +have had a hard struggle, but when he comes forth he stands on the +beach clean and cool, and ready for new work. But he who has fallen +into trouble through his own temerity, is like one who, having fallen +into a slough, is covered with filth, and is ashamed to meet the eyes +of others. So it was with the young Herr, he was ashamed that he had +lived so thoughtlessly, he was ashamed of having involved himself with +black and with white Jews, he was ashamed that he could not help +himself out of the slough, and that the help which others had given +could only sink him deeper. How easily he might have escaped all this, +if he had but confided in Habermann! How gladly he would assist him +even now, since the reason was gone that had hindered him before, the +Kammerrath! But the human heart is a stubborn and also a perverse +thing, and this perverse thing believes it will find more rest if miles +lie between it and its disgrace; so Axel left his estate much sooner +than his sisters had hoped.</p> + +<p class="normal">At his garrison he found everything as he had left it, only he himself +was changed; at least he said so to himself, daily; but if one had +asked his comrades they would have said they observed nothing peculiar +about him, and quite naturally, for his good resolutions, which were +the only respect in which he had altered, had not yet come to light. He +meant to be economical, he meant to follow his father's advice, and +study agriculture as well as he could from books, he meant to do well +in all respects. His economy began the first morning; for a week he +drank no sugar in his coffee,--"For," said he, "if a man despises +little things, he will not prosper in great ones,"--and he smoked +cigars at nineteen instead of twenty dollars the box. His servant got a +serious lecture, when he brought the bread and butter for his +breakfast, and received orders to give his two horses each half a +measure of oats less than usual, "For," he said, "times are hard."</p> + +<p class="normal">The latter was the only enduring retrenchment--probably because he was +not fed at the same crib with his mares; all the others stopped after a +week or so; it was of no use, he said, to begin things that one +couldn't carry through. It was much in the same way with his +agricultural studies. The first three pages of every book, he knew +almost by heart, he had read them so often; for he always began at the +beginning, because, when he had got so far, some thing would divert his +attention from the text. Then, as he felt so sure of these, he would +reward himself for his industry by looking up something interesting in +the books, and as he read a chapter on the breeding of horses, he would +say to himself he knew all that, and more too; there had been great +progress in those matters. After all, what good would it do for him to +read these books, if he could not take hold of the business +practically? he knew very well a farmer should be practical,--nothing +if not practical! So he made the acquaintance of a Herr von So-and-So, +who owned an estate in the neighborhood; he rode with him over the +fields, and asked the inspector what he was doing that day, and when +they returned to the house, he knew as well as the Herr von So-and-So +that in Seelsdorp on the 15th of June, they were carting manure, and +that his gray Wallach was foaled in Basedow from the gray Momus; or he +went with Herr von So and So, with a gun over his shoulder, through the +barley stubble, and got the information by the way that the barley had +been harvested on the 27th of August, shot a brace of partridges, and +when he went to bed at night he knew as well as Herr von So and So how +the partridges tasted.</p> + +<p class="normal">He found this sort of practical apiculture very agreeable, and as a man +is apt to talk about the things that please him, Axel did not fail to +exhibit his attainments, and was soon known among his comrades as a +shining light, quite an agricultural tallow candle, four to the pound. +Since most of them were the sons of noble landed proprietors, and +destined to the same life, and looking forward with horror to the time +when they must leave their jolly soldier-life, for the hard work of +gentlemen farmers, Axel seemed to them an unusual example of diligence, +and they looked upon him as upon some wonderful animal who out of pure +love for labor had put his head into the yoke. Most of them admired him +accordingly, though a few blockheads turned up their noses, and +insinuated that for a lieutenant his conversation savored too strongly +of the farm-yard.</p> + +<p class="normal">Having set himself up as an authority in agricultural matters, it was +necessary to sustain his reputation, and to make progress with time. +And that was a period of wonderful progress in agricultural science, +for Professor Liebig had written a famous book for the farmers, which +was brimful and running over of carbon and saltpetre, and sulphur, and +gypsum, and lime, and sal-ammoniac, and hydrates and hydropathy, enough +to drive one crazy. People who wished to dip their fingers in science +procured this book, and sat down to it, and read and read, until their +heads were dizzy; and if they tried to recollect, they could not tell +whether gypsum were a stimulant or a nutriment,--that is to say, for +clover, not for human beings.</p> + +<p class="normal">Axel bought this book, and it fared with him as with the rest, he read +and read, but kept growing dizzier, and his head turned round as if +there were screws getting loose in it, and he shut the book. It would +probably have stopped here, with him, as with the others, he would have +forgotten the whole concern, if he had not had the fortune to know a +good-natured apothecary, who could let him take all the drugs, of which +the book treated, into his own hands, and smell them with his own nose. +This was the practical way, and from that moment he understood the +business, yes, as well as Liebig himself, so that he had no occasion to +read farther in the book.</p> + +<p class="normal">The branch of agriculture which gave him particular pleasure was +farming-implements and machinery. He had from a child taken great +delight in all sorts of inventions; as a boy he had made little mills, +he had pasted, and, although his mother had a great dislike to anything +that smacked of handicraft, he had, during his school-days, taken +private lessons in book-binding. These tastes came into exercise now; +he was uncommonly pleased to see a design of a new-fashioned American +rake, or a Scotch harrow, and it was not long before he indulged in the +innocent amusement of cutting little rakes and harrows and rollers +himself.</p> + +<p class="normal">He did not stop here, however, but went on to design rape-clappers, +flax-bruisers, and corn-shellers. He might possibly have rested in +these achievements,--and it was surely worthy of honor in a lieutenant +to lay aside his uniform and go to work with drawing-knife, auger and +glue-pot,--if he had not made the acquaintance of an old half-crazy +watchmaker, who had wasted his life and his small property in +endeavoring to discover, for an ungrateful world, the secret of +perpetual motion. This old benefactor of humanity led him into his +workshop, and showed him how one wheel must be made to turn upon +another, and this upon a cylinder, and that upon a screw, and the screw +upon a winch, and that upon a wheel again, and so on, over and over; he +showed him machines that wouldn't go, and others that would go, and yet +others which wouldn't go as they should; he exhibited machines which +Axel could comprehend, and some which he couldn't comprehend, and some +which he didn't comprehend himself; but it was all very interesting to +Axel, and he became inspired in his turn with the desire of being a +benefactor to mankind. His idea was to invent a machine, which would do +all sorts of field labor, which should rake, harrow, roll, and pull up +weeds. It was really touching to see the fresh, young lieutenant of +cavalry and the withered, wrinkled old watchmaker, sitting together and +planning with the lever and screws to elevate mankind.</p> + +<p class="normal">And so it might have gone on, for all me, and for all him, and he might +possibly have elevated mankind, though the constant tugging of +securities and discounts and such matters had a tendency to bring him +down, for he thought nothing about the payment of his debts, and +although there was a good income from Pumpelhagen, according to his +father's will it was I to be applied first to the payment of his own +debts, and the sisters must be supported out of it; and, as for the +rest, he lived without anxiety when his first needs were supplied.</p> + +<p class="normal">But there are a pair--brother and sister--who shake the most +indifferent person out of his dreams, and drive him, without, ceremony, +out from the warm chimney-corner, into the storm and rain,--these are +hate and love. Hate thrusts one head-foremost out of the door, saying, +"There, scoundrel, away with you!" Love takes one gently by the hand, +leads one to the door, and says, "Come, with me, I will show you a +better place." But it comes to the same thing; one must leave his nice, +warm chimney-corner. Axel made the acquaintance of both; and it +happened quite accidentally, it was none of his doing.</p> + +<p class="normal">I don't know whether it is so still; but at that time it was the +custom, among the Prussians, for the regimental commanders to send +regular deportment lists of the officers to Berlin, and King Frederic +William was in the habit of looking into the papers himself, in order +to see what his officers were fit for.</p> + +<p class="normal">Now Axel's good old colonel liked the Herr Lieutenant very much, +because he had once owned an estate himself, alongside Bütow and +Lauenburg, which he had got rid of through his singular methods of +farming; and because he still owned one, on which he could carry out +these methods, one of them being never to enrich the soil, because he +thought it not good for the land. He had a great opinion of his own +methods, and as he was like the old carrier who, when they can no +longer drive, still like to crack the whip, he enjoyed talking about +them, and as Axel listened attentively, and was too polite to +contradict him, the old colonel conceived a high opinion of his wisdom. +For this reason Axel's testimonials were always very good; but +unfortunately the old Colonel paid little attention to orthography, and +so he wrote once, "Lieutenant von Rambow is a thoroughly 'feiger' +officer," when he meant to say "fähiger" (capable). The king himself +saw it, and wrote on the margin, "I have no occasion for a 'feiger' +(cowardly) officer; let him be dismissed at once." It was a stupid +thing in the old colonel; the mistake must be corrected; but he did not +know how to do it without taking his adjutant into counsel. With his +assistance, the orthography and the business were made right; but +the rogue could not hold his tongue, and before long the whole set +were aiming their poor jokes at our innocent Axel. Especially one +thick-headed fellow, of "very old family," who had all along poked fun +at him on account of his agricultural pursuits, not because he managed +them foolishly, but because he took to them at all,--now applied the +screw so insolently that all his comrades observed it; Axel alone took +no notice, because he had not the slightest suspicion of the cause.</p> + +<p class="normal">There was another matter, in addition. The Herr von So and So, with +whom Axel took practical lessons in farming on horseback and with a +shot-gun, had a wonderfully pretty daughter,--nobody need laugh! she +was really a fine girl,--by whom the Herr Lieutenant of the "old +family" was strongly attracted. She, however, treated him quite coolly, +and was much more gracious to Axel, who also turned his best side out +in her presence. Whether it was that the young lady took no pleasure in +the stupidly forward behavior of the Herr Lieutenant of "old family," +and if she were going to marry preferred a man gifted with more brains, +or that she was pleased with Axel's good-temper and modesty, it was not +long before Axel was evidently "cock of the walk," and the Herr +Lieutenant of "old family," sat upon the nettles of jealousy.</p> + +<p class="normal">It happened, about this time, that the officers of the corps gave a +ball, and the Herr Lieutenant of "old family" adorned himself for this +festivity with a pair of false calves. Looking at his legs, his own +comrades scarcely knew him, and as there is always a mischief-maker +among so many frolicsome young people, who in this case happened to be +the adjutant, he converted the cotton-wool calves of Axel's rival into +a pincushion, and stuck them full of butterflies, with which the +unconscious lieutenant hopped about quite merrily. People could not +help looking and laughing, and the Herr Lieutenant, discovering how his +calves were ornamented, became fearfully angry, as he had reason to be, +and his wrath broke loose upon the first laughing face he chanced to +meet, which happened to be Axel's. "If you were not already designated +upon the colonel's conduct list, I should have the satisfaction of +applying the epithet myself!" exclaimed he, in his rage. Axel did not +hear the words distinctly, the insolent tone, however, was not to be +misunderstood; and as he was really no poltroon, and very easily +excited, he turned with equal anger to his rival, saying that "he did +not understand what he said, but the tone he had used made an +explanation necessary;" and with that he went to his captain, with whom +he stood on good terms, and asked an account of the matter, and what he +heard from him did not tend to diminish his anger. He fell into a +terrible passion, and challenged the lieutenant of "old family," and +also the adjutant, because he had brought the matter about, and the +lieutenant challenged the adjutant, an account of the butterflies, and +so the three rode out one fine Sunday afternoon, with a crowd of +seconds and witnesses and impartial observers and doctors and surgeons, +and they cut each other's faces, and shot at each other's limbs, and +then there was peace again. Axel got a scar on his nose, because he was +stupid enough to parry a thrust with his face instead of his sword. If +this did not exactly beautify him, it certainly did him no harm. Herr +von So and So's pretty daughter heard of the matter, she put together +many little pleasantries which she had noted between the rivals, and +who can blame this intelligent girl if she believed herself the +innocent cause of such heroic deeds, and liked Axel afterward better +than before?</p> + +<p class="normal">Here I might relate the entire love-story of Axel and Frida, and I +leave it to any unprejudiced person if I should not have a pair of +characters for a love-story, such as cannot be found even in the Bible, +a lieutenant of cuirassiers, and a young lady of the nobility; but no, +I will have nothing to do with it. For, in the first place, I never do +more than I am obliged, and who can compel me to give private +instructions to the burghers' daughters, who may possibly read this, +about falling in love with a lieutenant of cuirassiers, or to teach +young mechanics how they may ingratiate themselves with noble young +ladies? Who would give me anything for that? And, secondly, I may as +well say, once for all, I do not write with any regard to young people, +I write merely for the old folks, who lie down of an afternoon on the +sofa, and take a book to drive the flies from their faces, and the +cares out of their heads. Thirdly, I have already three young maidens +to dispose of, and any one who wants to know what a task that is may +inquire of any mother of three unmarried daughters. Louise Habermann +must have a husband, and would it not be a shame to leave the two +little twin-apples to trundle through the world as old maids? Fourthly +and lastly, I am not fitted to describe correctly the love of a +lieutenant of cuirassiers, it is a touch beyond me, it requires the pen +of a Shakespeare or a Mühlbach, and who knows whether Shakespeare +himself were adequate to the task, for so far as I am informed he never +ventured upon it.</p> + +<p class="normal">In short, they were betrothed, and the wedding was held at Whitsuntide, +1843, and the Herr von So and So gave his blessing as a dowry, because +it was all he had to give. Well, we will treat him like a Christian, +and give him something, to wit a name,--for since he is become our +father-in-law he must have a name,--so he shall be called Herr von +Satrup of Seelsdorp, of which estate he owned still less than Axel of +Pumpelhagen.</p> + +<p class="normal">Frida von Satrup was an intelligent girl, and understood before her +marriage that a "Herr Lieutenant" was only a large piece of a small +apple, and that a "Frau Lieutenant" would be a small piece of a large +apple; she stipulated, therefore, that Axel should leave the army. Axel +was not unwilling, for the foolery about the "feiger" officer was not +by any means over, although he bore the mark of the old colonel's +blunder in red ink on his face, and he had also a great desire and +purpose to turn his agricultural science into ready money, at +Pumpelhagen, and therewith to pay his debts.</p> + +<p class="normal">He took his discharge, therefore, packed his uniform, sash and +epaulettes in a box, delivered, with tears in his eyes, a touching +farewell address to his brave sword, laid that also in the box, nailed +and sealed the box, and wrote on the top, "In case of sudden death, to +be opened by my heirs," sent the whole to Pumpelhagen, was married in a +black dress-suit, and started with his young bride for a journey up the +Rhine.</p> + +<p class="normal">How he made his entrance into Pumpelhagen, in the midsummer of 1843, +shall be told in another place.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER XI.</h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">The three years which, since his father's death, Axel had spent in +garrison, occupied with agriculture, heroic deeds and love-affairs, had +been passed by the dwellers in Pumpelhagen and the vicinity in much the +same occupations. The agriculture was a matter of course; but the +heroic deeds and the love affairs would have been wanting, if Fritz +Triddelsitz, in his hours of leisure, had not turned his attention that +way. His relations with Marie Möller had slipped gradually out of the +motherly into the brother-and-sisterly, and from thence, on her part at +least, into the tenderly affectionate, and although they were still +based on a foundation of ham and sausage, Marie Möller indulged in all +sorts of uncertain heavenly hopes touching priest and sexton, bridal +wreath, and farming and house keeping for herself, if in process of +time the business should take a serious turn, while Fritz lived in fear +of being discovered by Habermann at some of these private repasts, and +suspected that, if his aunt and is father and mother knew of his +foolish behavior, the business might take a disagreeable turn for +himself. In short, his love-affairs were not altogether satisfactory, +and though he thought no harm of throwing his hook here and there, for +example, to the little twin-apples, and, when his aunt was off duty, to +Louise Habermann, yet he was forced to confess, when he dealt honestly +with himself, that his only success was with Marie Möller.</p> + +<p class="normal">The heroic deeds of Pumpelhagen were also confined to his department. +He had at first attempted them merely against the farm-boys, and that +in a quiet way, for if Habermann had known of it, the renown which he +achieved upon their shoulders would have been sadly interfered with; +now, however, as all went well, he grew bolder, and in an evil hour +ventured to strike a stable-boy, and the rascal was so insolent +as to forget all the respect due to his station, and gave him such +a thrashing, in broad day-light, and Palm Sunday at that, that +Marie Möller must spend the whole Sunday afternoon cooling his +shoulder-blades. And the most disagreeable of all was that with every +cold bandage that Marie Möller laid on his shoulders she sent a sting +to his conscience, while she reminded him of all her kind deeds, and +inquired about his plans and prospects, trustfully assuring him that +she believed in his affection and would faithfully share his future. It +was very annoying, because, for his part, he believed more in his +appetite for ham and sausage than in his affection, and he preferred +keeping his prospects to himself. He stammered out something which she +did not or would not fully comprehend, and the cooler his blisters +became the cooler became their relations; he tried to change the +subject, she was not disposed to do so; she still applied the wet +cloths, but with a less and less gentle hand.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Triddelsitz," said she finally, "what am I to think of you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">With that, she came round from her position behind him, and placed +herself before his face, with arms akimbo.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Mariken," said he, alarmed and confused, "what do you mean?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What do I mean? shall I, speak out more clearly?" exclaimed she, and +the sweet, tender expression was quite gone from her eyes. "Am I a +person to be made a fool of?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Then she went back again, and slapped a cold bandage on his shoulders, +with emphasis.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh! Thunder!" cried Fritz, "that hurts!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"So? It hurts, does it? Do you think it doesn't hurt me, to find that a +man for whom I have done so much means to betray me?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Mariken, I ask you, what do you mean?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What do I mean? I mean"--with another emphatic bandage--"will you tell +me what to think of you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thunder and lightning! That burns like fire!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I hope it does! I should think your conscience would burn you, +deceiving a poor girl with all sorts of promises and prospects and then +backing out in this way!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good heavens, Marie, I am only nineteen years old."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, what then?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I must serve somewhere else for a time, and then----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, and then?" with another wet cloth on his shoulders.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good heavens! You might be a little more careful, Marie."</p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>You</i> might be a little more careful! Well, what then?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then, I must get me a farm; and all that will take ten years or more."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, and then?" pursued Marie Möller, with truly infamous +persistency.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And then," stammered Fritz finally, in his distress, "by that time, +you will be too old for me."</p> + +<p class="normal">Marie Möller stood at first as if thunder-struck; poisonous glances +shot from her eyes; then she bent round and threw the cloth that was in +her hand right in his face, so that the water spattered over his ears.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Too old? Impertinence! Too old, do you say?" and grasping the washbowl +full of water she threw it over his head, and ran out of the room. And +as Fritz stood there, gasping and snuffling, she opened the door again, +and putting her head in, said,--</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't let me see you in my pantry again!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Love had now received its death-blow; there was an end also of the +pantry indulgences; and as Fritz stood there dripping, it seemed to +him, among his confused thoughts, that the whole story did not exactly +harmonize with his ideas of love, still less with the romances he had +read, and he uttered in his vexation the selfsame words he had spoken +at the beginning of his apprenticeship, when he was working on the road +in the November rain: "It is quite different from what I thought! A +good, thing, though, that the old man is not at home," added he, "or he +might have heard the uproar."</p> + +<p class="normal">Habermann had gone with Franz this morning to the Gurlitz church. He +always took this walk, with still, pious thoughts, but to-day his heart +was brimful of thankfulness to God, whose fatherly hand had led his +child so far on her life journey, for, on this Palm Sunday morning, +Louise was to be confirmed. He walked, silent and absorbed in thought, +along the foot-path, his eye resting on the pleasant landscape, where +the snow still lay in white streaks along side the ditches and under +the shade of the dark fir-trees, and where the green, springing rye in +the bright sunshine told of Easter, and preached the Resurrection. The +chimney-smoke lay over the little villages, and the sun seemed to press +it down, as though this token of human care and labor ought not to +darken the bright world, as if there would not be room enough else for +the joyous sound of the church bells, which echoed, far and wide, over +field and forest.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, if she had only lived to see this day!" said the old man aloud, +and as if he thought himself alone.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who?" asked Franz, a little shyly, as if he feared to be too +inquisitive.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My poor wife, the mother of my dear child," said the old man, softly, +and looked at the young man with such friendly, honest eyes, that +seemed to say, "Look into our depths and read this simple, true heart! +We will answer all thy questions, and it shall echo long in thy +memory." "Yes," said he, "my good wife! But what do I say? She sees +more, to-day, than I can of her child, and she does more than I can for +her child; for her thoughts are higher than the blue heavens, and her +joys brighter than the golden sun."</p> + +<p class="normal">Franz walked silent by his side, he was careful not to disturb the +Inspector; this old man, whom he loved, to-day seemed to him so worthy +of reverence,--his white hair lay across his broad forehead, as pure as +the white snow on the earth, his fresh countenance and bright eyes +spoke as trustfully of the resurrection as did the springing rye, and +the whole face shone with such a sunlight of love, that the young man, +after a while, could no longer restrain himself, he grasped his +friend's hand:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Habermann, my dear Habermann, you have certainly lived through much +sorrow."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not more than other people," was the reply, "and yet enough to think +of, all one's life."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Will you tell me about it? I do not ask from curiosity."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why not?" and he told his story; but he did not mention +Pomuchelskopp's name, and he closed his narration with this remark +about his child: "Yes, she was then my only comfort, and she is now my +only joy!"</p> + +<p class="normal">They came to the parsonage. The little Frau Pastorin had become a +little older, and a little fuller, with time, and could not fly round +quite so quickly as before; and to-day she was unusually quiet, running +in nobody's way, and the duster lay unnoticed in its corner, as lonely +as a dog under the table, for to-day the approaching solemn ceremony +forbade her usual bustling about, for, as the Pastor's wife, she was +the nearest.</p> + +<p class="normal">But it was impossible for her to keep quite still, if she did not buzz +about, she must at least run a little, now to fasten her Pastor's bands +and bring him a glass of wine, now to Louise, to set her ruffle +straight, and whisper a loving word in her ear; and when young Jochen +and Frau Nüssler and the little twins and Bräsig all arrived together, +she would certainly have forgotten herself, if the sexton had not +exercised his judgment, and commenced ringing for the last time. The +twins were also to be confirmed to-day, and as the company were going +to the church, and the Frau Pastorin looked at the three lovely +children walking together across the church-yard, Louise in the middle, +half a head taller than her little cousins, she said to Habermann, +while tears stood in her friendly eyes, "Habermann, our child has no +gold chain and brooch to wear, as is the foolish custom now-a-days; and +that black silk dress, dear Habermann, is all of thirty years old. I +wore it last the first time I went to church here after I was married, +and a happy heart beat under it, for in that heart dwelt my Pastor; it +was too small for me afterwards, for, you see, I was already growing +rather stout, but it is as good as new, and nobody would know that it +was pieced down. And, Habermann, I put the money that you gave me for a +dress into Louise's money-box. You won't take it ill of me? I was so +glad to see my old dress in use again."</p> + +<p class="normal">Just before the church door Bräsig pulled Habermann by the coat, and as +he turned round he said, quite moved with emotion, "Karl, it is +remarkable, it is really remarkable, such a confirmation! See, when I +look at those three little girls walking along it reminds me of my own, +and how I had got through the infamous sheep-keeping for my sainted +father, and was going to begin farming. We went along just like the +three little girls, Karl Brandt and Christian Guhl and I, to the +church, only we didn't have black silk dresses on; no, Christian had a +green, Karl a brown, and I a gray coat; and instead of the bouquets of +flowers, that the little girls carry in their hands, we had little +sprigs of green stuck in our buttonholes; and instead of walking three +abreast we went one behind the other, like geese in the barley. Yes, it +was just so."</p> + +<p class="normal">After a hymn had been sung by the congregation, Pastor Behrens preached +his sermon. He had grown older in his appearance, but his voice was +strong, and his thoughts clear as ever, and a mild and gentle spirit +breathed in every word. It is certain there is no profession in which +age is less of a drawback than in the ministry, when the man who holds +this office has discharged it faithfully. The people do not listen to +his words merely, they look at his long, upright, honorable life, and +he stands before them a living example of the truth which he utters. So +it was with this Pastor.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then came the examination. The young maidens laid aside their outside +wrappings, Louise embraced, with tearful eyes, her father and her +foster-mother, Frau Nüssler affectionately kissed her little twins, +young Jochen tried to say something, but did not succeed, and the three +children stepped out from the Pastor's seat, up to the altar. "I wonder +if the rogues know their lessons," said Bräsig to Franz, who was next +him; "I believe my godchild--that is Mining--will stumble." And with +that, he blew his nose, and wiped, not his eyes, but his eyebrows.</p> + +<p class="normal">Franz did not answer; everything around him had disappeared for the +time, he saw only one face, a familiar face, and yet he saw it as for +the first time; he saw but one form, a form which he had seen springing +joyously about, but now a wonderful, solemn thrill trembled through it; +he saw a pair of hands which had been joyfully extended to him, now +reached up to the Most High; and it seemed to him as if the Lord looked +down, and upheld this trembling form, in the simple black dress, in +which a happy heart had once throbbed, and showed him this pure virgin +heart, and said, "Watch thine own, that it may be worthy to unite with +this." He was like a man who had long ago seen a beautiful region, in +bright sunshine, and who had rambled about therein, thinking of nothing +but his own enjoyment, and coming again after a long time saw the same +region under the silent moon, and could scarcely recognize it, because +over hill and forest, over thatched roof and church-tower, lay the +thick veil of the evening mist, upon which rested the silver moonlight, +so that he saw only this, and not the pleasant region that he knew. It +seemed to him as if his soul was stretching out imploring hands, from a +deep abyss, and a profound self-pity came over him, because is own +heart was so poor a gift to bestow. And this deep self-pity, this +secret longing for a better heart, that falls upon us, like a moonbeam +woven out of mist and light, we children of men call "Love."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bräsig stood near him, and whispered now and then a couple of words, +which Franz did not hear and which, if he had heard, he would probably +have considered very stupid, and might have been annoyed by them; and +yet the old Inspector's remarks had their origin in the same feeling +which had come over himself, only that it was not so heavenly blue and +rosy red as in his case, but old age had given it a tinge of gray.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bräsig was in the greatest distress lest his godchild, Mining, should +fail; and with every question that she answered properly, such a great +sigh was heard that Pastor Behrens, if he had been of the new-fashioned +style of preachers, must have thought he had brought a great sinner to +repentance in sackcloth and ashes. "God be praised!" said this sinner, +half aloud, "Mining knows it;" and after a while he touched Franz: "Now +it is coming, just listen, now it is coming;" and he punched Habermann +on the other side: "Karl, you will see Mining has got it. Mining has +the great water-question. I knew it, Christian Guhl couldn't say it, +and it came to me; but I have forgotten it all now, except just the +beginning: 'Water indeed avails nothing of itself, but the Spirit of +God'"--and as Mining repeated the answer, without faltering, the old +man whispered after her the whole "water-question," and when the sexton +came round with the poor-box, he put in a silver thaler, as if it were +a relief to his feelings; and he turned round, and pressed Frau +Nüssler's hand, and said almost aloud, "Frau Nüssler, did you hear our +little rogue?" and blew his nose with so much emphasis, that Frau +Pastorin secretly pronounced him an irreverent sinner, for disturbing +the holy ordinance.</p> + +<p class="normal">If one should follow up the cord which bound Bräsig to little Mining, +and go a little way beyond Mining, he would find the end made fast, in +Frau Nüssler's heart, where it was tied in a great double knot, which +could never be parted. It seemed to be sure, quite another thing, and +much rougher than the delicate, silken, rosy noose, which Franz would +fain have knotted about Louise Habermann's little heart and which +seemed to him too rough and hard for that tender heart. Love is +everywhere, the world over, but she takes strange forms; she flies like +an angel upon rosy pinions, and she shuffles about on wooden shoes; she +speaks with tongues, like the apostles on the day of Pentecost, and she +sits in the corner like a sulky child, whom the schoolmaster has struck +on the mouth with the primer; she gives diamonds and coronets, and old +Inspector Schecker sought to win the hand of my Aunt Schöning, with a +fat turkey.</p> + +<p class="normal">When the confirmation was over, and the Lord's Supper had been +administered to the young communicants, Pastor Behrens went into his +vestry. Samuel Pomuchelskopp, in his blue dress-coat, followed after +him, for his Gustaving had also been confirmed, and opening the door of +the vestry stood before it, instead of going in,--"so that all the +people may see what a blockhead he is," said Bräsig to Habermann,--and +invited the Pastor to "a spoonful of soup, and a morsel of roast meat, +and a bottle of red wine," in as loud a tone, as if they were at a +fair,--"that everybody may know what a confounded hypocrite he is," +said Bräsig,--but the Pastor thanked him, and said he was too much +fatigued to-day, and besides he had company at home.</p> + +<p class="normal">Pomuchelskopp went back, and threw over his left shoulder a glance into +the parsonage-pew, making most elaborate attempts at distinguished +behavior, but they were quite discomfited as he met Bräsig's venomous +face, for Bräsig was such a bad Christian--as the Frau Pastorin would +have said had she seen it--that even in the Lord's own house he could +not keep his wicked feelings from showing in his face. But how quickly +was his old face changed when the three little girls came back, with +happy tearful faces, to give him also their hands, and offer their lips +to be kissed, as they had done to their parents and foster-parents! How +he lifted his eyebrows, and wrinkled his forehead, giving himself a +really paternal expression! This was his manner to Louise and Lining, +but when his little pet Mining came, he looked as comical as if he were +a child himself, he put his arms round her and whispered in her ear, +"You shall see, Mining, you shall see, I will give you something!" And +since he did not know what, at the moment, and chanced to have his +handkerchief in his hand, he said, "I will give you a dozen +handkerchiefs, bright ones!" for he wanted to do the business +thoroughly.</p> + +<p class="normal">Each of the company had now offered his kind wishes, and each had +taken his thanks in kisses from the fresh, red lips, two only +excepted,--young Jochen never got more than half a kiss, and Franz got +none at all. Young Jochen could, of course, blame no one but himself, +for he need not have squeezed himself into the farthest corner of the +pew, so that the long left side of his mouth was quite out of their +reach, and the little girls must content themselves with the short +right side, which was not quite half of it. And Franz? He never thought +of the matter, he had not yet returned to earth, but was still in +heaven, and it did not occur to him, till they were leaving the church, +and he found himself near Louise at the door, to take her hand and say +something, which he could not recollect a moment after. He was +certainly in love! That beautiful face in deep devotion was imprinted +upon his heart and imprinted for ever-more!</p> + +<p class="normal">I may be interrupted here, possibly, by some pious lady, or some +experienced maiden,--I do not mean old people here, but also +middle-aged,--who will inquire, "Could not this young man find some +other place to concern himself with such worldly matters as falling in +love?" And I reply, "Honored madame, and especially honored +mademoiselle, this young man was as yet so stupid in a business with +which you are quite familiar from early experience, that he had never +thought of love as belonging to worldly matters. And pray, where should +a young man fall in love? Only in an arbor, in the summer twilight, or +in a cotillion at a ball in winter? Many roads lead to Rome, but many +more to marriage, and he who starts on his bridal journey does better +to begin it in a church than in a ball-room; for he finds the marriage +altar close by, and the path is straight and clean; but between the +ball-room and the altar stretches the long, dusty, dirty street, and +many enter with soiled boots and shoes upon the holy path of marriage. +Is it not true, honored madame? Do you not agree with me, respected +mademoiselle?"</p> + +<p class="normal">A simple dinner was waiting at the parsonage. Bräsig was very lively, +and smiled like sunshine after rain; the old Pastor was also very +cheerful, for he knew with Solomon that everything has its time, there +is "a time to gather stones, and a time to cast them away;" but they +were all quiet, the church bells still chimed in their hearts, and only +with the hot coffee did Frau Pastorin and Frau Nüssler find their +tongues unlocked.</p> + +<p class="normal">Immediately after dinner, the old Herr Pastor took a little nap on the +sofa in his study, to rest from the fatigue of the morning. Habermann +had gone out into the fresh air, with his daughter and his two nieces, +that the sweet influences of the secretly awakening spring might +compose these young agitated souls, and Franz had gone with them, also +to enjoy the secretly awakening spring, but the one which was budding +and blooming in his own breast. Jochen Nüssler had found a corner, +which was almost as convenient as his own particular corner, by the +stove, at home. Bräsig went up and down the room, with his short legs +and his long pipe, his feet turned out in an extraordinary manner, for +since he had received his pension his gait had acquired a peculiar, +swing, and he used his little feet broad side out, so that people might +see that no man was his master, and he stood in his own shoes, and that +his long years of farming had not prevented him from appearing what he +was, an elderly gentleman, living on his own income. Frau Pastorin and +Frau Nüssler sat under the picture gallery, upon the sofa.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, dear Frau Nüssler," said the Frau Pastorin, "thank God! we have +got on so far with our children. Louise is seventeen years old, and +your twins are six mouths older. My Pastor says, and I know it too, +they have learned much; and with a little more help here and there, +they could earn their bread as governesses, any day."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bräsig stopped, lifted his eyebrows, and blew a cloud of smoke toward +the sofa, and young Jochen also turned himself about, in that +direction.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, indeed," exclaimed Frau Nüssler, "and the little girls owe it all +to you and the Herr Pastor!" and she grasped the Frau Pastorin's hand, +"my brother Karl said, and I say too, we could do well enough for them +in some respects, we could get them their daily bread and see that they +were neatly dressed, and teach them to tell the truth, and how to take +care of themselves, and keep house; but for all which makes a human +being of real worth, we were not capable. Isn't it so, Jochen?"</p> + +<p class="normal">From behind the stove came a low, comfortable, assenting growl, such as +a faithful old watch-dog gives, when he has his head scratched.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You hear, Frau Pastorin, Jochen says so too."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, I have done nothing," said the little Frau Pastorin, turning off +the compliment, "that is to say, for your two; of course it was +different with Louise, for I was the nearest to her. But--what I was +going to say,--we have never spoken about it,--had you thought of +having your children, or one of them, perhaps Mining, become a +governess?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What?" said Frau Nüssler, looking at the Frau Pastorin, as if she had +told her Mining had a prospect of becoming a Papist; and as the Frau +Pastorin was about to explain her project, she was interrupted by a +singular burst of laughter: "Ha, ha, ha! A good joke! Did you hear +that, young Jochen? Our little Mining to teach children! Ha, ha, ha!"</p> + +<p class="normal">That was Bräsig; but he made a great mistake. The Frau Pastorin sat +there, like a puppet on a wire, her red face grew pale with anger, and +under her little chin the little cap-ribbons fluttered quite +indignantly:</p> + +<p class="normal">"What are you laughing at, Bräsig? You are laughing at me, perhaps? You +laugh because I thought Mining might be a governess? Oh, Herr +Inspector," and she drew herself up, stiffly, "I have been a governess +myself, and it is quite a different thing to teach children, from what +it is to cudgel farm-boys."</p> + +<p class="normal">"To be sure! You mustn't mind me, Frau Pastorin, but our little Mining +a school-mistress! Ha, ha, ha!"</p> + +<p class="normal">But the Frau Pastorin was carried away by her feelings, and went on to +say: "And it makes a great difference whether one has learned +something, or whether one knows nothing at all; a man like you could +never be a governess!"</p> + +<p class="normal">As she uttered these words, her Pastor entered the room, having been +awaked by Bräsig's laughter, and it struck him as so ludicrous that +they were talking about Bräsig's qualifications as a governess--and, +being short-sighted, he did not notice his wife's anger--that he joined +in the laugh: "Ha, ha! Bräsig a governess!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The entrance of her Pastor made a singular impression upon the Frau +Pastorin, at first the waves of passion rose higher than ever, but then +it seemed as if oil were poured on the troubled waters; she had indeed +often allowed herself a momentary ebullition of anger in his presence; +but to break out into flaming wrath! that was quite contrary to her +principles, and a droll conflict began in her spirit and gleamed +through her round honest face, like the light through a basket lantern; +the flame of anger blazed up once more, and then sank down into the +deep red glow of shame, that she, a Pastor's wife, and on such a day as +this, had so far forgotten herself, and the glow died out in the gray +ashes of a wholesome anger with herself, and as her own last words, +that Bräsig could never be a governess, recurred to her, and she saw +her Pastor laughing, the ashes were blown away by a little gust of +merriment, but she held her handkerchief before her face, that the +others might not see it.</p> + +<p class="normal">Frau Nüssler had meanwhile been sitting on thorns, and, as the Pastor +came in, she sprang up and said, quite distressed, "Herr Pastor, I am +the innocent cause of all this trouble. Bräsig, stop your stupid +laughing! Frau Pastorin thinks our Mining should be a governess. Dear +heart, yes! If you and the Frau Pastorin think it best, it shall be so; +you have always advised us for the best. Isn't it so, Jochen, it shall +be so?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Jochen slowly emerged from behind the stove. "Yes, it is as true as +leather; if she must, she must," and with that, he went out of the +room, probably to get the business through his head, in solitude.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But what is all this?" asked the Pastor. "Regina, are you really in +earnest?" And Frau Nüssler went up to the little Frau Pastorin. "It +shall be just as you say, Frau Pastorin. Bräsig, for shame! Frau +Pastorin, don't cry any longer!" and she drew away the handkerchief, +and started back in surprise as she met the laughing face. "What does +it mean?" she exclaimed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Only a misunderstanding, dear neighbor," said the old gentleman. +"Nobody has thought of Mining being a governess. No! our children shall +not swell the number of poor, unhappy maidens thrust out into the +world, to earn their bitter bread in this hard calling, with weariness +of mind and sickness of body. No, our children shall, with God's +blessing, first become fresh, healthy and skilful housewives, and after +that they may be governesses, if they like,--that is, to their own +children."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr Pastor, dear Herr Pastor," cried Frau Nüssler, as if a stone had +been lifted from her heart, "God bless you for these words! Our Mining +shall not be a governess. Jochen--where are you, Jochen? Ah, he has +gone out in his grief! Yes, Herr Pastor, and they shall learn +housekeeping! You shall see, I will do my best for them."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," interrupted Bräsig, "and they must learn to cook a good dinner."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Of course, Bräsig. Ah, Herr Pastor, I have had so much trouble with +governesses, myself; and only last week, I went to see the new Frau +Amtmann,--she was a governess,--you see she totters and staggers, and +sighs and gasps around the house, and looks as pale as a corpse--what +you call <i>interesting</i>."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Interesting people always look as if they needed tying up to a stake," +said Bräsig.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But you Bee, Frau Pastorin, she cooks her eggs too hard, and burns her +roast meat. I have nothing to say against learning, a great deal of +learning if one likes--it is very nice to read the papers, and to know +something about old Fritz and such people, and to know where the +oranges and the spices grow; but even if one doesn't know such things, +one can wait till one meets learned people, and then ask them; but +about cooking, Frau Pastorin, you can't wait for that, for you must +have your dinner, and who can you ask about that,--in the country? the +stupid maid-servants? That would be a fine story!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are right, neighbor," said the Pastor, "it is very important that +girls should be well trained in housekeeping."</p> + +<p class="normal">"So I say, Herr Pastor. To think of that poor little Frau Amtmann! She +has the best will in the world, but knows nothing at all. She asked +questions that my children could answer at seven years of age, whether +the swine were milked, and how the little chickens cut open the shell. +And Louise will not be a governess either, Herr Pastor?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, not with our consent, and Habermann is of the same opinion; +she shall learn housekeeping. Regina is getting a little too lazy, +and--isn't it so?" sitting down by his wife on the sofa, and putting +his arm about her,--"a little too old also, she will be glad of a young +assistant, and could not bear to be parted from her Louise."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You mean you could not bear it, Pastor! Really, I feel myself quite +set aside; from morning to night, it is, 'Louise, get this!' and +'Louise, bring me that!'"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, we will not quarrel, I should miss the child sorely, if she were +away."</p> + +<p class="normal">Meanwhile, Habermann had returned, with Franz and the children, and had +met young Jochen wandering about in a state of unusual agitation. He +ran to Mining, took her in his arms and kissed her, saying, "Mining, I +can do nothing to prevent it;" and when Habermann asked what was the +matter, he said only: "Brother-in-law, what must be, must." And as they +took their departure from the parsonage, and he sat in the carriage, he +felt as if he were carrying a lamb to the slaughter, and although his +wife explained the whole matter fully, and told him Mining should never +be a governess, the whole thing had made such a deep impression upon +him, that he ever afterward looked upon Mining as an unhappy maiden, +and treated her accordingly. She must always sit next him at the table, +and, he gave her the best of everything, as if every meal were her +last.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER XII.</h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">So now, for the first time, the future of the little maidens was marked +out, so far, that is, as one human being can arrange the course of life +for another; but destiny is a strange fellow for a godfather, and he +interferes often in the most quiet and reasonable plans that old, +serious, white-haired people can think out, with some stupid trick that +nobody could dream of. The worst of this plan-making is, that generally +the very wisest prove the stupidest in the end, because the good, old, +white-haired people think merely of their own white heads, and do not +take into account the black ones which they had in their youth.</p> + +<p class="normal">It had never seriously occurred to the old Herr Pastor that his +foster-child might be taken off his hands by a young man; and the Frau +Pastorin, who, after the fashion of women, had thought much and often +upon this chapter in the woman's catechism, had always comforted +herself with the reflection that Louise was not acquainted with any +young men; since, on account of his nobility, she did not consider +Franz as a young man, and Fritz, with his stupid jokes and her own +motherly authority over him, seemed like a little, undeveloped boy. But +her eyes were to be opened, she was to discover that a young, pretty +maiden, even if she is hid in a parsonage, will attract young people as +surely as a flower the butterflies. The gay-colored caterpillar, which +had crept across her path so often to her annoyance, had popped out of +its chrysalis, a gorgeous, yellow, swallow-tailed butterfly, which +fluttered around the flower in her garden, and settled upon it, and +devoted himself to it, in a way which would have amused her extremely, +if the butterfly had not been her sister's son, and the flower Louise +Habermann.</p> + +<p class="normal">Fritz came to Gurlitz, a few days after the confirmation, with a great +and righteous hatred in his heart, against the whole race of womankind.</p> + +<p class="normal">The wash-bowl full of water, which he had got over his head, and the +banishment from his pantry-paradise, had exercised a damp, cold, hungry +influence upon him, and as he had learned from his romances that every +young man in love, when he quarrels with his loved one, has a right to +hate all other women too, he made use of his right. He had not been at +Gurlitz for a long time, because he wished to punish his aunt a little +for the everlasting fault-finding in which she allowed herself toward +him. Now, as he sat in the parsonage, feeding his hatred, and speaking +to no one but the Pastor, the Frau Pastorin rejoiced over his serious +behavior, and said to Louise, out in the kitchen, "Fritz is really +quite sensible. Thank God! he is coming to years of discretion."</p> + +<p class="normal">Louise said nothing, but she laughed, for though she had not much +acquaintance with young people, she knew Fritz for the scapegrace that +he was. In undertaking to represent a new character, he was like the +donkey who attempted to play the guitar, and, however painful his +efforts had been to assume a strange rôle,--as for example, to-day, +that of a woman-hater,--it was not long before he stripped off the +whole disguise, and appeared in his proper person, as Fritz +Triddelsitz, much to the chagrin of his dear aunt. He had been but a +little while in the society of Louise, before he threw overboard the +whole cargo of hatred of the sex, and painful recollections of Marie +Möller, the washbowl and pantry, and took in, beside the ballast of +romantic ideas, "a fresh, budding love for Louise,"--as he described to +himself his new lading,--and when he had stowed it away under the +hatches of his heart, and taken in his cable and made everything clear, +he set sail. At first he tacked and cruised about, and his aunt, +standing on the shore, could not tell thither he was steering, but that +did not last long, his course became more direct, and as he was now +fairly out on the high sea of "his feelings," and hoisted his topsail, +she saw to her dismay in what direction he was steering, and that her +beloved sister's son was no better than a reckless sea-rover, pirate +and corsair, who was pursuing, in a scandalous manner, the pretty +little brig, in which all her motherly hopes were embarked.</p> + +<p class="normal">She spoke the strange craft, and asked "whence?" and "whither?"--but +the pirate paid no attention; she hung out signals of distress to her +Pastor, but the matter seemed only to amuse him, probably because he +foresaw no danger for the little brig; he sat there, and laughed to +himself, though he shook his head a little, now and then.</p> + +<p class="normal">The little Frau Pastorin was disgusted beyond measure, with the +behavior of her nephew; "Stupid fellow, scape-grace, rascal!" she kept +saying to herself,--and when the pirate began to bombard the little +craft with honey-comb speeches, and bonbon verses, she put to sea +herself, and grappled the pirate, and when she had him fast, she sailed +away with him, out of the room. "Come with me, my son, come! I have +something to tell you, Fritz! And take your hat, too!" And when she had +got him into the pantry, she manœuvred him into a corner, from +which, on account of the pots and pans, egress was difficult, and she +seized a loaf of bread and cut off a thick slice, with the words, "You +are hungry, Fritz, you have an empty stomach, my little son, and an +empty stomach leads to all sorts of mischief, see I have spread butter +on it, and here is cheese for you too, now eat!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Fritz stood there, hardly knowing what had happened; he had designed to +win a heart, and he had got a piece of bread and butter; he attempted +to say something, but his aunt gave him no time: "I know, my boy, what +you would say; never mind, my child! But here,--if you will do me the +favor,--here is a bottle of beer,--Habermann is back of our garden, +sowing peas in the Pastor's field, take it to him, come along! and +greet him from me. I know he will be glad to get some of the +Stauenhagen burgomeister's beer." And with that she had him through the +kitchen, and out of the back-door, and before she shut the door, she +called to him, through the crack, "You will be too busy, Fritz, to +visit us much at present, for seed-time is coming,--no, never mind, my +boy, it is no matter,--but when you do come again, perhaps in the +autumn, Louise will be seventeen then, and you mustn't talk such +nonsense to her as you did to-day, she will be too sensible for such +folly. So, my son, now eat your bread and butter." And she shut the +door, and Fritz stood there, in one hand a great slice of bread and +butter, in the other a bottle of beer!</p> + +<p class="normal">Fie! It was really infamous treatment on the part of his aunt! He was +very angry, and at first had a great mind to throw the bread and butter +through the kitchen-window, and send the beer-bottle after it, and he +swore never to set foot in the parsonage again; but reflection is a +man's best teacher, and he started at length, along the garden path, +looking alternately at his bread and butter and his beer-bottle, and +grumbling to himself: "The devil knows I am not hungry, and the old man +is not on this side of the field. She only wanted to get rid of me. +Just wait, though; you shall not succeed quite yet! I know when and +where Louise goes out walking. She must be mine! Whatever opposes, she +must be mine!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Then he sat down on the garden fence, and planned out his new campaign; +but how angry he would have been if he had known that Louise was +watching him, that very minute, from her chamber window!</p> + +<p class="normal">But he didn't know it, and as the bread and butter might have fallen +into the dirt, if he had laid it down on the fence, he eat it up +leisurely, and when he had finished it he said, "I laugh at my aunt, +and I laugh at Marie Möller. Louise is an angel! She shall be mine! My +relations do not approve of our love, it is evident. Good! Louise +cannot be won without a struggle. I will--well, what shall I do?"</p> + +<p class="normal">And before he did anything else, he preferred to drink up the beer so +he did that, and when he had finished it he went on, with fresh +courage, across the field, and with every step he stamped into the +soft-ploughed-ground the firm resolve: "She shall be mine!" and when +the seed had sprung up, the old peasants in the region often stopped on +their way, to look, and to say to each other: "The devil has been +sowing thorns and thistles in old Inspector Habermann's peas."</p> + +<p class="normal">So Fritz was established in a new love, and it had one good effect; he +became very dutiful toward the old inspector, since he looked upon him +as his future father-in-law. He sat with the old man of evenings, and +told him about his expectations from his father, and asked his advice +whether he should rent or purchase a farm, or whether he would think it +better for him to buy a nice little estate in Livonia or Hungary. The +old man tried seriously to dissuade him from such ideas, which were a +little too absurd, but he could not help wondering what had wrought +such a change in his apprentice; formerly the youngster had talked of +nothing but riding, dancing, and hunting, and now he talked entirely +about serious matters, although in a foolish way. He wondered still +more when Fritz, one evening when Franz had gone to Gurlitz, told him +in confidence that if he remained in Mecklenburg, he should look +out for a handsome residence to purchase or to rent, with a park +attached,--"<i>park</i>," said he, "not garden,--for the latter he would be +indebted to his future wife, and she should have a good one; her +relations should be the same to him as his own," and with that he +looked at the old inspector so touchingly that the latter had much ado +not to laugh.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't be a goose, Triddelsitz," said the old man. "Have you been +filling your head with love-stories?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Maybe, said Fritz, maybe not; at all events, his old father-in-law +should live with him, and one wing of the house should be set apart +entirely for him, and if he wanted out-door exercise, either riding or +driving, a pair of horses should always stand ready for his use. And +then he got up, and walked about the room with great strides, +flourishing with his hands, and Habermann, sitting in the sofa-corner, +kept turning his head back and forth like a man with the palsy, to +observe the singular behaviour of his apprentice. As he took leave that +evening, Fritz pressed the old gentleman's hand with the deepest +emotion, and as Habermann cordially returned the pressure, he felt a +warm hand on his white hair, his head was bent gently back and a hot +kiss was pressed upon his forehead, and, before he recovered from his +astonishment, Fritz strode out of the room.</p> + +<p class="normal">Fritz was a good fellow, he wanted to make everybody happy; his +disposition was good, but his discretion was small. Go to Gurlitz +again to see his aunt, he positively would not. He raged inwardly, and +the grief which he endured, in his separation from Louise, was a +bitter-sweet draught in which he indulged daily. But this bitter was +mingled with another, as if one should add gall to quassia--a draught +for the devil! and the gall was added by whom, of all persons in the +world--Franz! Franz ran over to Gurlitz that spring whenever he had +time, and when the three unmarried daughters came to Pumpelhagen, in +the summer, Louise often came to visit them, and Franz, naturally, was +not far away; but he--our poor Fritz--stood afar off, and could look on +only from a distance, which was a doubtful gratification for him.</p> + +<p class="normal">I would not say, and nobody who has read this book so far would say, +that Fritz was that sort of a suspicious rascal who ferrets out +something for his purposes from any kind of tokens, but he must have +been a perfect idiot if he had not noticed that something was the +matter with Franz. Even if this had not been the case, a young man in +love must be jealous of somebody, it belongs to the business, and a +young man who is in love, and has no rival, always reminds me of my +neighbor Hamann, when he sits on horseback with only one spur. But it +was the case; Franz was truly his rival, and Fritz treated him as such, +and so before long he was as much vexed with Franz as with Marie Möller +and his aunt, he scarcely spoke to him, and had friendly intercourse +only with his good, old, future father-in-law.</p> + +<p class="normal">The human heart can hold but a limited measure of woe, what is too much +is too much; there must be some relief, and the only relief, for a +lover, is intercourse with the beloved object. Fritz must contrive +means to this end, and he went craftily to work; he lay in wait +everywhere for Louise. Every hollow tree was a sentry-box, from whence +he watched for his darling, every ditch on the Pumpelhagen estate was a +trench, from which he besieged her, every hill was a look-out, where he +stood on picket-guard, and behind every bush he lay in concealment.</p> + +<p class="normal">Of course this could not last long without his attaining his desired +end, and frightening Louise out of her wits, for at times when she was +thinking of nothing at all, or perhaps--let us confess it--thinking of +Franz, his long body would shoot out from behind a bush, or he would +thrust up his head, like a seal, out of the green rye, or suddenly drop +down before her feet, from a tree, where he had been lying in wait, +like a lynx for a deer. At first, she soon recovered from her fright, +for she took those for some of his stupid jokes, such as she knew of +old; she laughed, then, and talked with him about ordinary matters; but +she soon became aware that the young man was in an extraordinary +condition. He was so solemn in his manner, he spoke of common things in +such an uncommon tone, he rubbed his head as if the deepest thoughts +were struggling for birth, he laid his hand on his heart, when she +spoke of the weather, as if he were taken with a stitch in his side, he +shook his head sadly, when she invited him to Gurlitz, and said his +honor would not allow him to accept; when she spoke of her father, a +stream flowed from his lips, as when one takes the tap from a barrel: +that was an angel of an inspector, never was such an old man born +before; his father was good, but this father was the father of all +fathers; if she asked after Fräulein Fidelia, he said he did not +trouble himself about the ladies, they were nearly all alike to him, +and as she once, unfortunately, inquired after Franz, lightnings shot +from his eyes, he cried "Ha!" laughed in a fearful manner, grasped her +hand, thrust a paper into it, and darted headlong into the rye, in +which he disappeared, and when she opened the paper she found the +following effusion.</p> +<div class="poem"> +<h4> +"To Her.</h4> + +<p class="t6" style="text-indent:-6pt">"When with tender, silvery light,<br> +Through the clouds fair Luna beams,<br> +When from vanquished shades of night,<br> +Sunlight o'er the heaven gleams,<br> +Where the whispering waters dance,<br> +And the ivy leaves entwine,<br> +Ah, bestow one loving glance<br> +On a heart that beats for thine!</p> +<br> +<p class="t6" style="text-indent:-6pt">"Where thou goest with joyous tread,<br> +Only truest love can be;<br> +Spring flowers twine about thy head,<br> +I, unseen, still follow thee;<br> +Love is vanished, sweetest flowers<br> +Bloom in vain, when thou art gone;<br> +Ah, a youth has also hours,<br> +Thou, alas! hast never known!</p> +<br> +<p class="t6" style="text-indent:-6pt">"But revenge will I enjoy,<br> +I will lay my rival low!<br> +I, who write this poetry,<br> +Dream of vengeance only, now.</p> +</div> +<p class="right">"Fritz Triddelsitz.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Pumpelhagen, July 3rd, 1842."</p> +<br> + +<p class="normal">When Louise read "this poetry" for the first time, she did not quite +understand it, she read it the second time, and understood it still +less, and when she had read it for the third time she did not +understand it at all; that is to say, she could not positively decide +upon whom the unhappy poet intended to execute vengeance, although she +was not so stupid as to be ignorant that the "Her" addressed was +herself.</p> + +<p class="normal">She would gladly have taken the whole thing for a piece of his usual +buffoonery, and tried to think it nothing but a joke; but as she called +to mind his appearance and language, and his unusual behavior, she had +to acknowledge to herself that this was something beyond a joke; and +she resolved that, as much as possible, she would keep out of his way. +She was innocent enough to think it a great misfortune for Fritz, and +to feel profound compassion for his suffering. Compassion is a bridge +which leads over to love, and Louise stood for the first time, looking +over beyond the bridge into that fair meadow, adorned with rose-arbors +and jasmin-hedges,--and that is for a young maiden of seventeen like +cherries to a bird,--and who knows but she might have gone a little way +beyond the bridge, if she had not, in her mind's eye, seen Fritz, in +his yellow top-boots and green hunting-jacket, riding about, among the +rose-arbors, on old Chestnut, and sitting under the jasmin-hedges, with +a slice of bread and butter and a beer-bottle in his hands, and his +legs dangling. She had to laugh, in spite of her compassion, and +remained on the safe side of the bridge, preferring to contemplate +Fritz from a distance, for old Chestnut might lie down in the mud +puddle a second time, or Fritz might smear her with his bread and +butter.</p> + +<p class="normal">The most stupid young man can sometimes lead a girl of seventeen by the +nose, and fellows, who carry a puff-ball instead of a heart under their +vests, can captivate such young hearts; only the poor fools, who wear +harlequin jackets, are never successful, for nothing is so fatal to +young love as a touch of the ridiculous. So, finally, she had to laugh +over the poetry, a clear, hearty laugh, and as she finished laughing, +she was startled, for it seemed to her as if a warm hand had pressed +her hand, and a pair of friendly eyes had looked deep into her own, and +the thought of Franz came into her mind, probably because he was that +moment approaching, in the distance. She tore up the vengeance-poetry +into little scraps, and as Franz came towards her, and greeted her, she +blushed, and, becoming conscious that she was growing red, she was +angry with herself, and grew still redder, and as Franz talked with her +about every-day matters, she became embarrassed, gave confused answers, +and, in her absence of mind, strewed the fragments of Fritz's vow of +vengeance upon the air.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What can be the matter?" said Franz to himself, when he had +accompanied her a little way, and was returning. "She is so different +from her usual self. Is it my fault? Has something annoyed her? What +paper was that, which she was strewing the bits of to the wind?" With +such thoughts he came to the place where she had dropped them, and see! +There lay the fragments of paper, and, without picking them up, he read +on one of them,--"dreams of vengeance!! only now Fritz Triddelsitz," for +Fritz had forgotten to put a period after "now." This excited his +curiosity, for he recognized Fritz's handwriting; he looked further, +but found only a couple of fragments, and, fitting them together, made +out these disconnected words:--</p> + +<p class="normal">"Entwine--a loving glance--heart that beats for thine--Spring +flowers--I unseen, still follow--Love is vanished--Bloom in vain--Ah, a +youth--But Revenge!--vengeance!! only now Fritz Triddelsitz;" the wind +had carried away the rest.</p> + +<p class="normal">There was not much to be made out of this; the only thing which after +long reflection he believed himself positively to have arrived at, was +that Fritz Triddelsitz was in love with Louise, that he was upbraiding +her, and threatening her with vengeance. The thing was ridiculous, but +Fritz was a creature as full of stupid tricks as a donkey of gray +hairs, he was quite capable of doing some crazy thing, and giving +annoyance to Louise; so Franz resolved to be on the watch, and if Fritz +went toward Gurlitz, not to let him out of his sight.</p> + +<p class="normal">Fritz had broken the ice now, he had done his part; now it was the turn +of Louise, she must speak, if anything was to come of the matter. He +waited and watched, but nothing came. "It is very provoking," he said +to himself, "but she knows nothing of such affairs, and it is doubtless +all right; I must show her the way." So he set himself to work, and +wrote a letter in a disguised hand.</p> +<br> + +<p class="continue">Address:--"To One Who Knows."</p> + +<p class="continue">Superscription:--"Sweet Dream of my Heart!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"This letter is dumb, it says merely what is necessary, and will be +found on the <i>third</i> rose-bush in the <i>second</i> row; other things by +word of mouth. This by way of preliminary: when a cross is marked with +white chalk on the garden gate, the <i>contents of my heart</i> may be found +under the pot of the third rose-bash in the second row. <i>Waving a +handkerchief</i>, from the Gurlitz side betokens thy presence, and desire +for an interview; my response will be three whistles on the handle of +my walking-stick. (Our shepherd taught me that, love is an apt +scholar.)</p> + +<p class="normal">"Rendezvous: the great water-ditch at the right of the bridge.</p> + +<p style="text-indent:30%">"Thine ever!!</p> + +<p style="text-indent:25%">"One Whom thou Knowest.</p> + +<p class="normal">"P.S. The loved one will excuse me for writing this in my +shirt-sleeves, it is so infernally hot."</p> +<br> + +<p class="normal">This letter fell into the wrong hands; it was the little Frau Pastorin +who found it, as she was watering the flowers, while Louise, who was +learning housekeeping, was preserving gooseberries. She made no scruple +of opening and reading the letter, and when she had made herself +acquainted with its contents, she had no doubt that it was intended for +Louise, and that it came from Fritz, her precious nephew. She said +nothing to Louise of her discovery, that would have been playing into +Fritz's hand; but she alluded in a variety of ways to ridiculous +correspondence, just to ascertain if Louise had found similar epistles +before; it was to no purpose however, the child understood nothing from +her hints, and she then resolved to say nothing of the matter to her +Pastor,--why should he be worried about it? and then it went terribly +against the grain to confess that her own flesh and blood--for so, +unfortunately, she must consider Fritz--should perpetrate such a piece +of nonsense. She would gladly have spoken her mind to <i>him</i>, but he +kept out of her way.</p> + +<p class="normal">She went about with such thoughts in her mind for a day or two, taking, +by the way, the watering of the flowers out of Louise's hands, once for +all, that she might suspect nothing. It was wise in her to do so, for +it was not long before she found a water-soaked letter, under the third +rose-bush in the second row. This spoke more clearly:</p> +<br> + +<p class="continue">Address:--"To the <i>Only One</i>, known to me <i>alone</i>."</p> + +<p class="continue">Superscription:--"Soul of my life!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Snares surround us; I know that the enemy lies in wait. Cowardly +<i>spy</i>, I <i>laugh</i> at thee! Have no fear, my dearest, I can rescue thee. +One bold deed will give <i>freedom</i> to our love. To-morrow afternoon, at +two o'clock, when the <span class="sc2">DRAGON</span> sleeps, who guards my <span class="sc2">TREASURE</span>, I will +expect thy signal with the handkerchief, I shall be strewing manure, +behind the water-ditch, three <i>whistles</i> on the handle of my stick will +give thee warning, and though hell itself bursts forth, I have sworn +it. Ever</p> + +<p class="right">"Thine."</p> +<br> + +<p class="normal">When the Frau Pastorin read this she was quite off her balance. "That! +That! Oh, the miserable scamp! 'Dragon Sleeps!' The rascal means me by +that! But wait! I will give you a signal, and if hell doesn't burst +forth, something shall crack about your ears, let me only get hold of +you!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The next day, before two o'clock, the Frau Pastorin rose from her sofa, +and went into the garden. The house-door had creaked, and her Pastor +heard the gate-latch also rattle, so he got up and looked out of the +window, to see what his wife was doing in the garden, at this unusual +hour, for her nap generally lasted until three o'clock. He saw her go +behind a bush, and she stood there and waved her handkerchief in the +air. "She is beckoning to Habermann, perhaps," said he, and lay down +again. She was, however, merely giving a friendly signal to her nephew, +till she might get a little nearer to his ears.</p> + +<p class="normal">But he did not come, nor did she hear the three whistles. Greatly +disappointed, she went back to the house, and when it was time for +coffee, and her Pastor asked her whom she had been beckoning to in the +garden, she was so much embarrassed, that, I regret to confess, she +fibbed, although she was a pastor's wife, and said she had been so +oppressed by the heat, she was merely waving her handkerchief to get a +little fresh air.</p> + +<p class="normal">On the third day, she found another letter.</p> +<br> + +<p class="continue">Address: "<span class="sc">To my own</span>, destined for me by <span class="sc">Fate</span>."</p> + +<p class="continue">Superscription: "Sun of my darkened Soul!!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dost thou know what <i>hell-torments</i> are? I suffered them yesterday +afternoon, at two o'clock, when I was strewing manure. The air was +free, the enemy was in the clover-field, and thy handkerchief fluttered +like one of my white pigeons in the perfumed air. I was just upon the +point of giving the pre-arranged signal of three whistles, when that +old horned beast of a Bräsig came up to me, and stood talking a whole +hour, about the manure. When he was gone, I rushed down to the +water-ditch, but, vinegar!</p> + +<p class="normal">"The time had seemed long to thee, and thou wert gone! But now, +<i>listen</i>! This evening, punctually at half past eight, when I have +eaten my sour milk, I will be at the <i>place of rendezvous</i>; to-day is +Saturday, the Pastor is writing his sermon, and the <i>dragon</i> is +cleaning house; the <i>opportunity</i> is favorable, and the underbrush will +conceal us there. (Schiller.) Wait but a little, thou too shalt rest, +(Goethe) in the arms of thy <span class="sc2">DEVOTED ONE</span>, who would sell all that is +dear to him, to buy with it something dear to thee.</p> +<div class="poem"> +<p class="t0" style="text-indent:-6px"> +"Oh, meeting blest! Oh, meeting blest!<br> +Awaiting which I calmly rest,<br> +And all my longing, all my dreams,<br> +Bury in Lethe's silent stream.<br> +I shall behold thee, dear, once more.<br> +When the waves wash me to the shore,<br> +So farewell, yet not in sorrow,<br> +We shall meet again to-morrow!</p> +</div> + +<p class="normal">"The <i>beginning</i> is my own, the <i>middle</i> from Schiller, and the <i>end</i> +from a certain Anonymous, who has written a great deal; but I altered +it a little to suit my purpose.</p> + +<p style="text-indent:30%">"With torments of longing,</p> + +<p style="text-indent:45%">"<span class="sc">Thine Own</span>."</p> +<br> + +<p class="normal">"Well!" exclaimed the little Frau Pastorin, when she read this patch +work, "This goes beyond everything! Yes, my dear sister, you have +brought up a beautiful plant, and it bears fine fruit. But other people +must trim and prune it, and I think, as his aunt, I am the nearest to +him. And I'll do it!" she cried, in a loud voice, stamping her little +foot, "and I should like to see who will hinder me!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I for one would not think of it, Frau Pastorin," said Bräsig, who had +come up, unperceived, behind the bee-hives.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Have you been listening, Bräsig?" asked the Frau Pastorin, still in an +excited tone.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Listening?" said Bräsig, "I never listen; I only keep my ears open, +and then I hear something, and I keep my eyes open, and see something. +For instance, I see now that you are provoked about something."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is true; but it is enough to drive an angel wild."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, Frau Pastorin, the angels have enough to do with their wings; we +need not incommode them about our matters, but if you want to see +something wild, I believe the devil has broken loose here in +Pumpelhagen."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good heavens, has Fritz----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, I didn't say so;" said Bräsig; "I don't know what it is; but there +is something going on."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What is it, then?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Frau Pastorin, Habermann is irritable, and when that is the case, you +may be sure there is some disagreeable business in the wind. You see, a +few days ago, I came to Pumpelhagen, when he was busy with the hay and +the rape harvest, and I said, 'Good morning,' says I. 'Good morning,' +says he. 'Karl,' says I, and was going on to say something, when he +interrupts: 'Have you seen my Triddelsitz anywhere?' 'Yes,' said I. +'Where?' asked he. 'Sitting in the great water-ditch,' said I. 'Did you +see young Herr von Rambow anywhere?' asked he. 'He is sitting in the +next ditch close by,' said I. 'What are they doing?' asked he. 'They +are playing,' said I. 'You are joking,' said he, 'playing at this busy +time?' 'Yes, Karl,' said I, 'and I have been playing too.' 'What have +you played then?' asked he. 'Bo-peep, Karl. See! there is your +greyhound peeping over the ditch towards Gurlitz, and your nobleman is +peeping after the greyhound, and I was peeping out of the marl-pit +after both of them, and when one turned his head, the other ducked, and +so we sat there, peeping and ducking alternately, till the thing grew +rather tedious to me, so I went boldly up the nobleman. "Good day," +said I. "Good day," said he. "Begging your pardon," said I, "what sort +of farm-work are you doing here?" "I?" said he, and stammered, "I was +looking after our peas, whether they were filling out well." "Hem!" +said I. "So?" said I. "Well!" said I, "good morning," and went towards +the greyhound.' You won't mind it, Frau Pastorin, I always call your +nephew so."</p> + +<p class="normal">Not at all, said the Frau Pastorin, she called him worse names, +herself.</p> + +<p class="normal">"'Good day!' said I, 'what sort of work are you doing?' 'Oh, nothing +just now,' said he, going off, like a whipped hound, 'I have been +looking after the peas.' 'Karl!' said I to Habermann, 'if your peas +fill up according as they are looked after, you will have a plentiful +harvest.' 'The cuckoo knows,' said he, terribly provoked, 'both of them +are as stupid as possible; I can't make out the young Herr at all, this +summer; he goes about like a man in a dream, forgets everything I tell +him, and is no longer always up to the mark, as he used to be; and the +other stupid fellow is worse than ever.' You don't mind Habermann +calling your Herr Nephew a stupid fellow, Frau Pastorin?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"God forbid!" said the Frau Pastorin, "Habermann has reason."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You see, this was, say, a week ago,--now I started out yesterday +morning early with my fishing rod, to see if the perch would bite; what +do I see? Your Herr Nephew, the greyhound, goes slyly down here into +the garden, and after a while comes out again, and behind him creeps +along the nobleman among the bushes, and along side the ditch, as if he +were tracking a fox, and when he has gone past my place of observation, +there comes my good Karl Habermann over the hill, following the other, +and when he had passed, I went on behind him, and so we went in a great +curve, with wide spaces between us, clear down around the village, each +one seeing only the man in front of him, which I found extremely +amusing. They will do it again to-morrow probably, and if you would +like to see the fun, Frau Pastorin, or the Herr Pastor, you can come in +behind me, for Habermann says he shall make thorough work of the +business, and he has been after them three times already."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thank you very much for the proposal," said the Frau Pastorin; "I have +had amusement enough already, from this affair. Can you keep a secret, +Bräsig?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Like a sieve, with a hole in it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No; jesting aside, can you be silent?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Utterly," said Bräsig, striking his hand over his mouth.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, then listen," said the Frau Pastorin, and told him what she +knew.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why, he really is a stupid fellow, then, your Herr Nephew!" said +Bräsig, and Frau Pastorin read him the letter.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But, Frau Pastorin, how did this stupid fellow get such a command of +language? He is stupid, to be sure, but his writing is not so stupid, +he writes like a poet." And when Frau Pastorin read about the dragon, +Bräsig laughed merrily: "He means you, Frau Pastorin."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know that," said she shortly, "but the horned beast here, in the +third letter, means you; and we have nothing to hold us back. The thing +to be done is simply this; let me get hold of the fellow, and I will +wash his head for him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are right, and nothing is easier. You see, we two, you and I, will +hide here in the garden, about eight o'clock; at half past eight, take +Louise, and seat her in the water-ditch, and you shall see, he will +come, like a bear after honey, and when he has began to lick it, we two +will break loose and catch him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, you are not very cunning, Bräsig. If I am to tie the business to +the big bell, I don't need your assistance, It would be a great pity +for Louise to have anything to do with it; Habermann too, and even my +Pastor himself need know nothing of the matter."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hm, hm!" said Bräsig, "then--then--hold! I have it; Frau Pastorin you +must make yourself as thin as possible, and put on Louise's dress, and +go to the rendezvous, and when he comes, and sits down by you, and +begins to caress you, you must catch him, so, by the throat, and hold +on until I come;" and with that he laid hold of the Frau Pastorin's +nearest hand, to illustrate his remarks.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are imprudent, Bräsig."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, you say so, Frau Pastorin; but if he doesn't see his dearest +sitting in the ditch, he won't come down, and if we don't take him +unawares, we may whistle for him, for he is a confoundedly long-legged, +thin-ribbed hound, and we can never chase after him with our short legs +and our corpulence."</p> + +<p class="normal">That was true, to be sure; but no! should she go to a rendezvous? +Bräsig was going quite too far, and, besides, how could she get +Louise's clothes? But Bräsig was not dismayed, he represented to her +that it was merely an interview with her own nephew, and that, if she +sat on the edge of the ditch, she need only wear Louise's shawl, and +her Italian straw hat: "But you must keep sitting, for, if you should +stand up, he will see in a minute that you are a foot shorter than +Louise, and that you are a foot larger round the waist."</p> + +<p class="normal">Finally,--finally, the Frau Pastorin let herself be persuaded, and as +she went out about eight o'clock that evening, through the back door, +dressed in Louise's hat and shawl, the Herr Pastor, who stood at the +window, in deep thought over his sermon, said to himself, "Good +heavens! where is Regina going, with Louise's hat and shawl? And there +comes Bräsig, out of the arbor. Well, he will come in, if he wants to +see me; but it is very singular!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The Frau Pastorin went along the garden walk with Bräsig prepared for +any emergency, opened the garden gate, and went through it alone, while +Bräsig remained in the garden, and ensconced himself behind the fence.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bräsig," said she, as the thought occurred to her, "you will be too +far off here; come down with me to the ditch, for when I have caught +him, I must have you close by."</p> + +<p class="normal">"All right!" said Bräsig, and followed het down to the ditch.</p> + +<p class="normal">Such a ditch, as this water-ditch was, is not often seen now-a-days; +for out modern system of drains has made them unnecessary; but every +old farmer remembers them, how they were dug through a field, sixteen +or twenty feet from bank to bank, but narrow at the bottom, bordered +right and left with thorn-bushes, nearly always dry, only in spring and +fall there was perhaps a foot and a half of water; and occasionally in +summer also, after a heavy rain. This was the case at present.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bräsig," said the little Frau Pastorin, "lie down behind that bush, +close by me, so that you can come quickly to my help."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why not? all right," said Bräsig. "But, Frau Pastorin, you must think +up some catch-word, upon which I shall break loose."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, surely. Yes, that is necessary; but what? Wait a moment! when I +cry, 'The Philistines be upon thee,' then you must spring out."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good, Frau Pastorin."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good heavens!" said she to herself, "I seem to myself like a Delilah +indeed. Seated at a rendezvous, at half past eight in the evening! At +my time of life! How scandalized I should have been when I was a young +girl, at the thought of such a thing, and to be doing it now in my old +age! Bräsig! Don't sneeze so dreadfully! One might hear you a quarter +of a mile off. And all this for that boy, for that miserable boy! God +bless me, if my Pastor knew! Bräsig, what are you laughing at? I forbid +you to laugh!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am not laughing, Frau Pastorin."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, you were laughing: I distinctly heard you laugh."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I was merely yawning a little from weariness, Frau Pastorin."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And can you yawn, over such a matter as this? I am ready to fly, hand +and foot. Ah, you miserable scamp! What have you made of me! And I can +tell nobody, I must fight it out alone. Bräsig is a real godsend."</p> + +<p class="normal">By and by Bräsig spoke--in a whisper to be sure, but one could hear it +as distinctly as the cry of the quail in the distance:--"Frau Pastorin, +make yourself as long as Lewerenz's child, and as thin as possible, and +put on a lovely, shamefaced mien, for he is coming over the hill, I can +see him against the evening sky."</p> + +<p class="normal">And the little Frau Pastorin's heart throbbed, and her wrath rose high +against the youth, and she glowed with shame at her own situation, and +now she would certainly have run away, if Bräsig had not laughed again; +but that provoked her, and she meant to show him that she was in +earnest.</p> + +<p class="normal">This time, Bräsig really did laugh, for, behind the first dark figure +that came over the hill he saw a second, and behind the second a third, +and he chuckled to himself, behind his thorn-bush: "So! There is Karl +Habermann, too; and now the whole inspectorship of Pumpelhagen is on +foot, probably out to see how the peas look in the evening. This looks +like a comedy!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The Frau Pastorin did not see the others, she saw merely her precious +nephew, who came straight towards her. Now he ran across the bridge, +now he ran along the bank of the ditch, now he sprang forward a couple +of feet, and clasped his dear aunt about the waist: "Beloved angel!" +"Wait, you rascal!" cried she in reply, and with the grip which Bräsig +had taught her she seized him, not exactly by the throat, but by the +coat-collar, and cried with a clear voice, "The Philistines be upon +thee!" and Bräsig, the Philistine, scrambled up. Oh, thunder! his foot +was asleep! but no matter! He hopped on one leg along the ditch, and +almost sprang upon Fritz; but the overtasked leg failed under the +weight of the hundred and eighty pounds it dragged after it; Bräsig +fell backwards into a thorn-bush, lost his balance, and tumbled, a lump +of misfortune, into the foot and a half of ditch-water.</p> + +<p class="normal">There he sat, for a moment, stiff and stark, as if he were at the +water-cure, taking a sitz-bath. Fritz, also, stood stiff and stark, and +felt as if he were taking a bath, but a shower-bath: he stood fairly +under the stream of his aunt's indignant reproaches, which rushed and +roared about his ears, ever ending with the words: "The dragon has you +now, my son! The dragon has you now!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"And here comes the horned beast!" growled Bräsig, who had scrambled +out of the ditch, and was close upon them. But Fritz had come to +himself by this time; he broke loose from his aunt, and would have +escaped, if a new enemy had not come upon him, from across the ditch. +This was Franz, and it was not long before Habermann also was there, +and the little Frau Pastorin had scarcely recovered from this shock, +when her Pastor stood before her, asking, "For heaven's sake, Regina, +what does all this mean?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The little Frau Pastorin was at the last extremity; but Bräsig was not +quite so far gone, although he felt as if he were changed into running +waters, and on the point of dissolving. "Infamous greyhound!" cried he, +giving Fritz a couple of digs under the ribs, "must I go and get my +cursed Podagra again, on your account? But they shall all know what a +confounded Jesuit you are. Habermann, he----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"For heaven's sake!" cried the Frau Pastorin, catching breath again, in +the gathering storm, and springing between them,--"don't any of you +listen to Bräsig! Habermann, Herr von Rambow, I beg of you! just go +quietly home, the business is over, it is all over, and what isn't +finished, my Pastor will attend to; it is a family affair, merely a +family affair. Isn't it so, Fritz, my son? It is just a family affair, +that concerns only us two. But now come, my son! We will tell my Pastor +all about it. Good-night, Herr von Rambow! Good-night, Habermann. Fritz +shall come back to you soon. Come, Bräsig, we must get you to bed +immediately."</p> + +<p class="normal">And so she dispersed the company. The two who were not to be +enlightened went off homewards, each by himself, shaking their heads; +Habermann annoyed at the inexplicable behavior of his two young people, +and that he could not penetrate its secret; Franz more than suspicious +of the whole concern, for he had clearly recognized Louise's hat and +shawl, in the half-twilight, and Louise must have some connection with +the affair though he could make no sense of it.</p> + +<p class="normal">Fritz, quite abashed, followed the Pastor and the Frau Pastorin, while +the latter, in shame and sorrow, related the whole story. The +procession drew near to the parsonage, and the evil-doer had so far +recovered his courage, that he showed signs of running away; but Bräsig +stuck so close to his side that he was compelled to yield outwardly; +but he raged inwardly all the more, and when Bräsig asked the Frau +Pastorin, who it was that had come so opportunely to their aid, and she +mentioned the name of Franz, Fritz stood still, and shook his fist over +the peas, in the direction of Pumpelhagen, and exclaimed, "I have been +betrayed, and it shall be avenged, the Junker shall pay for it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Boy!" cried the Frau Pastorin, "will you hold your foolish tongue?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Softly, Regina!" said the Pastor, who was getting a tolerable idea of +the matter, "go in and see that Bräsig is put to bed; I will have a few +words with Fritz."</p> + +<p class="normal">She complied with his request, and as much reason as Fritz was capable +of taking in was then, in all kindness, administered by the old Herr +Pastor; but one can pour only so much clear wine into a full cask, as +the working off of the froth and scum leaves room for, and while the +Pastor gently poured in, Fritz was foaming out of the bung-hole: his +own relations had conspired against his happiness, and thought more of +the rich Junker than of their own sister's child.</p> + +<p class="normal">Much the same thing was going on inside the house; only the cask, +before which the Frau Pastorin stood, neither foamed nor dripped; this +was Uncle Bräsig, who would not be put to bed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I couldn't do it, Frau Pastorin," said he; "that is to say, I could, +to be sure, but I oughtn't, for I must go to Rexow. Frau Nüssler has +written me orders to report myself at Rexow."</p> + +<p class="normal">The same spirit and leaven which worked in Fritz sending off froth and +scum not of the purest, fermented slowly but strongly in old Bräsig, +although the old cask had stood long in the cellar, and had become +seasoned; and when he at last, out of respect for the Frau Pastorin and +the Frau Podagra, suffered himself to be persuaded into bed, his +thoughts turned the same corner which those of Fritz were turning, as +going through the pease-field, back of the Pastor's garden, he stamped +for the second time his heroic resolutions into the earth: "He would +renounce her! Renounce her! But the devil take the confounded Junker!"</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">The next morning--it was Sunday morning--Bräsig awoke, and lay +stretching himself in the soft bed--"A pleasure," he said to himself, +which I have never allowed myself before, but which is very agreeable. +However, it is mainly from the novelty of the thing; one would soon get +tired of it; "and he was on the point of getting up, when Frau +Pastorin's maid-servant whisked in at the door, seized his clothes with +one grasp, and ran off with them, leaving in their place a black coat +and black trousers, and a black vest, lying on the chair.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ho, ho!" laughed he, looking at the black suit. "It is Sunday, and +this is the parsonage; can it be possible they think I am going to +preach to-day?" He lifted one garment after another, and said, at last, +"Now I understand! It is only because of the ditch yesterday; because +my own clothes are so wet and dirty, I must make myself comfortable in +the Herr Pastor's. Well, here goes!"</p> + +<p class="normal">But it didn't go quite so easily, and as for being comfortable that was +out of the question. The clothes were long enough, to be sure, but as +for breadth, he found close quarters in the Herr Pastor's trousers, it +was utterly impossible to button the lower buttons of the vest, and +when he put on the coat, it cramped him dreadfully between the +shoulder-blades, and his arms stood out from his body, as if he were +ready on this Sunday morning, to press the whole world to his honest +heart.</p> + +<p class="normal">So he went down stairs to the Frau Pastor in, his legs turned outward, +as was his usual manner of walking since he had been pensioned; but his +arms also were turned outward now, and the Frau Pastorin had to laugh +heartily; but retreated behind the breakfast table, as Bräsig came +towards her, with open arms, as if she were to be the first subject of +the world-embrace.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't come near me, Bräsig!" cried she '"If I had dreamed that you +would cut such a ridiculous figure in my good, old Pastor's clothes, +you should have stayed in bed till noon, for it will be as late as that +before yours are washed and dried."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ho, ho!" laughed Bräsig, "was that the reason? And I was flattering +myself that you sent me the Pastor's clothes that I might be more +pleasing in your eyes at our rendezvous this morning."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Just listen to me, Bräsig!" said the Frau Pastorin, with a face red as +fire. "I will have no such joking as that! And if you go round in the +neighborhood--you have nothing else to do now, but carry stories from +one to another--and tell about last evening, and that confounded +rendezvous, I'll have nothing more to say to you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Frau Pastorin, what do you take me for?" cried Bräsig, advancing upon +her again, with outspread arms, so that she took refuge a second time +behind the table. "You need not be afraid of me, I am no Jesuit."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, Bräsig, you are an old heathen, but you are no Jesuit. But you +must tell something. Oh, dear! Habermann must know, my Pastor says so +himself. But when he asks you about it, you can leave me out of the +story. Only think, if the Pomuchelskopps should get hold of it, I +should be the most miserable woman in the world. Oh, heaven help us! +And I did it only in the kindness of my heart, for that innocent child, +Bräsig. I have sacrificed myself for her."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That you have, Frau Pastorin," said Bräsig, earnestly, "and therefore +don't worry yourself about it the least in the world; for, you see, +if Karl Habermann asks me what we were doing there, then I can +say--then--then I will say you had appointed a rendezvous with myself."</p> + +<p class="normal">"With you? For shame, Bräsig!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now, Frau Pastorin, am I not as good as that greyhound? And surely our +years are more suited to each other!" And with that Bräsig looked up as +innocently, as if he had thought of the best excuse in the world. The +Frau Pastorin looked keenly in his honest face, and folded her hands +thoughtfully on her lap, and said, "Bräsig, I will trust you. But, +Bräsig, dear Bräsig, manage it as quietly as you can. And now come, sit +down, and drink a cup of coffee." And she grasped one of his stiff +arms, and turned him round to the table, as a miller turns about a +windmill to the wind.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good!" said Bräsig, taking the cup, which he held out with his +stiff arm as if he were a sleight-of-hand performer, and the cup a +hundred-pound weight, and he was holding it before an appreciative +public in the open air; he tried to seat himself also; but as he bent +his knees something cracked, and he sprang up,--whether it was the +Pastor's chair, or the Pastor's trousers, he did not know; but he drank +his coffee standing, and said, "It was just as well; he could not wait +long, for he must go to Rexow, to Frau Nüssler."</p> + +<p class="normal">All the Frau Pastorin's entreaties that he would wait till his own +clothes were dried were of no avail; Frau Nüssler's least wish was for +him a command, registered in the memorandum book of his conscience, and +so he sailed off,--the long, black flaps of the priestly garment flying +behind him in the summer morning,--toward Pumpelhagen and Rexow, slowly +and heavily, like the crows we used to catch, when I was a boy, and +then let fly again.</p> + +<p class="normal">He came to Pumpelhagen, and there he was accosted by Habermann, who saw +him over the garden fence. "Good heavens, Zachary, how you look!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"The result of circumstances, Karl! You know I fell into the mud, last +night,--but I haven't time, I must go to your sister."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bräsig, my sister's business can afford to wait better than mine, I +have noticed for some time, there has been a great deal going on behind +my back, which I was to know nothing of. That wasn't so much; but, +since last night, I am sure that the Herr Pastor and the Frau Pastorin +know all about the matter, and if they are keeping anything from me, I +know it can be merely out of kindness."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are right, Karl; it is out of kindness," interrupted Bräsig.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am sure of it, Bräsig, and I am not disposed to be suspicious, but +for some time it has lain heavy on my heart that this is a matter which +concerns me very nearly. What did you have to do with the business last +evening?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I, Karl? I only had a rendezvous with the Frau Pastorin, in the +water-ditch."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What did the Herr Pastor have to do with it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Karl, we did not know anything about it, he surprised us."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What had the Herr von Rambow to do with it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He caught your greyhound by the collar, because I had tumbled into the +ditch."</p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>What had Fritz Triddelsitz to do with the business?</i>" asked Habermann +with terrible emphasis. "And what had Louise's hat and shawl to do with +it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Only this Karl, that they didn't fit the Frau Pastorin at all well, +because she is much too large for them."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Zachary," said Habermann, reaching his hand over the fence, "these are +merely evasions. <i>Will</i> you not tell me,--and we such old friends,--or +<i>dare</i> you not tell me?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Karl--the devil take the whole rendezvous business, and the Frau +Pastorin's worry besides!" cried Bräsig, and grasped Habermann's hand +across the fence, and shook it in the tall nettles that grew by the +fence, until both were stung, and drew back. "Karl, I will tell you. +The Pastor will tell you himself--why shouldn't I? Your Fritz +Triddelsitz, the cursed greyhound, loved you, doubtless because you +have been like a father to him, and now his love has gone on to Louise, +for love always goes on, for instance, mine for your sister and +Mining."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bräsig, speak seriously."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Am I not speaking seriously, when I speak of your sister and Mining?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know that," said Habermann, reaching after Bräsig's hand again, in +spite of the nettles, "but what had Franz to do with it all?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"For all I know, he may love you too, for your fatherly kindness, and +for all I know, his love may have gone on to your daughter."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That would be a misfortune!" cried Habermann, "a great misfortune! To +put that right again, is more than I can do; the Lord himself must help +us!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I don't know about that, Karl: he has two estates----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not a word, Zachary: come in, and tell me all you know."</p> + +<p class="normal">And when Bräsig had told all that he knew, and was again under way, and +steering toward Rexow, Habermann stood looking after him and talking to +himself: "He is a good fellow, his heart is in the right place; and, if +I found it was really so, I should like it right well,--but--but----" +He did not mean Bräsig this time, however, he meant Franz.</p> + +<p class="normal">On this Sunday morning young Jochen was sitting, about breakfast time, +in his usual chimney-corner, and in his arm-chair. Lining and Mining +had spread the table for breakfast, and had brought in the dishes of +ham, and sausage, and bread, and butter, and when all stood ready on +the table, Frau Nüssler herself came in, and set down a platter of hot +scrambled eggs, saying: "There, Jochen, don't let it get cold!" and +went out again, to see about some thing or other.</p> + +<p class="normal">The eggs were still crackling in the dish,--they were really +splendid--but young Jochen did not stir. Whether it was, that he had +not yet smoked out his pipe, and wanted to finish it, or that he was +lost in thought over two letters, which were lying in his lap, he did +not stir, and his eyes remained fastened upon one particular spot. And +on this spot, under the stove, close by him, lay young Bauschan, +looking at his master. Young Bauschan was the latest new-comer of the +whole Bauschan race, which had been brought up and weaned in the house, +since old Jochen's time; when one spoke <i>to</i> him he was called +"Bauschan," but when one spoke <i>of</i> him, he was called the +"Thronfolger" (crown-prince,) not on his own account, but on Jochen's +account, because, so far as anybody could recollect, this was the only +joke he had ever perpetrated.</p> + +<p class="normal">So, as I said before, these two young people, young Jochen and young +Bauschan, sat and looked at each other, each thinking his own thoughts; +young Jochen's suggested by his letters, and young Bauschan's by the +savory smell which came to his nose. Jochen did not move, but the +crown-prince stroked himself with his paw over his thoughtful face, his +nose grew sharper, and the nostrils quivered, he crept out from under +the stove, put on a courteous mien, and made his compliments to young +Jochen with his tail. Young Jochen took no notice, and young Bauschan +inferring that everything was in its usual condition, went nearer to +the table, looked round sideways, more after Frau Nüssler than for +young Jochen, then laid his head against the table and indulged in +blessed hopes, as young folks will. Hope kept him quiet for a +time, but--one really needs something more substantial, for one's +stomach,--the crown-prince returned to put his two paws--merely the +fore paws--in a chair, and bring himself a little nearer. His nose came +directly over the dish containing the red bacon, and--now, young +folks--Bauschan snapped at it, exactly as we should in our youthful +days, when a pair of red lips smiled up to us; and--just like us--he +was frightened, in an instant, at his wickedness, and crept away, +but--that I should have to say it! with the bacon in his teeth.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bauschan!" cried young Jochen, as impressively as the mother, who +keeps guard over the red lips; but for all that, he did not move; +meanwhile Bauschan--whether that as crown-prince he believed himself +possessed of a species of regal right over all the red lips in his +realm, or that he was so spoiled that even such a sweet, clandestine +titbit made no impression upon him--looked Jochen boldly in the face, +licked his chops, and hankered for more. Jochen looked him right in the +eye, but did not stir, and after a little while Bauschan got up again +on a chair, this time with his hind legs, and ate up a plate full of +sausage. "Bauschan!" cried Jochen. "Mining, Bauschan is eating up the +sausage!" but he didn't stir. The crown-prince bestirred himself, +however, and when he had made way with the sausage, he addressed +himself to his chief dainty, the dish of scrambled eggs. "Mother, +mother!" cried young Jochen, "he is eating up the eggs!" But young +Bauschan had burned his moist nose against the hot dish, he started +back, upset the platter, knocked the Kümmel bottle over with his tail, +and disordered the whole table, young Jochen never stirring the while, +only calling from his corner, "Mother, mother! The confounded dog! he +is eating up our eggs!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What are you roaring about, young Jochen, in your own house;" cried +one, who just then entered the door, but it was such a singular figure, +that Jochen was frightened. He let his pipe fall from his mouth, in his +terror, put out both hands before him, and cried, "All good spirits +praise the Lord! Herr Pastor, is it you, or, Bräsig, is it you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Yes, it was Bräsig, at least one who looked at him near enough, and had +time to consider, would recognize the yellow-topped boots as belonging +to an inspector's uniform, but Jochen had no time to consider, for the +figure which entered the door at once perceived Bauschan's misdeeds, +and ran into every corner of the room, in search of a stout stick for +the crown prince's back, and behind him fluttered in the air two long, +long black coattails, like the wings of a dragon, and out of the high +black coat-collar, and under the high black hat, which had slipped down +half over his eyes, shone a red, angry face, as if a chimney-sweep had +taken a glowing coal in his mouth, to frighten the children. Young +Jochen was no longer a child, to be sure, but yet he was frightened, he +had started up, and held on with both hands to the arms of his chair, +and exclaimed alternately, "Herr Pastor! Bräsig! Bräsig! Herr Pastor!" +and the crown-prince, who was still in his childhood, was terribly +frightened, he also ran into all the comers, and howled, and could not +get out of the room, for the door was shut, and when the black figure +beat him with the yellow stick--necessity works wonders--he sprang +through the window sash, and took half the glass along with him.</p> + +<p class="normal">This made uproar enough to raise the dead, why, then, should not Frau +Nüssler hear it in the kitchen? and, just as she opened the door, +Bräsig was shoving up his hat with one hand, and pointing with the +other, still holding the stick, to the broken window, while he uttered +the remarkable words, "You can thank nobody but yourself, young Jochen! +For what does the dumb creature of a crown-prince understand? All the +beautiful Kümmel!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good heavens!" cried Frau Nüssler, coming in. "What is all this, +Jochen? Bless me, Bräsig, how you look!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Mother," said young Jochen, "the dog and Bräsig--what can I do about +it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"For shame, young Jochen," cried Bräsig, going up and down the room +with great strides, his long coat-tails almost dipping in the Kümmel, +"who is master of this house, you, or young Bauschan?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"But, Bräsig, why in the world are you dressed so horribly?" asked Frau +Nüssler.</p> + +<p class="normal">"So?" said Bräsig, looking at her with great eyes, "suppose you had +gone to a rendezvous with the Frau Pastorin, last night, and tumbled +into the ditch, so that your clothes were all damp and muddy, this +morning? And suppose you got a letter, that you must come here to +Rexow, to a family council? And what was I to do? Is it my fault that +the Herr Pastor is tall as Lenerenz's child, and as thin as a shadow, +and that his head is so much bigger than mine? Why did the Frau +Pastorin rig me out in his uniform this morning, so that all the old +peasants going to church called out to me, from a distance, 'Good +morning, Herr Pastor!' but that I might come here, out of pure +kindness, to your family council?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bräsig," said young Jochen, "I swear to you----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't swear, young Jochen! You will swear yourself into hell. Do you +call this a family council, with all the Kümmel running about the room, +and I in the Pastor's clothes, to be made a laughing-stock of?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bräsig, Bräsig," exclaimed Frau Nüssler, who scarcely knew her old +friend in his anger, and who had been picking up the broken fragments +and setting the table-cloth straight, "don't mind such a trifle! Sit +down, it is all right again, now."</p> + +<p class="normal">Under Frau Nüssler's friendly words, Bräsig quieted down, and allowed +himself to be seated at the breakfast-table, only growling to himself, +"The devil knows, young Jochen, I have always lived in the hope that +you would grow a little wiser with years, but, I see well, what is dyed +in the wool will never wash out. Meanwhile though--what is the matter +here?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said Frau Nüssler--"Yes," said Jochen also, and his wife was +silent, for she thought Jochen was really going to say something; he +said nothing, however, but "It is all as true as leather." So Frau +Nüssler began again: "Yes, there is Rector Baldrian's Gottlieb, +Jochen's sister's son, a right good fellow, and well-educated, and has +studied his Articles as a Candidate--you have seen him here a great +many times."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," nodded Bräsig, "a right nice young fellow, a sort of Pietist, +combed his hair behind his ears, and instructed me that I did wrong to +go fishing Sunday morning."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, that is the one. And he has got through with his schooling, and +the Rector wants us to take him here, for a while, till he studies some +last things into his head, and we wanted to ask you what we should do +about it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why not? The Pietists are quiet people, their only peculiarity is +their love of instructing; and you, Frau Nüssler, are likely to give +them opportunity for it, and young Jochen, too,--God be praised!--since +he will not allow himself to be instructed by Bauschan and me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, that is well enough, Bräsig, but there is something else; there +is Kurz's Rudolph, he has studied for the ministry, too, and he also is +Jochen's nephew; he heard that the other wanted to come here, and he +wrote yesterday, saying he had wasted his time dreadfully at Rostock, +and he would come here to Rexow, and review what was necessary. Just +think of it! there in Rostock he has all the learned professors, and +here at Rexow only Jochen and me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, I know him," cried Bräsig, "he is an exceedingly fine fellow! When +he was first beginning to study, he caught me half a dozen perch out of +the Black Pool; the very smallest weighed a good pound and a half."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh! How you remember everything! And he was the one who got Mining, +when she had climbed up on the ladder to the old stork's nest, and +stood there clapping her hands for joy, and we down below frightened +out of our wits, and he brought her down, safe and sound. Yes, he is +bright enough about such matters, but not so good at his books, and +Rector Baldrian says, there at Rostock he is always getting into +fights. Just think, they fought with bare swords, and he was in the +midst of it all, and it was all on account of a rich merchant's pretty +daughter."</p> + +<p class="normal">"May you keep the nose on your face!" cried Bräsig. "In a real, regular +fight, and about a pretty merchant's daughter! Well, young Jochen, all +the troubles come from the women!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Bräsig, you may well say so; but what shall we do about it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why, where is there any difficulty? If you don't want the two young +ecclesiastics, write and say so, and if you do want them to come, write +and say so; you have room enough, and plenty to eat and drink, only +look out for the expenses for the books, for those make fearful holes +in the pocket. And if you wish to take only one, take the fighter, for +I, for my part, would much rather fight with the one, than be +instructed by the other."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Bräsig, that is all very well," said Frau Nüssler, "but we have +already written to Gottlieb Baldrian, and now we cannot refuse to take +Rudolph, without affronting the Kurzes."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No? Well, then, take both."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Bräsig, it is easy to say so; but our two little girls--they have +just been confirmed--there, Jochen, you tell him!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And Jochen really began to speak: "It is all as true as leather,--you +see, Bräsig. Mining is just like--you know all about it--educated just +like a governess, and my old mother used to say, a governess and a +candidate in the same house--that would never do."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ho, ho! Young Jochen! Now I understand you. You are afraid of +love-affairs. But that little rogue and love-affairs!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, Bräsig," said Frau Nüssler, hastily, "it is not so improbable! +I, as a mother, should know that. Why, I was not so old as they are, +when----" Frau Nüssler stopped suddenly, for Bräsig had pulled a +terribly long face, and was looking very keenly in her eyes. +Fortunately, Young Jochen took up the conversation, and said; +"Bräsig,--mother, fill Bräsig's glass,--Bräsig, you can understand +something about it, and now, what ought we, as parents, to do?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let them alone, young Jochen! Why has the Lord put young people into +the world, and what else have they to do but make love to each other? +But that little rogue!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are jesting, Bräsig," interrupted Frau Nüssler. "You ought not to +talk so about such a serious matter, for out of a smooth egg many times +crawls a basilisk."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let him crawl," cried Bräsig.</p> + +<p class="normal">"So?" asked Frau Nüssler. "Do you say so? But I say otherwise. Jochen +is not accustomed to trouble himself about such things; for all he +cares, every one of our servant-maids might fall in love. Idle about, +and get married; and I--God bless me! I have both hands full of work, +and enough to find fault with before my eyes, without looking after +what goes on behind my back."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What am I for, then?" asked Bräsig.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, you!" said Frau Nüssler, off hand, "you have no experience in such +matters."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What!" exclaimed Bräsig. "I, who once had three sweethearts----" He +went no further, for Frau Nüssler put on a long face, and looked at him +with so much curiosity, that he covered his embarrassment by drinking +the Kümmel in his glass.</p> + +<p class="normal">"A miserable piece of business!" he cried, standing up, "and who is to +blame for it all? Young Jochen!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh, Bräsig, what have I to do with it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You let the crown-prince eat up the breakfast, under your very nose, +and take two ministerial candidates into your house, and don't know +what to do about it! But, never mind, Frau Nüssler, take the two young +fellows in, and don't be afraid. I will look after the little rogue, +and the two confounded rascals shall catch thunder and lightning. The +fighter, the duel-fighter--I will take care of him; but you must keep +an eye on the proselyter; they are the slyest."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, we can't do otherwise," said Frau Nüssler, also rising.</p> + +<p class="normal">And at Michaelmas the two clerical recruits arrived at head-quarters, +and Franz went away to the agricultural college at Eldena, and as he +went out of the Pastor's garden, there looked after him, over the +fence, in the same place where Fritz had sat, with his bread and butter +and his beer-bottle, a dear, beautiful face, and the face looked like a +silken, rose-red purse, out of which the last groschen had been given +for a dear friend.</p> + +<p class="normal">When Louise came back into the parlor, in the twilight, that evening, +the Frau Pastor in took the lovely girl upon her lap, and kissed +the sweet mouth, and pressed the pure heart to her own. Well the +women-folks can't help doing such things!</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER XIV.</h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">The evening before St. John's day, 1843, David Däsel's oldest boy was +sitting with Johann Degel's youngest girl, in the pleasure-garden at +Pumpelhagen, enjoying the moonlight, and Fika Degel said to Krischan +Däsel, "Say, did you see her, that time, when you took the horses to +the young Herr?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"To be sure I saw her; he took me into the parlor, and shewed her to +me, and said, 'See, this is your gracious lady!' and she filled me a +glass, that I should drink there."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What does she look like?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well," said Krischan, "it is hard to describe her; let me see, she is +about your size, and has such light hair as yours, and just such a pink +and white face, and she has grey eyes also, as you have, and just such +a little, old, sweet, pouting mouth," and with that, he pressed a +hearty kiss on the red lips.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Gracious, Krischan!" cried Fika, freeing herself from his arm, "then +does she look just like me?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Child, have you no more sense than that?" said Krischan. "No, don't +flatter yourself to that extent! You see, that sort of people have +always a something about them, quite different from our sort. The +gracious lady might sit here with me, till she were frozen to death in +midsummer, it would never come into my head to give her a kiss."</p> + +<p class="normal">"So?" said Fika Degel, standing up, and tossing her pretty head, "then +you think I am good enough for you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Fika," said Krischan, throwing his arm round her again, though she +made a show of resistance, "that sort are too slender-waisted, and have +too weak bones for us, if I should hug her as I do you, I should always +be afraid of dislocating her spine, or knocking her down. No," said he, +stroking her soft hair, "like must mate with like." And as they +separated, Fika was quite gracious again towards her Krischan, and +looked as friendly as if she were his gracious lady.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, I shall see you to-morrow," said she, "I am going to help the +girls tie wreaths, in the morning."</p> + +<p class="normal">And so she did. Yes, they were tying wreaths in Pumpelhagen, and a +great gate of honor was constructed, and while Habermann was overseeing +the preparations, and Marie Möller was running hither and thither, with +greens and flowers, and Fritz Triddelsitz, as a volunteer of the first +class, in his green hunting-jacket, and white leather breeches, and +yellow top-boots, and a blood-red neck-handkerchief, strutted about +among the farm-boys and day-laborers, there arrived upon the scene +Uncle Bräsig also, neat as wax, in light-blue, tight summer trousers, +and a brown dress-coat, of unknown antiquity, which covered his back +very well, down to the calves, but in front he looked as if the +lightning had struck him, and torn off his brown bark, leaving exposed +a long strip of yellow wood, for he wore under it a fine, yellow piqué +vest. On his head he had, of course, a silk hat, three-quarters of an +ell high.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good morning, Karl! How are you getting on? Ha, ha! There stands +already the whole concern. Fine, Karl! The arch should be a little +higher, though, and right and left you should have a couple of towers; +I have seen them so in old Friedrich Franz's time, at Gustrow, when he +came home in triumph. But where is your flag?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Flag?" said Habermann, "we have none."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Karl, bethink yourself! How can you celebrate without a flag? The Herr +Lieutenant is a military character, of course he must have a flag. +Möller!" he went on, without hesitation, "go into the house, and bring +me out two sheets, and sew them together lengthways; Krischan Päsel, +bring me a nice, smooth, straight beanpole; and you, Triddelsitz, get +me the brush that you mark bags with, and an inkstand!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What under heaven are you going to do, Zachary," said Habermann, +shaking his head.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Karl," said Bräsig, "it is a mercy he was in the Prussian army, if he +had been in the Mecklenburg, we couldn't have got the colors; but the +Prussian--black ink, white linen, and there are your colors!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Habermann would have entered a protest, but he thought: "Well, let him +work, the young Herr will understand that it is all meant well."</p> + +<p class="normal">So Bräsig worked away, and painted a great "Vivat!!!" with the brush. +"Hold it tight!" he cried to Marie Möller, and Fritz Triddelsitz, whom +he had pressed into the service as assistants, "so that the 'Herr +Lieutenant' and 'Frau Lieutenant' may come out nice and clear on the +flag!" for he had decided upon these words to put under the "Vivat," +instead of "A. von Rambow" and "F. von Satrup" which had been his first +thought: for these were merely a couple of names of the nobility, and +having lived among noblemen all his life he held them for nothing +remarkable; but he had not had so much to do with lieutenants, and +considered the title a very high one.</p> + +<p class="normal">When he had finished his flag, he ran up to fasten it on the highest +point of the manor-house, then puffed down stairs again, to see the +effect from outside, and placed himself at the door of the granary, and +then at the sheep-barn, but nowhere did it seem to satisfy him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It don't look right, Karl," said he, much annoyed; but, after a little +reflection, he placed himself before the green archway, and called out, +"Karl, what am I thinking of? <i>This</i> is the right spot, from which they +will perceive it!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"But, Bräsig," remonstrated Habermann, "it would cover our triumphal +arch entirely, and under the tall poplars there wouldn't be a breath of +air for the flag, and the two heavy old sheets would hang down on the +bean-pole like a great icicle."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'll make it all right, Karl," and Bräsig pulled out from his pocket a +long string, which he proceeded to fasten to the upper, outer end of +his flag. "Gust Kegel," he called to one of the swineherds, "are you a +good climber?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Herr Inspector," said Gust.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, my dear swine-marquis," said Bräsig, laughing at his own joke, +and all the men and boys and girls laughed with him, "just take this +end of the string, and climb into that poplar, and draw it tight." And +Gust did the business very skilfully, and drew the string tight and +hauled up the sail, as if all Pumpelhagen were making ready to sail off +and Bräsig stood by the bean-pole, as if he were standing by the mast +of his ship, an admiral commanding a whole fleet: "They may come now, +Karl, whenever they like; I am ready."</p> + +<p class="normal">But Fritz Triddelsitz was not ready yet, for he had appointed himself +commander of the land-forces, and wished to draw them up in military +array, by the sheep-barn, on one side the old day-laborers, and +the servants, and farm-boys, and on the other, the house-wives, +servant-maids and little girls. After much instruction, he had got his +breeches-company about half-drilled, but with the petticoat-company he +could do nothing at all. The house-wives' carried, instead of a weapon, +a baby each, upon the left arm, that little Jochen and Hinning might be +able to see too, and manœuvred with them in a highly irregular +manner; the maid-servants declined to recognize Fritz as their +commander, and Fika Degel called out to him that Mamselle Möller was +their corporal, and the light-troops of young girls skirmished behind +poplars and stonewalls, as if the enemy were in sight, and they in +danger of being taken prisoners. Fritz Triddelsitz struck fiercely at +his troops with his cane, which he carried as a staff of command, and +told them they were not worth their salt, and, going up to Habermann, +vowed he would have nothing more to do with the concern; but if +Habermann had no objections he would take his gray pony, and ride off +to see how soon the Herr lieutenant and his lady would arrive. +Habermann hesitated, mainly out of consideration for the old Gray; but +Bräsig whispered quite audibly, "Let him go, Karl, then we shall be rid +of the greyhound, and it will be much nicer."</p> + +<p class="normal">So Fritz rode off on the Gray, towards Gurlitz; but a new annoyance +intruded itself in Bräsig's plan, that was schoolmaster Strull, who +came marching up with the school-children, descendants of Asel and +£gel, with open psalm-books in their hands. The order which Fritz had +not been able to accomplish with an hour's training, Master Strull had +held for a whole year; he advanced his troops in two divisions, in the +first stood the Asels, whose singing could always be relied upon, in +the second, were the Egels, of whom he was--alas! but too well aware, +that each one had his own idea of time and melody.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Preserve us, Karl, what is all this?" asked Bräsig, as he saw the +schoolmaster approaching.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now, Zachary, Master Strull wishes to show honor to the young Herr, as +well as the rest of us, and why shouldn't the children have a chance to +show what they have learned?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Too ecclesiastical, Karl; altogether too ecclesiastical for a +lieutenant? Haven't you got a drum or a trumpet?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," laughed Habermann, "we don't keep that sort of agricultural +implement."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Very unfortunate," said Bräsig, "but hold! Krischan Däsel, come and +hold the flag a moment! It is all right, Karl," said he, as he went +off. But if Habermann had known what he had in his mind, he would have +called it all wrong. Bräsig beckoned the night-watchman, David Däsel, +to step aside, and asked him where his instrument was. David bethought +himself a little, and finally answered, "Here!" holding up his staff, +for Fritz Triddelsitz had ordered all the day-laborers to bring them +along, "that they might do the honors to the Herr Lieutenant," as he +said.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Blockhead!" cried Bräsig, "I mean your musical instrument."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You mean my horn? That is at home."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Can you play pieces on it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said David Däsel, he could play one.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well," said Bräsig, "bring your instrument, and come out behind the +cattle-stall, and I will hear you play."</p> + +<p class="normal">And when they were alone, David put the horn to his mouth, and blew, as +if the whole cattle-stall were in flames: "The Prussians have taken +Paris. Good times are coming now,--toot! toot!" for he was very +musical. "Hold!" said Bräsig, "you must blow quietly now, for I want to +give Habermann a pleasant surprise; by and by, when the lieutenant +comes, you can blow louder. And when the schoolmaster is through with +his ecclesiastical business, then keep watch of me; I will give you a +sign, when I wave the flag three times, then begin."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Herr Inspector; but the old watch-dog ought to be tied fast in +his kennel, for we are not on good terms of late, and whenever he sees +me with my horn, he flies at me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It shall be attended to," said Bräsig, and he went back with Däsel, to +the celebration, and grasped his flag-staff again, just at the right +moment, for Fritz Triddelsitz came riding over the hill, as fast as old +Gray could gallop: "They are coming! They're coming! They are in +Gurlitz already!"</p> + +<p class="normal">They were coming. Axel von Rambow and his lovely young wife rode slowly +on, in the lovely morning; the chaise-top was down, and Axel pointed +over the wide green fields, full of sunshine, to the cool shadows of +the Pumpelhagen park: "See, dearest Frida, this is our home." The words +were few, but much happiness lay in them, and much pride, that he was +in circumstances to spread a soft couch for the dearest one he had on +earth; if he had said it in a thousand words, she could not have +understood him more clearly. She felt the happiness and pride in his +heart, and a great wave of love and thankfulness broke over her own. +Everything about her was cool, and fresh, and clear; she was like a +cool brook, which, until now, had flowed under green, silent shadows, +aside from the highway, through hills and forests, and now springs +forth suddenly into golden sunshine, and sees in its own depths bright +pebbles and close-shut mussels, treasures of which it had never +dreamed, and bright little fish darting hither and yon, like wishes and +longings for working and waking, and green banks and flowers mirrored +in the clear water, like her joyous future life.</p> + +<p class="normal">And outwardly, she was cool, and fresh, and clear, and agreed in all +respects with Krischan Däsel's description; but if one had seen her at +this moment, as she looked over toward the Pumpelhagen garden, and back +again into her young husband's face, he would have seen the fresh +cheeks take on a deeper glow, and the clear light that shone from her +gray eyes, a softer, warmer radiance, as when the summer evening bends +over the bright world, and hushes it to sweet sleep with a cradle-song.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah," she cried, pressing his hand, "how beautiful it is here, at your +home! What rich fields! Only see, how stately the wheat stands! I have +never seen it so before."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said Axel, happy in her pleasure, "we have a rich country, much +richer than your region."</p> + +<p class="normal">He might have kept silence, now, and it would have been quite as well; +but she had touched unwittingly upon his favorite province, that of +agriculture, and he must needs show her that he knew something of it, +so he added: "But that must all be altered. We are lacking in +intelligence, we don't know how to make the most of our soil. See! +yonder there, over the hill, where the wheat is growing, that belongs +to Pumpelhagen, wait a couple of years, and we will have all sorts of +commercial products growing here, and bringing us three times the +profit." And he began to harvest his hemp and hops and oil-seeds, and +anise and cummin, and sprinkled among them, like an intelligent farmer, +lucerne and esparcet also, "to keep his cattle in good condition," and +while he was among the dyer's weeds, and selling his red madder, and +blue woad, and yellow weld for a good price, and well in the saddle on +his high horse, up shot a living example of all these bright colors, +close by the turn, on this side of Gurlitz, who was also on a high +horse, that is the gray pony. This was Fritz Triddelsitz, who went up +like a complete rainbow, and disappeared like a shooting star.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What was that?" cried Frida, and Axel called "Hallo! hallo!"</p> + +<p class="normal">But Fritz never looked round, he must carry tidings to the +gate-of-honor, and he had barely time, as he galloped through Gurlitz, +to call out to Pomuchelskopp, who stood in his door, "They are coming! +They will be in Gurlitz in five minutes!" and Pomuchelskopp called over +the garden fence, toward the arbor: "Come, Malchen and Salchen! It is +time now!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And Malchen and Salchen threw down the landscape paintings they were +embroidering, among the nettles by the arbor, and tied on their straw +hats, and fastened themselves one on each side, to Father +Pomuchelskopp's elbows, and Father Pomuchelskopp said, "Now don't look +round, for pity's sake, for it must appear as if we had just gone out +walking, for all I care, to see the beauties of nature."</p> + +<p class="normal">But misfortune was impending. As Muchel and his young ladies stepped +out of the door, and Axel rode slowly through the village, while his +young wife asked him "who was that lovely girl, who just greeted us?" +and he replied that it was Louise Habermann, his inspector's daughter, +and the house where she stood was the parsonage, the devil of +housekeeping possessed old Häuning to come out, in her white kerchief +and old black merino sacque,--for it still held together, and was +plenty good enough,--to feed the little turkeys with malt grains. When +she saw Pomuchelskopp walking off with his two daughters, she thought +it a great piece of impertinence for her Muchel to go off without her; +she wiped her hands on the old black merino, and hastened after, black +and white, stiff and straight, as if one of the old, mouldering +tombstones, in the church-yard near by, had taken a fancy to go walking +for pleasure.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Muchel!" she called after her husband.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't look round!" said Muchel, "it must all appear quite natural."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Kopp," she cried, "will you stop? shall I run myself out of breath for +you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"For all I care," said Pomuchelskopp angrily. "Don't look round, +children, I hear the carriage, it must seem quite off-hand."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But, father," said Salchen, "it is mother."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, mother here, and mother there!" cried Pomuchelskopp, downright +angry, "she will spoil the whole business! But, my dear children," he +added, upon a little reflection, "you need not tell mother I said so."</p> + +<p class="normal">And Klücking came puffing up: "Kopp!" but she had not time for fuller +expression of her feelings, for the carriage came opposite, and +Pomuchelskopp stood, bowing: "A-a-ah! Congratulations--best wishes, God +bless them!" and Malchen and Salchen courtesied, and Axel bade the +coachman stop, and said he was very happy to see his Herr Neighbor and +his family looking so well, and Muchel tugged secretly at the old black +sacque, to make Häuning courtesy also, but she stood stiff and +straight, puffing away, as if the reception was too warm to suit her, +and Frida sat there, very cool, as if the thing was not much to her +taste. And Muchel began to speak of the wonderful coincidence, that he +should have just started out walking with his two daughters, but he got +a poke from his Hänning's elbow, and heard a venomous whisper, "So your +wife is of no account, is she?" so that he lost the thread of his +discourse, and went rambling about in a distressed manner, until Axel +bade the coachmen drive on, saying he hoped to see Herr Pomuchelskopp +again soon.</p> + +<p class="normal">Pomuchelskopp stood in anguish, by the roadside, hanging his head, and +Malchen and Salchen took hold of his arms again, and instead of going +on naturally with their walk they went back to the house. Blind behind +him marched Hänning, and led him, with gentle reproaches, back to his +duty again; but he remembered this hour for a year and a day, and her +reproofs he never forgot while his life lasted.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Those seem very disagreeable people," said Frida, as they drove on.</p> + +<p class="normal">"They are, indeed," replied Axel, "but they are very rich."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Mere riches are a small recommendation," said Frida.</p> + +<p class="normal">"True, dear Frida, but the man is a large proprietor, and since they +are such near neighbors, we must keep up some intercourse with these +people."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do you really mean it, Axel?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Certainly," he replied.</p> + +<p class="normal">She sat a little while, reflecting, and then inquired, suddenly;--</p> + +<p class="normal">"What sort of man is the Pastor?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know very little of him, myself, but my father thought very highly +of him, and my inspector reveres him wonderfully. But," he added, after +a moment, "that is natural enough, the Pastor has brought up his only +daughter, since she was a little child."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, yes, that charming girl, at the door of the parsonage; but the +Pastor's wife must have had the most to do with that. Do you know her?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why yes,--that is to say, I have seen her,--she is a lively old lady."</p> + +<p class="normal">"They are certainly good people," said Frida, with decision.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dear Frida," said Axel, drawing himself up a little, "how you women +jump at conclusions! Because these people have brought up a strange +child, and--we will take it for granted that they have brought her up +well--you--" and he was going on, in his shallow wisdom, which he +called "knowledge of human nature,"--for it is an old story that those +who have come into the world as blind as young puppies, and have only +nine days' experience, are the very ones to pride themselves on their +"knowledge of human nature; "--but, unfortunately for the world, he had +no opportunity, for his Frida sprang up suddenly, crying,--</p> + +<p class="normal">"See, Axel, see! A flag, and a triumphal arch! The people mean to give +us a grand reception."</p> + +<p class="normal">And Degel, the coachman, looked round over his shoulder, with a grin of +delight: "Yes, gracious lady. I was not to speak of it; but now you can +see it for yourself, and it is a great pleasure. But I must drive +slowly, or else the horses will be frightened."</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER XV.</h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">And now they were come; and Habermann stepped up to the carriage, and +spoke a few words, which sprang from his heart to his lips, and the +clear eyes of the young wife shone on the white hair of the old man +like a sunbeam, full of friendly warmth, and before Axel noticed,--for +with his surprise and his interrupted discourse, he was not prepared +for the occasion,--she reached out her hand to him, and with the grasp +of the hand a friendship was settled, without a word, for each had +looked into the eyes of the other, and had read there clearness, truth +and confidence. And now Axel was ready with his hand, and Schoolmaster +Strull came forward with his Asels, and struck up a song of +"Thanksgiving for particular occasions," No. 545, out of the +Mecklenburg Psalm-book, "After a heavy thunderstorm," beginning, like a +sensible man, with the second verse, because it seemed to him +particularly appropriate,--</p> +<div class="poem"> +<p class="t0" style="text-indent:-6px +">"We praise Thy might, Oh Lord,"--</p> +</div> + +<p class="continue">and Bräsig was trying to wave the flag, but Gust Kegel held it fast.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let go of the string, you rascal!" cried Bräsig.</p> +<div class="poem"> +<p class="t0" style="text-indent:-6px +">"We know Thine anger's power,"</p> +</div> + +<p class="continue">sung the schoolmaster.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Boy, let go the string out of your hand!" screamed Bräsig again.</p> +<div class="poem"> +<p class="t0" style="text-indent:-6px +"> +"Protect us by Thy grace</p> +<p class="t1">In sorrow's gloomy hour,"--</p> +</div> + +<p class="continue">sung the schoolmaster.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Boy, when I get hold of you, I'll break every bone in your body!" +roared Bräsig.</p> +<div class="poem"> +<p class="t0" style="text-indent:-6px +">"They who rest within Thy arm,<br> +Shall be safe from every harm,"</p> +</div> + +<p class="continue">sang the schoolmaster.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr, it sticks fast in the poplar," cried the boy, and Bräsig tugged +at the flag, and brought down with it part of a branch, while the +schoolmaster sung,</p> +<div class="poem"> +<p class="t0" style="text-indent:-6px +">"How it roars and crashes!"</p> +</div> + +<p class="continue">and Fritz Triddlesitz ran for the dinner-bell, which hung in the +door-way, and played a storm, and Bräsig waved the flag, and the men +and women, and servants and maids, and boys and girls shouted "Vivat!" +and "Hurrah!" and David Däsel blew on his horn: "The Prussians have +taken Paris, good times are coming now, toot! toot! toot!" and it was +all so festive that no dog could help howling, and at the last "toot!" +out sprang the old watch-dog, which Gust Kegel had mischievously +unfastened, so that he might enjoy himself with the rest, and made +straight for David Däsel's legs, and the two brown coach-dogs also +began to sniff and howl in such a singular manner that it was really a +piece of good fortune that Degel the coachman had his reins well in +hand, and was prepared for emergencies.</p> + +<p class="normal">As it was, all passed off well, and the carriage soon arrived safely at +the manor-house, and Axel lifted out his lovely young bride. Inside the +house, there was the same preparation and adornment, with flowers and +greens, as outside, and among the wreaths and garlands, Marie Möller in +a new red jaconet dress, with a fiery red face, moved her fiery red +arms hither and thither, and when she had cooled off a little among the +greens, ran back into the kitchen, to the cooking stove, as if she were +a flatiron-heater, which must be kept constantly red-hot,--and when the +gracious young lady stepped across the threshold, she came towards her, +with her fiery arms outspread, as if she were a priestess of Moloch, +and placed a wreath of bright red roses on the young lady's head, and +then, falling back a couple of paces, and gesticulating with the fiery +arm, as if striking out brilliant flames, she repeated a verse, which +she had been learning for the last three months, under Bräsig's +tuition,--</p> +<div class="poem"> +<p class="t1" style="text-indent:-6px +">"Hail, beauteous lady, sweet and bright,</p> +<p class="t0">Accomplished, virtuous, wise and bland,</p> +<p class="t1">Deign to accept this offering slight,</p> +<p class="t0">From your devoted, humble servant's hand."</p> +</div> +<p class="continue">And when she had said her lesson, she threw wide open the door of the +dining-room, and there stood a table spread for dinner, in good season, +for it was high noon, and Axel said a word or two to his wife, and she +nodded in a pleased way under her wreath of roses, and turned to the +old inspector: he must be her guest today, and also the schoolmaster, +and the young farmer, and would the old gentleman who had waved the +flag honor them with his company also? Then she went to Marie Möller, +and thanked her for her fine speech and all that she had done to +welcome them, and would she have time to enjoy with them the nice +things she had prepared? And Marie Möller became as red with delight as +if there were a cooking stove in her heart, filled with glowing coals.</p> + +<p class="normal">Of before long, they all came in. Habermann brought up Bräsig, and +introduced him as his old friend of many years' standing, who had also +been well acquainted with the late Herr Kammerrath, and would by no +means be found wanting in taking his part in the rejoicing at +Pumpelhagen. And Bräsig went to Axel, and got hold of his hand, will +he, nill he, and squeezed it, and, shaking his head back and forth, +assured him of his friendship for life and death: "Herr Lieutenant, +very dear and welcome, as I just said to Karl, how glad I shall be if +you only take after your good father!" And then he turned to the young +lady: "Gracious Frau Lieutenant," and fumbled after her hand, which he +succeeded in grasping, and it looked as if he intended to kiss it; but +he held it for moment, and then said, "No! not that! I always kissed +the hand of my gracious countess, and it was proper, as a token of +service; I will not take that liberty, you are so lovely to look +at; but if you ever need an old man's service--my name is Zachary +Bräsig--just send for me,--a short mile from here--Haunerwiem,--and the +day shall not be too hot for me, or the night too dark."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bräsig's speeches were peculiar things; honest folks have a way of +talking right out of their hearts, without thinking, at the moment, how +they will be understood. Axel did not take it as it was meant. That +such an one as Inspector Bräsig should presume to hold up an example to +him,--even if it were his own father, to whom he was so deeply +indebted,--did not suit him; he was put out of humor. Frida, who went +to the heart of every thing, took the old inspector's speech in her +hand, like an onion, and shredded off the old, dry skins, one after +another, and found a bright, hard kernel inside, and, as she cut it +across, there was such a sound heart disclosed that she took the old +fellow by the hand, and made him sit next to her at table.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then came Fritz Triddelsitz, in the guise of a young proprietor, for he +had arrayed himself in his blue coat with gilt buttons, which looked, +for all the world, like a young son of Pomuchelskopp's. And then came +Schoolmaster Strull, a great, strong fellow, whom the Lord had made +fitter to be a hewer of wood than a trainer of children. The old boy +looked, with his big head and his black suit, which was getting rusty, +like a stout wheel-nail, which Fate had shoved to the wall, and which +had quietly rusted there. His face was rather rusty, too, and the only +thing which looked gay about him was his shirt-bosom, which his old +mother, because it was a little yellow, had dipped so generously in the +blueing, that a fine sea-green color was the result.</p> + +<p class="normal">These two were treated with special attention by Axel, and when he +heard that Fritz's father was an apothecary in Rahnstadt, and could +make chemical analyses (Analysen), he asked Fritz to sit next him, and +as Uncle Bräsig heard the word "Analysen" he snapped it out of the Herr +Lieutenant's mouth, and said, aside to Habermann, "Allelüsen? Allelüsen? +What does he mean by Allelüsen? Some kind of vermin?" and without +waiting for an answer, he said to Axel: "Gracious Herr Lieutenant, for +such stuff you must let the apothecary's son bring you a pot of +'ungewendten Napoleon,'" (unguentum Neapolitarum), which was, naturally, +quite incomprehensible to Axel. But if he had understood it, he had no +time to explain, for as soon as they were fairly seated,--the +schoolmaster not more than a quarter, for he balanced himself on the +edge of his chair,--he launched forth into his favorite subject, the +farming of the estate, and began to enrich the fields with bone-dust, +and Chili saltpetre and guano, and laid out behind the garden a great +plantation of hops; while old Habermann said to himself, he had not +thought the young Herr knew so little about farming, and wondered how +Bräsig could sit there and laugh at it all. But that was very natural, +since Bräsig took all these brilliant plans of Axel's for a good joke, +and when the young Herr had got his hop-field in working order, Bräsig +laughed heartily, and said, "Of course the soil must first be +prepared,--and when we are through with this preparation, we can +fertilize it a little more, and then we can raise raisins and +almonds, to feed the pigs with; you have no idea, gracious Frau +Lieutenant,"--turning to the lady--"how sweet a pig tastes, that is +fatted on raisins and almonds."</p> + +<p class="normal">This was not pleasing to Axel; he looked down, and knitted his brows in +vexation; but he was too fairly started in his agricultural progress to +be turned back for such a trifle; he began on tillage, and told about +his invention of a machine for a clod-breaker, and with that he turned +graciously to his neighbor, to Fritz Triddelsitz, who gave such +uncommonly intelligent answers that Marie Möller sat listening, with +open mouth, and inwardly smote on her breast, and cried, "God be +merciful to me sinner! Ignorant worm that I am, to stretch out my hand +toward him! No! a goose might as well seek to mate with an eagle."</p> + +<p class="normal">When the dinner was over, the gracious lady arose, took her leave of +the company, and said to Habermann that Axel and herself proposed going +over the estate, the next morning, and reckoned on his company to show +them the way. Habermann assented with pleasure, and when she had left +the room the bottle went round the table once more, and Daniel +Sadenwater brought cigars.</p> + +<p class="normal">At Frida's request. Axel had retained the old servant, and Daniel had +put on the old master's knife and fork, and so consecrated them, in his +mind, to the new master, and every time he presented a dish on the +salver to his young Herr, he laid himself with it as an offering, and +his old eyes said clearly, his young master might do with him whatever +he liked, he had given him all.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bräsig accepted a "Zichalie," as he called them, and informed Herr von +Rambow that he smoked such a thing, now and then, of Köster Bröker's +make, though they were a little strong to be sure. Axel made no reply; +he did not like Bräsig, he thought he had been laughing at him, and did +not appreciate his knowledge of agriculture. Fritz Triddelsitz was a +much more agreeable listener; he had nodded, and shaken his head, and +admired so much, and ah'd and oh'd and wondered, till Axel appeared to +himself a great light in agriculture, set up on a lofty candlestick, to +enlighten Pumpelhagen and the country round about, and, for all I know, +the world itself.</p> + +<p class="normal">As I have often said. Axel was a good fellow, he liked to make +everything bright and pleasant about him; the good dinner, the costly +wine, the feeling that he was master, had excited benevolent thoughts, +to which he must give expression. He called Habermann to the window, +and asked him how he was satisfied with Fritz. Habermann said, pretty +well; he had learned a good many things, and he hoped, in time, he +might become a skilful farmer. This was quite enough, in Axel's +gracious mood; he asked, farther, how much salary Fritz received, and +whether he had a horse. No, said Habermann, he had neither horse nor +salary, as yet; he gave nothing, and he got nothing.</p> + +<p class="normal">Axel then turned to Fritz, and said, "Dear Triddelsitz, I am glad to +hear from the Herr Inspector that he is very much pleased with you; I +shall do myself the pleasure of offering you, for the next year, a +small salary of fifty thalers, and the keeping of a horse."</p> + +<p class="normal">Fritz could not believe his ears; that Habermann was very much pleased +with him was sufficiently wonderful,--fifty thalers, that would be very +nice; but a horse! that took away his breath and his senses, so that he +could scarcely thank Axel. The latter left him little time, however, +but turned back to Habermann, at the window. And now galloped through +Fritz's brain all the old horses of the whole region, black and brown +and gray and chestnut, and he held parley with each one of them, as if +the Rahnstadt horse-market were going on in his head, and Bräsig sat +opposite and grinned.</p> + +<p class="normal">All at once, this blessed child of fortune cried out, "Herr Inspector, +next month the Grand Duke makes his entry into Rahnstadt, I must have +her by that time, for the reception, for we young country-people are to +receive him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>Whom</i> must you have?" asked Bräsig.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The chestnut mare, the Whalebone mare. Gust Prebberow has her."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know her," said Bräsig, very coolly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Famous horse!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"An old sch----" he couldn't say schinder (carrion,) he bethought +himself in time that he was in a distinguished house, so he said, "she +is an old shyer, and you can't do anything with her when the Grand Duke +comes to Rahnstadt, for she cannot hear a 'Hurrah!'"</p> + +<p class="normal">That was fatal, for a great many hurrahs would be necessary on that +occasion; but Fritz knew that Bräsig delighted in contradicting him, on +every opportunity, and he would not let him see his disappointment.</p> + +<p class="normal">Meanwhile, Axel had favored the old inspector with a brief discourse +upon the progress recently made in the science of agriculture, and at +the close, put into the old man's hand a book, with the words, "I have +the pleasure of giving you this book; it should be the Bible of every +farmer."</p> + +<p class="normal">Habermann thanked him gratefully, and, as it was now beginning to grow +dark, the company broke up. The two old inspectors and Schoolmaster +Strull, who was invited to accompany them, went to Habermann's house; +Fritz Triddelsitz went to the stables.</p> + +<p class="normal">What he wanted there, nobody knew, certainly not himself, but a sort of +instinct drew him toward the horses, as if to bring his inner man into +harmony with the outward world, and so he went, in the half-twilight, +up and down behind the old farm-horses, that he had seen a thousand +times, and examined their legs. This one had spavin,--nobody should +sell him a spavined horse, he would take care of that,--bones shaped +like a ship; this one was balky,--he found out what a balky horse was, +two years ago; this had fits,--a man must be a fool to be imposed upon +by such a horse; this had swellings, not dangerous, blistered a little +by the crupper-iron; and then came wind-galls, and other ills which +horse-flesh is heir to; and through all this his thoughts were dwelling +on a friendly smile, and a wonderfully fair face, that of his gracious +lady, with whom, since dinner, he had fallen desperately in love, and +the ungrateful rascal was conspiring against the happiness of the +master who had just been so kind to him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said he, as he stood in the stable-door, and the evening light +sunk softly into darkness, "what is Louise Habermann compared with this +angel! No, Louise, I am sorry for you! But I cannot imagine how I came +to fall in love with you. And then Mining and Lining! A pair of little +goslings! And Marie Möller, to be sure! A lump of misfortune! How she +looked to-day beside the gracious lady, like a wild plum beside a +peach. And when I get the chestnut mare, then--'Gracious lady, any +commands?' Perhaps a letter for the post? or when she is coming home +from some ball at Rahnstadt, and old Daniel Sadenwater is not at +hand--down with the carriage steps, hand her out--'Ah, I have forgotten +my handkerchief,' or 'my overshoes,'--'They shall be sent for +immediately,' and then I mount my chestnut,--hs--hsch--off we +go,--in half an hour I am back again. 'Gracious lady, here are the +overshoes,' and then she says, 'Thanks, dear Triddelsitz, for this +kindness,'--thunder and lightning! the confounded pole!" for as he went +back to the house, in the dark, absorbed in these charming +anticipations, he stumbled over a carriage-pole, left there by his own +negligence, and lay, in all his gorgeous attire, upon something which +felt very soft. What it was, he didn't know, but his nose had a sort of +suspicion, and he thought he should do well to examine himself by the +light, before going into Habermann's room.</p> + +<p class="normal">Meanwhile the three old men had gone in, and, as they were sitting in +the twilight, Bräsig asked:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Karl, is the book a story-book, to read in the winter evenings?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh, Zachary, I don't know. I will light a candle, and we can see."</p> + +<p class="normal">When it was light, Habermann was going to look at the title; but Bräsig +took the book out of his hand:</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, Karl, we have a scholar here, let Strull read it."</p> + +<p class="normal">Strull began to read, all in a breath, as if he were reading the +Sunday's lesson out of the Gospels, stopping only for a strange word: +"'Printed by Friedrich Vieweg and Son in Brunswick Chemistry in its +Relation to Agriculture and Phy-si-o-logy.'"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hold!" cried Bräsig, "that word isn't right, it should be +'fisionomy.'"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," said Strull, "it is spelled 'physiology.'"</p> + +<p class="normal">"For all I care, Strull," said Bräsig; "let them spell their outlandish +words as they please, at one time this way, another time another way. +Go ahead!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"'By Justus Liebig, Doctor of Medicine and Philosophy, Professor of +Chemistry at the Ludwig's University at Giessen, Knight of the +Grand Ducal Hessian Ludwig's Order, and of the Imperial Russian St. +Annen, Order of the Third Class, Corresponding Member of the Royal +Academy of Science at Stockholm,'--now comes some Latin which I cannot +read,--'Honorary Member of the Royal Academy at Dublin----'"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Stop!" cried Bräsig, "Lord preserve us, what is all this fellow?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"But that isn't all, by a great deal, there is ever so much more."</p> + +<p class="normal">"We will give him the rest. Go ahead!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"'Fifth Revised and much Enlarged Edition. Brunswick published by +Vieweg and Son 1843.' Now comes a preface."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let that go, too," said Bräsig. "Begin at the beginning."</p> + +<p class="normal">"The heading runs in this way: 'SUBJECT' with a line underneath."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well!" said Bräsig. "Go on!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"'Organic Chemistry has for its purpose the investigation of the +chemical conditions of life, and the complete development of all +organisms.' Period."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What sort of things?" asked Bräsig.</p> + +<p class="normal">"All organisms," said the schoolmaster.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well," exclaimed Bräsig, "I have heard a great many outlandish words, +but 'organisms,' organ---- Hold! Karl, don't you know 'Herr Orgon stood +before his door,' that we used to learn by heart, with Pastor Behrens, +out of Gellert? Do you suppose this organ can be any connection of +his?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let it go, for the present, Bräsig, we don't understand it yet."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No? why not, Karl?" said his old friend, "We can learn. You will see, +this is a water-book; they always begin with something you can't +understand. Go ahead!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"'The existence of all living beings is carried on by the reception of +certain materials into the system, which we call means of nourishment; +they are expended by the organism for its own improvement and +reproduction. Period."</p> + +<p class="normal">"The man is right there," said Bräsig; "Means of nourishment belong to +living beings, and"--taking the book out of Strull's hands, "'they are +expended by the organism,'--now I know what organism means; it means +the stomach."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said the schoolmaster, "but then here is 'reproduction.'"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah," said Bräsig, off hand, "production! We have got used to that of +late years; when I was a child, nobody knew anything about production; +but now they call every bushel of wheat and every ox a production. It +is only an ornamental way of speaking, that they may appear learned."</p> + +<p class="normal">So they went on for a little while, until the schoolmaster went home, +and when he had gone, the two old friends sat together, quietly and +trustfully,--for Bräsig was to spend the night at Pumpelhagen,--until +Habermann gave a deep sigh, and said:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, Zachary, I am afraid there are hard times coming for me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why so? Your young Herr is a lively, witty fellow; what amusing things +he said about farming!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, that is the very thing; you took it for jest, but he meant it for +earnest."</p> + +<p class="normal">"He meant it for earnest?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Certainly he did. He has studied farming out of new-fashioned books, +and they don't agree with our old ways, and though I should be very +glad to understand the new methods, I can't do it, I haven't the +requisite knowledge."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are right there, Karl! See, the sciences always seem to me, like +seafaring. When one has been used to it from a child, going up the +mast, and out on the shrouds, he can do it when he is old without being +dizzy-headed, and so a school-boy, who is trained in the sciences from +his youth up, won't be dizzy either and can run out with ease, even in +his old age, on any rope that science stretches out for him. Do you +understand me, Karl?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I understand you. But we did not learn in our young days, and for +dancing on such ropes," pointing to the book, "my old bones are too +stiff. Ah, I would not say a word against it, he can farm in the new +fashion, for all me, and I will help him to the best of my power; but +this kind of farming needs a long purse, and that is something we +haven't got. I supposed, at first, he would get something with his +wife; but it couldn't have been much, for even the new equipage and the +new furniture were ordered from Rahnstadt, and the first shilling is +not yet paid for them."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, Karl, never mind; he hasn't made a bad bargain. The lady pleased +me uncommonly."</p> + +<p class="normal">"She pleased me, too, Bräsig."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And you can see by your own dear sister, what the right sort of woman +can accomplish, in a family. I must go and see her to-morrow, for the +two confounded divinity students will be getting into all sorts of +mischief. And so, good-night, Karl."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good-night, Bräsig."</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER XVI.</h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">Fritz Triddelsitz darted about the Pumpelhagen court-yard next morning, +like a pickerel in a fish-pond, for he had put on his little uniform, +the green hunting-jacket, and gray breeches, to please the gracious +lady,--as he said,--that her lovely eyes might have something agreeable +to look upon. His own eyes, which were usually directed to Habermann's +window like the compass to the north star, wandered this morning over +the whole front of the manor-house, and when a window was raised, and +the young Herr put his head out and called to him, he darted across +the court-yard, like a pickerel, as if Axel in his silver-gray +dressing-gown were a flat-fish, and the red handkerchief about his neck +were the fins.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Triddelsitz," said Herr von Rambow, "I have decided to make a little +address to my people this morning; get them together here at nine +o'clock, before the house."</p> + +<p class="normal">"To command," said Fritz, using this form of speech to do honor to the +Herr Lieutenant.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Where is the inspector? I wish to speak to him; there is no hurry, +however."</p> + +<p class="normal">"He has just gone out with Inspector Bräsig."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Very well. When he comes back."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Fritz made a particularly fine bow, and went off; but turned back +after a little, and asked:--</p> + +<p class="normal">"Does Herr von Rambow wish the women to come also?</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, merely the men. However,--wait a moment,--yes, you may tell the +housewives to come."</p> + +<p class="normal">"To command," said Fritz, and went to the village, and told the +housewives and the men who were at work about the farmyard, to put +on their best clothes. It was eight o'clock already, and if the +farm-laborers who were at work in the fields were to be there by nine, +and also in state, they must be called. So he started for the fields.</p> + +<p class="normal">Habermann had walked a little way with his old friend, and was now +crossing the field to join the laborers, when Fritz came hurrying over +the hill, as fast as his slovenly gait and the broken ground of the +ploughed field would allow.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr Inspector, you must let them stop work, the people are all to be +at the manor-house by nine o'clock, the Herr is going to deliver an +oration."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What is he going to do?" asked Habermann, in astonishment.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Deliver an oration," was the reply, "the laborers have already been +notified, and the woman also. He had forgotten them, but I reminded him +of them in time."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You might----" have been in better business, Habermann was going to +say, but controlled himself, and said quietly, "then do your errand to +the people."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are to come, too."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Very well," said the old man, and turned, quite out of humor, towards +the house. He had pressing work for his teams, and they would be taken +out of the field for the whole morning; however he could have got over +that, that was not the trouble. His master had issued orders, the very +first day, without taking him into counsel, he had consulted with +Triddelsitz instead, and there could be no hurry about the matter; but +although he felt the slight, it wasn't that so much which annoyed him; +it was the "oration" itself. Why should he talk to the people? Would he +admonish them about their duties? The people were good, they did their +work as simply and naturally as eating and drinking, they had no idea +that they were doing any thing remarkable; and it was a mistake to +lecture such people about their duties. If they were much talked to, +they would begin to grow discouraged. In one sense laborers are like +children, they would soon reckon their duty as a merit. Or was he going +to bestow gifts upon them? He was good-natured enough. But what would +he give them? They had all that they needed, and he could not give them +anything definite, he did not know their circumstances well enough, he +could merely give them fair words and general promises, which each +would fill out according to his own wishes, and which it would be +impossible to make good. And so he would make the people discontented.</p> + +<p class="normal">These were his thoughts, as he entered his master's room. The young +wife was there, ready for the walk agreed upon the night before. She +came towards him in a friendly manner: "We must wait a little while, +Herr Inspector; Axel will speak to the people first."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That will not take long," said Axel, who was turning over his papers. +There was a knock at the door. "Come in!" and Fritz entered, with a +letter in his hand. "From Gurlitz," said he.</p> + +<p class="normal">Axel broke the seal, and read; it was an odious letter, it was from +Slushur, the notary, who announced himself as coming before noon, with +David; they were accidentally at Herr Pomuchelskopp's, and had heard +from him that Herr von Rambow was returned, and since they must speak +with him on necessary business, they begged his permission, etc. The +business was very urgent, however, as was mentioned in a postscript. +Axel was in great perplexity, for he could not decline the visit; he +went out and told the messenger the gentlemen were welcome, and when he +came in again, he seemed so disturbed that his wife asked, "What is the +matter?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, nothing. But I think my talk to the laborers may take longer than +I supposed; it will be best for you to go alone with the Herr Inspector +to see the fields."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, Axel, I was so pleased at the thought of going with you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes; but it cannot be helped, my dear child. I know the fields well +enough. Go with the Herr Inspector, dear Frida, and--well, as soon as +ever I can, I will follow you."</p> + +<p class="normal">It seemed to Habermann that he was really in haste to get rid of them; +so he helped him in his design, and the young lady finally started, +upon his invitation, though a little out of humor.</p> + +<p class="normal">When they were gone, and the whole village had come together. Axel made +his address, although the pleasure of this state occasion was quite +spoiled for him by that infamous letter; for, however he might put it +to himself, his own pleasure, and the importance which he felt as +master, were his chief reasons for the undertaking. As for the speech +itself, it happened much as Habermann had feared. Admonitions and +promises, in lofty words and fine figures of speech, paraded themselves +quite unintelligibly before the old laborers' eyes, and the only things +which they saw clearly, though somewhat dizzied by these, were the +golden wings of the benefits he promised them, saying that his people +were to come to him with every wish; he would care for them like a +father.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said Päsel to Däsel, "'father;' I like that. He will do it. I +shall go to him to-morrow, and ask him to let me wean a calf next +year."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But you had one last year."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is no matter; I can sell it to the weaver in Gurlitz."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said Kegel to Degel. "I shall go to him to-morrow, and ask him +to let me have twenty roods more of potato land next spring; mine will +not last through the winter."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh! you didn't hoe your potatoes at the right time; the old man gave +you a fine scolding for it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No matter; <i>he</i> knows nothing about it, and he is master now, and not +the inspector."</p> + +<p class="normal">So unrest and discontent were in full progress; Axel himself was +restless and discontented, because he dreaded the coming visit, and the +only being at the Pumpelhagen farm, who, though restless, was yet +contented, was Fritz Triddelsitz, so the young Herr had not altogether +thrown his pearls before swine.</p> + +<p class="normal">Slusuhr and David came, and what shall I say about their visit? They +sang the same song which they did before, and Axel had to write the +notes for it. This time, he did it readily. Borrowing is certainly a +bad business; but there is not a business in the world, down to +beheading and hanging, so bad that somebody will not pursue it with +satisfaction; I have known people who were not contented till they had +borrowed money of all Judea and Christendom, and if Axel had not gone +quite so far, he was ready enough to improve favorable circumstances; +he added a new debt, to-day, to those he already owed David, that he +might pay for the new furnishing of his house, "in order not to have to +do with so many people, but with one;" but he probably did not reflect +that this one was worse than a thousand others.</p> + +<p class="normal">Meanwhile Habermann and the young Frau were going through the fields. +The clear summer morning soon drove away the little shadows of +annoyance from her fresh face, and her bright eyes looked at everything +with hearty interest, and desire to inform herself, and Habermann saw, +with great pleasure, that she understood the business. She had been +brought up in the country, and it was natural to her to observe things +that lay a little out of her usual way, and that not superficially, she +must know a reason for everything. Thus she knew enough about farming +to feel quite at home here, although her father's place was a great +sand-hill, and Pumpelhagen was the finest wheat soil, and if she saw +anything unfamiliar which she did not understand, the old Inspector +helped her, with brief, simple explanations. The walk was, for both of +them, a real pleasure, and from a pure, mutual pleasure grows the fair +blossom, Confidence.</p> + +<p class="normal">They came to the Gurlitz boundary, and Habermann showed her the +Pastor's field, and told her how the late Kammerrath had taken it in +lease.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And the barley, over yonder?" asked the young Frau.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is Gurlitz ground and soil; that belongs to Herr Pomuchelskopp."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, that is the proprietor who greeted us yesterday, with his family," +said Frida. "What sort of a man is he?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have no intercourse with him," said Habermann, a little embarrassed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But you know him, don't you?" asked the young lady.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes--no--that is, I used to know him, but since he has lived here, we +have nothing to do with each other," said the old man, and would have +spoken of something else; but Frida laid her hand on his arm, and +said,--</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr Inspector, I am a stranger in this region,--Axel seems to be +acquainted, though only superficially, with this man; are they suitable +associates for us?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," said Habermann, short and hard.</p> + +<p class="normal">They walked on, each occupied in thought. The young Frau stood still, +and asked, "Can you, and will you, tell me the reason why you have +broken off intercourse with this man?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Habermann looked at her thoughtfully.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said he, finally, rather as if he were speaking to himself, "and +if you receive my words with the same confidence that the blessed +Kammerrath did, it may be for your profit," and he told her his story, +without heat or anger, but also without restraint. The young Frau +listened attentively, without interrupting him, and when he had +finished said merely:</p> + +<p class="normal">"I half disliked those people yesterday; I quite dislike them to-day."</p> + +<p class="normal">They had just come through the Pastor's field, up to the garden fence, +when a clear, joyous voice sounded from the other side: "Good morning, +father! Good morning!" and the lovely young girl, whom Frida had seen +yesterday, came running through the garden gate towards the old +inspector. She stopped suddenly as she saw the gracious lady, and stood +blushing, so that Habermann must help himself to his good-morning kiss, +if he meant to have it at all.</p> + +<p class="normal">Full of happiness and pride, the old man introduced his dear daughter; +the young Frau spoke to her very kindly, and urged her to come often to +Pumpelhagen, to visit her father and herself; and when Habermann had +sent greetings to the Pastor and the Pastorin, she took leave, and they +continued their walk.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The Pastor and his wife must be very good people?" said Frida.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Gracious lady," said Habermann, "you ask this question of no impartial +man. These people have saved for me all that was left out of my +misfortunes; they have given loving protection and nurture to my only +child, and taught her everything good; I can only think of them with +the highest respect and the deepest gratitude. But ask in the +neighborhood, if you will; rich and poor, high and low, will speak of +them with respect and affection."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr Pomuchelskopp, too?" inquired the gracious lady.</p> + +<p class="normal">"If he would speak honestly, and without prejudice, yes," said the old +man, "but as he is now--he quarrelled with the Pastor, soon after his +arrival here, about this very field, in which we are walking. It was +not the Pastor's fault; I gave the first provocation to his anger, +because I advised the blessed Herr to rent the field. And, gracious +lady," he added, after a moment, "Pumpelhagen cannot spare this field; +the advantage is too great for us to give it up."</p> + +<p class="normal">Frida asked him to explain it more fully, and, when she understood the +matter, it was easy to see that she said to herself, she would do what +she could to keep the field.</p> + +<p class="normal">As they came into the Pumpelhagen court-yard Slusuhr the notary and +David were just starting off, and Axel stood before the door taking +leave of them as politely as if Slusuhr were the colonel of his +Regiment, and David a young count.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who is that?" asked Frida of Habermann. He told her. Then she greeted +her husband, and asked, "But, Axel, what business have you with these +people, and why are you so uncommonly polite to them?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Polite?" repeated Axel, "why not? I am polite to everybody," with a +quick glance at Habermann, who met it quietly and firmly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Of course you are," said his wife, taking his arm, in order to go into +the house with him, "but towards a common Jew moneylender and----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dear child," interrupted Axel hastily, to prevent her saying more, +"the man is a produce-dealer, and wool-merchant, I shall often have +business to transact with him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And the other?" she inquired.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, he--he only came along with him accidentally. I have nothing to do +with him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Adieu, Herr Inspector," said Frida, giving her hand to the old man, "I +thank you very much for your friendly company."</p> + +<p class="normal">With that, she went into the house. Axel followed her; at the door he +looked round, the old inspector's eyes rested sadly upon him, and he +turned away. He followed his wife into the house.</p> + +<p class="normal">In this honest and mournful glance lay the whole future of the three +persons who had just separated.</p> + +<p class="normal">Axel had lied; he had betrayed, for the first time, the confidence of +his young wife, and Habermann knew it, and Axel knew that Habermann +knew it. Here was a stone in the path, over which every one must +stumble who passed that way, for the path was darkened by falsehood and +dissimulation, and no one could speak to another of the stone, and warn +him against it. Frida went onward innocently and trustfully; but how +long would it be before she would stumble over this stone? Axel tried +to deceive himself, also, he thought he could bring her safely over it, +in the darkness, without her being aware of it, and, beyond, the path +would be smooth. Habermann saw the danger clearly, and could and would +have helped; but if he stretched out his hand to point it out, and warn +them against it, Axel repulsed him with coldness, and secret +resentment. People say that a bad man will, in time, conceive a hatred +for one who has bestowed benefits upon him; it is possible, but that is +nothing to the secret gnawing and boring of resentment, which a weak +man feels towards one who is the only person in the world conscious of +his falsehood. Such a feeling is not developed at once, like downright +hatred, born of open strife and contention, but bores slowly and +gradually into the heart, like the death-worm into dry wood, and eats +deeper and deeper, till the whole heart is full of ill-will and +bitterness, as the wood is full of worm-dust.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER XVII.</h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">Bräsig went next morning, as he had designed, to Rexow, to see Frau +Nüssler. The crown-prince came to meet him at the door, wagging his +tail in such a Christian manner that one must believe him to be a dog +of good moral principle, since he bore no malice against Bräsig for his +late chasing and drubbing. One would infer, also, from the quiet +content expressed in his yellow-brown eyes, that all was well at Rexow, +Frau Nüssler in the kitchen, and Jochen sitting in his arm-chair.</p> + +<p class="normal">But it was not so, for when Bräsig opened the door, Jochen was sitting +indeed in his old place; but Frau Nüssler stood before him, delivering +a brief but impressive discourse to the effect that he troubled himself +about nothing, and said not a word to the purpose, and when she caught +sight of Bräsig, she went up to him, quite angrily, saying, "And you, +too, notice nothing, Bräsig; for all you care, everything here may +stand on its head; and it is your fault, too, we never should have +taken those two but for you!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Fair and easy!" said Bräsig, "fair and easy! Not quite so fast, Frau +Nüssler! What has happened now with the young candidates?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"A good deal has happened, and I have said nothing about it, because +they were Jochen's friends, and it is a bad bird that fouls its own +nest; but since the time those two fellows came into my house, there +has been no peace nor rest, and if it goes on so much longer, I shall +quarrel, at last, with Jochen himself."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Mother," said young Jochen, "what shall I do about it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Keep still, young Jochen," cried Bräsig, "you are to blame. Can't you +rouse up and teach them manners?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let Jochen alone, Bräsig," said Frau Nüssler, hastily, "this time it +is your fault. You promised to have an eye to these young men, and see +that they did not get into mischief, and instead of that, you have let +one go on as he liked, without troubling yourself about him, and you +have put the other up to all sorts of nonsense, so that instead of +minding his books, he goes off with his fishing-pole, and brings me +home at night a great string of perch, as long as your finger. And when +I think I have everything tidy, I must go and dress the horrid things, +and make it all straight again.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What? Brings home things a finger long, and I showed him the right +place to catch the great fellows! oh, you must--no, hold on!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, what!" cried Frau Nüssler. "You should forbid his fishing +altogether, he did not come here for that purpose. He was to learn +something, his father said, and he is coming here to-day, too."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, Frau Nüssler," said Bräsig, "I am very greatly annoyed that he +should do so little credit to my instructions, in his fishing. Has he +done anything else amiss?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, yes, indeed! both of them have. But, as I said before, I have said +nothing about it, because they were Jochen's friends, and at first, it +seemed as if everything would go on well. At first, there were merry, +lively times here, and my little girls enjoyed it uncommonly; it was +Mining here and Rudolph there, and Lining here and Gottlieb there, and +they talked with Gottlieb, and romped with Rudolph, and the two old +fellows were very industrious at their work, and Gottlieb sat up stairs +in his room, and studied until his head swam, and Rudolph, too, read in +his books; but it was not long before they got to disputing and +quarrelling about ecclesiastical matters, and Gottlieb, who is much +more learned than the other, told him he did not look at things from a +Christian standpoint."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Standpoint, did he say?" asked Bräsig.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, he said standpoint," replied Frau Nüssler.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ho, ho!" cried Bräsig, "I can hear him talk. Where other people stop, +at a standpoint, is only the beginning with the Pietists. He wanted to +proselyte him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said Frau Nüssler, "so it appeared. Now the other one is much +cleverer than Gottlieb, and he began to crack all manner of jokes at +him, and got the better of him, and so the strife grew worse and worse, +and, I don't know how it happened, but my little girls began to take a +part in the business, and Lining, as the most intelligent, was on +Gottlieb's side, and talked just as he did, and Mining laughed over +Rudolph's jokes, and carried on with him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," interrupted Jochen, "it is all as true as leather."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You should be ashamed of yourself, young Jochen, to allow such doings +in your house!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Come, Bräsig," said Frau Nüssler, "let him alone; Jochen has done +everything he could to keep peace; When Gottlieb talked about the +devil, to frighten one out of his wits, then he believed in the devil, +and when Rudolph laughed about the devil, and made fun of him, then he +laughed with Rudolph. But, when the dispute was at the highest, little +Mining happened on a bright idea; she took their books and changed +them, and put Rudolph's into Gottlieb's room, and Gottlieb's into +Rudolph's, and when they looked at her in astonishment, she said, +merrily, they had better exchange studies for awhile, and they might +possibly learn to agree. Well, at first they would hear nothing of it; +but Gottlieb is always a good-natured old fellow, he soon began to +read, and since it was a winter day, and he could not amuse himself out +of doors, Rudolph finally began also. And then you should have seen +them! It was not long, before it seemed as if they had been exchanged +with their books. Gottlieb made bad jokes, and laughed about the devil, +and the other old fellow groaned and sighed, and talked of the devil, +as if he sat at table with us every day, and eat his potatoes, like +other honest people. Now, my little girls were quite perplexed; Mining +attached herself to Gottlieb, and Lining to Rudolph, for now it was +Rudolph who said Gottlieb did not occupy a Christian standpoint."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Fie!" said Bräsig, "he should not have said that. And such a fellow as +that cannot catch a good-sized perch!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," cried Frau Nüssler quite angrily, "and with your confounded old +perch-fishing, the whole trouble came again, for when it was spring, +and the perch began to bite, Rudolph threw his Christian standpoint +aside, and took up his fishing-rod, and ran off into the fields, and +Gottlieb took up the devil again, for he was going to pass his +examination, and there is no getting through that without the devil. +And my two little girls were puzzled to tell which they should stand +by."</p> + +<p class="normal">"They are a pair of confounded rascals," cried Bräsig, "but the +proselyter is to blame for it all; why couldn't he let the other alone, +with his devil and his standpoint?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, never mind! He studied well at any rate and passed his +examination all right, and can be a minister any day; but the other +cousin has done nothing at all at his books, and has made us all this +dreadful trouble!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why, what else has he done? He hasn't been catching whitings?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Whitings! He caught a sermon. You see, the Rector Baldrian's wife +wanted to hear her Gottlieb preach, and she asked the pastor in +Rahnstadt about it, and he promised her Gottlieb should preach last +Sunday, and she told her sister, Frau Kurz. She is naturally very much +annoyed that her boy is not so advanced as Gottlieb, and she goes to +the pastor also, and the old pastor is such a sheep that he promised +her Rudolph should preach the same Sabbath. Then they drew lots, who +should preach in the morning, and who in the afternoon, and Rudolph got +the morning. Well, old Gottlieb studied as hard as he could, and sat +from morning till night, out in the arbor, in the garden, and because +he has a bad memory, he studied aloud, and the other went roving about +as usual; but the last two days, he seated himself on the grassy bank +behind the arbor, as if he were making a sermon too. And then Sunday +came, and Jochen let them ride in to town, and we all rode, and were +seated in the pastor's pew, and, I tell you, I was terribly afraid for +Rudolph; but he stood there, as if there were nothing the matter, and +when it was time, he went up into the pulpit, and preached a sermon, +that made all the people open their eyes and mouths, and I rejoiced +over the youth, and was going to say so to Gottlieb, who sat by me; but +there sat the poor creature, fidgeting with his hands and feet, as if +he would like to go up and pull the other out of the pulpit, and he +said, 'Aunt, that is <i>my</i> sermon!' And so it was, Bräsig; the wicked +boy had learned the sermon by hearing it, because Gottlieb must study +it aloud."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ha, ha!" laughed Bräsig heartily, "that is a good joke!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do you call that a <i>joke</i>?" exclaimed Frau Nüssler, greatly excited. +"Such a trick as that in the house of God, you call a joke?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh, now," said Bräsig, still laughing, "what would you have? It is a +devil of a joke, it is an infamous trick, to be sure: but I can't help +laughing, for the life of me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh yes!" said Frau Nüssler, bitterly, "that is the way with you; when +we others are ready to die with shame and anger, you stand by and +laugh!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"There, don't scold me," said Bräsig, trying to appease her, "tell me +what the proselyter did. I wish I could have seen him!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What could he do? He couldn't preach the same sermon over again, in +the afternoon; the old pastor had to warm up an old sermon for the +occasion, but he was fearfully angry, and said, if he should report the +matter, Rudolph might as well hang up his gown on the nearest willow."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, and the proselyter?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, the good old creature was so confounded, he said nothing at all; +but his mother talked all the more, and quarrelled so fiercely with her +sister, Frau Kurz, that they have not spoken to each other since. Oh, +what a time it was! I was ashamed, and I was provoked, for Kurz and the +rector came up, too, and Jochen was lingering with them, but +fortunately our carriage drove up, and I got him away."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But what did the duel-fighter say?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, the rogue was clever enough to keep out of the uproar, he made +himself scarce after his fine sermon, and ran off home."</p> + +<p class="normal">"He got a proper good lecture from you, I will wager."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," said Frau Nüssler, "he didn't. I don't meddle in the affair. His +father is coming, to-day, and he is the nearest to him, as the Frau +Pastorin says. And I told Jochen, decidedly, he ought not to talk so +much about it, for he has quite changed his nature, of late, and is +always troubling himself, and talking about things that are none of his +business. Keep still, Jochen!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Jochen, keep still!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"And my two little girls, I scarcely know them again; after the sermon, +they cried all the way home, and now they keep out of the way so shyly, +and speak so short to each other, and they used always to go about +together arm in arm, and if one had anything on her heart the other +quickly knew it. Ah, my house is all topsy-turvy!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Mother," said young Jochen, rising suddenly from his chair, "it is +what I have said before, but I will say it once more; you shall see, +the boys have put something into their heads."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What should they put into their heads, Jochen?" said Frau Nüssler, +rather sharply.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Love-affairs," said Jochen, sitting down again in his corner. "My +blessed mother always said: A candidate and a governess in the same +house--you shall see, Gottlieb and Mining.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now, Jochen, so you talk and talk! The Lord keep you in your senses! +If I thought that was the case, the candidate should be turned out of +the house, and the other after him. Come out here, Bräsig, I have +something to say to you."</p> + +<p class="normal">When they were outside, Frau Nüssler took him to the garden, and sat +down with him in the arbor.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bräsig," said she, "I cannot listen to this everlasting chatter of +Jochen's; he has got it from Rudolph, who used to talk with him so +much, last winter, in the evenings, and now he has got in the habit of +it, and cannot break off. Now tell me honestly,--you promised that you +would look after them,--have you ever had any idea of such a thing?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh, preserve us!" said Bräsig, "not the remotest conception!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I cannot believe it is so," said Frau Nüssler, thoughtfully; "at +first, Lining and Gottlieb were always together, and Mining and +Rudolph,--afterwards, Mining held to Gottlieb, and Lining to Rudolph, +and after the examination, Lining went back to Gottlieb again; but +Mining and Rudolph are not friends, for since the sermon she will +scarcely look at him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Frau Nüssler," said Bräsig, "love is a thing which begins in some +hidden way, perhaps with a bunch of flowers, or a couple say 'Good +morning' to each other, and touch each other's hands, or they stoop, at +the same time, to pick up a ball of cotton, and knock their heads +together, and a looker-on observes nothing more, but after a while, it +becomes more perceptible, the women often turn red, and the men cast +sheep's-eyes, or the women entice the men into the pantry, and offer +them sausage and tongue and pig's head, and the men come to see the +women, dressed up in red and blue neck-ties, or, if it is very far +gone, they go out walking on summer evenings, in the moonlight, and +sigh. Anything of that sort with the little rogues?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I cannot say, Bräsig. They have been in my pantry, off and on; but I +soon sent them out, for I won't have people eating in the pantry, and I +never noticed that my little girls turned red, though they have cried +their eyes red, often enough, of late."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hm!" said Bräsig, "this last is not without significance. Now I will +tell you, Frau Nüssler, leave it wholly to me, I know how to track +them; I detected Habermann's confounded greyhound, in his love-affairs. +I am an old hunter; I can track him to his lair; but you must tell me +where they have their haunts; that is, where I shall be likely to find +them."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is here, Bräsig, here in this arbor. My little girls sit here in +the afternoon, and sew, and the other two come and sit with them; I +never thought any harm of it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No harm in that," said Bräsig, and stepping out of the arbor he +looked carefully around, and in so doing perceived a large Rhenish +cherry-tree, full of leaves, which stood close by the arbor.</p> + +<p class="normal">"All right!" said he, "what can be done shall be done."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dear heart!" sighed Frau Nüssler, as went back to the house, "what a +miserable time we shall have to-day! Kurz is coming this afternoon, in +time for coffee, he is bitterly angry with his son, and such a +malicious little toad. You shall see, there will be a great uproar."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is always the way with little people," Bräsig: "the head, and the +lower constitution are so close together, that fire kindles quickly."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," sighed Frau Nüssler, again entering the house, "it is a misery." +She had no idea that the misery in her house was already in full +course.</p> + +<p class="normal">While these transactions were going on below stairs the two little +twin-apples sat up in their chamber, sewing. Lining sat by one window, +and Mining by the other, and they never looked up from their work, they +never spoke to each other, as in those old times, at the Frau +Pastorin's sewing-school,--they sewed and sewed, as if the world were +coming to pieces, and they, with needle and thread, were patching it +together again, and they looked so solemn about it, and sighed so +heavily, as if they knew right well what an arduous task they had under +their fingers. It was strange that their mother had said nothing to +Bräsig of how their pretty, red cheeks had grown pale, and it must have +been because she had not noticed it herself. But it was so, the two +little apples looked as wan as if they had grown on the north side of +the life-tree, where no sun-beams pierced to color their cheeks, and it +seemed, too, as if they hung no longer on the same twig. At last Lining +let her work drop in her lap, she could not sew any longer, her eyes +filled, and the tears ran down her white cheeks; and Mining reached for +her handkerchief, and held it to her eyes, and great tears dropped in +her lap, and so they sat and wept, as if the fair, innocent world in +their own bosoms had gone to pieces, and they could not patch it +together again.</p> + +<p class="normal">All at once Mining sprang up and ran out of the door, as if she must +get into the free air; but she bethought herself, she could not run off +without being seen and questioned by her mother, so she stood there, on +the other side of the door, still crying. Lining sprang up also, as if +she should comfort Mining, but she bethought herself that she did not +know how, so she stood on this side the door, crying.</p> + +<p class="normal">So is often interposed, between two hearts, a thin board, and each +heart hears the other sighing and weeping, and the thin board has on +each side a latch, that one needs merely to lift, and what has +separated the hearts may be shoved aside; but neither will stir the +latch, and the two hearts weep still.</p> + +<p class="normal">But, thank God! such selfish pride towards each other these little +hearts had not yet learned, and Mining opened the door, and said, +"Lining, why are you crying?" and Lining reached out her hands, and +said, "Ah, Mining, why are <i>you</i> crying?" And they fell into each +others arms, still crying, but their cheeks grew red as if the sunlight +had reached them, and they clung fast to each other, as if they were +again growing on the same stem.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Mining!" said Lining, "I will give him up to you, and you shall be +happy with him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, Lining!" cried Mining, "he cares more for you, and you are a great +deal better than I am."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, Mining, I have made up my mind; uncle Kurz is coming this +afternoon, and I will ask father and mother to let me go back with him, +for to stay here and look on might be too hard for me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do so, Lining; then you will be with his parents; and I will ask +Gottlieb to get me, through his father, a place as governess, +somewhere, far, far away, before you come back; for my heart is too +heavy to stay here."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Mining," said Lining, pushing her sister back, and looking earnestly +in her eyes,--"with his parents? whom do you mean?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why, Rudolph."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You mean Rudolph?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, of course; whom do you mean, then?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I? I meant Gottlieb."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no!" cried Mining, throwing her arms again about her sister's +neck, "how is that possible? Why, we don't mean the same one, after +all!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dear heart!" exclaimed Lining, "and what misery we have made +ourselves!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"And now it is all right!" cried Mining, dancing about the room, "it is +all right now!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Mining, it is all right now," and Lining also danced about the +room. And Mining fell upon her sister's neck again, this time in joy.</p> + +<p class="normal">Yes, when one touches the latch, in time, and shoves back the +separating wall, then the hearts come together again, and all is right, +even if there is not such a rejoicing as here in the little chamber. +First they wept, and then they danced about the room, then they sat +down one in the other's lap, and talked it all over, and blamed +themselves for stupidity, that they had not noticed how it stood with +them, and wondered how it was possible that they should not have come +to an explanation before, and then each confessed how far she had gone +with her cousin, and that the young men had not yet spoken openly, and +they were both half inclined to scold them, as the cause of all the +trouble. And Lining said she had been, all along, in great doubt; but +since last Sunday, she had been convinced that Mining cared for +Gottlieb, for otherwise why should she have cried so? and Mining said +she could not help crying, because Rudolph had done such a dreadful +thing, and she supposed Lining was crying for the same reason. And +Lining said that what troubled her was because her poor Gottlieb was +served so. But it was all right now; and when the dinner-bell rang, the +little twin-apples tumbled down stairs, rosy-red, and arm in arm, and +Bräsig, who had seated himself with his back to the light that he might +judge the better of their appearance, stared in astonishment at their +bright eyes and joyous faces, and said to himself: "How? they are shy? +They are in trouble? They are in love? They look just ready for a +frolic."</p> + +<p class="normal">Upon the ringing of the dinner-bell, entered Bräsig's proselyter, the +candidate Gottlieb Baldrian. Lining grew red, and turned away, not in +ill humor, but on account of the confession she had made upstairs, and +Bräsig said to himself, "This strikes me as a very curious thing; +Lining is affected. How can it be possible? and he such a scarecrow!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Bräsig had expressed himself too strongly, but Gottlieb was no beauty. +Nature had dealt niggardly with him, and the little that he had he did +not use to advantage. Take his hair, for instance. He had a thick head +of hair, and if it had been properly kept under by the shears, it would +have been good, respectable light hair, and he might have gone about, +without attracting any attention; but he had, in his clerical heart, +set up for his model, St. John the beloved, and he parted his hair in +the middle, and combed it down on each side, though its natural +tendency was to stand upright. Eh, well, I have nothing to say against +it if a little rogue of ten or twelve years runs around with curls +about his head, and the mothers of the little rogues have still less to +say against it, and they turn them about, and stroke the hair out of +their eyes, and comb it smooth, too, when a visitor is coming,--silly +people sometimes go so far as to put it up in curl-papers, and use hot +irons; I should have nothing to say, if it were the fashion for old +people to curl their hair in long curls, for the old pictures look very +fine so; but he who has no calves ought not to wear tight trowsers, and +if a man's hair does not curl, he does better to keep it short. Our old +Gottlieb's incongruous wig hung down, tanned by the sun, as if he had +tied in a lot of rusty lath-nails, and because he had to oil it very +liberally to keep it in its place, it ruined his coat-collar,--farther, +it did not reach. Under this rich gift of nature, looked out an +insignificant, pale face, which usually wore a melancholy expression, +so that Bräsig was always asking him what shoemaker he employed, and +whether his corns troubled him. The rest of his figure harmonized with +this expression, he was long, and thin and angular; but the part +devoted to the enjoyment of the good things of this world seemed quite +wanting, and the place which this necessary and useful organ generally +occupies was a great cavity, like Frau Nüssler's baking-tray, seen from +the inside. He was really a natural curiosity for Bräsig, who ate like +a barn-thresher, and couldn't help it. One would almost have believed +that the Pietist was nourished in some other way than by eating and +drinking. I have known people, and know some people still, whom I never +could rival in this respect. It is true these candidates are often very +thin, as one may see by the best of the Hanover candidates, who are so +plenty among us; but when one gets a fat parish, he often begins to +fill out, and so Bräsig did not give up the hope that Gottlieb might +come to something, in time, though he puzzled his brains over him a +great deal. This was the way Gottlieb Baldrian looked; but the picture +would not be complete, if I did not say that over the whole was spread +a little, little smirk of Pharisaism; it was a very little, but that +Pharisee stuff is like a calf's stomach; with a little, little bit one +can turn a whole pan of milk sour.</p> + +<p class="normal">They sat down to dinner, and Jochen asked,--</p> + +<p class="normal">"Where is Rudolph?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good gracious, Jochen, what are you talking about?" said Frau Nüssler +hastily, "you ought to know by this time, that he never in his life was +in season. He has gone fishing; but if people won't come in time, they +may go without their dinner."</p> + +<p class="normal">The meal was a quiet one, for Bräsig did not talk, he lay in wait, with +all his senses and faculties, and Frau Nüssler wondered in silence what +could have so changed her little girls. They sat there laughing and +whispering lightly to each other, and looking so happy, as if they were +just awaked from a bad dream, and were rejoicing that it wasn't true, +and that the sun shone brightly once more.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">When dinner was over, Mining, whose turn it was to help her mother, in +clearing up, tidying the room and making coffee, asked her sister, +"Lining, where are you going?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am going to get my sewing," said Lining, "and sit in the arbor."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, I will come soon," said Mining.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And I will come too," said Gottlieb slowly, "I have a book that I must +finish reading to-day."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is right," said Bräsig, "that will be a devilish fine +entertainment for Lining."</p> + +<p class="normal">Gottlieb wanted to preach him a little sermon upon his misuse of the +word devilish, but restrained himself, since he reflected that it would +be thrown away upon Bräsig; so he said nothing, but followed the girls +out of the room.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good heavens!" exclaimed Frau Nüssler, "what has happened to my +children? I don't know what to make of it; they are one heart and one +soul again."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Keep quiet, Frau Nüssler," said Bräsig, "I will find out all about it, +to-day. Jochen, come out with me; but don't go to talking!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Jochen followed him into the garden. Bräsig took him under the arm. +"Keep quite still, Jochen, and don't look round, and act as if we were +taking a walk after dinner."</p> + +<p class="normal">Jochen did so, very skilfully.</p> + +<p class="normal">When they came to the cherry-tree before the arbor, Bräsig stopped.</p> + +<p class="normal">"So, Jochen, now stoop over,--with your head against the tree."</p> + +<p class="normal">Jochen would have spoken, but Bräsig pushed down his head.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Keep still, Jochen,--put your head against the tree!" and with that he +clambered up on Jochen's back. "So I now stand up! Sure enough, I can +just reach,"--and he caught the lowest boughs, and pulled himself up +into the tree. Jochen had said nothing as yet, but now he broke out:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bräsig, they are not ripe yet."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Blockhead!" cried Bräsig, looking, with his red face among the green +leaves, like a gay basket hung on the branches, "do you think I expect +to pick Rhenish cherries on St. John's day? But you must go away now, +and not stand there looking at me, like a dog that has treed a cat."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, what shall I do about it?" said Jochen, and left Bräsig to his +destiny.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bräsig had not long to watch, before he heard a light, quick, step on +the gravel-walk, and Lining seated herself in the arbor, with a great +heap of needle-work. If she meant to do all that to-day, she should +have begun immediately; but she laid it on the table, rested her head +on her hand, and, looking out into the blue heaven through Bräsig's +cherry-tree, sat in deep thought. "Ah, how happy I am!" said the +little, thankful soul, "my Mining is good to me again, and Gottlieb is +good to me, else why did he keep touching my foot at dinner? and how +Bräsig looked at me! I believe I turned quite red. Ah, what a good old +fellow Gottlieb is! How seriously and learnedly he talks, how steady he +is, the minister is clearly written on his face! He is not handsome, to +be sure, Rudolph is much better looking, but he has something peculiar +about him, as if he were ever saying, don't come near me with your +pitiable, lamentable nonsense, I have higher thoughts, I am spiritually +minded. But I will cut his hair for him, by and by."</p> + +<p class="normal">It is a merciful providence that the little maidens are not all taken +with a fine exterior, else we ugly fellows would be obliged to remain +bachelors, and it would be a sad company, for what can be uglier than +an ugly old bachelor?</p> + +<p class="normal">In Lining's closing reflection--that she would cut Gottlieb's hair +shorter--was implied such a confident hope, that she blushed to think +of it, and, as she heard the gravel creak under slow, dignified steps, +she seized her needle-work and begun to sew diligently.</p> + +<p class="normal">Gottlieb came with his book, and seated himself about three feet from +her, and began to read, but often looked off from his book as if he +were turning over in his mind what he had just read, or perhaps +something else. It is always so with the Pietist candidates, that is, +when they have found their right calling, and sincerely believe what +they preach to the people; before their examination they have none but +spiritual thoughts, but after their examination worldly matters claim +their share of attention, and instead of thinking of a parish they +think first of a marriage. It was so with Gottlieb, and because, since +his examination, no other girls had come in his way but Lining and +Mining, and Lining had paid much closer attention to his admonitions +than her light-hearted sister, he had happened upon the worldly thought +of making her a pastor's wife. He was not very expert at the business, +labouring, indeed, under great embarrassment, and had as yet gone no +further than treading on her feet, a proceeding which he was quite as +bashful in attempting, as Lining in receiving. He had decided, however, +to open the matter in proper style, so he said, "Lining, I have brought +this book out really on your account. Will you listen to some of it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said Lining.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It will be a tedious story," said Bräsig to himself. He did not lie on +a bed of roses, up in the cherry-tree.</p> + +<p class="normal">Gottlieb read an edifying discourse upon Christian marriage, how it +should be thought of, and with what feelings entered into, and when he +had finished, he moved a step nearer, and asked:</p> + +<p class="normal">"What do you say to it, Lining?</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is certainly very beautiful," said she.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Marriage?" asked Gottlieb.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, Gottlieb!" said Lining, and bent lower over her needlework.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, Lining," said Gottlieb, moving up another step, "it is <i>not</i> +beautiful. God bless you for it, that you have not placed a light +estimate upon this important act of human life. It is terribly hard, +that is in a Christian sense," and he gave her a fearful description of +the heavy duties and troubles and cares of married life, as if he were +preparing her for a residence at the House of Correction, while Bräsig, +up in the cherry-tree, crossed himself, and thanked his stars that he +had not entered on that sad estate. "Yes, Lining," said he, "marriage +is a part of the curse, with which God drove our first parents out of +Paradise," and he took his Bible, and read to the little girl the third +chapter of the first book of Moses, till Lining trembled all over, and +did not know where to go, for shame and distress.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Infamous Jesuit!" exclaimed Bräsig half aloud, "to distress the +innocent child like that!" and he was almost ready to spring down from +the tree, and Lining would almost have run away, only that the book out +of which he was reading was the Bible, and what was in the Bible must +be good; she covered her face with her hands, and cried bitterly. He +was now full of spiritual zeal, and threw his arm about her, saying, "I +spare thee not, in this solemn hour! Caroline Nüssler, wilt thou, under +these Christian conditions, be my Christian wedded wife?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Ah, and Lining was in such a dreadful confusion, she could neither +speak nor think, but only cry and cry.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then resounded along the garden path, a merry song:</p> +<div class="poem"> +<p class="t0" style="text-indent:-6px +"> +"Little fish in silver brook,<br> +Swimming off to a shady nook,</p> +<p class="t3">Little gray fish<br> +Seeking a wife."</p> +</div> + +<p class="continue">And Lining made a desperate effort, and started out of the arbor, spite +of the Bible and Christian conditions, to meet Mining, who was coming +out, with her sewing; and Gottlieb followed, with long, slow steps, and +his face looked as wonder-stricken as that of the young preacher, when +in the midst of his long sermon, the sexton laid the church-door key on +the pulpit, saying that when he had finished he might lock up, himself, +for he was going to dinner. And he might well looked astonished, for, +like the young preacher, he had done his best, and his church stood +empty.</p> + +<p class="normal">Mining was a little, inexperienced child, being the youngest, but she +was sufficiently acute to perceive that something had happened, and to +ask herself whether she would not cry under similar circumstances, and +what sort of comfort would be necessary. She seated herself quietly, in +the arbor, arranged her needle-work, and, reflecting upon her own +unsettled circumstances, began to sigh a little, for want of anything +else in particular to do.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Preserve me!" said Bräsig, in the tree, "now the little rogue has +come, and my legs are perfectly numb, and the business is getting +tedious."</p> + +<p class="normal">But the business was not to be tedious long, for soon after Mining had +seated herself, there appeared around the corner of the arbor a +handsome, young fellow, with a fishing-rod over his shoulder, and a +basket of fish suspended around his neck.</p> + +<p class="normal">"This is good, Mining," cried he, "that I find you here. Of course you +have had dinner long ago?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You may well think so, Rudolph," she replied, "it is just two +o'clock."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Aunt will certainly be very angry with me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You may be sure of that, she is so already, without your being late to +dinner; but your own stomach will be the worst to you, for you have +cared for it poorly, to-day."</p> + +<p class="normal">"So much the better for yours, this evening. I could not come sooner, +it was out of the question, with the fish biting so finely. I have been +to the Black Pool today. Bräsig will never let me go there, and I +understand the reason; it is his private pantry when he cannot find +fish elsewhere; the whole pond is full of tench, just look! See there, +what splendid fellows!" and he opened his basket, and showed his +treasures. "I have got ahead of old Bräsig, this time!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Infamous rascal!" exclaimed Bräsig, to himself, and his nose peered +out between the leaves, like one of the pickled gherkins, which Frau +Nüssler was in the habit of putting up for the winter, in these same +cherry-leaves. "Infamous rascal! he has been among my tench, then! May +you keep the nose on your face! what fish the scamp has caught!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Give them to me, Rudolph," said Mining. "I will take them in, and +bring you out something to eat."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, no! no! Never mind.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But you must be hungry.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, then, just a little something, Mining. A slice or two of bread +and butter!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Mining went, and Rudolph seated himself in the arbor.</p> + +<p class="normal">He had a sort of easy indifference, as if he would let things come to +him, but yet, when they touched him nearly, he would not fail to +grapple with them. His figure was slender, and yet robust, and with the +roguery in his brown eyes was mingled a spark of obstinacy, with which +the little scar on his brown cheek harmonized so well, that one could +safely infer he had not spent all his time in the study of dogmatic +theology. "Yes," said he, as he sat there, "the fox must go to his own +hole. I have beaten about the bush long enough; to be sure there has +been time to spare, there was no hurry about settling matters until +now; but, to-day, two things must be decided. To-day the old man is +coming; well for me that mother does not come too, else I might find +myself wanting in courage, at last. I am as fit for a parson as a +donkey to play on the guitar, or Gottlieb for a colonel of cuirassiers. +If Bräsig were only here, to-day, he would stand by me. But Mining! If +I could get that settled first."</p> + +<p class="normal">Just then, Mining came along, with a plate of bread and butter.</p> + +<p class="normal">Rudolph sprang up: "Mining, what a good little thing you are!" and he +threw his arm around her.</p> + +<p class="normal">Mining pulled herself away; "Ah, let me be! What a naughty boy you are! +Mother is dreadfully angry with you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You mean on account of the sermon? Well, yes! It was a stupid trick."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," said Mining, earnestly, "it was a <i>wicked</i> trick. It was making +light of holy things."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, ho! Such candidates' sermons are not such holy things,--even when +they come from our pious Gottlieb."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But, Rudolph, in the <i>church</i>!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, Mining, I acknowledge it was a stupid trick, I did not consider it +beforehand; I only thought of the sheepish face Gottlieb would make, +and that amused me so that I did the foolish thing. But let it go, +Mining!" and he threw his arm about her again.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, let go!" said Mining, but did not push it away. "And the pastor +said, if he should report the matter, you could never in your life get +a parish."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let him report it then; I wish he would, and I should be out of the +scrape once for all."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What?" asked Mining, making herself free, and pushing him back a +little way, "do you say that in earnest?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"In solemn earnest. It was the first and last time I shall enter a +pulpit."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Rudolph!" exclaimed Mining, in astonishment.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why should that trouble you?" cried Rudolph, hastily. "Look at +Gottlieb, look at me! Am I fit for a pastor? And if I had whole systems +of theology in my head, so that I could even instruct the learned +professors, they would not let me through my examination; they demand +also a so-called religious experience. And if I were the apostle Paul +himself, they would have nothing to do with me, if they knew about the +little scar on my cheek."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But what will you do, then?" asked Mining, and laid her hand hastily on +his arm. "Ah, don't be a soldier!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"God forbid! Don't think of such a thing! No, I will be a farmer."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Confounded scamp!" said Bräsig, up in the tree.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, my dear little Mining," said Rudolph, drawing her down on the +bench beside him, "I will be a farmer, a right active, skilful farmer, +and you, my little old dear Mining, shall help me about it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"She shall teach him to plough and to harrow," said Bräsig.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I, Rudolph?" asked Mining,</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, you, my dear, sweet child,"--and he stroked the shining hair, and +the soft cheeks, and lifted the little chin, and looked full in the +blue eyes,--"if I only knew, with certainty, that in a year and a day +you would be my little wife, it would be easy for me to learn to be a +skilful farmer. Will you, Mining, will you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">And the tears flowed from Mining's eyes, and Rudolph kissed them away, +here and there, over her cheeks, down to her rosy mouth, and Mining +laid her little round head on his breast, and when he gave her time to +speak, she whispered softy that she would, and he kissed her again, and +ever again, and Bräsig called, half aloud, from the tree, "But that is +too much of a good thing! Have done!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And Rudolph told her, between the kisses, that he would speak with his +father, to-day, and remarked also, by the way, it was a pity Bräsig was +not there; he could help him finely in his undertaking, and he knew the +old man thought a great deal of him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Confounded scamp!" said Bräsig, "catching away my tench!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And Mining said Bräsig was there, and was taking his afternoon nap.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Just hear the rogue, will you?" said Bräsig. "This looks like an +afternoon nap! But it is all finished now. Why should I torment my poor +bones any longer?" And as Rudolph was saying he must speak to the old +gentleman, Bräsig slid down the cherry-tree, until his trousers were +stripped up to his knees, and caught by the lowest branches, saying, +"Here he hangs!" and then he let himself fall, and stood close before +the pair of lovers, with an expression on his heated face, which said +quite frankly he considered himself a suitable arbiter in the most +delicate affairs.</p> + +<p class="normal">The young people did not conduct themselves badly. Mining did like +Lining in putting her hands before her face, only she did not cry, and +she would have run away like Lining, if she had not, from a little +child, stood on the most confidential footing with her Uncle Bräsig. +She threw herself, with her eyes covered, against her Uncle Bräsig's +breast, and crept with her little, round head almost into his +waistcoat pocket, and cried,--</p> + +<p class="normal">"Uncle Bräsig! Uncle Bräsig! you are an abominable old fellow!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"So?" asked Bräsig. "Eh, that is very fine."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said Rudolph, with a little air of superiority, "you should be +ashamed to play the listener here."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Monsieur Noodle," said Bräsig, "let me tell you, once for all, I have +never in my life done anything to be ashamed of, and if you think you +can teach me good manners you are very much mistaken."</p> + +<p class="normal">Rudolph had sense enough to see this, and, although he would have +relished a little contest, it was clear to him that on this occasion he +must yield to Mining's wishes. So he remarked, in a pleasanter tone, +that if Bräsig were up in the tree by chance--he would take that for +granted--he might at least have advised them of his presence, by +coughing, or in some way, instead of listening to their affairs from A +to Z.</p> + +<p class="normal">"So?" said Bräsig, "I should have coughed, should I? I <i>groaned</i> often +enough and if you had not been so occupied with your own affairs, you +might easily have heard me. But you ought to be ashamed, to be making +love to Mining without Frau Nüssler's permission."</p> + +<p class="normal">That was his own affair, Rudolph said, and nobody's else, and Bräsig +knew nothing about such matters.</p> + +<p class="normal">"So?" asked Bräsig, again. "Did you ever have three sweethearts at +once? I did, sir; three acknowledged sweethearts, and do I know about +such matters? But you are such a sly old rascal, fishing my tench out +of the Black Pool, on the sly; and fishing my little Mining, before my +very eyes, out of the arbor. Come, leave him alone, Mining! he shall +have nothing to do with you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, Uncle Bräsig," begged Mining so artlessly, "be good to us, we love +each other so much."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, never mind Mining, you are my little goddaughter; though that is +all over now."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, Herr Inspector!" cried Rudolph,--laying his hand on the old man's +shoulder, "no, dear, good Uncle Bräsig, that is not over, that shall +last as long as we live. I will be a farmer, and if I have the prospect +of calling Mining my wife, and"--he was cunning enough to add--"and you +will give me your valuable advice, the devil must be in it, if I cannot +make a good one."</p> + +<p class="normal">"A confounded rascal!" said Bräsig to himself, adding, aloud, "Yes, you +will be such a Latin farmer as Pistorius, and Prætorius, and Trebonius, +and you will sit on the bank of the ditch and read that fellow's book, +with the long title, about oxygen and carbonic acid gas, and organisms, +while the cursed farmboys are strewing manure, behind your back, in +lumps as big as your hat-crown. Oh, I know you! I never knew but one +man who had been to the great schools, and was worth anything +afterward, and that was the young Herr yon Rambow, who was with +Habermann."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, Uncle Bräsig," said Mining, lifting her head, suddenly, and +stroking the old man's cheeks, "what Franz can do, Rudolph can do +also."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, Mining, that he can <i>not</i>! And why? Because he is a greyhound, and +the other is a decided character!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Uncle Bräsig," said Rudolph, "you are thinking of that stupid trick of +mine, about the sermon; but Gottlieb had teased me so with his zeal for +proselyting, I must play some little joke on him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ha, ha!" laughed Bräsig, "well, why not, it amused me, it amused me +very much. So he wanted to convert you too, from fishing, perhaps? Oh, +he has been trying to convert somebody here, this afternoon, but Lining +ran away from him; however, that is all right."</p> + +<p class="normal">"With Lining and Gottlieb?" asked Mining anxiously, "and have you +listened to that, too?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Of course I listened to it, it was on their account I perched myself +in this confounded cherry-tree. But now come here Monsieur Rudolph. +Will you, all your life long, never again go into the pulpit and preach +a sermon?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, never again."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Will you get up at four o'clock in the morning, and three o'clock in +the summer-time, and give out fodder grain?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Always, at the very hour."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Will you learn how to plough and harrow and mow properly, and to reap +and bind sheaves, that is, with a band,--there is no art in using a +rope?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said Rudolph.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Will you promise never to sit over the punch-bowl, at the Thurgovian +ale-house, when your wagons are already gone, and then ride madly after +them?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will never do it," said Rudolph.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Will you also never in your life--Mining, see that beautiful larkspur, +the blue, I mean, just bring it to me, and let me smell it--will you," +he continued, when she was gone, "never entangle yourself with the +confounded farm-girls?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr Inspector, what do you take me for?" said Rudolph angrily, +turning away.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Come, come," said Bräsig, "every business must be settled beforehand, +and I give you warning: for every tear my little godchild sheds on your +account I will give your neck a twist," and he looked as fierce as if +he were prepared to do it immediately.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thank you Mining," said he, as she brought him the flower, and he +smelled it, and stuck it in his buttonhole.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And now, come here, Mining, I will give you my blessing. No, you need +not fall on your knees, since I am not one of your natural parents, but +merely your godfather. And you, Monsieur Rudolph, I will stand by you +this afternoon, when your father comes, and help you out of this +clerical scrape. And now, come, both of you, we must go in. But I tell +you, Rudolph, don't sit reading, by the ditches, but attend to the +manure-strewing. You see there is a trick in it, the confounded +farm-boys must take the fork, and then not throw it off directly, no! +they must first break it up three or four times with the fork, so that +it gets well separated. A properly manured field ought to look as neat +and fine as a velvet coverlid."</p> + +<p class="normal">With that, he went, with the others, out of the garden gate.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER XIX.</h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">Towards the middle of the afternoon, the merchant Kurz, and the rector +Baldrian were approaching the Rexow farm.</p> + +<p class="normal">Kurz had invited the rector to be his companion, to his own detriment, +for a little man appears to fearful disadvantage beside a long-legged +fellow, and nature, in cheating Kurz of his rightful dimensions, +appeared to have endowed the rector with the surplus. So they walked +along the road, and the rector made a joke; he said that they two +together reminded him of the metre, which the Romans called a dactyl, +long, short, short; long, short, short. That provoked Kurz, since it +was disparaging to his legs and his capabilities as a pedestrian; he +took the longest possible steps.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now we can pass for a spondee," said the rector.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do me the favor, brother-in-law," said Kurz, angrily, and wholly out +of breath, "to spare me your learned witticisms. They are altogether +too much for me." And he wiped off the sweat from his face, pulled off +his coat, and hung it over his stick.</p> + +<p class="normal">In his belief, Kurz was properly a materialist, but by trade he was a +mercer. There were always remnants left over, in this business, which +was quite a convenience to a man of his short stature, since he could +use them up for himself. When he had cleared out his old stock last +year, he had a piece of ladies' dress goods left on hand, on which were +represented giraffes plucking at a palm-tree. He could not think of +throwing it away, and he could not get rid of it, so he had it made up +into a summer coat for himself, and he was now marching on the Rexow +farm, with this banner over his shoulder, as if he were the youngest +standard-bearer in the army of a German prince, who bore a giraffe and +a palm-tree in his shield; and rector Baldrian stalked by his side, in +a yellow nankeen coat, like a right file-leader, in the body-guard of +the German prince, who might, for a change, have adopted yellow nankeen +as a uniform.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dear me!" sighed Frau Nüssler, "Kurz is bringing the rector with him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Sure enough," said Bräsig, "but he shall not incommode us much to-day, +I will cut his speeches short." For they both had, not without reason, +a great terror of the rector's circumstantiality.</p> + +<p class="normal">The two guests entered, and the rector delivered a long oration upon +his joy in seeing them again, and the happy opportunity of coming with +Kurz; to which Bräsig replied curtly, that long legs were the best +opportunities for one who was going across country, and turned away, so +that the rector, while Frau Nüssler was occupied with Kurz, found his +audience limited to Jochen, who listened in the most exemplary manner +to the whole discourse, and finally said, "Good day, brother-in-law, +sit down a little while."</p> + +<p class="normal">Kurz was out of temper; in the first place, because he had come to give +his boy a scolding, secondly, because the rector had walked him off his +legs, and, thirdly, because in pulling off his coat he had taken cold, +and got a fit of the hiccoughs. His crossness, to be sure, was nothing +remarkable, for he was angry year in and year out, because he was a +democrat, of course not a state democrat, for they didn't have such +then in Mecklenburg; only a city democrat, since he made it the +particular business of his life to pull public offices from the grasp +of the thick-nosed baker, in the market-place, who was so horribly +favored by the burgomeister. He went puffing and hiccoughing about the +room, and looked, with his red, moist face and his short grizzled hair, +like a fine, red, freshly cut ham, cooked in paste, well sprinkled with +pepper and salt, with the gravy following the knife.</p> + +<p class="normal">The comparison is not strictly accurate, because the knife was wanting, +but Bräsig took care for that; he ran to the dresser, caught up a long, +sharp carving-knife, marched directly up to the ham and said, "So, +Kurz, now sit perfectly still."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What is that for?" inquired Kurz.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Remedy for the hiccoughs. So! Now you must look right at the point of +the knife. Now I come nearer and nearer to you with the point; but you +must be frightened, or it will do you no good. Still nearer,--still +nearer, as if I were going to split your nose open. Still nearer--close +to your eyes."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thunder and lightning!" cried Kurz, springing up. "Do you mean to put +my eyes out?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good!" said Bräsig, "good! You are frightened, and that will help +you."</p> + +<p class="normal">And it did help, truly, that is, as regards the hiccoughs, not as +regards the crossness.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Where is my boy?" he asked. "He shall get a scolding to-day. Nothing +but vexations, brother-in-law!" turning to Jochen. "Here with the boy, +at the Rathhaus with the public documents, at home with my wife, on +account of that confounded sermon affair, in the shop with that beast +of an apprentice, selling a half ounce of black sewing silk for a +drachm, and here, on the road, with the rector's long shanks."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Mother," said young Jochen, pushing a coffee-cup towards her, "help +Kurz."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh, brother-in-law," said Frau Nüssler, "there is time enough, let us +talk it over first; to come down on the boy when you are so heated +would be like pouring oil on the fire."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'll come down on him----" began Kurz; but he went no further, for the +door opened, and Gottlieb entered.</p> + +<p class="normal">Gottlieb's step was more than usually dignified, as he walked up to his +father, and greeted him. He was so excessively solemn, and had such an +air of clerical reserve, that he looked as if St. Salbaderus had taken +him under his special tuition, and hung him up by a string every night, +to keep him out of harm's way.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good day, how goes it, papa?" said he, and kissed his father on the +cheek, so that the old man kissed in the air, like a carp, when he +comes up out of the water.</p> + +<p class="normal">"How is mamma?" inquired the son.</p> + +<p class="normal">Gottlieb had been brought up from a child to say "Papa" and "Mamma," +because the rector thought "Father" and "Mother," although quite good +enough for ordinary burghers, were not suitable for educated people; at +which Frau Kurz was naturally very indignant, since her children always +said "Daddy" and "Mammy."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good day, uncle," said Gottlieb to Kurz, "good day, Herr Inspector," +to Bräsig, and, turning again to his father, he went on: "I am very +glad you have come to-day, for I wish to speak to you particularly, on +important business."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ha, ha," said Bräsig to himself, "it is beginning already."</p> + +<p class="normal">The rector went out into the court-yard with his son, and Bräsig +stationed himself at the window, and watched them. Frau Nüssler came up +to him: "Bräsig, did you find out anything, this afternoon, about my +little girls?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Frau Nüssler," said Bräsig, "don't you be troubled, the business has +settled itself."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What?" cried Frau Nüssler, hastily, "how has it settled itself?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You will soon find out, for if you look out of the window you will see +it is being settled now. Why do you think the rector is shaking hands +with Gottlieb, and embracing him? On account of his Christian belief? +Come, I will tell you why; it is because you, Frau Nüssler, are such a +good housekeeper."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bräsig had great knowledge of human nature, and could read hearts like +a prophet; but he shared the common failing of prophets, he uttered +dark sayings. Frau Nüssler did not understand a word: "What? He +embraces Gottlieb because I am a good housekeeper!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Bräsig had another prophet's failing; he gave no answer to a reasonable +question, if it did not suit his humour. "Can't you see how he gives +him his blessing?" he exclaimed. "He knows very well that money +answereth all things, and he knows there is plenty of it here."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What has that to do with my children?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You will soon find out. See! now the Pietist is going away, and now +look at the old man. Lord have mercy on us! he is learning off a speech +by heart; and it will be a long one,--all his speeches are long, but +the ceremonious ones are the longest."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bräsig had great knowledge of human nature, as was fully proved on this +occasion, for the rector came in, and began immediately:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Honored friends, a certain wise man of antiquity has uttered the +indisputable truth, that the happiest home is that where quiet peace +dwells, in company with a comfortable, substantial competency. Here, in +this house, this is the case. I have not come here to disturb this +quiet peace; my dear brother-in-law, Kurz can do what he pleases,--I +have come by accident, but accident is a 'casus' or falling out, +whereby important things sometimes fall in a man's way. This is the +case with me to-day. This accident may fall out for good, or it may +fall out for evil; but I will not anticipate, I will say nothing +further about it. Dear Brother Jochen, you as the proper head of this +happily situated family"--Jochen made a face as if his brother-in-law +had said he was the proper autocrat of all Russia, and ought by good +rights to be sitting on his throne in the Kremlin at Moscow, instead of +sitting here in the chimney-corner--"yes," repeated the rector, "you, +as the proper head of the family, will pardon me if I address myself +also to my dear sister-in-law, who has cared for the affairs of her own +family with so much love and circumspection, and with such blessed +results, and also upon the families related--I refer here particularly +to the friendly reception of my Gottlieb--has exerted a highly +beneficial influence. You, my dear brother-in-law Kurz, belong also to +the family, and although our two families, at least the female members, +have been lately a little divided, though--well, on this happy occasion +we will say nothing more about it--I am sure you really feel interested +in my happiness. But now," going up to Bräsig, "how shall I address +you, Herr Inspector? You, though you do not, strictly speaking, +belong to the family, have yet been so helpful in action, so wise in +counsel----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Come. I will give you a bit of advice," said the old man; "take a +fresh start or you will never get to the end."</p> + +<p class="normal">"End?" said the rector, with the authority of the clergyman breaking +through the crust of the pedant. "End?" asked he, solemnly, raising his +eyes to heaven, "will it come to a good or a bad end? Who knows the +end?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know it," said Bräsig, "for I heard the beginning, this afternoon, +up in that confounded cherry-tree. The end of the whole story is, the +Pietist wants to marry our Lining."</p> + +<p class="normal">Then there was an uproar, "Gracious heavens!" cried Frau Nüssler. +"Gottlieb! our child?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said the rector, snapping out the word, and standing there like +Klein, the head-fireman at Stemhagen, when the engines were being +tried, and the hose burst, and he got the whole stream of water over +himself.</p> + +<p class="normal">Kurz sprang up, exclaiming; "The rascal! Gottlieb? That is too much!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And Jochen also got up, but slowly, and asked Bräsig, "<i>Mining</i>, did +you say, Bräsig?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, young Jochen, only <i>Lining</i>," said Bräsig, quietly. And young +Jochen sat down again.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And you knew that, Bräsig, and never told us?" cried Frau Nüssler.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, I know yet more," said Bräsig, "but why should I tell you? What +difference could it make whether you knew it a quarter of an hour +sooner, or not; and I thought it would be a pleasant surprise for you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And here he is," said the rector, leading in Gottlieb, who had been +behind the door all the time, "and he wishes to receive his answer from +your kindness."</p> + +<p class="normal">And now came old Gottlieb, for once with nothing ludicrous about him, +but like any other man. His clerical demeanor, and the exclusiveness of +his Levitical calling, he had quite thrown overboard, since he had no +room in his heart for such folderols. At this moment it was full of +pure human nature, of doubt and hope, of fear and love, and those who +could decide his happiness or misery stood before him as human beings +in flesh and blood--Jochen to be sure was sitting--and real love, with +its proper circumstances of betrothal and marriage, is such a fair, +pure, human feeling, that truly no clerical parade can make it fairer. +At any other time, Gottlieb himself would have been the first to +dispute this assertion, but at this moment he was so overcome by this +tender feeling, and expressed himself with so much warmth and +confidence toward Frau Nüssler and Jochen, that Bräsig said to himself, +"How the man has altered! If Lining has done so much in this short +time, let her go on, in heaven's name! She will make a good fellow of +him yet!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Frau Nüssler listened to Gottlieb's straightforward story, and indeed +she had always liked old Gottlieb, but the thought of losing her child +overcame her for the moment; she was much agitated; "Good heavens!" +cried she, "Gottlieb, you were always a good fellow, and you studied +your books well, but----"</p> + +<p class="normal">Here she was for the first time in her life, interrupted by Jochen. +When Jochen understood that they were not talking about Mining, he +became quiet; while Gottlieb addressed him, he was collecting his +thoughts and, as he became aware that all eyes were turned upon him, he +resolved to speak, and so he took the words out of his wife's mouth, +saying, "Yes, Gottlieb, it is all as true as leather, and what I can do +in the matter, as a father, I will do, and if mother is willing I am +willing; and if Lining is willing I am willing."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good heavens, Jochen!" cried Frau Nüssler, "what are you talking +about? Just keep quiet! No, I must first speak, to my child, I must +first hear what she will say to it." With that she ran out of the room.</p> + +<p class="normal">But it was not long before she came back, leading Lining by the hand, +and behind her followed Mining and Rudolph, probably intending to make +a practical use of this occasion; and Lining, red as a rose, dropped +her mother's hand, and threw herself upon Gottlieb's breast, and then +on her mother's, and then went and sat down on Jochen's knee--for he +had seated himself again--and would have kissed him, but could not for +coughing, for Jochen in his excitement was puffing violently at his +strong tobacco, so she only said "Father!" and he said "Lining!" and +when she rose, Bräsig was standing beside her, and he caressed her, and +said; "Never mind, Lining, I will give you something." Then Gottlieb +took her by the hand, and led her up to his father, and the rector bent +so low to give her his fatherly kiss, that the others thought he was +picking up a pin from the floor, and he began on a new oration, but did +not get far in it, for Bräsig stood at the window, drumming "The old +Dessauer," so that nobody could hear a word. The old man was staring +over Jochen's barn-roof, into the clear sunshine, as if there were +something quite remarkable to be seen there. And there was, in fact, +something remarkable to be seen; he saw, far off, an apple-tree, which +had been once covered with rosy bloom; it was his tree, he had propped +and trained it, it was his tree, but Jochen had transplanted it to his +garden, and he had been compelled to suffer it; but for all that, he +had still watched and tended the tree, and the tree had borne fruit, +beautiful red, round fruit; and the fruit had grown ripe, and was fair +to look upon, and now a couple of boys had climbed over the fence, and +one had plucked an apple, and put it in his pocket, and the second was +reaching out his hand for the other. Well, boys will be boys, and +apples and boys belong together; he knew that, and had often said to +himself that it must come; he did not grudge them but it troubled him +that the care of his little twin-apples should pass into other hands, +especially he could not easily give up the care of his little rogue, so +he drummed lustily on the window-frame.</p> + +<p class="normal">And Kurz, the shop-keeper, blew his nose as fiercely as if he were +playing the trumpet to Bräsig's drumming. It was not from emotion, that +he blew it so impressively, only from anger; for he was the fifth wheel +on the wagon amid all this domestic happiness, and yet he had come on +an important piece of business; but the circumstances demanded that he +should offer friendly congratulations, so with a face like a salt plum +that has been steeped in vinegar, he passed by his son Rudolph without +looking at him, and congratulated, right and left, as if he stood +behind his counter, serving his customers, and must have a friendly +word ready for every one, though he heard clearly all the time, behind +his back, the whole vinegar barrel running out. But when he came to the +rector, and should have poured him out a measure of oil for his +pathetic oration, there was the vinegar, which his boy had left +running, close at his heels, and he could talk to his customers no +longer; he turned quickly on his heel, and cried to Rudolph, "Are you +not ashamed of yourself?" then turning back to the customers, "I beg +your pardon! but this business must be attended to--are you not ashamed +of yourself? Have you not cost me more than Gottlieb his father? Have +you learnt anything? Just tell me!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dear brother-in-law," said the rector, and laid his hand with +friendliness on Kurz's head, as if he had done his Latin exercise +uncommonly well, "what he has learned, he cannot tell you in a moment."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh, what!" cried Kura, twitching out from under the hand, and +stumbling backward, "did you bring me along, or did I bring you along? +I think I brought you along; it is time for my business to be attended +to now. Are you not ashamed of yourself?" he cried, to Rudolph again; +"there stands Gottlieb, has passed his examination, has a bride,--a +fair, a lovely bride,"--with that he endeavoured to bow to Lining, but +in his excitement always made his compliments to Frau Nüssler,--"can be +a pastor to-morrow,"--Bräsig got this bow, instead of Gottlieb,--"and +you, and you--oh, you have fought duels, and what else have you done? +Got into debt; but I won't pay your debts!" and although nobody said +that he should pay them, he kept repeating, "I won't pay them! No! I +won't pay them!" and he placed himself by Bräsig, at the window, and +joined him in drumming.</p> + +<p class="normal">The poor boy, Rudolph, stood there, terribly mortified. It is true, +nature had given him a pretty tough hide, and he was too well used to +his father's abuse, to take it for more than it was worth, for nobody +must believe that Kurz, in his inmost heart, was angry with his boy, +no, God forbid! quite the contrary! because he cared so much for him, +he was angry that his boy was not so well off as the rector's.</p> + +<p class="normal">But for all that, and although Rudolph knew right well how much his +father thought of him, he could not bear it this time, for the old man +was too hard on him, and before so many witnesses, and he had a whole +stream of bitter words on the cud of his tongue, when his eye +fortunately fell upon Mining, who this afternoon reckoned herself truly +one bone and one flesh with Rudolph, for her flesh was pale instead of +his, and every bone in her body trembled for him. Rudolph swallowed his +bitter words, and for the first time the feeling came over him, that +his misdeeds could recoil on any other head than his own, and he +resolved to do nothing for the future, without looking into Mining's +eyes first. And, I say, that is a very good sign of a young, honest +love.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Father," said he, when he had controlled himself, and went, without +troubling himself at the long faces around him, up to his father, and +laid his hand on his shoulder, "Father, come! I have done with stupid +tricks from henceforth."</p> + +<p class="normal">Kurz kept on drumming; but Bräsig stopped.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Father," said Rudolph again, "you have reason to be angry with me, I +have deserved it, but----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Stop your confounded drumming!" said Bräsig, arresting Kurz's +knuckles.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Father," said Rudolph, offering his hand to his father, "come, forgive +and forget!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No!" said Kurz, thrusting both hands in his pockets.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What?" said Bräsig, "You will not? I know very well, nobody should +interfere between father and son, but I <i>will</i> interfere, because it is +your own fault that the business has been talked about so openly. What! +You will not forget and forgive this young fellow's follies, and he +your own son? Haven't you always sent me that old, sweet Prussian +Kümmel, and didn't I forgive and forget, and go and trade with you +again, and pay you honestly?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have always served you well," said Kurz.</p> + +<p class="normal">"So?" asked Bräsig, mockingly. "How about that trousers' pattern? Young +Jochen, you know all about it, you can remember how they looked +afterwards."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Those stupid old trousers!" cried Kurz, "you have made so much fuss +about them already that----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ha, ha!" interrupted Bräsig, "do you talk like that? Wasn't it pure +wickedness on your part, to let me wear them, and you knowing they +would turn red, and haven't I forgiven and forgotten? Well, not +forgotten, to be sure, for I have a very good memory,--but if you don't +forget what the young fellow has done, you can at least forgive him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dear brother-in-law," began the rector, who believed that, in +consideration of his having formerly been a clergyman, it was his duty +to make peace.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do me the pleasure!" cried Kurz, turning short round, "you have a +bride, and will get a parish,--that is to say, your Gottlieb will get +one, and we--we--we have learnt nothing, we have no bride, no parish, +and we have a scar!" and then he ran wildly about the room.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Father!" cried Rudolph, "just hear me!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said Frau Nüssler, who was heated to the point of boiling over, +and she caught Kurz by the arm; "just hear what he has to say for +himself. If he did do a foolish thing about the sermon,--and no one was +more troubled about it than I,--yet otherwise he is a good boy, and +many a father would be proud of him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, yes!" said Kurz, impatiently, "I will hear him, I will listen to +him," and he placed himself before Rudolph with his hands on his sides: +"Come now, say what you have to say, now say it!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dear father," said Rudolph, standing there with a beseeching and yet +resolved expression upon his face, "I know it will grieve you deeply, +but I cannot do otherwise; I shall not be a clergyman, I am going to be +a farmer."</p> + +<p class="normal">It is said that they teach the bears to dance, in Poland, by putting +them on hot iron plates, where they must keep their legs constantly in +motion, to avoid being burned. In precisely such a manner, did Kurz hop +about the room, at these words of Rudolph's, first on one foot and then +on the other, as if the devil were under Frau Nüssler's floor, toasting +his feet for him. "That is pretty," he cried at every jump, "that is +fine! My son, who has cost me so much, who has learned so much, will be +a farmer! will be a clodhopper, a blockhead, a stable-boy!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Young Jochen," cried Bräsig, "shall we suffer ourselves to be called +by such names? Stand up, young Jochen! What, Herr!" exclaimed he, going +up to Kurz, "such a herring-dealer, such a syrup-prince as you, to +despise farmers! Herr, do you know who we are? We are your very +foundation; if it were not for us, and our buying of you, the +shopkeepers might all run about the country with beggars' sacks,--and +you think your son has learned too much for such a calling? He has +learned too much, perhaps, in one way, but he has learned too little in +another. Do you believe, Herr, that a capable agriculturalist--stand up +here by me, Jochen!--needs nothing but a sheep's head and asses' ears?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dear brother-in-law," began the rector, again.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Will you kill me, with your long speeches?" roared Kurz. "You have +sheared your little sheep; I came out, also, to shear my black sheep, +and now you all seem bent on shearing me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Kurz," said Frau Nüssler, "be reasonable. What cannot be, cannot. If +he won't be a pastor, he is the nearest thing to it, as the Frau +Pastorin says; and in my opinion, if he is only an industrious fellow, +it is all the same whether he preaches or ploughs."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Father," said Rudolph now, as he noticed that his father was +considering, "give me your consent; you do not know how much my life's +happiness depends on it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who will take you for a pupil?" cried Kurz, still angrily. "Nobody!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is my affair," said Bräsig. "I know a man,--that is Hilgendorff, +of Tetzleben,--who understands book-farming, and who has already done +well for his pupils. He had one fellow, who was beside himself with +poetry, which he used to write behind the shed; if he wanted to say +that the sun was risen, he said, 'Aurora had looked over the hedge,' +and when he would speak of a storm coming up, he said, 'It glowed and +towered up, in the west,' and if he would say it drizzled, he said, +'Light drops distilled from heaven,'--and for all that, he has made a +useful man out of him. He must go to Hilgendorff."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said Kurz, "but I must speak with Hilgendorff; I shall tell +him----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Tell him everything, father," said Rudolph, embracing the old man, +"but I have yet another petition."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ha, ha!" cried Kurz, "about your debts, I suppose; but don't come near +me with those to-day, I have enough of this clodhopper business, and I +won't pay them!" and he shoved his son away.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And you shall not, father," said Rudolph, drawing himself up proudly, +and his whole bearing expressed such cheerful courage and such sure +confidence, that all eyes were attracted towards him. "You shall not do +it!" he cried, "I have incurred debts to-day, and I have given my word +of honor, honestly to pay and discharge them, and I will do it, with my +heart's blood. I have made them here," he exclaimed, going up to +Mining, who all this time, and through all this quarrel, had been lying +on her sister's shoulder, and who felt as if it were the beginning of +the judgment day. "Here!" said he, and laid Mining on his own breast. +"If I am ever good for anything, you have this little girl here to +thank for it," and the tears started from his eyes, "my darling little +bride."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Confounded rascal!" said Bräsig, rubbing his eyes, and he went back to +the window, and drummed the Dessauer, for he was the only one who was +not surprised at this announcement. The others stood there, confounded.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good Heavens!" cried Frau Nüssler, "what is this?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What?" cried Jochen, "<i>Mining</i>, did he say?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good gracious, Jochen, don't talk so much!" cried Frau Nüssler, +"Mining, what is this, what does this mean?"</p> + +<p class="normal">But Mining lay on Rudolph's breast, as white and still, as if she would +never raise her head, or speak another word. Kurz had comprehended the +matter at once, he had quickly ciphered out in his head a couple of +examples in arithmetic, of which Jochen's property furnished the +principal items, and he found the result so satisfactory, that he began +to dance again, this time, however, not like the Polish bears, but like +a wild Indian executing a war-dance, and Bräsig drummed the measure. +Rector Baldrian's face was the one quiet point, in all this general +excitement, for it looked as uncomprehensive as mine would, if I were +poring over a Hebrew Bible.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What is this, what does this mean?" cried Frau Nüssler again, sinking +into a chair. "Both my two! Both my little girls in one and the same +day! And <i>you</i> said," turning upon Bräsig, "that you would look after +them!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Frau Nüssler," said Bräsig, "have I not looked after them, till all my +bones were sore? But there is no harm done, so far as I can see. What +do you say to it, Jochen?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have nothing to say; my blessed mother always said: A candidate and +a governess----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Jochen," cried Frau Nüssler, "you will talk me dead, and you learned +this very chattering from Rudolph, the rascal!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Blockhead!" exclaimed Kurz, dancing about the pair, "why didn't you +tell me that, in the first place? I would have forgiven you anything, +on account of this little--this dear little daughter!" and he lifted up +Mining's head, and kissed her.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Gracious heavens!" cried Frau Nüssler, "there is Kurz calling her his +daughter, and kissing her, and his boy is nothing at all yet, and +Mining is so inconsiderate!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"So?" said Bräsig. "You mean because she is the youngest? Now come here +a minute, I want to speak to you privately," and he led Frau Nüssler +into the corner, and the two looked attentively at the old spittoon, +which stood there. "Frau Nüssler," said he, "what is right for one, +must be reasonable for the other. You have given your blessing to +Lining, why not to Mining? Yes, it is true, she is not so thoughtful, +because she is the youngest; but after all, Madame Nüssler, the +difference in years is so little, in a pair of twins, that it is +scarcely to be regarded, and then--you must give your daughter to the +presbyter, and how he will take care of her, the devil knows! we know +nothing about the ways of the clergy, for you and Jochen and I have +never studied theology; but the other, the duel-fighter, you see how he +stands there, as if he could cut his way through the world--a +confounded rascal! well, you see with him, as a farmer, we shall have +the advantage, for you and Habermann and I, and if the worst comes to +the worst, Jochen himself, an look after him, and admonish him, and +Keep him in order. And you see, Frau Nüssler, I always thought Jochen +would improve with age; but does he improve? No, he doesn't improve, +and it may be a real blessing for you to have this youth here, as a +son-in-law, if he does well, for we are getting old, and when I close +my eyes--well, I shall last a little while longer, perhaps--but it +would be a great comfort to me to know that you had some one on hand, +to look after you."</p> + +<p class="normal">And the old fellow looked down fixedly into the spittoon, and Frau +Nüssler threw her arm around his neck, and kissed him, for the first +time in her life, and said in a quiet, friendly way; "Bräsig, if you +really think it right, then it cannot be against the will of God." Many +an arbor has witnessed a fresher, rosier, more glowing kiss, but the +old spittoon would not exchange with them.</p> + +<p class="normal">And Frau Nüssler turned back, and went up to Rudolph, and said, +"Rudolph, I say nothing more but, In God's name," and she drew Mining +to her arms, and reached after Lining, and laid the two little twins +alternately upon her breast, as she had done years ago, and hope stood +again at her side, in her freshest, green wreath, as she had done years +ago; yet it was quite different to-day, from that other time. Then she +had given the two little twins, now she would take them away; for hope +is like the bee, she plunger into every flower, and extracts from each +its honey.</p> + +<p class="normal">And Bräsig went up and down the room, with great strides, and held his +nose in the air, and snuffed about, and elevated his eyebrows, and +turned out his little legs, with as much dignity and importance, as if +he were the rightful father, who should give away the children, and had +made up his mind to the sacrifice, and by him also stood a fair, +womanly image. With a wreath, it was a wreath of moss and yellow +immortelles; but it harmonized well with the still, sad eyes, and she +took him softly by the hand, and led him again and ever again towards +the mother and children, till he laid his hands on her head, and +whispered in her ears, "Be content, you shall have them still."</p> + +<p class="normal">Rudolph had gone directly up to Gottlieb, and offered him his hand: +"You are no longer angry with me, to-day, are you, Gottlieb?" and +Gottlieb pressed his hand, saying, "How can you think so, dear brother? +Forgiveness is the Christian's duty." And the rector coughed, as if he +were preparing to deliver a brief oration, but Kurz caught hold of his +coat, and begged him, for God's sake, not to spoil the business--and +then all at once, the company became aware that Jochen was missing. +Where was Jochen?</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good gracious!" cried Frau Nüssler, "where is my Jochen?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good gracious! where is Jochen?" repeated one and another; but Bräsig +was the first who made any efforts to bring him back to his proper +place; he ran out, and screamed out of the front door, across the +court-yard, "Jochen!" and ran back again, and screamed through the +garden, "Jochen!" and, as he came back through the kitchen, he saw a +fiery face puffing and blowing at the coals, under a great copper +kettle, and that was Jochen's face.</p> + +<p class="normal">The feeling had come over him, that he ought to do something, in honor +of such a special occasion, and his heart became so warm, that five and +twenty degrees (Reaumur) in the shade seemed too cool for him, and +since he wanted to bring his outside into harmony with his inside, and +could think of nothing more suitable to a family festival, he decided +upon punch, and was brewing it in the most energetic manner. Bräsig +assisted, and undertook the tasting, and they came back finally, +bearing in Frau Nüssler's largest soup-tureen, both fiery as a pair of +dragons guarding a treasure, and Jochen placed it on the table, with +the single word, "There!" and Bräsig said to the little twin-apples, +"Go to your father, and thank him; your father thinks of everybody."</p> + +<p class="normal">As the old fellows gathered about the punch-bowl, and the young people +had something else to think about, Frau Nüssler stole quietly out of +the room; she wished to talk over the matter with an older friend than +Bräsig.</p> + +<p class="normal">The little twin-apples were hidden in the green arbor of their happy +future; only as Uncle Bräsig's playful jests blew aside the green +leaves, their blushing faces were revealed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said he to Gottlieb, "there are all sorts of people in the +world, and wicked Pietists among them. You wanted to convert me, take +care I don't convert you; I shall convert you by means of Lining." And +as Gottlieb was about to reply, he stood up, and gave him his hand in +the heartiest manner, "Well, never mind, you will have fire enough yet, +and if you are the village pastor, I shall get on well with you, and we +shall be good friends."</p> + +<p class="normal">And to Rudolph, he said, "Just wait! You have caught my tench out of +the pool, you rascal, but Hilgendorff will make you face the music," +and he went up to his young fishing-comrade and whispered in his ear: +"It is not so bad! You must always think of Mining, with every bushel +of corn you measure out, and when you are out in the spring, in a stiff +east wind, with a dozen laborers, and the old loam-dust flies in your +nose, and sticks there, as if a swallow had built her nest in your +head, and the sun looks out through the dust, as round and red as a +copper-kettle, then you must think that is Mining's face, looking down +on you. Isn't it so, my little godchild?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Meanwhile the rector had drank three glasses of punch, one to the +health of each betrothed pair, and one to the health of the company, +and he would allow himself no longer to be hindered, even by Kurz, from +resuming his interrupted speech. He began with the introduction to the +introduction. He stood up, reached after a tea-spoon and after the +sugar-tongs, which had been on the table since coffee was served, +coughed a couple of times, as a sign that he was ready to begin, and +when he was aware that all were looking at him, and Jochen had folded +his hands, he first looked very thoughtfully, now at the spoon, and +then at the tongs. All at once, he thrust the spoon right under +Bräsig's nose, as if Bräsig had stolen it, and must be convicted of the +act: "Do you know that?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said Bräsig, "what of it?" Then he held the sugar-tongs before +Kurz's eyes, and asked if he knew it.</p> + +<p class="normal">Kurz knew it, it was Jochen's.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," he began; "you know them; that is, you have a sensible +perception of them, you know how to distinguish them from other objects +by color, shape, and brightness: but the moral conception, which I +connect with them, you do not know."</p> + +<p class="normal">He looked around, as if he expected some one to contradict him; but +they were all silent.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, you do not know it! I must communicate and explain it to you. See, +how long will it be before the careful housewife of this family will +come and take spoon and tongs, and put these, which are now visibly +divided, lying here on the table, into one common tea-caddy, where they +will rest together; in thousands of houses they rest together in one +tea-caddy, and for a thousand years, they rest together in one +tea-caddy. It is a custom honored for ages, that what belongs +together should not be separated. And Adam"--here he held up the +sugar-tongs--"and Eve"--then he held up the tea-spoon--"belonged +together, for they were created for each other,"--here he held them +both up--"and the Lord himself put them together in the tea-caddy of +Paradise. And what did Noah do? He built himself an ark, a +tea-caddy,--if you will, my beloved,--and he called the males and +females, and they followed his call,"--here he marched the sugar-tongs +over the table, alternately pinching them together and letting them +loose again, and shoved the tea-spoon after them--"and they went----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Come in!" cried Bräsig, for somebody knocked at the door, and in +walked Fritz Triddelsitz. "Herr Habermann's compliments to Herr +Nüssler, and would he lend him a pair of rape-sifters, as they were +ready to begin harvesting." This made a little disturbance, but the +rector remained standing at his post.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said Jochen, he would do so; and Fritz perceiving by the odor of +the punch, and the rector's state of preparation,--which he knew well +enough of old, since he had many a time made his shoulders black and +blue,--that there was something unusual in progress, crossed the room +on tiptoe, and sat down, and Jochen said, "Mining, help Triddelsitz." +Fritz drank, and the rector waited.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Begin again at the beginning," said Bräsig, "else Triddelsitz cannot +understand it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"We were speaking, then," began the rector----</p> + +<p class="normal">"About the sugar-tongs and the teaspoon," cried Kurz, wickedly, "and +that they belonged in the tea-caddy," and he snatched the silver out of +his hand and put it into the caddy, saying, "There, now the males and +females are in Noah's ark, and I think ours will get in there too. You +must know, Triddelsitz, we are celebrating a double betrothal here, +to-day, and that is the principal thing; the rector's sermon is only +the fringe about the garment. What is Habermann doing?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, thank you," said Fritz, "he is very well," and he stood up, and +offered his congratulations to the two couples, on their betrothal, in +suitable terms enough, and yet with rather a condescending manner, as +if it were merely a birthday, and the little twin-apples were betrothed +every year. The rector stood waiting, all this time.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Lining, help uncle rector," said Jochen.</p> + +<p class="normal">She did so, and the rector drank; but, instead of diverting his +attention, the punch moved and stirred and poked about among the +thoughts which he had collected for his speech, and there was a great +commotion in his brain, and every idea wanted to take the lead, but +they were constantly pushed back by one after another of the company, +now Jochen, now Kurz, and now Fritz, and as he was at last bringing +forward his heavy artillery of "reflections on marriage," Bräsig +observed, in the most innocent way, "You have been very happy, then, in +the married state, Herr Rector?"</p> + +<p class="normal">He seated himself, with a deep sigh, and to this day, no one knows +whether it was over his marriage or his speech. I incline to think the +latter, for I hold it easier to resign a happy marriage than a happy +speech.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was now evening, and the rector, Kurz, and Triddelsitz took leave; +Rudolph also was to go with them, for Bräsig and Frau Nüssler had both +given their opinion that he should get into the traces immediately, for +his new business, and not loaf about any longer. Jochen and Bräsig +accompanied the others a little way.</p> + +<p class="normal">"How does your new master get on, Triddelsitz?" inquired Bräsig.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thank you, Herr Inspector, he is quite remarkable, he made a speech to +the laborers this morning, as one might say, extempore."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What!" exclaimed Kurz, "does he make speeches too?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What had he to speak about?" asked Bräsig.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What did he make?" asked Jochen.</p> + +<p class="normal">"A speech," said Triddelsitz.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I thought he was going to be a farmer," said Jochen.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why, yes," said Triddelsitz; "but cannot a farmer make a speech?"</p> + +<p class="normal">That was too much for Jochen; a farmer make a speech? such a thing had +never occurred to him before; he did not say another word during the +whole evening, until, just before he fell asleep, he uttered his +ultimate conclusion: "That must be a confounded smart fellow!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Bräsig did not give up so easily. "What had he to speak about?" said he +again. "If there was anything to be done about the laborers, there is +Habermann!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr Inspector," said the rector, falling in, "a good speech is always +in place. Cicero----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who was this Cicero?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"The greatest orator of antiquity."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh, I didn't ask about that; I mean, what was his business; was he a +farmer, or a shopkeeper, or was he appointed a magistrate, or was he a +doctor, or what was he?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have told you, he was the greatest orator of antiquity."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, antiquity here, antiquity there! if he was nothing else--I cannot +bear those old gabblers, a man should do something. Let me tell you, +Rudolph, don't be an orator, you may fish, for all me, it is all one, +perch or carp,--but this speaking is as if you should go fishing in a +well. And now, good night! Come Jochen!"</p> + +<p class="normal">With that, they went off, and Fritz struck off to the right, across the +Pumpelhagen fields, with a medley of thoughts in his head.</p> + +<p class="normal">The old fellow was not envious, but it went against the grain that his +two schoolmates in Rahnstadt should each have a bride, while as yet he +had none. But he knew how to comfort himself. No, said he, he would not +thank any one for such a bride as they had got; he could have had +either of the little twins, but he wouldn't take them. Louise +Habermann, too, might go to Jericho, for him. He would not be a fool, +to pick the first good plum, for the first plums were always wormy; he +would wait till they were all properly ripe, and then he could take his +choice from the upper or the lower branches; and, meanwhile, all the +little maidens who ran about the world on their pretty feet belonged to +him, and then he was going to have a horse, and the very next day he +would go and buy the Whalebone mare of Gust Prebberow.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER XX.</h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">A couple of weeks had passed, which Axel, instead of acquainting +himself with his fields, and the management of his estate, spent, for +the most part, with Flegel, the wheelwright, in his work shop. The +model of his new machine had arrived, which was to plough, harrow, and +break clods, all at the same time, and he must set it at work, for +himself and for the world. Letters and accounts, and other business in +the way of writing, incident to a large estate, must naturally be +postponed; and when he came into the house to dinner or supper, he had +an important air, as if he must show his young wife what progress he +was making in husbandry. And who is more credulous than a young wife? a +bride, perhaps? Oh, no! a bride is uncertain, she is feeling and +inquiring round, she wishes to learn to know the man she loves; but +when she believes that she has learned to know him, and has given him +her hand for life, then she becomes secure, and follows him blindly, +until the bandage is forcibly torn from her eyes, and even then, she +turns away, and strives not to see, and thinks it her duty not to +believe what she cannot help seeing. It was nothing wicked which he +concealed from her, it was merely follies, and he himself believed that +in future he should be active and diligent; but it was a pity that he +did not understand, and she did not understand; for, with all her clear +eyes and her clear head, she had no idea but it was the same with him +as with herself, who went about looking into kitchen and cellar, into +milk-house and butter-room, learning how to take the charge of the +housekeeping into her own hands.</p> + +<p class="normal">But everything has its time, and old Kopf, the shepherd, used to say, +"On the ninth day, puppies got their eyes open." She was walking one +day, towards evening in the garden, under the shade of the high +enclosure which separated it from that part of the farm-yard, where the +work-shop was situated; and, as she went thoughtfully up and down, she +heard, on the other side of the fence, a scolding and disputing, as if +two people were having a quarrel: "So? That doesn't suit you? Do you +think it suits me? Rascal, what lies in my way? What are you doing +here? I would like----" Bang! went something against the door. She +became curious, and peeped through the fence; but saw only one man, +that was the old wheelwright, Fritz Flegel, and there was nobody with +him, at the moment, and he was carrying on the scolding and arguing +with his tools and his work. Such a passion in a person entirely alone +is very amusing, and the young Frau looked on, with laughing eyes as +the old man went on cursing and scolding: "The devil take you, for all +me I shall I go crazy over you?" bang! bang! he threw his tools about +the shop, and through the half-open door, and then thrust his hands +into his hair, and tossed it about his head. Then he stood still again, +staring down at the ground. "Infamous creature! making me so much +trouble and misery!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good evening, Father!" said another voice, and Kegel, the day-laborer, +came in, and stood leaning on his shovel, "what are you working here +for? it is evening."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Working, do you say? Here is something to work at! Say to torment one, +rather. What? Do you call that a model? I can work very well after a +model, but the devil himself couldn't work after such a model as that."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is that the same old beast, you had begun on, the other day?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What else should it be? You may ask me next summer, if it is +finished!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He must have a clever head, though, to think out such things as that."</p> + +<p class="normal">"So? Do you think so? let me tell you any blockhead can <i>think</i> out +things, but the difficulty is to <i>make</i> them. You see, there are three +sorts of people in the world; one understands things, but cannot make +them, and the second can make them, but don't understand them, and the +third can neither make nor understand, and he belongs to the last +class,"--here he threw a wedge against the door,--"and that is why he +torments a fellow so!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Father, that is so, he doesn't understand. You know, he said we +were to go straight to him, if we wanted anything; well I went to him, +and told him about the potato-land, how I wanted some more, and he said +he knew nothing about such matters, he would speak to our old man about +it. If he comes to him, I may wait long enough, for he knows that I let +the hoeing go by."</p> + +<p class="normal">"The old man for me! he stands by his word; he says to me, Flegel, cut +me out a plough-board; and I do it, and he says, Flegel, the wheels +must have new felloes, and I put them on, and I have nothing to worry +about; but with him! You will see, neighbor, he will lie in the +nettles, and we shall lie in the nettles too."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is so," said Kegel, "my potato-patch lies in the nettles, +already."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said Flegel, shutting the door, and pulling on his jacket, "but +it serves you right! If you have no potatoes it is your own fault, +because you did not hoe them; and if the inspector should give you more +land, it would not help you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is true," said Kegel shouldering his spade, and going off with +Flegel, "it wouldn't help, especially towards filling the children's +mouths, yet I might help myself by means of it."</p> + +<p class="normal">People say, and it is true, that praise from the mouth of a child, or +the humblest person, is pleasing to the wisest and most distinguished; +but it is just as true that a hard judgment, from the same +insignificant source, is painful, and especially painful when it +concerns one whom we hold dear. And what had happened? It was only the +gossip of laborers, such as often occurs among ignorant people; but the +smile had gone from the young wife's eyes, and a look of vexation found +place there. Her husband's insight, and his good will to carry out what +he had promised in his speech, were called in question, and it all came +from this, that he had not grown up to the business he had undertaken.</p> + +<p class="normal">She was out of humor, when she came in to supper, and he was gay, so +that their moods were discordant.</p> + +<p class="normal">"So, dear Frida," said he, "now we are comfortably settled, I think it +is time for us to make our visits in the neighborhood."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Axel, but to whom?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, I think first our nearest neighbors."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Our Pastor, first of all."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why yes, there, too,--later."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who else is there, in the neighborhood?" asked the young wife, +reckoning over as if thinking aloud, "the landlord Pomuchelskopp, and +the pächter<a name="div2Ref_03" href="#div2_03"><sup>[3]</sup></a> Nüssler."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dear Frida," said Axel, looking more serious, "you must be jesting +about the pächter Nüssler, we can have no intercourse with pächter +people."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I do not agree with you," said Frida, quietly, "I look more at the +man, than at his rank. It may not be the same here, as with us, in +Prussia; but in my father's house, we were intimate with several +pächter families, why not here? Frau Nüssler seems to be a very nice +woman."</p> + +<p class="normal">"My inspector's sister. I cannot visit her; it would not be suitable."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But the landlord Pomuchelskopp?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Of course; the man is a proprietor, is wealthy, is a deputy, as well +as myself--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"And is notorious, in the whole region, and his wife yet more so. No, +Axel, I shall not visit there."</p> + +<p class="normal">"My dear child----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, Axel. If the pächter Nüssler had bought the Gurlitz estate, would +he be another person, and would you visit him?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"That has nothing to do with the case. I shall <i>not</i> visit the +pächter," said Axel, angrily.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nor I the landlord, I have an aversion to the family," said Frida, +putting down her trump, also.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Frida!" begged Axel.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, Axel," said she, decidedly, "I will go with you to Gurlitz, +to-morrow, but I shall stop at the Pastor's."</p> + +<p class="normal">That was the conclusion; there was no quarrel about it, but each +remained fixed in the same decision. How readily and gladly would she +have yielded, if she had not sat down to supper with the uneasy feeling +that Axel was lacking in insight to understand a business, and in +firmness to carry it out; and how readily and gladly would Axel have +yielded, and stayed away from Pomuchelskopp's, if it had not been +always in his mind that Pomuchelskopp was a rich man, and he must keep +on good terms with him, because he might be useful; how readily and +gladly he would have called at the Nüsslers', but for the foolish +opinions he had imbibed, in his regiment.</p> + +<p class="normal">But it was done; and could not be undone, the first beginning of +discord had entered the house, and the door stood half-open for the +rest to follow; for discord is like one of those dragon's tails that +children play with, there is a long thread, and bit after bit is +fastened to it, and though each bit is a mere nothing, it makes a great +bunch, when it is rolled up in a heap, and it is hard to disentangle, +for there is neither beginning nor end to be found.</p> + +<p class="normal">The next afternoon they walked over to Gurlitz;--in that, Axel had +yielded to Frida, who preferred walking to riding,--and Axel took his +wife to the door of the parsonage, and promised to call for her; he +himself went to the court.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Pomuchelskopps were just taking coffee, and Philipping and Nanting +and the other little ones were playing their tricks, and standing about +the table, like colts at the rack, and dipping biscuits in the +chicory-coffee, and smearing their faces, and dabbling with fingers and +tea spoons in the cups, after the soaked biscuit, and writing their +beautiful name. "Pomuchelskopp," in the spilt coffee and milk, all over +the table, and shoving and pushing each other, and then looking up +innocently at their mother, as if they were not the culprits; for +Häuning, in her every-day black gown, sat with them at the table, and +kept order.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was a charming family picture, full of domestic happiness, biscuits +and chicory; and Pomuchelskopp lay in the corner of the sofa, and +smoked his pipe. He had finished his coffee, for father was served +first, with pure coffee, out of a special coffee-pot; but it was a +cheat, after all, for Malchen and Salchen, who took turns in making the +coffee, always drank off the first drawing from father's, and filled it +up with chicory, out of the family pot. He sat in his sofa corner, with +his left leg thrown over the right, quite in accordance with Duke +Adolph von Klewe's direction: "A judge should sit for judgment in this +manner, with the left leg thrown over the right," etc., and if he was +not a judge, he was something more important, at this very moment he +was a law-maker, and thinking about the Landtag, (assembly of +deputies,) which he had positively decided to attend next year.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Häuning," said he, "next year, I am going to the Landtag."</p> + +<p class="normal">"So?" said the old woman, "have you no other way to spend your money?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"My Klücking, it is expected of me; I must show myself, and it will not +be very expensive. The Landtag is held quite near us next year, at +Malchen, and if I take a basket with me----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"So? and I shall go round in your boots meantime, wading through the +deep mud in the farm-yard, to look after the threshers?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"My Klücking, Gustaving is here for that, and if I am needed I can be +here again, at any time."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But, father," said Malchen, who was the only one of the family who +ever looked into the Rostock "Times," and for that reason, and because +she always knew where the Grand Duke and the Frau Grand Duchess were, +at the time being, considered herself to have a great taste for +politics, for Pomuchelskopp read only the prices current, and the rate +of exchange,--"but, father, if something important should come up, for +instance about the red cloak, whether you burgher-proprietors may also +wear red cloaks, or about the convent question, then you couldn't get +away."</p> + +<p class="normal">For she possibly had a feeling, that the convent question might become +<i>her</i> question.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now, you do not really think," said Pomuchelskopp, going up and down +the room with great strides, "that your father would make himself so +common, and run in the same groove with all the burgher proprietors, +and vote with them, and neglect his affairs at home? No, if anything is +wanted here, you must write, and I will come, and if I want the red +cloak, I know a better way to get it--let every man look out for +himself--and it is more honorable for me, if I get it alone, and not +with trumpery landlords, who have perhaps a couple of thousand thalers, +and when I come back sometime, and say, Malchen, I <i>alone</i> have got it! +then you may be proud of your father;" and with that he stalked about +the room, and puffed tobacco in the eyes of his innocent children, till +they looked like trumpeting angels in the clouds, who needed only a +mouth-piece, with which to trumpet his future glory.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Kopp, are you going daft?" inquired his loving wife.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let me alone, Häuning! Always noble! Tell me who you go with, and I +will tell you who you are. If I agree with the nobility----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I should think you had got snubbing enough from the nobility."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Häuning," began Pomuchelskopp, but went no further, for Salchen, who +sat by the window, sewing, sprang up: "Good heavens! there comes the +Herr von Rambow into the yard."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Häuning," said Pomuchelskopp once more, and there was great reproof in +his expressive eyes, "do you see the nobleman comes to <i>me</i>. But now, +out with you! Out!" and he hunted his offspring out of the room. +"Malchen, take the coffee things away! Salchen, a wiping cloth! And +Häuning," folding his hands in supplication, "now go and put on another +dress!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What?" said she, "do I go to him, or does he come to me? I am good +enough for him, as he finds me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Häuning," begged Pomuchelskopp, abjectly, "I beseech you! you will +spoil the whole thing with your black morning dress."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Muchel, are you a perfect idiot?" she asked, not stirring from her +seat, "Do you think he comes on your account, or on mine, either? He +comes because he wishes to make use of us, and, for such a beggar, the +old sacque is good enough."</p> + +<p class="normal">Muchel still petitioned,---vainly. Malchen and Salchen whisked out of +the room, to dress themselves up a little,--the old woman sat there, +stiff as a stake.</p> + +<p class="normal">Axel came in, and greeted the pair, and the old black sacque received +as much attention as the green checked trousers, for the young Herr +knew how to turn his good manners to account, at the right time, so +that Pomuchelskopp was quite carried away with the friendliness and +graciousness of the young nobleman, and Häuning became so cheerful and +affectionate that she called her dear husband "Pöking;" yes, even the +old every-day black gown grew so ashamed of its own shabbiness, in this +sunshine of courtesy, that even to Frau Pomuchelskopp's eyes, it looked +quite rusty. And now Salchen came in, as if she had forgotten +something, and then Malchen came in, as if she had something to attend +to, and Pomuchelskopp introduced them, and the courteous conversation +took an artistic turn, over Salchen's embroidery, and again a +political, as Malchen happened to take up the Rostock "Times." And +Philipping came in, and placed himself in the corner, behind his +mother, and Narting came in, and stood by Philipping, and the other +little ones all came in, one after another, and crowded up beside them, +till Häuning looked like our old black hen, with all her chickens +huddled about her, when a hawk is in the air. And when mother took the +key of the linen-closet out of the basket, and went out,--for, she said +to herself, one must do something in return for so much courtesy,--the +whole brood followed her, for in that linen-closet were kept the +cookies, which Häuning always kept on hand, and baked fresh, twice a +year. And these cookies were always very fine, only they acquired, in +course of time, rather a soapy taste, as they took the flavor from the +linen; but that didn't hurt them for the children, they were not +fastidious, and had always been accustomed to the flavor, and if Axel +had not been listening to Pomuchelskopp, he must have heard the begging +and whining outside; "Mother, me!" "Mother, me too!" But Pomuchelskopp +had taken possession of him, and was endeavoring to inspire him with a +good opinion of himself and his family.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You see, Herr von Rambow," said he, "you find here an extremely simple +family, I am very simple, my wife--" here he looked round to see if +Häuning were present--"is extremely simple, as you have seen; my +daughters, my other children, have been brought up very simply. We make +no pretensions, we merely live by ourselves, in a happy family-circle. +Every society does not suit us, thank God, we are sufficient to +ourselves; but," he added, putting on a venerable patriarchal +expression, "every one must pull his own rope, each has his particular +occupation, which he must attend to,--<i>must</i>, I say, when he has once +undertaken it, and then the blessing of God will not be wanting."</p> + +<p class="normal">Axel said, courteously, he believed that must be an excellent +arrangement.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said Pomuchelskopp, catching hold of Philipping, who had his +mouth full of eight and ninety per cent cooky, and two per cent fresh +soap, and presenting him to the young Herr: "Make your compliments, +Philipping! You see this little fellow, he looks after the eggs, that +is to say, when the hens lay astray; for every dozen eggs, he gets a +shilling, and the money goes into his saving's box. Philipping, how +much have you collected, already, my little son?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Seven thalers, and forty-three shillings,"<a name="div2Ref_04" href="#div2_04"><sup>[4]</sup></a> +said Philipping.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You see, my boy," said Pomuchelskopp, patting his child on the head, +"the blessing of God always accompanies industry; and so," turning +again to Axel, "Nanting has old iron, nails, horse-shoes, etc., he gets +paid for it by the pound, and Marriken and Heining and Stöffing have +the apples and pears and plums, that is, the wind falls; to be sure, +they are mostly unripe, but no matter, the city people buy them. So you +see, Herr von Rambow, each one of my children has his own apartment."</p> + +<p class="normal">Axel laughed in his sleeve a little, at this conclusion, and Malchen +and Salchen looked at each other, and laughed secretly over their +father's blunder, for Pomuchelskopp slipped occasionally, as well as +Bräsig; but there was a great difference between the two. Bräsig knew +very well that he made queer work of foreign words, but he had fallen +into the habit of using them, and could not leave off, it pleased him, +and injured nobody else; but Pomuchelskopp meant to ornament his +language with them, and when he found that he had said something +ludicrous, he was out of humor. When he saw his daughters laughing +together, he knew this was the case, and it was fortunate that his +Häuning came in, just then, with a bottle of wine, and a plate of +cookies, and, to his joy, without her black sacque, in a yellow silk +gown, and with a stately cap on her head.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Häuning," said Pomuchelskopp, "not <i>that</i> wine! When we have such a +highly honored guest, let us offer him the best we have!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Order it yourself, then," said the old woman, curtly. He did so, and +then resumed the thread of his discourse:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, and my two eldest daughters have also each her peculiar province. +Salchen is all for art, with her embroidery and piano-playing, and +Malchen cares more for the newspapers and politics." Axel professed to +be astonished at Malchen's taking pleasure in such things, which ladies +usually cared nothing about, and Malchen replied, somebody must trouble +themselves about such things, for father wouldn't, and now he was a +deputy, he ought to know what was going to be done at the Landtag, +adding that, just as Herr von Rambow came in, they were saying that +father must go to the Landtag next year.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Herr von Rambow," said Muchel, "I am going, for once; not on +account of the business which my burgher colleagues are moving about, +that does not concern me, and I know the difference between nobles and +burghers, very well; no! I am only going for once, to show people who I +am."</p> + +<p class="normal">Axel then asked, for sake of saying something, if Pomuchelskopp had any +intercourse with the people in the neighborhood.</p> + +<p class="normal">"With which of them?" asked Pomuchelskopp. "With the farmer at Rexow? +He is a blockhead. With the inspector? He does not suit me. And there +is nobody else about here."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then you don't associate with the Pastor?</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, not with him either. He has behaved in such a manner from the +first, that I would have nothing to do with him; he has intercourse +with people who do not suit me, and he has adopted the daughter of your +inspector, Habermann, and I should be sorry for my daughters to have +any acquaintance with her.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I thought she was a very worthy girl," said Axel.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, yes, I dare say," said Pomuchelskopp. "I don't want to say +anything bad of the girl,--you see, Herr von Rambow, I am a simple old +man,--but I knew Habermann long ago, I will not say that he cheated me +at that time, but--no! I have not been pleased at the way and the +manner in which she and the young Herr von Rambow have been brought +together, by her own father, and the parsonage people."</p> + +<p class="normal">"With my cousin Franz?" asked Axel.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is his name Franz? I mean the one who was studying here, with +Habermann. I don't know him, he never came to my house. But I liked +what I heard about him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"He is always writing to her," said Häuning.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, mother," said Malchen, "you mustn't say that, his letters are +always to the Pastor. Our post-boy always brings the Pastor's letters +with ours," she explained to Axel.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is all the same," said Häuning, "I beat the sack, but I mean it +for the donkey."</p> + +<p class="normal">"This is the first I have heard of the matter," said Axel, looking +annoyed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes!" said Pomuchelskopp, "the whole region knows it. Under the +pretence of visiting her father and your sisters, she was always +running after him, and when something came between them once, Habermann +and the parsonage people soon made it right again."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, father," said Salchen, "old Bräsig was the chief canal, he was +always fetching and carrying."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who is this old Bräsig?" asked Axel, now really irritated.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He is an old beggar!" cried Häuning.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That he is," said Pomuchelskopp, puffing himself up, "he has got a +little pension from the Herr Count, and now he has nothing better to do +than to run from one to another, and tell tales of people; and then he +is besides----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, father," interrupted Malchen, "let me tell that. Herr von Rambow, +the old fellow is a democrat, an out and out demo-crat!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"That he is," continued Pomuchelskopp, "and I shouldn't wonder if he +was an incendiary as well."</p> + +<p class="normal">And this good-for-nothing subject had sat at Axel's own table, and +whose fault was it? Habermann's. These communications having +sufficiently heated the young gentleman's blood, and the cookies not +being very tempting, he took leave and Pomuchelskopp went with him +across the yard, to the gate.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is that really true, about my cousin?" asked Axel, as they went out +together.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr von Rambow," said Pomuchelskopp, "I am a simple old man, and at +my age, one does not trouble himself about such stories. I merely tell +you what people say."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It can be only a passing fancy; 'out of sight, out of mind.'"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I don't believe that," said Pomuchelskopp, very seriously; "so far as +I know Habermann, he is a crafty old serpent, who always keeps a +definite end in view. Your Herr Cousin is caught."</p> + +<p class="normal">"The boy must be crazy," said Axel, "but he will be obliged to listen +to reason. Farewell, Herr Neighbor! I thank you for your company so +far, and hope to see you soon. Adieu!" and with that he turned towards +the right, into the street.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Begging your pardon," called Pomuchelskopp after him, "you are going +the wrong way; you turn to the left to go to Pumpelhagen."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know it," said Axel, "I am going to the Pastor's, to call for my +wife. Adieu!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah," said Pomuchelskopp, going back across the yard, "this is very +nice, this is very pretty! For the young Herr, I am good enough; but +for the gracious lady? Children!" cried he, as he entered the door, +"the gracious lady is at the Herr Pastor's, we are not good enough for +her."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That pleases me, uncommonly, Pöking," said the old woman, "that the +nobleman has put such a fine pair of leather spectacles on you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is it possible!" exclaimed Salchen.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Possible indeed!" said her father, "it is certain;" and he gave +Nanting and Philipping, who were running about, the remainder of the +cookies, one apiece: "Out with you, baggages!" and he threw himself +into the sofa corner, and struck at the flies; and the old woman teased +him with invidious remarks about distinguished acquaintances, and +beggars, and the nobility, and said, "Salchen, take that bottle of +costly wine back to the cellar; there is some in it still, father can +treat some highly honored friend with it." And after a while she +called, "Father, come here to the window! See, there goes your +distinguished friend, with his gracious lady--the foolish fellow! and +who have they with them? Your incendiary, that old Bräsig!"</p> + +<p class="normal">It was really so: Bräsig was walking with the pair, towards +Pumpelhagen, and it did not trouble him in the least that Axel turned a +cold shoulder on him, and gave him very short answers, for he was +taking his delight in the gracious lady, whom he had met at the +Pastor's, and whom he had found still more pleasing to-day than at the +dinner.</p> + +<p class="normal">And she might well have pleased him, or have pleased any body, as she +came in, so friendly and confiding, to the Frau Pastor's parlor, where +he sat with the old Herr Pastor, who was lying half sick upon the sofa; +as she held back the old gentleman, who would have risen in honor of +her visit, and, laying her two hands on the little Frau Pastorin's +shoulders, asked if she would be mother-confessor to one who was a +stranger, and needed good advice, And then turned to Bräsig, and shook +hands with him as frankly, as if he were an old acquaintance. And then +Louise! came in, and she greeted her also as an old acquaintance, but +kept looking at her, as if there were something new to be read in her +face, and grew thoughtful, as one who reads a beautiful book, and will +not turn the leaf, until he fully comprehends it.</p> + +<p class="normal">The young Frau had many leaves to turn here, and upon every leaf stood +something lovely and intelligent; on the Pastor's side, stood +experience, and friendliness and benevolence, and on the Frau +Pastorin's stood housewifery, and enjoyment of life, and the kindest +disposition, crossed over each other, and on Louise's stood modesty, +and good sense, and pleasure at meeting a lady who bore that name which +had become so dear to her; and on Bräsig's side, stood at first sight, +only notes on the whole, but they belonged to the matter, and made it +clearer, and the young Frau read these notes with as much pleasure as +we sluggards used, formerly, on the <i>pons asinorum</i>, or <i>ad modum +Minellii</i>, in Cornelius Nepos. And it all harmonized together, so +sweetly and innocently, and there was such love and joyousness, that +the gracious young lady felt as if she stood among a group of pretty +children, in a lovely garden, under cool shadows of old trees, dancing +Kringelkranz, and Louise stood in the ring, and reached her hand +towards her, saying, "Come, now you must release me!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Into this lovely peace Axel came, full of annoyance at the story that +had been trumpeted in his ears, and vexed at having to call for his +wife among such people, and Bräsig's greeting, "Good day, Herr +Lieutenant!" quite overflowed the measure of his good temper. He turned +shortly to the Pastor, and made some indifferent remark about the +weather, but so coldly, that his manner struck like an icicle to the +warm heart of his wife, and she sprang up, hastily, to take leave, that +all this warm friendliness should not be chilled, as by a shower of +hail in summer.</p> + +<p class="normal">They went, but Uncle Bräsig went too, not at all disturbed by the young +Herr's discourtesy; he had done nothing, and he had a good conscience, +and withal he had a great opinion of his ability in entertaining +people, and putting them in a good humour, when they were vexed. He +limped along, therefore, by the young lieutenant, and talked to him of +this and that, but did not succeed in changing the young Herr's short +and cutting replies to more friendly remarks. But as the young Herr +stopped, where the church path joined the street, and asked him which +way he would go, it shot through his head, for the first time, that the +"confounded fool" might think he wished to force himself upon them.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Listen to me, Herr Lieutenant," said he also standing still, "this +strikes me as very strange. Perhaps you are ashamed to be seen walking +with me, in the public street? Then let me tell you, I was not going on +your account, I was only going with your honored, gracious lady wife, +because she is friendly towards me. In future, I will not incommode +you," and, with a profound bow to the young lady, he started off across +the rape-stubble, to Habermann, who was building a stack of rape-straw, +near by.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Axel," said Frida, "why have you grieved that good-hearted old man?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Your good-hearted old man is nothing but an old tattler and busybody."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do you really believe that? and do you think, if he were, our +Habermann would be on such intimate terms with him?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why not, if he is useful to him?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The young wife looked at him half astonished, half grieved: "Axel, what +is the matter with you? You were always so friendly towards everybody, +and trusted everybody, what has prejudiced you so against these people? +against these, too, who have always been so friendly and honest towards +us?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Friendly? Why shouldn't they? I am the master of the estate. But +honest? Time will show, and what I have heard today, does not agree +very well with my conception of honesty."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What have you heard? From whom have you heard it?" asked Frida, +quickly and meaningly. "Tell me. Axel! I am your wife."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have heard a good deal," said Axel, in a derisive tone, "I have +heard, that our Habermann, as you call him, has already been a +bankrupt; and the best thing I heard about him was that he perverted +the influence that he exercised as an instructor, to fasten his +daughter--with the help of the parsonage people and this old +go-between, whom I have just got rid of--to our cousin Franz, and"--he +added, angrily and spitefully, "the stupid dunce has let himself be +caught!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Frida boiled over with indignation; by this detraction, not merely that +poor child, Louise Habermann, but her whole sex was wounded to the +heart, and put to shame; her eyes kindled, as she grasped Axel by arm, +and made him stand still: "You have been in bad company, and have +yielded to the most unworthy influences!" Her hands loosed their hold, +the anger passed, and a deep sadness came over her. "Oh, Axel," cried +she, "you used to be so good, how can such insinuations disturb your +honest judgment?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Axel was startled at the heat with which his wife took up the matter, +he would gladly have taken back what he had said; but he had said it, +and if he should make light of it now, he would seem to himself like a +credulous, easily prejudiced man, and he wished to seem a decided one, +so he took nothing back, but said, "Frida, what ails you? There is no +denying the matter. The whole region knows that our foolish cousin has +entangled himself with this girl."</p> + +<p class="normal">"If you will express this part of your news differently, if you say +that your cousin has fallen in love with this girl, I shall be glad to +believe it, and your cousin, whom I do not yet know, will be so much +the dearer to me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What? Shall my cousin, who has a large, independent fortune, marry the +daughter of my inspector?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is the greatest advantage of a large, independent fortune for a +young man, that he is free to choose; and, truly! he has not chosen +unworthily."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And so I shall be connected with my inspector, in a sort of family +relationship, and this old busybody, who has tied and twisted, and +knotted the match, shall triumph? I will never, never consent to such a +thing!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"See here!" cried Frida, "it is in this part of your news, that the +lies and calumny are interwoven; how is it possible for you to believe +such an unlikely accusation? How can you--to say nothing of this +lovely, innocent girl--suspect such a simple, old man, such an +affectionate father, who finds his own happiness only in that of his +daughter,--how can you suspect the worthy Pastor and his kind-hearted +wife, or this poor old man, who has just left us, feeling so grieved, +and to whom, in his uprightness, many an inappropriate word may be +pardoned,--how can you suspect these people, of making the darling of +their hearts the object of a speculation!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, that is very easily understood," said Axel, "they wanted to insure +her happiness."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh," said Frida earnestly and sadly, "then we differ widely in our +conception of happiness. One never obtains happiness in such ways."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I was not speaking of my idea of happiness," said Axel, surprised at +the reproach, "I meant only what these people consider happiness."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do not deceive yourself in this, Axel, for God's sake, do not deceive +yourself! A higher rank may afford one a wider range in social +relations, but in more modest circumstances, on the other hand, love is +more apt to be the controlling power, which is of far higher value than +mere worldly relations,--and which we must so often do without," she +added slowly, and wiped a tear from her eye, as she thought of her own +youthful years, without a mother, brought up by her father alone, who +could poorly sustain the style of living demanded by his rank, and +consoled himself, for his trouble and pains, in the amusements of +country squires.</p> + +<p class="normal">They went home, and Axel was kind to her, in his good nature, and she +took the kindness as it was meant, and they were again united,--at +least to outward appearance,--for on the subject of discussion each +retained his own opinion.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bräsig had gone to Habermann, who was standing by the foundation of his +straw-stack; he was angry, exceedingly angry; this must be +Pomuchelskopp's work; and his irritation could only be put out by a +counter-irritation, he had a real hankering after a little farm-boy +anger.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good day, Karl," said he, and pushing by Habermann, he bent his head, +elevated his eyebrows, looked hard at the stack, and without raising +himself up, stalked entirely round it.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Are you going to bake a pancake, here?" he asked his friend, when he +had completed his journey, and placed himself saucily before him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, don't talk to me about it!" cried Habermann, out of humor, "I have +vexed myself enough over it. I said yesterday to Triddlesitz he should +lay the stack twenty paces through-measure, and he has laid it twenty +paces half-measure, and, when I came out to-day, here stood this +monster. Well, let it go; it is nothing but straw, even if it should +get spoiled by the rain; but I cannot help being provoked to see such a +pancake on my field."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Karl, and your neighbor Pomuchelskopp will be cracking his jokes +on it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let him! But what to do with my Triddelsitz, I don't know. Since the +time that the young Herr promised him a horse, he is of no mortal use."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Try giving him a good flogging!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ach, what good would that do? He can think of nothing but horses. He +doesn't consult me, now-a-days, but our young Herr has advised him to +get an English brood mare, and says he will buy the colts. And I sent +him off this morning,--he is not to be talked out of it,--to make an +end of the matter, and get his old mare."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Gust Prebberow's chestnut mare, the Whalebone mare?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, that must be the one."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Splendid!" cried Bräsig, "Beautiful! And he will exercise about on +this horse, when the Grand Duke enters Rahnstadt? Karl, you have a +great treasure in your greyhound!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Lord knows," said Habermann, looking at his stack.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I say nothing of him as a farmer, Karl, I speak of him merely as an +agreeable fellow, and if he agrees with his young master----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bräsig, don't speak of my master here, before the laborers."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I agree with you there, Karl, it is not proper; but come this way!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And when they had gone a little way towards the street, he stood still, +and said, slowly and impressively, "Karl, this young fellow thought it +something to be ashamed of, to be seen walking with me on the highway. +What do you say now? He gave me a Timothy, in the presence of his +lovely wife;" and he related the circumstances. Habermann tried to talk +him out of his anger, but did not wholly succeed, for Bräsig was too +much provoked. "Karl," said he, "he has shot the arrow, in his +stupidity, but it was pointed by Zamel Pomuchelskopp, for he had been +calling there. And you may say what you will, Karl,--your young Herr is +downright stupid, and when you are hunted away, then I shall amuse +myself coming over here, and place myself on the hill, where I can +overlook the fields, and see what sort of performances your young Herr +and your greyhound carry on together."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well," said Habermann, "you can see one of them, at this moment. Just +look round!" and he pointed down the road, near which they happened to +be standing, behind a thorn-bush. Bräsig looked, and stood stiff and +stark with amazement, unable to utter a word; at last he said, "Karl, +your greyhound is cracked. Apothecaries are often crackbrained, and it +is natural their children should inherit it."</p> + +<p class="normal">It really looked, as if Bräsig were right. Fritz came riding up, on the +famous horse, on a gentle trot. He had taken off his hat, and was +swinging it violently in the air, and shouting with all his might, +"Hurrah! Hurrah!" and all this, entirely by himself; for he did not +perceive the two behind the thorn-bush, until he had ridden up to them, +and Habermann asked if he were clean out of his head.</p> + +<p class="normal">"They are nothing but lies," said Fritz.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What are lies?" asked Habermann, sharply.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That the mare cannot hear hurrahs," and with that he began to cry +"Hurrah!" again. "You see," and he sprang off the horse, and tied it to +a willow, and going off a few steps, again cried "Hurrah!" "You see, +she does not budge an inch. And <i>you</i>"--he turned to Bräsig, who was +half dead with laughter, "<i>you</i> told me so; but it isn't true!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said Bräsig, shaking all over, "but it is true, though. What I +said, I say again: she cannot hear it, for the old granny has been, +these five years that I have known her, <i>stone deaf</i>."</p> + +<p class="normal">There stood Fritz Triddelsitz, the old clever, crafty Fritz +Triddelsitz, wearing the most sheepish face imaginable.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But," said he, at last, "Gust Prebberow is a good friend of mine, and +he never told me that."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said Bräsig, "you will know, after this, that friendship goes +for nothing, in a horse trade."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, never mind, Triddelsitz," said Habermann, "one can get along +with a deaf horse; take care not to get a dumb one!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh!" said Fritz, quite relieved, "no fear of that! Just look at her, +what a model of a horse! Full blood! And Herr von Rambow is going to +buy all the colts, and when I have sold three or four----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then you can buy an estate," interrupted Bräsig. "Yes, we know that, +already. Now ride carefully up to the house, and don't upset your +milk-pails, on the way, like the maiden. Karl, do you remember? In +Gellert?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Fritz rode off. "Good-for-nothing greyhound!" said Bräsig.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, I don't know," said Habermann, "I cannot help liking the old +fellow, he has such a contented disposition."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is because of his youth, Karl," said Bräsig.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, perhaps so," said Habermann, reflectively. "See, there he goes, +quite happy with his deaf, old, brood mare."</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER XXI.</h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">And Fritz was happy, he was the happiest being at Pumpelhagen Court, +for there was not much happiness there, and that which was painted as +such was not in fast colors. Habermann became, from day to day, more +and more conscious that his good times were over, for his young Herr +meddled with business that he did not understand, and that merely by +fits and starts, with a heat and haste, which spoiled the farming, and +confused the people, and when things did not go as they should, and the +cart got into the ditch, then the inspector had to bear the blame. The +young Herr also was unhappy, he was tormented by debts, which he wished +to keep secret from his wife, he was also tormented by letters from +David and Slusuhr,--personally they no longer troubled him, he had +settled that, on account of the secrecy he wished to maintain, and they +were very willing to consent, for the more secret the business was so +much the better could they shear him, and when they had him quietly by +themselves in Rahnstadt, they could use quite other knives and pincers, +than they could at Pumpelhagen, where he was host, and they were +obliged to treat him with some degree of respect.</p> + +<p class="normal">But, besides this, he was not happy; he wanted to play the master, and +had not the stuff in him, for he who would command must have capacity +as well as knowledge; he had knowledge enough, more than many +people,--"but capacity! neighbor, capacity!" said old Flegel, the +wheelwright, and he had reason; the unhappiest of men is he who will, +and can not. And Frida? She also was unhappy; she observed that her +husband's full confidence was not given to her, she noticed that upon +many serious questions they differed widely in opinion, she noticed +that the business he had taken as his life work was one for which he +had no training, she felt that he was unfair enough to visit his own +failings upon other people, and more than all,--and worst of all for a +sensible wife,--she felt that he made himself ridiculous, and that +Pomuchelskopp, who, against her wishes, came often to Pumpelhagen, must +have other reasons than ordinary civility, for not laughing at the +confused and inconsiderate opinions of her husband. She resolved to +keep watch over him, but such an occupation did not increase her +happiness.</p> + +<p class="normal">Fritz Triddelsitz was the happiest creature in all Pumpelhagen, and, if +we except the two little twin-apples, in the whole region; but we must +except these, for in happiness and blessedness a bride goes beyond all +other beings, even the bridegrooms themselves, for if old Gottlieb, who +had taken a candidate's place, with a cheerful, brisk, burgher-like old +proprietor, taught and flogged the boys with uncommon pleasure and +fidelity, and if Rudolph also, with Hilgendorf at Little Tetzleben, +strewed manure so that it was a pleasure to see him, and the Tetzleben +soil looked like a velvet coverlid, and went to bed at night singing +and piping, and regularly fell asleep, for weariness, in the middle of +a verse,--in comparison with the little twin-apples' blessedness as +they sat together and sewed, stitching on their trousseuax, and +chatting, and joking with father and mother, and telling Louise, and +showing their letters, all the bridegrooms' blessedness went for +nothing.</p> + +<p class="normal">But the old fellow was really very happy. The first thing in the +morning, he went to the stable, where the young Herr's two +riding-horses, and Habermann's old Gray stood, together with his +treasure; he fed her, stealing the oats from the very mouths of the +other horses, yes, although he had never been trained to the work, he +groomed her, single-handed, for Krischan Däsel, who had charge of the +riding-stable, did not give him satisfaction. On Sunday afternoons, +when there was nothing else to do, he went to the stable, shut the door +behind him, seated himself on the fodder-chest, folded his hands on his +stomach, and thoughtfully contemplated the dear old creature, as she +munched her oats and straw, and if she groaned from fullness he got up, +stroked her back, and called her affectionately "his good old woman;" +and three times a day he exercised her, for which devotion he should +not be blamed, for upon her depended his future income.</p> + +<p class="normal">But no happiness is perfect, a little annoyance always creeps in. And +he had his share. In the first place, it went very much against him, +that his chestnut mare should stand next Habermann's stiff old Gray: +the company was not suitable; and secondly, he was in everlasting +conflict with Krischan Däsel, about fodder and grooming.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr Triddelsitz," said Krischan, once as they were disputing, "let me +tell you, I feed the horses all alike, and groom them all alike; but I +have often noticed that you take away the oats from the inspector's old +gray, and give them to your mare. Now, don't take it ill of me, Herr +Triddelsitz, but the gray is just as good a creature as the other, and +has an equal right to a living. And what is this?" he asked, going up +to the rack. "How? this is calf-hay; how comes this calf-hay here? I +will have no vermin getting into the pelts, when the inspector comes +round."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know nothing about it," said Fritz, and he really was ignorant.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, it is all the same to me," said Krischan, "but if I catch any +one bringing it into the stable, I will break his bones for him, for I +won't be troubled with such things."</p> + +<p class="normal">After that Krischan Däsel lay in wait, to catch the bringer of the +calf-hay, and it was not long before he was successful. And who was it, +who transgressed all law and order, for the love of Fritz's chestnut +mare? Who was so hard-hearted as to deprive the innocent calves of +their food, for the sake of Fritz's chestnut mare? Who was so +foolhardy, for the sake of the chestnut mare, as to risk the breaking +of her bones by Krischan Däsel? Who was it? I must tell, but let no one +repeat it. It was Marie Möller, who, every time she came from feeding +the young calves, and passed the riding-stable, brought an armful of +the sweet hay for Fritz's old woman.</p> + +<p class="normal">Some one may turn upon me here,--hold! here you have blundered! How +came they to have little calves in summer? I reply. Friend, that is my +affair. I can skip over as much time as I please, and am now in the +middle of winter, after the new year 1844. And if any one should +inquire further. How came Marie Möller to do such a thing? I would +answer, that is as stupid a question as the one about the calves; have +I not a right to introduce good-hearted people, who forgive and forget, +into my book, as well as the spiteful and venomous, who bear malice to +all eternity?</p> + +<p class="normal">Marie Möller could forgive and forget, and, since it was not suitable +for her to throw herself openly upon Fritz's neck, she threw herself +with her affection, and the calf-hay, upon the neck of the old mare, +which was, just then, the dearest thing Fritz had in the world. And it +was quite touching, and Fritz was really affected, when he learned the +occasion of the quarrel between his old sweetheart and Krischan Däsel; +he made his peace with his old love, and the pleasant ham-and-sausage +relationship was resumed.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was now winter, as I have said, And nothing remarkable had occurred +in the region, only that Pomuchelskopp, late in the autumn, had taken +his journey to the Landtag, causing a great excitement in his quiet, +simple family. Häuning skirmished about the house, threw the kitchen +utensils around,--that is to say, such as were not liable to +break,--banged the doors, and said, openly, the Herr Proprietor had +gone crazy; Malchen and Salchen took the other side,--although +secretly, for they had heard that the lieutenant, who commanded the +Landtag Guards, derived a great part of his income from a splendid ball +which he gave, with tickets of admission a louis-d'or each. They had +been to the Whitsuntide-fair ball, at Rostock, they had been to a +cattle-show; but a Landtag's ball? That must go beyond everything! They +teased their father so persistently, that he took courage to speak out +to his wife.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Klücken," said he, "I cannot do otherwise, I have promised Herr von +Rambow, and he went yesterday, and will wait on me there."</p> + +<p class="normal">"So?" said Häuning, "and his peacock of a wife, will she wait on me?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Klücking, that has nothing to do with it; and if I lose every +opportunity of showing that I am a man who stands up for the nobility, +how shall I get made a nobleman myself? See, I shall ride away to-day, +with a black coat, we will talk about it again, when I come back with a +red one."</p> + +<p class="normal">"A pretty figure you will cut in it!" said the old woman, going out of +the door.</p> + +<p class="normal">"As good as any other nobleman," growled Pomuchelskopp, after her.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Gracious! father, I know," cried Salchen, and she ran out, and came +back with a scarlet flannel petticoat, which she threw over her +father's shoulders, like a herald's mantle, and placed him before the +mirror; and the Herr Proprietor turned about, and contemplated himself +with great satisfaction, until the old woman came in again, and +snatched off the petticoat: "If you will positively make a fool of +yourself, you may do so at the Landtag, but not here in my house."</p> + +<p class="normal">The Herr Proprietor took this for full permission to journey to the +Landtag, and journeyed accordingly. But when he arrived at Malchin, and +got down at Voitel's, his troubles began at once, for he had got into +the wrong box; he should have stopped at the Bull, where the +nobility resorted, and here he was among mere burgomeisters and +burgher-proprietors, who could in no way aid his designs. He stood +about in everybody's way, not knowing what to do with himself, and +nobody else seemed to know, till at last he plucked up courage to +inquire if any one had seen Herr von Rambow of Pumpelhagen, for he +meant to pattern after Axel. Nobody had seen him; at last some one said +that the Herr von Rambow had gone off that afternoon, with the Herr von +Brulow, to Brulowshof, to see his blood horses. In his great +embarrassment, he finally went up to a rather large and stately +gentleman, who had something friendly in his appearance, but with a +roguish gleam in his eyes as if he enjoyed a joke, when he had an +opportunity.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Begging your pardon," said he, "I am the proprietor Pomuchelskopp, of +Gurlitz, and am here, for the first time, as a deputy. You appear to be +a friendly man, and I want to ask you what I have to do here."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said the stranger, taking a pinch of snuff, "what have you to do +here? You have nothing further to do; you will have made the necessary +visits already?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," said Pomuchelskopp.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, then, you must pay your respects to the deputy-governor, the +land-marshal, and the landrath. Good evening, Langfeldt, where are you +going?" he interrupted himself, and addressed this question to a man +who was just going out with a lantern in his hand.</p> + +<p class="normal">"To make the stupid old visits," said he, turning round in the doorway. +"Do you stay here, Brückner? I will come back again, by and by."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't wait too long, then," said the friendly Herr, and turned again +to Pomuchelskopp. "So you have not made your visits yet?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," said the Herr Proprietor.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You should make them at once, then. The gentleman with the lantern has +to make the same visits, you need only follow behind his lantern. That +will do finely! But be quick, quick!" And Pomuchelskopp snatched his +hat from the nail, rushed out of doors, and ran through the streets of +Malchin, as fast as his stoutness and short breath would allow. The +friendly Herr took a pinch of snuff, with his eyes full of mischief, +and sat down quietly behind the table, laughing to himself, and saying, +"I only wish I could see Langfeldt."</p> + +<p class="normal">And it would really have been worth his while. When the burgomeister +from Gustrow had gone in, to see the deputy-governor of Schwerin, and +had given his lantern to the footman, something came puffing up the +steps, and Pomuchelskopp made a low bow to the footman, and asked, +"Herr Footman, where is the Herr whom one must visit here?" The man +opened the door for him, and Pomuchelskopp bowed himself in, making his +deepest reverences to Langfeldt, whom he took for the deputy-governor, +for which he should not be blamed, since the Herr Burgomeister from +Gustrow always held his head forward as if he were going to push +through a wall with it, which would suit very well for a Mecklinburg +deputy-governor. He turned Pomuchelskopp round, however, and showed him +the right man, and since he was out of the fight, he went out, and took +up his lantern. Pomuchelskopp feared that he would desert him, he made +a couple of bows, and was off again, after Langfeldt's lantern.</p> + +<p class="normal">At the land-marshal's, it was just so; the Herr Burgomeister had begun +a courteous speech, when Pomuchelskopp came puffing in, behind him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What is that beast coming here again for?" said Langfeldt to himself, +and quickly took leave, thinking to escape him; but the Herr Proprietor +was persistent, the lantern was his only reliance, he rushed after him +again. The performance was repeated at the landrath's; the burgomeister +was getting very angry, and because he was well acquainted with the +landrath, since they had sat together on the select committee, he did +not restrain himself from speaking out:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr, why do you run after me, so?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I--I--" stammered Pomuchelskopp, "I can make visits, as well as you!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Make them alone by yourself, then," cried the burgomeister.</p> + +<p class="normal">The landrath endeavored to smooth matters, and Pomuchelskopp grew +supercilious and obstinate; but when the burgomeister took leave, he +followed him again, on account of the lantern. But the burgomeister's +patience was wholly exhausted. "Herr!" said he, turning round on him in +the street, "what are you running after me for?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Pomuchelskopp, however, was no longer in distinguished company, he had +found that he had only to do with a burgomeister, so he cleared his +throat, and said:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr, I am just as good a Fasan (pheasant) of the Grand Duke's as you +are!" He meant to say Vasall (subject), but got it wrong. Even an angry +man must have laughed at such a speech, and the burgomeister, who was +an honest old fellow, quite forgot his vexation, and, laughing +heartily, said:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Come along then! Now I know what sort of a fellow you are."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And where you can go," cried Pomuchelskopp, still in anger, "there I +can go, any day!" and he trotted on again, after the lantern. He should +not have done that, for Langfeldt had finished his visits, and was now +going to his lodgings, to get his latch-key, and a little money for +playing ombre. Pomuchelskopp followed him into his room. The Herr +Burgomeister put down the lantern on the table,--the thing was getting +to be very amusing,--turned round, and asked, laughing:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Will you be kind enough to tell me what you want?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"To make my visits as well as you," cried Pomuchelskopp, in great anger +at being laughed at.</p> + +<p class="normal">"To whom, then, here?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is none of your concern," cried Pomuchelskopp, "the gentleman +will come," and he sat down in a chair.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why, this is really a comedy," said the burgomeister, and he called +out of the door: "Fika, bring a light!" and when Fika came he pointed +to Pomuchelskopp, and asked her, "Fika, did you ever see a pheasant? +See, this is a pheasant! This is the Grand Duke's pheasant!" and Fika +shouted and laughed, and ran laughing out of the room, and the +burgomeister's host came in, to take a look at the pheasant, and the +host's children came in, and there was such a frolic, that +Pomuchelskopp finally discovered whom he was visiting. He rushed out of +the house, in great wrath, and the Herr Burgomeister went softly behind +him, with the lantern.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Langfeldt," inquired the friendly Herr, at Voitel's, taking a pinch of +snuff, "have you made your visits properly?" and his eyes were full of +roguery.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let me tell you," cried the Herr Burgomeister, "now I know! I might +have thought that it was you who sent that beast after me." And he told +the story, and so it came about, for the gentlemen at the Landtag will +have their jokes, that Pomuchelskopp was called the pheasant, and Axel, +after whom he was continually trotting, was called the "pheasant's +keeper," and when Malchen and Salchen came up to the Landtag's ball, in +gorgeous array, they were the "pheasant-chickens." When Pomuchelskopp +wrote his assent on a ballot, with a "Jah!" (instead of "Ja," yes,) +there were some who were for calling him the Landtag's donkey; but it +wouldn't go, the "pheasant" had got the start too thoroughly.</p> + +<p class="normal">No, he did not enjoy himself very much, at the Landtag, for even the +nobility, after whom he dawdled, and with whom he voted, would +have nothing to do with him, lest they should make themselves a +laughing-stock; but when he reached home, his real trials began, for +his Häuning called him "Pöking," continually, and he knew what o'clock +that was, and Malchen and Salchen did not stand by him, as they ought, +for at the Landtag's ball they had sat, as if they were sitting on +eggs. And they pricked and stung the poor, simple man and lawgiver, in +his sofa corner, till a stone would have pitied him: "Pöking, what did +you really do at the Landtag?" and "Father, are you going to be a +nobleman soon?" and "Pöking, what do they <i>do</i>, any way, at the +Landtag?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, I don't know. They cut at each other."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Pöking, who did you cut at?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, I don't know. One cuts at one, and another at another."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Father, what did they decide about the convent-question?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, I don't know; you will find out soon enough, from the Rostock +'Times;'" and with that he went out to the barn and took refuge among +the threshers.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER XXII.</h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">But--as I have said--the new year 1844 had come, and the winter was +over, and spring stood at the door, with leaves and grass and flowers, +only waiting a nod from the master of the house to begin her +decorations; and, as the snow and ice disappeared from the earth, men's +hearts were softened, and their eyes grew bright, like the sunshine +that lay upon the world.</p> + +<p class="normal">Old Habermann's eyes, also, grew clearer, and his heart became lighter, +and as he worked in the fields in the spring sunshine, and sowed the +summer seed in the dark ground, the Lord was sowing his sad heart with +fresh hopes. His master had gone with his young wife to visit her +relatives, so he could govern his realm after his own pleasure, and he +could see his daughter more frequently than in the winter. This very +morning he had spoken with her, when he went to church, and now he was +sitting comfortably in his parlor, in the afternoon, thinking of +various matters; no one disturbed him, for Fritz was in the stable with +his mare, which was very agreeable for the old man, since he always +knew where he was to be found, which, formerly, had not always been the +case.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good day, Karl!" said Bräsig, coming in at the door.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What?" cried Habermann, springing up, "I thought you had the Podagra, +and I was just wishing I could go over to see you to-day; but the Herr +is not at home, and Triddelsitz is not to be depended upon in these +days----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, what ails him?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, his old mare is going to have a colt."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ha, ha!" cried Bräsig, "and it will be a thorough-bred, and the young +Herr is to buy it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, it is so. But have you had the Podagra, or not?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Karl, it is impossible to tell, in this confounded disease, whether it +is the proper Podagra, or not. Really, it is all the same, so far as +the torment is concerned; but in respect to the causes there is a great +difference. You see, Karl, you get the Podagra by good eating and +drinking, that is the proper kind; but if you get it only from these +infamous, good-for-nothing, double-sewed wax-leather boots, that is the +improper kind, and that is what I have."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, why do you always wear the old things, then?</p> + +<p class="normal">"Karl, I used to wear them because of my relations with the count, and +I cannot throw them away. But what I was going to ask--have you been at +the Pastor's to-day?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, how is it there?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, it looks badly, the old Herr is very weak: when he came out of the +pulpit the sweat ran down his cheeks, and it was a long time before he +got rested, lying on his sofa."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hm! hm!" said Bräsig, shaking his head, "I don't like that; but, Karl, +he is getting into years."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is true," said Habermann, thoughtfully.</p> + +<p class="normal">"How is your little girl?" asked Bräsig.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thank you, Zachary, she is very well, thank God! She was here last +week,--I had no time to spare, I must be out sowing peas, but the +gracious lady had seen her, and kept her, and she stayed here until +evening.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Karl!" cried Bräsig, springing up, and walking back and forth, and +biting off in his excitement, the knob from the point of his pipe, "you +may believe me or not,--your gracious lady is the chief production of +the whole human race."</p> + +<p class="normal">Habermann rose also, and walked up and down, and every time that they +met each other, they smoked more violently, and Bräsig asked, "Am I not +right, Karl," and Habermann replied, "You are right, Zachary." And who +knows how long they would have ruminated upon this topic, if a carriage +had not driven up, from which Kurz and the rector descended.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good day! good day!" cried Kurz, as he entered the room, "see there, +see there, there is the Herr Inspector. Well, how goes it, old friend? +Habermann, I came about that clover seed."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good day," said Rector Baldrian, to Bräsig, drawing out the word +"day," as if the day were to last forever, "how goes it with you, my +honored friend?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Very well," said Bräsig.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Habermann," exclaimed Kurz, "Isn't it so? Capital seed!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why, Kurz," said Habermann, "the seed wasn't quite ripe. I tried it on +the hot shovel, and if it is the right kind, the kernels will spring +up, like flies, from the shovel, but here many kernels lay still."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You don't look quite so blooming, my honored friend," said the rector +to Bräsig, "as at the time when we drank punch together, at the +betrothals."</p> + +<p class="normal">"There is reason for that," said Habermann, throwing his arm over +Bräsig's shoulder, "my old friend has bad a touch of Podagra again."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, yes," laughed the rector, growing quite merry:</p> +<div class="poem"> +<p class="t0" style="text-indent:-6px +"> +"Vinum the father,<br> +And cœna the mother,<br> +And Venus the nurse,<br> +Produce the Podagra."</p> +</div> + +<p class="normal">"The seed is beautiful!" cried Kurz, "you will find no better between +Grimmen and Greifswald."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ho, ho, Kurz," said Habermann, "not go fast! I have a word to say----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Listen to me!" said Bräsig, across to the rector. "Don't come near me +with your French! I don't understand it. What did you say about Fenus? +What have I, and my cursed Podagra, to do with Fenus?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"My honored friend and benefactor," said the rector, with unction, +"Venus was, in antiquity, the goddess of love."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is all one to me," said Bräsig, "she might be something very +different, for all I care,--now-a-days, every stupid sheep-dog is +called Fenus."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, Habermann," cried Kurz, again, "if the clover seed has the right +lustre, and looks so violet-blue, then----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, Kurz," said Habermann, "yours didn't look like that."</p> + +<p class="normal">"My benefactor," said the rector again, to Bräsig. "Venus was, as I +have said, a goddess, and as a sheep-dog----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh, what?" said Bräsig, "you must have imagined all that, about the +goddess, Fenus means a sort of bird. Karl, don't you remember the +stories we read, when we were children, about the bird Fenus?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah!" said the rector, as light dawned upon his mind, "you mean the +bird Phœnix, which builds itself, in Arabia, a nest of costly +spices----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is an impossibility!" exclaimed Kurz. "How can the most skillful +bird build a nest out of cloves, pepper-corns, cardamoms and nutmegs?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dear brother-in-law, it is only a fable."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then the fable is a falsehood," said Bräsig, "but I don't think you +pronounce the word rightly; it isn't Phœnix, it is Ponix, and they +are not birds, they are little horses, and they don't come from Arabia, +but from Sweden, and Oland, and I know them very well, for my gracious +lady the countess had two Ponixes, which she used to drive for +pleasure."</p> + +<p class="normal">The rector wanted to set him right, but Kurz interrupted: "No, +brother-in-law, let it go! We all know that you are better informed +than Bräsig, in such learned matters."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," said Bräsig, "let him come on!" standing before the rector, as if +he had no objections to a contest.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no!" exclaimed Kurz. "We didn't come out here, to quarrel about +Venuses and clover-seed; we came merely to have a pleasant game of +Boston."</p> + +<p class="normal">"We can have that," said Habermann, beginning to clear the table.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hold, Karl," said Bräsig, "I don't like to see you doing that, that is +the house-steward's business." And with that he roared across the +court, "Triddelsitz!" and Fritz came running in. "Triddelsitz, we are +going to play Boston, get the table ready, and a sheet of paper to set +down the winnings, and fill the pipes, and make a handful of matches."</p> + +<p class="normal">And when Fritz had made ready, they sat down, and prepared to begin. +They must first decide how high they would play. Kurz was for playing +Boston grandissimo, for shilling points; but Kurz was always very +venturesome; that was a little too high for the others, and Bräsig +declared that he wouldn't sit down to play, to get people's money out +of their pockets. At last, through Habermann's interposition, they +settled what the game should be, and were ready to begin.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who has diamonds?" asked the rector; "he deals."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Kurz deals," said Bräsig.</p> + +<p class="normal">So now they could finally begin; but they did not begin, quite yet, for +the rector laid his hand on the cards, and said, looking around the +circle, "It is worthy of note! We are all pretty reasonable men, and we +are going to play a game, namely the game of cards, which, according to +authentic information, was invented for the entertainment of an insane +king. King Charles of France----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Come, children," said Kurz, taking the cards out of the rector's, +hand, "if we are going to play, let us play, if we are going to tell +stories, we will tell stories."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Go ahead!" cried Bräsig, and Kurz dealt,--made a misdeal, however in +his haste, so "Once more!" This time it was all right, and they began +to look at their cards. "I pass," said Habermann, who had the lead. +Then it came to the rector; they had to wait for him a little, because +he had not yet arranged his cards, for he had a superstition that the +cards were better if he took them up, one by one, and because he +improved all his opportunities with great conscientiousness he arranged +all his cards in order of rank and turned the sevens and fives so that +he could see the middle spot, and not mistake them for the sixes and +the fours. Kurz, meanwhile, laid his cards on the table, folded his +hands over them, looked at him and sighed. "I pass," said the rector.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I knew you would," said Kurz, for he knew that his brother-in-law must +examine his cards closely, before he would commit himself, and, on the +other hand, he was afraid of his assisting, because usually he either +had nothing, or if he had something, he played it the wrong time.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Pass!" said Bräsig, whose turn came next.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Boston grandissimo!" said Kurz. "Who assists?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Pass!" said Habermann.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dear brother-in-law," said the rector, "I--one trick--two tricks--well +I shall find a third--I assist."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well," said Kurz, "but we don't pay together. Each pays for himself."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Come, Karl," said Bräsig, "Out with it! We will break their fiddle in +two."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well," said Kurz, "don't talk about it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"God forbid," said Habermann, and led the ten of hearts: "Duke Michael +fell upon the land."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Come, Herr Oberförster," said the rector, playing the knave of hearts.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herze mich und küsse mich, und krünkle meine krause nich,"<a name="div2Ref_05" href="#div2_05"><sup>[5]</sup></a> +said +Bräsig, playing the queen.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That maid must have a man," said Kurz, playing the king, and, laying +the trick aside, he led a low club (kreuz). "Kreuz Kringel und +Zweibach!"<a name="div2Ref_06" href="#div2_06"><sup>[6]</sup></a></p> + +<p class="normal">"Bite, Peter, they are lentils!" cried Bräsig to Habermann.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hold!" cried Kurz, "no telling!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"God forbid!" said Habermann, and played also a low club.</p> + +<p class="normal">"A fine singer is our sexton," said the rector, playing the nine.</p> + +<p class="normal">"A cross and strife, a wicked wife, the Lord hath sent upon me," said +Bräsig, and took the trick with the queen.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well," said Kurz, "that was a heavy cross, to be sure. What have you +next?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Pay attention, Karl, now we begin our journey," said Bräsig. "Herr," +to Kurz, "I was whist. Here! Pikas was a pointer," and led the pik-as +(ace of spades), and followed with the king,--"Long live the king!" and +then the queen,--"Respect for the ladies!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good heavens!" cried Kurz, laying down his cards, and looking at the +rector, "what a hand! He can't have any more spades."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dear brother-in-law," said the rector, "I come yet."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But too late," said Kurz, taking up his cards, with a deep sigh, as if +the rector had treated him unworthily, but he would bear it like a +christian.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Karl," said Bräsig, "how much have we in all?</p> + +<p class="normal">"Four tricks," said Habermann.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Come," said Kurz, "that is not fair, no telling!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is it telling," said Bräsig, "when I merely ask a question? Now pay +attention, Karl, I shall take one more, and if you take one, then we +are out."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I shall get mine," said Kurz.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And I shall get mine, too," said the rector.</p> + +<p class="normal">After a couple of rounds, Kurz laid his hand over his tricks: "So, I +have mine." Diamonds were on the table, the rector ventured a cut with +the queen, Bräsig followed with the king, and the poor rector had lost +his trick: "How that could happen, I cannot comprehend!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It wasn't a whist game!" cried Kurz.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Karl," said Bräsig, "if you had been careful, they would have lost +another trick."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You must blame yourself for that, you didn't play after me in hearts."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Karl, did I have any? I had nothing but the queen."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, brother-in-law," cried Kurz, meantime, "you threw away the game, +you had the king of clubs, and you played the nine. It lost the game."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What would you have?" said Bräsig, with great contempt. "Are you a +dunce? Here I sit with a handful of spades, and a couple of queens +besides; what would you have?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr, do you think, when I have said Boston, I am afraid of your +trumpery queens?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Come, come!" cried Habermann, dealing the cards, "let it go, this old +after-play is disagreeable."</p> + +<p class="normal">In this fashion, they played on, and it seemed as if they would tear +each other's hair, and yet they had the best feelings towards each +other. The rector won, and he had the best prospect of winning, for he +who loses the first game, as is well known, always wins afterward. Kurz +sat disconsolate at his bad luck; but that also often finds +compensation. "Ten grandissimo!" said he. All were surprised, even he +himself, and he looked his cards through once more. "Ten grandissimo!" +said he again, laid the cards on the table, and walked up and down the +room: "They play like that in Venice, and other great watering places."</p> + +<p class="normal">In the midst of his greatest triumph, and the greatest distress of the +others, Fritz Triddelsitz came to the door, looking quite disturbed and +pale: "Herr Inspector, Herr Habermann, oh, do come out here!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good heavens!" exclaimed Habermann, "what has happened?" and was +springing up, but Kurz held him back.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," said he, "the game must be played first. It happened so to me, +once before, at the time of the great fire, I had just put a grand on +the table, and they all ran away."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr Inspector," begged Fritz, "you must come."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What is it?" cried Habermann, dropping his cards, and jumping up. "Is +anything on fire?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," stammered Fritz, "I--me--something has happened to me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What has happened to you?" said Bräsig, across the table.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My chestnut mare has a colt," said Fritz, in an anxious tone.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, that has often happened," said Bräsig, "but you make a face like +a funeral; it is rather a joyful occasion, under the circumstances."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said Fritz, "but--but--it is so queer. You must come with me, +Herr Inspector."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why, is the colt dead?" asked Habermann.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," said Fritz, "it is well enough; but it looks so queer. Krischan +Däsel says he should think it was a young camel."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well," said Habermann, "we can finish the game afterwards, we will go +out with you."</p> + +<p class="normal">And in spite of Kurz's remonstrances, they all went with Fritz to the +stable.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I never saw such a colt," said Fritz, on the way, "it has ears as long +as that," measuring from the wrist to the elbow.</p> + +<p class="normal">When they came to the stable, there stood Krischan Däsel by the +enclosure, where the mare was looking fondly at her little one, and +whinnying over it, and the little one was making its first attempts at +springing about; he shook his head, and said to Bräsig, who came and +stood by him, "Now tell me, Herr Inspector, did you ever see the like +of that?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said Bräsig, looking at Habermann, and said with emphasis, "I +will tell you, Karl, what sort of an animal it is. Fullblood's colt is +a mule."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is it," said Habermann.</p> + +<p class="normal">"A mule?" cried Fritz, and he sprung over into the enclosure, and +succeeded, in spite of the whinnying of the old mare, in grasping the +colt by the neck, and examined his face and eyes and ears, and as the +fearful truth flashed upon him he exclaimed, in fierce anger, "Oh, I +could wring the creature's neck, and Gust Prebberow's, into the +bargain!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"For shame, Triddelsitz," said Habermann, seriously, "just see how +pleased the mother is, even if it isn't a thorough-bred."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," cried Bräsig, "and she is the nearest to it, as the Frau +Pastorin says. But you may wring Gust Prebberow's neck, for all I care, +for he is an out-and-out, double-distilled rascal."</p> + +<p class="normal">"How is it possible!" said Fritz, as he slowly stepped out of the +enclosure, and his wrath had given place to a great melancholy; "he is +my best friend, and now he has cheated me with a deaf horse and a mule. +I will sue him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I told you before, there was no friendship nor honesty in +horse-dealing," said Bräsig, taking Fritz under the arm, and drawing +him out of the stable, "but I am sorry for you, in your just +retribution. You have bought your experience in horse-dealing, and that +is what every one must do, but let me warn you against a horse lawsuit, +for long after the mule is dead such a lawsuit will be far from ended. +You see," he went on, leading Fritz up and down the court, "I will tell +you a story, for an example. You see, there was old Rütebusch, of +Swensin, he sold a horse to his own brother-in-law, who was inspector +here before Habermann's time, an infamous creature of a dapple-gray, as +a saddle-horse. Good, or, as you are in the habit of saying, 'Bong!' +Three days after, the inspector wishes to try his new acquisition, so +he climbs on to the creature, which was very high; but scarcely was he +seated, when the old schinder ran off to the village pond--no stopping +him!--and there he stood, up to the neck in water, and would move +neither back nor forward.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It was fortunate, both for the dapple-gray and the inspector, else +they might both have been drowned; the inspector roared mightily for +help, for he couldn't get down there, and he couldn't swim, and old +Flegel the wheelwright had to come to his rescue in a boat. Well, then +the lawsuit began, for the inspector said the horse was a stupid, what +we farmers call a studirten (scholar), and Rütebusch must take him +back, for stupidity protects from everything, in horse-dealing as in +other matters. Rütebusch wouldn't do it, and the two brothers-in-law +first had a falling out, and then quarrelled so bitterly, that they +wouldn't go within three miles of each other.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The lawsuit went on, all the time. All Swensin was called up to +testify that the creature was in its right mind when they knew it, and +the Pumpelhagen people had to swear that it appeared to them like a +studirten. So the lawsuit went on, into its fifth year, and the +creature stood quietly in its stable, eating oats, for the inspector +never got on it again, since he considered it such a dangerous animal; +he dared not kill it, either; for it was the <i>corpus delicti</i> of +the whole concern, as they call it. They brought the most learned +horse-doctors to see it, but it did no good, for they were not agreed, +three said it was clever, and three said it was stupid. The lawsuit was +going on, slowly, all the time, and a whole brood of new lawsuits was +hatched out of it, for the learned horse-doctors charged each other +with maliciousness and ill-breeding, and sued each other for libel. +Then they wrote to a celebrated horse-professor, in Berlin, to see what +he thought of the business. He wrote back that they must cut off the +old schinder's head, and send it to him, till he could examine the +brains; it was hard enough to tell whether a reasonable being was +clever or stupid, but it was harder, with an unreasonable beast, +because the poor creature had nothing to say for himself.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, that might have been done, but old Rütebusch and his lawyer +opposed it, and carried their point, and the suit went on again. Then +old Rütebusch died, and six months afterwards, his brother-in-law died +also, and they never were reconciled, even on their death-beds, and +went into eternity, each obstinate in his own opinion, the one that the +old schinder was clever, the other that he was stupid. The lawsuit was +suspended, for the time, and soon died out of itself, for the old +gray kicked the bucket, three weeks later, out of pure idleness and +over-feeding. Then they salted his head nicely, and sent it to the +professor, at Berlin, and he wrote back, clearly and distinctly, that +the old horse had, all his life, been as little of a studirten as +himself, and he only wished that every one of the lawyers had as much +intelligence as the beast, so very reasonable had his brains appeared. +And the man was right; for I afterwards had the infamous rascal of a +boy, who brought out the horse for the inspector, for a servant, and he +confessed to me that he had tied a piece of burning tinder under the +poor creature's tail, out of pure deviltry, because the inspector had +given him a beating the day before. And I ask any reasonable being, how +intelligent must not that poor beast have been, to run into the village +pond, to extinguish the fire! And so the great lawsuit came to an end; +but the little lawsuits, between the learned horse-doctors, are still +going on. And now, let me tell you something: Habermann is a good +friend of old Prebberow, the rascal's father, and he shall speak to +him, and get justice done you. And now you may go, and don't cherish +any hatred against the innocent little beast, or against the mother, +for they couldn't help it, and the mother is a poor, deceived creature, +as well as you."</p> + +<p class="normal">With that, he followed the others, who had returned to the card-table.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Come, come!" said Kurz, "so; ten grandissimo! I play myself."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Karl," «aid Bräsig, "you must talk with old Prebberow, and not let +your confounded greyhound get into difficulties."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will do so, Zachary, and it shall all be made right; but I am sorry +for the poor boy, that he should be so disappointed. Who would have +thought of a mule!" (maulesel.)</p> + +<p class="normal">"I observe," said the rector, laying the cards, which he had arranged +in order of rank, upon the table, "that you all speak of this little +new-born animal as a maulesel, while according to the natural history +use of language, it should be called a maulthier. The difference +is----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't bore us with your natural history!" cried Kurz. "Are we playing +natural history, or are we playing cards? Here, ace of diamonds lies on +the table!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Well, there was no help for it, they suited and suited, and Kurz won +the game, and with it the right to boast, for four weeks, of his ten +grandissimo.</p> + +<p class="normal">So they played on, in friendly excitement, until the rector, looking +over the account, became aware that he had won, in all, three thalers +and eight groschen, and since the luck was going rather against him of +late, he resolved to stop; so he rose, and said his feet were getting +cold, and put his winnings in his pocket.</p> + +<p class="normal">"If you suffer from cold feet," said Bräsig, "I will tell you a good +remedy; take a pinch of snuff every morning, on an empty stomach,--that +is good for cold feet."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh, what!" cried Kurz, who had been winning lately, "how can he get +cold feet?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"So?" said the rector, hotly, for he was determined to retain his +winnings, "haven't I as good a right to cold feet as you? Don't you +always get cold feet, at our club, when you have had good luck?" and he +carried it out, he kept his cold feet, and his winnings, and after a +little while the two city people drove off, taking Bräsig with them.</p> + +<p class="normal">Habermann was just going to bed, when there was a loud talking and +scolding before the door, and Fritz Triddelsitz and Krischan Däsel came +in.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good evening, Herr Inspector," said Krischan, "it is all the same to +me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What is the matter now?" asked Habermann.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr Inspector," said Fritz, "you know how it has gone with--well, +with the mule, and now Krischan won't have the beast in the stable."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What has happened?" said Habermann.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Herr, it is all the same to me. But this isn't all the same, I +have been used to horses and colts, and not to camels and mules. Why, +Herr Triddelsitz might as well bring bears and monkeys into the +riding-stable!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, but if I tell you so, the beast <i>shall</i> stand in the stable, and +you shall take just as good care of it as of any other colt."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, if you command me, then it is all the same to me, and then it +shall always be so. Well, good night, Herr Inspector, and don't take it +ill of me," and he went off.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr Habermann," said Fritz, "what will Herr von Rambow say to this +accident? and the gracious lady too?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Make yourself easy, they will not trouble themselves much about it.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well," said Fritz, and went out of the door, to go to bed, "it is too +provoking, that this should have happened to my mare."</p> + +<p class="normal">When the Herr came home from his journey, he got the story of the +chestnut mare fresh from Krischan, and because he was a good-natured +man, and liked Fritz, since in some respects they were a good deal +alike, he comforted him and said, "Never mind! This does not interfere +with our bargain. You must think that it is only the natural result of +a <i>mésalliance</i>. We will put the mare and the colt into the paddock, by +and by; and you will see they will give us a great deal of pleasure."</p> + +<p class="normal">It was really so; every one found amusement in the little beast. When +the village children strolled through the fields, on Sunday afternoons, +they would go to the paddock, and gaze at the little mule: "See, +Joching, there he is." "Yes, that is a nice one! See, how he pricks up +his ears!" "Now look, see him kick!"</p> + +<p class="normal">When the maids passed the paddock, on the way to the milking shed, they +also stopped: "See, Stina, there is Herr Triddelsitz's mule!" "Come, +Fika, let us go round that way." "Not I, what a horrid-looking +creature!" "You need not call him horrid, he gives you the least +trouble of any of them."</p> + +<p class="normal">And through the whole region, the mare and the mule and Fritz were +renowned, and wherever the latter showed himself he was asked after the +welfare of the mule, to his great annoyance. The little old donkey, +however, was not at all troubled, he ran about in the paddock all +summer, with the other well-born and high-born colts, and, if any of +them came too near him, he knew how to stand up for his rights.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER XXIII.</h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">This was a very favourable year for Pumpelhagen; and when the harvest +came, and the prices of grain went up, Axel von Rambow was relieved +from all his anxieties and embarrassments.</p> + +<p class="normal">He made calculations, and was quite sure, reckoning the rape at such a +figure, and the profit of the sheep and of the dairy-farm at so and so +much, that, with the quantity of wheat he should have, he could pay the +last dollar of his debts. The devil must be in it, if he didn't finish +this year, completely out of debt. There was good reason why this year +should be prosperous, he had been himself at Pumpelhagen, he had +concerned himself in the management of affairs, and every one knows +that the eye of the master is for husbandry what the sun is for the +world, everything grows and ripens in its light, and the grass grows +green beneath the master's tread. So Axel took the gifts and mercies of +the Lord coolly out of his hands, and gave himself the credit of the +blessed year,--even the high price of grain seemed to him a deserved +reward for his industry.</p> + +<p class="normal">So he sat on his high horse, and although he found it for the moment a +little difficult to meet the necessary expenses of the estate, and to +pay the notes held by David and Slusuhr, as they fell due, yet it gave +him no uneasiness, for he had gained great credit, in the region, for +his intelligent and industrious management, as he inferred from the +fact that Pomuchelskopp had several times taken occasion to offer him +money. He had accepted it, without reflection, to satisfy David and +Slusuhr, and he paid them with Pomuchelskopp's money, and they paid it +again to Pomuchelskopp, and he again to Axel, and so it went round the +circle. This arrangement would have been very fine, if he had not been +the only one to suffer by it, and if Pomuchelskopp had not had the +inconvenience of unpacking the rouleaux, every time, lest Axel should +notice that he got his own money again. But this was unavoidable, +unless Pomuchelskopp would come out from his cover, under which he lay +in wait for Pumpelhagen; so he yielded to the necessity, especially +since he found the business so amusing.</p> + +<p class="normal">Axel also took pleasure in this business, for he always had money to +supply his necessities, and the amount that he gave for it seemed to +him quite insignificant, since it had never occurred to him to reckon +the interest for a whole year. He also thought seriously of introducing +great improvements upon the estate. It is an old story, though a sad +one, that these young masters, who understand nothing properly about +farming, are always introducing improvements, whereby they ruin +themselves in the speediest manner. I mean, particularly, with the +live stock. Why is this so? I think it is mainly because the young +masters have very little trouble in procuring a new bull or a pair of +new-fashioned rams, and because the laws of cattle-breeding are so +plainly laid down, that the stupidest person can discourse wisely about +them. They need only to shove aside the experience of years, and that +is not hard for them, and then they stand there, with their young +heads, as important as the old people with their gray ones.</p> + +<p class="normal">Upon the Pumpelhagen estate, there was a dairy-farm, of Breitenburg +cows, which the old Kammerrath had purchased with Habermann's +assistance, and upon Habermann's recommendation. Something new must be +done here, so Axel journeyed to Sommersdorf, in Pomerania, where there +was a cattle-auction, and bought, upon Pomuchelskopp's advice, a +wonderful Ayrshire bull. Why? Well, firstly, because he was handsome, +secondly, because he came from Scotland, and, thirdly, because he was +something new. There was a flock of sheep on the estate, of the +Negretti-stock, which yielded a great deal of wool, and were always +profitable, but Pomuchelskopp, <i>as he said</i>, had got a thaler and a +half more the stone, at the wool-market, so the young Herr let himself +be persuaded into buying of his neighbor, for ready money, a pair of +very fine Electoral rams. That he could estimate the value of them and +reckon it against Pomuchelskopp, to his great advantage, did not occur +to him; he had enough else to think of.</p> + +<p class="normal">Habermann strove, with all his might, against these new arrangements, +but in vain; in the eyes of his young Herr he was an old man, who had +fallen astern and could not keep up with the times; and although the +old man based his opposition on very strong and reasonable arguments, +he had always the same answer: "But, good heavens! we can at least try +it;" not thinking that, in some things, trying and ruining are the +same. The inspector could do nothing, and was only thankful his master +had not taken to raising thorough-bred horses, which was the business +he detested, of all others. The young wife also, could prevent nothing; +she did not know the manner in which Axel relieved himself from his +difficulties,--without being an indifferent observer, she must judge by +what she saw, and this was just at present with Axel great contentment +and golden prospects.</p> + +<p class="normal">In Gurlitz, also, Pomuchelskopp and his Häuning were in a state of +great, though not strictly speaking, family contentment; but this they +did not expect, in their modesty, no, they were contented with the +smooth progress of the money business, And their prospects became, +literally, more and more golden, for the boundary between Pumpelhagen +and Gurlitz was growing more and more undefined, and Pomuchelskopp, +meanwhile, had only the unpleasant task of clipping his Häuning's +wings, lest she should positively fly over the hedge, and scratch for +worms on the other side.</p> + +<p class="normal">In Jochen Nüssler's house, the old lady Contentment had established +herself comfortably on the divan, and, if one had spoken of golden +prospects there, it must have been in the sense in which the poets +speak of the "golden morning sky," not because they think that the glow +of the morning sky is like the glitter of gold, but only that they know +nothing more beautiful than the latter, possibly because they see it so +seldom. Gottlieb was getting rid of his long-haired, Pietistic ways, +and beginning to look at the world with his natural eyes, instead of +through the blue spectacles he had acquired at Erlangen, or elsewhere.</p> + +<p class="normal">To Bräsig's joy, he played Boston--very badly; he had been on +horse-back once, and had fallen off, without getting hurt, and when he +came to Jochen Nüssler's harvest feast, though he did not exactly +dance, that is to say, openly, before all the people, he had practised +a Schottische with Lining in the parlor, and, at its close, had sung +with a clear though rather plaintive voice, "Vivallera!"</p> + +<p class="normal">But Rudolph? Well, we will only repeat what Hilgendorf himself said to +Bräsig about him: "He, Bräsig? Just as I was, true as I live! Bones +like ivory! Just looks at a thing, and knows how, just as I used to! +And books? Won't touch 'em! Just like me!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Frau Nüssler was happy in the happiness of her children, and young +Jochen and young Bauschan sat together peacefully, for hours, without +saying a word, and thought of the time when they should have a new +crown-prince, young Jochen Rudolph, and young Bauschan the seventh. +That was not exactly a morning sky, but for moderate people, like +Jochen and Bauschan, an evening sky often looks golden.</p> + +<p class="normal">So in every house, in the whole region, there was happiness for each +after its kind, but in one house, where Peace had long been an inmate, +and had sat in his own place by the warm stove, in winter, and under +the lindens before the door, or in the arbor in the garden, in summer, +like a good old grandfather, and had kept a watchful eye upon little +Louise's joyous bounds, and had guided the Frau Pastorin's duster, and +kept the Herr Pastor's papers in order, the good old grandfather was no +longer there,--he had silently taken his leave, and had shut the door +softly behind him, and was gone to the place whence he came; and, in +his stead, unrest and anxiety had entered, for the good old Pastor was +daily growing weaker. He was not confined to a sick-bed, and had no +particular disease, and Doctor Strump, of Rahnstadt, with the best +intentions in the world, could find, out of the three thousand, seven +hundred, seventy and seven diseases which humanity is subject to, by +good rights, no single one which suited him. So he must minister to +himself, and he did so, for good old grandfather Peace, when he took +his departure, had laid his hand on the Pastor's head, saying, "I go, +but only for a short time; then I will return to thy Regina. Thou dost +not need me, for I entered thy heart years ago, in the solemn hour when +thou didst choose between God and the world. Now sleep, for thou mayest +well be weary."</p> + +<p class="normal">And he was weary, very weary. His Regina had placed him on the sofa, +under the picture-gallery, according to his desire, that he might look +out of the window; his Louise had covered him warmly, and they had both +gone out on tiptoe, that they might not disturb his repose. Out of +doors, the first snowflakes of the winter were falling from the sky, +gently, ever gently; and it was as quiet without as within, as within +his heart; and it seemed to him as if the outstretched hands of Christ +beckoned and pointed,--no one saw it, but so his Regina afterwards +explained the matter,--and he got up, and opened his old chest of +drawers, which he had from his father, and which his mother had always +polished, herself, and had seated himself in the arm-chair before it, +wishing once more to look over things which he had valued so much.</p> + +<p class="normal">The chest was his cabinet of curiosities, for everything that had been +important or remarkable in his life had its memento here; it was his +family medicine chest, in which he stored his remedies for the troubles +and cares of this world, which he used when he was sick at heart; +simple remedies, but they always answered the purpose. They were not +put up in vials and bottles and boxes, and no labels were fastened on +them; they were merely plucked by his hand, in happy hours, and +preserved for use. Everything, by which he could recall to his memory +the purest joys of his life, was gathered here, and whenever he was +sad, he refreshed his soul with them, and he never closed the old chest +without deriving strength from his remedies, and expressing gratitude +for them. There lay the Bible, which, when a boy, he had received from +his father, there was the beautiful crystal glass, which his best +friend had given him, when he left the University, there was the +pocket-book, which his Regina had embroidered for him, when they were +betrothed; there were sea-shells, which a sailor, whom he once directed +into the right way, had sent to him, years after; there were little +Christmas and New Year notes, from Louise and Mining, and Lining, which +they had indited with infinite labor, and also their first attempts at +needlework; there was the withered bridal-wreath worn by his Regina on +their wedding-day, and the great silver-clasped, pictorial Bible, +Habermann's gift, and the silver mounted meerschaum pipe, Bräsig's +gift, upon his seventy-fifth birth-day. In the cupboard underneath, +were old shoes; the shoes which Louise and Regina and himself had worn, +when they first entered the Pastor's house.</p> + +<p class="normal">Old shoes are not beautiful, but these must have been very dear to him, +for he had taken them out, and placed each pair by itself, and looked +long at them, and thought much, and then he had taken his first Bible +upon his lap, and opened at our Lord's Sermon on the Mount, and read +therein. No one saw him, to be sure, but it must have been so; his +Regina knew very well how it all happened. And then he grew weary, and +laid his head back against the chair, and fell softly asleep.</p> + +<p class="normal">So they found him, and the little Frau Pastorin sat down by him in the +chair, and put her arms around him and closed his eyes, and laid her +head against his, and cried silently, and Louise threw herself at his +feet, and folded her hands upon his knees, and looked, with tearful +eyes, at the two dear, still faces. Then the little Frau Pastorin +folded down the leaf in the Bible, and took it gently out of his hand, +and she rose up, and Louise rose also, and clung about her neck, and +they both broke into loud weeping, and sought protection and comfort in +each other, until it grew to be twilight. Then the little Frau Pastorin +took the Pastor's boots and her shoes, and put them back into the +cupboard, saying, "I bless the day, when you came together into this +house;" and Louise put her little shoes beside them, saying, "And I the +day, when you first crossed the threshold," and then they locked up the +chest, with all its joys.</p> + +<p class="normal">After three days, good Pastor Behrens was buried, in his churchyard, in +a place which he had selected, during his life, which one could see, +through the clear panes of glass, from the living-room of the +parsonage, and upon which fell the first beams of the morning sun.</p> + +<p class="normal">The funeral guests had departed, Habermann also had been obliged to go; +but Uncle Bräsig had explained that he should spend the night at the +parsonage. Through the day, he had lent a helping hand, and now, as he +saw the two women standing at the window, arm in arm, lost in sorrowful +thoughts, he stole softly out of the room, up to his sleeping-chamber, +and looked, through the twilight, over to the churchyard, where the +dark grave lay in the white snow. He thought of the man who lay beneath +it, how often he had extended the hand, to help and to counsel him, and +he vowed to repay the debt he owed him, with all his might, to the Frau +Pastorin. And underneath, in the living-room, stood the two bereaved +women, also looking over at the dark grave, and vowing silently, in +their hearts, each to the other, all the love and friendship, which he +had so often enjoined, and so constantly practiced. And the little Frau +Pastorin thanked God and her Pastor that she had so sweet a comforter +in her sorrow as she held in her arms, and she stroked Louise's soft +hair, and kissed her again and again; and Louise prayed to God and her +other father, that she might be endowed with all that was good and +lovely, that she might lay it all in her foster-mother's lap.</p> + +<p class="normal">Fresh graves are like hot-beds, which the gardeners plant; the fairest +flowers spring out of them; but poisonous toadstools shoot up, also, +from these beds.</p> + +<p class="normal">That same evening, two other people in Gurlitz, were standing at a +window, and looking through the panes, in the twilight,--not at the +God's acre, that was far from their thoughts, no, at the Pastor's +acre,--and Pomuchelskopp said to his Hänning, now they could not fail, +now the field fell out of the lease, now they would have it, he would +speak to the new Pastor about it, before his appointment.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Muchel," said Hänning, "the Pumpelhagen people will never allow it, +they will not let that field slip out of their fingers."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Häuning, out of their fingers? I hold it in my own hands."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, if the young Herr must accommodate you; but how if we should get +a young priest here, who will farm it himself?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Klücking, I don't recognize you, my dear Klücking! We have the choice; +we will choose a Pietist. That kind are all taken up with their Bibles +and Psalm-books and tracts, and have no leisure for farming."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, but you don't choose alone, there are Pumpelhagen, and Rexow, and +Warnitz."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Klücking, Warnitz and Rexow! What can they do against. Pumpelhagen and +Gurlitz?--If the Pumpelhagen people and my people agree----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't trust to your people, you will get nothing but vexation. Don't +you know how the Pastor's wife treated you? and she can do anything she +pleases with the villagers, they stick to her like burs."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Can't I get her out of the way? She shall move out of the village! +There is no Pastor's-widow-house here, and am I likely to build one? +Make the most of your meal, Frau Pastorin, you will have to go +further!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Kopp, you are a great blockhead! The election of the new Pastor comes +first." With that she left him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Klücking," he called after her, "I promise you, dear Klücking, I will +make it all right."</p> + +<p class="normal">Yes, many a poisonous weed grows out of a fresh grave, when the heirs +reach out impatient hands for the money and goods of the silent man, +when a neighbor profits by the distress of the widow and orphan to make +his own house and garden and fields larger and finer, and when the +coarse fellow sits in his comfortable sofa corner, and grumbles at it, +as a great trial, that he must go out to water a new milch cow.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER XXIV.</h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">Bräsig had remained at the parsonage through the week. He made all the +arrangements rendered necessary by such a change; he made out the +inventory, wrote whole heaps of the drollest mourning letters, and +carried them to the post himself, in spite of snow and cold and +podagra; he settled with the tailor and shoemaker at Rahnstadt, and +now, on the Monday after the funeral, he was sitting with the Frau +Pastorin and Louise at the breakfast-table, intending to leave +immediately after, when a carriage stopped before the door, and Franz +von Rambow jumped down, and soon after, healthy and joyous, entered the +room. But how his face changed when he saw the black mourning dresses +of the two women. "Good heavens!" he exclaimed, in his first surprise, +"what has happened? Where is the Herr Pastor?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The little Frau Pastorin rose from her chair, and going up to the +young Herr she gave him her hand, and said, with an effort, "My Pastor +has gone a journey to his last home, and he left greetings for all, +all"--here she was overcome, and put her handkerchief to her eyes, "all +whom he once loved, you also."</p> + +<p class="normal">And Louise came up, and gave him her hand, without speaking. The color +had risen in her face, when she first saw and recognized him, but now +she was composed again, and seated herself. And Bräsig shook hands, and +talked of this and that, to turn their attention to other subjects, and +away from their fresh grief; but Franz did not listen, he stood like +one thunderstruck, the news was so unexpected, and fell so heavily upon +his joyous hopes.</p> + +<p class="normal">He had spent two years at the academy in Eldena, had been industrious, +and had stored his mind with all the sciences which he would need in +the widest field of agriculture, or which could assist him in his +chosen calling; the practical part of it he had already acquired, under +Habermann's instruction; he was now of age, and could take possession +of his property, nothing stood in the way of his establishing a +household, but his own consideration. This, and the late Pastor's +quiet, sensible letters, which had carefully avoided the remotest +question or allusion, and with all their joyous heartiness had showed +so much intelligence and reason, had kept him from hasty steps and rash +actions. He had not a cold heart, it beat as hotly in his breast as +that of any other young man, who falls over head and ears in love at +first sight, and at once offers his heart and his hand; but, from his +childhood, he had been thrown upon his own judgment, and been +accountable for his own actions, and had decided the smallest matters +after much reflection,--some said too much reflection,--but it did no +harm! In this matter he was right, he would take this important step in +life with a warm heart, but with a cool head. He had restrained his +heart, had locked all his sweet dreams of joy and happiness in his own +breast, like the sweet kernel in a hard nut; he would not crack the nut +for his mere pleasure, he would wait patiently, till favorable +circumstances, like the sun and rain, should make the shell open gently +of itself, and the green sprout should come to light, and a tree should +grow from it, beneath whose shade he and his Louise might sit happily +together. And when his heart beat faster, and urged him to visit her, +and see her again, he strove against it, with a right feeling toward +his maiden, she should not be troubled till she had time to learn and +to comprehend herself; and he had a feeling of pride, that he would +have no match-maker meddling with his happiness. And when his heart +often bled in the conflict, he called to it, fresh and strong; "Hands +off! We are playing no lottery, here! Such a gain is too easily won, +and too easily lost. The reward shall pay for the trouble. No bitter, +no sweet!"</p> + +<p class="normal">But now he was of age, now he was in all respects a man, now his own +pride and his honor toward the dearest, sweetest maiden in the world +were to receive their reward, now the tender green of the sprouting +kernel pushed through the softened shell, and through the dark earth, +up to the light, and it was time to care for it, that the tree might +grow; and it was not time, merely, it was also duty. Now he threw +himself into his carriage, the strife between the cool judgment and the +warm heart was at an end, the former he left at home, safely stowed +away, so that it might not be lost, for he might need it afterwards, +and the latter he took with him, and comforted and soothed it, and sung +it sweet song all the way, as if it were a child in the cradle, and he +the mother.</p> + +<p class="normal">And now all this joy was gone, the songs of happiness and love had been +sung in vain, between these two sorrowful, black-robed forms, his heart +throbbed as restlessly as before, and though he had left his judgment +at home, his kind feelings, his reverence for so great a sorrow, and +his remembrance of the worthy, silent man, were too strong for him, and +against such a power, no honest heart could strive; it surrenders, +although with wounds and suffering. Love is full of selfishness, and +knows no consideration for others, people say,--and there is truth in +it! It is a world for itself, and goes its own way, as if it had no +concern for anything else; but if it comes from God, its path is marked +out by eternal laws, that it should do no injustice, nowhere give +offence, and beam upon other worlds with its sweet, gentle light, like +the evening star, when it sheds peace upon the weary heart.</p> + +<p class="normal">Such was Franz's love, it could not offend, could not bring trouble +upon others, it must comfort and heal; so he restrained his heart, and +was silent, and when he took his leave of the parsonage, he felt like a +wanderer, who has come, with labor and weariness, to the church tower, +which beckoned to him in the distance, and when he reaches the first +houses in the village, he finds that this is not the right place, and +that the end of his journey lies far beyond; he takes one deep, +refreshing draught, and travels sturdily on.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was a lovely, bright winter's day as Franz walked towards +Pumpelhagen, letting the carriage follow slowly behind him; Bräsig went +with him. The young man was absorbed in his own thoughts, Bräsig quite +the contrary, so they did not accord well together. Bräsig should have +held his tongue instead of telling all the stories which haunted his +brain, but it was one of Uncle Bräsig's happiest peculiarities, that he +never observed when he was troublesome. At last, however, he became +aware that the young Herr gave him no replies; he stood still, as it +happened, in the very place where Axel had treated him so shabbily, and +asked, "How? Am I perhaps an inconvenience to you? It has happened to +me before, in this very place, with your gracious Herr Cousin; I can go +on by myself, as I did then."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dear Herr Inspector," said Franz, grasping the old man's hand; "you +must not be offended with me; the death of the good Pastor, and the sad +change in the dear old parsonage, have affected me very deeply."</p> + +<p class="normal">"So?" said Bräsig, pressing his hand, "if that is it, then I am not at +all offended, and I always said also, to the Frau Pastorin and the +little Louise, that you were an educated farmer, like the man in the +book, since you keep kind feelings in your heart, and can look out for +the good-for-nothing farm-boys; and I have always told Rudolph he +should take you for a model. Do you know Rudolph?" And he began to tell +about Rudolph and Mining, and Gottlieb and Lining, and brought the +whole region into the story, and Franz compelled himself to listen +attentively, so that before he reached Pumpelhagen, he knew all about +everybody, even about Pomuchelskopp and his Häuning.</p> + +<p class="normal">"So," said Bräsig, when they reached the court-yard, "you go now to +your gracious Herr Cousin, and I to Habermann, and what I have said to +you about Pomuchelskopp, and his secret projects must remain <i>præter +propter</i> between us, and you may rely upon it, I will keep watch of +him, and if he attempts any more scurvy tricks I will let you know."</p> + +<p class="normal">But Franz did not go into the manor house, he ran before Bräsig into +the farmhouse, into the room where he had spent so many quiet, happy +hours with his good old instructor, and he fell upon the old man's +neck, and old and young lay in each other's arms, as if the time and +the years between the two had been blotted out, and the old eyes grew +moist, and the young cheeks took a fresher color, as if age were giving +its dew and its blessing that youth might grow fresher and brighter. So +it was, and so shall it ever be!</p> + +<p class="normal">Then Franz went up to Fritz Triddelsitz, and offered his hand: +"Good-day, Fritz!"</p> + +<p class="normal">But Fritz had his pride, also, his burgher-pride, and he had also his +revenge, the revenge which he had stamped into the pease-field, after +the ditch-rendezvous, so he said, coldly, "How do you find yourself, +Herr von Rambow?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Fritz, have you no sense?" said Franz, and turned away and left him, +as if Fritz were an inexplicable riddle, and he would turn to something +else; he shook hands with the two old men, and went to his cousin.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Karl," said Bräsig, sitting down to the table, where the dinner stood +ready, "an excellent young man, this Herr Von! And what a beautiful +piece of roast pork you have here! I have seen no such roast pork, in +seven cold winters."</p> + +<p class="normal">The reception given Franz, by his cousin Axel, was cordial, and the joy +he expressed was sincere, as might well be supposed, for the two +cousins were the only male descendants of their race. Frida, whom Franz +had previously met at her wedding, was particularly pleased with the +kind-hearted, sensible young man, and did everything in her power to +make his visit agreeable, and as Habermann, having given Bräsig his +company a little way after dinner, was returning across the court, she +sent out, and invited him in to coffee, believing rightly that it would +please Franz. Upon this occasion, it came out that Franz had gone +already to the farm-house, and had made his first call on the +inspector. This annoyed Axel a little, he wrinkled up his forehead at +the intelligence, and his wife, at least, noticed before long that he +began to put on the master. This would have been a matter of +indifference, if he had not been so unreasonable and unjust as to +punish Habermann, by a cold, ceremonious manner, for the fault of +Franz,--if it were a fault.</p> + +<p class="normal">The company was not quite harmonious; every friendly word, which was +exchanged between Habermann and Franz, disturbed Axel; he became +stiffer and colder, and the whole conversation, in spite of the lovely +warm sunshine which the young wife always diffused around her, was +dropping to the freezing-point, when Habermann suddenly sprang up, went +to the window, and, without a word, ran out of the room. Axel's face +turned a dusky red with the anger that rose in him; "That is very +strange behavior!" cried he, "the Herr Inspector seems to consider +himself exempt from the ordinary rules of politeness.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It must be something very important," said Frida, going to the window. +"What is he doing to that laborer?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is the day-laborer, Regel," said Franz, who was also looking out +of the window.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Regel! Regel!" said Axel, springing up, "that is the messenger that I +sent to Rostock yesterday, with two thousand thalers in gold; he cannot +be back so soon."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That must be what has disconcerted the old man so," said Franz. "Only +see, he is laying hands on the fellow! I never saw him so excited!" and +he ran out of the door, and Axel after him.</p> + +<p class="normal">As they came out the old inspector had seized the young, strong +day-laborer in the breast, and shook him till his hat fell off into the +snow.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Those are lies!" cried he, as he shook him, "those are miserable lies! +Herr von Rambow, this fellow has lost the money!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, they took it from me!" cried the laborer, standing there, pale as +death.</p> + +<p class="normal">Axel also turned pale; the two thousand thalers should have been paid +in Rostock, long ago, but he had delayed till the last moment, and then +borrowed the sum of Pomuchelskopp,--and now it was gone.</p> + +<p class="normal">"They are lies!" repeated Habermann, "I know the fellow. They took the +money away from you by force? No ten fellows could take even a pipe of +tobacco from you by force!" and he attacked him again.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hold!" cried Franz, coming between them. "Let the man just tell his +story, quietly. How was it about the money?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"They took it from me," said Regel. "As I was beyond Rahnstadt, this +morning, near the Gallin wood, two fellows came toward me, and one of +them asked me for a little fire for his pipe, and while I was striking +it, the other seized me behind, by the belt, and pulled me off, and +they took the black package out of my pocket, and then they ran off +into the Gallin wood, and I after them, but I could not catch them."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What is that?" interrupted Axel, "how did you come to be near the +Gallin wood this morning? It lies only half a mile beyond Rahnstadt. +Did I not charge you expressly, to get a pass from the burgomeister at +Rahnstadt, and ride all night, so that the money might be in Rostock at +noon to-day?" (This was the last day on which the note could be paid, +it would otherwise be protested.)</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Herr," said the laborer, "I got the pass, and here it is," and he +pulled it out of his hat band, "but to ride all the winter night was +too much, and I stayed with my friends in Rahnstadt, thinking I could +get to Rostock in time."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Krischan Däsel!" called Habermann, across the courtyard. He had become +perfectly composed, for it was merely the conviction that the laborer +was lying to his face, which had roused the old man to such a state of +excitement.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr von Rambow," said he, as Krischan came up, "don't you wish the +justice to be sent for?" and as Axel assented, he said, "Krischan, take +two of the carriage horses, and put them to the chaise. You must bring +the Herr Burgomeister from Rahnstadt; I will give you a letter to him. +And you, Regel, come with me, I will show you a quiet place, where you +can recollect yourself." With that, he went off with the day-laborer, +and locked him into a chamber.</p> + +<p class="normal">When Axel returned to the house with his cousin, he had an excellent +opportunity to make the young man acquainted with his pecuniary +embarrassments; but, although he knew that Franz could easily and +willingly help him, he was silent. It is a strange but indisputable +fact, that people who run in debt will turn sooner to the hard heart of +the usurer, for assistance, than to the soft ones of friends and +relatives. They are too proud to acknowledge their debts, but not +too proud to beg and to borrow of the most good-for-nothing Jew +money-lenders. But it is not pride, it is nothing but the most pitiable +cowardice, which is afraid of the reasonable and well-meant +remonstrances of friends and relatives.</p> + +<p class="normal">So Axel was silent, and walked restlessly up and down the room, while +Frida was talking with Franz over this singular occurrence. The +business was a very serious one for him, the money must be procured, or +he would be sued for it,--his note was probably already protested. He +could no longer endure it; he ordered his horse, and, although it was +growing dark, he went off for a ride,--so he said, at least,--but he +went to Pomuchelskopp.</p> + +<p class="normal">Pomuchelskopp listened to Herr von Rambow's troubles with a great deal +of sympathy, and lamented the wickedness of mankind, and expressed the +opinion that Herr von Rambow might as well have no inspector at all as +one who had not understanding enough to choose a safe messenger on such +an important business,--he would not say anything but there must be +something behind; he would say nothing prematurely, but this much he +would say, Habermann had always looked out sharply for his own +interests, for example, there was the Pastor's acre; he had advised the +late Herr Kammerrath to rent it, so that his own salary might be +increased; but it was certainly an injury to the Pumpelhagen husbandry, +as he could convince the Herr, and he inflicted upon Axel a long +chapter of calculations which the latter did not attempt to follow, +for, in the first place, he did not understand calculations, and +secondly, he was absorbed, for the moment, in thoughts of his troubles. +He said "Yes" to everything, and at last came out with the request that +Pomuchelskopp should advance another two thousand thalers.</p> + +<p class="normal">Pomuchelskopp hesitated a little at first, and scratched behind his +ear, but at last said, "Yes;" on condition that Axel would not rent the +Pastor's acre again, of the new Pastor. This might well have startled +the young Herr, and Muchel was conscious of the danger, so he proved to +him again, with figures, that it would be much better that the Gurlitz +farm should undertake this lease, and that in this way both would be +gainers. Axel gave but little attention, and finally consented to give +the desired promise in writing; his difficulty was pressing, he must +meet the first necessity, and he was just the sort of man to kill his +milch cow, in order to sell her skin.</p> + +<p class="normal">The business was now settled; Axel wrote his bond, and Pomuchelskopp +packed up the two thousand thalers, and sent it, with a letter from +Axel, by his own servant, to Rahnstadt, to the post. That was the best +way; no one in Pumpelhagen need know anything about it. As Axel rode +home, he repeated two lies to himself, until he really believed them; +first, that Habermann alone was properly to be blamed for the loss of +the money, and second, that he ought to be glad to get rid of the +Pastor's acre.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER XXV.</h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">Meanwhile, the Rahnstadt burgomeister, who was Axel's magistrate, had +arrived at Pumpelhagen, bringing Herr Slusuhr, the notary, as his +recording clerk.</p> + +<p class="normal">The man had acted very discreetly; as soon as he had read Habermann's +letter, he had sent policemen round to all the alehouses and shops, +where laborers resorted, to inquire whether and when the day-laborer +Regel, of Pumpelhagen, had been there, and in this way he found out +enough to assist him in the examination. The laborer had come to him, +yesterday afternoon, about four o'clock, and had got his pass made +out; he had showed him the package of money,--the gold was sewed in +black-waxed cloth,--and the burgomeister had looked at it closely +enough, to see that the seal had not been tampered with. The man had +told him,--he was on the whole, rather talkative,--that he should +travel all night; it was pretty hard, to be sure, at this time of year; +but the man was a strong, hearty fellow; it would be no darker, for the +snow made it light, and, towards midnight, the moon rose; so he had +advised him to set off immediately. This however, as he had +ascertained, he had not done, he had gone into several ale-houses, and +treated himself to liquor; even by nine o'clock he was not out of +Rahnstadt, he had stopped before a shop, and drank brandy, and bragged, +and talked of his great sum of money, had also showed the packet to the +shopman. Where he had stayed, afterwards, he did not know; but so much +seemed to be certain, the man was grossly intoxicated; and the justice +now asked Axel and Habermann, whether the fellow were in the habit of +drinking.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I do not know," said Axel; "in these particulars, I must rely upon my +inspector."</p> + +<p class="normal">Habermann looked at him, as if this speech seemed to him a very strange +one, and he would have said something about it; but he merely remarked +to the burgomeister that he had never noticed anything of the kind, or +even heard of it; Regel was always the soberest fellow on the place, +and in that respect he had no complaints to make of any of the people.</p> + +<p class="normal">"May be," said the burgomeister, "but it wasn't quite right with the +man; there is always a first time,--he had certainly been drinking +before he came to me. Let his wife come in."</p> + +<p class="normal">The wife came. She was a young, pretty woman; it was not long since she +had been running about, a young girl, as fresh and bright as only our +Mecklenburg country girls can be, but now sickness had washed off the +maiden roses from her cheeks, and household labor had made the soft, +rounded outlines a little angular,--our housewives in the country grow +old early,--moreover she wore mourning, and was trembling all over, +with anxiety.</p> + +<p class="normal">Habermann pitied the poor woman, he went up to her, and said, +"Regelsch, don't be afraid; just tell the truth about everything, and +it will all come right again."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good Lord, Herr Inspector, what is this? What does it all mean? What +has my husband done?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Just tell me, Regelsch, does your husband often drink more brandy than +he can carry?" asked the justice.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, Herr, never in his life, he drinks no brandy at all, we don't keep +it in the house; only at harvest time, he drinks a glass, when it is +sent down from the manor house."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Had he drank any brandy, yesterday, when he left home?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, Herr! He ate something first, and then he started off, about +half past two. No, Herr,--but wait, wait! No, I did not see him, but +yet--oh, Lord, yes! Last evening, when I went to the cupboard, the +brandy-bottle was empty."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I thought you didn't keep any brandy in the house," said the +burgomeister.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, we don't; but this was a little of the funeral brandy; we buried +our little girl last Friday, and there was some left over. Ah, and how +he grieved! how he grieved!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"And do you think your husband drank it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Herr, who else should have done it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The evidence was recorded, and Regelsch was dismissed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"So!" said Slusuhr in an insolent way to Axel, and winked towards the +burgomeister, "we have got at the brandy, if we could only get at the +money!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr Notary, write!" said the burgomeister, quietly and with dignity, +and pointed with his finger to his place: "The day-laborer, Regel, is +brought in, admonished to tell the truth, and gives evidence."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr Burgomeister," said Axel, springing up, "I don't see what this +brandy story has to do with my money. The fellow has stolen it!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is just what I want to find out," said the burgomeister, very +quietly, "whether he has stolen or, more properly, embezzled the money, +and whether he was altogether in a condition to do such a thing," and +going up to the young Herr he said, very kindly, but also very +decidedly, "Herr von Rambow, a thief, who intends to steal two thousand +thalers, does not begin by getting drunk. Moreover, I must tell you, +that as a magistrate, I have to consider not only your interests, but +also those of the accused."</p> + +<p class="normal">The day-laborer, Regel, came in. He was deadly pale; but the distress +which he had shown in his whole manner, before the old inspector, in +the afternoon, had left him, he looked almost like old oaken wood, into +which no worm ventures.</p> + +<p class="normal">He acknowledged that he had drunk the brandy at home, more yet in +Rahnstadt, and that he had been with the shopkeeper, about nine +o'clock; then he had spent the night with his friends, in Rahnstadt, +and about six o'clock had started for Rostock; but there he stuck to +his story: by the Gallin wood, two fellows had attacked him, and taken +the money by force. While the last of his deposition was being taken +down, the door opened, and the laborer's wife rushed up to her +husband,--for police-laws are not very strict, in our primitive +Mecklenburg tribunals,--and grasped his arm: "Jochen! Jochen! Have you +made your wife and children unhappy forever?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Marik! Marik!" cried the man, "I have not done it. My hands are clean. +Have I ever, in my life, stolen anything?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Jochen!" cried the wife, "tell the truth to the gentlemen!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The laborer's breast throbbed and his face flushed a deep red, but in a +moment he was as deadly pale as before, and he cast a shy, uncertain +glance at his wife: "Marik, have I ever, in all my life, stolen or +taken anything?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The wife let her hands fall from his shoulder: "No, Jochen, you have +not! You have not, truly! But you lie, you have often lied to me." She +put her apron to her eyes, and went out of the room. Habermann followed +her. The day-laborer, also, was led away.</p> + +<p class="normal">The burgomeister had not disturbed the interview between the man and +wife,--it was not in order, but it might furnish him a clue, by which +he could draw the truth to light. Axel had started up at the woman's +words, "You lie, you have often lied to me," and walked hastily up and +down the room; his conscience smote him, he did not exactly know why, +this evening, he only knew that he also had never stolen or taken +anything, but he had lied. But so it is with the soul of a man who is +not sincere, even at the moment when his conscience troubles him, he +lies again, for his own advantage. <i>His</i> case was quite a different one +from the laborer's; he had only told a few falsehoods, for the benefit +of his wife, that she might not be disturbed, the laborer had lied to +conceal his guilt. Yes, Herr von Rambow, only keep on like that, and +the devil will surely, in time, reap a fine harvest!</p> + +<p class="normal">Slusuhr had finished his writing, and again went boldly up to Axel:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Herr von Rambow, he who lies will steal."</p> + +<p class="normal">That was an infamous speech, to a man in Axel's present humor, and when +he knew, also, how near Slusuhr's business came to stealing; he was not +merely astonished, he was terrified at the fellow's impudence. He might +not have been so, if he had known what people said about the notary.</p> + +<p class="normal">People used to say, that the Herr Notary's father had wished to sell +him, when a little boy, to the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg, as a runner, +and with this design had taken him to the Herr Doctor and Surgeon +Kohlman, at New Brandenburg, to have his spleen cut out, so that he +could run the better; but the Herr Doctor, who knew everything else, +and claimed to have been appointed by the Lord Minister of the Supreme +Wisdom for New Brandenburg, had, in an unfortunate moment, when his +eyes were a little dim, cut out the conscience, instead of the spleen, +so that Slusuhr had to journey through life, with a spleen, and without +a conscience, and not as a runner, but as a notary.</p> + +<p class="normal">There was nothing more for the magistrate to do at present; the +witnesses, and the friends of the laborer, who had last seen him, were +not at hand, and the burgomeister gave orders that the prisoner should +be kept under guard, for this night, at Pumpelhagen, and taken to +Rahnstadt the next day.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He shall be put under the manor house, in the front cellar," said Axel +to Habermann, who had come in again.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr von Rambow," said Habermann, "Isn't it better to leave him in the +chamber at the farm-house? There are iron bars--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," said Axel, sharply, "there are iron bars in the cellar, too; I +wish to avoid collusions, which might take place at the farm-house."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr von Rambow, I am a very light sleeper, and if you wish it, I can +have another person to watch at the door."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What I have ordered, I have ordered. The business is of too much +importance, for me to trust to your light sleep, and to a comrade of +the rascal's."</p> + +<p class="normal">Habermann looked at him inquiringly, and said, "As you command," and +went out.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was nearly ten o'clock, the supper table had long been waiting, +Marie Möller was scolding because the baked fish would be cooked to +death, Frida was also annoyed over the long delay of the supper, and +only through her conversation with Franz was able to muster a little +patience, when the gentlemen came in, after the trial. Frida went up to +the burgomeister, in her bright way: "Isn't it so? He hasn't stolen the +money?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, gracious lady," said the burgomeister, with quiet decision, "the +day-laborer has not stolen it, but it has been stolen from him, or he +has lost it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thank God!" cried she, out of a full heart, "that the man is no thief! +The thought that we had dishonest people on the place, would have been +dreadful!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do you think that our people are bettor than all others? They are just +such a set as on any other estate, they all steal," observed Axel.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr von Rambow," said Habermann, who had also come in to supper, "our +people are honest, I have been here long enough to be fully convinced +of it. No thieving has occurred, during the whole time."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, so you have always said, and now we have this,--now we have this! +My foolish credulity had cost me two thousand thalers. And if you knew +the people so well, why did you send this particular man?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Habermann looked at him in astonishment. "As it seems," said he, "you +wish to put the blame upon me; but if there has been a fault in the +matter, I do not take it upon myself. It is true," he added hastily, +and his face flushed with anger, "I sent this man; but only because you +had employed him constantly as a messenger, in carrying money; he has +already been sent by you more than ten times to Gurlitz, and the Herr +Notary, here, can testify how often he has been to him on such +errands."</p> + +<p class="normal">Frida looked hastily over to Slusuhr, upon these words, and the Herr +Notary had turned his eyes towards her; they said nothing, but, +different as their thoughts were, it seemed as if each had read the +very soul of the other. Frida read, in the secret, malicious joy in the +notary's eyes, that he was the chief enemy of her happiness, and the +notary read, in the dear, sensible eyes of the young wife, that she was +the chief obstacle in the way of his and Pomuchelskopp's plans. Axel +would have given a hasty answer to Habermann's words, but he held his +peace when he saw the old man's steadfast gaze, and then Frida's +questioning glance resting upon him. Slusuhr was also silent, and lay +in wait; he was the only one who could see through the thorn-bush, +which was growing in this garden, and now he lay behind the thorn-bush, +and watched, to see if a hare would not run in his direction.</p> + +<p class="normal">The justice and Franz were the only ones who had no suspicion of the +disturbance caused by Habermann's hasty words, and they alone carried +on the conversation at table. When the company rose from the table, +they separated; the justice remained through the night.</p> + +<p class="normal">All were asleep in Pumpelhagen, only two married couples were still +waking; one couple was the Herr von Rambow and his wife, the other was +the day-laborer, Regel and his wife. The one pair sat close together, +in a warm room, and the night was so silent about them that one might +well have a desire to open his heart, and find courage to speak the +truth. But it was not so. Frida begged her husband earnestly to confide +in her, she knew already that he was in great pecuniary embarrassment; +they would retrench, but the dealings with Pomuchelskopp and Slusuhr +must be given up; he should talk with Habermann, he would show him the +right way.</p> + +<p class="normal">Everything went by halves with Axel, he did not exactly lie, but +neither did he tell the truth. That he was in temporary embarrassment, +he would not deny; when a man had two thousand thalers stolen, he might +well be embarrassed; he had exchanged nothing as yet, had also been +able to sell nothing,--that he had sold a fine crop of wheat, in +anticipation, and got the money for it, he did not tell her. His +dealings with Pomuchelskopp and Slusuhr--he said nothing about +David--could do him no harm, those were old, made up stories,--he did +not speak of the new loan from Pomuchelskopp,--and the people were +prejudiced against him; as for Habermann,--and here he became excited +for the first time,--he could not consult about money matters with his +inspector, it was not suitable for him, as master. Axel did not exactly +tell falsehoods, and when he put his arm around her, and said that it +would all come right again, he said what at the moment he believed to +be the truth. She left him with a heavy heart.</p> + +<p class="normal">The other pair were not sitting in a warm room; the laborer lay in the +cold cellar, and his wife crouched on her knees outside, before the +cellar-window, in the fine, cold November rain; they were not close +together, an iron grating divided them. "Jochen," whispered she, +through the broken window-panes, "tell the truth."</p> + +<p class="normal">"They took it from me," was the reply.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Jochen, who?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh, do I know?" said he, and it was the truth; he did not know who the +woman was who had taken the black packet, in broad daylight, and on the +public road, out of his waistcoat pocket, as he, not yet recovered from +the intoxication of yesterday, and having just taken a couple of +glasses on an empty stomach, was tumbling along towards Gallin. He did +not lie, but he could not tell the truth; how could he confess that +from him, a young, strong fellow, a woman had taken the two thousand +thalers, on the open street? He could not do that, if it should cost +him his life.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Jochen, you are lying. If you will not tell me the truth, tell it to +our old inspector."</p> + +<p class="normal">No, to him, of all others, he could not tell the truth, for he had +promised him he would not lie any more, and he had admonished him so +earnestly,--he could not tell him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Marik, get me my chisel, and a couple of thalers in money."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Jochen, what are you going to do?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will go away."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Jochen, Jochen! and leave me here, with the poor little ones?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Marik, I must go; it will never go well with me here again,"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Jochen, tell the truth, and it will be all right."</p> + +<p class="normal">"If you don't bring me the chisel and the money, I will take my life, +this very night!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And here, also, there was much begging and pleading and talking, as +there was upstairs in the warm room, but the truth would not come out, +no more here than there, it was kept back, here as there, by the shame +of confessing inconsiderate and disreputable actions, and here, also, +the wife left her husband with a heavy heart.</p> + +<p class="normal">The first thing next morning came the news, setting all Pumpelhagen in +an uproar, that the day-laborer, Regel, had broken out, and run away. +The justice made preparations to have him arrested again, and rode off, +homewards, with the Herr Notary. Axel was in a rage,--no one knew why; +but it was with himself; and because he could shove the blame upon +nobody else, for he himself had given orders that the man should be +locked up in the cellar.</p> + +<p class="normal">After breakfast came Pomuchelskopp, to inquire about the matter, of +which he had heard, as he said. Franz greeted him coldly, but so much +the warmer was Axel's reception. He knew well how to talk of the +matter, the laws were too easy towards these low fellows, and the +burgomeister at Rahnstadt was much too good to the rascals; he told +thief-stories, out of his own experience and that of his acquaintances, +and finally said that he believed, like Habermann, that the fellow had +not done it. "That is to say," he added, "not of his own accord, he can +merely have been the tool of another, for no day-laborer would venture +to steal two thousand thalers which had been entrusted to him; there +must be a cleverer rogue in the background. And therefore," said he, "I +advise you, Herr von Rambow, to have an eye on the people who may have +assisted his flight, and especially on those who take his part."</p> + +<p class="normal">Axel's feelings, through the loss and through his anger, were like +freshly prepared soil, and whatever seed fell therein, even were it +darnel and cockles, must sprout up finely. He walked up and down the +room; yes, Pomuchelskopp was right, he was a practical old fellow, who +knew the world, that is to say, the agricultural world; but who could +have been concerned with Regel in such a business? He knew of no one. +Who had taken Regel's part? That was Habermann, he had said expressly, +from the first, that he must have lost the money. But he had been so +angry with the fellow, at the first news. Well, that might all have +been acting! And why had he been so anxious to have the laborer close +by his room, in the chamber? Perhaps that he might have intercourse +with him, perhaps that he might be better able to help him off.</p> + +<p class="normal">For an intelligent man, these were very stupid thoughts, but the devil +is a cunning fellow, he does not seek out the prudent and strong, when +he wishes to sow darnel and cockles in the fresh furrow, he takes the +foolish and weak.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What is the Herr Inspector doing with that woman?" asked +Pomuchelskopp, who had stepped to the window.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is Regelsch," said Franz, who stood near him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said Axel, hastily, "what has he to do with her? I must find +out."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is very singular," said Pomuchelskopp.</p> + +<p class="normal">Habermann stood in the yard, with the laborer's wife, apparently +persuading her to something; she resisted, but finally yielded, and +came with him towards the manor house. They entered the room.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr von Rambow," said Habermann, "the woman has confessed to me that +she helped her husband away in the night."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Herr," said the woman, trembling all over, "I did it, I am +guilty; but I could not do otherwise, he would have taken his life +else," and the tears started from her eyes, and she put her apron to +her face.</p> + +<p class="normal">"A pretty story!" said Axel, coldly,--and he was usually so +kindhearted--"a pretty story! This seems to be a regular conspiracy!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Franz went up to the woman, made her sit down, and inquired, "Regelsch, +didn't he confess to you what he had done with the money?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, young Herr, he told me nothing, and what he said was false; I know +that; but he hasn't taken it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"How came you," said Axel roughly to Habermann, "to be questioning this +woman without my orders?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Habermann was startled at this question, and still more at the tone in +which it was expressed; "I believed," said he, quietly, "that it would +be well to find out how and when the prisoner got away, in order to +obtain some hint of his present place of concealment."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Or perhaps to give some!" exclaimed Axel, and turned quickly about, as +if he had done something which might cost him dear. The result was not +quite so bad as he had reason to fear, for Habermann had not understood +the meaning of his words, he heard merely the tone, but that was enough +to lead him to say, with serious emphasis, "What you mean by your +words, I do not know, and it is a matter of indifference to me; but the +manner and tone in which you have spoken to me, last evening and this +morning, are what I will not take from you. Yesterday I was silent, +out of consideration for the gracious lady, but in the present +company"--here he glanced at Pomuchelskopp--"I need not exercise such +consideration," and with that he left the room. The laborer's wife +followed him.</p> + +<p class="normal">Axel was going after him; Franz stepped in his way: "What are you going +to do, Axel? Recollect yourself! You are in fault, you have bitterly +wronged the old man, as he evidently thinks."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That was a bold move," said Pomuchelskopp, as if he were talking to +himself, "that was a bold move, for an inspector," but he must be going +home, he said, and called, out of the window, for his horse. He had got +things started finely.</p> + +<p class="normal">The horse was brought, Axel accompanied his Herr Neighbor out of the +door; Franz remained in the room. "Certainly a very good man, your Herr +Cousin," said Pomuchelskopp, "but he does not know the world yet, does +not know yet what is proper for the master, and what for the servant." +With that, he rode off. Axel came back into the parlor, and threw the +cap, which he wore because the morning was cold, into the sofa corner, +exclaiming, "Infamous cheats! The devil take the whole concern, if one +can no longer rely upon anybody!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Axel," said Franz, going up to him kindly, "you do your people great +wrong, you do yourself wrong, dear brother, if you cherish such an +unjust hatred in your benevolent heart."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Unjust? What? Two thousand thalers have been stolen----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"They are lost, Axel, through the inconsiderate fault of a +day-laborer."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, what, <i>lost</i>!" exclaimed Axel, turning away, "you come with the +same story as my Herr Inspector!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Axel, all intelligent people are of this opinion, the burgomeister +himself said--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't talk to me of that old nightcap! I should have conducted the +examination myself, then we should have come to quite a different +conclusion, or if I had only got hold of the woman first, this morning, +her story would have been quite another thing; but so? Oh, it is all a +contrived plot!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Listen to me, Axel, you have made that allusion once before," cried +Franz sharply and decidedly; "fortunately, it was not understood; now +you make it for the second time, and I, for my part, must understand."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, then you may understand that it is not made without sufficient +grounds."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Can you make such a declaration to your own conscience? Would you, in +your unjust excitement and with wanton cruelty, cast such a stain upon +sixty years of honorable life?"</p> + +<p class="normal">This touched Axel, and cooled him off a little, and he said peevishly, +for his unnatural excitement was wearing off, "I have not said that he +has done it; I only said he might have done it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"The suspicion," said Franz coldly, "is as bad as the other, as bad for +<i>yourself</i> as for the old man. Remember, Axel," said he, impressively, +laying his hand on his cousin's shoulder, "how long the old man has +been, to your father and yourself, a faithful, upright steward! To me," +he added, in a lower tone, "he was more, he has been my friend and +teacher."</p> + +<p class="normal">Axel walked up and down, he felt that he was wrong,--at least, for the +moment,--but to confess, freely and fully, that he had endeavoured to +shove off the blame of his own foolishness and untruthfulness upon +another was too much, he had not the clear courage to do it. He began +to chaffer and bargain with himself, and availed himself of the +expedient which the weak and dishonest are always ready to employ,--he +carried the war into the enemy's camp. In every age, up to the present +time, truth is yet sold, in a weak human soul, for thirty pieces of +silver.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, to <i>you</i>!" said he, "he would like to be still more to you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What do you mean?" asked Franz, turning round on him sharply.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh," said Axel, "nothing more! I only mean you may call him 'Papa,' by +and by."</p> + +<p class="normal">There was an unworthiness in this speech, in the intention to offend +the man who had been firm enough to tell him the truth. Franz flushed a +deep red. His deepest, holiest secret was brought to light, and in this +insulting manner! The blood rushed to his face; but he restrained +himself, and said, shortly:</p> + +<p class="normal">"That has nothing to do with the matter."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why not?" said Axel. "It at least explains the warmth with which you +defend your Herr Habermann."</p> + +<p class="normal">"The man needs no defence of mine, his whole life defends him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And his lovely daughter," said Axel, striding up and down, in great +triumph.</p> + +<p class="normal">A great passion rose in Franz's soul, but he restrained himself, and +asked, quietly, "Do you know her?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes--no--that is to say, I have seen her; I have seen her at the +parsonage, and she has often been here, with my wife, and my wife also +has visited her. I know her merely by sight; a pretty girl, a very +pretty girl, 'pon honor! I was pleased with her, as a child, at my +father's funeral."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And when you learned, that she was dear to me, did you not seek a +nearer acquaintance?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, Franz, no! Why should I? I knew, of course, that nothing serious +could come of such an attachment."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then you knew more than I."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, I know more still, I know how they set traps and snares for you, +and were always contriving ways to catch you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And from whom did you learn all this? But why do I ask? Such childish +gossip could have been hatched in but one house, in the whole region. +But since we have mentioned the matter, I will tell you frankly, that I +certainly do intend to marry the girl, that is, if she does not refuse +me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"She would better beware! She would better beware!" exclaimed Axel, +springing about the room, in his anger. "Will you really commit this +folly? And will you give me this affront?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Axel, look to your words!" cried Franz, whose temper was getting the +upper hand. "What business is it of yours?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What? Does it not not concern <i>me</i>, as the oldest representative of +our old family, if one of the younger members disgraces himself by a +<i>mésalliance</i>."</p> + +<p class="normal">Yet once more Franz restrained himself, and said:</p> + +<p class="normal">"You yourself married from pure inclination, and without regard for +subordinate matters.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is quite another thing," said Axel, with authority, believing now +that he had the advantage. "My wife's family is as good as mine, she is +the daughter of an old house; your beloved is the daughter of my +inspector, adopted out of pity and kindness, by the Pastor's family."</p> + +<p class="normal">"For shame!" cried Franz, passionately, "to make an innocent child +suffer for a great misfortune!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is all the same to me," roared Axel, "I will <i>not</i> call my +inspector's daughter cousin; the girl shall never cross my threshold!"</p> + +<p class="normal">All the blood which had rushed through Franz's veins and flushed his +face, a moment before, struck to his heart; he stood pale before his +cousin, and said in a voice, which trembled with intense excitement:</p> + +<p class="normal">"You have said it. You have spoken the word which divides us. Louise +shall never cross your threshold, neither will I."</p> + +<p class="normal">He turned to go; at the door he was met by Frida, who had heard the +quarrel in the next room: "Franz, Franz, what is the matter?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Farewell, Frida," said he, hastily, and went out, towards the +farm-house.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Axel," cried Frida, running up to her husband, "what have you done? +What have you done?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have showed a young man," said Axel, striding up and down the room, +as if he had fought a great battle with the world-out-of-joint, and +made everything right again, "I have showed a young fellow, who wanted +to make a fool of himself over a pretty face, his true standpoint."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Have you dared to do that?" said Frida, sinking, pale, into a chair, +and gazing with her great, clear eyes at her husband's triumphal march +through the room, "have you dared to thrust your petty pride of birth +between the pure emotions of two noble hearts?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Frida," said Axel, and he knew very well that he had done wrong, and +his conscience smote him, but he could not confess it, "I believe I +have done my duty."</p> + +<p class="normal">Any one may notice, if he will, that the people who never in their +lives do their duty always make the most use of the word.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah!" cried Frida, springing up, "you have deeply wounded an upright, +honest heart! Axel," she begged, laying her folded hands on his +shoulder, "Franz has gone into the farm-house, follow him, and repair +the injury you have done! Bring him back to us again!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Apologize to him, in the presence of my inspector? No, rather not at +all! Oh, it is charming!" and he worked himself again into a passion, +"my two thousand thalers are stolen, my inspector finds fault with me, +my Herr Cousin stands by his dear father-in-law, and now my own wife +joins herself to the company!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Frida looked at him, loosened her hands, and, throwing a shawl over her +shoulders, said, "If you will not go, I will," and went out, hearing +him call after her, "Yes, go! go! But the old sneak shall clear out!"</p> + +<p class="normal">As she crossed the court, they were bringing round Franz's carriage, +and as she entered the inspector's room Habermann had just been saying +to the young man, "Herr von Rambow, you will forget it. You have spent +your life hitherto, in our small circle; if you travel,--as I should +think advisable,--then you will have other thoughts. But, dear Franz," +said the old man, so trustingly, in his recollection of earlier times, +"you will not disturb the heart of my child?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, Habermann," said Franz, just as the young Frau entered the room.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good heavens!" cried Habermann, "I have forgotten something. You will +excuse me, gracious lady!" and he left the room.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Always considerate, always discreet!" said Frida.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, that he is," said Franz, looking after the old man. The carriage +drove up, but it was kept waiting; the two had much to say to each +other, and, when at last Franz got into the carriage, Frida's eyes were +red, and Franz also dashed away a tear.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Greet the good old man for me," said he, "and greet Axel, also," he +added, in a lower tone, as he pressed her hand.</p> + +<p class="normal">The carriage drove off.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER XXVI.</h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">Young Jochen sat in his chimney-corner smoking. Young Bauschan lay +under his chair, but with his head far enough out to look at young +Jochen. Young Jochen looked at him, but said nothing, and Bauschan said +nothing.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was very quiet and peaceful, in the Rexow house, on this December +afternoon; there was only one thing which rattled and creaked, that was +Frau Nüssler's arm-chair, in which she sat by the window; and every +time that she took up a stitch, it made a note of it; for which it +should not be blamed, for she squeezed it without mercy, since she had +become, with time, what one calls a stout woman. But, to-day, the old +chair creaked more than usual, for Frau Nüssler had been knitting, in +deep thought, and her thoughts became more and more earnest, and +oppressed her soul, and the chair and its creaking became louder and +louder. "Dear heart!" said she, laying her knitting in her lap, "why +must it be so, in this world, that one's misfortune should be another's +happiness! Jochen, do you know what I have just thought of?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," said young Jochen, and looked at Bauschan; Bauschan didn't know, +either.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Jochen, what would you think, if Gottlieb should offer himself for the +Gurlitz parish? Gottlieb is but a farthing candle, compared with our +old Herr Pastor; but somebody must get the parish, why not he as well +as another?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Jochen said nothing.</p> + +<p class="normal">"If Pomuchelskopp is against him, and our people and the Warnitzers in +his favor, it will depend merely on the Pumpelhagen Herr. What do you +say, Jochen?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said Jochen, "it is all as true as leather;" and, because the +matter interested him uncommonly, he spoke further, and said, "what +shall we do about it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah," said Frau Nüssler, "there is no use in talking to you. I wish +Bräsig were only here, he could give us advice," and she resumed her +knitting.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well," she exclaimed, half an hour later, "speak of the wolf, and he +is not far off; there comes Bräsig, driving up the yard. And who has he +with him? Rudolph,--now just think of it, Rudolph! Why should Rudolph +come to-day? Jochen, now do me a single favor,--the old fellow is doing +so nicely,--don't go and distress him with your foolish chatter!" With +that she ran to the door, to receive her guests.</p> + +<p class="normal">But she had delayed too long over her preface, for, as she came out, +Mining lay in Rudolph's arms.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Preserve us!" cried Frau Nüssler, "softly, Mining!" and she led +Rudolph into the living-room.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well," said Jochen, "Bräsig, sit down a little! Rudolph, sit down, +too!"</p> + +<p class="normal">But that was not so easily done. Rudolph had too much to arrange with +Mining and Lining, to be in haste to sit down, and Bräsig's head was +going round like clock-work, and he trotted up and down the room, as if +his legs were the pendulums, to keep the machinery running.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Young Jochen," said he, "have you heard the news? They haven't caught +him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Whom," asked Jochen.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good gracious, Jochen," said Frau Nüssler, "let Bräsig tell. You are +always interrupting people so; let him speak! Bräsig, whom haven't they +caught?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Regel," said Bräsig; "they tracked him to Wismar, but there they found +themselves too late, since he had gone off a week before, on a Swedish +oakum ship, and is up in the Baltic sea."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What a trouble this is for my brother Karl!" sighed Frau Nüssler.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Frau Nüssler, you are right there; Karl is hardly to be recognized, +for he has completely insulated himself, and is surrounded with gloomy +thoughts. The business troubles him dreadfully, not on his own +account,--no! only on his young Herr's account, for you shall see, the +young man must, sooner or later, declare himself insolvent."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That would kill Karl!" cried Frau Nüssler.</p> + +<p class="normal">"How can you help it?" said Bräsig. "The young nobleman is ruining +himself with his eyes open; he is beginning now the higher style of +horse-breeding. For, as I learned from old Prebberow, he has become +intimate with Lichtwark, and has bought an old thorough-bred horse, +which has got spavin, and swelled sinews, and in short, the whole +band in his legs, and he has bought a thorough-bred mare, and he is +going to buy Triddelsitz's old, deaf granny, and establish a complete +horse-hospital. He has got the little mule too, and I am glad of that, +for it is the only sensible creature in the whole company."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, never mind him, Bräsig, he must run his risk," said Frau +Nüssler; "but Jochen and I were just talking about the young +Herr--Mining, you can take Rudolph out a little while! And Lining, you +can go with them!"--and when they were gone she said, "Bräsig, it is +about the Gurlitz living. If Gottlieb could only get it!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Frau Nüssler," said Bräsig, bringing his pendulums to a stop, and +standing before Frau Nüssler, as if the clock had struck, "what you +have said is an idea, and nobody in the world is so quick at conceiving +ideas as the women folks. Where did you get this idea?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Entirely by myself," said Frau Nüssler, "for Jochen does not agree +with me, as he used to; he is always contradicting."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Jochen, keep perfectly quiet!" said Bräsig. "You are wrong, for this +opinion of your dear wife is a reasonable one. I will answer for +Warnitz; the people will choose my candidate, even if the gracious +count and countess should oppose; you for Rexow, young Jochen; +Pomuchelskopp won't do it, out of spite; but no matter, it depends on +Pumpelhagen. Who shall talk to the young nobleman about it? Habermann? +He stands on his apropos with him, just at present. I? Worse, if +anything, for he has insulted me. Young Jochen himself? I wouldn't +trust young Jochen, he has got into the way of talking too much lately. +Gottlieb? A good fellow, but a sheep's-head. Then who? Rudolph! An +infernal scoundrel, as Hilgendorf has just written me. Rudolph must go, +and you, Frau Nüssler, must go with him, on account of the family +connection, that the young fellow may leguminiren."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good heavens!" cried Frau Nüssler, "shall I go to see the young Herr!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," said Zachary Bräsig, "you go to the young Frau, and Rudolph to +the young Herr. Where is Rudolph? Rudolph must come in immediately."</p> + +<p class="normal">Rudolph was quite ready to undertake the errand for his cousin +Gottlieb, and it was settled that, the next day, he should drive with +his aunt to Pumpelhagen.</p> + +<p class="normal">It so happened; but when the deputation drove up to the manor house, +Herr von Rambow was not at home, he had gone out riding; so they were +announced to the gracious lady, and met with a very friendly reception.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Gracious lady," said Frau Nüssler, going up to the young Frau, in her +truehearted way, without many compliments, "you will not take it +unkindly, if I speak Platt-Deutsch; I know a little High German; but it +is almost nothing. We are old-fashioned people, and I always say a +bright tin plate pleases me better than a silver one which is +tarnished."</p> + +<p class="normal">Frida herself took off the good Frau's wrappings, and pressed her to +sit down by her on the sofa; she motioned Rudolph to a chair, and would +have seated herself again, but she was held back by Frau Nüssler, who +said to her, quite confidentially:</p> + +<p class="normal">"You see, gracious lady, this is a nephew of mine, who is going to be +my son-in-law; he is a son of Kurz the merchant, in Rahnstadt, with +whom you have traded."</p> + +<p class="normal">Rudolph bowed, as was his place, and the young Frau, with her bright +ways, soon made an end of the introduction, and got Frau Nüssler seated +on the sofa.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said the stout lady, "he has studied too, but he didn't go very +far; but now that he has become a farmer, he is doing finely, as +Hilgendorf has written to Bräsig."</p> + +<p class="normal">That was all very fine for Rudolph; but it annoyed him to be talked +about, so he interrupted Frau Nüssler.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But, dear aunt, you don't want to tell about me, you want to tell +about Gottlieb."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, gracious lady, that is properly my errand; you see, I have still +another, who is also to be my son-in-law, also a nephew, Rector +Baldrian's son, in Rahnstadt, who has studied regularly, and learned +everything that he ought, and can be a pastor any day. Now our good +old Herr Pastor has gone to heaven,--ah gracious lady, what a man he +was!--and you cannot blame me, if I have the wish to keep my Lining in +the neighbourhood, and that Gottlieb should get the parish."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, dear Frau Nüssler," said Frida, "I do not blame you, and if it +depended on me, your future son-in-law should, by all means, have the +presentation, on our side; I have heard so much good of you and your +daughters."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Have you really?" asked Frau Nüssler, warmed to the heart. "Yes, they +are dear, good little girls!" she exclaimed.</p> + +<p class="normal">At this moment, footsteps were heard outside, and Herr von Rambow, who +had returned from his ride, came in. The young wife undertook the +introductions, and Axel looked uncommonly grave, at the names. Rudolph +was not disconcerted, however; he had a fine trump to play, which he +did not mean to stake for nothing; he went up to the Herr, and said:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr von Rambow, may I be allowed a few words with you in private?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Axel went with him into the next room.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr von Rambow," said Rudolph, "the week before last, you lost two +thousand thalers in gold,--as you have said, all in Danish double +louis-d'ors; the day-laborer made his escape, and it seems that he will +not be easily retaken; but they are on the track of the money."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What?" cried Axel. "How do you know that?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Since yesterday afternoon, I know that the trial-justice, the +burgomeister, at Rahnstadt, has obtained a very clear indication in +this direction. I was with my father, in his shop, when a woman came +in, a weaver's wife, who is suing for a divorce from her husband, and +wanted change for a Danish double louis-d'or. I know the woman, she is +miserably poor, and the burgomeister knows also, from the divorce suit, +that she has nothing, nothing at all. My father and I gave information +of this occurrence, and in the examination it came out that, besides +the gold pieces alluded to, she had other money, of which she could +give no account, and it also came out--which is the principal +thing--that she had gone on the same road with the messenger, on the +same morning."</p> + +<p class="normal">"How is it possible!" cried Axel; "then didn't the fellow steal the +money himself?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It seems," said Rudolph, "as if it had been stolen from him. Our +prudent old burgomeister has had the woman arrested, on other minor +charges of theft, and has forbidden my father and me to mention the +matter; to yourself, on the contrary, when he heard that I was coming +this way, he expressly allowed me to speak of it. You will certainly +hear from him, by letter, very soon."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr Kurz," said Axel, "I am extremely obliged to you, for riding over +to give me this information," and he gave the young man his hand. +Rudolph laughed a little, and said finally, "If this had been all, I +should have come alone, but you have noticed my aunt, she has something +very much at heart."</p> + +<p class="normal">"If I can serve you in any way----" said Axel, courteously.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Come, I will say it right out, a cousin of mine, a theological +candidate, proposes himself, through my aunt, for the presentation to +the Gurlitz living."</p> + +<p class="normal">"A cousin? I thought you were a theologue yourself."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Was! Herr von Rambow, was!" cried Rudolph briskly. "I believe I am not +sufficiently highly organized, as they call it now-a-days, and I +preferred to become a farmer, and I can tell you," he went on, looking +joyously in the young Herr's eyes, "since then, I have been a very +happy man."</p> + +<p class="normal">It must have been a terribly churlish fellow who would not have warmed +at contact with such fresh life, and Axel was still, on the whole, a +good apple, bruised a little here and there, on the outside, and a +little soiled, but inside, yet sound at the core; he exclaimed +heartily:</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is right? That is right! That has been my experience. The life of +a Mecklenburg farmer shall yet be worth one's while. Where are you +staying, Herr Kurz?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"With the greatest farmer of the age, with Hilgendorf, at Little +Tetzleben," laughed Rudolph.</p> + +<p class="normal">"A very capable man!" said Axel, "thorough-bred too! that is to say, +his horses."</p> + +<p class="normal">And now they began to talk of Gray Momus, and Herodotus, and Black +Overshire, and Hilgendorf received his share of attention, and when +Rudolph finally stood up, and offered his hand to Herr von Rambow, it +was very kindly pressed, and the Herr said:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Rely upon it, no other than your cousin shall get the presentation +from me."</p> + +<p class="normal">As they came back into the parlor, Frau Nüssler rose from the sofa, and +said to Frida, "He would give his life for you, and for the Herr," and +going up to the Herr, she said, "isn't it so? you will do it, Herr von +Rambow? It will make me so happy if I can keep my Lining in the +neighborhood."</p> + +<p class="normal">Axel was not disposed to like such a free, off-hand reception, nor was +he--though of course without any reasonable ground--disposed to like +the Nüssler ways; but the news that there was a possibility of +recovering his two thousand thalers, the "thorough-bred" talk with +Rudolph, and the really impressive, simple, true-hearted manners of +Frau Nüssler, had their effect; he went up to his wife and said:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dear Frida, we have a prospect of recovering our two thousand +thalers."</p> + +<p class="normal">"The dear God grant it!" said Frau Nüssler. "Rudolph, have you spoken +to the gracious Herr?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," replied Axel for him, "the business is settled, he shall have +the presentation from me; but--I should like to see him first."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is nothing more than right and proper," said Frau Nüssler; "who +would buy a cat in a bag? And you shall see, if he is appointed, and +preaches, you shall see that he <i>can</i>; but, dear heart! stupid? Well, +everybody is stupid about something; I cannot promise for that."</p> + +<p class="normal">And so they rode off. Gottlieb would have the presentation.</p> + +<p class="normal">"So," said Bräsig, "the business is well started; now Gottlieb has only +his last execution at Pomuchelskopp's and then the election! But he +must strike while the iron is hot, and since neither God nor man can +help him with Zamel Pomuchelskopp, he must run his risk, and that +quickly."</p> + +<p class="normal">The opinion was reasonable, and Gottlieb got a letter containing a +positive command that he should report himself at Rexow, next day, +there to receive further instructions.</p> + +<p class="normal">He arrived, and, when Bräsig had briefly explained the business, he was +ready to undertake the dangerous errand. Krischan the coachman drove +the Phantom up to the door, Lining brought a foot-sack and cloak and +shawls, and tucked her future husband warmly in.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is right," said Bräsig; "wrap him up, Lining, so that he may not +freeze, and that the catarrh may not run away with his fine voice; it +is showery weather to-day."</p> + +<p class="normal">Suddenly Jochen Nüssler rose up from his chimney-corner, and said, +"Mining, my cloak!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, this is a fine time of day!" said Bräsig.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Jochen, what do you want?" asked Frau Nüssler.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Mother," said young Jochen, "you went with Rudolph, I will go with +Gottlieb. I will do my share of the business," and he made such a +decided motion of the head, and looked at them all with so much +expression, that Bräsig cried out, "May you keep the nose on your face! +I never saw the like, in all my life."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, Bräsig," said Frau Nüssler, "he is always like that lately; but +lei him go, there is no use talking."</p> + +<p class="normal">And Jochen rode on with him. Lining, however, went up to her little +chamber, and prayed as earnestly for Gottlieb, on his difficult, +errand, as if he were really going to execution.</p> + +<p class="normal">Jochen and Gottlieb rode on through the deep mud, in silence; neither +spoke a word, for each had his own thoughts, and the only remark made +was when Krischan looked round over his shoulder, and said, "Herr, if +one should drive here in the dark, and slip, he might turn over very +conveniently." So, about four o'clock in the afternoon, they arrived at +Pomuchelskopp's.</p> + +<p class="normal">Pomuchelskopp lay like a lump of misfortune on his sofa, rubbing his +eyes, for Gustaving had startled him out of his afternoon sleep, when +he came in for the key of the granary, for it was Saturday, and he +wanted to give out the grain.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Gustaving," he cried spitefully, "you will be an awkward fellow all +your days, you are a regular dunce! Blockhead! I will put you on a +pole, for all the people to see what a dunce you are!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, father----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh, what? yes, father! How often have I told you not to make such a +clattering with the keys, when your father is trying to rest! What +carriage is that, driving up the yard?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good gracious!" cried Gustaving, "that is our neighbor Nüssler, and +another Herr."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Blockhead!" exclaimed Pomuchelskopp. "How often have I told you, you +should not call everybody neighbor! The day-laborer, Brinkmann, will be +my neighbor next, because he lives near my garden; I will not be +neighbor to everybody," and with that he went to the door, to see what +was going to happen.</p> + +<p class="normal">Jochen and Gottlieb, meanwhile, had got down from the carriage, and +Jochen came up to him: "Good day, neighbor!" Pomuchelskopp made him a +very ceremonious bow, such as he had learned to make at the Landtag, +and showed them into the parlor. It was very still in the room, if one +excepts the little creaking of the chairs; Jochen thought Gottlieb +ought to speak, Gottlieb thought Jochen ought to speak, and +Pomuchelskopp thought he ought not to speak, lest he should commit +himself to something. Finally, however, Gottlieb began:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr Pomuchelskopp, the good, brave Pastor Behrens has gone to God, +and if it seems hard, and almost unchristian, that I should offer +myself, so soon after his death, as a candidate for the vacant parish, +yet I do not believe that I offend against the common feelings of +humanity, or the duty of a true Christian; because I am conscious that +I take this step only to satisfy the wishes of my own parents, as well +as those of my future father and mother-in-law."</p> + +<p class="normal">That was a fine speech for Gottlieb, and he was right, in every +respect; but Pomuchelskopp had the right of it, also, when he made no +other reply than to say to Gottlieb, all that might be, but he wished +to know with whom he had the honor of speaking. Jochen motioned with +his head to Gottlieb that he should tell him frankly, and Gottlieb said +that he was the son of Rector Baldrian, and a candidate. Jochen lay +back comfortably in his chair, after this announcement, as if the +business were settled, and he could smoke his pipe in peace. But since +Muchel had offered him no pipe, he had to content himself with going +through the motions, with his mouth, puffing away like a Bohemian carp, +when it comes up for air.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr Candidate," said Pomuchelskopp, "there have been several of your +sort, already, to see me about this business,"--this was a lie, but he +knew no other way of managing a parish business, than if he were +selling a lot of fat swine to the butcher,--"but I have let them all +go, because the matter with me turns upon one point."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And that was?" asked Gottlieb. "My examina----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is nothing to me," said the Herr Proprietor, "I mean the Pastor's +acre. If you will consent to rent the field to me,--of course for a +good, a very good price,--then you shall have my vote, otherwise not."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I think I have heard," said Gottlieb, "that the field is rented to the +Herr von Rambow, and I should not like----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You may set your mind at rest on that point, Herr von Rambow will not +rent the field again," and Pomuchelskopp looked at Gottlieb in an +overbearing way, as if he had sold his fat swine at the highest price. +Jochen said nothing, but stopped his puffing for a moment, and looked +at his candidate son-in-law, as if to ask, "What do you say now?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Gottlieb was beyond his depth, for he was very ignorant of worldly +affairs, but he reflected, and his honorable nature was strongly +opposed to entering upon his clerical office by means of such a +bargain; he said, therefore, frankly:</p> + +<p class="normal">"I cannot and will not give such a promise; I do not wish to procure +the living by such means. It will be time enough to settle that +business when I am in the living."</p> + +<p class="normal">"So?" asked the Herr Proprietor, grinning at Gottlieb and Jochen, +"then, let me tell you, the fox is too wise for you; what comes after, +the wolf seizes, and if Herr von Rambow should not change his mind +about the field, you can rent it to your Herr father-in-law. Isn't it +so, to your Herr father-in-law?"</p> + +<p class="normal">That was an infamous speech of Pomuchelskopp's. Jochen rent the field! +Jochen, who from morning to night bore such a heavy burden, should take +this also on his shoulders! He sprang quickly to his feet, and said, +"Herr Neighbor, if a man do what he can do, what can he do more; and +what can I do about it? If the Pumpelhagen Herr will not have the +field, neither will I, I have enough to do."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr Nüssler," said Pomuchelskopp, craftily, "will you give me that in +writing, that you will not rent the field?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said Jochen readily, and he sat down again comfortably in his +chair, and smoked on. Pomuchelskopp walked up and down the room, and +calculated: Herr von Rambow gave up the lease, Jochen would not take +it, they were the only ones who could use it, the field was too small +to rent as a farm by itself, and he, as the proprietor, need not allow +it; it came to this, whether Gottlieb could farm it himself, and +Pomuchelskopp examined him with reference to that question, looking at +him sideways, as he walked back and forth.</p> + +<p class="normal">There are all sorts of men in the world, and every one has his peculiar +talents, and most people have a good deal of one kind of talent, and +other kinds in much smaller proportions; in Gottlieb's case, however, +nature seemed to have made a little mistake, she sent him into the +world, at least to all appearance, without the slightest trace of +agricultural talent. Bräsig had done his utmost to educate Gottlieb a +little in these matters, but all in vain; what isn't <i>in</i> a man cannot +be brought out of him. Gottlieb could not tell the difference between +oats and barley, he did not know which was ox and which was bull, and +Bräsig finally gave him up in despair, sighing, "Good heavens, how will +the poor fellow ever get through the world!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Pomuchelskopp, the practical old fellow, detected this failing of +Gottlieb's, and was much pleased. "He knows nothing whatever of +farming," said he to himself, "that is my man. But I mustn't let him +know it!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr Candidate," said he aloud, "I am pleased with you, you are a very +sensible man, and a man of morality--you will not comply with my +request--good! neither will I promise to grant yours. But if Herr +Nüssler will give me a written statement that he will not rent the +Pastor's acre, we need talk no further about the business; for, as I +said, I am pleased with you."</p> + +<p class="normal">So then Jochen signed his name, and the two old dunces rode off, very +well satisfied with the transaction. They had got nothing, nothing at +all, but a partial promise from the Herr Proprietor, and for that +Jochen had been obliged to give his signature; but they were quite +contented. Jochen was strongly of the opinion, and remained so till his +death, that he had obtained the parish for his son-in-law by his +signature.</p> + +<p class="normal">Jochen and Gottlieb would have been glad to stop a little while at the +parsonage; but Krischan the coachman opposed it violently, saying it +would never do, it was pitch dark already; so the old Phantom labored +along, in the night and the mist, through the deep country roads. To +night and mist and a phantom, sleep is appropriate, and whoever finds +this four-leaved clover, has the prospect of all sorts of good fortune. +Sleep was not long absent. Jochen slept before they were fairly put of +Gurlitz, and if it had been daylight, one could have seen, from the way +Krischan dragged his whip, that he was beginning to doze, and though +Gottlieb did not sleep he was farther off, in his thoughts, than the +others; for he was dreaming of his Lining, and his parish, and his +election sermon, and his entrance sermon. And when they came to the +place where Krischan had made his intelligent remark, as they were +going, and as the influences of sleep and darkness combined with its +dangers, and Gottlieb had come in his dream to the last election vote, +which gave the decision in his favor, the confounded old Phantom began +to totter, the fore-wheel was up, high and dry, on the shore, and the +hind-wheel, over which Gottlieb sat, fell into a deep hole; so, two +steps further, and splash! the whole company lay in the ditch.</p> + +<p class="normal">I see, from my window, a great many farmers of the Grand Duke's lands +getting down from their carriages, at my Frau Neighbor's, the landlady +Frau Lurenz, at the "Prince's Arms," but I never in my life saw any one +get down so quickly as Jochen; he shot out, in a great curve, over +Gottlieb, who was lying beneath him, directly, in the soft mud, and +Krischan, old, honest, faithful soul, who could not think of deserting +his master in such a crisis, also shot head-foremost from his seat, and +lay at his master's side.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Purr--Oh! Herr, just lie still!" cried the honest old fellow, "the +horses will stand!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You blockhead!" cried Jochen.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Praise God!" exclaimed Krischan, getting on his feet, "I am all right. +But Herr, just lie perfectly still, I will hold the horses."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You blockhead!" said Jochen again, scrambling up, while Gottlieb +splashed and waded about in the deep mire, "how could you turn us over +here?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, it is all as true as leather," said Krischan, who, in his long +years of service, had caught his master's expressions, "what could a +body do, on such a road, in such pitch darkness?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Since Jochen's words were taken out of his mouth in this way, he didn't +know what to say for himself, so he asked, "Gottlieb, are your bones +whole?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, uncle," said the candidate, "and yours too?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said Jochen, "except my nose, but that seems clean gone out of +my face."</p> + +<p class="normal">The carriage had been righted by this time, and, as they got in again, +Krischan turned half round and said:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr, didn't I tell you, this afternoon, this was the place to tip +over?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Blockhead!" cried Jochen, rubbing his nose, "you were asleep."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Asleep, Herr, asleep? In such pitch darkness, it is all the same +whether one sleeps or wakes; but I said so before. I know the road by +heart, and I said so."</p> + +<p class="normal">And when he afterwards related the story to the other servants, he +always said that he had prophesied it, but the Herr would not listen to +him; holding up Jochen in the light of a venturesome fellow, who would +risk his neck for nothing, against all opposition.</p> + +<p class="normal">They arrived at the house, and Gottlieb first got down from the +carriage. Lining had been sitting all this time on thorns and nettles +of impatience, and had listened, through the darkness, for every sound +which could bring her certainty of happiness or misfortune. Now she +heard something--that must be--no, it was only the wind in the poplars; +but now! yes, that is a carriage, it came nearer, it drove up,--she +sprang up, she ran to the door, but must stop to press her hand against +her throbbing heart,--how it beat, with hope and fear I would Gottlieb +bring happiness or misfortune? She opened the door.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't touch me!" cried Gottlieb, but it was too late, Lining, although +the oldest, was still very thoughtless, she threw her arms around +Gottlieb, and pressed him to her warm heart; but such a chill struck +through her, that she felt as if she had taken a frog in her arms, she +let him go, exclaiming,--</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good heavens! what has happened?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Overturned," said Gottlieb, "we were, by God's gracious help, +overturned; that is to say, Krischan took care of the overturning, but +God's gracious help preserved us from serious injury."</p> + +<p class="normal">"How you look!" cried Bräsig, who came out with a light, just as Jochen +entered the door.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Bräsig," said Jochen, "it is all as, true as leather; we were +tipped over."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh, where?" said Bräsig, "how could a reasonable man, of your years, +get tipped over, on his own roads? You were asleep, Jochen!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good gracious, Jochen!" cried Frau Nüssler, "how you look!" and she +turned him round, before the light, as if he were a piece of roast +veal, on the spit, which she had just finely basted with gravy. +"Gracious, Jochen! and your nose----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"And how does the clerical gentleman look?" inquired Bräsig, holding +the light to Gottlieb, in front and rear. "Well!" he said, leaving him, +"and now Lining! Why, Lining, you were not tipped over! Frau Nüssler, +just look at her! She has half the road from here to Gurlitz upon her +clothes!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Lining blushed deeply, and Mining wiped off the mud from her, and Frau +Nüssler did the same for Jochen.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Gracious, Jochen, how you have muddied yourself! Now, just look at it, +the nice new cloak!" Jochen had purchased it for his wedding, some +twenty years before. "Well, it can't be helped; I must rip it all out, +and to-morrow the whole thing must be washed in the brook."</p> + +<p class="normal">Orders were issued accordingly, and, after a little while, the two +travellers were seated, in dry clothes, at the table, in the +living-room. Now, for the first time, Frau Nüssler saw her Jochen's +nose, in a clear light.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Jochen," said she, "how your nose looks!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, they said so," replied Jochen.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Jochen," said Bräsig, "I must be an infamous liar, if I ever said that +your nose was particularly handsome; but--may you keep the nose on your +face!--what a nose you have on your face!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"For shame, Bräsig, how can you wish he should keep such a nose as +that? Preserve us! it grows bigger and bigger! What can be done for +it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Frau Nüssler," said Bräsig, "he must go to the water-cure."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What?" said Frau Nüssler, "my Jochen go to the water-cure, because he +has bumped his nose?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You don't understand me," said Bräsig, "he need not go, wholly and +entirely, body and bones, to the water-cure; he shall only send his +nose there; we must make him cold bandages. Or, Jochen, could you bleed +a little from the nose? It would refresh you very much."</p> + +<p class="normal">But Jochen could not do that, so they prepared the cold bandages, and +Jochen sat there, very stately and contented, with his nose wrapped up +in wet linen, and, under his nose, his pipe of tobacco.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But," said Bräsig, "no mortal knows yet how you succeeded with Zamel +Pomuchelskopp."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said Lining, "how was it, Gottlieb?" So Gottlieb described their +interview with the Herr Proprietor, and when he had finished, Jochen +said,--</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, it is all settled, I have signed my name."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Jochen, what have you signed your name for?" asked Bräsig, angrily.</p> + +<p class="normal">"About the Pastor's acre, that I will not rent it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then you have done something very foolish. Oh, the Jesuit! <i>He</i> wants +the Pastor's acre. Nightingale, I hear thee singing, from the little +brook wilt drink. That was his great end and aim! But--but"--he sprang +up, and stalked about the room, "I will spoil your game. Hear to the +end, says Kotelmann. Zamel Pomuchelskopp, we will talk about this! What +does the celebrated poet say, about David and Goliath? I consider +myself David, and him Goliath. 'He took the sling into his hand, and +smote him on the brow, headlong he fell.' And how finely the same +celebrated poet says, in his grand concluding words, 'So ever does the +boaster fall, and when he thinks he firmly stands, then lies he in the +ditch.' And so it shall be with you, Zamel! And, Frau Nüssler, now I +have got myself angry, and can eat no supper, so I will say 'Good +night,' for I have all sorts of things to think about."</p> + +<p class="normal">He took his candle and departed, and after supper they all went early +to bed, and Lining lay a long time, wakeful through care and anxiety, +and listened to the wind in the trees, and the steps in the room +beneath, which went back and forth, back and forth, in the same +measure; for there Uncle Bräsig lodged, and--as he said next +morning--was planning campaign that night.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER XXVII.</h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">The year 1845 had arrived, and the world went on in its old course, and +turned itself over, as usual. Day and night, and joy and sorrow, +succeeded each other, just as they have done since time began, since +the Lord appointed day and night, and placed man in the garden of Eden, +and then expelled him from it. How many days and nights, and how much +joy and sorrow! The day always dawns, and the night always comes; there +is no difference. But is it even so with joy and sorrow? Are they as +impartially divided? I think so! The Lord's hand stretches over all, +and from his hand falls happiness and unhappiness, comfort and anxiety, +upon the world, and every one has his share; but men are perverse, they +will call their misfortunes happiness, and their happiness they take +for misfortune; they push aside the cup of comfort, as if it were +filled with gall, and they laugh away their anxieties.</p> + +<p class="normal">The people, whom I have written about in this book, were no better than +others, they did just like the rest; but there are two things which the +Lord sends into the world as joy and sorrow, and no gall can embitter +the one, and the other cannot be laughed away,--these are birth and +death, beginning and ending. In my little world also, there was +beginning and ending, birth and death; the fair, young Frau sat in +Pumpelhagen, and held a little child, a little daughter, upon her lap, +and the door of her heart stood wide open, for God's clear sunlight to +shine in. She could not help it. The dark shadows which had been +closing around her were no longer visible to her eyes,--she must +rejoice! and before the parsonage at Gurlitz, lay a grave, and two +figures in black went silently back and forth, and when spring came, +they planted flowers upon it, and when the linden leaved out, before +the house, and the lilacs blossomed, they sat together on the bench, +and leaned against each other, as in the old time, when the Frau +Pastorin had wrapped the little Louise in her shawl. Now it was +reversed, now Louise threw her shawl around the little Frau Pastorin. +And so these two mourners sat together, and looked over at the +churchyard, and when Habermann came, there were three, and they sat +patiently in the shadows, and did not push aside the cup of comfort, +and when they separated, the evening star was shining.</p> + +<p class="normal">The first, violent grief was gone from the parsonage, but its marks +were yet to be seen, beautiful marks, which the death-angel leaves upon +human faces. He had kissed Louise upon her clear, high forehead, and +the kiss remained there, lighting her face like an earnest thought; he +had embraced the little, round Frau Pastorin, at his departure, and had +taken away almost all her own quick, eager vivacity, and had left in +its place only loving thoughts of her Pastor. She lived entirely in +these. All must remain as it had been in his life; in his study, the +arm-chair stood before the writing-table, the last sermon which he had +written lay upon it, and the pen by its side, and the Bible of his +childhood lay open, where she had turned the leaf at his death. Every +morning she went first into this room, with her duster, and dusted and +put everything in order, and stood long in thought, and looked at the +door, as if he must come in, in his dressing-gown, and give her a kiss, +and say, "I thank you, dear Regina." And at dinner, Louise put plates +for three; and her Pastor's chair was always in its place, and it +seemed to her as if he were sitting opposite, and talking in the most +cheerful manner, and the remains of her own vivacity, which grief had +left, reappeared at these times, for she did not push aside the cup of +comfort.</p> + +<p class="normal">But how long could this last? The parish must be supplied with a new +pastor, and then she must leave the house, she must leave the village, +she must sever herself from the grave; for there was no widow's house, +and Pomuchelskopp would not build one, for he had no occasion for one.</p> + +<p class="normal">For the last time she watched the blooming of the fruit-trees, which +her Pastor had planted, for the last time she sat under the fragrant +lilacs, where she had sat so happily with him, for the last time came +the spring, and wound its wreath around the peaceful dwelling, for the +last time came the summer, and strewed its golden blessing upon it: +"Louise, when the swallows fly, in the autumn, we must be flitting +too," she said, sadly, and she felt that it would be like another +death.</p> + +<p class="normal">Habermann was her truest friend, and she gave herself wholly into his +hands, what he did must be right. He thought and thought, but could +think of no way to spare them the removal; but he would make it easier. +Kurz the merchant had a roomy house, near his own, with a garden +attached, which could be altered to resemble the parsonage. And Louise +must secretly measure the rooms at the parsonage, how large the parlor +was, and how long the wall, and then drive with her father to +Rahnstadt, and Schultz the carpenter was sent for, to draw a plan +after Louise's measurements. But he wouldn't do it, for "in the first +place," said he, "I couldn't draw a plan after a woman's ribbon +and apron-string measuring, and, secondly, it is not necessary; +plan-drawing is plan-drawing. I don't believe in plan-drawing, I carry +my plans in my head." And Kurz said, if it were arranged differently it +would be much better, but Habermann was firm; it should be so, and if +it could not be made so, the business was settled; and Schultz the +carpenter said there was no sort of difficulty, and, if it could +only be managed, he would go over, and take the measurements himself. +This was arranged, and he came before daylight while the Frau +Pastorin was still sleeping, and measured the rooms, talking to +himself the while: "Seven--seven--five and twenty, five and +twenty,--Kurz--Habermann--Kurz--Habermann--awkward, awkward,--here +there must be a projecting beam,--too great a strain, a bolt carried +through,--so, so,--all right,--so, now out! out!"--and he went out to +his brown ponies, and drove softly away, with the finest building-plan +in his head that ever a man could make. The building began immediately, +and Habermann, who took a diligent supervision, was, on the whole, very +well satisfied, only he did not quite understand the projecting beam, +but he yielded, when he observed that Schultz himself felt strongly +about the matter, and when he came to know that that architect never in +his life put up a building without a "projecting beam." Kurz also +yielded his opposition, and so the removal was made as easy as it was +possible for him to make it.</p> + +<p class="normal">At Pumpelhagen, as I have said, there was great joy: the clear eyes of +Frida rested on her little daughter, and before these clear eyes, +mother-love had woven a light, sweet veil, as if it would conceal from +the mother the future of the little one, and leave her undisturbed to +dream and create. And there was nothing in her way, one happy dream +succeeded another; and now again the clear sunlight beamed from her +heart to Axel, when she held up to him her child. Axel's heart was also +full of joy, he came continually to inquire after mother and child; but +yet he had a slight feeling of disappointment; he had wished for a son, +an heir of his ancient name. It is a horrible thing that a little +innocent girl, from the first moment she opens her eyes to the +daylight, should have to contend with the unjust wishes and prejudices +of other people, and suffer on account of them. It any one had said +this to Axel, he would have been very angry, for he was really glad, in +spite of his disappointment; he had seated himself directly, and +announced the "happy event" to all his acquaintances, even his +horse-acquaintances, and Pomuchelskopp; three people only, he had +intentionally omitted; his cousin Franz,--"that stupid boy,"--the Frau +Pastorin at Gurlitz,--"that matchmaker,"--and Frau Nüssler,--"that +uncultivated old woman." And when he laid the letters on his wife's +bed, and she wondered that these three were forgotten, he said coldly, +he had nothing to do with these people, if she wished to do it, she +must do it on her own responsibility.</p> + +<p class="normal">She did it, accordingly; and after a few days came Louise, to offer +congratulations, in the name of the Frau Pastorin, and Axel came into +the room, and seeing the inspector's daughter said, "Ah, Mademoiselle +Habermann! I beg you will excuse me," and went quickly out of the room. +And again after a few days, Frau Nüssler came, with Krischan and the +Phantom, driving into the yard, and Axel went off to the fields, when +he saw them coming; and when he returned, and learned from Daniel that +Frau Nüssler was still with the gracious lady, he exclaimed +impatiently: "I do not comprehend my wife, how she can take any +pleasure in the society of such uneducated people!"</p> + +<p class="normal">That was a very droll thing for him to say, for only a few weeks +before, in a company of horse-raisers, he had pronounced his friend, +Herr von Brulow, of Brulowshof, a very cultivated man of science, and +when a young doctor, who was accidentally present, had remarked that +his education and science were not carried to a very great extent. Axel +rose up, and said, over his shoulder, to the mistaken young man, if one +had, in any direction whatever, such an experience as the Herr von +Brulow in raising thorough-bred horses, and especially in the +management of colts, he must be allowed, by the most envious person, +the name of an educated and scientific man, even if he understood +nothing else; for that business was one of the greatest importance. And +yet in his eyes, this good woman was uneducated, though nobody in the +world was better qualified to advise his wife in the nursing and +management of his own little infant. Pomuchelskopp also had come, in +his blue dress-coat, with gilt buttons, and the coach with the coat of +arms, and the four brown horses, and had brought his congratulations. +That was another thing, that was a genteel equipage! And he was very +cordially received by Axel, and must stay for luncheon, and afterwards +Axel showed him his thorough-bred mares with their colts, and +Pomuchelskopp was highly delighted, and laying his hand impressively on +Axel's arm, and looking up in his eyes, he said, "All very fine, Herr +von Rambow, very fine for a beginning, but if you want to do something +worth while, in horse-raising, you should have paddocks. The young +animal should naturally be brought up in the open air. Freedom, +freedom, Herr von Rambow! That is the first condition, if you mean to +do anything of importance. And, you see, you have here the finest +opportunity, if you take off four paddocks here, behind the park, for +your thoroughbred mares, and let the field, up as far as the hill, be +sowed with grass and clover, instead of grain; there is the brook down +there, and you have the finest water. Something can be done. Of +course," he added, as Axel looked a little thoughtful, "your inspector +will not like the idea."</p> + +<p class="normal">"My inspector has nothing to say, if I command anything," said Axel +hotly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know that," said Pomuchelskopp, pacifying him, "he knows nothing +about such matters."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But the meadow will be too small, if I take off this corner of the +best soil," said Axel.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said Pomuchelskopp, and shrugged his shoulders, "you must make a +change with the meadow, for you have had the pastor's acre, hitherto, +for meadow land, and the lease is out; and a little more or less will +not signify."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is true," said Axel, with some hesitation, for what he had +promised in an emergency had often annoyed him since, and it always +puts a man out of humor, when he must give up something from which +he has derived advantage and pleasure. But Pomuchelskopp was so +friendly, so well-meaning and upright; he gave him so much good +advice,--and--this he said by the way--if things didn't go right, he +was always at hand,--that Axel shook hands with him cordially, as he +took leave, and sat down to his reflections, with his head full of +paddocks.</p> + +<p class="normal">Habermann was crossing the courtyard; Axel opened the window, and +called to him: "Herr Habermann," said he, "how far have you gone with +the barley-sowing, behind the park?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I think we shall finish the meadow day after to-morrow; to-morrow we +begin down here, by the brook."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good! From there up to the hill--I will tell you about the rest +afterwards--you may sow Timothy, rye-grass, and white clover, with the +barley. Send Triddelsitz to Rahnstadt, in the morning, to get the seed +from David."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But pasture grass does not follow barley."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do you hear me? I wish this piece of ground sowed for a pasture. I am +going to put up paddocks there, for the brood-mares."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Paddocks? paddocks?" asked the old man, as if he could not believe his +ears.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, paddocks," said Axel, preparing to close the window.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr von Rambow," said Habermann, laying his hand on the window-seat, +"this is the finest soil in the whole meadow, if you take it away, +there will not be enough for grain. That was the very reason the late +Herr Kammerrath rented the pastor's acre."</p> + +<p class="normal">It was the very thing which Axel had said to himself, and he knew very +well that the inspector was right; but it is very irritating for a +master, to acknowledge his inferior in the right.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I shall not rent the pastor's acre again," said the young Herr.</p> + +<p class="normal">The old man let his hands fall to his sides.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not rent the Pastor's acre again?" said he, "Herr, the field has +brought us--I have kept a special book for it----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is all one to me! You hear me, I shall not rent it again."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr von Rambow, it cannot be possible----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Did you hear me? <i>I shall not rent it again!</i>"</p> + +<p class="normal">"But Herr, I beg of you, reflect----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh, what!" exclaimed Axel, and closed the window. "A tedious old +fellow!" he exclaimed, "an old fogy!" and he went back to his chair, +and thought about his paddocks; but the fine pictures which his fancy +had painted would not return, he must first get rid of the thought that +he had again committed an injustice.</p> + +<p class="normal">And the old man? How deeply grieved he went back to the meadow! How his +attachment and gratitude to the late Kammerrath struggled against the +mortification he had so often endured from the only son of his old +master! And of what use was this struggle? Of what use was he to the +young Herr? None at all! Step by step, the young man went forward to +his destruction, and his hand which could save him, and so gladly +would, was thrust aside, and his heart which was brimful of love and +friendliness to the young Herr, and his whole household, was treated as +if it beat in the breast of an unfaithful servant, who thought merely +of his own reward.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Triddelsitz," said he, when he came to the meadow, "this corner, +between the brook and the hill, the Herr will have sowed with grass; he +will come out himself, and show you about it; let them sow the barley a +little thinner."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What is he going to do with it?" asked Fritz.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He will tell you himself, when he sees fit. There he comes, from the +garden," said the old man, and went out of his master's way.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Triddelsitz," said Herr von Rambow, "this piece of ground, up to the +hill, is to be sowed with grass; you shall get the seed from David +to-morrow; I am going to have paddocks here."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Famous!" cried Fritz. "I have always thought of that, whether we +couldn't have paddocks, or something of the kind."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, it is necessary."</p> + +<p class="normal">"To be sure, it is necessary," said Fritz, fully convinced. For no one +must think that he was a flatterer; he really meant what he said, and +if he had known what an expense and what trouble these paddocks would +cost, he would certainly not have expressed this opinion; but--as I +have said before--in all such crazy performances, he was united, with +his whole soul, to his master.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Have you a measuring-rod here?" asked Axel.</p> + +<p class="normal">"A measuring-rod? No," said Fritz, laughing, in a rather contemptuous +and yet shamefaced manner, "I have myself invented a measuring +instrument. If you will allow me, I will show you," and he ran to the +nearest ditch, and brought out a great barrel-hoop, which was all +entangled with strings; into the midst of these strings he put his +walking-stick, as in the axle of a wheel, and let the machine run.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The circumference of the hoop is just the length of the rod," said +Fritz, "and this hammer strikes on the board, when it has turned +completely round."</p> + +<p class="normal">"See! see!" cried Axel, his old delight in inventions reviving. "And +did you invent that, all by yourself?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"All by myself," said Fritz, but he should have said his laziness +invented it, for he had a great dislike to stooping his long body.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, you can measure the land for me," said Axel, and went back to +the house, saying to himself, Triddelsitz was a skilful farmer, and a +wide-awake fellow, he would rather have him for a manager than +Habermann.</p> + +<p class="normal">After a while, the old inspector returned to Fritz, very much out of +humor.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Triddelsitz," said he, "what are you doing? You have let them sow the +barley much too thick."</p> + +<p class="normal">"God forbid!" said Fritz, "I arranged the machine just as you ordered, +I measured the land myself."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It isn't possible!" cried Habermann, "then my eyes must deceive me. +Where is your measuring-rod?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I haven't a measuring-rod," said Fritz, "and don't need one either," +he added, spitefully, for the great approbation of the young Herr had +gone to his head. "I measure everything with my instrument," pointing +to his invention which lay at his feet.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What?" cried Habermann, "what is that?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"An invention of mine," said Fritz, looking as proud as if he had set +up the first steam-engine.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah!" said Habermann, "well, take the trumpery, and measure me ten +rods."</p> + +<p class="normal">Fritz took his invention in hand, and let the thing run. Habermann +walked by his side, and asked:</p> + +<p class="normal">"How much have you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ten rods," said Fritz.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And I have nine, and two feet," said the old man.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It isn't possible," said Fritz, "you must have counted wrong, my +instrument is right."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Five of my steps are a Mecklenburg rod," said the old man hotly, "but +because you are a fool you have spoiled the whole field of barley. How +can such trumpery measure in the fresh furrow, when it could hardly do +upon perfectly even ground. Oh, laziness, laziness! Go in directly, and +bring me out a proper measuring-rod!" and he took his knife out of his +pocket, and cut Fritz's invention into little pieces, and then went to +the machine, and arranged it differently.</p> + +<p class="normal">Fritz stood there, looking first at him, and then at his invention, +which lay about him, in little bits; it is really a hard thing for a +man, who wishes to accomplish something in the world, to be so taken +down, at his first attempt. He had such benevolent intentions,--of +course towards himself first, but also towards all his colleagues, and +all the clerks in Mecklenburg,--that that infamous stooping might go +out of fashion, and now his good intentions lay in fragments at his +feet.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I must bring the measuring-rod," said he, "there is no help for that; +but I would a thousand times rather manage with the gracious Herr, than +with old Habermann." And as he went up to the house after the rod, a +great bitterness came over him towards Habermann, and he forgot all +that he had promised him in a happy hour,--the best rooms in his house, +two carriage horses, and a saddle horse,--and as he was speaking, for a +moment, with Marie Möller, who had again taken possession of his vacant +heart, and learned from her that the young Herr had spoken sharply to +Habermann at the window, he comforted himself, and went off with the +rod over his shoulder, and a bit of sausage in his hand, saying:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, the old man will not do for us much longer; he is getting too +old; he has no capacity for new ideas."</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER XXVIII.</h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">Seed-time passed, and summer came; the young Frau went out but little, +and the comfort which the old inspector would have taken from her +bright eyes and cheerful disposition he must do without, for she had +something dearer, something of more importance to do, even if all this +importance lay wrapped up in a bundle of flannels; she knew how +precious were the hopes and wishes which she cradled in her arms, and, +for the time, all other duties were sacrificed to these.</p> + +<p class="normal">Over Axel also, came with his fatherhood a vague, undefined feeling, as +if it were his sacred duty and obligation to labor for his child; he +began to manage his estate with great diligence; instead of +superintending matters, in a general way, as he had hitherto done, like +a sort of field-marshal, he conducted himself more like a corporal, who +concerns himself about all the little details of his corporalship, and +he stuck his nose into everything, even into the tar-barrel. He might +have done that, and it is very well for a master to be interested in +everything, but he should have left the commanding alone, for he didn't +understand it.</p> + +<p class="normal">He took hold of the management in the most unintelligent way, broke up +the old man's arrangements, and when he had brought everything into +confusion, he went into the house, and scolded the old man: "The old +man has not the least <i>method</i>! He is too old for me. No, we cannot go +on so any longer!" And Krischan Segel said to Diedrich Snäsel: "Well, +what shall we do now, the Herr says <i>so</i>, and the inspector says <i>so</i>?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, neighbor," said Diedrich, "if the Herr says----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, but it is all stuff and nonsense."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then you need not do it, and if he has said it, it is no matter."</p> + +<p class="normal">So the harvest ripened, and the blessing of the fields must be gathered +into barns, the rye was cut, and had stood three days in sheaves.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr Inspector," called Axel from the window, and as Habermann came up +he said, "to-morrow, we will bring in the rye."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr von Rambow, it will not do yet, yesterday and to-day it has been +cloudy, and it has not dried; the grain is still soft, and some stems +are quite green."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, it will do. How will you bring it in?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"If it must be brought in, we should begin right behind the village, +and go with two gangs, one to drive into the great barn, the other into +the barley barn."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Begin behind the village? With two gangs? Why?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"The nearer we begin to the village the more we can get in in one day +and the weather looks suspicious; and we must bring it in in two gangs, +and into two barns, or the people will get in each other's way, and the +wagons will interfere."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hm!" said Axel, closing the window, "I will think about it." And he +thought, and came to the conclusion that he would get in this harvest +with Fritz Triddelsitz alone; Habermann should have nothing whatever to +do with it, and they would show him that he was the fifth wheel of the +coach. They would begin at the other end of the field, and bring it in +with one gang. What one gang or two gangs were, he was not quite clear +in his own mind, but they were only subordinate matters, probably +nothing more than some whim of the old inspector's, and he would have +nothing to do with these, he meant to free himself from them entirely.</p> + +<p class="normal">The next morning, at six o'clock, he was on his feet, and went up in a +very friendly way to the old man, who was busy in the yard.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dear Herr Habermann, I have considered the matter,--you must not take +it unkindly,--but I have decided to get in this harvest, with young +Triddelsitz, quite by myself, and to give all the necessary orders in +person."</p> + +<p class="normal">The old man stood before him, confounded and dismayed. At last came, +heavily and constrained from his breast, the words: "And I, Herr, am I +merely to look on? And do you prefer the help of a stupid apprentice to +my help?"</p> + +<p class="normal">He held his walking-stick in front of him, and looked at the young man +with eyes which shone in his old face with as much youthful fire, as if +all the energy and activity of his long life were concentrated in them, +and said frankly:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr, you were a little boy, when I devoted my whole abilities to your +good father,--he thanked me, on his dying bed he thanked me! but you? +You have filled my cup to the brim, with your ingratitude, and now you +wish to disgrace me!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Then he went off, and Axel called after him:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dear Herr Habermann, it is not so intended. I only wanted to try +myself." But it was so intended, as he knew very well; he did not want +the old man in his way, he looked after him too sharply, and he felt +ashamed before him.</p> + +<p class="normal">The old inspector went to his room, opened his desk, and seated himself +before it; but it was long before he could think and begin anything, +and meanwhile there was great commotion in the yard. "Triddelsitz!" +"Herr von Rambow!" "Where are you going, Jochen?" "Eh, I don't know, +nobody has told me." "Fritz Päsel, what are you doing with the +plough?" "Eh, what do I know? I was going to plough in the field." +"Blockhead!"--this was Fritz's voice--"we are going to get in the rye." +"It is all the same to me, if I am not to do it, I will not,"--and he +tumbled the plough out of the wagon,--"what the inspector tells me, I +do."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Flegel!" called the young Herr. "Fritz Flegel!" repeated Triddelsitz, +after him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What do you want?" roared a voice from the workshop.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Where are the harvesting straps?" asked Fritz Triddelsitz. "There, +where you stand," said the wheelwright; "and nobody has said anything +to me about them."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, what shall we do?" asked the day-laborer Näsel. "Lord knows," +replied Pegel, "nobody has told us." "Flegel!" cried Fritz again, "we +are going to bring in the rye; the wagons must be greased." "For all +me," called Flegel from his shop, "the tar-barrel stands there."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr von Rambow," said Fritz, "where is Habermann? shall I not call +the inspector?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," said Axel slowly, turning to go away.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well," said Fritz, who was growing distressed, "we cannot do anything +about it this morning."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It isn't necessary, we can begin this afternoon."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But what shall the day-laborers be doing meanwhile?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good gracious, the day-laborers!" said Axel, "always the day-laborers! +The men can employ themselves usefully here, about the yard. Do you +hear?" and he turned round, "you can help grease the wagons."</p> + +<p class="normal">Meanwhile the old inspector sat at his desk, trying to write something, +something difficult, which clutched at his inmost heart, he was going +to separate himself from his master, to break down the bridge, which, +between the late Kammerrath and himself, had united heart to heart; he +would give notice to quit. He heard,--though not distinctly,--the +stupid commotion outside, once he sprang to the window, as if he would +give an intelligent order; no; that was all over, he had nothing more +to do with it! He tore up the letter which he had written, and began +another, but that also did not suit him, he pushed aside his writing +materials, and closed his desk. But what now? What should he begin? +He had nothing to do, he was superseded; he threw himself into the +sofa-corner, and thought and thought.</p> + +<p class="normal">When the afternoon came, by the help of the old wheelwright and a +couple of intelligent old laborers, the wagons and the barns were so +far ready that the harvesting could begin; and it began accordingly. +Axel was on horseback, commanding the whole; Fritz, by his master's +order, must also be on horseback; because his old, deaf granny was +lame, he rode the old thorough-bred Wallach, which was also a springer; +he himself was a sort of adjutant.</p> + +<p class="normal">Now they could begin. Six spans of horses were fastened to six harvest +wagons, and driven in a row, up to the yard,--order is the principal +thing,--on one side stood the pitchers and stackers for the barns, on +the other the pitchers, loaders and rakers for the field, and, on a +given sign, the stackers marched off to the barns, and the field people +climbed into the wagons; Axel and Fritz rode on, the wagons followed, +and never in the world had there been such order, in the Pumpelhagen +farm-yard, as on this fine afternoon; and we must have order.</p> + +<p class="normal">The old wheelwright, Fritz Flegel, stood in his workshop, and looked at +the procession: "What is all that for?" said he, scratching his head, +for he had no appreciation of this beautiful order. "Well, it is none +of my concern," he said and went back to his work, "but where is our +old Herr Inspector?"</p> + +<p class="normal">He was sitting in his room thinking; the first heat had passed, he +stood up and wrote a brief letter, resigning his post at the next +Christmas, and asking leave of absence, during the harvest, since he +was superfluous under these circumstances; then he took his hat and +stick, and went out, he could stay in doors no longer. He sat down on a +stone wall, under the shade of a lilac bush, and looked along the road +to Warnitz, from which the harvest wagons must come; but they came not, +only Bräsig came along the road.</p> + +<p class="normal">"May you keep the nose on your face, Karl, what sort of performances +are you carrying on here? How can you get your rye in yet? it is green +as grass! And how can you bring it in with six wagons in one gang? and +what keeps the loaded wagons down there in the road?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bräsig, I don't know, you must ask the Herr and Triddelsitz."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bräsig, I have nothing more to say."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What? How? What did you say?" cried Bräsig, elevating his eyebrows.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have nothing more to say," said Habermann quietly, "I am shoved +aside, I am too old for the young Herr."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Karl," said Bräsig, laying his hand on his old friend's shoulder, +"what is the matter? Tell me about it!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And Habermann told him how it all happened, and when he had finished +Bräsig turned round, and looked savagely at the beautiful world, and +ground his teeth together, as if he had the world between his teeth, +and would crack it, like a tough hazelnut, and called, with a voice +half-choked with rage, down the Warnitz road: "Jesuit! Infamous +Jesuit!" and turning back to Habermann said, "Karl, in this Triddelsitz +also, you have warmed a snake in your bosom!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bräsig, how can he help it? He must do as he is told."</p> + +<p class="normal">"There he comes racing along, and the six wagons behind him, making a +procession--of loaded wagons! This is a comedy, this is an agricultural +comedy! Go ahead! and when you get to the old bridge turn over!" cried +Uncle Bräsig, dancing around, recklessly, on his poor gouty legs, as if +they had brought about the whole mischief, and must be punished +accordingly, for his fierce anger had given place to malicious joy.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Here we have it!" he exclaimed, in great delight, for it happened just +as he had said, as the first full wagon came up to the bridge, at a +slow trot, it overset. "Stop!" they cried, "thunder and lightening, +stop!" Fritz looked round,--well, what, now? He had not the slightest +idea what to do; fortunately, he saw Habermann and Bräsig, on the stone +wall, and rode up to them hastily.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr Inspector----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr, you have crumbled your bread, and now you may eat it!" cried +Bräsig.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dear Herr Inspector, what shall we do? The wagon lies right across the +bridge, and the others cannot get by."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ride quickly----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Karl, hold your tongue, you are laid aside as a sheep for the +slaughter, you have nothing to say," interrupted Bräsig.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ride quickly"--said Habermann, "no, let them alone, the servants are +more intelligent than you are, they will soon get the sheaves out of +the way."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr Inspector," said Fritz anxiously, "it is not my fault. Herr von +Rambow has ordered it all so, the wagons should drive in a row, and the +men should drive quickly with the full loads."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Drive on then, till your tongues hang out!" cried Bräsig.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And he is on horseback, on the hill, overseeing and commanding the +whole."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Has he a sperspective in one hand, and a commander's staff in the +other, like old Blücher, in the Hop-market, at Rostock?" said Bräsig +mockingly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ride up to the court," said Habermann, "and see that the first loaded +wagon drives out again quickly."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I must not do that," said Fritz, "the Herr has expressly commanded +that the wagons should drive in again in a row, he says he will have +order in the business."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then you may tell him the finest donkey I ever saw in my life----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bräsig, take care!" cried Habermann.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Was--was your little mule, Herr Triddelsitz," concluded Uncle Bräsig, +with great presence of mind.</p> + +<p class="normal">Fritz rode up to the court.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Karl," said Bräsig, "we might go too, and observe the beautiful order +from your window."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, it is all the same," said Habermann, and sighed deeply, "here or +there."</p> + +<p class="normal">They went; the wagons drove into the yard, the first up to the +barn-floor, the others waited behind, in a row. The men who unloaded +were scolding that they must work themselves to death, the day-laborers +were scolding about the damp rye and asking who should thrash it, in +the winter, the servants were laughing and cracking jokes, in idleness, +and Fritz rode up and down with an uncommonly easy conscience, for he +was doing his duty, and following his master's orders. When all was +finished he placed himself again at the head of the empty wagons, and +the procession moved off. The pitchers and stackers came round into the +shade of the barns, laid themselves down, and took a nap; they had time +enough now.</p> + +<p class="normal">"A very fine, peaceful harvest, Karl," observed Bräsig, "the whole +court is as still as death, not a leaf stirs. It is very pleasant for +me, for I never saw such an one before."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is not very pleasant for me, Bräsig," said Habermann, "I see +trouble coming. Two or three more such pieces of stupidity, and the +people will lose all respect for their master; when they see that he +orders things that he does not understand, they will do what they +please. And the poor, unhappy young man! and especially, the poor, poor +young Frau!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"There comes your gracious lady, just now, out of the house, and the +nursemaid follows, with the baby-carriage, in which lies the little +sleeping beauty. But Karl! come quick to the window! What is this?"</p> + +<p class="normal">And it was really worth his while to go to the window, for Fritz +Triddelsitz, who led the procession again, came gallopping across the +court, on old Bill, and about ten rods behind him raced Axel, and +shouted, "Triddelsitz!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Directly!" cried Fritz, but raced out of the other gate, and Axel +after him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What the devil is this?" inquired Bräsig, and had scarcely time to +express his astonishment, when Fritz and Bill and Axel came in again, +at the water-gate, and raced again across the yard: "Triddelsitz!" +"Directly!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr, are you crazy?" cried Bräsig, as Fritz rode past the farm-house, +but Fritz gave no reply, and sat, all bent up, on his horse, laughing, +amid the distress and sorrow around him, and would have greeted the +gracious lady, but merely took off his cap, for the young Frau was +asking anxiously, "Axel, Axel, what is this?" but got no answer, for +Axel was very busy. And, all at once, Bill took the hurdle, before the +sheepfold, and Fritz shot off headforemost, into a heap of straw, and +Axel turned his horse, and called again, "Triddelsitz!" "Directly, Herr +von Rambow," said Fritz, out of the straw-heap.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What devil rides you?" cried Axel.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He didn't ride me," said Fritz, as he stood--thank God!--on his own +feet again, "I rode him; I believe Bill took a leap with me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"He was trained for that," said Krischan Däsel, who came running out of +the stable; "you see, gracious Herr, the Herr Count used to ride Bill +to steeple-chases, and when he takes the notion he runs until he comes +to some sort of hedge or gate, and then he springs over, and whenever +he has done that trick, he stands like a lamb. You see, there he +stands."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Axel," said the young Frau, coming up, "what does all this mean?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nothing, my child, I had given an order to the steward, and, when he +had ridden off, something better occurred to me, and I wished to recall +my order, and so followed him; his horse took a leap with him, and I +rode back again."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thank God," said she, "that it is all right. But will you not come in +and take luncheon?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said he, "I have rather fatigued myself to-day. Triddelsitz, +everything goes on in the usual order."</p> + +<p class="normal">"To command!" said Fritz, and Axel went into the house with his wife.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Axel," she asked, as they sat at the table, "what does it mean? With +us, at home, in the harvest, only one loaded wagon came into the yard +at a time, and here you had six at the same time."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dear Frida, I know the old method well enough, but in that way, +disorder is unavoidable; we have much better order, by having all the +wagons driven in a row."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Did Habermann arrange it so?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Habermann? No, he had nothing to do with it; I felt the necessity of +emancipating myself finally from the supervision of my inspector, and I +have signified to him that I would get in this harvest without his +help."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Axel, what have you done! The man cannot suffer that."</p> + +<p class="normal">"He <i>must</i>, though! He must become aware that I am the master of the +estate."</p> + +<p class="normal">"He has always recognized you as such. Dear Axel, this will be a source +of bitter sorrow to us," and she leaned back in her chair in deep +thought, looking straight before her. Axel was not in a good humor: +then the door opened, and Daniel Sadenwater brought a letter: "With the +Herr Inspector's compliments."</p> + +<p class="normal">"There it is!" said Frida.</p> + +<p class="normal">Axel read the letter: "The Herr Inspector gives notice to leave at +Christmas. May go at once. I need no Inspector. Can get a hundred for +one. But it provokes me that he should give me notice, and that I did +not get the start of him!" and with that he sprang up, and ran up and +down the room. Frida sat still, and said not a word. Axel took that for +a reproof, for he knew very well that he was in a dangerous path; but +he would not allow himself to confess it, he must lay the blame of his +fault upon other shoulders, and so he said, in his injustice:</p> + +<p class="normal">"But that comes from your prejudice in favor of the old, pretentious +hypocrite!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Frida said not a word, but she rose quietly, and left the room.</p> + +<p class="normal">She sat that evening, by the cradle of her little daughter, and rocked +her darling to sleep. Ah, if thoughts could only be rocked to sleep! +But a child comes from our Lord, and has yet a bit of heaven's own +peace in itself, which it has brought from above; human thoughts come +from the earth, and care and sorrow dog their uncertain, weary feet, +and an over-wearied man can not sleep. Yes, Axel was right, he could +get another inspector, a hundred for one. But Frida was also right: a +true heart was to leave her.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER XXIX.</h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">In Jochen Nüssler's house, there was great joy and pleasure: Gottlieb +was elected, was really chosen to be a pastor, and whom had he +especially to thank for it? Who else, but our good, old, simple +Pomuchelskopp; he gave the decisive vote. "Häuning," said our old +friend, in the church, while the three young candidates, in anguish and +fear, were taking their turns in the pulpit, contending for the parish; +"Häuning," said he, as Gottlieb concluded, and wiped the sweat from his +pale face,--"Klücking, we will choose this one, he is the stupidest."</p> + +<p class="normal">"If you are only sure of it," said his dear wife, "how can you tell one +blockhead from another?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Klücking," said Pomuchelskopp, taking no notice of his wife's +pleasantry, perhaps because he was so accustomed to it, perhaps because +Gottlieb's sermon had touched him, for Gottlieb had preached from the +text, "Forgive your enemies,"--"Häuning, the first, the one with the +red face, is a son of old Pächter Hamann, and like goes to like, you +should see, he would farm it himself; and the second, see! he is a sly +one, Gustaving saw him looking at the field, a little while ago, and he +asked the Pastor's coachman who took care of the Pastor's barn, the +thing was tumbling to pieces. Neither of them would do; the rector's +son is our man."</p> + +<p class="normal">"He who reckons wrong, reckons twice," said Häuning.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am not reckoning wrong," said Pomuchelskopp, "the Herr von Rambow +and Nüssler have declined the business, in writing; the young man +cannot farm it himself, he is too stupid, and I need not allow an +under-pächter; he must rent the field to me, and I have it in my own +hands, I can say, 'So much, and not a shilling more!'"</p> + +<p class="normal">And so Gottlieb was elected, for nearly all the votes were given for +him, only a couple of day-laborers from Rexow voted for their master, +Jochen Nüssler. It was merely a mistake, for they believed it was all +the same, and it was done in friendship.</p> + +<p class="normal">And in Jochen Nüssler's house, there was great joy and pleasure, and +the two little twin-apples were floating in bright sunshine, down a +clear brook, and nestled close to each other, and Mining floated +joyously with her sister, although her own prospects were not so +brilliant. But she had a little personal ground of rejoicing; her +father, young Jochen, had come in from the field one day, and said this +everlasting working was too hard for him, he wished Rudolph were there; +and Mother had said he ought to be ashamed of himself, he was still a +young fellow; and father had said, "Well, he would manage a little +longer;" but it was the beginning of the final blessedness, and the +thing was a little hook for her hopes to hang upon.</p> + +<p class="normal">With Lining, however, all was settled and arranged, and the outfit was +purchased, and Frau Nüssler's living-room looked like a spinning-room +and cotton factory; here was spinning, and there was knitting, there +was sewing and embroidering, and twisting and reeling, and skeins were +wound on and wound off, and every one had his share, even young Jochen, +and young Bauschan. Young Jochen was employed as yarn-winder, and sat +up stiffly, with his pipe in his mouth, and held out his arms with a +skein of yarn, and his wife stood before him and wound it off, and when +he believed he was to have a little relief, there came Lining, and then +Mining, and he was a conquered man; but young Bauschan had his share, +also, they were always treading on his toes, and no one had so much +reason to curse this wedding as young Bauschan, till, at last, he +retired from the business altogether, esteeming the rubbish-heap in the +farm-yard a more comfortable place than a room where an outfit was +being prepared.</p> + +<p class="normal">"So," said Frau Nüssler one evening, folding her hands in her lap, +"Bräsig, for all I care, they may be married to-morrow, I am ready with +everything."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well," said Bräsig, "then make your preparations, for the Pietist and +Lining are sure to be ready too."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, Bräsig, how you talk! The principal thing is still wanting, the +government has not given its assent to the parish--What do you call the +thing?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah yes, I know. You mean the vocation, as it is generally called, but +I think vocations is the right word, because the blessed Pastor +Behrens, in my younger days, always said vocations."</p> + +<p class="normal">At this moment, Krischan the coachman came in at the door: "Good +evening, Madam, and here are the papers."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Are there no letters?" asked Frau Nüssler.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said Krischan, "there was a letter."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why didn't you bring it then?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well," said Krischan, tossing his head, as if such stupidity could not +be laid to his charge, "there was some trespass-money charged for it, +and I hadn't so much by me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What did it cost?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now just think of it, eight thalers! And they said there was a +post-express or a post-payment, or something of that sort,--perhaps it +was brought with post-horses,--and it was for a young Herr, who is our +bridegroom."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good gracious, Krischan, such an expensive letter as that! From whom +could it be?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know something," said Krischan, "but I daren't say it," and he +looked at Bräsig.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Before the Herr Inspector, you may say anything," said Frau Nüssler.</p> + +<p class="normal">"For all I care!" said Krischan. "It was from some woman-creature, but +I have forgotten the name."</p> + +<p class="normal">"From a woman!" exclaimed Frau Nüssler, "to my son-in-law! and eight +thalers to pay!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Everything comes to light!" said Bräsig, "even the Pietists get found +out!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes; it all comes out!" said Krischan, going out of the room.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Krischan," Frau Nüssler sprang up, "you must go to Rahnstadt to-morrow +with the rye; ask particularly about the name, and I will give you +eight thalers, I must have the letter."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good, Madam," said Krischan, "I will get it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bräsig," cried Frau Nüssler, throwing herself into her arm-chair, +so that the poor old thing groaned with her weight, "what has my +son-in-law to do with a woman?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I don't know," said Bräsig. "I am wholly unacquainted with his +affairs, since I don't trouble myself about secrets. Hear to the end, +says Kotelmann, to-morrow we shall know."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But this Gottlieb, this quiet man!" exclaimed Frau Nüssler.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The Pietists are not wholly to be trusted," said Bräsig. "Never trust +a Jesuit!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bräsig!" cried Frau Nüssler, and the old chair shrieked aloud, as she +sprang up, "if there is something concealed here, I shall take back my +child. If Rudolph had done it, I could have forgiven him, for he is a +rough colt, and there is no secrecy about him; but Gottlieb? No, never +in my life! One who can set himself up for a saint, and then do such a +trick--don't come near me! I want nothing to do with such people!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And when Gottlieb came to the table that evening, his future +mother-in-law looked at him askance, as if she were a shop clerk, and +he were trying to cheat her with a bad groschen. And when he asked +Lining, after supper, if she would take a glass of fresh water up to +his room, she told him Lining had something else to do, and when +Gottlieb turned to Marik, the waiting-maid, she told him he might go to +the pump himself, he could do it as well as Marik. And so she speedily +drew a magic circle around him, over which no woman might pass.</p> + +<p class="normal">As they sat at table next morning, Krischan came to the door, and +beckoned to Frau Nüssler; "Madam, Oh, just a word." And Frau Nüssler +motioned to Bräsig, and the two old lovers went out with Krischan into +the hall.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Here it is," said Krischan, pulling out a great letter, from his +waistcoat pocket, "and I know the name of the woman, too."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well?" asked Frau Nüssler.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," whispered Krischan privately into Frau Nüssler's ear. "Mine is +her own name, and Sterium is her father's name."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What? Is her name Mine Sterium?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hoho!" cried Bräsig, snatching the letter from Frau Nüssler's hand, +"that comes from ignorance of outlandish names, that is the vocation of +the Ministerium," and he opened the door, and shouted into room: +"Hurrah! You old Pietist, you! Here it is, and next week is the +wedding!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And Frau Nüssler fell upon old Gottlieb's neck, and kissed him, and +cried, "Gottlieb, my dear Gottlieb, I have done you a great wrong: +never mind, Gottlieb, Lining shall take up water for you, every +evening, and the wedding shall be whenever you please."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But what is it?" asked Gottlieb.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, Gottlieb, I cannot tell you yet; it is too shameful, but when you +have been married three years, I will tell you all about it."</p> + +<p class="normal">The wedding was celebrated, and a great deal might be told about it, +how Mining and her sister Lining wept bitterly after the ceremony, how +Gottlieb looked really handsome, since Lining had cut off the long +locks, like rusty wheel-nails, out of his neck. But I will tell nothing +about this wedding, but what I saw myself, and that was, the next +morning, at half-past three, the two old friends young Jochen and young +Bauschan, lying on the sofa, arm in arm, asleep.</p> + +<p class="normal">Habermann was at the wedding, very silent, his Louise was there also, +her inmost heart full of love for her little Lining, but she was also +silent, quietly happy; Frau Pastorin had declined her invitation, but +when the guests were crowding about the bride and bridegroom, and +Jochen, afterwards, was trying to say a word also, the door opened, and +the Frau Pastorin came in, in her widow's mourning, into the bright +marriage joy, and she threw her arms around Lining's neck saying:</p> + +<p class="normal">"I bless you, I bless you from my heart, and may you be as happy there +as I have been. You are now the nearest to him." and she kissed and +caressed her, and then turned quickly away, and went, without greeting +any one, to the door; there she said, "Habermann!"</p> + +<p class="normal">But she need not have spoken, for he stood by her already, and when she +was in the carriage, he sat by her side, and they drove back to +Gurlitz.</p> + +<p class="normal">At Gurlitz, they got out of the carriage, the pastor's coachman, Jürn, +must wait,--and went to the churchyard, and they held each other by the +hand, and looked at the green grave, on which bright flowers were +growing, and as they turned away, she said with a deep, deep sigh, as +when one has drained a full cup, "Habermann, I am ready," and he placed +her in the carriage, and drove with her to Rahnstadt.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Louise is discreet," she said, "she took charge of everything for me, +this morning."</p> + +<p class="normal">They went together through the new house, and the little Frau Pastorin +thanked him, and kissed him, for his friendship, that he had arranged +everything just as it was in Gurlitz, and she looked out of the window, +and said, "Everything, everything, but no grave!"</p> + +<p class="normal">They stood for a long time at the window, then Habermann pressed her +hand, and said, "Frau Pastorin, I have a favor to ask, I have given +notice to Herr von Rambow, and shall leave next Christmas; can you +spare me the little gable room, and will you take me at your table?"</p> + +<p class="normal">At a less agitated moment, she would have had much to ask, and much to +say; but now she said merely.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Where Louise and I live, you are always the nearest."</p> + +<p class="normal">Yes, so it is in the world, what is one's joy is another's sorrow, and +weddings and graves lie close together, and yet the distance between +them is wider than between summer heat and winter cold; but there is a +wonderful kind of people in the world,--if one seeks one can find +them,--who can throw a kind of wonderful, heaven-climbing bridges, from +one heart to another, over the gulfs which the world has torn open, and +such a bridge was built between the little, round Pastors' wives, +Lining of Rexow, and Frau Pastorin of Rahnstadt; and when the key stone +was dropped into place, exactly over the parsonage at Gurlitz, they +fell into each other's arms, and held so fast together that to their +life's end they were never parted.</p> + +<p class="normal">And our old Gottlieb! He did his share, he brought stones and +mortar,--he had but a brief experience in the pastoral office; but I +must say that, when he preached his entrance sermon, he thought less of +himself than of his faithful predecessor, the old Pastor Behrens.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He sticks to common sense," said Bräsig, as he came out of the church, +and he patted Lining's cheek, and gave Mining a kiss. "The pietists +often become very reasonable people; but they think too much of the +devil. I have a very good pietist acquaintance, that is the Pastor +Mehlsack, a really clever man, but he is so taken up with the devil +that he says scarcely anything about the Lord; and there is the pastor +in the beautiful Krakow region, who has paddagraphically discovered +that there are three hundred, three and thirty thousand different +devils running about the world, not counting the regular devil and his +grandmother. And you see, Lining, what an inconvenience it is for us: +you sit down in Rahnstadt with your good friends around a punch bowl, +and you drink to this one, and to that one, and then to another, and at +your side sits a gentleman in a brown dress-coat,--for the devil always +wears a brown dress-coat, he must, that is his uniform,--and he talks, +the whole evening, very friendly things to you, and when you wake up +next morning there he stands before you, and says, 'Good morning! you +signed yourself to me last evening,' and then he shows you his cloven +foot, and if he is polite he takes out his tail, and slaps you over the +ears with it, and there you are, his rightful property. So it is with +the honest Pietists, the others are a great deal worse."</p> + +<p class="normal">And so Gottlieb and Lining were settled in the pastor's house, and +Mining was naturally much with them, and it often happened that good +old Gottlieb embraced Mining, in the twilight, and gave her a kiss, +instead of Lining; but it was all in friendship, he had no other +design.</p> + +<p class="normal">But Pomuchelskopp had a design, when he came with his wife and Malchen +and Salchen to make their first call on the young Herr Pastor. And this +design was the pastor's acre, and the blue dress-coat with the gilt +buttons said to the black coat he would take the field, and offered him +just half the sum which the Herr von Rambow had given, and our old +Häuning stood up and said, that was all it was worth, and it could not +be otherwise disposed of, for Jochen Nüssler had declined it, and old +Gottlieb stood there bowing to the blue dress-coat, and was going to +say "yes," when Lining sprang up like a ball, out of the sofa-corner, +and said, "Hold! In this business, I have a word to say. We must +consult other people," and she called, from the door, "uncle Bräsig, +will you come in, a moment?"</p> + +<p class="normal">And he came, placing himself audaciously in a linen frock, before the +blue dress-coat, and asked, "How so?"</p> + +<p class="normal">And Lining sprang towards him saying, "Uncle Bräsig, the field shall +not be rented. It will be my chief pleasure."</p> + +<p class="normal">"So it shall not, my dear Frau Pastorin Lining," and he bent down, and +gave her a kiss, "I will farm it for you my personal self."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am not obliged to allow an under-pächter," cried Pomuchelskopp.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nor shall you, nor shall you, Herr Zamel! I will merely manage it as +inspector for the Herr Pastor himself."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr Nüssler gave it to me in writing."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That you are a blockhead!" said his Häuning, and drew him angrily out +of the room.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My dear Herr Pastor," said uncle Bräsig, going with Gottlieb into the +garden, "you have not to thank me for this arrangement, but only your +dear wife, Lining. It is really worthy of notice, how positive these +innocent little creatures become, after they are married. Well, never +mind, perhaps they know best. You, from your Christian stand-point, +about the blows on the right and left cheeks, you will read me a +lecture about hatred, but hatred must be,--where there is no hate, +there is no love, and the story of the blows is all nonsense to me. I +have a hatred, I hate Zamel Pomuchelskopp! Why? How? What? He says +'Sie' to you, and wouldn't you hate him?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"My dear Herr Inspector, this wicked axiom----" and he would, in his +new office of pastor, have preached the old man a sharp sermon, as he +had before about fishing if, Lining had not fortunately come along, and +throwing her arms around his neck cried, "uncle Bräsig, uncle Bräsig, +how shall we repay you for giving up your leisure for us?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't trouble yourself about that, Lining, where there is hate there +is also love; but did you notice how I called him merely Herr Zamel, +although he was christened by the more distinguished name, 'Zamwel?'"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You mean Samuel," interrupted Gottlieb.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, Herr Pastor, 'Samuel' is a Jew's name, and although he is a real +Jew,--that is, a white one,--he was baptized by the Christian name of +Zamwel, and his wife by the name of Karnallje."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Uncle Bräsig," cried Lining, laughing heartily, "how you mix things +together! Her name is Cornelia."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is possible, Lining, that she lets herself be called so now, +because she is ashamed of it, but I have seen it with my very eyes. The +old pastor at Bobzin had died; and the sexton had to keep the church +books, and there it stood; 'Herr Zamwel Pomuchelskopp to Fräulein +Karnallje Klätterpott,' for she is a born Klätterpott, and she is a +Karnallje too. But, Lining, let her go; they shall not trouble us, and +we two will have a pleasant time together, and you shall give me the +little corner room, that overlooks the yard, and the devil must be in +it, if in a year and a day, our young pastor isn't in a condition to +farm his land himself. And now, adieu," and he went off, the old +heathen, who could not give up his hatred.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bat he who will hate, must expect to be hated in turn; and nobody was +more hated that day than uncle Bräsig. When the Pomuchelskopps had +reached home, Häuning stroked the quiet, simple father of a family, and +Mecklenburg law-giver, the wrong way, and stung his poor knightly flesh +with thorns and nettles, and the constant conclusion of her satirical +remarks was: "Yes, Kopp, you are as prudent as the Danish horses, that +come home three days before it rains!"</p> + +<p class="normal">At last, our old friend could bear it no longer, he sprang up out of +his sofa-corner, and cried:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Malchen, I beg of you, have I not always cared for you as a father?"</p> + +<p class="normal">But Malchen was as deep in the Rostock Times, as if her own betrothal +were recorded there.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Salchen, is it my fault that the world is so bad?"</p> + +<p class="normal">But Salchen embroidered earnestly on the flesh of a little cupid, and +sighed, as if it were a pity that her dear father were not the little +cupid; and to fill his cup, Gustaving came in, and rattled the keys on +the board, as if he was attempting to set this lovely family scene to +appropriate music.</p> + +<p class="normal">But too much is too much! Human nature can bear only a limited amount; +our old friend must show his refractory family that he was master in +his own house, so he ran out of the room, and left them alone; he ran +into the garden, as far as the sundial, but what good did it do? He had +exercised his rightful power on his own flesh and blood, but he himself +was no happier, for before his eyes lay the pastor's acre, the +beautiful pastor's acre. And beyond lay Pumpelhagen, fair, fair +Pumpelhagen, which rightfully belonged to him, for he had given for the +Pastor's acre two thousand thalers, payment in advance, and how much +more to Slusuhr and David, and that beggar, the Herr von Rambow! He +could not bear the sight, he turned away, and looked up into the blue +harvest heaven, and asked, was there no righteousness left in the +world?</p> + +<p class="normal">Then came Phillipping, and tugged at his blue dress-coat,--for out +of spite to his Häuning, he had kept it on, against all law and +order,--and said the Herr von Rambow was there, and wished to speak to +him.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Herr von Rambow? Come, wait! now he had one whom he could torment +in turn, upon whom he could avenge the sufferings his family had caused +him; the Herr von Rambow? wait! he was going in, but there he came +himself, towards him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good morning, my respected Herr neighbor, how are you? I wanted to +learn how it has gone about the pastor's acre."</p> + +<p class="normal">So? Pastor's acre? No, wait, don't let him see it! Pomuchelskopp looked +down at the little bit of a nose which nature had given him, and said +not a word.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now, how has it been?" asked Axel. But Pomuchelskopp said neither good +nor bad, and looked along his nose, as if it extended for miles.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My dear Herr Neighbor, what is the matter? It is all right, I hope?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I hope so," said Muchel, stooping to pull a weed out of the potatoes; +"at least your note for the two thousand thalers is all right."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What?" asked Axel, astonished, "what has that to do with it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Wait, Axel! that is all coming right; keep still! he only wants to +tease you a little. What must be, must.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You, Herr von Rambow," said Muchel, still plucking weeds, and turning +a red face up to the young Herr, "you have the two thousand thalers, +and I the Pastor's acre,--that is to say, I haven't it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But, Herr Neighbor, you were so sure"----</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not nearly so sure as you, you have the two thousand thalers--haven't +you? You got them? and I"--and he shook his left leg, and thrust the +words out from his chest, "and I--I have--the devil!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"But----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, let your 'Buts' alone, I have heard 'Buts' enough this morning; +our business is about these notes," and he felt in his pocket, "So! I +have another coat on, and have not the pocket by me where they are. One +was due three weeks ago."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But, my dear Herr Neighbor, how came you to think of it just to-day? +It is not my fault, that you have not been able to rent the acre."</p> + +<p class="normal">It does you no good, Axel, keep still! He'll not do anything, only +torment you a little. Pomuchelskopp had heard too much already to-day, +about that cursed field, to trouble himself about it any longer, so he +passed by Axel's remark, and took another turn at the screw.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am an amiable man, I am a friendly man; the people say, also, that I +am a rich man, but I am not rich enough to throw my money into the +street, I cannot afford that yet. But, Herr von Rambow, I must see +something, I must see something. I must see that the soul stays in a +gentleman, and when one has signed a note, then he must also see----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"My best Herr Neighbor," interrupted Axel, in great distress, "I had +clean forgotten it. I beg you--I had not thought of it at all."</p> + +<p class="normal">"So?" asked Muchel, "not thought of it? But a man <i>should</i> think, +and"--he was going on, but his eye fell upon Pumpelhagen; no I don't +let him notice! why should he shake the tree, the plums were not yet +ripe. "And," he continued, "I owe all this to my friendship for that +miserable fellow, that Bräsig. So he has repaid the kindnesses I did +him in his youth. I lent him money when he wanted to buy a watch, he +has worn trousers of mine when his were torn, and now? Ah! I know well +how it all hangs together,--that old hypocrite, Habermann, is behind."</p> + +<p class="normal">Give the devil a finger, and he soon takes the whole hand, and then he +leads you whither he will, and if it suits his humour, he holds you before +him, and you must pray in distress and sorrow, in anguish and pain.</p> + +<p class="normal">So it was with Axel; he must agree, in a friendly way, with the Herr +Proprietor, he must hew at the same timber, against his honor and +conscience, he must slander Bräsig and Habermann. Why? Because the +devil, with his note in his hand, pressed him down on his knees. And he +did it, too; the gay, careless lieutenant of cuirassiers lay on his +knees before the devil, and talked all sorts of malice and detraction +concerning Bräsig and Habermann, to appease his old Moloch, in the blue +dress-coat; he was a traitor to his best friends, he was a traitor to +his God. But when he came to himself sufficiently to be aware of what +he had done, he was full of self-contempt, and rode hastily away from +the house, where he had left a great part of his honor.</p> + +<p class="normal">He rode home, and as he came to the boundary of his fields, he +saw Habermann, in the oppressive heat of the sun, following the +sowing-machine, and preparing everything for the seed-time, and for +whom? For <i>himself</i>, he must answer, and the coals of fire burned his +head. And when he had ridden a little farther, a linen frock appeared +before him, and Uncle Bräsig came toiling up, shouting across the +field, "Good day, Karl! I am on the right apropos, that is to say on a +preliminary cow business and it is all right; we are going to farm it +ourselves, and Zamel Pomuchelskopp may go hang;" and then he heard +Axel's horse, and turned round, and the worm, that was gnawing in +Axel's breast, made him a little more friendly to the old fellow, and +he said:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good day, Herr Inspector! What? always on your legs?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why not, Herr Lieutenant? They still hold out, in spite of the +Podagra, and I have undertaken to procure an inventory for the young +pastor people, and am on my way to Gulzow, to Bauer Pügal; he has a +couple of milch cows, that I want to acquire for the Herr Pastor."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You understand all the details of farming, Herr Inspector?" asked +Axel, in order to be friendly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thank God," said Bräsig, "I am so well acquainted with all the +details, that I don't need to learn them at all. One of our kind needs +only to cast an eye at anything, and he knows just how it is. Do you +see, I was yesterday," and he pointed over to Axel's paddocks, "down by +your Podexes, and I saw that the mares and the colts were all down in +the lowest one, and why? They steal the oats out of the crib, and if +you want them to come to anything, you must put a padlock on."</p> + +<p class="normal">Axel looked sharply at him: was this a piece of pure malice on the old +fellow's part? Of course! He gave his horse the spur: "Adieu!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"If the blockhead won't take it, he need not!" said Bräsig, looking +after him. "I meant it well enough. It looks to me as if the young +nobleman--well, take care! You will yet come, on your hands and feet, +to your senses. Karl," he cried, across the field, "he has pushed me +off again!" and he went away, on his cow business.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER XXX.</h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">Winter had come again, and the world must open to the rough guest.</p> + +<p class="normal">When he comes properly, let him come in, and welcome; but when he comes +at Christmas, with a wet shaggy coat, and fills one's room with mud, +and his boots smell of train-oil, he may stay away for all me.</p> + +<p class="normal">But this time he came differently. He came, as he has often come to my +door, with ringing bells, and a snapping whip, and two gray horses +before the sleigh, stamping their feet, and he sprang from the sleigh +exactly like Wilhelm of Siden Vollentin, and rubbed his blue, frosty +cheeks, and thrashed his arms about his body, once--twice--thrice. +"Good morning, Herr Reuter, I have come for you. Compliments of the +Herr and of the Frau, and you need only step into the sleigh, for there +are heaps of foot-sacks and wraps there, and to-morrow is Christmas +eve, and little Hans charged me to drive fast."</p> + +<p class="normal">Yes, when he comes like that, we both sing, my wife and I, "Come in, +come in, thou welcome guest!" and we treat the old fellow to a glass of +wine, and then get into the sleigh, and off we go,--ten miles an +hour,--and when old Winter sets us down at the door of Vollentin, Fritz +Peiters says, "Why the devil have you been so long on the road?" and +the Frau kisses my wife, and takes off her wrappings, and says to me, +"Uncle Reuter, I have got you short kale and long sausage," and the two +girls, Lising and Anning, whom I have so often carried in my arms when +they were tiny little things, come and give their old uncle a kiss, and +then hang about my dear wife, and Fritz and Max come, who are now at +the great Anclam gymnasium and greet us with a hearty shake of the +hand, and little Hans, who has been waiting his turn, comes, and jumps +and frolics around me, and climbs on my left knee, and there I must +hold him, the whole evening. And then little Ernest, the nestling, is +presented, and we stand about this little wonder of the world, and clap +our hands at his wisdom and understanding, and then comes +<i>grandmother</i>. And then begin the winter and Christmas pleasures, the +tree blazes, and the yule raps are rapped, and then comes a yule rap +from my dear wife, with a poem, the only one she ever wrote in her +life: "Here! sit, and here I sing, and ask for nothing more"--and the +melody goes no further, but it is enough of the kind.</p> + +<p class="normal">And then comes the first Christmas day, and all is so solemn and still, +and our Lord strews the white snow flakes, like down, on the earth, +that no noise may be heard. And the second Christmas day comes, and +then come the Herr Pastor Pieper, and the Frau Pastorin, and the Herr +Superintendent and his wife, and then comes Anna, who is my darling, +for she used to be my scholar; and then comes the Frau Doctor Adam, and +the Frau Oberamtmann Schönermark, and Lucia Dolle, she sits on the left +hand of the Adam and on the right of the Schönermark, that is between +them,--and then! yes, then comes a round ball driving up, and the Herr +Doctor Dolle sits beside the ball, and rolls it out of the sleigh, and +gives it to a couple of maids who stand ready,--for they have +experience in the matter--and they unwind from the ball furs and cloaks +and comforters and foot-sacks, until the Herr Justizrath Schröder comes +to light. But he is not finished yet, by a great deal. He must sit down +in a chair, and Fika takes one foot, and Marik the other, and they pull +off his great fur boots, while I hold him by his shoulders, lest they +should drag him off the chair.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then comes another sleigh!--and out springs Rudolph Kurz, jumping clear +over the coachman's whip, and behind him comes Hilgendorf. Do you know +Hilgendorf? Hilgendorf, our Rudolph's principal? No? Let me tell you, +then, in a word, Hilgendorf is a natural curiosity, he has ivory +bones,--"pure ivory," and so strongly is this proprietor put together +by nature, that one who ventures to slap him on the shoulder or the +knee gets black and blue spots, merely on account of the ivory.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then we drink coffee, and the Herr Justizrath tells stories, wonderful +stories, and he tells them with <i>much fire</i>, that is to say, he is +always lighting fresh matches, because he is constantly letting his +pipe go out, and before long he has smoked up the whole cupful of +lighters, and Max is stationed beside him, for the express purpose of +keeping him supplied. And then we play whist, with Von der Heyt and +Manteufel, and all the old tricks and dodges, for otherwise the Herr +Justizrath will not play. Then comes supper, and over the rabbit and +roast goose, the Herr Justizrath makes the finest poetry, with the +drollest rhymes, and there is great applause, and when we rise from +table, we press each other's hands, and separate in peace and joy, each +happy face saying, "Well, next year, again!"</p> + +<p class="normal">But in Pumpelhagen, this year, there was no such merry Christmas; +winter had come, fine and clear; but that which makes it welcome, the +close meeting of heart with heart, had stopped outside, instead of +coming in, bringing joy by the coat-collar. Each sat with his own +thoughts, no one exchanged his love for another's, Fritz Triddelsitz +and Marie Möller excepted, who sat together, the afternoon of the +second holiday, and eat gingernuts, until Fritz said, "No, I cannot eat +more, Marik, for to-morrow I shall have to ride to Demmin, to deliver +three tons of wheat; and if I should eat any more gingernuts, it might +make me sick, and I should not like that; and then I must pack up our +books for the circulating library, to exchange them in Demmin, so that +we may have something to read, in the evenings," and then he got up, +and went to look after his mare, and Marie Möller had a misgiving that +the heart could not wholly belong to her, whose affections she shared +with a horse.</p> + +<p class="normal">In another room, Habermann sat, alone with his thoughts, and they were +serious enough, when he reflected that his working on this earth had +come to an end, and that he might henceforth fold his hands in his lap; +and they were sad enough, when he reflected what an end it was, and how +the seed he had sowed for a blessing seemed to have sprung up as a +curse. In still another room sat Axel and Frida, together indeed, yet +each was lonely, for each had his own thoughts, and was shy of exposing +them to the other. They sat in silence, Frida quietly thoughtful, Axel +out of humor; then sleigh bells were heard in the court, and +Pomuchelskopp drove up to the door. Frida took up her needle-work, and +left the room; Axel must receive the Herr Neighbor alone.</p> + +<p class="normal">A regular agricultural talk, about horse-raising and the price of +wheat, was soon in progress between the two gentlemen, and the holiday +afternoon would have passed innocently and peacefully enough, if Daniel +Sadenwater had not brought in the mail-bag. Axel opened it, and finding +in it a letter to Habermann, was about handing it to Daniel to deliver, +when he saw his own arms on the seal and, as he looked nearer, +recognized his cousin's handwriting.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is that confounded affair still going on, behind my back?" he +exclaimed almost throwing the letter in Daniel's face: "To the +inspector!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Daniel went off, astonished, and Pomuchelskopp inquired, very +compassionately, what had happened to vex the young Herr.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Isn't it enough to vex one, when my blockhead of a cousin obstinately +persists in his silly romance, with this old hypocrite and his +daughter?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh!" said Pomuchelskopp, "and I thought that was at an end, long ago. +I was told that your Herr Cousin, upon hearing the report, which is in +everybody's mouth, had broken off the business suddenly, and would have +nothing more to do with them."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What report?" asked Axel.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why about your inspector and the day-laborer, Regel was his name, and +the two thousand thalers."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Tell me, what do the people say?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now, you know already. I thought you had given the old man notice +because of it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know nothing of it, tell me!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why it is universally known. People say, Habermann and the day-laborer +made a compromise; the inspector let the fellow get off, and had half, +or more, of the stolen money, and he gave him a recommendation, upon +which he got taken on as a sailor, in Wisman."</p> + +<p class="normal">Axel ran about the room. "It is not possible! I cannot have been so +shamefully betrayed!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah! and the people say, also, that the two had planned it all out, +beforehand; but that I do not believe."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And why not? What was the old sinner contriving with the woman, behind +my back? The fellow, who had always been sober before, must be +intoxicated, at this particular time!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, but the burgomeister of Rahnstadt himself noticed that."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, the burgomeister! What could one do, with such a trial-justice? +Now he thinks it was a poor weaver's wife who stole the money from the +laborer on the highway. And why? Merely because she tried to get change +for a Danish double louis-d'or, which she had found; for she sticks to +that story, and the wise Herr Burgomeister has been obliged to let her +go.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, and the one who saw the louis-d'or, Kurz, the shop keeper, is a +connection of Habermann's."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah!" cried Axel, "I would give a thousand thalers more, if I could get +to the bottom of this meanness."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It would be a hard task," said Pomuchelskopp, "but, in the first +place, I would--when does he go?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Habermann? To-morrow."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, I would examine his books with the greatest care; there is no +knowing but they may be wrong, also. Look particularly at the money +account; one often finds out something in that way. He seems to be in +pretty good circumstances; he is going to live in Rahnstadt, on his +interest. Well, he has been in a good place, for many years; but I know +for a certainty, that he had old debts to pay which were not +insignificant. Lately, as I have learned from Slusuhr, the notary, he +has done a considerable money business at high rates of interest, with +his few groschen, perhaps also with money belonging to the estate."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh!" exclaimed Axel, "and once when I asked him"--he stopped abruptly, +not wishing to betray himself, but a feeling of hatred arose in him, as +he thought that Habermann might have helped him then, and would not, +because he did not offer him high enough interest.</p> + +<p class="normal">Nothing of importance was said, after this, for each had enough to +occupy him in his own thoughts; and when Pomuchelskopp drove home, well +satisfied with his management, he left the young Herr von Rambow in +such a bitter, venomous state of mind, that he was angry with himself +and everybody else, and could not sleep the whole night, for hateful +thoughts.</p> + +<p class="normal">In a third room, at Pumpelhagen, was another lonely man; Habermann sat +before his desk, with his books lying open, and was going over the last +month's accounts once more. Ever since he had managed for his young +Herr, he had brought in his accounts, every quarter, for examination; +but at one time the young Herr was too hurried to attend to them, and +at another he said; "Yes it is all right;" but scarcely looked at them, +and again he said it was quite unnecessary for him to examine them. +Habermann, however, had not taken advantage of this neglect; he kept +his books very carefully, as he had always been in the habit of doing, +and insisted that Fritz Triddelsitz should put down his grain account +regularly, every week, and on this point, if anything was wrong, he +scolded Fritz much more sharply, than about other things.</p> + +<p class="normal">As the old man sat at his work, Fritz came in, and asked about one +thing and another connected with his journey to Demmin, and when +Habermann had given him his instructions, and he was going out, the old +man called after him, "Triddelsitz, have you made out your grain +account?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said Fritz, "that is, I have begun it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, I wish you to finish it, this evening, and take care that it +balances better than the last."</p> + +<p class="normal">"All right," said Fritz, and went out. Daniel Sadenwater came in, and +brought the inspector a letter; the old man got up, and seated himself +by the window, and when he recognized Franz's hand, his heart beat +quicker, and as he read and read, his eyes grew bright, a great joy +beamed upon his heart and thawed all the frost and ice which had lately +gathered there, just as the sun melts the snow from the roofs, and it +falls in drops to the ground. He read and read, and his eyes grew +moist, and tears dropped softly on the paper.</p> + +<p class="normal">Franz wrote him how he had heard that Habermann was to leave +Pumpelhagen, and was now, therefore, free; that, under the +circumstances, the consideration he had hitherto exercised toward Axel +must give way to Franz's own earnest wishes, which left him no peace, +and drove him, though in spite of her father's request, to write to +Louise herself; and he enclosed a letter which he begged Habermann to +deliver to his daughter, and which he hoped might make three people +truly happy.</p> + +<p class="normal">The old man's hands trembled, as he laid the letter to his child in his +pocketbook, his knees shook, as he walked up and down, so much was he +agitated by the thought that upon the step which he was about to take +depended the happy or unhappy future of his child; he seated himself in +the sofa-corner, and it was long before he was composed enough to look +at the matter with deliberation. So the morning sea rages in wild +waves, and at noon, they are less boisterous, but it still looks dark +and threatening over the water, and at evening the smooth mirror +reflects the blue heavens, and the light summer clouds drift across it, +and the setting sun frames the picture in his golden rays.</p> + +<p class="normal">So it was with the old man; as the waves of emotion subsided, grave +thoughts came over him; he asked himself, earnestly and carefully, +whether it would be right for him to yield, whether he would violate +his obligations, if he said, "Yes," against the will of his young +master.</p> + +<p class="normal">But what obligations had he, to a man who had rewarded him with +ingratitude, who had driven him away, almost with shame and disgrace? +None at all. And the pride rose in him, which one in a dependent +position must so often repress, and which he only knows, who has a +clear conscience; he would no longer sacrifice his best, most sacred +feelings, to the ingratitude of an unreasonable boy, or the happiness +of his child to an unjust, aristocratic prejudice. And when he had +reached this conclusion, out of the tranquil sea shone the reflection +of a lovely evening sky, and he sat long, gazing at the future of his +two children, as at bright summer clouds drifting over it, and out of +doors the setting sun was shining on the white snow, and its beams fell +upon his white hair.</p> + +<p class="normal">While he sat, absorbed in these happy thoughts, the door opened +hastily, and Krischan Degel rushed in: "Herr Inspector, you must come, +the Rubens mare has a dreadful colic, and I don't know what to do for +her." The old man sprang up, and went in haste to the stables.</p> + +<p class="normal">Scarcely had he gone, when Fritz Triddelsitz came in, carrying his +travelling-bag, and the books for the circulating library, with some +shirts and his proprietor's uniform, in which he meant to cut a figure +at Demmin, and depositing them on a chair by the window, was about to +begin packing when his eye fell upon Habermann's account-book, for the +old man, in his agitation, had forgotten to put his book away.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That just suits me," said Fritz, and took the book to enter his grain +account, but he must carry it to the window, for it was growing quite +dark.</p> + +<p class="normal">He had not quite finished, when Krischan Degel rushed in again.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr Triddelsitz, you are to go immediately--quick! to the granary, +and bring a wrapping cloth, we are going to pack the mare in wet +sheets."</p> + +<p class="normal">When Fritz heard some one coming, he thrust Habermann's book behind him +in the chair, and as Krischan hurried him off, thrusting the key of the +granary into his hand, he left the book lying there, and ran out. At +the door of the granary, he met Marie Möller, who had just come from +milking. "Marie," said he, "do me the favor just to pack my things in +the bag,--they are all on the chair by the window, and don't forget the +books!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Marie did it, and in the twilight, and lost in her loving reflections, +she packed up Habermann's account book with those which were to go back +to the library.</p> + +<p class="normal">When Habermann returned from the stables he locked up his desk without +any premonition of evil, and the next morning Fritz Triddelsitz was off +at cock-crowing, with his load of wheat, and his travelling-bag, also +without any premonition of evil. When the old inspector had given the +day-laborers their instructions, for the last time, he thought of his +own affairs, and began to put up his luggage, that he might be ready to +leave in the afternoon. He was not quite ready, when Daniel Sadenwater +came in, and called him to the Herr von Rambow.</p> + +<p class="normal">Axel had passed a very restless night, his best thorough-bred mare, on +which he had set great hopes, had been sick, the flea, which +Pomuchelskopp had put in his ear, had stung him, he was annoyed at his +unaccustomed position of managing for himself, and he must pay +Habermann his salary, and also for the outlays which he had made in +paying the laborers' wages, and he did not know how much it would be, +or whether his cash would hold out. He could not humble himself however +before the inspector, who had given him warning, so he must try to make +some difficulty in the business, and discover some reason for refusing +to pay him immediately. Such a reason would be hard to find; but he +could pick a quarrel, and that might answer for a reason. A pitiable +means, although a very usual means; and that Axel should resort to it, +shows how rapidly his pride as a man and a nobleman was declining; but +nothing drives a weak man to underhand ways quicker than the need of +money, when he must keep up appearances, and "poor and proud" is a true +proverb.</p> + +<p class="normal">As Habermann entered, he turned to the window, and looked through the +panes.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is the mare well again?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," said Habermann, "she is still sick, I think it would be best to +send for the horse doctor."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will give orders. But," he added, sitting down, and still gazing +stiffly out of the window, "that comes from there being no proper +supervision of the stables, from feeding the spoiled musty hay."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr von Rambow, you know, yourself, that the hay got wet, this +summer, but it isn't musty. And you yourself undertook the oversight of +the blood-horses, for, a few weeks ago, when I had ordered a slight +alteration in the stable, you forbade it, with hard words, and said you +would take the horses under your own supervision."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Very well! very well!" exclaimed Axel, leaving the window, and walking +up and down the room, "we know all that, it is the old story."</p> + +<p class="normal">Suddenly he stopped before Habermann, and looked him in the face, +though a little unsteadily: "You are going to-day?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said Habermann, "according to our last arrangement----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am not really obliged," interrupted the young Herr, "to let you go +before Easter; you must at least stay till the day after New-Year's."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is true," said Habermann, "but--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, it is all the same," said Axel, "but we must settle our accounts +first. Go and get your books."</p> + +<p class="normal">Habermann went.</p> + +<p class="normal">Axel had already laid his plans, that he might not be embarrassed about +his money affairs; when Habermann came with his books, he would say he +had not time to examine them, and if Habermann insisted, he could mount +his high horse, and say, the day after New Year's would be time enough. +But he was to get off more comfortably, Habermann did not come back. He +waited and waited, but Habermann did not come; at last, he sent Daniel +after him, and with him there came the old man, but in great +excitement, very pale, and crying, as he entered the room: "My God! +what has happened! How is it possible, how can it be!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What is the matter?" inquired Axel.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr von Rambow," cried Habermann, "yesterday afternoon, I balanced my +grain and money accounts, and locked up the book in my desk, and now it +is gone."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, that is admirable!" cried Axel, mockingly, and the seed which +Pomuchelskopp had yesterday planted in his soul began to sprout and +grow, and shoot up, "Yes, that is admirable! So long as no one wanted +the book, it was there safe enough, but as soon as it is wanted, it is +missing!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I beg of you," cried Habermann in anguish, "do not judge so rashly, it +will be found, it must be found," and with that, he ran out again.</p> + +<p class="normal">After a while, he returned, saying, in a weak voice: "It is not there; +it has been stolen from me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, that is charming!" exclaimed Axel, working himself into a passion. +"At one time you say there is never any stealing here,--you know, +about my two thousand thalers,--and another time it must have been +stolen,--just as it suits your convenience."</p> + +<p class="normal">"My God! my God!" cried the old man, "give me time, Herr!" and he +clasped his hands. "Before God, my book is gone!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes!" exclaimed Axel, "and the day-laborer Regel is gone, too, and the +people know <i>how</i> he got away, and my two thousand thalers are also +gone, and people know <i>where</i> they have gone. Were they down in your +book?" asked he, walking up to Habermann, and looking sharply in his +face.</p> + +<p class="normal">The old man looked at him, he looked around him to see where he was, +his folded hands fell apart, and a fearful trembling went through his +limbs, as when a great river breaks up its covering of ice, and the +blood shot through his veins into his face, like the water in the great +river, when it is free, and the blocks of ice tower up and the dam +gives way: 'Ware children of men!</p> + +<p class="normal">"Rascal!" he cried, and sprung at Axel, who had stepped back, as he saw +the passion he had roused. "Rascal!" he cried, "my honest name!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Axel reached towards the corner where a gun was standing.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Rascal!" cried the old man again, "your gun, and my honest name!" and +there ensued a struggle and a wrestling for the weapon, Habermann had +caught it by the barrel, and tried to twist it out of his hand. Bang! +it went off. "Oh, Lord!" cried Axel, and fell backwards towards the +sofa; the old man stood over him, holding the gun in his hand. Then +the door was torn open, and the young Frau rushed in, through the +powder-smoke, to Axel: "Good Heavens, what is this!" and all the love +which she had formerly cherished for him broke, like a ray of sunlight +through the clouds which had obscured it, she threw herself down by +him, and tore open his coat: "My God! my God! Blood!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let it be!" said Axel, trying to raise himself, "it is the arm."</p> + +<p class="normal">The old man stood motionless, the gun in his hand; the stream had gone +back to its bed, but how much human happiness had it ruined in its +overflow! and the meadows and fields of fertile soil were covered with +mud and sand, and it seemed as if nothing could ever grow there again.</p> + +<p class="normal">Daniel came running in, and one of the maids, and, with their help, +Axel was lifted to the sofa, and his coat removed; his arm was +dreadfully torn by the small shot, and the blood streamed to the floor.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Go for the doctor!" cried the young Frau, trying to stanch the blood +with cloths, but what she had at hand was not enough, she sprang up to +fetch more, and must pass Habermann, who still stood there silent and +pale, gazing at his master.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Murderer!" cried she, as she went out, "murderer!" she repeated, as +she came in again; the old man said nothing, but Axel raised himself a +little and said: "No, Frida, no! he is not guilty of that," for even an +insincere man will give his God the glory, when he feels His hand close +to his life; "but," he added, for he could not avoid the old excusing +and accusing, "he is a traitor, a thief. Out of my sight!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The blood shot into the old man's face again, he would have spoken, but +he saw that the young Frau turned away from him, he staggered out of +the door.</p> + +<p class="normal">He went to his room; "He is a traitor, a thief," kept ringing through +his head. He placed himself at the window, and looked out into the +yard, he saw all that was passing, but saw it as in a dream; "A +traitor, a thief," that was all he understood, that alone was real. +Krischan Degel drove out of the yard, he knew he was going for the +doctor, ho opened the window, he wanted to call to him to drive as fast +as possible; but--"a traitor, a thief," he spoke it out, involuntarily; +he closed the window. But the book! The book must be found. The book! +He opened the chests and boxes which he had packed, he scattered his +little possessions all about the room, he fell upon his old knees,--not +to pray, for "he is a traitor, a thief," but to feel with his cane +under his desk, under his chest of drawers, under his bed; he must find +the book, the book! But he found nothing. "A traitor, a thief." He +stood at the window again, he looked out; but he had his cane in his +hand, what did he want of his cane? Would he go out? Yes, he would go +out, he would go away, away from here!--away! He put on his hat, he +went out of the door, and the gate. Whither? It was all one! it made no +difference; but, from old habit, he took the path to Gurlitz. With the +old way, came the old thoughts; "My child! my child!" he cried, "my +honest name!" He felt in his breast pocket, yes, the pocket-book was +there, he had his daughter's happiness in his hands. What should he do +now? He had ruined this letter for his child, it was destroyed forever +with his honest name and by this cursed shot! and the first bitter +tears were wrung from his tormented soul, and with them his good +conscience came back, and its soft hand made room in his constrained +breast, so that he could draw breath again; but his honest name, and +his child's happiness, were gone for ever. Oh, how happy he was +yesterday, sitting in his room, with the letter in his hand that Franz +had written to his daughter, what blessedness that letter was to bring +her, what happiness would bloom from it, what a bright future he had +painted! and now it was all gone and lost, and the brand which was +impressed upon him must burn into the heart of his only child, and +devour and consume it.</p> + +<p class="normal">But what had his child to do with it? Why should it stand in the way of +her happiness? No, no! The curse and disgrace of the father was visited +upon the children, to the fourth generation, and the same thorny hedge, +which would sever him now from all honest people, would interpose +between his child and happiness. But he was innocent! Who would believe +him, if he said so? Those whose white garments of innocence the world +has once soiled with filth must walk in them through life; no one can +wash them clean, even if our Lord should come down from heaven, and do +signs and wonders, that innocence should be brought to light,--the +world would not believe. "Oh!" he cried, "I know the world!" Then his +eye fell upon Gurlitz, upon Pomuchelskopp's manor house, and out of a +corner of his heart, which he had believed forever locked, rose a dark +spirit and spread her black wings over him, so that the bright winter +sunlight no longer fell upon him; this was hate, which sprang up in his +heart. The tears of compassion, which he had wept over his child, dried +in his eyes, and the voice which had spoken in him, against his will, +called again. "A traitor, a thief!" and the dark spirit moved her +wings, and whispered thoughts to him, which flashed out like flames: +"It is his doing, and we are enemies once more!" He went through +Gurlitz, looking neither to the right nor the left, all which he had +held dear had disappeared for him, he was merely conscious of his +hatred, and that drove to a single aim, and in a definite path.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bräsig stood in the way, near the Pastor's barn, he went to meet his +old friend: "Good morning, Karl. Well, how is it? But what ails you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nothing, Bräsig. But leave me, let me alone! Come to-morrow to +Rahnstadt, come to-morrow" and he passed on.</p> + +<p class="normal">As he came to the elevation, beyond Gurlitz, from which Axel had first +shown his young wife his fair estate of Pumpelhagen, and where her warm +heart had throbbed with such pure joy, he stood still, and looked back; +it was the last point from which he could see the place where he had +lived so many happy years, where he had suffered such fearful anguish, +and where his honor and happiness had been turned to disgrace and +misery. A tempest raged in his soul. "Miserable wretch! Liar! And she? +'Murderer,' she called me, and yet again, 'murderer!' and when she had +spoken the shameful word she turned herself away from me. Your +unhappiness will not wait long,--I could, and would, have turned it +aside, I have watched over you, like a faithful dog, and like a dog, +you have thrust me out; but"--and he walked on toward Rahnstadt, and +hate hovered over him, on her dark wings.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXI.</h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">In Rahnstadt, in the Frau Pastorin's house, there was great running up +and down stairs, the day after Christmas, for Louise was putting the +last touches to the arrangement of her father's room: and when she +would think, now it was all ready, there was always something more that +she must do for his comfort. Noon came; but her father had not yet +arrived, although they expected him to dinner; she put a plate for him, +however, for he might still come.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I don't know," she said to the Frau Pastorin, "why my heart is so +heavy today."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What?" cried the little Frau, "only three months in the city, and +already having premonitions, like a tea-drinking city lady? What has +become of my fresh little country girl?" and she patted her daughter's +cheek, affectionately.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," said Louise, taking the friendly hand, and holding it fast in her +own, "I do not mind such vague presentiments, mine are unfortunately +very definite misgivings, whether my father will feel contented here, +in the loss of his usual occupations, and will accustom himself to city +life."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Child, you talk as if Rahnstadt were a Residence; no,--thank God! the +geese go barefoot here, as well as in Pumpelhagen, and if your father +takes pleasure in agricultural industry, he can see our neighbor on the +right carting manure with two horses, and our neighbor on the left with +three; and if he enjoys conversation about farming he has only to turn +to our landlord, Kurz, who will talk to him about renting fields, and +such matters, till he is as weary of them as we are."</p> + +<p class="normal">Louise laughed, and as they rose from dinner, she said, "So, mother, +now lie down and rest a little, and I will walk along the Gurlitz road, +and perhaps I shall meet my father."</p> + +<p class="normal">She wrapped her cloak around her, and tied a warm hood over her head, +and went along the road, where she was constantly in the habit of +walking, for it brought her nearer to the place where she had been so +happy, and when she had time she walked as far as the little rising +ground from which she could see Gurlitz, with the church, the +parsonage, and the church-yard, and if she had still more time, she +went on to see Lining and Gottlieb, and to talk with them of old and +new times. She walked on and on, but her father came not, the east wind +blew in her face, and colored her cheeks rosy red, till her lovely +countenance looked out of the dark hood like a bright spring day, when +it shines out of dark rain-clouds, filling the world with joy and hope. +But the water stood in her eyes; was that because of the east wind? Was +it because she was looking so sharply along the road for her father? +Was it because of her thoughts? No, it was not the east wind, for she +had stopped, and was looking towards the west, and yet her eyes were +full of tears; it was not from looking for her father, for she was +gazing in the opposite direction, where the sun, like a ball of fire, +was just sinking behind the black fir-trees; it must have been her +thoughts. Such thoughts as, in joy and grief, play around a young +heart, entwining it as with a wreath of roses, so that it rejoices in +utter gladness, and again weeps bitterly, when the thorns of the +rose-wreath wound it to bleeding. But why was she looking westward? Ah, +she knew that he was there, who sent her from thence the dearest +greetings.</p> +<div class="poem"> +<p class="t0" style="text-indent:-6px +"> +"Westward, oh, westward fly, my keel,</p> +<p class="t1">Westward my heart aspires,</p> +<p class="t0">My dying eyes will look to thee,</p> +<p class="t1">Thou goal of my desires!"</p> +</div> + +<p class="normal">The old rhyme whispered itself in her ear, and she stood there flushing +rosy-red, full of sweet unrest over the secret power that spoke in her +heart, like a bright spring day when it goes to rest, and the glowing +clouds promise another fair day for the morrow.</p> + +<p class="normal">She went farther, to the elevation where her father had stood, a couple +of hours before, and tasted the bitterness with which his fellow-men +had filled his cup; she stood there, looking towards Pumpelhagen and +Gurlitz, and the love which she had received from her fellow-creatures, +in these places, overflowed her heart, and the curses uttered in hatred +and misery, by that poor old heart, were washed away from the tablets +of the recording angel, by the daughter's prayers, and her tears of +love and thankfulness.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was a mile from Rahnstadt to Gurlitz, and the winter sun was near +its setting; she must go home. Then she saw a man approaching from +Gurlitz, it might be her father, she stood still awhile, looking; no, +it was not her father! and she went on, but turned round again to look, +and now perceived that it was Uncle Bräsig, who was hurrying up to her.</p> + +<p class="normal">"God bless you, Louise! How? Why are you standing here, on the open +road, in this bitter wind? Why don't you go in, and see the young folks +at the parsonage?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, Uncle Bräsig, not to-day. I merely came out to meet my father."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What? Karl Habermann? Why, isn't he with you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, not yet."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But he went through Gurlitz, this morning, about half past twelve."</p> + +<p class="normal">"He has been here? Oh, where can he be?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Bräsig remembered Habermann's agitated appearance, and, seeing the +anxiety of his child, he tried to comfort her: "It is often the case +with us farmers, we have one thing here, and another there, to attend +to; possibly he has gone over to Gulzow, or possibly he may be already +in Rahnstadt, attending to some business there. But I will go with you, +my child," he added, "for I have business in Rahnstadt, and shall stay +all night, and get back my three thalers from that sly rogue of a Kurz, +the syrup-prince, which he won from me at Boston. It is our club-day."</p> + +<p class="normal">When they had gone a little way, they were met by a chaise from +Rahnstadt. It contained Krischan Däsel and Dr. Strump. The doctor +stopped, saying, "Have you heard? Herr von Rambow has met with an +accident, with a fowling-piece; he has shot himself in the arm. But I +have no time, the coachman was obliged to wait for me a great while; I +was not at home. Go ahead!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What is this?" cried Louise. "Has my father left Pumpelhagen, when +such an accident has just happened? He would not have done that."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It may have occurred since he left," said Bräsig, but when he thought +of Habermann's appearance that morning, he did not believe his own +excuse. Louise grew more and more anxious, and hastened with quicker +steps. Between her father's delay and the accident at Pumpelhagen she +could find no probable connection, and yet it seemed to her that they +must have something to do with each other.</p> + +<p class="normal">Meanwhile, Habermann had arrived in Rahnstadt, at the Frau Pastorin's. +He had turned off from the direct road, and made a circuit, until he +could collect himself, that he might not appear before his child in +such fearful excitement. As he entered the Frau Pastorin's door, he had +indeed controlled himself, but the terrible conflict he had just fought +out in his heart left a lassitude and weariness, which made him look +ten years older, and could not but strike the little Frau immediately. +She sprang up, letting the coffee boil over, which she was taking off, +and cried:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good heavens! Habermann, what is the matter? Are you sick?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No--yes, I believe so. Where is Louise?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"She went to look for you, didn't you meet her? But sit down! Bless me, +how exhausted you look!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Habermann sat down, and looked about the room, as if to see whether he +were alone with the Frau Pastorin.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Habermann, tell me, what ails you?" said the little Frau, grasping his +cold hands in her own.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is all over with me; I must go through the world, henceforth, as a +useless and dishonored man."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, no! no! Don't talk like that!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"That the opportunity of working should be taken from me, I can bear, +though it is hard; but that I should also lose my honest name, that +pierces me to the heart, that I cannot bear."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And who should take that from you?" asked the Frau Pastorin, looking +him trustfully in the eyes.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The people who know it best, the Herr von Rambow and his wife," said +the old man, and began to tell the story with a weak, and often broken, +voice; but when he came to the end, how the young Frau had also +deserted him, had turned her back upon him, and let him go out of the +door, as a thief and a traitor, then his anger broke out, he sprang +from his chair, and walked up and down the room, with gleaming eyes and +clenched fist, as if he were ready for combat with the wicked world.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh," he cried, "if that were only all! But they have injured me more +cruelly than they know, they have ruined my child's happiness along +with mine. There! read it, Frau Pastorin!" and he gave her the letter +from Franz. She read, the sheet trembling in her hand, so greatly had +the story excited her, while he stood before her, and looked at her, +without once turning away his eyes.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Habermann," she said, grasping his hand, when she had read it, "don't +you see the finger of God? The injury which one cousin has done you, +shall be made up to you by the other."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, Frau Pastorin," said he sternly, "I should be the scoundrel which +the world will henceforth deem me, if I could let a brave, trustful man +take to his house a wife with a dishonored name. Poor and honest! For +all I care! But dishonest? never!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dear heart!" cried the little Frau, "where is my Pastor, now? If my +Pastor were only here! He could help and counsel us.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That he could," said Habermann, to himself. "I cannot do it," he +cried, "my child must decide for herself, and you must help her, you +have done more to educate her sense of right and wrong, than I alas! +have been able to do. If my child considers it right and honourable, in +spite of everything, to accept his offer, if you yourself agree with +her, then let it be! I will exert no influence in the matter, I will +not see her, until she has decided. Here is a letter from Franz to her, +give it to her, telling her, beforehand, what has happened; just as I +have told you, is the truth. I will go up to my room; I cannot, I dare +not touch a finger." He left the room, but came back again; "Frau +Pastorin, consult her happiness only, have no regard for mine! Forget +what I said before. I will do what I can to keep my dishonoured name in +concealment."</p> + +<p class="normal">He went out again, saying to himself as he mounted the stairs, "I +cannot do otherwise, I cannot do otherwise." As he threw himself down +on the sofa, in his little room, and everywhere about him saw the hand +of his daughter, how she had arranged and ordered everything for his +comfort, he put his hand over his eyes, and wept. "Shall I lose all +this?" He sighed deeply. "And why not? why not? If it is for her +happiness," he cried aloud, "I will never see her again!" The +house-door opened, he heard Bräsig's voice, he heard the bright +greeting of his child. All was still again, he listened for every +sound. Now Frau Pastorin was telling what had happened, now his +darling's heart was torn. Slowly there came steps up the stairs; Bräsig +came in, looking as silent and composed as if death were walking over +his grave, his eyebrows, which he generally raised so high when +anything unusual occurred, lay deep and heavy over his eyes, he said +nothing but "I know, Karl, I know all," and sat down by his friend, on +the sofa.</p> + +<p class="normal">So they sat long, in the half-twilight, and neither spoke; at last +Bräsig grasped Habermann's hand: "Karl," said he, "we have known each +other these fifty years. Don't you remember, at old Knirkstädt's? What +a pleasant youth we had! always contented and joyous! and, excepting a +couple of foolish jokes that we played together, we have, upon the +whole, nothing to reproach ourselves with. Karl, it is a comfortable +sort of feeling, when one can look back upon old days, and say, +'Follies, to be sure, but nothing base!'"</p> + +<p class="normal">Habermann shrank back, and drew his hand away.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Karl," said Bräsig again, "a good conscience is a fine thing, when one +is growing old, and it is noticeable, quite noticeable, how this good +conscience stands by us when we are old, and will not leave us. Karl, +my dear old boy!" and he fell upon Habermann's neck, and wept bitterly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bräsig," said Habermann, "don't make my heart heavy, it is heavy +enough already."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh, how, Karl! How can your heart be heavy? Your heart is as pure as +Job's; it should be as light as a lark, which mounts in the clear +heavens; for this story of the infamous--no, I won't talk about that; I +would say---- Why, what were we talking about? Yes, so! about the +conscience. It is a wonderful thing, about the conscience, Karl! For +instance, there is Kurz, with his, for he has one, as well as you and +I, and I suppose he will stand before God with it sometime; but before +me he stands very badly, for he peeps at the cards, when we play +Boston; he has a sort of groschens-conscience; for, you see, in great +things, he is quite correct, for example, in renting the house to the +Frau Pastorin; but ell-wise, and pot-wise and pound-wise, he takes what +he can get, he isn't at all ashamed, that is when he can get anything; +when he don't get anything he is ashamed of himself. And let me tell +you, Karl, if you live here, you must have a good deal of intercourse +with him, and that pleasure will be a good deal like his conscience, +for he is fond of discoursing about farming, and it is as if he were +taking a drive for pleasure in a manure-cart. It will be no pleasure to +you, and so I have thought, when I have seen our young pastor through +his spring seed-time, and everything is in train, I will come over here +to you, and we can cheer each other up a little; and then in harvest +time, we can go out to Gurlitz, to keep the poor fellow from getting +into difficulties; and he will not, for Jürn is a considerate fellow, +and he himself begins,--thank God,--to do all sorts of useful things, +with Lining's assistance. And when he has finished his first year, you +shall see, he will be quite rid of his Pietistry, but we must let him +struggle a little sometimes, that he may learn to know himself and the +world, and find that there is something more in human life than to read +psalm-books. Yes, and then I will come to you, Karl, and we will live +as they do in Paris, and you shall see, Karl, this last quarter of our +lives shall be the best piece of the whole ox."</p> + +<p class="normal">And he embraced him again, and talked of past times and future, +alternately, like a mother trying to divert her child to other +thoughts. The moon shone in at the window, and what can better heal a +torn heart, than its soft light, and the love of an old, tried friend, +who has been true to us? I always think that the bright, warm sunshine +is more suitable for love, but with friendship, the moonlight +harmonizes best.</p> + +<p class="normal">While they were sitting thus, the door opened, and, with light step, a +slender form entered the room, and remained standing, in the full +moonlight, the arms crossed on her breast, and the white face gleaming +in the moonshine, as if it were a statue of white marble, against a +dark wall of yew-trees: "Was hat man Dir, Du armes Kind, gethan?"<a name="div2Ref_07" href="#div2_07"><sup>[7]</sup></a></p> + +<p class="normal">Bräsig left the room, without speaking. Habermann covered his eyes with +his hand as if something pierced him to his inmost heart. The slender +form threw itself at his side, the folded arms opened to embrace him, +and the white face pressed itself to his. For a long time, there was +silence, at last the old man heard light, soft words breathed in his +ear: "I know what you think right; I am your child--am I not? Your +darling child."</p> + +<p class="normal">Habermann threw his arm about his darling child.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Father, father!" she cried, "we will not part! My other father, who is +now with God, has told me how you would not be separated from me, when +you were in the deepest trouble and sorrow, when the good laborer's +wife wanted to keep me; now you are again in trouble and sorrow, would +you be parted from me <i>now</i>? should I leave you <i>now</i>?" and she +pressed +him to her heart, saying softly, "thy name is my name, thy honor is my +honor, thy life is my life."</p> + +<p class="normal">Much was spoken, in the sweet moonlight, in the cozy little room, but +of all this nothing shall be betrayed, for when a faithful father and a +loving child talk thus together, talk for their whole lives, our Lord +himself is with them, and it is not for the world, 'tis for the two +alone.</p> + +<p class="normal">Down-stairs, in the Frau Pastorin's living-room, it was quite +different. Frau Pastorin sat in her arm-chair, and cried bitterly; the +dear, good Frau was quite beside herself,--Habermann's misfortune had +moved her deeply,--but when she must rouse this fearful conflict in the +breast of her dear child, when she saw the struggle going on, and +afterwards saw confidence and courage getting the mastery in that dear +heart, in spite of wounds and sorrow, she felt as if she had +maliciously destroyed the happiness of her child, and her poor heart +was torn with self-reproach and sorrow and compassion, till she broke +out into bitter weeping. Bräsig, on the contrary, had used up his +compassion, he had done his utmost, when with Habermann, to keep back +his wrath against the wretchedness of mankind, and when he came down to +the Frau Pastorin, and, in the darkness, was not aware of her distress, +he broke loose:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Infamous pack of Jesuits! What? Such a man as Karl Habermann, would +you destroy his honor and reputation? It is like Satan himself! It is +as if one held the cat, and the other stabbed it. Curses on them----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bräsig, Bräsig, I beseech you," cried the little Frau Pastorin, "stop +this unchristian behavior!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do you call that unchristian behavior? It seems to me like a song of +the holy angels in Paradise, if I compare it with the scurvy tricks of +this pack of Jesuits."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bräsig, we are not the judges of these people."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know very well, Frau Pastorin, I am not the magistrate, and you are +not in the judge's chair, but when a toad hops across my path, you +cannot expect me to look upon it as a beautiful canary bird. No, Frau +Pastorin, toads are toads, and Zamel Pomuchelskopp is the chief toad, +who has spit his venom upon us all. What do you say to his chicanery +that he has contrived against me? You see, in the one foot-path, which +has led to the pastor's acre, for this thousand years, so far as I +know, he has had a stake put up, so that we cannot go there, and he +sent word to me that if I went there, he would have my boots pulled +off, and let me go hopping about in the snow, like a crow. Do you call +that a Christian disposition? But I will complain of him. Shall such a +fellow as that liken me to a crow? And Pastor Gottlieb must complain of +him. How can he forbid him the foot-path? And young Jochen must +complain of him, for he has said openly, young Jochen was an old +blockhead, and young Jochen is not obliged to put up with that. And you +must complain of him, because he would not build a widow-house, since +all the people have told me there must be Acts about it. And Karl +Habermann must complain of the young Herr. We must organize revolution +against the Jesuits, and if I can have my way, we will all drive +to-morrow, in a carryall, to Gustrow, to the court of justice, and +complain of the whole company, and we will take along five advocates, +so that each may have one, and then, hurrah for a lawsuit!"</p> + +<p class="normal">If he had known that Louise had suffered most from the Jesuits, he +might have proposed taking another advocate for her; but as yet, he had +no suspicion of her troubles. Frau Pastorin tried to pacify him, but it +was not an easy task, he wanted to turn everything topsy-turvy, and the +misfortunes of his old friend had so agitated his heart, that the +troubles which usually lay in its depths, the farm-boy angers, and the +card-playing vexations, all came to the surface. "I came over here," +said he, "to amuse myself, since it was club-day, and to win back my +three thalers from that old toad of an evil-doer, that Kurz, which he +got out of me with his infamous cheating, and now the devil must hold +his confounded spy-glass before my eyes, and bring all the wickedness +of the world right into the neighborhood. Well, I call that amusing! +And Frau Pastorin, if you don't think ill of it, I might spend the +night here with you, for this stupid game of Boston will come to +nothing, and it would be a good thing for me to sleep with Karl, +because he needs somebody to cheer him up."</p> + +<p class="normal">Frau Pastorin said she should be glad to have him stay, and the evening +was spent in maledictions on his side, and efforts at pacification upon +hers. Habermann and Louise did not appear, and when Bräsig went up to +his old friend, Louise was no longer there.</p> + +<p class="normal">The next morning Bräsig took leave of his old friend, with these words:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Rely upon it, Karl, I will drive to Pumpelhagen, myself, and look +after your affairs. You shall get everything, though it makes me creep +all over, to cross a threshold where you have been thrust out so +infamously."</p> + +<p class="normal">The same morning, Habermann sat down and wrote to Franz; he told him +truly and circumstantially what had happened lately in Pumpelhagen, he +wrote of the dreadful conclusion the matter had arrived at, and +informed him of the shameful suspicions which had fallen upon him, and +finished with the statement that he and his child were of one mind, +they must refuse his offer. He wanted to write warmly and heartily of +the friendship which he felt for the young man, but he could not speak +freely, as before, he seemed constrained. At last he begged him +earnestly, to leave him and his child to themselves; they two must bear +their fate, alone.</p> + +<p class="normal">Louise wrote also, and when, towards evening, the Frau Pastorin's maid +took the letter to the post, she stood at the window, and looked after +her, as if she had taken leave of her dearest friend in the world +forever. She looked at the sun, which was going down in the west, and +murmured, "My dying eyes shall look to thee, thou goal of my desires." +But she did not turn red as yesterday, she stood there pale, and, as +the last rays of the sun disappeared behind the houses, a deep sigh +rose from her oppressed heart, and as she turned away bitter tears +flowed down her pale cheeks. The tears flowed not for her lost +happiness, no, for his.</p> + +<p class="normal">As Bräsig came to the parsonage, the young Frau Pastorin met him at the +door; "God bless you, Uncle Bräsig, I am glad you have come here,--no, +not here, in Pumpelhagen there are dreadful stories. Dr. Strump has +been here,--our Jürn was taken sick suddenly, last night, he was +delirious,--and I ran for the doctor, who had been at Pumpelhagen, to +speak to him as he passed through the village,--and he told me dreadful +things,--not he, properly speaking, he only let himself be questioned, +but his coachman told me that--ah, come in, it blows so out here!" and +she drew him into the house. Here she told him all that the people +said, that her dear Uncle Habermann had shot Axel, and had gone off, +nobody knew where, but probably to take his own life. Bräsig comforted +her with news that Habermann was alive, and told her about the +shooting, then inquired how it was with the young Herr, and learned +that Dr. Strump did not think it a dangerous case. He then went to see +Jürn, who apparently had an attack of pneumonia. By this time, it was +noon, and he must pursue his journey to Pumpelhagen, to attend to +Habermann's affairs, and must also look out for another coachman. He +inquired about in the village, but nobody would go to drive, and help +him to load the goods; one had this, another that excuse, and finally +he resolved to play coachman himself, when old Ruhrdanz, the weaver, +said, "Well, it is all one to me, what he says to it; if he wants to +chicane me, he may. I will drive you, Herr Inspector."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bräsig made no objections, being very glad to find some one to help him +with the loading, and they drove off.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ruhrdanz," asked Bräsig, "what did you mean by chicaning?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why, Herr, he has forbidden us all to do anything for the folks at the +parsonage; we must not even take a step for them."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who has forbidden you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh, he, our Herr Pomuchelskopp."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Infamous Jesuit!" said Bräsig to himself.</p> + +<p class="normal">"If we did so, he told us, we might fodder our cows next winter on +sawdust, he wouldn't give us a handful of hay or straw, and we might +build with bricks, for he would give us no wood or turf."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bräsig turned dark with anger, but the old man was fairly launched, and +went on, under full sail:</p> + +<p class="normal">"And we must be always ready for him, night or day. I was out for him, +the whole holiday, and got home last night, at ten o'clock."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Where did you go?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh, to Ludswigslust, to the old railroad."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What had you to do there."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh, I had nothing to do there."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But you must have had business there."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why, yes, I had business; but it came to nothing, for he had no +papers."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, what was it, then?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You see, he sent down from the Court, I should drive a ram down to the +old railroad; well, I did so, and we got there all right. There was a +fellow standing at the station; he let me pass, and I said to him, +'Good morning,' says I, 'here he is.' 'Who?' he asked. 'The ram.' says +I. 'What of him?' says he. 'Well, I don't know,' says I. 'Has he any +papers?' asked he. 'No,' says I, 'he hasn't any papers.' 'Blockhead,' +says he, 'I asked if <i>he</i><a name="div2Ref_08" href="#div2_08"><sup>[8]</sup></a> +had any papers.' 'No,' says I, 'I told you +before, the ram has no papers.' 'Thunder and lightning!' says he, 'I +asked if <i>he himself</i> had any papers.' 'What?' says I, 'if I? What do I +want of papers? I was to deliver him here.' You see, the fellow was +undecided, and first he turned me out, and then he put out the old ram +after me, and there we both stood by the train. Huiüü! said the old +thing, and then it went off, and we stood there, he had no papers, and +I had no papers, and what should I do about it? I loaded him in again, +and drove back home. And when I went up to the house, last evening, +there was a great uproar, and I thought our Herr would eat me up, he +flew at me so. But what did I know? If he must have papers, he should +have given them to somebody. But so much I know, if our Herr were not +such a great Herr, and if he hadn't such a stiff backbone, and if we +all held together, we would try a tussle with him. And his old Register +of a wife is a thousand times worse than himself! Didn't she beat my +neighbor Kapphingsten's girl half dead, last spring? She beat the girl +three times with a broomstick, and shut her up in the shed, and starved +her, and why? Because a hawk had carried off a chicken. Was it her +fault that the hawk carried off the chicken, and was it my fault that +he had given me no papers?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Bräsig listened to all this, and, though yesterday he wanted to start a +revolution against Pomuchelskopp, to-day he kept perfectly still, for +he would never have forgiven himself, if he had, by a thoughtless word, +excited the people against their master.</p> + +<p class="normal">They came to Pumpelhagen, and drove up to the farm-house door. With a +great leap, Fritz Triddelsitz came out of the house to Bräsig: "Herr +Inspector, Hen Inspector! I truly could not help it, Marie Möller +packed the book up, through an oversight, and when I went to change my +clothes, in Demmin, there was the book."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What book?" asked Bräsig hastily.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good gracious! Habermann's book, that all this uproar has been about."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And that book," said Bräsig, catching Fritz by the collar, and shaking +him, till his teeth chattered in his head, "you infamous greyhound, did +you take that book to Demmin with you?" and he gave him a push towards +the door: "In with you! Bring me the book!"</p> + +<p class="normal">With fear and trembling, Fritz brought out the book; Bräsig snatched it +from his hand. "Infamous greyhound! Do you know what you have done? The +man who in his kindness and love has tried to make a man of you, who +has covered all your stupidities with a silken mantle, you have ruined, +you have brought into this shameful quarrel."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr Inspector, Herr Inspector!" cried Fritz, deadly pale, "Oh, Lord! +it wasn't my fault, Marie Möller packed up the book, and I rode from +Demmin to-day, in two hours, to bring it back again as soon as +possible."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Marie Möller!" cried Bräsig, "what have you to do with Marie Möller? +Oh, if I were your Herr Father, or your Frau Mother, or even your Frau +Aunt, I would lash you till you ran like a squirrel along the wall. +What have you to do with that old goose of a Marie Möller? And do you +think to make up for your stupidity by gallopping over the public road? +Shall the innocent beast suffer for your fault? But come now, come +before the board! Come before the judgment seat, to the gracious Frau! +You shall tell her how it has all happened, and then you can go and +parade with Marie Möller."</p> + +<p class="normal">And with that, he went off, and Fritz followed slowly behind, his heart +full of misgivings.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Announce me, with the young man, to the gracious Frau," said Bräsig, +to Daniel Sadenwater, when they came to the porch, and he pointed to +Fritz. Daniel made a sort of half-grown bow, and went. Fritz stood +there, like butter in the sun, making a face, which came very readily +to him, since his days at Parchen, because he used to make it when +there was a conference of teachers, and his misdeeds came up for +judgment. Bräsig stood bent up in the corner, with the book under his +arm, and tugged alternately at his left and right boot-straps, that his +yellow tops might appear to the best advantage. When the gracious Frau +came, and went into the living-room, he followed her, quite red from +the stooping and his excitement, and Fritz, very pale, went in behind +him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You wished to speak to me, Herr Inspector?" asked the young Frau, +looking now at Bräsig, and now at Triddelsitz.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, gracious Frau, but I would first beg you graciously to hear what +this Apothecary's son, this--infamous greyhound,"--he was going to say, +but restrained himself--"young man has to say, he has a fine story to +tell you."</p> + +<p class="normal">The young Frau turned a questioning glance upon Fritz, and the old +fellow began to stammer out his story, growing first red, and then +pale, and told it pretty much as it happened, only that he left out +Marie Möller's name, ending with, "And so the book came, by an +oversight, into my travelling bag."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Out with Marie Möller!" cried Bräsig, "the truth must finally come to +light!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said Fritz, "Marie Möller packed it up; I had so much to do that +day."</p> + +<p class="normal">The young Frau was greatly disturbed. "So it was all only an unhappy +accident?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes gracious Frau, it was so," said Bräsig, "and here is the book, and +here, on the last page, is Habermann's account, and there are four +hundred thalers due him, beside his salary, and it is right, and +balances, for Karl Habermann never makes mistakes, and when we were +boys he used to excel me myself, in the accuracy of his reckoning."</p> + +<p class="normal">The young Frau took the book with trembling hand, and as she, without +thinking of it, noticed the sum total on the last page, the thought +shot confusedly through her mind, Habermann was innocent of this +charge, why not of the other, in which she had never believed? Fritz's +story could not be an invention, and she had done the man the bitterest +injustice; but he had shot her husband! In that, she found a sort of +excuse, and she said, "But for God's sake, how could he shoot at Axel?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Gracious Frau," said Bräsig, raising his eyebrows very high, and +putting on his most serious expression, "with your favor, those are +abominable lies; the young Herr took aim at him, and as Habermann was +trying to wrest the gun from him, it went off, and that is the whole +truth, and I know all about it, because he told me himself, and he +never lies."</p> + +<p class="normal">Dear heart, she knew that, and she knew also, that so much could not be +said of her husband; at the first, in his first excitement, he had +said, "He is not a murderer," but since then, he had constantly +affirmed that Habermann had shot him. She sat down, and laid her hand +over her eyes, and tried to take counsel with herself; but it was of no +use; she collected herself with an effort, and said, "You have come, I +suppose, to receive the money for the inspector; my husband is +suffering, I cannot disturb him now, but I will send it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, gracious Frau, I did <i>not</i> come for that," said Bräsig, drawing +himself up, "I came here to tell the truth, I came here to defend my +old friend, who was my playmate sixty years ago."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You have no need to do that, if your friend has a good conscience, and +I believe he has."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I see, by this remark, gracious Frau, that you know human nature very +poorly. Man has two consciences, the one inside of him, and that no +devil can take from him, but the other is outside of him, and that is +his good name, and that any scamp may take from him, if he has the +power, and is clever enough, and can kill him before the world, for man +lives not for himself alone, he lives also for the world. And these +wicked rumors are like the thistles, that the devil and his servants +sow in our fields, they stand there, and the better the soil is the +bigger they grow, and they blossom and go to seed, and when the top is +ripe, then comes the wind,--no man knows whence it cometh or whither it +goeth, and it carries the down from the thistle-top all over the field, +and next year the whole field is full of them, and men stand there and +scold, but no one will take hold and pull up the weeds, for fear of +getting his fingers pricked. And you, gracious Frau, have also been +afraid of pricking your fingers, when you let my old friend be driven +out of your house, as a traitor and a thief, and I wanted to tell you +that, and to tell you that <i>that</i> hurt my Karl Habermann the worst of +all. And now farewell! I have nothing more to say." With that, he left +the room, and Fritz followed him.</p> + +<p class="normal">And Frida? Where was the bright young wife with her clear eyes and +sound understanding, who looked at everything so sensibly and quietly? +This was not the same woman, the cool, intelligent composure had +changed to restless agitation, and before the clear eyes lay a shadow, +which hindered her from looking about her. "Ah," she exclaimed, "untrue +again! All these suspicions are merely the progeny of lies, of +self-deception and the most unmanly weakness! And my distress for him, +my love for him, must make me a sharer in his wrong, I must give a +deadly wound to this honest heart that loved me so truly! But I will +tell him!"--she sprang up,--"I will tear away this web of lies!" but +she sank down again, in weakness; "no, not yet; I cannot; he is too +ill." Ah, she was right; insincerity and falsehood surround in a wide +circle even the most upright heart, and come nearer and nearer, and +draw it into the whirlpool, till it no longer knows whether it is out +or in, when cool composure is lost, and considerate thought is absorbed +in fear or hope.</p> + +<p class="normal">When Bräsig came to his wagon, Ruhrdanz, with the help of Krischan +Däsel and others, had packed nearly all the goods, and what was left +soon found a place. Bräsig was getting into the wagon by Ruhrdanz, when +Fritz Triddelsitz held him fast: "Herr Inspector, I beg of you, tell +Herr Habermann that I am innocent, that I couldn't help it."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bräsig would have made no answer, but when he saw Fritz's sorrowful +face, he pitied him, and said, "Yes, I will tell him; but you must +reform." Then he drove off.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr Inspector," said Ruhrdanz, after a little while, "it is none of +my business, and perhaps I should not speak of it; but who would have +thought it--I mean about Herr Habermann."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What do you mean?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, nothing,--I only mean that he should go off so suddenly, and then +this shooting."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh, that is all stuff and nonsense," said Bräsig, in vexation.</p> + +<p class="normal">"So I said, Herr Inspector; but the groom Krischan, he stood there, as +we were packing, and he said that the whole disturbance came from the +confounded papers, because Herr Habermann had no regular papers to +show. Yes, so I say, the confounded papers!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Habermann's papers are all right."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, so I say, Herr Inspector, but about the shooting! Our young Herr +Gustaving was telling about it this morning, all over the village."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Gustaving," cried Bräsig in his wrath, "is a rascal of a puppy! a +puppy who has not yet got his eyes open."</p> + +<p class="normal">"So I say, and don't take it evil of me, Herr Inspector; but he is the +best of the lot, up at the Court. For, you see, there is the old--well, +Orndt's nephew was here last week, and he came from Prussia to Anclam, +and he said that our Herr always had human skin on his stick, he banged +the people about so; but the Prussians wouldn't put up with him, and +the people went to the Landgrafenamt, or to the Landrathenamt,--I don't +know what the old thing is called,--and complained of him, and the +Landgraf turned him out in disgrace. I wish we had such a Landgraf in +our neighbourhood, for the court of justice is too far off."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said Bräsig hastily, "if you had such a Landrath as that, you +would have something rare."</p> + +<p class="normal">"So I say, Herr Inspector, but once he went rather too far, for he beat +a woman who was in the family way, and injured her severely, and, you +won't take it ill of me, Herr Inspector, but I think that was a great +crime. Then they complained of him to the king, and he commanded that +he should be imprisoned in Stettin for life, and drag balls after him. +Well, then, his old woman went to the king, and fell down on her knees +to him, and the king let him out, on condition that he should wear an +iron ring round his neck, all his life long, and every autumn he should +drag balls, for four weeks, in Stettin,--he was there this last +autumn,--and that he should leave the country; and so he came here; but +now tell me, Herr Inspector, if he should be driven away from here, +where could he go?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Where the pepper grows, for all I care," said Bräsig.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, so I say, Herr Inspector; but don't take it ill of me, I don't +believe they would take him there; for, you see, he has money enough to +buy a place, but how about his papers? For when the king comes to see +his papers, and he reads that he must wear an iron ring on his neck, +and that that is the reason he always wears such a great thick +neck-cloth, then they will have nothing to do with him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh, then you will have to keep him," said Bräsig.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, if there is no other way, then we must keep him; he is, so to +speak, married to us. Get up!" he cried, and drove at a trot, through +Gurlitz; and Bräsig fell into deep thought. How strangely things went +in the world! Such a fellow, who had such a reputation, was yet in +circumstances to ruin an honest man's good name; for he was quite +certain that Pomuchelskopp was at the bottom of all the stories, and +that he had taken pains to set them in circulation was evident from +Gustaving's share in the matter.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is scandalous," he said to himself, as he got down, in Rahnstadt, +at the Frau Pastorin's, "but take care, Zamel! I have taken one trick +from you, with the pastor's acre, I shall get another; but first I must +complain of you, about the 'crow!'"</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXII.</h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">New-Year's day, 1846, had come, and brought its kind wishes, and the +Rahnstadters congratulated each other, in the cold streets, or in the +warm parlors, just as it happened, and some people slept until noon, +and ate pickled herrings, because it was Sylvester's eve, and there was +much talk among the young people of this and that, which had happened +at the ball, yesterday, and the old folks sat together, and talked of +what had happened, not indeed at the ball, but in the world. And the +story of Habermann and Herr von Rambow was a chief dish, which was +served up at all tables; and as every house had its own cookery, so it +had also its own gossip, one believed the story so, and another so, and +each suited it to his own palate, and invited his neighbor as guest, +and Slusuhr and David went everywhere, as unbidden guests, and the one +added his pepper, and the other his garlic to the dish. And so, for the +city of Rahnstadt and the region round about the story and the slander +became richer in its process, as each seasoned it with his favorite +spice: Habermann had for years been cheating his two masters, and had +accummulated a great pile of money, which was the reason why the young +Herr von Rambow was always in pecuniary embarrassment; he had gone +halves with the lay-laborer Regel, in his robbery, and had helped him +off and given him a recommendation. Whether Jochen Nüssler had assisted +in the conspiracy, people were not definitely informed. But at last the +apothecary Triddelsitz's son, who was an uncommonly wideawake and +discreet young man, had come upon the track, by secretly examining +Habermann's books, in which he discovered the whole imposition, word +for word. He had told it to the housekeeper, Marie Möller, and they +both agreed that Triddelsitz must take the book till Habermann had +gone, and the considerate young man did so, and carried it with him to +Demmin, intending to deliver it afterwards to Herr von Rambow. But, the +next day, Habermann had missed the book, and was persuaded that Herr +von Rambow had taken it, so he went to him, and told him he was a +rascal, and demanded his book again, and when the young Herr could not +give it him, he aimed a rifle at his breast. The young Herr would not +bear that, and grappled with him for the rifle, and it went off, and +the Herr von Rambow was now lying at the point of death. Habermann was +doubtless in concealment, somewhere in the city. This was pretty nearly +the story which the Rahnstadters had pieced together, and everybody +wondered that the burgomeister did not have such a dangerous man put in +prison.</p> + +<p class="normal">There were, fortunately, two intelligent beings in the city, who would +not bite at the story; one was Moses, who, when David told him of the +affair, said merely, "David, you are too stupid!" and went about his +business, the other was the burgomeister himself, who shook his head +and also went about his business. The Rector Baldrian did not go about +his business, for he had a vacation, and he said if the whole city said +so there must be something in it, but so much he would say, and he +would go to the sacrament upon it, his Gottlieb's father-in-law, Jochen +Nüssler, was not in the conspiracy. Kurz said it was possible, but he +would never have suspected it of old Habermann; but no one could read +the heart of another. Meanwhile, he must say, one thing seemed to him +improbable, that Fritz Triddelsitz could have acted with much +discretion, and he believed that part of the business must have +happened differently. Just for the reason that his Fritz had +distinguished himself, the apothecary believed in the story, and told +it all over the city, that he might increase his dear son's celebrity.</p> + +<p class="normal">And so strangely does destiny play with us. At this very moment when +Fritz's renown was spread through the whole city, he himself stood +before that dreadful criminal, Habermann, in the guise of a penitent +sinner, begging him earnestly to forgive his share in the trouble, he +had not done it intentionally. Habermann stroked his chestnut hair, and +said, "Let it go Triddelsitz! But notice one thing; many a good action +has evil consequences in the world, and many an evil one has good; but +we are not responsible for the consequences, those lie in other hands, +and the consequences do not make an action either good or bad. If you +had not done wrong, in deceiving me about your grain-account, your +conscience would not trouble you, and you need not have stood before me +thus. But I forgive you; and now take the receipt for the money, and be +a good, steady fellow! And now, good-bye!"</p> + +<p class="normal">He gave him a receipt, for the gracious Frau had sent him his salary, +and this money he had paid out, by Fritz.</p> + +<p class="normal">Fritz went to the inn, when he had left his horse. There were many +people there and they flocked around him: "Well, how is it? You did that +well!" "Is the Herr von Rambow dangerously hurt?" "Then he is still +living!" "Do let Herr Triddelsitz speak!" "Just tell us----" "No, just +tell us, have you got Habermann?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Fritz was in no mood for narration, he had no desire to expose his own +stupidity; he pushed through the crowd, with a few general remarks, and +mounted his horse, and the Rahnstadters said, with one accord, he was a +very discreet young man, he would not sound his own praises.</p> + +<p class="normal">If the Rahnstadters gathered about Fritz, in their curiosity, as if he +were a bottle of syrup, and they the flies, they were to have a still +richer treat; this New-year's day was to be a real news-day. Scarcely +had Fritz, outwardly so proud and reserved, inwardly so dejected and +penitent, ridden away from the door, when a carriage drove up to +the inn,--the gentleman driving himself, and the coachman sitting +behind,--and the Rahnstadters flattened their noses against the window +panes; who could that be? "He looks wonderfully familiar to me," said +one. "Yes, I have surely seen him before," said another. "Is it +not----" began a third. "Eh, what? No, it is'nt the one you think," +said Bank, the shoemaker. "I know him," said Wimmersdort the tailor, "I +have made him many a coat, that is the Herr von Rambow who lives beyond +Schwerin, at Hogen-Selchow, the cousin of the Pumpelhagen Herr." "The +tailor is right, it is he." "Yes, it is he." "Probably he comes on +account of this story." "That must be it, for the Pumpelhagen Herr lies +so low, he can attend to nothing. You shall see, he will take the +business in hand." And as Franz came in to lay off his furs, the +Rahnstadters all stood with their backs against the windows, with their +backs against the stove, with their backs against the walls, and all +looked to the middle of the room, where Franz stood, as it were, +surrounded by a web of curiosity, from which all the threads ran to the +middle, where he was caught, like a helpless fly.</p> + +<p class="normal">Franz went out, spoke a couple of words to the servant, and went off +towards the market. "Johann," asked one from the window, "what did he +say to you?" "Ah," said Johann, "he only asked after the burgomeister, +if he was at home." "Did you hear? he asked after the burgomeister; he +is going to work in earnest." "Johann," said another, "did he say +nothing else?" "Yes, he asked where the parson's wife lived, who has +moved here lately, near Kurz the shopkeeper." "Ha, ha! Do you notice +that? The inspector is probably stowed away, with the parson's wife. +Well, good-bye."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Gossip Wimmersdorf, where are you going?" "Oh, I shall drop in at +Kurz's." "Wait, I will go too." "That is so," said another, "at Kurz's, +we can see everything finely." "Yes, let us go to Kurz's," and it was +not long before Kurz's shop was fuller of customers than he had seen it +for a long time, and every one took a dram, and some two, and Kurz said +to himself, "Thank God! the new year begins finely."</p> + +<p class="normal">After a while, Franz came back from the market, and went past Kurz's +shop, directly up to the Frau Pastorin's door.</p> + +<p class="normal">"How? He has no policeman with him!" said one.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Hoppner is not at home, he has gone to get a pig to-day, from the +farmer at Prebberow."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, that is all right, then."</p> + +<p class="normal">"How Habermann will feel, when he finds himself caught!" said +Wimmersdorf.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Children, my feet are getting cold," said Bank, the shoemaker, "I am +going home."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What? You may as well wait till the business comes to a head," said +Thiel, the cabinet-maker.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What do you know about it?" said Bank. "It seems to me as if there +was'nt a word of truth in the whole story."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What? You told me the story, yourself, this morning," said Thiel.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, that is so, but morning talk is not evening talk. I have +considered the matter since then."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is to say, you have got cold feet over it," said the tailor. All +laughed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is a stupid joke," said the shoemaker, "and the whole story is a +stupid joke; the old inspector has traded with me all these years, and +has always paid his accounts honestly, and is he likely, in his old +age, to take to cheating and stealing?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh, you may talk! But when the whole city says so?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh, the whole city! Here stands Herr Kurz, ask him if he has'nt always +paid honestly! Ask the man what he says to it!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What I say to it? I say nothing," said Kurz, "but I don't believe it, +and I have my own reasons."</p> + +<p class="normal">"There, do you hear?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, it may possibly be so."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, I said, all along, the matter looked very strange to me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well," said Wimmersdorf, "he never traded with me, and I don't see why +I should'nt believe it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh, tailor, don't let yourself be laughed at!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, children, laugh at the tailor!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now, I will tell you something," said Bank, smiting with his fist on +the counter. "Come here, all of you,--Herr Kurz, fill the glasses once +more! Now let us all drink to our brave, old, honest inspector!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And they did so, and went home with a stronger belief than ever in +Habermann, and with all of them, except Wimmersdorf the tailor, the old +man was reinstated in his good name. Why? Because Bank the shoemaker +had cold feet.</p> + +<p class="normal">Upon such little things often depends good or evil opinion. Here, the +good prevailed; but what availed the good opinion of a few +insignificant mechanics against that secret, invisible power which +determined the fate of the children of men in this little city, and +held the entangled threads of happiness and misery in its hand, and +pulls them, so that one must dance on the string, at its will? I mean +that secret tribunal which the women folks hold, in the quiet evening +hours, to the terror of all evil-doers, over their knitting and +tea. There, every sinner gets his deserts, he is pricked with the +knitting-needles, pinched with the sugar-tongs, burned in the +spirit-lamp, and every biscuit or muschüken<a name="div2Ref_09" href="#div2_09"><sup>[9]</sup></a> +soaked in the teacups +gives a faithful picture of the condition of his terrified soul, if he +were standing before this tribunal. What did this Rahnstadt Female +Assembly care for Hans Bank's good opinion, or his cold feet? What for +Habermann's well-paid accounts? These judges went seriously to +work; they first took account, in an intelligent manner, of the +antecedents,--as jurists say,--and they found the case very weak, for +Habermann, for Louise, for the Frau Pastorin, even for Bräsig. Malchen +and Salchen Pomuchelskopp had circulated all the particulars, here a +little drop and there a little drop, Salchen had gathered those +precious pearls together, and arranged them in proper order, and even +David had helped a little, and so the Female Assembly had a very +correct representation of Franz's attachment to Louise, of Habermann's +and the Frau Pastorin's match-making, and of Bräsig's scandalous +tale-bearing, which they were qualified to make use of, in the best +possible manner.</p> + +<p class="normal">The preliminaries had just been disposed of, when the wife of the city +Syndic, (Recorder,) and the merchant's wife. Madam Krummhorn, came in +together, and received a friendly scolding from the hostess, because +they were so late. They defended themselves, in rather a condescending +way, saying nothing of importance, but they sat down with such a swing, +and took out their knitting with such significant shaking of heads, +that the high tribunal must have been excessively stupid, if it had not +observed that they had something special on their minds. It did its +duty, beginning to feel round, by degrees, but the Frau Syndic and the +Frau Krummhorn were prepared for resistance, and pinched their lips +together, like live oysters, and the knives applied by the high +tribunal were not successful in opening the shells. With sighs, the +assembly took up its knitting-work, and soaked a couple of fresh +muschüken in its tea, and with horror the two oysters became aware that +their fast-locked news was stale, and that the best juice had run out +from it; they opened, therefore, of their own accord, and the Frau +Syndic asked the burgomeisterin, if a young gentleman had not called on +the Herr Burgomeister that afternoon. Yes, said the Frau +Burgomeisterin, the cousin of Herr von Rambow had been to see her +husband, they had just been speaking of it.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And what did he want?" asked the Frau Syndic.</p> + +<p class="normal">"To inform himself how the examination about the stolen money had +resulted, and he also asked whether the stories in Pumpelhagen--you +know, the shooting--had any connection with that affair."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And what else?" inquired Frau Syndic, looking down at her knitting.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My husband has told me nothing more," said the burgomeisterin.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And do you believe that?" asked Frau Syndic. Now it is a shame, before +any tribunal, especially before such as this, to expect it to believe +any simple, natural story. The burgomeisterin felt the accusation, +which was implied in this question, and said sharply:</p> + +<p class="normal">"If you know it better, dear, tell it yourself."</p> + +<p class="normal">One oyster looked at the other, and both laughed aloud. Well, when such +a fat oyster--for the Frau Syndic was fat, and Frau Krummhorn was also +well-to-do--laughs so at another, it makes a great impression upon +people, and as a natural consequence the company laid their knitting in +their laps, and looked at the oysters.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good heavens!" cried the hostess, at last, "what do you know?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Frau Krummhorn may tell," said Frau Syndic, coolly. "She saw it as +well as I."</p> + +<p class="normal">Frau Krummhorn was a good woman, she could relate well and skilfully; +but her gift of the gab had one failing, it was like Protonotary +Scharfer's legs,--rudderless; and just like the protonotary, she was +obliged to call out to one and another, "Hold me fast!" or "Turn me +round!" She began: "Yes, he came right across the market-place."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who?" asked a stupid little assessor, who could not comprehend the +business.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Keep still!" cried everybody.</p> + +<p class="normal">"So, he came right across the market-place. I knew him again directly, +he had bought himself a new suit, of my husband, a black dress-coat, +and blue trousers, eh, what do I say! a blue dress-coat and black +trousers: I can see him, as if it were yesterday, he always wore +yellow-leather breeches and boot-tops,--or was that Fritz Triddelsitz? +I really am not quite sure. Yes, what was I saying?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He came right across the market-place," said a chorus of three voices.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Exactly! He came right across the market-place, and into the Frau +Syndic's street, I had just gone into Frau Syndic's, for she wanted to +show me her new curtains, they came from the Jew Hirsch's,--no, I +know,--the Jew Bären's, who has lately become bankrupt. It is +remarkable, my husband says, how all our Jews become bankrupt, and yet +grow richer all the time, no Christian merchant can compete with these +confounded Jews. How far had I got?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He came into the Frau Syndic's street."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, yes! The Frau Syndic and I were standing at the window, and could +look right into the parlor of the Frau Pastorin Behrens, and the Frau +Syndic said her husband had told her, if the Frau Pastorin would go to +law about it,--no, not the Frau Pastorin, it was the Church, or else +the Consistory,--then Herr Pomuchelskopp, or somebody else, must build +a new parsonage at Gurlitz, and the Frau Syndic----"</p> + +<p class="normal">But the Frau Syndic could contain herself no longer,--in putting up +Frau Krummhorn to tell the story, she had prepared a fine rod for her +own impatience, so she interrupted her, without ceremony:</p> + +<p class="normal">"And then he went into the Frau Pastorin's and, without waiting, right +into the parlor, and the old Frau rose from the sofa, and made such a +motion of the hand, as if she would keep him away from her, and looked +as distressed as if a misfortune had happened to her, and that might +well be the case; and then she placed a chair, and urged him to sit +down; but he did not sit down, and when the Frau Pastorin went out, he +walked up and down the room, like--like----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Frau Syndic," said Frau Krummhorn, "you repeated a fine couplet this +afternoon."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why, yes. 'King of deserts is the Lion, when he strides along his +path.' Well, he strode up and down like such a king of deserts, and +when the old inspector and his daughter came in, he rushed up to them, +with the bitterest reproaches."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But, good gracious!" said the little assessor, laying her knitting in +her lap, "could you hear, then?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, dear," said Frau Syndic, laughing at the stupidity of the little +assessor, "we did not <i>hear</i> it; but Frau Krummhorn and I both <i>saw</i> +it, saw it with our own eyes. And the old inspector stood before him, +like a poor sinner, and looked down, and let it all go over his head, +and his daughter threw her arm about his neck, as if she would protect +him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," interrupted Frau Krummhorn, "it was just so, as when old Stahl, +the cooper, was arrested, because he had stolen hoops. His daughter +Marik sprang between him and the policeman, Hoppner, and would not let +her father be taken to the Rath-house, because of his white hair; but +he had stolen the hoops, I am sure of it, for I had him put three new +hoops about my milk-pail, and my husband said it was all the same to +us, whether they were stolen or not, and for the milk also, it would +not turn sour, on account of the stolen hoops; but I have noticed----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Right, Frau Krummhorn," said Frau Syndic, stopping her, "you noticed, +also, how pale the girl looked, and how she trembled, when the young +Herr turned to her, and released himself."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," said Frau Krummhorn, honestly, "she looked pale, but I did not +see that she trembled."</p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>I</i> saw it," said the Frau Syndic, "she trembled like <i>that</i>," +shaking herself back and forth in her chair, as if it were a warm +summer day, and she were shaking off the flies,--"and he stood before +her, like this,"--here she stood up--"'The last link is broken,' as my +son, the student, sings, and he looked at her <i>so</i>," and here she +looked so angrily at the little assessor, that the latter grew quite +red, "and then the old Frau Pastorin thrust herself between them, and +tried to quiet her, and soothed him, and talked so much, and perhaps +succeeded in a measure, for he gave them both the hand, at parting; but +when he left the house, it was clearly to be read in his face, how glad +he was that he had broken off with this company. Wasn't it so, Frau +Krummhorn?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I didn't see that," said the merchant's wife, "I was looking at the +young girl, how she stood with her arms crossed on her breast, and so +pale. God bless me! I have seen pale girls enough,--only lately, my +brother's daughter, she has the pale sickness, and the doctor is always +saying, 'Iron! iron!' but she has iron enough, her father is a +blacksmith. He might have been something very different, for our late +father----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, the poor girl!" cried the stupid little assessor, "she is such a +pretty girl. And the poor old man! I cannot believe that, with his +white hair, he has done such dreadful things."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dear," said the Frau Syndic, with a look at the little assessor, +which, interpreted into ordinary language, meant "You goose!"--"dear, +be careful of such indiscriminate compassion, and beware how you +associate with people who are connected with criminals."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, he has done it," went from mouth to mouth, from stocking to +stocking, from cup to cup. The little assessor was silenced; but all at +once, a couple of gray, old, experienced advocates stood up for her, +who usually in the tea-fights were retained as state-attorneys for the +prosecution, but, to-day, undertook the defense. They had looked at +each other and nodded, during the Frau Syndic's speech; they would let +her tell it all out quietly, and then they would free their minds. And +the Frau Syndic had done a stupid thing, she had forgotten the +relationship, for the two old advocates were Frau Kurz, and Frau +Rectorin Baldrian, and now was their time, and they took the Frau +Syndic by the collar:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dear, how do you know that Habermann is a criminal?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Darling, didn't you know that Habermann is brother-in-law to my +brother?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dear, you should be careful of your sharp tongue."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Darling, you have often got into trouble on account of it."</p> + +<p class="normal">So they shot each other, with "Dear" and "Darling," back and forth +across the table, and the tea-spoons clattered in the cups, and the +cap-ribbons fluttered under the chins, the innocent knitting-work was +bundled together, and stuffed into bags; the Frau Burgomeisterin took +sides with the two advocates, for she had not forgotten the Frau +Syndic's sharp words; the hostess ran from one to another, and begged +by all that was holy, they would not disgrace her so sadly, as to break +out into such a quarrel at her tea, and the little assessor began to +cry bitterly, for she believed that she was the cause of the whole +disturbance. But the mischief was done; half went away, the other half +stayed, and Rahnstadt was divided into two parties.</p> + +<p class="normal">And the people, about whom all the fuss was made, were sitting, if not +peacefully, yet quietly, in their room, with no suspicion how much +trouble and breaking of heads they had caused to their next neighbors, +and how much strife and hatred. They had no idea that the stern look, +which the Frau Syndic shot across the street from her red face +signified anything to them, and the little Frau Pastorin remarked more +than once, "From her looks the Frau Syndic must be a very determined +and energetic person, who would keep good order in her household." And +Louise had no suspicion that the pretty young girl, who went back and +forth past their house, and cast many a stolen glance at her window, +was filled to the depths of her heart with sympathy for her, and that +this was the foolish little assessor, who had taken her part at the +tea-fight.</p> + +<p class="normal">Ah no, these people had something quite different to think of, and to +care about; Louise must keep her sick heart still, and conceal it from +the world, that her father might not see its bleeding wounds, which the +visit of Franz had torn open afresh; Habermann was more quiet and +profoundly thoughtful, after this visit than before; he had neither +eyes nor thoughts for anything but his child. He sat lost in +reflection, only, when his daughter looked paler and more absent-minded +than usual, he would spring up, and run out into the little garden, and +walk up and down, till he became composed. Ah, where was his hatred, +when he saw his child's love! Where was his anger against the world, +when, in the world nearest him, he saw only kindness and friendliness? +Hate and anger must disappear from such a heart; but sadness remained, +and the most pitiful compassion, for the destiny of his only child. The +little Frau Pastorin thought no longer of her duster, she had something +else to care for than tables and chairs. She must clear away the +rubbish from two hearts, which had grown fast to her own, and she +polished away at them, with her efforts to comfort, till they should be +bright and clear again: but her labor was in vain, at least with +Habermann. The sinews of the old man's strength were cut, with his good +name, every joy and hope of life was gone, and the unwonted quiet and +inaction made him more and more depressed, so that his case would have +been a lamentable one, if the sweet voice of his child had not +sometimes banished the evil spirit, as the singing of the youthful +David the evil spirit of King Saul. All that Franz had urged so +impressively, that the chief difficulty was removed by the finding of +the book, that he must know what a weak, inconsiderate creature his +cousin Axel was, and that his judgment could not harm him, that <i>he</i> +should believe in him, though all the world were against him, for he +had another world in his own breast; all this, which the Frau Pastorin +repeated, he put aside, and remained firm in his resolve that, so long +as his innocence was not fully established about the stolen money, so +long his name was branded with disgrace, and he must hold back the +young man, even against his will, that his own reputation might not be +injured.</p> + +<p class="normal">This was now, seen by daylight, sheer nonsense, and many a one might +here ask, with reason, Why did he not, with his good conscience, go +freely and boldly before the world, and scorn their lying rumors? And I +agree, the question is reasonable; he should have done it, and he would +have done it, if he had still been the <i>old</i> Habermann. But he was so +no longer, through provocations, injuries and neglect, he had grown +morbid, and now came this open accusation, and the dreadful scene with +his master, and the young Frau had deserted him, for whom he would have +given his life, and all this happened at a time when his heart had just +opened to the hope of a happy future. The frosts of winter do no harm; +spring will yet come; but when everything is fresh and growing, and the +snow falls upon our green hopes, then there is snow and trouble, and +all the little song-birds, who were building and pairing with the +spring, are chilled and frozen in their nests, and the blighted groves +are silent as death. The old man had prepared a great feast in his +heart, and would welcome to it the fairest hopes, and now dark forms +crowded in, and turned everything to confusion, and took away the only +treasure, which he had laid up in his whole life; that gave him a blow, +from which he could not recover. Take away a miser's treasure, which he +has been scraping together for sixty years, and you take his life with +it, and that is but a treasure which rust can devour; what is it to an +honest name?</p> + +<p class="normal">So the Frau Pastorin's only comfort lay in the last words of Franz: he +could wait, and he should come again.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXIII.</h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">So Habermann kept himself to himself, and sat in his room, or went into +the garden, when the Frau Pastorin had visitors; and that was often the +case, for one half of Rahnstadt believed they were causing great +annoyance to the other half, who had put the Frau Pastorin's house +under the ban, if they visited her frequently. So it came to pass, that +the Rector Baldrian and Kurz the merchant were continually dropping in +at the Frau Pastorin's; for their wives had discoursed to them so +impressively, at home, over Habermann's innocence, that it was +impossible for them to retain any doubt of it. From outside the city, +came young Jochen, and his wife, and Mining, and also Pastor Gottlieb +and Lining, often, of an afternoon; but Bräsig came at all times, and +made the Frau Pastorin's house his dove-cote, where his innocent old +heart flew in and out, with a crop full of news, which he had gathered +in Rexow, and Pumpelhagen, and Gurlitz, for his old friend. He informed +him that the earth was dry,--that is to say, the fields,--but he did +not always bring the olive-branch in his beak; when the talk was about +Pomuchelskopp and Axel, he let it fall, in his anger, and the dove +became a veritable raven. He was not to be brought back, when he had +flown away, and he told Habermann to his face he came to divert him to +other thoughts, and if it did not please him, he did not take it ill; +but would come again the next day, with much to tell about the weather +and the farming.</p> + +<p class="normal">And in the spring of 1846, there was much to tell about these subjects. +The winter had been warm and moist, and the spring came so early, that +scarcely any one could remember the like; in February the grass was +green, and the winter wheat was up and the clover sprouting, and the +ground was wonderfully dry, and the farmers went about, considering if +it were not time to plant peas. "Karl," said Bräsig, "you shall see, it +will be a pitiful story, the spring is too early, and when a bird sings +too soon in the morning, the cat catches him before night; you shall +see, we shall look sad enough, at the harvest. The devil take such +early springs!" And on Palm-Sunday, he came into Habermann's room, with +an open rape-blossom in his hand, and laid it on the table before him. +"There, you see, it, is just as I told you! I picked that from your rape +in Pumpelhagen. You shall see, Karl, in a week the louis-d'ors will be +out; but it is of no good, full of bugs from top to bottom."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh, Zachary, we have often had it so, and yet had a good crop of +rape."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Karl, the <i>black</i>; but the <i>gray</i>,--I have brought you the proof +for your entertainment," and he reached to the table and picked out a +little chrysalis; but when he opened it, there was nothing in it.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is what I say, Karl! These old skulking gray chafers are such sly +old dogs, they are not to be reckoned on, and no more is the mischief +they do. You shall see, Karl, this whole year will be a spoiled omelet, +everything is going contrary to nature. How? Usually you will see crows +in the rye, by May-day; this year you will see half-grown turkeys +there! No, Karl, the world has turned round, and in some places the +pastors are already preaching from their pulpits that the moon has +crowded in between the sun and the earth, and that then the sun comes +too near to the earth, and everything will be destroyed, that this is +the beginning of the last day, and that people must repent."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, Zachary, that is all stuff and nonsense."</p> + +<p class="normal">"So I say, Karl, and the repenting has turned out badly, in some +places, for at Little Bibow, the day-laborers have struck work, and +sold their bits of possessions to the Jews, and drink from morning to +night, because they want to enjoy their property here. My Pastor +Gottlieb would have preached something of the kind, but I stood by +Lining, and she talked him out of it. But no good will come of such a +year, Karl."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I think, myself, that we shall have a bad harvest; but Kurz was here +yesterday, and he talked so much about the fine winter wheat, which is +standing in the fields----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Karl, I thought you had more sense. Kurz! I beg of you. Kurz! He knows +what a salt herring ought to be, he understands <i>that</i>, for he is an +experienced merchant; but when he talks about winter wheat, he should +get up earlier in the morning,--that belongs to farmers, experienced +farmers. And this is just what I say, Karl, everybody thinks he may +meddle with our business, and these old city folks are as wise as the +bees. Well, if any one practices farming pour paster la tante, just for +his own amusement,--a la boncœur! I have no objections; but if he +sets himself as a judge--well! Kurz! In syrup casks and cards, he can +see straight enough; but when he looks at a rye-field, there is a veil +before his eyes. But what I was going to say is, next week I am coming +to you, bag and baggage."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, Bräsig, no! If this proves a bad year, you will be necessary to +the young people, and the young pastor knows too little of farming to +be able to get on without you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Karl, he is stupid, and if you think so,--for I have quite given +myself up to you,--then I will stay with him. But now, good-bye. I +don't know what ails me, but my stomach feels badly: I will see if Frau +Pastorin hasn't a little kümmel for me."</p> + +<p class="normal">With that he went out, but put his head in again to say, "I had almost +forgotten about Pumpelhagen, they have a management there, now, that +you could warm your hands and feet at. Yesterday I met your +Triddlesitz, at the boundary, and although he is such an infamous +greyhound, he almost cried. 'Herr Inspector,' said he, 'you see I lay +all night, thinking about the management, and not able to sleep, and +when I had planned it all out, in the nicest way, and given the people +their orders, in the morning, do you see, the Herr comes out with his +arm in a sling, and spoils my plans, and sends one laborer here, and +another there, running about the fields like hens with their heads cut +off, and I run after them and get them together again, and get things +in order, and then, in the afternoon, he tears it all to pieces again!' +Karl, it must be a great satisfaction for you,--that is, to see that +they cannot get on without you." Then he shut the door, and went off, +but, after a little while, made his appearance again: "Karl, what I was +going to say--half the horses in Pumpelhagen are used up; a couple of +days ago, there stood a loaded manure-cart, and the poor beasts stood +there so forlorn, head and ears down, just like the peasants in church. +And it is not because they are overworked, but because they have not +enough to eat, for your young Herr has no superfluity in his barns, and +he has sold this spring three tons of oats and two tons of peas to the +Jews, and now his granary is as bare as if the cattle had licked it. +And now he must buy oats; but the poor screws that earn his bread don't +get it, most of it goes to the old thorough-bred mares who do nothing +but steal a living from others. There is great injustice in the world! +Well, good-bye, Karl!" and this time he really departed.</p> + +<p class="normal">That was a sad picture, which Bräsig had drawn of the situation at +Pumpelhagen; but in truth, matters were much worse, for he had said +nothing of the influence which Axel's constant need of money had upon +his temper, and this was the saddest. Continual embarrassment not only +makes a man out of humor, it makes him hard towards his inferiors, and +our Axel fell into the old fault; he believed he was so badly off +because his people fared too well, and Pomuchelskopp was always telling +him so. He took from them one thing here, and another there, and when +his natural good-nature got the upper hand, he gave them again +something here and there; but everything capriciously,--and that has a +bad effect. At first, the people had laughed at his confused +management, but that is always the beginning, and the laughing soon +became a grumbling, and the grumbling broke out into accusations and +complaints. Under Habermann's rule, the day-laborers had always +received their grain and money at the right time; now they must wait, +until there was something to give them; that was bad. And if they went +to their master with complaints they were snubbed; that was worse. +Discontent was universal.</p> + +<p class="normal">Axel comforted himself with the new, harvest, and with the new +receipts; but, unfortunately, Bräsig proved a true prophet; when the +harvest was ripe it was very thin, and when it was garnered, the barns +were only half full, and the old experienced country people said to the +new beginners: "Take care! Spare in time, and you will have in need! +The grain will not hold out." The advice was good, but of what use was +it to Axel? He must have money, so he had most of his grain thrashed +out, for seed-corn and for sale. And grain was for sale at a fine +price, for the Jews saw how it must turn out, and bought up on +speculation, and so to the natural scarcity was added an artificial. +The old day-laborers, at Pumpelhagen, shook their heads, as the loads +of rye were driven from the Court: "What will become of us! What will +become of us! We have got no bread-corn." And the housewives stood +together, wringing their hands: "See, neighbor, that little heap! Those +are all my potatoes, and all poor, and what are we to live on this +winter?" And so the scarcity was universal, and it had come over this +blessed land like a thief in the night, no one had thought of it, no +one had prepared for it, since no one knew what to expect. But it was +the worst in the little towns, and there it was the hardest for the +poor mechanics,--for laboring men, there was still labor, and their +children went about begging from door to door, and afterwards there +were soup-kitchens organized; but the poor mechanics? They had no +work,--no one employed them,--and they did not understand begging, nor +did it suit their honor and reputation. Ah, I went once into the room +of a right clever, industrious burgher's wife, when the dinner stood +upon the table, and the hungry children stood around it, and as I +entered the room the Frau threw, a cloth over the platter, and when she +had gone out to call her husband, I lifted the cloth, and what did I +find? Boiled potato-skins. That was their dinner.</p> + +<p class="normal">At such times, our Lord sits in the heavens, and sifts the good from +the bad, so that every one may clearly distinguish between them; the +good, he keeps by himself, in his sieve, that he may take his pleasure +in them, and that they may bear fruit, the bad fall through with the +tares and the cockles and the nettles,--these are their unrighteous +wishes, their wicked intentions, and their bad thoughts,--and when one +looks to see if they bear fruit, the weeds are growing rapidly, and the +blossoms make a fair show before the world, but when the harvest comes, +and the sickle goes through the field, then their grain falls light on +the soil, and the master turns away from the field, for it stands +written, "By their fruits ye shall know them."</p> + +<p class="normal">Many a one stood firm in this trial, and gave with full hands, in spite +of his own necessities, and the Landrath von O---- and the Kammerath +von E---- and the Pächter H---- and also our old Moses, and many +others, remained in the Lord's sieve, and bore good fruit in these bad +times, but Pomuchelskopp fell through, and Slusuhr and David, and lay +among the tares and the nettles, and they sat together at Gurlitz, and +planned how they might fatten their swine upon other people's +misfortunes. And David and Slusuhr knew well enough how to do it, if +they only had money enough, they would lend it out to the poor and the +distressed, to the hungry and the freezing, at high interest; but the +capital which they had at their command, for the time being, was all +embarked in this fine business, and they came now to the Herr +Proprietor to get him to advance money and he should share in their +profits. But the far-sighted Herr would not do this, it would be in +everybody's mouth, and he should be blamed; so he said that he had +nothing to spare, and must keep the little he had to bring his cattle +and his people through.</p> + +<p class="normal">"As for your cattle," said Slusuhr insolently, "I give in; but for the +people? Do me the favor to say nothing about them! Your people are +begging all over the country, and just as we drove by the parsonage, +your housewives and their children were standing in the parson's yard, +and your old friend Bräsig stood by two great pails of pea soup, and +the young Frau Pastorin ladled it into their kettles.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let them! let them!" said Pomuchelskopp, "I wouldn't hinder any body +in a good work. <i>They</i> may have it to spare; I haven't, and I have no +money either."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You have the Pumpelhagen notes," said David.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, do you think he can pay them? He has had a poorer harvest than +the rest of us, and the little he had he has threshed out and sold."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is just it," said Slusuhr, "now is your time. Such a fine +opportunity may not come again, and he cannot take it unkindly of you, +for you are yourself pressed for money, and must pay the notes to +David. Now don't make any objections, but shake the tree, for the plums +are ripe."</p> + +<p class="normal">"How high is the sum total?" inquired David.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well," said Pomuchelskopp, going to his desk, and scratching his head, +"I have his notes here for eleven thousand thalers."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, nonsense!" said Slusuhr, "it must be more than that."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, it isn't more than that,--I lent him eight thousand on security, a +year and a half ago, when he asked me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then you have done a stupid thing, but you must first give him notice, +and then you can sue him," said the notary; "but never mind! Give me +the eleven thousand thalers, we can distress him finely, in these hard +times."</p> + +<p class="normal">Muchel would not consent, at first; but Hänning put her head in at the +door, and he knew very well what she wanted, so he gave the notes to +Slusuhr and David.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then the old game was played over again in Pumpelhagen, Slusuhr and +David came, and set Axel burning, as if with fever, and attacked him +more sharply than ever, and this time there was no talk of extension. +He must and should pay, and he had'nt a shilling, not even the prospect +of getting any money. It came over him like Nicodemus in the night, and +for the first time the dark thought rose in his mind that this was a +concerted plan, that his friendly neighbor at Gurlitz was the real +cause of his embarrassment, and that he must have some special design +in sending the notes to be cashed through these two rascals; but what +it could be, remained hidden from his eyes. But what availed thinking +and grumbling, he must have money, and from whom? He knew no one, and +in spite of the suspicion which had risen in his mind, his thoughts +returned to his neighbor Pomuchelskopp. He must help; who else was +there? He mounted his horse, and rode over to Gurlitz.</p> + +<p class="normal">Muchel received him with uncommon friendliness and cordiality, as if +neighbors should be drawn nearer together, in these hard times, and +stand by each other faithfully, in their troubles. He told great +stories of his bad harvest, and complained sadly of his pecuniary +embarrassments, so that Axel was quite taken aback in his purposes, and +feel almost ashamed to come to a man who was in such distress, to ask +for assistance. But need breaks iron, and he asked him, finally, why he +had served him so as to give up his notes to those two bloodsuckers; +and Pomuchel folded his hands on his stomach, and looked very +mournfully at the young man, saying,--</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, Herr von Rambow, in my great need! Do you see!" and he opened his +desk, and showed a drawer, in which a couple of hundred thalers were +lying, "There is all I have, and I must take care of my people and my +cattle, and I thought perhaps you might have money lying idle."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But," said Axel, "why not come to me yourself?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I did not like to," said Muchel; "you know the old proverb, 'Money +joins enemies, and severs friends,' and we are such good friends."</p> + +<p class="normal">Yes, that was true. Axel said; but these two had distressed him +grievously, and he was in the most dreadful embarrassment.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Did they do that?" exclaimed Pomuchelskopp, "but they ought not! I +gave it to them on condition that my dear Herr Neighbor should not be +distressed. You will of course want the note extended, it will cost you +a little something, perhaps, but that can be no objection under the +circumstances."</p> + +<p class="normal">Axel knew that, but he did not let himself be so easily persuaded, his +condition was too desperate, and he begged earnestly that if the Herr +Proprietor had no money to spare, he would help him with his credit. +"Good heavens! gladly," said Muchel, "but with whom? Who has any money +now?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Could not Moses help?" asked Axel.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I don't know him at all," was the reply, "I have no dealings with him. +Your father did business with him, and you know him yourself. Yes, I +would go and see him."</p> + +<p class="normal">That was all the comfort Axel got; smoothly as an eel, the Herr +Proprietor slipped through his fingers, and when he got on his horse, +and rode home, all was dark around him, but it was darker still within.</p> + +<p class="normal">David and Slusuhr came again, they beset him in the most shameless +manner, and whatever he might say of Pomuchelskopp's later intentions, +they would know nothing about them, they only knew that they must have +their money.</p> + +<p class="normal">He rode hither and thither, he knocked here and there; but there was +nothing to be had anywhere; and weary and discouraged he came home, and +there he was met by the quiet eyes of his wife, which said, clearly +enough, that she suspected everything, but her mouth was silent, and +her lips closely compressed, as if a fair book, in which stood many a +word of comfort, must remain forever closed to him. Since the time when +Habermann had been sent off in such a disgraceful manner, and she had +become aware of the great injustice she had done him, out of love to +her husband, she had said nothing more to him about his difficulties; +she could not help him, and she would give him no occasion to betray +himself and other people with new falsehoods. But this time he was, for +the moment, in great anxiety, and his excitable, vexed, hasty demeanor +betrayed his distress more fully than usual, and when she retired that +night, and looked long at her child, the thought flashed through her +head and heart, he was yet the father of her dearest on earth, and he +seemed to her so pitiable that she wept bitterly over him, and she +promised herself to speak to him with friendliness, the next morning, +and to take upon herself, willingly, her share of his self-imposed +burdens.</p> + +<p class="normal">But when morning came. Axel come down stairs, with singing and piping, +and called Triddelsitz, and gave him instructions, and called for +Krischan Däsel, and ordered him to put the horses to the carriage, and +prepare for several days absence, and came in to his wife with a face +which was not merely free from distress but full of security, so that +she was astounded, and took back her promise.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Are you going a journey?" she asked.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, I must travel on business, and shall probably go as far as +Schwerin. Have you any commands for the sisters?"</p> + +<p class="normal">She had merely greetings to send, and after a little while Axel said +good-bye, and got into the carriage, and drove to Schwerin. He had told +his wife but half the truth; he had no other business but at Schwerin, +and with his sisters. It had occurred to him, during the night, that +his sisters had money; his father had left them a little house, with a +garden, and fifteen thousand thalers, and their capital was invested at +four and a half per cent., and they lived on the interest; to be sure, +in rather slender circumstances, but the Kammerrath could not do better +for them, and had reckoned that the brothers-in-law, and especially +Axel, would be able to assist them a little. This capital had occurred +to Axel in the night, he could use it at once, it would help him +immediately, and he could pay them interest for it, as well as strange +people, but he would give them five per cent., and, though he was hard +up for the moment, the devil must be in it, if he could not pay them +again. This prospect was what had so enlivened him.</p> + +<p class="normal">When the young Herr came to Schwerin, and explained his business to the +sisters, and complained of the bad year, the poor old creatures became +very soft-hearted and comforted him, as if the whole world had gone +against him, and when Albertine, who was the cleverest of them, and who +looked after the money matters, began to speak very gently of +securities, the other two, and especially Fidelia, interrupted her. +That would be very narrow-minded, their brother was in need, and so +were many people in the country, and their brother was their pride, and +their only dependence, so their blessed father had said, shortly before +his death; and when Axel readily promised to give them security on the +estate Albertine surrendered, and the three old maidens were greatly +delighted that they could help their dear brother. He was also +fortunate, in getting hold of the money; a couple of Jews had it, and +he found them, and a little interest was due on it, and this he took +likewise, for he intended, of course, that his sisters should receive +their full fifteen thousand thalers again, and from this time get five +per cent, interest on it.</p> + +<p class="normal">He returned to his house, in the week after New Year, 1847, and a +couple of days later, when David and Slusuhr came again, expecting to +torment him, he counted out the money on the table, paid his notes, and +made a bow to their long faces, which both translated into the words: +"A good riddance, gentlemen!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What is this?" asked Slusuhr, as they got into their carriage.</p> + +<p class="normal">"God bless me!" said David, "he has money. Did you see? He had still a +great packet of money."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, but how did he get it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, we must ask Zodick."</p> + +<p class="normal">Zodick was a poor cousin of David's, whom he always took with him, as +coachman, but his real business was to listen to the people on the +estate.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Zodick, did you see, did you hear where he has been?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"The coachman told me he had been to Schwerin."</p> + +<p class="normal">"To Schwerin? What business had he at Schwerin?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He got the money there."</p> + +<p class="normal">"In Schwerin? It is what I have always said to my father, these +nobility stand by each other. He must have got it from the rich one, +from the cousin."</p> + +<p class="normal">"So?" asked Slusuhr, taking a packet of money out of his pocket, and +holding it under David's nose. "Smell of that! Does that smell of +nobility? It smells of garlic; he got it from your confounded Jews. But +it is all one,--we must go to Pomuchelskopp. Ha, ha, ha! How the +crafty, little beast will hop about with anger!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And in that he was right, Pomuchelskopp was beyond all control, when he +learned that his blow had not succeeded: "I said so, I said so; it was +not yet time; but, Häuning, Häuning! you crowded me so!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are a blockhead!" said Häuning, and left the room.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Take hold again," said Slusuhr; "never mind this, now you can give him +notice, for St. John's day, for the eight thousand which you have let +him have."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no," whispered Pomuchelskopp, "that is the only foothold I have in +that fine estate; if he should pay me, my plans are all spoiled. And he +has still more money?" he asked of David.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He had a large packet and a small packet."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well," said Slusuhr, "you will have your way, like the dog in the +well; but he must be an uncommon blockhead if he doesn't suspect, now, +that you are at the bottom of the whole affair; and, if he has smelt a +rat, it amounts to the same thing, whether you give him notice now, or +a couple of years later."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Children, children!" cried this dignified old proprietor, stamping and +puffing up and down the room, like a steam-engine, "if he has really +suspected it, he cannot do without me; I am the only friend that can +help him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, don't help him, then. St. John's day is the best time, then he +has no money coming in."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hasn't he though? He has the wool-money, and the rape-money."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, but then he has interest to pay, and most of it will have been +spent beforehand."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, I cannot do it, I cannot do it; the foot which I have once planted +in that fine estate, I can never draw back," said our old +philanthropist.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is a great pity for a man to set himself about something, and then +be afraid of the means," said the Herr Notary to David, as they drove +home. "Our fine business in Pumpelhagen is at an end. I shall merely +have to deal with the old woman, instead of him, the old woman will put +it through."</p> + +<p class="normal">"A dreadfully strong, clever woman," said David.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, there is no help for it. Our milch cow at Pumpelhagen is dry. +And it would all have gone well enough, David, if you had not been such +a dunce. Why couldn't you make your father give notice for his seven +thousand thalers? Then we two could have stripped him finely."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good heavens!" cried David, "he wouldn't do it. There he goes to old +Habermann, and there they sit and talk, and when I say, 'Father, dear, +give notice!' then he says, 'Give notice of your own money, I will take +care of mine.'"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He is getting childish then, and a man whose judgment is not worth +more should be put under guardians," said Slusuhr.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, you know, I have thought of that; but, you know,--it is +so--well, so--so--and then, you know, the father is too clever!"</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXIV.</h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">Axel, by the help of what remained of his sisters' money, slipped along +through the spring and half the summer of 1817, and, as he at last came +to the bottom of his purse, he preferred to sell his wool in +anticipation, rather than apply to his honest old neighbor. He saw, at +last, the thick knuckles of Pomuchelskopp behind the whole affair, and +his suspicion grew more and more lively that he had been sheared like +one of the sheep, and that his dear old neighbor had kept the wool, +though of what his chief aim might be he had not the least conception. +He grew colder and colder towards Pomuchelskopp, he no longer visited +him, he went out through the garden into the fields, when he saw from +the window the Herr Proprietor coming to call, and his wife rejoiced +silently at the change. We might rejoice, also, if he had acted +intelligently and with consideration, and had broken off the +intercourse with a cool head, but he worked himself up into such an +opposition to Pomuchelskopp, that he wished never to set eyes on him +again, and when the opportunity occurred, at the patriotic union at +Rahnstadt, and the Herr Proprietor pressed up to him in a very friendly +way, he not only snubbed him, but treated him in the most contemptuous +manner, and used such bitter words that all the people who were +assembled there took it for a reproach against Pomuchelskopp for his +money-lending. This was, if not dishonorable, certainly extremely +foolish, for he still owed Pomuchelskopp eight thousand thalers, which +he was not ready to pay, and, if he had known the Herr Proprietor as +well as he said, he must also have known what the effect of such +treatment would be. Pomuchelskopp could swallow a considerable dose of +rudeness, but this, in the presence of all the people, was too much for +him, and his vengeance lay too close at hand for him not to avail +himself of it. He said nothing, but he went round to Slusuhr the +notary: "You can give the Herr von Rambow notice on St. John's day, to +pay my eight thousand thalers on St. Anthony's. I know, now, where I +am; we shall get him in our fingers again, and he shall smart to pay +for it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"If only Moses would give notice too!" cried Slusuhr, and this pious +wish was destined to fulfilment, but later. A change had also come over +young Jochen, although no one but Frau Nüssler had thought of it; she, +indeed, had long suspected that her Jochen would come to a bad end, and +that, at last, he would not allow himself to be ruled by any one. And +the time had now come. Jochen had, from the first, laid by money every +year: at first indeed, only a couple of hundred thalers; but afterwards +the hundreds became thousands, and though he did not trouble himself to +count the money, his wife told him, every New-Year's morning, how much +they had saved the past year, and his soul rejoiced in it, though he +scarcely knew why; but he had been accustomed to it now for many years, +and custom and life were, for Jochen, the same thing. When the bad year +came, Frau Nüssler said to Jochen at the harvest: "This will be a bad +year, you shall see we shall have to use some o£ our capital."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Mother!" said Jochen, looking at her with astonishment, "you wouldn't +do it!"</p> + +<p class="normal">But this New-Year's morning his dear wife came and told him she had, +this year, taken up three thousand thalers, and God grant they might +get through with that! "We cannot let our people and our cattle +starve," she added.</p> + +<p class="normal">Jochen sprang to his feet, a very unusual thing, trod on Bauschan's +toes, another unusual thing, looked stupidly in his wife's face, but +said nothing, which was not unusual, and went silently out of the +room, Bauschan following him. Noon came, Jochen was not there, a fine +spare-rib was smoking on the table, Jochen did not appear; his wife +called him, but he did not hear; she sought him, but he could not be +found; for he was standing in the dark cow-house, in one hand the +tar-bucket, in the other, the tar-brush, with which he was marking +crosses on his cattle; Bauschan stood beside him. After a long time, +his wife discovered him at this occupation.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good gracious, Jochen, why don't you come to dinner?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Mother, I have not time."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What are you doing here in the cow-stable, with the tar-bucket?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am marking the cows, that we must sell."</p> + +<p class="normal">"God forbid!" cried Frau Nüssler, snatching the brush out of his hand. +"What is this? my best milk-givers!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Mother," said Jochen quietly, "we must get rid of some of our people +and our cows, they will eat us out of house and home." And it was +fortunate he had begun on the cattle, and not on the people, otherwise +the boys and girls might have been running about Rexow, that New Year's +day, with tar crosses marked on their backs.</p> + +<p class="normal">With great difficulty Frau Nüssler coaxed him away from this business, +and got him into the house, but then Jochen announced it as his +positive decision, he would manage no longer, and he <i>could</i> manage no +longer, and Rudolph must come, and marry Mining, and undertake the +management. Frau Nüssler could do nothing with him, and sent for +Bräsig. And Mining, who had heard enough, for her share, fled to her +little gable-room, and held her little heart with both hands, and said +to herself that was wrong, why should not her father take his ease, and +why should not Rudolph carry on the farm, he was able, Hilgendorff had +written so; and, if Uncle Bräsig was opposed to her in this matter, she +would tell him, once for all, she would no longer be his godchild.</p> + +<p class="normal">When Bräsig came, and the matter was explained to him, he placed +himself before young Jochen, and said to him, "What are you doing, +young Jochen? Painting your cows with tar crosses, on the blessed +New-Year's morning? and going to sell your wife's best milk-givers? and +going to give up the management?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bräsig, Rudolph can manage; why should not Mining get married, when +Lining is married? Is Mining any worse?" And he looked sideways at +Bauschan, and Bauschan shook his head.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Jochen," said Bräsig, "that is all right. You have spoken a very +clever word in your foolishness,"--Jochen looked up--"no, Jochen, it is +no special credit to you, it is only because it suits my ideas, for I +am of the opinion that Rudolph must manage here. Keep still, Frau +Nüssler," said he, "just come here, a moment." And he drew Frau Nüssler +into another room, and put the case before her. Until Easter, he should +stay with Pastor Gottlieb, and till then, he could look after matters +here; but, after Easter, Rudolph must manage, "and that will be good +for you," he added, "for he will make no tar crosses on your cows, and +it will be good for him too, he will get used to managing, by degrees, +and then, a year from Easter, we, will have joyful wedding."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But, Bräsig, that will never do, how can Mining and Rudolph live in +one house, what will people say?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Frau Nüssler, I know people have a very bad opinion of their +fellow-creatures when they are betrothed; I know, when I had +three,--eh, what was I saying? Well, Mining can go to Pastor Gottlieb's +at Easter, I shall go to Rahnstadt, to Habermann, and then my room will +be empty."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, that would do," said Frau Nüssler.</p> + +<p class="normal">And so it was all arranged. Rudolph came at Easter, but Mining must go, +and as she sat in the carriage with bag and baggage, she wiped the +tears from her eyes, and thought herself the most unfortunate being in +the world, because her mother had thrust her out of her father's house +among strangers,--by which she meant her sister Lining,--and that +without any reason; and she clenched her little fist, when she thought +of Bräsig, for her mother had let it out that Bräsig had advised it. +"Yes," said she, "and now I am to go into his room, which he has so +smoked up with tobacco, that one can write his name with his finger, on +the walls."</p> + +<p class="normal">But how she opened her eyes, when she entered the room! In the middle +of the room stood a table, covered with a white cloth, and on it stood +a pretty glass vase with a great bouquet of such flowers as the season +afforded; snow drops and blue violets, yellow daffodils and hyacinths, +and under it lay a letter to Mining Nüssler, in Uncle Bräsig's +handwriting, and as she opened it she was almost frightened, for it was +a copy of verses, and this was the first time she had received such +homage. Uncle Bräsig had borrowed an old verse-book from Schultz the +carpenter, and found a couple of verses to suit him, and added another +out of his own head, and this was the letter:</p> +<div class="poem"> +<p class="t5" style="text-indent:-6px +"> +"<span class="sc">To my dear Godchild!</span></p> +<br> +<p class="t5" style="text-indent:-6px +">"The room is mine<br> +And yet not mine,<br> +He who was before me<br> +Thought it his own.</p> +<br> +<p class="t5" style="text-indent:-6px +">"He went out<br> +And I came in,<br> +When I am gone<br> +It will be so again.</p> +<br> +<p class="t0" style="text-indent:-6px +">"Yes, parting and leaving are sad,<br> +But next year, we shall be glad,<br> +Be good and contented here,<br> +And the wedding shall be next year!"</p> +</div> + +<p class="normal">Mining turned red a little, over the last line, and fell upon Lining's +neck, laughing and scolding Bräsig; but in heart she waved him a +friendly kiss. And so Mining was here, Rudolph at Rexow, and Bräsig +with the Frau Pastorin and Habermann at Rahnstadt.</p> + +<p class="normal">There was not much change in Habermann, he still kept by himself, +although many troubled themselves about him; the rector preached him a +little sermon now and then, Kurz entertained him with agricultural +conversation, and old Moses hobbled up the stairs, and asked his advice +about his business; but this did not cheer the old man, he tormented +himself, day and night, with thoughts of his child, and with the +long-deferred hope that the day-laborer Regel might return, and by a +full confession free him from these shameful suspicions. The laborer +had sent letters, and also money, to his wife and children; but never +let himself be seen. The little Frau Pastorin had a secret anxiety lest +her old friend should become incurably morbid, and she felt truly +thankful, when Bräsig finally came. Bräsig could help her, and Bräsig +would; if any one could, he was the man. His restless and yet +good-natured disposition left his Karl no peace, Karl must do this, and +do that, he must go walking with him, he must listen to all the stupid +books that Bräsig got out of the Rahnstadt Circulating Library, and if +nothing else would rouse him, Bräsig would make the most extravagant +assertions, till he had stirred Karl up to contradict him, and engaged +him in a dispute. In this way, there seemed a real improvement in +Habermann; but if the conversation turned upon Pumpelhagen or Franz, it +was all over, and the evil spirit came upon him again.</p> + +<p class="normal">Louise was much better off, she was not one of the woman who believe +that if their love is blighted they must doctor themselves all their +lives, and must show the world, through a weary, dreamy behavior, how +sick their poor hearts are, that death alone can heal them, and that +they are of no more use in the world. No, she did not belong to this +species, she had strength and courage to bear a great grief by herself, +she needed not the compassion of the world. Deep, deep at the bottom of +her heart lay her love, like pure gold, and she granted no one a sight +of it, its very shining was locked up from the world, and when she went +into this secret place, in quiet hours, and looked at her treasure, she +changed it into little money for every-day use, and gave it out, here +and there, to all with whom she had to do; and <i>this</i> love the world +perceived, but not the other. When our Lord sees such a heart striving +bravely against misfortune, and trying to turn it into good, then he +helps it, and sends many a chance to its help, of which no one thinks. +Chances men call them, but, rightly viewed, they are the consequences +of many other consequences, of which the first cause is hidden from our +sight.</p> + +<p class="normal">Such a chance befell Louise, in the Spring after the Female +Vehmgericht. She was coming home from Lining's at Gurlitz, and going +between the Rahnstadt gardens, along a footpath, when a garden gate +opened, and a pretty little maiden stepped out, blushing rosy red, and +put into her hand a nosegay of lilacs and tulips and narcissus. "Ah, +take them," said the little assessor,--for it was she,--and as Louise +stood, rather astonished, not knowing how she came there, the tears ran +down the little assessor's cheeks, and she covered her hand over her +eyes, and said, "I should be so glad to give you a pleasure."</p> + +<p class="normal">Well, that was so kind and friendly! Louise threw her arm about her, +and kissed the little assessor, and the latter drew her into the +garden, to the arbor, and then they sat under the blossoming lilacs, +and Louise and the innocent little girl conceived a warm friendship for +each other, for from the coals of love friendship is easily kindled, +and from this time the little assessor was a daily guest at the Frau +Pastorin's, and all in the house rejoiced at her coming. When Habermann +heard the first tone of the Frau Pastorin's old piano, he came down +stairs, and sat in the corner, and listened, while the little assessor +brought sweet music out of the old instrument, and when that was over, +the Frau Pastorin had her diversion, for the little assessor was a +doctor's daughter, and doctors and doctors' children always have +something new to tell, and although the Frau Pastorin was not exactly +inquisitive she was very glad to know what was going on in the world, +and since the time she had lived in the city this little peculiarity +had developed in her, and she said to Louise, "I don't know; but it +seems as if one was glad to know what is going on around one; but when +my sister Triddelsitz tells me anything, it all sounds so sharp, but +when little Anna tells anything it sounds so innocent and gay; she must +be a good little child."</p> + +<p class="normal">But the real significance of this friendship first appeared when the +bad year came, and its consequences entered the little city,--poverty +and hunger and misery. Little Anna's father was a doctor, and he had no +title at all; but he had something better, he had a compassionate +heart, and when he had told of this and that, at home, the little +assessor would go to the Frau Pastorin and Louise, and tell it over +again, and the Frau Pastorin would go to her store-room, and into the +pantry, and down into the cellar, and pack a basket,--she always did +that herself, nobody else must meddle with it,--and the two little +maidens carried it off, in the half-twilight, and when they came back, +they gave each other a kiss, and the Frau Pastorin one, and Habermann +one, and that was all. And when the soup-kitchen was to be started, the +ladies of Rahnstadt held a great "perpendicle," as Bräsig called it, to +decide what it was best to do, and the Frau Syndic said, "It should be +something noble," and when she was asked what she meant by that, she +said it was all one to her; but it must be noble, otherwise she would +have nothing to do with it. And the old Vehmgerichters said there must +be a distinction made between the wicked and the good poor, the wicked +might go hungry; and a young lady, who was just married, said they +ought to have gentlemen at the head; but that was a great mistake, +all were opposed to her, and the Frau Syndic said, so long as she +had lived--and that must be a good many years, interjected Frau +Krummhorn--cooking and nursing had come under the rule of the ladies, +what did men know about such things? but the business must be noble. +And the conventicle separated, as wise as it had been when it came +together, and when the soup-kitchen was started, two pretty little +maidens, in white aprons, served together at the fire, and put the +gifts for the poor into the soup-kettles, and sat down with the wicked +and the good poor, on the same bench, and peeled potatoes for the next +day, and scraped turnips, and this was the small money into which +Louise had changed her golden treasure, and the little assessor added +her groschens to the sum.</p> + +<p class="normal">Now came Bräsig, and relieved the little assessor of the out-door +errands, for he was peculiarly fitted for such duties, and when he had +not the confounded Podagra, he ran about the city, saying to Habermann, +"Karl, Dr. Strump says Polchicum and exercise, and the water-doctor +says cold water and exercise; they both agree on the exercise, and I +find that it is good for me. What I was going to say--Moses sends his +regards to you, and is coming to see you this afternoon."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What? Has he got back from Doberau, from the baths? I thought he was +not to come back until August."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Karl, it is St. James' day, to-day, and August is almost here. +But--what I was going to say,--the old Jew has quite renewed his youth, +he looks really well, and he ran about the room, just to show me how +spry he was. But I must go to old widow Klähn, she is waiting in her +garden for me, because I promised her some turnip-seed, and then I must +go to Frau Krummhorn, she wants to show me her young kittens, to see +which one she shall keep for us, for, Karl, we need a good mouser; and +then I must go to Risch, the blacksmith, to see about the shoes for +Kurz's old saddle-horse. The old thing has wind-gall, as bad, I tell +you, Karl, as Moses' David's corns. You don't know, perhaps, if your +young Herr has got a horse with a wind-gall, he might like to buy the +old thing from Kurz, for the completeness of his lazaretto. And, +towards evening, I must go to the Frau Burgomeister, for they have +three or four bushels of rye, and I shall have a sort of feast, since +it was cut to-day, and I shall of course have Streichelbier, so that it +will seem quite like farming. Well, good-bye, Karl, this afternoon I +will read to you, for I have brought home an amusing book." And so he +ran off again, up street and down, like a Jack of all trades, toiling +for other people; for since in our little Mecklenburg towns the chief +interests turn upon farming matters, he advised here and prophesied +there, helped this one and that, and was soon the oracle and errand boy +of the whole city. After dinner he sat down by his Karl, with a book in +his hand, to read to him out of it, and if we peep over his shoulder we +may read the title; "The Frogs of Aristophanes, translated from the +Greek." We open our eyes; but how would the old Greek have opened his +eyes over the cultivation of the Rahnstadters, had he, after two +thousand years, peeped over uncle Bräsig's shoulder, and perceived, +from the stamp, that his confounded Frog-nonsense was ranged with the +various "Blossoms" and "Pearls," and "Forget-me-nots" and "Roses," in +the Rahnstadt Circulating Library. How the rogue would have laughed! +Uncle Bräsig did not laugh, he sat there very sober, he had on his horn +spectacles with the great round glasses, which shone like a pair of +coach-lanterns, he held the book as far from his body as his arm would +reach, and began:</p> + +<p class="normal">"The Frogs of Aristop-Hannes--I read 'Hannes,' Karl, for I think +'Hanes' must be a mistake in the printing; for it told about +'Schinder-Hannes,' in a book I read once, and if this is only half as +dreadful, we may be well contented, Karl." Then he began, and read on, +in Schoolmaster Strull's style, and Habermann sat there, as if he were +paying close attention, but soon his old thoughts slipped in, and when +Bräsig moistened his finger, to turn over the fourth leaf, he saw, with +righteous anger, that his old friend had closed his eyes. Bräsig stood +up, and placed himself before him, and looked at him. It is an old +story, that the miller wakes when the mill stops grinding, and the +listeners wake when the sermon is at an end, and so it was with +Habermann; he opened his eyes, took a couple of puffs at his pipe, and +said, "Fine, Zachary, very fine!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"How? you say 'fine,' and you are fast asleep."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't take it unkindly," said the old man, coming, for the first time, +to full consciousness, "but I havn't understood a word. The book must +be very dry, or do you understand any of it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not much, Karl, but I have paid a groschen for it, and when I pay a +groschen, I want to get my money's worth."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes; but if you don't understand it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"People read for other things than understanding, Karl; people read +<i>pour paster la tante</i>, with the books. Just see," and he was going to +explain this remark, when some one rapped at the door, and Moses came +in.</p> + +<p class="normal">Habermann went up to him: "This is good, Moses! And how fresh you look, +really handsome!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"So my Blümchen tells me, but she has said that for these fifty years."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, how did you like it, at the bath?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do you want to hear some news, Habermann. One is pleased twice at the +bath, first, when one arrives, and secondly, when one goes away. It is +just as it is with a horse and a garden and a house, one is glad to get +them, and glad to get rid of them."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, you are not used to being idle, you had too much business in your +head."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, what is business? I am an old man. My business is not to get +into new affairs, and to get my money out of the old. And I came to +talk to you about that; I am going to give notice of my seven thousand +thalers at Pumpelhagen."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, Moses, not yet! You would throw the Herr von Rambow into great +embarrassment."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, I don't know, he must have money, he must have a great deal of +money. David and the notary and Pomuchelskopp have been at him, and +wanted to clear him out of his nest, this last New-year, but he paid +them eleven thousand thalers, at one time. I made it out from David. I +also heard it from Zodick. 'Where did you go yesterday?' I asked him. +'To the court,' he said. 'Zodick, you lie,' I told him. Then he swore +it, till he grew black in the face. But I kept saying 'Zodick, you +lie.' At last I said, 'I will tell you something,' said I. 'The horses +are mine, and the carriage is mine, and the coachman is mine; if you +don't tell the truth, I will send you away, and then you will be a +beggar.' Then he thought better of it, and told me about the eleven +thousand thalers, and yesterday he told me Pomuffelskopp had given him +notice of the eight thousand thalers, on St. Anthony's day. Now, +Pomuffelskopp is a shrewd man, he must know how he stands."</p> + +<p class="normal">"God bless me!" cried Habermann, and his hatred was forgotten, and the +old attachment struck through him, without his being conscious of it +himself, "and do you mean to give notice, too? Moses, your money is +safe."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, suppose it is safe. But I know many places where it would be +safer," and, looking sharply at the two old inspectors, one after the +other, he added, with a singular expression, "I have seen him, I have +also spoken with him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Whom? the Herr von Rambow? Where then?" asked Habermann.</p> + +<p class="normal">"At Doberau, at the gaming-table I saw him," said Moses, venomously, +"and I spoke with him at my lodgings."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good heavens!" cried Habermann, "he never did that in his life before. +How has the unhappy young man come to that?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I always said," remarked Bräsig, "this Herr Lieutenant was going to +the devil with his eyes open."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Just heavens!" exclaimed Moses, "how they threw the gold about! They +had great heaps of louis-d'ors before them, and put them down here, and +put them down there, and shoved them here, and shoved them there, and +is that a business? and do you call that an amusement? A thing to make +one's hair stand on end! And there he was among them. 'Zodick,' said +I,--for Zodick had come with my carriage, I was going away the next +day,--'Zodick, place yourself here, and pay attention to the +Pumpelhagen Herr, how it goes with him,'--it made me sick to look on. +And in the evening Zodick came, and he said he had lost, and in the +morning the young Herr came to me, and wanted a thousand thalers. 'I +will tell you something,' I said, 'if you want me to be like a father +to you, then come with me; my Zodick is waiting with the carriage +before the door, I will take you with me; it shall not cost you a +shilling.' But he would'nt do it, he stayed there."</p> + +<p class="normal">"The poor, unhappy man!" cried Habermann.</p> + +<p class="normal">"This boy!" exclaimed Bräsig, indignantly, "who has a wife and child! +Oh, if you were mine, I would teach you a lesson!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"But, Moses, Moses!" cried Habermann, "I beg you, by everything in the +world, don't demand your money. He will come to his senses, and your +money is safe."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Habermann," said Moses, "you are a shrewd man, too, but listen to me: +when I began the money business, I said to myself, when a man comes +cutting a great swell, with carriage and horses, and costly furniture, +then lend money, the man has something to pay it with; when one comes, +gay and merry and drinking champagne,--now, young folks will be young +folks! what they spend to-day, they can earn tomorrow,--then lend, too; +but when one comes with cards in his pocket, and bills in his pocket, +and throws his money by heaps into the gutter,--take care, I said, the +gambler doesn't get his money again out of the gutter. And then, +Habermann, what would the people say? The Jew, they would say, has laid +in wait for the young man, he has advanced him money for his play, that +he should ruin himself, and the Jew can find good fishing in the +troubled waters." And Moses rose to his feet: "No, the Jew, also, has +his honor! and no one shall come, and point to my grave, and say, 'They +tell bad stories about him.' And I am not going to lose my good name, +in my old age, for the sake of a young puppy like this. Has he not +stolen your honest name from you? and yet you are a good man, and a +sure man. No, sit down," said he, as Habermann sprang up, and strode up +and down the room, "I am not going to talk about that; but people are +different; you suffer it, and you have your reasons; I will not suffer +it, and I also have my reasons. And now, adieu, Habermann, adieu, Herr +Inspector,"--going out of the door,--"but I shall give him notice on +St. Anthony's day."</p> + +<p class="normal">So from this side also, a storm was rising in Axel's sky, of which he +little dreamed; dark clouds gathered round him, and when the storm +should burst, who could tell if a shower of hail might not fall, which +should destroy all his springing hopes for ever. He, indeed, never +allowed himself to think that he might be playing a losing game, he +comforted himself with the good harvest, with the advances he should +receive from the grain and wool dealers, and also with other unforeseen +happy chances, which might possibly occur. But if such chances +sometimes come to a man's help, unfortunate chances often come, which +tax the courage of the strongest, and make him feel as if he were the +plaything of destiny. And so it happened in the year 1848.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXV.</h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">This is not the place, of course, to describe what the year brought +with it, of good or evil, for the world, every one may do that, after +his own fashion; nor shall I undertake to relate the consequences, or +investigate the causes of its events in the rest of the world; but only +to tell what it brought with it for the company with whom I have +especially to do, is more than I can do off-hand; or my book would come +to an end in a very unsatisfactory way.</p> + +<p class="normal">When the uproar broke out in Paris, in February, it was as far off from +Mecklenburg as Turkey itself, and was to most people rather amusing +than otherwise; they were pleased to have something going on in the +world. A great taste for politics was developed in Rahnstadt, and the +postmaster said, if it went on like that, it would be too much +for them, he had been obliged to order eleven new papers,--four +Hamburg-Correspondents, and seven "Tanten-Vossen,"--and this proportion +was itself a bad sign, for the "Tanten-Vossen" had a tendency to +undermine all the conditions of society; they might not <i>mean</i> any harm +by their nonsense, but they <i>did</i> it.</p> + +<p class="normal">So four and forty Rahnstadt politicians were provided for, since at +least four, on an average, read the same newspaper, and the juvenile +offspring of the Rahnstadt grandees ran about the streets with the +papers, and took them punctually from house to house, as if their +worthy parents were training them for post-boys. But what were eleven +papers, in such a town as Rahnstadt? The majority of the citizens had +nothing of the sort, and some provision must be made for them, and so +there was.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Johann," said Hanne Bank's wife, "where are you going again?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh, Dolly, over to Grammelin's a little while."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You go to the ale-house altogether too much, of late."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh, Dolly, only one glass of beer! Rein, the advocate is going to read +us the papers again this evening; a man must know what is going on in +the world."</p> + +<p class="normal">And Hanne Bank and fifty others went after their beer. The advocate +Rein sat by the table, holding a newspaper in his hand; he looked along +the table once or twice, and cleared his throat. "Quiet!" "Quiet!" +"Grammelin, another glass of beer!" "Karl, hold your tongue! he is +going to read." "Thunder and lightning! can't I be served with a glass +of beer first?" "Well, now keep still!" and the advocate began to read. +He read about Lyons and Milan and Munich; revolutions were breaking out +everywhere, and spreading all over the world. "Come, here is +something," said he. "'Island of Ferro, the 5th inst. The island is in +great excitement; they intend taking away our meridian, which we have +had over three hundred years, and transferring it to Greenwich, in +England. Great animosity to the English. The people take up arms; our +two regiments of hussars are ordered to the defence of the Meridian.'"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Just think of that, how they are going on!" "Yes, neighbor, that is no +small matter; when one has had a thing three hundred years, it must be +hard to do without it." "Neighbor, do you know what a meridian is?" +"Eh, what should it be? It must be something the English can make a +good use of. You see, you wouldn't believe me, yesterday, that the +English were at the bottom of the whole trouble, now you hear it for +yourself."</p> + +<p class="normal">Advocate Rein laid the paper on the table, and said, "The business is +getting serious; one may well feel anxious and disturbed."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good heavens, what is the matter now?" "Has anything serious happened?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Serious? I should think so! Just listen! 'North pole, 27th February. +An extremely dangerous and serious outbreak has occurred among the +Esquimaux; they obstinately refuse to turn the earth's axis any longer, +and they pretend there is a lack of train-oil, for greasing, since the +whale-fisheries have been so bad, during the last year. The +consequences of this disturbance, for the whole world, are not to be +reckoned.'"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thunder and lightning! what is that? Will the whole concern stand +still?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh, the government must do something about it!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh, neighbor, the nobility will not suffer that."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I don't believe a word of it," said Hanne Bank.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You don't believe it? Well, as a shoemaker, you should know something +about it. Hasn't train-oil gone up since last year?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, children," said Wimmersdorf, the tailor, "so much I say, no good +can come of it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well," cried another, "it is all one to me! If the skies fall, the +sparrows will drop dead. But so much I say, <i>we</i> have to work, and +shall those lazy dogs at the north pole sit with their hands in their +laps? Grammelin, another glass of beer!"</p> + +<p class="normal">From these stories one may perceive three things; first, that the +advocate, Rein, read not merely out of the papers, but occasionally out +of his head, and that he was a waggish fellow, and, secondly, that the +Rahnstadt burghers were not yet quite ripe for the newspapers, and, +thirdly, that men, as a general thing, look at a matter very coolly, +when it does not affect their own interests.</p> + +<p class="normal">But it was coming nearer to us. One fine day, the Berlin post did not +arrive, and the Rahnstadters stood in a great crowd before the +post-office, asking themselves, what was the meaning of this? and the +grooms who had come to fetch the post-bags for the country places, +asked themselves whether they should wait or not; and the only +contented man, in all this disturbance, was the Herr Postmaster, who +stood before the door, with his hands folded on his stomach, twirling +his thumbs, and saying, for thirty years he had not had such a quiet +time, between eleven and twelve o'clock in the morning, as to-day. The +next day, instead of the little newsboys, came the grandees themselves, +and instead of the grooms the gentlemen themselves rode in, but that +did not help the matter, for still the post did not come; but instead, +it began to be whispered about that a revolution had broken out at +Berlin. One knew this, and another that, and old Düsing, the potter, +who lived by the gate, said he had heard cannon firing distinctly, all +the morning, which all the people honestly believed, although Rahnstadt +is twenty-four miles from Berlin. Only his neighbor, Hagen, the +wheelwright, said, "Gossip, that cannon firing was done by me; I have +been splitting beechen-logs all the morning in my wood-shed."</p> + +<p class="normal">The third day a post came; but not from Berlin, only from Oranienburg; +and they brought along a man, who could have told everything, since he +was himself in Berlin at the time, if he had not talked himself so +hoarse that by the time he reached Rahnstadt he could not speak a loud +word. He was a clerical candidate belonging in the region, and the +Rahnstadters knew him and nourished him with egg-nog to clear his +throat; he drank a considerable quantity of the stuff, but it +did no good; he pointed to his throat and chest, shook his head +and was going away. But it was asking too much of the Rahnstadters to +expect them to submit to such a disappointment, they wouldn't let him +off, and the candidate was obliged to give a representation of the +Berlin revolution, in pantomime. So he constructed a couple of +barricades,--in the air, so to speak, for, if he had taken hold of the +Rahnstadt paving stones literally, the police would have been after +him,--he shot, with his cane, behind the barricades, he stormed +them,--still with his cane,--from in front, he ran about wildly among +the people to represent the dragoons, and succeeded in imitating the +thunder of the cannon, for he was just able to say "Bumm!"</p> + +<p class="normal">So the Rahnstadters knew, now, how a revolution looked, and how it +should be conducted, and they sat together and drank beer and disputed, +and things began to look so serious that even our friend Rein did not +try to get off any more of his North pole stories. Sometimes, now, +also, the grandees would come and drink beer, to earn popularity +against the time when the revolution should begin here.</p> + +<p class="normal">And it was seriously thought of. There were wide-awake people in +Rahnstadt, as well as in other places, and although the citizens had no +great common grievance, each had his little individual difficulty upon +which to hang his discontent, one had this, another that, and Kurz had +the stadtbullen. So it came about that all were united in the opinion +that things must be different, and it would come to no good, if they +did not have their revolution also,--that is to say, a little one.</p> + +<p class="normal">Out of the indefinite reading of newspapers, came a definite +Reformverein, with a president and a bell; and the irregular running up +and down became regular, and the number of visitors became so large +that the company adjourned, one evening, from the beer-house to the +hall; but they took their beer-mugs along with them. All this happened +in the greatest order, which is rather astonishing when one considers +that the company was made up of discontented people, for the only +contented member of the union was the landlord, Grammelin. They had +speech-making in the hall, at first from the tables and benches; but +that was to be altered. Thiel, the joiner, made a round sort of thing, +which should serve for the speaker's stand, and the first speech made +from it was by Dreiern, the cooper, against Thiel himself, since he +considered the thing to be rather cooper's work than joiner's work, and +begged of the assembly protection for his trade. He did not carry it +through, however, although it was apparent to all that the thing bore a +striking resemblance to a cooling-vat for a brandy-still. The old stout +baker, Wredow, also failed in carrying his motion that the cask should +be made larger, since there was no room to move about in it; for, as +Wimmersdorf the tailor told him, the thing was not made for stout +people; they had had enough of folks who cared merely for their own +comfort. The thing was meant for those who had nothing on their ribs, +and it was large enough for them. And so it happened that only the lean +people got a chance to speak, and the stout folks in their anger and +vexation stayed away, at which the others declared themselves to be +well pleased. But it was a mistake, for in this way they expelled "the +quiet element"--as it was called--from the union, and in their stead +the day-laborers crowded in, and now they were ready for the +revolution. The only two people of comfortable dimensions who still +remained in the Reformverein, were Schultz the carpenter and Uncle +Bräsig.</p> + +<p class="normal">No one could be more contented, in these restless times, than Uncle +Bräsig; he was always on the street; he was like a bee, or rather a +humble-bee, and looked upon every house-door and every window in +Rahnstadt as a flower whence he could suck news, and when his appetite +was satisfied he flew back to his place, and fed his friend Karl with +his bee-bread: "Karl, they have driven away Louis Philippe."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is that in the papers?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I read it myself. Karl, he must have been an old coward. How is it +possible a king could let himself be driven away?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh, Bräsig, such things have happened before. Don't you remember about +the Swedish Gustavus? When a people are all united against him, a king +stands entirely alone."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are fight there, Karl; but yet I wouldn't have run away. Thunder +and lightning! I would sit on my throne and put the crown on my head, +and kick and thrash with my arms and legs, if any one touched me."</p> + +<p class="normal">He came later, saying, "Karl, the post has not come again from Berlin, +to-day, and your young Herr rode in splashing through the streets, up +to the post-office, to make inquiries himself, and why not? But it came +near going badly with him, for some of the burghers were already +plotting together there, and asking themselves, by way of example, +whether they ought to allow a nobleman to go splashing through the mud +like that. Well, he rode off, afterwards, in quite a different manner, +towards Moses' house, and then the matter was dropped. I had a word to +say to Moses, and went there shortly after, and as I came up he was +just coming out of the door; he looked at me, but did not know me; not +that I take it unkindly of him, for his head was full of his own +affairs, for I could hear Moses saying, 'What I have said, I have said: +I will lend no money to a gambler.' Moses is coming here, this +afternoon."</p> + +<p class="normal">So, in the afternoon, Moses came. "Habermann, it is correct, it is all +correct about Berlin."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What? has it broken out there?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It has broken out,--but don't say anything about it; this morning the +son of Manasseh came to me from Berlin, travelling post; he is going to +make a business of buying up old flint-locks, he has got some thirty +thousand, left from the year '15."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What can he do with his flint-locks?" cried Bräsig; "every educated +person uses percussion locks, now-a-days."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What do I know?" said Moses. "I know a good deal, and I know nothing +at all. He thinks, when it begins, there will be a demand for the old +muskets with the flint-locks, too, and he told me at Berlin they shot +with flint-locks and sabres and pistols and cannon on the people, and +it went 'Puh! puh!' the whole night, and the cuirassiers rode through +the streets, and the people threw stones, and shot out of windows, and +from behind the barricades. Terrible! terrible! but don't say anything +about it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"So there was a regular cannonization?" inquired Bräsig.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good heavens!" cried Habermann, "what times these are! what dreadful +times!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why, what do you call dreadful times? It is always bad times for the +foolish, and always good for the wise. When we had good times, I had no +reason for drawing in my money, and giving notice here and there. For +an old man like me, these are good times."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But, Moses, have you no anxiety, when everything seems going to +destruction? You are well known to be a rich man."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, I am not afraid; my Blümchen came and whispered to me, and David +came,--he trembled like that,--and said, 'Father, what shall we do with +our money?' 'Do with it?' said I, 'do as we have done. Lend, where it +is safe, do business where it is safe; we can be "people" too, if it is +necessary. Let your beard grow, David,' I said, 'the times require it.' +'Well, and when other times come?' he asked me. 'Then you can cut it +off again,' I said, 'the times will not require it then.'"</p> + +<p class="normal">The talk then turned upon Axel, and his difficulties, and the fact that +money and credit were nowhere to be had, and there was much to say on +that point, for if credit fell property must fall with it, and many a +one would not be able to keep his estate. And when Moses was gone the +two old farmers sat together through the evening, with the Frau +Pastorin, and the talk wandered sadly, hither and thither, and the Frau +Pastorin clasped her hands, once and again. Over the wicked world, and, +for the first time, thanked her Creator that her pastor had been taken +away before these evil times, and had not lived to see such unchristian +behavior; and Habermann felt like a man who has given up a fine +business, which had grown very dear to him, and now sees his successor +going to destruction. Bräsig, however, did not allow himself to be +dismayed; he held up his head, and said these agitations, which were +spreading over the whole world, were not merely the result of human +invention, our Lord had his hand in the business as much as ever; at +least. He had allowed it, and after the storm the air would be clear +again. "And, Karl," he added,--"I say nothing about you, Frau +Pastorin,--but if I may advise you, Karl, you should come with me, +tomorrow evening, to Grammelin's, for we are not mere rebels, and do +you know how it seems to me? Just as it is in a stormy day; if you +stand in the house and look out, you shudder and shrink, but once out +in the midst of the rain, you scarcely notice it."</p> + +<p class="normal">So Bräsig attended the Reformverein at Rahnstadt, and every evening +came back to the house, and told what had happened there. One evening, +he came home later than usual: "They have gone crazy, today, Karl, and +I have drank a couple of glasses more beer than usual, merely +on account of the great importance of the matter. You see, the +day-laborers have all become members of the union, and why not? we are +all brothers. And the cursed fools have been planning that the whole +limits of the town of Rahnstadt must be measured over again, and cut up +into equal sections, and every one is to have just so much land, and +every one is to have the right to cut down a beech-tree, from the town +forest, for the winter; then there will be regular equality among men. +Then all who owned land got up; they were for equality, but they wished +to keep their property, and Kurz made a long speech about fields and +meadows, and introduced the stadtbullen into them; and when he had +finished they reviled him for an aristocrat, and turned him out. And +then the tailor, Wimmersdorf, stepped up, and discoursed about the +freedom of the trades, and the other tailors attacked him, and +belabored him unmercifully, they wanted equality, they said, but they +must have guilds for all that. And a young man got up, and asked, +mockingly, how it should be with the tailoresses? Should they be +admitted to the guilds, or not? And the old master tailors would have +nothing of the kind, and then the young people declared themselves for +the tailoresses, and turned out the old tailors, and there was a great +uproar outside; and, in the hall, Rector Baldrian made a long, long +speech, in which there was a great deal about the emanzipulation--or +something else--of the female sex, and he made the proposition, that if +the master tailors would not admit the tailoresses into their guild, +the tailoresses should establish a guild of their own, for they were as +good human sisters as any other guild; and that was passed, and the +tailoresses are a guild now, and I was told, as I was going out, the +tailoresses would be out to-morrow, in white dresses, with their +forewomen at the head. Karl, that old, yellow old maid who goes by here +every day, that they always call a Tartar, should lead them to the +rector's house, and thank him, and in token of gratitude for his speech +should present him with a woolen under-jacket and drawers, on a +cushion."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bräsig! Bräsig!" exclaimed Habermann, "what nonsense you are talking! +One would think you had nobody above you, and that you could decide +everything for yourselves."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why not, Karl? Who is to hinder us? We make our resolutions, as well +as we know how, and if nothing comes of it, why, nothing comes of it; +and nothing ever will come of it, in my opinion, for you see, Karl, the +whole story comes to one point; all will have something, and nobody +will give up anything."</p> + +<p class="normal">"So it is, to be sure, Zachary, and I do not think, in this little +city, there will be much harm done, for one party will always oppose +the other; but, just think, if the day-laborers, in the country, should +get the idea of dividing the estates, what would become of us then?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh, Karl, but they won't do it!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bräsig, it lies deep in human nature, this desire to call a little bit +of our earth one's own, and they are not the worst men who care the +most for it. Look around you! When the mechanic has laid up something, +then he buys himself a little garden, a little field, and has his +pleasure as well as his profit in it, and the laboring man in the city +may do the same, for he has the possibility; and for that reason, I do +not believe the discontent of the laborers, here in the city, is of +much consequence. But it is different with the laborers in the country; +they have no property, and, with all their industry and frugality, can +never acquire any. If these opinions should spread among them, and +ignorant men should attempt to carry them into effect, you would see, +the consequences would be bad. Yes," he cried, "at first, it would +begin merely among the bad masters, but who will be security that it +shall not extend to the good also?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Karl, you may be right, Karl, for this evening Kurz told me,--that is +to say, before he was turned out,--that, last Sunday, a couple of +Gurlitz laborers used very singular expressions at his counter."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do you see," said Habermann, and took up his candle to go to bed, "I +wish no evil to any one, though many may have deserved it, but it is +sad that the good masters should suffer with the bad, and that the +punishment, which falls justly here and there, should fall upon the +whole country."</p> + +<p class="normal">With that he went off, and Bräsig said to himself, "Truly! Karl may be +right, in the country it might go badly, I must go immediately to look +after young Jochen and Pastor Gottlieb. Well, there is no danger about +young Jochen, he has never said a word to his laborers, and they will +say nothing to him, and the pastor's Jürn is decidedly no rebel."</p> + +<p class="normal">Habermann's opinion of the people, with whom he had so long been +connected, was just; through the whole country spread a restlessness, +like a fever. The most well-founded complaints, and the most +unreasonable and shameless demands went from mouth to mouth, among the +people, and what was at first lightly whispered was soon loudly spoken +out. The masters were mostly to blame for it, themselves; they had lost +their heads, each one acted on his own hook, and selfishness became +very evident, when each cared merely for his own interests, and, +provided he could live in peace with his people, did not trouble +himself about his neighbor. Instead of going forward, with a good +conscience, in the old, friendly intercourse with the people, some +masters cringed before their own laborers, and granted all their +unreasonable demands; others mounted the high horse, and would compel +them with sword and pistol, and I have known some who would not ride +about their own fields without a couple of rifles in the wagon. And +why? Because they had not a good conscience, and had long ceased to +have any friendly feelings towards their people. Of course, this was +not true of all masters, nor was it true of Axel; he had never been +unkind to his people, nor was he generally hard, but he could become +so, if he believed his position as master to be in danger. Under such +circumstances as the present, every one showed his true character, and +it required a very cool and experienced head to look over the whole +tumult and trouble, hold oneself in readiness for action, and decide +what was good and what was evil, and how one should steer his ship +safely through these swelling waves.</p> + +<p class="normal">This was not the case with Axel, he sat in the midst of the whole +confusion, and groped blindly about him for resources which he should +have found in himself, and so it happened, that he committed both +follies of the masters, now he would yield unwisely, and again the +lieutenant of cuirassiers would get the ascendancy, and he would seize +his pistols and sabre. The people were not what they had been, and that +was his own fault; for at one time he would deprive them of little +things, which, from old custom, were dear to the heart of the small +folk, and again, in a fit of good nature, he would give liberally all +sorts of favors, and that made the people greedy, for he did not +understand human nature, especially that of the small folk, in the +country. He would praise the people when they had been idle, and scold +them when they had been industrious, for he did not know how much they +could bear. In short, he had not treated them in accordance with right +and justice, but merely according to his own caprices, and because +these had not lately been favorable, discontent had increased among the +day-laborers, and against such solid old oaks as would not easily burn, +or let the flame kindle, was piled one dry fir-branch after another, +until, at last, they begin to take fire.</p> + +<p class="normal">Every one knows that only diseased firs afford such dry branches, and +in Axel's neighborhood stood such a diseased fir-tree, which was full +of splinters, and that was Gurlitz. This tree had formerly been quite +sound; but, in spite of all Pastor Behrens could do to preserve it, +it had decayed, for each of the several masters, whom they had +exchanged for another, had taken away branch after branch, and the old +tar-barrel, Pomuchelskopp, was really glad that it was diseased, and +thought merely of the fat he could roast out of it; for there are +masters,--sad to say,--who prefer a bad state of things, among their +day-laborers, to a sound one, and rejoice when they have their people +at a disadvantage, because they can skin them the better. But +Pomuchelskopp had not taken it into account that, when the lightning +strikes such a dry tree, it will burn quicker and brighter than a sound +one; and the neighbors of our Herr Proprietor, who knew very well that +the Gurlitz people were in a bad way, and often jested about it, never +thought that the fire which Pomuchelskopp--of course without meaning +it--had kindled for his own destruction, might also happen to scorch +themselves, and Gurlitz might be the bonfire, from which the whole +region should be kindled. The Gurlitz laborers had taken to drinking +brandy, because there was a distillery at the court, and they could +have brandy on credit, through the week, to be deducted from their +wages on pay-day, and they were in the habit of running to the city, to +spend every shilling--spare or not,--at the shops in Rahnstadt, and +here they had learned what was going on in the world, and the shopmen +had also instructed them how it ought to go on in the world, and then +they came home, and put their besotted ignorance together, and kindled +it with their greedy wishes, till it rose up in blue flames, and their +half-starved wives and children stood behind them, like ghosts, and +they thrust in the splinters of the dry fir-tree,--that is, their +poverty and distress,--and ran with them about the neighborhood, and so +they had kindled even the honest, tough old oaks.</p> + +<p class="normal">It did not blaze out openly, at first, there was much opposition to be +overcome; there were well-meant words of intelligent people, there was +the old dependence, there was the recollection of former benefits, +there was the eternal justice, which holds out long, even in a diseased +soul, and presses its sting into the conscience, and all this fell like +cold rain on the glowing embers, and kept the fire from blazing out, +even in Gurlitz. Had they been able to read the souls of their masters, +however, it would have blazed up merrily, for in Pomuchelskopp's heart +the common hatred and the most pitiable cowardice strove for the +mastery, for his good conscience had long ago taken leave of him, and +he could not rely upon his former kind treatment. At one moment he +would cry cut in rage, "Oh, these wretches! I should only---- There +must be new laws made! What have I to do with a government that has +troops, and will not let them march? What! My property is in danger, my +government must protect my property." And the next moment he would call +his Gustaving in from the yard: "Gustaving, you blockhead, why are you +running about among the threshers, let them thresh as they please, I +will have no quarrel with my people," and he turned to his Häuning, who +sat there, stiff as a stake, her sharp nose and her sharp eyes turned +steadily in one direction, and not even shaking her head, "Häuning," he +said, "I know what you think, you mean I should let them see that I am +the master; but it won't do, it really won't do, Klücking! we must be +careful, we must be careful, with great caution we may possibly pull +through."</p> + +<p class="normal">Häuning said nothing to this advice, but she looked as if, for her +part, she had no intention of acting upon it, and Pomuchelskopp turned +to Malchen and Salchen: "Children, I beg of you, not a word of what is +spoken here! Not a word to the servants! and be friendly to the people, +and beg your dear mama to be friendly also. Lord knows, I have always +been for friendliness!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And then Malchen and Salchen began upon Häuning: "Mama, you have'nt +heard, you don't know what is going on everywhere. Johann Jochen told +in the kitchen how the laborers' wives have scourged the proprietor Z. +of X. with nettles. Mama, we must give in to them; it won't do."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are all fools," said Häuning, going out of the room. "Shall I be +afraid of such a pack?" and she closed the door. But in this condition +of supernatural, heroic courage, she stood quite alone, and without +other help it was quite useless, for Muchel in his distress for the +future, would neither stir nor move, and the remaining members of this +simple family, for once, sided with their father.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Children," cried the father, "every one must be treated kindly. The +confounded wretches! Who would have thought of this, three months ago? +Philipping and Nanting, you must not beat the village children any +more, and don't draw an ass's head on the back of old Brinkman's coat +again! These rascals! But they are set on by that cursed Rahnstadt +Reformverein, and by the Jews and the shopkeepers; but wait a bit!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, father," said Salchen, "and Ruhrdanz the weaver has already +joined the Reformverein, and the rest of the villagers will all follow +his example; and it may be a bad thing."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good heavens, I should think so! But wait, I must get the start of +them, I will join it myself."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You?" cried the two girls, in one breath, as if their father had +proposed to sit fire to his house and home, with his own hands.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I must, I must! It will make me popular among the burghers, so that +they will not excite the canaille against me; I will pay up the +tradesmen's bills, and--yes, it must be done,--I will advance something +to my day-laborers."</p> + +<p class="normal">Malchen and Salchen were astonished, never in their lives had they +heard father talk like that; but they were still more astonished when +father went on to say, "And let me tell you one thing, you must be +very civil to the Herr Pastor and the Frau Pastorin,--good heavens, +yes! Mother won't do it--Häuning, what trouble you make me! The +parsonage people can do us a great deal of good, or a great deal of +harm. Ah, what can not a proprietor and a pastor accomplish, if they +stand faithfully by each other, in these bad times! We must send them a +friendly invitation; by and by, when it is quiet again, we can drop the +intercourse, if it does not suit us."</p> + +<p class="normal">And sure enough! After a few days Pastor Gottlieb received a note +containing the compliments of the Herr and the Frau Pomuchelskopp--for +old Häuning had given in on this point--to the Herr Pastor and the Frau +Pastorin, and requesting the honor of their company to dinner. The man +waited for an answer. Bräsig happened to be there, having come over to +look after things a little. When Gottlieb read the invitation, he stood +there, looking as if he had received a summons to the Ecclesiastical +Consistory, to answer to charges of false doctrine, or immoral conduct. +"What?" he exclaimed, "an invitation from our proprietor? Where is +Lining? Lining!" he called, out at the door. Lining came, read the +letter, and looked at Gottlieb, who stood before her without a word, +then she looked at Bräsig, who sat in the sofa-corner, grinning like a +Whitsun ox. "Well," she said at last, "we cannot go, of course?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dear wife," said Pastor Gottlieb,--he always called her "dear wife," +when he wished to throw the weight of his clerical dignity into the +balance, at other times he said merely "Lining,"--"dear wife, you +should not refuse the hand that your brother offers."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Gottlieb," said Lining, "this is not a hand, it is a dinner, and the +brother is Pomuchelskopp. Am I not right, Uncle Bräsig?" Bräsig said +nothing, he only grinned, he sat there like Moses' David, when he had +staked a louis-d'or, and waited to see whether clerical dignity, or +good, sound common sense would turn the scale.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dear wife," continued Gottlieb, "it is written, 'Let not the sun +go down upon your wrath,' and 'If thy brother smite thee on one +cheek,'----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Gottlieb, that does not apply to this affair; we have no wrath against +him, and as for smiting on the cheek, I am of Bräsig's opinion. God +forgive me the sin! it may have been different in old times, but if it +were the fashion now, there would be a great deal of grumbling in the +world, for we should all go about with swollen cheeks."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But, dear wife----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Gottlieb, you know I never interfere in your clerical affairs; but a +dinner is a worldly affair, and one at the Pomuchelskopps is more than +worldly. And then, you quite forget, we have company. Isn't Uncle +Bräsig here? And wouldn't you rather dine here to-day, with Uncle +Bräsig, on pea soup and pigs' ears than at Pomuchelskopp's grand +dinner? And they have not invited Mining either," she added, as Mining +entered the room, "and they know that Mining lives with us."</p> + +<p class="normal">This decided Gottlieb, he liked pea soup and was particularly fond of +pigs' ears; and I must say that he thought highly of Uncle Bräsig, who +had helped him so much and stood by him so faithfully, and one of his +greatest clerical grievances was that such a man as Uncle Bräsig, whose +life was so honest and honorable, had yet so little the outward +demeanour of a Christian and churchman. So he declined Pomuchelskopp's +invitation, but when they had sat down to their pea soup, and Bräsig +came out recklessly with the information that he was really a member of +the Rahnstadt Reformverein, Pastor Gottlieb sprang to his feet, +regardless of the pigs'-ears, and delivered a regular sermon against +the Reformverein. Lining pulled him by the coat, now and then, telling +him that his soup would be cold; but Gottlieb was not to be diverted: +"Yes," he cried, "the vengeance of God has come upon the world; but woe +to the men whom he chooses as the instruments of his vengeance!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Since they were not in church Bräsig ventured to interrupt him, +inquiring whom the Lord had chosen for the purpose.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is in the hand of the Lord!" cried Gottlieb. "He may choose me, +he may choose Lining, he may choose you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"He will not choose Lining and me," said Bräsig, wiping his mouth, +"Lining fed the poor, in the year '47, and I have, for several weeks, +declared for equality and fraternity in the Reformverein; I am no +avenger, I wouldn't harm any man; but if I could get hold of Zamel +Pomuchelskopp, then----"</p> + +<p class="normal">Gottlieb was too excited to listen longer, and went on with his +discourse: "Oh, the devil is going about the world like a roaring lion, +and every speaker's stand, in these cursed Reformvereins, is an altar, +on which sacrifice is offered to him; but I will oppose to this altar +another; in the House of God I will preach against this sacrificing to +devils, against these Reformvereins, against those false gods and their +altars!"</p> + +<p class="normal">With that, he resumed his seat, and ate, hastily, a couple of spoonfuls +of pea-soup. Bräsig left him in quiet for a while; but when he saw that +the young clergyman had come back to worldly affairs sufficiently to +attack the pigs' ears, he said, "Herr Pastor, you are right in one +point, the speaker's stand at Rahnstadt looks uncommonly like a devil's +altar, that is to say, a cooling-vat from a distillery; but I can't say +that sacrifices are offered to him upon it, unless Wimmersdorf the +tailor does it, or Kurz, or your respected father, for he always makes +the longest speeches,--no, don't interrupt me!--I was only going to +say, so far as I am acquainted with the devil, and that is now a good +many years, he would not meddle with the Rahnstadt Reformverein, for he +is not so stupid."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Gottlieb," said Lining, "you know I never interfere with your clerical +affairs, but you would surely not bring such a worldly matter as the +Reformverein into the pulpit?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Yes, he would, Gottlieb said.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, then, go ahead!" said Bräsig, "but what people say, that of all +men the pastors understand their business the best, is not true, for, +instead of preaching in the people who don't go to church, you will +preach out those who do go."</p> + +<p class="normal">And Uncle Bräsig proved to be in the right, for when Gottlieb, one +Sunday, preached with terrible zeal against the new times--of which, by +the way, he understood about as much as if he had come into the world +yesterday,--and against the Reformverein, and, the next Sunday, was +going on with the business, only Lining and Mining and the sexton were +there to hear him, for a few old spinning women, who sat here and +there, were not to be reckoned in the audience, since they did not come +on account of the sermon, but only for the soup, which they got on +Sunday noons at the parsonage. So he went home, with his sermon and his +womenkind, the old women followed with their soup-kettles, the sexton +locked up the church, and Gottlieb felt like a soldier, who in his zeal +has thrust his sword into the thick buckler of his enemy, and stands +there without defence.</p> + +<p class="normal">So the times were bad, all over the country, every one's hand was +against his neighbor, the world was turned round, those who had +something and had been boasters were become humble, those who had been +counted wise were now thought foolish, and fools grew into wise men +over night; the distinguished were of no account, noble men gave up +their nobility, and day-laborers were called "Herr."</p> + +<p class="normal">But two things ran like a thread through all this confusion of +cowardice and insolence, which had power to comfort and cheer. One +thread was gay-colored, and when one came near enough, and could free +himself from the common anxiety and the common greediness, he could +find much amusement in it, that was the ludicrous side of human nature, +which turned up so clearly; the other thread was rose-colored, and upon +it hung everything with which one human being could make others happy, +pity and compassion, sound common sense and reason, honest labor and +self-denial, and this thread was love, pure human love, which is woven +through the dull gray web of selfishness by helpful hands, as a token +from God, that shall remain in the worst of times; and who knows but +this stripe may grow broader and broader till the whole gray web turn +rosy red, for this thread,--thank God!--is never cut off.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXVI.</h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">Rexow was quiet. That means the day-laborers, Frau Nüssler and Rudolph; +young Jochen and young Bauschan were not so well off. Young Bauschan +had taken a stroll through the cow-shed, and had observed there, under +the care of old Flasskopf, the cow-herd, a droll little beast, which +seemed to him almost like a photograph of himself, and was also named +Bauschan; he could remember, from his childish years, the circumstances +under which he had succeeded Bauschan the sixth upon the Rexow throne, +and he at last came upon the gloomy thought that this copy of himself, +so carefully brought up on sweet milk, by Jochen Flasskopf, was in +training for some high destiny, and might possibly, under the name of +Bauschan the eighth, be his own successor; it would be in accordance +with the times. He was greatly troubled, and could not decide what to +do, whether, under the pretext that he could not accommodate himself to +the times, and preferred to associate Bauschan the eighth with himself, +under the title of co-regent, he should share with him the rule of +Rexow; or whether he should treat him as a pretender, eat up his sweet +milk, put fleas in his skin, and drive him out of the Rexow country, in +short, declare war against him.</p> + +<p class="normal">He kept watch of Jochen, to see what should be the upshot of the +matter; but young Jochen, in these days, had enough to think about in +his own affairs, he also was in the greatest agitation, and the times +were so bad, that these two old friends were no longer united, but were +agitated from wholly different causes; Bauschan looked upon a pretender +to the crown as a great nuisance, Jochen positively wished for one; +Bauschan looked with great disgust upon a private condition, with +gnawed bones, which he could no longer bite; Jochen looked upon it as a +golden cup, which Mining should fill for him with coffee in the +morning, mother with strong beer at noon, and chocolate in the evening, +and, when Bräsig was there, with punch; he wished to be rid of the +sovereignty, especially in such times as these, when one could not +smoke his pipe in peace. He always read the "Rostock Times," but always +threw it aside with vexation, saying to his wife, "Mother, they say +nothing yet about the geese."</p> + +<p class="normal">He imagined he was counted all over the country as a hard-hearted +master, because, upon Rudolph's advice, he had exchanged the geese his +day-laborers were accustomed to raise for a good piece of money, and he +considered it the sacred obligation of the "Rostock Times," which he +had read now for over forty years, to take his part on the goose +question. And in my opinion, the "Rostock Times" might very well have +done so, but they may have forgotten the matter, or possibly never +heard of it at all. But he came near going distracted over it; if two +girls stood together chattering about their cap-ribbons, he believed +they were talking about the fact that no goose-eggs had been set in +Rexow that year, and if two day-laborers, threshing oats on the +barn-floor, talked about their wages, he thought they were grumbling, +because they had no geese at harvest-time, to eat the oats. He could +not accommodate himself to these new times, and new methods of farming, +and was positively decided to rule no longer; Bauschan, on the +contrary, was quite unwilling to abdicate, and so, between these two +old friends, the egg was broken, and the bond was severed.</p> + +<p class="normal">Frau Nüssler was, in spite of these wild times, very quiet, as I have +said; but Jochen's condition made her anxious, and she often looked out +for Bräsig. "I cannot imagine," she said to Rudolph, "why Bräsig does +not come. He has nothing in the world to do, yet he does not look after +me at all."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, mother," said Rudolph, "you know what he is; if he has nothing +to do, he makes something to do. However, he is coming to-morrow."</p> + +<p class="normal">"How do you know that?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, mother," said Rudolph, hesitating a little, "I was over in our +rye this morning, near the Gurlitz boundary, and I ran over to the +parsonage a minute; he was there, and he will come to-morrow."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Rudolph, you are not to go running over there so, I will not have it; +when I go with you on Sundays, that is another thing. There you go +chattering and chattering, and putting all sorts of nonsense about +weddings and marriage into Mining's head, and nothing can come of it +yet."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh, mother, if we don't get married before long, we shall both be old +and cold."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Rudolph," said Frau Nüssler, as she left the room, "what is to become, +then, of Jochen and me? We are still young, and able to work, shall we +be laid on the shelf?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well," said Rudolph to himself, when she had gone out, "you are not so +very young, after all. These old people can give themselves no rest! +The old man might be willing, but the old woman would work three young +ones dead. Well, Bräsig is coming to-morrow; I will have Bräsig on my +side."</p> + +<p class="normal">And Bräsig came. "Good morning! Sit still, Jochen! Well, have you had a +little rebellion here, already?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh!" said Jochen, smoking furiously, "what shall I do about it, +Bauschan?" for he must ask Bauschan, since Bräsig was already out of +the room, and calling after Frau Nüssler.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good gracious, Bräsig!" said she, drying her hands on her apron, for +she had washed them hastily, not wishing to offer him a pair of doughy +hands, for she had just been kneading bread, "why do you never come +near us, and in these dreadful times? How is my brother Karl?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"'Bonus!' as the Herr Advocate Rein says, or 'bong' as the greyhound +says, or he is doing well, as I say; only that he is always thinking of +the destruction of his honest name, and the separation of his little +Louise from Franz, and these inward wounds injure him, in every +relation, so that he will have nothing to do with the Reformverein, and +Parliament, and political matters."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thank God!" said Frau Nüssler, "I know my brother Karl well enough to +be sure he would have nothing to do with such fool's play."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Frau Nüssler," said Bräsig, drawing himself up before his old +sweetheart, "you have spoken a very serious word, as Rector Baldrian +said, lately, when we were talking about the potato-land of the +day-laborers; but one must look well to his words, in these days,--they +have already turned Kurz out,--and I am really a member of the +Reformverein at Rahnstadt, and have no pleasure in 'fool's play.'"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, I believe you will turn me out of my own kitchen yet!" said Frau +Nüssler, putting her hands on her sides.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Did I say that?" asked Bräsig. "They have turned out Ludwig Philippe, +they have turned out the Bavarian Ludwig, they have turned out Ludwig +Kurz; is your name Ludwig? No, I came here to look after you, and if +anything breaks out here, then I will come with the Reformverein, and +with the Burgher-guard,--we have all got pikes, and some of us +flint-locks,--and we will protect you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do you think I will have people coming into my house, with pikes and +muskets?" cried Frau Nüssler. "You may tell your infamous pack, they +must first provide themselves with an extra set of arms and legs, for +those they have now would get broken here."</p> + +<p class="normal">With that, she turned away, went into her buttery, and locked the door +behind her. Yes, it was a sad time! even between this honest old pair, +the devil had sowed his weeds, and when Bräsig had stood a little while +before the buttery door, as Bauschan often did, he felt very much like +Bauschan when he was turned out, and he went back to the living-room +with a downcast air, and said to Jochen, "Yes, these are truly bad +times! And you sit there, and never stir hand nor foot? And the +rebellion has broken out in your own house!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Bräsig, I know," said Jochen. "That is on account of the +geese; but what can I do about it? Bräsig, help yourself to a little +kümmel!"--and he pointed with his foot to the lowest shelf in the +cup-board,--"there is the bottle."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bräsig approved of a little kümmel. Then he placed himself at the +window, and looked out at the weather, and as the spring wind drove the +April showers across the sky, and then the sun shone out again, so all +sorts of dark stormy thoughts chased through his head: "How?" said he, +"shall all that come to an end? She thrusts me away, when I would help +her?" and then again the sun shone out, but with a brief and mocking +glance, which gave no warmth, and he laughed: "Ha, ha! I wish I could +see her fighting against the Rahnstadt Burgher-guard, with the tailor +Wimmersdorf at the head, and the shrewd old dyer, with his 'Meins +wegens;' how they would scatter!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Rudolph passed through the yard, and seeing Bräsig at the window, came +in, as he wished to speak to him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good day. Uncle Bräsig!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good day, Rudolph. Well, how goes it? I mean with the day-laborers. +All quiet?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, yes! Nobody has made any disturbance as yet."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You shall see, about the geese," interposed young Jochen.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh, father, never mind the geese!" said Rudolph.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What is it about the confounded geese?" inquired Bräsig.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, nothing," said Rudolph. "You see, last year, I got so provoked, +first with keeping them in bounds, then with their plucking the grass +in the meadow, and afterward they got into the grain, so I called all +the laborers together, and promised every one four thalers, at harvest, +if he would give up the goose business, and they accepted the offer, +and now father has got it into his head that the people consider him a +tyrant, and that a rebellion will break out, on account of the old +geese."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You shall see, Rudolph, the geese----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good gracious!" cried Frau Nüssler, coming into the room, "always at +the geese!" and, throwing herself into a chair, she put her apron to +her face, and began to weep bitterly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good heavens, mother, what is the matter?" exclaimed Rudolph, running +up to her. "What has disturbed you so?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What shall I do about it?" asked Jochen, and he also stood up.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bräsig was going to say something, but restrained himself, for he knew +better than the others what was going on in Frau Nüssler's heart; he +turned to the window, elevated his eyebrows, and stared out stiffly at +the April weather. Frau Nüssler sprang up, dried her eyes, pushed +Rudolph and Jochen aside,--rather hastily,--went right up to Bräsig, +throw her arms about him, and said, "Bräsig, I know you meant it all +right; I won't break anybody's arms and legs."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, Frau Nüssler!" cried Bräsig, and the April showers and sunshine +were reflected in his eyes, for his whole face laughed, while his eyes +were dropping tears, "Tailor Wimmersdorf and the old crafty dyer, +'Meins wegens,' may get their deserts from you, for all I care."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What does this mean?" cried Rudolph.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will tell you," said Bräsig, gently freeing himself from Frau +Nüssler's arms, and taking her by the hand. "It means, that you have a +real angel for a mother-in-law. Not one of the kind that you see at the +balls, and promenading the streets of Rahnstadt. No! but an actual +angel, out of the Old Testament, such a valiant, brave old angel, who +is not afraid of the devil himself, contending in a good cause, and can +put you, sir, in her pocket, three times over!" and he looked at +Rudolph, as if he was the cause of all Frau Nüssler's distress.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good gracious!" exclaimed Rudolph, "I have done nothing!" and he +looked at Jochen, and Jochen looked at Bauschan; but Bauschan did'nt +know, and Jochen did'nt know, and Rudolph cried out, "I truly have not +the least idea----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"There is no necessity that you should," said Bräsig, and turned +abruptly to Jochen; "and you, young Jochen, with your confounded +goose-business, you will bring your whole household into a dangerous +revolution. You had better sit down, and keep quiet, and you, Rudolph, +come with me, I will make a brief examination of your management, and +see what you have learned with Hilgendorf."</p> + +<p class="normal">That was a suitable employment for Jochen, and Rudolph obtained a fine +opportunity to urge Uncle Bräsig's assistance in his plans for a speedy +marriage. It is possible that both of these reflections had occurred to +Bräsig.</p> + +<p class="normal">In the afternoon, Fritz Triddelsitz came riding up the yard. This time, +he was mounted on a dapple-gray, which had a most singular gait, in +front, he stepped out like a man, and as a general thing, went on only +three legs; from which one may perceive, that nature, in her +intelligent way, often creates superfluities; for instance, the tail of +a piuscher,<a name="div2Ref_10" href="#div2_10"><sup>[10]</sup></a> the ears of +a mastiff, and the left hind-leg of a +schreiber koppel. Fritz's dapple-gray was not handsome to look at, +particularly when he was in motion; but he was a courteous beast, he +bowed all along the street, and he harmonized with Fritz, for <i>he</i> had +grown very courteous, with his nobleman, and when some of his comrades +joked him about his dapple-gray, he laughed in his sleeve: "You +blockheads! I have profited finely by my trading, with the chestnut +mare for the black, the black for the brown, and the brown for the +dapple-gray; I have made money every time by the bargain." The +dapple-gray came very courteously up the Rexow yard, Fritz dismounted +courteously, entered the house courteously, and courteously said, "Good +day!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Mother," said young Jochen, "help Herr Triddelsitz,"--for they were +just sitting down to coffee.</p> + +<p class="normal">"God preserve us!" thought Bräsig, "and is he called 'Herr' already?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Fritz took off his overcoat, pulled something out of his pocket, and +sat down to the table, laying down by his coffee-cup a pair of +revolvers, which were just coming into use.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr," cried Bräsig, "are you possessed with a devil? What are you +doing with those infernal shooting-machines among the coffee-cups?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Frau Nüssler got up quietly, took the two pistols in one hand, and the +tea-kettle in the other, poured hot water into the barrels, and said, +very considerately:</p> + +<p class="normal">"So! they won't go off, now!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"For God's sake!" cried Fritz, "the only protection that we have----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr," interposed Bräsig, "do you think you are in a den of robbers, +here at young Jochen's?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"The whole world is a den of robbers now," said Fritz, "the Herr von +Rambow said that very distinctly yesterday, in his speech to the +day-laborers; and therefore I have been obliged to go to Rahnstadt, and +buy these two revolvers,--one is for him,--we will defend ourselves to +the last drop of our blood."</p> + +<p class="normal">Frau Nüssler looked at Bräsig, and laughed a little bashfully; Bräsig +laughed heartily: "And with these things, and with a speech from Herr +von Rambow, you expect to stop the mouths of the day-laborers, and turn +them to other thoughts?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, we mean to do it; my gracious Herr has spoken well to the people; +he will govern them mildly, but firmly, they may rely upon that."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, it is all as true as leather," interrupted Jochen.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are right, this time, Jochen; the tanning must be according to the +leather, but the young nobleman is not the man, you shall see, to treat +the timid with mildness, and the fainthearted with firmness."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And he has made another speech?" asked young Jochen.</p> + +<p class="normal">"A capital one!" cried Fritz. "How in the world he does it, I cannot +imagine."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is of no consequence," said Bräsig, "but what do the day-laborers +say to their expectations?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"That pack," said Fritz, who had learned something besides politeness +from his master, "are not worth their salt, for, as I was crossing the +yard afterwards, they were standing in groups together, and I heard +them talking about 'flatterers,' and 'gee and haw management'----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"They meant that for you," said Bräsig, grinning.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, only think of it!" said Fritz innocently. "And in the afternoon; +five of them came to the Herr, just the ones I had thought the most +reasonable of all, and old Flegel, the wheelwright, was the spokesman, +and said they had been informed that Herr Pomuchelskopp had given his +people an advance, and had promised them more potato-land, and other +things besides, but they would say nothing about that, for they had +never been so badly off as the Gurlitz people, and they were contented +with what they got: but they were not contented with the way they were +treated, for they were blamed unjustly, and scolded when they did not +deserve it, and they were driven back and forth, from the yard to the +fields, so that they had no idea what they were to do, and it would be +the best thing for the Herr von Rambow to let me go, for I did not +understand how to manage the farm or superintend the people, I was too +young. And if they might make a request, it was this, that they might +have their old Inspector Habermann back again. Now, just think of it, +such a set!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hm!" said Bräsig, grinning all over his face. "Well, what did the +young Herr say?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, he blew them a fine blast, and told them if <i>he</i> were contented +with me,--and then he motioned toward me, whereupon I made a courteous +bow,--then his masters the day-laborers might very well be contented +also. You see, that old fellow, Johann Egel, stepped up,--you know him, +he is one of the oldest, with the white hair,--and said they were not +<i>masters</i>, no one knew that better than they, and in coming to him as +their master, they had acted from good intentions, and not because they +wished to use hard words. The Herr von Rambow was master, and he could +do it or not, as he pleased."</p> + +<p class="normal">"He is a devilish cunning old fellow," said Bräsig, grinning more than +ever.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, only think of it! But that was not all, by a long way; the butt +end came afterwards. Towards evening, I noticed one after another of +the day-laborers going to the riding-stables, and as I knew that +Krischan Däsel, our groom, had a pique against me, I thought, 'What can +be going on there?' and I went into the stables, and there is a hole +between the riding-stable and the other stables, and I could hear +Krischan Däsel exciting the others."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is to say," interrupted Bräsig, "that you listened a little."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why, yes," replied Fritz.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Very well," said Bräsig, "go ahead!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, I must tell you, Krischan Däsel is positively bent upon marrying +Fika Degel, and has been betrothed to her several years, and the Herr +will not have a married groom, for he thinks a married groom would care +more for his own children than he would for the colts, which is all +right enough, but he will not dismiss him, either, because he thinks he +does well for the beasts; though for my part, I don't agree with him. +And now Krischan Däsel has got it into his head, that if he can break +up the raising of thorough-breds, and do away with the paddocks, the +Herr will let him marry Fika Degel, and so he was stirring up the +day-laborers to demand the paddocks for potato-land."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, you ran directly to the Herr, and told him that?" inquired +Bräsig.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Of course," said Fritz, "he ought to know it beforehand, so as to be +prepared for them. And when they came, and began about the paddocks and +potato-land, and were of the opinion that their wives and children were +just as good as the Herr's mares and foals, and ought to be cared for +first, then he scolded them finely, and packed them off immediately. +Krischan Däsel, of course, was paid up and sent off at once."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, what does the gracious Frau say to all this?" asked Uncle +Bräsig.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh," said Fritz, shrugging his shoulders, "what shall I say? she says +nothing to it. I don't know what has come over her. She used to greet +me,--rather ceremoniously but still politely,--but now she never looks +at me, ever since that stupid book-business with Marie Möller. <i>She</i> +has been gone, this long time, and it is just as well, for she was an +old goose; and now the gracious Frau attends to the housekeeping, +herself, and, I must say, she is a good housekeeper, although she +does'nt speak to me; and Korlin Kegel says she does it only to divert +her mind from other thoughts, and she often sits down, and writes +letters, but tears them all up, and sits with her hands in her lap, +gazing at the little gracious Fräulein. 'It is a pity,' says Korlin +Kegel. 'But the housekeeping goes on all right, and without any +scolding and storming round; no, so it shall be, and so it is done. If +she only had a friend or a companion,' says Korlin Kegel,--well it is +none of my business,--and he has no friends either."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But it <i>is</i> some of my business," cried Frau Nüssler, springing up, +"and I will go and see her to-morrow, and you, Jochen, may as well go +also and see that poor, foolish young man, and advise him for his good; +such times as these should bring neighbors together.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, mother," said Jochen, "what shall I do about it? And then this +old goose-business here; but Gottlieb and Lining----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"To be sure," cried Frau Nüssler, "he helped them to their living, and +we must not forget it of him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, but <i>he</i>," said Bräsig, looking like a sly old rascal, "has <i>he</i> +no friends? What would the Herr Zamwell Pomuchelskopp say to that?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Pomuchelskopp?" said Fritz. "We have nothing more to do with <i>him</i>," +bringing out the word with great contempt, and bending down to Bräsig +he whispered, "he has sued us, he has sent us notice for the money; I +know it from Zodick, from Moses' Zodick. Yes, that pot is broken, and +Slusuhr is coming constantly, now by letter, now in person; but we have +got one on our side, too, the advocate Rein, do you know him?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, yes," whispered Bräsig, "I know him, with his North pole, and +Island of Ferro."</p> + +<p class="normal">"A confoundedly smart fellow, isn't he?" asked Fritz.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes indeed," said Bräsig, "he can lead people by the nose finely. +But," he asked aloud, "what has the young Herr decided about the +day-laborers?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will tell you," said Fritz. "We have both decided to defend our +lives to the last extremity, and he sent me to Rahnstadt, to get these +revolvers."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, and if the day-laborers come again?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then we shall shoot," said Fritz.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Right!" said Bräsig, taking one of the revolvers in his hand, and +playing with it, rather absently, "but Frau Nüssler, you have made it +all wet, it might get rusty," and he wiped it on his coat-tails, and +went to the window, as if to examine it more closely, while Fritz, +meantime, explained to Jochen Nüssler the construction of the other.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Jochen, where is your tool-chest," asked Bräsig.</p> + +<p class="normal">Jochen pointed, with his foot, to the lower part of the cupboard.</p> + +<p class="normal">Fritz heard a sort of clattering behind him, and then a sharp noise, as +if something hard was broken, and, as he looked round, Bräsig held out +to him his revolver, without any cock, for he held that in the pincers, +in the other hand: "There!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thunder and lightening!" cried Fritz springing up.</p> + +<p class="normal">"So!" said Bräsig, "now you can't shoot anybody with the thing."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr, how did you dare to ruin my revolver?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Because you are a foolish boy, and children should not play with +fire-arms."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are an old----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You want to say 'jackass?' And it is possible that I am, in meddling +with you; but, Herr, I stand to you in the place of your aunt, and I +have done this on her account."</p> + +<p class="normal">"My Herr gave me orders to buy these revolvers, and I do as he tells +me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is all right, and here is one for your Herr; he can shoot with +it, if he pleases, he is accustomed to the business,--but you----" and +as the thought of Habermann came into his mind he added, "Infamous +greyhound, have you not caused misery enough already?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Frau Nüssler came to the rescue.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hush! Bräsig, hush! Not a word of that! But you ought to be ashamed, +Triddelsitz, to talk so lightly of shooting your fellow-creatures."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What!" cried Jochen, springing to his feet. "Mother, is he going to +shoot people dead?"</p> + +<p class="normal">And Bauschan also sprang up, with a couple of emphatic barks, and Fritz +was so confused by this combined attack on all sides, that he forgot +his politeness, threw on his overcoat, thrust the mutilated revolver +into his pocket, with the other, and only turned round at the door to +remark, with great emphasis, that no ten horses should ever drag him +over that threshold again.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It will not be necessary," observed Bräsig, very quietly. But if he +had heard Fritz's figures of speech, as he rode bowing along the +street, on old dapple-gray, and examined his ruined revolver, he would +not have been so composed, for, compared with the titles of honor which +Fritz generously bestowed upon him, those of the Emperor of Austria +were of no account whatever.</p> + +<p class="normal">Fortunately he did not hear, and on the whole he did not care much that +Fritz had placed the Nüsslers' house under the ban; but he had made the +discovery this morning that the oldest friendships might be broken in +such times as these, and he registered a solemn vow never, under any +circumstances, to retreat upon the Rexow farm, with the Rahnstadt +Burgher-guard. His confounded whims often ran away with him; but his +good heart kept close behind, and seized the reins directly; Strife and +confusion were very far from his intentions, he really wanted nothing +but joy and peace; although, by his peculiar conduct, strife and +confusion were often produced.</p> + +<p class="normal">Towards evening, when Jochen and Bauschan had fallen comfortably asleep +in the twilight, and it was a fine opportunity for a few sensible +words, he began about Rudolph and Mining: "Frau Nüssler, there is an +old proverb, that says: 'He who loves long, his love grows old, and he +who'----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Leave your stupid proverbs alone, Bräsig, they are not suited to me, +or to you! I know what you want to say, and I understand that this +cannot go on much longer; but what is to become of him and of me?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Frau Nüssler, you mean young Jochen----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hush, Bräsig, name no names! You might, for all <i>him</i>,"--pointing to +Jochen--"but on <i>his</i> account," and she pointed to Bauschan, "you must +be very careful, for he is cleverer than all of us put together. Just +see, how he pricks up his ears."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hm!" said Bräsig, looking under Jochen's chair, "truly! but that need +not hinder us. Frau Nüssler, this business must come to a happy +ending."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Bräsig, I say so, myself, every day, but only tell me, what is to +become of me, and of him?" pointing again to Jochen. "When Mining and +Rudolph get the control, what shall I do, what shall he do?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Frau Nüssler, you will have quiet days, and enjoy yourself in your +descendants."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That may be, Bräsig, and one gets accustomed to everything, even to +idleness; but look at me, with all my housekeeping I grow stouter, +every day, and if I should sit still in my chair I should soon be +unable to move, and be a perfect monster."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Frau Nüssler," said Uncle Bräsig, standing before her, while the +recollection of his youth came over him, "you were always handsome, and +you always will be," and he made a bow, and grasped her hand.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bräsig, that is a stupid joke!" said Frau Nüssler, drawing her hand +away, "and just look at that old dog! Hasn't he sense enough to +understand it? But we are not talking about me, now; what shall become +of him? I can do all sorts of handiwork; but he, if he has nothing more +to do?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He smokes tobacco, and sleeps," said Bräsig.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said she, "just at present, but he has altered fearfully, of +late. I say nothing about the foolish old goose-business, for I can +talk him out of that, but he has become so contrary, of late, he is +always disputing, and since he has had nothing to occupy his mind, he +imagines the most foolish things."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Jochen?" asked Bräsig, with much emphasis.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said Frau Nüssler, "but it is all over now. Look!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And Bräsig, looking, saw Bauschan stand up, and whisk his rough tail +across Jochen's face, a couple of times, and Jochen raised himself up, +and asked, quite distinctly, "Mother, what o'clock is it?" Then he +recollected himself, and perceiving Bräsig, said, "Bräsig, that is a +clever fellow, that Herr von Rambow, he has been making a speech +again."</p> + +<p class="normal">Rudolph came in then, and candles were brought, and Bräsig made a +frightful grimace, across the table, at Rudolph; but it was not meant +badly, it was merely confidential, and signified, "Keep perfectly +quiet, rely wholly upon me, your business is going on well."</p> + +<p class="normal">The evening passed slowly, for each had his own thoughts, and when it +was bedtime Bräsig was the only one who soon fell asleep; Rudolph was +thinking of Mining and the wedding, Frau Nüssler of the dreadful times +of idleness which awaited her, and Jochen of the geese, and Herr von +Rambow's speech. This last thought kept him waking all night, and when +Frau Nüssler, towards morning, turned over on the other side, for a +little nap, she saw Jochen fully dressed, going out of the door, with +Bauschan at his heels. That this meant something, she was sure, but +what, no mortal could tell.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXVII.</h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">Young Jochen went with Young Bauschan up and down the yard, and stopped +frequently to rub his head, as if there were something he did not +rightly understand. Bauschan also stood still, looked at Jochen, wagged +his tail rather doubtfully, and sank back into his own gloomy thoughts +about the co-regency. Rudolph came out.</p> + +<p class="normal">"God bless you, father, are you up already?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Rudolph, it is because of the old geese,"--he had something more +to say, but was not quite ready with it, and Rudolph said:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, father, never mind the old story; but I am glad you are up so +early this morning, you can tell the bailiff what the people are to do; +I did not go over to the Pumpelhagen boundary yesterday, I will run +over, and see how they are getting on with the ploughing. We are to do +just as we did yesterday, manuring the potato-land."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Rudolph, but----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, father, you will find it all right; I must hurry, to get back in +time," and he was off.</p> + +<p class="normal">Jochen walked up and down again; the day-laborers, meanwhile, were +coming into the yard, and the bailiff, Kalsow, came up to Jochen.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Kalsow," said he, "let the people all come together here, in a heap," +and with that he and Bauschan went into the house. The day-laborers, +the housewives, and the farm-people all stood in a group before the +house, and asked, "What are we to do?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>I</i> don't know," said Kalsow, the bailiff.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, go in and ask him then!" Kalsow went in. Young Jochen was +walking up and down the room, with Bauschan at his heels, for young +Jochen had kept on his cap, and that was a token to Bauschan that his +attendance was required.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr," said Kalsow, "the people are all there."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good!" said Jochen.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What shall we do?" asked Kalsow.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Wait," said Jochen.</p> + +<p class="normal">Kalsow went out, gave the people orders, and they waited. After a +little while, he came in again.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr, they are waiting."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good!" said Jochen. "Tell them to wait a little longer, I am going to +make them a speech presently."</p> + +<p class="normal">Kalsow went back, and said they must keep waiting, the Herr would make +them a speech presently.</p> + +<p class="normal">The people waited; but, as nothing came of it, Krischan the coachman +said, "Kalsow, I know him, go in and remind him of it."</p> + +<p class="normal">So Kalsow went in again; and said, "Well, Herr, how is it about the +speech?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thunder and lightning!" cried Jochen, "do you suppose thoughts grow on +my shoulders?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Bailiff Kalsow was frightened; he went back to the people, saying, +"That was of no use, he was angry with me; we must wait."</p> + +<p class="normal">"God bless me!" said Frau Nüssler to herself, in her store-room, where +she was putting things in order, "what does it mean, that the people +are all standing before the house?" and opening the window she called +out, "what are you standing here for?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh, Frau, we are standing here waiting."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What are you waiting for?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh, Frau, we don't know; the Herr is going to make us a speech."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who?" asked Frau Nüssler.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The Herr," said Kalsow.</p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>What</i> is he going to make?" asked Frau Nüssler.</p> + +<p class="normal">"A speech," said Kalsow.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He must be going crazy," exclaimed Fran Nüssler, dropping the window, +and, running in to Jochen, she seized him by the arm, and shook him, as +if to bring him to his senses.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What do you want to do? Make a speech? What are you going to make a +speech about? About me, or about Rudolph and Mining?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Mother," said Jochen,--but he said it firmly,--"about the geese."</p> + +<p class="normal">"God have mercy on you," said Frau Nüssler, quite beside herself, "if +you say another word to me about the geese!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What?" cried Jochen, setting himself up, far the first time in his +life, against his wife. "Cannot I make a speech? They all make +speeches, Herr von Rambow makes speeches, Pomuchelskopp, Bräsig talks +in the Reform-what? am I not good enough?"--and he brought down his +fist on the table,--"wife, am I not master? And shall I not talk about +my geese?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Frau Nüssler turned quite pale, stood there stiffly, looking Jochen in +the eye, but said not a word, pressed one hand against her heart, and +felt with the other after the door-latch behind her, and when she found +it opened the door, and went out backwards, still with her eyes +fastened upon Jochen,--as a lion-tamer does, when he sees that the +beast has lost its respect for him. But, when she was outside, she +threw herself down on a bench in the hall, and began to cry and sob +terribly. Yes, the year 1848 was a dreadful year, no government was +secure; even in this, open revolt had broken out.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bräsig came down stairs, singing and whistling; but how suddenly he +ceased, when he saw his old treasure in her grief!</p> + +<p class="normal">"May you keep the nose on your face! What has happened? At this time of +day, Frau Nüssler, half-past six, do you sit down and cry?" With that +he threw himself on the bench beside her, and tried to pull away the +apron from her face. Frau Nüssler pushed away his hands. "Frau Nüssler, +I beg you, for God's sake, tell me what is the matter."</p> + +<p class="normal">At last Frau Nüssler said, with a heavy sigh, "Jochen!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good heavens!" cried Bräsig, "he was perfectly well yesterday. Is he +dead?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No indeed;" cried Frau Nüssler, taking away the apron, and turning her +red eyes upon Bräsig, "but he has gone crazy!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"God forbid!" exclaimed Bräsig, springing to his feet, "what has he +been doing?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He is going to make a speech."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What? Young Jochen make a speech? That is a bad sign!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, Lord! Oh, Lord!" lamented Frau Nüssler, "and the laborers are all +standing out in the yard, and he has turned me out of the room, I don't +know how I came here."</p> + +<p class="normal">"This is going to extremes!" cried Bräsig, "but compose yourself, Frau +Nüssler, I am not afraid of him, I will venture to go in." And he +entered the room.</p> + +<p class="normal">Jochen was walking up and down, rubbing his head. Bräsig sat down near +the door, and followed him with his eyes, but did not speak; on the +other side of the room sat Bauschan, who also followed his master with +his eyes, but did not speak,--it was a very serious business, at least +for Jochen and for Bräsig; Bauschan was tolerably composed. At last, +Bräsig asked very gently:</p> + +<p class="normal">"What is the matter, Jochen?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I don't know," said Jochen, "my head is so confused; my thoughts are +running every way, as when one shakes up a bushel of oats."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I believe you, Jochen, I believe you," said Bräsig, and looked after +him again, as he walked up and down. All at once Jochen stood still, +and exclaimed angrily, "How the devil can I think of a speech, with +both of you looking at me like that!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"So! Do you want to make a speech? What do you want to make a speech +for?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bräsig, am I any worse than other people? Are my laborers worse than +other people's laborers? They want their satisfaction, in these hard +times; but I am not exactly fitted for it, the business is too much for +me; you are quicker-witted, do me a favor, and make one for me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why not?" said Bräsig, "if it is to do you a favor; but you mustn't +disturb me!" and now Bräsig walked up and down the room, and Jochen sat +still, and looked at him.</p> + +<p class="normal">Suddenly the Herr Inspector opened the window, and called: "All come up +here!" The day-laborers came up.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Fellow-citizens!" began Bräsig; but--bang!--he shut down the window: +"Thunder and lightning, that won't do! They are only day-laborers, one +can't talk to them as if they were burghers! And now you see, Jochen, +how difficult it is to make a speech, and will you meddle with a +business, for which even I am not prepared?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Bräsig, but----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Be still, Jochen, I know what you are going to say." He went to the +window, opened it again, and said, "Children, each one go to his work, +for to-day; there will be no speech to-day."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, that is all the same to us," said Kalsow, "but the Herr---"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He has been thinking about it," interrupted Bräsig, "and he has +decided that the spring is too early for it; by and by, at harvest, he +will make you a fine one."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said Kalsow, "that is the best way. Come then, people!" and they +went to their labor.</p> + +<p class="normal">But now, as the coast was clear, Bräsig turned towards Jochen, and all +the dignity, which his body was capable of expressing, was shown in his +manner to Jochen, and all the influence he had exercised upon Jochen, +in years past, now centered upon the poor kammerpächter, as he said, +"What? They call <i>you</i> crazy? You are no more <i>crazy</i> than Bauschan +and +I; but you are <i>foolish</i>. Why did your dear--I mean blessed--I mean +cursed--parents bring you into the world? To make speeches, and +frighten your dear wife out or her wits, who has nourished you at her +bosom this five and twenty years, like a new-born child? Come with me, +this moment, and beg her pardon, and tell her you will never do so +again!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And Jochen would have done so; but he was spared the apology, at least +in the manner which Bräsig demanded, for Frau Nüssler entered the room:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Jochen, Jochen! How you distress me!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh, mother----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Jochen, you will be the death of me!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"With your good-for-nothing speeches," interposed Bräsig.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Mother, I will not---"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, Jochen, I believe you will not do it this morning; but you have +set yourself up, you shall see, it will happen again."</p> + +<p class="normal">Jochen said no, he had had enough of it.</p> + +<p class="normal">"God grant it!" said Frau Nüssler, "and that you may see that I can +give up, too; for all me, Rudolph may be married to-morrow."</p> + +<p class="normal">"So," said Bräsig, "now there is peace in the house again! now +everything is in order, now give each other a kiss! One more, Jochen, +that the left side of your mouth need not come short."</p> + +<p class="normal">This was done, and Uncle Bräsig trotted off directly to Gurlitz, that +he might inform his little goddaughter Mining of her happy prospects. +He took the nearest foot-path, and that was the one which the Herr +Proprietor Muchel had stopped up, that it might not be public any +longer; but he had not succeeded in his design, for Gottlieb, at +Bräsig's suggestion, had opposed it, and had gained the suit.</p> + +<p class="normal">As Bräsig went along this path, he met the Herr Proprietor coming +towards him, with a very friendly face in the distance, and as he came +nearer he said, "Good-morning, my dear----" but he got no further, for +Bräsig turned upon him, and without looking him in the face said, "A +certain person was going to have my boots pulled off, and let me hop +about with bare legs, like a crow;" and with that, he passed on, +without looking round.</p> + +<p class="normal">And when he had discharged his errand to Mining, at Gurlitz, and, after +great rejoicing with his little rogues, Lining begged him to spend the +day with them, although he must excuse Gottlieb, since it was Saturday, +and he must write his sermon, he said, "Frau Pastorin Lining, every one +has his business, and if the Herr Pastor Gottlieb has a sermon to make, +why shouldn't I have one, too? For I must go to the Reform this +evening;" and so he went back to Rahnstadt.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXVIII.</h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">When Bräsig had opened his budget of news from Rexow and Gurlitz, and +the Frau Pastorin and Habermann had no more questions to ask, he took +flight again.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You won't take it unkindly, Frau Pastorin, or you either, Karl, but as +soon as I can change my boots I must go to the Reform. You ought to +come with me, Karl, we are going to elect a new president to-day, +because the old one, as he says, can't stand it any longer. I shall +vote for the advocate Rein,--do you know him? A capital man, a +thoroughly good fellow,--but he makes jokes, to be sure; and then we +have a very important question for discussion, to-day,--Rector Baldrian +says it is demanded by the spirit of the times,--we are going to find +out how there comes to be such great poverty in the world. You ought to +come with me, Karl."</p> + +<p class="normal">But Karl would not go, and Bräsig went alone.</p> + +<p class="normal">The first person upon whom his eyes fell, as he entered the hall of the +Reformverein, was--Zamel Pomuchelskopp, who, as he perceived Bräsig, +came right up to him, saying, "Good-evening, dear brother, how are you, +dear Zachary?"</p> + +<p class="normal">There were not many who observed how Bräsig received this salutation, +and those who saw it did not comprehend it clearly; but shoemaker Bank +had seen it, and told me about it. "Fritz," said he, "see here, if you +should look at the Herr Inspector's face in a shoemaker's glass, he +looked like that; the mouth was so broad, and the nose so thick, and +his whole face looked like fire and fat, and as he put out one foot +before him and said, 'Herr Zamwell Pomuchelskopp, I am no brother of +yours,' do you know what he looked like? Exactly like the old Sandwirth +Hofer, of Tyrol, when he is to be hung on the wall by Landlord Voss, at +Ivenach, only that he had no musket in his hand. And then he turned his +back to him, and such a back! and went up to the election-table, and +gave his vote for the new president, and said aloud, through the hall, +'I vote for the Herr Advocate Rein, for our business must be pure +(rein), and if any dirty fellows come in here they must be turned out.' +No body understood what he meant; but they were all still as mice, for +they knew something had happened; and as he went through the hall they +all made room for him, for he looked like a mad bull; but he seated +himself quietly at the other end of the hall, and all the members of +the Reformverein know what happened afterwards."</p> + +<p class="normal">This is what Hanne Bank told me, and I believe him, for he was a good +friend of mine, and an honest man, although he was only a shoemaker; he +was sent to a bloody grave, in his best years, by a good-for-nothing +scoundrel, because he stood up for the right, and although it may be +out of place here, I will write it, that the memory of such an honest +man and good friend may be honored elsewhere than on his tombstone.</p> + +<p class="normal">So Zachary Bräsig seated himself at the farther end of the hall, and +sat there like a thunder-storm, ready at any moment to break loose. The +advocate Rein was made president, he touched the bell, crawled into the +cask, and returned thanks for the honor, and finally said,--</p> + +<p class="normal">"Gentlemen, before we begin our discussion of the poverty-question, I +have the pleasure to announce to you that the Herr Proprietor of +Gurlitz proposes himself as a member of our Reformverein. I believe +there is no one who will oppose his admission."</p> + +<p class="normal">"So?" cried a terribly spiteful voice behind him, "are you so sure of +that? I beg for a word or two," and as the new president turned round, +there stood Uncle Bräsig, by the cooling-vat.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr Inspector Bräsig has the floor," said the president, and Uncle +Bräsig stuffed himself into the cooling-vat.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Fellow-citizens," he began, "how long is it, since we declared for +Liberty, Equality and Fraternity here at Grammelin's? I will say +nothing about Liberty, although I cannot stir my body in this +confounded cask; nor will I speak of Equality, for our new president +gives us a good example of that, since he always goes about in a gray +coat, and not, like certain people, in a blue dress-coat with gilt +buttons; but I wish to speak of Fraternity. Fellow-citizens! I ask you, +is that Fraternity, when a man wants to pull off his brother's boots? +and when a man will let his fellow-creature run about in the snow, like +a crow, or if the snow is gone, in the mud? and a man boasts himself +against another, and makes game of him? I ask you, is that Fraternity? +and I tell you Herr Zamwell is such a brother as that. And I have +nothing more to say."</p> + +<p class="normal">He came down from the speaker's stand, and blew his nose, as if he were +sounding a trumpet over his speech.</p> + +<p class="normal">Tailor Wimmersdorf then took the floor, and said the Rahnstadt Reform +must consider it a great honor to have a proprietor among them; so far +as he knew, it was the only one, for the Herr von Zanzel, although he +owned an estate, and was a member, was not to be counted, for he made +no purchases in Rahnstadt, and had nothing to do with them. He voted +for the Herr Proprietor.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bravo!" resounded through the hall. "Wimmersdorf is right! Neighbor, +you are right! How shall we live, if we don't keep on good terms with +such people?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is not my opinion," said Schultz, the carpenter, creeping softly +up into the cask, like a fat snail, out of its shell, and he looked +like one, for all the world. "Stuff and nonsense, tailor Wimmersdorf, +stuff and nonsense! Did the Gurlitz potentate trouble himself about us, +did he pay up our bills, before he needed us? Why does he stand here in +the hall, when his admission has been opposed? Hasn't he modesty enough +to go out? But no! And why? Because he is a Great Mogul. I say, out +with him, out!" and the snail crept into its shell again.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Out! out!" cried several voices, and others cried, "Speak again! Go +on!" and a rascally shoemaker sung out in a clear voice,--</p> +<div class="poem" style="margin-left:3%"> +<p class="t0" style="text-indent:-6px +"> +"Snail, snail, come out of your shell!<br> +Stick out your horns, we know you well!"</p> +</div> + +<p class="normal">But Schultz the carpenter would not come, he knew very well that he +should only weaken the impression his speech had made; he preferred to +strengthen it, he stood with Bräsig, behind the scenes, and both +called, "Out! out!" and they would certainly have gained their point, +had not the devil pushed forward David and Slusuhr, into the +cooling-vat, each with a moustache, to signify that they were +excessively liberal. They sung Pomuchelskopp's praises with psaltery +and harp; he was a helpful angel, said Slusuhr,--"Yes, a fat angel," +cried that rogue of a shoemaker,--he had helped many a poor family here +in Rahnstadt,--he said nothing about the ten per cent. interest,--and +he would do much more for the city. David began the same song, a little +colored with saffron and spiced with garlic. "Gentlemen!" said he, +making a low bow to the roguish shoemaker, who received it very +quietly, "bethink yourselves, think of the good of the whole city! In +the first place, there is the Herr Pomuchelskopp himself, in person, +then there is the gracious Frau Pomuchelskopp,--a fearfully clever +woman,--then there are the Fräuleins Salchen and Malchen, and the Herr +Gustaving and the Herr Nanting and the Herr Philipping, and then come +the Fräulein Mariechen and the Fräulein Sophiechen and the Fräulein +Melaniechen, and then come the little Herr Krischaning and the little +Herr Joching, and then comes the youngest of all,--well, wait a moment, +I am not through yet,--and then come the house-maids, and the +kitchen-maids, and the nurse-maids, and the swine-maids,--and I don't +know how many more,--and then come the coachman and the grooms, and the +herdsmen, and they all want something. Why should they not want +something? Everybody has his wants. And they need coats and they need +trousers, and they need shoes and boots, and they need stockings and +shirts and jackets; and when it is cold they need warm coats, and when +it is warm, they need cool ones, and when Palm Sunday comes, and they +go to be confirmed, they must have nice coats, and on Christmas--good +heavens! I have always said this Christ must have been a great man, +what an amount of business has he introduced into the world by +Christmas! And all these things we make, and sell in our shops. But who +buys them of us? The Herr Pomuchelskopp buys them of us. I have nothing +more to say."</p> + +<p class="normal">And it was not necessary, for, as he finished his speech, all the +tailors and shoemakers were, in imagination, making boots and shoes and +trousers and jackets for the little Pomuchelskopps, and the shopkeepers +were disposing of their remnants to Muchel, and Kurz had, in +anticipation, sold him half his stock in trade.</p> + +<p class="normal">But in spite of this, Bräsig and the carpenter Schultz still cried, +"Out with him! Out!" and the other side cried; "Let him stay!" "Out +with him!" "Let him stay!" And there was a dreadful uproar. The +material interests represented by the Pomuchelskopp's boots and +trousers, rose up in opposition to the ideal fraternity; it was a hard +fight. At last the bell from the president's desk quieted them +sufficiently for the Herr President Rein to make himself heard.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Gentlemen," said he--"Out with him!" "Out with him!" "Let him +stay!"--"Gentlemen," he began again, "Thank God!"--"Out! out!" "Let him +stay!"--"Thank God! the opinion of the assembly has expressed itself so +decidedly, that we can proceed to a vote. So; let all those who are in +favor of admission go to the musician's gallery; those who are opposed, +go to the speaker's stand."</p> + +<p class="normal">The Rahnstadt Reformverein put itself in motion; every one trotted off +as fast as he could, to show his decided opinion, and it sounded, from +a distance, as if a fulling-mill were in full progress at Grammelin's, +and the result of this quiet proceeding was soon manifest, for +Grammelin rushed into the room, crying, "Herr President! Children! I +beg of you go to some other place, or vote in a more quiet way!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh, what?" said Thiel, the joiner; "we must vote! Else it is no +Reform."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know that, Thiel, but you are voting so hard, that the plaster is +all tumbling down from the ceiling."</p> + +<p class="normal">They perceived by this that they were going a little too fast; and from +that time, they did not attempt to vote with their feet; but only with +their hands.</p> + +<p class="normal">The votes were counted; Pomuchelskopp was admitted as a regular member +of the Reformverein. Schultz the carpenter turned to Bräsig, and asked, +over, his shoulder, "Well, if it comes to this, Herr Inspector, what +will become of Germany?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is all one to me," said Bräsig; "but don't talk to me of your +Fraternity!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Now the poverty-question came upon the carpet, and after the president +had explained the question, the Rahnstadt Reformverein took it up for +discussion: "How poverty came to be in the world, and why it remains +here."</p> + +<p class="normal">The first who rose was Rector Baldrian. He came up from behind, like +all the rest, into the speaker's stand, but piled up a great heap of +books before him, as high as his shoulders, to create a favourable +opinion of himself, in the minds of the audience. As he had arranged +the Bible and Xenophon, and Plato and Aristotle, and Livy and Tacitus, +and all that he had on hand of Cicero, he made a bow, and said those +were his reserves.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Gossip," said Johann Bank to the shoemaker, Deichert, "this will be +tedious; we know what he is, come and have a glass of beer."</p> + +<p class="normal">Then the rector began, and proved first, from the Bible, that in very +old times there was poverty among the Jews.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is not so!" cried an eager voice from the crowd, "the confounded +Jews have all the money there is; they know well how a poor man feels."</p> + +<p class="normal">The rector did not let himself be disturbed, he proved the matter from +the Bible, and then took up Xenophon, and told about the Helots in +Sparta, but the assembly did not seem quite to understand it. Upon +that, he opened Plato, and began on him, that is, on the "Republic," +and said that if the Rahnstadters had such a state of things as Plato +had planned for the Athenians, every laborer in Rahnstadt could have +roast beef and potatoes for dinner every day, and could ride in a coach +Sunday afternoons, and the children, who now went begging about the +streets, would go with gold chains around their necks, instead of +beggars' sacks.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let him tell us more about that!" "Three cheers for Plato!" sounded +through the hall. "Gossip, is that the old Jew-grinder Platow, who is +blind of one eye?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh, gossip, I knew him well enough; he has bought many a piece of beef +of me," said Kräuger, the butcher.</p> + +<p class="normal">The president's bell produced quiet, and that rogue of an advocate Rein +turned to the rector, and begged, in the name of the assembly, that he +would have the kindness to give the Rahnstadt Reformverein a particular +account of the Platonic Republic.</p> + +<p class="normal">That was a hard request, and the sweat ran down the poor old rector's +face, as he began three times, and three times broke down, for he was +far from having a clear idea of it himself. He finally said, in his +distress, the Platonic Republic was a republic, and what a republic was +his hearers, so well educated in political matters, knew very well. +Well, everybody knew that; and then the rector got off among the +Romans, and told something quite different, how sometimes the old +Romans got hungry, and how they clamored loudly for <i>panem et +circenses</i>. "Panem, my dear hearers," said he, "signifies bread, and +circenses, open air plays."</p> + +<p class="normal">All at once, shoemaker Deichert sprang up on a bench, and cried, "That +is what I say! The old Romans were no fools; and what they did, we +Rahnstadters can do, any day! What? when I and Bokel and Jürendt and +all the others are sitting at Pfeifers, playing vingt-et-un, shall the +burgomeister come and take away our cards, and send us and Gossip +Pfeifer to the Rath-house, and make us pay a fine and costs? What? I +say, like the old Romans, free, open play for all!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are right, there, gossip," cried Jürendt, "three cheers for the +old Romans and the Herr Rector!" And the others echoed: "Hurrah! +hurrah!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The rector acknowledged the compliment to himself and the Romans by a +bow, and as he noticed that the president glanced frequently at the +clock, he hastened to finish his speech, and concluded with these +words: "My respected hearers, if we consider poverty at the present +time, we shall find that it is only the children of poor people, and of +the mechanics, who go begging in our city." With that he retired, +carrying off his "reserves" under his arm.</p> + +<p class="normal">He was followed by Johann "Meinswegens." "Gentlemen," said he, "I am, +meinswegens,<a name="div2Ref_11" href="#div2_11"><sup>[11]</sup></a> a dyer," +and thereupon he extended his two hands over +the cask with so much emphasis that the whole Reformverein was +astonished,--"I used to go to school to the Herr Rector, and he is +right, we must have a republic, meinswegens Plato's, meinswegens +somebody's else; but what the Herr Rector said about the mechanics, +that is a sin and a shame; I mean, meinswegens, the mechanics and not +the Herr Rector. Gentlemen, I have, meinswegens, travelled into strange +countries as a journeyman mechanic--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You sat in the chimney-corner, with your mother," cried a voice from +the crowd.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What? I have been as far as Birnbaum in Poland, and, meinswegens, +farther still, ever so far! as true as the sky is blue, and on the word +of an honest blue dyer," and he smote on his breast. "And, gentlemen, I +could, meinswegens, keep two journeymen, only that, unfortunately, +indigo is so dear."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, you rascal! You color with logwood!" cried shoemaker Deichert.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is a stupid joke!" cried Johann.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What, indigo? Hear!" cried several voices, "he colors with logwood!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," cried the roguish shoemaker, "one can easily tell the women-folk +that he colors for, they look like tar-barrels, the old logwood gives +such a strong color."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Young man," asked Johann, in a very superior way, "have you, +meinswegens, ever looked into my dye-tub?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You should hold your tongue, when we are talking about poverty; you +are well enough off," cried another.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Gentlemen, meinswegens, that is a stupid joke! It is true, I have +built myself a new house----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Of logwood," cried the shoemaker. "Of logwood!" repeated the others.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No! no!" cried the dyer, "of fir wood, with oaken beams!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Of logwood!" cried the others.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Gentlemen," began Johann once more, very impressively, raising himself +up, and striking his breast with his blue fist, "I am, meinswegens, a +Rahnstadt burgher, and I have no more to say."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is enough!" cried several.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then do as you ought!" cried the day-laborers, "down with the +blockhead, he tells us nothing but what we know already."</p> + +<p class="normal">And Johann "Meinswegens" was obliged to come down from the platform.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then came Kurz: "Fellow-citizens! We are to discuss poverty, and my +honored predecessor has been speaking of indigo. That is a pretty +business! Why should we poor merchants pay taxes, if every dyer may get +his own indigo, and my honored Herr Predecessor can only do this, +because no one can overlook his cards, and see how much indigo he uses, +and how much logwood!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You look at the cards, yourself!" cried a voice behind him,--he looked +round, right into Bräsig's face, but was not disconcerted, and went on: +"For he can buy his indigo cheaper of me than even at Rostock. But, +fellow-citizens, about poverty--if it goes on like this, we shall all +become poor."</p> + +<p class="normal">"He is right there, gossip," said shoemaker Deichert to Johann Bank.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Fellow-citizens, I purchased myself an express wagon and a horse, to +send home my goods, and also to make a little profit."</p> + +<p class="normal">"We common people don't care about your little profits!" interrupted +Fritz Siebert, the carrier.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But," Kurz went on, "what happened? They laid an attachment on my +wagon, last year, at Teterow----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Because you had not paid the tax," again interrupted Fritz Siebert.</p> + +<p class="normal">Kurz did not mind such little interruptions as these, for he had been +turned out once, and he was a persevering character, so he went on: +"Our Herr Burgomeister sent for me, and asked me what sort of a wagon I +sent my goods home in. 'In my own wagon,' I said. 'So, <i>per se</i>?' said +he. 'No,' I said, 'not per sea, Rahnstadt is not a seaport; per +land-carriage.' Then he laughed, and said he had expressed himself in +Latin. Fellow-citizens, What are we coming to, when the magistrates +express themselves in Latin, and attachments are levied on horses and +wagons? That is the way to poverty. How shall we merchants live on the +small profits we get on coffee and sugar, tobacco and snuff?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't talk about your cursed snuff!" cried shoemaker Deichert, "it has +given me a nose like that!" and he held up his fist before his face; +but he did not have a chance to say more, for everybody laughed, as +they saw his natural nose peeping out on both sides of his fist.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Fellow-citizens!" said Kurz, again, "I know, very well, there must be +poverty, but it should be of a reasonable kind; I mean, so that every +one may be able to take care of himself, and not be a burden to other +people. But is that possible, under the sad state of things in our +city? Fellow-citizens! for some years, I have been striving against the +unjust privileges which certain people have obtained, and in which they +have been protected."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Gossip," said Thiel, the joiner, to Jürendt, "you see, he is +coming to the stadtbullen. There he must stop, baker Wredow is my +brother-in-law."</p> + +<p class="normal">He was right. "Fellow-citizens!" cried Kurz, "I mean the stadtbullen, +these----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Down with him!" cried Thiel, the joiner.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, down with him!" echoed through the hall.</p> + +<p class="normal">"We will hear nothing of bulls and cattle!" cried several voices.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He grudges everybody the least profit!" cried Fritz Siebert.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He wants it all for himself, even the stadtbullen!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The president struck his bell emphatically, Kurz drew himself up in the +stand, and made one more attempt: "Fellow-citizens!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh, what, fellow-citizens?" cried Thiel the joiner and Deichert the +shoemaker, and pulled the unlucky tradesman down backwards, by the +skirts of his coat, out of the cooling-vat, so that he gradually +disappeared, and only his two hands trembled for a moment on the rim of +the cask, as if he were drowning, and smothered sounds arose, +"Stadtbullen--bullen--bullen--bullen?" Then all was silent, and Kurz +fell half fainting into Bräsig's arms. Bräsig and the carpenter carried +him out.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I wish you would hold your confounded tongue!" said Uncle Bräsig, as +he dragged Kurz into the next room, and got him into a corner, "do you +want to be turned out again?" and the two old fellows planted +themselves to the right and left of Kurz, and stood there like the two +men in the "Wild Man's gulden," who keep watch over a springing lion, +lest he should attack the people; only the two old boys went more +sensibly to work than the wild men, and each had a pipe in his hand, +instead of a club.</p> + +<p class="normal">Meanwhile, Fritz Siebert was showing that poverty came from the +turnpike toll; the turnpike tolls must be given up; and tailor +Wimmersdorf made a very reasonable proposition; something must be done +for the poor, and he could think of nothing better at the moment, than +to write down the grand-duke's castle, at Rahnstadt, as "national +property;" if that could be sold, a good bit of poverty might be +remedied, this was carried, and seven men went off to the castle, with +Grammelin's stable lantern, and a piece of chalk, to attend to the +business.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Krischan," said a voice behind Pomuchelskopp, "I like that. You can +write,--you shall write, to-morrow evening, on the door of our master's +house."</p> + +<p class="normal">Pomuchelskopp looked round--the voice struck him as familiar--right +into the face of one of his own Reform day-laborers, and the cursed +rascal had the impudence to nod. He had very peculiar feelings; he had +no idea what to do; whether to play his trump of master, or to try +fraternity again. Something must be done, he must at least get the +Reformverein on his side; and when Bräsig and Schultz returned to the +hall, after having frightened Kurz into going home, the president was +saying:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr Pomuchelskopp has the floor."</p> + +<p class="normal">Pomuchelskopp pressed slowly through the crowd, shaking Thiel's hand by +the way, clapping Wimmersdorf on the shoulder, and speaking a few +friendly words to the roguish shoemaker's apprentice. When he had +squeezed himself into the cask, he began: "Gentlemen!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Well, that always makes a great impression, when a blue dress-coat with +bright buttons addresses a laborer's frock, and a mechanic's soiled +coat, as "Gentlemen!" and a murmur went through the hall: "The man is +right! He knows how to treat us!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Gentlemen!" said Pomuchelskopp, once more, when the murmurs ceased, +"I am no orator, I am a simple farmer; I have heard better speakers +here,"--and he bowed to the rector and Johann "Meinswegens," and tailor +Wimmersdorf, Fritz Siebert also came in for a share, on account of the +turnpike tolls,--"I have also heard worse,"--and he glanced at the door +where Kurz had been carried out,--"but, gentlemen, I have not been +drawn to you by the <i>speeches</i>, so much as by the <i>sentiments</i> which I +find here."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bravo, bravo!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Gentlemen! I am all for Liberty, all for Equality, all for Fraternity! +I thank you for admitting me into this noble union." Here he drew a +white handkerchief from his pocket, and laid it down before him. +"Gentlemen, you have been talking about poverty. Many a silent hour +have I spent in thinking upon this subject, through many a sleepless +night have I wearied myself with the question how this evil could be +averted,"--here he wiped the sweat from his face with the handkerchief, +probably to show what a difficult matter ne had found it,--"that is to +say, gentlemen, poverty in our small towns, for our day-laborers in the +country know nothing of poverty."</p> + +<p class="normal">"So?" cried a voice from the rear. "Krischan, it is time now, speak +up!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Our day-laborers," continued Pomuchelskopp, not allowing himself to be +disturbed, although he knew the voice well enough, "receive a free +dwelling and garden, free pasturage for a cow, hay and straw for the +same, wood and peat, and land for potatoes and flax, as much as they +need; once a week, alternately, a bushel of barley, a bushel of rye, or +a thaler, and all the chaff from the threshing-floor, and the +housewives can earn five shillings a day. Now, I ask you, gentlemen, is +any day-laborer in the city as well off? Ought a day-laborer to require +any more?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no!" cried the city laborers.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Gentlemen," said Stosse Rutschow, "I am a journeyman carpenter, and I +never get more than nine groschen a day, the summer through, and one +groschen of that goes to the master; I would rather be a day-laborer +with Herr Pomuchelskopp."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Donkey!" cried Schultz the carpenter, "have you worked at all, this +whole spring? You have been loafing about!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Quiet! quiet!" cried the people.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Gentlemen!" Pomuchelskopp went on, "this is the way our day-laborers +are situated, and look at their treatment! Any day-laborer can give +notice at any time, and seek another place; isn't that honest? isn't +that satisfactory?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Krischan, speak, it is time!" again cried the voice in the rear.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Gentlemen!" said Pomuchelskopp, drawing to a close, "I am heartily +agreed with this noble union in its sentiments, and on this subject of +poverty in the small towns, and you shall see--I am not a rich man, but +what I can do shall be done. And now, gentlemen, I ask your assistance +and protection; if city and country are true to each other there will +be order, and we can arrange and settle everything in a peaceable +manner, in this noble Reformverein. Long live the Rahnstadt +Reformverein!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hurrah! Hurrah! Long live the Reformverein!" echoed from every corner +of the hall.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Long live Herr Pomuchelskopp!" cried several voices, and Muchel, with +a bow and a very friendly demeanor, went back to his place.</p> + +<p class="normal">As he turned round, the speaker's stand was already occupied, and +Zachary Bräsig's red face shone upon him, not like a peaceful sun or +moon, but like a fiery meteor, which the Lord sends into the world as a +sign of his righteous judgments.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Fellow-citizens!" he cried, and made a grimace at his fellow-citizens, +as if he had devoured two of them for breakfast that morning, and would +now select a nice, fat one for his supper,--"Fellow-citizens! if the +Herr Zamwell Pomuchelskopp had stayed quietly at home in Gurlitz, I +would not have said a word; if he had not pretended to be friends with +me, here in this very hall, and had not on this grand father-land +platform," here he struck on the cooling-vat, "told such confounded +lies, I would not say a word."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You must not talk like that!" cried tailor Wimmersdorf, "that is all +nonsense!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"If tailor Wimmersdorf considers my speech nonsense," said Bräsig, "he +can stop his ears, for all I care; he is much too stupid for me to +notice; and now he can go and complain of me if he likes, I am +Inspector Bräsig."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are right! Go on!" cried the people.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Fellow-citizens, I should have said nothing at all, for I hold it for +a very unsuitable thing, in an agriculturist or any other man, to stir +up the laborers against their master; but when such a--" "Great Mogul," +interposed Schultz,--"stands up on this altar of fraternity to deceive +this Reform with lies, and glorify himself, and make false +representations of the happiness of his laborers, then I will speak +out. Fellow-citizens! my name is Inspector Zachary Bräsig."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bravo! bravo!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"The Herr Zamwell Pomuchelskopp has told you that there is no poverty +to be found in the country, he has regulated all the conditions of the +day-laborer so wisely--bonus! as our honored Herr President Rein says; +but, fellow-citizens, these day-laborers' conditions are something like +roast beef and plum pudding; they are very nice, but we can't get them. +For example, and merely <i>præter propter</i>, take the houses! Close by +Gurlitz is a sort of pig-pen, which passes for a house, and Willgans +lives there,--is Willgans here?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Willgans was not there.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No matter. The roof has not been mended these three years, and the +rain runs in overhead, and when there is a hard storm, the living-room +is flooded, and the poor little children must wade round like frogs, +while their father and mother are away at work, and when he complained +about it Herr Pomuchelskopp said his name was Willgans (Wild-goose), +and water was suitable for geese."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Fie! fie! He ought not to say that!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"And now about the free pasturage, and the hay for the cow! <i>Where</i> is +the pasturage? Half a mile from the village, on the out-field, where +nothing grows but goat's-beard, and among the fir-trees, and can the +women go back and forth three times a day to milk? Well they don't need +to go so often as that, for eighteen laborers, out of the one and +twenty, have lost their cows, from one complaint or another, and the +three that are left are real dancing-masters."</p> + +<p class="normal">"The fellow is a Great Mogul!" cried the carpenter, "out with him! +out!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Quiet, quiet! Go on again!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, fellow-citizens, I will go on. About the wood and peat! The peat +is moss-peat from the bog, and crumbles apart, and gives no heat, and +the wood is fir-brush, and scattered branches, which the children carry +home on their shoulders; and then the potato and flax land! Where is +it? In the out-fields, on the worn-out soil. How is it manured? Only by +the birds, and when one looks at his few potatoes, at harvest, he +clasps his hands above his head, and says, 'God preserve us! Shall the +family and the pig live on those all winter!' But they do not live on +them, they steal. They don't steal from Pomuchelskopp, for they would +pay too dear for it, but they steal in the neighborhood, and a good +friend of mine, Frau Nüssler, has given orders that, if the Gurlitz +laborers are caught stealing potatoes there, they shall let them go, +for they do it from necessity, and they are to be pitied!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hurrah for Frau Nüssler!" said Johann Bank, and "Hurrah!" was +repeated, again and again.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And the flax!" continued Bräsig, "so long!"--measuring about a foot on +his arm,--"so that even the Herr Notary Slusuhr himself, who is a +particular friend of Herr Pomuchelskopp's, once made the bad joke in my +presence, that the womenfolk at Gurlitz wear such short dresses, +because the flax is too short to make long ones."</p> + +<p class="normal">"He is an infamous donkey," cried the carpenter, "to be cracking his +jokes at the poor! Out with him!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Fellow-citizens!" began Bräsig afresh, "I will only say, the house, +the cow-pasture, and the wood and peat, and flax and potato land are, +for the laborers in the country, their roast beef and plum pudding, +they are very nice; but they can't get them, and therefore there is +poverty in the country. But how does it come about in the city? +Fellow-citizens, I will tell you, for I have lived here long enough, +and have studied human nature: the great poverty in the city comes from +the great destitution here!"</p> + +<p class="normal">With that, he made a bow, and took his leave, and "Bravo!" resounded +through the hall: "The man is right!" "Long live Inspector Bräsig!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And then President Rein dismissed the assembly, saying that after such +a speech no one could have anything more to say; and they all came up +and congratulated Bräsig, and shook hands with him all at once, all +except Pomuchelskopp and the city musician, David Berger; the one had +stolen away quietly, and the other had run home to call together his +fellow-musicians, and when Bräsig stepped out of Grammelin's door, +there stood seven brass instruments before him, in a semi-circle, and +opened fire on him at once, with "Hail to the chief!" and David Berger +had his spectacles on, and was conducting with Grammelin's billiard +cue, so that Uncle Bräsig must look out for his head. And the Gurlitz +laborers stood around him, in a body, and weaver Ruhrdanz said, "Don't +be afraid, Herr Inspector, you have stood by us, and we will stand by +you." And as Bräsig was escorted by this festive procession, across the +market, and through the streets of Rahnstadt, these poor, despised +people followed him in trust and reverence, for it was the first time +that the world had troubled itself about their distress and sorrow, and +the feeling that one is not wholly forsaken works more good in the +human soul than any amount of admonitions.</p> + +<p class="normal">Before the Frau Pastorin's house, Bräsig made a short speech to his +guard of honor: he regretted that he could not invite them in, but it +would be unsuitable in a clerical house, for he lived with the Frau +Pastorin; but he hoped they would all meet him at Grammelin's, +to-morrow evening, over a bowl of punch. They received this with a +"Hurrah!" and when Bräsig had gone to bed, after telling Karl the whole +story, the Rahnstadt glee-club sang under window,</p> +<div class="poem"> +<p class="t0"> +"Laurels wave where the warrior sleeps,"</p> +</div> + +<p class="continue">and on the road to Gurlitz went the day-laborers, in serious mood; and +old weaver Ruhrdanz said, "Children, listen to me! We will get rid of +him; but not by force, no! in all moderation, for what would the +grand-duke and the Herr Inspector Bräsig say, if we should show our +gratitude for his speech by making fools of ourselves?"</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXIX.</h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">After church next day, for it was Sunday, Kurz came in to see Habermann +and Bräsig:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good day! good day! I am angry; nothing but vexations the whole day! +What? Such a set of people! Won't let a man speak at all! Eh, one might +better keep swine than be a democrat! They listen to the stupidest +speeches, and cry 'Bravo,' and give serenades, disturbing people out of +their sleep, and when one tries to make an important subject clear to +them, do they drum and pipe then? and they call that a Reformverein!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Listen to me, Herr Kurz," said Bräsig, stepping up to him, fully two +inches taller than usual, "it is very unbecoming in you, to sneer at +that serenade, for that serenade was given to <i>me</i>, and <i>you</i> would +have been turned out again, if the well-meaning Herr Schultz and I had +not taken you under our protection. What? What does the old proverb +say? 'When it is the fashion, one rides to the city on a bull;' but it +is not the fashion in the Reformverein, and if one persists in riding +in and rampaging about on a bull, the people won't stand it, and they +turn him out, with his bull, for the Reformverein is not designed for +such purposes."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is all one to me!" cried Kurz, "other people rode in on donkeys, +and were treated with great distinction."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are a rude fellow!" cried Uncle Bräsig, "you are an impertinent +rascal! If this were not Karl Habermann's room, I would kick you down +stairs, and you might carry your bones home in a bag."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hush, Bräsig, hush!" interposed Habermann, "and you, Kurz, ought to be +ashamed of yourself, to come here stirring up strife and contention."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I had strife and contention last evening; I have had strife and +contention all day long. This morning, when I had hardly opened my +eyes, my wife began with strife and contention; she is not willing I +should go to the Reformverein."</p> + +<p class="normal">"She is quite right, there," said Habermann, seriously, "you are not a +fit person to go, for, with your hasty, inconsiderate behavior, you do +nothing but mischief;" and leaving him he went over to Bräsig, who was +running up and down the room, puffed up like an adder: "Bräsig, he +couldn't have meant it so."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is no consequence to me, Karl, what such an uncouth, malicious, +miserable beast thinks of me. Riding in on a donkey? Fie, it is nothing +but the meanest envy."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I did'nt mean <i>you</i>!" cried Kurz, running up and down the other side +of the room, "I meant my brother-in-law, Baldrian, and the dyer, and +the other blockheads. And is'nt it enough to drive one crazy? First, +the quarrel with my wife, about the Reformverein, then a quarrel with +my shopman,--he slept till nine o'clock this morning, was out singing +on the streets last night, and at the beer-house, till four o'clock; +then a quarrel with the stable-boy and the horse-doctor,--my +saddle-horse has got the influenza,--then another quarrel with my wife, +she don't want me to have anything to do with farming."</p> + +<p class="normal">"There she is right again," interrupted Habermann. "All your farming +amounts to nothing, because you don't understand it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"So! I don't understand it? Nothing but vexations! Afterwards the +stupid servant maid, she put on a table-cloth for dinner that came down +to the floor; well, we sit there, a customer rings, I am provoked with +the shopman because he doesn't start up immediately, start up myself, +catch the table-cloth between my feet, and pull off the soup-tureen, +and the whole concern, on the floor. Do you see, then my wife comes, +and holds me fast, and says, 'Kurz, go to bed, you are unlucky to-day;' +and every time that I get angry, she says, 'Kurz, go to bed!' It is +enough to drive one crazy."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And your wife was right again," said Habermann, "if you had stayed in +bed, you would not have come here to make trouble."</p> + +<p class="normal">"So?" cried Kurz, "did you ever lie in bed all day, with sound limbs, +merely because it was an unlucky day? I will never do it again, no +matter how much my wife begs me. One worries himself to death! She took +away my boots and my trousers, and I lay there and fretted, because I +could not get up, if I wanted to."</p> + +<p class="normal">Uncle Bräsig began to laugh heartily.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well," said Habermann, "then you came over here, and got vexed again."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh, how?" said Kurz, "I did'nt mean that at all, I only came over to +ask you two Herr Inspectors if you would go with me to my field, and +see if it was ready for ploughing."</p> + +<p class="normal">Through Habermann's persuasions the quarrel was made up, and the three +farmers went to the field, Kurz making close calculations, and reeling +off his agricultural phrases, while Bräsig said to himself, "Who is +riding on the donkey now?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have a piece of ground here," said Kurz, "measuring a hundred and +fifty square rods, and I have bought ten cartloads of manure from +Kränger the butcher, real, fat, slaughter-house manure; I am going to +plant beets; I had it strewed yesterday; is'nt that enough, gentlemen? +Look here!" and he turned out of the road into the field.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Very badly strewed!" said Bräsig. "A properly manured field should +look like a velvet cover," and he began to poke the lumps apart with +his stick.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Never mind," said Kurz, "something will grow, it is good +slaughter-house manure, cost me ten thalers."</p> + +<p class="normal">All at once he stood stock still, caught at the air with his hands, and +looked wildly around him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good heavens!" cried Bräsig, "what is the matter?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thunder and lightening!" cried Kurz, "the devil is in it! This is not +my field, this next one is mine, and that confounded rascal has gone +and put my manure on another field! And I told him to do it! Ten +thalers! And the carting! And the strewing! Isn't it enough to make one +crazy?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh, Kurz, that is not so bad," said Habermann, "that can be settled, +your neighbor will be good-natured, and pay for the manure."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is the very thing!" cried Kurz. "This is baker Wredow's field, +whom I have such a quarrel with about the stadtbullen; he had better +take care!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"There's a farmer for you," said Bräsig very quietly, "carting his +manure into other people's fields!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is enough to drive one crazy!" cried Kurz, "but I will save what I +can," and he ran to the boundary of the field, and began tossing the +lumps of manure over into his field with his stick, and worked away, +until he was out of breath with exercise and rage, and then he threw +his stick across the field, and panted out the words: "I will have +nothing more to do with it! Why didn't I stay in bed! When I get home, +and get hold of that rascal of a boy,--children, I beg you, hold me +fast, or something dreadful will happen!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Rely upon me," said Bräsig, "I will hold you," and he caught him by +the coat-collar at once.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But what was the stick to blame for?" said Habermann, going to pick it +up. Something stuck fast to the stick, Kurz had thrust it through, with +his working, and thrown it away with the stick; the old man was going +to shake it off, but as he looked at it, he stood still. Bräsig had +been occupied with Kurz, and had not paid attention to his old friend, +and he now called.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Come, Karl, we are going! There is nothing to be made of this +business."</p> + +<p class="normal">He got no answer, and as he looked at his friend, he saw him standing, +with something black in his hand, which he regarded with fixed +attention, not turning nor moving.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good heavens, Karl, what have you there?" cried Zachary Bräsig, going +towards him. Still he got no answer, Habermann, pale as death, was +looking at that which he held in his hand, and which made his features +quiver with agitation.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Karl, Karl! What have you found, what is the matter?"</p> + +<p class="normal">And at last the words burst from Habermann's struggling breast: "That +packet! This is that packet!" and he held out to Bräsig a piece of +waxed cloth.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What? What sort of a packet?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, I have held it in my hand, I have seen it for years, waking and +dreaming! See, here is the von Rambow coat of arms, here are the marks +on the cloth. It was put together like that, it was of that size! It +was put up so, with the two thousand thalers in gold! This is the +packet, which Regel was sent to Rostock with."</p> + +<p class="normal">AH this came out as disjointedly, anxiously and confusedly, as when one +talks in a dream, and the old man seemed to be so overpowered by +excitement that Bräsig sprang towards him, and held him, but he held +the cloth fast, as if it had grown into his heart, and Bräsig raised +himself, to look at it nearer,--Kurz came up also, without noticing any +thing remarkable, for he was not yet over his vexation: "Well," he +exclaimed, "now, tell me, isn't it enough to drive me crazy? There lies +my manure, there lies my ten thalers, on baker Wredow's field."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thunder and lightning!" cried Bräsig, "do leave your confounded manure +in peace! Your talk is as bad as the stuff itself. There is your +cane,--we must go home. Come, Karl, recollect yourself."</p> + +<p class="normal">And when Habermann had taken a few steps, the color returned to his +face, and a restless agitation and a driving haste came over him, he +began to ask after this thing and that; of whom Kurz had bought the +manure, when it was loaded, how it was loaded, what sort of a man the +butcher Kräuger was, and then he stood still, and folded the packet +together, and looked at the creases in the cloth, and at the seal, +while Kurz quite forgot his anger, and wondered what had came over the +old inspector, that he should take so much interest in his manure and +his ten thalers. At last Bräsig told him about the matter, but he made +him promise with a fearful oath, that he would not repeat a word of it, +to any one; "For," said he, "you are one of the people whose tongues +run away with them."</p> + +<p class="normal">And then they stood together in the street, and deliberated how the +wrapper of the packet could have come into the butcher's yard, and +Kurz, as well as Bräsig, was of the opinion, that it was impossible the +butcher could have anything to do with the business,--he was too +respectable a man.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said Habermann, and the old energy and decision and judgment, +which he had seemed to lose in his trouble and grief, had quite come +back to him, "yes, but a neighbor might have thrown it over there. Does +the butcher live alone in the house?"</p> + +<p class="normal">He had tenants in the back part of the house, Kurz said, but he did not +know who they were.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I must go to the burgomeister," said Habermann, and as they came back +into the town, he went to his house. Kurz would have gone with him, but +Bräsig held him back: "We two have lost nothing." And as he said +farewell to him, at his own door, he added, "You belied me to-day in +the most shameful manner; I have forgiven you, however, the 'riding on +a donkey;' but if you breathe a word about Karl Habermann's business, I +will wring your neck for you,--you confounded old syrup-prince, you!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Habermann found the burgomeister at home; he told him about his +discovery and laid the waxed cloth together in the previous folds, +while the burgomeister grew more and more attentive, and finally said:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, to be sure, to be sure! I had the packet in my hand, also, when I +gave the messenger his pass; the examination, that followed +immediately, fixed it clearly in my memory, and if I were called as a +witness, I must testify that it is the same, or one exactly like it. +But, my dear Herr Habermann, the trace is still too indistinct; for +example, the butcher certainly can have nothing to do with the +business, he is one of our best citizens; it is not to be thought of."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But there are other people in the back of the house."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is true, yes! Do you know who lives there? Well, we can soon find +out," and he touched the bell. The waiting-maid came in.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Fika, who lives in the back part of the house with Kräuger the +butcher?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh, Herr, widow Kählert lives there, and then Schmidt the weaver," +said Fika.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Schmidt? Schmidt? Is that the weaver Schmidt, who is divorced from his +wife?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Herr, and people say he is going to be married again, to the +widow Kählert."</p> + +<p class="normal">"So? so? Do people say that? Well, you may go;" and the burgomeister +walked up and down, thinking and thinking, and then stopped before +Habermann, and said, "It is really a remarkable coincidence; that is +the divorced husband of the woman, whom we took up once for +examination; you know, she claimed to have found the Danish double +louis-d'ors."</p> + +<p class="normal">Habermann said nothing, fear and hope were struggling too powerfully in +his breast.</p> + +<p class="normal">The burgomeister touched the bell again; Fika came: "Fika, go round to +butcher Kräuger's, and tell him I want him to come here, in a quarter +of an hour."</p> + +<p class="normal">Fika went; and the burgomeister said to Habermann, "Herr Inspector, +these are very significant indications; yet it is possible we may come +to a dead halt; I can give you very little encouragement. But even if +we arrive at no certainty, what does it matter? No reasonable being can +have any suspicion of you. I have been really troubled to see that you +have taken such utterly groundless suspicions so much to heart. But I +must ask you to go now; people will certainly think you are concerned +in the matter. Say nothing about it, and take care that Kurz and Bräsig +are silent also. Yes--and--yes, that will do! You can send Inspector +Bräsig to me, to-morrow morning at nine o'clock."</p> + +<p class="normal">Habermann went, and Kräuger the butcher came.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dear Herr Kräuger," said the burgomeister, "I sent for you, that you +might give me information on a few points. The widow Kählert and the +weaver Schmidt live with you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Herr Burgomeister, they live in the back of my house."</p> + +<p class="normal">"As I hear, weaver Schmidt is going to marry widow Kählert. Does the +woman know that there are some legal hindrances in the way of Schmidt's +contracting a second marriage?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Herr Burgomeister; I don't know about that last; I don't trouble +myself about the people; but, you know, these women folks! if these is +a courtship in the air, they are like the bees, and bring the news into +the house,--well, Herr Burgomeister, you won't take it ill, mine is +naturally no better than the rest; well, she came in lately, and said +the business was so far settled that Kählertsch was quite determined +about it, but the weaver wasn't ready yet. And Frau Kählert told Frau +Bochert, she had cooked and washed for him over a year, and it was time +he were making his preparations; but it was all the fault of that +baggage his divorced wife, who came and teased the weaver to take her +back again. If she should come again, however, she would trip her up, +and the weaver might cook and wash for himself."</p> + +<p class="normal">"The widow Kählert must be very foolish," said the burgomeister, "to +want to marry that man. She has a little something, enough to live on; +but he has nothing in the world but his loom; that came out in the +evidence, at the divorce."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, it was so <i>then</i>. But, you see, Herr Burgomeister, I don't +trouble myself about him,--if he pays his rent, I have no further +business with him, and he has always done that honestly; and he has +rented, for this year past, a little room of mine, that opens into his, +and my wife says she went in there once, with Frau Kählert, and it was +very nicely fitted up, with a sofa, and pictures on the wall."</p> + +<p class="normal">"He must have had a good deal to do then, and have earned a good deal."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh, Herr Burgomeister, a weaver! and it is such a noisy business, they +can tell, all over the neighborhood, when the old loom stands still, +and there are a good many days, when I don't hear its music. No, he +must have something laid up."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then he lives very comfortably?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, indeed! He has his fresh meat every day, and I told my wife, 'You +shall see,' I said, 'it is only because of the nice mutton and beef +that Kählertsch wants to marry him.'"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, Herr Kräuger, just tell me plainly,--I ask you in +confidence,--do you think the man is really an honest man?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Herr Burgomeister, I think he is. Now in some things I am very +observant, I have had some tenants who would run a splinter into their +fingers, in the yard, and when they pulled it out, in their kitchen, it +would be a four-foot log of my beechen timber, and when they went +through the shop, a pound of beef would jump into their coat-pockets, +and the apples from my trees were always falling at their feet. Well, +it isn't so with him; I say to you, don't meddle with him!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The burgomeister was an honorable man, and a man of the best +intentions; but at this moment such good testimony in behalf of one of +his fellow-men, was not agreeable to him; he would rather have heard +that people thought the weaver a rascal. Some things are hard to +explain; but so much is certain, there are dark abysses in human +nature, and when such an abyss has opened in the office of the judge, +it has swallowed up thousands of innocent men. "Judge, judge justly! +God is thy master, and thou his servant!" is a fine old proverb, which +my father taught me when I was a little boy, but the weakness of human +nature does not always suffer us to act up to it, to say nothing of the +openly wicked, who seek their advantage in injustice.</p> + +<p class="normal">The butcher had gone, and the burgomeister walked up and down the room, +thinking over the matter, and contriving how he could find out how the +waxed cloth came into the butcher's yard. Two things urged him +powerfully to this investigation, one was his deep compassion for +Habermann's troubles, the other, his firm persuasion that this was the +wrapper of the gold-packet which he had held in his own hand. But he +knew, also, that he had not yet a firm clue, which he could follow; yet +he was sure of so much, that the weaver's divorced wife still held +intercourse with him.</p> + +<p class="normal">Habermann, also, was walking up and down in his room, hastily, +restlessly. Ah, how strongly he was impelled to share his hopes and his +prospects with his child, and the Frau Pastorin! But unrest for both? +And he had enough to do, to control his own.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bräsig sat in a chair, turning his head back and forth as Habermann +walked up and down the room, and looking at him; like Bauschan when +Jochen Nüssler had his cap on.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Karl," said he, finally, "I am very glad to see you are growing so +active, and you shall see, it will have a good effect upon you. But, I +tell you, you must have an advocate. Take the Herr Advocate Rein; he is +a good fellow, who knows how to turn and twist, in spite of his length. +You can't go through with it alone, Karl; but he can help you, and, if +it is necessary, I can bring the matter before the Reformverein, and +your fellow-citizens can help you to your rights."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bräsig, for mercy's sake! what are you thinking of? You might as well +tell it to the town-crier! I am dreadfully afraid Kurz will let it +out."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Kurz? No, Karl, don't be afraid, he can't talk about it to-day, for I +have been to him and scolded him till he can scarcely see or hear, and +to-morrow you shall see he will have the croup, so that he cannot speak +a word."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bräsig, I beg of you; Kurz have the croup?" and Habermann laughed in +spite of his agitation, "what are you talking about?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Karl, you needn't laugh at me! See, his saddle-horse has the +inflorentia,--the horse-doctor said so, and he ordered that the old +mare should be separated from the other horses, on account of the +infection, and there was Kurz running about the sick horse in his +cotton-wadded dressing-gown, feeling her here, and feeling her there, +and then he ran back to the sound ones, to see if they had caught it +already, and so he has infected the sound ones, for the infectious +matter would get into the cotton wool of the dressing-gown,--cotton +wool is the best thing in the world to carry infection,--and, you shall +see, he has caught it himself, and to-morrow he will have the croup. +The glanders is catching, why shouldn't the inflorentia be?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Habermann passed a very restless night; but although he had not closed +an eye, he was full of energy next morning; a beam of hope had fallen +into the darkness, and gilded his prospects; but he could not stay in +the house, the four walls oppressed him, he must have room for his +restlessness, and long before Bräsig went to the Rathhaus to keep his +appointment with the burgomeister, Habermann was wandering along the +quiet footpaths through the green spring fields. And what a lovely +spring it was! It was just as if heaven were saying to earth, "Hope +confidently!" and earth again to man, "Hope confidently!" and to the +old inspector also, she cried, with her green springing leaves and +bird-voices, "Hope confidently!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Heaven did not keep her promise to earth, the next year was a year of +want; earth did not keep her promise to man, the next year was a year +of misery; would she keep her promise to the old man? He knew not, but +he trusted the message. He walked on, and on, he came to Gurlitz, he +went along the same pathway where he had walked with Franz, that +Palm-Sunday morning, when his daughter was to be confirmed. He knew +that it was on this day that love had first stirred in the young man's +heart,--Franz had written him so, he often wrote to him,--and a great +bitterness arose in him that the happiness, which had grown so silently +and purely in two innocent hearts, should be disturbed and destroyed by +the foolishness and injustice of another person, and be turned off, +abruptly, into another path which led to Rexow, that he need not go +through the Pumpelhagen garden.</p> + +<p class="normal">A girl came towards him with a child on her arm, and as she came nearer +she stood still, exclaiming:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr Inspector! Herr Inspector! How long it is since I have seen you!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good day, Fika," said Habermann, and looked at the child, "how goes it +with you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, Herr, very badly; Krischan Däsel mixed himself up in that business +against the Herr, that we might be able to get married, and the Herr +has sent him away, and I should have gone too, but the gracious Frau +would not permit it. Well, if you want to get down, run then!" she said +to the child, who was struggling in her arms.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I always have to take her out about this time," she added, "for the +gracious Frau is busy about the housekeeping, and the little one frets +after her."</p> + +<p class="normal">Habermann looked at the child. She plucked flowers at the roadside, and +coming up to him with "Da! man!" she put a marigold blossom into his +hand, and through Habermann's heart shot the recollection of such a +flower, which another child--his own child--had put into his hand years +ago, and he lifted the child in his arms, and kissed her, and the child +stroked this white hair: "Ei! ei!" and he let her down, and turned to +go, saying, "Fika Degel, take her home, it will rain soon."</p> + +<p class="normal">And as he went his way, the spring rain fell to the earth in gentle +drops, and his heart shone beneath it, like the fresh grain. What had +become of his hatred?</p> + +<p class="normal">When Habermann reached Rexow, his sister sprang to meet him, as quickly +as her stoutness would allow:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Karl! God bless you! Karl! Have you come at last! And how bright you +look! And so handsome! Dear brother, has anything happened? Has +something good happened to you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, child, yes; I will tell you by and by. Where is Jochen?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Jochen? Dear heart, you may well ask. Where he is, no mortal knows; he +comes and goes like a bird on the fence. Since the time when it was +settled that Rudolph and Mining are to be married next week, on +Friday,--you are coming to the wedding?--he has no rest, day nor night, +and busies himself about the farming, and now that the spring seed is +all planted and he has nothing in the world to do, he runs about the +fields, and when he comes home, he makes us all miserable. It is just +as if he would make up, in the eight days between now and the wedding, +what he has neglected for five and twenty years."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, let him work! It will do him no harm."</p> + +<p class="normal">"So I say, but Rudolph is vexed because he follows him round so."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, that won't last long. Is everything quiet here?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, yes, and if Jochen had not wanted to make that speech about the +geese, we should have known nothing about the troubles, but at Gurlitz +and Pumpelhagen it looks badly."</p> + +<p class="normal">"At Pumpelhagen, too?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, yes, yes! They say nothing about it; he doesn't speak, and she +doesn't speak, but the whole region knows that it may break out, any +day. He has so many debts, now the day-laborers demand their wages, and +he has been letting them run up, and then they want you again for +inspector."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, that last is all nonsense!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"So I said. No, I told the gracious Frau, my brother Karl will never +come to this place again."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What?" asked Habermann, hastily, "have you been to see her?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, indeed, Karl. Didn't Bräsig tell you we were going?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He said you were going, but I did not know that you had been there."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Karl, it happened this way; Triddelsitz came here with his +new-fashioned pistols, and said they would greet the day-laborers with +them, and I said to Jochen we must go to those people. Well, they had +affronted us, to be sure, and there was no need of our going; but, +Karl, the times! If one will not stretch out his hand to help a +neighbor in such times as these, I would, not give much for him! Well, +we rode over there, but what Jochen said to the young Herr, of course +no mortal knows. 'Jochen,' said I, 'what did he say to you?' 'Nothing +at all,' said he. 'What did you talk about?' I asked. 'Eh, what should +we talk about?' said he. 'What did he say to you at last?' said I. 'He +said adieu,' said he, 'but, mother, I shall not go there again.'"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, how did she receive you?" asked Habermann.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh, Karl, I believe if she had allowed herself she would have fallen +upon my neck and wept. She took me into her room, and looked so +friendly and natural, and when I told her that being a neighbor and a +friend, I had come to see if I could be useful to her in any way, she +looked at me kindly and quietly, and said, 'Tell me, how is your +brother?' and when I had told her you were pretty well,--thank +God!--she asked after Louise, and when I had told her good news of her, +she became quite cheerful, and began to tell me about her housekeeping; +but it was not as when a couple of housewives, like me, sit down +together to have a little sensible talk over their housekeeping; it was +a little too quick for me; but one could see very well she understood +it thoroughly. Dear heart, she may have need of it yet! See, Karl, I +plucked up courage, and stood up and took her hand in both mine, and +said she must not repulse me,--no one should throw away dirty water +until he was sure of clean; she might be in trouble,--of course she had +friends, but they might not be near at hand,--and then she must come to +me, for, as her neighbor, I was the nearest to her, as the Frau +Pastorin says, and whatever I could do should be done. Karl, the tears +stood in her eyes, and she turned away, and pressed them back, and when +she turned round to me again, her face was full of friendliness and +sweetness, and she took me by the hand, and said I should have my +reward, and she took me into another room, and lifted her little child +in her arms, and reached her towards me, and the little thing must give +me a kiss. What a dear sweet girl it is!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, yes!" said Habermann, "I have seen her this morning. But did she +make no complaint?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not a word, Karl. She said nothing of him, and nothing of their +troubles, and when we came away, we were as wise as before, at least I +was; for Jochen told me nothing, if he had really heard anything from +the young Herr."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, sister, it is all the same. Every body knows that the young Herr +is in great pecuniary embarrassment; Pomuchelskopp gave him notice for +his money, and did not get it at St. Anthony's day, and has now sued +him; Moses has given him notice for St. John's day, and will not get +his money either, for in such times, and under such circumstances, he +can raise nothing, and then his estate must be sold, and it will go +very cheap, and Pomuchelskopp will buy it. In better times, and under +the right sort of management, the estate would bring a good price. You +will help the gracious Frau and so will I, I will gladly give up my +little capital, if the young Herr will consent to a sensible +management; but that would not go far. You must do something also; and +I will talk seriously to Moses, and it will be a sin and a shame if we +honest people cannot get the better of that old rascal, who muddied the +water in the first place, that he might catch his carp the easier!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Karl, if he would manage sensibly, and have you for inspector +again, then--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, child," interposed Habermann, decidedly, "I shall never go there +again. But there are plenty of skilful farmers in the country,--thank +God!--and he must get such an one, and leave the management to him, we +will make that a condition."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Karl, that is all very well; but now we have the outfit for +Mining,--Kurz might have done more about it, and for his only son, but +he is always filling one's ears with complaints, and, Karl, it might +make us trouble with Rudolph; and we must take care that we have +something to live upon, in our old age, and then our money is all tied +up in mortgages."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Moses can arrange all that. You see, sister, you have promised the +Frau you would help her, and I know you meant what you said; now is the +time for you to help!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Karl, but Jochen! what will Jochen say?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh, Jochen! Jochen has done whatever you wanted for this five and +twenty years, he will do so still."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Karl, you are right; he must do so. I have always managed for his +good, and would he set himself against me now? But he is always making +trouble; it is very hard to control him," and Frau Nüssler sprang up +from her chair, and struck her fist against the table, as if that were +Jochen.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My dear child," said Habermann, "you have brought about a great deal +of good, in these long years; you will bring this about too. May God +help you! and now, adieu!" and he gave his sister a kiss, and departed.</p> + +<p class="normal">What a pleasant walk he had! His restlessness of yesterday and that +morning were quite gone, such a sure hope had sprung up in him, and all +that he saw, the blue sky and the green earth, harmonized with his +mood, harmonized with the peace which had entered his heart. And as he +arrived at home, and his daughter scolded him, and the Frau Pastorin +wondered why he had not come home to dinner, which they had kept +waiting for him, he looked so bright and cheerful, that Bräsig gazed at +him in astonishment, and said to himself, "Karl must have found out +some new indicium," for he had learned several new Latin phrases that +morning. And he sat there, and made the most frightful faces at +Habermann, until the old man finally understood them as signs that he +should go out, and went with him up-stairs to his room.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bräsig," cried Habermann, in some excitement, "do you know anything +about the business? Has anything come out?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Karl," said Bräsig, walking up and down with his long pipe, and +tugging at a high shirt-collar, which sat very uncomfortably, as he did +not usually wear one, "Karl, don't you see anything unusual about me?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Bräsig," said Habermann, "your shirt-collar, and it seems to +scratch you dreadfully."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is nothing. Higher up!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh, then I don't know."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Karl," said Bräsig, standing before him, "so as you see me here, I am +appointed assessor at the criminal court, and get, by the hour's +sitting, eight shillings, Prussian currency."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, leave that alone! But tell me, is there any prospect that anything +can come of the matter?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Bräsig looked his friend right in the eye, shook his head a little, and +said; "Karl, I dare not tell you anything, and I will not, the Herr +Burgomeister has expressly forbidden me to say anything here in town, +and especially to you, for the Herr Burgomeister says it will only be a +useless torment for you, and we must have more indiciums, for he can do +nothing without indiciums, and these confounded things can only be +obtained by the greatest secrecy, says the Herr Burgomeister, and, if +the whole city knows it, it would only give opportunity for all sorts +of confusions among the rascals. But so much I can tell you, they have +lied already, and they will keep on lying, till they fix themselves in +a trap."</p> + +<p class="normal">There was a knock at the door; it was the letter-carrier, bringing +Habermann a letter: "From Paris," he said, and went away.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Lord preserve us, Karl! You have very distinguished acquaintances! Who +the devil can it be? From Paris!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is from Franz," said Habermann, and his hand trembled, as he +hastily broke the seal. Franz had often written to him, and every time +he had been in doubt whether to mention the correspondence to his child +or not,--until now, he had said nothing to her about it. He read; the +letter was full of friendship, and the old attachment; every word +expressed the recollection of old times; but not a single one referred +to his love. At the close, he said that he should remain in Paris until +St. John's day, and then return home. This last Habermann told Bräsig, +as he put the letter in his pocket.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bräsig was walking back and forth meanwhile, thinking, and, if +Habermann had not been occupied with his letter, he must have heard +what he was saying to himself.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Remarkable! quite remarkable! It seems to me like the finger of God! +The Herr Burgomeister can have no objection to that, Paris has nothing +to do with the indiciums, this is a purely private affair. Karl," he +said at last, standing before Habermann, and looking at him, as he had +seen the burgomeister look at the weaver that morning, "Karl, tell me +the real truth; does your young Herr von Rambow know,--your old pupil, +I mean,--that I know, that you and the Frau Pastorin know, that +something has happened between him and Louise, that nobody is to know?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh, Bräsig, I don't know----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good, Karl, I see I have not expressed my meaning clearly enough, I +mean, is he of the« opinion that you and the Frau Pastorin think that I +think well of his love for Louise, and that you have told me? That is +my opinion, and now tell me yours."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh, Bräsig, he knows that you know about it, and he knows that you +think well of it; but what of that?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good, Karl; lose no words! But I must go now, I have invited David +Berger and his trumpeters and the whole glee club to Grammelin's this +evening, to a bowl of punch, and I must go and look after it. So, +adieu, Karl!" and he went, but came back again: "Karl, tell the Frau +Pastorin, I shall not be home to supper. If I should say anything to +her about the punch, she would preach me a little sermon; and you, +Karl, don't be alarmed if I come home late to-night. I have the key." +But he came back once more to say: "Karl, what can be done, shall be +done."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I believe it," said Habermann, who thought he referred to the punch, +"you will do your business thoroughly." Bräsig nodded, as if to say he +might rely upon him with confidence, and went.</p> + +<p class="normal">Habermann sat there, and read his letter a second time, and who would +have thought that from this manuscript so many fair hopes would +blossom? The warm friendship, which spoke in the letter, soothed him +like the spring weather, and the trusting tone echoed sweetly in his +ears, as the song of birds. Should his hopes be again deceived? Time +would show!</p> + +<p class="normal">Ah, time and hope! They stand over against each other, like the cuckoo +and the seven stars; a man who, after long darkness, ventures to hope +again, and sees the first faint gleams of happiness in the dark sky, +must yet wait patiently the time when the sun stands full in the +heavens.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER XL.</h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">The next morning, when Zachary Bräsig arose, he took hold of his head +with both hands, saying:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Karl, you may congratulate yourself that I haven't a worse headache +than I really have: for who could play assessor to-day? If I had +followed Grammelin's cursed punch receipt I should have a whole nest of +sparrows in my head this morning. But I made it after my own fashion."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, were you very jolly?" asked Habermann.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, yes! the younger part of the company were quite lively; as for me, +I kept myself very quiet. I sat by the town-musician, David Berger, +and, by the way, Karl! what an amount that fellow can stand! I thought +to myself, that belongs to his business; but one glass after another, +incessantly! and at last he became what they call sentimental, he +embraced me, and, with tears in his eyes, told me how little he could +earn in these political times, till Herr Süssmann, who is Kurz's +shopman, and I really pitied him. And Herr Süssmann proposed to the +company that we should get up a fraternity ball, for David Berger's +benefit; that is, a political one, where all ranks, nobility, and +ritter-proprietors, and pächters and burghers and their wives and +children, should come together, and shake hands, and dance with, and, +for aught I know, kiss each other. And this indicium was resolved upon, +and it is to be a week from Sunday. And Herr Süssmann drew up a +subscription paper, and I subscribed for you and me and the Frau +Pastorin and Louise."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bräsig, I beg of you, what would the Frau Pastorin and Louise do at a +ball, or I, either?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"But you must, for it is a noble cause."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And you couldn't go either, Zachary, for a week from Friday is +Mining's wedding day, and the next Sunday the going to church, and +what would my sister say if you were absent, and at your stupid +Reform-ball?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"That alters the matter, we must have it put off, and so adieu, Karl, I +will go at once to Herr Süssmann, and see about it, and then I must go +to the Rathhaus, you know, to sit for four groschen an hour."</p> + +<p class="normal">He went directly to Kurz's shop, but Herr Süssmann was not there, Kurz +himself was running about, opening the drawers and looking in, and then +shutting them again.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good morning, Kurz, where is your young Herr?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have no young Herr; I am Herr<a name="div2Ref_12" href="#div2_12"><sup>[12]</sup></a> +myself."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Kurz, take care of your words, we live in democratic times, since----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, what? Here? Take care! I despise the whole democracy, when my +shopman goes out drinking punch over night, and cannot get up in the +morning; and old people should be ashamed----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hold, Kurz, you are beginning again with your flatteries, like last +Sunday, but I cannot allow it at present, on account of my situation at +the court. And adieu, Kurz! But I am sorry for you, for you have caught +the inflorentia, you should go to bed, there is something in your +bones, and if you will feel under your gaiters, you will find you are +beginning to get the rheumatism. But adieu, Kurz!"</p> + +<p class="normal">He went off, but Kurz raved about his shop, and stormed at the whole +world, until his wife, as soon as the shopman was out of bed, got him +into bed, and put him under arrest for the time.</p> + +<p class="normal">After this little interview, Bräsig went to the Rathhaus, and earned +there without any further trouble, and in all quiet, five times four +groschen, for the sitting lasted five hours. When he came home they had +finished dinner, and as the table was spread again, expressly for him, +the Frau Pastorin made some pointed remarks about irregularity in one's +habits of life, and coming home at two o'clock in the morning, and +sitting down to dinner at two o'clock in the afternoon; and Uncle +Bräsig sat there, and grinned, looking very well contented with +himself, as if he would say, "Ah, if you knew what hard work I have +been doing, and in what place I went through with it, you would stroke +me and pet me, you would kiss me, and do more than you have ever done +for me;" and when he rose from the table, he said, solemnly, "Frau +Pastorin, it will all come to light, as the Herr Burgomeister says," +and he nodded to Habermann, "Bonus! as the Herr President Rein says," +and going up to Louise, he put his arms round her and kissed her, and +said, "Louise, get me the finest sheet of writing paper that you can +find, for I want to pack up a little--well, I will say indicium,--so +that it may not be injured, for it is to go a long way."</p> + +<p class="normal">And as he went out with the sheet in his hand, he turned round again to +remark:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Karl, as I said before, what can be done shall be done."</p> + +<p class="normal">And he came back once more to say: "Frau Pastorin, I shall come home to +supper to-night."</p> + +<p class="normal">He went to the post-office. The postmaster was at home, he was always +at home; for a hundred and fifty thalers salary, he had imprisoned +himself for life, not in a room, no, in a bird-cage, which he called +his "comptoir," and when he had no postal business, he sat there and +played the flute, and sung, like the finest canary-bird. He was engaged +in this agreeable business, when Bräsig entered:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good-day, Herr Postmaster. You are a man of honor, therefore I wish to +ask your assistance in a delicate matter. Of course, it isn't necessary +for you to know the thing itself, that must remain a secret, and what I +tell you must also remain a secret. I am going to write to Paris."</p> + +<p class="normal">"To Paris? What the devil are you writing to Paris for?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"To Paris," said Bräsig, drawing himself up.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What in the world!" said the postmaster, "one of you inspectors gets a +letter from Paris, and the other will send one. Well, we will see how +much it costs." He turned his books over, and said at last, "I can't +find it here, I will reckon it up; it cannot be done under sixteen +groschen."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No matter, I have earned twenty groschen this morning, at the court."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Whom is the letter for?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"The young Herr Franz von Rambow."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do you know his address, where he lives?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why, in Paris."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But Paris is a great city. You must know the street, and the number of +the house."</p> + +<p class="normal">"God bless me!" said Bräsig, "all that! I don't know it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ask Habermann."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is just the thing, he mustn't know of it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, I know no other way, then, than for you to write your letter, +and enclose it to the Mecklenburg ambassador, Dr. Urtlingen, he may be +able to find him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"He must," said Bräsig, "for the business is of great importance, and +that is what he gets his salary for. But what I was going to say, will +you allow me to write the letter here? Because it must be kept a secret +from Habermann."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, yes," said the postmaster, "come right in here, before my wife +sees you, for, though it is the regular room for passengers, my wife +will allow no one under a count to go in there. And you must let +yourself be locked in."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bräsig had no objections to that, and so he sat there, from three +o'clock in the afternoon, until it grew dark, and wrote his letter; the +postmaster fluted and sung, in his bird-cage; he wrote; the Frau +Postmaster came and rattled the door, she wanted to get into her +sanctum, and scolded because the key was gone; the Herr Postmaster had +it in his pocket, and fluted and sung; Bräsig wrote his letter. Finally +he finished it; he read it over, and we can look over his shoulder. +Here it is.</p> +<br> +<p class="continue"> +"<span class="sc">Highly well-born young Herr von Rambow</span>:</p> + +<p class="normal">"A very remarkable thing has happened here, since Kurz the merchant had +his manure carted on to baker Wredow's field, who is his rival in +respect to the stadtbullen. Habermann found a piece of black waxed +cloth there, with the Rambow coat of arms on it, which was a great +relief to him, on account of the suspicion about the theft of the +louis-d'ors, in the year '45, and the Herr Burgomeister also says that +it is an indicium. The Herr Burgomeister has made me assessor at the +court; there is a little something to be earned in that way, but it is +very hard for me, being an old farmer, and accustomed to exercise, and +also on account of the gout; it is not much trouble to be sure, but one +gets sleepy in the long sittings. But the good of it is that I can know +all about the business, which Habermann must know nothing about, +because the Herr Burgomeister has forbidden it. Since you are in Paris, +and not in Rahnstadt, I can talk with you freely, as a friend, about +the business, and the business is this: the weaver, he lies, that he +has no more intercourse with his wife, and the Herr Burgomeister says +that is another indicium. We have a great many indiciums already. The +principal business is still to come, however, namely, Kählertsch. +Kählertsch is positively determined to marry the weaver, and is of the +opinion that the weaver will not have her, because his divorced wife +wants him to marry her again. This has caused bad feelings in +Kählertsch,--what is called jealousy,--and she has come out with a lot +of new indiciums, as the Herr Burgomeister says, very important and +elevant, or, as I express myself in German, nearly connected with the +matter. But the Herr Burgomeister says, one must be very careful, for +the women-folks are spiteful when they are jealous, and tell lies +sometimes. Meanwhile her lies have proved themselves, since she has +come out with the whole truth, that the weaver was always getting +Danish double louis-d'ors, as also the butcher Kränger testified, in +two compertinent cases. And while the weaver was before the court, +telling us new lies and new indiciums, they searched the weaver's +house, with Hoppner at the head, and found nine Danish double +louis-d'ors, in his cupboard, in a secret place. Which he tried to +contend against, later, but did not succeed. She, the weaver's wife, +who is the worst of the lot, was also caught, this morning, since they +found, in searching her house, a snuff-box, which had belonged to the +blessed Herr Pastor himself, and was kept by the Pastor's family like a +relic, in a glass case, for which shameful deed she has been furnished +with free lodgings. Kählertsch has also been taken up, since in her +wickedness she has belied the court, the Herr Burgomeister, and myself, +as assessor. They all lie, till they are black in the face, but what +good does that do them? The Herr Burgomeister says he is morally +persuaded that they have done it, and it must come out, and it will +come out. What a triumph it will be for my Karl Habermann, when he +stands in his old age, like an angel of innocence tried in the fire, +and goes about among the people, with his white hair, in the white +robes of innocence. They must be as ashamed as drowned poodles for all +they have done to him, I mean--to speak with respect--Pomuchelskopp and +the Pumpelhagener, who have fallen out with each other, because Zamwell +has sued the other, of which I will say nothing more, since I told +Pomuchelskopp my opinion of him at the Reformverein, and your Herr +Cousin of Pumpelhagen has given me the cold shoulder. He is going on in +a bad way, for he is dreadfully disturbed because Moses has given him +notice for the money on St. John's day, and he has no money and no +grain, and how can they live? He is an utterly incapable man. You must +never, while I live, let Habermann know of this letter; because it is a +secret between us. But I thought it would be interesting for you to +know who the real rascals were, and that Karl Habermann,--thank +God!--is not among them. He is very much cheered up by these +occurrences, and strikes out with his heels, like a young colt, when +the saddle is taken off. I think this is an encouraging sign for the +future. As for news of your old acquaintances in the region, I can only +tell you that, next week Friday, Mining and Rudolph expect to be united +in marriage. Frau Nüssler, whom you will remember as a very beautiful +young woman, is still--no need to say--very handsome, but has grown a +little stouter; Jochen also is very well, and is training up, for his +future establishment, a new crown prince. Your Herr Colleague, of old +times, is now the Totum at Pumpelhagen; Habermann says he will yet +do well; I say he is a greyhound, who goes among people with his +fire-arms, on account of which he has put Frau Nüssler and me formally +under the ban. We have a Reform at present in Rahnstadt; the young +Pastor Gottlieb preached against it, but the young Frau Pastorin knows +how to manage him. Rector Baldrian brought the tailoresses, and a +certain Platow or Patow or some such person, into the Reform; but Kurz +has been repeatedly turned out; his four horses have the inflorentia; +it began with his old saddle-horse, and it will end with himself, for +he has already got the rheumatism. The old Frau Pastorin Behrends is +still our honored hostess, also with eating and drinking, for Habermann +and I lodge and sleep, and take our daily meals with her; she, as well +as Habermann, would send greetings to you, but they cannot, for they +know nothing about it. But we often speak about you, since you are +always like an ever-present picture before our eyes. I cannot think of +more to tell at present,--but one thing occurs to me. Pomuchelskopp got +himself voted into the Reformverein; the master carpenter Shultz is a +brave man, he stood by me, at that time. Krischan Däsel has been sent +away by your Herr Cousin, and there is no definite trace of Regel; but +Louise Habermann is--thank God!--very well indeed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"In the hope that my humble writing may not be disagreeable or +inconvenient, I have the honor to subscribe myself, with the deepest +reverence, and greeting you from the heart as an old friend,</p> + +<p style="text-indent:20%">"Your most obedient humble servant,</p> + +<p style="text-indent:40%">"Zachary Bräsig. + +<p class="continue">"<i>Immeriter Inspector, and temporary Assessor</i>.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Rahnstadt, 13 May, 1848.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Postscript.--Apropos! I write this letter in the Frau Postmaster's +sanctum, since the Herr Postmaster has locked me in expressly for the +purpose, and has sworn not to say a word. This is all because of the +secrecy, for Habermann and the Frau Pastorin and Louise know nothing +about it; Louise has given me this sheet of letter paper, it belonged +to her, and I believe it will be a little gratification to you, for I +remember my youthful days, when I had three sweethearts at once. She is +devoted, in love and sadness, to her old father, and for others she is +a precious pearl of the human race. If I receive an answer from you, +that you have no objections, I will write again about the rascals they +have caught. If you should be in our region again a week from Sunday, I +invite you to our fraternity ball; the seamstresses and tailoresses are +all to be invited.</p> + +<p style="text-indent:40%">"The Aforesaid."</p> +<br> + +<p class="normal">When Bräsig had finished this difficult piece of work, he rapped and +pounded on the door, and as the postmaster unlocked it and let him out, +he stood there, with the sweat dripping from his face.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bless me!" said the postmaster, "how you look! It is true, isn't it? +Unaccustomed labor is painful!"</p> + +<p class="normal">With that, he took the letter from him, and put it in an envelope, and +directed it to the Herr Ton Rambow, and then enclosed it in another +envelope, to the address of the Mecklenburg ambassador in Paris. Bräsig +paid his sixteen groschen, and the letter was now ready to start on its +journey, for the postman, who should take it, that moment stopped at +the door. And the postmaster sung, in his bower:</p> +<div class="poem" style="margin-left:.25in"> +<p class="t0" style="text-indent:-6px +"> +"Ein Leipziger Student hat jungst nach haus geschrieben,<br> +Frau Mutter, sagen Sie, darf denn kein Mädchen lieben?"</p> +</div> + +<p class="normal">And as Bräsig went out of the door he sung:</p> +<div class="poem" style="margin-left:.25in"> +<p class="t0" style="text-indent:-6px +"> +"Custine schickt eine schnelle Post,</p> +<p class="t2">Die nach Paris reiten muss:</p> +<p class="t0">Die Sachsen and Preussen marschiren ins Feld,<br> +Um Mainz zu bombardiren,<br> +Und wenn ich keinen Succurs bekomm,<br> +Denn muss ich capituliren."</p> +</div> + +<p class="normal">"You may capituliren, as much as you please, for all me; only hold your +tongue, as you have promised," said our old friend, and he went home, +not only with the agreeable feeling that he had done a good action, but +also with the equally agreeable feeling that he had accomplished a +difficult task very skilfully, since he considered it pure finesse, as +he said to himself, to have introduced Louise into the letter, so +delicately, so <i>præter propter</i> and so <i>circa</i>, that one must have +keen +scent, to suspect anything.</p> + +<p class="normal">Well, when one indulges such a delightful consciousness of his good and +skilful performances, and, so to say, warms himself at its blaze as at +a cosy fire, on a winter's evening, it must be doubly vexatious to be +driven out in the wind and rain, with all manner of scolding and +reproaches; and this happened to Bräsig, when he entered the Frau +Pastorin's room, where she was sitting with the little assessor; Louise +was not there. Frau Pastorin was just trying to light a lamp, and the +matches would not catch, firstly, because Kurz did not supply them with +the best quality, and secondly, because Frau Pastorin--perhaps from +economy--had the habit of putting the broken matches, and those that +would not light, back into the box, so that such a match, in the course +of its short life, had the satisfaction of being tried at least twenty +times, which may have been very agreeable to the match, but was very +provoking to other people.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, there you are!" cried the Frau Pastorin angrily, trying a match. +"There you are, at last,"--the second match. "You are running about the +town all day,"--another match; "but you go with blind eyes,"--two +matches at once,--"and with deaf ears!"--another match. "You always +know everything,"--a match--"and when anything happens, then you know +nothing,"--three matches together.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bräsig went up to the Frau Pastorin very politely and pleasantly, +and took the match-box from her hand, saying, "By your leave!"--a +match--"what do you mean by that?"--the second match. "Have I done +anything to harm you?"--the third match. "Kurz ought to be paid with +his own wares!"--two matches, "His things that ought to catch don't +catch, and what ought not to catch, catches,"--three matches. "The +confounded things have got the inflorentia!" and with that he threw the +whole box on the table, pulled his own match-safe out of his pocket, +and struck a light.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bräsig," said the Frau Pastorin, putting all the tried matches +carefully into the box, "I am very much vexed with you. I am not +inquisitive, but, when anything happens that concerns Habermann and +Louise, I am certainly the nearest, and ought to know it. Why must our +little Anna first come out with what you ought to have told me long +ago, for you knew it. I see it in your face, you knew it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"How so?" asked Bräsig, and was going to pretend great ignorance; but +the Frau Pastorin was too much provoked with him, for she thought he +had treated her shamefully, and she said:</p> + +<p class="normal">"You need not pretend; I know that you know everything, and you tell me +nothing!" and now she began to tap the old man, and the little assessor +also bored away at the Herr Assessor; finer and finer the two women +drew their threads, and got everything out of Bräsig that he knew, for +silence was by no means a special gift of his, and when he at last +cried out in sheer despair: "So, now I know nothing more," then the +little round Frau Pastorin placed herself before him, saying, "Bräsig, +I know you, I see it in your face, you know something more. Out with +it! What else do you know?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Frau Pastorin, it is a private affair."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is all the same; out with it!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And Bräsig shoved about in his chair and looked right and left, but +there was no help for it, he must surrender, and he said finally, "I +have written about it to Herr Franz von Rambow, at Paris; but Karl +Habermann must never know it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"To Paris!" cried the Frau Pastorin, putting her hands on her sides, +"to the young Herr von Rambow! What have you written to him? You have +written something about Louise, I see it in your face! Yes, you have +written something, and what I would hardly dream of, you have done!" +She rang the bell violently: "Fika, run to the post-office, the Herr +Postmaster shall give you back, immediately, the letter that Herr +Bräsig has written to Paris."</p> + +<p class="normal">Tereng-tereng-tereng-tentereng! blew the postillion, and the post with +Bräsig's letter drove by, with flourish of trumpets, before the Frau +Pastorin's nose, express for Paris, and the Frau Pastorin in, great +vexation, sank back in her sofa-corner, sent Fika back to the kitchen, +and--alas! that we should have to confess it--she was almost ready to +murmur against providence, that, perhaps for the first time, the +Rahnstadt post had started at the right moment, to take Bräsig's stupid +letter to Paris.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bräsig declared, most solemnly, that he had managed the business with +the greatest delicacy, so that there was not the least indicium to be +perceived.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Did you send greeting from her?" asked the Frau Pastorin.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," said Bräsig, "I only said she was very well."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Have you written nothing else about her?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I only wrote that the sheet of paper belonged to her, and that she was +a precious pearl of the human race."</p> + +<p class="normal">"So she is," interposed the Frau Pastorin.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And then I closed in a very friendly way, by inviting the young Herr +to our fraternity ball."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That was foolish," cried the Frau Pastorin, "he will notice that, he +will think you have the intention to bring him and Louise together +again."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Frau Pastorin," said Bräsig, placing himself before her, "with all +respect for your words, <i>is</i> it foolish and wicked, if one has the +intention of bringing two people together again, who have been +separated by the wickedness and meanness of other people? I had this +intention, and therefore I wrote that letter; Habermann could not have +done it; for why? He is her father, and it would not have been fitting. +You could not have done it; for why? Because they have called you +already, here in Rahnstadt, all sorts of scandalous names. It is +nothing to me, however, if people do call me an old go-between; I don't +trouble myself about it; I will fetch and carry between here and Paris, +and if I am only considered in Paris to be an honest man and a faithful +friend to Karl Habermann and Louise, it is nothing to me if all +Rahnstadt calls me an old matchmaker."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Frau Pastorin, yes!" cried the little assessor, falling upon the +Frau Pastorin's neck, "the Herr Inspector is right. Who cares for the +gossips of Rahnstadt? What matters the stupid judgment of the world, if +two people can be made happy? Franz must come, and Louise must be +happy," and in her delight she ran up to Bräsig, and put her arms round +his neck, and kissed him, right on his mouth. "You are a dear, old +Uncle Bräsig!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And Bräsig returned the kiss, and said, "Yes, you little +clavier-mamsell, you dear little lark, you! You ought to try your +happiness also, in such relations. But hold! We mustn't cackle too +soon, the business is not settled yet, the rascals are not yet +convicted, and, if I know Karl Habermann, he must be perfectly cleared +in that affair, before he will consent to such an arrangement, and +therefore I have said nothing about the matter, that he and Louise +might not be disturbed. And it is a great blessing that Kurz has the +inflorentia, for he could never have held his tongue so long +otherwise."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bräsig," said the Frau Pastorin, "taking it all together, I believe +you have done right."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Haven't I, Frau Pastorin? And you were only vexed, because you didn't +write first. But you shall have the honor of writing to the young Herr, +when it is all settled."</p> + +<p class="normal">Three days after this interview, Bräsig came home, and met the Frau +Pastorin in the hall. Her right hand was in a bandage, for she had just +sprained it, falling down the cellar-stairs.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Frau Pastorin," said he, with great earnestness and expression, "I +shall come down again immediately, and have something to tell you."</p> + +<p class="normal">With that, he went up-stairs to Habermann. He said neither "Good day" +nor anything else, as he entered the room, but, looking very solemn, +went through into the bedroom. There he poured out a glass of water, +and returned with it to Habermann.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Here, Karl, drink!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What? Why should I drink?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Because it is good for you. What you will need afterward, will not +hurt you before."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bräsig, what ails you?" cried Habermann, pushing away the water; but +he noticed that something unusual was coming.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, Karl, if you won't take it, you won't; but collect yourself, +collect yourself quickly;" and he walked up and down, while Habermann +followed him with his eyes, and turned pale, as he felt that this +moment was to influence his destiny.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Karl," said Bräsig, standing before him, "have you collected +yourself?"</p> + +<p class="normal">He had really done so; he stood up and exclaimed:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bräsig, say what you have to say! What I have borne so long, I can +bear yet longer, if need be."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is not my meaning," said Bräsig. "It is all out, the rascals are +convicted, and we have the money; not all, but some of it."</p> + +<p class="normal">The old man had dreamed what it would be to be delivered from his +troubles, for a ray of hope had gleamed upon his horizon; but when the +sun was fairly risen upon this new day, and shone brightly in his face, +his eyes were blinded by the sudden splendor, and a thousand suns +floated around him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bräsig! Bräsig! My honest name! My child's happiness!" and he sank +back in his chair, and Bräsig held him the glass of water, and the old +man drank, and recovered himself a little, and grasped Bräsig, who +stood before him, about the knees: "Zachary, you have never in your +life deceived me!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, Karl, it is the pure truth, and it stands in the protocol, and the +rascals will be sent to Dreiberg, the Herr Burgomeister says; but first +to Bützow, to the criminal court."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bräsig," said Habermann, and he stood up, and went into his sleeping +room, "leave me alone, and say nothing to Louise! Yes, tell her to come +up."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Karl," said Bräsig, walking to the window, and looking out, and +wiping the tears from his eyes, and as he went through the door he saw +his Karl, in the bedroom, upon his knees.</p> + +<p class="normal">Louise went to her father, Bräsig told her nothing; but to the Frau +Pastorin he was not so silent.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bless me," said the little Frau, "now Louise has gone away, and +Habermann does not come, and you, Bräsig, don't come at the right time, +the dinner will be cold, and we have such nice fish. What were you +going to tell me, Bräsig?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, nothing much," said Uncle Bräsig, looking as if the rascals had +infected him with all sorts of roguery, and he must exercise it now +upon the Frau Pastorin, because she had abused him so about the letter; +"only that Habermann and Louise are not coming to dinner. But we two +can begin."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh, Bräsig, why are they not coming?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, because of the apron."</p> + +<p class="normal">"The apron?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, because it was wet."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Whose apron was wet?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why, Frau Kählert's. But we will eat our dinner, the fish will get +cold."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not a morsel!" cried the Frau Pastorin, and put a couple of plates +over the fish, and over those a napkin, and over that her plump hands, +and looked so wildly at Bräsig with her round eyes, that he could no +longer persist in his <i>rôle</i>, but burst out: "It is all out, Frau +Pastorin, and they are convicted, and we have most of the money again."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And do you tell me that now, first?" cried the little Frau, and jumped +up from the table, and was running up to Habermann. Bräsig would not +allow that, and, by promising to tell her everything, brought her back +to the sofa.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Frau Pastorin," said he, "the chief thing that is, the principal +indicium, came out through Kählertsch, that is to say, not properly, of +her own accord, but through her wicked jealousy, which is a dreadfully +powerful feeling in many women, and produces the most terrible +consequences. I don't mean you, by that, I only mean Kählertsch. You +see the woman had made up her mind to marry the weaver, and the weaver +would'nt have her. Now, she is rightly of the opinion that the weaver's +divorced wife wishes to marry him again, herself, and she lies +in wait for them, and so it happened once that her apron--I mean +Kählertsch's--was wet, and she was going to dry it on the garden fence. +While she was there, half concealed behind the fence, she saw the +weaver and his divorced wife, holding a <i>rendezvous</i>,--well, you know +what that is, Frau Pastorin----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bräsig, I tell you----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Quiet, Frau Pastorin! and they were not sitting in a ditch, they were +standing among the pole-beans, so that the woman must have got into the +garden from over the fence, in the rear, since she had not gone through +the house. Kählertsch in her wicked jealousy, called Frau Kräuger, the +butcher's wife, to come and look also, and they two watched the other +two, till they disappeared among the beans, and after a little the +woman got over the fence, and the weaver busied himself in the garden, +whereupon the two women quietly retired. So far we had got, and this +was true, for the butcher's wife swore to it.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then the Herr Burgomeister says, if Kählertsch would only speak out, +we might learn more. Then I say, 'Herr Burgomeister, woman's jealousy!' +then he says, 'But how?' Then I say, 'Herr Burgomeister, I knew +something about it, when I had three sweethearts at once,--jealousy is +a terrible passion, and it knows neither mercy nor pity. Let me try +her.' and when Kählertsch came again I said, in an off-hand way, 'Well, +if the weaver had not married any body else, meantime, I suppose he +could marry his divorced wife again.' And the Herr Burgomeister took my +hint, and said yes, if he wanted to, the clerical consistory could give +him a desperation. You see, that put the woman, herself into a +desperation, and she burst out, if it was coming to that, she would +tell something, the weaver had brought money with him out of the +garden, for before that he had had no money in his cupboard, but +afterwards she had looked, and had found money there, several double +louis-d'ors. You see, she had trapped herself, showing that she had +been, with a night-key, into other people's cupboards. The Herr +Burgomeister had her arrested and put in prison, so we now had the +three rogues fast.</p> + +<p class="normal">"When the weaver came in again, and lied again, as to how he had come +by the money, and lied to the very face of the butcher's wife, that he +had not been with his wife in the garden, you see, the butcher's wife +got angry too, and said she had seen the calves of her legs, as she was +climbing over the fence,--don't take it amiss, Frau Pastorin,--but she +said so. And then the weaver was sentenced to have ten on his jacket, +for our laws,--thank God!--still have penalties for infamous lying, and +the Herr Burgomeister talked to him very solemnly, and told him he was +a master weaver, and he should be degraded from his trade; but would he +confess? not a bit of it. But so soon as he had had his first three on +the jacket, he fell on his knees,--which was a dreadful sight to me, so +that I turned away,--and said he would confess everything, and he did +so, since he had not stolen it himself, but his wife. The woman had +stolen the money from the day-laborer, Regel, taking the black packet +from his waistcoat pocket, when he was intoxicated, and hid it in the +woods, under the moss and bushes, and there it had lain for two years, +and whenever she went to get wood, she would take out a couple of +pieces, which she would get changed by the help of some of the old Jew +women,--she has been to Kurz, also. And then, perhaps a year and a half +ago, she met the weaver, and asked him if he would not marry her again, +for she was no longer poor, she had something now, and she gave him a +double louis-d'or; he would'nt listen to her then, however, because at +that time he was in love with Kählertsch,--I beg you, Frau Pastorin, +with Kählertsch! They might offer me Kählertsch on a silver salver, I +should never fall in love with her. But he took the louis-d'or, and she +teased him again, and made him other presents, till at last his +inclination began to return to her, and he wanted nothing more to do +with Kählertsch. And she showed him all her treasure, and they changed +it about, now here and now there, to keep it concealed, and finally, +this spring, they locked it up in a box, and he threw the black cloth +into the butcher's compost heap, and they buried the treasure in the +garden. And we went there with the weaver, and found fourteen hundred +thalers, among the potatoes. Just think of it--fourteen hundred thalers +among the potatoes! They had spent the rest of it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good heavens!" cried the Frau Pastorin, "how clever you and the Herr +Burgomeister must have been, to get so much out of them."</p> + +<p class="normal">"So we are, Frau Pastorin," said Uncle Bräsig, quietly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But the woman?" cried the little Frau. "She was the nearest to it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Frau Pastorin, that was an exciting moment, for the Herr +Burgomeister had concealed the indicium of the box and the gold, under +his every-day hat, and when the weaver's wife was confronted with her +husband, and once more admonished to tell the truth, and persisted in +lying, then the Herr Burgomeister lifted his hat, and said, 'It is no +matter. We have the money already.' You see, when she saw the box, she +flew at the weaver, like a fury, and in a moment she had torn his whole +face, just with her nails, and screamed, 'Cursed wretch! I would have +made him happy, and he has made me unhappy!' Frau Pastorin, love is +madder than jealousy. Kählertsch never would have done that! But, Frau +Pastorin, our fish must be quite cold."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, Bräsig, how can you think of anything like that. But I must go to +Habermann, I must tell him--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"That you are very glad he is so triumphantly cleared." said Bräsig, +drawing her down on the sofa again; "so you shall, but not yet. For, +you see, I believe Habermann has something to tell the Lord, and Louise +will help him, and that is right too, but she is enough; for, Frau +Pastorin,--as Pastorin you should know,--our Lord is a jealous God, and +when He communes with a thankful soul he does not suffer that others +should approach, but draws back, and, where the presence of God has +shone, human sympathy must wait till afterwards."</p> + +<p class="normal">The little Frau Pastorin looked at him in astonishment, and finally +broke out:</p> + +<p class="normal">"God bless you, Bräsig! I always called you an old heathen; but you are +a Christian, after all!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I don't know, Frau Pastorin, I don't know what I am. But I know that +the little I have done, in this matter, I have not accomplished as a +Christian, but as assessor at the criminal court. But Frau Pastorin, +our fish is spoiled by this time, and I don't feel at all hungry. The +house seems too narrow for me,--adieu, Frau Pastorin, I must go out in +the fresh air a little while."</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER XLI.</h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">The Friday, on which Rudolph and Mining were to be married, had come, +and the loveliest Whitsuntide weather shone upon Rexow, and on the +singular edifice which Jochen, with the aid of Schultz the carpenter, +had constructed near his modest farm-house. From the outside, the +affair was not very distinguished looking, it was only of boards and +laths hammered together, and looked uncommonly like a building in which +wild beasts are exhibited, at the Leipsic fair. Inside, the work of art +presented a more stately appearance, for the boards were covered with +blue and yellow cloth, half of one color, and half of the other, since +there was not enough of one kind, in Rahnstadt, to cover so large a +hall; and secondly, it was adorned with six notched beams, for on no +other condition would carpenter Schultz undertake the job. There ought, +properly, he said, to be nine, in such a building as a wedding-hall, +but the expense would be too great, and since Jochen did not understand +much about architecture, and Frau Nüssler had enough to do with the +eating and drinking for the wedding, and Bräsig was his friend, and +would not oppose him, because he had helped him at the Reformverein, +carpenter Schultz had his own way, like a moth in a rug, and built in +the notched beams to his heart's content; and upon each of them Bräsig +hung a sort of contrivance, intended to represent a chandelier, and +Krischan the coachman climbed about on them for a week, in his buckskin +breeches, adorning them with oak-leaves; which he did very finely, but +to the detriment of his apparel, since the beams, with their splinters, +little by little devoured his buckskin breeches.</p> + +<p class="normal">Jochen put his hand in his purse, and paid the money for the new house, +for he wanted everything done, for his Mining, in the finest manner, +and he got Krischan a new pair of breeches.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Mother," he cried to his wife, "come! look! What shall we do about +it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Jochen, it is all very well. But there ought to be lights in the +chandeliers!"</p> + +<p class="normal">She was going out, when a voice spoke to her from the clouds, that is, +the oak-leaf-clouds, and a face full of light, candlelight, bent down +to her and said solemnly, "It shall all be attended to, Frau Nüssler," +and as she looked nearer into the clouds, she saw the honest, red +face of her old angel, Bräsig, looking out from the oak-leaves and +tallow-candles, which he had strung around his neck, like a clergyman's +bands, that he might have his hands free to fasten them in their +places.</p> + +<p class="normal">When this was done, the three stood together, and contemplated the +effect, and Bräsig said, "Truly, Jochen! 'Tis like a fairy palace, out +of the 'Arabian Nights,' which I read last winter from the circulating +library!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And Jochen said, "Yes, Bräsig; it is all as true as leather; but it is +only for one night; for, day after to-morrow, we must tear it down."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That would be barbarous!" said the carpenter, "the six notched beams +would last ages, and the fairies might walk in as if they were born and +bred there."</p> + +<p class="normal">And the next day came the fairies, not, indeed, exactly as Herr Schultz +had represented, no, they came, at that time, all in crinoline, that is +to say, the half-grown, horse-hair variety, not with bells and springs +and bee-hives, and steel bird-cages, as at present; but they were +beginning, even then, and Auntie Klein, from Rostock, had put a regular +barrel-hoop of tough oaken wood, into her petticoat, which grazed her +sister's shins so unmercifully on the way, that the poor woman had to +stand on one foot through the whole wedding. But the fairies came, and +they had wreaths in their hair, of natural flowers, and not artificial, +which was a pity, for towards the close of the wedding, when the feet +were weary, and the lovely eyes drooped, and the bright clouds of hair +were tumbled about as if a storm-wind had blown through them, then the +weary flowers drooped their heads and whispered to each other, "I wish +it were over; nothing gives one such a longing for the quiet night, as +all this gaiety." How much better we do things at present! The +artificial flowers stand up brisk and lively, and say, "Always ready! +Our stems and strings hold out, and when this is over, they will lay us +away in a box; and we shall get rested, and when another time comes we +are always ready!" Ah, how the world has improved! If they could only +keep fresh and bright the youthful limbs and the fresh lungs and the +innocent hearts,--well, for all me, the whole pretty fairies +themselves,--with their wires and threads and steel springs!</p> + +<p class="normal">Bräsig distributed invitations for Frau Nüssler and Jochen with a free +hand, and had selected from Rahnstadt and the vicinity a fine company +of neat, willing and active dancers, and although there was now and +then a crooked stick among the men, it was no matter, said Uncle +Bräsig, for you could see a man's legs distinctly enough, and could +beware of them. Besides the Rahnstadters and a few others in the +region, Jochen Nüssler had, through Rudolph, invited all his relations, +a very wide-spreading race. Not that they themselves were so +wide-spreading, I only mean the relationship, and they were scattered +widely over all Mecklenburg and Pommerania.</p> + +<p class="normal">There sat uncle Luting, there Uncle Krischaning, there Uncle Hanning, +and there Cousin Wilhelming,--"who is my own second cousin, and a very +witty fellow, when it comes to eating and drinking," said Jochen,--and +there sat Aunt Dining, and Aunt Stining, and Aunt Mining, and Aunt +Lining, and Aunt Rining,--"and Aunt Zaphie is coming too," said Jochen, +"who was an extremely fine woman in her day." "She has been here this +great while," said Bräsig. And as one stately equipage after another +drove up to the Rexow court, and the whole Nüssler family in a company +stood around Jochen, welcoming each other, and inquiring how things had +gone for the last sixteen or twenty years,--for it was as long as that +since they had seen each other, and those who knew how to write never +did,--Bräsig said to Frau Nüssler:</p> + +<p class="normal">"A very constant race, these Nüsslers! Regular thorough-bred Nüsslers! +Only Jochen is a little different from the rest, since he has grown so +thin, and so talkative." And going into the "temple of art," as +carpenter Schultz called his edifice, and finding the architect sitting +there, absorbed in admiration of his work and a bottle of Bavarian +beer, he said, "Schultz, you have done your part, and I have done mine; +but, you shall see, Jochen will spoil the whole performance, with his +stupid relations, so that it will turn out like a mess of sour +porridge."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have nothing to say about it, being only a guest here," said Herr +Schultz, "but if they are what you say, then, out with them!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And Bräsig walked up and down the garden, like a tree-frog, not that he +had on a green coat, for he wore his nice brown one, with the yellow +vest, no, he was like a tree-frog only because he prophesied foul +weather before night. All at once, he looked over the garden fence, and +saw Jochen's own "phantom" approaching, not driven by Krischan, but by +a day-laborer, and looking nearer he saw two women sitting in it, and +when he looked nearer still, there sat his own sister the widow of the +dairy-farmer Korthals, with her only daughter, who lived far away, in +straitened circumstances, in a village in Pomerania.</p> + +<p class="normal">"God preserve us!" he cried, "my own sister! And her little Lotting, +too! This is <i>her</i> doing!" and running through the kitchen to the hall, +he met Frau Nüssler, and cried, "You have done this for me! Oh, you +are----"</p> + +<p class="normal">Just then two ladies entered the hall, very simply dressed, but both of +them lovely as pictures; the older, with tears of emotion and gratitude +running down her friendly, true-hearted face, the younger, with her +fresh, innocent soul shining out of great blue eyes, under a cloud of +golden hair, and asking, "Where is my dear, good Uncle Zachary?" for it +was long years since she had seen him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Here! here!" he cried, and pulled and pushed his dear relations +through the hall, till he got them up to Frau Nüssler, and said, "There +she is; now thank her!" And when the two had expressed their gratitude, +and turned round again to look for him, he was gone. Like a miller, who +has started his mill, and poured the corn into the hopper, he had +crowded his way through the stout meal-bags of the Nüssler family, and +now sat in the arbor, in the garden, blowing and trumpeting at his +nose, until Schultz the carpenter decamped with his beer-bottle from +the temple of art, believing that the musicians had arrived.</p> + +<p class="normal">But they did not come yet; first came Kurz and the rector, each with +his good old advocate at his side, and when they had been presented, +and had crowded about, for a while, in the room with the Nüssler +family, old Uncle Luting Nüssler came up to Kurz, in a pompous, +overbearing way, and said, in a deep voice, "You can congratulate +yourself upon being connected afresh with such a rich and noble +relationship. Do you see," and he pointed to Uncle Krischan, who had +just thrown himself upon the sofa, "there tumbles a hundred thousand +thalers."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I don't do it for that," said Uncle Krischan.</p> + +<p class="normal">Well, that made Kurz angry, but he restrained himself; but when Uncle +Luting went on to ask, "Have you ever in your life seen so many rich +people together in one company?" then Kurz's wrath broke out, and he +replied, "No! nor ever in my life so many blockheads!"</p> + +<p class="normal">He turned away, and his wife, who had heard it, followed him and said, +"Kurz, I beg you, for God's sake, don't begin again with your +democracy! It would be much better for you to go to bed at once."</p> + +<p class="normal">He would not do that, but he was placed under the ban, for the whole +evening, by all the Nüssler family.</p> + +<p class="normal">And Pastor Gottlieb came with Lining, and they were treated with great +respect by their elders, because they were to perform the marriage +ceremony. Don't misunderstand me! Not that Lining herself was to marry +them, not at all! but, for once in her life, she had interfered in +Gottlieb's professional affairs, and had altered his marriage ceremony +a little, so that Gottlieb said it was not like a Christian minister's +speech, it was more like a family speech; but she remained firm in her +position that as Mining's twin she ought to know what would go most to +her heart, and Gottlieb had to yield to her.</p> + +<p class="normal">And now came Habermann, with the Frau Pastorin and Louise and the +little assessor, driving up in a glass coach, for the Frau Pastorin had +said, "So, and in no other way!" She had once been compelled to decline +a wedding invitation from Frau Nüssler, in her great sorrow, and now +she would make up for it in her great pleasure at this second wedding, +and then she pressed the hands of Habermann and Louise and the little +assessor, saying, "Isn't it so? We are all happy to-day." So they came +to Rexow, and when they arrived Habermann saw Bräsig's sister, whom he +had known years ago, and it was not long before they sat together, +talking of old times, and every other word was "Zachary," and Louise +and the little assessor had Lotting between them, and every other word +was "Uncle Bräsig."</p> + +<p class="normal">Then came a great harvest wagon, with flowers and wreaths, Krischan the +coachman driving the four horses, in the saddle, in his new yellow +buckskins, his whip ornamented with red and blue ribbons, and he +himself with a wreath of roses around his hat, which looked uncommonly +as if the old hat were celebrating its fiftieth golden wedding, +upon this occasion, and on the front seat, sat David Berger, the +town-musician, playing on his clarionet:</p> +<div class="poem"> +<p class="t0" style="text-indent:-6px +"> +"Wer niemals sinen Rausch gehabt,<br> +Das ist kein braver Mann,"</p> +</div> + +<p class="continue">and behind him sat his companions, blowing the same tune, though not in +the same time, for since they sat on the second, third and fourth seats +they could not possibly keep it, since he was always three ahead of +them; and when he turned round angrily, or Krischan would go faster and +used his whip, he always got his hair pulled, for one of his +mischievous companions had fastened the handle of the whip to his back +hair, and when Krischan touched the whip, or when he stirred himself, +he was in constant torment.</p> + +<p class="normal">And behind this wagon came another harvest wagon, full of white +dresses, and from under the white dresses peeped pretty little dancing +feet, and above them, on the round heads, nodded roses and pinks, which +looked out modestly from the curly locks, as if they were too bashful +to glance at the pretty faces. These were the little fairies. And right +in the midst of the fairies sat the Herr Postmaster, in his new +uniform, the only one Rahnstadt had to show,--otherwise he would not +have arrived at such an honor,--and sung, gay as a finch, his finest +song in this garden of roses. Behind this wagon came yet another +harvest wagon, loaded with gentlemen, with dancers, the best dancers in +Rahnstadt, and Kurz's Herr Süssmann danced along the wagon pole in +front, and the Herr Rector's youngest pupil sat, with his legs dangling +in the air, behind.</p> + +<p class="normal">The guests all looked very joyous, but the Frau Hostess was in the +greatest perplexity, for she was not acquainted with a single one of +them, since Bräsig had selected them merely with reference to their +capacities for dancing, and she called for Bräsig; but when he finally +came Krischan the coachman had brought them all in, and undertook to +dispose of them. He opened the doors of the kitchen and dining-room, +and shoved them all in: "In with you, there! Take it easy! Get a little +something to eat and drink; they are not ready yet!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And the advice was good, for the marriage was delayed a little, because +one of the groomsmen had not yet arrived, namely Fritz Triddelsitz, who +at Rudolph's request had been persuaded to remove the ban from the +Nüssler house, and to officiate in that capacity. At last he came, +riding up the court on his dapple-gray and in full state, and mingled +among the guests with so much dignity, and bowed right and left with so +much elegance, that the rector's foolish little pupil whispered in Herr +Süssmann's ear: "What a pity that we are all ready, he might have +helped us." Whereupon Herr Süssmann regarded him with a look of +compassion, and turning to Bräsig, who stood at his other side, said, +"Herr Inspector, have you heard that I am chosen dance-director for our +fraternity ball, day after tomorrow?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Bräsig was going to tell him that he would be a blockhead if he +undertook it, for Kurz would discharge him, but he did not have time to +say it, for just then the bridal pair entered the room.</p> + +<p class="normal">Rudolph was truly a fine looking bridegroom. His fresh, joyous demeanor +was hidden, to-day, under a quiet earnestness, and only the firm +resolve under all circumstances to fight for his wife and himself, like +an honest fellow, shone in his brown eyes. Yes, he was a handsome +bridegroom, for when does a man look handsomer than when, full of +courage and hope, he goes out to his first conflict? Who could blame +his mother, the good old advocate, for going up to him at this moment, +and kissing him, and stroking his brown curls, and secretly pulling out +his ruffle a little, from the dress coat, so that people might see it?</p> + +<p class="normal">And now Mining! Mining looked, in her white satin dress and myrtle +wreath, like a Bauersdorf apple, freshly plucked from the tree, and +laid in its green leaves on a silver salver. Fresh and cool outside, as +the ripe fruit, but her heart was glowing, and before Gottlieb had +uttered a word of the ceremony, there was a pair betrothed,--confident +hope and quiet blessedness had joined hands. And Frau Nüssler was +crying quietly behind her handkerchief, and saying to Bräsig, "I cannot +help it, she is my last, my youngest." And Bräsig looked at her, full +of friendliness, and said, "Frau Nüssler, control yourself! It will +soon be over;" and going up to Louise Habermann, he made a bow, saying, +"My Fräulein, if you are ready, it is time,"--usually he called her +"Louise," but to-day he was a groomsman, and must do what was proper. +And Fritz Triddelsitz went up to the little assessor, for she was the +other bride's maid, and Kurz and Rector Baldrian placed themselves as +leaders by Rudolph, and when young Jochen after some delay was shoved +forward, he stood by his Mining, and on his other side stood Habermann, +for they were the two leaders for the bride,--and then the procession +moved to carpenter Schultz's temple of art, where Gottlieb stood behind +a green and white altar, and began to read Lining's marriage ceremony.</p> + +<p class="normal">I know very well that a marriage at home is not thought much +of,--now-a-days all marriages must be celebrated in church, and I have +nothing against it, for I was married in church myself about that time, +since my wife was a minister's daughter, and would not have it +otherwise; but, as I was saying, at that time this kind of marriage +ceremony had not been established in Mecklenburg by the ecclesiastical +consistory, and the old modes were still in fashion, and children were +married as their parents had been. New modes were in fashion too, as +Krischan Schultz said, when he fastened his horse by the tail; but +Gottlieb knew nothing about them, and if he had known about them, and +had wished to fasten his horse in the new mode. Lining would not have +allowed it; Lining was a married woman, but she would not allow her +other half to disgrace himself before these rich, stout, stupid +Nüsslers, and the Rahnstadt shopmen and school-boys, or that her twin +sister should have her marriage feast spoiled by an ecclesiastical +consistory, although she was the most dignified of pastors' wives, that +is, after the Frau Pastorin, who was always the nearest.</p> + +<p class="normal">After the ceremony, the two little twin-apples lay in each other's +arms, in full, untroubled blessedness, and Rudolph embraced them both +together, and Frau Nüssler stood a little aside, looking over her +handkerchief, with her head turned over our shoulder, as if she were +listening to something,--possibly the angel's song,--and as the stout, +rich, stupid Nüsslers pressed around, with their congratulations, young +Jochen stood among them and bowed to this one and that, as if it were +his own wedding-day over again: "Uncle Luting, it is my Mining! Cousin +Wilhelming, it is our little governess! Aunt Zaphie, what shall we do +about it!" These people crowded up, the men with their bright +waistcoats, and gold watch-chains across their breasts, and the women +with whole flower-pots on their caps, and some of them with dropping +eyes, as if the flowerpots had been watered too plentifully, and were +running over. And the men and the women of Jochen's family kissed, +alternately, Rudolph and Mining, as if before all things they must be +taken into this rich, stout, stupid relationship, so that Kurz +at last grew terribly angry, because he could not reach his new +daughter-in-law, and for once his good old advocate agreed with him, +because she could not reach her own son. And the Rahnstadt dancers also +crowded about and wandered around the pair, and what else could they +do? they could not have their kisses yet; and among this company stood +Fritz Triddelsitz with the little assessor, tall and slender and +imposing, not as a groomsman, no, as commander of the whole, and behind +him stood the rector's little pupil, imitating with his short body and +black woolen stockings all the motions that Fritz made with his long +body and black silk stockings. He was Fritz's natural shadow, that is, +at noon-day, when shadows are short.</p> + +<p class="normal">Near by stood two other couples, who were not crowding up, for they +were sufficiently occupied with themselves, and had time to spare; +these were Habermann and his Louise, and Uncle Bräsig and the Frau +Pastorin. Louise lay with her head on her father's breast, looking up +to him, as if she had been long ill, and had been brought out from her +couch, for the first time, into the free air, and the blue sky seemed +to say: "Better days! better days!" and her face looked as peaceful and +happy as the blue sky, and sun and moon and stars might wander there, +and dew and rain might fall, to refresh and rejoice and enlighten +mankind. Close to this pair stood Zachary Bräsig, with his arm round +the little Frau Pastorin, and his eyebrows elevated, and he blew his +nose, and said, "My little Mining! My little goddaughter! How happy she +is!" and every time that one of the old, stout Nüsslers gave Mining a +kiss, he bent down to the Frau Pastorin, and gave her a kiss, as if he +must make up to this good old lady what the stupid old people were +inflicting upon Mining. "You see, because!" as our servant maid, +Lisette, says, here in Eisenach, when she can think of no other reason. +And so Bräsig kissed the Frau Pastorin, and the Frau Pastorin suffered +it, without thinking any harm; but when Aunt Zaphie, who had formerly +been very handsome, and a sort of Venus among the Nüsslers, gave +Rudolph three or four kisses, the little Frau Pastorin was startled, +and when Bräsig approached his lips again, in such a friendly way, she +said, "Bräsig, you ought to be ashamed of yourself! What have you +particularly to do with me?"</p> + +<p class="normal">And Bräsig drew back embarrassed, and said, "Frau Pastorin, don't take +it unkindly, but my feelings ran away with me," and he brought the Frau +Pastorin to Habermann, saying, "Karl, you must exchange. Louise is my +bride's maid, and I am a bachelor, and you and the Frau Pastorin are +both widowers, and that is suitable."</p> + +<p class="normal">Mining had taken her Rudolph by the hand, and, when she saw her dearest +and oldest friends standing a little on one side, had made various +efforts to penetrate the sand-bags of stout, rich, stupid Nüsslers, and +the wooden palisades of shopmen and school-boys, but without success; +but when her brand new husband saw her futile manœuvres, he came to +her assistance, shoved aside sand-bag No. 1, the rich Uncle Luting, and +sand-bag No. 2, the witty cousin Wilhelming, grasped the longest +palisade, Fritz Triddelsitz himself, in the short ribs, and moved him +gently to another place, and neatly sent his pupil-shadow after him, +and having thus made a breach through obstinacy, stupidity and +tedium,--certainly no easy thing to do,--he brought his brand new bride +to the people, who instead of congratulating her with flower-pots, and +gay waistcoats and gold watch-chains, did it with what lies beneath +them, their heads and their hearts. And when Frau Nüssler came up, and +pressed her children, alternately, to her heart, Rudolph wiped the +tears from his eyes, and said, "Let us all come out into the garden, +and be by ourselves a little while."</p> + +<p class="normal">And the carpenter, Schultz, who stood near and heard him, said; "Yes, +out with you! All of you, out! We must set the tables here!" and he +began to shove the rich Nüsslers about as if they were blocks and +lumber. And when our company,--I say <i>our</i>--had come to the famous +arbor, Bräsig pointed to the cherry-tree, and said, "Mining, this tree +must be an indicium and a token to you, all your life, since your +future was decided under it, and under me that time; and since we are +talking about tokens, Mining, bring me a blue larkspur again, there is +one!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And when Mining had gone for it Uncle Bräsig said, "Rudolph, have you +always remembered the blue larkspur?" And when Rudolph said he had, +Bräsig looked in his clear eyes, and then examined him from head to +foot, and said, "I believe you!" and when Mining came back with the +flower he said, "Thank you, Mining! And now I will give you my wedding +present for it," and he pulled out an old thick, black pocket-book from +his brown coat, and rummaged among his old milk and corn accounts, and +took out a withered flower, saying, "See, my little godchild, this is +the flower of that time,"--and he held it towards her with the fresh +blossom,--"and if, after long years, Rudolph can look at you with the +same clear eyes, and give you this new flower, then you may say, 'I +have been a happy wife.' I have nothing more to say, nothing! and I +have nothing else to give you, nothing at all!" and with that he walked +away, and our company heard him saying to himself, "Nothing at all! but +this indicium, Rudolph's indicium!" And when they found him again, he +was walking with his sister and his niece Lotting, and the two women +were caressing and thanking him, because he had never forgotten or +forsaken them.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then Frau Nüssler came up to our company: "Come children, all is ready. +But don't take it ill! Jochen's family are the most distinguished, and +I cannot offend Jochen to-day,--he is master for this once,--they must +sit nearest the bridal pair. Kurz and his wife, of course, will sit +among them, for, as you say, Frau Pastorin, they are the nearest, and +Gottlieb and Lining must also sit there, he as clergyman, and she as +twin, and Jochen, too, because they are his friends. But we, Frau +Pastorin, Karl, Louise, and you, Bräsig! we will sit together at one +end, and it shall be a merry wedding."</p> + +<p class="normal">"A la bong kör!" said Bräsig, "but where is the shopman, Süssmann? I +must speak to him about the fraternity ball."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, bless you! the poor fellow is sitting in the back kitchen; he +and Triddelsitz were performing some kind of antics over a heap of +pea-straw, and he fell, and something split, and Krischan had to get +him Jochen's old blue trousers, and he will not let himself be seen by +daylight, but is waiting until evening, when they will not noticed."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And he wants to be dance-director!" said Bräsig, as he followed our +company to the hall.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then the feast began, and Frau Nüssler's little waiting-maids, with +their fresh faces and three-cornered caps, and white bib-aprons, +ran about the temple of art, and turned and whirled like humming +tops,--for the old waiters with their shabby black dress-coats, and +white neck-ties <i>à la</i> turkey-cock, and white cotton gloves which are +always dipping into the gravy, were not the fashion then,--and the +stout Nüsslers sat there and ate, as if there were a French commissary +in their stomachs, provisioning an army for a Russian campaign, and +when they had finished the fricassee they began on the pudding, and +when they had disposed of the pudding they attacked the roasted pigeons +and sparrows, and wondered that the pigeons in Mecklenburg were not as +large as the geese, and murmured against providence because sparrows +were not as thick as hops, and when the roast meat came, Cousin +Wilhelming, the wit of the Nüssler family, stood up and clinked his +glass, and cried, "Quiet!" three times, and holding up his glass said, +"To the health of the old General Knusemong (que nous aimons), who has +been a very distinguished general, and is so to this day!" and with +that he looked towards the young pair, blinking with his left eye at +Mining, and with his right at Rudolph. And Uncle Luting--understand me, +the rich Uncle Luting--stood up expressly for the purpose, and said, +"Wilhelming, you are a devilish fellow!" And Bräsig said to the Frau +Pastorin, "Frau Pastorin, I know you are opposed to the Reform, but I +assure you the witty shoemaker in the Reform would have done it much +better!" And Frau Nüssler sat on thorns and thistles, in distress lest +Jochen should take it into his head to make a speech; but Jochen +restrained himself, his speeches were not for the world at large, they +were only for the neighborhood, and all he said was, "Wilhelming, fill +Luting's glass! Luting, help Wilhelming!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And when the punch-bowls were placed on the table, and the champagne +came, the old Nüsslers looked at the labels, and said they had just +such in their cellars, and Fritz Triddelsitz and the Herr Shopmen and +the Herr Pupils drank one glass after another, losing no time, until +the left wing of the wedding-army became so uproarious that the little +assessor remarked to the commander of these light troops, to Fritz +Triddelsitz, that if they were to attack the enemy in that condition +they would be obliged to retreat, and when Fritz was making +arrangements to withdraw his forces, then there happened a diversion, +for him and for the whole company. Well, just to think what clever +things an ignorant beast will do sometimes! Bauschan, Jochen's +Bauschan, our old Bauschan was sitting with a green wreath about his +neck, and another about his tail,--for Krischan the coachman had +dressed him up for the occasion,--on the green and white altar, which +was behind the bridal pair, and where Gottlieb and Lining had married +them, and he thrust his dignified autocratic face between their heads +and licked Mining with his tongue, and struck Rudolph with his tail, +and then licked Rudolph, and struck Mining. And when he had done this, +the old fellow settled down again upon the altar with the greatest +dignity, looking as if he were well contented with the whole affair, +but meant to sit there a little longer, for his own pleasure. Jochen +sprang up: "Bauschan, for shame! Down with you!" But Uncle Bräsig +sprang up also, saying; "Jochen, do you treat your best friend like +that, on this solemn occasion?" and turning to Pastor Gottlieb, he +added: "Herr Pastor, let Bauschan alone! When the beast shows his +affection, here on this Christian altar, the beast knows something that +we don't. And Bauschan is a clever dog! I know it; for when I heard +about the love-affairs, up in the cherry-tree, he heard them from +below, for he was lying in the arbor, under the bench. Herr Pastor, +this Bauschan is certainly a marriage witness, for he was there when +they were betrothed."</p> + +<p class="normal">Gottlieb turned pale at the scandalous idea, but did not break out into +a sermon this time, for there was suddenly a humming and buzzing, as of +a swarm of bees; everybody had risen, and began to remove chairs and +tables,--"Out! out!" cried carpenter Schultz,--and dishes and platters, +and the rector's youngest pupil tumbled down with a great pile of Frau +Nüssler's china plates, and the fragments clattered through the hall, +and he stood looking at his work, and feeling in his vest-pocket for +treasures which were as much concealed from his own eyes as from those +of other people, and as Frau Nüssler passed by and saw the performance +he turned very red, and said he would gladly pay for them, but he +hadn't so much by him. And Frau Nüssler patted him kindly on the +shoulder and said, "Oh, nonsense! But you must be punished!" and she +took him by the hand and led him to Bräsig's niece Lotting, and said, +"You shall dance out my plates here, this evening." And he paid his +debt honestly.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then the dancing began. First the Polonaise. Fritz Triddelsitz had the +lead for Herr Süssmann was not yet visible, and what a dance he led +them! Through the hall, and through the garden, and through the +kitchen, and the entry, and the living room and the sleeping rooms, and +back into the garden again, and into the hall went the procession, +until Jochen's stout relations were quite out of breath, and Bräsig +called out to him, why didn't he take the barn-yard by the way? And +Jochen Nüssler danced, third couple, with Aunt Zaphie in her flower-pot +on one side, and Bauschan in his wreath on the other, and he looked +between them like a pearl in a golden setting, or an ass between two +bundles of hay. And when the Polonaise was over, David Berger played +the slowest of waltzes, "Thou, thou reign'st in this bosom, There, +there, hast thou thy throne," and another band answered out of the +distance: "Our cat has nine kits," and as he played on: "Speak, speak, +Love, I implore thee! Say, say, hope shall be mine!"--came the answer +from the distance: "Son and daughter, Into the water!"--and so on, for +Frau Nüssler had given orders that there should be dancing in the +milk-cellar also, and there sat old Hartloff, with his one eye, and +Wichmann the joiner, and Ruhrdanz the weaver, and all the rest; and +Hartloff had helped them all to a good drink, and told them not to be +discouraged, they could cope with such a city band as that, any day, +and so they did their best, and Krischan the coachman kept them +supplied with liquor. And when the fun was at its height, Rudolph and +Mining came into the milk-cellar, and Mining danced with Krischan, and +Rudolph with the cook, and the bailiff got up a hurrah for the married +pair, and Hartloff fiddled so madly that Ruhrdanz tried in vain to keep +up with him on the clarionet, and finally gave up in despair. And when +the bridal pair had gone, Krischan stood behind the door with the cook, +arguing the matter.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dürt, what must be, must."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh, Krischan, what do you want?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dürt, we are a bridal pair too, and what is sauce for the goose is +sauce for the gander; we must show ourselves on this occasion, they +cannot take it ill of us."</p> + +<p class="normal">And Dürt said it was very disagreeable to her, and, if she must do it, +she would rather dance with Inspector Bräsig, for she knew him; and +Krischan said, for all he cared, and he would dance with the Frau. And +nobody thought it anything out of the way, in the temple of art, when +Krischan stood up with Frau Nüssler and Bräsig with Dürt, and danced as +merrily as the rest. So it was, in those times, and 'tis a pity it is +so no longer,--at least not in many places. Great joy and profound +grief bring high and low together: why should a master who wishes his +laborers to mourn at his funeral not share his pleasures with them +also?</p> + +<p class="normal">It was a joyful occasion, and I could not possibly describe the +pleasure which filled every heart, as the young feet danced merrily +about, and hands silently pressed each other. I only know that Fritz +Triddelsitz stood there as commander-in-chief, and that the little +assessor at his side very often blushed, and after the dance ran to +Louise, as if to seek her protection. I only know that the little pupil +got knocked over several times, in the dance, because he was lost in +arithmetical calculations, how he, when his predecessor came to be +sexton, and he should be appointed school-master, might live with the +greatest economy, and rent a bit of potato-land from the shoemaker at +four shillings the square rood, and if the rich Uncle Bräsig could help +them with a few thalers, perhaps he might marry the lovely blue eyes +and the golden hair which looked up to him so joyously, and in the +confusion of the dance got entangled in his black coat, which was about +one third paid for at Kurz's shop. I only know that the only unhappy +being, in the whole company, was Herr Süssmann, and he only when his +eyes happened to fall upon Jochen's old blue trousers.</p> + +<p class="normal">Yes, it was a joyful occasion; but everything has its end; the little +fairies and the shopmen and school-boys and the dancers, and David +Berger with the musicians, drove off home,--the old people had gone +before,--and Jochen placed himself at the head of his relations, and +showed them to their quarters, and Frau Nüssler took the ladies to +their rooms, and every married lady had her nice bed; but the unmarried +ones, with Aunt Zaphie at their head, had to sleep in the great blue +room, <i>en table d'hôte</i>.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER XLII.</h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">The Sunday after the wedding the young Frau von Rambow was busy in the +morning with her housekeeping, and wrote down her expenses in her +account book, and then sat in deep thought, till she was wholly +disheartened with vague distress and anxiety, for she felt certain that +things were going badly with Axel; but she had no idea of the desperate +condition at which they had really arrived, through his unwise +management, for her worst suspicions and anxieties fell far short of +the truth. She merely inferred from his unsteady, hasty demeanor, and +the restlessness which drove him hither and thither, that he was in +great difficulty. That it was the most extreme difficulty, that the +knife was at his throat, and a slight accident, a little maliciousness, +might finish the business, she truly did not dream. He had told her +nothing; he had ordered horses to be put to the carriage that morning, +and had gone off for three days. Where? Why? Those were questions that +no longer passed her lips, for why should she knock at a door from +which issued only falsehood and evasion? She closed her account book +with a sigh, and said to herself, "What is the use? A woman's hands +cannot prop up a falling house." And as she saw Fritz Triddelsitz, +through the window, strolling wearily and sleepily across the yard, she +let her hands fall in her lap, saying, "And all the management depends +on <i>him</i>; and it is fortunate too, for he is honest, and has been +brought up by Habermann. Ah, Habermann! Habermann!" she cried, and +mournful and remorseful thoughts overcame her, and enclosed her in +their grasp. Who has not, some time in his life, passed such an hour, +when one thought crowds upon the heels of another, like the ghosts of +by-gone days, and all point with their fingers to the weak places in +our hearts? They will not stir nor move, they stand like wall and +mortar, ever pointing to the place, and connecting our present trouble +with that place, and calling in our ears, this is the consequence, why +hast thou acted thus? And what she had done, had been only out of love; +but the ghosts did not turn any for that,--what does a ghost know of +love?</p> + +<p class="normal">As she sat there, Daniel Sadenwater came in, and announced the Herr +Proprietor Pomuchelskopp. The Herr was not at home, Frida said. He had +told him so, said Daniel, but the Herr Pomuchelskopp had said +expressly, he wished to speak with the gracious Frau. "I will come +directly," said Frida. She would not have said that usually, but at the +moment she was glad to escape from her gloomy thoughts; she had a great +aversion to Pomuchelskopp, but still he was a flesh and blood man, he +was none of her grisly ghosts.</p> + +<p class="normal">But she would not have done it, if she had known what awaited her. +Pomuchel had previously, and at last on that very morning, held wise +counsel with David and Slusuhr, and they were agreed in this +conclusion: that it would be best for him to buy the estate of Axel, at +private sale; "For" said Pomuchelskopp, "if it comes to an auction, +they will put it up too high for me. Ah, how they would drive it up! +the old nobility would come together, and some of them have a great +deal of money,--and they stick to each other, like burs,--and they +would pay his debts, if it came to the hammer, or buy it in for him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You must look out for them," said Slusuhr.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No! no!" cried Pomuchelskopp. "If I can get it quietly, that is the +best way. He is as mellow, as mellow as a rotten apple, and I know him, +he never looks over the fence, he only reaches after the nearest thing, +and if I offer him a good bit of money, enough to pay his debts and +have a little left over, he will take it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You forget one thing," said the notary, "she is there still."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, she knows nothing about it," said Muchel. "Fortunate for us, else +it would not have gone so far. She looked at me once,--when they had +that fuss about the stolen money,--with a pair of eyes that I shall +never forget, so long as I live."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well," said David, "what of that? she is a woman,--not such a woman as +Frau Pomuchelskopp, for <i>she</i> is a dreadfully clever woman,--she is a +noble lady, she knows a great deal about some things, and nothing at +all about others. If he is mellow, well, she must be made mellow too."</p> + +<p class="normal">David's advice prevailed; yes, when the poor lady should learn all, +blow upon blow, then she must become pliable in their hands, then she +would not oppose the sale of the estate; and it was decided that +Pomuchelskopp should make a beginning, and the others should follow +him, that very morning; they knew that Axel was not at home.</p> + +<p class="normal">When the Frau von Rambow went down to Pomuchelskopp, he looked as +gentle and compassionate as if he were a clergyman, come to condole +with her upon her mother's death; he stretched out both hands with a +cordial gesture, as if he would take her hand in his, and press it +warmly. Not getting her hand, however, he folded his own together, and +regarded her with such a fatherly expression, in his old fat eyes, as a +crocodile assumes when he is just ready to cry.</p> + +<p class="normal">He had come, he said, as an old friend, as a true neighbor, to speak +with the Herr von Rambow; the business was very pressing, and since the +young Herr was not at home, it was necessary that he should speak with +the gracious lady. It would be a great grief to him, if he, as a +neighbor, could not help, when there was such a misfortune in prospect +as the public auction sale of Pumpelhagen.</p> + +<p class="normal">Frida started back, exclaiming, "Sale of Pumpelhagen!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And now Pomuchelskopp looked like an unfortunate, innocent mother, who +has overlaid her child in sleep; "God bless me!" he cried, "what have I +done! I believed, gracious Frau, that you knew already----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know nothing," said Frida, pale, but firm, and looking at the old +sinner as if she would look him through; "I know nothing, but I wish to +know all. Why should Pumpelhagen be sold?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Gracious lady," said the Herr Proprietor, almost wringing his hands, +"the many debts----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Whom is my husband indebted to?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I believe, to many people."</p> + +<p class="normal">"To yourself, also?"</p> + +<p class="normal">And now it seemed as if a sluice were drawn up in Pomuchelskopp's +heart, and the streams of friendliness, which had been accumulating for +long years, were poured out at once upon the house of Pumpelhagen. Yes, +he said, he had also demands upon him, but the money which he had +loaned had been given out of friendship, and so it should remain. He +had merely come over, this morning, to give the young Herr good advice, +how the business might be managed, and if possible to help him out of +his difficulties. So far as he knew, it was Moses who insisted on the +sale, and if his mouth could be stopped everything might be settled. +And as he took leave, he said, very kindly, with such a dignified +shaking of the head, and much blinking of the eyes, as if to repress +tears, if he had known that the gracious lady knew nothing about it, he +would rather have pulled out his tongue than have uttered a word on the +subject.</p> + +<p class="normal">If it had been a matter with which she was less nearly connected, she +must have perceived the falseness of Pomuchelskopp's behavior; but she +had only a vague feeling of it, for distress and terror prevented her +from seeing clearly. She felt as if the house had been shaken by an +earthquake, as if the walls, which had hitherto protected from the +storm, were ready to fall upon her and her child, and bury, beneath +themselves, the little happiness she still hoped for in the future, she +must get out into the open air, into the garden; and there she walked +up and down in the cool shade, thinking and thinking, and it seemed to +her as if the very shadows cast by the trees were hers no longer, or +even the flowers blooming at her feet, which she herself had planted. +She sat down on the same bench where her father-in-law, the old +Kammerrath, had sat, when he told Habermann of his troubles; Habermann +had helped then,--where was Habermann now? The same tree shadowed her, +which she had first seen from the distance when Axel had so proudly +pointed out to her his fair estate; where was this pride? where was the +estate? To whom did this tree belong?</p> + +<p class="normal">She sat there for a moment, as she thought, but the moment lasted two +hours. She heard steps approaching on the Gurlitz pathway, and started +to go; but before she could get away the notary and David stood before +her. Slusuhr was a little startled, coming unawares upon the woman whom +he was about to put to the torture; but David grinned like a monkey, +into whose hand an apple had fallen unexpectedly. The notary went up to +the gracious lady with great respect, and with a low bow inquired if +they could speak with the gracious Herr.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He is away from home," said Frida.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is very necessary that we should see him," said David. Slusuhr +looked at David over his shoulder, as if to say, "Will you hold your +stupid tongue?" but he repeated the same words:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, gracious lady, it is necessary that we should see him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then you must come again on Wednesday; Herr von Rambow is coming back +on Tuesday," and she turned to go.</p> + +<p class="normal">The notary stepped before her, saying, "The business is not so much +ours, as the Herr von Rambow's; perhaps a messenger might be sent after +him. It is really a very pressing case. We know of a purchaser for +Pumpelhagen, a thoroughly safe man, who wishes, however, a definite +answer, within three days, whether Herr von Rambow will dispose of the +estate at private sale, or let it come to an auction, at the end of the +term. The Herr, here, is the son of Moses, who has given notice of his +money for St. John's day, and through me, as his man of business, urges +the private sale."</p> + +<p class="normal">Of course this was all a tissue of lies. The fair young Frau stood +still and looked at the two rascals; her first fright was over, and all +the pride of her innocent soul rose against this undeserved misfortune.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Gracious lady," said David, after he had fumbled at his watch-chain a +while, in great embarrassment under her steady gaze, "bethink yourself; +there is my father with the seven thousand thalers,--with the interest +and costs, it amounts to eight,--there is Herr Pomuchelskopp's eight +thousand thalers, there are the trades-people at Rahnstadt,--we have +the accounts by us,--three thousand, then there are the bills of +exchange, and, here and there, ten thousand more, owing,--well, what do +I know? perhaps to Israel at Schwerin. If you should sell, now, to a +safe man, and you could sell the furniture, and the beds, and the +linen, you would have ten thousand thalers over, or perhaps eleven, or, +for all I know, even twelve thousand. And then, if you should move to +Rahnstadt, and rent a house there, you would have nothing to do, and +could live like a countess."</p> + +<p class="normal">Frida said nothing, but bowed coldly to the two companions, and went +into the house. Nothing drives a high spirit to defend itself and to +present a brave front to the world, like the rude intrusion of the +world into one's private affairs. Then the foot advances to tread upon +the head of the adder, and pride and honor and a good conscience turn +out all other emotions which have restlessly worked in the heart, and +there is no longer strife, there is calm repose; but it is like the +repose of death.</p> + +<p class="normal">"There she goes, like a princess!" said David.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You blockhead, you!" cried Slusuhr. "Well, I will never, in my life, +go on any business again with such a dunce."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why, what is the matter?" asked David. "Didn't we do just that way with +the peasant at Kanin, and the matter was settled at once?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, with a peasant. But did you come into the world yesterday, that +you don't know that a noble lady is no peasant? We wanted to make her +mellow and pliable--well, much good may it do you! we have only +stiffened her neck. If it had come over him in that way, he would have +said yes to everything; but," he added, rather to himself than to +David, "there are men,--yes, and women, truly,--who are really strong, +for the first time, under misfortune."</p> + +<p class="normal">As they returned to the Herr Proprietor, and he learned how the young +Frau had received them, he was greatly enraged.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good heavens!" said he to David, "how is it possible you could go +about such a critical business in such a rough way? You should merely +have bored and pricked and teased her, instead of setting her whole +future life before her. God bless me! I had it all so nicely in train; +and now, you shall see, when he comes home she will stiffen his back up +as well, and the end will be, it will come to an auction."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then you can buy it," said Slusuhr.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no! They will drive it up too high for me, and it joins so finely +to my estate!" So the worthy Herr complained and disputed with the +others, and consulted what should be done, and how they could manage +it.</p> + +<p class="normal">In another part of Gurlitz, there were also consultations going on. In +weaver Ruhrdanz's room, day-laborers and day-laborers wives were +sitting together, and the talk that went round was not hasty and +reckless, but thoughtful and deliberate, though venomous.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, what do you say, brother?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh, what should one say? He must be got rid of, he is a regular +skinner! Well, now you, Ruhrdanz?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are right there, I say so, too; he must be got rid of! But, +friends, you should see, they would send him back to us again. If we +only had papers about it, so that he dare not come back."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, your stupid papers!" cried a great rough woman, from behind the +stove, "when you come home, in the evenings, from the city, with your +heads full of brandy, you are ready to do great things, and afterwards +you flop together, like a dish-cloth. What? Must I send my children +about the country, begging? I have had no bread, for three days, but +such as the children have brought home."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Things are a little better than they were, though," said old father +Brinkman.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," cried Willgans, "but from fear, not from kindness. We will go up +to the court, each with a good staff, and there we will teach him to +know the Lord, and then we will lead him over the boundary, and give +him a start on the way: 'There! now travel!'"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What?" cried Kapphingst, "and that Satan of a woman, who almost killed +my girl about an old chicken, will you let her stay?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"And the old girls," cried a young woman, "who tormented us so, when we +were servants at the court, and seemed like merciful angels in the +parlor, when there was company, and knocked us round in the kitchen, +like regular devils,--shall they stay too?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"We must get rid of the whole concern," said Willgans.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, children, no!" said old Brinkman. "Do not meddle with the innocent +children!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said Ruhrdanz's old wife, who sat by herself, peeling potatoes +for dinner, "you are right, Brinkman, and Gustaving must stay too; I +saw him bringing old Schultz a measure of potatoes, secretly; and when +he measures the land for potatoes and flax, he always gives a couple of +rods more than <i>he</i> does; and, Willgans, see! your oldest boy wears a +pair of his outgrown breeches, at this moment. He cannot do as he +would, the old man looks after him too closely. No, against Gustaving +and the little ones, nobody must lift a hand."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Mother, I say so, too," said Ruhrdanz. "And, let me tell you +something, we must do everything regularly! The others are not here +now; this evening we will talk about it again. He will not be at home; +Johann Jochen had to get the glass coach ready, they are going to the +ball, in the city, this evening; then we can talk it over."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," cried the great rough woman, "yes, talk and talk! You drink your +heads full of brandy, and we are starving. If <i>you</i> don't get rid of +these people, <i>we</i> shall do it, for we can do as other women have done, +all over the country; thorn-bushes and nettle-stalks are not far to +seek." With that, she went out of the door, and the company dispersed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bernhard," said Ruhrdanz's wife to him, "the matter may turn out +badly."</p> + +<p class="normal">"So I say, mother, and you are quite right; but if the business is only +conducted with regularity, the grand-duke can have nothing against it. +The only trouble is that we have no proper papers to show; but if he +should have to show <i>his</i> papers, fine papers they would be."</p> + +<p class="normal">Ruhrdanz was right; as for the grand-duke, I don't know about that; but +he was right about the glass coach, and Pomuchelskopp's journey to the +ball; for towards evening the Herr Proprietor sat in the coach, in his +blue dress-coat, and his brave, old Häuning sat by him, looking, in her +yellow-brown silk, like one of her own cookies, with all sorts of +scalloped flourishes, though the soapy flavor was lacking; she was as +dry and tough as a leather strap, and her bones clattered over the +rough roads, like a bunch of hazelnuts, hung in the chimney-corner. +Opposite sat the two fair daughters, sumptuously arrayed; but greatly +vexed, because their father positively insisted upon taking them to +<i>this</i> ball, a <i>burgher</i> ball. To punish him for it, they made no +effort to amuse him, and talked of the burghers as <i>canaille</i>, and also +wrought vengeance upon his shins, by the way, by means of the new hoops +in their crinoline, which the wheelwright had put in freshly, that +morning, of stout hazel stock. Gustaving sat by the coachman, Johann +Jochen, on the box.</p> + +<p class="normal">I cannot think of dancing, this evening, with my pretty readers, at the +fraternity ball, I am too old, and besides, it is only three days since +Rudolph's wedding, where I did my utmost. I will merely go as a +spectator, and enjoy the pleasant summer evening, on the bench before +Grammelin's door; I can look into the hall for a few moments, later in +the evening, and drink a glass of punch, and fraternize a little, like +the rest.</p> + +<p class="normal">There were great doings at Grammelin's. All the grandees of Rahnstadt +were there, the burghers, head and tail and neck and crop, a few +proprietors, Pomuchelskopp at the head, a few noblemen and their +sons,--their wives were not there, they were all troubled with corns +that afternoon, and the daughters were absent from home,--the pächters +in the neighborhood, and the young country people came in crowds. Very +few of our friends were to be seen, for it was church-going with Jochen +Nüssler's family, and the Frau Pastorin and Habermann and Louise had +gone out there, and Rector Baldrian and Kurz, with their wives and +Bräsig, had also gone, but had returned in time to go to the ball. Kurz +did not go, however, for he had been so provoked over Jochen's stout +relations, that his wife put him to bed, which was a good thing, not +only for himself, but for Herr Süssmann and the ball, for the young +Herr could manage his affairs as dance-director without disturbance. He +had got himself a new pair of trousers, and had put so much lard on his +hair, that there was plenty to spare to grease his joints with. The +little assessor went with her parents, and Fritz Triddelsitz, who was +aware that she was coming, appeared as a proprietor of the highest +rank, connected with the nobility. The little pupil, whose groschens +were all gone, and who had discovered that Bräsig's niece would not be +there, sat just across the street from Grammelin's, before a forlorn +old piano, which he belabored, while he sung:</p> +<div class="poem"> +<p class="t0"> +"Mich fliehen alle Freuden, ich sterb vor Ungeduld,"</p> +</div> + +<p class="continue">and so forth, only he mispronounced, in his distress, and said:</p> +<div class="poem"> +<p class="t0"> +"Mich freuen alle Fliegen!"</p> +</div> + +<p class="continue">Rector Baldrian came, with his wife, and Bräsig with Schultz the +carpenter, and Slusuhr and David. David had on two gold rings more than +usual, which had been given him in pawn, and chewed cinnamon bark, to +counteract the odor of the produce business.</p> + +<p class="normal">And when they were all there, and they were ready to begin, David +Berger played the "Mamsell jäs"--as the dyer Meinswegens called the +thing,--and Herr Süssmann sang out, quite loud:</p> +<div class="poem"> +<p class="t0"> +"Allons enfant de la partie!"</p> +</div> + +<p class="continue">At first, all seemed very good-natured, but, as a whole, there wasn't +much fraternity. On one side it was all right, the young gentlemen +among the grandees, and those from the country, were very brotherly +towards the pretty little burghers' daughters; but the young ladies +from the country, and the grandees' daughters, were positively +determined not to fraternize with the burghers' sons, and the first +open quarrel began with Malchen Pomuchelskopp. The shoemaker, the wit +of the Reformverein, who was a burgher's son in Rahnstadt, asked her to +dance, and she thanked him, but she was engaged; and then she sat +there, and waited for Fritz Triddelsitz or Herr Süssmann, or some other +helping angel, whom providence might send to dance the next hop waltz +with her. But there were no angels of the kind ready, and she remained +sitting. The rogue of a shoemaker cracked his jokes over it, and at +last said, quite aloud, that if the distinguished ladies would not +dance with them, they ought not to let the distinguished gentlemen +dance with their women-folks, for they had not come there to look at +each other. And then the storm broke upon the poor, pretty, innocent, +little burghers' daughters, and their brothers and lovers attacked +them: "Fika, don't you dance any more with that long-legged +apothecary's son!" and "Dürt, wait, I shall tell mother!" and "Stine, +another dance with the advocate, and we are parted!" So it went through +the hall, and at last it came to Father Pomuchelskopp's ears, how the +trouble originated, and it disturbed him so much that he went to +Malchen, and represented to her in the most pathetic terms the mischief +she had done. The shoemaker, he said, was a very worthy young man, he +was counted equal to any ten in the Reformverein, on account of his +terrible wit, and it must be made up, and in spite of all her +opposition Father Pomuchelskopp took his educated daughter upon his +arm, and led her through the hall to the shoemaker, and said it was a +great mistake, his daughter would consider it a special honor to dance +with such a distinguished member of the Reformverein. And, behold! the +shoemaker and Malchen were dancing together!</p> + +<p class="normal">Father Pomuchel had now, so to speak, sacrificed his first born upon +the altar of fraternity, but it did not avail much, the discordant +elements would not harmonize. Uncle Bräsig was doing his utmost, on the +other side, he puffed about in his brown dress-coat, introduced Herr +von So and So to the wife of Thiel the joiner, and compelled himself to +walk arm-in-arm, about the hall, with his worst enemy in the +Reformverein, the tailor Wimmersdorf, and at last, before everybody, +gave the wife of Johann Meinswegens, the dyer, a couple of fraternity +kisses on her red face; but it was a hopeless task, what could one man +accomplish, though with the best will in the world? "Herr Schultz," he +said, at last, quite worn out with his labors, "when it comes to the +eating and drinking, I hope we may be a little more brotherly; the +dancing only seems to bring us farther apart."</p> + +<p class="normal">But even the eating and drinking did not help the matter; the people of +rank sat at one end of the table, the burghers at the other; at one end +they drank champagne, at the other a frightful tipple, which Grammelin +sold, with the greatest impudence, as fine red wine, at twelve +shillings the bottle. The shoemaker, indeed, was invited by +Pomuchelskopp to be his guest at table, he sat by Malchen, and Father +Pomuchel filled his glass assiduously; the dyer, Meinswegens, had sat +down with his wife between two proprietors, and ordered "Panschamber," +for he had filled his pocket with four-groschen pieces; but when he +went to pay he became aware that he had made a mistake, in the +twilight, for he brought out a handful of dyer's tickets. Bräsig had +seated himself between a couple of the dearest little burghers' +daughters, whom he treated in such a fatherly way that the Frau +Pastorin, if she had seen it, would not have given him a good word for +a week, and Gottlieb would certainly have preached him a sermon; but +what good did it all do? Grammelin's sour wine did not suit well with +his champagne, and so at supper they were farther asunder than ever.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr Schultz," said Bräsig to his old friend, who sat opposite, "now +it is time to play our last trump, you speak to Herr Süssmann, I will +tell David Berger."</p> + +<p class="normal">Herr Schultz went round to Herr Süssmann. "Have you your song-books +ready?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, yes."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Go ahead, then! Now is the time!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Herr Süssmann distributed the songbooks, while Bräsig went up to David +Berger, and inquired:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr Berger, do you know that air of Schiller's:</p> +<div class="poem"> +<p class="t0" style="text-indent:-16px"> +"'Schwester mit das Leinwand mieder,<br> +Bruder in das Ordensband?'"</p> +</div> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, indeed," said David.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, go ahead, then! Begin!" And suddenly resounded through the hall:</p> +<div class="poem"> +<p class="t0" style="text-indent:-6px +"> +"Freude, schöner Gutter funken,"</p> +</div> + +<p class="continue">but fewer and fewer voices joined the chorus, weaker and weaker grew +the song, till, at last, old Uncle Bräsig stood there, with the book +before his nose, and the tears running down his cheeks, and sung:</p> +<div class="poem"> +<p class="t0" style="text-indent:-6px +"> +"Seid umschlungen Millionen,<br> +Untergang der Lügenbrut!"</p> +</div> + +<p class="normal">That was too strong, they couldn't stand that. "Lying brood!" No, that +was too much; they all lied, to be sure, but only when it was +necessary. The company rose from table, very much out of humor. Bräsig +sat down in a corner and began to grumble, he was vexed to his inmost +heart; the young people began to dance again, and David and Slusuhr sat +in an adjoining room, drinking champagne, and cracking their jokes over +Uncle Bräsig.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr Inspector," said the carpenter Schultz to Bräsig, after a while, +"there are some people sitting in No. 3, and the notary and David are +poking fun at you, because you bring your politics into everything, and +the notary said, if the French should get no king after Louis Philippe, +then you might become King of France; you had nothing to do, and might +like the situation."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Did he say that?" asked Uncle Bräsig, rising from the corner, with +great energy.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, he said that, and the others laughed at it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And he is sitting in Grammelin's No. 3?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, he is sitting there."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Come with me, Herr Schultz."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bräsig was angry, as I have said, he was exceedingly angry; the fine +fraternity <i>fête</i>, from which he had hoped so much for mankind, was +hopelessly ruined; he felt like the patriarch Abraham, when he offered +up his darling child, he would have nothing more to do with it, he +would go home; then providence sent him this scapegoat, upon whom he +could express his anger, and so much the better, since he was the +friend and tool of Pomuchelskopp.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Come along, Herr Schultz," said he, crossing the hall with great +strides to the dressing room, where he had left his hat and buckthorn +walking-stick. The hat he left there, but the stick he took with him to +No. 3.</p> + +<p class="normal">There were many guests sitting here, over their bottles, and laughing +at the jokes of the Herr Notary. All at once a great silence fell upon +the merry company, as they saw a face among them which frightened them +out of their laughter. That was Bräsig's, which looked, in a very +singular way, first at his buckthorn stick, and then at the notary, so +that the company, with a suspicion of what might possibly happen, +hastened to withdraw from the table.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What rascal wanted to make me King of France?" cried Bräsig, in +such a voice that the plastering fell from the ceiling, and his +stick seemed like a live thing in his hand: "I will not be made +King of France!"--whack! came the buckthorn, between the notary's +shoulder-blades. "Oh Lord!"--"I will not be made King of France!" and a +second time the buckthorn did its work, and Uncle Bräsig and his stick +alternated in the assurance that they had no ambition for the French +crown. Candlesticks, lamps and bottles entered actively into the +battle-royal, and David got under the table, that is to say, he crept +there for refuge. The notary shrieked for help, but no one stood by +him; only when the affair was over, David plucked up courage, under the +table, to inquire: "Begging your pardon, Herr Inspector, is this what +you call fraternity?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes!" cried Bräsig, "you miserable scamp! Between a man and a dog, +blows are the best fraternity."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Out! out!" said Herr Schultz and he grappled David, under the table, +and dragged him to light.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Gentlemen," cried Slusuhr, "you are witnesses how I have been treated, +I shall enter a complaint."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have seen nothing," said one.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know nothing about it," said another.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I was looking out of the window," said a third, although it was pitch +dark.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr Schultz," said Bräsig, "you are my witness that I have treated +the Herr Notary Slusuhr with the greatest forbearance," and with that, +he left the room, got his hat, and went home.</p> + +<p class="normal">The blows which Slusuhr had received in No. 3 had echoed by this time +through the hall, and in no way tended to harmonize the existing +discords. The two Herrs von So and So with their sons had taken leave +long before, and some of the grandees had also quietly retreated. The +little assessor had her hat on, and her cloak wrapped around her, +though Fritz Triddelsitz was almost on his knees before her, begging +for one more, just <i>one</i> more little Schottische.</p> + +<p class="normal">Pomuchelskopp also prepared for departure; he had an indefinite, but +just, premonition that something was going to happen to him that +evening, so he went to his family and told them it was time they were +starting for home. His family afforded a sad picture of the whole +entertainment, for they were quite divided. Gustaving was still hopping +about, contentedly, with tailor Wimmersdorf's youngest daughter, +Salchen was standing a little aside with Herr Süssmann, listening +attentively while he related how merely by way of joke he had taken the +stupid situation at Kurz's shop, but he should remain there no longer +than till he could decide which of the places to accept, which were +offered to him in Hamburg, Lübeck or Stettin, or possibly he might +conclude to establish himself in Rostock, for he had a rich uncle +there, who was constantly urging him to get married and come and live +with him. Malchen sat in a sofa-corner, crying with vexation over her +shoemaker. Klücking, our brave old Häuning, sat there stiff as a stake; +however agitated by the events of the evening she may have been, she +gave no sign, she remained steadfast, even the shoemaker had not moved +her out of her composure, and when Muchel proposed that they should go +she merely said, in a very friendly way, "Pöking, will you not invite +your friend, the shoemaker, to ride with us? You might also invite one +of your noble acquaintances. And then, if you ask weaver Ruhrdanz, and +Willgans, and your other brothers of the Reformverein, the company will +be complete."</p> + +<p class="normal">And with this matrimonial sting in his great fraternal heart, our +friend set off on his homeward journey.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER XLIII.</h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">One should never be confident beforehand how a matter will turn out; +especially, one should never make free with the devil, for he is apt to +come when he is called, and often appears uninvited. The guests whom +Häuning advised Pomuchelskopp to invite, were standing before the gate +of Gurlitz waiting for their host and hostess. All the villagers and +Pomuchelskopp's day-laborers stood there together, as the summer +morning began to dawn, before the court-yard gate, to give their master +a reception.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Children," said Ruhrdanz, "what must be, must, but do everything with +regularity!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Out with your regularity!" cried Willgans. "Has he treated us with +regularity?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No matter," said Ruhrdanz, "we cannot get our rights out of hand. That +is where you are mistaken. When we go to the grand-duke about it +afterwards, and that is no more than proper, and he asks, 'Willgans, +what did you do?' and you tell him, 'Why, Herr, we first gave the old +man and his wife a good beating, and then we took them over the +boundary,' how will that sound? What will the man say to that?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said old Brinkmann, "Ruhrdanz is right? If we take him over the +boundary then we are rid of him, and there is no need of our doing +anything more."</p> + +<p class="normal">This was finally resolved upon. Behind the men stood the women and +children, and the great, strong woman of yesterday morning was there +also, and she said, "Now we have things, so far, as we want them. If +you don't do it though, and get rid of the fellow and his wife, I will +beat my man till he cries for mercy."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, gossip," said another woman, "we must, <i>we must!</i> I went to the +pastor's yesterday,--well, the Frau Pastorin gave me something, and he +preached patience. What? Patience? Has hunger patience?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Johann Schmidt," said a tall, slender girl, "just run up the hill, and +see if they are coming. Fika, how will our two mamsells look, when they +are sent packing?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Shall we tell the pastor about the matter?" inquired the day-laborer +Zorndt of Brinkmann. "It might be well that he should know about it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I don't think there is any use in it, Zorndt, he knows nothing about +business. If the old pastor were only alive!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"They are coming!" cried Johann Schmidt, running back.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Come, who is to speak?" said Willgans, "I will hold the horses."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh, Ruhrdanz," went from mouth to mouth.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, if you are contented, why should not I speak?" said Ruhrdanz. +Then all was quiet.</p> + +<p class="normal">The coachman, Johann Jochen, drove up, and was going to turn in at the +gate; then Willgans seized the two leaders by the heads, and turned +them aside a little, saying, "Johann Jochen, stop here for a moment."</p> + +<p class="normal">Pomuchelskopp looked out of the carriage, and saw the whole village +assembled: "What does this mean?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Ruhrdanz, and the rest of the company, stood at the door of the +carriage, and he said, "Herr, we have made up our minds that we will +not consider you our master any longer, for you have not treated us as +a master ought, and no more have you other people before us, for you +wear a ring around your neck, and we cannot suffer a master with a ring +around his neck."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You robbers! You rascals!" cried Pomuchelskopp, as he became aware of +the meaning of this performance. "What do you want? Will you lay hands +on me and mine?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, we will not do that," said old Brinkmann, "we will only take you +over the boundary."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Johann Jochen!" cried Pomuchelskopp, "drive on! Cut them with your +whip!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Johann Jochen," said Willgans, "so sure as you touch the whip, I will +knock you off the horse. Turn about! So! to the right!" and carriage +and horses were headed towards Rahnstadt. Salchen and Malchen were +screeching at the top of their voices, Gustaving had sprung down from +the box, and placed himself between his father and the laborers, to +keep them off; all was in confusion, only our brave old Häuning sat +stiff and stark, and said not a word.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What do you want of me? You pack of robbers!" exclaimed Pomuchelskopp.</p> + +<p class="normal">"We are not that," cried Schmidt, "we would not take a pin-head from +you, and Gustaving can stay here and manage, and tell us what to do."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But the wife, and the two girls, we cannot stand any longer," said +Kapphingst, "they must go too."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hush, children!" said Ruhrdanz, "everything with regularity. Merely to +take them over the boundary amounts to nothing; we must give them up to +our magistrate, the Rahnstadt burgomeister. That is the right thing to +do."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ruhrdanz is right," said the others, "and Gustaving, you go quietly +home, nobody will hurt you. And you, Johann Jochen, just drive at a +steady pace," and they placed themselves, some on one side, some on the +other, and the procession started, at a regular parade step. +Pomuchelskopp had resigned himself, but he was not resigned to his +destiny; he sat wringing his hands and lamenting to himself: "Oh, Lord! +Oh, Lord! what will become of me? what will they do?" and then, putting +his head out of the door, "Good people, I have always been a kind +master to you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You have been a regular skinner!" cried a voice from the crowd.</p> + +<p class="normal">Salchen and Malchen wept, Häuning sat there, stiff as a thermometer +tube, but if the day-laborers had understood that sort of thermometer, +they would have seen that the mercury was far above boiling point, and +Willgans, who was close by the door, would have been more careful, for +suddenly, without saying a word, she made a grab at him, and got fast +hold of his curly, chestnut hair, and pulled it to her heart's content, +and her eyes gleamed and sparkled out of the dusky carriage, as if she +had been transformed into an owl, and had taken him for a young hare.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thunder and lightning! Look at the carrion!" cried Willgans. "Strike +at her, Düsing! See the devil! Strike her on the knuckles! ye, ya! ye, +ya!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Before Düsing could rescue him, Häuning banged his nose, a couple of +times, against the door-handle, and the blood ran in streams.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thunder and lightning! I say! Such deviltry is not to be put up with! +Hold on, I will----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hold!" cried Ruhrdanz, "you must not blame her for that, it is only +her natural wickedness; you must let it go for this time; but you can +tell the grand-duke about it and show him your nose, if you like, that +he may see how they have treated you."</p> + +<p class="normal">Häuning said nothing, and the procession moved on; at the boundary the +laborers sent home their wives and children, who had followed so far, +behind the carriage, and about seven o'clock they marched, slowly and +solemnly, into Rahnstadt.</p> + +<p class="normal">Uncle Bräsig lay by the window, smoking his pipe, and thinking over his +heroic deeds of the previous evening. Kurz, although he had not +attended the fraternity ball, was fearfully cross, and went scolding +about his shop: "The stupid dunce! the harlequin! Only wait! Only come +home!" and, although he intended to be in such different circumstances +afterwards, he must at length come home, that is to say, Herr Süssmann. +Herr Süssmann danced over the threshold. Kurz braced his two hands +against the counter, and looked at him, as if he would spring over the +counter in his wrath, and meet Herr Süssmann in the hall; he let him, +however, come into the shop first.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Morning, principal, principälchen, principälchen!" cried Herr +Süssmann, staggering about the shop, and finally seating himself on the +rim of a herring cask, with his hat cocked on one side: "Morning, +Kurzchen, Schurzchen, Wurzchen----" but he had not time to finish his +variations, Kurz had his hands in his hair, knocked off his hat into +the herring-cask, and began dragging him about the shop by his +ambrosial locks. Herr Süssmann groped blindly about him for something +to lay hold of, and caught at the stop-cock of the oil-cask; the cock +came out, and the oil poured out in a stream.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good heavens!" cried Kurz, "my oil! my oil!" and he let go of Herr +Süssmann, and stuck his right fore-finger into the hole. Herr Süssmann +held up the cock in triumph, and, as it often happens that crazy or +intoxicated people do uncommonly clever things, the bright idea +occurred to Herr Süssmann that he would do his work thoroughly. So he +pulled out the cock from the vinegar barrel.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, good gracious! my vinegar!" cried Kurz, and he stuck his left +fore-finger into the vinegar barrel. And as he was now fairly caught, +and stooping over, the opportunity was too tempting for Herr Süssmann +to neglect. "Principälchen! Kurzchen!"--whack! "Leben sie wohl, Tuten +dreherchen!"--whack, whack! "Johannageht, und nimmer kehrt sie +wieder!"--whack, whack, whack! Then he fished his hat out of the +herring-cask, put it on, as much askew as possible, laid the two cocks +on the counter, about twenty feet from Kurz, and danced, laughing, out +of the door.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Help!" screamed Kurz, "help! he-l-p!" But his people were not in the +house, and his good old advocate was in the back garden, cutting +asparagus, and the only one who heard him was Uncle Bräsig. "Karl," +said he, "it seems to me, as if Kurz were yelling. I will go over, and +see if anything has happened."</p> + +<p class="normal">"He-l-p!" cried Kurz.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Preserve us!" said Bräsig, "what an uproar you are making here, at +seven o'clock in the morning!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Infamous rascal!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"How? Is that the way you greet me?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good-for-nothing scamp!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are a rude fellow!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Give me those cocks, that lie on the counter!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Get your dirty cocks yourself, you donkey, you!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I cannot, the oil and the vinegar will run out, and I don't mean you, +I mean Süssmann."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is another thing," said Bräsig, perching himself on the counter, +and swinging his legs, "what is the matter with you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Kurz related how he had got into this situation.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You strike me very comically, Kurz, but let this be a warning to you; +a man is always punished in the members in which he has sinned."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I beg you----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Quiet, Kurz! You have always sinned in oil and vinegar, since you have +emptied the quart measure with a jerk, so that often two or three +spoonfuls would be left in it. Will you always give right measure +hereafter? Will you never look at the cards again, when we are playing +Boston?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good heavens! yes, yes!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, then, I will release you," and with that he brought the cocks.</p> + +<p class="normal">Hardly was Kurz free when he darted out of the door, as if he expected +to find Herr Süssmann waiting for him outside. Bräsig followed, and +they came out just as Pomuchelskopp and his escort were passing.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Preserve us! What is this? Ruhrdanz, what does this mean?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't take it ill, Herr Inspector, we have turned out our Herr."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bräsig shook his head: "You have done a very foolish thing!" and he +fell into the procession, and many people who were in the street +followed to the burgomeister's house. Here the laborers took out the +horses, and Ruhrdanz and Willgans and Brinkmann, and several others +went in to see the burgomeister.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, Herr," said Ruhrdanz, "we have got him here."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Whom?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh, our Herr Pomuchelskopp."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What? What is that?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, nothing, only that we won't have him for our Herr any longer."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good heavens, people, what have you done."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nothing but what is right, Herr Burgomeister."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Have you laid hands on your master?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not a finger; but the old woman there, she laid hands on Willgans, for +she----"</p> + +<p class="normal">But the burgomeister had gone out of the room, and stood by the +carriage, and begged the company to get out; they did so, and he +brought the family into his living room.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, what will become of us! what will become of us!" moaned Pomuchel. +"Herr Burgomeister, you know, I have always been a good master to my +people."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Kopp, for shame!" interposed Häuning.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," said the burgomeister, paying no attention to Häuning, and +looking the Herr Proprietor firmly in the eye, "you have not been a +good master. You know I have often remonstrated with you, on this +account, and you know that, because of your behavior to your people, I +have declined to act as your magistrate. I have nothing to do with the +business, and if I were to concern myself in it, merely as a private +citizen, I should not take your side, but that of your poor, oppressed +people. You must excuse me, therefore----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"But you can at least give me your advice," begged Pomuchelskopp. "What +shall I do?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You cannot go back to Gurlitz, at least not at present, it might give +occasion for violent deeds; you must wait the result, here. But wait a +moment; I will speak to the people again."</p> + +<p class="normal">Well, what good could that do? The people were firmly resolved in the +matter; the bad fellows among them had yielded to the decision of the +older, more peaceable laborers and villagers, and now they were all so +fully persuaded that they were in the right, that they were not to be +moved from their purpose.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, Herr," said Ruhrdanz, "we will never take him back; that is +settled."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are guilty of a great offence, and it may go hard with you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, that may be; but if you talk of offences, Herr Pomuchelskopp has +been guilty of worse offences against us."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Those foolish people at the Reformverein, have filled your heads with +their silly ideas."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't take it ill, Herr Burgomeister; that is what everybody says, but +it isn't true. What? Our Herr Pomuchelskopp belongs to the +Reformverein, and has made a speech there; but, Herr, he told nothing +but lies, and we know better."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, what do you intend to do?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr Gustaving is there, and when he tells us to do this or that, we +shall do it; but Willgans and I will go to the grand-duke, and give him +an account of the matter, and that is what I wanted to ask you, if you +would give us some papers to take with us."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What do you want with papers?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, Herr Burgomeister, don't take it ill, there is no harm in it. +You see, I went to the old railroad, without any papers, and they +turned me out, of course; but the grand-duke is no railroad, and he +would not act so inconsiderately, and if we have no papers to show you +can show your nose, Willgans, how the old woman has treated you, and I +will show my honest hands, which have never been in any unjust +business."</p> + +<p class="normal">Upon that, the old man went out, and the laborers crowded around him, +and felt in their pockets, and produced the few shillings and groschens +they had by them: "There, now go! The shortest road to Schwerin!" and +"Neighbor, don't forget Kapphingst's girl!" and "Neighbor, if he asks +what we have lived on, you may say honestly we have stolen nothing from +our master; but we have helped ourselves to a few of Frau Nüssler's +potatoes, because she never minded it."</p> + +<p class="normal">The two set out for Schwerin, the other day-laborers went home; Johann +Jochen drove the empty carriage behind them; the people, who had +assembled in quite a crowd before the burgomeister's door,--for the +business had spread through the town like wildfire,--dispersed to their +homes, and Uncle Bräsig said to Habermann, "Karl, he is getting his +deserts. I went in a moment, not on his account, but for those poor +fellows, the laborers; but when he came in, I went away, for I didn't +want to see him in his disgrace."</p> + +<p class="normal">Pomuchelskopp had gone to Grammelin's, with his dear family, and he sat +now, in misery and distress, by the bedside of the Herr Notary; for +Slusuhr had gone directly to bed, after his beating, in order that the +business might appear to be very serious.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have sent for the doctor, and shall have myself examined, so that I +can catch the inspector nicely. Strump is not at home, but the other +one will be here directly."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, how fortunate you are!" said Pomuchel.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I should not have supposed," said the Herr Notary, turning on his +other side, "that it was a particular piece of good fortune to get a +jacket full of blows from a buckthorn staff, as thick as your thumb."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You can avenge yourself, but I,--poor man that I am,--what can I do?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You can get a detachment of soldiers, and then you can punish the +rascals, within an inch of their lives, and if you are too much of a +milksop to do it yourself, employ your wife, she will do it finely."</p> + +<p class="normal">"God bless you! no! no! I have enough on my hands! I can do nothing +about Pumpelhagen yet, and I dare not go back to Gurlitz, they will +tear my house down over my head. No, no! I shall sell, I shall sell!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Shall I tell you some news?" said David, who came into the room, in +time to hear the last words, "you are right, sell; I will look out for +you, I know----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Infamous Jew rascal!" said Slusuhr, shifting his position again,--"aw! +thunder!--do you think we cannot manage that for ourselves? Yes, Herr +Pomuchelskopp, I would sell, for if they don't tear your house down +they might get at the barns, and the potato middens."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, Herr Notary, what will you do?" asked David. "You have some +money; you might manage a farm-house, or a mill, but for an estate like +that? You must come to my father."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Your father? When he hears that it is for Pomuchelskopp, he will say: +'Cash down!' We three are not in very high credit with him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"If I tell him----" began David, but just then the doctor came in, the +father of the little assessor.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good morning! You sent for me?" turning to Slusuhr, "you wanted to see +me?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, Herr Doctor, you were at the ball last night. Oh, my bruises! You +must surely have heard----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He got a beating," said David, "I am a witness he was dreadfully +abused."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Will you hold your cursed tongue?" cried Slusuhr. "Herr Doctor, I wish +you would examine me medically; I fear I shall never recover the use of +my limbs."</p> + +<p class="normal">Without more words, the doctor went up to the patient, and removed the +shirt from his shoulders, and there was much to be read there which is +not usually seen on a pair of shoulders, and the inscription was +written in red ink, in the largest capitals. Pomuchelskopp sat there, +with folded hands, in the deepest melancholy, but when he saw the +inscription on the notary's back, a very comfortable expression dawned +in his face, and David sprung up, exclaiming, "Good heavens! How he +looks! Herr Doctor, I will let you examine me too; carpenter Schultz +dragged me out from under the table, and tore my new dress-coat."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Send for the tailor!" said the doctor quietly, and turning to the +notary: "I will leave a certificate for you, with Grammelin. Good +morning, gentlemen!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Then he went down-stairs, and after a little while, Grammelin's +waiting-maid brought up the paper, which the doctor had left for the +Herr Notary. Slusuhr opened it, and read:</p> +<br> + +<p class="normal">"As in duty bound, I hereby testify that the Herr Notary Slusuhr has +received a good, sound flogging, as is clearly evident from the +suggillations upon his back. It has done him no harm, however.<span style="letter-spacing:10px"> </span><span class="sc">So and +So, Dr. Med.</span>"</p> +<br> + +<p class="normal">"Has the fellow the insolence to say that?" screamed Slusuhr. "It has +done him no harm? Well, just wait, we will talk about that, by and by."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good heavens!" cried David, "isn't it better that it has done you no +harm, than if had hurt you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are an idiot! But what am I lying here for?" said Slusuhr. "You +will excuse me, I must go out, I must thank the Herr Inspector for his +flogging--with a little writ."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't forget me, my dear friend," said Pomuchel. "You must write for +me to Pumpelhagen to-day."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Rely upon me. I feel spiteful enough, to-day, to get out writs against +the whole world. Haven't you something to write, David?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"If I have anything to write, I can write it, if I have nothing to +write, I shall write nothing," said David, and he went out with +Pomuchelskopp.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER XLIV.</h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">Gloomy, heavy, leaden hours oppressed the young Frau von Rambow, after +Pomuchelskopp's visit; slowly, step by step, they passed over her, and +in their footprints new cares and anxieties sprang up; with firm, +energetic hands, she pulled up these weeds from her path; but in time +the most active hand grows weary, and the strongest heart longs for +rest.</p> + +<p class="normal">Her husband had not returned on the day appointed; instead there had +come a messenger, with a letter, bearing Slusuhr's seal, who said he +had orders to wait, until he could give the letter into the hands of +the Herr von Rambow himself. What that signified, she could easily +understand. She sat, in the twilight, in her room, by her child; her +hands were folded in her lap, and she looked out, in the hazy summer +evening, at the dark clouds gathering over the sky.</p> + +<p class="normal">The day had been sultry, and in such weather, the blood flows heavily +through the veins, not leaping and throbbing, like a living spring of +clear water, but dragging; sleepily along, like the black water in a +ditch, and even as Nature sighs and pants for the storm, which shall +give her fresh life, so the heart longs and sighs, in impatience, +for the whirlwind and thunderbolt of destiny, which may save it from +such wearing torture,--come what may, deliver us from this fearful +suspense. This was Frida's mood, so she longed and sighed for a sturdy +thunder-bolt which might drive away the foul air in which she was +stifling, and make everything clear around her; and she did not sigh in +vain.</p> + +<p class="normal">Korlin Kegel came in, bringing the post-bag, and stood there as if she +wanted to do something, then unlocked the bag, and laid a letter on the +table before her mistress, and again stood still.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Gracious Frau, shall I light the lamps?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, let them be."</p> + +<p class="normal">Korlin did not go, she remained standing:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Gracious Frau, you have forbidden us to come telling tales, but----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What is it?" asked Frida, rousing herself from her thoughts.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, gracious Frau, the Gurlitz people have driven away Herr +Pomuchelskopp, and his wife and his two daughters."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Have they done that?" cried Frida.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, and now all our day-laborers are standing outside, and want to +speak to you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Are they going to drive us away?" asked Frida, rising, very quietly +and proudly, from her chair.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no! dear, gracious Frau," cried Korlin, throwing herself on the +floor, and grasping her about the knees, while the tears started from +her eyes, "no, no! There is no talk of that, and my old father says, if +any one should propose such a thing, he would beat out his brains with +a shovel. They only say there is no use in speaking to the Herr, he +breaks up their talk too shortly. They want lo speak to you, because +they have confidence in you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Where is Triddelsitz?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dear heart! he is going round among them, but they won't listen to +him, they say they have nothing to do with him, they want to speak to +the gracious Frau."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Come!" said Frida, and went down.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What do you want, good people?" asked the young Frau, as she stepped +outside the door, before which the laborers were assembled. The +wheelwright, Fritz Flegel, stepped up, and said:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Gracious Frau, we have only come to you because we are all +agreed,--and we told the Herr so before; but nothing came of it. And +the Herr answered us harshly, and we have no real confidence in Herr +Triddelsitz, for he is so thoughtless, and doesn't know yet how things +should be managed, and we thought you might help us, if you would be so +kind. We are not dissatisfied because we want more, we are contented +with what we get, and we get what belongs to us;--but never at the +right time; and poor people like us cannot stand that."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," interrupted Päsel, "and last year, the famine year, the rye was +all sold, and you see, gracious Frau, some of us get our pay in grain; +and I was to have twelve bushels of rye, and live on it, and I got +none, and they said we must be patient. Oh, patience! And all the +potatoes bad! How can we live?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Gracious Frau," said an old white-haired man, "I will say nothing +about the means of life, for we have never gone hungry; but for an old +man like me to stand, all day long, bent over in the ditch, shoveling +water,--and at evening I am too stiff to move, and cannot sleep at +night for misery,--it isn't right. We didn't have such doing? when Herr +Habermann was here; but now it is all commanding and commanding, and +the commanders know nothing about the work."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, gracious Frau," said the wheelwright, stepping forward again, +"and so we wanted to ask you if we couldn't have a regular inspector +again, if Herr Habermann will not come, then some other; but one that +would treat us kindly, and listen when we have something to say, and +not snap us up, and scold us when we haven't deserved it, or knock our +children about with sticks, as Herr Triddelsitz used to."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That shall be put a stop to," cried Frida.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, gracious Frau, he has broken off that habit; about six months ago +I had a very serious talk with him about it, and since then he is much +better behaved, and more considerate. And if our gracious Herr would be +considerate too, and think of his own profit, he would get a capable +inspector, for he himself understands nothing about farming, and then +he need not have a whole field of wheat beaten down by the wind, as it +was last year, and the people would not talk about him so. And, +gracious Frau, people talk a great deal, and they say the Herr must +sell the estate, and will sell it to the Herr Pomuchelskopp; but we +will never take him for our master."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No!" cried one and another, "we will never take him." "A fellow who +has been driven off by his own laborers!" "We can't put up with him!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Blow after blow fell the words of the day-laborers upon Frida's heart. +The little love and respect which they professed for her husband, the +knowledge of their embarrassed situation, which was evident even to the +common people, weighed heavily upon her, and it was with extreme +difficulty that she controlled herself, and said:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Be quiet, good people! The Herr must decide all these matters, when he +comes home. Go quietly home, now, and don't come up to the house again +in such a crowd. I will join in your petition to the Herr, and I think +I may safety promise you that there will be a change in the management +by St. John's day,--in one way or another," she added with a sigh, and +paused a moment, as if to reflect, or perhaps to swallow something that +rose in her throat. "Yes, wait until St. John's Day, then there will be +a change."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is all right then."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is good, so far."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And we are very much obliged to you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, good-night, gracious Frau!"</p> + +<p class="normal">So they went off.</p> + +<p class="normal">Frida returned to her room. It was beginning to thunder and lighten, +the wind blew in gusts over the court-yard, driving sand and straw +against the window-panes. "Yes," she said, to herself, "it must be +decided by St. John's Day, I have not promised too much, there must be +a change of some kind. What will it be?" and before her eyes rose the +dreary picture which David had so coarsely drawn; she saw herself +condemned to live in a rented house in a small town, with her husband +and child, with no occupation, and no brighter prospects for the +future. She heard the neighborhood gossip; they had seen better days. +She saw her husband rising in the morning, going into the town, coming +home to dinner, smoking on the sofa in the afternoon, going out again, +and going to bed at night. And so on, day after day, with nothing in +the world to do. She saw herself burdened with household cares, +comfortless, friendless; she saw herself upon her death-bed, and her +child standing beside her. Her child; from henceforth a poor, forsaken +child! A poor, noble young lady! It is a hard thing to occupy a station +in which one must keep up appearances, without the requisite means. A +poor young gentleman may fight it through, he can become a soldier; but +a poor young lady? And though the Lord should look down from heaven, +and endow her with all the loveliness of an angel, and her parents +should do for her all of which human love is capable, the world would +pass her by, and the young Herrs would say, "She is poor," and the +burghers, "She is proud." So Frida saw her child, who lay meanwhile in +peaceful child-sleep, undisturbed by the storm and tempest without, or +by the storm and tempest in her mother's breast.</p> + +<p class="normal">Korlin Kegel brought a light, and the young Frau reached after the +letter which lay upon the table, as a person will do, when he wishes to +prevent another from noticing that he is deeply moved. She looked at +the address, it was to herself, from her sister-in-law, Albertine; she +tore open the envelope, and another letter fell into her hand, +addressed to her husband.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Put this letter on your master's writing-table," she said to the girl. +Korlin went.</p> + +<p class="normal">Her husband's sisters had often written to her, and their letters were +generally such as ladies write to drive away ennui. Frida opened the +letter; but ah! this was no letter born of ennui. Albertine wrote:--</p> +<br> + +<p class="continue">"<span class="sc">Dear Sister</span>:</p> + +<p class="normal">"I do not know that I am doing right. Bertha advises me to it, and +Fidelia has twice taken away the paper from under my pen, she thinks it +will only worry our dear brother Axel. But--I don't know, I cannot help +myself,--necessity really compels us. We have already written twice to +Axel, without getting an answer; he may be absent from home a good +deal, in these hard times, and also very much occupied,--for these +unhappy political troubles are beginning to reach us, as we have +evidence enough in Schwerin,--and so I believe I am doing right in +turning to you; you will give us an answer. You know that Axel borrowed +the capital which our dear father left us, to invest it on the estate +at Pumpelhagen; he promised us five percent, interest, instead of four +and a half, which we got before,--it was not necessary, for we did well +enough,--but he promised us the interest punctually, every quarter, and +it is three quarters since he has sent us any. Dear Frida, we should +certainly have said nothing about it, if we were not in the greatest +embarrassment. Added to this, our brother-in-law Breitenburg has been +here, who knew nothing of Axel's having borrowed from us, and when he +found it out, he spoke of Axel in the most dreadful way, and declared +that we were three geese. He asked to see our security by mortgage, +which we could not show him, because Axel has always delayed sending +it; and then he said, right to our faces, we should never see our money +again; it was notorious that Axel was so deeply in debt, through his +bad management, that Pumpelhagen would be sold over his head. We know, +to be sure, how to make allowance for our brother-in-law's speeches, +for he was always unfriendly to our dear Axel,--and how could it be +possible? Pumpelhagen sold? In our family for hundreds of years! The +Grand-Duke would not allow it, and we told him as much,--Fidelia in her +lively way,--then he took his hat and stick, and said in his coarse +way, 'Your brother Axel was always a fool, and now he has become a +scoundrel,' whereupon Fidelia sprang up, and showed him the door. It +was a frightful scene, and I never would have written you about it, if +I had not a secret anxiety lest Axel and Breitenberg should encounter +each other, and, like the brothers-in-law, Dannenberg and Malzahn, +out of an exaggerated sense of honor, shoot each other, across a +pocket-handkerchief. Caution Axel to avoid such a meeting, and, if it +is possible, take care that he sends us our interest.</p> + +<p class="normal">"We think of visiting you this summer; we have taken a childish +pleasure in the thought of seeing you and the dear old place again, +where we played as children, and dreamed as maidens, and--alas!--where +we parted from our dear father. Yes, Frida, I rejoice in thinking of it +all, and Bertha and Fidelia with me, for we live only in recollection; +the present is dreary and comfortless. Only now and then some friend of +our father's comes in, and tells us what is passing in the world, and +it is really touching for Bertha and me to see how our little Fidelia, +with her natural vivacity, will throw aside her sewing and interest +herself in everything. She is very much interested in the court. Now, +farewell, dear Frida, pardon my gossip, and give the enclosed letter to +Axel. I have written him very earnestly and trustingly; but have spared +him, as much as possible, anything disagreeable. We shall see you in +August.</p> + +<p style="text-indent:30%">"Yours,</p> + +<p style="text-indent:35%">"<span class="sc">Albertine von Rambow</span>.</p> + +<p class="normal">"<span class="sc">Schwerin</span>, June 11, 1848."</p> +<br> + +<p class="normal">Frida read the letter, but she did not read it through; when she came +to the place, "Your brother Axel was always a fool, and now he has +become a scoundrel," she threw the letter on the floor, and wrung her +hands, then sprang to her feet, and walked up and down the room, +crying, "That he is! that he is!" Her child lay sleeping before her; +she threw herself down in the chair, and took up the letter again, and +read over the terrible words, and the dark picture she had been making +to herself of her child's future was gone like a shadow, and before her +eyes another shone, in livid colors; on it stood the three sisters, and +underneath was written: "Betrayed! betrayed by a brother!" And in the +back-ground stood her husband; but, dimly seen, she could not tell what +was truth and what was falsehood, and underneath was written: +"Scoundrel!" Horrible! horrible! Now all was lost,--doubly lost! For it +was not her own loss merely, it was the loss of one whom she had loved, +dearer than her own soul. That was fearful! Oh, for help, to remove +this glowing brand from the brow she had so often lovingly kissed! But +how? Who could help her? Name after name shot through her head, but +these names all seemed inscribed on a distant, inaccessible, rocky +wall, where she could find no footing. She wrung her hands in distress, +and the prospect grew darker and darker, when, all at once, there +beamed upon her in her anguish and torment an old, friendly, woman's +face. It was Frau Nüssler's face, and she looked just as she had when +she had kissed Frida's child.</p> + +<p class="normal">The young Frau sprang up, exclaiming, "There is a heart! there is a +human heart!" It thundered and lightened, and the rain poured in +torrents; but the young Frau caught up a shawl, and rushed out into the +storm.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Gracious Frau! For God's sake!" cried Korlin Kegel, "in the rain? in +the night?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let me alone!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, that I will not!" said the girl, as she followed her mistress.</p> + +<p class="normal">"A human heart, a human heart," murmured the poor young Frau to +herself; the rain beat in her face,--onward! onward!--she had the shawl +in her hand, and never thought of it, her feet slipped in the muddy +path, she did not know it, there was a voice in her ears crying ever, +"Onward! onward!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"If you must go, gracious Frau, then come along!" cried Korlin Kegel, +taking the shawl and wrapping it about her head and shoulders, and +encircling her waist with a strong arm. "Which way?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Frau Nüssler," said the young Frau, and murmured again, "a human +heart!" And a human heart was beating close beside her, and she never +thought of it; nothing keeps hearts asunder like the words, "Command +and obey." She had always been good to her people, and had received +every kindness from her servants with acknowledgments; but at this +moment she did not think of Korlin Kegel, her whole heart was absorbed +in the thought that Axel must be saved from shame and dishonor; and the +friendly face of Frau Nüssler shone upon her through the rain and the +darkness, like the nearest, and the only star. "Thither! thither!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good heavens!" said Frau Nüssler, going to the window, "Jochen, what a +storm!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, mother, what shall we do about it!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dear heart!" said Frau Nüssler, sitting down again, in her arm-chair, +"suppose one were out in it! I should be frightened almost to death."</p> + +<p class="normal">Frau Nüssler went on knitting, and Jochen smoked, and everything was +quiet and comfortable in the room, when Bauschan, under Jochen's chair, +uttered a short bark, such as signifies, in canine language: "What is +that?" Receiving no answer, he lay still, but all at once he started +up, and went with his old stiff legs, to the door, and began to whine +vehemently.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bauschan!" cried Frau Nüssler, "What ails the old fellow? What do you +want!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Mother," said Jochen, who knew Bauschan as well as Bauschan knew him, +"Somebody is coming." And the door was thrown open, and a pale, female +form tottered in and a strong girl supported her, and seated her on +Frau Nüssler's divan.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dear heart!" cried Frau Nüssler, starting up, and seizing the young +Frau's hands, "what is this? What does it mean? Good gracious! wet +through and through!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, indeed!" said Korlin.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Jochen, what are you sitting there for? Run and call Mining! Tell +Mining to come, and bid Dürt to make camomile tea."</p> + +<p class="normal">And Jochen also sprang up, and ran out, as fast as he could, and Frau +Nüssler took off the young Frau's shawl, and wiped the rain from her +face and her fair hair, with her handkerchief, and Mining shot into the +room like a pistol-ball, and was full of questions; but Frau Nüssler +cried, "Mining, there is no time for looking and questioning; bring +some of your clothes and linen, quickly, into my bedroom." And when +Mining was gone, she herself asked:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Korlin Kegel, what does this mean?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, Madam, I don't know; to be sure, she got a long letter this +evening."</p> + +<p class="normal">Mining returned quickly, and Frau Nüssler and Korlin took the young +Frau into the bedroom, and when she was undressed, and had drunk the +tea, and lay in Frau Nüssler's bed, her senses returned, for it was +mere physical weakness which had overpowered her, and if the first +shock, and the dreadful feeling that there was no creature who could +help her, had turned her brain a little, here by this friendly face, +and this friendly treatment, she was herself again. She sat up in bed, +and looked confidingly into Frau Nüssler's eyes: "You told me once, if +I were ever in trouble, you would help me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And so I will," said Frau Nüssler, quite overcome, and stroking her +hands she said "Tell me, what is it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, much!" cried the young Frau, "our laborers are discontented, we +are in debt, deeply in debt, they are going to sell the estate----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Preserve us!" cried Frau Nüssler, "but there is time enough for that!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I could have borne that," said the young Frau, "but another trouble +has driven me to you, and I cannot and dare not tell you----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't speak of it, then, gracious Frau. But this isn't business for +women; we ought to have a man's counsel, and if you feel able, we might +drive over to see my brother Karl, at Rahnstadt."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, I could go; but how should I look the man in the face, whom----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is where you are mistaken, gracious Frau, you don't know him. +Jochen!" she cried at the door, "let Krischan harness up, but let him +make haste, and do you make haste, too! Mining!" she cried at another +door, "bring your new Sunday mantle and hat, and a shawl; we are going +out."</p> + +<p class="normal">All was quickly ready, and as she got into the carriage, Frau Nüssler +said to Krischan:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Krischan, you know I don't like fast driving; but drive fast to-night! +We must be in Rahnstadt in half an hour. Else they will have gone to +bed," she added to the young Frau.</p> + +<p class="normal">The little assessor had just gone home from the Frau Pastorin's, +Habermann and Bräsig had said "Good-night!" and gone up-stairs, and +Bräsig opened the window and looked out, to observe the weather: +"Karl," said he, "what a fragrance there is after the storm! The whole +air is full of atmosphere." Just then a carriage stopped at the Frau +Pastorin's, and the light from the house shone directly upon it. +"Preserve us!" cried Bräsig. "Karl, there are your sister and Mining, +at this time of night!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Can any misfortune have happened!" exclaimed Habermann, snatching the +candle, and running down to the door.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Sister," he asked hastily, as Frau Nüssler met him at the foot of the +stairs, "why have you come here, in the night? Mining,"--but he stopped +abruptly,--"gracious Frau! You here, at this time?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Karl, quick!" said Frau Nüssler, "the gracious Frau wishes to speak +with you alone. Make haste, before the others come!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Habermann opened the Frau Pastorin's best room, and led the young Frau +in; he followed her, just catching, as he shut the door, the beginning +of Bräsig's speech, on the stairs:</p> + +<p class="normal">"May you keep the nose on your face! What have you come here for? +Excuse me, for coming down in my shirt sleeves; Karl very +inconsiderately took away the light, and I couldn't find my coat, in +the dark. But where is he, and where is Mining?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Frau Nüssler was not obliged to answer these questions, for Louise came +out of the Frau Pastorin's room with a light.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bless me! aunt!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Louise, come in here, and you, Bräsig, put your coat on, and come down +to the Frau Pastorin's room!" They did so, and Frau Pastorin came in +also, and the hall was left empty and still, and if one had put his ear +to the door on the right, he would have heard the honest, touching +confession, which the young Frau, at first with embarrassment and +bitter tears, but afterwards with entire confidence and secret hope in +her heart, poured out to the old inspector; and if he had listened at +the door on the left, he would have heard the most frightful lying from +Frau Nüssler, for it had occurred to the good lady that, since they had +taken the gracious Frau for Mining, she might as well pass for Mining, +till she had finished her business, so that they need not torment her +with questions, and so she told them that Mining had a dreadful +toothache, and that her brother Karl knew of a remedy, a sort of +magnetism, which must be applied between twelve and one o'clock at +night, in perfect silence; and Frau Pastorin said she thought that was +an unchristian proceeding, and Bräsig remarked, "I never knew that Karl +had any taste for magnetism and doctoring." And after a little, +Habermann put his head in at the door, and said, "Frau Pastorin, leave +the door unlocked, I have an errand out, but I shall be back soon," and +before Frau Pastorin could say a word, he was gone, and he went to the +street where Moses lived.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER XLV.</h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">Moses had become a very old man, but his health was still quite good, +only that he was rather lame, and sleep would not come at his call; so +he used to sit up late into the night, in his arm-chair, with a cushion +under his head, hours after his Blümchen was asleep, and think over his +old business affairs; with new ones he would have nothing to do. David +lay on the sofa, and talked, or slept, as he felt inclined; but I must +do David the justice to say he was not an exception to the general rule +of his fellow-believers, he took good care of his old father, and this +Jewish fashion is one which many Christians would do well to follow.</p> + +<p class="normal">This evening they were chatting together.</p> + +<p class="normal">"David," said the old man, "what did I tell you? You should not +entangle yourself with Pomuffelskopp."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well? If I have entangled myself, I am well paid for it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You have strewed dust on your head, you have eaten filth."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Are louis-d'ors filth?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Pomuffelskopp's are."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Father, if you were willing, we could do a great business; +Pomuffelskopp is going to sell Gurlitz."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, he wants to sell."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will tell you, David, because he isn't sure of his day-laborers, +that they won't set fire to his barns, or knock him on the head. I will +tell you further: I shall not do the business, nor will you; but your +friend the notary will do it, he is too shrewd for you, and you are too +young."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Father, I----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hush, David! I will tell you something more; you want to be rich, rich +all at once. See, there is a pitcher with a narrow neck, half full of +louis-d'ors, you reach in, take up a handful, and cannot get it out, +you reach in and take one, and get it out easily, and so on, again and +again, till you have them all."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Have I taken too large a handful?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hush, David, I have not done yet. You see two people, one throws a +louis-d'or into clean water, and the other throws a handful into the +gutter; you go into the cold water and get the louis-d'or, and it is +bright and clean; you go into the gutter and get out the whole handful, +and people turn away from you, for you are a stench in their nostrils. +Pomuffelskopp has thrown his louis-d'ors into the gutter."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, they don't smell of it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"If men do not smell them, they smell to heaven; but men do, that is to +say, honest men; but they are not offensive to Pomuffelskopp and the +notary, their odor is like myrrh and frankincense."</p> + +<p class="normal">David was going to say something, when there was a rap at the +house-door. "What is that?" asked David.</p> + +<p class="normal">The old man was silent; then there came a louder rap.</p> + +<p class="normal">"David, go and open the door!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What? at this time of night?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"David, open it! When I was young, and went about with my pack, I often +knocked at the door, and the door was opened to me, and now I am old, +and shall soon stand before a door and knock, and the God of Abraham +will say, 'Let him in, it is a man!' This is a man, also. Open the +door, David!"</p> + +<p class="normal">David obeyed, and Habermann entered.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Wonder of wonders!" cried the old man, "the inspector!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Moses, you must not take it ill. I could not help it, I must +speak with you confidentially about a matter of business."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Go out, David!"</p> + +<p class="normal">David made a sour face, but went.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It isn't of much use," said Moses, "he will stand at the door, and +listen."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Never mind, Moses, I cannot say to you what I would here. Can you not +come with me to my house?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Habermann, I am an old man."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, indeed, I know it; but the air is mild, the moon is risen; I will +take you by the arm; yes, Moses, I will carry you, if you say so."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, what is it, then?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Moses, I cannot tell you here; you must hear with your own ears, and +see with your own eyes. You can do a good work."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Habermann, you are an honest man, you have always been a friend to me, +you will do what is right. Call David."</p> + +<p class="normal">Habermann opened the door; to be sure, there he stood:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr Inspector, you must not take my father out tonight, he is an old +man."</p> + +<p class="normal">"David!" cried the old man, "bring me my fur boots!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Father! you mustn't go! I will call mother."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Call mother, if you want to, I shall go."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What are you going to do?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Transact important business."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then I will go too."</p> + +<p class="normal">"David, you are too young; bring me the boots."</p> + +<p class="normal">There was no help for it, David must bring them and put them on; +Habermann took the old man firmly by the arm, Moses took his usual grip +in his left coat-pocket, on account of the lacking suspender, and, +leaning on Habermann's arm, hobbled slowly over to the Frau Pastorin's +house.</p> + +<p class="normal">As Habermann and old Moses crossed the Frau Pastorin's threshold, they +made something of a noise, for Moses stumbled at the door, and came +near falling. Frau Pastorin, of course, heard the commotion, as did the +whole company with her; "Ah, there comes Habermann with poor Mining," +said she, and running to the door put out her head; but when she +expected to see Mining, though perhaps with a swelled cheek, there +stood old Moses in his dressing-gown, and fur boots, with his old face +full of wrinkles, and looking at her with his great black eyes:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good evening, Frau Pastorin!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The little Frau Pastorin started back, almost to the middle of the +room; "Preserve us!" cried she, "Habermann is carrying on all sorts of +magic and unchristian preformances; now he is bringing his old Jew into +the house, at midnight; is this on account of Mining's toothache?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Frau Nüsssler felt as if she were standing in her kitchen, dressing +fish, and had just taken hold of a great pike, and the creature had +snapped at her thumb, and was pressing his teeth deeper and deeper into +her flesh, and she must keep still, else he would tear open her whole +thumb. What had possessed Frau Nüssler to tell a story, and such a +story, which might come out any moment!</p> + +<p class="normal">"Frau Pastorin," said Bräsig, "as for Moses, that was only an +appearance; it could not have been himself, for I was there yesterday, +and he told, me expressly, he was not able to go out any longer."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah!" interposed Louise, "father has certainly some important business +with the old man, and aunt knows about it, and so she has told us that +story about Mining. What, should father be doing with such nonsense?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The pike pressed his teeth deeper into Frau Nüssler's flesh; but she +set her own teeth together, and held out.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh, see!" cried she, "Louise, you are dreadfully clever! Clever +children are a blessing for their parents, but"--here she suddenly +pulled her thumb from the pike's teeth;--"I wish you had been a good +deal more stupid. I will tell you; Mining isn't there, it is the +gracious Frau from Pumpelhagen, who has some business to attend to with +Karl and Moses."</p> + +<p class="normal">The little Frau Pastorin was quite vexed, partly because she was not +sooner informed, for, in her own house, she was surely the nearest, +partly because, after long years, she had, for the first time, +discovered that her good neighbour Frau Nüssler was capable of the most +horrible, unchristian lying.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And that story was all a lie then?" she inquired.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Frau Pastorin," said Frau Nüssler, looking like one of the +condemned.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Frau Nüssler," said the Frau Pastorin, and it seemed as if an +invisible hand had dropped upon her shoulders the little black mantle +of her sainted pastor, "lying is a horrible, unchristian vice."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know it, Frau Pastorin; I never lied for myself, in my life. When I +tell lies, it is only for the benefit of other people. I thought it +would be too bad for the poor Frau, who is in such trouble, to be +plagued with questions, and since you all took her for Mining I merely +said yes, and made up a little story."</p> + +<p class="normal">It seemed now as if the invisible hand had endowed the Frau Pastorin +with her blessed Pastor's bands also, and she began:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dear, you are in a dreadful state, you are lying at this very moment, +you think that is right which is wrong, you lie----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"With your gracious permission, Frau Pastorin," interrupted Zachary +Bräsig, taking the side of his old treasure, "I must interrupt your +discourse; I am quite of Frau Nüssler's opinion. Do you see, last week +the Frau Syndic called to me, and asked me, very kindly, 'Herr +Inspector, is it true that the Frau Pastorin once held a rendezvous in +a ditch----'"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bräsig!" screamed the little Frau Pastorin, and mantle and bands were +gone directly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't be troubled!" said Uncle Bräsig, throwing a glance at Louise, "I +can be discreet, upon occasion. 'No,' I said to the Frau Syndic, 'it is +an abominable lie.' And so I told a lie for you, Frau Pastorin, and, if +I must be roasted in hell for it, I beg that you will look down from +heaven sometimes and afford me a little relief."</p> + +<p class="normal">The Frau Pastorin had something to say, but Habermann looked in at the +door: "Oh, Bräsig, come here a moment!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Habermann----" began the little Frau.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Frau Pastorin, I shall come back directly."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bräsig went.</p> + +<p class="normal">On the other side of the hall they were as much excited, but in a +different way. When Habermann entered the room with Moses, the young +Frau rose from the sofa, with a pang in her heart, and Moses stood +astonished.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The gracious Frau von Rambow," said Habermann, and, turning to the +lady, "This is my old friend Moses; but he is much fatigued from the +walk. You will excuse me, gracious Frau;" and he brought him to the +sofa, and laid him down, and took cushions and pillows and put them +under his head.</p> + +<p class="normal">When the old man had recovered a little, Habermann asked, "Moses, do +you know the gracious Frau?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have seen her riding past my house, I have also seen her walking +near Pumpelhagen; I greeted her, and she kindly returned the old Jew's +greeting."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Moses, do you know that the Herr von Rambow is deeply in debt?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You have sued him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Moses, you must withdraw your suit; your money is safely invested."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What do you call safe? I spoke to you about it last spring. In such +times as these property is not safe, a man is safer; but Herr von +Rambow is not a man whom I can trust, he is a bad manager, he is a fool +about horses, he is a----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hold! Remember his wife is here."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, I remember."</p> + +<p class="normal">Frida was suffering tortures. They were silent for awhile; then +Habermann began again:</p> + +<p class="normal">"If there was a prospect that the estate could be rented----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who would rent in such times?" said Moses.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Or the Herr von Rambow would agree to engage a regular inspector, and +leave the management to him----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Habermann," interrupted Moses, "you are an old man, and you are a +shrewd man. You know the world, and you know the Herr von Rambow; did +you ever know a Herr who said, 'I will be master no longer, I will let +another be master?'"</p> + +<p class="normal">Habermann was rather taken aback by this question, he looked +inquiringly at the young Frau, and Frida dropped her eyes, and said:</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am afraid Herr Moses is right; my husband does not understand it."</p> + +<p class="normal">Moses looked at her approvingly, and muttered to himself, "She is a +clever woman, she is an honest woman."</p> + +<p class="normal">Habermann was perplexed; he sat in deep thought, and finally said:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, Moses, if the Frau von Rambow, or I, or circumstances, should +influence the young Herr to consent to this plan, and if, for the +security of the creditors, he should give a promise to resign the +management, and engage a competent inspector, would you withdraw your +suit?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I would withdraw it for a year; well, say two years."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, then you will leave your money in the estate; but there are +other debts which must be paid; there are Pomuchelskopp's eight +thousand thalers."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know it," said Moses to himself.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then there the debts owing to tradesmen and mechanics, which have not +been paid for a year; and the people's wages must be paid and repairs +attended to; it will take about six thousand thalers."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know it," said Moses.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then there is a note for thirteen thousand thalers, in Schwerin, which +must be paid immediately."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good heavens!" exclaimed Moses, "I did not know a word of it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, and then," continued Habermann, without noticing this remark, "we +must have two or three thousand thalers over, to carry on the estate +properly."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let me go! It is a bad business, a very bad business!" cried Moses, +making a motion as if he would rise from the sofa.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hold on, Moses! I have not done yet."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let me go! Let me go! I am an old man, I cannot involve myself in such +a business," and with that he rose to his feet, and made preparations +to go.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hear me first, Moses! I do not ask you to lend the money,--it would be +about thirty-one thousand thalers,--there are other people, safe +people, who will lend it; you shall merely advance it until St. John's +day."</p> + +<p class="normal">"God of Abraham! Advance in these times, in fourteen days, <i>thirty-one +thousand thalers</i>! And that for fools who involve themselves in a +business like that!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, Moses, just listen to me. Write down the names and the amounts +as I mention them. You know the Frau Pastorin? Write down the Frau +Pastorin for five thousand thalers."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, I know her, she is a good woman, she helps the poor; but why +should I write?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Come, just write."</p> + +<p class="normal">Moses took a pencil out of his pocket, moistened the point, and wrote:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, there it is; five thousand thalers."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You know Bräsig, too?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why shouldn't I know Bräsig? Who does not know Bräsig? He is a good +man, an entertaining man; always visited me when I was sick, tried to +make a democrat of me, wanted me to make speeches in the Reformverein, +but he is a good man."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Put him down for six thousand thalers. You know my brother-in-law +Nüssler?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have always bought his wool. He is a quiet man, and a good man, +smokes tobacco; but he isn't the man of the house, his wife is."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, then put my sister down for thirteen thousand thalers."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, I'll not do it. She is a woman, she is a very cautious woman; +bargained with me for two groschen more the stone."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Write it! My sister will tell you, herself, this very night. So! and +now write, for me, seven thousand thalers, and there are the thirty-one +thousand."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good heavens!" exclaimed Moses, "he will give his hard-earned money, +that he has laid up for his old age, and for his only child! And for +whom? For a young man who has tried to shoot him, who has defamed his +honest name, who has treated him like a dog!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"That doesn't concern you, Moses, that is my affair. I----"</p> + +<p class="normal">The young Frau had been sitting in torment, repressing the bitterest +feelings in her soul; but she could bear it no longer, she started up, +and running to Habermann laid her hands on his shoulders, crying, "No, +no! that must not be! Neither these good people, nor you, shall be +involved in our misfortunes. If we are to blame, we must suffer for it. +I will bear--oh, and Axel would much rather bear misfortune and +disgrace! but--but"--she broke out involuntarily--"the poor sisters!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Habermann took hold of her gently, and replaced her in her chair, +whispering, "Control yourself! You have trusted the business in my +hands; I will bring it to a happy issue."</p> + +<p class="normal">A flood of tears burst from Frida's eyes.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good heavens!" said Moses to himself, laying his pencil back in his +pocketbook, "Now she is going to be magnanimous, too. Do you call this +business? This is no business. And yet it is all honest! It makes the +old man cry, too," and he wiped the tears from his eyes, with the skirt +of his dressing-gown. "Well, we will see what the Jew can do."</p> + +<p class="normal">Habermann had gone out and called Bräsig, and told him, hastily, in the +hall, what was in the wind, and now he came in with him.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bräsig came in with rather a distracted expression on his face, at +which Habermann was secretly annoyed; he looked half as if he had +something to sell at the fair, and half as if he were going to make a +Christmas gift. He marched up to Moses, with his head in the air: +"Moses, what Habermann has put down for me, I will subscribe to, +Zachary Bräsig; it is all the same to me, cash or bonds, but not before +St. Anthony's."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good," said Moses. "You are a safe man, Herr Inspector, I will advance +it."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bräsig went up to the gracious Frau, who had rested her arm on the +table and covered her eyes with her hand, as if the light hurt them, +made a deep bow, and inquired after her health, and when she had +answered quietly, he asked, "And how is the young Herr von Rambow?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Frida shrank together, and Habermann, who had intended to call in the +others, one by one, saw that a diversion must be made, or Bräsig, in +all innocence, would distress the young Frau with his questions and +remarks.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Zachary," said he, "do me the favor to bring in the Frau Pastorin and +my sister; Louise may come, too."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Very well, Karl," and presently he returned with the women.</p> + +<p class="normal">Frau Pastorin went up directly to the young Frau, and pressed her to +her heart, and could not restrain herself from weeping bitterly. Louise +stood by, with the deepest, though silent, compassion in her heart.</p> + +<p class="normal">"God of Abraham!" exclaimed Moses, "what a night is this! They want to +transact a business, and they cry over each other, and press each +other's hands, and hang about each other's necks, and are magnanimous +and affectionate, and keep an old man, like me, sitting up till +morning. Mamselle Habermann," he added aloud, "when you are done with +your tender feelings, perhaps you can get me a drop of wine; I am an +old man."</p> + +<p class="normal">Louise ran and brought a bottle of wine and a glass, and Bräsig said, +"Bring me a glass, too, Louise!" and had possibly the intention of +having a little frolic with Moses, for he sat down by him, and began to +touch glasses: "To your good health, Moses!"</p> + +<p class="normal">But it wasn't successful, Moses did not seem disposed to respond, and +Habermann brought up his sister; Moses moistened his pencil, and wrote. +After Frau Nüssler came the Frau Pastorin; Moses wrote again, and +before the young Frau, who sat in the corner with Louise, knew what was +going on, it was all settled; and Moses stood up, saying:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Shall I tell you some news? I will tell you: the thirty-one thousand +thalers are secured, and the people are all good; but it is no +business, your magnanimity has run away with you. Well, what will you +have? I am a Jew, it has run away with me too; I will advance the +money. But I am an old man, I am a cautious man. If the Herr von Rambow +will not employ an Inspector, and do as he ought, the business is +worthless, and I will have nothing to do with it. When they lay me in +the church-yard, under the fir-trees, where I have built an enclosure, +then people would say, 'Well, he built that enclosure for himself; what +is an enclosure of oaken-wood? Shortly before his death he got honest +people into trouble, only that he might make a speculation.' There is +Frau Nüssler, there is Frau Pastorin, there is Herr Habermann, and +there is also Herr Bräsig. I have been a man of business, from my +youth, first with my pack, and then with my produce and wool, and +finally with my money, and as a man of business I will die; but a +cautious one. Come, Habermann, take hold of me, and help me home again! +Good-night, Frau Nüssler, my regards to Herr Jochen, he must come and +see me. Good-night, Herr Inspector Bräsig, you must come and see me +too; but don't talk about the Reform any more, I am an old man. +Good-night, Mamselle Habermann, when you pass my house again, greet me +as kindly as you did last time. Good-night, Frau Pastorin, when you go +to bed, you can say I have had honest people in my house, tonight, the +old Jew, also, is an honest man." Then he went up to Frida:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good-night, gracious Frau, you have wept to-night, because you are not +used to it; but never fear, it will all come right; you have a new +friend, it is the old Jew; but the old Jew has shed tears over you, and +he will not forget it; he does not weep often now."</p> + +<p class="normal">He turned away, and, saying "Good-night!" once more, without looking +round, went out with Habermann, Louise lighting them to the door. All +was silent in the room; each was busy with his own thoughts. The first +to recollect herself was Frau Nüssler; she called Krischan, who was +asleep in the hall, and made him bring around the carriage. Krischan +obeyed with unusual celerity, for, when Habermann returned from +convoying Moses home, the young Frau and his sister were already in the +carriage, and he had barely time to say a few friendly, hopeful words +to the young Frau, when Frau Nüssler said, "Good-night, Karl! She must +go back to her child. Krischan, to Pumpelhagen!" and they drove off.</p> + +<p class="normal">Habermann was still standing in the street, looking after the carriage, +and was just turning to go into the house, when, another carriage came +slowly up the street, with a pair of gray horses shining before it, in +the moonlight. The old man stepped back, and stood in the doorway, his +daughter had left a candle for him, in the hall, and he stood there +like a gigantic shadow against the light. He waited to see who was +driving, so late or so early, through the silent streets; the carriage +came nearer, it stopped before the house.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Take the reins!" cried a voice which seemed strangely familiar to him, +and a man on the front seat threw back the reins to the coachman, and +jumped down.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Habermann! Habermann! Don't you know me?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Franz! Herr von Rambow!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What is going on here, that you are up so late? No misfortune?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No,--thank God!--no! I will tell you directly."</p> + +<p class="normal">The young man threw his arms about the old man, and pressed him to his +heart, and kissed him, again and again, and it was no misfortune, it +was the purest happiness, and yet one might have supposed it was +misfortune, if he had seen the maiden who sat in the next room. The +color was all gone out of her cheeks, and her great eyes grew larger +and larger, staring at the door, and she pressed both hands against her +heart, and when she tried to rise, it seemed as if the earth trembled, +and thunder rolled above her, and the voice outside struck like, +lightning to her heart. She did not know, she could not make it clear +in this brief moment; but the garden, which she had planted years ago, +with quiet, modest flowers, with shady trees, where she had so often +watched the evening star, and on which the silent night had fallen, +stood suddenly revealed before her, in the lightning flashes, and when +these passed over, and the heart was bowed down, suddenly the sun +arose, with such blinding radiance, that she must turn away her eyes; +but yet she could not, for in her quiet garden wonder after wonder was +bursting into bloom in the sunlight; the modest violets changed into +red roses, shining like a bridal wreath, and the odor of the fragrant +blossoms changed into the song of nightingales calling to their mates. +And her hands sank down from her heart, and her heart beat evenly, and +full, and when he entered the door, holding Habermann's hand, she threw +herself on his breast, and the earth no longer trembled, and the +thunder no longer rolled, and no lightning flashes smote her; but light +was all around her, pure light! And they spoke to each other, they +talked much with each other: "Franz!" "Louise!" and no one understood +their language, and they all stood about her, and could not understand, +for it was long since they had heard the language, and yet they must +have had some perception of its meaning, for Uncle Bräsig took pity on +the young people, who were flying away, above the earth, among the +clouds, and brought them back, with a shock, to terra firma.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Frau Pastorin," said he, "when I had three sweethearts at once----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"For shame, Bräsig!" cried Frau Pastorin, through her tears of emotion.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Frau Pastorin, you said the same thing, when I wrote, through Doctor +Urtlingen, to the young Herr von Rambow, at Paris; but I wasn't, at all +ashamed, and I am not ashamed to-day; I have never in my life done +anything to be ashamed of. For, you see, Frau Pastorin," and he placed +himself before her with great dignity, and blew his nose, but rather, +above it, as if something had got into his eyes; "you see, Frau +Pastorin, I have brought about a good many rendezvous lately; first in +the water-ditch----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bräsig!" cried the little Frau Pastorin.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Be quiet, Frau Pastorin, I shall say nothing about it, and I will tell +lies for you, if it is necessary. Secondly, Gottlieb and Lining in the +cherry-tree; thirdly, Rudolph and Mining, also in the cherry-tree; but +you must not think it strange if a man has a certain feeling of pride, +at having brought about a rendezvous between Rahnstadt and Paris; and +that is what I have done."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said Franz, coming down to the earth, "you have done that, and I +thank you heartily for your beautiful letter. It is here, I keep it +always by me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hm!" said Uncle Bräsig, "always by him! Very much obliged! Would you +have the kindness to tell me, quite sincerely, do you value the letter +so highly, on account of my style,--you know, Karl, I was always +ahead of you in style, at Pastor Behrend's,--or is it because the +letter-paper belonged to Louise?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"For both reasons!" cried Franz, laughing heartily, "but chiefly +because of the good news contained in your letter. Yes," he added, +turning to Habermann, "now these torments, these self-torments, are +over, the last shadow of reason for our separation has vanished," and +he went up to Louise, and gave her a kiss; it was a very remarkable +kiss, it might have been divided by twelve, and each result have been +an entire kiss.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bless me!" said the Frau Pastorin, at last, "the morning is shining in +at the window."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Frau Pastorin," said Bräsig, "and you have been watching all +night, and you are an old lady, and not used to it; you should go to +bed."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bräsig is right," said Habermann, "and you, Louise, go to bed, too!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Come, child," said the Frau Pastorin, "there will be another day +to-morrow, and a happy day, too," and she kissed her. "Now your happy +days are coming, and, in yours, I shall live mine over again." They +went out.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr von Rambow," said Habermann.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why not Franz?" said the young man.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, then, Franz, my dear son, you can sleep in my bed, up-stairs, +with Bräsig, I----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I cannot sleep," interposed Franz.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Karl," said Bräsig, "I am not at all sleepy, either, my time for +sleeping and nightly rest is over." He went to the window, opened it, +and looked out at the weather: "Karl, it looks to me as if this morning +would be a good time for the perch to bite. I must go out, I shall get +too fidgety here; I will go fishing; in the Rexow firs, there +is a place under the trees, where there is a splendid perch. So, +good-morning, young Herr von Rambow, good-morning, Karl, entertain +yourself with your future son-in-law." With that, he went off.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But how did it happen, dear father," asked Franz, "that I found you +all up so late? I started from Paris, immediately on receiving Bräsig's +letter, travelled night and day, and arrived at my estate day before +yesterday. But there was so much to be attended to,--my inspector is +just leaving, he is going to be married,--that I could not leave, to +come hither, until about this time yesterday morning. I had sent +forward relays, however, and when I arrived,--well, I may as well +confess,--I wanted at least to see the house in which Louise was +sleeping. And here I found you all stirring."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah," sighed Habermann, "it was a sad occasion. It was on account of +the young Herr von Rambow of Pumpelhagen, his wife was here herself. +She has suffered terribly, but there was no help for it; and even yet +everything is in suspense. Would God you had come half an hour sooner; +then I believe it could all have been settled." And he related what had +happened, first and last, and all with such sincere regret and such +cordial interest, that an earnest wish arose in Franz's heart; he must +help, also, in the matter, and the best of it was, he could help. He +had had the fortune to have trustworthy guardians, and honest and +capable inspectors; his property and estates had increased in value +under their hands, and, more recently, under his own, for he had not +made it a ladder, on which to descend to abysses of misfortune and +ruin, and his good sense had kept him from folly. Now he could render a +thank-offering for his happiness, for he had not only the will but the +ability to do good.</p> + +<p class="normal">The two friends talked of many things, and what seemed good to the one +was approved by the other; they would both help, and it was settled +that Franz should have an interview with Moses; but, in spite of all +their sincerity, each had a secret from the other. Habermann dared say +nothing of Axel's debt to his sisters, the young Frau had confessed it +to him with bitter tears and a bleeding heart, the secret was not his +own property, but that of another, dearly bought and dearly won. Franz +also had his secret, but it must have been a good one, for his face was +full of thoughtful joy, and he put one foot up comfortably, on the +sofa, and then the other, and he nodded to Habermann, in a friendly +way, as he went on talking, and he kept nodding, and finally nodded +himself to sleep. Youth and nature must have their rights. Old +Habermann got up softly, and looked at him. Joyous thoughts were still +hovering over his face, like the beams of the setting sun over a clear, +still, transparent lake, and the old man brought a coverlet, and +wrapped it gently over him, and then he went out into the Frau +Pastorin's little back-garden, and seated himself in an arbor, which he +himself had planted, several years before, in his trouble and sorrow, +and looked at the window of the room where his daughter slept. Ah, did +she sleep? Who can sleep, with bright sunlight shining in the heart? +Who can sleep when every sound turns into a melody singing of love and +happiness? A light step sounded on the gravel in the garden path, and a +lovely maiden, in a light morning dress, approached, turning up her +face to the sun-rising, and, with her hands folded on her breast, +gazing at the morning sun, as if she too longer feared to be blinded by +its light; but tears ran down her rosy cheeks. Right, Louise! The sun +is God's sun, and the happiness is God's happiness, and when it shines +bright and dazzling in our eyes, tears are good, they soften the light. +She bent down, and lifted a rose, to inhale its fragrance, but did not +pluck it. Right, Louise! Roses are earthly roses, joys are earthly +joys, they both blossom in their season, leave them to their season. +Wilt thou enjoy them before their time, thou hast only a withered rose +on thy breast, and a withered joy in thy heart.</p> + +<p class="normal">She walked on slowly, through the garden, and when she came to the +arbor, where her old father sat, she sprang towards him, threw herself +into his arms, and nestled her head upon his bosom: "Father! father!" +Right, Louise! Here is thy rightful place! In thy father's heart beams +God's sunshine, in thy father's heart bloom earthly roses.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER XLVI.</h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">Frau Nüssler took Frida back to Pumpelhagen, dropping many a comforting +word, which fell, like the dew upon a scorched field, on the young +Frau's heart, and if it were not yet quite ready to sprout with fresh +green, Frau Nüssler would have said, "Never fear! My brother Karl will +manage that."</p> + +<p class="normal">So the young Frau entered her room, in the gray morning, in quite a +different mood from that of the evening before, when she had rushed put +into the storm; and, with hope, love and faith had returned to her +heart. She went up softly and kindly to Fika Degel, who sat in an +arm-chair, watching by her child, and had fallen asleep, and stroking +her hair gently said:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Fika, I thank you very much; but you must be weary; go to bed."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Gracious Frau," said Fika, starting up from a dream of her lover, "she +has slept very quietly; I had to give her drink only once."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good," said the young Frau, "go to bed." And when the maid was gone, +she stood before her child, and looked at her; no! no! the sad lot of a +poor noble Fräulein was not suited to that lovely face, and the +thoughts of last evening were not suited to the thoughts of this +morning. Her soul had suffered torments, fearful torments, during the +night, but in the night, and through the torments, hope had been born +in her heart, and this child of anguish had fallen upon her neck, and +nestled closely to her, and kissed her, and stroked her face, and the +blue eyes were beaming heavenward, and in them shone confidence,--yes, +and victory.</p> + +<p class="normal">The young Frau went to bed, and before her rose all the forms of the +night: Korlin Kegel and Frau Nüssler, the Frau Pastorin and Louise, +Habermann and Bräsig, they all stood, clear and distinct, before her +eyes, she understood them all, in their true-hearted conduct and +character; but among these images was another, which she did not +understand; that was the old Jew. Such clear light fell upon him, and +such dark shadows lay in the folds of his dressing-gown, and the +wrinkles of his face,--she had never seen such an image,--that +all grew indistinct before her eyes, and when she thought of his +leave-taking, the image grew larger and larger, and even more +indistinct, and she folded her hands upon her breast, and slept.</p> + +<p class="normal">She slept, and the old Jew was in her dreams, but they were happy +dreams; only once she started up, for it seemed to her that a carriage +drove into the yard. She listened; but body and soul longed for rest; +her head sank back on the pillow, and the friendly dream again hovered +over her fair head, and whispered wonderful things in her ears.</p> + +<p class="normal">But she had not heard falsely; a carriage had really driven into the +yard, and in the carriage sat her husband. Axel had been driving about +the country, like a speculator buying up eggs and poultry; he had +halted before every door, and knocked, like a travelling beggar; he had +asked help from business acquaintances, he had complained of his +troubles to old friends, whom he had learned to know at the races, who +had often borrowed money from him; nobody was at home, and those whom +he met accidentally had left their purses at home. So long as we go +about in brand new breeches, we have many friends, but when they are +worn out, and our others have a patch on each knee, our friends feel +ashamed of us. This was Axel's bitter experience. Without his sisters' +knowledge, he had secretly been in Schwerin; he had gone to the Jew, +who had transacted the business so readily and quickly; but where were +his securities? From his hotel he had looked over towards the region +where Franz's estates lay; but where was Franz? He had done the last +thing possible, he had gone to his brother-in-law, Breitenburg, with +whom he had always been on bad terms; he had endured his cold +reception, had told him of his terrible situation, but had said nothing +about his sisters' money; Breitenburg had looked him sharply in the +eyes, and turned his back upon him:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Tu l'as voulu, George Dandin! And do you think I will throw my +hard-earned savings into this pit, dug by your folly? It was not +brought me by your sister."</p> + +<p class="normal">Axel was going to say something about the seven thousand thalers, which +his father had borrowed for him from Moses; then his brother-in-law +turned upon him, and asked him, right to his face, "Where are the +thirteen thousand thalers, out of which you have swindled your +sisters?"</p> + +<p class="normal">That struck him dumb,--the brother-in-law knew it would,--he turned +pale, rushed out of the door, and got into his carriage.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Where?" asked the coachman.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Home."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Where shall we stop to-night?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"At home."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr, the horses won't hold out."</p> + +<p class="normal">"They must."</p> + +<p class="normal">So they drove home, and when he got out Johann stood by the two good +browns: "So, the two wheel-horses were driven to death before, and now +the leaders are ruined; we have a span of cripples."</p> + +<p class="normal">Axel went up to his room with heavy steps, it was broad daylight; in +his room everything was as usual, and usually he found himself very +comfortable there, and the old use and wont appealed softly to his +heart; but his heart was not the old heart, heart and mind were +changed, and use and wont no longer harmonized with them. He was +restless and troubled; he opened the window, that the fresh morning air +might cool his heated brow; he threw himself into the chair, that stood +before his writing table, and pressed his head in both hands, as if it +were held in a vice. Then his eyes fell upon a letter, the writing +seemed familiar, he must have seen it before; he opened it; yes, it was +from his sister. What had his brother-in-law, Breitenburg, called him? +Yes, that was it! He looked out of the window; behind the Rexow firs +the sun was rising.</p> + +<p class="normal">He looked at the letter again; it contained friendly words, but what +did words avail, he had no money. He looked out of the window again, +before him lay a field of wheat; ah, if it were ripe and threshed out, +and had borne twenty-fold, then--no! no! even then it could not help +him. And again his eyes returned to the letter; friendly words! but +soon the words became more earnest, and looked at him sternly, he could +not turn his eyes away; he read them to the end, and there it stood: +"On this account, I have written to Frida also, for, dear, dear +brother, if you have not safely invested our capital, we poor girls are +utterly ruined!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, ruined!" he cried, "ruined!" and sprang from the chair, and +strode about the room, He went to the window; before him lay nature in +her fullest splendor, and nature has power over every heart, but the +heart must harmonize with nature, it must open itself fully and freely +to the sunlight, and receive into itself the green earth and the blue +heavens and the golden beams. But his heart was not open to these +influences, his situation had overpowered him, and his thoughts turned +solely and miserably to the most pitiable human resources. Money, +money! He could coin no louis-d'ors from the sunbeams.</p> + +<p class="normal">He threw himself into his chair again; so <i>she</i> knew it, too. He had +told her many lies, which she could not prove false; there was no use +in lying now, she knew it. And she seemed to stand before him with her +child in her arms, and to look at him sternly, and her clear gray eyes +asked, "Have we deserved this at your hands?" and his three sisters +stood around him, with sunken cheeks and pale lips, saying, "Yes Axel, +dear Axel, utterly ruined!" And behind the old maids stood a darker +form, in guise that was not of this earth, and that was his father, who +called to him, "Thou shouldst have been a prop for my old house, but +thou hast taken away stone after stone, and my house is falling to the +ground." He could endure it no longer, he started up,--the ghosts +vanished,--he ran up and down, and when he recollected himself, he was +standing before a closet where he kept his fire-arms. Ah, he knew a +place, so lonely, so still, it was the Lauban pond in the Rexow firs; +he had often been there with the chase, when the brave old forester, +Slang, was hunting; he could do it there. He opened the closet, and +took out the revolver which Triddelsitz had procured for him, to shoot +at the day-laborers. He tried it; yes! it was loaded. He went out of +the door, but as he crossed the landing, he saw the door which led into +Frida's room, where his wife and his child lay sleeping; he was +startled, he tottered back; all the joy he had experienced in the +faithful affection of his wife, in the lovely awakening nature of his +child, came back to him; he fell upon the threshold before the door, +and burning tears started from his eyes, and these tears, this earnest +prayer to God, may have saved him,--we shall see how,--for the Lord +holds us by slender, invisible threads.</p> + +<p class="normal">He rose up, the prayer had not been for his own soul, but for others; +he walked away, he went to the lonely Lauban pond. He threw himself +down under the firs, behind a bush, took the revolver from his pocket, +and laid it beside him; he looked once more, eagerly, mournfully, at +the world around him; he looked once more at the sun, God's beautiful +sun, for the last time; soon, night would fall upon him forever. The +sun blinded him, he took out his handkerchief, and covered his eyes, +and now the last, the most terrible thoughts overcame him. He sighed +deeply; "It must be!" he exclaimed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"A fine morning, Herr von Rambow!" cried a friendly, human voice, close +by. Axel tore the cloth from his eyes, and threw it over the revolver.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are up early!" said Zachary Bräsig, for it was he, and he threw +himself down by Axel, on the grass. "Have you come out fishing, too?" +With that, he laid his hand on the handkerchief and the revolver: "Ah, +so! You were going to practise pistol-shooting a little. I used to be a +very good shot, myself, could shoot out the ace of hearts and the ace +of clubs, without fail."</p> + +<p class="normal">Then he stood up, with the revolver in his hand: "You see that mark on +the fir yonder,--they are getting ready to fell timber,--I will wager +four groschen, I never bet higher,"--bang! the shot went wide of the +mark,--bang I missed it again, and yet again, and so on with the six +shots.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who would have thought it? All missed! Who would have thought it? +Well, I have lost. Here are the four groschen. That is such an old fool +of a pistol!" he cried, and tossed the revolver far out into the pond, +"children and young people might hurt themselves with it."</p> + +<p class="normal">Axel was in a strange humor; all at once, between his firm, deliberate +resolve, to which he had been driven through fierce struggle and +conflict, and the dark portal he was about to enter, stood this +familiar, yes, in his eyes even vulgar life, as audacious and +impertinent as a peasant at a fair, which could be shoved aside, +neither to the right hand nor the left. He started up:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr-rr!" cried Bräsig in return.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What do you want here?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"And what do <i>you</i> want here?" asked Bräsig back again.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are an impertinent fool!" cried Axel.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are the greatest fool!" cried Uncle Bräsig, "you were about to +commit the most fearful crime, from a reckless impulse, and you had +forgotten everything,--your wife, your child. Hm! just touch a little +spring, then we are out of it all! Wasn't it so? Who is the fool now?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Axel leaned against a tree, with one hand pressed to his heart, and the +other shading his eyes from the sun, and before him stood this vulgar +man, with a fishing-rod in his hand, and had interposed between him and +the dark portal,--it was life, however!</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do you see!" continued Uncle Bräsig, "if you had come three minutes +earlier than I,"--those were the three minutes when he lay praying, on +the threshold, for his wife and child,--"then you would be lying here, +with a hole in your head, a frightful object; and when you had gone up +to the throne of God, our Lord would have said to you: 'Thou fool! Thou +didst not know, what, this very night, thy dear gracious Frau was doing +for thee, and the Herr Inspector Habermann, and Frau Nüssler, and the +Frau Pastorin and Moses, and--and the others,'--and when the Lord had +told you, do you know what you would have suffered? Hell torments!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Axel removed his hand from his eyes, and stared at Bräsig:</p> + +<p class="normal">"What? what did you say?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"That thirty-one thousand thalers have been advanced for you, this +night, and Moses advances it, and your cousin Franz has arrived, who +may possibly do something more. But you are an ignorant creature, who +lets that greyhound of a Triddelsitz get revolvers, to shoot the +day-laborers with, and then goes to shooting himself."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Franz is here? Franz, did you say?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, he is here; but he did not come on your account, he is here +because he is determined to make Louise Habermann Frau von Rambow; but +if you want to thank anybody,--Franz will do something, will perhaps do +something more,--then go to your dear gracious Frau, and to Karl +Habermann; you can go to Moses also, if you like, and you must not +forget Frau Nüssler, and the Frau Pastorin, they have all been good to +you this night."</p> + +<p class="normal">I never attempted to shoot myself, and cannot tell exactly how a poor +man would feel, when, between himself and his resolution, ordinary life +presses in so forcibly. I should think it might be a little vexatious, +as when a weary, weary traveller is offered a glass of flat, sour +beer,--and Uncle Bräsig looked a little sour, this morning,--which he +may not refuse; but then comes the love of life, dear, human life, and +a wife, with a child on her arm, pours him a glass of cool, fresh wine, +and he drains the glass: "So! now tell me what has happened."</p> + +<p class="normal">Uncle Bräsig related the good news, and Axel tottered from the tree, +and fell upon the old man's neck.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr Bräsig! Dear Herr Bräsig! Is it all true?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What do you mean? Do you think I would deceive you, at such a moment +as this?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Axel turned dizzy before the black abyss, into which, just now, he had +looked so boldly; he staggered back, and there was a singing and a +ringing in his ears, and a glowing and shining before his eyes and +everything to which he was usually indifferent pressed overpoweringly +upon him,--he pressed his hands over his eyes and began to weep +bitterly. Uncle Bräsig stood and looked at him compassionately, and +going up to him with the most tender pity took him by the shoulder, and +shook him gently, saying:</p> + +<p class="normal">"We all wander, here, in confusion, and you are greatly to blame for +your misfortunes; but the fault is not wholly yours: what possessed +your blessed Frau Mother to make a lieutenant of you? How could a +farmer be made out of a lieutenant? It is just as if the musician, +David Berger, who has blown half his breath out of his body with his +trumpet, should set up to be pastor, and preach preach with his +half-breath; he couldn't hold out. But"--and he took the young man by +the arm,--"come away from this place, and then you will feel better."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, yes!" cried Axel, "you are right! All my misfortunes arose from +this unblessed soldier career. I got in debt there, and these first +debts brought others in their train. But," he added, standing still, +"what shall I say to my wife?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nothing at all," said Bräsig.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," said Axel, "I have solemnly resolved to tell her the whole truth, +henceforth."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do you think the young gracious Frau will be likely to ask you--right +to your face--why you didn't shoot yourself this morning? If you should +get into any difficulty about it, I will tell fibs for you, I should +not mind doing it; for it would be too horrible that such a dear young +Frau should carry the thought with her, through her whole life, that +the husband who should have cared for her was ready to leave her and +her child, like a coward. No!" he added firmly, "she must not know it; +no one need know it, but you and I. And make yourself easy, she is +still asleep, for she could not have gone to bed before morning, and +she must have been dreadfully tired."</p> + +<p class="normal">They came back to Pumpelhagen, and met Daniel Sadenwater in the hall.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Daniel," said Bräsig, "let us have a little breakfast, as soon as +possible. For," he added, when Daniel was gone, "you must eat a little +something, so as to have a different feeling in your stomach, for such +things take away a man's strength." Did he speak entirely from +benevolence, or a little from self-love? For when the breakfast came, +Axel ate nothing, but he ate like a thresher.</p> + +<p class="normal">About ten o'clock, Frida came into the room, and exclaimed:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr Inspector! and you, Axel?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, dear Frida: I got home this morning," said the young man in a low +voice.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And now you will not go away again, now you will stay here," said +Frida, decidedly. "Ah, Axel, I have much to tell you,--good news. But +how do you and the Herr Inspector happen to be together?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Now, thought Uncle Bräsig, it is time to keep my promise about fibbing. +"I went out for a little fishing, this morning,--you will not take it +ill, gracious Frau, that I have left my fishing-rod in your hall,--and +I met the Herr von Rambow, who was out walking, and we looked at his +wheat together, and he invited me here to breakfast. But, gracious +Frau, what fine sausage! you must surely have got the recipe from Frau +Nüssler."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," said Frida, absently, looking at Bräsig and at Axel, as if it +seemed very strange to her that Axel should have invited the old +inspector. "How did it happen, Herr Inspector," she began. Hold! +thought Bräsig, you will fib yourself into a trap, you must give +another turn to the conversation, so he interrupted:</p> + +<p class="normal">"With your leave, gracious Frau, you always call me 'inspector,' and so +I have been; but I have been promoted, I am, now assessor at the court. +Apohpoh!" turning to Axel, "why don't you take your money, that lies +ready for you at the court, in Rahnstadt?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What money?" inquired Axel.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why, the fifteen hundred thalers, that the baggage hadn't spent. You +must have had a letter about it, several weeks ago, from the court."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have had so many letters from the court, of late, that I no longer +open them."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know about the business," cried Frida. "Frau Nüssler told me, on the +way. I will get the letter," and she ran out of the door.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Young Herr von Rambow," said Bräsig, drawing himself up, "there you +have done wrong again, for we judges are not only the punishers of +mankind, we are also the benefactors of mankind."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But do tell me what money it is!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Here is the letter," said Frida, giving it to her husband.</p> + +<p class="normal">Axel opened it, and with what feelings! "Money, money!" had so long +been the cry of his soul, always "Money!" Now this sum of money fell +unexpectedly into his lap, but what money! "Oh, my God!" he cried, +staggering blindly about the room, like a sleep-walker, "then that was +not true either! All of it false! In whose hands have I been? Deceived +in everything,--self-deceived! Bitterly self-deceived!"</p> + +<p class="normal">He rushed out of the door, Frida would have followed him, but Bräsig +held her back. "Let me go, gracious Frau! I know a way to quiet him." +He followed him to the garden, where he was raging up and down; the old +man placed himself in the way:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr, what sort of performances are these?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Get out of my way!" cried Axel.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," said Bräsig, "there is no necessity for it. Aren't you ashamed, +to frighten your wife to death with your wild behavior?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why did you not let me destroy myself?" cried Axel; "this is a +thousand times worse than death! To receive benefits, and such +benefits, from people, whom in better times I have despised and +slandered, yes, even ruined! Not merely to receive,--no!--if one will +live,--to be <i>obliged</i> to receive it! Oh, oh!" he cried, striking his +forehead, "why should I live? How can I live, with this sting in my +heart?"</p> + +<p class="normal">So he raged against himself and the world, and Uncle Bräsig stood by +quietly and looked at him. At last he said, "Go on like that a little +longer; that pleases me uncommonly; the old nobleman's humor must work +itself out. What? You will have no friendship with honest, burgher +people? Isn't it so? If the Herr Vons should come, or even the +Pomuchelskopps and Slusuhrs and Davids, so that nobody need know, of +it, that would be more agreeable to you; but they won't come any more. +But that is only a secondary matter; you ought to be ashamed that, +under the eye of God, who delivered you this morning, you have again +expressed the wish that you had shot yourself. Why, you are a double +suicide!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Axel was silent, and turned pale; he trembled, as he thought of the +abyss into which he had looked that morning; Bräsig took his arm and +seated him on the bench, where his old father and his young wife had +sat, in their anguish and distress. Gradually he recovered himself, and +Zachary Bräsig took him again by the arm: "Come! come to your gracious +Frau! That is the best place for you now," and Axel followed like a +lamb, and when his dear young wife took him in her arms, and drew him +down by her on the sofa, and comforted him, then the hot tears +started from his eyes, the last ice was broken up, and under the warmth +of her lovely, spring sunshine his whole soul flowed out, open and +free,--still in swelling waves, but free. And Zachary Bräsig stood at +the window, and drummed the old Dessauer, so that Fritz Triddelsitz, +who was passing by, came up and asked, "Herr Inspector, do you want +me?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No!" growled Bräsig, "go about your business, and attend to your +farming."</p> + +<p class="normal">A carriage drove up, and Habermann and Franz got out of it. Franz had +gone with Habermann, about nine o'clock, to see Moses, and had told him +that, instead of the other good people, he would pay the thirty-one +thousand for his cousin, and Moses kept nodding his head, and said, +"You are good; the others are good, too; but you are rich; better is +better."</p> + +<p class="normal">When the business was settled, and Franz had gone a little way along +the street with Habermann, he said, "Dear father, sit down here a +moment, on this bench, I will come back directly, I have forgotten +something I wanted to speak to Moses about." And when he went back to +Moses he said, "My father-in-law, Habermann, told me, this morning, +that Pomuchelskopp wants to sell Gurlitz."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Wonder of wonders!" cried Moses, "Habermann, father-in-law! What does +it mean?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am going to marry his daughter."</p> + +<p class="normal">The old Jew rose painfully from his chair, and laid his withered hand +on the young head of the Christian nobleman:</p> + +<p class="normal">"The God of Abraham bless you! You marry into a good family."</p> + +<p class="normal">And after a little, Franz said, "Buy it for me, transact the business +for me, but my name must not be mentioned, and no one--especially +Habermann--is to know anything about it. At St. John's, I can raise a +hundred thousand thalers."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But how high shall I go?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I Leave that to you; but inquire about it to-day. I will come again +to-morrow, and we can talk it over."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well," said Moses, "this is business, this is honest business. Why +shouldn't I do a little business?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Franz left him.</p> + +<p class="normal">When Axel saw the two getting out of the carriage, he tried to control +himself, and to conceal his agitation, but in vain. Too wild a flood +was rushing through his soul, the green leaves were torn and scattered, +and branches and limbs of trees floated down the current; Frida and +Bräsig interposed; and when he was rushing towards Habermann +impulsively, Frida held him back, saying, "Axel, dear Axel, not now! +To-morrow, the day after, any time! You can always find him."</p> + +<p class="normal">And Habermann took his hat, and said he had a message from Fritz +Triddelsitz's father, and went out. Franz went up to Axel, and embraced +him, and said, "Come into the other room, Axel, I have much to say to +you."</p> + +<p class="normal">And when they had been there awhile, Franz looked in at the door, and +called Frida. And, a while after, Daniel Sadenwater ran out into the +yard, to look for the Herr Inspector Habermann, and as he passed in, +before Bräsig's eyes, Bräsig began to find it lonely in the room, and +he went out into the garden, and placed himself on a little elevation, +and looked over to the Rexow firs, and the Lauban pond, thinking his +own thoughts, and they began in this wise: "Remarkable! What is life, +what is human life?" and when his thoughts had lasted about an hour and +a halt, and he had snapped at innumerable flies, they at last broke out +into words: "I wish one could get something to eat, by and by, and then +a quiet place, to recreate one's self a little!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And his wish was granted, for Daniel came and called him, and when he +entered the room Habermann stood by Axel, holding his hand, and Franz +was rubbing his hands, and looking at the dinner-table, and he came up +to Bräsig, saying, "Herr Inspector, we have good appetites to-day!" And +Frida stood there, with the sweetest smile, and the most blessed +content in her face, and said:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr Inspector,--Herr Assessor, I would say,--when we first came to +Pumpelhagen, you were my neighbor at table, now that we are going away, +you must be so once more."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Going away?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, old friend," said Habermann, "you are a Jack of all trades, and +know all that is going on; but you never thought of this: the Herr von +Rambow has exchanged with Franz, he takes Hogen Selchow, and Franz, +Pumpelhagen."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is a good arrangement, Karl, and if you crack your jokes on me, +because I knew nothing about it, I knew, at least, several years ago, +that the Herr von Rambow, who was your pupil, would come to something." +And he went up to Franz, and shook his hand heartily.</p> + +<p class="normal">After dinner, many things were talked over, and every one could +perceive, by Axel's demeanor, how much lighter his heart was, now that +he was no longer indebted to these people, but only to his cousin; and +in this better mood, he agreed to everything, promised to let the +inspector manage the estate, and to give Franz proper security.</p> + +<p class="normal">Our story rapidly approaches its conclusion. After a week or so, Moses +came to terms with Pomuchelskopp, for Gurlitz. It was sold for a +hundred and ninety-two thousand thalers. From Moses Franz went straight +to Schultz, the carpenter:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr Schultz, can you hold your tongue?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Trust me for that."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well,--I am now owner of Pumpelhagen; send some of your people out +there, and let them tear down the paddocks you built yonder."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have thought, all along, that the beasts would have a short life."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well; I am also, after St. John's, the owner of Gurlitz."</p> + +<p class="normal">"See, see! So with Herr Pomuchelskopp too, it is at last: 'Out! out!'"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes; but now listen to me. I want to have a pastor's-widow-house +built there, and it must be planned exactly like the parsonage, and +stand just opposite, close by the church-yard. You can take the measure +to-morrow."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No need of that, I have two measures already, one of my own, and one +that Mamselle Habermann took, with her apron-strings and cap-ribbons."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good," said Franz, and a merry smile overspread his face, "use that +one."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But it wasn't right."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No matter! You must build after that measure. Buy your needful timber +to-morrow, engage carriers here in Rahnstadt, and a good master mason; +but before all things, don't breathe a word of it to anybody! If you +want money, apply to Moses."</p> + +<p class="normal">He went off, and old carpenter Schultz stood in the door, looking after +him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Noblemen, noblemen! Crazy performances! Cap-ribbons! Apron-strings! +But Pomuchelskopp out! out! Isn't that good news?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Franz went to Hogen Selchow; Habermann and Inspector Bremer, who had +been engaged for Axel, went with him. Axel departed, with bag and +baggage, and the burgomeister from Rahnstadt came in, to superintend +the transfer of the property, and with him Bräsig, as assessor. Three +weeks were taken up in this business, and in the repairs and +refurnishing of Pumpelhagen; then all was arranged to satisfaction. The +Frau Pastorin, also, had completed the preparations for the wedding. I +shall write about this wedding, exactly as it was; it passed over very +quietly, and I shall quietly pass it over.</p> + +<p class="normal">The day after the wedding, Louise and Franz, and the Frau Pastorin and +Habermann, sat in a great coach, and Bräsig was on the box, and they +drove to Pumpelhagen. As they passed through Gurlitz, there was a great +display of fir boards and beams, and oaken sills, and a notched beam +lay all ready, on one side, and the carpenter, Schultz, stood there, in +his shirt sleeves, superintending his workmen. Franz stopped the +carriage, and called out to the energetic old man, "Is everything +ready, Herr Schultz?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Everything is ready."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then you may speak, Herr Schultz."</p> + +<p class="normal">"All right!" said Schultz. "But, Mamselle Hab---- I should say, +gracious Frau, what trouble you have cost me! When I thought I had it, +I hadn't it by a long way. I shall have to put in another notched +beam."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What?" asked Louise, and looked at Franz.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Only this, dear child," said Franz, putting his arm around her, "that +I have bought Gurlitz, and am going to build a pastor's-widow-house +here, just like the parsonage."</p> + +<p class="normal">"For me?" cried the little Frau Pastorin, and the tears which had risen +to her eyes, when she looked at the church-yard where her Pastor slept, +flowed freely, and she grasped his hand, and bathed it with tears of +joy, for the tears which start in sadness often change to tears of joy.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And I thought," continued Franz, "that my father-in-law and Bräsig +might live with you, as they have done. And I thought, father, you +could undertake the management of Gurlitz, and you and Bräsig could +also have an eye to Pumpelhagen, and see if it is managed properly."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Just the thing!" cried Bräsig, from the box, who had heard everything +because the front was down, "Karl, what did I say to you? He'll do!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Habermann's eyes glistened with joy. To have occupation and +responsibility again! to be active and useful! Louise threw herself +upon her husband's breast: "Franz, what a dear, dear fellow you are!" +And the carriage drove on, and arrived at Pumpelhagen. No triumphal +arches this time,--but in every heart was erected a triumphal arch, to +the glory of the Heavenly Father!</p> + +<p class="normal">I have now finished my story, and might as well make an end of it; but +I know how it is: many people would like to be informed of what has +happened to our friends during the eighteen years since 1848, and so I +will write one more chapter.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER XLVII.</h2> + +<h3>CONCLUSION.</h3> +<br> + +<p class="normal">A year ago, before I moved from Mecklenburg to Thuringia, I visited the +old chimney-corner once more, where I had spent so many happy days in +my youth; and so I came to Rahnstadt, and went from there one +afternoon, in the month of June, along the road to Gurlitz.</p> + +<p class="normal">I intended to visit Habermann and Bräsig and the Frau Pastorin, whom I +had known since the time I was an apprentice, and had often visited in +Rahnstadt; I had known Gottlieb too, at first in his Pietist days, +and,--strangely,--we came to be very good friends, although we held +quite different opinions; probably because I was a very sedate youth, +and Gottlieb liked me on that account.</p> + +<p class="normal">When I arrived at Gurlitz, I went up to the widow-house, and took hold +of the handle of the door; the door was fast. "Hm!" said I to myself, +"it is Sunday afternoon, it is hot, they have all gone to sleep." I +went to the window, and raised myself on tiptoe, to look in; when a +voice behind me said:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh, Herr, that will do you no good; there is nobody there."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Doesn't the Frau Pastorin live here?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"She is dead."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And Habermann?" I inquired.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He has moved to Pumpelhagen, to live with the gracious Frau."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is the Herr Pastor at home?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, he is at home," said old Jürn, for it was he, "yes, he is at +home, and the Frau Pastorin too; they are just drinking coffee."</p> + +<p class="normal">I went to the house and knocked at the door. "Come in!" cried a rich +voice. I entered,--well, in the course of my life, I have met with a +great deal that I could not explain, and some things that were very +surprising,--but this time I was not merely surprised, I was really +startled! There sat Gottlieb, his haircut very reasonably short, and +instead of resembling the hollow of Frau Nüssler's baking trough his +form was more like the increasing moon; the white, sunken cheeks had +become smooth and ruddy, and the red, full lips seemed to say, "We have +had a good dinner to-day, but we and the stout teeth behind us have +done our duty." And that was the expression of the whole man, one that +enjoyed good dinners, and yet did his duty. There was nothing lazy +about his looks, all was firm and clean, and told of hard work, and +refreshing rest, and comfortable meals. Well, and now! Of the Frau +Pastorin Lining there was no trace, she had changed into the exact +image of the little, round Frau Pastorin Behrends. "Hm!" said I to +myself, "the wind sits fair in this quarter."</p> + +<p class="normal">When the first greetings were over, we sat down together, and there +were many questions to ask, especially on my side. The story that I +have related I had mostly from Bräsig; Habermann also would let a word +fall, now and then, for I was rather a favourite with the old man, and +some things I inquired about elsewhere, a little later, and because the +principal events occurred while I was apprenticed on an estate, I have +called it, "During my apprenticeship."</p> + +<p class="normal">Gottlieb told me various things, and Frau Pastorin Lining helped him, +for she was constantly interrupting; and when I rose, to go to +Pumpelhagen,--for I had known Franz also, when I was apprenticed in the +region,--Gottlieb said, "Yes, go! You will find them all together, +there; we will come by and by, and bring our three children; the oldest +is absent, he is already at the gymnasium." I went through the Gurlitz +church-yard, thinking over what I had heard, and it was just what is +always happening on this earth; joy and sorrow, birth and death.</p> + +<p class="normal">The first of our friends who had deceased was Bauschan. He did not die +a natural death,--not that he committed suicide--no! One day weaver +Ruhrdanz came into the Rexow farm-yard, with a rusty flint-lock, +took Bauschan by the collar, and led him into the garden; the +new crown-prince was there as a spectator, and--as appeared +afterwards--behaved very badly upon the occasion, rushing about, and +growling. A shot was heard, and soon after Ruhrdanz came in, and +reported that Bauschan had made a very Christian end. Frau Nüssler +poured him a glass of schnapps, and when he had drank it, very gravely, +he said that he and the other Gurlitz people had been before the court +that morning; they were all sentenced to a year's imprisonment, and +because he was the head one, or the ringleader, as they called it, he +must have six months longer. He went out, but came back to say: "Frau, +you will not forget my old woman! It all happened because we had no +papers."</p> + +<p class="normal">The second who died was Jochen himself. Since the time that he had +given up the control, he had taken to managing; he ran about the fields +all day, especially in places where there was nothing to do, and would +stand there, shaking his head, but saying nothing. And one Sunday, +between Christmas and New-Year's, when the snow lay a foot deep over +the fields, he was out and happened to fall into a ditch. He came home +quite chilled; Frau Nüssler gave him camomile tea, by the quart; he +drank it submissively, but next morning he said, "Mother, what is not +to be helped, is not. What must be, must. It is all as true as leather, +and one can do nothing more about it," and with that, he fell asleep. +He had managed himself to death, and Frau Nüssler thought seriously of +inscribing on his tombstone:</p> + + +<p class="center">"He died in his vocation."</p> + + +<p class="normal">Moses was the next; the old man had walked firm and upright through +life, and firm and upright he went out of it. He died firm in his +faith, and they did for him according to the customs of the tribe of +Judah,--for he belonged to the tribe of Judah,---and when he was buried +David sat in the ashes, with a torn coat, and many Christians followed +him to the church-yard around which he had built the oaken fence, and I +believe he is in Abraham's bosom, where Christians are also received. +And the day after his funeral, there were three people standing at his +grave, namely, Habermann, and the two young Fraus von Rambow,--Frida +was come for a visit,--and Habermann wiped his old eyes, and the two +young Fraus laid a couple of fresh wreaths on the grave of the old Jew, +and, as they walked thoughtfully away through the Rahnstadt meadows, +Habermann said, "He was a Jew in faith, and a Christian in deeds."</p> + +<p class="normal">And now comes Häuning's turn--our brave old Häuning. Pomuchelskopp had +gone off, neck and crop, bag and baggage, in the blue coach with the +coat of arms, and with as many furniture wagons as he had fat sheep, to +Rostock. When times got a little better for credit, he earned himself a +nickname, they called him, "Much too cheap!" for he related his story +to every one who would listen to him, and lamented his hard fate, and +the sale of Gurlitz, and always ended with a deep sigh, "Much too +cheap! Oh, very much too cheap!"</p> + +<p class="normal">His brave Häuning pursued her course unterrified, and kept up her +authority; but, dear knows, what a time she had with those Rostock +maid-servants! They would not put up with such treatment as the +Gurlitzers were compelled to endure. Every week, she had a new maid; +one, indeed, behaved more reasonably, that was an old cook; but when +she had been there about three months, this worthless creature became +refractory. Häuning was very decided, she caught up the fire-tongs, and +gave her a hard blow on the head. The girl hadn't another word to say, +for she fell flat on the kitchen hearth. A doctor came and talked a +great deal about suggillations and fractures; but the end of the story +was, the poor girl was taken to the hospital. The doctor was an honest +man, he reported the matter to the rightful authorities, and Häuning +was summoned before the court. If she had made use of a pudding-stick, +of the same length and thickness, they would have done nothing to her; +but, in her valor, she had seized the tongs! Tongs were not down in the +Mecklenburg statutes, and so Häuning was condemned, besides the costs, +and what she must give the poor girl, to six weeks' imprisonment. +Pomuchel protested, he appealed, he supplicated; it was of no use; +Häuning was imprisoned on account of her great valor. He told his story +to every one who would listen, he poured out streams of abusive talk +about the court; at last, one of the judges happened to hear of it, and +the chancellor made Pomuchel a present of four weeks' imprisonment, for +himself. He tried to buy off, with money; but it was no go; even the +Herr Senator Bank said, "No! this time the poltroon should be served +out." And so those two old brave people were confined in adjoining +rooms, over Christmas, 1852, and New Year's, 1853; and when they had +been there a fortnight the jailer remarked to his wife: "Fika, there is +quite a difference between the two; he runs about his room as if he was +crazy, berating everybody, and she sits there, stiff and stark, in the +same place, where she sat down the first evening."</p> + +<p class="normal">Malchen and Salchen, meanwhile, to the great distress of their elders, +gave a great tea-party, to which Herr Süssmann was invited, as he had, +merely out of compassion, accepted a situation in the Mählenstrasse.</p> + +<p class="normal">When our old friend were set free, Pomuchelskopp sat down in the living +room, and bewailed himself to his daughters. Häuning went straight to +the kitchen, and there found a day-laborer's wife; for, during their +imprisonment, there had been a great excitement, and the Rostock +maid-servants had resolved that no respectable girl should go into +service at the Pomuchelskopps. So they hired this woman by the day.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What do you get a day?" asked Häuning.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Sixteen groschen," was the reply. Häuning grasped the tongs, but +bethought herself in time. But this self-control made the evil overflow +into her blood, and three days after she was dead; and in three days +more she was buried. Pomuchelskopp and his daughters do not know where +she lies, and if any one inquires, they say, "She is buried over +yonder,--over yonder." But Gustaving, who, in his capacity of +inspector, often visits the city, knows. He took one of the little ones +by the hand, and showed him the place: "See, Krischaning, mother is +buried there."</p> + +<p class="normal">I have been telling of sorrow, and have yet more to relate; but why not +also of joy? There was joy in the pastor's-widow-house, for long years. +Frau Pastorin used to sit, on summer evenings, and look at her Pastor's +grave. Ah! how glad she would be to die; and then, when Dürt brought +the candles, she would turn round, and look at her old furniture, and +the picture gallery, and the duster in its old place, and under the +picture gallery, the two friendly old faces, which she had so often +seen there in her Pastor's time, and then, how glad she was to live! +Habermann was constantly active, no longer for strangers, but for his +children and grandchildren, for Louise had two of the dearest little +girls; and he had still another gratification. Fritz Triddelsitz walked +in one day,--of course in a blue dress-coat,--with the little assessor, +and introduced himself as a proprietor, in Lower Pomerania, and the +little assessor as his bride; and when he had talked of various matters +through the evening, and they had gone away, Bräsig said, "Karl, this +time you were right again; but who would have thought it? Your +greyhound has become quite a reasonable being; but don't plume yourself +too much upon it; it is not your doing, it is the little assessor's."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bräsig himself scoured the whole region after news. Now he was in +Rexow, then in Pumpelhagen, then in Rahnstadt, but his chief place of +resort was Hogen Selchow. He journeyed thither, nearly every quarter, +and when he came back he would say, "Karl, it goes well; he has quite +given up the management, and now he sits in his work-shop, and invents. +Stuff and nonsense, of course; but Bremer says he would not ask for a +better master, and the gracious Frau looks as happy and blessed as an +angel in Paradise. But, Karl, he is not so stupid, after all. He has +made one invention, that I am going to try, myself. You see, you take +an old hat, cut out a hole in front, and put a lantern in, and when you +are riding out, in the winter evenings, and have your lantern there, +you can see, as if it were broad daylight."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bräsig actually brought Axel's invention into practice, and frightened +all the country people in the region; but once when he had visited +Hogen Selchow, he had an attack of his old friend the Podagra, and the +old friend kicked him in the stomach, with both feet, and on the way +home, he took a severe cold. And so he lay on his death-bed.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Frau Pastorin and Frau Nüssler and his old Karl Habermann were +sitting by him, and the Frau Pastorin said, "Dear Bräsig, shall I not +call in the young Herr Pastor?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let it go, Frau Pastorin, you have called me a heathen all my life; +it may not have been right for me to live as I have done; but the +pastor-business! No, it is better so. And, Karl, my sister's daughter, +Lotting, is to have two thousand thalers; and the rest shall go to the +school in Rahnstadt; for, Karl, the Frau Pastorin has enough to live +on, and you have enough to live on, but the poor school-children are so +badly off! And Frau Nüssler has enough to live on, and my godchild, +Mining, and you, Karl, and you are all going to live, and I am going to +die." And then his mind began to wander and he was once more in his +early childhood, keeping sheep for his father, and an old ram made him +a great deal of trouble, and he called to Frau Nüssler to come and help +him, and Frau Nüssler sat down on the bed, and put her arms around him, +and then he began about the three sweethearts, and Frau Nüssler, and +kept calling out that he had never loved any one but her, and Frau +Nüssler kissed the words from his lips, saying, "I know it, Bräsig, my +dear, old Zachary, I know it."</p> + +<p class="normal">And the fancies came thicker and faster, about the time when he was +assessor at the court, and the indiciums, and the young Herr von +Rambow, and the Lauban pond, and how he threw the pistol into the pond +and lost four groschen on the wager. And then a strange lightness came +over him, and he told his dear old Frau Nüssler the most wonderful +stories about the little twins, and his godchild, Mining, and Karl +Habermann and Louise,--all intermingled with each other,--holding Frau +Nüssler's hand fast in his all the while; but suddenly he raised +himself, and said, "Frau Nüssler, lay your hand on my head; I have +always loved you. Karl Habermann, rub my feet, they are cold." +Habermann did so, and a bright smile flashed across Bräsig's face, and +he said slowly, "I was always ahead of you in style." That was the +last.</p> + +<p class="normal">Our little Frau Pastorin soon followed him. There are a few people who +live very happily on earth, and yet are glad to die. To these few +belonged the little round Frau. She was very comfortable here below, +but when she thought of the home above, a dear old face shown upon her, +and old tones rang in her ears, for she thought of heaven as a little, +neat, clean village church, where the angels sang and her pastor +preached. Now she is with him, and can put on his mantle, and tie his +bands, and sing with him, in the little church, no longer "funeral +hymns," no! "resurrection songs."</p> + +<p class="normal">With these thoughts running through my head, I turned the corner near +the arbor, where so many people had sat in their trouble and distress, +and saw, playing on the lawn, three little maidens from four to eleven +years of age. And, as I came nearer, I saw a lady with a friendly, +contented expression in her face, and she dropped her work in her lap, +and smiled at the little girls, and shook her finger at them: "Don't +provoke me too far!" Near her, sat a fresh, healthy-looking man, +reading the newspaper, and he laid it down and shook his head, as if he +said, "There is nothing in it." And farther on sat an old man, at whose +knee a little girl of twelve years was leaning, and chatting with him, +and he interrupted her lively childish prattle, to say to the young +Frau: "Let them play, Louise, they will become steady and reasonable +soon enough." And as I came round the corner, the old man exclaimed: +"Good heavens! is not that----?" And Franz and Louise came towards me, +and Franz said, "See! see! That is right, Fritz, to visit us once +more!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Many greetings, gracious Frau," said I, "from my Louise," for my wife +is a Louise too. And we talked of one thing and another, but our quiet +did not last long, for a troop came tearing through the garden, like +the wild hunt, and four boys, with brown eyes, and brown cheeks, and +gray jackets and trousers, scampered up the path, and a little rogue of +six years rushed up to Franz and clasped his knees, saying over his +shoulder to the others, "I am the first!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said another, a boy of about twelve, "I believe you, you ran +through the meadow; but how you look! Mather will scold finely!" And +now the little fellow looked down at his stockings and trousers, and, +truly! if his mother were contented with their condition, he would have +reason to be thankful.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Are your father and mother coming soon?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said the eldest boy, "they are close by. And grandmother is +coming too, and Frau von Rambow, who came yesterday."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, Frida?" cried Louise, "that is good!" And it was not long before +Rudolph and Mining came up, and they looked like a fair day in summer, +when the sunlight lies broad over the fields, and the shadows are +short, and men are working in their shirt-sleeves. Rudolph has become a +capable fellow who counts for something among his colleagues, for he +does not carry on his farming in the old-fashioned, narrow ways, and +has regard to the welfare of other people, and of the whole country, as +well as to his own profit. And behind them came Frau Nüssler, and +Frida. The Frau von Rambow looked to the right, and the left, and her +face grew sad, and when she came to the arbor and the first greetings +were over, Louise called to her oldest daughter, "Frida, bring auntie a +chair!" for Frida had once said, she could never sit again on that +bench, where she had sat in such anguish.</p> + +<p class="normal">Frau Nüssler went up to Habermann:</p> + +<p class="normal">"How are you, Brother Karl?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Finely!" cried Habermann, in a loud voice, for Frau Nüssler had grown +very hard of hearing, "and you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Very well, all but my hearing; that is worse. They say it comes from +taking cold. Nonsense! how should I take cold? I will tell you, Karl, +it came from Jochen; for he talked and talked so much, at the last, and +I was quite worn out. Well, he could not help it, it was in his +nature."</p> + +<p class="normal">Then came Pastor Gottlieb and Lining, with three children. And the +children played together, and their elders talked together, and at +supper time the tables were laid, out of doors, one for the older +people by themselves, and one for the children by themselves, and +Louise's eldest daughter presided at the children's table, and +Grandfather Habermann at the other, and both with a very different rule +from our old Häuning. How friendly and pleasant it was!</p> + +<p class="normal">And as we old subjects of Habermann were sitting together merrily, +rejoicing in his government, who came along the garden path? Fritz +Triddelsitz and the little assessor. What an uproar! How many questions +were asked and answered, in a few moments!</p> + +<p class="normal">All at once, Triddelsitz caught sight of me: "Fritz, where did <i>you</i> +come from?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh, Fritz where did <i>you</i> come from?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Fritz I haven't seen you in seven cold winters!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nor I you, Fritz."</p> + +<p class="normal">So we "Fritzed" each other, back and forth, to the amusement of the +whole company.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Fritz," asked he, "do you still write books?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Fritz, I have written a whole heap of them."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, Fritz, do me a single favor, and never put me into any of them."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eh!" said I, "there's no help for it; you are in already, Fritz."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What am I in about?" he asked hastily.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The rendezvous, at the great water-ditch."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What is that?" asked Louise, who sat opposite me.</p> + +<p class="normal">Franz laughed heartily: "I will tell you, another time."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no!" cried Fritz.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why, what is it then?" asked the little assessor, looking at me, Fritz +Reuter, and then at him, Fritz Triddelsitz. I was silent, and he said:</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will tell you, another time."</p> + +<p class="normal">Old Grandfather Habermann laughed with all his might.</p> + +<p class="normal">When we were by ourselves, afterwards, Fritz took my arm, and said:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Just tell me, who told the story?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bräsig," said I.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I thought so," said he, "Bräsig was the chief person in the whole +story."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That he was," said I.</p> +<br> + +<hr class="W10"> +<br> + +<p class="normal">Some people may ask the question, Where are Pumpelhagen and Rexow and +Gurlitz? Well, you will look in vain for them on the map, and yet +they are situated in our German Fatherland, and I hope they are to be +found in more places than one. Everywhere, where a nobleman resides, +who does not think himself better than his fellow-men, and who +recognizes the lowest of his laborers as his brother, and himself as a +fellow-worker,--there is Pumpelhagen. Wherever there is a clergyman, +who does not demand, in his self-conceit, that everybody shall believe +precisely as he does, who makes no difference between poor and rich, +who not only preaches, but is ready with kind words, and wise counsel, +and substantial help, when it is needed,--there is Gurlitz. Wherever a +burgher is active and energetic, and is driven by an impulse to become +wiser and more capable, and thinks more of the general welfare than of +his own pecuniary advantage,--there is Rexow. And wherever these three +are united, through the love of sweet womanhood, and the hopes of +fresh, joyous childhood, there are, also, all three villages together.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> +<br> +<p class="hang1"><a name="div2_01" href="#div2Ref_01">Footnote 1</a>: Du (thou) +is the common form of address between friends; +Sie (third person plural) being used with strangers, and on formal +occasions.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><a name="div2_02" href="#div2Ref_02">Footnote 2</a>: Bräsig +probably means "Douche." "Tüsche" is Indian-ink.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><a name="div2_03" href="#div2Ref_03">Footnote 3</a>: A Pächter +is one who rents a farm.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><a name="div2_04" href="#div2Ref_04">Footnote 4</a>: A +Mecklenburg Schilling is equal to an English penny.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><a name="div2_05" href="#div2Ref_05">Footnote 5</a>: "Hug me +and kiss me, but don't tumble my curls."</p> + +<p class="hang1"><a name="div2_06" href="#div2Ref_06">Footnote 6</a>: "Cross +buns and cracknels."</p> + +<p class="hang1"><a name="div2_07" href="#div2Ref_07">Footnote 7</a>: Mignon's +song: "Poor child, what have they done to thee?"</p> + +<p class="hang1"><a name="div2_08" href="#div2Ref_08">Footnote 8</a>: The third +person singular is used n addressing inferiors.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><a name="div2_09" href="#div2Ref_09">Footnote 9</a>: Muschuken, +from Monsieur, is a kind of Mecklenburg biscuit.</p> + + +<p class="normal"><p class="hang1"><a name="div2_10" href="#div2Ref_10">Footnote 10</a>: Species +of dog.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><a name="div2_11" href="#div2Ref_11">Footnote 11</a>: +"Meinswegens"--"for all I care."</p> + +<p class="hang1"><a name="div2_12" href="#div2Ref_12">Footnote 12</a>: Herr has +the meaning of Mr., Sir, gentleman and master.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>THE END.</h3> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Seed-time and Harvest, by Fritz Reuter + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SEED-TIME AND HARVEST *** + +***** This file should be named 35889-h.htm or 35889-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/8/8/35889/ + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by the Web Archive + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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