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diff --git a/old/maldy10.txt b/old/maldy10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ad9a4ed --- /dev/null +++ b/old/maldy10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,14436 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Malady of the Century +by Max Nordau + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before distributing this or any other +Project Gutenberg file. + +We encourage you to keep this file, exactly as it is, on your +own disk, thereby keeping an electronic path open for future +readers. Please do not remove this. + +This header should be the first thing seen when anyone starts to +view the etext. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.10/04/01*END* + + + + +Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +THE MALADY OF THE CENTURY + +BY MAX NORDAU + +Author of "THE COMEDY OF SENTIMENT," "HOW WOMEN LOVE," Etc., Etc. + + + +CONTENTS. + +CHAPTER I. +Mountain and Forest + +CHAPTER II. +Vanity of Vanities + +CHAPTER III. +Heroes + +CHAPTER IV. +It was not to be + +CHAPTER V. +A Lay Sermon + +CHAPTER VI. +An Idyll + +CHAPTER VII. +Symposium + +CHAPTER VIII. +Dark Days + +CHAPTER IX. +Results + +CHAPTER X. +A Seaside Romance + +CHAPTER XL +In the Horselberg + +CHAPTER XII. +Tannhauser's Plight + +CHAPTER XIII. +Consummation + +CHAPTER XIV. +Uden Horizo + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +MOUNTAIN AND FOREST. + + +"Come, you fellows, that's enough joking. This defection of yours, +melancholy Eynhardt, combines obstinacy with wisdom, like Balaam's +ass! Well! may you rest in peace. And now let us be off." + +The glasses, filled with clear Affenthaler, rang merrily together, +the smiling landlord took up his money, and the company rose noisily +from the wooden bench, overturning it with a bang. The round table +was only proof against a similar accident on account of its +structure, which some one with wise forethought had so designed that +only the most tremendous shaking could upset its equilibrium. The +boisterous group consisted of five or six young men, easily +recognized as students by their caps with colored bands, the scars +on their faces, and their rather swaggering manner. They slung their +knapsacks on, stepped through the open door of the little arbor +where they had been sitting, on to the highroad, and gathered round +the previous speaker. He was a tall, good-looking young man, with +fair hair, laughing blue eyes, and a budding mustache. + +"Then you are determined, Eynhardt, that you won't go any further?" +asked he, with an accent which betrayed him as a Rhinelander. + +"Yes, I am determined," Eynhardt answered. + +"A groan for the worthless fellow; but more in sorrow than in +anger," said the tall one to the others. They groaned three times +loudly, all together, while the Rhinelander gravely beat time. An +unpracticed ear would very likely have failed to note the shade of +feeling implied in the noise; but he appeared satisfied. + +"Well, just as you like. No compulsion. Freedom is the best thing in +life--including the freedom to do stupid things." + +"Perhaps he knows of some cave where he is going to turn hermit," +said one of the group. + +"Or he has a little business appointment, and we should be in the +way," said another. + +They laughed, and the Rhinelander went on: + +"Well! moon away here, and we will travel on. But before all things +be true to yourself. Don't forget that the whole world is as much a +phantom as the brown Black Forest maiden. And now farewell; and +think a great deal about us phantom people, who will always keep up +the ghost of a friendship for you." + +The young man whom he addressed shook him and the others by the +hand, and they all lifted their caps with a loud "hurrah," and +struck out vigorously on the road. The sentiment of the farewell, +and the tender speeches, had been disposed of in the inn, so they +now parted gayly, in youth's happy fullness of life and hope for the +future, and without any of that secret melancholy which Time the +immeasurable distils into every parting. Hardly had they turned +their backs on the friend they left behind them when they began to +sing, "Im Schwarzen Walfisch zu Askalon," exaggerating the +melancholy of the first half of the tune, and the gayety of the +second, passing riotously away behind a turn of the road, their song +becoming fainter and fainter in the distance. + +This little scene, which took place on an August afternoon in the +year 1869, had for its theater the highroad leading from Hausach to +Triberg, just at the place where a footpath descends into the valley +to the little town of Hornberg. The persons represented were young +men who had lately graduated at Heidelberg, and who were taking a +holiday together in the Black Forest, recovering from the recent +terrors of examination in the fragrant air of the pine woods. As far +off as Offenburg they had traveled by the railway in the prosaic +fashion of commercial travelers, from there they had tramped like +Canadian backwoodsmen, and reached Hasslach--twelve miles as the +crow flies. After resting for a day they set out at the first +cockcrow, and before the noontide heat reached the lovely +Kinzigthal, which lies all along the way from Hausach to Hornberg. +Over the door of a wayside inn a signboard, festooned with freshly- +cut carpenter's shavings, beckoned invitingly to them, and here the +young men halted. The view from this place was particularly +beautiful. The road made a kind of terrace halfway up the mountain, +on one side rising sheer up for a hundred feet to its summit, +thickly wooded all the way, on the other side sloping to the wide +valley, where the Gutach flowed, at times tumbling over rough +stones, or again spreading itself softly like oil, through flat +meadow land. Below lay the little town of Hornberg, with its crooked +streets and alleys, its stately square, framing an old church, +several inns, and prosperous-looking houses and shops. Beyond the +valley rose a high, steep hill, with a white path climbing in +zigzags through its wooded sides. On the summit a white house with +many windows was perched, seeming to hang perpendicularly a thousand +feet above the valley. Its whitewashed walls stood out sharply +against the background of green pine trees, clearly visible for many +miles round. A conspicuous inscription in large black letters showed +that this audacious and picturesque house was the Schloss hotel, and +a glance at the gray ruined tower which rose behind it gave at once +a meaning to the name. Behind the hill, with its outline softened by +trees and encircled by the blue sky, were ridges of other hills in +parallel lines meeting the horizon, alternately sharp-edged and +rounded, stretching from north to south. They seemed like some great +sea, with majestic wave-hills and wave-valleys; behind the first +appeared a second, then a third, then a fourth, as far as one's eye +could see; each one of a distinct tone of color, and of all the +shades from the deepest green through blue and violet to vaporous +pale gray. + +The sight of this picture had decided Wilhelm Eynhardt not to go any +further. The others had resolved to push on to Triberg the same day, +and above all, not to turn back till they had bathed in the Boden- +see. As every persuasion was powerless to alter Eynhardt's decision, +they separated, and the travelers started on their walk to Triberg. +Eynhardt, however, stayed at Hornberg, meaning to climb to the +Schloss hotel again from the other side. + +Wilhelm Eynhardt was a young man of twenty-four, tall and slim of +figure, with a strikingly handsome face. His eyes were almond- +shaped, not large but very dark, with much charm of expression. The +finely-marked eyebrows served by their raven blackness to emphasize +the whiteness of the forehead, which was crowned by an abundant mass +of curling black hair. His fresh complexion had still the bloom of +early youth, and would hardly have betrayed his age, if it had not +been shaded by a dark brown silky beard, which had never known a +razor. It was an entirely uncommon type, recalling in profile, +Antinous, and the full face reminding one of the St. Sebastian of +Guido Roni in the museum of the Capitol; a face of the noblest +manhood, without a single coarse feature. His manner, although +quiet, gave the impression of keen enthusiasm, or, more rightly +speaking, of unworldly inspiration. All who saw him were powerfully +attracted, but half-unconsciously felt a slight doubt whether even +so fine a specimen of manhood was quite fitly organized and equipped +for the strife of existence. At the university he had been given the +nickname of Wilhelmina, on account of a certain gentleness and +delicacy of manner, and because he neither drank nor smoked. Such +jokes, not ill-natured, were directed against his outward +appearance, but had a shade of meaning as regards his character. + +As Wilhelm walked into the courtyard of the Schloss hotel he stopped +a moment to regain his breath. Before him was the stately new house, +whose white-painted walls and many windows had looked down on the +high-road; to the left stood the round tower inclosed within a +ruined wall, shading an airy lattice-work building, in which on a +raised wooden floor stood a table and some benches. Several people, +evidently guests at the hotel, sat there drinking wine and beer, and +eying the newcomer curiously. The burly landlord, in village dress, +emerged from the open door of the cellar in the tower, and wished +him "good-day." He had a thick beard and a sunburned face, with +good-natured blue eyes. With a searching glance at the young man's +cap and knapsack, he waited for Wilhelm to speak. + +"Can I have a room looking on to the valley?" asked the latter. + +"Not at this moment," the landlord answered, clearing his throat +loudly; "there is hardly a room free here, and that only in the top +story. But to-morrow, or the day after, many people are leaving, and +then I can give you what you want." + +Wilhelm's face clouded with disappointment, but only for a moment, +then he said: "Very well, I will stay." + +"Luggage?" said the landlord, in his short, unceremonious way. "My +luggage is at Haslach. It can come up to-morrow." + +"Bertha," called the landlord, in such a strident tone that the +mountains echoed the sound. The visitors drinking in the kiosk +smiled; they were well accustomed to the man. A neat red-cheeked +girl appeared in the doorway. "Number 47," shouted the landlord, and +went off to his other duties. + +Bertha led the new guest up three flights of uncarpeted wooden +staircase, down a long passage to a light, clean, but sparely- +furnished room. The girl told him the hours of meals, brought some +water, and left him alone. He hung his knapsack on a hook on the +wall, opened the little window, and gazed long at the view. +Underneath was the open space where he had been standing, to the +left the tower, and behind, over the ruined walls, he could see the +old, neglected castle yard full of weeds and heaps of rubbish--a +picture of decay and desolation. + +"I have chosen well," thought Wilhelm, for he loved solitude, and +promised himself enjoyable hours of wandering in the ruins in +company with luxuriant flowers and singing birds. + +He barely gave himself time to freshen his face with cold water, and +to change his thick walking shoes for lighter ones; immediately +hurrying out to make acquaintance with the castle. Before he could +get there he had first to find in the tumbledown wall a hole large +enough to enable him to get through. He shortly found himself in a +fairly large square space, the uneven ground being formed of a mass +of rubbish, mounds of earth, and deep holes. Woods protected the +greater part of it, most of the trees stunted and choked by +undergrowth and shrubs, with occasionally a high, solitary pine +tree, and near to the west and south walls half-withered oaks and +mighty beeches stood thickly. Here and there from the bushes peeped +up bare pieces of crumbling stone and broken pieces of mortar, in +whose crevices hung long grasses, and where yellow, white, and red +flowers nestled. Climbing, stumbling, and slipping, he worked his +way through this wilderness, the length and breath of which he +wished to inspect so as to discover a place where he could rest +quietly, when he suddenly came to a precipitous fall of the ground, +concealed from him by a thick curtain of leaves. Startled and taken +by surprise, the ground seemed to him to sink under his feet. He +instinctively caught hold of some branches to keep himself from +falling, pricking his hands with the thorns, and breaking a slender +bough, finally rolling in company with dust and earth, torn-out +bushes and stone, down a steep declivity of several feet to a little +grass plot at the bottom. He heard a slight scream near him, and a +girlish form sprang up and cried in an anxious voice: + +"Have you hurt yourself?" + +Wilhelm picked himself up as quickly as he could, brushed the earth +from his clothes, and taking off his cap said, "Thanks, not much. +Only a piece of awkwardness. But I am afraid I have frightened you?" +he added. + +"A little bit; but that is all right." + +They looked at each other for the first time, and the lady laughed, +while Wilhelm blushed deeply. She stopped again directly, blushed +also, and dropped her eyes. She was a girl in the first bloom of +youth, of particularly fine and well-made figure, with a beautiful +face; two dimples in her cheeks giving her a roguish expression, and +a pair of lively brown eyes. A healthy color was in her cheeks, and +in the well-cut, seductive little mouth. Her luxuriant, golden-brown +hair, in the fashion of the day, was brushed back in long curls. She +had as her only ornament a pale gold band in her hair, and wore a +simple dress of light-flowered material, the high waistband fitting +close to the girlish figure. Conventionality began to assert its +rights over nature, and the girl too felt confused at finding +herself in the middle of a conversation with a strange man, suddenly +shot down at her very feet. Wilhelm understood and shared her +embarrassment, and bowing, he said: + +"As no doubt we are at the same house, allow me to introduce myself. +My name is Wilhelm Eynhardt. I come from Berlin, and took up my +abode an hour ago at the Schloss hotel." + +"From Berlin," said the girl quickly; "then we are neighbors. That +is very nice. And where do you live in Berlin, if I may ask?" + +"In Dorotheenstrasse." + +"Of course you do," and a clear laugh deepened the shadow of her +dimples. + +"Why 'of course?'" asked Wilhelm, rather surprised. + +"Why, because that is our Latin quarter, and as a student--you are a +student, I suppose?" + +"Yes, and no. In the German sense I am no longer a student, for I +took my degree a year ago; but the word in English is better and +truer, as there 'student' is used where we should say scholar +(gelehrter). Scholars we are, not only learners. In the English +sense then I am a student, and hope to remain so all my life." + +"Ah, you speak English," she said, quickly catching at the word; +"that is charming. I am tremendously fond of English, and am quite +accustomed to it, as I spent a great part of my time in England when +I was very young. I have been told that I have a slight English +accent in speaking German. Do you think so?" + +"My ear is not expert enough for that," said Wilhelm apologetically. + +"My friends," she chattered on, "nearly all speak French; but I +think English is much more uncommon. Fluent English in a German is +always proof of good education. Don't you think so?" + +"Not always," said Wilhem frankly; "it might happen that one had +worked as a journeyman in America." + +The girl turned up her nose a little at this rather unkind +observation, but Wilhelm went on: + +"With your leave I would rather keep to our mother-tongue. To speak +in a foreign language with a fellow-country-woman without any +necessity would be like acting a charade, and a very uncomfortable +thing." + +"I think a charade is very amusing," she answered; "but just as you +like. Opportunities of speaking English are not far to seek. Most of +the visitors at the hotel are English. I dare say you have noticed +it already. But they are not the best sort. They are common city +people, who even drop their h's, but who play at being lords on the +Continent. Of course I have learned already to tell a 'gentleman' +from a 'snob.'" + +Wilhelm smiled at the self-conscious importance with which she +spoke. His eyes wandered over her beautiful hair, to the tender +curve of her slender neck and beautiful shoulders, while she, +feeling perfectly secure again, settled herself comfortably. Her +seat was a projecting piece of stone, which had been converted by a +soft covering of moss into a delightful resting-place. An +overhanging bush shaded it pleasantly. In front lay a corner of the +castle; across a smooth piece of turf and through a wide gap in the +wall they caught a view of the mountains, as if painted by some +artist's brush--a perfect composition which would have put the +crowning touch to his fame. The girl had been trying to make a +sketch of the view in a well-worn sketchbook which lay near. + +"You have given a sufficient excuse for your sketches by your +feeling for natural beauty," remarked Wilhelm. "May I look at the +page?" + +"Oh," she said, somewhat confused, "my will is of the best, but I +can do so little," and she hesitatingly gave him her album. He took +it and also the pencil, looked alternately at the mountains and on +the page of the book, and without asking leave began to improve upon +it, strengthening a line here, lightening a shadow and giving +greater breadth, and then growing deeply interested in his work, he +sat down without ceremony on the mossy bank, took a piece of india- +rubber, and erasing here, adding lines there, sometimes laying in a +shadow, giving strength to the foreground and lightness to the +background, he ended by making a really pretty and artistic sketch. + +The girl had watched him wonderingly, and said as he returned the +album, "But you are a great artist," and without letting him speak +she went on, "and by your appearance I had taken you for a student! +But you are not in the least like a student, nor in fact like a +German either. I have often met Indian princes in society in London, +and I think you are very much like them." + +Wilhelm smiled. "There is a grain of truth in what you say, although +you overrate it a little. A great artist I certainly am not, nor +even a little one, but I have always observed much and painted a +good deal myself, and originally I thought of devoting myself to an +artist's career; and if I have nothing in common with Indian +princes, and am merely a plebeian German, I very likely have a drop +of Indian blood in my veins." + +"Really," she said, with curiosity. + +"Yes, my mother was a Russian German living in Moscow, and whose +father, a Thuringian, had married a Russian girl of gypsy descent. +Through this grandmother, whom I never knew, I am related by remote +genealogical descent to Indians. But you do not look like a German +either, with your beautiful dark hair and eyebrows." + +She took this personal compliment in good part as she answered +quickly: + +"There is some reason for that too. Just as you have Indian, I have +French blood in my veins. My father's mother was a Colonial, her +maiden name was Du Binache." + +So they gossiped on like old acquaintances. Young and beautiful as +they were, they found the deepest pleasure in one another, and the +cold feeling of strangeness melted as by a charm. They were awakened +to the consciousness that half an hour earlier neither of them had +an idea of the other's existence, by the appearance of a girl in the +gap in the wall, who seemed very much surprised at the sight of +their evident intimacy. The young lady stood up rather hastily and +went a few steps toward the newcomer, a servant-maid, who had +brought a cloak for her mistress, and took charge of her album, +sunshade, and large straw hat. + +"Is it so late already?" she said, with a naive surprise, which left +no room for doubt even to Wilhelm's modesty. + +"Certainly, fraulein," said the maid, pointing with her hand to the +distant mountain, whose peaks were already clothed with the orange +hue of twilight; then she looked alternately at her young mistress +and the strange gentleman, whose handsome face she inwardly noted. + +"Do you think of making any stay here?" asked the young lady of +Wilhelm, who followed slowly. + +"Yes, certainly," he answered at once. + +"Then we may become good friends. My parents will be glad to make +your acquaintance. I did not tell you before that my father is Herr +Ellrich." + +As Wilhelm merely bowed, without seeming to recognize the name, she +said rather sharply, and slightly raising her voice: + +"I thought as you came from Berlin you would be sure to know my +father's name--Councilor Ellrich, Vice-President of the +'Seehandlung.'" + +The name and title made very little impression on Wilhelm, but his +politeness brought forth an "Ah!" which satisfied Fraulein Ellrich. +They left the ruins by an easy path which Wilhelm had not noticed +before, and walked together to the entrance of the hotel, where she +took leave of him by an inclination of her head. He betook himself +to his room in a dream, and while he recalled to his mind the +picture of her beautiful face, and the clear ring of her voice, he +thought how grateful he was to this chance, that not only had he +become acquainted with the girl, but that he had avoided in such a +glorious fashion the discomfort of a formal introduction. Also +Wilhelm knew himself well, and felt sure that, badly endowed as he +was for forming new acquaintances, he could never have become +friends with Fraulein Ellrich apart from the accident of his fall in +the castle yard. + +Dinner was served at separate tables where single guests might take +it as they pleased, and Wilhelm was absentminded and dreamy when he +sat down. He scarcely glanced at the large, cool dining-room, +ornamented with engravings of portraits of the Grand Dukes of Baden +and their wives. Six large windows looked into the valley of the +Gutach with its little town of Hornberg, and the mountains lying +beyond. He hardly noticed the rather silent people at the other +tables, in which the English element predominated. He had come in +purposely late in the hope of finding Fraulein Ellrich already +there. She was not present; but he was not kept long in suspense +before a waiter opened the door, and the lovely girl appeared +accompanied by a stately gentleman and a stout lady. They seemed to +be known to the servants, for as soon as they appeared the +headwaiter and his subordinates rushed toward them, and with many +bows and scrapes took their wraps from them and ushered them to +their places. + +Wilhelm, who possessed very little knowledge of society, was +somewhat at a loss. Ought he to recognize the young lady? If he +followed his inclination, he certainly would do so. But her parents! +They seemed to be cold and reserved-looking. Happily all fell out +for the best. The Ellrichs walked straight to the table where he was +sitting, and in a moment Wilhelm was greeting his lovely +acquaintance with a low bow. Her quick eyes had already recognized +him from the doorway. She returned his greeting smiling and +blushing, and as her father nodded kindly, the ice was broken. +Wilhelm introduced himself, and the councilor gave him the tips of +his fingers and said: "If you have no objection we will sit at your +table." His wife, who gazed at Wilhelm through a gold "pince-nez" +with hardly concealed surprise, took her place next to him; on the +other side sat her husband, and opposite the daughter's face smiled +at him. + +The councilor was a well-preserved man of about fifty, of good +height, dressed in a well-made gray traveling suit, with a light +gray silk tie adorned with a pin of black pearl. His closely-cut +hair was very thin, and had almost disappeared from the top of his +head. His chin was clean-shaven, but his well-brushed whiskers and +closely-cut mustache showed signs of gray. His light blue eyes were +cold and rather tired-looking, at the corners of the mouth were +evident signs of indolence, and his whole appearance gave an +impression of self-consciousness mixed with indifference toward the +rest of mankind; his wife, stout, blooming, and tranquil, appeared +to be a kindly soul. + +The conversation opened trivially on the circumstances of Wilhelm +meeting with Fraulein Ellrich, and on the beauty of the +neighborhood, which Herr Ellrich glorified as not being overrun. + +"I would much rather recommend it for quiet than Switzerland with +its crowds," he said. + +Wilhelm agreed with him, and related how he was induced by the +romantic aspect of the place to give up his original plans, and to +anchor himself here. When they questioned him, he gave them some +information about Heidelberg and his journey to Hornberg. Frau +Ellrich complimented him on his sketch, and while he modestly +disclaimed the praise, she asked him why he had not devoted himself +to art. + +"That is a peculiar result of my development," answered Wilhelm +thoughtfully. "While I was still at the gymnasium I sketched and +painted hard, and after the final examination I went to the Art +Academy for two years; but the further I went into the study of art, +and the more attentively I followed in the beaten track of art- +studies, the clearer it was to me that he who would secure an +abiding success in art must be a blind copyist of nature. Certainly +the personal peculiarities of an artist often please his +contemporaries. It is the fashion to do him honor if he flatters the +prevailing direction of taste. But those of the race who follow +after, scorn what those before them have admired, and exactly what +those of one time have prized as progressive innovations, they who +come after reject as mere aberration. What the artist has himself +accomplished, I mean his so-called personal comprehension or his +capricious interpretation of nature, passes away; but what he simply +and honorably reproduces, as he has truly seen it, lives forever, +and the remotest age will gladly recognize in such art-work its old +acquaintance, unchanging nature." + +Fraulein Ellrich hung on his words in astonishment, while her +parents calmly went on eating their fish. + +"So," went on Wilhelm, speaking chiefly to his opposite neighbor, +"so, I tried when I drew or painted to reproduce nature with the +greatest truth; but at a certain point I became conscious of a +perception that a hidden meaning in an unintelligible language lay +written there. The form of things, and also every so-called accident +of form, appeared to me to be the necessary expression of something +within, which was hidden from me. The wish arose in me to penetrate +behind the visible face of nature, to know why she appears in such a +way, and not in another. I wanted to learn the language, the words +of which, with no understanding of their sense, I had been slavishly +copying; and so I turned to the study of physical science." + +"So your two years at the Art School were not wasted," remarked Herr +Ellrich. + +"Certainly not, for to an observer of natural objects it is most +valuable to have a trained eye for form and color." + +"Yes, and beside, drawing and painting are such charming +accomplishments, and so useful to a young man in society." + +"Playing the piano and singing are still more so," put in Frau +Ellrich. + +"But dancing most of all," cried Fraulein Ellrich. "Do you dance?" + +"No," answered Wilhelm shortly. + +The words jarred upon him, and a silence ensued. + +The councilor broke this with the question: + +"Then you are a doctor of physical science?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"What is your particular department? Zoology, botany?" + +"I have principally studied chemistry and physics, and I think of +devoting myself to the latter." + +"Physics, oh yes. A wide and beautiful sphere. So much is included +in it. Electricity, galvanism, magnetism--those are all new +faculties very little known; and as regards submarine telegraph the +knowledge cannot be too useful." + +"These sides of the question have not hitherto interested me. I ask +of physics the unlocking of the nature of things. It has not yet +given me the key, but it is something to know on what insecure, +weak, and limited experiments our vaunted knowledge of the existence +of the world of energy, of matter and their properties, depend." + +Frau Ellrich looked at him approvingly. + +"You speak beautifully, Herr Eynhardt, and it must be a great +enjoyment to hear you lecture." + +"You will soon have a professorship, I suppose?" remarked Herr +Ellrich, turning around to the blushing Wilhelm. + +"Oh, no!" said he quickly, "I do not aspire to that; I believe in +Faust's verse: 'Ich ziehe... meine Schuler an der Nase herum--Und +sehe dass wir nichts wissen konnen;' and I also bilde mir nicht ein, +Ich konnte was lehren.' I wonder at and envy the men who teach such +things with so much influence and conviction, and I am very grateful +to them for initiating me into their methods and power of working +properly. But there has never been a likelihood of my venturing to +approach young men and saying to them, 'You must work with me for +three years earnestly and diligently, and I will lead you to +knowledge, so that at last, through the contents of a book, you may +get a flying glimpse of the phantom which has so often eluded you.'" + +"Your opinions are very interesting," said Herr Ellrich; "but a +professorship is still the one practical goal for a man who studies +physics. Forgive me if I express my meaning bluntly; there is money +to be made in physics through a professorship." + +"Happily I am in a position which makes it unnecessary for me to +work for my bread." + +"That is quite another thing," said the councilor in a friendly way, +while his wife cast a quick glance over Wilhelm's clothes, +unfashionable and rather worn, but scrupulously clean. + +"One can see that this idealist neglects his outward appearance," +her good-natured glance, half-apologetic, half-compassionate, seemed +to say. + +Herr Ellrich changed the conversation to the management of the +hotel; discussing for a time the Margrave's wines, the south German +cookery, the Black Forest tourists, and a variety of other minor +topics. He then asked his daughter: + +"Now, Loulou, have you made a programme for tomorrow yet? She is our +maitre de plaisir," he explained to Wilhelm. + +"A frightfully difficult post," exclaimed Loulou. "Papa and mamma +love quiet; I like moving about, and I endeavor to harmonize the +two." + +Wilhelm thought that the opposing tasks would very soon be +harmonized if Loulou subordinated her inclinations to her parents' +comfort; but he kept his thoughts to himself. + +"I vote that to-morrow morning we go for a little drive. As to the +afternoon, we can arrange that later. Perhaps Dr.---" She stopped +short, and her mother came to her help and completed the invitation. + +"It would be very kind of you to join us." + +"I am only afraid that I might be in the way." + +"Oh, no; certainly not," said the mother and daughter together, and +Herr Ellrich nodded encouragingly. + +Wilhelm felt that the invitation was meant cordially, and his fear +of obtruding himself overcome, he accepted. + +Circumstances at the castle very greatly favored Wilhelm's +intercourse with the Ellrich's, or rather with Loulou. In this house +on the summit of the hill they met constantly in close +companionship. Frau Ellrich enjoyed nothing better than walking on +the arm of this handsome young man up and down the wooded slopes, as +till now she had been obliged to go without such escort. Herr +Ellrich liked to take his holiday in a different way from the +ladies. If he felt obliged to take exercise he would borrow the +landlord's gun and dogs and shoot. At other times he would lie down +anywhere on a plaid on the grass, smoke a cigar, and read foreign +papers like the Times from beginning to end. The afternoon was taken +up by a nap, and in the evening he would be ready to hear an account +of how his family had spent the day--perhaps in a long carriage +excursion through the neighboring valleys. + +Frau Ellrich was in the habit of appearing at the first table +d'hote, and then doing homage to the peaceful custom of afternoon +sleep. In the first cool hours of the morning she walked a little in +the perfumed air of the pine woods, and the rest of the time she +devoted to a voluminous correspondence, which seemed to be her one +passion. Thus Loulou was alone nearly always in the morning, and +frequently in the afternoon as well, and quite contented to ramble +with Wilhelm through the woods, or to sit with him in the ruins, +where they learned to know each other, and chattered without +ceasing. + +The subject of conversation mattered not. They had the story of +their short lives to relate to one another. Loulou's was soon told. +Her narrative was like the merry warbling of birds, and was from +beginning to end the story of a serene dream of spring. She was the +only child of her parents, who in spite of outward indifference and +apparent coldness adored her, and had never denied her anything. The +first fifteen years of her life were spent in her charming nest, in +the beautiful house in the Lennestrasse, where she was born. "When +we return to Berlin you shall see how pleasant my home is. I will +show you my little blue sitting-room, my winter garden, my aviary, +my parrots and blackbirds." A heavy trial had befallen her--the only +trial that she had yet experienced. She had been sent to England for +the completion of her education, and had to suddenly part from all +her home surroundings. She stayed there for three years with an aunt +who had married an English banker. The visit proved delightful, and +she grew to love England enthusiastically. She drove and rode, and +even followed the hounds. In winter there was the pantomime at Drury +Lane, the flights to St. Leonards, Hastings, Leamington, the mad +rides across country through frosted trees behind the hounds in full +cry; in summer during the season there were parties, balls, the +opera, the park; then in the holidays splendid travels with papa and +mamma, once to Belgium, France, and the Rhine, another time to +Switzerland and Italy, then to Heligoland and Norway. No, she could +never have such good times again. In the following year she went +back to Berlin, and had spent a very agreeable winter, a +subscription ball, several other balls, innumerable soirees, a box +at the opera, lovely acquaintances, with naturally many successes-- +the envy of false friends, but she did not allow herself to be much +disturbed by them. + +Wilhelm listened to this chatter with mixed feelings. If she seemed +superficial, he reconciled himself by a glance at her beautiful +silken hair, at her laughing brown eyes, at her roguish dimples, and +instantly he pleaded with his cooler reason for pardon for the +lovely girl--he for nineteen years had had other things beside +pleasure to think of! These charms seemed enough to work the taming +magic of Orpheus over the wild animals of the woods. + +"And you were never," he asked timidly as she paused, "a little bit +in love?" + +"I can look after myself," she answered, with a silvery laugh, and +Wilhelm felt as if an iron band had been lifted from his heart, like +the trusty Henry's in the story. + +"That points to marvelous wisdom in a child of society--seeing so +many people--so attractive! You are indifferent then to admiration?" + +"I did not say that. My fancy has been often enough touched, but--" + +"But your heart has not?" + +"No." + +"Really not?" continued he, in a tone of voice in which, he himself +detected the anxiety. + +She shook her head, and looked down thoughtfully. But after a short +pause she raised her rosy face and said, "No--better die than speak +untruths--I was rather in love with our pastor who confirmed me. He +was thin and pale with long hair, much longer than yours. And he +spoke very beautifully and powerfully--I felt sentimental when I +thought of him. But I soon got to know his wife, who was as pointed +and hard as a knitting needle, and his children, whose number I +never could count exactly, and my youthful feelings received a +severe chill." She laughed, and Wilhelm joined her heartily. + +It was now his turn to relate his story. He was as to his birthplace +hardly a German, but a Russian, as he first saw the light in Moscow, +in the year 1845. + +"So you are now twenty-four?" + +"Last May. Are you frightened at such an age, fraulein?" + +"That is not so old, twenty-four--particularly for a man," she +protested with great earnestness. + +His father, he went on, was from Konigsberg, had studied philology, +and when he left the university had become a tutor in a +distinguished Russian family. He was the child of poor parents, and +had to take the first opportunity which presented itself of earning +his living. So he went to Russia, where he lived for twenty years as +a tutor in private families, and then as a teacher in a Moscow +gymnasium. He married late in life, an only child of German descent, +who helped her middle-aged husband by a calm observance of duty and +a mother's love for his children. "My mother was a remarkable woman. +She had dark eyes and hair, and an enthusiastic and devoted +expression in her face, which made me feel sad, as a child, if I +looked at her for long. She spoke little, and then in a curious +mixture of German and Russian. Strangely enough, she always called +herself a German, and spoke Russian like a foreigner; but later, +when we went to Berlin, she discovered that she was really a +Russia, and always wished she were back in Moscow, +never feeling at home amid her new surroundings. She was a +Protestant like her father, but had inherited from her Russian +mother a lingering affection for the orthodox faith, and she often +used to go to the Golden Church of the Kremlin, whose brown, holy +images had a mystical effect on her. She loved to sing gypsy songs +in a low voice. She would not teach them to us. She was always very +quiet, and preferred being alone with us to any society or +entertainment." + +When Wilhelm was four years old there came a little sister, a +bright, light-haired, blue-eyed creature after her father's heart. +She was named Luise, but she was always called Blondchen. She was +his only playfellow, as the irritable father in Moscow cared for no +acquaintances. His father's one wish was to return to his home, but +for a long time the mother would not have it so. At last, in the +year 1858, he accomplished his wish. He was then sixty-three years +old, and he represented to his wife that after his life of +unremitting work, now in its undoubted decline, he had a right to +spend the last few years in peace in his native land. He possessed +enough for his family to live on; the children would grow and get a +better education than in Russia, and above all he wished to keep his +Prussian nationality. The mother yielded, and so they came to +Berlin, where the father bought a modest house near the Friedrich- +Wilhelm gymnasium. This house was now Wilhelm's property. "We +children liked Berlin very much. I soon became independent and self- +reliant, after school hours wandering in the streets as much as I +pleased, and used to make eager explorations in all directions, +coming home enraptured when I had found a beautiful neighborhood, a +stately house, a statue of some general in bronze or marble. I used +to take Blondchen by the hand, and show her my discovery. The +Friedrichstadt with its straight streets interested us very much; I +had a fancy that the houses were marshaled in battalions, as if by +an officer on parade, and that when he gave the word 'March,' they +would suddenly walk away in step, like the soldiers on the parade +ground. I explained this to my sister, and often when we were in our +own street she would call out 'March!' to see if the long row of +houses would not begin to move. However, we liked the old part of +Berlin better, where the streets, with their capricious and serpent- +like windings, reminded us of the crooked alleys of Moscow. The +streamlets of the Spree exercised a powerful attraction over us. +Blondchen thought they played hide-and-seek with children, who would +run through the streets to search for them. They came suddenly into +sight where one would least expect to see them, in the yard of a +house in the Werderschen Market, behind an apparently innocent +archway on the Hausvogtei Platz, at the backs of houses whose fronts +betrayed no existence of any water near. My sister so often longed +to catch sight of the oily satiny sheen of the river's light in +unsuspected places that she would drag me off to note her +discoveries. She wanted all the varying sights of the Spree, which +showed itself at the ends of alleys, or in courtyards or behind +houses, suddenly to appear to her, so that she might have the right +to first name her discovery." + +He was silent awhile, deep in memories of the past. Then he said: +"If I have lingered over these childish reminiscences it is because +I have not my Blondchen any longer. On one of our wandering +excursions we were caught in a heavy shower of rain, and became wet +through. My sister was taken ill with rheumatism, and eight days +afterward we buried her in the churchyard." + +The mother soon followed Blondchen. Sorrow over the child, and +homesickness, combined with weak health, proved too great a strain. +Wilhelm remained alone with the dispirited and sorrowful old father, +whom he never left except for his three years' military service in +the field. Then the father, to shorten the time of separation, +accompanied the army (in spite of his seventy years) as an ambulance +assistant. The following year he died, and Wilhelm was left alone in +the world. + +Loulou was not wanting in heart, and she had as much feeling as it +is proper for an educated German girl to show. By an involuntary +movement, she held out her hand, which Wilhelm caught and kissed. +They both grew very red, and she looked wistfully at him with her +eyes wet. Had he understood the look, and been of a bold nature, he +would have clasped the girl to his breast and kissed her. Her red +lips would have made scarcely any resistance. But the confusion of +mind passed quickly, the light afternoon sunshine and the sight of +the people passing through the breach in the castle wall brought him +to full consciousness, and the dangerous step was not taken. Loulou +recovered her sprightliness, and going back to his story asked him, +"So you have been in a campaign?" + +"Certainly." + +"Did you become an officer?" + +"No, fraulein, only a 'vize-Feldwebel.'" + +"Have you fought in a battle?" + +"Oh, yes, at Burkersdork, Skalitz, Koniginhof, and Koniggratz." + +"That must have been frightfully interesting. And have you ever +killed one of the enemy?" + +"Happily not. It does not fall to the lot of every soldier to kill a +man. He does his duty if he stands up in his place ready to be +killed." + +"Have you any photographs of yourself in uniform?" + +He looked at her surprised and said: + +"No, why?" + +A roguish smile, which at the last question had curled at the +corners of her mouth, broke into a merry laugh. + +"I wanted to know whether you marched into battle with your curls, +or whether you sacrificed them to the fatherland?" + +Wilhelm was not offended, but said simply: + +"Dear young lady, appearances give you the right to make fun--" + +"Ah, don't be angry, I am ill-mannered." + +"No, no, you are quite right; but, believe me, I only wear my hair +long so as to save myself the trouble of going to the hairdresser's. +If I dared imagine that I should be less insupportable with a +tonsure--" + +"For heaven's sake, don't think of it, the curls suit you very +well." She said this with a frivolity of manner which she +immediately perceived to be unsuitable, and to get over her +embarrassment, she jumped at another subject of conversation. "So +you live quite alone? That strikes me as being very dreary. Still +you must have many friends?" + +"Yes, so-called friends--comrades from the gymnasium, from the +academy, and the university. But I do not count much on these +superficial acquaintances--I have really only one friend." + +"Who is she" + +"He is called Paul Haber, and is Assistant of Chemistry at the +Agricultural College." + +"A nice man?" + +"Oh, yes." + +"How old is he?" + +"About a year older than I am." + +"What is he like?" + +Wilhelm smiled. + +"I believe he is very good-looking, strong, not very tall, with a +fair mustache, otherwise closely shaved, and with short hair, not +like me! He thinks a good deal of appearance, and always knows what +sort of ties are worn. He dances well, and is very pleased if people +take him for an officer in civilian's clothes. But he is a true +soul, and has a heart of gold. He is clever too, practical, and +would do for me as much as I would do for him with all my heart." + +"Hardly one unpleasant word for an absent friend. That is scarcely +as my friends speak of me," and she quietly added: "Nor as I speak +of my friends. You make me curious about Herr--" + +"Haber." + +"You must introduce him to us." + +"He would be most happy." + +Loulou now knew more about Wilhelm than she had hitherto known of +any man in the world. Only on one point was she unenlightened, and +this she hastened to clear up on the following day, when they were +looking for berries in the wood. + +"You asked me if my heart had been touched yet. Would it be right if +I were to ask you the same question?" + +"The question seems very natural to me--I can truthfully assure you +I have never been in love, not even with a pastor with long hair." + +"And has no one been in love with you?" + +Wilhelm looked at the distance, and said dreamily: + +"No; yet once--" + +She felt a little stab at her heart, and said: + +"Quick, tell me about it." + +"It is a wonderful story--it happened in Moscow." + +"But you were only a child then?" + +"Yes, and she who loved me was a child too. She was four years old." + +"Ah," said Loulou, with an involuntary sigh of relief. + +"When I was about ten years old I was sitting one sunny autumn +afternoon in the yard of our house on a little stool, and was deep +in a story of pirates. Suddenly a shadow fell on my book. I looked +up, and saw a wonderfully beautiful child before me, a long-haired, +rosy-cheeked little girl, who looked at me with deep shining eyes, +half-timidly, and shyly held her hand before her mouth. I smiled in +a friendly way, and called to her to come nearer. She sprang close +to me, at once threw her arms joyfully round my neck, kissed me, sat +down on my knee, and said, 'Now tell me what your name is. I am a +little girl, and my name is Sonia. I am not going away from you. Let +me go to sleep for a little.' An old servant who had followed her +came up and said in astonishment, 'Well, young sir, you may be proud +of yourself, the child is generally so wild and rough, and with you +she is as tame as a kitten.' I learned from her that little Sonia +lived in the neighborhood, and that her aunt had come to look for +her in our house. She would not go away from me, and the old servant +had to call her mother, who only persuaded her to return home with +great difficulty. She wanted to take me with her, and she was +miserable when they told her that my mamma would not allow me. The +next morning early she was there again, and called to me from the +threshold, 'I am going to stay with you all day, Wilhelm, the whole +day.' I had to go to school, however, and I told her so. She wanted +to go with me, and cried and sobbed when they prevented her. Then +her relations took her home, and I did not see her again. Later I +heard that the same afternoon she was taken ill with diphtheria, and +in her illness she cried so much for me that her mother came to mine +to beg her to send me to her. My mother said nothing to me about it, +fearing I might catch the disease. Sonia died the second day, and my +name was the last word on her lips. I cried very much when they told +me, and since then I have never forgotten my little Sonia." + +"A strange story," said Loulou softly; "such a little girl to fall +in love so suddenly. Yes," she went on, "if she had grown up--" + +She could not say more, as Wilhelm, who had come near her, looked at +her with wide-open, far-seeing eyes, and suddenly threw his arms +round her. She cried out softly, and sank on his breast. "Loulou," +"Wilhelm," was all they said. It had happened so quickly, so +unconsciously, that they both felt as if they were awaking from a +dream, as Loulou a minute later freed herself from his burning lips +and encircling arms, and Wilhelm, confused and hardly master of his +senses, stood before her. They turned silently homeward. She +trembled all over and did not dare to take his arm. He inwardly +reproached himself, yet he felt very happy in spite of it. Then, +before they had reached the summit of the castle hill, he gathered +all his courage together and said anxiously: + +"Can you forgive me, Loulou? I love you so much." + +"I love you too, Wilhelm," she answered, and stretched out her hand +to him. + +"Dare I speak to your mother, my own Loulou?" whispered he into her +ear. + +"Not here, Wilhelm," she said quickly, "not here. You do not know my +parents well enough yet. Wait till we are in Berlin." + +"I will do as you like," sighed he, and took leave of her with an +eloquent glance, as they reached the hotel. + +On this evening a quantity of curious things happened, which Wilhelm +so far had not observed in spite of his studies in natural science. +He could not touch his dinner, and Herr and Frau Ellrich's voices, +against all the laws of acoustics, seemed to come from the far +distance, and several minutes elapsed before the sounds reached his +ears, although he sat close to the speakers. The waiters and hotel +guests looked odd, and seemed to swim in a kind of rosy twilight. In +the sky there seemed to be three times as many stars as usual. When +the Ellrichs had withdrawn he went toward midnight alone into the +fir woods, and heard unknown birds sing, caught strange and magic +harmonies in the rustling of the branches, and felt as if he walked +on air. He went to bed in the gray of early dawn, after writing from +his overflowing heart the following letter to his friend Haber in +Berlin: + +"MY DEAREST PAUL: I am happy as I never thought of being happy. I +love an unspeakably beautiful sweet brown maiden, and I really think +she loves me too. Do not ask me to describe her. No words or brush +could do it. You will see her and worship her. Oh, Paul, I could +shout and jump or cry like a child. It is too foolish, and yet so +unspeakably splendid, I can hardly understand how the dull, stupid +people in this house can sleep so indifferently while she is under +the same roof. If only you were here! I can hardly bear my happiness +alone. I write this in great haste. Always your + +"WlLHELM." + +Four days later the post brought this answer from his friend: + +"Well, you are done for, that is certain, my dear Wilhelm. Confound +it, you have gone in for it with a vengeance! I always thought that +when you did catch fire, you would give no end of a blaze. So all +your philosophy of abnegation, all your contempt for appearance go +for nothing. What is your sweet brown maiden but a charming +appearance! Nevertheless you have fallen completely in love with +her, for which I wish you happiness with all my heart. I do not +doubt that she loves you, because I should have been in love with +you long ago if I had been a sweet brown maiden, you shockingly +beautiful man. One thing is very like you, you say no word on what +would most interest a Philistine like myself, viz., the worldly +circumstances of the adored one. I must know her name, her +relations, her descent. For all this you have naturally no +curiosity. A name is smoke and empty sound. Now don't let your love +go too far--sleep, and take care of your appetite, and keep a corner +in your perilously full heart for your true + +"PAUL" + +Wilhelm smiled as he read these lines in the strong symmetrical +handwriting of his friend, and hastened to send him the news he +desired. In the meanwhile his happiness was continual and +increasing, and nothing troubled it but the thought of the coming +separation. These two innocent children could hide their love as +little as the sun his light. They were always together, their eyes +always fixed on one another, their hands as often as possible +clasped in each other's. All the people in the hotel noticed it, and +were pleased about it, so natural did it seem that this handsome +couple should be united by love. The chambermaid, rosy Bertha, saw +what was going on with her sly peasant's eye, and by way of making +herself agreeable used to whisper to him where he could find the +young lady when she happened to meet him on the staircase. Wilhelm +good-naturedly forgave the girl her obtrusiveness. Only Herr Ellrich +saw nothing. In his foreign newspapers, in the blue smoke from his +cigars, in the clouds of powder from his gun, be found nothing which +could enlighten him as to the two young people's beautiful secret. + +Frau Ellrich certainly had more knowledge than that. In spite of her +correspondence and her long afternoon naps, she retained enough +observation to see the condition of things pretty clearly. She +waited for a confession from Loulou, and as this did not come soon +enough for the impatience of her mother's heart, she tried a loving +question. After a warm embrace from the girl, a few tears, a great +many kisses, the mother and daughter understood each other. Wilhelm +had pleased Frau Ellrich very much, and she had no objection to +raise, but she could make no answer on her own responsibility, as +she knew the views of her husband on the marriage of his only child, +and after a few days she made him a cautious communication. Herr +Ellrich did not take it badly, but as a practical man of the world +he wished to give the feelings of the young people opportunity to +bear the trials of separation, and for the present thought a +decision useless. The projected visit to Ostend was hastened by some +ten days. At dinner he made his decision known, adding, "You have +pleased yourselves for three weeks, and now I want you to wait so +long to please me." Wilhelm felt bitterly grieved that no one +invited him to go to the fashionable watering-place, and Loulou even +did not seem particularly miserable. The fact was, that at the +bottom of her not very sentimental nature, she did not take the +leaving of the Schloss hotel as a matter of great importance, and +Ostend with its balls and concerts, its casino and lively society, +was not in the least alarming to her. She found the opportunity that +evening of consoling Wilhelm, and promised him always to think about +him, and to write to him very often, and said she could not be very +miserable about their separation, as she felt so happy at the +thought of meeting him again in Berlin. The following morning they +made a pilgrimage to the castle, the woods, the neighboring valley, +to all the places where they had been so happy during the last +fortnight. The sky was blue, the pine woods quiet, the air balmy, +and the beautiful outline of the mountains unfolded itself far away +in the depth of the horizon. Wilhelm drank in the quiet, lovely +picture, and felt that a piece of his life was woven into this +harmony of nature, and that these surroundings had become part of +his innermost "ego," and would be mingled with his dearest feelings +now and ever. His love, and these mountains and valleys, and Loulou, +the mist and perfume of the pine trees, were forever one, and the +pantheistic devotion which he felt in these changing flights of his +mind with the soul of nature grew to an almost unspeakable emotion, +as he said in a trembling voice to Loulou: + +"It is all so wonderful, the mountains and the woods, and the +summer-time and our love. And in a moment it will be gone. Shall we +ever be so happy again? If we could only stay here always, the same +people in the midst of the same nature!" + +She said nothing, but let him take her answer from her fresh lips. + +They left by the Offenberg railway station in the afternoon. +Loulou's eyes were wet. Frau Ellrich smiled in a motherly way at +Wilhelm, and Herr Ellrich took his hand in a friendly manner and +said: + +"We shall see you in Berlin at the end of September." + +As the train disappeared down the Gutach valley, it seemed to +Wilhelm as if all the light of heaven had gone out, and the world +had become empty. He stayed a few days longer at the Schloss hotel, +and cherished the remembrance of his time there with Loulou, +dreaming for hours in the dearly-loved spots. In this tender frame +of mind he received another letter from Paul Haber, who wrote thus: + +"DEAREST WILHELM: Your letter of the 13th astonished me so much that +it took me several days to recover. Fraulein Loulou Ellrich, and you +write so lightly! Don't you know--that Fraulein Ellrich is one of +the first 'parties' in Berlin? That the little god of love will make +you a present of two million thalers? You have shot your bird, and I +am most happy that for once fortune should bring it to the hand of a +fellow like yourself. In the hope that as a millionaire you will +still be the same to me, I am your heartily congratulatory + +"PAUL." + +Wilhelm was painfully surprised. What a mercy that the letter had +not come sooner. It might have influenced his manner so much as to +spoil his relations with Loulou. Now that the Ellrichs were gone, it +could for the moment do no harm. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +VANITIES OF VANITIES. + + +A brilliant company filled the Ellrichs' drawing-rooms. These lofty +rooms, thrown open to the guests, were more like the reception-rooms +in a great castle than those of a bourgeois townhouse in Berlin. + +The councilor's drawing-rooms occupied the first floor of the +largest house in the Lannestrasse. The carpeted staircase was +decorated with plants and candelabra, and the guests were shown into +a well-lighted anteroom, and on through folding doors into the large +square drawing-room. The walls were covered with gold-framed +mirrors reflecting the great marble stove, with its Chinese bronze +ornaments; the Venetian glass chandelier, the painting on the +ceiling representing Apollo in his sun chariot, while the rows of +pretty gilt chairs in red silk, the palm trees in the corner, and +the wax candles in the brass sconces on the walls were repeated in +endless perspective. On the right was a little room not intended for +dancing, thickly carpeted, with old Gobelin tapestry on all the +walls and doors; inlaid tables, ebony tables, and silk, satin, and +tapestry in every conceivable form. A glass door, half-covered by a +portiere, gave a glimpse into a well-lighted winter garden, full of +fantastic plants in beds, bushes and pots. On the left of the large +drawing-room was the dining-room, with white varnished walls +divided into squares by gold beading, and decorated by a number of +bright pictures of symbolic female figures representing various +kinds of wine. A gigantic porcelain stove filled one end of the +room, and a sideboard the other. Through the dining-room was a +smoking-room furnished with Smyrna carpets, low divans, chairs in +mother-of-pearl, and from the ceiling hung a number of colored glass +lanterns. This was intended for old gentlemen who wished to enjoy +the latest scandal, and a card table was arranged for them with an +open box of cigars. + +The decoration of these rooms was handsome without being overloaded, +and tasteful without being odd or obtrusive, qualities which one +does not often find in Germany, even in princes' palaces. A fine +perception would perhaps have felt the want of smilarity in style in +the numerous rooms, giving them the character of a museum or +curiosity shop, rather than that of the harmonious dwelling of +educated people of a particular period, and in a certain country. +Herr Ellrich was, however, quite innocent of this imperfection. He +had not chosen anything himself. Everything had come from Paris, and +was the selection of a Parisian decorator, and one of the proudest +moments in the councilor's life was on the occasion of the ball he +gave on his daughter's return from England, when Count Benedetti, +the French ambassador, said to him: "One would imagine oneself in an +historical house in the Faubourg St. Germain, c'est tout a fait +Parisien, Monsieur, tout a fait Parisien." + +The Ellrichs' party was to celebrate the New Tear. Even the richest +of the members of the German bourgeoisie is obliged to be educated +gradually to the cultured usages of society, and are still far from +accomplished in the art of easy familiarity. It finds in its homely +culture no hard-and-fast traditions by which it can regulate its +conduct, and by a deficiency of observation, or by the want of +development of the finer feelings, is only imperfectly helped by +foreign or aristocratic manners. Herr Ellrich, who loved splendor +and expense, felt that the New Year must be celebrated by +rejoicings, and he had therefore invited his whole circle of +acquaintances to this New Year's party to rejoice with him. + +In the third room the councilor's wife sat near the fireplace in a +claret-colored silk dress, ostrich feathers in her hair, and +resplendent with diamonds. Nevertheless there was nothing stiff in +her demeanor, and she was friendly and good-natured as ever. Grouped +around her in armchairs were several ladies, who in their own +judgment had passed the age of dancing. Among them were the wives of +civil officers, in whose dresses a practiced and capable eye might +detect a simplicity and old-fashioned taste, while the wives of +certain financiers were gorgeous in then fashionable costumes and +the brilliancy of their ornaments. The former felt compensated by +the consciousness of their rank and worth for any deficiency in mere +outward signs of grandeur, the latter tried by the glitter of their +pearls, diamonds, silks, and laces to appear easy and fearlessly +familiar. Among the men, the soldiers had everything in their favor. +The orders which the civilians wore fastened on the lapels of their +dress coats were hopelessly thrown in the shade by the epaulettes of +the officers, and the medals decorating their colored uniforms. + +Herr Ellrich made a good host, passing quickly but quietly from one +group to another. His blight blue eves were cold and tired-looking +as ever, and took no part in the rather banal smile which played +over his lips, as if the accustomed expression of indifference could +never be obliterated. The indolent lines about his mouth were not +those of temperament, because if he spoke to a Finance Minister or +other notability, although there was no arrogance in his manner, it +might be noticed that the instinctive consciousness of his own +millions never left him. He had a naturally honorable disposition, +which showed itself in every line, and made any cringing an +impossibility. The guests praised everything, especially the costly +refreshments handed by the servants in faultless liveries. + +The dancing-room was a cheerful sight. Girls and young married women +flew round over the polished floor on the arms of well-dressed men, +mostly officers, spinning and whirling round to Offenbach's dance +music, led with bacchanalian fire by a small but distinguished +conductor from a red covered platform. It was exciting to watch the +rows of couples as they waltzed wildly round, and to the dazzled +sight it seemed like a glimpse in a dream into Mohammed's Paradise; +as if in his wonderful mirror he had reflected the slim figures of +the dancers, with their flashing blue or black eyes, their burning +cheeks, their parted lips, their bosoms rising and falling, the +scene moving in ever-changing perspective; a sight gay and wonderful +as the freakish games of a crowd of elves. + +The untiring energy of the dancers was wonderful. During the pauses +a girl could hardly sit for a moment to rest, but a strong arm would +whirl her away again in the vortex of the dance. A few old gentlemen +stood in the recesses of the windows and in the doorways, with the +quiet enjoyment of those who look on, and among them was Wilhelm +Eynhardt. He stood with his back against a window-frame, almost +enveloped in the flowing red silk curtain, so that scarcely any one +noticed him. His curls had been shorn, and his thick dark hair only +just waved, otherwise nothing was changed in his appearance since +the Hornberg days. His black eyes wandered thoughtfully over the +changing picture before him. The expression on his face, now +slightly melancholy, bore more resemblance to that of a young +Christian devotee than to that of the beautiful Antinous, and the +intoxication of the gayety around him appealed so little to him, +that not once did he beat his foot, nod his head, or move a muscle +in time to the satanic music of the Parisian enchanter. + +For the first time in his life Wilhelm found himself in fashionable +society, and for the first time he wore evening dress. Certainly to +look at him no one would have guessed it, for there was no +awkwardness in his manner, not a trace of the anxiety and inability +to do the right thing, which in most men placed amid new +surroundings and in unaccustomed dress would have been so apparent. +He wore his evening dress with the same natural self-possession as +one of the gray-haired diplomats. The secret of this demeanor was +the sense of equality he felt toward the others. It never occurred +to him to think, "How do I look? Am I like everyone else?" and so he +was as free from constraint in his dress coat as in his student's +jacket. He had even the gracefulness which every man has in the +flower of his age, if he allows the unconscious impulses of his +limbs to assert themselves, and does not spoil the freedom of their +play by confusing efforts to improve them. The company did not +disconcert him either, in spite of their epaulettes and orders, and +titles thick as falling snowflakes. An impression received in his +boyhood came back to him, in which he, among strange people in a +foreign land, had been accustomed by his father to consider himself +as an onlooker. In Moscow he had often met aristocratic people, with +as thick epaulettes, and more orders than these, but at the sight of +them he had always thought, "They are only barbarous Russians, and I +am a German, although I have no gold lace on my coat." From that +time he had always in his mind connected the use of uniforms, as +outward signs of bravery, with the conception of an ostentatious and +showy barbarism which a civilized European might afford to laugh at. +He had gone further; he regarded rank and titles as only a kind of +clothing of circumstances, which the State lends to certain persons +for useful purposes, just as the wardrobe-keeper at a theater gives +out costumes to the supers. He was so convinced on this point that +he felt sure it was only the stupid yokel at the back of the gallery +who could look with any admiration on a human being merely because +he struts about the stage in purple and gold tinsel. + +Wilhelm did not give the impression of a man who was enjoying +himself. His discontented gaze persistently followed one dark head +adorned with a yellow rose. + +Loulou, for of course it was she, wore a cream-colored silk crepon +dress. Her little feet in pale yellow satin shoes played at hide- +and-seek under her skirt. She looked charming, and seemed very +happy. She danced with a magic lightness and gracefulness, and she +showed an endurance which had elicited applause and acknowledgments +from her partners. People were delighted with her, and she hardly +allowed herself time to breathe, for as the privileged daughter of +the house, she wandered from one partner to another, trying hard to +offend as few of her admirers as possible by a refusal. But Wilhelm +had no cause for jealousy, as her sparkling eyes continually sought +his, and as often as she danced near him she gave him an +electrifying glance and a sweet smile, telling him that he might now +hold his head high like a conqueror, or humble himself with +languishing sentiment, that for her there was only one man in the +room, one man in all the mirrors, the handsome youth in the window +recess between the red silk curtains. In the short pauses she came +over to him and spoke a word or two, always the same sort of thing: +"Ah! how So-and-so worries me. What a pity that you don't dance, it +would be so lovely. Oh! if only you knew how Fraulein S----admires +you, and how angry all the ladies are that you won't be introduced +to them." And Wilhelm thanked her with the same quiet smile, took +her fingers when he could and pressed them, and stayed in his window +corner. + +Presently Loulou went toward someone in the room, who looked back at +the same time toward Wilhelm. It was his friend Paul Haber, for whom +he had obtained an invitation. Paul looked at him proudly and gayly. +His short hair was beautifully cut and brushed, his thick blonde +mustache curled in the most approved fashion. In his buttonhole he +wore the decoration of the 1866 war medal, and when he saw himself +in the glass he could say with perfect self-satisfaction, that he +looked just as much like an officer as the men in uniform, not even +excepting those of the Guard. Since the campaign of 1866, in which +Paul had served in the same company as Wilhelm, they had been firm +friends, and on this evening he wished to offer his respects before +the manifest possessor of her heart, to one of the greatest +heiresses in Berlin, also his gratitude for his introduction to this +splendid house, and his tender feelings for his comrade. In spite of +being occupied with his partners he had time to observe Wilhelm, and +the sight of him standing alone in the window recess immediately +cooled the nervous excitement wrought by the crowd of strangers. +These society gatherings were what he delighted in, and he thought +it his duty to try to model his friend in the same way. It was not +without a struggle with himself that he let a dance go by and went +over to where Wilhelm stood. + +"What a great pity it is that you don't dance." + +"Fraulein Ellrich has just said the same thing," answered Wilhelm, +smiling a little. + +"And she is quite right. You are like a thirsty man beside a +delicious spring, and are not able to drink. It is pure Tantalus." + +"Your analogy does not hold good. What I am looking at does not give +me the sensation of a delicious spring, and does not make me +thirsty." + +Paul looked at him surprised. "Still you are a man of flesh and +blood, and the sight of all these charming girls must give you +pleasure." + +"You know I am engaged to only one girl here, and her I have seen +under more favorable circumstances." + +"Well! She probably does not always wear such beautiful dresses, and +if she were not excited by the music and dancing her eyes might +possibly not sparkle so much; that is what I mean about its being a +pity that you don't dance." + +"That is not it. I have seen this beautiful girl on other occasions +engaged in the highest intellectual occupation, and I am sorry to +see her sink to this sort of thing." + +"Now the difference is defined. I was silly enough till now to think +that even in a drawing-room one saw something of the highest form of +humanity, and that aristocratic society is the flower of +civilization." + +"Those are opinions which are spread by clever men of the world to +excuse their shallow behavior in their own eyes and in the eyes of +others. What these people come here for is to satisfy their lower +inclinations--you must see this for yourself; if you do not allow +yourself to be influenced by these pretentious, ceremonious forms, +at least try to discover the reality that lies beneath them. What +you call the height of civilization seems to me the lowest. Do you +understand? I feel that cultured people in their drawing-room +society are in the condition of savages, and even allied to +animals." + +"Bravo, Wilhelm! go on; this is most edifying." + +"You may jeer, but in spite of you I believe that this is so. Try to +discover what is going on in the brains of all these people at this +moment. Their highest power of activity of mind, which makes men of +them, slumbers. They do not think, they only feel. The old gentlemen +enjoy themselves with cigars, ices, the prospect of supper; the +young men seek pleasant sensations in dancing with beautiful girls. +The ladies seek in their partners and admirers to kindle feelings +and desires--vanity, self-seeking, pleasure of the senses, +gratification of the palate, in short, all the grosser tastes. All +that is not only like savages, but like animals. They are merry and +contented at the prospect of a savory meal, and they are fond of +playing tricks on each other--both sexes chaff and tease constantly. +I believe that the development of our larger brain is the +intellectual work of man during hundreds and thousands of years, and +it would gratify me to see it raised to a still greater state of +activity." + +"I am listening to you so quietly that I don't interrupt you--even +when you talk absurd nonsense. How can one look doleful and +disagreeable if honest, highly constituted men indulge in +conversation with each other for a few hours after hard work? I +delight in this harmless enjoyment, in which people forget all the +cares of the day. Here people shake off the burdens of their +vocation and the accidents of their lot. Here am I, a poor devil +enjoying the society of the minister's friends, and admiring the +same beautiful eyes as he does." + +"The harmless enjoyments of which you speak are exactly the signs by +which one may recognize the vegetative lives of the savage and the +animal. A serene enjoyment is what naturally appertains to the lower +forms of life when they are satiated, and in no danger of being +tracked for their lives. The oldest drawings on the subject always +represent men with a foolish serene smile. So the privilege of +development is to rejoice in a satisfied stomach and untroubled +security, and all through his life to know no other care or want but +comfort of body." + +"At last I understand you. The artist's ideal is the 'Penseroso,' +and in order to recognize the highly developed man he must be +furnished with a proof of his identity, so that the meaning of the +creature may not be lost to sight for a moment." + +"You may put it in the joking way, but I really mean it. I don't +forget how much of the animal is still in us. Of course one wants +relaxation. But I don't want to look on while animals feed. Recovery +after hard intellectual work means, in your sense, the return for +some hours to animal life. Now I prefer the painful ascent of +mankind to the comfortable, backward slide into animal nature. If I +wished to pose as a statue for you it would have to be 'Penseroso' +while eating or drinking, or with a foolish, smiling mask indicating +animal contentment." + +"Very well. Let us also abolish the public announcement of eating, +drinking, dancing and other performances, as the remnants of +barbarism or of original animal nature, and let us introduce the +universal duty of philosophy. A soiree of Berlin bankers--sub specie +oeiernitatis--that would do very well, and you must take out a +patent for it." + +"Students' jokes, my friend, are not arguments. I am quite in +earnest in what I say, and I feel melancholy when I see Loulou and +the others playing about like thoughtless animals." + +"I am going to speak seriously about the joke now, and show you +another side to the question. Is it not in the highest degree +foolish of a young man without position, to set against him men who +carry the sign of recognition from their king, and the esteem of +their fellow-citizens? Cannot the example of the consideration they +enjoy spur us to endeavors to attain the same? Cannot your +acquaintance with them be made useful?" + +Wilhelm shook his head. "No, I prefer all these distinguished men +when they are doing their own work. They do not interest me here, +because they have laid aside all the characteristics which make +distinguished people of them. I think they lower their dignity when +I see these statesmen, heroes of campaign, representatives of the +people, laughing, joking, and playing together like any little +shopkeeper after closing hours." + +Paul could not give an immediate answer, and he had not time to +think of one; as the music stopped the dance ended, and many people +moved toward them, making further conversation impossible. The +gentlemen came out of the drawing-room and smoking-rooms and mingled +with the dancers. Paul made his way neatly through the crowd toward +a fresh, pretty, but otherwise insignificant-looking girl, to whom +he had paid a great deal of attention, and with whom he wished to +dance again. Wilhelm looked for Loulou, whom he found near her +mother. Frau Ellrich spoke to him in a friendly way. "Are you +enjoying yourself?" she asked, with a kind, almost tender expression +on her melancholy face. Wilhelm would not have grieved her for +worlds, so for all answer he took her soft hand and kissed it. To +keep himself from speaking the truth he was silent. From the four +doors of the room servants now appeared bearing large silver trays +covered with glasses of champagne. Loulou stood by the chimney-piece +and gave several forced and absent-minded answers to the young man. +She followed with her eyes the minute-hand on the clock, and at a +slight sign from her little hand a servant came up to her. She took +the glass in which the wine sparkled, and at the same moment, the +hands of the clock pointing to twelve, she cried loudly like a +child, "Health to the New Year! Health to the New Year!" Every guest +took a glass, crying joyfully, "Health to the New Year!" and clinked +his glass against his neighbor's. Loulou went in search of her +father to drink with him; after he had given her a friendly kiss on +her rosy cheek, he regarded her with fatherly pride. She went to her +mother, taking her in her arms and kissing her on both cheeks. The +third person whom she sought was Wilhelm. They could not exchange +words, but her eyes sought his and they both flashed a mutual and +joyous recognition. Her brown eyes had said to his black ones, "May +this be a year of happiness for us," and the black eyes had +understood the brown ones in their flight and thanked them. The gay +tumult lasted for several minutes, the buzz of talking, the clatter +of glasses, and the coming and going of servants. Then suddenly an +invisible hand seemed to lay hold of the general disorder, ruling +and directing it, dissolving groups who had chanced together, here +driving them forward, there arranging them backward. According to +some fixed law, without delaying or waiting, an orderly procession +was formed into the dining-room. The invisible spirit hand which +possessed all this power was thrice-holy etiquette; the law which +brought order out of confusion, and gave to everyone his place, was +that of precedence. Paul and Wilhelm, these strangers to drawing- +room customs, were new to the performance. A smile flitted over +Wilhelm's face, over Paul's came a reverent expression. What he saw +made a distinct impression of wonderment on him. The constraint +ceased immediately the guests had taken their places at the table. +The scent of the flowers vied with the perfumes worn by the women +and could not overcome them. The crystal glasses sparkled in the +light of the wax candles, the jewels, and the bright eyes round the +table. The servants poured out the noble Rhine wine, the celebrated +Burgundy, the elegant Bordeaux, and the mischievous Champagne, whose +colored embodiment was reflected on the white hands of the guests, +and carried their imaginations away in its flight from gray reality +to the immortal land of rosy dreams. + +The meal lasted a long time, then a few of the guests rose; the +older ones, who had principally chatted, played, and smoked before +midnight, now withdrew, if they had no daughters to chaperon; the +young people, however, went back to the dancing-room, the musicians +fiddled anew as if they were possessed, and an hour's cotillion was +begun, the pretty quick-moving figures being led by a lieutenant of +the Guards, who seemed as proud of the honor as if he were +commanding on a battlefield. Loulou, who had gone back to the dance, +had begged Wilhelm in vain to take part at least in the cotillion, +where he need not dance much. She had assured him that he would be +more decorated than any other man in the room, and would have more +orders, ribbons, and wreaths given him than all the lieutenants put +together; but even the prospect of such a triumph could not make him +ambitious, and for the first time this evening the beautiful excited +girl left him looking out of humor, and glanced at him in a way +which was not merely sorrowful but reproachful. Paul, on the other +hand, was happy. He kept more than ever near the pretty +insignificant girl with whom he had danced so much, and the good- +hearted fellow did not feel in the least jealous when, in the long +pause of the cotillion, his partner went to speak to his friend who +had stood lonely for so long, and had hardly enjoyed himself at all. +Paul was sufficiently decorated; he got a sufficient number of +glances from girls' bright eyes to be quite contented, he paid a +sufficient number of compliments, great and small, for which he was +thanked by sweet smiles, and perhaps with tiny sighs, and he had the +feeling that he had lived in every fiber of his being, and that his +time had been marvelously well employed. He could have stayed for +several hours longer, and was quite astonished when toward four +o'clock the tireless young people's parents put an end to the +evening by their departure. + +As Wilhelm came up to Loulou she had ceased to look cross. Near her +stood the hero of the cotillion, the lieutenant of the Guards, +covered with the little favors the ladies had given him. But that +did not prevent her saying in quite a tender voice, "I shall see you +soon again, shall I not?" and Wilhelm pressed her little hand +warmly. + +In the hall Wilhelm and Paul had to distribute gratuities to the +waiting servants, a custom (unknown in France and England) which +dishonors German hospitality, and a minute later they found +themselves outside in the starlit night. It blew icy cold over the +Thiergarten; across the darkness the snow-laden trees and the +closely-cropped grass looked feebly white. Wilhelm, shivering, +wrapped himself in his fur coat. Paul, on the other hand, did not +seem to mind the cold; he was still too hot with the excitement of +the evening. The waltz rang so clearly in his ears that he could +have danced over the snow-covered pavement, and the lights and +mirrors of the ballroom shone so clearly before his eyes, and +enveloped the dancers with such reality that the desert of the +silent, faintly-lit Koniggratzer Strasse was alive as if by ghosts. +He recalled to his mind the whole evening, and in the fullness of +his heart exclaimed, "Wilhelm, I hope never to forget this New +Year's Eve." Wilhelm looked at him astonished. "I do not share in +your feelings. How can a glance at such vanity in thinking men give +one any feeling except that of pity?" + +"I am not hurt at the hardness of your judgment, because you don't +understand what I am saying. You know very well I am not frivolous, +and that I have learned long ago the seriousness of life. But at the +same time I value the entree into the best society of Berlin for +what it is worth. Now the opportunity has come, and I shall make it +useful." + +"Paul, you grieve me. A tuft-hunter talks like that." + +"What do you call a tuft-hunter?--if you mean a man who does not +want to hide his light under a bushel, I say yes, I am one, and I +think that is entirely honorable. I don't want to get on by means of +any false pretenses, but by honest work. What is the use of +capability if no one notices it? If I can inspire the right people +with this conviction, I am in luck. There is no injustice in that." + +"I thought you had more pride." + +"Dear Wilhelm, don't speak to me of pride. That is all right for +you. If my father had left me a house in the Kochstrasse, I would +snap my fingers at everyone, and go my own way, as it pleased me +best. Or put it the other way round, if you were the middle son in a +Brandenburg family of nine, I tell you that you would attribute a +certain importance to seeking the favor of influential people. You +would become as frivolous as I," added he after a little pause, in +which he gave a gentle clap on Wilhelm's shoulder. + +"You ought not to throw my father's house in my teeth; you know how +I live." + +Paul tried to interrupt him. + +"Let me finish. A man of your capability can nowadays allow himself +the luxury of independence and manly self-reliance, even if he is +one of the nine children of a poor farmer; if one has few wants, one +is rich whatever one's fortune." + +"That is all very well. I know your philosophy of abnegation, and it +is a matter of temperament. I am not in favor of starving myself +when there is a steaming dish before me. The world is full of good +things, and I have a taste for them; why should I not reach out my +hand?" + +"And so you would dance in the present for what it would win you in +the future." + +"Why not? It is a very usual way to gain a usual end." + +"And the modern society household is the result." + +"What would become of a poor fellow without these merciful +arrangements for introductions to nice girls? Is one to advertise?" + +"So you thought of this in the midst of your poetical soiree?" + +"Certainly. You are provided for. Don't think ill of me if I follow +your example." + +Wilhelm felt the blood flow to his cheeks. He perceived his friend's +evident meaning. + +"Paul! A fortune-hunter!" + +"You may talk. Luck flew to you without your lifting a finger to +attract it. Other people must help themselves. Fortune-hunter! That +name was invented by hysterical girls whose heads are turned by +silly novels. These absurd creatures wish in their childish vanity +to be married merely for their beautiful eyes. I should like to ask +such a girl whether she would marry a man merely for his beautiful +eyes! I have no patience with such nonsense. Suppose a poor man, who +is capable and clever, acknowledges in a straightforward way that he +is trying to win the hand of a rich woman. He need not upbraid +himself about anything, for he gives as much as he receives. What do +people want from the world? Happiness. That is the aim of my life, +just as it is the aim of the rich woman's. She has money, and for +happiness she lacks love; I have love, and for happiness I lack +money. We make an equal exchange of what we own. It is the most +beautiful supplement to a dual incompleteness." + +"It is in this way then that you would offer what you call love to a +rich girl! A love cleverly conducted, carefully mapped out--a love +which one could control, and on no account offer to a poor girl." + +"Rubbish! The love of every man who is in his right mind is +carefully planned. Would you be in love with a king's daughter? It +is to be hoped not. You could keep out of the way of the king's +daughter. Why can I not keep out of the way of the poor girl?" + +"That means that the princess' rank is as much a hindrance to love +as the poverty of the work-girl." + +"I swear to you, Wilhelm, that if I were as rich, or as independent +as you, I would not think of a dowry. But I am a poor devil. If I +were so unfortunate as to fall in love with a poor girl, I would try +to get the better of the feeling. I would say to myself, better +endure a short time of unhappiness and disappointment than that she +and I should be condemned through life to the keenest want, which, +with prosaic certainty, would smother love." + +While Paul argued with such ardor and earnestness, he was thinking +all the time of Fraulein Malvine Marker, the pretty girl with whom +he had danced so often, and he fondled tenderly with his right hand +the ribbon and cotillion order hidden under his waistcoat. He did +not notice that Wilhelm's expression of face was painfully +distorted, nor that his words wounded him deeply. They had come to +the Brandenburger Thor, and were walking over the Pariser Platz. +Under the lindens they were surrounded at once by noise and bustle. +The streets were full of rowdy bands of men who sang and shouted all +together, now pushing one another in violent rudeness, now shouting +"Health to the New Year," here knocking off an angry Philistine's +hat, there surrounding and embracing some honest man who was wearily +making his way homeward; insulting the police by imitating their +military ways, laying hold of their sticks, talking pompously to the +night-watchman, and otherwise playing the fool. After the silence +of the Koniggratzer Strasse, the drunken turmoil of this noisy mob +was doubly unpleasant, and the two friends hastened to escape into +the Schadowstrasse. At Wilhelm's doorstep they took leave of each +other; Paul went off humming a snatch of Offenbach up the +Friedrichstrasse to his home near the Weidendamme. + +Wilhelm was tired, but much too excited to sleep. He lived over +again in thought the last few months, and, as often happened lately, +he lapsed into painful meditation on his relations to Loulou. After +her departure from Hornberg she had not written to him for eight +days. Then came a letter from Ostend, in which she called Wilhelm +"Sie." She said she was very sorry for this, that it would be +painful if she called him "Du" and he did not return it, but it +would be safer not to do so, as his answer would certainly be read +by her mother, and perhaps by her father also, and they would not +wish them to say "Du" to each other. Already this change of tone +between them cut Wilhelm to the heart, but almost more still the +contents of Loulou's letter. She spoke a little of the sea, whose +breakers continually sounded in her soul, and her thoughts, which +accompanied them like an orchestra; she seldom mentioned the +delightful time in the mountains of the Black Forest, which +remembrance he carried always with him; but a great deal about the +Promenade, the concerts, the Casino balls, her own charming bathing +and society toilettes, and those of extravagant Parisians, who tried +by incredible mixtures of colors and style to outstrip each other. +She wrote particularly about her acquaintances with celebrated +people, and her personal following, and for the rest she hardly +missed expressing in any of her letters her regret that he was not +with her, and enjoying her varied life. Often in the letter there +was a flower, or a piece of wild thyme, which betrayed an +undercurrent of feeling beneath the shallowness of the words, and +once she sent him her photograph with the words "Loulou to her +dearest Wilhelm." So he gathered from her frivolous letters much +that was unspoken, and through signs and indications believed that +her feeling for him was there and gained strength. His answers were +short and rather compressed. The knowledge that they would be seen +by her prosaic parents, and that Loulou herself would hardly trouble +to read anything in the midst of her whirl of gayety, deprived him +of words, stopped the flow of his feelings, and turned his +expressions into mere Philistinisms. But, on the other Land, +Loulou's mother was delighted to have another correspondent, and so +she wrote to him often. These perfumed letters from Ostend refreshed +him by the remembrance of the lovable face with the dimples, +bringing back again the whole charm of the Hornberg days. + +At the end of September came the announcement that the Ellrichs had +left Ostend, and were going to pay a visit for a fortnight to +friends in England, and toward the middle of October a letter, +bearing the Berlin postmark, arrived in Loulou's handwriting. It +said: + +"DEAREST WILHEM: We came home to-day. I cannot sleep until I have +written to you. Come to see me quite soon. Will you not? How glad I +am! Are you glad too? A thousand greetings. LOULOU." + +He would like to have gone directly to the Lennestrasse, but +etiquette stood between him and his fiancee, and showed him in its +cold fashion that they were now in the city and not in the forest, +that nature had nothing to do with them here, and had handed them +over to the laws of society. However, as soon as he dared venture, +he went and rang at the door-bell. This first visit was a +combination of painful feelings for Wilhelm, for while his heart +beat, that now he was near the dearest one on earth, he was +conscious that here he was a stranger. A servant dressed in black +who opened the door did not seem to expect him, and asked him whom +he wanted. When Wilhelm asked for Frau Ellrich, he said shortly that +she was not at home. In spite of this Wilhelm took out his card, and +holding it out said, "Will you kindly announce me, as I am +expected." The man left him in an anteroom, and after a short pause +took him into the drawing-room. He soon returned, with a manner +entirely changed, and submissively asked Wilhelm to follow him to a +little blue boudoir, where Loulou received him with a joyful +exclamation, but the first greetings, owing to the servant's +presence, were exchanged without an embrace, and when they were +alone Wilhelm only found sufficient courage to kiss her hand. + +It was quite different now from the old times at the Scloss hotel, +and in the woodland paths at Hornberg. Wilhelm had to keep to +visiting hours, and was seldom alone with Loulou. He took courage +then to say "Du," but it was forbidden before other people. To kiss +her in those drawing rooms with their betraying mirrors, and their +portieres, and carpets was hardly possible. He was frequently asked +to lunch or dinner, and he often went with Frau Ellrich and Loulou +to the opera or theater, but all these opportunities were not +favorable for young lovers. Loulou wore beautiful frocks, which made +her much admired; the people were formal, and tolerated nothing that +was not ultra polite and polished, in short, it was impossible to be +true and natural as things had been in the forest, where the birds +and the happy little squirrels served for playfellows. + +Loulou was the first to have pity on Wilhelm's discomfort, and to +find means to give their intercourse in Berlin at least a little of +the beautiful unconstraint of the old times. Under the pretext that +she wished to improve herself in drawing, she obtained many precious +hours spent in the blue-room or in the winter garden, where their +hands often found opportunities to clasp, and their lips to seek +each other's. On the strength of Loulou's English education, which +had made her independent and self-reliant, and had freed her from +any affectation of shyness, she often walked with Wilhelm to parts +of the town which she did not know, or which she had only seen from +the windows of a carriage. On one of these voyages of discovery, as +she called them, she saw Paul for the first time. He met them in the +Konigstrasse, as they stood on the Konigsmauer, Loulou looking +halffearfully down the narrow street. Paul looked very much +astonished, and seemed as if he were not going to notice the pair of +lovers, but Wilhelm nodded and asked him to join them. So he went +home with them, and as soon as he was alone with his friend he fell +into rapturous admiration of the lovely girl, as Wilhelm had +predicted in his letter from Hornberg. One thing Paul could not +understand, and he said so: why had not Wilhelm formally asked for +Loulou's hand, why he was not properly engaged to her, and how could +an impulsive man bear such a constrained position, which would cease +the instant that he was Fraulein Ellrich's declared fiance? + +Wilhelm had at first no explanation to give his friend, but he knew +very well that he delayed, and that he put off from day to day going +to Loulou's parents. His was a sensitive, dreamy nature, and much +too thoughtful to allow himself to act from passion. He was +accustomed to make his impulses subordinate to his reason, and to +ask himself severe questions as to the where, how, and why of +things. He was not clear himself as to the condition of things +between him and Loulou. Did she love him? There were many answers to +that. She seemed pleased when she saw him, and displeased if he +appeared to forget her for a day. But what he could not understand +was that her head seemed as full as ever of her usual acquaintances, +and that she was capable of spending some time in theaters, +concerts, and society without looking for him. Full too of talk of +her frocks and neighbors, without wishing to interrupt the empty +gossip with a look or a kiss to let him know that she was conscious +of his presence, and in the middle of her idle talk to say +nevertheless that her heart was with him. On the other hand, she +showed the tenderest sympathy for him. She longed for a picture of +his rooms in the Dorotheenstrasse, where he lived and thought of +her. She had been to see his house in the Kochstrasse from the +outside. She was apparently proud of him, and repeated to him all +the flattering remarks which people made on his appearance and +cleverness, with as much satisfaction, as if she spoke of one of her +own people. Still all this was only on the surface, and he often had +the impression that her feeling for him was weakened at its +foundation both by her cold intelligence, and by her pleasure in +worldly things. + +And he? Did he love her as he should, before he had the right to +bind her to him for life? His earnestness and exalted morality +looked upon marriage as a rash adventure full of alarming secrets. +Was it possible that their two lives should be so blended together +that they should withstand every accident of fate? He meant to give +himself entirely, to keep nothing back, and to be true in body and +soul. Was he sure that he could keep the vow, and that no sinful +wishes should come to break it? Already he was thinking that he +might not be always happy with her. Certainly her beauty, her wit, +the attraction of her fresh, healthy youth charmed him, and when she +spoke to him with her sweet voice, he had to shut his eyes and hold +himself together, not to fall at her feet and bury his head in her +dress. But he feared for himself, for his honor, that a sensual +attraction should hardly outlast possession. His innermost being was +painfully troubled. Never an elevated word from her! Never a deep +and serious thought! Often he reflected that the faults of her +upbringing were the inevitable results of her life in the midst of +idle people, and that it would be possible to deepen and widen her +mind and sensations. If he could only go with her to a desert +island, alone with the loneliness of nature, and could live between +the heavens and the sea! How soon then could he inspire her thoughts +and bring her to his own standpoint. Then the fear would take hold +of him that she could not do without theaters, frocks, soirees, and +balls, and under the recent impression of the New-Year's party he +became despondent, and said to himself, "No. The life of show and +appearance has too great a hold on her, and I shall never be able to +give her what she wants, and what seems necessary to her happiness." +Paul's opinion, which he gave on the way home, struck him +sorrowfully. One of the richest "parties" in Berlin! Would not +people say he was marrying her for her money? What people said was +really nothing to him, and he considered himself free to act as his +innermost judgment counseled. But might not Loulou herself believe +that her father's money added something to her attractions? He +recognized that this feeling indicated a weakness, a want of self- +reliance, but the idea that she might be capable of such a thought +made him angry. Her money did not attract him! On the contrary, it +was an obstacle between them. Why was she not a Moscow gypsy girl? +Just as young, and pretty, and charming, but uncultivated, and +therefore ready for cultivation and capable of it; poor as a beggar, +and therefore free from pretensions, but without knowledge of the +world, and therefore without desire for it. How happy they might +both be then! Such thoughts ran riot in his brain, and he fell +asleep only when the late winter sun shone through the curtains on +his tired white face. + +The winter went quickly by under amusements of all kinds. Loulou had +never known it so pleasant. The theater season was brilliant, the +weather for skating lasted longer than usual, and balls succeeded +each other in her father's and friends' houses in rapid succession. +Wilhelm only went once or twice, and then he firmly declined any +more, to the great astonishment of Frau Ellrich, and the vexation of +Loulou, whose pretty face always lit up with pleasure when she saw +his dark eyes watching her from the doorways or window recesses +while she danced. He said that the sight of social frivolity bored +him, and she thought in her naive way, "It is always like that. Men +must have some fad." Paul was just the other way. He accepted every +invitation, and he had a great many. He had always some new +acquaintances to tell Wilhelm of, and often spoke of Fraulein +Malvine Marker, who appeared to be Loulou's dearest friend, and no +feeling of jealousy prevented him from repeating to Wilhelm that the +pretty girl had often inquired about him, always regretting his +absence from the Ellrichs' dances. + +The beautiful time of the year drew near. Outside the gates of the +city, where open places were free to her, the spring triumphed in +the budding trees of the Thiergarten. Arrangement of plans for the +summer was the chief occupation with most people. The Ellrichs +talked of Switzerland, and Wilhelm thought timidly of the charms of +the Black Forest. He longed to be back at Hornberg, and he spoke +often of being there together in the near future. He did not mention +marriage, however, and his formal offer had not yet been made. +Loulou thought this very odd, and one day she spoke to her mother +about it. Frau Ellrich, however, caressed her pretty child, and +kissing her on the forehead said: + +"It is nothing but modesty. I think it is very nice of him to leave +you in freedom for the whole season." + +"I am not free, however." + +"I mean before the world, dear child. You are both so young that it +would not matter if you did not take the cares of marriage upon you +for another year." + +And to Loulou that was evident. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +HEROES. + + +All over Germany the corn stood high in the fields, ripe for the +sickle. Then suddenly the threatening shadow of war rose in the west +like a black thundercloud in the blue summer sky, filling the +harvest gatherers with anxious forebodings. For fourteen days the +people waited in painful suspense, not knowing whether to take up +the sword or the scythe. Then the cry of destiny came crashing +through the country, terrifying and relieving at the same time: "The +French have declared War!" + +That was on July 15, 1870, on a Friday. Late in the afternoon the +dismal news was spread in Berlin that the French ambassador at Ems +had insulted the king, who had retired to the capital, and that a +combat with the arrogant neighbors on the Rhine was inevitable. +Before night the street Unter den Linden, from the Brandenburger +Thor to the Schlossbrucke, was packed with men overflowing with +intense excitement. Without any preconceived arrangement, all the +inhabitants decorated their windows with banners and lights, and the +streets assumed the festal appearance of rejoicings over a victory. +The crowd looked upon this spectacle not as an undecided beginning, +but a glorious conclusion. There was no fear in any face, no +question as to the future in any eye, but the certainty of triumph +in all; as if they had seen the last page turned in the book of +fate, with victory and its glorious results written thereon. + +Toward nine o'clock a thunderbolt broke over the Brandenburger Thor, +and rolled like the breaking of a wave to the other end of the +street. The king had left the Potsdam railway station a quarter of +an hour ago, and the crowd greeted him with a tremendous shout as +his carriage appeared. The people wished by this acclamation, +springing from the depths of their hearts, to show their ruler that +they were prepared to follow him even to death. But the king was so +much absorbed in thought that he scarcely seemed to hear or notice +the enthusiasm of the crowd. He saluted and bowed to right and left +as a prince is accustomed to do from his childhood, but it was a +mechanical action of the body, and his mind had little part in it. +His eyes were not looking at the sea of uncovered heads, but seemed +fixed, under knitted brows, on the distance, as if they endeavored +to decipher there some indistinct, shadowy form. Did the king +perceive in this moment the responsibility of one human being to +carry such a load? Did he wish in his innermost heart that he might +share the weight of the decision with others--the representatives of +the people--and not alone be forced to throw the dice deciding the +life or death of hundreds and thousands? Who can say? At all events +the powerful features of the king's face betrayed no such uneasy +doubt--only a deep earnestness and an immovable steadiness of +expression. Belief in the divine right of his kingship gave him +power over the minds of men, and he took his duties on him in this +hour without weakness or failing, grasping with his human hand the +obscure spiritual web of man's destiny, and with his limited +intelligence trying to unravel the dark threads here and there, on +which hung the healing and destruction of millions. In such moments +a whole people will become united into one being, swayed by the +mastery of a single mind, and await the commands of a single will. +It comes, no one knows from whom--all blindly follow. In spite of +the superficial differences which men find in one another under +similar conditions, the powerful effect of unconscious imitation is +surprisingly apparent, and under its operation personal +peculiarities disappear. + +Wilhelm and Paul that same evening sat at one of the windows of +Spargnapani's, looking on the Lindens. The small rooms were filled +to overflowing, and the guests were crammed together in the open +doorways, or on the stone staircase, where their loud talking +mingled with the noise of the people in the street. The king's +carriage had hardly passed, when several young men sprang shouting +into the room, threw a quantity of printed leaflets, still damp from +the press, on the nearest table, and rushed out again. These were +the proofs of an address on the war to the king. No one knew who had +written it, who had had it printed, who the people were who had +distributed it, but everyone crowded excitedly round it, and begged +for pens from the counter to add their signatures to it. A few +specially enthusiastic souls even put a table with inkstands and +pens out on the pavement, and called to the passers-by to sign the +paper. Paul was among the first to fulfill this duty of citizenship, +and then handed the pen to his friend. But Wilhelm laid it down on +the table, took Paul's arm, and drew him out of the crowd into the +quiet of the Friedrichstrasse. + +"Are you a Prussian?" cried Paul angrily. + +"I am as good a Prussian as you are," said Wilhelm quietly, "and +ready to do my duty again, as I have done it before, but these silly +effusions don't affect me at all." + +"Such a manifesto gives the government the moral force for the +sternest fulfillment of duty." + +"I hope you are not in earnest when you say that, my dear Paul. The +government does what it has to do without troubling itself about our +manifestoes. It is repugnant to me to have my approval of the war +dragged from me without being asked for it. I may not appear to say +'yes' willingly, but at the same time may not have the right to say +'no.'" + +Paul followed silently, and Wilhelm went on: + +"You deceive yourself as to your duty like all these people, who +imagine that they are still separate individuals, and that they can +sanction or forbid as they will the declaration of war. I, however, +know and feel that I have no longer a voice in the matter. I have +only to obey. I am no longer an individual. I am only an evanescent +subordinate unit in the organism of the State. A power over which I +have no control has taken possession of me, and has made my will of +no avail. Is there still a part of your destiny which you have the +power to guide as you will? Is there such for me? We shall be forced +to join simply in the united destiny of one people. And who decides +this? The king, no doubt, thinks that he does; the Emperor Napoleon +thinks he does. I say that these two have no more influence over the +capabilities of their people than we two have over the capabilities +around us. The State commands us, the whole evolution of mankind +from its beginning commands them. All of the race which has gone +before holds them fast, and compels them as the wheels of the State +compel us. The dead sternly point out the way to them, as the living +do to us. We all of us know nothing, kings and ministers as little +as we, of the real forces at work. What these forces will do, and +what they strive to attain to, is hidden from us, and we only see +what is nearest to us, without any connection with its causes and +final operation. That is why it seems to me better to do what one +sees as one's duty at the moment, rather than to give ourselves the +absurd appearance of being free in our movements, and certain as to +our goal." Paul pressed his hand at parting, and murmured: + +"Theoretically you are right, but practically I do not see why the +tyrant at the Tuileries need begin with us. He could at least leave +us in peace." + +The order for mobilization was issued. Wilhelm was surprised to +receive his appointment again as second lieutenant, and was +nominated to the 61st Pomeranian Regiment. His duties during the +next few days took up the whole of his time, and left him hardly a +moment to himself. He was free only for a few hours before the march +to the frontier, and then he made all the haste he could to say +good-by at the Lennestrasse. His heart beat quickly as he hurried +along, and now that the time of separation was near, he reproached +himself for the irresolution of the last few weeks. He was going to +the front without leaving a clear understanding behind him. He tried +to convince himself that perhaps it was better so--if he fell she +would be free before the world. But at the bottom of his heart this +reasoning did not satisfy him, and he lingered over the idea of +taking his weeping betrothed to his heart before all the world, and +kissing the tears off her cheeks, instead of bidding farewell to her +at the station, and holding her to him from a distance by an +acknowledged tie. Was not their love alone enough? No, he knew that +it was not, and he felt with painful surprise that his contempt for +outward appearances, his impulse after reality, were vigorous in him +as long as he followed his inmost life alone; but when he came out +of himself, and wished to unite another human destiny with his own, +these things had become a painful weakness. Through this other life, +the world's customs and frivolities began to influence him. and his +proud independence must be humbled to the dust, or he must painfully +tolerate his own weakness. These reflections brought another with +them--it was quite possible that an opportunity might occur at the +last moment. He painted the scene in his own imagination; he found +Loulou alone, embraced her fervently, asked her if she would be his +for life; she said "Yes;" then her mother came in, Loulou threw +herself on her neck; he took her hand and asked her in due form if +she would accept him as a son-in-law, as he had already gained +Loulou's consent. If the councilor was at home, his consent was also +given, if not they must wait until he came, and the time could not +seem long, even if it lasted an hour. He did not doubt that they +would all consent. Things might very likely have happened just as he +dreamed of, if he had only come to his determination at the right +time, and had not hazarded success on the decision of the last +moment, when there was hardly time for a weighty decision. + +As he approached the red sandstone house, with its sculptured +balconies, and its pretty front garden, he had a disagreeable +surprise. At the iron gate two cabs were standing, evidently waiting +for visitors at the house. He was shown, not into the little blue- +room, but into the large drawing-room near the winter garden, and +found several people there in lively conversation. Beside Loulou and +Frau Ellrich there were Fraulein Malvine Marker, with her mother, +and also Herr von Pechlar, the lieutenant of hussars of cotillion +fame. + +"Have you come too to say good-by?" cried Loulou, going to meet +Wilhelm. + +Her face looked troubled, and her voice trembled, and yet Wilhelm +felt as if a shower of cold water had drenched his head. The +insincerity of their relations, her distant manner before the +others, but above all the unfortunate word "too," including him with +the lieutenant, put him so much out of tune that all his previous +intentions vanished, and he sank at once to the position of an +ordinary visitor. + +Herr von Pechlar led the conversation, and took no notice of the new +guest's presence. He oppressed Wilhelm, and made him feel small by +the smartness of his uniform, his rank as first lieutenant, and his +eyeglasses. Wilhelm tried hard to fight against the feeling. After +all, he was the better man of the two, and if human nature alone had +been put in the scale--that is to say, the value both of body and +mind--Herr von Pechlar would have flown up light as a feather. But +just now they did not stand together as man to man, but as the +bourgeois second lieutenant in his plain infantry uniform, against +the aristocratic first lieutenant--the smart hussar, and the first +place was not to be contested. + +In Fraulein Malvine's kind heart there lurked a vague feeling that +she must come to Wilhelm's help, and overcoming her natural shyness, +she said to him: + +"It must be very hard for you to tear yourself away under the +circumstances." + +She was thinking of his attachment to Loulou, which in her innocence +she quite envied. + +Oppressed and distracted as his mind was, he found nothing to say +but the banal response: + +"When duty calls, fraulein." But while he spoke he was conscious of +the kindness of her manner, and to show her that he was grateful he +went on, "My friend Haber wishes to say good-by to you before he +leaves Berlin. He thinks a great deal of you, and is very happy in +having made your acquaintance." + +Malvine threw him a quick glance from her blue eyes and looked down +again. + +"What a good thing that I was here when you came," he said softly; +"I might certainly not have seen you but for this chance." + +"The fact is, gnadiges Fraulein," he stammered, "our duties demand +so much of our time." + +"Is Herr Haber in your regiment?" she asked. + +"No; he has remained with our old Fusilier Guards." + +"Ah, what a pity! It would have been so nice for you to be side by +side again, as in 1866." + +"How much she knows about us," thought Wilhelm, wondering. + +"I often think of Uhland's comrades. It must be a great comfort in +war to have a friend by one." + +"Happily one makes friends quickly there." + +"On that point we are better off than the poor reserve forces," +remarked Herr von Pechlar, not addressing himself to the speaker, +but to Frau and Fraulein Ellrich. "We regular officers pull together +like old friends in danger and in death, while the others come among +us unknown. I imagine that must be very uncomfortable." + +Wilhelm felt that he had no answer to make, and a silence ensued. +Loulou broke it by moving her chair near Wilhelm, and began to +chatter in a cheerful way over the occurrences of the last few days. +How dreadfully sudden all this was! Just in the midst of their +preparations to go away. That was put aside now. They must stay +behind and do their duty. Mamma had presided at a committee for +providing the troops with refreshment at the railway station; she +herself and Malvine were also members. There were meetings every +day, and then there was running about here, there, and everywhere, +to collect money, enlist sympathy, make purchases, and finally to +see to the arrangements at the departure of the troops. + +"It is hard work," sighed Frau Ellrich; "I have dozens of letters to +write every day, and can hardly keep up with the correspondence." + +Herr von Pechlar said he regretted that he was obliged to take to +the sword; he would much rather have helped the ladies with the pen. + +Wilhelm felt that the moral atmosphere was intolerable. He had +nothing to say, and yet it was painful to him to be silent. Nobody +made any sign of leaving, so at last he rose. Herr von Pechlar did +not follow his example, merely giving him a distant bow. Malvine put +out her hand quickly, which Wilhelm grasped, feeling it tremble a +little in his. Frau Ellrich went with him to the door. She seemed +touched, and said with motherly tenderness, while he kissed her +hand: + +"We shall anxiously expect letters from you, and I promise you that +we will write as often as possible." + +Loulou went outside the door with Wilhelm, in spite of a glance from +her mother. She thought they could bid each other good-by with a +kiss, but two servants stood outside, and they had to content +themselves with a prolonged clasp of the hand, and a look from +Wilhelm's troubled eyes into hers, which were wet. She was the first +to speak: + +"Farewell, and come back safely, my Wilhelm. I must go back to the +drawing-room." + +Yes, if she must! and without looking back, he descended the marble +staircase, feeling chilled to the bone, in spite of the hot sunlight +in the street. He had the feeling that he was leaving nothing +belonging to him in Berlin, except his own people's graves. + +In the evening he left by one of the numberless roads which at short +distances traverse Germany toward the west like the straight lines +of a railway. The quiet of the landscape was disturbed by the fifes, +rattle of wheels, and clanking of chains, and to all the villages +along the road they brought back the consciousness, forgotten till +now, that Germany's best blood was to be shed in a stream flowing +westward. A time was beginning for Wilhelm of powerful but very +painful impressions, not, it is true, to be compared with those +which the battlefields of 1866 had made on him when an unformed +youth. The war unveiled to him the foundations of human nature +ordinarily buried under a covering of culture, and his reason, +marveled over the reconciliation of such antitheses. On the one hand +one saw the wildest struggle for gain, and love of destruction; on +the other hand were the daily examples of the kindest human nature, +self-sacrifice for fellow-creatures, and an almost unearthly +devotion to heroic conceptions of duty. Now it appeared as if the +primitive animal nature in man were let loose, and bellowing for joy +that the chains in which he had lain were burst, and now again as if +the noblest virtues were proudly blossoming, only wanting favorable +circumstances in which to develop themselves. Life was worth +nothing, the laws of property very little; whatever the eyes saw +which the body desired, the hand was at once stretched out to +obtain, and the point of the bayonet decided if anything came +between desire and satisfaction. But these same men, who were as +indifferent to their own lives, and as keen to destroy the lives of +others as savages, performed heroic deeds, helping their comrades in +want or danger, sharing their last mouthful with wounded or +imprisoned enemies, who returned them no thanks; and after the +battle, in the peasant's hut, cradling in their arms the little +child, whose roof they had perhaps destroyed, and possibly whose +father they might have slain. These impulses, as far apart as the +poles, occurred hour after hour before Wilhelm's eyes. He was not a +born soldier, and his nature was not given to fighting. But when it +was necessary to endure the wearisome fulfillment of duty, to bear +privation silently, and to look at menacing danger indifferently, +then few were his equals, and none before him. This quiet, passive +heroism was noticed by his comrades. The officers of his company +found out that he did not smoke, and never drank anything stronger +than spring water. They noticed also that dirt was painful to him, +even the ordinary dust of the country roads, and that he was +dissatisfied if his boots and trousers bore the marks of muddy +fields. They thought him a spoiled mother's darling, a "molly- +coddle," and their instructive knowledge of human nature found a +name for him, the same name his schoolfellows had already given him. +They called him the "Fraulein." + +But in the day of battle, when Wilhelm with his company stood for +the first time in the line of fire, the "Fraulein" was perhaps the +firmest of them all. The hissing balls made apparently no more +impression on him than a crowd of swarming gnats, and the only +moment his courage left him was when he thought he might be thrown +into a ditch, which the rains had turned into a complete puddle. He +remained standing when all the others lay down, and the captain at +last called out to him, "In the devil's name, do you want to be a +target for the French?" making him seek shelter behind a little +mound, which left him nearly as uncovered as he was before. And +after hours of solid exertion, straining nerves and muscles to the +utmost, when peace came with night, Wilhelm began a tiring piece of +work with sticks and brushwood, out of pity for a weary comrade. + +On the strength of these first days before the enemy his position as +a soldier was established. A few harmless jokes were made on the +march and in the camp on Wilhelm's anxiety as to the removal of mud +on his clothes, and on the example he set in going out at night to +save the dead and wounded enemy from plunder, but the whole company +loved and admired the "Fraulein." + +The officers, however, did not entirely share this feeling. This +lieutenant was not smart enough. They did full justice to his +courage, but thought that he was wanting in alertness and +initiative. He lacked the proper campaigning spirit, and they found +it chilling that he should be so distant in his manners after so +long a time together. Another said that Lieutenant Eynhardt went +into action like a sleep-walker, and his calmness had something +uncanny about it. The captain was not pleased with him, because he +had no knowledge of business; as far as example went he was the +worst forager in the whole regiment. If a peasant's wife complained +to him, he would leave empty-handed a house whose cellars were +stocked with wine, and larders with hams one could smell a hundred +yards off. It was all the more provoking as he could speak French +perfectly, an accomplishment which no one else in the regiment +could, to the same extent, boast of. It came even to a scene between +him and the captain, who said angrily to him after a fruitless +search in a new and well-to-do village in Champagne: "A good heart +is a fine thing to have, but you are an officer now, and not a +Sister of Mercy. Our men have a right to eat, and if you want to be +compassionate, our poor fellows want food just as much as those +French peasants. Deny yourself if you like, but take care that the +soldiers have what they need. If ever you get back to Berlin, then +in God's name you can please yourself by distributing alms, and buy +a place for yourself in heaven." + +Wilhelm was obliged to admit that the captain was right, but he +could not change his nature. Capturing, destroying, giving pain, +were not to his taste. From that time he left other people's +property alone, and let the French run if they fell into his hands. +He was excellent on outpost and patrol duties, for then his brains +and not his hands were at work--then he could think and endure. He +could go for twenty-four hours on a bit of bread and a draught of +water better than any one, and without a minute's sleep, stand for +hours at a stretch holding a position; he was always the first to +explore dangerous roads, signing to his companions if he could +answer for their safety, and all this with a natural, quiet self- +possession as if he were taking a walk in town, or reading a +newspaper at Spargnapani's. + +Weeks and months went by like a dream, in constant excitement, and +the exhausting strain of strength. Christmas passed at the outposts +without gifts and with few good wishes, and the thunder of the guns +took the place of church bells. January came in with a hard frost, +trying the field troops bitterly, and bringing with it hard work for +Wilhelm's regiment. The 61st belonged to General Kettler's brigade, +which strategically kept the Garibaldi and Pelissier divisions in +check. By the middle of January the brigade was in full touch with +the enemy. On the 21st the troops broke out from the St. Seine, +dashed into the Val Suzon, and after an hour's conflict with the +Garibaldians, drove them out and established themselves on the +heights of Daix toward two o'clock. Before them were the rugged +summits of Talant and Fontaine, the last spurs of the Jura Mountains +seen in the blue distances both of them crowned, by old villages, +whose outer walls looked down a thousand feet below. The gray walls, +the rhomboid towers of the mediaeval churches, brought to one's mind +the vision of robber knights rather than the modest homes of +peasants. Between these two mountains was a narrow valley, through +which one caught a glimpse of Dijon, with its red roofs and numbers +of towers, and its high Gothic church above all, St. Benigne, well +known later to the German soldiers. + +There lay before them the great wealthy town, looking as if one +could throw a pebble through one of its windows, so near did it seem +in the clear winter air. The smoke went straight up out of its +thousand chimneys, exciting appetizing thoughts of warm rooms and +boiling pots on kitchen fires. There were the sheltered streets full +of shops, friendly cafes, houses with beds and lamps and well- +covered tables--but the soldiers stood outside on the cold hillside, +chilled to the bone by the north wind, so tired that they could +hardly stand, and often sinking down in the snow, where they lay +benumbed, without energy to rouse themselves. They had gone for +twenty-four hours without food, and had only some black bread +remaining for the evening, worth a kingdom in price. Between their +misery and the abundance before their eyes lay the enemy's army, and +this army they must conquer, if they would sit at those tables and +lie in the soft beds. The general wanted to take Dijon in order to +remove a danger menacing to South Germany, and to secure the advance +of the German army toward Paris and Belfort--the soldiers had the +same desire, but their longing for Dijon was for comfort, +satisfaction of hunger, and rest. + +The German battalion kept on pressing forward. This mistake was +hardly the fault of the officers, who on this occasion strove to +keep the men back rather than encourage them to advance. The +Garibaldian troops had the advantages of superior forces, a greater +range of artillery, and sheltered position in the hills, and they +pressed with increased courage to the attack. The Germans did not +await them quietly but threw themselves on them, so that in many +cases it came to a hand-to-hand fight, and serious work was done +with bayonets and the butt-ends of rifles. At length the French +began to retreat, and the Germans with loud "Hurrahs!" flung +themselves after them. But the pursuit was soon abandoned, as they +had to withdraw under the fire from the Talant and Fontaine +positions, and then, after a short rest, the French again advanced. +So the fight lasted for three hours, the snowflakes dispersed by the +balls, the men stamping their half-frozen feet on the ground, +stained in so many places with blood, but the distance between the +German battalion and beckoning, mocking Dijon never diminished. The +right wing of the brigade made a strenuous attempt, pressed hard +toward Plombieres, forced the Garibaldians back at the point of the +bayonet, and took possession of the village, which already had been +stormed from house to house. The sight of the slopes before +Plombieres covered with the enemy running, sliding, or rolling, +acted like strong drink; the whole German line threw itself on the +yielding enemy before it had time to regain breath, and amid the +thunder of artillery, with the balls from the French reserves on the +heights rattling like hailstones, it gained at last a footing on the +hill. Some of the troops sank down exhausted in the shelter of the +little huts which were strewed over the vineyard, while others +followed the division of the enemy which had forced itself between +the mountain and the narrow valley behind the French line of +defense. + +It was now night, and very dark, and to follow up the hard-won +victory was not to be thought of, so the German troops halted to +rest if possible for an hour. It was a terrible night, and the cold +was intense. Campfires were almost useless. The men's clothes were +insufficient and nearly worn out. During the last few days, on the +march and in the camp, every one had huddled together whatever +seemed warmest, and in the pale moon or starlight, figures in +strange disguises might be seen. One wore the thick wadded cloak of +a peasant woman over woefully torn trousers, another whose toes till +now had always been seen out of noisy boots, stalked in enormous +wooden shoes, the extra room being filled up with hay and straw. +Overcoats from the French and German dead had been taken, and were +useful for replenishing outfits--particularly when a German soldier +wore red trousers, and the braided fur coat of the fantastic +Garbaldian uniform. Many others had bed-clothing and horse- +coverings, carpets and curtains, one even went so far as to wear an +altar-cloth from some poor village church over his shoulders, and +those who still had pocket-handkerchiefs in their possession wore +them tied over their ears. Many, however, had nothing but their own +torn uniforms, and these tried hard to get warm by rolling +themselves close against one another like dogs. The dark masses lay +there all among the trodden and half-frozen snow stained with blood, +sand, and clay, huddled together one on the top of the other, and if +their labored breathing had not been heard, one could hardly have +told whether one stood by living men or dead--the dead indeed lay +near, many hundreds of them, singly and in groups, scarcely more +cramped and huddled together than the sleepers, nor more quiet than +they. When the cold, even to the most warmly dressed, became +intolerable, they would spring up and stagger about, stumbling over +heaps of dead and living men, the latter cursing them loudly. + +The dreadful night passed, and at most a third only of the German +troops had rested. The gray dawn began to appear in the sky, bugles +sounded, and cries of command were heard, but it was hard for the +poor soldiers to rouse themselves, to stir their benumbed limbs, +which at last were beginning to get a little warm. One after another +the ridges of the Jura Mountains became suffused with pink as the +sun rose, but the fissures in the hills and the valleys were still +dark and filled with thick mist, behind which the enemy's position +and the town of Dijon were still invisible. The soldiers soon forced +their stiffened limbs into position, the last remaining rations were +quickly distributed, and a picked number of the freshest of the men, +i.e. those who had had no night duty, went out doggedly against the +enemy, with trailing steps and gray, tired-out faces. The crackle of +their lively firing aroused the French from sleep, and perhaps from +dreams of conquest and fame, put them to confusion, and drove them +back toward Dijon. The Germans followed, this time without shouting, +and as the fog gradually dispersed, they saw the first skirmishers +of the batteries on Talant and Fontaine, apparently far distant +against the Porte Guillaume (the old town gate of Dijon, built to +imitate a Roman arch of victory), were really quite near them. One +more tug and strain and the goal was near. A fresh swing was put +into the attack, but the French had found time with the advancing +day to gather themselves together, and to be aware of the inferior +numbers of the attacking party, and they threw themselves in column +formation down the hill, which the German division threatened to +attack in the rear. Fresh troops came marching out of Dijon, and the +Germans, to avoid being between two fires, drew back again through +the valley behind the mountain. The French pressed after them, but +were received by the German reserves with such a firm front, that +they paused and slowly retreated. + +General von Kettler knew that in spite of his momentary success, he +could expect no further advance from his half-starved, cold, and +weary brigade, and therefore he ordered them half a mile to the +rear. The Garibaldian troops, who thought victory could be gained by +one strenuous effort, tried to arrest the departing troops, +endeavoring to bring them back to another advance. When they were at +last distributed in the villages, the exhausted Germans found rest +and refreshment for the first time for forty-eight hours. They had +lost a tenth part of their powers of endurance in those dreadful two +days spent on the hills in sight of Dijon. + +The brigade had retreated, as one who jumps goes a step or two +backward to obtain more impetus. The next morning, January 23, they +ware again on the march to Dijon. This time, however, they chose +another way to avoid the batteries of Talant and Fontaine, and +approached the town from the north instead of from the west. +Following the road and the railway embankment from Langres to Dijon, +the German troops pressed forward without halting. The French +outposts and breastworks soon fell before the advancing Germans, and +made no stand till they got to the Faubourg St. Nicholas, the +northeast suburb of Dijon. The greater number of the Germans +stationed themselves on the embankment, but the walls of the +vineyard, plentifully loopholed, pressed them hard with shot. Toward +evening the second battalion of the 61st, to which Wilhelm belonged, +received the order to advance. Over pleasure-gardens and vineyards +they went, through poor people's deserted houses the four companies +of skirmishers worked their way to the entrance of the Rue St. +Catherine, a long, narrow street. Just at the end stood a large +three-storied factory, whose front, filled with large high windows, +looked like a framework of stone and iron. At every window there was +a crowd of soldiers; the whole front bristled with death-dealing +weapons. Sixteen windows were on each floor, and at every window at +least three rows of four soldiers stood. It was therefore easy to +reckon the total number at six hundred at the very least. + +As the points of the German bayonets came round the corner in sight +of this fortress a terrible change took place: in the twinkling of +an eye all the openings blazed out at once, and the building seemed +to shake from its foundations; forty-eight red tongues of flame +blazed out suddenly to right and left, as if so many throats of +Vulcan or abysses into hell had been opened, and soon the whole +building was wrapped in a thick white smoke, through which the men +were invisible. Then a fresh roar and fresh bursts of flame, and +fresh puffing out of white smoke, and so it went on, flash after +flash, roar after roar came from that awful wall, whose windows were +every now and then visible between the volleys of smoke. Hardly one +of the soldiers within the line of fire was left standing, numbers +were crushed, many more lying dead or wounded-and the furious firing +took on a fresh impetus. If the whole battalion was not to be +destroyed, it must speedily get under cover. So, running some +hundred and fifty yards to the right, they threw themselves into an +apparently deep sandpit, and there they lay directly opposite to the +factory. During these few minutes the facade, still vomiting fire, +bellowed and poured out bullets like hailstones against the sixty +men in the sandpit, doing murderous work. + +Hardly giving themselves time to take breath, the brave men began to +fire steadily at the factory, which up till now appeared, in spite +of its nearness, to be very little damaged. The enemy were there +completely enveloped from sight, and a lurid red flame through the +cloud of smoke was the only guide for the German shot. So the +fighting lasted for some time, till an adjutant sprang from over the +field behind, which he had reached by a circuitous way, bringing +from the commander-in-chief the questions as to what was going on, +and why were they there. The major pointed with his sword at the +factory, and said + +"We must have artillery against this." + +"There is none here to have," answered the adjutant. + +The major shrugged his shoulders, and gave the command for the Fifth +company to storm the factory. While they prepared themselves to +leave the sandpit the German firing stopped, and almost at the same +time, the French. The enemy could now see what was going on outside, +for at this moment the cloud of smoke became less dense. The company +broke out of the sandpit, and with the flag of the battalion +gallantly waving over them rushed madly toward the door of the +factory, while the men who were left behind tried by a furious fire +to support their comrades and to confuse the enemy. The strange +silence had lasted forty or fifty seconds, probably till the Germans +had given some idea of their intentions. This bit of time allowed +the storming party to gain, without loss, the middle of the space +which separated them from their object, the intoxication of victory +began to possess them, and they gave a cheer which rang with the +exultant sound of triumph. Again the crashing din began, as terribly +as before, it was an uninterrupted sound like the howling of a +hurricane, in which no single report or salvo could be +distinguished; the whole building seemed to flame at once from the +top to the bottom in one red glow, and the bullets flew and whistled +in such a confusing mass, that it seemed as if the heavens were +opened and it rained balls, a dozen for every four square foot of +earth, and the men felt that they must be prepared for repeated +attacks of the same description, one after the other without +stopping. In but a few seconds half of the company lay on the +ground, and the colors had disappeared among the fallen. Those who +remained standing seemed for a short time as if stunned. A few, +acting on the instinct of self-preservation, fled almost +unconsciously. Among the greater part, however, the fighting +Prussian instinct prevailed, impelling the soldiers forward and +never back, and so with renewed shouts they pressed on. But only for +a few minutes. The colors flew upward again, raised by hands wearied +to death, only to fall again at once. Three times--four times the +flag emerged, sinking again and again, and each flutter meant a new +sacrifice, and each fall the death of a hero. Soon there was no one +left standing, no man and no standard, nothing but a gray heap of +bodies, whose limbs palpitated and moved like some fabulous sea +creature, making groaning, ghostly sounds. Ten or twelve poor +fellows wounded by stray shots sheltered themselves in the sandpit +without weapons, with staring eyes and distorted features. That was +all there was left of the Fifth company. + +There was deathly silence in the sandpit; the firing had ceased for +some minutes. The soldiers looked at one another, and at the +mountain of human bodies before them in the evening twilight, and +threw doubtful glances at the handful of men just returned, lying +exhausted on the ground. Suddenly the major called out: + +"The colors!" + +"The colors!" murmured several men, while others remained silent. + +"We must search for them under the wounded," said the major sadly. + +His glance strayed right and left, and seemed to invite volunteers +among the twenty or thirty who were nearest to him. The little band +cautiously left their shelter, and set diligently to work on the +hill of dead bodies. But in spite of the growing darkness they were +observed by the French, who began their fire anew, and a few minutes +later no living soul was left on the field. + +The captain and Wilhelm were now the only remaining officers of the +battalion. The former cried: "Who--will volunteer?" and was +surrounded by a dozen brave fellows. Wilhelm was not among them. He +stood leaning on his sword against the half-frozen side of the pit, +observing with sorrowful expression what was going on around him. +The captain threw him a strange look, in which contempt and reproach +were mingled, then he drew out his watch, as if to note the last +moment of his life, and with the cry "Forward!" disappeared in the +evening light. He did not reach the spot where the corpses lay +thickest. The factory went on spitting fire, and crashing everything +down over the heap. The shots, however, came more slowly, and pauses +came between them. A shriek was heard, not far distant. Evidently it +was one of the wounded who lay on the ground. At the same time a +form could be distinguished raising itself up and then sinking +again. Heedless of the balls which whistled round his ears, Wilhelm +raised his head out of the sandpit and looked over the field. Then +he worked himself out on his hands and knees, and to the +astonishment of the soldiers in the pit moved away toward the +wounded, alone and without hurry or excitement. Over there on the +other side they saw him, and although the artillery did not fire on +him, he received a brisk volley of single shots without, however, +being hit, and he reached the first group of wounded. A hasty glance +showed him only stiffened limbs and stony faces. He went on +searching, and then he heard close by him a feeble voice saying: +"Here!" and a hand was stretched out to him. With one bound he was +near the wounded man, and recognized the captain. + +"Are you seriously hurt?" he asked, while as quickly as possible he +raised the wounded man on his shoulder, who answered almost +inaudibly: + +"A ball through the chest, and one in my foot. I am in awful pain." + +As Wilhelm went slowly back with his burden, he looked so fantastic +in the growing darkness, that the French did not know what to make +of the strange apparition, and began to fire afresh. "Wilhelm, +however, reached the sandpit safely, where friendly arms were +stretched out to help him, and relieve him of the captain. He stayed +to breathe a moment, and then said: + +"If any one will come with me, we might bring in one or two more +poor devils who have still life in them." + +He was soon surrounded by five or six figures, and he was going with +them to search for wounded in the rain of balls which was falling, +when with a sudden cry of pain he sank backward. A ball had struck +his right leg. His volunteers put him back into the sandpit, and no +one thought any more either of the colors or the wounded who lay out +there under the fire from the factory. At this moment too an +adjutant brought the command to retreat, which the remains of the +wearied battalion slowly began, to obey under the command of a sub- +officer. + +The captain, who could not be moved, was left in a peasant's hut in +the village of Messigny, but as Wilhelm's injury was only a flesh +wound, and he was merely exhausted from loss of blood, he was sent +with the others to Tonnerre, where he arrived the next day, after a +journey of great suffering. + +The schoolhouse was turned into an infirmary, many of the rooms +holding nearly a hundred and twenty beds. Wilhelm was put into a +little room, which he shared with one French and two German +officers. A Sister of Mercy and a male volunteer nurse attended to +the patients in this as well as in the four neighboring rooms. +Wilhelm exercised the same influence here as he did everywhere, by +the power of his pale thin face, which had not lost all its beauty; +by the sympathetic tones of his voice, and above all by the nobility +of his quiet, patient nature. His fellow-sufferers were attracted to +him as if he were a magnet. Some occupants of the room gave up their +cigars when they noticed that he did not smoke. The Frenchman +declared immediately that he was le Prussien le plus charmant he had +ever seen. The Sister took him to her motherly heart, and the doctor +was constantly at his bedside. He was able to give him a great deal +of attention without neglecting his duty, as there were few very +severe cases under his care, and no new ones came in--Paris had +surrendered and a truce was declared. + +At first Wilhelm's wound was very bad. It had been carelessly bound +up at first, and in the long journey to the infirmary had been +neglected, but owing to antiseptic treatment the fever soon abated +and then left him entirely. He took such a particular fancy to the +doctor that after a few days they were like old friends, and knew +everything about each other. + +Dr, Schrotter was an unusual type, both in appearance and character. +Of middle height, extraordinarily broad-shouldered, and with large +strong hands and feet, he gave the impression of having been +intended for a giant, whose growth had stopped before reaching its +fulfillment. The powerful, nobly-formed he ad was rather bent, as if +it bore some heavy burden. His light hair, not very thick, and +slightly gray on the temples, grew together in a tuft over the high +forehead. The closely-cropped beard left his chin free, and the fine +mustache showed a mouth with a rather satirical curve and closely +compressed lips A strong aquiline nose and narrow bright blue eyes +completed a physiognomy indicating great reserve and a remarkable +degree of melancholy. It is no advantage to a man to possess a +Sphinx-like head. The pretty faces apparently full of secrets offer +easy deceptions, and one expects that the mouth when open will +reveal all that the eyes seem to mean. One is half-angry and half- +inclined to laugh when one discovers that the face of the Sphinx has +quite an everyday meaning, and utters only commonplaces. But with +Dr. Schrotter one had no such deception. He spoke quite simply, and +when he closed his lips he left in the minds of his listeners a +hundred thoughts which his words had conveyed, He was born in +Breslau, had studied in Berlin, and had started a practice there +when his student day's were over. The Revolution of '48 came, and he +at once threw himself head over ears into it. He fought at the +barricades, took part in the storming of the Arsenal, became a +celebrated platform orator, and relieved a great deal of distress +during the reactionary policy which followed, leaving soon +afterward, however, to travel abroad. He went to London almost +penniless, and at first, through his ignorance of the language, he +was barely able to maintain himself, but he soon had the good +fortune to obtain an appointment in the East India Company. In the +spring of 1850 he went to Calcutta, where he helped to manage the +School of Medicine, and some years later was sent to Lahore, where +he also established a medical school. After twenty years' service he +was discharged with a considerable pension. His return to Europe +falling in with the outbreak of the war, he hastened to offer his +voluntary services to the army as surgeon. Owing to temperate habits +and a strong physique, he had kept in good health, and no one would +have dreamed that this strong, fifty-year-old man had passed so many +years in an enervating tropical climate. The only signs it had left +on his face were the dark, yellowish color of his skin, and the +habit of keeping the eyes half-closed. The long years in India had +also made a deep impression on his character, and many things about +him would have appeared strange and odd in a European. They amounted +to sheer contradictions, but their explanation was to be looked for +in the environment of his life. Physically he was still young, but +his mind seemed very old, and had that appearance of dwelling +quietly apart which is the privilege of wise minds who have done +with life, and who look on at the close of the comedy free from +illusions. His eyes often flashed with enthusiasm, but his speech +was always gentle and quiet. In his relations with other men he had +the decided manner of one who was accustomed to command, and at the +same time the kindness of a patriarch for his children. He was a +moderate sceptic, nevertheless he combined with it a mysticism which +a superficial judge might have denounced as superstition. He +believed, for instance, that many persons had power over wild +animals; that they could raise themselves into the air; that they +could interrupt the duration of their lives for months, or even for +years, and then resume it again; that they could read the thoughts +of others, and communicate without help the speech of others over +unlimited distances. All these things he averred he had himself +seen, and if people asked him how they were possible, he answered +simply, "I can no more explain these phenomena than I can explain +the law of gravitation, or the transformation of a caterpillar into +a moth. The first principles of everything are inexplicable. The +difference in our surroundings is only that some things are +frequently observed, and others only seldom." + +His philosophy, which he had learned from the Brahmins, attracted +Wilhelm greatly; it made many things clear to him which he himself +had vaguely felt possible ever since he had learned to think. "The +phenomenon of things on this earth," said Dr. Schrotter, "is a +riddle which we try to read in vain. We are borne away by a flood, +whose source and whose mouth are equally hidden from us. It is of no +avail when we anxiously cry, 'Whence have we come, and whither are +we going?' The wisest course for us is to lie quietly by the banks +and let ourselves drift--the blue sky above us, and the breaking of +the waves beneath us. From time to time we come to some fragrant +lotus-flower, which we may gather." And when Wilhelm complained that +the philosophy of the world is so egoistic, Dr. Schrotter answered, +"Egoism is a word. It depends on what meaning is attached to it. +Every living being strives after something he calls happiness, and +all happiness is only a spur goading us on to the search. It belongs +to the peculiar organism of a healthy being that he should be moved +by sympathy. He cannot be happy if he sees others suffering. The +more highly developed a human being is the deeper is this feeling, +and the mere idea of the suffering of others precludes happiness. +The egoism of mankind is seen in this; he searches for the suffering +of others, and tries to alleviate it, and in the combat with pain he +insures his own happiness. A Catholic would say of St. Vincent de +Paul or St. Charles Borromeo, 'He was a great saint.' I would say, +'He was a great egoist.' Let us render love to those who are +swimming with us down the stream of life, and without pricking of +conscience take joy in being egoists." + +Wilhelm was never tired of talking about the wonderland of the +rising sun, of its gentle people and their wisdom, and Dr. Schrotter +willingly told him about his manner of life and experience there. So +the peaceful days went by in the quiet schoolhouse at Tonnerre, the +monotony being pleasantly relieved by visits from comrades, and +letters from Paul Haber and the Ellrichs. Paul was going on very +well. He was at Versailles, making acquaintances with celebrated +people, and had nothing to complain of except that, in spite of the +truce, he had no leave of absence to come and see his friend. Frau +Ellrich complained of the irregularity of their correspondence +during the war. Loulou wrote lively letters full of spirit and +feeling. She had been frightened to hear of his wound, but his +convalescence had made her happy again. She hoped that it would not +leave him with a stiff leg, but even if it did it would not matter +so much, as he neither danced nor skated. What a dreary winter they +were having in Berlin! No balls, no parties, nothing but lint- +picking, and their only dissipation the arrival of the wounded and +the prisoners at the railway station. And that was quite spoiled by +the abominable newspaper articles on the subject--presuming to +criticize ladies because they were rather friendly to the French +officers! The French, whom one had known so well in Switzerland, +must be of some worth, and it was the woman's part to be kind to the +wounded enemy, and to intercede for human beings even in war, while +the men defended them by their courage and strength. Some of these +Frenchmen were charming, so witty, polite, and chivalrous, that one +could almost forgive them had they conquered us. One's friends were +suffering so much--one heard such dreadful things. Herr von Pechlar +had escaped without a hair being injured, and he already had an Iron +Cross of the first class! She hoped that Wilhelm would soon get one +too. + +Up till now Wilhelm had not been able to answer this question +decidedly. One morning, toward the end of February, as he was +limping about the room on a stick, the adjutant came in and said: + +"I have brought you good news. You have won the Iron Cross." As +Wilhelm did not immediately answer he went on: "Your captain has the +first class. He is now out of danger. He has naturally surpassed +you. I may tell you between ourselves that it did not seem quite the +thing, your being so cool about the colors; but the way in which you +fetched the captain out was ripping. Don't be offended if I ask you +why you exposed yourself for the captain when you refused for the +flag?" + +"I don't mind telling you at all. The captain is a living man, and +the flag only a symbol. A symbol does not seem to me to be worth as +much as a man." + +The adjutant stared at him, and he repeated confusedly: + +"A symbol!" + +Wilhelm said nothing in explanation, but went on: + +"I regret very much that I was not asked before I was proposed for +the Iron Cross. I cannot accept it." + +"Not take it? You can't really mean that!" + +"Yes, I do. In trying to fulfill my duties as a man and a citizen, I +cannot hang a sign of my bravery on me for all passers-by to see." + +"You speak like a tragedy, my dear Herr Eynhardt," said the +adjutant. "But just as you like. You can have the satisfaction of +having done something unique. It is hardly a usual thing to refuse +the Iron Cross." + +As he went out with a distant bow, Dr. Schrotter came in, and said, +smiling: + +"What the adjutant said about the tragedy is very true. Decoration +appears very theatrical to me, but you might take it quietly and put +it in your pocket. I have got quite a collection of such things +which I never wear." + +"But do you blame the men who despise these outward forms in order +to give an example to others?" + +"My friend, when one is young one hopes to guide others, as one +grows older one grows more modest." + +This objection struck Wilhelm, and he grew confused. Dr. Schrotter +laid his hand quietly on his shoulder, and said: + +"That does not matter. We really mean the same thing. The difference +is only that you are twenty-five and I am fifty." + +As Wilhelm was silent and thoughtful, Schrotter went on: + +"There is a great deal to be said about symbols. Theoretically you +are right, but life practically does not permit of your views. +Everything which you see and do is a symbol, and where are you to +draw the line? The flag is one, but without doubt the battle is one +too. I believe, in spite of the historian who is wise after the +event, that the so-called decisive battles do not decide anything, +and that it is the accidental events which have the permanent +influence on the destiny of peoples. Neither Marathon nor Cannae +kept the Greeks or Carthaginians from destruction; all the Roman +conquests did not prevent the Teutonic race from overrunning the +world; all the Crusader conquests of Jerusalem did not maintain +Christianity, or Napoleon's victories the first French Empire; nor +did the defeats sustained by the Russians in the Crimea influence +their development. And finally, I am convinced that Europe to-day +would not be materially different, even if all the decisive +victories of her people could be changed into defeats, and their +defeats into victories. So you see that a battle is a symbol of the +momentary capabilities of a people, and a very useless symbol, +because it tells nothing of the immediate future, and yet you will +sacrifice your life for this symbol, and not for another! It is not +logical." + +"You are right," said Wilhelm, "and our actions in cases like this +are not guided by logic. But one thing I am sure of, if everything +else is a symbol, a man's life is not. It is what it appears to be; +it signifies just itself." + +"Do you think so?" said Schrotter thoughtfully. + +"Yes, although I understand the doubt implied in your question. A +living man is to me a secret, which I respect with timidity and +reverence--who can tell his previous history, what things he does, +what truths he believes in, what happiness he is giving to others? +Therefore when I see him in danger I willingly risk my life to save +his. I know myself, and I estimate my value as a trifling thing." + +Schrotter shook his head. + +"If that were right, an adult must in all cases give his life to +save a child, because he might grow to be a Newton, or a Goethe, and +above all, because the child is the future, and that must always +taken precedence of the past and the present. But to a mature man +that is not practicable. There are no more secrets. Mankind knows +that the probable is planted within his own being. Do not seek to +find additional reasons for a fact which has already sprung up from +unknown forces. It was sympathy which impelled you, the natural +feeling for a fellow-creature. And that is right and natural." + +Wilhelm looked at Schrotter gratefully as he affectionately grasped +his hand. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +IT WAS NOT TO BE. + + +The sun streamed down on Berlin from a cloudless sky, and all the +life of the town gathered in a confused, restless throng in Unter +den Linden; but the bustle on this hot summer day, June 16, 1871, +had quite a different character from that of eleven months before. +And if any one could have listened to it all with closed eyes, he +might have distinguished a joyful excitement in the air, in the +laughing of children and girls, in the lively gossip of the men; and +from all these sounds of joy and chatter he might have detected the +signs that overstrained nerves were now relaxed after long hours of +weary suspense. What hundreds of thousands had wished and hoped for +on that Friday in July had now come to its glorious fulfillment, and +Berlin, as the proud capital of a newly-established empire, was +giving a welcome home to the army. They had at last found the answer +to Arndt's ill-natured question about the German Fatherland, and had +set the great Charles' imperial crown on the head of their bold +Hohenzollern king. + +On one of the raised platforms near the Brandenburger Thor were +Wilhelm and Dr. Schrotter. The former had renounced the privilege +which belonged to him, as officer in the Reserves, and moreover, as +an example, had not claimed his position among those who were +wounded in the war, still however wearing his uniform. Had he +consulted his own inclinations, he would not have come to see this +triumphant entrance, as he took very little pleasure in the noisy +enthusiasm of crowds. A great deal of actual vulgarity is always +exhibited on these occasions, mingled with some real nobility of +feeling. Counter-jumpers and work-girls secure comfortable positions +from which to see the processions, groups of calculating shopkeepers +with advertisements of pictures and medals of hateful ugliness +speculate on the generosity of the crowd, and others push with all +the force of their bodily weight to obtain and keep the front places +for themselves. Frau Ellrich had sent Wilhelm two tickets, hoping +that he would make use of them. Dr. Schrotter wished to see the +spectacle, so Wilhelm asked his new friend to go with him. + +Near where they sat was the platform for the ladies who were to +crown the victors with wreaths. Among them was Loulou. All the +emotions and force of character of which she was capable had been +brought out by her position. Through the influence of her father, +who, in all the difficult and responsible business of the French +indemnity had found time to intercede for his little daughter with +the burgomasters and magistrates, Loulou's dream was realized; a +dream which all the prettiest girls in the best society in Berlin +had also shared during the last week. Her enrollment in this troop +of beauties was regarded by her less successful friends with envy, +but the vexation of disappointed rivals was naturally the sweetest +part of her triumph. + +The young girls were dressed all alike in mediaeval dresses like the +well known pictures of Gretchen in "Faust," with long plaits of +hair, puffed and slashed sleeves, and senseless and theatrical- +looking little hanging pockets. All were nevertheless conscious of +the propriety of their appearance, and felt quite heroic. It really +was heroic to sit there hour after hour in the burning sun +bareheaded, until all were gathered into one great picture, and a +documentary proof could be handed down to their grandchildren in the +shape of a large-sized photograph, showing that their grandmothers +had been chosen as the official beauties of Berlin in the year 1871. +The satisfaction of vanity, involving such a sacrifice, almost +deserves admiration. + +It was nearly midday when a sudden stir took place in the crowd. +Every one on the platforms sprang up and began to wave hats and +handkerchiefs. In the windows, on the roofs, in the spaces between +the platforms, wherever men could be packed, suddenly all the heads +turned to one side, just as a field of corn bends before a breeze. +Then uprose a roar of shouts and cheers, deafening and almost +stunning in intensity. It was impossible any longer to distinguish +tone, but only a tumult, such as a diver in deep water might hear of +the surface waves above him. The senses were bemused by the +continual succession, of heads set close together like a mosaic, and +covering the whole surface of the great street, and by the roar +which went up, cheering everything which made its appearance; +whether it were the struggling activity of the crowd moving in the +center of the street, the sudden fall of foolhardy boys who had +climbed into trees or up lampposts, or the short and sharp fights +which went on between spectators for the best places, nothing +escaped recognition. + +Now between the firing of cannons was heard a more distant sound of +a warlike fanfare of trumpets, and between the pillars of the +central Brandenburg Gateway came the Field-Marshal Wrangel, +recognizing all the arrangements with a pleasant smile, and with a +radiantly happy expression on his withered face, as the first +enthusiasm of the people burst upon him, though he had demanded no +part of the triumph for himself. A group of generals followed him in +gorgeous uniforms, decorated with shining medals and stars, all bore +famous names, attracting the keenest interest and centering the +enthusiasm of the crowd. Endless and numberless seemed the ever- +changing and richly-colored procession--Moltke, Bismarck, and Roon +side by side, all statuesque figures, their eyes with stately +indifference glancing at the rejoicing people. They seemed in the +midst of this stormy wave of excitement like stern, immovable rocks, +standing firm and high above the breaking surf at their feet. Many +people had at the sight of them an intuitive feeling that they were +not mortal men, but rather mystical embodiments of the power of +nature, just as the gods of the sun, the sea, and the storm were the +conceptions of the old religions. They passed on, and at a short +interval behind them came the Emperor Wilhelm. His supreme +importance was emphasized by the space left before and after him. +Wreaths covered his purple saddle, flowers drooped over the glossy +skin of his high-stepping charger, his helmeted head and his gloved +hand saluted and bowed, and on his face shone a mingled expression +of gratitude and emotion, which, after the hard, cold bearing of his +fellow-workers, was doubly impressive and affecting. Manifestly this +conqueror was not like his Roman prototype who had the words, "Think +of death," whispered in his ear, while he tolerated the idolization +of the people. + +The monarch had to hear long speeches from the officials and verses +from the trembling lips of the young girls who surrounded him before +he could ride further. The train of individual heroes ended with +him. The principle of massing together was now the order, in which +individuality is no longer recognized. + +Battalion after battalion and squadron after squadron in endless +lines passed by, until the tired eyes of the spectators could hardly +after a time distinguish whether the lines were still moving, or had +come to a standstill. The helmets and weapons of the soldiers were +garlanded with flowers and foliage, the horses' legs were twined +with wreaths, and their feet trod on a mass of trampled flowers and +leaves. The strength of the German army seemed to be decked and +curled out of it; the lines of marching soldiers had women's faces: +here and there a man had a patriotic admirer on his arm, who let it +be seen that she had taken possession of his weapon and carried it +for him. The officers, as much bedecked as their men, managed +nevertheless to preserve their dignity. + +The crowd was gradually becoming stupefied by the spectacle, throats +were sore with shouting and cheering, and the oppressive heat took +the freshness out of the people's enthusiasm. Once more, however, +they broke out again, just as when the emperor and his paladins +appeared, and this was when the French field-trophies were carried +past. Eighty-one standards and flags were there, from the +battlefields of Russia, Italy, and Mexico, soaked through with men's +blood, gloriously decomposed, torn, blackened with powder, and +riddled with bullets. Now the strong arms of German non-commissioned +officers carried them in the sultry heat of the midsummer afternoon, +these miserable remnants hanging heavy and limp without a flutter, +without a spark of trembling life in the silken folds; they looked +like imprisoned kings, who with heads bowed down, and despair in +their eyes, walked in chains behind the triumphant Roman chariots. + +"Look," sad Dr. Schrotter to Wilhelm, when a short pause came in the +shouting, and in the rain of wreaths and flowers--"Look what makes +the deepest impression on the people, next to the great +representative figures. There is the symbol which you despised." + +"What does that prove?" answered Wilhelm. "I never doubted that the +crowd was roused by appearances, and not by the reason of things. +The ideal results of victory one cannot see with one's eyes or +applaud with one's hands, but a dismantled banner one can." + +"That does not explain everything. Atavism comes into it. The +inhabitants of towns in ancient times need to rejoice and cheer in +the same way when their victorious troops brought home the tutelary +gods of their enemies. It is the same idea, the same superstition, +after an interval of three thousand years." + +"Yes, it is curious. I was thinking the whole time that one had a +picture of ancient civilization before one. The wreaths of flowers, +these swaggering figures with their trophies of war, this gay crowd, +distributing food and drink, these young girls with their crowns, is +it not all exactly the manner in which the people of the Stone Age +or the savages of to-day would feast their heroes? Cannot one +understand in this that at the beginning of civilization war was the +highest object in state and society, an opportunity of enrichment by +booty, and a festival for youth? Nowadays we ought to have got far +enough to see in war only a weary fulfilling of duty, a barbarous +waste of labor, of which we are inwardly ashamed; and we should keep +away from this noisy festival as from the execution of a criminal, +which may be necessary, but is painful to witness. The progress from +barbarism to civilization is frightfully slow." + +"It is true; we are still carrying ancient barbarism round our +necks, and without a great deal of rubbing you will easily find the +primitive savage under the skin of our dear contemporaries who are +able to construe Latin beautifully. And these are not the only +gloomy thoughts which this spectacle gives me. Look there! over +yonder at the other end of the street they are unveiling a monument +to Friedrich Wilhelm III., and the festival of victory is spoiled by +homage paid to a despot who during twenty-seven years never redeemed +his pledge to give the people a constitution. I am forty-eight years +old, and yet I have not forgotten my youthful ideas. My generation +looked forward to a united as well as to a free Germany, and hoped +that unity would not come out of a war, but rather from the freewill +of the German people. It is now with us through other means, but I +fear not better ones. The aristocracy and the Church will assert +themselves again, and the military system will lay its iron hand +over the life of the whole nation. People say already that it is the +officer and not the schoolmaster who has made Germany great. These +changes put my thoughts in a ferment. One has yet to see whether +such a society of officers can produce a people, and if its thinkers +and teachers could not lead it to a richer cultivation, and its +poets to a higher ideal of duty. I am afraid, my friend, that the +higher souls in our new empire will not find this an easy time." + +"And yet you left your dreaming in India to come home to +discomfort," said Wilhelm. + +"My longing for Germany never left me all the twenty years I was +there. And then I confess that I secretly reproached myself for +going away. It is comfortable to turn one's back on the Fatherland, +and to find more agreeable conditions in a foreign country. But +afterward one tells oneself that only egoists leave their own people +fighting against darkness and oppression, and that one has no right +to play the traitor to home and belongings, while those left behind +are striving bitterly to better their condition." + +The procession of troops was still passing, but the young girls had +already left their posts; the stands were beginning to empty, and +Wilhelm and Dr. Schrotter tried to break through the crowd and go +homeward. After a short silence Schrotter again went on: + +"Don't misunderstand me," he said; "in spite of thinking this +triumphal procession barbaric, and my ideal being different from +that of most people, I was deeply moved to-day with sympathy and +admiration. This generation has achieved something colossal. My eyes +fill with tears when I see these men. For six or seven years they +have shed their blood in these wars without a murmur, they have +fought in a hundred battles without taking breath, they have neither +counted the cost nor spared their labor, and one feels astounded at +living amid such heroes, who seem to belong to a fairy tale. This +generation has done more than its duty, and if now it is weary and +will rest for thirty years in peace, surely no one can reproach it." + +Schrotter spoke with emotion, and Wilhelm who would not grieve his +friend by a contradiction, repressed a retaliation which rose to his +lips, and silently took leave of him. + +The life of the community, as of single individuals, went back +gradually into its old channels, and so it did with Dr. Schrotter. +He had lived hitherto in an old-fashioned quarter of the town, and +now, to be as near as possible to Wilhelm, he rented a house in the +Mittelstrasse. He established a private hospital in the old +Schonhauserstrasse, in the midst of artisans and very poor people, +and there he spent daily many hours, treating for charity all those +who came to him for help. He soon had a larger attendance than was +comfortable, and had to extend the work, without which he could not +have lived. He found endless opportunities of relieving misery and +distress in this poor quarter of the town, and as he was a rich man, +and independent of his own creature comforts, he could put his +philosophy of compassion into practice to his heart's content. +Wilhelm took up his work again at the Laboratory, and also resumed +his visits to the Ellrichs, but it was with an increasing +discomfort. The councilor, who had been distinguished for his +services in the financial transactions with the French Government, +had heard the story of the refusal of the Iron Cross. He thought it +very ridiculous, and his early friendship for Wilhelm became +markedly cooler. Even Frau Ellrich's motherly feeling for him +received a check, and modesty and shyness no longer seemed a +sufficient explanation of the unaccountable delay in his love- +making. Only Loulou was apparently the same, whenever he came, +always lively and friendly, but when he left she was affectionate +without any display of emotion, grateful for tender glances, not +withholding quiet kisses, but not offering them--her calm manner +almost mysterious, as if love were simply something superficial and +of small import. Wilhelm could no longer deny that his first love, +which had stirred his being to the depths, was a mistake, but he +could not bring himself to definitely end the existing conditions. +Hundreds of times he was on the point of saying to Loulou that he +did not think the tie between them would secure their happiness, and +offering her her freedom, but as soon as he began his courage would +fail him. If people were present he was confused; if they were +alone, her personal appearance had the same charm for him, or rather +it awoke in him the remembrance of the delight and enthusiasm he had +felt in the past, and prevented him taking a step toward what would +do grievous injury to her girlish vanity, if nothing more. + +Would this suspense and these fears, which made him so restless and +unhappy, always last? He might write a letter to Loulou, as he was +unable to say what he wished to in the light of her beautiful brown +eyes. Then he threw this idea aside as unworthy of consideration; he +could not simply dismiss a girl whom he loved by means of the post. +The simple thing to do seemed to wait, until, on the other side, +they should grow disgusted with him, and would tell him to go. This +agreed with his passive character, which was timidly inclined to +draw back before the rushing current of events, and preferred to be +carried along by them, just as a willow leaf is borne along on the +surface of a stream. Wilhelm could not help noticing that Herr von +Pechlar was now a favorite guest at the Ellrichs', that he made +himself very fussy about both mother and daughter, and that he had a +very impertinent and slightly triumphant air when he met him. He +would only have to leave the coast clear for Pechlar and all would +be at an end. + +Paul Haber, who was in Berlin again, and paying a great deal of +attention to Fraulein Marker, was grieved and really angry at the +turn his friend's romance had taken. He knew through Fraulein Marker +how Herr von Pechlar was trying to supplant Wilhelm, and that he +took every opportunity of making abominably false representations +about him. There ought to be no more foolish loitering about. It was +unpardonable to let the golden bird fly away so easily. Once open +the hand, and she might be off. If Fraulein Ellrich was beginning to +flirt with Pechlar, it was quite excusable, as Wilhelm's coolness +might well drive her to it. But if he stuck to his absurd whim, that +she was too superficial for him!--as if every girl were not +superficial, and as if a man cannot educate her to whatever level he +pleases--then in heaven's name let him make an end of it all, or the +affair would become ridiculous and contemptible. But other +considerations had weight with Wilhelm. + +Through Paul and the officers of his acquaintance he heard very +unfavorable things of Pechlar. He was only moderately well off, and +had more debts than hairs on his head; perhaps for a son-in-law of +Herr Ellrich's that was a venial offense. He was also a common +libertine, whose excesses were more like those of a pork-butcher +than of a cultivated man. His companions were not disinclined for +little amorous adventures--a joke with a pretty seamstress or +restaurant waitress were their capital offenses. But the manner in +which Pechlar carried on his amours was such as did not commend +itself to either the easygoing or cautious among the officers. + +Wilhelm clearly saw that Pechlar did not love Loulou--he was +probably incapable of loving, and only wanted her dowry. Without a +thought of jealousy, and out of compassion for an inexperienced and +guileless creature who was dear to him, he thought it his duty to +warn her before she sullied herself by becoming bound to such a man. +To save Loulou he at last took the step which no respect for his own +peace or honor had allowed him to take before. + +He went to the Ellrichs' house the next day at the usually early +hour of eleven o'clock, and asking for the young lady, he was shown +into the little blue boudoir, where he hoped to find Loulou alone. +But he was painfully surprised. Herr von Pechlar sat there, and +appeared to be in the middle of a conversation with Loulou. She +smiled at Wilhelm, and beckoned to him to come and sit near her, +without embarrassment. Wilhelm stayed a moment at the door +irresolute, then he went forward, and bowing to her without looking +at the hussar, said earnestly: "I came in the hope of speaking to +you alone, gnadiges Fraulein. Perhaps I may be so fortunate another +time." + +At these unexpected words Loulou opened her eyes wide. Herr von +Pechlar, however, who since Wilhelm's arrival had been tugging +angrily at his red mustache, could contain himself no longer, and +said in a harsh voice, which trembled with passion: + +"That is the coolest thing I have ever heard. May I ask first of all +why you cut me on entering the room?" + +"I only recognize people whom I esteem," said Wilhelm over his +shoulder. + +"You are a fool," flashed back Pechlar's answer. + +Perfectly master of himself, Wilhelm said to Loulou, "I am extremely +sorry that I have been the cause of an outbreak of bad manners in +your presence," then he bowed and left the room, while Loulou sat +there motionless, and Herr von Pechlar gave him a scornful laugh. + +With all his retirement from the world, and his indifference to the +usages of society, Wilhelm felt nevertheless a sharp stab of pain, +as if he had been struck across the face with a whip. As he walked +down the Koniggratzer Strasse it seemed to him as if a bright, fiery +wound burned on his face, and the passers-by were staring at this +sign of insult. His powerful imagination formed pictures unceasingly +of violent deeds of revenge. He saw himself standing with a smoking +pistol opposite the offender, who fell to the ground with a wound in +his forehead; or he fought with him, and after a long struggle he +suddenly pierced the hussar through the breast with his sword. By +degrees his blood cooled, and with all the strength of his will he +fought against the feelings which he knew formed the brute element +in man, and which with his philosophy he believed he had tamed, and +he said to himself, "No, no fighting. What good would it do? I +should either kill him, or be killed myself. His insulting words +really do me no more harm than the yelping of this little dog who is +running past me. I will not let a remnant of prejudice be stronger +than my judgment." + +Although he had come to this resolution, his nerves were still so +unstrung that he could not quiet them alone. He felt he must +unburden himself to some one, so he hastened toward Dr. Schrotter's. +The doctor, however, had not yet returned from his hospital. Wilhelm +soon found the inmates of his friend's household, an old Indian man- +servant and a housekeeper, also an Indian of about thirty-five, with +a yellow face already wrinkled and withered, large dark eyes, and a +gold-piece hanging from her nostrils. The old man maintained a +respectful attitude toward her, which pointed to a great difference +of caste between them. The woman showed by her small hands and feet, +and the nobility of her expression, the modest and yet dignified +character of a lady, rather than of a person in a subordinate +position. Both wore Indian dress, and attracted great attention when +they showed themselves in the street. They hardly ever went out, +however, and were always busily employed in service for Dr. +Schrotter, to whom they were very devoted. + +The old man, who spoke a little English, opened the door to him, and +told him that Schrotter Sahib would soon be in. The woman also +appeared, and beckoned to him to go and wait in the drawing-room, +opening the door as she did so. As he went in she crossed her arms +on her breast, bowed her head with its golden-colored silk turban, +and vanished noiselessly. She only spoke Hindustani, and always +greeted Wilhelm in this expressive manner. + +The drawing-room, in which Wilhelm walked restlessly up and down, +was full of Indian things; oriental carpets on the floor, low divans +along the walls covered with gold embroidery and heaped with +cushions, rocking-chairs in the corners, punkahs hanging from the +ceilings--no heavy European furniture anywhere, but here and there a +little toy-like table or stool made of sandalwood or ebony, inlaid +with silver or mother-o'-pearl. Everything smelled strangely of +sandalwood and camphor and unknown spices, everything seemed to +spring and shake under a heavy European foot, everything had such an +unaccustomed look, that one felt as if one were in a foreign land, +where Western prejudices and standpoints were unknown and +inadmissible. These surroundings spoke to Wilhelm dumbly yet +intelligibly, and he felt their persuasive power almost immediately. +He had recovered his equanimity when, a quarter of an hour later, +Schrotter came in. + +"What a pleasant surprise!" he cried from the doorway. "Will you +stay to lunch with me?" + +Wilhelm accepted gratefully, and then related his morning's +experiences. Schrotter had made him sit on a divan surrounded by +cushions, and listened attentively, while his half-closed eyes, full +of fire, rested on his friend's unhappy face. Wilhelm had never +mentioned his engagement to Fraulein Ellrich to many of his old +friends, but Dr. Schrotter had been told of it in all its +circumstances by Paul Haber. Now, however, Wilhelm could not avoid +the subject in his mind, and to make his last visit to the Ellrichs, +and his behavior with regard to Herr von Pechlar intelligible, he +told Dr. Schrotter, in short, concise language, the beginning and +subsequent development of his love-affair, and by the confession of +his consideration of Loulou's nature, gave a clew to his delay, +coolness, and final renunciation. + +When Wilhelm had finished, and raised his eyes questioningly to +Schrotter, the latter said, after a short silence: + +"I congratulate you on the quiet way in which you have told me all +this. For a young fellow of twenty-six with deep feelings it is +little short of a wonder. But the question is, what do you intend to +do?" + +"Nothing," answered Wilhelm simply. + +"You will not call out Herr von Pechlar?" + +"No." + +"And if Herr von Pechlar challenges you?" + +"He challenge me?" + +"Certainly; for although he is the direct offender, we can't +overlook the fact, dear Eynhardt, that you first insulted him, which +by a nice point of honor would justify him in taking the first +steps. The man is evidently bent on a quarrel, so we have to +consider the possibility that he may send his second with a +challenge." + +"In that case I would make it clear that I do not demand +satisfaction, but neither will I give it." + +There was another pause. + +"You are undertaking what may involve serious consequences," +remarked Schrotter. + +"It appears to me easy enough," said Wilhelm. + +"You could not think of an academic career in Germany after it." + +"You know I do not aspire to that." + +"Beside that, the episode will become an insurmountable barrier in a +hundred circumstances of life." + +Wilhelm was silent. + +"Don't misunderstand me. I have not a word to say in favor of the +regulation of duels. I abhor them. It is as stupid and brutal as the +offering of human sacrifices to appease angry gods. I myself have +never fought in a duel. But I--I am already on the shadowy side of +life. I want nothing more from the world. But those still on the +sunny side have other things to consider. I think war is a horrible +barbarism, still I would not advise any one to hold back from his +duty in time of war. Men are often compelled to take part in the +foolishness of majorities. I know your heart is in the right place, +and that you don't place any exaggerated value on your life. You are +content to stand alone in the world, and have no mortgage of +obligation on your life. Why will you not fight?" + +"Simply because I think as you do about duels. I agree that one must +often take part in the folly of the crowd, but I see a difference +there. I go and fight in battle because the State compels me. I can +struggle against these laws with my feeble forces, and I can exert +myself to bring about their alteration; but so long as they exist I +must submit to them, or else exile myself or commit suicide. If the +duel were a written law, I would fight; but the law as a matter of +fact forbids it, and my opinions are in accordance with the law." + +"But there are laws of society as well as laws of the State. There +are customs which prevail over opinion and prejudices." + +"That is not the same thing. If the folly of the majority form +itself into laws of the State, the gendarmes see to their +enforcement. No judge or jailer compels obedience to the laws of +society." + +"Something like it, however. It is unspeakably bitter to live +without the respect of one's fellow-creatures." + +"I am coming to that point. But please do not think me overbearing +and conceited. The respect of my fellow-men I hold far more lightly +than self-respect. If I despised myself it would be no compensation +if every one saluted me, and if I respect myself, it does not +trouble me if others hold me lightly. When I am not forcibly +compelled I cannot let my own actions be guided by the caprices and +fads of other people. So long as it is possible my actions shall be +guided by my own judgment. You say you want nothing more of the +world--I require nothing more either. The only thing I demand is the +freedom of the soul." + +"Yes--yes," murmured Schrotter as if to himself, "I know this +direction of thought better than you think. It has been brought +before me a hundred times by the word and action of Indian fakirs. +It seems to me that false freedom of the soul is a chimera. Our most +unfettered resolves are called forth by unknown, often by outward +conditions, by our own peculiar qualities, by the state of our +bodily health, by unknown nervous sources of energy through what we +see, hear, read, learn. You make your judgment the sole guide of +your actions, but your judgment itself is the result of forces and +influences unsuspected by yourself and depending on them. Well! you +want to lead the life of a fakir, to unloose the ties binding you to +other men, that is one of several ways to secure peace and +happiness, which to me also is an object in life. The principal +thing is not to be superficial, but to consider both what one +requires and what one gives up before turning into a fakir. I +respect you in any case." + +The drawing-room door opened noiselessly, and the Indian woman +appeared, and with a pleasant inclination of her head spoke a word +to Dr. Schrotter. He got up and said, "Lunch is ready." They went +into the adjoining dining-room, furnished like any ordinary room. On +the table was a beautiful silver bowl of Indian work filled with +flowers, the sole luxury of this bachelor's table, neither wine nor +anything else to drink being visible. Schrotter drank nothing but +water, and he knew that Wilhelm's taste was similar. Bhani, as the +Indian housekeeper was called, stood close behind her master's +chair, never taking her eyes off him. The dishes were brought in by +the white-bearded servant, and handed with a deep reverence to +Bhani. She placed the dishes before Schrotter, changing them for a +fresh course, and poured water into his glass. It was a silent, +attentive service, almost giving the impression of adoration. Bhani +appeared not to be waiting on a mortal master, but taking part in a +sacrifice in a temple, so much devotion was expressed in her noble, +warmly-colored face. + +A dish of curry spread its oriental scent through the room, and +Schrotter continued: + +"Tell me, dear Eynhardt, in what way you mean to accomplish your +fakir's contempt of the world?" + +"Pardon me," interrupted Wilhelm, "the expression does not strike me +as quite fair. I don't despise the world, I consider it merely as a +phenomenon, valueless to my way of thinking, and in which I fail to +find any real actuality." + +"I understand quite well; we are not debating on a platform, but +chatting over our lunch. I am not troubling either to talk in the +correct jargon of school philosophy, and therefore I am at liberty +to call your longings after the essence of things, contempt of the +world. Now this occurs in two places--either among inexperienced +young men of strong, noble natures, instinctively conscious of their +own vitality, and intoxicated by their own strength, who feel so +overcome by the phenomenon that they undervalue it, and believe that +they are able singly to fight against it. Or there are the weak +natures, who think that they are capable of changing the phenomenon +to suit themselves. As they are not in a position to strive against +it they retire sullenly defeated. The story of the fox and the +grapes would just express their case, and also an excess of the +consciousness of their 'ego.' Those are, I think, the resources from +which spring contempt of the world: neither of these cases coincide +with yours; you are not young and inexperienced enough for the one, +and you are too useful for the other. You are healthy and sound, of +average powers and energy, uncommonly well made in body and mind; of +the poetical age, comfortably off, and I should like to know how you +have come to despise the world?" + +"I hardly know. The first impulse came perhaps in Russia in early +childhood, where I got into the habit of regarding people around me +as barbarous--neither useful nor valuable." + +Schrotter shook his head. + +"I have lived for twenty years among a subdued and so-called +inferior race, but I have learned to love them instead of despising +them." + +"Very likely I have inherited the feeling from my mother, who was +very timid of other people, and given to mysticism." + +"Is it not rather your reading? The unhappy Schopenhauer?" + +Wilhelm smiled a little. + +"I am above all things an admirer of Schopenhauer, although his +explanation of the mysteries of the world through the will is a +joke. What he has written about the main teachings of Buddhism has +influenced me very much." + +"I see where you have got to--'Maja Nirvana'" + +Wilhelm nodded. + +"That is all a fraud," Schrotter broke out, so that Bhani, who never +saw him violent, looked up frightened. "I know Indians who have +talked endlessly to learned pandits on these questions, and have +explained the real ideas of Maja Nirvana to me. It is +incomprehensible that people can misuse words on this subject as +they do in Europe. Nirvana is not what European Buddhists appear to +believe--an absolute negation--a cessation of consciousness and +desire; but, on the contrary, it is the highest consciousness, the +expansion of individual being into universal existence. Here is the +Indian seer's conception: the most limited individuality cares only +for his own 'ego.' But in the same measure that he transcends his +limitation, the circle of his interest is widened; more actualities +and existing phenomena are admitted, and come into sympathy with +himself. All things mingle with and extend his own 'ego;' and that +can be so widened as to embrace the interests of the whole world, +until man can be in as much sympathy with a grain of sand, or the +most distant star, and take as much share in the ant, and in the +dwellers on Saturn, as in his own stomach and toes. In this way the +whole universe becomes a constituent part of his 'ego;' thus his +desires cease individually to exist, and are assimilated with the +entire phenomenal world, and he longs for nothing beyond this. The +'ego' ceases because nothing is left outside the individual 'ego;' +but this Nirvana, this highest step in the perfection of humanity, +is, as you can see, not the negation of everything, but the +absorption of everything; not something immovable, but rather the +wonderful, ceaseless movement of the world's life. Men will not +attain to Nirvana through quiet and indifference, but through +strenuous labor, not by withdrawing into their 'ego,' but by going +outside it. The true Nirvana of the pandits is the exact opposite of +your Schopenhauer's Nirvana." + +"But how can this conception of the seer's Nirvana coincide with +their inactivity and renunciation of the world?" + +"People misunderstand the fakir's belief. The Indian wise men think +that the work of perfection is performed by the spirit alone, and +that the activity of the body disturbs it; therefore the body must +rest while the soul accomplishes its full measure of work, while it +widens the circle of its interest, and absorbs into itself the +phenomenal world. The clumsy understanding of the crowd thereupon +comes to the conclusion that to become holy and attain to Nirvana, +one must not stir a finger, not even to support oneself." + +Wilhelm thought over this new point of view, but Schrotter went on: + +"Believe me, true wisdom is neither that of the fakir nor of the man +of the world; but as it appears to me, it neither despises the world +nor admires it. One must not depend on oneself too much, neither on +others. One must always be saying to oneself that one has no lasting +importance in the world, but that in this transitory state eternal +forces are at work, the same forces which drive the earth round the +sun, and which operate on all men and things. Do not let us +individualize too much; we are only a piece of the whole, to which +we hang by a thousand unknown threads. Let us not either be too +arrogant in our bearing toward our fellow-men, in whose company we +are the involuntary puppets of unknown laws of development which are +leading humanity on to a given epoch." + +This conversation had taken Wilhelm's mind off his misfortune, and +he had almost forgotten his adventure with Pechlar. He was reminded +of it, however, on reaching home about three o'clock, by finding +Paul, who always came to see him at that hour. + +"What's the news?" cried he, coming cheerfully to meet him. + +"I went to-day to see Fraulein Ellrich, to set things right between +us." + +"Bravo." + +"Yes; I went, but I have not done it." And then he related the +incident again. + +Paul seemed quite stunned while Wilhelm was speaking, and then +sprang up in great excitement from the sofa, and cried: + +"You will fight the scoundrel, of course!" + +"No," said Wilhelm quietly. + +"What!" shouted Paul, taking hold of Wilhelm's shoulder and shaking +him. "Surely you are not in earnest? You are an officer--you have +been a student--you will never let that fool of a fellow place you +in a false position!" Wilhelm freed himself, and tried to speak +reasonably; but Paul would not listen, and went on, his face red +with anger: + +"Not only for yourself; you owe it to the girl's honor, if not to +your own, to punish the fellow. You won't appear like a coward in a +woman's eyes." + +"That is an odd kind of logic." + +"Do be quiet with your logic and your philosophy, and the lot of +them. I am not a logician, but a man, and I feel a mortal offense +like a man, and want to settle with the offender." + +"Do stop a minute and let me speak a word. I will break off my +relations with Fraulein Ellrich, and then I shall not be in a +position to fight for her." + +"That is very chivalrous!" + +"That is silly! Just think of this situation: suppose I wound or +kill the offender--come back from the duel, and find the young girl, +who is the cause of the quarrel, ready to offer me the prize. I +answer: 'Many thanks, fair lady, I do not now wish for it,' and +straightway leave her, like the knight in the old ballad." + +That seemed to satisfy Paul. + +"Very well; then it must not be on her account. But fight you must," +and he stopped suddenly, and then burst out: "If you will not fight +him, I will." + +"Are you mad?" + +Paul began to explain that he had the right to do it; he worked +himself into a fury, he stuck to his ideas, and it took Wilhelm an +hour to bring him to a more reasonable frame of mind. He spared no +pains in explaining to him his views of the world's opinion, and +that the real cowardice would be to fear the foolish prejudices of +society; but it was all in vain, and Paul's angry objections were +only silenced when Wilhelm said with great earnestness: + +"If nothing that I say convinces you, I can only act in one way with +the painful knowledge that our friendship is not equal to such +conditions, but only to ordinary occasions." + +"Oh! if it comes to giving up our friendship, as far as I am +concerned, I must wink at the whole thing; but what I can't stand is +your calling the opportunity which allows one to silence a fool, a +mere disease." + +The crisis was not long in coming. The next morning before Wilhelm +went out, a lieutenant of one of the Uhlan regiments stationed at +Potsdam called, and said he had come with a challenge from Herr von +Pechlar; he declined to sit down, giving his message as shortly as +possible, with the least suspicion of contempt in his voice. + +Herr von Pechlar had waited the whole afternoon; but as Herr +Eynhardt had sent him no message, he could no longer put off +demanding satisfaction. The questions as to who was the offender, +and what weapons should be used, might now be decided by the +seconds. Wilhelm looked calmly into the officer's eyes, and +explained that he had nothing further to do with Herr von Pechlar. + +"You are an officer in the Reserve?" asked the lieutenant haughtily. + +"Yes." + +"I hope you understand that we shall bring the case before the +notice of the regiment?" + +"You are perfectly free to do so." + +The lieutenant stuck his eyeglass into his right eye, looked hard at +Wilhelm for several seconds, then, with an expression of deep +disgust, he spat on the floor, noisily turned round, and without a +word or sign, retired, his sword and spurs clanking as he went. + +Oh, how hard it was to overcome the instinct of the wild beast! How +furiously it tugged at its chain! How it tried to spring after the +lieutenant, and clutch his throat in its claws!--but Wilhelm +conquered the new cravings of his instinct and stood still. He +experienced a great self-contentment at last, and admitted to +himself that he would not have been nearly so glad if he had wounded +a dozen of the enemy in single combat. + +Three days later he received in writing, an order to present himself +at eleven o'clock the morning but one following to the Commandant of +the 61st Regiment. He took the journey the following evening, and at +the appointed hour he was shown into the commandant's private room, +where he found also his old captain, raised to the rank of major. He +spoke kindly to Wilhelm and held out his hand, while the commandant +contented himself with a nod, and a sign to be seated. + +"I suppose you know that you have been ordered to come here about +the affair with Lieutenant von Pechlar?" he said. + +"Certainly, sir." + +"Will you relate what occurred?" + +Wilhelm answered as he was desired. His recital was followed by a +short silence, during which the commandant and the major exchanged +glances. + +"And you will not fight?" asked the first. + +"No, sir." + +"Why not?" + +"Because my principles do not allow me." + +The commandant looked at the major again and then at Wilhelm, and +went on + +"If I take the trouble to discuss the matter with you quite +unofficially, you have to thank the major, who has spoken warmly in +your favor." + +Wilhelm thanked the major by a bow. + +"We know that you are not a coward. You showed great bravery on the +battlefield. It is because of that, I feel sorry. You are a faddist, +you proved that by your refusal of the Iron Cross, which is the +pride of every other German soldier. We are not willing to condemn a +mode of procedure, the meaning of which you evidently do not +understand, and which all your views of life tend to destroy. I am +not speaking now as your superior officer, but as a man--as your +father might speak to you. Believe what I say. Fulfill your duty as +a man of honor." + +"I cannot follow your advice," answered Wilhelm gentle, but firmly. + +He was painfully conscious that his answer sounded more roughly and +harshly than he intended, but he knew it was impossible to go into a +long philosophical discussion, kind and well-meaning as the +commandant was. + +"We have more than fulfilled our promise, major," said the +commandant, and turning to Wilhelm, "Thank you, Herr--" + +The major looked out of the window, and Wilhelm had to go without +being able to thank him by a look. He felt, however, that this time +things had been easier for him to bear, and that the only painful +feeling he had experienced during the interview was the vexation he +was giving the major. + +The Militar Wochenblatt published a short account of his discharge. +It made no personal impression on him, but he felt that he was +branded in the eyes of others. It, however, seemed to draw Paul +Haber nearer to him. He avoided talking on the subject, but every +one noticed the quiet way in which he behaved to Wilhelm, his little +attentions, his long and frequent visits, as if he were under the +impression that he must console his friend in this great misfortune, +and stand by him as firmly as possible. Wilhelm knew him as he did +himself--how cautious and practically clever he was, and how +dangerous it was for him in his own position as Reserve officer to +keep up this confidential intercourse with one who had been turned +from a hero to a judicially dismissed officer, how perilous for the +connection he had with celebrated and influential people, and for +the appearance he must keep up in society. Wilhelm valued and +appreciated all Paul's heroism in remaining so true and stanch to +him, he did not ask for these things, but they were freely given by +one who ran the risk of becoming poor, so he was deeply grateful to +him. + +He considered himself under an obligation to go once more to the +Ellrichs', to formally take leave of them; but when he rang at their +door he was told that the family had gone away to Heringsdorf. As +this had occurred, Paul did not think it necessary to tell his +friend what he had heard through Fraulein Marker, namely, that the +Ellrichs were very angry about the affair of the duel, and had given +orders before they went away that Wilhelm was not to be admitted if +he called. Wilhelm now wrote to Loulou (he had avoided doing so +earlier), a short, dignified letter, in which he begged her +forgiveness for having been so long in finding out the state of his +feelings, as the struggle had been hard and painful, but he could +now no longer conceal the fact that their characters were not +sufficiently in harmony to insure happiness together for a lifetime. +He thanked her for the happiest week in his life, and for the +deepest and sweetest feelings he had ever experienced, and which +would always remain the dearest memory of his life. His photograph +was shortly afterward sent back to him, from Ostend; but his letter +remained unanswered. He did not learn therefore, that it had made an +exceedingly bad impression, and that Frau Ellrich had only been +restrained with difficulty by her daughter from writing to tell him +how impertinent she thought it of him to appear to take the +initiative, when her daughter had first refused to receive him. Herr +von Pechlar obtained a long leave, which he spent at Heringsdorf. In +September the Kreuzzeitung announced his betrothal to Fraulein +Ellrich, which was followed in the winter by their brilliant +wedding. + +The breaking of Wilhelm's relations with Loulou left a great blank +in his life. Up till now he had had in pleasant, hopeful hours, an +object to which all the paths in his life led him, to which his +thoughts were drawn as a ship steers for a distant yet secure +harbor; now the object was gone, and when he looked forward to his +future it seemed like the gray surface of the sea at dusk, formless, +limitless, without meaning or interest. Even the painful doubt he +had been in, his hesitation between the resolve to persevere in the +engagement, or to renounce it, the fight between his intelligence +and his inclinations, had become familiar to him, and had filled his +thoughts by day and his dreams by night. These must now all be +renounced. If for the last half-year his love had been only a quiet +happiness, or a hardly-defined desire, it was at any rate an +occupation for his mind, and he missed the employment very greatly. + +He became quieter than ever; his face lost its youthful, healthy +color, and he appeared like the typical lover famed in classic +story. But his friends did not laugh at him; they bore with him, +treated him gently, as if he had been a disappointed girl. Paul, who +was filling the place of an invalided professor of agricultural +chemistry, and working hard after the college term began, found time +to come every day for a long walk in the Thiergarten, and resigned +himself to long philosophical discussions which so far had not been +at all to his taste. Dr. Schrotter seldom had any spare time during +the day; but Wilhelm always took tea with him in the evenings. + +Did Bhani know anything of his story? + +Had her womanly instinct guessed that his careworn, melancholy +expression betrayed an unhappy love story--a subject so sympathetic +to women? Anyhow she anticipated every means of serving him, and her +glance betrayed an almost shamefaced sympathy. + +One November evening they were sitting at the little drum-shaped +table in the Indian drawing-room; the teaurn steaming, and Bhani +standing near, ready to obey her master's slightest wish. Schrotter +touched on the wound in Wilhelm's heart hitherto so tenderly +avoided. + +"My friend," he said, "it is time that you came to yourself. It is +obvious that you are still grieving, instead of fighting against +your dreams; you give way to them without a struggle." + +Wilhelm hung his head. "You are right. It is foolish; for I see that +I do not love the girl deeply enough to spoil my life." + +"Come now. You were more in love than you thought; but it is always +so; even in pure and passionless natures human nature is very +strong, and the first young and pretty girl who comes near enough to +you brings out all the dormant feelings, and reason disappears. +People often do the maddest things in this period of unrest, which +they repent all their after life. I have always mistrusted a first +love. One must be quite satisfied that it is for an individual, and +not merely the natural inclination for the other sex asserting +itself. Your first love, my poor Eynhardt, certainly belongs to this +class. Your youthful asceticism has had its revenge; now that your +reason has got hold of the reins again, the rebellion of your +instinct will soon be subdued." + +"I hope so," said Wilhelm. + +"I am sure of it. There is no doubt about the end of crises like +these, and it really is difficult to take the misery they cause +seriously, although it is bad enough while it lasts. It is the most +overpowering and yet the least dangerous of diseases. The patient +gives himself up for lost, and the doctor can hardly help smiling, +because he knows that the malady will only run its course, and will +stop like a clock at its appointed time. He can, however, hasten the +cure, if he can bring the patient to his own conviction." + +He was silent, and seemed sunk in thought. Then he began again +suddenly: "I will read you a story about this; nothing is more +instructive than a clinical picture." + +Bhani sprang to her feet and hastened toward him, but he put her +aside with a word, and going into his study he appeared again +bearing a folio bound in leather and with the corners fastened with +copper. + +"This is my diary," he said. "I have had the weakness to keep this +since I was sixteen. There are three volumes already, and I began +the fourth when I returned to Germany. Listen now, and don't put +yourself under any constraint. I will laugh with you." + +He opened the folio, and after a short search began to read. It was +the romance of his early life, written in the form of a diary, +simply told at some length. Quite an ordinary story of an +acquaintanceship made with a pretty girl, the daughter of a +bookseller, who sat next to him in a theater. Meetings out of doors, +then the introduction to her parents' house, and then the betrothal. +The Revolution of 1848 broke out, and the many demands on the young +doctor turned his thoughts away for the time from plans of marriage. +His fiancee greatly admired the fiery orator and fighter at +barricades, and told him so, in enthusiastic speeches and letters. +The father, however, had no sympathy with reactionaries, and soon +conceived a violent antipathy for his future single-minded son-in- +law. As long as the democratic party held the upperhand, he kept his +feelings in the background, making nevertheless endless pretexts for +delaying the marriage. The party of reactionaries broke up, however, +and the bookseller declared war; he forbade the young democrat to +enter his house, and even denounced him to the police. The young +lovers were, of course, dreadfully unhappy, and vowed to be true to +one another. He determined to go away, and tried to persuade her to +go with him. She was frightened, but he was audacious and insisted. +They would go to London, and be married there; he could earn his +living, and they would defy the father's curse. All was arranged; +but at the last moment her courage failed, and she confessed all to +the tyrant, who set the police on the young man's track, and sent +the girl away to relations in Brandenburg. The unfortunate lover's +letters were unanswered. He left Germany, and heard after some weeks +that his betrothed was married to a well-to-do jeweler, apparently +without any great coercion. + +This story was disentangled from letters, conversations, accounts of +opinions in the form of monologues, interviews, visits, and +descriptions of sea-voyages; all sufficiently commonplace. But what +excitement these daily effusions showed! What boundless happiness +about kisses, what cries of anguish when the storm broke! Would it +not be better to commit suicide and die together? Was it possible +that this quiet man with his apathetic calm could ever have been +through these stormy times? It did not seem credible, and Schrotter +seemed conscious of the immense difference between the man who had +written the book and the man who now read it. His voice had a +slightly ironical sound, and he parodied some of the scenes in +reading them, by exaggerating the pathos. But this could not last +long. The real feeling which sighed and sobbed between the pages +made itself felt, and carried him back from the cold present to the +storm-heated past; he became interested, then grave, and if he had +not suddenly shut the book with a bang when he came to the place +where his faithless love was married, who knows-- + +At all events, Wilhelm had not smiled once; his eyes even showed +signs of tears. Schrotter took the book into the other room, and +when he came back every trace of emotion in look and manner had +vanished. + +"So you see," he began, "a sensible boy like I am has behaved like +an ass in the past. But I did not shoot myself after all, that was +so far good, and I am ashamed to tell you how soon I got over it. I +often go past her shop in Unter den Linden, and see her through the +window beyond all her brilliants and precious stones. She is still +very pretty, and seems happy, much happier no doubt than if she had +been with me. She would certainly not recognize me now, and I can +look at her and my heart beats no whit the faster. Dwell on my +example." + +"I am not sure that you are not slandering yourself." + +"You can feel easy about that," said Schrotter earnestly. "The +disenchantment was quick and complete, and very naturally so. Just +get Schopenhauer's 'objectivity' out of your head; I don't believe +in Plato's theory of the soul divided into two halves which are +forever trying to join again. Every sane man has ten thousand +objects which are able to awaken and return his love. All he has to +do is not to go out of their way." + +"Ought not there to be an individual one?" + +"I venture to say no. The story of the pine trees of Ritter +Toggenburg, which love the palm trees, is the creation of a +sentimental poet. Lawgivers in India to all appearance believe in +faithfulness unto death; and the widow or even the betrothed follows +her husband to the grave of her own free will. This free-will +offering only comes, however, by aid of the sharpest threatening of +punishment. I have known fourteen-year-old widows who offered +themselves miserably to be burned. If they had known how soon they +would be consoled, and new love sprang up, they would have violently +resisted such suicide! Bhani there is a living example of this," + +As she heard her name she looked up, and Wilhelm intercepted a look +between her and Dr. Schrotter, which all at once made clear to him +what he had vaguely suspected before. He turned his head sadly +toward the window, and looked out into the foggy autumn evening. He +felt almost as if he had committed a crime, in having discovered a +secret which had not been freely revealed to him. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +A LAY SERMON. + + +"Es ist eine Lust, in deiser Zeit zu leben!" cried Paul Habor, as he +walked with Wilhelm and Dr. Schrotter on the first sunny day the +following April. They walked under the lindens full of leaf through +the Thiergarten, and home over the Charlottenburger Brucke. + +The spirit in which he uttered Hutten's words was at that time +dominant and far-reaching. It seemed as though people were all +enjoying the honeymoon of the new empire; that they breathed peace +and the joy of life with the air, as if the whole nation inhaled the +pleasure of living, the joy of youth and brave deeds, and that they +stood at the entrance of an incomprehensibly great era, promising to +everyone fabulous heights of happiness. + +A sort of feverish growth had sprung up in Berlin, an excitement and +ferment which filled the villas in the west end, and the poor +lodging-houses of the other end of the town: was found too in +councilors' drawing-rooms, and in suburban taverns. New streets +seemed to spring up during the night. Where the hoe and rake of +kitchen-gardens were at work yesterday, to-day was the noise of +hammers and saws, and in the middle of the open fields hundreds of +houses raised their walls and roofs to the sky. It seemed as if the +increasing town expected between to-day and to-morrow a hundred +thousand new inhabitants, and were forced to build houses in +breathless haste to shelter them. + +And as a matter of fact the expected throng arrived. Even in the +most distant provinces a curious but powerful attraction drew people +to the capital; artisans and cottages, village shopkeepers, and +merchants from small towns, all rushed there like the inflowing +tide. It made one think of a number of moths blindly fluttering +round a candle, or of the magnetic rock of Eastern fairy tales, +irresistibly attracting ships to wreck themselves. It recalled to +one the stories of California at the time of the gold fever. +People's excited imaginations saw a veritable gold-mine in Berlin. +The French indemnity flew to people's heads like champagne, and in a +kind of drunken frenzy every one imagined himself a millionaire. +Some had even seen exhibited a reproduction of the hidden treasure. +The great heap of glittering pieces was certainly there, a tempting +reality, piled up mountains high, millions on millions, craftily +arranged to glitter in the flaring gas-light before their covetous +eyes. The real treasure must be at least as substantial as its +counterfeit. People began to see gold everywhere; red streaks of +gold shone through the window-panes, instead of the warm spring sun; +they heard murmuring chinking streams of gold flowing behind the +walls of their houses, under the pavements of the streets, and every +one hastened to fill their hands, and thirsted for their share in +the subterranean gold whose stream was concealed from their eyes. +While their lips were being moistened by the stream of gold, they +were, as a matter of fact, drinking the transformed flesh and blood +of the heroes who had sacrificed themselves on the French +battlefields, and in this infamous travesty of the Christian mystery +of the Lord's Supper the devil himself took part and possession of +them. They followed new customs, new views of life, other ideals. +The motto of their noisy and obtrusive life seemed to be, "Get rich +as quickly and with as little trouble as possible, and make as much +as possible of your riches when you have secured them, even by +illegitimate means." So the splendid houses rose up in an overloaded +gaudy irregular style of architecture, and the smart carriages with +india-rubber tires rolled by, yielding soft and soothing riding to +their occupants. + +Berlin, the sober economical town, the home of honorable families, +extolled for respectability almost to affectation, now learned the +disorderly ways of noisy cafes, the luxury of champagne suppers, in +over-decorated restaurants, became intimately acquainted with the +theaters--gaining doubtful introductions to expensive mistresses. +Mere upstarts set the fashion in dress, in extravagance, and all who +would be elegant, followed, leading the way to barbaric vices. The +old-established inhabitants were many of them weak or silly enough +to try to outdo the newcomers, and degraded the quiet dignity of +their patriarchal manner of life by speculations on the Stock +Exchange. The intelligent middle classes, whose eyes and ears were +filled with this bluster of the gold-orgy, found that their former +way of living had now grown uncomfortable, their houses were too +small, their bread too dry, their beer too common and their views of +life began to climb upward in a measure which, whether they were +willing or equal in talent to it, forced from them harder work and +more dogged perseverance. Political economists and statisticians +were drawn into excitement by their knowledge of figures. They +extolled the sudden crisis in the money market, the easy returns, +the great development of consumption in goods. They quoted +triumphantly the amount of importations, the great increase in silk, +artistic furniture, glass, jewelry, valuable wines, spices, +liqueuers, was called a splendid development of trade; wonderful +evidence of the prosperity of all classes, and an elevation of the +manner of life of the German people. And if moralists failed to see +in these heated desires and idle display, the presence of progress +and blessing, they were called limited Philistines, who were too +feeble-minded to recognize the signs of the times. + +The position of the workingman profited by the new condition of +things. Berlin seemed insatiable in her demands for able-bodied +workmen. Hundreds and thousands left the fields and the woods, and +taking their strong arms to the labor market of the capital, found +employment in the factories and the workshops; and the mighty +engines still beat, sucking in as it were the stream of people from +the country. Berlin itself could not contain this influx. The +newcomers were obliged gypsy fashion to put up as best they could in +the neighborhood. In holes and caves on the heaths and commons, in +huts made of brushwood, they bivouacked for months, and these men +who lived like prairie dogs in such apparent misery were merry over +their houseless, wild existence. As a matter of fact they +experienced no actual want, as there was work for every one who +could and would labor. The rewards were splendid, and the +proletariat found that its only possession, viz., the strength of +its muscles, was worth more than ever before. The workingman talked +loudly, and held his head high. Was it the result of having served +in one or more campaigns? Had he in the background of his mind a +vision of dying men and desolate villages, seen so often on the +battlefield? However it was, he became violent and quarrelsome, +indifferent alike to wounding and death, and learned to make use of +the knife like any cutthroat townsman. + +With this return to barbarism (an unfailing result with the soldier +after every time of war) went a degree of animal spirits, which made +one ask whether the workman had learned something of epicurean +philosophy. He had the same excited love of tattling as a +thoughtless girl, and the animal love of enjoyment of a sailor after +a long voyage. His ordinary life seemed to him so uninteresting, so +dull, that he tried to give color and charm to it by taking as many +holidays as possible, and making his work more agreeable with +gambling and drinking, and going for loafing excursions about the +neighborhood. Visits to wine and beer-houses and dancing-rooms were +endlessly multiplied, and everything had the golden foundation which +the proverb of an age of simplicity hardly attributed to honorable +handicraft. Profits were squandered in drink; life was a rush and a +riot without end. + +But curiously, in the same degree in which the opportunities of work +were increased and wages became higher, life everywhere easier, and +the ordinary enjoyments greater; just so did the workman grow +discontented. Desires increased with their gratification, and envy +measured its own prosperity by the side of the luxury of the +nouveaux riches. + +The hand which never before had held so much money, now learned to +clinch itself in hatred against the owner of property, the company +promoter; against all in fact who were not of the proletariat. The +Social Democrat had sprung up ten years before from the circle of +the intelligent political economists and philosophers of the artisan +classes. Since the war they numbered thousands and ten of thousands, +and now began to grow and widen like a moorland fire, at first +hardly perceptible, then betraying through the puff of smoke the +fire creeping along the ground; then a thousand tongues of flame +leap upward, and suddenly sooner or later the whole heath is in a +blaze. Innumerable apostles preaching their turbid doctrines in all +the factories and workshops, found hearers who were discontented and +easily carried away. The social democracy of the workmen was neither +a political nor economical programme which appealed to the +intellect, or could be proved or argued about, but rather an +instinct in which religious mysticism, good and bad impulses, needs, +emotional desires were wonderfully mingled. The men were filled with +enmity against those who had a large share of money; the new faith +dogmatically explained possession of property as a crime--that it +was meritorious to hate the possessor and necessary to destroy him. +They were made discontented with their limited destiny by the sight +of the world and its treasures; the new faith promised them a, +future paradise in the shape of an equal division of goods--a +paradise in which the hand was permitted to take whatever the eye +desired. They were disgusted by the consciousness of their deformity +and roughness, which dragged them down to the lowest rank in the +midst of school learning if not exactly knowledge; of good manners +if not good breeding; the new faith raised them in their own eyes, +declaring that they were the salt of the earth, that they alone were +useful and important parts of humanity; all others who did not labor +with their hands being miserable and contemptible sponges on +humanity. + +The whole proletariat was soon converted to Social Democracy. Berlin +was covered with a network of societies, which became the places of +worship of the new faith. Handbills, pamphlets, newspapers, partly +polemical, partly literary, in which the mob made their statements +and professed their faith stoutly; these, although written very +badly, yet by their monotony, their angry reproaches, their +invocations, reminded one of litanies and psalms. + +Wilhelm felt a certain sympathy with the movement. It was first +brought to his notice by a new acquaintance, who had worked with him +in the physical laboratory since the beginning of the year. He was a +Russian, who had introduced himself to the pupils in the laboratory +as Dr. Barinskoi from Charkow. His appearance and, behavior hardly +bore this out. His long thin figure was loosely joined to thin weak +legs. Light blue eyes looked keenly out of a warm grayish-yellow +face; add to these a sharp reddish nose, pale lips, a spare, badly +grown mustache and beard of a dirty color, and slight baldness. His +demeanor was suave and very submissive, his voice had the faltering +persuasiveness which a natural and reasonable man dislikes, because +it warns him that the speaker is lying in wait to take him by +surprise. Barinskoi, beside, never stood upright when he was +speaking to any one. He bent his back, his head hung forward, his +eyes shifted their glance from the points of his own boots to other +people's, his face was crumpled up into a smiling mask, and working +his hands about nervously he crammed so many polite phrases and +compliments into his conversation that he was a terrible bore to all +his acquaintances. Barinskoi, who was an accomplished spy, intended +by his entrance into the laboratory to learn all he could in a +circuitous way of persons and conditions. + +After a short observation he noticed that Wilhelm seemed isolated in +the midst of the others, and was treated coldly by every one except +the professor. He learned that this coolness of the atmosphere was +on account of the refusal of the duel. After that he tried every +possible means to get nearer to him. Wilhelm was working in some +important researches, and it was possible that the results would +destroy some existing theories. + +The professor followed the experiments with great attention, and +many times spoke of him as his best pupil in difficult work. That was +Barinskoi's excuse for asking Wilhelm if he would initiate him into +his work, and explain to him his hypotheses and methods. He added, +with his submissive smile and nervous rubbing of the hands, that the +Heir Doctor might be quite easy about the priority of his +discoveries, as he was quite prepared to write an explanation that +he stood in the position of pupil to the Heir Doctor, and had only a +share in his discoveries in common with others. Wilhelm contented +himself by replying that priority was nothing to him, and that he +did not work for fame, but because he was ignorant and sought for +knowledge. + +Thereupon Barinskoi said he was very happy to have found some one +with the same views as himself, he also thought that fame was +nonsense, that knowledge was the only essential thing, that it gave +power over things and men, that the ideal was to proceed unknown and +unnoticed through life, making the others dance without knowing who +played on the instrument. That was not what Wilhelm meant, but he +let it go without denying it. Barinskoi also tried to claim him for +a fellow-countryman, but Wilhelm stopped him, explaining that he was +a German, although born beyond the frontier of his fatherland. This +slight did not disconcert Barinskoi; he endeavored to produce an +impression on Wilhelm, and if one shut one's eyes to his ugliness +and fawning ways he was a well-informed man; harshness was not in +Wilhelm's nature, so he held out no longer against Barinskoi's +importunity--who very soon accompanied him home from the laboratory, +visited him uninvited in his rooms, invited him to supper at his +restaurant, which Wilhelm twice declined, the third time, however, +he had not the courage to refuse. In spite of this Barinskoi would +not see that his invitation was only accepted out of politeness. +There were many things reserved and unsociable about Barinskoi; for +example, he never invited any one to his rooms. He called for his +letters at the post office. The address he gave, and under which he +was entered at the University office, described him as a newspaper +correspondent, which agreed with his daily readings and writings. He +frequently disappeared for two or three days, after which he emerged +again, as it were, dirtier than before, with reddened, half-closed +eyelids, weak voice, and general bloodless appearance. A conjecture +as to where he was during this time was suggested by a smell of +spirits, beside the fact that students from the laboratory had often +seen him late at night at the corner of the Leipziger and +Friedrichstrasse in earnest consultation with some unhappy creature +of the streets, and that he was often seen haunting remote streets +in the eastern districts in the company of women. + +Barinskoi declared he was the correspondent of a large St. +Petersburg paper, and that he made great efforts to remove the +prejudices of Russia against Germany, and to give his readers a +respect for their great neighbors. By chance one day Wilhelm read +the page of Berlin correspondence, and found that from first to last +it was full of poisoned abuse, insult, and calumination of Berlin +and its inhabitants. At the next opportunity he put it before +Barinskoi's eyes without a word. He started a little, but said +directly, quite calmly: Yes, he had read the letter too; naturally +it was not by him; the paper had other correspondents, who hated +Germans, he could do no more than put a stop to their lies, and find +out the reality of their misrepresentations. + +Early in this short acquaintance it was clear that Barinskoi was in +constant money difficulties. By his own representations the paper +paid him very irregularly, and the most curious accidents constantly +occurred to prevent the arrival of the expected payments. Once the +money was sent by mistake to the Constantinople correspondent, and +it was six weeks before the oversight was cleared up. Another time a +fellow-writer who was traveling to Berlin undertook to bring the +money with him. On the way he lost the money out of his pocket-book, +and Barinskoi had to wait until he went back to St. Petersburg, to +inquire into the case. By such fool's stories was Wilhelm's +friendship put to the proof. Barinskoi did not stop at borrowing +money occasionally, with sighs and groans, but every few days, often +at a few hours' interval, a new and larger loan would frequently +follow. + +All this was a dubious method of consolation, and yet Dr. Schrotter, +or rather Paul Haber, decided that though further contact with +Barinskoi must be avoided, he was an object of increasing interest +to Wilhelm. Barinskoi had many ideas in sympathy with his, which he +did not find in others, and their views of society and practical +maxims of life were so much in common that Wilhelm was often puzzled +by this question: "How is it possible that people can draw such +completely different conclusions from the same suppositions by the +same logical arguments? Where is the fatal point where one's ideas +separate--ideas which have so far traveled together?" + +Barinskoi thought as Wilhelm did, that the world and its machinery +were mere outward phenomena, a deception of the senses, whose +influence acted as in a delirium. All existing forms of the common +life of humanity, all ordinances of the State or society appeared to +him as foolish or criminal, and at any rate objectionable. He +considered that the object of the spiritual and moral development of +the individual was the deliverance from the restraint, and the +complete contempt of all outward authority. + +So far his opinions agreed with Wilhelm's, and then he disclosed the +laws of morality which he had evolved from them. + +"The whole world is only an outward phenomenon, and the only reality +is my own consciousness," said Barinskoi; "therefore I see in the +would only myself, live only for myself, and try only to please +myself, I am an extreme individualist. My morality allows me to +gratify my senses by pleasant impressions, to convey to my +consciousness pleasant representations, so as to enjoy as much as +possible. Enjoyment is the only object of my existence, and to +destroy all those who come in the way of it is my right." + +Wilhelm wondered whether this frightful code could possibly belong +to the same views of life which, in despising the enjoyment of the +senses, denied desires, demanded the sacrifice of individuality for +the sake of others, and found happiness in the enjoyment of love for +one's neighbors, and in the struggle for human reason over animal +instinct? + +Barinskoi understood Wilhelm's character and saw that he could quite +safely trust to his forbearance and his single-mindedness, so he +made no further secret of the fact that he was a Nihilist and an +Anarchist. When Wilhelm asked him if he imagined what the +realization of his theories meant, he had the answer ready. + +"We demand unconditional freedom. Our will shall not be confined by +the will of others, or by oppressive laws. The Parliament is our +enemy as well as the monarch, the tyranny of the autocrat as well as +that of the majority, the coercion of laws of the State, as well as +those of society. We will gather together groups according to their +free choice and inclination out of the fragments of annihilated +society, that is, if we can manage to procure our enjoyment as well +in groups as alone. These groups will unite into larger groups if +the happiness of all demands a larger undertaking than a single +group can secure, such as a great railway, a submarine tunnel, and +the like. In some cases it may be necessary that a whole people, or +even the whole of humanity, should be in one group, but only up to a +certain point, and only until this point is reached. Naturally no +individual is bound to a group, nor one group to another; binding +and loosing go on perpetually, and with the same facility as +molecules in living organisms unite and separate." + +Barinskoi occupied himself particularly with the labor questions. +Not that the distress and want of the very poor, the economical +insecurity, the general misery, troubled him at all. He was +cynically conscious that he was as indifferent to the laborer as to +the capitalist; the laborer's inevitable brutalization, his hunger, +his bad health, and short term of life touched him as little as the +gout of the rich gourmand, or the nerves of fine ladies. He saw, +however, in the proletariat a powerful army against prevailing +conditions. He could trace among the discontented masses the +possession of the crude vigor which the Nihilists wanted, to crush +the old edifices of the State and society, and it was this which +interested him in the movement and its literature. He knew the last +accurately, and initiated Wilhelm into it, and so the latter learned +all about socialism, its opinions of the philosophy of production, +its theories and promises. He learned also that sects had already +been formed within this new faith, which the revelations of the +socialistic prophets explained differently; and that they furiously +hated each other, and were as much at enmity as if they were a State +Church with a privileged priesthood, benefices, property and power. + +The complaints of the proletariat appeared to Wilhelm of doubtful +value. In every age there were economic fevers, which were not +caused by misery, but by discontent and wastefulness, and if he saw +a workman staggering through the streets, his legs tottering beneath +him, he guessed that his weakness was not caused by hunger, but by +beer or spirits. He understood that mankind believed in an unbroken +work of development within nature, and in their own self- +cultivation. The theory of socialistic teaching, namely, the +conditions of production and distribution, could be constantly +remodeled just as other human institutions, i.e. the customs of +governments and societies, the laws, ideas of beauty and morality, +knowledge of nature, and views of society. His sympathies went out +to those who were convinced that the present economical organization +had lived out its time, and were endeavoring to remove it. + +Wilhelm's friends interested themselves warmly in this new sphere of +thought. Paul was a member of the National Liberal Election Society, +and was enthusiastic about Bennigsen and Lasker, who possessed +enough statesmanlike wisdom to surrender fearlessly to the +opposition, and determine to go with the government. To these +present experiences Dr. Schrotter joined the half-forgotten training +of '48, and agreed to belong to a society of the district; he had +soon an official appointment, and placed his experience and +knowledge at the disposal of the sick and poor of the town. He did +not interest himself at first in political strife. He was very +uneasy about the turn things were taking, and considered that it was +not right to rebel against the existing conditions of things, which +to the majority of people were agreeable enough. + +"You have fought and bled for the new empire," he said; "I left it +while I was in India to get on as best it could; if the others think +themselves well off, I don't see why they should not have the +satisfaction of the results of their work, just because of the sulky +temper of criticism." + +Wilhelm had often taken one or other of them to his society, but +without their being much interested in the meetings. One day he +asked his friend whether he would not go with him to a social +democratic meeting. Schrotter was quite prepared, as he saw that +Wilhelm was really in earnest, and was trying to come in contact +with the realities of life. Paul abominated the social democrats, +but he sacrificed himself to spend an hour there with Wilhelm. + +The meeting they were to attend was at the Tivoli. It was a +disagreeable evening in April, with gusts of wind and frequent +showers. The sky was full of clouds chasing each other in endless +succession, the flames of gas flickered and flared, and the streets +were covered with mud which splashed up under the horses' feet. The +three friends went in spite of bad weather to the Tivoli on foot. In +the Belle Alliance Strasse they came upon groups of workmen going in +the same direction as themselves, and as they reached the place in +the Lichterfelder Strasse, they were accompanied by a long stream of +people. At the entrance to the club they found themselves in the +midst of a crowd, and could only advance very slowly unless, like +the others, they pushed and elbowed their way. Mounting a few steps +they reached an enormous garden, lighted by the fitful beams of the +moon as she emerged from the clouds, and a few gaslamps. On the +right was a Gothic building, which would have been sufficiently +handsome if built in stone, but with barbarous taste had been +executed in wood. At the end of the garden some more steps led to a +broad, four-cornered courtyard, on the right of which the iron spire +of the National Memorial was dimly visible, while to the left was a +large building of red and yellow brick with a four-square tower at +either end, a pavilion projecting from the center, and a number of +large windows. Over the entrance in the center of the building was +the inscription in gold letters on a blue ground: + + "Gemesst im edeln Geistensaft + Des Wemes Geist, des Brodes Kraft" + +In the little anteroom a few sharp-looking, rather conceited young +men were standing, either the instigators or organizers of the +meeting. They eyed the people who came in with a quick look of +assurance, offering a pamphlet, which nearly every one bought. +Through this anteroom was the hall, large enough to hold a thousand +people comfortably. Several tables for beer stood between red- +covered pillars which supported the ceiling, and on the right was a +platform for the speakers. Wilhelm, Schrotter, and Paul Haber found +places not far from this, although the hall was soon filled up after +they came in. + +Wilhelm's first impression was not favorable. He had bought a +pamphlet at the door, and in it he read foolish jokes, clumsy +tirades against capitalists, and drearily silly verses. If the party +possessed quick and cultivated writers, they had certainly not been +employed on this leaflet. His finer senses were as shocked at the +meeting as his taste was at the pamphlet. Mingled odors of tobacco- +smoke, beer, human breath, and damp clothes filled the air; the +people at the tables had an indescribably common stamp, unlovely +manners, harsh, loud voices, and unattractive faces. They gossiped +and laughed noisily, and coarse expressions were frequent. The +earnest moral tone, the almost gloomy melancholy which Wilhelm had +found so attractive in socialistic writings, was absent, and it +seemed to him as if the new doctrine in its removal from the +enthusiast's study to the beer-tables of the crowd had lost all +nobility, and had sunk to degradation. + +Paul took no trouble to conceal the disgust which "this dirty +rabble" gave him. He gazed contemptuously about him, and every time +that one of his neighbors' elbows came near his coat he brushed the +place angrily, and muttered half-aloud: + +"Well, if I were the government I would jolly soon stop your +meetings." + +Dr. Schrotter, on the other hand, found the sight of the crowd +rekindle in him all the feeling of sentiment he had had for the old +democrats; he felt his heart overflow with pity and tenderness. With +his physician's eyes he pierced through the brutal physiognomies, +and observed them with kindness and sympathy, making his friends +attentive too. + +"One of the martyrs of work," he said gently, indicating a haggard +man sitting at the next table who had lost one eye. + +"How do you know that?" + +"He must be a worker in metal, and has had a splinter in one of his +eyes. He had the injured eye removed to save the other." + +Here was a baker with pale face and inflamed eyelids, coughing +badly--consumptive, in consequence of the dust from the flour--his +eyes affected by the heat of the oven. Here was a man who had lost a +finger of his left hand--the victim of a cloth loom; and here a +pallid-looking man, showing when he spoke or laughed slate-colored +gums--a case of lead-poisoning, with a painful death as the +inevitable result. And it seemed as if over all these cripples and +sickly people the Genius of Work hovered as the black angel of +Eastern stories, tracing on their foreheads with his brush--on this +one mutilation, on this one an early death. Schrotter's observations +and explanations placed the whole meeting in a different light to +Wilhelm. The coarseness of the men, even the dirt on their hands and +faces, touched him like a reproach, and in their jokes and laughter +he seemed to hear a bitter cry. + +A reproach, a complaint against whom? Against the capitalists, or +against inexorable fate? Wilhelm asked himself whether the +conditions of labor were attributable to men, or were not the result +of cruel necessity? Could the capitalist be responsible for the +accidents of machines, the dust from flour, the splitting of iron? +If these workmen had not been one-eyed or consumptive could they +have performed their work for the commonweal? Was it not true that +if mankind would not renounce its claims to bread and other +necessities, it must pay for the satisfaction of wants with the +tribute of health and life? that every comfort, every pleasure added +to existence was paid for by human sacrifice? that the masks of +tragedy worn at this meeting were merely the corporate expressions +of a law which united development and progress with pain and +destruction? In this case the whole socialist programme was +manifestly wrong, and the sum of the workman's grievances was not +the result of the economical arrangements of society, but of the +eternal conditions of civilization, that the theory of the methods +of labor and their amelioration was not the expectation of an equal +division of property, but rather of the contrivances of the +inventor. + +While Wilhelm was absorbed in these reflections the first speaker of +the evening appeared on the platform, a little dapper man, restless +as quicksilver, with long hair, large mouth, and a shrill voice. He +opened the meeting with an extraordinary volubility, in a whirl of +pantomimic gesture and excitement, violently denouncing the +capitalists; "infamous bloodsuckers" as he called them. He painted +hopelessly confused pictures, with constant faults of grammar--of +the hard fate of the workingman, and the black treachery of the +property-owning classes. They were slaveowners who paid them their +daily wages by shearing the wool off their backs, and enjoyed +riotous luxury themselves while the poor destitute ones were +engulfed in a chasm of misery. The workman must possess the fruit of +his labor himself, like the bird in the air, or the fish in the +water. He who produced nothing was a parasite, and deserved to be +extirpated; he was only a drag, consequently a poison for the rest +of mankind. The Commune in Paris was the first signal of warning for +the thieves of society. Soon the great flood would burst forth which +would carry away all thieves and tyrants, usurers and bloodsuckers, +and the workingmen must be united and get their weapons ready. Unity +was strength, and to allow themselves to be fleeced by these hyenas +of capitalism was an insult to any free, thoughtful man. + +He went on in this style for about half an hour, during which time +the words came out in a constant stream without a moment's pause. +Schrotter's expression became sad, while Paul banged the table with +his mug and cried "Bravo" at every grammatical mistake, or every +false analogy. Angry glances were cast at him from neighboring +tables, as in his applause was recognized contempt for the speaker +whom they admired so much. No one laughed or joked, all were silent +to the end; at every violent expression of the long-haired Saxon, +eyes flashed, heads nodded approval, and feet stamped excitedly. So +eagerly did the meeting drink in this excited orator's words that +they quite forgot to drink their beer, and the waiter, bringing in a +fresh supply, had to go out again with an exclamation of surprise. + +When the speaker had finished and resumed his seat, Schrotter and +Paul, to their immense surprise, saw Wilhelm spring to his feet in +the midst of all the stamping and applause and go to the platform. +What was that for? He went up and began to speak in an undertone to +the organizers of the meeting. They put their heads together, +looking at the card Wilhelm had given them; then one of them rose, +and coming to the front of the platform, shouted so as to be heard +above the clamor: + +"True to our principles of listening to opponents, we are going to +allow a guest to speak: it is not part of the programme, but no +citizen shall have cause to complain that his mouth has been +stopped." + +Any one could understand what this meant, as Wilhelm stood alone in +the middle of the platform and waited with folded arms for silence +and attention. His dark eyes looked straight at his audience, and he +began in his clear, quiet voice: "What you all feel in this meeting +is discontent with your fate, and a wish to improve it. I do not +believe, however, that the honored speaker before me has shown you a +way which will bring you any nearer to your desires. You wish that +the State shall nurse you in sickness, and provide for you in old +age. What is the State? It is yourselves. The State has nothing but +what you give it. If it provides for you in sickness and old age, it +takes the money out of your own pockets. You do not want the State +for that. In days of health and strength you could yourselves lay +aside spare money for bad times without the services of gendarmes, +or assistance of executors. The last speaker spoke of hatred for the +owners of property, hatred of profit. Hatred is a painful feeling. +It adds to the pain of existence another, and very likely a greater +one. A soul in which the poison of hate is at work is heavy and sad, +and can never feel happiness. If you would not burden your lives +with hatred it might be possible that you would become happy." + +A murmur arose in the meeting, and a voice in opposition called out +loudly. "The fellow is a Jesuit." "Parson's talk," cried another +from the corner of the room. Wilhelm took no notice of the +interruption, but went on. + +"Why do you object to the owners of property? On account of their +idleness? That is not just. Many of them work much harder than all +of you, and bear a weight of responsibility which would kill most of +you. But suppose we grant that many rich people waste their lives +doing nothing. Instead of envying these unhappy people, I pity them +from the bottom of my heart. I would prefer death a thousand times +to life without duty and work." + +The murmur grew stronger and more threatening. + +"I wish," cried Wilhelm, raising his voice, "I wish I were rich and +powerful. Then I would invite those who scorn my words now, to live +quite idly for a year or six months. I would take care that no +employment was possible for them, that their days and weeks should +be quite empty. Then they would see how soon they would raise +imploring hands to those who had condemned them to idleness. Neither +guards nor walls would keep them to the softly-cushioned golden- +caged prison of indolence, they would fly as if for their lives, and +go back to the place where their work was, which they had previously +thought like hell." + +"Let us see if we would," cried some with contemptuous laughter. + +"In what has the rich man the advantage of you? He lives better, you +say. He can procure more enjoyments for himself. Are you sure that +these so-called enjoyments bring happiness? Your healthy hunger +makes your bread and cheese taste better than the rich dishes at +noblemen's tables, and the suffering which fills every life is more +bitter in the western villa than in the workingman's back room, +because there they have more leisure to endure it in, and every +fiber of the soul has its own torture." + +"What do you get for defending the rich man?" called a voice from +the hall. + +"I am telling you the penalty of property. You must be just in +everything. Granted that the rich man is a criminal; granted his +idleness is an offense to your activity; granted that his roast meat +and wine make your potatoes taste insipid; it is in the order of +things that you should envy him. But what comes out of this envy? +Let us admit that you could carry through anything you undertook. +The rich man would be plundered and even killed, and his treasures +divided between you. We forget that the rich man is human; we deny +him the mercy which the poor man claims from his fellowmen; we take +up the position that to reduce a rich man to beggary is not the same +injustice as to profit by the work of a poor man; we enjoy the idea +of the rich man, hungry and shivering, when at the same time the +hungry shivering poor man has become our pretext for robbing the +other. Do you believe that you would then have improved your lot in +life? Do you think that you would be any happier? Just think it over +for a moment. The rich people are exterminated, their goods are +divided among you; you are already making a discovery, viz., that +the wealthy people are in a very small minority, hardly one in two +hundred, and that the division of their whole property amounts to +very little for each of you. But suppose, for the sake of argument, +that you all become rich. What then? You throw away your working +clothes and dress yourselves in silk; you deck yourselves with +silver and gold ornaments, and you sit on soft-cushioned sofas. +Think how long these luxuries would last--a month perhaps, at the +most a year. Then the rich man's wine is all drunk, and his larder +empty, the silk clothes are worn out, and the sofas torn; you cannot +eat precious stones and gold, and if you do not mean to starve you +must begin working again, and after the extermination of the rich +man and the division of his property you are exactly in the position +you were in before." + +He paused a moment or two, in which there was silence for the first +time, and then went on: + +"This all means that your bondage is not laid on you by man, but by +Nature herself. Life is hard and wearisome, and no laws or orders of +State or society can make it otherwise. The simple minds of men +understood this a thousand years ago, and they did not rest until +they had found out a reason for everything, so they sought through +the authors of the Jewish Bible for a reasonable explanation of our +mournful destiny on this earth, and comforted themselves with the +assertion that mankind was atoning for the sins of its forefathers. +You, the sons of the nineteenth century, do not believe in this any +longer, but see in the system of profits and the injustice of our +social conditions the causes of your misery. Your explanation is, +however, fully as much a fabrication as the Biblical one. Pain and +death are the conditions of our existence, and for that reason +cannot be done away with. If a miracle could happen, and you could +all be happy in the way you wish, namely, living your life without +work, without suffering, and with a great deal of enjoyment, what +would happen then? The race would increase so fast that after one or +two generations there would hardly be elbow-room, and bread would be +as scarce as it is now. It is the difficulty of providing for +children which limits the population, and this difficulty fixes the +limit. Understand this too, do what you will, you can only procure +momentary relief, and every relief procured means an increase of +population. Whatever your methods of labor are, however the fruits +of it are distributed, you will never produce up to the satisfaction +of your wants; and the sweat of your brow will always be in vain if +you set yourself against the hostile forces of nature." + +Wilhelm paused a moment in the deep stillness which now reigned in +the hall, and then went on: + +"I do not deny that your lives are troublesome and hard, but I +believe that you make your pain unnecessarily difficult to bear, and +add to it by imagination. You feel your lot to be hard because you +see rich people, who in the distance appear to you to be happy. I +have already told you that the rich are an exception, and that the +world cannot guarantee the existence of a millionaire of to-day for +long. At most you can make the few rich men poor, but you cannot +make all the poor men rich. But why compare yourselves with such +people? Why not with those who have gone before us? Look back, and +you will find that your lives are not only easier but very much +richer than the generations who have gone before you. The poorest +among you live better, quieter, and pleasanter lives than a well-to- +do man a thousand years ago, or than a prince of primitive times. +You complain that your labor is hard and unhealthy? You live longer, +in better health, and freer from anxiety than the huntsman, +fisherman, or warrior of the barbarous ages. What you most suffer +from is your hatred, not your need, your ambitions, your envy. Men +can live healthily and happily on water, but you will have beer and +brandy. You earn enough to buy meat and vegetables, but you will +have tobacco for yourselves and finery for your wives, and that +cannot go on. Your daily bread might taste well enough, but it +becomes bitter in your mouths when you think of the millionaire's +roast meat. Struggle then against this envy which spoils the +smallest enjoyments for you, and which in point of fact rules your +lives, and do not try to find happiness in the satisfaction of +requirements artificially created. Do not live for the satisfaction +of your palates, but rather for the improvement of intellect and +feeling. There is enough pain and misery in the world, do not add +hatred to it. Have the same mercy for other creatures which you +expect for yourself. Trouble and danger are common to all. Things +are only bearable if all combine to pull together, if the strong +join hands with the weak and the hopeful with the timid. You will +not be healed by envy and hatred, or by the goading on of your +desires, but by love, by forbearance, by self-sacrifice, and +renunciation." + +This closing sentence was not to his hearers' taste. Disapprobation +and ominous sounds greeted him as he came down from the platform. +"Amen," said one scornfully; "A Psalm," said another; "Get thee to a +nunnery, Ophelia," cried a wit; while loud cries of "Turn him out," +were heard. "Pearls before swine," muttered Paul; while Schrotter +pressed his hand and said: "You are right." + +The noise grew louder, and then a new speaker appeared on the +platform, this time evidently a cultivated, thoughtful man and an +adroit speaker. The organizers of the evening were unwilling to +allow the meeting to retain the impression of Wilhelm's speech, and +had placed a clever opponent to follow him, who said clearly and +concisely that the speaker before him might be a friend of mankind, +but he was certainly an enemy of culture, because the progress of +civilization was always the result of new requirements and the +seeking of their fulfillment, and if men limited their wants or +denied them altogether, mankind would be brought back to the +condition of savages or wild beasts. The progress of culture +depended on the awakening of requirements and their satisfaction, +and not in limiting or renouncing them. The love of mankind might be +a very beautiful thing, but the speaker ought not to come and preach +to the poor, who held together and helped each other without his +advice. Let him go and preach to the rich, for whom he seemed to +feel so much pity and tenderness. Why should the minority attract +to itself the existing means of life, and leave the majority to +starve, as the capitalists did now? why should the provisions not be +divided between all, so that the whole community should have a part? + +Paul had wished to leave when Wilhelm had finished, but the latter +waited out of politeness to hear his opponent speak, and when the +speaker had ended in a storm of applause, the three friends left the +meeting. When they were outside, Dr. Schrotter said to Wilhelm: + +"Do you know that you are a first-rate speaker? You have everything +that is necessary for moving a crowd in the highest degree." + +"Hardly that, I think." + +"Certainly, I mean it: a noble appearance, a voice which goes to the +heart, remarkable calmness and assurance, uncommon command of +language, and an idealistic earnestness which would move all the +better spirits among your audience. You have shown us to-night the +road you ought to take. You must devote your gift to speaking in +public, you must endeavor to become a deputy. If you fail in this, +you will sin against our people." + +"Bravo! I had already thought of that," cried Paul. + +"A deputy--never," said Wilhelm. "If I spoke well to-day it was +because I was sorry for the poor, ignorant men who listened to the +silly talk of a fool as if it were a revelation from Mount Sinai, +but I could never presume to have any influence in Parliament or in +the fate of governments." + +"And so you call what is every citizen's duty 'presumption,'" + +"Forgive me, doctor, if I say I do not believe that. Only those who +are acquainted with the laws and their development should have +anything to do with the nation's destiny. But only a few isolated +individuals know these laws, and I am not one of them." + +"Do you think that the government know them?" + +"Oh, no." + +"And yet the government does not hesitate to rule the people's +destiny according to their intelligence." + +"It reminds me of the poet's expression, 'Du glaubst zu schieben und +du wirst geschoben.'" + +"What is the movement that you mean?" + +"An unknown inner organic force which defines all the expressions of +life, of single individuals and united societies alike. It develops +as a tree grows. No single individual can add anything to it or take +away from it, no single individual can hasten or retard the +development or give it any direction." + +"In one word--the philosophy of the Unknown." + +"That is so." + +"Very good, and if a government oppresses a people, robs them of +their freedom, perpetually finds fault with them and ill-treats +them, they must bear it quietly, and comfort themselves by the +thought that the government is controlled by the infallible, all- +powerful Unknown." + +"Rob them of their freedom? No government can rob me of my spiritual +freedom. Freedom rules continually in my mind, and no tyrant has the +power of subduing my thoughts." + +"You make a great mistake there," said Dr. Schrotter gravely. "From +you, Dr. Wilhelm Eyuhardt, no gendarme certainly can take away your +freedom, because you are mature, and your opinions of things are +settled. But a tyrannical government can hinder your children from +succeeding to your freedom of mind. It can teach lies and +superstitions in the schools, and compel you to send your children +there. It can set an example of public morality which can demoralize +a whole people. It can draw up manifest examples of miserable +intentions and conduct of life, through whose imitation a people +voluntarily mutilates itself or commits suicide. No, no; it does not +do to limit oneself to oneself, and to struggle upward for one's +individual spiritual freedom. One must go out of oneself. What does +it matter if one makes mistakes? It is true, as you say, that no +single individual knows the whole of truth; but every individual +possesss a fragment of it, and altogether we have the whole. Look at +India, there you have existing what we should become if we all +followed your philosophy, they live in their own spiritual world, +and are indifferent to any other, they endure first the despotism of +their own government, then a foreign conqueror, and finally lose not +only freedom and independence, but civilization, and become not +exactly slaves, but ignorant, superstitious barbarians." + +"The German people will not get to that," said Wilhelm, smiling. + +"Thank the men for that," cried Schrotter, "the men who think it +their duty to take part in the welfare of their country, and to +exert themselves for the spiritual freedom of others. An energetic +sympathy with public affairs is a form of love for one's neighbor. +Say that constantly to yourself, without letting yourself be +deceived by the hypocrite who handles politics as others do the +Stock Exchange, merely to make profit out of them." + +While they talked they had arrived at Schrotter's house door. It +was nearly midnight, and had stopped raining, and all the houses +except Schrotter's were dark. Light shone from the two windows of +his Indian drawing room, and one of the curtains was drawn aside a +little, leaving a face clearly visible. It was Bhani, who was +waiting patiently for Schrotter's return, and gazing eagerly down +the street. As the three friends stopped at the door the head +disappeared, and the curtain fell back again into its place. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +AN IDYLL. + + +The feverish pulse of a city is not felt in the same degree in all +parts of it. There are places from which all circulation seems shut +out, and where the rapid stream of life hardly shows a ripple. Quiet +houses are there, only separated from the noisy street by the +thickness of a wall. They seem to be many miles from the heated +movement of life, and their inhabitants complacently gaze from their +windows with the same unconcern as they would look at a picture on +their own walls--a view perhaps of violence or excitement, a storm +at sea, or a battle. + +The Markers' house in the Lutzowstrasse was just such a peaceful +island in the tossing sea of the city. It was only a few steps from +the Magdeburger Platz--the first story in a stately house with a +round arch over the door. Three generations of women--grandmother, +mother, and daughter--lived there, without a single man to take care +of them, attended only by an old widowed cook and her daughter, who +had grown up into the position of a waiting maid. A dreamy, +monotonous life they lived here, like that of the sleepers in the +palace of the Sleeping Beauty behind their hundred-year-old hedge of +thorns. + +The grandmother was the head of the house--Frau Brohl, a lady of +over sixty years, and a widow for the last twenty. She was a small +thin woman, her figure very much bent, with snow-white hair, a +narrow, pale face, and pretty brown eyes. She moved slowly and with +great exertion, spoke softly and with shortness of breath, and +seemed weary and sad. She looked as if she had some hidden sickness, +and as if her feeble lamp of life might soon flicker out. As a +matter of fact she had never had a day's illness; her appearance +gave the impression of weakness, and increasing age made her neither +better nor worse. Even now she was the first to rise in the morning +and the last to go to bed; had the best appetite at table; and, in +her occasional walks, was the least tired. + +Her late husband--Herr F. A. Brohl, of the firm of Brohl, Son & Co.- +-had been one of the largest ship-brokers in Stettin. They had lived +together for a quarter of a century in peace and happiness, and her +eyes filled with tears when she remembered that part of her life. It +was a beautiful time, much too good for a sinful human being. They +had a house to themselves, with large high rooms, and every day she +received visits from the richest women of the town, and visited them +in return. There was never a betrothal, marriage, or christening in +a well-known family to which she was not invited; every child in the +street knew her and smiled at her; and the suppers in her hospitable +house were renowned as far as Russia and Sweden. + +The marriage was blessed by one daughter, who grew up to be a rather +pretty, well-mannered, and well-grown girl. Her horizon stretched +from the storeroom to the linen-press, and from the flatiron to her +book of songs. She felt a high esteem for her father--just as +everyone does for a rich man--and for her mother, if hardly love, at +least a boundless respect. She regarded her as almost more than +human, and the care with which she listened to her mother's +instructions into the secrets of the kitchen, the market, and the +linen-room, was almost unnatural. She was afraid she would never +attain to the fluctuations of price in the fish market in different +seasons of the year, the starching of muslins, the time it took to +cook a pudding, and how much sugar went to a pot of preserved fruit; +and her mother destroyed the last remnant of self-confidence when +half-pityingly, half-contemptuously she told her that she was not +sufficiently developed to understand such things. When Fraulein +Brohl was old enough, her parents married her to Herr Marker. It was +hardly a love match, but in Brohl, Son & Company's house such folly +as love was not considered. Herr Marker was the son of a wholesale +coffee-merchant, and was neither handsome nor distinguished-looking; +he was small, thin, bandy-legged, with an unwholesome complexion, a +peevish expression, and almost bald-headed. + +Herr F.A. Brohl soon found that he had made a mistake, and been in +too great a hurry. The old Marker lost his fortune in an unlucky +speculation during the Crimean War, and was only saved by Brohl from +the shame of bankruptcy. He died soon afterward of grief, and left +his son nothing but debts. The young Marker showed no special genius +for the coffee business, but an uncomfortable ambition for +speculation in stocks. He opened an exchange office, and entered +into transactions with the Exchanges of Berlin, Frankfort, and +Amsterdam, and after a short time the last penny of his wife's dowry +disappeared. His father-in-law dipped into his pockets and renewed +the dowry, but stipulated that Marker in the future should ask his +advice before any undertaking. This Marker felt as a deep +humiliation, and rather than submit to Brohl's tyranny, preferred to +loaf all day with his hands in his pockets at the Exchange, and +shortened the evenings by going to the club, and boring people with +endless stories of the meanness and thick-headedness of his cad of a +father-in-law, who in his old-fashioned, narrow-minded Philistinism +had not the least capacity for any great undertakings. + +Brohl died soon after, and Marker experienced a new and painful +sensation. His wife did not inherit a penny by her father's will, +his whole property under limited conditions going to the widow. This +was specially arranged for by Brohl to prevent Marker from laying +his hands on more capital. He shook his fist at the opening of the +will, and broke out into unseemly abuse; he went all over Stettin, +and cried out that he was robbed, that the old rascal had plundered +him. To his wife and mother-in-law he also talked day after day and +night after night, saying how shamefully he had been treated, and +that it was his mother-in-law's duty to make good the mistake. Frau +Marker could not endure this perpetual grumbling and badgering, and +Frau Brohl became weak with not only her son-in-law but her daughter +constantly at her ear. She consented to give him a large sum to put +him into a new business, which he described as having a brilliant +and unfailing future, and after a great deal of begging and worrying +she at length brought herself to the far greater sacrifice of a +removal to Berlin, that Marker might have a greater sphere for his +energies. So the stately house in the Frauenstrasse with its lofty +rooms was abandoned, and exchanged for the small flat in Berlin. + +The departure from Stettin was a miserable one. It was desperate +work packing the thousand things which had gathered together during +the quarter of a century in careless profusion. It was heart- +breaking to be obliged to leave behind the stores of wood, coal, and +potatoes in the cellar, the cranberry jam in the storeroom, which +the Markers, in their grandeur of ideas, did not think worth the +trouble of taking with them! And the farewell visits to the rich +friends, in whose family festivals she would never more take part; +and the last visit to the Jacobkirche, where she would never more go +on Sundays and meet her intimate friends, for whose benefit she wore +the family ornaments, and the stiff silk dress. There were many +tears and sobs, but the cup was drained like the others; and Marker +began his new life in the Lutzowstrasse with his wife, his mother- +in-law, and the little Malvine, who was the only child of their +marriage. + +At first things went on pretty well. Frau Brohl often had tears in +her eyes when looking at the familiar furniture in her room, which +had been designed for a house three times as large, and she would +rather have sacrificed one of her hands than one of her old sofas or +tables. But Marker was gay as he had never been before, and full of +wonderful stories of the future importance of his firm, astounding +both the women, and even making them respect him, which feeling had +never before influenced them. He had an office in the Burgstrasse, +near the Exchange, shared by other young men, and came home every +day with new reports of the wonderful business he was doing. + +A day came, however, when he had no news to tell them, when his +complexion was as yellow as ever, his eyes avoided the questioning +glances of his mother-in-law, and after playing at concealment for a +whole week, he was at last forced to tell them that he had again +lost all his money. He hastened to add, however, that every thing +could be saved if the mother would once more set him on his feet; in +every new undertaking one had to pay something for learning; he had +hardly understood his position so far, but now he knew what he was +about, he must be contented with modest profits. Frau Brohl made a +fresh sacrifice, giving Marker his position in business again after +six months. He had hardly the courage to come home with new plans, +but used to steal in quietly like a shadow on the wall, sit down at +table with a heart-breaking sigh, sulked with the women, and often +was heard talking to himself in this fashion: "This is no sort of +life. If women hold the cards, stupidity is trumps. The woman in the +kitchen, the man in business," and so on. Finally the thing happened +which Frau Brohl had foreseen with anxiety--Marker came with a new +project, for which he wanted fifty thousand thalers. It was an +entirely new idea, unheard of before; it couldn't miscarry, it must +bring in a hundred thousand; with one stroke all the former losses +would be retrieved. Then he stopped talking, and showed yards of +figures, read aloud letters of advice, and went on reading and +talking and crackling papers for an hour to Frau Brohl, following +her from the drawing-room into the kitchen, from the kitchen back to +the drawing-room; and when she took refuge in her bedroom, he read +to her through the door. However, it was no good, and Frau Brohl +stood firm. Then Marker tried a new method. He was argumentative +before, now he became tragic; he threatened to throw himself out of +the window, to become dangerously ill, to go away and never be heard +of again. He left half-finished letters on his writing-table, in +which he announced his death to his acquaintances, laying the blame +on his wife and mother-in-law; in short, poor Frau Brohl, whose +existence had become a veritable hell, with a heavy heart put her +hand once more into her pocket, and gave Marker what he wanted. + +Everything now went on as smoothly and merrily as before. After a +few weeks Marker again lost everything, and seemed so upset that he +stayed away all day without coming home. At last he appeared again, +and hesitatingly, with a timid expression, begged for forgiveness. +"Very well," said Frau Brohl, "only I hope you will not begin all +over again." Her hopes were not realized. The spirit of speculation +had too strong a hold over Marker to be kept back. After he had +remained quiet for about a year, he actually had the effrontery to +ask his mother-in-law for more capital. But this time she was like a +rock. "Not a penny," said Frau Brohl, and kept her word. Marker +wept, and she let him weep; he talked of suicide, and she advised +him to use a rope, as he did not understand the use of firearms. He +had run through half her money, and the other half she meant to +defend like a lioness. The specter of poverty rose up before her, +she reflected that rich people would cast her out of their society, +and look upon her as a weak woman without any self-respect, +conquered by Marker's tenacity. + +There were no more storms after this, and peace reigned in the +tightly-crammed flat in the Lutzowstrasse, but it was peace which +concealed a great deal of grumbling and sulkiness. Marker very +seldom spoke, and his obstinate silence was made easy for him, for +the women at last hardly ever spoke to him. Every week he had a +certain sum given him for pocket-money; Frau Brohl paid his tailor's +and bootmaker's bills, and he was treated in fact as if he had done +with this world. His business was to take the little Malvine to +school and fetch her home again, and on the way he grumbled +incessantly to the child about her mother and grandmother. The +former he called "she," and the latter "the old lady." He never +mentioned their names. Malvine had noticed that at home they never +spoke to her father; in her childish way she imitated this +contemptuous silence. The only bright spot in his existence was a +visit to some old business friends, where he unburdened his +overflowing heart, and complained by the hour together of the +tyrants in his house, who trod him under-foot, and ill-treated him +now that he was unfortunate. He was the victim of two silly women, +but he would show them one day of what he was capable. "She" and +"the old lady" were too stupid to understand him, but he hoped he +would not die until he had seen them on their knees before him. In +this way he ceaselessly kept up the smouldering rage within him; his +face became more and more yellow, he grew thinner, he lost his +appetite, he looked as if he were suffering from some dreadful +malady. He said nothing, however, about his health, but seemed to +find a comforting satisfaction in the reflection that "she" and "the +old lady" would one day be surprised to see him lying there, and +that would be his revenge. And so it came to pass--one morning he +was too weak to leave his bed. At luncheon Frau Brohl and Frau +Marker noticed his absence, and went to look for him; as they had +taken no notice of him for so long, they were not aware how +shriveled and emaciated he had grown, and were now shocked and +astonished to see how miserable and frail he was. They sent for a +doctor; Frau Brohl made some elder tea; Frau Marker sat up all night +by the sick-bed, but nothing could be done. A few days later he +died, with a look of hatred at his mother-in-law, and a movement of +aversion from his wife. + +Nothing was changed in the household; there was another place at +table and a room at liberty, which was soon filled with the things +overflowing from the drawing-room. Frau Brohl still had a passion +for preserving and pickling, which had descended to her daughter and +her granddaughter, and also a passion for needle-work. Year in and +year out the three sat at the window of their drawing-room over +embroidery, lace-making, and such like, working as if they had to +earn their daily bread. They were mistresses of all kinds of fancy +work, and invented many more. + +Frau Brohl was unequaled in her inventions of new kinds of work. +Such things as book-markers and slippers, paper-baskets, bed-quilts +and tablecloths, card-baskets, and chair-cushions were all too +simple--the mere a b c of the art. Wonders like embroidered pictures +for the walls, various kinds of fringes for the legs of pianos, +fireplace hangings, gold nets for window-curtains, mottoes for the +canary's cage, silk covers for books, were the order of the day. +When any one came in he was first struck with surprise, which +quickly changed to bewilderment. Wherever he looked his eye fell on +some piece of work, with no repose or unadorned space. Here a row of +family portraits, in plush and gold frames, all looking stiff and +uninteresting--on inspecting them at close quarters, they were seen +to be not painted but embroidered in colored silks. There hung a +melon, the outside of the fruit represented by yellow, green, and +brown satin, the stalk by gold thread, the little cracks and +roughnesses by gray silk applique, the whole thing fearful and +absurd in its exuberance. And wherever one went or stood, sat down +or laid one's hand, there wandered a huge wreath of flowers in +Berlin wool, or the profile of a warrior in cross-stitch sneered at +one, or a piece of hanging tapestry of pompous pattern and learned +inscriptions flapped at one, and everything was rich and tedious and +terrifying and shocking in taste; and when one's tired eyes looked +out of the triply be-curtained windows into the street, one fell +convinced that little angels would come down out of the sky clad in +what was left over of the rococo furniture draperies, bordered with +gold. + +This unsightly museum of useless things was the occupation of Frau +Brohl and Frau Marker's lives, and here Malvine grew up to be the +pretty girl to whom we have been introduced at the Ellrichs'. Her +mother was a sort of elder sister to her, and the only authority in +the house was the grandmother. She ordered the servants, and her +daughter paid her the same timid reverence as in the time of her +short frocks. Frau Marker seldom opened her lips except to eat, or +to answer her mother in a parrot-like sort of echo. Frau Brohl's +energetic spirit stirred even in these narrow boundaries. She did +not feel at home in Berlin; she met no one she knew in the streets, +and in fact knew no one, and this feeling of being among strangers, +as if at some out-of-the-way fair, made her so uneasy that she +hardly ever went out. Often since Marker's death she had thought of +returning to Stettin, but when she reflected how dreadful it would +be to pack up and unpack again all the thousand pieces of work, her +courage failed her. All the same she lived with her heart and soul +in Stettin. A local paper from Stettin was her only reading. She +kept up a regular correspondence with all her old acquaintances, who +gave her news of all the engagements, marriages, births, and deaths +of the rich people she had known. If Stettin people of good standing +came to Berlin she called on them and invited them to dinner, when +her former celebrated triumphs in cookery were repeated. If she +found out that any wealthy inhabitants of Stettin had been in Berlin +without informing her of the fact, she took it so much to heart that +she had to go to bed for a week. A few Stettin families, who in the +course of the year emigrated to the capital, constituted her circle +of visiting acquaintances, enlarged later by Malvine's school +friends, and introductions at their houses. The connection with the +Ellrichs was through the Stettin circle. Frau Brohl gave a large +soiree twice in the course of the winter, when the invitations they +had received were returned. Since Malvine was grown up there had +been dancing, although the small size of the drawing-room, and the +displacement of all Frau Brohl's needlework, set everything in great +confusion. + +This kind of life and its surroundings naturally could not develop +Malvine's mind and character in any high degree. She missed any +stimulus from her mother or from her grandmother; she only learned +to respect rich people, to fathom the mysteries of the kitchen, and +to cultivate a taste for peculiar and original fancy work; she was, +however, a good-tempered, rather slow-witted girl, of well-balanced +mind, without a trace of capriciousness or the nervous temperament +so common to city life; within her limited view of things she had a +good, honest intelligence, and with her plump figure and her round, +rosy face, which bore witness to her grandmother's kitchen, she was +very comely in men's eyes. + +Paul Haber had already become acquainted with the flat in the +Lutzowstrasse during the winter before the war, and he liked the +quiet he found in the corners of the little rooms, and in the +muffled voices of these three women. The friendship was continued +during the war by means of frequent letters, and on his home-coming +Paul renewed his visits with pleasure. By cautious inquiries he had +gathered that Malvine had sixty thousand thalers in cash as her +dowry, and would inherit double that sum. Her modest, quiet, amiable +disposition made him drift into a strong attachment; her appearance +was sufficiently womanly and charming, and her steady, practical +views on things, utterly unromantic an unenthusiastic, harmonized +entirely with his own. It was refreshing for him to hear her chatter +about people and things with the calm good sense of a Philistine, +especially in a society where the bombastic and exaggerated talk of +original, poetically minded young ladies had repelled and bored him. +At his first meeting with Malvine Marker he had thought that she was +the wife for him, and since he had become friendly with her and her +circle, he said to himself, "This one and no other." + +The three ladies liked him immensely. Frau Brohl took him at once to +her heart, and that was the chief consideration. His appearance made +a good impression on her. He was strongly built, not too thin, in +fact, showing signs of a respectable probable stoutness in later +life; his face was full, and his complexion healthy, his mustache +carefully trimmed, and his hair closely cropped; he certainly +dressed well. The young men of her former rich acquaintances were of +the same type, so also was the late F.A. Brohl when she first met +him. He was gentlemanly, without a doubt, and he must be well off to +employ such a good tailor and friseur. She also noticed, with an +immense satisfaction, that he had a due appreciation of fancy work. +He did not, like some superficial people, regard these housewifely +creations as merely pretty or useful things, but appreciated them as +works of art, and wondered at the difficulty of these marvelous +fabrications. Complicated lace-work, or embroidered pictures, filled +him with amazement, even if applique had no effect on him. When Frau +Brohl noticed these marks of distinction in him, she did not +hesitate to invite him to dinner on Sunday--at first occasionally, +and afterward regularly, and with increasing pleasure she noticed +that in other ways he also reached the ideal she had imagined in +him. He had a good appetite, and it was not necessary for him to say +in words how much he enjoyed the dishes set before him, every look +and gesture showed it plainly. He evinced a warm sympathy for family +events, even when they did not concern him in any way, and he had +the same genuine esteem for rich people, which had been handed down +for three generations in the Brohl-Marker families. She thought that +he showed no disinclination to be her granddaughter's husband, only +at first she pondered over his calling in life. She knew perfectly +well that the highest professorship could only earn in a year what +an ordinary ship-broker made in a month. At the same time she +reflected that even a merchant made a bad job of it sometimes, as +her son-in-law's example had shown her only too plainly; that the +title "Professor" sounded very well, and if he did not make very +much money at most, at least he could not lose it, and she came to +the conclusion that in the circumstances a professor could make his +wife very happy. Frau Marker had nothing to say about the matter, +and was quite prepared to accept a son-in-law from her mother's +hand, as she had formerly accepted a husband, so the fact that Paul +had not made a very favorable impression on her did not matter very +much. + +There remained only Malvine--but just there lay the difficulty. The +girl was always kind and friendly to Paul, she took his homage +without any coquetry or apparent disinclination; when they went out +walking she took his arm quite unaffectedly; when they were invited +to meet in society, by a tacit agreement he took her in to dinner, +had the privilege of the greater part of the dances, and was her +partner for the cotillion. But whether they were alone or in +company, whether they danced or talked, whether he came or went, she +showed a perfect unconcern and freedom of manner to which he longed +to put an end. She was much too cold and collected even for his +unsentimental nature. He would have forgiven some agitation, some +confusion, a few blushes now and then, perhaps a sigh, but these +signs of the heart's flutterings were nowhere forthcoming. As they +were out one day alone together, something happened which filled +Paul with doubt and trouble. Malvine had been attracted to Wilhelm +when first she saw him, and since then she had incessantly thought +and talked of him. He was so handsome, he spoke so charmingly! She +thought it astonishing that any one should not love him, just +because his admiration was mingled with so much shyness. She herself +was much too insignificant a person to think of loving him, and +beside, he was not free, and it would have been a sin to think of +the man who was engaged to her friend. This enthusiasm for Wilhelm +naturally did not escape Paul's notice, but it did not disquiet him, +because he took into account Malvine's nature. "It is a harmless +fancy," he said to himself, "the sort of fancy girls take sometimes +for princes whose photographs they see in shop-windows, or for +actors whom they have admired as Don Carlos or Romeo; later on they +laugh over their childish folly, and these fancies never prevent the +pretty enthusiast from marrying and being happy." + +Nevertheless, things became suspiciously different after the breach +between Wilhelm and Loulou. In Malvine's somewhat narrow but well- +regulated mind a brave romance had been mistakenly built up. Now +Wilhelm was free: now she need have no feeling of duty on account of +that superficial, pleasure-seeking Loulou, who had never been worthy +of him. Was it impossible that he might notice her? would be +grateful for her sympathy? and perhaps--who knows--later--he might +seek consolation from her--who was so ready to give it? The +concluding chapter of this girlish romance remained her own secret, +but the beginning she boldly declared. She explained to her +grandmother, as well as to Paul, that now Dr. Eynhardt was in need +of being comforted, it was the duty of his friends to try to +overcome his sorrow. She proposed that Paul should bring him as +often as possible, and she obtained from Frau Brohl the unwonted +permission of inviting him to the Sunday luncheon. Wilhelm had +little pleasure in going into ordinary society, especially to +strangers, but this invitation was so warm and pressing that he +could not bring himself to refuse it. + +When Wilhelm was there Paul was put completely in the background. +Malvine had no words or glances for any one but Wilhelm, and if she +spoke to Paul it was only to thank him for having brought Dr. +Eynhardt to the Lutzowstrasse. If Paul came alone he was mortified +to see a shadow pass over Malvine's face, and he was forced to +listen to a string of inquiries after his friend. He had been +conscious for a long time that he must try to reconcile himself to +this condition of things, and if he felt himself rebelling, he +reminded himself he must have patience and wait, trying to console +himself with the thought that Malvine's enthusiasm was only on her +side--Wilhelm's demeanor seemed to show that he did not guess what +was going on in the girl's mind. His manner was courteous and +friendly, but there was really no difference between his demeanor +toward Frau Brohl and toward the young girl. While Malvine blushed +and became confused when he entered the room, Wilhelm, on his side, +spoke to the grandmother, mother, and daughter with exactly the same +pleasant smile, and his hand rested not a moment longer in Malvine's +than in that of her grandmother. On his side there was evidently +nothing to dread. He felt he had a defender and support in Frau +Brohl. The old lady kept a sharp lookout on her little world with +her dim-sighted eyes. She noticed that Malvine was unable to +withstand the charm which Wilhelm exercised over her, and she could +not bring herself to be angry with the girl. She herself liked the +young man extremely, admired his handsome face, his fine voice, his +modest, unassuming manners, but she felt instinctively that he +belonged to quite a different world from herself, and that in a +sense they would always be strangers. When he spoke she could not +follow his thoughts, although she felt that they were very profound; +when she spoke he listened with the greatest politeness, but nothing +more came of it. He tried to be attentive to her stories about +engagements and separations, he was entirely uninterested in rich +people, he did not praise the best dishes at table, and he even went +so far as not to conceal his aversion for the design of the horrible +knight in cross-stitch. Beside all this, his clothes were bad, and +although he had a house of his own, it was only a little one. No, +Wilhelm as a relation was not to be thought of. He was not of their +own flesh and blood, like that good, delightful Paul Haber. + +It was not in Paul's nature to wait patiently in suspense, and he +determined to put an end to his uncertainty. Malvine seemed to him +as desirable as ever, and he had built up in his mind a future, of +which Malvine and her sixty thousand thalers were the foundation. He +must know whether she were for him or not; in the one case to +transform his castle in the air into reality without loss of time, +and in the other case not to waste the best years of his life in +aimless disappointment; not to let other opportunities slip by. He +was not quite clear, however, on one point, To whom should he make +his proposal? To Frau Brohl? That would be the most practicable way, +no doubt, as the bent, pale old lady, with the soft, sighing voice, +ruled everything in the house, and if she promised the hand of her +grand-daughter, she would certainly keep her word. But it went +against the grain to put any constraint on the girl, and he felt +that he would be ashamed to answer "No," if Frau Brohl were to ask +him if he had already spoken to Malvine. Then if he were to go in a +straightforward way to Malvine, and say, "I can no longer hide from +you that I love you, and that I want you to be my wife, will you +consent?" there was a great deal of risk in that, for if she +misjudged her own feelings, and said that she loved some one else, +and so could not listen to him, the rupture between them would be +accomplished, and it would be no use to him if later she found out +that she had been mistaken in her feelings. There could be no secure +step for him, on that he was quite decided. + +If he could approach neither Frau Brohl nor Malvine, there was one +way clearly open to him, and he took it without further delay. + +One sunny afternoon in May, a few weeks after the Labor meeting at +the Tivoli, Paul came to see Wilhelm, and asked him to go for a walk +with him in the Thiergarten. Wilhelm was soon ready, and while they +were walking Paul was astonishingly quiet, and seemed sunk in deep +thought. He suddenly broke the silence, and when they were under the +trees, without any beating about the bush, asked his friend: + +"Wilhelm, do you love Malvine?" + +Wilhelm stood still, as if rooted to the ground, and in boundless +astonishment he said: + +"Are you off your head, Paul?" + +"I implore you, Wilhelm," said he in an anxious way, "just answer +'yes' or 'no,' because the happiness of my life depends on your +answer." + +"But I never thought of it," cried Wilhelm, grasping Paul's hand. +"What put such an idea into your head?" + +"Then you are not in love with Malvine?" asked Paul obstinately. + +"No, I am not in love with Malvine, if you will have the answer in +that precise form." + +"I thought as much, but I wished to have the answer from your own +lips;" and as they walked, he continued, "Do you see, Wilhelm, if +you had loved Malvine, I would have got out of your way; I would +have submitted to fate without any struggle or opposition." + +"Have I been injudicious? Perhaps too intimate? Forgive me, Paul, if +it is so. It happened quite unintentionally. I only thought of her +as my friend's fiancee, and believed her also to be a friend of +mine." + +"I don't mean that, Wilhelm; you have always behaved awfully well-- +with great tact, and all that. But you have not seen how it has been +with Malvine; she is quite mad about you, especially since you have +been free." + +"You imagine these things." + +"Be quiet, you impatient baby, and hear what I have to say. I +believe it is not love Malvine has for you, but it only wants a word +or a look from you to turn it into love. If she were convinced that +you feel only as a friend for her, she would be contented to admire +you from a distance, and begin to care a little more for an inferior +specimen of mankind like myself." + +"I feel quite in despair about it. How could I be so blind, so +stupid?" + +"Never mind; it is not all over yet. I know Malvine. She is a +simple-minded girl, without a bit of sentiment in her, mentally and +morally healthy. If she knew she had nothing to expect from you, I +am perfectly certain that nothing would stand in the way of my +happiness." + +"I will do whatever you wish--and first of all, I must put a stop to +my visits there." + +"I must ask more from you than that, my poor Wilhelm. Merely staying +away is too passive. You must act. I want you to talk to Malvine, +and somehow explain to her that you don't love her." + +"How can I possibly do that?" cried Wilhelm, really startled. "I +should have no right! If she laughed in my face and called me a fool +and a lout, I should feel I deserved it." + +"You ought to know that she would not do that. I know I am asking a +very unusual thing, and a very difficult thing, but I feel I can ask +such a sacrifice from your friendship." + +As Wilhelm did not immediately answer, Paul said, seizing his hand: + +"Once more, Wilhelm, if you have any thought of Malvine, I will not +stand in your way." + +"But, Paul--" + +"And perhaps I ought to wish it for you; Malvine is a good, dear +girl, and will make the man who marries her happy all his life." + +"Don't say any more; I have already told you that she is sacred to +me as your fiancee, and beside, I should have no claim on her, even +if I did not know how you stand with regard to her." + +"Well, then, you must help me to reclaim her from her mistake. You +alone can do it, and I am sure that later--very soon, in fact, she +will be grateful to you." + +Wilhelm was silent, looking at Paul in anxious suspense. At last, +with a deep sigh, he said: + +"Well, if I must---" + +"You are a brick," cried Paul, and embraced him before the passers- +by, who turned round to look at them with astonishment. + +On the next day, at twelve o'clock, Wilhelm rang at the Markers' +flat in the Lutzowstrasse. Through the little peephole he caught a +glimpse of some one, then the door flew open, a maid ushered him +into the drawing-room, and without waiting for him to speak, said: + +"Frau Brohl is in the kitchen; I will fetch her." + +"Thank you," said Wilhelm, rather feebly; "there is no hurry. Is-- +is--the Fraulein at home?" + +The girl was already at the door, and turning round, stared at +Wilhelm with astonished eyes. + +"Yes; shall I say that you would like to speak to her?" + +Wilhelm nodded, and the girl went out. After a short pause Malvine +stood before him, offering him her white hand, with its short +fingers, while her face flushed to the roots of her hair. + +"Might I speak to you, Fraulein?" he said, in a low, constrained +voice. + +Malvine went very white, all the blood seemed to leave her heart, +and she almost gasped for breath. After a short silence she +whispered, "Certainly, Herr Doctor," and took him into the little +room next the drawing-room, which contained a modest bookcase, a +writing table, and chairs in red damask. She sat down, and Wilhelm +took a chair near; they were silent for a minute or two, while she, +with eyes downcast, went alternately red and white, and could +scarcely breathe. There was no pretense this time about her +agitation. It seemed as if suddenly a flash of lightning had +illuminated his mind, showing him a picture of this trembling, +pretty girl clashed to his heart, and he with his arms round her. It +only lasted for a second, but it struck him like an electric shock, +and left in his mind a mingled feeling of trouble, shame, remorse +and vexation. He had a consciousness of danger, and he felt that he +must make a great effort to become master of the situation and of +himself. + +"Gnadiges Fraulein," he began, "what I want to say to you will seem +odd, and perhaps audacious, but I beg you in spite of that to hear +me to the end." + +Malvine sat motionless, breathing quickly. + +"I do not know," he went on, "in what position you and my friend +Haber are with regard to each other, but you must have noticed, +without any explanation, that he loves you." + +At the mention of Paul's name, Malvine for the first time raised her +eyes, and looked at Wilhelm with such a troubled expression that he +felt still further alarmed. He had broken the ice, however, and he +made a courageous effort to regain his asssurance. + +"Dear Fraulein," he said impressively, "I am afraid there has been +some misunderstanding between us, which it is my duty toward you, +toward my friend, and toward myself, to explain. My behavior has +perhaps aroused an impression which it should not have done. There +is no doubt that I ought not to have shown you how warm my +friendship is for you--for you, a good and beautiful girl, who have +inspired my best friend with such a love; but really I considered +that so long as the engagement between you and Paul was not clearly +arranged, that you would understand my position. If I seemed happy +to be near you, it was because I told myself how happy my friend +would be when he could call you his own; if you seemed to read +warmth and tenderness when I looked at you, it was because I was and +am so grateful to you for so happily influencing Paul." + +While he was speaking Malvine had sunk back in her corner, and had +closed her eyes with a deep sigh. A few large tears began to roll +down her cheeks. Wilhelm touched her hand, which was cold as ice. +She made a feeble effort to draw it away, but he held it fast and +went on: + +"Dearest, best Malvine, do not bear me any grudge for this +abominable half-hour, and believe me that it is only out of +consideration for your life's happiness. I quite understand how it +has all happened. Your kind heart was filled with pity for me, and +in your innocence you gave the pity another name. It was quite +natural that you should be uncertain of yourself, while you thought +you were loved by two men, and that the confusion prevented you +seeing clearly with your own heart. Now you know that Paul loves +you, and that the day on which he dares call you his will be the +first happy one I have had for a year. You will be able to come to a +determination more easily, as it concerns your own happiness equally +with Paul's. Paul is a good fellow, and worthy of the woman who will +bear his name." + +He bent over her hand and pressed his lips to it. Malvine sobbed +aloud, and putting her arms on his shoulders kissed his hair, then +sprang away and flew to her room. Wilhelm hurried away in great +confusion, thankful that he had been spared meeting either Frau +Brohl or Frau Marker. He only breathed freely when he found himself +in the street. + +Paul was informed the same afternoon of the conversation which had +taken place, Wilhelm delicately passing over Malvine's outburst of +feeling, and he hurried at once to the Lutzowstrasse to take by +storm the fortress in which his friend had already made a breach. He +was received by Frau Brohl, who nodded in mysterious manner, and +took him into her bedroom, at the back of the flat, through the +dining-room. In her soft, feeble voice she mildly reproached him for +not having more confidence and coming to speak to her sooner. She +then related to him what had happened. She had heard with great +surprise that Dr. Eynhardt had come and gone away again, without +saying good-day to her. As she was going to ask what the visit +meant, Malvine came and embraced her grandmother, crying bitterly, +to the old lady's great distress. With many tears she had given a +confused and broken account of the interview with Wilhelm, begging +Frau Brohl to comfort her and foretell that it should end well. Frau +Brohl explained that Malvine was now in her room, meaning that Paul +must not try to see her just at present. Such a silly, inexperienced +creature must have time given her to learn to be reasonable, beside, +she (Frau Brohl) would take care of everything, and Herr Haber could +call her grandmamma now if he liked. He kissed her hand, deeply +moved and grateful, and her eyes filled with tears. She then +explained the situation to Frau Marker, who, after looking very much +surprised, also embraced her son-in-law. It was a dignified scene, +tender, and, as befitted an honorable family, without any over +display of feeling; if all the wealthy people of Stettin had been +assembled there, they could have expressed nothing but admiration. + +On the next day Frau Brohl spoke to her grand-daughter. She made her +understand that there were no real objections to be made, that she +was silly and was acting against her own happiness. Paul was much +the better match of the two, was more chic and practical than +Wilhelm, had better prospects in life, and was really better-looking +than his friend. Above all she liked Paul, and did not like Wilhelm, +and that ought to be taken into account. Malvine was not +inaccessible to such arguments, as Paul was really sympathetic to +her. Soon her tears ceased to flow, and her sighs became fainter and +fainter. In two days' time she regained her appetite, signs which +Frau Brohl noticed, and quickly imparted to Paul. At their first +meeting he showed a little anxiety, and she, a good deal of +constraint, but that soon passed off, and as they were constantly +together, she found a great deal of pleasure in his manly good looks +and honorable qualities. Beside, it was spring! the sun shone, the +sky was blue, her room was full of the fragrance of flowers, which +Paul brought every day with the regularity of a postman, and +fourteen days later they were engaged, and his first kiss was given +in the presence of her grandmother, mother, and Paul's parents. Her +heart felt very warmly toward him, and she would have felt +dreadfully confused had not Wilhelm, with characteristic good +feeling, declined the invitation to be present. + +Frau Brohl arranged for the wedding to take place after Whitsuntide. +At the Zwolf-Apostelkirche she wore her heavy silk dress and all the +family ornaments, as on the Sundays at church at Stettin. Her bent +figure was straighter than usual, and a smile of proud satisfaction +lighted up her pale, melancholy face. Several rich friends from +Stettin had come over to Berlin for the wedding. She leaned on the +arm of the bridegroom's father, Herr Haber, a dignified old +gentleman with a long beard. Paul wore his uniform and a Japanese +order, which had been conferred on him by a Japanese pupil at his +lectures on agricultural chemistry. Several officers in uniform were +in the church, and a large number of professors, councilors, etc. +Paul's round face beamed with happiness, his blond mustache looked +triumphant, his hair was mathematically cut, and a field-marshal +might have sworn that he was a regular officer. The bride was rosy, +and looked happy. Her veil and wreath were made by the family, and +her satin dress covered with their embroidery. Wilhelm was one of +Paul's witnesses. When he went to congratulate the happy pair after +the ceremony, Malvine looked at him; a gentle glance, with perhaps a +mild reproach in it. Paul, however, grasped his hand, and whispered +into his ear: + +"Your friend for life, Wilhelm, for life." + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +SYMPOSIUM. + + +Paul had hardly returned from his wedding trip to Paris when he +surprised his friends by a series of quite unexpected business +engagements. He gave up his post as lecturer, in spite of the fact +that the appointment as professor for the next six months depended +on it; he left his young wife for three weeks, during which nothing +was heard of him, except an occasional letter bearing the postmarks +of Hamburg, Altona, or Harburg, then he appeared again, and told +Malvine that they were to remove from Berlin, to spend in future a +portion of the year in Hamburg, but to live chiefly on some property +near Harburg. He had decided to leave his academic profession and +become a practical landowner, and accordingly had taken a large +leasehold estate. He gave Wilhelm and Schrotter further particulars +of his plans. The place he had bought was hardly to be called an +estate, but a wild desert bit of moorland called "Friesenmoor," +growing only a kind of marsh grass. This piece of land, from which +nothing but peat could be obtained, was worthless, and he had bought +it for a few thalers. After many years of study on the subject, and +without saying a word to any living soul, Paul had come to the +conclusion that this arid moor could be made into rich arable land +by proper cultivation, and seeing money was to be made out of this +possession, he decided without loss of time to put his theories into +practice. There was always the risk that he might lose his money, +but he had great confidence in his science, and "nothing venture, +nothing have." He considered it quite unnecessary to explain +everything about his speculation to Malvine and the old lady. He +knew, too, that merely the word "speculation" would frighten them to +death. + +The separation from Malvine dissolved her grandmother and mother +into sighs and tears, but during the short time that they had known +Paul, his quiet, determined character had made such an impression on +the two women that they submitted without a word to whatever he +arranged. Frau Brohl packed up several boxes for her granddaughter, +filled with the work of her hands, gave her various recipes for +preserving fruits and for fish sauces, and let her go. She withstood +bravely the temptation to fill up the empty room with the overflow +furniture from the drawing-room, and spoke on the contrary of +leaving the room free, so that the young couple might make it their +headquarters when they came to Berlin. Paul hypocritically invited +Frau Brohl and Frau Marker to come and live on his estate--he did +not even fear two mothers-in-law. Grandmother and mother, though +pleased with his attachment for them, declined with thanks. The +cunning dog had reckoned on that refusal. He would have been in a +terrible dilemma had they accepted. He would then have had to reveal +the whole truth, and tell them that his so-called "property" was a +mere swamp, where there was no place for one's feet to tread unless +clad in waterproof boots; hardly a fit place for townspeople, +accustomed to comfort. Before the changes on the Friesenmoor could +be brought about one fell into pools, one's feet got fast in boggy +earth, and the only inhabitants at present were waterfowl, frogs and +toads. He did not even take Malvine to his property but lived in +Hamburg, going to Harburg every morning and returning in the +evening. + +In a short time the neighborhood between the Seeve and the Suderelbe +wore a different appearance. Hundreds of laborers were to be seen on +the moor, which hitherto had reflected only the sky in its silent +pools. Dams were thrown up, trenches dug, a dwelling house was +raised on piles, numbers of business offices, and quite a village +for workmen, all mounted and secure on piles of wood, stakes, and +stone foundations. Flatboats floated on the pools, the houses were +roofed in, windmills flapped their sails, and Paul, who had ordered +and built everything, came every day to see how the workmen were +getting on. In the autumn he took Malvine for the first time to +Harburg, and leaving the carriage at the office brought her by boat +to the border of the Friesenmoor, to show her the picture all at +once. The men stood on each side of the new house with their shovels +and pickaxes, and greeted the young wife with such a hearty cheer +that her eyes filled with tears. The broad flat surface of the marsh +was now arranged in regular lines where the water was being drawn +off, all so well superintended and orderly, that Malvine could not +help thinking of a chessboard. The windmill moved its long restless +arms, as if to welcome her as mistress here; the one-storied +dwelling house, raised on stone steps, lay there hospitably built on +a raised terrace, with its number of large well-lighted rooms +opening a vista of peace and happiness to Malvine, and she thought +it all so delightful that she would have liked to send for her +furniture from Hamburg and stay there. Paul, however, reflected what +danger there might be to her in her condition to stay through the +winter in a house not yet dry, and so she gave in to his wishes. + +At the end of March a telegram from Hamburg announced the birth of a +fine boy, to whom Wilhelm was to stand godfather. He was to be named +Paul Wilhelm, and to be known by the latter name. When the warm +weather came, Paul and his family were to go to the moor, and during +the removal Malvine went with her mother and grandmother, who had +both nursed her tenderly, to Berlin for a visit. Paul went through a +great deal of worry and anxiety this summer. He had everything at +stake in waiting for the results of his undertaking. All his money +was in the buildings, the earth-works, and waterworks; if the barren +swamp did not yield twice the sum intrusted to it he was a ruined +man. But as July drew near, and Paul looked at the thick standing +ears of barley and wheat, he felt the weight of his anxiety lifted, +and in August he proclaimed in letters to his friends that the +battle was won, the harvest more abundant than he had dared to hope +for, and the remaining half-year would complete the transformation +of the worthless moorland into a veritable Australian gold mine. He +regarded his property now with a parental tenderness, as if it were +some living being whom he had trained and educated. The first +harvest had given him experience, and opportunity for new work, and +he stayed through the autumn and winter in his house in the midst of +his workmen, whom he felt inclined to canonize. The men now formed a +little colony with their wives and children, and Paul was as happy +as possible within the limited boundary of his horizon, between the +Suderelbe and the Seeve. + +These two years had been outwardly uneventful for Wilhelm. In the +mornings he worked in the Physical Institute, in the afternoons he +worked at home, in the evenings he gossiped with Schrotter--a +journey to Hamburg and a fortnight's visit to the house on the +Friesenmoor had given him change. Paul came pretty often to Berlin, +and found in the society of his old friends the enjoyment of his +early years renewed, and Wilhelm with his girlish face, his +enthusiastic eyes, and his unworldly manner did not seem a year +older. The professor of physics, who had frequently been invited to +go abroad to direct the teaching in other European and foreign +schools, asked Wilhelm to go with him to Turkey, Japan, and Chili-- +as professor. He had the highest opinion of Wilhelm, and deeply +regretted that his misadventure with Herr von Pechlar made an +appointment in Germany impossible. Wilhelm, however, declined, on +the ground that he did not feel an aptitude for teaching, only for +learning. + +He had scarcely any intercourse now with Barinskoi, whose immoral +views at last became unbearable; he rarely saw him except when he +came to borrow money. Of late a new acquaintance had come into his +limited social circle. This was a man of about thirty-five, called +Dorfling, an overgrown thin creature, with long, straight gray hair, +and deep intellectual eyes in his thin face. He came from the Rhine, +and was the son of a rich merchant, into whose business he should +have gone. However, when he was twenty-six he boldly told his father +that the world outside was of deeper and wider interest to him than +account books. The father died, and Dorfling hastened to put the +business into liquidation, and devote himself to philosophical +studies. For a year he drifted from one school to another, sitting +at the feet of the most celebrated teachers and plunging himself +into their systems. In the autumn of 1872 he appeared suddenly in +Berlin, and renewed his old acquaintance with Wilhelm. Since then he +had become a frequent guest at Dr. Schrotter's dinner table, and a +companion to Wilhelm, in his afternoon walks. + +Dorfling was the most wonderful listener that any one could wish to +have, though he himself was rather silent. If the talk turned on +great questions of knowledge, morality, the object of life, +Dorfling's share in the conversation consisted in the following +half-audible remark: "Yes, it is a powerful and interesting subject. +I have just been working at it, and you will find my opinions in my +book." If he were asked to give his opinions now, or at least to +indicate them, he shook his head and gently said, "I am not good at +extempore speaking. My thoughts only come out clearly when I have a +pen in my hand." Not a day passed by without an allusion to "the +book," to which he devoted his nights, and of which he always spoke, +with emotion in his voice, as the work of his life. + +It was impossible to get more information out of him, either about +its title, scope, or contents. It was a philosophic work, no doubt, +as he always said on speaking of such subjects, "I have mentioned +that in my book." But that was all that could be got out of him. +Schrotter and Wilhelm were too good to tease him much about it, +though the former, with a suspicion of a smile, would say that he +hoped this and that would have a place in the book, so that one +might at least know his opinion on it. Paul, who always saw him when +he came to Berlin, used to ask whether the book was not yet ready. +Dorfling gave no answer, but his pale face grew paler, and an +expression of pain came to his eyes. + +Barinskoi, who now sponged on Dorfling just as he had previously +done on Wilhelm, giving them in fact turn and turn about, had the +bad taste to make jokes continually about the book, at one time +calling it the Holy Grail, another time comparing it to the diamond +country of Sindbad's tale, and in a hundred ways making vulgar and +sceptical jokes. On one of his outbreaks of dissipation he had +disappeared far longer than usual, and on his return he looked more +miserable than ever. Dorfling made some kindly inquiries, and +learned that he was recovering from an attack of inflammation of the +lungs, and Barinskoi, by way of showing gratitude, remarked, "The +doctors gave me up, but I held out, as I do not mean to die until I +have read your book." Dorfling, with a contemptuous look, turned his +back on him. + +One day, soon after the Easter of 1874, Dorfling brought his friends +a great piece of news. The book was ready, it was even in the press, +and would be published in a few days by a large firm, but he wanted +to present them with copies before the book appeared at the shops. +He therefore invited them to a little festival to celebrate the +occasion. He had been thinking over the book for seventeen years, +had been eight years in writing it, and as it had taken such an +important place in his life, he must be pardoned a little vanity +about it now. Paul had a written invitation sent him, and he thought +the occasion was sufficiently important to come to Berlin on +purpose. + +On the appointed evening they all met at eight o'clock at +Borchardt's in the Franzbsischen Strasse. A dignified waiter, who in +appearance and manner looked more like an ambassador, received the +guests, and took them into a private room on the left side of the +large room above the ground floor. This little room was all lined +with red like a jewel case, thick red portieres were over the doors, +and the amount of gas with which it was lighted made it rather +warmer than was comfortable. A large table with divans on three +sides of it nearly filled the room; it was beautifully decorated and +covered with flowers. Numerous wineglasses were placed before each +guest, and champagne was cooling in an ice-bucket near the door. + +Dorfling was there, and received his guests as the waiter lifted the +heavy portiere. He was in evening dress, and his slightly flushed +face beamed with pleasure. His friends regretted keenly that they +had come in ordinary morning clothes, and expressed their apologies. +He interrupted them, saying they must overlook one of his little +whims and not say anything more about it. + +Then they sat down to table, impressed by his charming manner. +Dorfling put Schrotter on his right hand, and Wilhelm and Paul on +his left; near Schrotter was Barinskoi and a friend of Dorfling's, +named Mayboorn. This man was, like Dorfling, a Rhinelander, he +combined a successful career as a writer of comic verses with a +confirmed pessimism. When he had written one of his merriest +couplets, he would stop his work and sigh with Dorfling over the +tragedy of life. The papers treated his farces as rubbish, but the +public adored them. The earnest critic would hardly touch his name +with a pair of tongs, but the theatre managers fought for possession +of his work. He had a beautiful wife who worshiped him, two +wonderful children, and the appearance and bearing of Timon of +Athens. + +At Dorfling's summons two waiters came in; one of them put a large +dish of oysters on the table, while the other placed a thick octavo +volume before each guest. + +"The last of the season," cried Barinskoi gayly, and helped himself +to oysters. + +"The book! Bravo!" said Paul, and held out his hand to Dorfling. + +There was a short silence, while they all, even the cynical +Barinskoi, contemplated the book before them, On the pearl-gray +cover they read; + +"The Philosophy of Deliverance, by X. Rheinthaler." + +"What an expressive title," said Wilhelm, breaking the silence +first. + +"Admirably adapted for a comic song," remarked Mayboom, with a +melancholy air. Barinskoi laughed loudly, while Dorfling looked +blandly at him. The comic poet sighed deeply and began to eat. + +"But why Rheinthaler?" asked Paul. + +"I at first wanted the book to appear anonymously; but the public is +accustomed now to see a proper name on the title page. If it does +not find one, its curiosity is excited, and what I particularly +wished to avoid comes to pass, namely, the diversion of attention +from the essential to the unessential." + +"That does not explain why you have not put your own name to it," +said Paul. + +"My own name? What for? What is a name? What is an individuality, +which a name symbolizes? The thoughts which I have put down in this +book are not from me, the transient accident called Dorfling, but +from the absolute everlasting thing which thinks in my brain. I am +merely the carrier of the truth, appointed by it. What would you say +if a postman put his name on all the letters he delivers?" + +"I should not be capable of such self-effacement," said Paul. "If I +had devoted the best years of my life to any work I should be unable +to renounce the recognition I had earned." + +"Recognition, Herr Haber. What sort of word is that? One does what +one does, not because one wills, but because one must; not on +account of an operation aimed at, but because of a compelling cause. +He who reckons on any kind of reward for his works is on the same +footing as a silly woman who claims men's approbation because she is +pretty or an unreasoning child, who wants to be praised and petted +because he has eaten his dinner. A mature perception arrives at this +idea of the duty which one must fulfill, and in no hope of the +gratification of individual vanity or self-seeking. Recognition! +Does the wind hope for recognition from the ships it helps to sail? +Is it blamed if it dashes the ship to pieces? It blows, as it must, +and is perfectly indifferent about what men say, and as to its +effect on trees, and chimney-pots, and ships. My brain is now +thinking just as the wind blows. There is no difference between my +organism and what goes on in the atmosphere. Both obey the laws of +nature, and I merely fulfill these when I write a book." + +"I quite agree with you," said Wilhelm. + +The oysters had been eaten, and some wonderful Markobrunner drunk. +The waiter now brought some Printaniere soup. The conversation +halted, as everyone had involuntarily opened his copy of the book, +some of them perhaps really curious to read, the others out of +sympathy for the writer. + +"Please don't read it now," said Dorfling, "the book will be just +the same to-morrow, but the soup will be cold." + +"That is the remark of a philosopher," said Barinskoi, and poked his +pointed red nose in the savory steam from his soup. + +"It is difficult to tear oneself away," said Schrotter; "it would be +very friendly of you to give an idea of the thoughts at the +foundation of your thesis." + +"How could I explain a whole system intelligibly in a few words?" +said Dorfling. + +"You could leave out all the proofs and the development, we can read +those presently in your book. You need only just give us the main +ideas of your 'Philosophy of Deliverance.'" + +All the guests joined in Schrotter's request, Paul the most eagerly, +for the idea of having to read through that thick, dry book had +frightened him, and now he saw the possibility of knowing its +contents in an agreeable and comfortable way. + +Dorfling objected at first, but as his friends insisted he began. + +"The phenomenal world, in my opinion, is the foundation of a single +spiritual principle which you can call what you like--strength, +final cause, will, consciousness, God. This eternal principle +separates part of itself from its own being--and this is the soul of +mankind. Every soul perceives clearly that it is a part of an +eternal whole; it feels itself unhappy and uneasy in its fragmentary +existence, and yearns to go back again to the whole from whence it +came. Individual life means removal from that all-embracing whole; +individual death is the complete union of finite parts with the +infinite whole. Thus, although life is a necessity, it is a +continual pain, and ceaseless yearning; death is the freedom from +pain and the fulfillment of that yearning. The only aim of life is +death at the end of it, and death is the goal toward which every +activity of the living organism eagerly strives." + +Paul looked at Wilhelm and Schrotter, but as they were silent he +said nothing. Schrotter after consideration, said: + +"Why do you separate a part of the eternal principle from itself?" + +"To make its unity manifold through divisibility, to arrive at the +consciousness of the 'ego,' through the creation of an absolute +negation." + +"Your eternal principle then," said Schrotter, "appears to you like +some lord or master, who is lonely because he is by himself in the +world, and wishes to have the society of others." + +"Over this, however, is placed the creation of the negation arriving +at the consciousness of its own 'ego,' in addition to the knowledge +of the object it has in view; thus consciousness precedes the rest," +said Wilhelm. + +Dorfling shook his head. + +"These objections are close reasoning. You will find them answered +in the book." + +"You are right," said Schrotter, "it is unfair to criticize before +we have read the book. I only want to make one remark, not in the +sense of criticism, but rather to confirm a fact. Your "Philosophy +of Deliverance" is no other than a form of Christianity which looks +upon the earth as a vale of tears, on life as a banishment, and on +death as going home to the Father's house. The theology of the +Vatican would not find a hitch in your system." + +"Forgive me, doctor," answered Dorfling. "I see a great difference +between my system and Christianity. Both of them hold that life is a +misery, and death is the deliverance. But Christianity does not +explain why God creates men, and sends them to the misery of earth, +instead of leaving them in peace in heaven. I, on the contrary, +claim that I explain the creation of living and conscious beings." + +"Your assertion then means that the eternal principle of phenomena +creates organisms, with the object of arriving at the consciousness +of itself?" + +"Exactly." + +"Now, we have already answered you as to that," said Schrotter, "and +I will not keep back my objection any longer. Let me get away for a +moment from your system, and say that between metaphysics and +theology I do not see the least difference. A metaphysical system +and a religious dogma are both attempts to explain the +incomprehensible secret to human reason. The negro solves the riddle +of the musical-box, believing that a spirit is inside it, which +gives forth musical sounds at the white man's command; and that is +precisely what priests and philosophers do when they explain the +great workings of the universe by a God, or a principle, or whatever +they call their fetich. Human nature always wants to know the why +and wherefore of things. When we are not sure of our ground, we help +ourselves by conjectures, or even by imagination. These conjectures +are senseless or reasonable, according to whether our knowledge is +insufficient or comprehensive. Men are satisfied in their childhood +with stories as explanations of the world's mysteries, in their +maturity they advance to plausible hypotheses: the stories yield to +theology, hypotheses to philosophy. Religion presents a fictitious +solution to the riddle in a concrete form, and metaphysics in an +abstract form; the one relates and asserts, the other argues and +avoids the improbable. It is only a difference of degree, not of +character." + +"That is just so," cried Wilhelm. "Metaphysics are as incapable as +religion of disclosing what lies behind the phenomenal world, and I +cannot conceive (forgive me, Dorfling, if I say straight out what I +mean), I cannot conceive how a philosopher can really take his own +system in earnest. He must know that his explanation is only a +conjecture, a possibility at the best, and he actually has the +temerity to preach it as a fixed truth. No, my friend, I do not +expect anything from metaphysics. It only interests me as a means +for studying psychology. The history of philosophical systems is a +history of the development of the mind of humanity. The systems are +only valuable as testimonials to the endless extent and possibility +of human thought. All the systems put together do not contain a +spark of objective truth." + +"That is upon the whole the difference between natural science and +metaphysics," said Schrotter. "Science regulates the boundary +between what is known and what is not known, and declares when the +limit is reached. Our knowledge has attained to a certain point, and +beyond that we know and understand nothing, absolutely nothing. +Metaphysics will not stop at that limit. It confuses knowledge and +dreams together, and manufactures out of the two something quite +worthless. It explains things which it does not understand, and +which cannot be understood, and offers us detailed descriptions of +countries into which it has never traveled, and where mankind +probably never will travel." + +"May I say a word in defence of your metaphysics?" said Dorfling, +with a slight smile. + +"Yes, go on," cried Barinskoi. He had drunk more than all the rest +put together, and the serious conversation seemed to afford him +great amusement. + +"Look here, Eynhardt. I cannot possibly uphold your statement that +metaphysics do not contain a spark of objective truth. To be certain +of that, one must also be certain what objective truth is. But you +are not certain, as you very well know, and so logically you must +admit the possibility that metaphysics can hold a spark of objective +truth. I am of an entirely different opinion on this point. I +believe that the science of the actual content of things, the +foundation of all appearances, the laws of the universe, in short, +everything which you call objective truth, is the property peculiar +to the atoms, of which the world formerly existed. Absolute science, +I say, is inherent matter, like motion and gravitation. Matter does +not learn of them, it possesses them. A cell has not studied +chemistry, but with unfailing accuracy it executes its wonderful +chemical operations. Water knows nothing of physics and mathematics, +but it flows from the spring, just as high as the laws of hydraulic +pressure command." + +"Bravo," interrupted Mayboom, "that explains at last something I +never understood; and that is, why a flower pot should fall off a +window straight on the heads of people in the street, with unfailing +accuracy." + +"Please, Mayboom, no bad jokes to-day," said Dorfling gently. + +The comic song writer sighed and again sank into deep thought, and +the philosopher went on: + +"The science of truth, to which every atom adheres, dwells in men. +We must not forget that man is a collection of countless millions of +atoms; the collected consciousness of mankind can know just as much +of what each atom knows, as a whole people can understand of Greek +or Sanscrit because one or other of its members can read those +languages. Only through intercommunication can the knowledge of the +few become the knowledge of the many. The development of the living +being I regard in this way, that the atoms at first only hang +loosely, gradually becoming more closely knit together, until they +make a substantial organism. The single atoms in the course of this +process of development step over the boundary toward consciousness. +At first it is a trembling, insecure foreboding, like the sensation +of light to one nearly blind, then the outlines of truth become +clearer, and all at once grow sharp and clearly defined. The +different attempts at explanation of the secrets of the world are +the expression of these forebodings of truth. So every one of the +religious and philosophical systems is to my mind a grain of the +truth, and the whole of it will be found in the great unity which we +shall reach in a higher development." + +"As charming as a pretty story," said Schrotter, "but--it is only a +story after all. You conjecture that the thing is so situated, but +you are not in a condition to prove it; and if I deny it, you have +no means of compelling me to believe, as I can compell you to +believe that twice two makes four. No, no; nothing can come of these +metaphysical speculations. The whole philosophy is not worth +psychological treatment. We are no further to-day than the old +Greeks, whose knowledge led to the formula, 'Know thyself.' "We can +hope to know ourselves some day, to know what goes on in our brains. +I hardly believe, however, that science will ever arrive at it." + +"The study of natural science has brought me to the same +conclusion," said Wilhelm. "We know nothing to-day of the nature of +phenomena--we knew nothing yesterday, and we shall know nothing to- +morrow. The great advance in thought has only brought us to the +point of no more self-deception, and exactly knowing what we do +know, whereas yesterday men deceived themselves, and imagined that +the fables of religion and metaphysics were positive knowledge. The +history of physical science is in this respect very interesting. It +teaches that every step forward does not consist of a new +explanation, but rather goes to prove, that the earlier explanations +were untrustworthy. The sphere of the exact sciences does not grow +wider, but narrower. It would be very instructive to study the +history of natural science at the point it has reached." + +"Why do you not write such a history?" asked Schrotter. + +"Why? It would be foolish to add another book to the millions of +books already written. All that one can say about it is soon said. +Anything really new is written once in a thousand years, all the +rest is repetition, dilution, compilation. If everyone who writes on +a subject were to read first everything which has been written on +that subject, he would very soon throw his pen out of the window." + +"I must again differ from you," said Dorfling. "I think it is best, +that we so seldom know all that has been thought and written on a +subject. It is best that we write new books without wearying to read +the millions of others. I grant that most books are only repetitions +of earlier ones. But it is unconscious repetition, and it is exactly +that which gives it a wonderfully new meaning. It proves unity of +mind, identity of science. Thousands of men daily discover +gunpowder. Many of them laugh, because gunpowder was first +discovered two hundred years ago. I do not laugh. I see in it the +manifestation of the eternal unity of phenomenal principle. So many +men could not arrive at the same thought if they were not fragments +of a whole; now you know why I have written a book, and also, why I +have not put my individual name on the title-page." + +From the next room they heard a woman laugh in a wild, excited way, +glasses chinked together, and a man's voice was just distinguished +in conversation. Barinskoi pricked up his ears and winked at Paul; +the others paid no attention. + +"Do not misunderstand me," said Wilhelm, answering Dorfling's last +remark. I do not mean to say that your book is superfluous. You had +every right to it, having made it the object of your life." + +"Not the object of my life," interrupted Dorfling. "The only object +I have in life is death, which I call deliverance." + +"Very good; I will say then, when you conceived it your duty to +write it." + +"'Duty' yes, I will allow that word to pass. Let us rather say +impulse, or instinct. If one has a perception one also feels an +impulse, which one calls a feeling of duty to share it with others." + +Wilhelm smiled. + +"You believe even in perception. That proves above all what you mean +by your duty. I know, to my regret, that I have no perceptions to +share with others, and the duty of my life is only toward my own +moral education and greatest possible perfection." + +"That is not enough," Paul broke in, "this self-culture in one's own +study does no one any good. For that reason I do not mind if I +appear unphilosophical. One has duties toward one's fellowmen. One +must be useful to the State, as a good citizen. One must make money, +to add to the national wealth." + +"Bravo, Herr Haber," said Mayboom gravely. "You speak like a town- +crier," and after a short pause he added, "That is a great +compliment from me." + +"We express the same meaning in different forms," answered "Wilhelm, +"How can you add to the national wealth? By making yourself a rich +man. And I try to be useful to the community by educating myself in +the greatest possible morality, and the highest ideal of a citizen. +No one can work outside of himself when every individual strives to +be good and true, then the whole people will be good and noble." + +"Now you are disputing as to your life's duty," cried Baninskoi, +whose eyes glowed, and whole face was red with the alcohol he had +imbibed. "Prove first that it is a duty. I deny without exception +every duty to others. Why should I trouble myself about the world? +What are my fellow-creatures to me? Dinner is trumps, and long live +wine!" and he drank a glassful. + +"It is an instinct born with us," said Wilhelm, without any +vexation, "to care for one's fellow-creatures, and to feel a duty in +sympathy for others." + +"But suppose I have not got this instinct?" answered Barinskoi. + +"Then you are an unhealthy exception." + +"Prove it." + +"The best proof is the continuance of mankind. If the instinct of +sympathy with others were to fail among men, humanity would long ago +have ceased to exist." + +Barinskoi laughed. + +"That is a convenient arrangement. Instinct then is the only +foundation for your duty, and the continuance of humanity is the +only sanction of your instinct. I will leave you to listen to your +instinct, and sympathize as much as you like, but for my part I +joyfully renounce this duty; the only punishment I should be afraid +of is the destruction of mankind, and that is not likely to happen +in my lifetime." + +"There is another punishment," said Mayboom solemnly, "that I take +this bottle of champagne away from you on account of--your bad +behavior." + +While he spoke he took away the bottle, and Barinskoi tried to get +it back again; a little struggle ensued. Dorfling put an end to it +by an emphatic "Please don't do that." Turning to Wilhelm he went +on: + +"I do not believe in your idea of duty; you place instinct at the +foundation. I use another word. I call your instinct the foreboding +that each has of its being, and its outflow toward the eternal +phenomenon of principle. At all events, that seems to suffice for a +foundation. But I conceive duty to be quite a different thing. You +limit your view to self-culture, and have love for your fellow- +creatures, but no desire to instruct them. Now, I think that culture +should begin with oneself, but end with others. That is my idea of +love for humanity. One need hardly go out of oneself to do this. One +can influence things remote without disturbing oneself. Just think +of the magnet; it is an immense source of influence, called example. +It sets an astonishing example without moving out of itself--an +example which cannot be overlooked, and powerfully affects the +imagination." + +"One illustration for another," said Schrotter, who had shown his +interest in the conversation by nodding his head now and then. "You +wish man to play the part of a magnet; that is not enough, I want +him to play the part of a cogwheel. He must catch hold of his +surroundings while he moves, he must also move all those round him. +Everyone cannot be a magnet; we are not all made of the same stuff. +But one can make a cogged wheel out of whatever one will--and +beside, a magnet only influences certain substances. It will draw +iron, but cannot attract copper, wood, or stone; but the cogwheel +takes hold of anything near it, of whatever material it is made. I +will not work the illustration to death. You can see by this what I +mean. I think a far-reaching activity is the first business of +mankind. Our nerves are not so much those of sensation as of +movement; we do not only take in impressions from the outside, we +are provided with organs which give out impressions received from +within. Every sensation of movement which nature sends through us is +a summons to be answered by an action, not only self-culture, not +example, not passive good-will toward others, but by the intention +an object of activity toward the world and humanity. The Middle Ages +summoned up the business of life in the words, 'Ora et Labora.' They +are beautiful words, and after this lapse of time we take the +meaning out for ourselves, in other words, 'Think and Act.'" + +The woman's laughter from the next room became louder, and then they +heard chairs pushed back, and the noise of departure. The rustling +of a silk dress, with the clinking of spurs and sword, passed the +door, became fainter, and then ceased. It was near midnight, and +Schrotter rose to go. He was thinking of Bhani, who was sitting up +for him at home. The dinner must have been paid for beforehand, for +the guests were spared the sight of a money transaction to chill the +end of their pleasant evening. The cool night air felt refreshing +after the heat of the small room. Dorfling declined the offers his +friends made to accompany him home. They all wished him "Farewell." + +"Die well, would be a better wish," replied Dorfling, and with these +strange words in their ears they left him. + +Schrotter and Wilhelm went a part of the way with Paul, who had the +furthest to go. For a little while he was silent, then he broke out: + +"I declare this is beyond my comprehension. The whole time I was +there I felt as if I were in a vault with a lot of ghosts. You, Herr +Doctor, were the only living being among them; I breathed again when +I heard you talking. If I had not head the sounds from next door, +and had not had the realities of our dinner before me, I should have +thought I was dreaming." + +"What has put you out so, my dear Paul?" said Wilhelm. + +"What! Are you men of flesh and blood? Are you really alive? There +we sat for four mortal hours, and the talk was wearisome to a +degree, never one sensible word." + +"Now! now!" protested Schrotter. + +"Herr Doctor, forgive me, but I must repeat it, never one sensible +word. Do you call Dorfling's 'Philosophy of Deliverance' sensible? +or, Wilhelm, your philosophy of self-culture, which, with all +deference to you, I call philosophical onanism? Only six men, two of +them under thirty-five, and the whole blessed evening not one word +about either pleasure or love." + +They had come to the place where Friedrichstrasse and +Leipzigerstrasse cross each other; and Schrotter signed to them to +look toward the left corner. There under a gas lamp they saw +Barinskoi in earnest conversation with a woman. + +"Yes, look at him! That brute is still the most reasonable among all +your philosophics. He has his method of sponging, and enjoys himself +according to the category of Aristotle. But your metaphysics--" + +"What do you really want, Paul?" + +"Well, I want you all to have to do for once with practical life, +with two hundred workmen to pay and ten thousand acres of land to +see after; and artificial manures and the price of corn to worry +you; then perhaps you would take a little less interest as to +whether the soul was a phenomenon or an india-rubber ball, or +whether men were magnets or cogwheels." + +Wilhelm only smiled. He had long ago given up trying to bring his +practical friend to ideal views. At the corner of the Kochstrasse +they separated, and Paul continued his way to the Lutzowstrasse, +while Wilhelm and Schrotter turned back. + +Twenty minutes later, as Wilhelm entered his bedroom, his eyes fell +on a letter for him in Dorfling's handwriting. He opened it, greatly +surprised, and read as follows: + +"DEAR FRIEND: When you read this I shall be free from all trouble +and all doubt. I have accomplished what I set myself to do, and I am +going back to eternity from this limited sphere. May you be as happy +as I shall be in a few hours! Keep a friendly thought for me as long +as you stay in this world of misery, and believe that he who writes +this had the warmest friendship for you." + +"L. DORFLING." + +Wilhelm stood as if thunderstruck. Was it by any chance a dreadful +joke? No; Dorfling was incapable of that. It must be a grim reality. +He ran quickly out of the house to seek Schrotter. The old Indian +servant opened the door, and in his broken English informed him that +Schrotter Sahib had found a letter when he reached home and had +immediately gone out again. + +Wilhelm could now doubt no longer, and running swiftly, he reached +the street where Dorfling lived, waited in agonizing suspense for +the door to be opened, flew up the stairs, and through the open door +to his friend's bedroom. There he found Schrotter; Mayboom was also +there sobbing, and a tearful old servant. In an arm chair near the +bed was Dorfling, still in his dress coat and tie, his head sunk on +his breast, his face hardly whiter than in life, his arms hanging +down, and in the middle of the white shirt-front a great red stain. +On the floor lay a revolver. + +Wilhelm, horrified, took his friend's hand. It was still quite warm. +His agonizing look sought Schrotter's, who answered in a hushed +voice, "He is dead." + +Then his tears broke out, and his trembling fingers had hardly +strength to close the lids over his friend's eyes, those eyes which +looked so strangely quiet and peaceful as if they now knew the +answer to the Great Secret. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +DARK DAYS. + + +Dorfling's suicide made a profound impression on Wilhelm, and for +months he was haunted by the vision of that motionless form with its +white face and blood-stained breast. It had a weird fascination for +him, causing him to revert constantly to that tragical May night +that had begun with a cheerful dinner, and ended in a fatal pistol +shot. Paul's comment on the occurrence was short and concise. "The +poor chap was mad," he said, and there the matter ended as far as he +was concerned. Mayboom revered his friend's memory as he would a +saint, and erected a kind of chapel to him in his house, in which +Dorfling's portrait, his book, and various objects belonging to him, +thrown up in relief against draperies and surrounded by a variety of +symbolical accessories, were set forth for the pious delectation of +the master of the house and his visitors. Schrotter held aloof from +this cult. He appreciated Dorfling's character, his consistency, his +strength of will and highmindedness as they deserved, but he was +never tired of preaching and demonstrating to Wilhelm that all these +admirable qualities had been turned out of their proper course by a +disturbing morbid influence. It was monstrous, he contended, that a +system of philosophy should arm you for suicide. What if the +premises should prove false? Then your voluntary death would be a +frightful mistake which nothing could retrieve. One has no right to +risk making such a mistake. He believed in development, in the +progress of the organic world from a lower to a higher stage. +Progress and development, however, were conditional upon life, and +he who has recourse to self-destruction sets an example of unseemly +revolt against one of the most beautiful and comforting of all the +laws of nature. Moreover, suicide was a waste of force on which it +was simply heartrending to have to look. There were so many great +deeds to be done which called for the laying down of life. In a +thousand different ways one might benefit mankind by Winkelried-like +actions. If one was determined to die, one should at least render +thereby to those left behind one of those sublime services which +demand the sacrifice of a life. + +In their frequent conversations upon this subject, he was so +earnest, so eloquent, so markedly intentional, that Wilhelm finally +gave him the smiling assurance that he was preaching to a convert. +It was true, he had the highest respect for a man who did not +hesitate to cast life from him when his whole mind and thought led +him to the conviction that death was preferable to life; and +unprincipled as suicide might be from an objective point of view, +subjectively considered, there surely was an ideal fitness in making +one's actions agree to the uttermost point with one's opinions? +Nevertheless, he himself did not approve of Dorfling's deed, and +would certainly never imitate it, for one could never know what +intentions the unknown powers might not have with regard to the +individual; by committing suicide he maybe threw up some possible +mission, or by his premature departure disturbed the action of the +great machine in which he--as some small screw or wheel--doubtless +had his modest place and function. + +As if to prove to Schrotter that he was no disciple of the +"Philosophy of Deliverance," he turned his attention, more than he +had ever done before, to the realities of life. Dorfling left a +remarkable will. He bequeathed his fortune--most advantageously +invested in a house in Dusseldorf and in public funds--yielding a +yearly income of about thirty-five thousand marks, to his two +friends, Dr Schrotter and Dr Eynhardt, with the sole charge that out +of it they should provide a sufficient competency for his old +servant, dating from his father's time, who had attended him +literally from the cradle to the grave. The fortune was to be theirs +conjointly and indivisibly, and should one of them die, to devolve +to the survivor, who in his turn was to make such arrangements as he +thought best to insure its being applied, after his death, in +accordance with the testator's views. He expressed the hope that his +two heirs would use the income derived from the property in +alleviating the misery inseparable from human existence, of which +throughout life they must be witnesses. Dorfling's only near +relative was herself very wealthy and generous-minded, and did not +dispute the will, it was accordingly proved. + +Wilhelm declared from the first that he understood nothing of the +management of a fortune, of business papers, and so forth, and +wanted to hand over the administration of the whole to Schrotter. +Schrotter, however, would not hear of it, and after vying with one +another in generous self-disparagement and mutual confidence, they +finally agreed that Schrotter, being a practical man, and conversant +with the ways of business and the world, should take the management +of the fortune upon himself, but that Wilhelm should receive a +monthly sum of fifteen hundred marks out of the income to apply as +he thought best to the relief of the needy. The other half of the +income was at Schrotter's disposal, who put it, of course, to the +same use. In his capacity as member of the deputation for the poor, +and also as parish doctor, he came in contact with much poverty and +misery, and was able to direct Wilhelm's charity into the right +channels. It became Wilhelm's regular afternoon employment to visit +the homes of those mentioned to him as in need of relief, that he +might the better judge for himself of the true state of the case, +make personal inquiries about the people, and step in where help was +necessary and deserved. + +Only now did he learn what life really was, and what he saw neither +increased his pleasure in being alive nor made him proud to be a man +among men. Needless to say, it was not long before the news reached +the circles of the professional beggars that there was a gentleman +in the Dorotheenstrasse who had a considerable yearly sum of money +to give away. The result was that his modest apartment was so +besieged by petitioners that his old landlady, Frau Muller, the +widow of a post-office official, with whom he had boarded and lodged +for seven years, was goaded to desperation, and declared that if the +disgraceful rabble was encouraged she would be obliged to part from +Wilhelm, though it would be her death, she being so fond of him and +so used to his ways. Wilhelm was wise enough to admit the justice of +her complaint, and empowered Frau Muller to turn away ruthlessly all +such visitors whose names were unknown to her, or who came without +recommendation, which orders she carried out with such virulence and +relentlessness, that the worshipful company of professional beggars +rapidly came to the conclusion that it was useless trying to gain +admittance to Dr. Eynhardt as long as he was guarded by the tall, +bony old lady who opened the door but would not leave hold of it. So +the unceasing tramp of dirty boots on the echoing stair was hushed, +and Wilhelm saw no more of the crape-clad widows of eminent +officials who required a sewing machine or a piano to save them from +starvation; the gentlemen who would be forced to put a bullet +through their brains if they did not procure the money to pay a debt +of honor; or the unemployed clerks who had eaten nothing for days, +and who all had a sick wife and from six to twelve children (all +small) at home crying for bread; or the foreigners who could find no +work in Berlin, and would return to their native countries if he +would give them a few thalers to pay their fourth-class railway +fare; and similar interesting persons, the endless diversity of +whose life-histories had kept him in a chronic state of surprise for +months. In place of the visitors he now received letters, as many as +if he had been a cabinet minister. It was the same old story, only +less affecting, because generally deficient in style, and faulty as +to spelling, and no longer illustrated by tearful, vigorously mopped +eyes, abysmal sighs, and hands wrung till they cracked. For a time +Wilhelm went to every address given in these letters, in order to +see and hear for himself, but after awhile his powers of +discrimination were sharpened, and he learned to distinguish between +the impositions of swindlers and professional beggars, and the real +distress which has a claim to sympathy. + +By degrees, it is true, he became convinced, even in the chill +dwellings of real poverty, that this was hardly ever entirely +unmerited. Where it had not been brought about by laziness, +frivolity, or drink, its source was to be found in ignorance or +incapacity, in other words, in an inefficient equipment for the +battle of life. He judged all these circumstances, however, to be +the outward and visible signs of obscure natural laws, and that to +interfere with rash and ignorant hands in their workings was as +useless as it was unreasonable. He therefore pondered seriously +whether, by denying to a portion of mankind the qualities +indispensable to success in the struggle for existence, Nature +herself did not predestine them to misery and destruction; whether +the irredeemable poor--those who after each help upward invariably +fell back in the former state--were not the offscourings of +humanity, the preservation of whom was a fruitless task, and +altogether against the design of Nature? + +Fortunately, he did not allow his deeds of brotherly love to be +darkened by the shadow of these and kindred thoughts. He brought +forward reasons which always ended by triumphing over his cold +doubts. Misery was possibly the outcome of inexorable natural laws, +but then was not compassion the same? The poor were poor under the +pressure of some irresistible force, but did not the charitable act +under the same pressure? Moreover, was Wilhelm so sure that he +himself was better equipped for the race of life than those +unfortunates who went under because they chose a trade for which +they were neither mentally nor physically competent, or because, +from laziness or obstinacy, they insisted on remaining in Berlin, +where nobody wanted them, when a few miles off they might have found +all the conditions conducive to their prosperity? How could he know +whether he would have been capable of earning his living if his +father had not left him a plentifully-spread table? In the rooms +that contained so little furniture and so many emaciated human +beings, into which his charitable zeal led him every day, he +pictured himself, pale and thin, without food, without books; and +although he had the harmless vanity to believe that privation and +penury would affect him less deeply than the poor devils he visited, +the idea that he saw his own face before him, as it might have been +had he not had the good luck to be his father's heir opened his hand +still wider, and added to the money words of sympathy and comfort, +which afforded the recipients--unless they were utterly hardened--as +much pleasure as the donation itself. + +Beside his almsgiving, he now had another occupation which took up +all his surplus time. Schrotter had not let the suggestion drop +which he made at Dorfling's dinner-party, and had persuaded Wilhelm +so long that he finally rouse himself to attempt an account of the +ways and means by which the human mind has freed itself of its +grossest errors. It was to be entitled "A History of Human +Ignorance," and promised to be a most original work. He would +endeavor to show what idea people had had of the universe at various +periods, how they explained the phenomena of nature, their +connection, their causes and effects. He would begin with the +childish superstitions of the savages, and continuing through the +so-called learned systems of the ancients and of the Middle Ages, +would bring his history up to the theories of contemporary +scientists. He would demonstrate the psychological causes of the +fact that man, at a certain stage of intellectual development, must +necessarily fall into certain errors, and by the aid of what +experiments, experiences, and conclusions he had come gradually to +recognize them as such. How the fresh interpretation of a single +phenomenon would overturn, at one blow, a number of other phenomena +hitherto considered entirely satisfactory, how prevailing scientific +theories, instead of assisting the fearless observer or discoverer, +invariably hindered him and turned him from the right path, in proof +of which assertion he brought forward such striking examples as +Aristotle's convulsive endeavors to make each of the senses +correspond to one of the four elements in which they believed in his +day, and Kepler with his fantastic efforts to prove the supremacy of +the Pythagorean seven in the solar system. The object of the book +was to show that the history of human knowledge is a history of +false inferences and the erroneous interpretations of correctly +observed phenomena, that the increase of knowledge always means the +destruction of existing opinions, that of all the scientific systems +up to the present day, only those retained their position which +proved the futility of earlier theories--never those which built up +new structures on the foundations of the old house of cards that had +been blown down. In a word, that progress means not the acquisition +of fresh knowledge, but an ever-extended consciousness of the +futility of the knowledge we thought to possess. + +Wilhem spared himself no pains with this work. He brought all the +thoroughness and industry of his honest nature to bear upon it, +would accept no statement at second-hand, but went for every +information to the fountain head. It would cost an immense amount of +time, but after all he had that at his disposal. There was no need +for him to hurry, seeing that he did not write from ambition or for +any material advantage, but simply for his own gratification. He +began by rubbing up his school Greek sufficiently to enable him to +read the ancient philosophers with ease, which he achieved in a few +months, and then set to work to learn Arabic, that being the chief +language of science in the Middle Ages. Schrotter was seriously +alarmed at these extensive preparations, and hastened to procure, +through his pandit friends, some English extracts from the +scientific literature of India, lest Wilhelm might think fit to +study Sanscrit, and decades would pass before he came to write the +first word of his book. + +Thus four years went by, years full of work, though they left no +visible traces. Meanwhile the aspect of things in the new Empire had +become very different. Men breathed the oppressive air with laboring +breasts; the bright dawn which promised so glorious a day had, been +followed by sullen mists, and the blue sky had disappeared behind +heavy, leaden-gray clouds, through which no comforting ray of +sunshine pierced. Where was all the glowing enthusiasm, the rapture +of hope and joy that, in the first years after the great war, had +flushed every German cheek and lit up every eye? Throughout the +length and breath of the land the opposing factions confronted one +another like armed antagonists preparing for a duel to the death. +Town and village rang with execration and satire, with howls of rage +or satisfied revenge vented by German against German. The Roman +Catholic shook his clinched fist at the Protestant, the liberal at +the conservative, the protectionist at the free-trader, the partisan +of absolute government at the defender of the people's rights. +Everywhere hatred and malice, everywhere a mad desire to gag, to +maltreat, to tear limb from limb; this unfettering of the basest +human passions giving meanwhile such an impetus to bribery, +corruption, and unprincipled advancement for party purposes as to +resemble the loathsome luxuriant growth of mildew in the damp +corners of some neglected storeroom. + +The high tide of the foreign millions had ebbed away, showing itself +to have been no fructifying Nile but a destructive lava stream, +leaving the country charred and desolate after its passage. The gold +that only yesterday had poured through greedy fingers, had turned +to-day to ashes and withered leaves like the goblin gold of a fairy +tales. Diminished inclination for work, an insanely increased demand +for the luxuries of life, the accepted ideas of morality shaken to +their foundations by scandalous examples of triumphant vice and +villainy--these were the blessings that remained after the so-called +impetus following on the "Downfall." Work was scarcer, wages lower, +but the flood of country people seeking work continued to roll +toward the capital, overcoming with irresistible force the backward +wave of unfortunates who could find no employment in the building +yards, the factories or the workshops, trampling blindly over the +bodies of the fallen, like a herd of buffaloes which marches ever +straight ahead, which nothing can turn out of its course, and when +it arrives at a precipice over which the leaders fall, presses +onward till the last one is swallowed up in the depths. The misery +and privation became heartrending to witness. Each morning you might +see in the working quarters of the town and suburbs hundreds of +strong men, their hands--perforce idle--buried in their torn and +empty pockets, going from factory to factory asking for work, while +the overseers would wave them off from afar to avoid a useless +interchange of words. If, in the years of the French milliards, the +workingman had turned socialist out of sheer envy and wantonness, be +became so now under the sting of adversity, and in all the length +and breadth of Berlin there was hardly one of the proletariat who +was not a fanatical disciple of the new doctrine, with its slashing +denunciations against all that was, and its intoxicating promises of +all that was to be. Wilhelm had many opportunities of intercourse +with the unemployed. He gave help as far as his fifty marks a day +would reach, and kept the wolf from many a door. But the miraculous +loaves and fishes of the gospel would have been necessary to +successfully alleviate even the distress which he saw with his own +eyes, and although much of the preaching of the social democrats +still seemed to him mere phrase-making and altogether mistaken, he +yet came gradually to the conclusion that somewhere--he did not +precisely know where--in the construction of the social machine +there must be a flaw, seeing that there were so many people who +could and would work, and yet were doomed to despair and ruin for +lack of employment. The spring of 1878 came round, and brought with +it two attempts on the life of the emperor within three weeks. +Scarcely had the people recovered from the horror caused by Hodel's +crime when it was shaken to its depths by Nobiling's murderous shot. + +On that terrible Sunday, June the 2d, Wilhelm had dined with +Schrotter, and about three o'clock they started for a walk. In the +few steps that separate the Mittelstrasse from the Linden they saw +what was going on in the town. In Unter den Linden, however, they +were received by the yells of the newspaper men calling out the +first special editions, and found themselves in the stream of people +pouring toward the Palace or to No. 18, where they pointed out the +window on the second floor from which the too-well-aimed shot had +fallen. + +From the special editions, from the confused remarks and +exclamations of the crowd in which the two friends found themselves, +and the information they obtained from the grim-looking policemen, +rougher and less communicative than ever, they learned all that was +necessary of the bloody deed which had taken place an hour ago. +Wilhelm could scarcely control his horror, and even Schrotter, +though calmer, was deeply moved and downcast. All pleasure in their +walk was gone, and they decided to return to Schrotter's house. + +"It is simply hideous," said Wilhelm, as they turned into the +Friedrichstrasse, "that we have such brutes living among us! We +know, of course, that there is a great deal of distress, but a man +who can revenge his own trouble on the person of the emperor must be +lower than the beasts of the field. And men who at this time of day +have such ideas on State organization are electors!" + +"Good heavens!" cried Schrotter, with unconscious vehemence, "you +are surely not going to make the popular mistake of drawing sweeping +conclusions from these outrages? Such occurrences have no outside +importance. They are the acts of madmen. Their following so closely +upon one another is the very surest proof of that. There are in +Germany thousands--perhaps tens of thousands--of unhappy creatures +whose minds are more or less unhinged, though their inexperienced +surroundings do not know it. Some exceptional event will suddenly +put the entire population in a state of ferment, the imagination of +the already morbidly inclined will be particularly strongly affected +thereby; they picture the occurrence to themselves till it takes +hold of them, and drives out every other thought from their minds, +becomes a nightmare, a possession, and finally an irresistible +impulse to do the same. After every event of the kind, you hear that +a whole number of people have gone mad, and that their insanity is +somehow connected with it. No such thing. They were mad before, and +the insanity which had lain dormant in them only waited for a chance +shock to give it definite form and character." + +They had reached Schrotter's door by this time, and were on the +point of entering, when a policeman stepped up to them, and touching +Wilhelm's arm, said: + +"Gentlemen, you will have to come with me." + +"Why, what do you mean?" they exclaimed, very much taken aback. + +"Better make no fuss, but come quietly with me," answered the +policeman, "This gentleman accuses you of making insulting remarks +against his majesty." + +Only now did they become aware of a man standing behind the +policeman and glaring at them in fury. + +"Are you mad?" Schrotter burst out angrily. "That is for the +magistrate to decide," exclaimed the man, in a voice trembling with +rage; "and you, policeman, do your duty." + +Passers-by began to gather round the group, so, to bring a +disagreeable scene to a close, Schrotter said to Wilhelm: + +"We had better go with the policeman; I suppose we shall be +enlightened presently." + +A short walk brought them to the police office in the Neue Wilhelms +Strasse, where they were taken before the lieutenant of police. The +policeman deposed in a few words that he had been standing at the +corner of the Friedrich and Mittelstrasse, the two gentlemen passed +him in loud conversation; the third gentleman, who was following +them, then came up to him, and told him to arrest them because they +had spoken insultingly of his majesty, and here they were. He had +neither seen nor heard anything further. + +The lieutenant of police began by asking their names. When they told +him--"Dr. Schrotter, M. D. one of the members for Berlin and +Professor Emeritus," and "Dr. Eynhardt, Doctor of Philosophy, +householder," he offered them chairs. The informer introduced +himself as "non-commissioned officer Patke, retired, member of a +military association, and candidate for the private constabulary." + +"What have you to bring forward against the gentlemen?" + +"I walked behind the two gentlemen from the Linden to the +Mittelstrasse. They were conversing loudly about the attempted +assassination, and I naturally listened." + +"It does not appear to me so very natural," commented the lieutenant +dryly. + +The informer was a trifle disconcerted, but he soon recovered +himself, and proceeded in a declamatory manner: + +"The younger gentleman--the dark one--expressed himself in very +unbecoming terms with regard to his majesty the emperor, and said +among other things, that the outrage was of no real importance. I am +a patriot, I have served his august majesty; if his majesty--" + +"That will do," the lieutenant broke in, ruthlessly interrupting the +retired non-commissioned officer's flow of language, which he +accompanied with a dramatic waving of the right arm. "Can you repeat +the 'unbecoming terms' of which, according to your account, this +gentleman made use?" + +"I cannot remember the exact words. I was too excited. So much, +however, I remember distinctly--he declared the attempt upon his +majesty's life to be an occurrence of no importance." + +Wilhelm now broke in. + +"Not a word of that is true," he said quietly. "Neither of us said +one word which could justify this inconceivable charge." + +"The remark which this informer seems to have taken hold of," +Schrotter observed, "was not made by my friend, Dr. Eynhardt, but by +me. I did not say either that the occurrence was unimportant, but +that it had no general significance--that it was not a proof of the +prevailing feeling at large." + +"It comes to the same thing whether you say it has no importance or +no significance," interrupted the informer. "That gentleman may have +made the remark, but I certainly heard it, and as a loyal servant of +his majesty--" + +"That is quite enough," said the lieutenant of police +authoritatively. Then turning to the two friends--"I am very sorry, +but as things stand at present, I must let the law take its course. +Do you persist in your charge?" he asked the informer. + +"Yes, Herr Lieutenant; my duty to my sovereign--" + +"Silence. Gentlemen, I shall be obliged to notify the matter to the +proper authorities. I expect you will be called upon to clear +yourselves before the magistrate, which I have no doubt you will be +able to do successfully. I need not detain you any longer." + +Wilhelm and Schrotter bowed courteously and withdrew, without +vouchsafing a glance at the informer. The latter lingered, as if he +would have liked to continue the conversation with the lieutenant of +police, but an emphatic "You may go!" sent him rapidly over the +threshold of the office. + +Five days afterward, on a Friday, Schrotter and Wilhelm were +summoned to appear in the Stadtvogtei [Footnote: A certain prison in +Berlin.] before the magistrate, a disagreeable person with a bilious +complexion, venomous eyes behind his spectacles, and the unpleasing +habit of continually scooping out his ear with the little finger of +his left hand. The two friends, the informer, and the policeman were +present. The magistrate could not have received them differently if +they had been accused of robbing and murdering their parents. To be +sure, he behaved no better to the informer. His expression of +unmitigated disgust was perhaps a freak of nature, and no indication +of the true state of his feelings. + +He had a bundle of papers before him, in which he searched for some +time before opening his mouth. + +"You are accused of having made use of offensive expressions +regarding his majesty," he said to Schrotter. + +"On a preposterously unfounded charge," he retorted. + +"And you too," he turned to Wilhelm. + +"I can only repeat Dr. Schrotter's answer." + +"Give your evidence," he ordered the policeman. + +The man did so. + +"Could you understand what the gentleman said?" + +"No." + +"How far was Patke behind them?" + +"A few steps." + +"You must be more exact." + +"I can't say more exactly than that, for I paid no attention to the +gentlemen till I was told to arrest them." + +"Is it your opinion that Herr Patke could have heard distinctly what +the gentlemen were saying to one another?" + +"I dare say he might have understood if they spoke very loud, but I +can't say for certain." + +"Herr Patke, what have you to say?" + +The former non-commissioned officer, who had donned his 1870 medal +for the occasion, hereupon assumed a strictly military bearing, +fixed his eye firmly on the magistrate, and began in a sing-song +voice: + +"I happened to be in the street last Sunday when the infamous wretch +lifted his murderous hand against the sacred person of our august +monarch. My heart bled; I was beside myself; I could have torn +everybody and everything to pieces. As I walked along I noticed +these two gentlemen, who looked to me suspicious from the first--" + +"Why?" asked the magistrate. + +"Well--the one with his black hair, and the other with his hooked +nose--I said to myself, 'Those are Jews!'" + +The magistrate suddenly bent over his papers, and gave a kind of +grunt. Even the policeman, in spite of his wooden official air, +could not repress a smile. Patke continued: + +"Then I heard the younger gentleman say, 'It serves his majesty the +emperor quite right.'" + +"Did he actually say, his majesty the emperor?" interrupted the +magistrate. + +"No," answered Patke eagerly, "I say that." + +"You are only to repeat the gentleman's actual words." + +"He actually did say that it served the emperor right." + +"This is beyond a joke," Schrotter burst out. "Why, man, I wonder +the lie does not stick in your throat and choke you!" + +"I must beg you not to address the witness," said the magistrate +brusquely. Then to Patke severely--"That is not what you said in +your first charge." + +"I was confused then; I did not recollect distinctly. But later on +it came back to me." + +"That is very improbable. What have you to answer, Dr. Eynhardt?" + +"Simply, that the man's statement is absolutely untrue. I never +uttered or thought words bearing the remotest resemblance to those +he quotes." + +"What my friend does not say is," broke in Schrotter, "that, on the +contrary, he expressed the deepest and most painful emotion at the +crime." + +The magistrate shot a venomous glance from under his spectacles at +Schrotter, but quailed before those flaming half-closed blue eyes +fixed so sternly upon him. + +"Well, and what have you to bring forward against the other +gentleman?" + +"That gentleman said the outrage was of no great importance." + +"In your first account you said the outrage had no real +significance, and that Dr. Eynhardt made the remark." + +"Whether he said 'no importance' or 'no significance,' it is all the +same thing, and one cannot so easily distinguish the speaker when +one is walking behind. I may have been mistaken on that point." + +"You do not repudiate the remark?" asked the magistrate of Schrotter +in his most biting tones. + +"Your expression is not very happily chosen. By repudiating I +understand the declaring of a fact to be false when we know it to be +true. I am not in the habit of doing that, nor should I suppose it +of you, Herr Staatsanwalt." + +"I need no instruction from you," the other returned angrily. + +"It would seem so, however" Schrotter calmly rejoined. + +The magistrate grunted several times and then asked, after a pause, +during which he was particularly busy with his ear: + +"You admit the statement, then?" + +"Not altogether. It is true that I said the attempt on the emperor's +life had no general significance, but I meant by that and the rest +of what I said, that if the political parties should make this +isolated crime (committed by an undoubtedly insane person) the +excuse for adopting measures inimical to the liberty of the public +in general, they would be doing something both unjustifiable and +reprehensible." + +"Can he have said that?" asked the magistrate, turning to Patke. + +"I don't know. I only know what I said just now." + +Renewed grunting, renewed digging in the ear and turning over of +papers. "Hm--hm," he muttered to himself testily, "that is not +enough. It is too indefinite, in spite of strong grounds for +suspicion." Then he looked up, and in a tone which was meant to +convey as much scorn as possible, he asked Schrotter--"You played a +part in the political events of 1848?" + +"Yes, and the recollection of it is the pride of my life." + +"I did not ask you about that. And you are at present the chairman +of a district society of progressive opinions?" + +"I have that honor." + +"There is nothing further against you. And you, Dr. Eynhardt, you +refused the Iron Cross in the late campaign?" + +"Yes." + +"You were discharged from the army without comment?" + +"Yes." + +"For declining a duel," observed Schrotter. + +"Dr. Eynhardt is of age, and can answer for himself. You have +attended Socialist meetings?" + +"Only once." + +"And made speeches?" + +"One speech?" + +"And that was directed against Socialism," said Schrotter again. + +The magistrate grew lobster-red in the face. + +"It is really scandalous," he cried, quivering with rage, "that I am +repeatedly obliged to remind a man of your position that he is only +to answer when spoken to. Why didn't you say yourself, Dr. Eynhardt, +that you had spoken against the Socialists?" + +"Because you did not ask me," answered Wilhelm, with a gentle smile. + +After a slight pause the magistrate resumed--"You are on friendly +terms with a Russian named Dr. Barinskoi?" + +"You can hardly call it that. I did know him, though not exactly in +a friendly way, but for two years I have quite lost sight of him." + +"Did you know that Dr. Barinskoi was a Nihilist?" + +"Yes." + +"And you did not let that make any difference to you?" + +"I was not afraid of infection," said Wilhelm, and smiled again. + +"Perhaps not, but of being compromised," growled the magistrate. + +"That idea has not troubled me as yet." + +"You inherited from a friend who committed suicide a large fortune, +which you use chiefly for the benefit of Socialist workmen?" + +"I use it for the benefit of the poor, and those I certainly find +more frequently among the Socialist workmen than among factory +owners and householders." + +"I'll thank you to remember that this is not the place for making +bad jokes!" roared the magistrate. + +"You are quite right," Wilhelm answered serenely. "I know nothing +more unpleasant than bad jokes." + +Schrotter looked as if he were going to embrace his friend. He had +never seen him from this side. + +"Did it never occur to you to put yourself in communication with the +clergymen of your district, these gentlemen having far greater +facilities for finding out deserving objects of charity than a +private person?" + +"I will answer that question when you have had the goodness to +explain to me what connection it has with this man's denunciation." + +The magistrate glared at him in a manner calculated to wither him on +the spot, but only met a quiet, smiling face which he was incapable +of intimidating. + +"May I request you now," said Schrotter in his turn, "to ask the +witness Patke if for the last few weeks he has not been a candidate +for a post as detective on the political police staff?" Schrotter +too had made a variety of inquiries since last Sunday, and had +learned this fact. + +"That is so," stammered Patke, turning very red. "In these terrible +times, when the Socialists and the enemies of the country--" + +"Silence, Herr Patke," interrupted the magistrate angrily; "that has +nothing to do with the business on hand." He reflected for awhile, +and then said with the most deeply grudging manner--"The statement +of the one witness--seeing too that it is indefinite in some +important points--is not sufficient to warrant me in passing a +sentence, in spite of many good grounds for suspicion afforded by +your past history and known opinions. I will therefore dismiss the +charge, if only to avoid the public scandal of a Member being +accused of lese majeste." + +Schrotter was boiling with rage, and had the greatest difficulty in +restraining his naturally passionate temper. "Many thanks for your +kindness," he said in a choking voice, "and for this scoundrel you +have no reprimand?" + +"Sir," screamed the magistrate, springing out of his chair with +fury, "leave this room instantly; and you, Herr Patke, if you wish +to bring an action for libel against the gentleman you may call upon +me as a witness." + +Patke was too modest to avail himself of this friendly offer. +Wilhelm dragged Schrotter out of the office as fast as he could, and +even outside they still heard the magistrate's grunts of wrath. + +Dark days followed, in which Schrotter seemed to live over again the +worst horns of the "wild year." A moral pestilence--the craze for +denunciation--spread itself over the whole of Germany, sparing +neither the palace nor the hut. No one was safe, either in the bosom +of the family, at the club table, in the lecture room, or in the +street, from the low spy who, from fanaticism or stupidity, from +personal spite or desire to make himself conspicuous, took hold of +some hasty or imprudent word, turned it round, mangled it, and +brought it redhot to the magistrates, who seldom had the courage to +kick the informer downstairs. Such unspeakable depths of human +baseness came to light, so full of corruption and pestilence, that +the eye turned in horror from the incredible spectacle. The +newspapers brought daily reports of denunciations for "lese +majeste," and when Schrotter read them he clasped his hands in +horrified dismay and exclaimed, "Are we in Germany? are these my +fellow-countrymen?" He became at last so disgusted that he gave up +reading the German papers, and derived his knowledge of what was +going on in the world from the two London papers which, from the +habit of a quarter of a century, he still took in. He wished to hear +no more about denunciations by which, with the aid of police and +magistrates, every kind of cowardice and vileness, social envy and +religious hatred, rivalry, spite, and inborn malevolence, sought a +riskless gratification, and usually found it in full measure. But it +took away all pleasure in social intercourse. One learned to be +cautious and suspicious. One grew accustomed to see an enemy in +every stranger, and to be upon one's guard before a neighbor as +before some lurking traitor. Hypocrisy became an instinct of self- +preservation; every one carefully avoided speaking of those things +of which the heart was full, and Berlin afforded an insight into the +mental condition of the people of Spain during the most flourishing +period of the Inquisition, or of Venice in the days when anonymous +denunciations poured into the yawning jaws of the Lions of St. +Mark's square. + +The Reichstag was dissolved, the people of Germany must choose new +representatives, and the chief, if not the sole question to be +decided by the election was, Are the Socialists to be dealt with +under a special act, or to come under the common law? Schrotter now +felt it justifiable, nay, that it was his duty, to throw off the +reserve he had maintained since his return to the Fatherland, and +come forward as a candidate for the Reichstag, though for a suburban +district, as the city district to whose poor he had been an untiring +benefactor as physician and friend, with help, counsel, and money, +was not available. + +At a meeting of his constituents he laid down his confession of +faith. A special act, he explained, was in no way justified, would +indeed be ineffectual, and lead away from the object they had in +view. The government would be guilty of libel if it made the +Socialists answerable for a crime committed by two half or wholly +insane persons; it was the duty of the government to prove that +these attacks were the work of the Socialists: that proof, however, +it had been unable to discover. Moreover, no special act in the +world could hinder people of unsound mind from committing insane +deeds--the crimes of a Hodel or a Nobiling could not be predicted, +but neither could they be prevented by any kind of precautionary +measure. The sole result of a special act would be to make the +Socialists practically outlaws in their own country. That would +constitute not only a terrible severity against a large class of +their fellow-citizens, but a frightful danger to the State. In +hundreds and thousands of hearts it would destroy the sense of +fellowship with the community in which they lived; they would look +upon themselves as outcasts, and become the enemies of their +pursuers. It would be exactly as if some thousands of Frenchmen were +set down in the midst of the German population--in the army, in the +cities, the factories, the arsenals and railways, where they would +only wait for a favorable opportunity to revenge themselves on their +conquerors. That would be the inevitable result if the Socialists +were deprived of the security of the common law. He considered the +Socialist doctrines false and mischievous, and their aims senseless +and--fortunately--unattainable, and for that very reason he did not +fear them. But deprive the Socialists of the possibility of +expressing themselves freely in word and print, and their +grievances, which now found vent in harmless speechifying, would +assume the form of practical violence. + +His speech made an impression, but that of a rival candidate a still +greater, for he succeeded in rousing the deepest and most powerful +emotions of his hearers, by the plain statement that whoever refused +the government the right of adopting such measures as it thought +necessary for the safety of the public, simply delivered the life of +their aged and beloved sovereign into the hands of assassins. At the +election, Schrotter had on his side only a small number of +independent-minded voters, who were able to remain unmoved by +sentimental arguments. The workingmen would not vote for him, +knowing him to be an opponent of Socialism. The rival candidate was +returned by a large majority. + +The Reichstag assembled, the Socialist Act was passed, Berlin +declared to be in a state of semi-siege, and a great number of +workmen dismissed from the city. It was November, and winter had set +in with unusual severity. On a dark and bitterly cold afternoon, old +Stubbe, who had been agent in the Eynhardts' house for twenty years, +entered Wilhelm's room. + +"What is the news, Father Stubbe?" cried Wilhelm, as he came in. + +"No good news, Herr Doctor. Wander the locksmith--you know the man +who rents the second floor of the house in our court--has been +turned out by the police. It seems he's a very dangerous customer; I +must say I have never noticed it. He was always very decent; the +children were a bother, certainly--always running about the court +and getting between your feet. Well, we all have our faults; and +then, too, he didn't pay his rent in October." + +Wilhelm, who was well acquainted with Father Stubbe's flow of +language, and did not greatly admire it, interrupted him at this +point. + +"Well, and what is the matter?" + +"What's the matter, Herr Doctor? Why, the wife is there now with the +five children, and there's no earning anything, and yesterday she +took away a cupboard to turn it into money somewhere--not that she +can have got much for it, it was all tumbling to pieces. The rest of +the furniture will take legs to itself soon, I dare say, for six +mouths must be fed, and where is food to come from? There will be no +removal expenses anyhow, for there will soon be nothing but the bare +walls. There's no question of paying the rent, and never will be, as +far as I can see; so I thought I had better ask what was to be done +with the poor things." + +"What can we do?" + +"We could seize the bits of sticks they still have, though that +would not cover the rent that is owing. The best thing, perhaps, +would be to tell Frau Wander just to take her things and clear out; +then at least we could relet the rooms." + +"Frau Wander does not work?" + +"How can she?--five children, and the youngest still at the breast." + +"I will see to it myself, and let you know what is to be done." + +"Very good, Herr Doctor," said Stubbe, much relieved. He had a kind +heart and it was only his strict sense of duty that led him to +mention the case of the Wanders, and particularly the unpermissible +selling of the furniture, to the owner of the house. + +Stubbe had barely reached home before Wilhelm appeared in the +Kochstrasse. His house lay between the Charlotten and +Markgrafenstrasse, and was an old and unpretentious structure, +looking, among the stately houses of a later period which surrounded +it on all sides, like a poor relation at a rich and distinguished +family gathering. During the "milliard years," building speculators +had offered him considerable sums for the ground, but he was not to +be prevailed upon to sell the house left him by his father. It was +only seven windows wide, and had consisted originally of one story +only, but a low second story had been added, recognizable instantly +as a piece of patchwork. A great key hanging over the entrance +announced the fact that there was a locksmith's workshop inside. The +courtyard was very low and narrow, and roughly paved with +cobblestones, between which the grass sprouted luxuriantly. At the +further end of this court stood the "Hinterhaus," likewise two- +storied, on the ground floor of which the locksmith carried on his +resounding trade. + +Accompanied by Stubbe, Wilhelm mounted the worn wooden staircase +leading to the second floor. The flat consisted of a kitchen and a +room with one window. Even when the sun was most lavish of his rays, +it was none too light there; now, in the early-falling dusk of a +dull late autumn day, Wilhelm found himself in a dim half-light as +he opened the door. There was no fire in the stove, no lamp upon the +table. In the cold and darkness he could just distinguish among the +sparse furniture a slim, wretched-looking woman sitting on a chair +by the table, nursing a baby wrapped in an old blanket; a tall, +large-boned man in workman's clothes, with a bushy beard and gloomy +eyes, leaning against the wall beside the window, and some fair- +haired children, unnaturally silent and motionless for their age, +crouching side by side on the bed, only swinging their legs a little +from time to time. + +At Wilhelm's entrance with a friendly "Good-evening," the woman rose +from her seat and gazed at the intruder with hostile eyes, the +children ceased swinging their legs, and the workman shrank away +from the window into the deeper shadow of the corner. + +"The landlord," Stubbe announced solemnly. + +Frau Wander threw up her head. "Now then, what do you want now?" she +said hurriedly, her bitter tone beginning on the ordinary pitch, but +rising rapidly to a shrewish scream. "It's the rent, I suppose; and +I suppose we're to have notice to quit? It's all one to me. I've got +no money and so I tell you; but what's here you can keep, and you +can have the skin off my back too, and I'll throw in the children +beside. They can drag a milk-cart as well as dogs. Why don't you cut +my throat at once and have done with it?" + +"But, my good woman," cried Stubbe, horror-stricken, "what are you +thinking of? The Herr Doctor only means well by you." + +Wilhelm had come quite close to the poor thing, who had worked +herself up into such a state of excitement that she was trembling +from head to foot, and said in that gentle voice of his that always +found its way to the heart: + +"You are worrying yourself unnecessarily, Frau Wander. I have not +come about the rent, and nobody is going to turn you out of your +home. Herr Stubbe here has been telling me about your troubles, and +I came to see if we could not give you a little assistance." + +She stared at him speechless, with wide-open eyes. The children on +the bed began to whisper to one another. Wilhelm took advantage of +the pause to say a few words in Father Stubbe's ear, whereupon the +old man vanished. + +"Why don't you offer the gentleman a chair?" said the workman, +coming out of his dark corner. + +The woman slowly drew forward a chair, round the torn seat of which +the straw stood up raggedly on all sides. Wilhelm thanked her with a +wave of the hand. + +"Do not be afraid of me, dear Frau Wander," he went on. "Tell me +something of your circumstances." + +"What was there to tell?" answered the woman, still somewhat +ruffled. He could see for himself how things stood with her. Her +husband had been turned out of Berlin; but much the police cared if +she and her five children starved or froze to death. It would have +come to that already if some of her husband's fellow-workmen had not +given them a little help in their distress, like her present +visitor, the iron-worker, Groll. But what could they do? They had +not anything themselves, and the police were always after them like +the devil after a poor soul. What did they want of them after all? +Her husband had held with the Socialists certainly, but he had done +nobody any harm by that. Ever since Wander had gone over to the +Socialists he had left off drinking--not a drop--only coffee, and +sometimes a little beer; and he was always good to his wife and +children, and he had no debts as long as he had been able to earn +anything. The locksmith downstairs had discharged him after the +second attack on the emperor, although he was a clever workman; but +the master was afraid of the police, and none of the others would +risk taking him on. That was bad enough, but it was not so hard to +bear in the summer, and the Socialists held faithfully together, and +now and then there was a penny to be earned. But now--now that he +had to go away, and winter was at the door-- + +She could keep up no longer, and burst into tears. + +Wilhelm seated himself cautiously on the broken chair, and asked, +"Where is your husband now? and what does he think of doing?" + +"He is trying to get through to the Rhine, and get work at Dortmund, +or somewhere in that neighborhood," she answered, while the tight +sobs caught her breath, and she wiped away the tears with the back +of her hand. "If he can't get any work he will go to France, or +Belgium, or even America, if he must. But that takes a lot of money, +and where is one to get it without stealing? We are to come to him +when he has found work, and can send us the money for the journey. +Till then--" + +With the free arm that was not holding the child she made a hopeless +gesture. + +At that moment the door opened and Father Stubbe came in, carrying +in one hand a lighted candle, and in the other a great, fresh- +smelling loaf of bread. He placed both upon the bare table, and then +discreetly withdrew. + +"Bread! bread!" cried the children, awakened to sudden life, and +jumping off the bed they gathered round the table with greedy eyes, +clapping their hands. There were four of them--the youngest a mite +of two or three, who only babbled with the others; the eldest, a +pale little girl of seven or eight years. + +"Children! Just let me catch you!" scolded the mother; but her voice +shook with nervous excitement. + +"Please, Frau Wander, won't you cut the children some bread first? +We can talk afterward." + +In a twinkling the eldest girl had fetched a knife from the kitchen, +the children continuing to clap their hands delightedly, and Frau +Wander cut them large slices, and while she was so engaged, "We have +never had anything given us, Herr Doctor," she said; "we have always +earned our living with honest work. It is hard to have to come to +this; but what can you do when the police put a rope round your +neck?" + +"You must not worry any longer, dear Frau Wander," said Wilhelm, +"but you must not speak like that of the police. You do yourself no +good by it, and perhaps a great deal of harm. We will do what we can +for you. Never mind about the rent. You will stay on quietly here, +and allow me to assist you with this trifle." He pressed two twenty- +mark pieces into the half-reluctant hand so unused to accepting +alms. "And Herr Stubbe will give you the same sum every month till +you are able to join your husband." + +He held out his hand, which she grasped in silence, incapable of +finding suitable words to thank him, and he hurried to the door. The +mechanic hastily snatched up the candle from the table, ran after +him and lighted him downstairs, murmuring with real emotion: + +"Thank you a thousand times, Herr Doctor, and may God bless you!" + +And all the way downstairs Wilhelm was followed by the children's +jubilant song of "Bread! bread!" + +One morning a few days later--it was December the 2d--as Wilhelm was +sitting at his writing-table engaged in making notes from a thick +English book of travels on the Australian savage's ideas on nature, +he heard a sound of quarreling going on in the hall. He could +distinguish Frau Muller's irate tones, and then a man's voice +mentioning his name. He gave no further heed to the dispute, +thinking it was doubtless some importune person in whom worthy Frau +Muller had detected the professional beggar, and was therefore +driving away. But it did not leave off, and grew louder and louder, +Frau Muller's voice rising at last to an exasperated scream--there +even seemed to be something like a hand-to-hand fight going on--till +Wilhelm thought it behooved him to see what was happening, and, if +need be, come to the rescue of his faithful house-dragon. He opened +the door quickly and received Frau Muller in his arms. If he had not +caught her, she would have fallen backward into the room, for she +had leaned--a living bulwark--against the door, defending the +entrance with her body against two men, one of whom was trying to +push her away, while the other, standing further back, was +restraining his companion from grasping Frau Muller all too roughly. +In the daring man who did not shrink from laying sacrilegious hands +upon the furious and snorting landlady, Wilhelm instantly recognized +the mechanic whom he had seen at Frau Wander's. At sight of him the +man raised his hat politely, and before the gasping Frau Muller, who +was simply choking with excitement, could find her tongue, he said: + +"Beg pardon, I am sure, Herr Doctor, for disturbing you; but we +really must speak to you. I knew from Herr Stubbe that you are +always at home at this hour, so I would not let the lady send us +away." + +"The lady indeed!" Frau Muller managed at last to exclaim. "Now he +talks about ladies, and a minute ago he had the impudence--" + +"You must excuse us, madam," said the workman with the utmost +civility; "we meant no harm, and we simply must speak to the Herr +Doctor." + +"Come in," said Wilhelm curtly, and not overwarmly, while he pressed +the still angrily glaring Frau Muller's hand gratefully. + +The second visitor now mentioned his name--it was that of one of the +most prominent leaders of the Social Democrats in Germany. Wilhelm +signed to the two men to be seated, and asked what he could do for +them. + +"I heard through the mechanic Groll here," answered the stranger, +pointing to the other man, "what you did for Frau Wander. That +encouraged us to come to you with a request." + +At a sign from Wilhelm he continued: + +"You have seen one of our cases for yourself, and that not by any +means the worst. We have dozens of such cases, and there will +probably be hundreds more. Our union does what it can. Every member +gives up part of his week's wages for the unfortunate victims, and +thereby we perhaps save the government from the crime of having +condemned innocent women and children to death by starvation. But +our people are poor, and have to fight against want themselves. We +cannot expect any great sacrifice from them. What we want is a +considerable lump sum to enable us to send on the families of the +exiled workmen to join their respective bread-winners. So we go +round knocking at the doors of our wealthy associates, who, though +in consideration of the times they do not care to declare themselves +openly for us, nevertheless have a feeling heart for the +workingman's distress." + +All the time he was speaking he looked Wilhelm straight in the eyes. +Wilhelm bore his gaze quietly, and answered: + +"If you think I share your opinions you are much mistaken. I +consider that you are pursuing a false course, that you make +assertions to the workingman which you cannot prove, and promise him +things you cannot fulfill, and I frankly confess that I do not envy +you the responsibility you have taken upon your own shoulders." + +The leader stroked his short beard with a nervous movement, and the +mechanic twisted his hat awkwardly between his hands. Wilhelm went +on after a short pause: + +"But that does not prevent me from sympathizing with the distress of +women and children, and I shall be very glad to do what I can if you +will give me a detailed account of the state of affairs." + +In a few plain words the visitor gave a sketch of the circumstances, +all the more heartbreaking for its very unpretentiousness. So many +men dismissed, so many wives, so many children, so many parents and +near relatives unable to support themselves. Of these so many were +sick, so many women lately confined, so many cripples. So many had +prospects of better circumstances if they could get away from +Berlin. For that purpose such and such a sum was necessary. So much +was already in hand. He stated the amount of certain large +donations, and added--"I will not mention the names of the +subscribers, as it might happen that it would be to your advantage +not to know them." + +Wilhelm had listened in silence. He now opened a drawer of his +writing-table, took out a yellow envelope in which Schrotter was in +the habit of giving him, on the first of every month, fifteen +hundred marks out of the Dorfling bequest, and handed the sum which +he had received the day before, and was still unbroken, to the +workingmen's leader. The man turned over the three five-hundred-mark +notes, and then looked up startled. Wilhelm only nodded his head +slightly. + +The leader rose. "It would be inadvisable to give you a receipt. You +have no doubt, I think, that your noble gift will be used for its +proper object. Thank you a thousand times, and if you should ever +stand in need of faithful and determined men, then think of us." + +A week later, to the very day, early in the morning a police officer +brought Wilhelm an official document summoning him to appear that +afternoon before the head police authorities in the Stadtvogtei. He +presented himself at the appointed hour in the office, and handed +the document to an official, who, after glancing at it, asked: + +"You are Dr. Wilhelm Eynhardt? + +"Yes." + +He took up a paper lying ready at hand, and said dryly: "I have to +inform you that, in accordance with the Socialist Act, you are +ordered out of Berlin and its purlieus, and must be out of the city +by to-morrow at midnight at the latest." + +"Ordered out of Berlin!" cried Wilhelm, utterly taken, aback. "And +may I ask what I have done?" + +"You must know that better than I," answered the official sternly. +"However, I have no further information to give you, and can only +advise you to address yourself to the Committee of Police, in case +you require a day or two more to regulate your affairs." + +At the same time he handed him the paper, which proved to be the +written order of banishment, and dismissed him with a slight bend of +the head. + +Wilhelm went without a word. Naturally he turned his steps almost +unconsciously to Schrotter, to whom he held out the police paper in +silence. Schrotter read it, and struck his hands together. + +"Is it possible?" he murmured. "Is it possible?" He paced the room +with long strides, then suddenly stood still before his friend, and +laying his hands on Wilhelm's shoulder, he said in tones of profound +emotion: "I never thought I should live to see such things in my own +country. I am nearly sixty, and it is late in the day for me to +begin a new life. But really I find it difficult to breathe this air +any longer. Where shall you go?" + +"I do not know yet myself. I must collect my thoughts a little +first." + +"Whatever you decide upon, I have a very good mind to go with you. +There is nothing left for me to do in my old age but emigrate +again." + +"You will not do that!" answered Wilhelm hurriedly. "Men like you +are more badly needed here than ever. You must stay. I implore you +to do so. Remember how you reproached yourself for twenty years, +because you were not there when the people were struggling against +the Manteuffel reaction. And then--your patients, your poor, the +hundreds who have need of you." + +Schrotter did not answer, and seated himself on the divan. His +massive face was gloomy as midnight, and the fiery blue eyes almost +closed. After awhile he growled: "But why--why?" + +"Oh, I suppose because of the fifteen hundred marks for the families +of the dismissed workmen." + +"Of course!" cried Schrotter, clapping his hand to his forehead. + +"Dorfling's gold does not come from the Rhine for nothing," Wilhelm +smiled sadly. "Like the Nibleungen treasure, it is doomed to bring +disaster on all who possess it." + +As Schrotter did not answer, Wilhelm resumed: "And as we are on the +subject, we may as well settle that matter at once. Of course you +will use the whole income now for your poor?" + +"Not at all!" cried Schrotter. "Why should things not remain as they +are? Wherever you may take up your abode, the poor you have always +with you." + +Wilhelm shook his head. "I may possibly go abroad, and you see, Herr +Doctor, I am prejudiced in favor of my own country. I think we shall +carry our Dorfling's intentions best by using his money for the +relief of German necessity." + +Schrotter made no further objection. That Wilhelm would not, under +any circumstances, use a penny of the money for himself he knew +perfectly well, and in the end it was all the same whether the poor +received it from his hand or Wilhelm's. He merely wrote down some +addresses which Wilhelm gave him of people to whom he gave regular +assistance, and whom he recommended to Schrotter to that end. + +When toward evening Wilhelm returned home, and, as was inevitable, +told Frau Muller the news, she nearly fainted, and had to sit down. +She was struck dumb for some time, and then only found strength to +utter low groans. Her lodger turned out of Berlin like a vagrant. A +householder too! Such a respectable, fine young gentleman, whom she +had watched over like the apple of her eye for seven years-- +dreadful--dreadful. But it was all the fault of the low wretches who +had forced their way in last week. She had thought as much at the +time. If she had only called in the police at once! The police--oh +yes, she had all due respect for the police, she was the widow of a +government official, and she loved her good old king certainly--but +that they should have banished the Herr Doctor--that was not right-- +that could not possibly be right! Frau Muller could not reconcile +herself to the thought of parting. She would go to her friend and +patron the "Geheimer Oberpostrath," and he would use his influence +in the matter; and at last, seeing that Wilhem only smiled or spoke +a few soothing words to her, she burst into tears and sobbed out: "I +am so used to you, Herr Doctor, I don't know how I am going to live +without you." She only composed herself a little when Wilhelm told +her that, for the present at any rate, he was going to leave his +books and other goods and chattels where they were, for he might +perhaps be allowed to return after a time, and meanwhile a young +man, whom she knew, and who was studying at Wilhelm's at Schrotter's +expense, should board and lodge with her, and she would receive the +same sum as Wilhelm had always paid. + +With night came counsel. Wilhelm decided to go first to Hamburg, +where Paul lived during the winter, wait there till the spring, and +then arrange further plans. He visited the grave of his father and +mother, gave Stubbe orders as to the management of the house, took +leave of a few friends, visited one or two poor people whom he was +in the habit of looking after, and then had nothing further to keep +him in Berlin. The rest of the day he passed with Schrotter, who +found the parting very hard to bear. Bhani, whom they had acquainted +with the matter, had tears in her beautiful dark eyes--the last +remnant of youth in the withered face. And as he left the dear +familiar house in the Mittelstrasse she begged him--translating the +Indian words plainly enough by looks and gestures--to accept an +amulet of cold green jade as a remembrance of her. + +That night at eleven o'clock a slow train bore Wilhelm away from +Berlin. + +At the station he caught sight of the face of his old friend Patke, +whom he had come across more than once during that day. The former +non-commissioned officer had apparently reached the goal of his +ambitions and become a private detective. + +Schrotter had stood on the step of the carriage till the very last +moment, holding his friend's hand. Now Wilhelm leaned back in his +corner and closed his eyes, and while the train rattled along over +the snow-covered plain, he asked himself for the first time whether +after all Dorfling had been quite such a fool as most of them +considered him to have been? + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +RESULTS. + + +On alighting next morning at the station in Hamburg, Wilhelm found +himself clasped in a pair of strong arms and pressed to a +magnificent fur coat. Inside this warm garment there beat a still +warmer heart, that of Paul Haber, who had received a letter from +Wilhelm the day before, telling him of his dismissal from Berlin, +and that he was leaving for Hamburg by the last train before +midnight, and whom neither the cold and darkness nor the extreme +earliness of the hour could restrain from meeting his friend at the +station. + +Their greeting was short and affectionate. + +"A hearty welcome to you!" cried Paul. "We will do our best to make +a new home for you here." + +"You see, I thought of you at once when I had to look about me for +some resting-place in the wide world." + +"I should have expected no less of you. Keep your ears stiff, and +don't let the horrid business worry you." + +Wilhelm's bag was handed to an attendant servant, and the two +friends walked off arm in arm toward an elegant brougham lined with +light blue, with a conspicuously handsome long-limbed chestnut and a +stout, bearded coachman, which stood waiting for them. + +Wilhelm mentioned the name of the hotel where he intended to stay, +but Paul cut him short. "Not a bit of it! Home, Hans, and look sharp +about it!" And before Wilhelm could offer any remonstrance, he found +himself pushed into the carriage, Paul at his side. The door banged, +the footman sprang on to the box, and off they went as fast as the +long legs of the chestnut would carry them. + +For the last two years Paul had owned a villa on the Uhlenhorst, in +the Carlstrasse, and there the fast trotter drew up. Wilhelm had +said but little during the drive, and Paul had confined the +expression of his feeling of delight to clapping his friend on the +shoulder from time to time, and pressing his hand. Rather less than +half an hour's drive brought them to their destination. Paul would +not hear of Wilhelm making any alteration in his dress, but drew him +as he was into the smoking room on the ground floor, where Malvine +came to meet him, and received him in her hearty but quiet and +uneffusive manner. She was the picture of health, but had grown +perhaps a little too stout for her age. She wore a morning wrap of +red velvet and gold lace, and looked, in that costly attire, like a +princess or a banker's wife. + +"You must be very cold and tired," she said; "the coffee is ready, +come at once to breakfast--that will put some warmth into you--you +can dress afterward." She hurried before them into the next room, +where they found an amply spread table over which hovered the +fragrant smell of several steaming dishes. It was a lavish breakfast +in the English style; beside tea and coffee there were eggs, soles, +ham, cold turkey, lobster salad, and several excellent wines. A +servant in the livery of a "Jager" waited at table. + +Wilhelm shook his head at the sight of all this splendor. "But, my +dear lady, so much trouble on my behalf!" + +"You are quite mistaken," Paul answered for Malvine, and not without +a smile of satisfied pride; "it is our usual breakfast--we have it +so every day." + +Wilhelm looked at him surprised, and then remarked after a short +pause: "I would never have written to you, if I had dreamed that you +would get up before daybreak, and upset your whole household in +order to fetch me from the station." + +"Why, what nonsense! We are quite used to getting up early. At +Friesenmoor we have to be still earlier." + +"But that is in the summer." + +"So it is, but then our broken rest is not made up to us by the +sight of a friend." + +While they devoured the good things, and Paul, who despised tea and +coffee, sipped his slightly warmed claret, he remarked, between two +mouthfuls, "I was struck all of a heap by your letter. You turned +out! the most harmless, law-abiding citizen I ever heard of! What in +the world did you do? You need not mind telling me." + +"I cannot say that I am aware of having committed any crime, Paul." + +"Come now, something must have happened, for the police does not +take a step of that kind without some provocation--it's only your +beggarly Progressives who think that, but nobody who knows the +fundamental principles of our government and its officials would +believe it." + +"You seem to have become a warm admirer of the government." + +"Always was! But, upon my word, when I see the way the opposition +parties go on I am more so than ever--positively fanatical." + +"Then I have no doubt that you will consider that I did commit a +crime." + +"Ah! so there was something after all?" + +"Yes, I contributed fifteen hundred marks to a collection for the +distressed families of the Social Democrats who had been dismissed +from Berlin." + +"You did?" cried Paul, dropping his knife and fork, and staring at +Wilhelm in amazement. + +"And that seems so criminal to you?" + +"Look here, Wilhelm, you know I'm awfully fond of you, but I must +say you have only got what you deserve. How could you take part in a +revolutionary demonstration of the kind?" + +"I did not, nor do I now see anything political in it. It was a +question of women and children deprived of their bread-winners, and +whom one cannot allow to starve or freeze to death." + +"Oh, go along with your Progressionist phrases! Nobody need starve +or freeze in Berlin. The really poor are thoroughly well looked +after by the proper authorities. The supposed distress of these +women and children is a mere trumped-up story on the part of the +Revolutionists--a means of agitation, a weapon against the +government. The beggars simply speculate on the tears of sentimental +idiots. They get up a sort of penny-dreadful, whereon the one side +you have a picture of injured innocence in the shape of pale +despairing mothers and clamoring children, and on the other, +villainy triumphant in the form of a police constable or a +government official. And to think that you should have been taken in +by such a swindle!" + +"I suppose you do not see how heartless it appears to speak so +lightly of other people's hunger, sitting oneself at such a table as +this?" + +"Bravo, Wilhelm! Now you are throwing my prosperity in my teeth like +any advocate of division of property. I trust you have not turned +Socialist yourself? you who used not to have a good word to say for +the lot." + +"Never fear--I am not a Socialist. Their doctrines have not been +able to convince me yet. But for years I have seen the distress of +the working people with my own eyes, and I know that every human +being with a heart in his body is in duty bound to help them." + +"And who says anything against that? Don't we all do our duty? +Poverty has always existed and always will to the end of time. But, +on the other hand, that is what charity is there for. We have +hospitals for the sick, workhouses and parish relief for the aged +and incapable, for lazy vagabonds who won't work, it is true, only +the treadmill." + +"That is all very fine, but what are you going to do with the honest +men who want to work but can find none?" + +"Wilhelm, I have always had the highest respect for you, your +wisdom, your intellect, but forgive me if I say that, in this case, +you are talking of things you do not understand. Everybody who wants +work finds it. I hope you will be at my place next summer. Then +you'll see how I positively sweat blood in harvest-time trying to +get the necessary number of laborers together, and what I have to +put up with from the rascals only to keep them in good humor. Don't +try on any of these windy arguments with a landowner--people that +want work and can't find it indeed! Let me tell you, my son, neither +I nor any one of my country neighbors can scrape together as many +people as we need." + +"But everybody cannot work in the fields." + +"There, at last, you have hit the bull's eye--that is where the shoe +pinches. Agriculture offers a certain means of livelihood to all who +can and will work properly. But that does not suit the lazy beggars. +The work is too hard, and, more particularly, the discipline on an +estate is too strict for their fancy. They would rather be in the +town, rather starve in a workshop, or ruin their lungs in a factory, +because there they have more freedom--that is, they can go on the +spree all night and shirk their work all day, if they like--they can +play the gentleman, and think themselves as good as any general or +minister. Under these circumstances, it is no wonder that they soon +come to want, and instead of admitting that it is entirely the fault +of their own pigheadedness and perversity, they go and turn unruly +against the government. They should be turned out neck and crop, the +whole pack of them." + +"Don't excite yourself so, Paul," warned Malvine gently, as her +husband grew crimson in the face and ceased to eat. + +Wilhelm remained unruffled. "So you think the Socialist Act was +quite justified?" + +"Justified! Why, my only objection to it is that it is much too +mild. A State has a right to use every means it can--even the +sharpest--to defend itself against its deadly enemies. To deal +mildly with the enemies of society is to be unjust to us, the +orderly and industrious members of the community, who work hard to +get on, and who don't want to be for ever trembling for their well- +earned possessions, because thieves and vagabonds--as is the way of +all robbers--would like to enjoy the good things of this life +without working for them." + +"My good Paul, that is the language of fanaticism, and, of course, +it is useless to try to reason against that. Only let me tell you +this. I do not believe that the Socialists want to rob anybody; I do +not believe that they are enemies to the State and to society. They +too desire a State and a society, but different from the existing +ones; they too have an ideal of justice, but it is not the one that +has become traditional with us. Under the new order of things, as +they have arranged it in their minds, there should be room for every +individual, every opinion, all sorts and conditions of men. What the +ruling classes say against them to-day has been said against the +adherents of all new ideas since the beginning of time. Whoever +tried to make the slightest alteration in the existing order of +things was always considered, by those who derived advantages +therefrom, to be a foe to the State and to society in general-a +robber and a revolutionist. The early Christians enjoyed exactly the +same reputation as the Socialists to-day. They were looked upon as +enemies of the whole human race, and were torn to pieces by wild +beasts, though--doubtless to your regret--it has not come to that +with, the Socialists. And nevertheless, though lions and tigers are +a good deal worse than police officers, the principles of +Christianity have triumphed, and there is nothing to prove that the +principles of Socialism will not triumph in their turn." + +"Prophet of evil omen!" cried Paul. + +"Not necessarily so. Where would be the misfortune? I am firmly +persuaded that a Socialist State would not differ in any important +point from the accepted forms of government of the day. The +administrative power would merely be transferred from the hands of +the military and the landed aristocracy to another class. To those +who do not want a share in the governing power, it is all the same +who wields it. You see, human nature remains the same, and its +organization alters only very gradually, almost imperceptibly, +though it sometimes changes its name. Christianity promised to be +the beginning of the thousand years' reign, but in the main, +everything has gone on just as it was before. A Socialist State +would not be able to make the sun rise in the west, or do away with +death any more than we can. They would have ministers, custom-house +officers, policemen, virtue, vice and ambition, self-interest, +oppression and brotherly love just as we do, and if the Socialists +come into power, they will soon pass special acts and prosecute the +followers of other opinions just as they are being prosecuted to- +day. That is all upon the surface, and does not touch the root of +things. Why excite yourself about a mere shadowplay?" + +"In practical matters," answered Paul, laughing, "I consider I am +the better man, but you certainly beat me at metaphysics. Prophecy +decidedly comes under the heading of metaphysics, so I strike my +colors before you." + +"The sooner the better," said Malvine; "especially as it is quite +unpardonable of you to start off on a long discussion when our poor +friend must be so tired and sleepy." + +It was eight o'clock by this time, and Wilhelm really felt the want +of rest. But before going to his room he asked after his godson, +little Willy. Malvine was evidently expecting this, she ran to the +door and called into the next room: "Come here, Willy--come quick-- +Uncle Eynhardt is here and wants to see you." Whereupon the boy came +bounding in, and threw himself with a shout of delight upon +Wilhelm's neck. Willy was still his mother's only child. He was +nearly six years old, not very tall for his age, but a fine, +handsome, thoroughly healthy child, with firm legs, a blooming +complexion, the dark eyes of his grandmother, and long fair curls. +He was charmingly dressed in a sailor suit with a broad turned-back +collar over a blue-and-white striped jersey, long black stockings, +and pretty little patent leather shoes with silk ties. Wilhelm +lifted up this young prince, kissing him, and asked, "Well, Willy, +do you remember me?" He had not seen, him for eighteen months. + +"Of course, I do, uncle, we talk about you every day," cried the +child in his clear voice. "Are you going to stay with us now?" + +"Yes, that he is!" his father answered for the friend. + +"How jolly! how jolly!" cried Willy, clapping his hands with glee. +"And you will teach me to ride, won't you, uncle? Papa has no time." + +"But I don't know how to ride myself," returned Wilhelm with a +smile. + +Willy looked up disappointed. "What can you do then?" + +"Be a good boy now," Malvine broke in, "and leave uncle in peace and +go back to the nursery. You shall have him again later on." + +After more kisses and caresses Willy ran off, and Paul led his guest +to the room prepared for him, where at last he left him to himself. + +Wilhelm had visited Paul on his estate during the preceeding summer, +but since then had only seen him in Berlin. The house on the +Uhlenhorst was new to him, and he marveled at the solid +sumptuousness that met the eye at every turn. The visitor's room was +not less splendidly furnished than the smoking and breakfast rooms +he had already seen, and when he looked about him at the great +carved bedstead with its ample draperies, the silk damask-covered +chairs, the thick rugs, the marble washstand, and the toilet table +with its array of bottles and dishes of china, cut glass, and +silver, he could not help feeling almost abashed. His friend Paul +had become a very great gentleman apparently! + +And so in point of fact he had. The Friesenmoor had proved itself a +very gold mine, and in the district round about they calculated that +it yielded a clear return of a hundred or a hundred and twenty +thousand marks a year. Paul had long ago been in a position to make +use of his right of purchase on the estate, and had acquired about +two thousand acres of adjoining marsh lands beside, though at a +considerably higher price, and was now the owner of a well-rounded +estate of twelve thousand acres, the admiration and pride of the +whole neighborhood. He had converted the cultivation of the +marshland, which six years ago had been but a bold theory, into an +established scientific fact, and his methods, the excellence of +which was amply proved by his almost tropically luxuriant harvests +and uninterruptedly increasing wealth, were assiduously imitated on +all sides. Paul Haber was acknowledged far and wide to be the first +authority on the management of marsh land. The government had long +since taken note of his success and kept an eye upon his doings, and +was furnished by the Landrath with regular accounts of his +agricultural progress. Young men of the best county families +contended for the privilege of being under him for a year's +practical farming. Foreign governments sent professors, lecturers, +and practical agriculturists to him, partly to inspect his +arrangements, partly to study his methods under his personal +supervision, in order to adopt them in their own countries. Paul was +more than a landed proprietor, he was a kind of professor holding +his unpretentious lecture in the open air or in the appropriately +decorated smoking-room of the Priesenmoor house, always surrounded +by a troop of eager and admiring listeners of various nationalities, +and mostly of high rank. + +Of course, under these circumstances there was no lack of outward +marks of distinction. Two years before he had been promoted to a +first lieutenancy of the Landwehr. A row of foreign decorations +adorned his breast, and last year, when he was visited by the +Minister for Agriculture, accompanied by the Landrath, the Kronen +Order of the fourth class was added to the rest. Paul was on the +District Committee and County Council, and if he was not deputy of +the Landtag and member of the Reichstag, it was only because he +considered all parliamentary work a barren expenditure of time and +strength. He stood in high repute in the county, which was proved by +his election to be the president of the Society for the Cultivation +of Moors and Marshes, a society founded by his followers and +admirers, and which counted among its members some of the most +important landowners of the whole of Northern Germany. + +These circumstances could not fail to react on Paul's character. He +no longer tried to look as much as possible like a smart officer, +but rather like a country gentleman of ancient lineage. The thick +fair mustache had abandoned its enterprising upward curl, and now +hung down straight and long. The model parting of the hair was in +any case out of the question, a distinguished baldness having taken +the place of the old luxuriance, and his figure had fulfilled all +the promises of his youth. In his dress Paul still cultivated +extreme elegance, only that it partook more of the bucolic now in +style than of the drawing-room as in former days. He wore high +patent leather boots with small silver spurs, well-fitting riding +breeches, a gray coat with green facings and large buckhorn buttons, +a blue-and-white spotted silk necktie tied in a loose knot with +fluttering ends, an artistically crushed soft felt hat, and in his +dog-skin gloved hand a small riding-whip with a chased gold head. +With all its dandyism it was a model of good taste, and in no single +detail smacked of the parvenu, and that for the very good reason +that Paul was no parvenu, but a man who was conscious of having +attained to a position which was his by nature and by right. He had +never suffered from undue diffidence, and his success had naturally +increased his sense of his own value, which, however, he did not +display in any bumptious or aggressive manner as one who would force +reluctant acknowledgment of his merits, but quietly and naturally, +seeing that he received full and voluntary recognition from all +sides. He believed in himself, and was quite right to do so, for +everybody else believed in him too. He spoke with authority, for +there was no one about him who did not hang upon his lips with +respect, and mostly with admiration. He made assertions and gave his +opinion with the assurance of superior knowledge, but he had a right +to do so, for it always referred only to matters about which he +knew, or was fully persuaded that he knew, more than most people. +Even his wealth did not go to his head, but acted on him like a +moderate amount of drink upon a man who can stand a great deal. He +enjoyed to the full the comforts and amenities of life which his +large income enabled him to procure, but he did it for his own +pleasure, not for the sake of what others would think; for his own +comfort, and not for show. He liked to keep good horses and dogs, an +admirably appointed table and cellar, and a large staff of well- +drilled servants. On the other hand, he avoided anything approaching +to display, was never seen at races, went to no fashionable baths, +gave no grand entertainments, nor had a box at either theatre or +operahouse, belonged to no club, and never played high. His wife +wore perhaps rather more jewelry and followed the newest Paris +fashions a trifle more closely than was absolutely necessary at +Friesenmoor or even the Uhlenhorst, but as she remained as simple +and unaffected as before, nobody could think any the worse of her +for this small inherited weakness. + +Toward his own family Paul had behaved in a most exemplary manner, +affording thereby the strongest proof that though he had risen he +was no upstart. The numerous members of his family and the men who +had married into it nearly all had to thank him for their +advancement or actual support. Some were employed on his estate, +others he had trained in his particular branch of agriculture, after +which, and with his recommendation, they had found no difficulty in +obtaining brilliant positions as stewards or lease-holders of +estates, and two of his brothers had appointments on royal domains. +He had, therefore, every right to self-congratulation, as having +fulfilled all the duties of a model man and citizen far beyond what +necessity demanded. + +For Wilhelm, Paul still retained the affection and friendship of his +early days, only that, unconsciously to himself, it had taken on a +certain fatherly tone; although there was a difference of but one +year between them, there was a touch of protecting consideration and +pity about it, such as strong men feel toward a weaker and less +perfectly developed creature. + +The first day Paul left his friend to have a thorough rest, but the +next morning early he knocked at his door and asked if he might come +in. + +"Certainly," was the answer, and opening the door at the same +moment, Wilhelm appeared fully dressed and ready for inspection. + +"You have kept up your old habit of early rising--that is right," +said Paul, and clapped him on the shoulder. + +"So have you," returned Wilhelm with a smile. + +"I--oh, that's different. I am a farmer, and you know the proverb-- +'The master's eye makes the cattle fat.' But your books don't +require to be fed and watered at break of day. As you are ready, +come down now, and we can have a chat over breakfast." + +Malvine met him downstairs with a friendly smile and shake of the +hand. This morning she wore a long blue morning gown with gay +colored embroidery at the throat and wrists and a little lace cap +with blue ribbons. The breakfast was as elaborate as on the day +before. + +"I want to take you over to my place to-day, Wilhelm. We have a +shooting party, the weather is lovely, and it will be a nice change +for you." + +"Thanks, Paul, but I would much rather you left me here. I am no +sportsman, as you know very well." + +"We'll soon make you into one. Nobody is born a sportsman, or rather +we are all born sportsmen, but forget it in our wretched town life, +and afterward have to set to work and learn laboriously the art that +came so naturally to our forefathers. Not, however, that you need +fire a single shot, it is more for the healthy out-of-door exercise, +and to show you Friesenmoor in its winter dress, and for the society +which will interest you. They are neighbors of mine--nearly every +one of them a character--old Baron Huning, who fought in the Crimea +as an English officer, Count Chamberlain von Swerte, crammed with +curious court stories, Graf Olderode, who, in spite of his gout, +will jump for joy when I introduce you as the best friend I have in +the world, and add that you have just been banished from Berlin +under the Socialist Act. And then there are my pupils--I've got a +Russian prince among them, and a very near neighbor, a young +nobleman from the Marches, an officer in the Red Hussars. Now don't +be a slow coach, come along." + +"You are very kind, but I should be very sorry to make your gouty +Graf jump, even for joy." + +"Dr. Enyhardt is quite right," Malvine now joined in. "What an idea +too to carry him off from me before he has had time to settle +comfortably. You stay with me. Herr Doctor; this is my day, and you +shall make the acquaintance of some charmingly pretty girls this +afternoon. That will interest you more than Paul's old +Chamberlains." + +"All right," laughed Paul; "but you had better look out, Wilhelm, I +smell a rat. Malvine has designs upon you, she wants to get you +married. If you came with me you would be the hunter, but if you +stay here you will find yourself in the position of the game." + +"And if he is," retorted Malvine, "it is surely the better part to +let yourself be caught by a pretty girl than to go and shoot poor +hares and wild ducks." + +Paul did not press his invitation, and drove off a minute or two +later, not to return till the following day. Malvine, however, put +her threat into practice, and persuaded Wilhelm with gentle +insistence to join her afternoon coffee party, and be introduced to +all her lady visitors and take part in the conversations. The +introduction caused Malvine a little embarrassment. Only now did she +fully realize the fact that her guest was nobody in particular. She +was painfully conscious of the baldness of his name and his simple +title of Dr., and the absence of any sort of distinguishing mark by +the addition of which she might recommend him to the special notice +of her circle of friends. He was not a landed proprietor, nor a +professor, not even a master. Nor could she conscientiously say, +"the celebrated Dr. Eynhardt." He had no military title, and to +introduce him as "the handsome Dr. Eynhardt" would hardly do. +Fortunately she had no need to mention the latter adjective. The +ladies observed without further assistance how remarkably handsome +this gentleman was with his girlish complexion, silky, raven-black +hair and beard, and lustrous dark eyes. Charming lips drew him +constantly into the conversation. which, cultivated and many-sided, +ranged from the weather to the recently-closed Paris Exhibition, +from Sarasate to Vischer's last novel. Wilhelm had not a word to say +on these important subjects, and so spoke in monosyllables, or not +at all, till the ladies, who were most of them very animated, came +to the conclusion that he was as stupid as he was handsome, "as is +usually the case, my dear." + +At supper Malvine was indefatigable in asking Wilhelm how he liked +this dark girl, and what he had said to that fair one, and what +impression the piquante little one with the boyish curly head had +made upon him? When he frankly confessed that he had paid very +little attention to any of the young ladies, and could scarcely +remember one from another, she was very much discouraged. It was +decidedly no easy task to help this clumsy person along. All three +girls of whom she had spoken were heiresses, and beautiful and well- +educated beside--what more did he want? + +Alas! he did not want anything at all, but to be left in peace, and +that was the aggravating part of it. Malvine had set her heart on +marrying him, and marrying him well. Her sentiment for him had long +since given place to other and less agitating feelings, as beseemed +a model wife, mother, and landed proprietress. She was grateful to +him for having recognized and set right the mistaken impression of +her girlish heart. She was seized with discomfort at the thought of +what might have been. Where would she be now if she had become Frau +Dr. Eynhardt? A woman without fortune, of no position or importance, +and at the present moment even homeless and a wanderer. As things +had turned out she was wealthy and distinguished, the best people in +Hamburg and the whole of Luneburg came to her house, and she ruled +like a small queen over a large settlement of dependents. And all +this she owed to her dear Paul, who, during the seven years of their +married life, had never given her one moment's pain, never cost her +eyes a single tear. Out of her grateful acknowledgment that Wilhelm +had materially assisted in the founding of her agreeable destiny, +and the unconscious lingering remains of her former attachment, +there had sprung up a very tender friendship for him, the unusual +warmth of which would have at once betrayed its hidden origin to the +experienced analyst of the heart. She wanted to see him happy, she +considered earnestly what was lacking to him to make him so, and was +sure that it could only be a rich and pretty wife. This happiness +then she determined to procure for him, an easy enough task, as her +set contained a large selection of "goldfish." + +If he would only meet them halfway! The young ladies, obviously very +well disposed toward him, could not make the first advances. And yet +on the following Thursday he sat there in the midst of the gay +chatter just as quiet and wooden as on the first occasion, made no +advances to any of the girls, singled out no one from the rest. +After that Malvine was obliged to make a pause in her well- +intentioned maneuvres, for the third Thursday was Christmas Eve, and +her time was taken up in preparations for the Christmas-tree. + +For this festive occasion Frau Brohl and Frau Marker came over from +Berlin, as had been their custom ever since Paul had taken the house +on the Uhlenhorst. Frau Marker had grown very stout, and her hair +showed the first silvery threads, otherwise she was blooming and as +silent as ever. Old Frau Brohl was simply astounding. She had not +changed in the smallest degree, time had no power over her, she was +just as doubled up and colorless. and her movements just as slow as +ever, her brown eyes had the same tired droop, and her low, +complaining voice the old tone of suffering. But her appetite had +grown, if anything, rather larger, and, apart from one or two colds +in the winter, she had not known an hour's illness during the whole +time. + +Needless to say, the grandmother did not come empty-handed. She +brought two cases with her, one of which contained a large quantity +of excellent bottled fruit, which Malvine still preferred to any her +own highly-paid cook could prepare, while the other was filled with +a choice collection of fancy work. On these treasures being +unpacked, it was discovered that the inventive genius of the old +lady of seventy was still undiminished. For the master of the house +there was a game-bag made of interwoven strips of blue and red +leather, somewhat in the Indian manner, very curious, and of course, +impracticable Malvine received a silklace veil, the pattern in large +marsh-mallows--a graceful play upon her name. + +Frau Brohl had worked at this masterpiece for a year and a half. For +little Willy, in consideration of the aristocratic propensities one +might expect, or at any late encourage, in the heir to a large +estate, there was a Flobert rifle, the strap of which was ornamented +after an entirely new method by cutting out thin layers of the +leather and inserting gilt arabesques and figures. For the house in +general there were some ingenious arrangements in fir cones and +small shells. + +The Christmas-tree was set up in the great drawing-room on the +ground floor and reached almost to the ceiling. It was a beautiful +young fir, so fresh and fragrant of pine that the breath of the +woods seemed to cling to it still. A large party had gathered for +the lighting-up. Beside the relatives of the aristocratic pupils, +who had come over from the estate, there were some neighbors from +the Uhlenhorst, with five or six little children, and the +Chamberlain von Swerte with his high-born wife. The couple were +childless, and not wishing to spend their Christmas alone, had +accepted Paul's invitation, and come all the way from their little +castle near Ronneburg to the Ulhenhorst. + +The chamberlain was the lion of the evening. Paul took an +opportunity of whispering to Wilhelm, "Herr von Swerte is of the +House of Hellebrand--one of the first families in the county-- +tremendously ancient lot!" Old Frau Brohl had observed the little +gold tab on his coat tail--the chamberlain's sign of office, and +manuevered skillfully in order that she might frequently obtain a +back view, and so gaze upon the proud badge in silent awe and +admiration. The children had no eye for such matters, but rushed +shrieking with delight round the tree, whose branches shed such +gorgeous presents on them. Willy got a hussar uniform, with sword, +knot, boots and spurs all complete, and would not rest till he had +been taken to his room and dressed in it, and then appeared before +the company in this martial attire. His mother's eye grew dim with +pride and joy when Herr von Swerte lifted up the little warrior to +kiss him, and said heartily: "Well, my dear Herr Haber, he will make +a smart cavalry officer some day!" + +At dinner Wilhelm found himself beside Frau Brohl. The old lady was +still fond of him, and never forgot how well he had behaved at a +critical moment, and with what modest self-perception he had +acknowledged that he was not the husband for her granddaughter. + +Searching about for something agreeable to say to him, or for a +subject that would be sure to interest him, she suddenly remembered +one, and said, between the fish and the roast, "Have you heard the +story about your old flame, Frau Von Pechlar?" + +Wilhelm started and changed color. + +Frau Brohl never noticed, and continued in her soft complaining +voice: "Your guardian angel saved you there, Herr Doctor. You would +have come off nicely if you had married Fraulein Ellrich. There have +been all sorts of rumors for years, but now it has come to an open +scandal. She has left Herr von Pechlar and gone off with a count, +who has been hanging about her for some time. They say she has gone +to Italy with him." + +Wilhelm made no reply, but he was surprised himself to feel how +deeply the information affected him, so that he could not breathe +freely all the evening, and although it was late before he got to +bed, he could not sleep for hours, thinking of the girl he had once +loved, who was now rushing blindly down the path of dishonor. Why +should the thought pain him so much? Do heart wounds heal so slowly +and imperfectly that a rough touch can make the scar burn and throb +after long years? Or was it regret at the besmirching of a picture +which till now had shone so purely and been so sweetly framed in his +memory? He did not know, but for days it depressed him to the verge +of melancholy. + +In return for the hospitality he had received New Year's Eve was +spent at Herr von Swerte's. The whole Haber family, with Frau Brohl +and Frau Marker--the white grandmamma and the brown grandmamma, as +Willy called them, to distinguish them from one another--drove over +in the afternoon to Ronneburg by way of Harburg, but Wilhelm could +not be prevailed upon to accompany them. Paul took him severely to +task; Malvine represented to him, with an eloquence unusual to her, +the horrors of a lonely New-Year's Eve; Frau Brohl pointed out the +advantages of celebrating the festive occasion in a company composed +entirely of rich people; and even Willy entreated, "Do come, +Onkelchen, you can take care of me on the road." All their +persuasion proving fruitless, they finally left him to his fate, and +he remained behind alone. + +Night found him at the writing-table in Paul's study, his head in +his hand, lost in thought. At last he shook himself out of his deep +brooding and wrote the following letter to Schrotter: + +"My Revered Friend, I will not now break the habit of eight years, +but will spend my New Years' Eve with you, the person who stands +nearest to me in all the world. I am alone in this grand villa, the +servants seem to be enjoying themselves downstairs over their roast +goose and punch, Paul has taken his family and gone into the country +to the castle of a neighboring estate owner by whom he is evidently +very much impressed, and I can chat with you undisturbed. + +"I wish you could live for a time in close contact with Paul, as I +am doing, you would be surprised and pleased. His development has +been wonderfully logical, and he now affords the spectacle, so +intensely interesting to the observant eye, of a person whose every +capacity, under the influence of the most favorable combination of +circumstances imaginable, has attained to the utmost limit of growth +which is possible to it. Paul has become the ideal type of our North +German landed proprietor. He is ultra conservative, and considers +the Socialist Act too mild. He loathes parliamentarianism, but would +wish that the Landrath had not the power to appoint even a police +constable without the consent of the estate owners of the district, +and raves about local police prerogative. His only newspaper, beside +the little local one, is the Kreuzzentung, he is learned in the Army +List, and the writing-table at which I am sitting is strewed with +volumes of the Almanac de Gotha. He looks after his subjects--for I +think he calls his workmen his subjects--in a truly fatherly or +feudal manner, but I do not doubt that he would drive the best of +them off the estate with dogs, if, even in the depth of winter, they +did not stand hat in hand the whole time they were talking to him. +The sole problem of the universe which has any sort of interest for +him is the outlook of the weather for the harvest. The course of +human or superhuman events arouses his wonder, his doubts, or his +anxiety only in proportion as it affects the price of corn. He +cannot grasp that one should have any other aim in life than to +become a successful agriculturist. He finds full satisfaction in his +work, and what between a charming wife and an adored child he would +afford an example of what the fables and proverbs tell us does not +exist--a perfectly happy man, if one thing were not lacking, the +little word 'von' in front of his name. I trust he may not die +without obtaining it, and then the world will have contained one +mortal who has known absolutely boundless happiness. + +"But in writing to you in this strain my conscience pricks me. Is it +not unkind toward Paul, whose attachment to me is positively +touching? Is it not churlish to exercise such cold crticism upon a +friend whose faithful affection has never for one moment wavered? He +surrounds me with endless proofs of his affection, and is always on +the lookout for something which may give me pleasure. He is a +passionate sportsman--his only passion as far as I can see--and +worries me twice a week to join him on his shooting expeditions. He +is a masterly 'skat player, and is most anxious to enrich my +existence by the joys which, according to him, this intellectual +game affords to its adepts. When I venture timidly to propose that I +should leave him and live by myself, he looks so honestly hurt and +grieved that I have not the courage to insist further. And Frau +Haber, kind soul, who is so set upon getting me married and thereby +insuring my happiness! I and marrying! What have I to offer a woman? +Love? I am too poor in illusions. Amusements--society--the theater? +All that is a horror to me. And moreover, I question if I have a +right to bring a being into the world, over whose destiny I have no +control, and whose existence would most certainly be richer in pain, +and misery than in happiness; and I know unquestionably that I have +no right to teach a light-hearted girl to think, and force her to +exchange the artless gayety of a playful little animal for my own +fruitless speculations and never-to-be-satisfied yearnings. + +"In face of all this, serious doubts arise in my mind. Is it for me +to speak with superciliousness and superiority of Paul, or to look +down upon him? I ask you, as I have been asking myself every day +these three weeks--is he not the wise man and I the fool? He the +useful member of society, and I the mere hanger-on? His life the +real, mine the shadow? That he is happy I have already said; that I +am not, I know. His system therefore leads to peace and contentment, +mine does not. He has set a child into the world, and though, of +course, he does not know what its ultimate fate will be, he sees for +the present, as do I and everybody else who is not blind, that it +fills his home with sunshine and warmth. He provides hundreds with +their daily bread. That is, I know, of no moment to the universe; it +is of very little importance whether a few more obstruse human +creatures walk the face of the earth or not. But meanwhile, the +creatures in question enjoy more agreeable sensations, if, thanks to +Paul's exertions, they have a comfortably spread table every day. I +cannot boast of any such achievements. The only good I ever did my +fellow-men did not proceed from me but from our friend Dorfling, who +simply used my hand as an instrument for carrying out his charitable +designs. My personal compassion, my love for my companions in +ignorance and suffering bears no fruit, benefits no one, and it +frequently seems to me that, if the truth were known, I am an egoist +of the deepest dye. + +"If I could at least act consistently with the philosophy which +directs nay views of life! But I am not even capable of that. +Systematically, I concede no importance to outward forms. Maja does +not count me among her devotees. What are houses? What are the +phantoms who inhabit them? A transient semblance, a delusion of the +senses! And yet, I am conscious that I miss just those houses which +happen to stand, in Berlin and that I feel an unspeakable longing +for the phantom called Dr. Schrotter. Once again it has been proved +to me that I am an unconscious plaything in the hands of unknown +powers, for again, as more than once in my life, and always at +decisive moments, some outside agency has interfered in my fate, and +disposed of me contrary to my own intentions, by sending me out of +Berlin and away from you. But, nevertheless, my appreciation of this +fact does not give me the strength to accept the inevitable in +silence and without repining. + +"Enough--I will not pain you. Only this much I should like to add +that life is really harder to bear than I had thought for. + +"Farewell, dear and honored friend; remember me affectionately to +Bhani, who, I trust, does not suffer too severely from this hard +winter, and always believe in the faithful friendship and devotion +of your + +"WILHELM EYNHARDT." + +Three days later Wilhelm received the following answer from +Schrotter: + +"DEAREST FRIEND: Your long and welcome New Year's letter troubled me +much on account of the state of mind I see revealed in it. I think, +however, that it is explained by the fact of your being rooted up +out of your accustomed surroundings that you are oppressed by +Haber's hospitality, and that you have as yet made no plans for the +future, and I trust that your spirits will improve when these three +circumstances are altered. + +"I have always considered Haber, with all his good qualities of +heart and character, a thoroughly commonplace man, and your +observations verify my opinion to the full. And yet I quite +understand that the sight of his prosperity and self-satisfaction +should give you food for thought, and raise the question in your +mind whether his philosophy--if I may use the word--or yours, is the +right one. That is a great question, and I do not presume to answer +it, either in general or for your particular case; and all the more, +for the very good reason that your life is only really beginning +now. You are not yet thirty-four, you may yet do something great, +something pre-eminent, and who knows if those very qualities which +have made your life unproductive hitherto, may not enable you later +on to do things beside which the achievements of a Paul Haber shrink +into insignificance? On the other hand, I am persuaded--quite apart +from your respective ways of life--that you have chosen the better +and higher part. + +"Human nature is like a tower with many stories; some people inhabit +the lower, others the higher ones. The inhabitants of the cellars +and ground floor may, in their way, be good, decent, praiseworthy +people, but they can never enjoy the same amount of light, the same +pure air and wide view as those who live on the upper stories. Now +you, my dear young friend, live several floors higher up than our +good Paul Haber, whom, however, I value and am very fond of. But +there are people living over our heads too. I have known Indian +sages who looked down upon all we strive after and with which we +occupy ourselves with the same pitying wonder as you do on Haber's +passion for sport and 'skat,' and his longing for a title; who have +difficulty in understanding that we should earn money, be ambitious, +entertain passions, conform to outward rules of custom, and, under +the pretext of education, laboriously study rows of empty phrases. +These Brahmins have still higher interests and a yet wider view than +the noblest-minded and wisest of us, and the knowledge that such +pure and all-embracing spirits do exist ought to teach us to be +humble, and not despise those who may still cling to some vain show +that we have overcome, and attach importance to matters which no +longer possess any in our eyes. + +"One thing I have in my heart to wish for you, my dear friend--that +you could take life with a little of the unreflecting simplicity of +those who accept--what the moment offers without troubling +themselves as to the why and the wherefore. You bow to those high +powers who, for instance, have caused you to be banished from +Berlin; then submit yourself to those still higher ones, who let you +live and feel and think. Do not fight against the natural instincts +which lead you to cling to life and love. Your fears that you have +nothing to offer a wife are groundless. There are women who do not +seek their happiness in the vanities which you very properly detest. +Do all you can to find such a woman. Bestow life as you have +received it, and leave your offspring cheerfully to the care of +those powers who rule over your own life and destiny. For my part, I +should be very sorry to see your race die out. + +"And why reproach yourself that you provide no one with daily bread? +Man does not live by bread alone; and by simply being what you are, +you supply many people--myself for instance--with a pleasure in life +and a belief in your future career that is worth more than daily +bread. + +"Bhani thanks you for your kind message. She incloses two verses for +you, of her own composition. Here you have them in prose +translation--'My beloved master and his humble handmaid miss the +dear friend with the soft eyes and gentle voice. We live as in a +bungalow in the season of rains--clouds and ever clouds, and no sun. +When will the sky be blue, and the sunshine come again? and when +wilt thou eat rice once more at the table of my lord?' In the +original it certainly sounds much prettier. + +"Let me know soon what you think of doing, and be assured of the +hearty affection of your old + +"SCHROTTER. + +"POSTSCRIPT: Just read the enclosed extract from my to-day's Times. +That man's development was as logical as Haber's." + +In the letter Wilhelm found, beside Bhani's poem, written in +delicate Sanscrit characters on yellow paper, a cutting from an +English newspaper, in which he read that a Nihilist of the name of +Barinskoi, in St. Petersburg, had for some time excited the +suspicions of his confederates by his luxurious and showy style of +living. In order to discover the source from which he drew the money +for it, they appointed one of their female members to be his +mistress. She had shared in his extravagances, and soon obtained +proofs that he was in the service of the police, and sold his fellow +Nihilists. A secret court condemned him to death, and a few days ago +he had been found dead in his rooms, his throat cut, and his body +literally hacked to pieces. + +In January Wilhelm received an unusual visitor. It was a leader of +the workingmen of Altona, who told him, without further +circumlocution, that the Socialists had kept their eye upon him, had +found out where he was living, and now sent him, the Altona man, to +see if anything could be made of him. + +"What do you mean by that?" asked Wilhelm in astonishment. + +"I mean," returned the visitor, who had introduced himself as +Stonemason Hessel, "whether you could not be persuaded to join us +openly." + +As Wilhelm did not answer at once, Hessel resumed--"Our party needs +men like you, who are independent and bold, have a university +education, and speak well. You are all that, as we know. By +banishing you from Berlin they have, in point of fact, made you one +of us. So go a step further, Herr Doctor; defend yourself, take up +the fight the government has forced upon you. You have a million of +determined workmen at your back, who will gladly accept you as their +leader." + +"Excuse my frankness," said Wilhelm at last, "but I really cannot +think you are serious in your proposal." + +"It is a very serious matter to us," cried Hessel. "I speak in the +name of the heads of the party, and have means of convincing you of +the reality of my proposal if you have any doubts about it." + +"But how do you come to know about me?" + +"That is very simple. You are not, perhaps, aware how well organized +we are, and how we follow up everything that may be of use to us +afterward. We know what you did for our party in Berlin, and that +you are suffering for it now. We know your circumstances, and that +you have a considerable sum of money at your disposal, and, I +repeat, we want educated men. Most of us have not had the means to +get much schooling. The struggle for our daily bread uses up all our +time, and all the brains we have. Look at me, Herr Doctor, for years +I never had more than five hours' sleep, and always used half the +night to learn the little I know. There are plenty of people among +us who--more's the pity--are distrustful of the better educated-- +call them upstarts, and won't have anything to do with them. Their +idea is that the proletariat should be led by proletariars. But that +is nonsense. No oppressed class has ever yet been emancipated by its +own members. It was always by high-minded men of wider views out of +the upper classes. Catilina was an aristocrat, and put himself at +the head of the populace. Mirabeau belonged to the Court, and +overthrew the monarchy. Wilberforce, the defender of the negro, was +not black himself." + +Wilhelm now for the first time looked more attentively at this +stonemason, who talked so glibly of Catalina, Mirabeau and +Wilberforce, and the thought passed through his mind that, at any +rate, there was one good thing about Social Democracy--it brought +education into circles to which it otherwise would never have +penetrated. + +"And so," Hessel wound up, "we workmen too must be led to victory by +educated men." + +"You overlook one point, however," remarked Wilhelm. "To be your +leader, one must before all things share your convictions." + +"It is quite impossible that an educated and thoughtful man should +not see the injustice of the present social system. The government, +which oppresses us, sees it as clearly as we do ourselves. It is not +fighting for a conviction, but for the supremacy of a certain +class." + +"'It is impossible,' is no argument. In point of fact, I do not hold +with your doctrines. I know that the working-classes suffer, but I +do not know why, and I do not believe your theorists when they say +it is all because the workingman is ground down by the capitalist. +Furthermore, you speak of leading--where am I to lead you to?" + +"To victory against the plundering feudalism of the State." + +"That is a mere phrase. I know of no plan which will sweep poverty +and distress from the face of the earth. Even if you raise a +revolution and it succeeds, even if you destroy the feudal State and +build up a workingman's State upon the ruins, you will thereby only +have improved the condition of a select few, not of the whole--not +even of the many. I would not like to be in the shoes of your +present leaders, preachers and prophets, when you have conquered, +and your followers demand to see the results of your victory. How +little they will then be able to fulfill of the promises they have +made to-day." + +"So it is your opinion that there is nothing to be done for us, and +that we ought calmly to be left in want, and slavery, and +ignorance?" Hessel asked angrily. + +"I think," returned Wilhelm, "that it is the bounden duty of every +man to love his neighbor, and help him where and when he can." + +"Oh yes," said Hessel with a sneer, "that is the standpoint of the +Church--the standpoint of the Middle Ages. You would give us alms. +No, thank you, we accept no presents. We demand our rights, not +charity." + +Wilhelm thought to himself that he had not always found the +Socialists so proud, but kept the thought to himself, not wishing to +hurt Hessel's feelings, who seemed to be an honest fanatic. + +"Do not let that be your last word," Hessel went on. "You are +probably but slightly acquainted with our doctrines and writings. +Come nearer to us. Come to our meetings--talk to our workmen. You +will find that many of us have very clear heads, and know exactly +what we want, although the majority do still cling a good deal to +phrases. You will assuredly soon begin to interest yourself in the +emancipation of the proletariat. And what a future to look forward +to! You might be another Lassalle, famous powerful, adored by +thousands, received as a savior wherever you show yourself--make a +triumphal progress through all Germany, perhaps through the world. +And over and above, the consciousness of having rendered such mighty +service to your fellow-men." + +Wilhelm rose. + +"I seem to myself to be playing a rather ridiculous part in this +scene," he said; "it is a parody of the Gospel story of the +Temptation. Unfortunately, I have not the smallest particle of +ambition, and have no desire to be either famous or mighty, or to +make triumphal progresses. If I could really do anything for you, +believe me, I would do it gladly. But I assure you I possess neither +the philosopher's stone, nor a prescription for a universal panacea. +I do not believe either that the remedies they recommend so highly +to you are very effectual, so I am much obliged to you for your +confidence in me, and beg you to leave me in my obscurity." + +Hessel gave him a dark look, stood up, turned slowly away, and left +him without one word, or even offering him his hand. + +Wilhelm had sent to Berlin for a box of books, and tried to go on +with his work, but found no real pleasure in it. A deep despondency +had come upon him, and the idea that his life was wholly purposeless +took more and more hold upon him. Often, after studying earnestly +for a day or two, and making extracts for his book, he would ask +himself, "Why take all this trouble? Who is going to be made wiser +or happier by this rigmarole?" and his pleasure in the work was gone +again for days. The consciousness of exile, instead of being blunted +by time, weighed ever more heavily upon him. He never realized till +now what an absolute necessity it was to his nature to lean upon a +kindred spirit, for he had never before been without one. Since the +death of his father he had first had Paul, and then Dr. Schrotter, +whom he had seen daily, and thus had always had some one to share +his mental life. Now he was separated from Schrotter by distance, +and from Paul by the great change in their views, and found no +sufficient support when left to himself. If at times the sight of +Paul's perfect self-content and happiness roused in him the wish to +follow his example, it was quickly overruled by the conviction that +neither Paul's commonplace, practical occupations, nor his worldly +success, would afford him, Wilhelm, the smallest satisfaction. + +He passed his days and weeks in self-communings and spiritual +loneliness, in spite of Paul's and Malvine's endeavors to interest +him in men and things. He allowed himself to be drawn into Malvine's +afternoon receptions, and the two or three parties they gave during +the winter; but refused to accompany them to other people's balls +and dinners. He was happiest of all with Willy, who was very fond of +Uncle Eynhardt. He took him for walks, told him stories, was never +tired of answering his endless questions, amused him with little +chemical experiments, and in default of the riding lessons let him +ride upon his knee. And as he passed his fingers through the child's +long curls, he often thought, in spite of all his philosophic +doubts, how wonderfully pleasant it must be after all, to bring +forth some such sweet golden-haired mystery that would cling to its +parent and break away from him--a continuation and yet a wholly new +departure that had its roots in the past, and yet struck out boldly +into the future, and whose bright gaze would be trying to penetrate +the riddle of the universe when he himself had long since sunk into +oblivion. Had Malvine been something more than good-natured and +commonplace, had she possessed a little more tact and insight into +the human heart, she would have seen that in Wilhelm were now +combined all the conditions necessary for predisposing him for +marriage--the sense of a spiritual void, the longing for love and +companionship, a consciousness of being alone in the midst of a +cheerful, peaceful family circle, and the desire to see his own life +renewed in that of a child. What he needed was that some one should +frankly make the first advances, and overcome his natural shyness +and diffidence by a bold and saucy attack. With a little tact and +diplomacy, a clever woman would have had no difficulty in putting up +a bright girl to attempt so easy a fight and victory. But Malvine +never thought of such a thing. Social etiquette withheld the various +young ladies on whom the Habers' quiet guest had made no small +impression from taking those first steps, which are considered +unwomanly and humiliating, although in most cases they invariably +bring about the desired results, and so Wilhelm continued to sit in +his corner, and the group of pretty heiresses in theirs; the winter +passed, and Malvine's darling wish was still unfulfilled. + +Easter came round, and with it the migration of the family to +Friesenmoor House. Wilhelm would have liked to seize this +opportunity for withdrawing himself from a hospitality which weighed +heavily on him, but Paul put down his timid revolt with a high hand. + +"None of that now. You are coming with us, and can see what country +life is like for a whole summer," he declared, and there the matter +rested. + +The estate and its surroundings possessed no picturesque charms. The +land stretched in uniform flatness from the sluggish Suderelbe to +the equally sleepy Seeve, and the Fuchsberg at Ronneburg, with its +height of two hundred feet, was a giant of the Alps or Cordilloras, +compared to the floor-like evenness of the country round about. From +the platform of the tower which Paul had built on to his house, +giving it quite a baronial appearance, one could see for miles +across country, almost to Hamburg, the spires of which were plainly +visible on a clear day. But far and near one saw nothing but +cornfields and meadows, that had the regularity of a carpet pattern, +intersected by clay-colored dikes, straight ditches full of stagnant +brown water, here and there a busy windmill, and in the distance the +smooth-flowing watercourses which bounded the landscape. The picture +was laid on from a meager palette; a few browns and greens, slightly +relieved and enlivened by the vigorous tones of the whitewashed +walls of the laborers' cottages, some standing apart, some collected +together like a little village. + +And yet, though the view from the tower might not seem very +attractive, a walk through the country revealed many a peculiar +charm to the observant and divining eye. Here one stood upon ground +where man had wrestled with Nature and subdued her. At every step +one encountered the marks of that struggle and victory, reminding +one of Jacob's mysterious encounter with the angel. The waters of +the marsh were now forced within the prescribed limits of a system +of drains and canals. Luxuriant crops triumphed over reeds and +rushes, which were now only permitted to fringe the edges of the +ditches. Sleek, mild-eyed cows grazed and ruminated where formerly +the wildfowl built her nest. Chaos was vanquished, and had to own +man for her lord and master. + +Here, upon the scene of his labors, Paul's figure assumed a certain +epic dignity. As a stern lord with a handful of armed followers +keeps down a subjugated people, so Paul, at the head of a few +hundred workmen, held sway over the unruly forces of Nature always +more or less ready to revolt. There were always dikes to be +repaired, ditches to be deepened, drain-pipes to be laid or +improved, or artificial manure to be carted, and Paul was active +from break of day till nightfall, either on foot or on horseback, +hurrying from one end of the estate to the other, everywhere +ordering or giving a helping hand, and always leading his troops +himself to fresh onslaughts against the resisting elements. He did +it all quietly, without any fuss or attempt to reflect credit on +himself, and left it to others--to strangers, poetically inclined +pupils or students on their travels--to say that his conquest of the +Friesenmoor was a Faust-like achievement. + +He had built a whole village for his laborers, to right and left of +the highroad leading to Friesenmoor House. The cheerful, clean, +whitewashed cottages, with their green-painted window-frames, were +thatched with rushes and surrounded by gardens in which young fruit +trees, not yet sufficiently strong to forego the support of poles, +already gave promise of their first harvest of apples and pears. The +village hall and the school-house were distinguished by superior +size and green-glazed tile roofs; nor was a church, with a pointed +belfry and weathercock, missing. For Paul was a model landowner, who +took ample thought for the welfare of his dependents, and as soon as +his means permitted it, had hastened to build a church and appoint a +pastor, providing thereby, at the same time, for one of his numerous +relatives. In his ardent loyalty to his king, he had expressed the +wish to call his village Kaiser-Wilhelm's Dorf, and had received the +desired permission. + +In Kaiser-Wilhelm's Dorf, it was evident, content and comparative +prosperity reigned supreme. Behind every house was a pigsty, behind +nearly every one a cowshed. The men looked strong and hearty; the +women, carrying dinner to their husbands in the fields, or sitting +knitting on the benches in front of their doors, all presented +bright and cheerful faces, and the school would hardly contain the +crowd of flaxen-haired, blue-eyed children, whose rounded cheeks +gave evidence of a never-failing and amply spread dinner-table. + +In the beginning, all this made a vast impression on Wilhelm. As the +struggle with nature is man's real and normal task, he instinctively +feels an emotion almost amounting to joy wherever he comes upon +evidences of victory. But, as usual with Wilhelm, this first +instinctive emotion was followed by the usual fatal speculations, +and he said to himself, "Paul has converted swamps into cornfields, +has enriched himself thereby, and supports some hundreds of +families. Good! but what further? This great achievement has as its +primary result, that people are fed who otherwise perhaps would not +eat so much or so well, or merely would not feed on this spot at +all. But is the filling of one's own and other people's stomachs the +first and highest aim of life?" + +Paul tried hard to interest him in the details of farming. He took +him about, showed and explained everything to him, and finally +brought out his pet scheme--that he should sell the house in Berlin, +and buy instead some marshland near by, which was to be had for a +moderate sum; he would give him a helping hand at first, and as +property of that kind could very well afford a steward, he could +easily get him a first-rate one. They would be neighbors, Wilhelm +would have a larger income and fewer wants, and live in peace and +comfort. Wilhelm was profoundly touched by the affection which was +manifest in Paul's every word and thought, but the prospects he +opened up before him offered him no attractions. + +In July, when the harvest was ripening for the sickle, and man had +nothing to do but leave the sun to its work of brooding on the +fields, Paul went one day to a committee meeting in the town. When +he came home he remarked to Wilhelm at supper: + +"What do you think? They have discovered that I am harboring a +dangerous Social Democrat. The Landrath actually remonstrated with +me on the subject in a discreet and well-meaning way. I can't tell +you how the man amused me," and he laughed again as he recalled the +conversation. But all his amusement vanished when Wilhelm answered: + +"The Landrath was quite right. A political outlaw is very doubtful +company for a man in your position, and I cannot think how I came to +overlook the fact myself." + +In vain did Paul endeavor to turn the matter into a joke; in vain +that he showed himself inconsolable at his stupidity in having told +the story. Wilhelm declared firmly that he must leave his friend, +and bringing his whole force of will to bear upon it, carried his +intention through. + +The next day Paul's carriage took him to Harburg. The parting was +trying to all of them. Paul's leave-taking was prolonged, and he +made his friend promise he would return next year for some weeks at +least to Friesenmoor House. Malvine had tears in her eyes as she +said, "No one will care for you so much as we do." Even little Willy +was downcast, and gazed with a reproachful look at the friend who +could find it in his heart to desert him. As the train moved off he +called out to Wilhelm, in his ringing, childish voice, "Come back +soon, Onkelchen, and bring me something nice." + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +A SEASIDE ROMANCE. + + +Wilhelm's immediate destination was Ostend. He hardly knew himself +how he came to fix on that particular place. Since those days, long +past, when his thoughts had hovered for weeks round the Belgian +watering-place, the name had remained in his mind, and now, with his +desire to spend some months in company with the sea, Ostend was the +first place that occurred to him. + +It was the middle of July, and watering places not very full as yet, +nor were there many people staying at the Ocean Hotel where he +stopped. Two Americans, who had begun a summer tour on the Continent +by a short stay at Ostend, made friends with him on the first day +after his arrival, when they found he could speak English. They +invited him to join them on their walks, and made him give them +information about Germany, and especially about Berlin, which they +intended visiting; in return they told him all about the north coast +of France, with its watering-places, big and little, which they had +"done" last year from Cherbourg to Dunkirk. + +Strolling the next afternoon with his new acquaintances along the +Digue, a few steps in front of them he saw a lady, plainly and +darkly but most elegantly dressed leaning on the arm of a tall man. +They walked slowly, and were evidently lost in contemplation of the +softly rolling sea. At first he paid but little attention to the +couple, and would not have noticed them at all had not the Digue +been very empty of visitors just then. But, strange to say, his gaze +kept wandering from the oily surface of the sea, and the steamers +and fishing-smacks plowing their way through it, to the slender +figure of the lady, who looked small beside her tall companion; and +there gradually dawned upon him a dim idea that that slight figure +reminded him of somebody--that he had seen those delicate contours, +those graceful proportions, that light and gliding gait before. +Without hastening his steps he soon overtook them, and recognized at +the first glance that it was Loulou. She too turned her head +involuntarily to look at the passing trio. As she caught sight of +Wilhelm a sudden pallor overspread her face, and with an unconscious +movement of terror she dropped her companion's arm. Both stood +stockstill, as if suddenly deprived of the power of motion, and +gazed at one another wide-eyed. The silent encounter only lasted a +few seconds, but the play on both sides was so marked that it could +not fail to excite the attention of the lookers-on. Loulou's +attendant cavalier looked in surprise from her to him, and evidently +thought the proceedings most extraordinary. But before he had time +to ask for an explanation, Wilhelm had turned on his heel and was +walking rapidly back to the hotel. The two Americans followed him in +silence. Nothing in the scene had escaped them, but as true Anglo- +Saxons they had too much native reserve to ask for a confidence +which was not offered them. + +Wilhelm was most painfully affected by the encounter, and not for +worlds would he risk the possibility of meeting again with the +unfortunate woman and the man to whom she now was bound in sinful +union. That same day he took leave of his Americans, and left Ostend +early the next morning; at once fearful and relieved, as though +fleeing successfully from the scene of a dark deed of his own +committing. + +After a long and tiresome journey, not made pleasanter by having to +change four or five times, he arrived late in the evening at Eu, +where he spent the night. The next morning, an hour's drive in a +hotel omnibus brought him to Ault, a small market-town in the +department of Somme, which the Americans had recommended to him as +the quietest, cheapest, most unpretending, and at the same time +picturesquely situated of any of the seaside places on the north +coast of France, at least as far as Dieppe. + +Wilhelm found Ault to be all it had been described. The little place +presented a well-to-do, self-respecting appearance. The High Street, +at right angles with the shore, and rising gently toward the higher, +billowy country beyond, was wide and straight as a dart, and +scrupulously clean; the roadway was macadamized, and a flagged +pavement ran along the two rows of houses. At its upper end, broad +and defiant, was a wonderful mediaeval church in the earliest Gothic +style, with high pointed windows, a severely beautiful west door, +and a mighty square tower. The church blocked the way, and forced +the street to make a bend in order to pass round it. This building, +which would have adorned a capital, stood there haughty and arrogant +like a gigantic knight in full tilting armor in the midst of the +common people, and seemed to wave the simple, unpretentious +provincial houses to right and left with a lordly gesture so that +nothing might intercept his view of the sea. Beside the High Street +there were a few little side alleys, mostly inhabited by locksmiths, +who worked with untiring industry from morning till night, keeping +up a cheerful but far from unpleasing din which, mingled with the +roar of the breakers below, reached the ear as a soft musical ring +of metal. The only prominently ugly features in the charming picture +were the few villas on the neighboring heights, built by retired +Paris grocers and haberdashers; liliputian, pretentious, with +blatant, highly-colored facades, ludicrous imitations of baronial +fortresses, Venetian palaces, or Renaissance chateaux. + +The inhabitants of Ault were a peaceable, sober-minded people. No +one was ever drunk, nor was the sound of quarreling ever to be +heard. There were few public-houses; several places, however, +dignified by the name of cafes. The natives were so far accustomed +to summer visitors that they did not take much notice of them, but +happily not so much as to direct their whole thought and energy to +fleecing them. It seemed as if the people of Ault had merely +arranged a bathing place for the purpose of deriving a little +amusement out of the strangers, not in order to make a living out of +them, that being quite unnecessary, as their comfortable figures, +good clothes, and well-filled shops could testify. + +Wilhelm took up his quarters in the Hotel de France, situated just +where the High Street swept round the side of the church. As the +house was separated from the sea by the whole opposite row of +houses, one only caught a glimpse of it as a narrow, glittering +streak across the intervening roofs from the second-floor windows. +The view from the front windows was the more remarkable. They looked +out upon the churchyard which lay behind the Gothic cathedral. Not +that there was anything depressing in the sight; it made, on the +contrary, a cheerful impression, with its carefully tended flower +beds and magnificent old trees, which almost hid the modest +headstones they overshadowed, and in whose branches count less +singing birds had built their nests, while noisy troops of children +played under them at all hours of the day. + +Wilhelm directed his steps at once to this churchyard, where, beside +the modern iron crosses, there were marble headstones showing dates +that went back to the seventeenth century. In the oldest as well as +the newest inscriptions the same name occurred over and over again, +speaking well for the settled habits of the population. And, +according to the inscriptions, most of those buried here had lived +to be eighty or ninety years of age. Had Ault been a professedly +fashionable bathing place, one might have been tempted to think that +this churchyard, with its cheering records in stone and iron of the +longevity of the natives, had been set down in the very center of +the town to encourage the visitors. + +The Hotel de France recommended itself by extreme cleanliness, but +otherwise it was very simple. The rooms contained only such +furniture as was absolutely necessary, the dining-room was bare of +decoration, and therefore happily free of those gruesome colored +prints which the commercial traveller delights to sow broadcast over +the unsuspecting country towns. Only the so-called salon boasted the +luxury of a cottage piano, a polished table, a few cane chairs, and +a looking-glass over the chimneypiece, on which lay a box of +dominoes and a backgammon board, eloquently suggestive of mine +host's ideas as to the most suitable occupation for his guests. + +The hotel proprietors were as simple and homely as their house. The +man wore a seaman's cap and a blue coat with brass anchor buttons, +and was more than delighted if you took him for a seafaring man. He +had, in fact, been to sea once, as ship's cook, or steward, or +something of the sort. Now he sat most of the time in the cafe of +the hotel, supplied the neighbors with little drams of cognac, and +told the visitors endless stories of the buying and selling of +property in the little town. His wife was the soul of the +establishment. She possessed the gift of omnipresence. At one and +the same moment you might see her in the kitchen and in the +outhouses, in the hotel and in the cafe. The servants, of whom there +was a considerable number, answered to a look, a bock of her finger. +You could hear her clear voice from morning till night in the +courtyard or on the stairs. Everywhere she lent a helping hand, and +her busy fingers accomplished as much as all the men and maids put +together. With it all she was never out of temper, always had a word +or a smile for every passer-by, took a personal interest in each of +her guests, took instant notice of a diminished appetite or a pale +cheek, and always sent up lime-flower tea to anybody who happened to +come rather later than usual to breakfast. + +The hotel was pretty full when Wilhelm arrived, but he made no +attempt to mix with the company he met twice a day at the table +d'hote. His French had grown somewhat rusty for want of practice, +and he did not trust himself to join in the exceedingly lively and +general conversation till he had regained something of his old +fluency in long daily talks with the landlord. Beside which, he did +not feel greatly drawn toward his fellowguests. Their high-sounding +and pompously-expressed platitudes bored him, their absurd views on +politics, their parrot-like and yet self-satisfied remarks on +literature and art filled him with compassion. One guest in +particular, who sat at the head of the table, and generally led the +conversation in the loudest tones, succeeded in making him very +impatient, in spite of the mildness with which Wilhelm usually +judged his fellows. He did business in sewing machines in Paris, but +here gave himself out as an "ingenieur constructeur," and belonged +to that class of persons who cannot endure not to be the center of +observation wherever they happen to be. It has been said of a man of +that stamp, that if he were at a wedding he would wish to be the +bridegroom, and if at a funeral to be in the place of the corpse. At +the dinner table of the Hotel de France he reigned supreme. His +strong point lay in the perpetration of the most ghastly puns, which +he would discharge first to the right and then to the left, and +finally, with a roar of laughter, over the whole table. In his +outward appearance, too, he sought to create a sensation. He was not +dressed, he was costumed. He wore long stockings, knickerbockers and +a tight-fitting jacket, and when he stood up, tried to produce +effects with his calves, spread his legs wide apart as if, like the +Colossus of Rhodes, ships were to pass beneath, and affected +sporting and athletic attitudes generally. He was accompanied by a +lady who had at first roused the horrified disgust of the others by +her appetite, which surpassed every known human limit, and then +proceeded to make herself still more hateful by a frequent change of +costume. + +Wilhelm's immediate neighbor was a lady of somewhat exuberant +outline, but extremely plainly dressed, and without a single +ornament, of whom at first he took no more notice than of the rest +of the company. She returned his silent bow at coming and going, and +acknowledged the little attentions of the dinner table--the handing +of salt or entrees, of bread or cider (the table beverage)--with a +low "Merci, monsieur," accompanied by a pleasant smile and an +inclination of the head. The acquaintance began with a look. It was +after a more than usually exasperating pun from the man in the +knickerbockers, and involuntarily their eyes met, after which they +exchanged glances each time he came out with a particularly blatant +piece of idiocy. They could not long remain in doubt that their +opinion on the prevailing conversation was identical, and the +unanimity of their tastes was still further demonstrated by the fact +that the lady was as silent during the meals as Wilhelm. + +The interchange of looks was presently followed by words. It was the +lady who broke the ice by alluding to a somewhat peculiar incident. +It happened to be market day, and Wilhelm had been watching with +interest the cheerful bustle in the High Street, and the new type of +country people: the men with their carts bringing in calves, pigs, +and grain, fine-looking fellows, with tall sturdy figures, and +shrewd, clean-shaven faces above the blue cotton white-embroidered +blouses and severely stiff snow-white shirt collars; and the women +in round dark-brown cloaks reaching to their feet; the drum-beating, +yelling tooth-drawers and patent medicine venders praising their +remedies against tapeworm and ague with incredible volubility, and +the couple of majestic gendarmes in their imposing uniforms, with +yellow leather belts and cocked hats, who found no occasion to +exhibit their stern official side to the noisy, laughing, but well- +behaved crowd. After strolling for awhile among the carts and +people, Wilhelm had caught sight of a large and handsome donkey, had +gone up to him and stroked him, and said a variety of friendly +things to him. + +At dinner, noting that his neighbor was looking about in search of +something, he asked politely: + +"Madame is in want of something?" + +"The water, if you please," said she. + +He handed her the carafe, which was out of her reach; she thanked +him, and, not to let the conversation drop, added with a pleasant +smile: + +"Monsieur seems fond of donkeys?" + +"Indeed!" He answered, surprised. + +"I saw you this morning patting and stroking a splendid donkey." + +He had not thought of it again. + +"Yes, now I remember," he answered, "it was a charming beast, with +wonderfully wise, thoughtful eyes." + +"Do you think so too?" she cried, delighted. "You must know, I have +a special weakness for donkeys, and consider that, next to dogs they +are by far the most intelligent of our domestic animals. They have +such a look of profound wisdom, such stoical philosophy and +resignation, that I feel they are quite a lesson to me." + +Wilhelm could not repress a smile at her lively tone. + +"I should like to think," he said, "that our agreeing in a good +opinion of the donkey is a sign that the ungrateful world has at +last come to a proper appreciation of this ugly fellow-laborer." + +"Ugly?" she exclaimed. "I don't think so at all! Look at his +delicate hoofs, his elegantly-tufted tail, the soft, silvery gray of +his coat with the velvety, black markings, and his ears are very +becoming to him. It is such an injustice always to compare him with +the horse. He is altogether a different type, but quite as handsome +in his way." + +"Then you would whitewash Titania in 'Midsummer Night's Dream?'" + +She laughed "Well, Titania might have done worse. But how is it that +the donkey has come to be the symbol of stupidity?" + +"Perhaps because of his want of spirit, and his perversity." + +"No, I believe it is something else. People found a great, strong +animal that could, if it liked, be just as difficult to manage, and +resist just as well as a horse, and yet was quite content with the +worst of food, required neither stable nor grooming, worked till it +dropped, and never bit or kicked. So they said, an animal that is +strong enough to hurt us, and yet puts up with any kind of +treatment, must necessarily be deadly stupid. That is how it was. +People cannot believe that one may be good-tempered and +uncomplaining and yet have any brains. With them to be wicked and +violent and pretentious is to be clever. If the donkey would refuse +to eat anything but oats and barley, and turned and rent anybody who +annoyed him in the slightest degree, you would see how people would +immediately have the highest respect for his intellect." + +"You seem to have a low opinion of your fellow-creatures, madame?" + +"It is their own fault then," she replied, gazing through the window +into the courtyard. + +After this conversation Wilhelm looked for the first time more +attentively at his neighbor. He had a general impression of her +being tall and stout, with a remarkably clear, bright complexion. +Now he took in the details. In spite of the fullness of her figure +she was slender about the waist, and her small slim hands, with +their tapering fingers and pink nails, retained the purity of their +outline, and had by no means degenerated into mere cushions of fat. +The proudly-poised head was crowned by a wealth of heavy, pale brown +hair with dull gold reflections in it, waving in soft, downy locks +round her forehead. The cheeks were very full but firm, and the well +shaped, boldly modeled nose stood in exactly the right proportion to +the rather large face. The light brown eyes with their remarkably +small pupils were conspicuously lively, and flashed and sparkled +incessantly on all sides. Their expression was extremely intelligent +and generally mocking, and if you looked long at them you gained the +somewhat uncomfortable impression that that cold clear glance could, +on occasion, stab a heart as cruelly as would a dagger. But her most +striking feature was her mouth--a sudden dash of violent coral-red +in the opalescent white of her face. This brutal effect of color +exercised a peculiar fascination and riveted the attention. The eye +lingered upon those lips--so voluptuously, so sinfully full, so +burning, blood-red that in the chastest mind, even a woman's, they +must suggest the image of vampire-like kisses. Take her for all in +all, she was a magnificent creature, this woman of thirty, +overflowing with health and life, in all her triumphant display of +full-blown womanly beauty. Not a man in the hotel but had looked at +her in undisguised admiration, and if they had not yet ventured to +make advances to her, it was because she intimidated them by her +cold hauteur, or by the mocking twinkle of her eye. + +Only for Wilhelm, now that she had really taken notice of him, did +those eyes begin to grow soft and gentle, and when they met his +turned meek and harmless, and, in their apparent innocence, seemed +to plead to him for notice, confidence, instruction. He did not +remain impervious to their influence. It afforded him distinct +pleasure to sit at table beside this beautiful woman and show her +small attentions. On his long walks he caught himself thinking +deeply about her, while the blood coursed with unwonted heat through +his veins. He marked her entrance into the dining room or salon by +his heart stopping suddenly and then racing on in wild, irregular +beats, and if he looked at her the indecorous thought came to him +that it would be a joy to stroke those firm, round cheeks, to pass +one's fingers gently over those swelling lips, but more especially +to bury one's hands in that flood of silken hair. These various +discoveries rather took him aback, and resulted in increasing his +reserve almost to the point of rudeness. He still only met her at +the table d'hote, and never attempted to approach at any other time, +although she had asked him repeatedly if he did not take walks or +make excursions into the country. + +One morning, soon after the conversation about the donkey, he went +down to the beach, where, it being the bathing hour, the whole +visiting population of Ault was assembled. The coast met the sea at +this point as a perpendicular wall of rock a hundred and fifty feet +high, stretching away to the west in an endless line, but on the +east side, sloping gradually down, till about two miles further on, +it lost itself in the flat line of the shore. Where the sweep of the +bare, gray cliff made a slight backward curve, the sea had washed +the shingle together to form a little beach covered with pebbles +from the largest to the smallest size. Here two rows of modest +wooden cabins were erected, which served as bathing houses, and +beside these, a great wooden structure on wheels, not unlike the +enormous house-caravans in which the owners of shows and menageries +and such-like wandering folk travel about from fair to fair. The +French flag fluttering from a pole on the top of the caravan drew +attention to it, and on closer inspection one read above the +entrance--which was approached by a movable wooden staircase--the +proud legend "Casino d'Ault." Yes, Ault actually boasted a casino, +with an entrance fee of ten centimes a head, and in the single room, +which occupied the whole structure, you found a jeu de course, and +other games of hazard, exactly as they had them in the most renowned +and elegant dens of thieves of the fashionable watering places. + +Here, however, nobody went to the dogs. Life on the shore was prim +and patriarchal. Whole families sat or lay about on camp stools or +on traveling rugs, the wives in morning wraps, the husbands smoking +in linen suits; the former occupied with needlework, the latter +reading the newspapers or novels. The young people ran about +barefoot and in bathing costume, or lay at the edge of the water +fishing for shrimps, which they rarely or never caught. There were +merry, noisy groups of bathers in the shallow water near the shore, +splashing one another, shrieking at the approach of the larger +waves, bobbing up and down, and shouting encouragement to the +newcomers, who only ventured timidly and by degrees into the chilly +waters. As very few of the bathers could swim, this all took place +in the close vicinity. + +At first Wilhelm had been rather shocked to see the two sexes +bathing together, and that the girls and married women--coming out +of the sea with their legs and arms bare, and their clinging, wet +bathing dresses revealing the outline of their forms with +embarrassing distinctness--should calmly stroll back to the bathing +houses under the open gaze of the men. For that reason he even +refrained from going to the shore at the bathing hour, or bathing +there himself. By degrees, however, he grew accustomed to it, seeing +that nobody thought anything of it, and that the almost nude figures +disported themselves among their equally unconcerned parents, +relatives, and friends with the naive unconsciousness of South Sea +Islanders. + +As he made his way, not too easily, over the rolling shingle between +the chattering, lazy groups, he saw his neighbor of the table d'hote +sitting, a little apart, on a camp stool under a large dark +sunshade, an open book on her lap, and her eyes fixed on the smooth, +bright surface of the ocean. She noticed Wilhelm, and smiled and +nodded pleasantly, almost before he could bow to her. There was +something of invitation in her nod, which, however, he did not +follow, he could not have said exactly why. Confused, and a prey to +all sorts of undefined emotions, he continued his walk till he +reached the point where the waves, breaking at the very foot of the +cliff, prevented his going any further. As he turned, ho remembered +that he would have to pass her again, and considered if he could not +avoid it by keeping close to the cliff and so get behind her. But +why go out of his way to avoid her? That was driving shyness to the +verge of churlishness. She was friendly toward him, why repay her +kindness by such foolish and uncalled-for reserve? And ashamed, +almost indignant at himself, he came to a sudden determination, and +directed his steps straight toward the lady. She had watched him all +the time, and now smiled to him from afar, as she saw him making for +her. + +When he got up to her he stood still and raised his hat. She saved +him the embarrassment of making a beginning by saying at once in the +most natural tone in the world: + +"How nice of you to come and keep me company for a little while! +Won't you sit down on this plaid?" + +He thanked her, and did as he was bid, seating himself on the thick, +soft rug. His head was shaded by the great parasol, the sun warmed +his knees. + +"Are you a great admirer of the sea?" asked the lady. + +"I hardly know myself yet. I must make its nearer acquaintance +first," answered Wilhelin. + +"I confess that it leaves me quite unmoved. No, not that exactly, +for I am rather vexed at it for giving so many idiots an excuse for +ranting and absurd sentimentality. Now just look at all these people +on the beach. In reality they are bored to extinction, and enjoy the +Boulevards infinitely more than this expanse of water, which is +quite meaningless to them. And yet you have only to mention the +word--the sea--and they will instantly turn up their eyes and start +off repeating the lesson they have learned by rote about their +rapture and enthusiasm, just like a musical box which grinds out a +tune when you press a button at the top. The sea was invented by a +few romantically inclined poets. But I deny that there is any truth +in then rhapsodies; the sea is hopelessly monotonous, and monotony +excludes the possibility of beauty or charm. One has at most the +same feeling for it as for a mirror in which one sees oneself +reflected. The sea is a blank page, which each one fills up with +whatever he happens to have in his own mind, or, if you like it +better, a frame into which one puts pictures of one's own imagining. +I grant that you can dream by the side of the sea, for it does +nothing to disturb your dreams or give them any particular bent or +coloring. But can it give the impulse to thought and emotion like +the eve-changing outlines of mountain and forest? Never! People with +unsophisticated minds know that well enough. The population of the +coast always builds its houses with their backs to the sea. + +"As a defence against the storms," Wilhelm interposed. + +"That may be. But that is not the only reason. It is because the +sight of that eternal waste of waters, without a boundary line, +without the variety or movement of life upon it, bores them, and +they prefer to look out upon the country with all its expressive and +varying outlines." + +"But the expression which you see in a landscape--you put that into +it yourself, by an effort of your own imagination. Forests and +mountains are in themselves as inanimate as the sea." + +"Quite so; but the landscape has features which remind us of +something else, which play, as it were, upon the keyboard of our +associations, and it thus calls up the pictures with which we +proceed to enliven it. The sea does nothing of this, and the best +proof of that is, that no painter has ever yet used the sea by +itself for his model. Did you ever know of an artist who painted +nothing but the sea?" "Yes, Aiwasowky." + +"Who is he?" + +"A Russian who paints extraordinary sea pieces." + +"What! Only water--without shore, or people, or ships?" + +"I remember a picture with absolutely nothing but water, only a +spar, or a mast floating on it." + +"There, you see!" she cried in triumph. "That broken mast is a trick +of the artist. There lies the story. You instantly think of a +wrecked ship; you see men, catastrophes, weeping widows and +sweethearts; the spar becomes the central point of the picture, and +you forget all about the sea. Moreover, the ancients, who surely had +an eye for all that is grand and beautiful, they did not know either +what to do with the sea. They were a magnificent race, healthy- +minded realists--and kept strictly to the evidences of their senses +without adding anything transcendental. The sea only appealed to +their ear. Homer's adjectives for the sea are only expressive of +sound--the resounding, the jubilant, the loud-rushing; hardly more +than once does he allude to the gloomy or the wine-colored sea." + +"You have your classics at your fingers' ends, like any +philologist." + +"That need not surprise you. With regard to the really beautiful, I +have neither pride nor prejudice. Even the fact that the common herd +of the reading public has made a point of praising him for a hundred +years does not prevent me from enjoying a true poet." + +"But if you dislike the sea so much why do you come here?" + +"Oh," laughed the handsome lady, "that is the fault of my doctors. +They sent me to the sea to thin me down, and by their orders I was +to choose a very dull, very remote bathing place, where I should be +sure not to meet any acquaintances. For directly I have friends +about me, I enjoy myself, laugh, talk, and then I get stout again. +Now to-day, for instance, I have acted contrary to my medical +orders--I have had a very pleasant chat with you." + +"You are too kind. You have given everything and received nothing in +return." + +"That is exactly what I like--always to give, never to receive." + +"That is not woman's way usually. But you are very exceptional. +Pardon a possibly indiscreet question--do you write?" + +"Good gracious! Do I look like a blue-stocking?" + +"I never made a distinct picture of that type." + +"You need not be afraid, I am not an authoress. The most I have ever +done in that way was to give a novelist, or a comedy-writer of my +acquaintance, a little help now and then. When they want a lady's +letter, they like me to write it. But you--I suppose you are an +author?" + +"No, madame; I study natural science." + +"A professor then?" + +"No, only an amateur." + +"Ah! And you are French?" + +"I am German." + +"Impossible!" exclaimed the lady. + +"Why impossible?" asked Wilhelm, smiling. + +"You have no accent, and you look--" + +"You probably think that every German has light blue eyes, flaxen +hair, and a long pipe?" + +"That is certainly pretty much how we picture Germans to ourselves +in Spain." + +It was his turn to be surprised. "You a Spaniard?" + +"And how had you pictured a Spanish lady? Of course with jet black +eyes and hair, and a mantilla?" + +Wilhelm nodded. + +"There are fair Spaniards, however, as you see. In fact, it is very +common in our best families--an inheritance perhaps from our Gothic +ancestors." + +"I suppose, like all Latins, you despise the Germans?" + +"I beg, monsieur, that you will not class me with the mass. I wish +to be regarded as an individual. Whatever the prejudices of the +Latins may be, I have my own opinion. Your nationality in a matter +of indifference to me. I only consider the man," and she gave him a +look that sent the blood flaming to his cheek. + +The hotel meals were always announced by a bell which could be heard +quite well on the shore. In the heat of their conversation, however, +they did not notice the signal. A lady's maid whom Wilhelm had often +seen at the hotel--a middle-aged, female dragoon with a mustache and +a very stiff and dignified deportment--now came up to the lady and +said: + +"Madame la Comtesse did not hear the dinner bell?" + +She rose and took Wilhelm's arm without further ado. The maid +followed with the rug and the camp stool. The beach was quite +deserted, everybody having gone to dinner. The tide was rising, and +had nearly covered the strip of beach. The thunder of the waves, +mingled with the rattle of the pebbles which they sucked after them +as they receded, followed the couple as they slowly made their way +back to the hotel. + +On the road home they passed the post office. The maid, whose gentle +name of Anne hardly matched her martial appearance, had hurried on +in front to fetch her mistress' letters and newspapers. She handed +them to the lady, who smilingly tore off the wrapper from her Figaro +and gave it to Wilhelm, saying: "You do not know my name yet?" +Wilhelm read, on the slip of paper: "Madame la Comtesse Pilar de +Pozaldez--nee de Henares." "My father," she added in explanation, +"was Major-General Marquis de Henares." + +"And here is my very plebeian name," returned Wilhelm, pulling out +his card and handing it to her. + +"There are no such things as plebeian names--only plebeian hearts," +said the countess, as she glanced at the card, and then put it away +in her own elegant tortoise-shell case, which bore her monogram and +crest in gold and colored enamel. + +The acquaintance was now fully established, and after dinner the +countess invited Wilhelm, in the most natural manner possible, to +accompany her on a walk into the country. + +The surroundings of Ault were very pretty. Emerald-green meadows +alternately with a few cornfields decked the gentle billowy uplands, +which sloped away abruptly toward the sea. Trees stood separately or +in groups reaching to the edge of the cliff, over which many of them +bent their storm-disheveled heads and gazed into the waves below. +Here and there were small inclosed woods, and it was at the edge of +one of these, about a quarter of a mile walk from the town, that the +countess seated herself on a mossy bank in the shade. Wilhelm sat +down beside her on the gnarled root of a tree; Anne was sent home, +to return in two hours' time, but Fido was allowed to remain. He was +a silvery-white sheepdog with a sharp muzzle, stiff little pointed +ears, and a bushy tail curling tightly over his back. He had +attached himself to Wilhelm from the first moment, and gave vent to +his delight when caressed by having a severe attack of asthmatic +coughing, puffing and blowing. + +"You live in Paris, do you not?" asked the countess after they had +exchanged remarks on the scenery. + +"No," returned Wilhelm, "up till now I have lived in Berlin, but I +had to leave for political reasons, and now I am a sort of vagrant +without any actual home." + +"Ah--a political refugee!" cried the countess. "How charming! Of +course you will take up your abode in Paris now--that is the sacred +tradition with all political exiles. Yes, yes--you must; beside, how +horrid it would have been to part after a few weeks and go our +separate ways--you to the right, I to the left--and with only the +consoling prospect of meeting again some day beyond the stars! So +you will come to Paris, and if you have any intention of getting up +a revolution in Germany, I beg that you will count me among your +confederates. You need not laugh--Paris is swarming with Spanish +refugees of all parties, and I have had plenty of opportunity of +gaining experience in the planning of conspiracies." + +"I have no such ambition," answered Wilhelm, smiling, "and am, in +any case, no politician, although I enjoy the distinction of being +an exile." + +"Shall you take up any profession in Paris? I have connections--" + +"You are very good, Madame la Comtesse. You will perhaps think less +of me, but I have no actual profession." + +"Think less of you. On the contrary, to have no profession is to be +free--to be one's own master. Any one who is forced to earn his +living must, of course, have a profession. But it is never anything +but a necessary evil. It is only pedantic people who look upon it as +an object of life. At most, it is a means to an end." + +"And what do you consider to be the real object of life?" + +"Can you ask? Why, happiness of course!" + +"Happiness--certainly. But then each one of us has a different +conception of happiness. To one it is knowledge, to another the +fulfilling of duty, to lower natures wealth and worldly honors. +Therefore, it is possible to imagine that some one may find +happiness in pursuing a profession." + +"Oh, no, my dear Herr Eynhardt, those are the mistaken views of +gloomy and limited natures who are incapable of recognizing the true +object of life. There are no two ideals of happiness--there is but +one." + +"And that is?" + +"To wish for something very, very much--and get it." + +"Even if it is something foolish?" + +"Even then." + +"And even if one should lose if afterward?" + +She gazed for a while into the distance in silence and then said +firmly--"Yes, even then." And after a pause she added--"You have, at +least, had a moment of absolute happiness--when you found your wish +fulfilled. And what more do you want? One only lives to experience +such moments." + +"Unfortunately, your theory of happiness does not fit every case. +Where is the happiness to come from for one who has no wishes at +all, or who wishes for something unattainable--perfect +understanding, for instance?" + +"A human being without a wish--is there such a thing?" + +"Yes, Madame la Comtesse, there is." + +"You perhaps?" she asked quickly. + +"Perhaps," Wilhelm returned. + +"Then you are not in love?" she said, and let her brilliant eyes +rest upon his melancholy face. + +He shook his head gently without looking at her, as if ashamed of +the want of gallantry in such a confession. + +"But at least you were once?" she persisted eagerly. + +"Have I ever really been in love? Perhaps--Or no, I do not know +myself." + +"Thankless creature! You hesitate--you are not sure! How shameful of +you to deny the gods you have once worshiped! But that is the way +with you men. If you cease to love, you will not admit that you ever +had loved. Tell me, was there ever a moment in your life when you +could have answered my question--'Are you in love?'--with an +unqualified Yes?" + +"Yes, I have known such a moment. But, looking back upon it now--" + +"No, no, you were quite right then and you are wrong now. That is +just your great mistake. You imagine that one can only love once, +and that love, to be real, must last forever. My poor friend, +nothing lasts forever, and the truest love is sometimes as +perishable as the loveliest rose--the most exquisite dream. But it +is not to say that because it is over we are to deny that it ever +existed. You may not feel anything now, but that is no reason for +declaring that you did not feel it then. You thought you were in +love, and therefore you were. It is sophistry to try to persuade +oneself of the contrary in after days." + +"You are a brilliant advocate of your views, Madame la Comtesse, but +nevertheless may one take a momentary delusion--" + +"Delusion' And who shall say, my German philosopher, if our whole +existence may not be a delusion?" + +"Ah, there you drive my philosophy very hard," murmured Wilhelm. + +"Never been in love?" exclaimed the countess, and her lustrous hazel +eyes flashed, "why you would be a monster. I suppose you are nearly +thirty'" + +"Nearly thirty-five." + +"I congratulate you, Herr Eynhardt, I should have taken you for at +least five years less But whether thirty or thirty-four, it would be +culpable to have reached that age without having been in love. For +you surely are not--a disciple of Abelard." + +At this point-blank question Wilhelm reddened and cast down his eyes +like the boy he really was in some respects. She observed his +embarrassment, not without secret amusement. + +"But seriously," she went on, "your little bit of love is the best +there is about you men. No, it is the only good thing, the only +thing that makes your bluntness, your selfishness, your want of +sentiment bearable." + +"Yes, so the women say. They see nothing in the whole world or in +life but love. They judge men solely according to their capacity +for, or their zeal in, loving. And yet it takes more strength and +manliness to resist love than to give way to it. They only care for +men who are slaves to that passion. I admire those chaste and +saintly men who have been able to cast off the bonds of the flesh. +The highest point of the human mind is only reached by him who has +never suffered himself to be dragged down by his senses. Christ +taught the denial of the flesh both in precept and example. Newton +never knew a woman." + +"I know nothing about Newton," she retorted, "but Christ had a +feeling heart for the Magdalen and the adulteress. Beside, Christ +was a God, and I am speaking of ordinary mortals, and it is only +through woman, through your love of woman, that you become heroes +and demigods." + +"No," Wilhelm answered bluntly, "it is woman who drags man down to +the level of the beasts. We have a German fairy tale in which a bear +becomes human as soon as he embraces a woman. In real life it is +just the opposite. The knowledge of woman, the lust of the flesh, +transforms man into a beast. You know the classics so well and are +so fond of them--there is no apter allegory than the story of +Semele, who desired once to see her lover, Jupiter, without the +weaknesses and infirmities of the flesh--as the Lord of High Heaven- +-and perished at the sight." + +"Very well," said she softly, "you may despise me and say I am like +Semele. I prefer a warm-hearted, loving beast to an icy-cold and +proud philosopher. Anyhow, I am very fond of animals," and, lost in +dreamy thought, she stroked Fido, who began to gasp and choke with +delight, and eagerly licked the caressing hand. After a pause she +resumed slowly--"I should never have thought you were such a +desperate woman-hater. You have heaped insult on my sex and +consequently on me. I expect you to make reparation for that by-- +being very nice to me." + +She looked him deep in the eyes and stretched out her hand, which he +seized in confusion and pressed. Suddenly he let it drop. The +countess looked up in surprise, and following Wilhelm's gaze, she +caught sight of the hotel wit and his lady coming along the deep +pathway that ran round the foot of the wooded hill, on the slope of +which they were sitting. + +"Oh,--what do these common people matter?" exclaimed the countess in +a tone of vexation. "And what is the harm, if they do see us? They +will only boast, when they get back to their shop in Paris, that +they saw a great lady in Ault." + +But for all that, the dangerously sweet spell of the moment was +broken, and did not return before Anne arrived, whom Fido ran +sneezing and wriggling to meet. + +For the rest of the day Wilhelm was silent and thoughtful, seeming +to awake from a dream each time the countess spoke to him at dinner. +She was perfectly aware of what was going on in him, and sought by +looks, words, and manner to increase the effects of the afternoon's +conversation. When the meal was over she took Wilhelm's arm again +and asked--totally unconcerned that the rest of the company +exchanged glances--"What are you going to do this evening?" + +"I thought of taking a little walk on the shore," he stammered +shyly. + +"Oh, selfish creature!--and leave me all alone, though I might be +bored to death? No, come up to my room. You have never paid me a +visit yet. Anne will get us some tea, and we can talk." + +The countess had two rooms on the first floor, most plainly +furnished, without a carpet or a single decoration on the walls. One +of the rooms served as bedroom, the other as salon. At least it +contained no bed, but a chaise longue instead, a rocking chair, and +a table with a jute cover. The countess was inwardly much amused at +Wilhelm's timorous hesitation in crossing her threshold. She +relieved him of his hat and gave it to Anne, who hung it on a nail +with the utmost gravity, but could not refrain from casting a +curious glance at Wilhelm from time to time. + +When the tea was on the table, and Anne had discreetly retired into +the bedroom, closing the door behind her, the countess began: "As we +are to become friends--no, we are friends already; tell me, you are +my friend, are you not?"--she held out her hand, which he pressed +warmly and retained in his--"you ought to know who I am and how I +live. I will tell you the whole truth--I never lie, it is so vulgar +and cowardly. The worst that can be said of me, you shall hear out +of my own mouth. And still I hope that, after you have heard all, +you will not feel less kindly disposed toward me than before." + +She moistened her blood-red lips in the tea without leaving hold of +his hand. + +"I am married. My husband, Count Pozaldez, is Governor of the +Philippine Islands. I have lived for years in Paris. The count had +the post given to him in order to put a few thousand miles between +him and me. We have no divorce in Spain, and that was the only way +of insuring to me a little peace and freedom." She took another +little sip. "From this you will understand," she went on, "that I am +not happily married. You must know that I am an only child. My +father, the Marquis de Henares, idolized me. He was a soldier +through and through, very stern and reserved toward everybody, even +my mother, who never really understood his rare nature. Only to me +he showed his heart of gold, his high and noble character, his deep +feeling--a prickly pear, outside rough and inside honey-sweet. He +brought me up as if I was to be a cabinet minister, and treated me +like a beloved comrade from the time I was twelve, so that my mother +was often jealous of me. When I grew up, he would sometimes say, +'Whoever wants to marry my Pilar will have to fight with me first.' +And he meant it. You probably know that we develop early in Spain. +At sixteen I was not very different from what I am now. Count +Pozaldez was a young lieutenant of cavalry, and my father's +adjutant. Of course we saw a good deal of one another, and he soon +began to behave as if he were madly in love with me. I was not +averse to him, for he was young, handsome, and aristocratic. And +what else does a girl of sixteen look for? I naturally had no +difficulty in understanding his glances and his sighs, but it went +on for months without his making me a formal proposal. One day he +wrote me a letter eight pages long, in which he informed me that, as +he possessed nothing in the world but his sword, he dared not +venture to lift his eyes to the heiress of the richest landowner in +Old Castile; beside that, he was not worthy of me, only a king could +be that--the wretch! But I will come back to that later on. On the +other hand, however, he could not live without me, and if I did not +return his love he was resolved to put a bullet through his brain. +Of course I instantly saw him with a bullet-hole in his forehead, +and shed tears for the poor young man. I did not want anybody to die +for my sake. I pictured to myself how beautiful it would be to make +a young man, without fortune or position, with nothing but his love +for me, happy, rich, and great by the gift of my hand. I showed the +letter to my mother, and asked her what was to be done. She at once +took up the young man's cause. My soul would most assuredly fall a +prey to the devil if I let poor Pozaldez kill himself. He was of +good family, and would soon make his way as the son-in-law of the +Marquis de Henares. I must unquestionably do something to raise his +spirits. My mother's advice coincided with my own feelings. I +allowed the count a secret interview, and he had permission to ask +my father for my hand. He did so in fear and trembling. He was +dismissed with scorn and contumely. My mother and I then used all +our influence to turn my father, and--I was married to Count +Pozaldez before I was seventeen." + +She was silent for a little while, and then went on: "I will make my +story short. One year afterward, when I was in bed with my first +child, he brought his mistresses to the house. I was determined to +leave him on the spot. My mother brought about a reconciliation. +Soon after that he began to ill-treat me. I suffered that in silence +too, to avoid a public scandal, and more particularly for my +father's sake. He would have killed him if he had known. Later-- +later--I must tell it you, so that you may grasp the whole +situation--the villain did all he could to direct King Amadeo's +attention to me--he had just come to Madrid. When I noticed his base +schemes--as I could not fail to do--that put the finishing touches. +I gave him the choice between a scandalous lawsuit, which would have +deprived him of my fortune, and voluntary banishment by accepting +some government post across the sea with half my income. He finally +chose exile and the money, and I was free. I left Madrid and settled +in Paris. You can imagine the circumstances--a young woman of +twenty-three--alone, whose life could not possibly be filled by the +care of two little children." + +"Two children?" asked Wilhelm. + +"Yes," she answered, and hung her head. + +"There is cowardice of which even a courageous woman will be guilty +when, out of consideration for public opinion, she continues to live +under one roof with the father of her first child. And then--you +must take me as I am, with all my imperfections, for which some good +qualities may perhaps make up." + +She looked at him humbly, with the eyes of an imploring child, and +continued in a low voice: + +"The Spanish colony in Paris received me with open arms. There was +no end to the entertainments, soirees and theaters. But can that +satisfy a young and embittered woman thirsting for happiness? Of +course I received a great deal of attention. An attache of our +embassy succeeded in attracting me. I swear to you that I struggled +long with him and myself, but his passion was stronger than my +powers of resistance." + +Wilhelm would have drawn away his hand, but she held it fast, and +went on hurriedly. + +"I have finished. For four years I shared his life, and then +discovered that I had deceived myself a second time, and put an end +to a connection which had lost the excuse of sincerity For two years +now I have been free--for two years my heart has been at rest. Tell +me, can you condemn me now that you know all?" + +"It is not for me to judge you," said Wilhelm sadly. "All I think is +that you have had a great deal of misfortune in your life." + +"Yes, have I not?" cried the countess eagerly. + +"Do not misunderstand me. You had the misfortune to make a mistake +in thinking you loved Count Pozaldez." + +"How should a sixteen-year-old child know? The first passably good- +looking, well-bred man who flatters her wins her heart." + +"That is only too true. But if a young girl throws away her heart so +lightly, she has no right to complain if she has to repent of it for +the rest of her life." + +"But that is a terrible theory!" exclaimed the countess, and dropped +his hand "What? One wakes to a knowledge of the world and of life-- +one is wretched, one sees that there is such a thing as happiness, +and how it may be obtained, and one is not to stretch out a hand to +grasp it? You would really be so cruel as to say to a woman--young, +and in need of love--in childish ignorance and folly you were guilty +of a mistake, all is over for you, abandon all claims to love and +hope, sunshine and life, pass your years in mourning, and bury +yourself alive, you have no further right to share in the joys of +life?" + +Wilhelm left her string of passionate questions unanswered, and +continued the thread of his former discourse: + +"But most certainly an older and more sensible woman, who should +have learned wisdom from a first error, has no right to be guilty of +a second one." + +"Oh, how hard you are!" murmured the countess. + +"What would you have?" said Wilhelm. Then with a sudden inspiration: +"A woman has every right to love; but then you have loved--twice," + +"No, no, not even once. I thought so perhaps, but--" + +"But, according to your own assertion this afternoon, one has been +in love really if only one seriously believes one is. And it is +thankless to deny one's love later on. Do not contradict yourself." + +"And you, monsieur le philosophe," she returned, raising her head, +and her burning gaze encompassed him as with a circle of fire, "do +you not contradict yourself too? A little while ago you were +demonstrating to me that you were a part of nature, and that unknown +natural forces were at work within you, directing all you did, and +to-day you extol the mortification of the flesh, which certainly has +nothing to do with your unknown natural forces." + +He was going to reply, but she laid her soft hand upon his mouth. + +"Oh, please, monsieur le philosophe, do not prove to me that I am +wrong. Be indulgent to my inconsistencies, as well as to everything +else, I know I am full of contradictions. I am no German +philosopher. But nature too is full of contradictions--first day, +then night--now summer, now winter. But in spite of it all I can be +very consistent and true to myself in a question of real +importance." + +Wilhelm drew away from the hand that caressed his lips and cheek, +and said, averting his eyes: + +"You are a beautiful woman, and have a most exceptional mind, and it +must be happiness indeed to be loved by you, but in order that that +happiness might be full, one would have to love you in return, and +there are men--I do not know whether to call them too proud or too +fastidious--who can only love with their whole heart or not at all, +and who cannot endure that the woman they love should treasure +another image or other memories in her life." + +"Stop, my friend, stop!" cried the countess. "You do not realize +what you are saying. That comes of your pride and vanity. You always +want to be the first--to write your names at the head of a blank +sheet. Why? Is the conquest of a silly, ignorant girl more +flattering than that of a woman of sense, who can compare and judge? +Is not your triumph a thousand times greater when a disappointed, +deeply-skeptical woman lays her heart at your feet, and says--'You I +will trust, you will bring me healing and happiness'--than when a +young girl gives you her love because you happen to be the first man +who asks for it? Other images!--other memories! Do you know so +little of a woman's heart? Do you imagine that the past exists for +us when real true love comes upon us? We see nothing in the whole +world but the one man, we cannot believe that our heart has not +always beat for him, and we are firmly persuaded that we have always +known and always loved him and him alone." + +The eyes that gazed at him glowed with maenad-like desire, and +bending suddenly she covered his hand with lingering, burning +kisses, + +Wilhelm passed his hand soothingly over the masses of her silky +hair, and it flashed across him how much he had once wished to be +able to do so, and now his wish was fulfilled. Was fulfilled desire +really happiness, as this beautiful woman asserted? His heart beat +loud and fast; he was conscious of emotions long unfelt, and--yes, +these emotions were pleasant ones. + +He moved as if to rise, but she clung to his arm to hold him back. +He pointed to the door of the room from which Anne might appear at +any moment. + +"Do have a little more pride of spirit," said the countess; "one +does what one likes, without caring what the servants think." + +"Let me go," he entreated, and stroked her beautiful hair. + +"Why?" + +"It is late, and the air in here is close. I should like to take a +turn by the sea. Please--" + +She looked at him, and a mysterious smile played about her full +lips; she dropped his arm. + +He hastened away toward the shore, where the waves were rolling in, +rattling the pebbles and striking the cliff with dull, heavy thuds. +The August night was mild and full of stars, and there was scarcely +a breath of wind. The tide was rising, wave after wave rolled in, +fell over, and swept up the beach in a thin white sheet of foam. +Further out the sea was calm and deserted, only in the extreme +distance the lights of some passing steamer crept over the smooth +dark waters like tiny glowworms. + +Wilhelm's mind was in a tumult. This woman--what a strange, +terrifying creature. Why was she throwing herself at his head? And +who knows if only at his? And then--what need to tell him her story? +Perhaps it was a wild, insane flare of passion; but how could he +have roused it? There was nothing in him to account for it. And she +did not know him--knew nothing about his life or his character. She +was beautiful certainly--beautiful and alluring, and clever and +original--a most exceptional woman. She might well be able to disarm +a man of his self-control, and paralyze his will. But after that-- +what then? How would it end? Better not begin--not begin. That would +be the wisest ending. + +He left the shore and returned to the hotel. The view before him was +remarkable. At the further end of the street rose the church, its +Gothic flourishes outlined sharply against the lighter background of +the sky. Just behind it stood the full moon, tracing--as if for its +amusement--the silhouette of the roof of the church tower upon the +ground. Where the shadow of the church ended, the moon poured its +silvery light in a broad flood over the street, and further off +painted, with, a bold stroke of the brush, a glittering streak of +white light across the sea, away to the semi-transparent mists on +the horizon. + +Passing first through the shimmering light, and then through the +black shadow of the church, Wilhelm reached the hotel, where the +lights were already extinguished. Without lighting the candle, which +he found ready for him at the foot of the stairs, he mounted to his +room. He was surprised, on reaching the door, to find Fido lying in +front of it, his nose resting on his outstretched paws. + +"I suppose they have shut you out, and you want a night's lodging +with me," said Wilhelm; "very well, I won't refuse you my +hospitality--come in." + +He opened the door and let the dog pass in before him, then +followed, pushed the bolt, and put the candlestick down on the +table. Suddenly two cool, bare arms were laid about his neck, and +his startled cry was smothered by the pressure of two burning lips +upon his own. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +IN THE HORSELBERG + + +The good landlady of the Hotel de France was not a little surprised +next morning when Wilhelm came down to the kitchen and informed her +that he must leave that forenoon. And when very soon afterward Anne +appeared, and announced in her stiffest, most impenetrable manner +that Madame la Comtesse desired two places, for herself and her +maid, in the hotel omnibus which went to the station at Eu, the +landlady remarked, "Indeed!" and there was a liberal interchange of +meaning glances in the kitchen. + +At no price would Wilhelm remain at Ault. The countess, who liked +the place well enough, begged, entreated, and pouted in vain. He was +not to be persuaded. He protested that he knew himself too well to +think that he would be capable of keeping up the appearance of +reserve toward her which decency demanded. And he need not, she +declared; she considered herself free to do as she pleased, and. so +was he; their love did not interfere with their duty toward anybody, +and so it was immaterial if people found it out and talked about it. + +Her utter disregard for the trammels of convention, her cool +contempt for the opinion of others, filled him with horror. + +"No, no, I could not look one of them in the face again." + +"But do you suppose that these people are any better? You surely +don't imagine that the man with the calves and his ravening wolf are +married?" + +"How can you say such things!" + +"Why, you big baby, one can see that at a glance. He is far too nice +to her for her to be his legitime." + +"That may be. At all events he has had so much consideration for +outward appearance as to pass the person off as his wife. But we +made our acquaintance here, under their very eye." + +"Wilhelm!"--from her lips the name sounded more like Gwillem--"I +should not know you for the same person. Why, where is your boasted +philosophy and stoicism to which you were going to convert me? Is +that your indifference to the world and its hypocritical ways, its +prejudices and its sneers?" + +She was quite right. He was untrue to his principles, but he could +not do otherwise. He had had the courage to decline the duel with +Herr von Pechlar, but he had not the boldness to let the foolish +gossips of the table d'hote be witnesses of his new love-making. +Why? For the very simple reason that, in his heart of hearts, he +disapproved of his liaison with Pilar. + +As he would not give in, the countess resigned herself to what she +called his "schoolgirl crotchet," and they traveled together to St. +Valery-en-Caux, another little seaside place several hours' journey +from Ault. + +Here they took rooms together at a hotel, and wrote themselves down +as man and wife. The countess' letters were forwarded by the +postmistress at Ault under cover to Anne. The only thing that +disturbed Wilhelm's peace of mind was the presence of Anne. Her +manner was just as impassive, her face as solemn as before, and she +never showed that she noticed any change in her mistress way of +life. But it was just this cold-blooded acceptance of facts which +must at the very least excite her remark that upset him so much, and +every time Anne came into the room and found him with Pilar, he was +as much ashamed as if she had surprised him in some cowardly and +wicked deed. Did he happen to be sitting beside her on the sofa, he +started as if to jump up; if he had hold of her hand, he dropped it +on the spot. Pilar noticed it, of course, and thought it an +excellent joke. She was herself perfectly unconcerned before Anne, +and put no constraint on herself whatever in her presence. On the +contrary, she thought it great fun to throw her arms round Wilhelm +when the maid came and he attempted to move away, or she would +tutoyer him and kiss him to her face, and was intensely amused at +his embarrassed and miserable air as he suffered her caresses, +though not without a stolen gesture of objection. His shyness was +not unobserved by Anne's quick though furtive eyes, and she owed him +a grudge for wishing to exclude her from his secret. + +But with the exception of the discomfort caused him by this silent +witness, his happiness was unalloyed. He lived in a constant rapture +of the senses, and Pilar took good care that he should not awake +from it. She never left him to himself, except during the two hours +in the morning which she devoted to her toilette. It was her +peculiar habit to steal away in the early morning while Wilhelm was +still asleep, and repair noiselessly to the dressing-room, where +Anne was already waiting, and where she gave herself up into the +skilled hands of the maid, who kneaded her, washed and rubbed her, +and treated her hands, feet, and hair with consummate art, and the +aid of an army of curious instruments and an exhaustive collection +of cosmetics. She would then appear to wake Wilhelm with a kiss. On +opening his eyes it was to see her in the full glory of her beauty, +with the flush of health upon her cheeks, with rosy fingers, her +skin cool, soft and perfumed, her eyes bright, her lips smiling, and +her magnificent hair in order. But from that moment onward she was +always about him, nestling close to him when they were alone, her +eyes on his when they walked arm in arm through the streets. + +In the morning she bathed in the sea while Wilhelm sat on the shore +and watched her. She swam like a fish; he could not swim at all. She +pledged her word to make him equally proficient in a few days, but +her superiority made him feel small, and he would not accept her +offer. For twenty minutes she practiced her art in the water, lay on +her back and on her side, turned somersaults, dived, trod the water +and finally came out, like Venus newly risen from the waves, and +joined Wilhelm, who was waiting for her with her bath-mantle. He +enveloped her in its soft folds, she roguishly shook the drops of +water off her rosy finger-tips into his face and hurried to her +bathing house without a glance for the spectators who had been +watching her graceful play in the water, and devoured her with their +eyes when she came on dry land. + +The rest of the day was filled up by long walks broken by delightful +rests under the shade of cornricks on grassy hillslopes beside some +purling brook. Then Pilar would sit on the rug or the camp stool, +while Wilhelm lay at her feet with his head in her lap caressed by +the little hands that played with his hair or wandered softly over +his face, resting fondly on his lips for him to kiss. If there were +flowers within reach, she would pluck a quantity and strew his head +and face with the fresh petals, while he gazed alternately into the +blue summer sky and the bright brown eyes above him, or even closed +his own for quarters of an hour of delicious dreaming. Then +everything outside his immediate surroundings would fade from his +mind, and he would be conscious only of what was nearest to him, the +faint scent of ylang-ylang that hovered round the beautiful woman, +her smooth, caressing fingers, and the low sound of her deep, +regular breathing. + +"You are so handsome," she whispered in his ear on one such +occasion, and bending over him to kiss him; "do you know, I shall +draw your portrait." + +"Can you draw?" he asked, raising himself on his elbow. + +"I hardly know whether I ought to say yes," she returned, with an +arch, self-conscious smile that belied the humility of her tone. +"But you shall see." + +"Very well," said he, "and while you are drawing my portrait I shall +draw yours." + +"Bravo!" she cried, and wanted to go home at once, so that they +might begin. + +As was his custom, Wilhelm had all that was needful in his big +trunk, and could supply Pilar with materials. The next afternoon +they set to work. They established themselves in the middle of a +great meadow, committing thereby an extreme act of trespass, and +making their way to it over a ditch, a low wall, and through a +blackberry hedge. Here no prying eye would annoy them, their sole +and most discreet spectator being Fido, and he was generally asleep. + +Pilar had a drawing-block and used a pencil, Wilhelm sketched his +picture on a page of a large album in colored chalks like a pastel. +She kept trying to peep at his work, but he would not allow it, and +insisted on their making a compact not to look at one another's work +of art till it was finished. Two sittings sufficed, however, and the +portraits could be exchanged. Pilar gave a cry of surprise when +Wilhelm handed her his picture. + +"How strange that we should have had almost the same idea." + +She was represented as a Sphinx, after the Greek rather than the +Egyptian conception. A voluptuous, soft, round, feline body, +graceful, cruel paws, a wonderful bosom as if hewn out of marble, +and above it all Pilar's regally poised head with its crown of +shimmering gold hair, shrewd eyes, and blood-red vampire lips. +Between her forepaws she held a little trembling mouse in which +Wilhelm's features were cleverly indicated, and she looked down upon +her victim with a smile in which there was something of a foretaste +of the joy of tearing a quivering creature to pieces and sucking its +warm blood. + +Pilar's drawing was a very good likeness of Wilhelm as Apollo in +Olympian nudity, handsome, slender and vapid, in its resemblance to +school copies of the antique. A charming little cat with Pilar's +features was rubbing herself against his leg. The pussy blinked up +at the young Greek god with an expression of adoration, half-comic, +half-touching, while he bent his head and gazed down at her +thoughtfully. Pilar took the sheet from Wilhelm's hand and compared +it with hers. + +"They are exactly the same," she said at last, "only that they are +entirely the opposite of one another. Do you really feel that I am +as you have drawn me?" + +"Yes," he answered in a low voice. + +"How unjust you are to yourself and to me--I a Sphinx and you a +frightened mouse! To begin with, the Sphinx-cat did not condescend +to mice, but occupied herself with men, and humbled herself before +the right one when he came." + +"You are decidedly too learned for me," laughed Wilhelm. + +"No, no, seriously, it hurts me that you should regard our relations +in that light. Am I not at your feet? Am I not your slave, your +chattel, your plaything, what you will? Have I not chosen you to be +lord and master over me? Am I a riddle to you? My love for you is +the solution of any mystery you may find in me. Or do you accuse me +of cruelty? That could only be in fun, you bad man." + +"You take a mere playful idea too tragically, dearest Pilar. The +character of your head suggested it to me, that was all. And then--" + +"And then?" + +"Well, if you must know it, the fearless, what shall I say, Amazon- +like manner in which you seized upon a man and took possession of +him, body and soul." + +"Did I do that?" + +He nodded. + +"And you are mine?" + +He nodded again. + +"Tell me so, dearest, only love--say it." + +He did not say it, but he kissed her. + +"It is quite true," she remarked after a short pause, "I did take +possession of you. That was unwomanly, but I could not help it. You +are a cold-blooded German, and different from any man I ever knew +before. You did not know how to appreciate the good fortune that +befell you when chance set you down at my side in that dreary little +hole. You abominable creature, for a whole fortnight you took not +the slightest notice of me; you sat there beside me like a block, +and never so much as looked at me. For a long time I did not know +what to make of you. At first I tried to think you as ridiculous as +the other idiots round the table, but I could not, try as I would. +Your ugly owlish face had made too great an impression on me. And +then I was annoyed by your reserve, and when I used to see you stalk +in, looking so haughty, and you bowed so coldly to me and remained +so distant, I thought to myself--just wait, monsieur the iceberg, +some day you will be at my feet begging for love, and then it will +be my turn to be proud, and I shall be triumphant." + +"There you see the Sphinx and the mouse." + +"Oh, but it all happened quite differently. I spoke first, I made +you every sort of advance; and what did you do? You held forth to me +on the mortification of the flesh. You ought to be ashamed of +yourself. And even when I saw that love was burning in your eyes, +you remained stiff-necked and tried to run away from me. If I was +set upon happiness, I found I must take it by force. I know you +better now. You were capable of never confessing your love to me, of +never asking anything of me. Am I right or not, tell me?" + +"You are right," he murmured. + +"But that would have been a sin--a deadly sin, a capital crime +against the High Majesty of Nature. What! Fate takes the trouble to +think out the most improbable combinations, sets the most +complicated machinery in motion to bring us together; it drags you +out of the depths of Germany, and me from Castile, and brings us to +a little hotel in a little village in Picardy, the very name of +which was unknown to either of us a short time before; we instantly +feel that we are made for one another and are certain to be happy +together, and yet all these exertions on the part of Fate are to +have been in vain? Never! Our paths crossed each other at a single +point, for a moment they were united, it depended on us whether they +should always remain so. And I was to let you go, never to meet +again on this side of eternity? It was not possible, and as you were +so clumsy, or so timid, or so self-torturing--" + +She finished the sentence with a long kiss, at which he closed his +eyes once more, and shut out everything but its flame. + +Was it calculation, was it her natural instinct?--suffice it to say +that Pilar never by any chance alluded in their conversations to her +past. She was fond of talking, and talked a great deal, and her +conversation was always startling, original and vivacious; her power +of imagination as lively as her sparkling eyes, springing from the +nearest object to the furthest, from the ordinary to the sublime, +but never one word escaped her which might remind Wilhelm that she +had gone through confessed and unconfessed experiences of every +kind, and reached the turning-point of her existence without him. +Her life, it would appear, had only begun with the moment at which +he had risen upon her horizon. What went before that was torn out of +the book of memory--one scarcely noticed the gaps where the pages +were missing. She did all she could to make him forget that she was +a stranger to him, and to strengthen in him the delusion that she +belonged to him, that she was one with him, that it had always been +so. She took possession of his past, she crept into his ideas and +sentiments; she wanted to know everything about him, down to the +smallest details. He must tell her about every day, every hour of +his existence; she made the acquaintance of his entire circle of +friends; she loathed Loulou, she adored Schrotter, she went into +raptures over gentle, refined Bhani, she smiled at Paul Haber and +his well-dressed Malvine, and her inventive grandmamma; she +determined to send good Frau Muller (who had looked after Wilhelm +for ten years like a mother) a beautiful Christmas present. She +could make personal remarks on all his friends and acquaintances, +and her only trouble was that she knew no German. What would she not +have given to be able to read the letters he wrote or received, to +converse with him in his mother-tongue! She loved and admired the +French language, which, although she retained the ineradicable +accent of her country, she spoke as fluently as Spanish; but now, +for the first time, she felt something akin to hatred against it for +being the one remaining barrier--certainly a very slight and +scarcely perceptible one--between herself and Wilhelm, which forever +drew his attention to the fact that she was not naturally a part of +his life, and prevented their absolute union, the growing together +of their souls. She therefore determined to learn German as soon as +she returned to Paris, and, if need be, to stay for some length of +time in Germany in order to master the language quickly and +thoroughly. + +She thought and spoke much of the future, and in all her dreams, +plans, and resolves Wilhelm was always, and as a matter of course, +the central figure and sharer of her life. In him her life found its +consummation she had him fast, and would never let him go. + +Her love was a curious mixture of ardent passion and melting, +sentimental tenderness. At one moment the Bacchante, drinking long +draughts of love and life from his lips, at another, the innocent +girl who sought and found a chaste felicity in the mere rapturous +contemplation of the man she adored. The longer she knew him, the +deeper she penetrated into his character, the more did the Bacchante +recede and yield her place to the Psyche. The allegory of Wilhelm's +pastel seemed wrong, her own drawing right. She was no bloodthirsty +Sphinx revelling in human victims, but a harmless little cat purring +against the side of the young god. She was diffident, eager to +learn, slow to contradict. She broke herself of her paradoxes, and +concealed her originality. She liked best to listen while he talked. +He must explain everything to her, enlarge her experience, correct +and improve her judgment. Her favorite words were, give me, show me, +tell me! From morning till night he must give, tell, show. The sea +washed up a medusa to the shore--give it me! They surprised a crab +in the act of shedding his armor--show me! A ride on donkeys to a +neighboring village reminded him of a students' picnic at +Heidelberg--tell me about it! Such of his peculiarities of temper as +she did not understand, she guessed at and felt with her fine +womanly instinct. If at Ault she had been extremely simple in her +dress, here she was almost exaggeratedly so. She banished the "kohl" +with which she had underlined her brilliant eyes, and strewed the +violet powder to the four winds, as soon as she discovered that he +preferred to stroke her full, firm cheeks when they were guiltless +of powder. She dropped her former freedom of speech, gave up the +telling of highly-spiced anecdotes, and checked her roving glances +and the frolicsome imps--somewhat too deeply versed in Boccaccio-- +that haunted her lively brain, when she saw that he took umbrage at +anything the least risky. Her cigarettes horrified him, so she threw +them out of the window, and never smoked again. She even quelled the +sensuality of her self-surrender, and veiled it with a show of +shame-faced backwardness and the adorable ingenuousness of a +schoolgirl on her honeymoon. She strove to obliterate the +remembrances of the heathenish abandonment of the first days, with +their unrestrained impulses, testifying all too plainly to the fact +that she was a woman well versed in all the arts of seduction. At +first this was dissimulation, the maneuvers of a shrewd, reader of +character, but it soon came to be instinct and second nature; she +deceived herself honestly, and returned, in her own mind, to the +pristine virginity of her soul and body, finally coming to look upon +herself as a simple-minded girl, ignorant of the world and of life, +and conscious only of her boundless love for this one glorious man, +and to whom the memories of a less harmless past seemed like wicked +dreams sent by the Tempter to molest her chastity. This self- +deception, or rather retrogression of her instincts, led her into +touches of mysticism. The story of little Sonia who had fallen in +love with the ten-year-old Wilhelm at first sight, to die shortly +afterward with his name upon her lips, made a deep impression on +her, and set her dreaming. "When sweet little Sonia died I was +born." Now this was not quite accurate, as Pilar must have been at +least two or three years old at the time, but mystic raptures take +no count of time. "My life is a continuation of hers. Your Spanish +love inherited the soul of your little Russian. Thus I have been +yours since my birth--and before. I loved you before ever I knew +you. I have had a presentiment of you, have felt and expected you +from the beginning. Hence my troubled seeking all the time, hence my +horror and shuddering when I discovered that I was mistaken, that it +was not the one I yearned for whose image I bore secretly in my +heart. Now I see why I was so irresistibly drawn to you from the +first moment I set eyes on you. The man of my dreams stood in bodily +shape before me. Here at last was my heart's dear image in flesh and +blood. I had no need to get to know you; I knew you already. My own, +my Wilhelm." + +Real tears rolled down her cheeks as she spoke, and Wilhelm was not +sufficiently blase to scoff at the doting nonsense of a love-sick +woman. Love has enormous power, and at its heat all firmness, all +resistance, melts away. Pilar's affection filled Wilhelm with +heartfelt emotion and gratitude. He denied himself the right of +judging her, suspecting or doubting her, or of discovering dark +spots upon her shining orb. As she was forever at his side, and made +it her sole care to occupy him entirely, body and soul, his whole +world was soon filled by her and her alone. Wherever he looked his +eyes fell upon her; she intercepted his view on all sides. Her +shadow fell even upon his past, as far back as his childhood. He +failed to notice that whole days passed now without his giving a +thought to Schrotter or Paul, and he was quite surprised when he +discovered that he had left a letter from the former unanswered for +a week. His former life began to fade and grow dim, and, compared to +the sun-flooded, glowing present, looked like the dark background of +a courtyard beside an open space in the full blaze of a summer day. + +The whole society of the place was deeply interested in the handsome +couple, who took so little trouble to conceal their love. The young +people thought it most affecting, the older ones, especially the +ladies, turned up their noses, with the remark that even people on +their honeymoon might put some restraint upon themselves on the +beach, or in the street. Wilhelm and Pilar were quite unconscious of +the talk for which they furnished the material. They had no eyes for +anybody but each other. They were unconscious of the flight of time. +Their lives passed as in a morning dream, or a wondrous fairy-tale, +where two lovers wander in a sunny garden among great flowers and +singing birds, or rest, surrounded by attendant sprites, who fulfill +each wish before it is uttered. + +They were disagreeably brought back to the realities of life when +one day Anne asked, with her most impassive air, when Madame la +Comtesse thought of leaving, for if she were going to stay any +longer, they must provide themselves with winter clothing. They had +reached the end of September; it rained nearly every day, the +streets of the village were impassable, sitting on the shore out of +the question, the equinoctial gales howled across the country from +the tempestuous sea; all the world had gone home, and Wilhelm and +Pilar were the last guests in the desolate hotel, spending most of +the day in their room, where an inadequate fire spluttered on the +hearth. For a fortnight past Anne had boiled with silent rage, which +she sometimes let out on poor, snorting, asthmatic Fido. She had +been absent from Paris since the middle of July, and had counted on +being back by the beginning of September at the latest, and here was +October coming upon them in this God-forsaken little hole, and her +mistress showed no signs of returning home. + +Anne's question came like a rough hand to shake Pilar out of sleep. +Like a drowsy child who does not want to get up, she kept her eyes +closed for awhile. Another week! Four days more! Two days more! But +then she had to pack, for Anne exaggerated a slight cold, and at +short intervals let off a dry cough with the suddenness and force of +a pistol-shot, tied her head up in a white shawl, and begged to be +allowed to send to Paris for warm underclothing and her fur cloak. +In the hotel, too, from which all the servants had been dismissed, +and only the landlord, his wife, and a half-grown daughter remained, +the neglect became conspicuous. The rooms were not put in order till +late in the evening, and even then the landlady would come and +grumble that she could not manage so much work, and that was the +reason everything was late. A leg of mutton appeared upon the table +three days running, till nothing was left but the bone. In short, it +was not to be misunderstood that the hotel family wished to be +alone. + +At last, at the beginning of the second week of October, the return +to Paris took place. During the five hours' railway journey Pilar +was silent and moody. She felt that an enchanting chapter of her +love-story had come to an end, and a fresh one beginning, the +unforeseen possibilities of which filled her with alarm. She held +fast to Wilhelm, and would not let him go free; but what form was +their life together going to take in Paris? Not that she cared for +the opinion of the world--far from it; but other difficulties +remained which menaced her happiness. At the seaside all the +circumstances had combined to aid and befriend them. Surrounded by +people to whom she and Wilhelm were alike strangers, they were +thrown entirely upon one another, and even his scruples could find +nothing to prevent him treating her openly as his wife. In Paris, on +the other hand, all the circumstances became disturbing and +inimical. Pilar had her circle of friends, and her accustomed way of +life, to which Wilhelm would have to adapt himself. Would that occur +without opposition on his part? Would not many a tender sentiment be +wounded beyond the power of healing in that struggle? But of what +avail were all these tormenting questions? She had to look the +future in the face, and prepare to engage in a struggle in which he +was determined to come off victorious. + +From time to time she glanced at Wilhelm, and always found him deep +in thought. He was reviewing, with a touch of self-mockery, the +latest development of his affairs. Here he was on his way to Paris. +He had not chosen this destination. Once again another will than his +own had determined his path for him. He resigned himself without a +struggle; he allowed himself to be taken along like an obedient +child. Was it weakness? Perhaps. Possibly, however, it was not. +Possibly he did not think it worth the trouble to call his will into +play. Why should he, after all? As long as he might not live in +Berlin, what did it matter where he lived? and Paris was as good a +place as any other. To have resisted Pilar's persuasions would not +have been an evidence of strength, but simply the obstinacy of a +conceited fool, who wants to prove to himself that he is capable of +setting somebody else at defiance. So that after all he was going to +Paris because he wished it, or rather, because he saw no reason for +not doing so. But as he spun the web of these thoughts in his mind, +he heard all the time a still small voice, which contradicted him, +and whispered: "It is not true. You are not your own master; you are +going you know not whither; you are doing you know not what. Two +beautiful eyes are your guiding star, and in following their magic +beckoning your feet may slip at any moment, and you may be hurled +into unknown depths." + +Pilar must have divined that Wilhelm's thoughts were enemies to her +peace, and must be dispersed. They were alone in the carriage, and +she could give free rein to her feelings. She took his hand and +kissed it, and laying her arm round his neck, she said fondly: + +"Don't be so depressed, Wilhelm. Of course it is only natural that +one should be afraid of any change after one has been so happy, but +you shall have no cause to regret St. Valery. You will see, it will +be still nicer in Paris. We remain the same as we were before, and +surely my little home is a more fitting frame for our love than the +bare room at the hotel!" + +Wilhelm started back. + +"You surely do not imagine that I am going to live in your house?" +he cried. + +"But there can be no question about it!" she answered in surprise. + +"Never!" Wilhelm declared, with a determination that frightened +Pilar, it was so new to her. "How could you think of such a thing?" + +"But, Wilhelm," she returned, "what else could we do? I should not +like to think that it was your plan we should part at the station +and each go our different ways. If I believed that, I would throw +myself under the wheels of the train this very instant. We have not +been indulging in a little summer romance, entertaining enough at +the seaside, but which must die a natural death as soon as we return +to Paris. My love is a serious matter to me, and to you too, I hope. +You are mine forever, and as long as there is life in this hand, it +will hold you fast," and she cast herself passionately upon his +breast, and clung to him as if he were going to be torn from her. + +"I never said I would leave you," he returned gently, and trying to +disengage himself; "but it is quite inconceivable that you should +have thought you would simply bring me back with you from the +journey and present me to your people." + +"My people! You are my all, and nobody else exists for me." + +"One says that in the heat of the moment, but you have relations-- +you told me so yourself. What will they think of us if I calmly +settle down in your house?" + +"Think?--always what people will think. That is the only fault you +have, Wilhelm. How can you do people the honor to take them into +consideration when it is a question of my life's happiness? Let them +think what they like. They will think you are the master and I am +your slave, who only lives in and for you." + +Wilhelm only shook his head, for he was unwilling to wound her by +saying what he thought of such an unworthy connection. She hung +trembling on his looks, and asked, as he still did not answer: + +"Well, darling, is it to be my way? We will drive quietly home and +pretend we are at St. Valery?" + +"No," he answered firmly, "that is impossible. I shall go to an +hotel. No, do not try to dissuade me, for it would be useless." + +"And you can let me go from you?" + +"Only for a few hours. We shall be in the same town, and can see one +another as often as we like." + +"And you would be satisfied with that?" + +"It will have to be so, as the circumstances will not permit of +anything else." + +She broke into a storm of tears, and sobbed, "You do not love me." + +He soothed and comforted her; he kissed her eyes, he pressed her +head to his heart, and tried to calm her as he would a child, but it +was long before he brought her round. At last she raised her head +and asked: + +"You are determined to go to an hotel?" + +"I must, dear heart." + +"Very well; then I shall go too." + +He had nothing to say against this and so it was settled. + +It was close upon midnight when the train ran into the St. Lazare +station. Anne came hurrying from the next carriage. + +"You can drive home," said Pilar to her. "Take the large boxes with +you. You can leave the small one and the portmanteau with me. I am +going with monsieur. I shall come round to-morrow and see if things +are in order." + +Anne opened her eyes in astonishment, but her face did not betray +any further emotion, and she answered calmly: + +"Very good, Madame la Comtesse. Auguste is here with a cab. Does +madame desire to use it?" + +"No, Auguste can get us another. You take his." + +Auguste, the man-servant, had come up meanwhile and greeted his +mistress. He shot a quick glance at the strange gentleman on whose +aim she leaned, but it was more expressive of curiosity than +surprise; he then hurried away to carry out the remarkable orders +Anne had dryly transmitted to him. Soon after he reappeared, and +announced that the other fiacre was there. Fido, released from the +captivity of the dog-box, sprang upon the countess with short- +breathed barks that soon degenerated into a cough, and wagged his +tail and frolicked madly about. When Pilar and Wilhelm entered their +cab, Anne and Auguste remaining outside, the dog seemed undecided as +to which party he was to follow. Chancing to catch Wilhelm's eye, he +made up his mind, jumped into the cab, regardless of Anne's angry +call, and licked Wilhelm's hand delightedly, accepting his friendly +pat as an invitation to stay. + +By Pilar's direction the cab took them to an hotel in the Rue de +Rivoli. As they drove along Pilar leaned silently in her corner, +only heaving a deep sigh from time to time; and Wilhelm, too, found +nothing to say, oppressed as he was by the consciousness of being in +an untenable situation, the eventual end of which he could not +foresee. Arrived at the hotel, they retired at once to their rooms +and to rest, scarcely touching the supper which Pilar had ordered +rather for Wilhelm than herself. She lay awake for hours, and it was +daybreak before she got any sleep. + +It was nearly midday when she opened her eyes. Wilhelm was sitting +fully dressed at the window that faced the Tuileries, gazing down +upon the dreary autumnal park with its trees half-bare, the paths +covered with dead leaves--its marble statues and silent fountains. +She stretched out her arms to him, and he hastened over to kiss her +fondly. As her eye fell upon her tiny jeweled watch, she gave a cry +of dismay. + +"Twelve o'clock! Oh, go away--quick--and send the chambermaid to me. +I will do my best to be ready soon. Wait for me in the salon. You +can read the papers or write letters. But whatever you do, you must +not leave the hotel--do you hear?" + +An hour later she appeared in the salon to fetch him to lunch, which +was served in their room. Pilar was nervous and put out. The +chambermaid's assistance had not been all that she could have +wished. The slow waiting at lunch vexed her. Whatever trifle she +might require she was obliged to go into the untidy bedroom herself +and search in her boxes. Her head was full of schemes and plans, to +none of which, however, she gave expression. Never had she had such +an uncomfortable meal with Wilhelm. + +"What are you going to do now?" asked Wilhelm, when the waiter had +cleared the table. + +"I think we had better go and have a look at our house," answered +Pilar, trying hard to assume a perfectly unconcerned tone. + +"Of course," said Wilhelm; "and while you go home, I will take a +look at the streets of Paris." + +"What--you are not coming with me?" + +"I think it better you should go by yourself the first time. You +have no doubt got a good deal to set in order, and I should only be +in the way." + +"Wilhelm," she said very gravely, "you are determined to hurt me. +Have I deserved that of you?" + +"But, dearest Pilar--" + +"I want proofs that I am your dearest Pilar. I have given myself to +you--body, soul and spirit. If you want my life as well, then say +so. I should be overjoyed to give it you. And you? Since yesterday +your every word and look tells me plainly that you regard me as a +stranger, and want to have nothing more to do with me. Oh, yes, you +do it all in a very delicate and considerate manner, that is your +way, but there is no need to speak more plainly to me" + +"Do not excite yourself Pilar, I assure you that you are entirely +wrong." + +She shook her head. + +"I am not a child. Let us talk it over seriously. I told you +yesterday I would not let you go. Of course you understand what I +mean by that. I will not keep you if you want to be free. But then +be honest, and tell me frankly that you are tired of me, and want to +be rid of me. I shall at least know what I have to do. Do not be +afraid, I shall not make a scene, I shall not cause you any +annoyance, not even reproach you. I shall receive my sentence of +death in silence, and kiss the hand that inflicts it on me." + +She buried her face in her hands, and tears trickled down between +her fingers. + +"And all this," said Wilhelm, "because I thought it better not to +accompany you to-day. The whole affair is not worth one of your +tears." + +"Then you will come with me?" she cried excitedly, lifting her face +to his. + +"I suppose I shall have to, since you talk about death sentences and +terrible things of the kind." + +She embraced him frantically, rang the bell, threw the things that +lay about anyhow into the box, and when the waiter came, ordered a +carriage. As they went downstairs she gave a hurried order in the +office, and with a beaming and triumphant face, passed through the +hall on Wilhelm's arm to the carriage. + +Their destination was a small house on the Boulevard Pereire, of two +stories, three windows wide, and a balcony in front of the first- +floor windows. At Wilhelm'a ring the door was opened by Anne, who +made him a careless courtesy, but greeted her mistress respectfully. +Wilhelm was going to let Pilar precede him, but she said: "No, no; +you go first. It is a better omen." + +Assembled in the hall they found Auguste, an old woman with a red +nose, and a man not in livery, who expressed their satisfaction at +their mistress' return, and complimented her on her improved +appearance, but were in reality chiefly engaged in taking stock of +Wilhelm while they did so. Pilar gave the man some direction in +Spanish, and then drew Wilhelm into the salon, which opened into the +hall. + +"Welcome, a thousand times, to this house," she said, clasping him +in her arms; "and may your coming bring happiness to us both. I will +take off my things now, and say a word, to my servants, and be with +you again directly." + +With that she hurried away, and Wilhelm found himself alone. He +looked about him. The salon was luxuriously, if, according to +Wilhelm's taste, somewhat gaudily furnished. The walls were draped +in yellow silk, the portieres, window-curtains, and gilt-backed +chairs being of the same brilliant hue, though its monotony was +fortunately broken by numerous oil paintings, forming, as it were, +dark islands in a sea of sulphur. Opposite to the window hung two +life-sized portraits of a lady and an officer. The lady wore a +Spanish costume with a mantilla, the gentleman a gorgeously +embroidered general's uniform, with a quantity of stars and orders, +and the ribbon of the Grand Cross. In another life-sized picture +this personage figured in the robes of some unknown military order, +and appeared a third time as a bronze bust in a corner, on a black +marble pedestal. The chimney-piece was adorned by a strange and +wonderful clock, a painfully accurate copy in gilt and colored +enamel of the Mihrab of the Mosque in Cordova. Between the windows, +on a high buhl cabinet, stood a marble bust of Queen Isabella, a +gift, according to an inscription on the base, to her valued +Adjutant-General Marquis de Henares. A charming pastel under glass +showed Pilar as a very young girl. As Wilhelm gazed at the dewy +freshness of this sixteen-year-old budding beauty, the dazzling +complexion of milk and roses, the sparkle of the merry, childish +eyes, an immense tenderness came over him, and he thought to himself +that surely nature had not sufficiently protected all these charms +against the desire they must necessarily awaken in the beholder. +Such a ravishing creature might well be excused if her heart led her +astray. How could she choose aright when her beauty roused men's +passion before she had had time to gain experience or judgment +enough to defend herself? + +There were a thousand other attractions in this room. A picture, or +rather a sketch, by Goya, with all the fantastic want of finish, the +gorgeous dabs of color that make so many of that master's works like +the visions of delirium; on an inlaid table, a little Moorish +casket, through the crystal lid of which one saw a collection of old +Spanish coins of astounding dimensions; a small cabinet on the wall, +containing stars and orders, with their chains, on a white satin +ground; a trophy formed of a sword, gold spurs, epaulettes, and a +gold-fringed scarf; here and there great Catalonian knives with open +blades, daggers in rich sheaths and with engraved handles, and even +an open velvet-lined case with a pair of chased ivory pistols. Some +photographs on the chimney-piece and on the gold brocade-covered +piano arrested Wilhelm's attention. First of all, Pilar in two +different positions, then the pictures of three children, a girl and +two boys, and finally the full-length portrait of a gentleman in the +embroidered dress coat and sword of the diplomatic service, and the +handsome, vacuous, carefully groomed head of a fashion plate. + +Wilhelm was enagaged in studying this face, with its fashionably +twirled mustache, when Pilar entered the room. + +"You have changed your dress?" cried Wilhelm, surprised; for she had +donned an emerald-green velvet tea-gown, with a long train, and her +hair was hanging down. + +"Yes," said she, as she kissed him fondly, "for we are not going +away again just yet. You will stay and dine with me--I have given +the necessary orders. You must be quite sick of the monotonous hotel +meals. For my part, I simply yearn to eat at my own table with you." + +So saying, she took his hat out of his hand, coaxingly relieved him +of his greatcoat, then rang and ordered Auguste to take them away. +Taking advantage of this distraction of Wilhelm's attention, she +rapidly snatched up the photograph he had been examining when she +came in, and hid it under the piano-cover. She then opened the +piano, seated herself, and gazing passionately over her shoulder at +Wilhelm standing behind her, she began playing the Wedding March out +of "Midsummer Night's Dream." The melodious sounds rushed from under +her fingers like a flight of startled doves, and fluttered about +her, joyous and exultant. She went on with immense power and +brilliancy till she came to the first repetition of the triumphant +opening motif, with its jubilant blare of trumpets, then stopped +abruptly, and jumping up and throwing her arms round Wilhelm: + +"Isn't it that, my one and only Wilhelm?" she said, with a beaming +look. + +"My sweetest Pilar," he answered, and clasped her to his breast. His +heart was really full to overflowing at that moment She took his arm +and proceeded to lead him about the room, showing and explaining the +various objects to him. "This is my mamma as she looked twenty-five +years ago, when she went to the Feria at Seville. That is a sort of +fair at Easter, and one of the most famous popular festivals of +Spain. We must go to it some day together. And that is my late +father as major-general. Here he is in the robes of a Knight of San +Iago, one of our highest military orders. It has existed since the +twelfth century, and, strangely enough, one of my ancestors was +among its first members. These are my father's decorations and +badges of office. Come and look at this clock, it is quite unique. +The province of Gordova had it made, and presented it to my father +when he gave up his command there. I suppose you recognized this +pastel. It is a very good likeness. Do you think it pretty?" + +"Pretty! The word is a gross injustice. Say rather exquisitely, +ravishingly beautiful." + +"Thanks, my Wilhelm. And if you had known me then, you would have +loved me and wanted to marry me, would you not?" + +"But you would hardly have wanted to marry me, a poor devil of a +plebeian, who was badly dressed and did not even know how to dance." + +"Do not make fun of me, you sweet, bad creature; if I had had as +much sense then as I have now, I should have loved you then as I +love you now, and I would have belonged to you, even if it had cost +me my father's love." She gazed thoughtfully at the picture in which +her innocent past confronted her in so angelic a form, and continued +in tones of indescribable tenderness: "Why did I not know you +sooner? Is it my fault that you who were made for me should live so +far away and wait so long before you came to me? How I should have +rejoiced to be able to offer you the pure young creature of this +picture! But I can but give you all I have--my first real love, the +virginity of my heart--surely that is something?" + +Her hazel eyes pleaded for a great deal of compassion, and her full +scarlet lips for a great deal of love, and only a heart of cast iron +could have refused her either. + +Beyond the salon was a roomy dining-room, hung with magnificent +Cordova leather, and from this a glass door led into a pretty little +garden with an arbor in the corner, and some old trees. High, ivy- +clad walls inclosed the square green spot of nature. Up the stairs, +on the walls of which hung many valuable pictures, for which there +was no place in the rooms, Pilar and Wilhelm mounted to the second +floor. They entered first a red salon with windows opening on to the +balcony and in which the all-pervading scent of ylang-ylang betrayed +that it was the favorite apartment of the lady of the house. She did +not keep Wilhelm long in this dainty bower, but drew him into the +large bedroom adjoining. The walls were draped with Japanese silk, +patterned with strange landscapes, fabulous flowers, gay-colored +birds on the wing, and a network of twining creatures, and drawn +together at the ceiling like the roof of a tent. Out of the soft +folds of the center rosette hung a lamp with golden dragons on its +pink globe. There was a wardrobe with looking-glass doors, a +toilette table, an immense bed of carved ebony inlaid with scenes +from the antique in ivory, and chairs covered with Persian stuffs. +Beside all this there was an old oak Gothic priedieu, a small altar +draped in rose color and white lace, a mass of flowers, and numerous +crucifixes and Madonnas of various sizes in silver, ivory and +alabaster. + +"Are you so devout? That is news to me," exclaimed Wilhelm, +surprised. He little knew that the first thing Pilar had done on +entering the house was to hasten to her bedroom, kiss the holy +silver Madonna del Pilar with deepest devotion, and kneel for a few +moments on her priedieu. + +"Oh, no, I am not at all devout. I am just the pagan you have always +known. But--que voulez-vouz?--one has old habits. I regard the +Blessed Virgin chiefly in the light of Our Lady of Sorrows, whose +heart is pierced with seven swords, and Christ as the eternal type +of sublimest love. You are a heretic, but I know that pictures and +symbols are not as offensive to you as to certain vulgar free- +thinkers." + +Going up to the bed, she clung still more fondly to Wilhelm, and +murmured in coy and halting tones--"Perhaps you have not noticed +that everything in this room, except the altar and the priedieu, is +new; I had this fresh little nest arranged for us while we were in +St. Valery. I hope our rest may be sweet and our dreams happy ones." + +He sought nervously for some appropriate answer, but she gave him no +time, and opening a door in the wall beside the fireplace, she went +on--"And this is your room. Tell me, have I guessed your taste?" + +Without even glancing into the cozy, one-windowed room, he said, +taking Pilar's hand in his: "Why torture me, Pilar?--you know it +cannot be." + +"Wilhelm!" her voice was firm, and she looked him full in the eyes, +"do you love me?" + +"You know it." + +"Do we belong to each other?" + +"Yes--and no." + +"That is not a straightforward answer. We do belong to one another. +You know perfectly well that if I were free you would marry me, and +then you certainly would have no scruples in coming into this house +as its master. Where is the difference?" + +"You know where the difference lies." + +"It is enough to drive one crazy! Is a paltry prejudice to triumph +over our right to be happy? We are both of age. We are accountable +to no one on earth for our actions. An insurmountable obstacle, for +the moment, prevents us making our relations respectable in the eyes +of the butcher, the baker, and the candlestick-maker by paying a few +francs to a registry-office and a priest. Has the mumbling of a +priest so much meaning for you? Must you first enjoy the edifying +spectacle of a mavre in a fringed scarf before you can feel like my +husband? Or do you want any one else's consent? My father is dead, +but my mother would adore you and do anything in the world for you, +if I told her you made her only child unspeakably happy. What more +do you want?" + +"I could not reconcile myself to such a position, There is nothing +to be said against your arguments. But for me to live on you--" + +"For shame!" she cried, and tapped him lightly on the cheek with her +forefinger. "Ah, you see I love you better than you love me. If you +were very rich and I had not a penny, I would not hesitate for an +instant to accept everything from you. I trust my heart is of more +value to you than this paltry little house and its sticks of +furniture. You have my heart--what is all the rest compared with +that?" + +He still shook his head unconvinced, but she knelt before him and +said imploringly: "Wilhelm, you will not hurt me so. Even if it +costs you a great deal, make this sacrifice for my sake. Give it a +trial. You will see how soon you will get accustomed to it. And if +not, then I am ready to go with you to the ends of the earth--to the +Black Forest--wherever you will. Only try it, Wilhelm--have pity on +me." + +He stooped to lift her up, but reading in his eyes that he was +yielding, she sprang to her feet and threw herself, gleeful as a +child, upon his breast. Her victory filled her with such joy she +could have shouted it out of the windows. She coaxed and fondled +Wilhelm, called him by every endearing name, drew him over to the +long mirror that he might see how handsome he was, dragged him into +his room and then back into the bedroom, and required a considerable +time to recover her self-control. + +Meanwhile it had grown dark. She did not notice it till now, and +rang for Anne to bring lamps. + +"Has Don Pablo come back?" she asked of the maid. + +"Half an hour ago, madame." + +"Then send up the boxes at once." + +"You have sent for the luggage already?" was Wilhelm's astonished +inquiry when Anne had left the room. + +"Naturally, my darling. I was certain, you know, that you would not +break your Pilar's heart." + +Auguste and the man whom Pilar called Don Pablo now carried up the +one small box and two large ones Wilhelm always took about with him. +Pilar asked him for the keys, and proceeded to put away his +belongings in the various receptacles of the room. She would not +suffer him to help her. Only his books she allowed him to pile up in +a corner for the present; their orderly arrangement in the bookcase +was put off till the daylight. + +At dinner Pilar was in the seventh heaven, and more in love than +ever before. In her wild spirits she threw all her glasses into the +garden, and would only drink out of Wilhelm's. It was a real +banquet: costly Spanish wines, red and white, rough and sweet, from +her well-stocked cellar, accompanied by choice dishes, and finally +champagne, of which Pilar partook--valiantly. After dessert she +skipped into the salon, put the champagne glass down on the piano, +and between sips and kisses played and sang Spanish love-songs that +drove the flames to her cheeks. That evening she was all Bacchante. +In the bedroom she tore off her clothes with impatient fingers, and +held out her small, high-bred feet for Wilhelm to pull off her silk +stockings. He knelt and kissed the little feet, while she gazed down +at him with burning misty eyes, and between the blood-red lips +slightly parted in a wanton smile gleamed pearly teeth that looked +as if they could bite with satisfaction into a quivering heart. It +was the Sphinx and the poor trembling mouse in the dust before her +to the life. + +When Wilhelm awoke next morning, he saw Pilar standing all fresh and +ready at the bedside to greet him with a happy smile. With her iron +nerves and superabundant animal strength, she required but little +sleep, and had at once resumed her old habit of stealing away early +to perform the rites of her toilette while he still slept. + +He dressed quickly, she being occupied meanwhile in completing the +coquettish adornment of his room with knots of ribbon, bouquets of +flowers, Japanese fans, pictures and bronzes which she arranged with +unerring taste on the walls beside the mirror, over the doors and +window, or strewed about the secretaire, the table, or the chest of +drawers, in studied negligence. They had breakfast in the red salon, +after which she led him to her boudoir, which he had not yet seen, +and that looked like a pink silk-lined jewel box. She drew up an +armchair beside the crackling wood fire, begged Wilhelm to sit down +put a little inlaid rosewood table before him, and out of a cabinet +she fetched a large Russia leather pocketbook with a gold lock and +laid it on the table. + +"Let us settle these details once for all," she said to Wilhelm, who +had watched her proceeding with surprise, "so that we need never +refer to them again. You are my husband, and must relieve me now of +all my business cares. Here--" she opened the pocketbook and spread +out some formidable-looking papers, with stamps and seals attached, +before him: "This is my check book, here the deposit receipts for my +government stock and, bonds." + +"What do you mean?" cried Wilhelm. "I understand nothing of such +things; I have never had anything to do with them, and I am +certainly not going to begin now, and with you." He gathered up the +papers impatiently, thrust them back into the pocketbook, which he +closed with a snap, and seeing Pilar standing there like a +disappointed child balked of a surprise, he added: "However, I am +grateful for the suggestion, as it helps me out of a dilemma. I was +at a loss in what form to put what I must say to you--you have +helped me in the nick of time. Pilar," he drew her on to his knee +and kissed her, "at the seaside the matter was very simple, we had +only to divide the bill between us. That will not do here. I am not +well enough off to defray half the expense of such an establishment +as yours." + +"Oh, Wilhelm!" she exclaimed, horror-stricken, and attempted to jump +down, but he held her fast and continued: + +"I know this subject is painful to you, so it is to me; but, as you +said yourself, it must be settled once for all. You must allow me to +defray my own expenses as I would in a good family pension. I will +put the trifling sum in your pocketbook once a month, and you will +have a little more for your poor--one cannot have too much for +them." + +"I am simply petrified," murmured Pilar, "that you can take such a +thing into consideration?" + +"It is the one condition on which I stay here," returned Wilhelm +firmly. + +"What a dreadful proud boy you are! You will not accept a thing from +me, and I told you yesterday that I would never be too proud to +share your possessions with you. And if you had married me, you +would no doubt have scorned to touch my dowry, and wanted to pay me +for your board too." + +"Dear heart, I imagine the question is settled between us, and never +to be discussed again. I simply cannot live free of expense in the +house of my--" + +"Your wife," she broke in hastily. + +"Of my--wife." + +"Very well," she said, resigning herself, "you must have your own +way, I suppose. But explain to me, my Teutonic philosopher, how +comes it that so high-bred a body and so noble a mind can contain a +corner holding such a tradesman's idea? How can one make these +commonplace calculations when one is in love? Are you Germans all +like that, or is it an inherited weakness in your family?" + +"In my family," he answered simply, and without a trace of +bitterness, "as far back as I know of (though that is certainly not +anything like as far as your ancestor, the first knight of San +Iago), we have always worked for our living, and owed all to our own +industry. I am the first who found the table ready spread for him, +and who knows if it has been an advantage to me." + +"Now you are making fun of my ancestors, you disagreeable man--when +did I ever say such a silly thing?" + +"I never said you did, but you asked an explanation of the German +philosopher, and the German philosopher has done his best to give +you one." + +She locked her pocketbook in the cabinet again, and there the matter +ended between them. + +The rest of the household, which seemed to accept the establishing +of the new guest without the faintest surprise, consisted, beside +Anne, of the man-servant Auguste, a young, knowing-looking southern +Frenchman, with a clean-shaven, lackey's face, the old Spanish cook +Isabel, a colossal, unwieldly, hippopotamus-like person with a red +nose, watery, bloodshot eyes, and a strident voice, and Don Pablo, +who seemed to be a mixture of servant, major-domo, and the +confidential attendant of the old plays. Pilar esteemed him highly, +and always spoke of him in terms of respect. According to her, he +came of a good Catalonian family, had served with the Carlists and +received titles and orders of distinction from Don Carlos. After the +downfall of the cause for which he had fought he had come to Paris +like so many of his compatriots and Pilar had rescued him from +terrible want. He did not live in the house, but had an attic +somewhere in the town. Every morning he appeared at the Boulevard +Pereire to receive Pilar's orders, was occupied during the whole day +in going on errands and doing shopping of every description, and his +work over returned late in the evening to his lodging. He was a +tall, thin, middle-aged man with a long leathery face, a long +painted nose, long oily hair, and long gray mustache. The entire +loose, bony figure looked like a reflection in a concave glass--all +distorted into length. Don Pablo had a deeply melancholy air, never +smiled and spoke but little. During the few spare hours which the +countess' service--in which his legs were chiefly in demand-- +permitted, he might be seen in a back room on the ground floor, +engaged in manufacturing pictures out of gummed hair--an art in +which he was a proficient. He had even achieved a portrait of Pilar +in blonde, brown, and red hair. It looked like the queen in a pack +of cards, but Don Pablo was very proud of the masterpiece, and never +forgave Pilar for not hanging it in one of the salons, but in quite +another place. It was this accomplishment of his which led Auguste +to declare firmly and with conviction that he was nothing more nor +less than a common hairdresser. The relations between the two were +altogether very strained. Auguste was annoyed by the Spaniard's +high-and-mighty airs, and his French instincts of equality revolted +against Don Pablo's pretensions to be better than the rest of the +servants. They had their meals in common, but Don Pablo occupied the +seat of honor and demanded to be waited upon, while Auguste, Anne +and Isabel had to be content to wait upon themselves. As ill-luck +would have it, Auguste had once got a sight of Don Pablo's uniform +and great order; whereupon he instantly cut out a monstrous tin star +out of the lid of a sardine box and wore it at meals. Don Pablo was +so furious that he spoke seriously of challenging Auguste to a duel +to the death, and it required a stern order from the countess to +make him give up his bloodthirsty design and Auguste his practical +joke. + +The sharp-tongued Anne and noisy old Isabel were on a similar +warlike footing. The maid was jealous of the cook because she had +long, secret confabulations with the countess, who let her do +exactly as she pleased, and even forgave her her pronounced liking +for her excellent Val de Penas, of which she--Isabel--drank at least +a barrel a year to her own account. One day Wilhelm, coming +unexpectedly into the boudoir, surprised Pilar and the red-nosed +cook together, the latter engaged in telling her mistress' fortune +by the cards. This was the secret of Isabel's influence. She +hurriedly took herself off with her cards, but Wilhelm shook his +head: "I should not have believed it of my clever Pilar." + +"What would you have?" she returned, half-laughing, half-ashamed; +"we all of us have some little remnant of superstition in some dark +corner of our minds. And after all, it is very odd that ever since +our return she is continually turning up the knave of hearts." And +as Wilhelm was obviously still unenlightened, she explained, +"Barbarian, don't you know that that always means a sweetheart?" + +Pilar arranged their life as if they were on their honeymoon. Every +midday and evening meal was a banquet with flowers, choice dishes, +and champagne, till Wilhelm forbade it; every day a drive in an +elegant coupe; every evening to some theater in a half-concealed +stage box, in which Pilar hid herself in the dim background. Wilhelm +did not care for the theater, but Pilar insisted that he should +become acquainted with the French stage. She showed him about Paris +as if he were a schoolboy allowed to come to town in the holidays as +a reward for having passed his examination well. And she was such an +interesting, entertaining guide! She was thoroughly acquainted with +the history or the anecdotes connected with the various streets and +buildings, and on their way from the Column of July to the Opera +House, from the Madeleine to the Arc de Triomphe, from the Odeon to +the Pantheon, she unrolled a sparkling picture of Paris, past and +present, now showing him the seething crowds of the lower classes +and their customs and doings in good and bad hours, now describing +well-known contemporaries with all that was absurd or commendable in +them. Stories, scandals, traits of character, encounters she had +had, adventures that had befallen her, all flowed from her lips in a +gay, babbling, inexhaustible stream, and initiated her hearer into +all the intricacies of Parisian life. She was as familiar with the +galleries as with the famous buildings, and in front of the works of +art in the one and the facades of the other she fired off a rocket- +like shower of original remarks, paradoxes, and brilliant criticism. +She knew exactly where to scoff and where to be enthusiastic, jeered +with all the ruthless slang of the Paris gamins at the pompously +mediocre sights recommended to the tourists' admiration by Baedeker, +and gave evidence of deep and true comprehension of all that was +really beautiful. + +At the very beginning she dragged Wilhelm to a photographer's studio +and disclosed to him, when it was too late to beat a retreat, that +he was to be photographed. What for? A fancy of hers--she wanted to +have his likeness. Half-length, full-length, full-face, profile. +Only when the pictures were sent home did he discover, that she did +not want them for herself, but to send to her mother. It was high +time she should see what the man was like who alone made life worth +living for her only child. That she should draw her mother into an +affair of the kind of which women do not, as a rule, boast to their +families, seemed to him peculiarly bad taste. "What," he cried, "you +have told your mother the whole story?" + +"My mother is a Spaniard, she will guess what one leaves unsaid." + +"And you are not ashamed that she should know?" + +"That is why I am sending her your likeness; she will then +understand that, on the contrary, I have every reason to be proud." + +What she did not consider it necessary to explain to him was, that +she had palmed off a complete romance upon the Marquise de Henares, +to the effect that Wilhelm had saved her life at Ault while bathing, +that he was a celebrated German revolutionist, and the future +President of the German Republic, to whom she was affording a refuge +in her house because, for the time being, he was obliged to be in +hiding from the German secret police, and so forth, and so forth. + +The marquise believed every word. In her answer, she certainly +reproached her daughter gently for having anything to do with +foreign conspirators, but otherwise praised her evidence of +gratitude toward her preserver, and frankly expressed her admiration +for the handsome person of this interesting German. She even +inclosed a note to him, in which she thanked him from her +overflowing mother's heart for all he had done for her only child, +and adjured him to be very prudent. He could make nothing out of it, +and Pilar declared that she was equally in the dark. "I only see +this much," she said in an off-hand manner, "that mamma loves you +already, and will do still more so when she gets to know you +personally. And that is all that matters." + +It was on the second Sunday after their arrival in Paris that the +children came to visit their mother. Pilar looked forward with some +uneasiness to Wilhelm's first meeting with them, and he too felt far +from comfortable when Pilar brought a half-grown girl and a ten-year +old boy to him, and addressing herself to them said, "Embrace +Monsieur le Docteur, and look at him well. He is the best friend +your mother has on earth. You must love him very much, for he +deserves it." + +The girl was fair like her mother. She was already dressed with +conspicuous elegance, and her manner betrayed extreme self- +consciousness. She glanced at Wilhelm with sly and wanton eyes, in +which it was easily to be read that she had a very good idea of the +real state of the case. She offered her forehead for his kiss, +bestowed a few cold and perfunctory caresses on her mother, and +slipped away to Anne, with whom she spent the whole afternoon in +eager whispered conversation, till the governess came to take her +back to the fashionable boarding school where she was being trained +to be a perfect great lady, and to make some enviable man happy in +the future by the bestowal of her hand. + +The boy, who was accompanied by a priest, and was being educated at +a fashionable Jesuit institution, was of a better sort. He gave his +hand to Wilhelm shyly but heartily, while his innocent eyes looked +frankly and openly into his, and then hung over his mother with a +tenderness that had a touch of chivalry in it--half-funny, half- +affecting. Wilhelm felt decidedly drawn to the slender, healthy- +looking boy. + +But in the course of the afternoon another--a third child--appeared +upon the scene; a lovely, brown, four-year-old boy, with bold black +eyes and long raven curls, whom a maid-servant brought to Pilar that +he might kiss his mamma. + +Wilhelm was much surprised. "Three? You never told me that," he +whispered. + +"This is little Manuel, my sweet little Manuelito," she answered in +a low voice, and buried her face in the child's black curls that she +might not have to look at Wilhelm. She covered little Manuelito with +kisses, and then pushed him gently over to Wilhelm, in whom the most +conflicting emotions were struggling for the mastery. It was +impossible to feel any ill-will toward this captivating mite with +the dark Bronzino face, and yet to Wilhelm he seemed to represent a +distinct act of treachery. How could she have been so underhand as +to hide the fact from him that her connection with the fashion-plate +diplomat had not been without results! He made as if to draw away +from the boy, who stood staring nervously at him, but the next +moment his natural love of children prevailed, and he clasped the +sweet little fellow to his breast. + +"Such a lovely child!" he said, "and so young, and in need of a +mother's care. Why does it not live with you?" + +"He lives with a sister of his father," she answered, hardly above +her breath. + +"And you let it go?" + +"The father would not let me keep it. And I could not do anything +against it because--it is not registered as my child, and does not +bear my name." + +The past, to which Wilhelm and Pilar had closed their eyes till now, +presented itself that afternoon in incontestably lively form before +them. Dispelled was the artificial fabric of their dream of a love +that was as old as life itself--dispelled the poetic figment that +they were in the honeymoon of a young pure union of the heart! These +three children told a tale of Pilar in which Wilhelm bore no part, +and the chapters of that story bore different names, as did the +children themselves. + +Pilar divined easily enough what was passing in Wilhelm's mind at +sight of the children. She never let them come to the house again, +but henceforth went to see them at their respective homes. He was +sure that they liked coming to the Boulevard Pereire, and was sorry +that they should miss this pleasure on his account. Pilar begged +him, however, not to allude to the subject again--he was dearer to +her than her children, and there was nothing she would not do to +spare him a moment's unpleasantness. + +The first visitor whom Wilhelm saw in Pilar's house was a little +tubby gentleman with a clean-shaven face and a rosette in his +buttonhole, composed of sixteen different colored ribbons at the +very lowest computation. He enjoyed the privilege of coming at any +hour of the day, and being instantly admitted to the boudoir. He was +introduced to Wilhelm as Don Antonio Gorra, and Pilar explained +afterward that Don Antonio was a lawyer, an old friend of her +family, and that he conducted her business affairs for her. For a +time she had long daily consultations, to which Wilhelm was not +invited. As soon as he left, she would come to Wilhelm with a +significant and mysterious air, evidently expecting that he would +ask what all this putting together of heads might mean. As he did +not evince the slightest curiosity, she grew impatient at last, and +asked with assumed lightness: + +"Are you not at all jealous, you fish-blooded German?" + +"Jealous? No, I certainly am not. Besides which, you give me no +cause." + +"Indeed! and what about my tete-a-tetes with Don Antonio?" + +"Oh, Don Antonio!" laughed Wilhelm. + +"You are quite right, sweetheart, but it aggravates me that you +should not want to know what he and I are brewing. You do not take +nearly so much interest in my affairs as you ought." + +"But you told me that Don Antonio was your man of business." + +"Well, then--no--this time it is not a matter of business. I wanted +to prepare a surprise for you." She seated herself on his knee, and +laying her cheek to his, she whispered: "I have been trying to have +myself naturalized in Belgium, and then, as a Belgian subject, get a +divorce from Count Pozaldez. In that way I might have become your +wife before the law as well." + +He looked at her with a face expressive rather of alarm and +astonishment than joy, and she went on with a sigh, "However, Don +Antonio has just told me I must give up that pleasant dream--it +cannot be realized." + +He kissed her lips and brow, and stroked her silky hair. She laid +her head on his shoulder, and remained long in silent thought. +Presently she rose, walked up and down the room once or twice, and +finally seated herself on a footstool at Wilhelm's feet. "But +something I must do to bind you to me," she said. "I shall not rest +till there is some written bond, something legal between us. I shall +alter my will, and give you the place in it you occupy in my life." + +"Pilar," exclaimed Wilhelm, "if you love me, and if you wish that we +should remain what we are to one another, never say such a word +again. If I ever find out that you have mentioned me in your will, +all is at end between us." She drooped her head disconsolately, and +he continued in a milder tone--"Dorfling's will has not brought me +so much luck that I should ever wish to inherit money again." + +The idea to which she had given expression did not leave Pilar, +however. There should be something in writing--some document with +stamps and seals to testify that Wilhelm belonged to her. This wish +assumed the proportions of a superstition with her, and she never +rested till it was satisfied. + +One morning the inmates of the house on the Boulevard Pereire saw +the arrival of three carriages, which discharged eight persons at +the door. A well-dressed gentleman rang the bell, marshaled his +seven companions in the hall, and desired to be shown up to the +countess. She was expecting him, and received him in the red salon. +After a short conversation, she went downstairs with him to the +yellow salon, where Wilhelm, at her request, followed them. The +visitor was the Spanish consul in Paris. He produced a casket +ornamented with mother-o'-pearl, broke a seal with which it was +fastened, unlocked it with a small silver key, and took out a +document in a closed envelope, and handed it to Pilar. He then +opened the door, and permitted his followers to enter. They came in +in single file, and ranged themselves silently along the wall. They +were tall, lean men in great circular Spanish cloaks of brown or +bottle-green, defective in the matter of footgear, and with +shapeless greasy hats in their ungloved hands. Their deportment was +as dignified as if they had been the chapter of a religious order, +and every face was turned with an air of contemplative solemnity +toward the countess. With nervous haste she wrote a few lines at the +foot of the document, read it over three or four times and altered a +word here and there; she then folded the paper, returned it to the +envelope, and handed it back to the consul. She sealed it with her +seal and wrote something on it, the seven men then advanced one by +one to the table, and with extreme gravity and precision put their +signatures on the envelope. The casket was then relocked and +resealed, and the company withdrew with a ceremonious bow, not, +however, without leaving behind them such a piercing smell of garlic +that the yellow salon was still full of it next day. + +When Pilar found herself alone with Wilhelm, she asked: "I suppose +you would like to know what all this means?" + +"Well, yes." + +"We have in Spain what we call mysterious wills, the contents of +which may be kept secret. A will of that kind is valid if an +official person and seven witnesses vouch for it by their signatures +on the envelope that it has been written or altered in their +presence. To-day I have added something to my secret will." + +He made a movement, but she would not give him time to speak. + +"Do not be afraid, I have not acted against your wishes nor wounded +your pride. On our Vega de Henares in Old Castile, we have a family +tomb where my ancestors have been laid to rest since the sixteenth +century. It is the Renaissance mausoleum of the picture hanging in +your room. The marble tomb stands in the middle of an oak wood, not +far from a little brook, and it is cool and still there. I shall lie +there some day, wherever I may die, and I have assigned you a place +beside me. Promise me, Wilhelm, that you will accept it. Promise me +that you, in your turn, will make the necessary arrangements for +your remains to be brought at last to our vega. I do not know if I +may ever belong to you as your wife in my lifetime, but in death I +want to have you forever at my side. Grant me this consolation. Give +me your hand upon it." + +Great tears welled slowly into the hazel eyes, and it was plainly of +such sacred and earnest import to her that Wilhelm had not the heart +to smile at her strained and sentimental idea. Moved and touched, he +clasped her to his heart in silence. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +TANNHAUSER'S FLIGHT. + + +"To be as much alone with you in great Paris as if we were on a +desert island in the Pacific--in the midst of the crowd, yet having +no part with it; spectators of its amusing doings, and yet unnoticed +by it. You all my world, and I yours--what a sweet and perfect +dream!" Thus Pilar as she went out in fine weather, thickly veiled, +on Wilhelm's arm into the crowded streets, and she did her utmost to +prolong the charming delusion as far as possible. She paid no +visits, invited no one to the house, avoided every familiar face in +the street. Through the consul and Don Antonio, however, her more +immediate circle got wind by degrees of her return to Paris, and +visitors began to call at the little house on the Boulevard Pereire +who would not submit to being sent away. With the versatility of +mind peculiar to her, Pilar soon adapted herself to the new position +of affairs, and tried to make the best of it. Of course it would +have been infinitely more agreeable, she said to Wilhelm, to have +been able to remain longer in their delicious seclusion, but, sooner +or later, social life would have to be resumed, and it was best he +should make a beginning now. "Do not be afraid," she added, "that I +shall ask you to make the acquaintance of all the asses and parrots +that have chattered and gesticulated round me for years. You shall +only know a really select few, who are fond of me, and who can offer +you friendship and appreciation." + +And so the march past of the elect began, most of them being invited +either to lunch or dinner. Wilhelm found them very peculiar and +uncongenial, and, on the whole, derived but little satisfaction from +their acquaintance. Pilar had a small weakness; according to her +account, each one of her more intimate friends was a striking and +original character, the possessor of the rarest qualities. It was +the only touch of snobbishness of which one could have accused her. +She announced the arrival of an old Spanish general, "a hero of +quite the antique, classic type, one of the most remarkable figures +in the history of modern warfare," and there entered to them a +little old man, shuffling in with the flurried, dragging gait of a +paralytic, unable to lift his feet from the ground, stammering out a +few commonplaces, who could not keep his gold eyeglasses on his +nose, and who, when he was informed that Wilhelm had fought in the +Franco-Prussian War, frankly admitted that, though he had commanded +at many a grand review, he had never been in real action. + +Another time a Great Thinker was to appear, a profound sage, with +whom Wilhelm would be delighted, thoroughly versed in German +philosophy, a critic of immense and independent spirit. But what +Wilhelm really saw was a slovenly, pock-marked man, with a very +arrogant manner, who smoked cigarettes without intermission, and +preserved an obstinate silence, behind which one was naturally free +to imagine the profoundest thoughts, if one wished it; and who, when +Pilar tried to lead him on to air his opinions on German philosophy, +answered sententiously: "I do not care for Kant; his was not a +republican spirit." A man who was said to be famed for his wit +perpetrated such atrocious puns that even Pilar was forced to admit +after he left that he had had a surprisingly bad day. An +aristocratic member of the Jockey Club, "a truly distinguished +being"--when Pilar wished to give any one the highest praise she +always alluded to them as "a being"--"and not superficial like the +most of his class," talked for two consecutive hours of the coming +elections to the Jockey Club, and of the attempt to bring in the +wearing of bracelets as a fashion among gentlemen. The only figure +in this gallery which made anything like a favorable impression on +Wilhelm was a Catalonian, naturalized in France, a professor at a +Paris lycee. He had simple, winning manners, spoke and looked like +an intelligent person, and met Wilhelm with much friendliness. He +was to learn later on that this amiable, frank, unfailingly good- +tempered acquaintance had made the most ill-natured, not to say +defamatory remarks about him, before Pilar and her whole circle of +friends. + +One afternoon Anne announced that "the consumptive poet was below, +and begged to be allowed to pay his respects to Madame la Comtesse." +"Another great man, no doubt," thought Wilhelm, sadly resigned to +his fate. To his surprise Pilar turned furiously red, and said +angrily: + +"I am not at home!" + +Anne retired, but came back again immediately. + +"He sent to ask," she said, in a tone of studied indifference, which +ineffectually concealed her inward satisfaction, "what he had done +to deserve madame's displeasure, and why he should be treated like a +stranger?" + +"Anne," cried Pilar, her voice quivering with rage, "how dare you +bring me such a message! If the man does not go instantly, then +order Don Pablo and Auguste to see that he does." + +The maid withdrew, and Pilar, without waiting for Wilhelm's +question, muttered resentfully: + +"A man I was kind to out of pity, because he was such a poor wretch, +an unknown poet, and bound to die soon--and now he is impudent and +intrusive. But that is just what one may expect when one is kind- +hearted." + +Wilhelm thought no more of this episode, and had almost forgotten +that it had ever occurred, when one day soon afterward a friend of +Pilar's, the Countess Cuerbo, came to call. She was the wife of a +fabulously rich Spanish banker, whose house, racing-stables, picture +gallery, carriages, and dinners were among the marvels of Paris. +This lady's most striking characteristic was a vulgar boastfulness, +such as is seldom met with even among the worst upstarts of the +Bourse. It was said that she had originally been a washerwoman or a +cigarette maker in Seville, but this was perhaps an exaggeration. So +much, however, was certain, that her husband had begun in a very +small way, and had received his title at the accession of King +Alfonso, in return for financial services which had materially +helped toward the re-establishment of the throne. The Countess +Cuerbo could now give points as to pride of station to the bluest- +blooded grandee. She associated exclusively with persons of title, +and strove, in every possible way, to play the "grande dame." She +was always bedizened with the most costly diamonds, and so +shamelessly rouged that she must have been mobbed had she gone +through the Boulevards on foot. She was not actually plain, but so +affected that she did not know what to do with herself, and made +such frightful grimaces that one was afraid to look at her. Nor +could she be called stupid, for she had the inborn natural wit of +the Andalusians, and when she spoke Spanish, could give very droll +turns to her remarks. Her French was calculated to induce toothache +in her hearers, and in the unfamiliar language the wit evaporated +and left only the vulgar behind. She was the terror of her female +friends, for she considered absolute freedom of speech to be the +privilege and badge of nobility, and thought herself every inch an +aristocrat when she alluded, without the faintest regard for +decency, not only to her own numerous affairs of gallantry, but to +those of her friends to their faces. Her tactlessness had been the +cause of many a disaster, but she remained incorrigible, in spite of +repeated and severe snubbings and even bitter insults. + +No sooner had she entered the room than Wilhelm received a sample of +her peculiar style. Anne announced the Countess Cuerbo. Wilhelm +rose, prepared to leave Pilar alone, but the visitor had followed on +the heels of the maid, and rustled into the red salon, exclaiming in +her strident voice and horrible Spanish accent as she embraced +Pilar: + +"This is your German friend, I suppose, about whom I have heard so +much. Oh, please don't go away, I am so curious to know you." + +Wilhelm was dumfounded. Such calm insolence he had never yet +encountered. Pilar shot a glance of fury at the countess, to which +she did not pay the slightest attention, but examined Wilhelm +insolently through her gold eyeglasses, and went on with a vulgar +laugh: + +"General Varon told me about you, and described you to me. He thinks +you very nice, and I must say I think he is right." + +Pilar's patience gave out. + +"Madame," she said very dryly, "if Monsieur le Docteur Eynhardt +feels himself honored by your astounding familiarities that is his +affair. I do not disguise from you that I think them in very bad +taste." + +"Oh, my dear countess," replied the lady, in no way discomposed by +this snub, "don't be so severe upon me. I have no designs upon your +friend, and you need not be prudish with me. Surely ladies of our +rank have no need to be particular like any little grocer's wife." + +That was Pilar's own creed, and before any other audience she would +smilingly have agreed with the Countess Cuerbo. But she pictured to +herself what an effect this tone would have upon Wilhelm's German, +middle-class sense of propriety, which she knew so well, and was +indignant at her visitor's cool cynicism. + +"Madame," she returned, still more icily, "you force upon me the +opinion that there are circumstances under which it would be well to +take an example by the grocer's wives whom you despise so much." + +This remark, in which the Bourse-countess did not fail to hear the +ring of the real aristocrat's disdain, touched her in her tenderest +point. She tried to smile, but turned livid under her paint, and +determined to return the stab on the spot. + +"Don't be angry, dearest countess, I was only joking, and you know +as well as anybody that we Andalusians do not weigh our words too +carefully. By the bye, your French poet--you know--the one before +you went to the seaside--is simply beside himself. You have thrown +him over, it seems. He comes to me every day, imploring me to say a +good word for him to you. He talks of challenging his fortunate +successor, and goodness only knows what nonsense beside." + +Pilar turned very white. She sprang to her feet. + +"Shall I give a name to what you are doing?" she cried, her voice +shaking. + +"Don't trouble," returned her visitor, perfectly delighted, and +rising as she spoke. "I see, dearest countess, that you have one of +your nervous days, so I had better come again another time." + +So saying she swept out of the room, throwing an offensively +friendly nod at Wilhelm as she passed. To the grinning Anne, who was +waiting in the hall to see her to her carriage, she said: + +"Well, it looks serious this time--the countess is over head and +ears. But it is quite true, he is much better-looking than any of +the others." + +"Looks are not everything," returned Anne sagely, and her +contemptuous shrug conveyed plainly enough that she did not share +her mistress' taste. + +Upstairs Pilar had rushed over to Wilhelm as soon as the countess +disappeared, and hid her face on his breast. + +Wilhelm pushed her gently away, and said sadly: + +"I have no right to reproach you, or, if I did, it would only be for +not having been open with me, although you boast of your extreme +truthfulness." + +"Wilhelm," she entreated, clasping his hand in both of hers, "do not +judge me hastily. I might excuse myself, I might even deny it, but I +am not capable of that. When I told you the story of my life, I +believed honestly that I had made you a full confession. You shake +your head? Is it true--I swear it is! This man had entirely escaped +my memory. Why, I never loved him! It was in some part a childish +folly, but principally pity and perhaps little caprice on the part +of a bored and lonely woman. My heart had not the smallest part in +it. He was given up by the doctors, they thought he might die any +day--in such a case one gives oneself is one would offer him a cup +of tisane--the action of a Good Samaritan." + +"Your defense," he said grimly, as he freed himself from her grasp, +"is far worse than any reproach I might bring against you. You never +loved him? Your heart had no part in this childish folly? That makes +it all the uglier--then it becomes unpardonable. Love alone could +extenuate such a fault to some degree." + +He turned to leave the room, but she threw herself upon him and +clung to him. + +"You are right--quite right, darling," her voice half-choked with +terror and excitement; "but forgive me--forgive me for the sake of +my love to you. That story belongs to the past, and the past is +buried--buried forever. I cannot believe myself that it is not all a +hideous dream--that it should be really true! It was not I--it was +another woman, a stranger whom I do not know--with whom I have +nothing in common. I was not alive then--I have only lived since you +were mine. Oh, why did you come so late?" And her wild, passionate +words sank into heartrending sobs. + +He could not but be sorry for her. Was it wise, was it fitting to +rake up the past? Had he any right to call her to account for faults +which were not committed against him? She was good and pure now. She +had not broken faith with him--not even in her thoughts--for she had +no eyes for anybody in the world but him! He held out his hand to +her. + +"I will forget what I heard to-day," he said, "and do not let us +ever speak again of what has been." + +He was quite sincere in saying this, for he really wished to forget. +But our memory is not subject to our will. Do what he would, he +could not banish the consumptive poet from his mind, nor the +diplomat with the silly, handsome face, and other figures more +shadowy than these two, but none the less annoying. He learned to +know that most torturing form of jealousy--the jealousy of the past- +-against which it is hopeless to struggle, which will not be +dispelled, and which, in its unalterable steadfastness, mocks at the +despair of the heart that is forever searching after new grounds for +torment, and yet cries aloud when it finds what it sought. His +imagination wandered perpetually from the lovely pastel in the +yellow salon to the new ebony bed, with its inlaid ivory scenes in +the bedroom, and saw or guessed things between these two points that +made him shudder. + +Thus, New Year's night found him in a very gloomy frame of mind, and +the letter he wrote to Schrotter expressed a still deeper dejection +than that of the year before. Since recounting the conversation +about the donkey in Ault, he had never again mentioned Pilar to his +friend, nor betrayed by a single word the circumstances in which he +had lived since the middle of August. Such disclosures would have +necessitated a moral effort on his part, for which even his +friendship for Schrotter could not supply him with sufficient force. +He knew that Schrotter's views on morality were neither narrow nor +pharisaical, that to him virtue did not consist in the outward +observance of social rules, but in self-forgetful, brotherly love +and a strict adherence to duty. It would have afforded him +unspeakable relief to have been able to pour out his heart to his +friend, to give him an insight into his turbid love-story and the +conflict in his soul. But a sense of shame--the outcome, no doubt, +of his own disgust at the unsavory accessories of his love--had +withheld him from making these confidences. He made none now, +complained only in a general way of the emptiness of his life, to +which neither desire nor hope bound him any more; especially that he +had no future, and looked forward to each new day with horror and +shrinking. + +Schrotter's answer was, as usual, full of faithful affection and +wise encouragement. He chid him gently for his want of spirit, and +then went on to say: + +"You have no future! I am amazed at such a remark in the mouth of a +man of thought. Which one of us can say he has a future? To say we +have a future is simply to say that we wish for something, strive +after something, set some aim before us. That which we call a man's +future does not lie outside of him, but in himself. I would have you +observe that events rarely or never happen as we expect, and that +the plans which we have worked out most zealously are scarcely ever +carried out. And yet we firmly believe, all the time, that we have a +future. Nature permits us no outlook into Time. A wall rises before +our eyes to hide what is coming. But the cheerless nakedness of that +wall being unbearable to us, we paint it over with landscapes of our +own devising. And that is what the unthinking mind calls the future. +Any one can paint these pictures on the wall, and to complain of its +bareness is to acknowledge the poverty of one's own imagination +wishing for something,--never mind what. The higher, the more +unattainable, the better. Only desire earnestly, and you will feel +yourself alive again. Your misfortune, my friend, is that you have +not to work for your daily bread. A settled income is only a +blessing to those to whom the attainment of the trifling and +external pleasures of life seems worth the trouble of an effort. You +are wise enough to set no value on what the world can give you. You +are neither vain nor ambitious. Therefore you do not exercise your +capacities in wrestling for position, recognition, honors, or fame. +On the other hand, you have no need to trouble yourself about the +bare necessities of life, and are thereby deprived of another +occasion for bringing your strength into play. Now, you are provided +with organic forces, and it is the circumstance that these forces +are lying fallow that affects you like a malady. It is in work alone +that you can hope to find a cure, or at least an improvement. +Accordingly, if you have not sufficient strength of will to set +yourself some task, my will shall come to your aid. I suggest, nay, +I insist, that you proceed manfully with your 'History of Human +Ignorance,' about which I have heard nothing for months, and that +you show me at least the first volume ready for the press by the end +of this time next year." + +Wilhelm caught desperately at this advice, offered to him by his +friend in the paradoxical form of a command. He got out his books +and papers again, and began devoting his mornings to work. Pilar was +delighted. She was far too wise not to know that honeymoons do not +last forever, and although she was persuaded that she, for her part, +would never desire anything better than to be always at Wilhelm's +side, passing the time in interminable conversations about herself +and himself, in kissing and fondling, she quite understood that that +was not enough to satisfy a man accustomed to a wider range of +pursuits. She had looked forward with anxiety to the moment when +mere love-making would pall upon him, and he would begin to be +bored, and wish for a change. She had kept a sharp lookout for the +approach of this ticklish moment that her ingenious mind might have +some fresh interest ready for him. This trouble had been spared her. +He himself took thought for a suitable occupation to fill up his +time. So much the better. He had adapted himself to the +circumstances, after all. He no longer looked upon it as a passing +liaison, but had settled down permanently and finally to lead his +accustomed life with her. + +It took a weight off her mind, and gave her a sense of peace and +security such as she had not known since the return to Paris. She +too began to come out of her shell, and to resume her former mode of +life. She fulfilled her social duties, and paid and received calls, +which Wilhelm was allowed to shirk. At the end of January the first +ball of the Spanish embassy took place. Pilar's whole set was +invited, and she could not well absent herself without exciting +remark. She therefore made the necessary preparations for the +festivity. A diadem of brilliants was sent to be reset, a +sensational gown composed, after repeated conferences with a great +ladies' tailor, a pattern in seed pearls chosen for the embroidery +of the long gloves. Don Pablo galloped about like a post-horse from +morning till night; gorgeous vans, with liveried attendants, from +the fashionable shops stopped constantly at the door to deliver +parcels; there was an unceasing stream of messengers, shop people, +and needlewomen. But Wilhelm was oblivious of it all; Pilar did not +trouble him with such frivolous matters. It was not till the very +day of the ball that she handed him the card of invitation she had +procured for him at the embassy, and asked, as a precaution: + +"You have all you require, have you not?" + +Wilhelm glanced at the pink, glazed card. + +"But, Pilar, do you know me so little?" + +"I know that you do not care for these stupid entertainments," she +answered coaxingly, "but I thought you would go to please me." + +"So you are going?" he asked. + +"I must," she replied. "They know that I am in Paris, and I wish to +avoid the remark that would be made if I stayed away." + +"You are quite right," said Wilhelm, "but you will have to go +without me." + +"Don't be a bear!" she urged. "It will interest you to see this side +of Parisian life. I don't say that I would ask you to do it often, +but you might--just this once. Beside, you have been more than three +months in Paris, and you do not know one real Parisian. Now, here is +an opportunity of meeting artists, authors, academicians, senators-- +and there are some remarkable men among them, well worth talking +to." + +"I am sincerely grateful," he returned, and kissed her hand. "Please +do not trouble about it. I am quite sure that there are many people +in Paris I should like to meet, but they are scarcely likely to be +present at an embassy ball. And even if they were, a mere +introduction, an interchange of society platitudes, would not bring +me any further. No; go you to your ball, and leave me at home." + +Pilar sighed, and gave up the struggle, and then received the +jeweler, who had brought the newly-set ornament for the hair, a +miracle of taste, delicate workmanship, and splendor. + +In the afternoon Monsieur Martin, the prince of Paris hairdressers, +arrived, to compose her a coiffure for the ball. He was a little +man, with a clean-shaven upper lip, and the mutton-chop whiskers of +a solicitor. He wore a long black coat, of severe cut, buttoned up +to the top, and a ribbon in his buttonhole. In his very pale cravat +was a breastpin with a magnificent cat's eye. Patent leather boots +and kid gloves completed the faultless attire of this gentleman, +whom one would sooner have taken for a minister than a hairdresser. +A liveried servant followed him, carrying a silver-bound morocco +box, which he took from him at the door of the boudoir, and placed +with his own hands on the rosewood table. + +After an extremely ceremonious greeting, he drew off his gloves, +seated himself in an armchair by the fire, and made the countess +describe what she was going to wear. He listened with almost tragic +attention, his forehead in his hand, his eyes closed. After some +reflection, he exclaimed: + +"Where is the diadem?" + +Pilar placed it on the table in front of him. + +He contemplated it earnestly, and then murmured: + +"Good, very good. But now I must see the robe." + +"Monsieur Martin," Pilar returned reproachfully, "don't you know +that my tailor respects himself far too much to send home one of his +creations before the last moment?" + +"It is always the same story," he complained mournfully; "I am to +arrange a coiffure for Madame la Comtesse, the coiffure is to +harmonize with the whole, and I am not permitted to see the robe." + +"But I have given you the general idea of it." + +"General idea! general idea! Does Madame la Comtesse think that that +will suffice?" + +"For an artist like you, Monsieur Martin--" + +"Oh, of course--for an artist like me! I can answer for myself, but +how do I know if the tailor has caught madame's style correctly? I +am perfectly competent to compose a coiffure which shall agree +entirely with the type of Madame la Comtesse, but what if the tailor +has been mistaken--what if the robe turns out a disguise rather than +an enhancement? In that case, adieu to the harmony." + +Pilar reassured the sorely-tried master, and exchanged glances of +amusement with Wilhelm. She had described him to Wilhelm beforehand +as a Parisian oddity, and invited him to be present during the +visit. While Anne enveloped her mistress in the white dressing- +mantle, Monsieur Martin laid out the battery of combs, brushes, and +tortoise-shell hair-pins provided by the maid, added, out of his own +box, two hand-glasses, and a box of gold-powder, and began to loosen +the countess' abundant tresses. As the golden waves flowed over the +back of the chair to the ground, he murmured, drawing his fingers +repeatedly through the silken mass: + +"What a fleece, Madame la Comtesse! It takes a Spaniard to have such +hair." + +He now began rapidly and skillfully to comb, brush, coil, and +fasten, to smooth away here, loosen there, shook the gold dust over +it, touched the locks upon the forehead, placed the diadem, and fell +back a step to review his work. A groan burst from him. + +"That is not it! that is not it!" he wailed, and shook his head +dolefully from side to side. "I am not permitted to see the costume +of Madame la Comtesse, I am not to use pads or curling-irons, and +yet all is to be in the grand style--only a diadem--not a flower, +not a feather! No, it will not do." He glared at her for a moment, +and then cried suddenly, "No, it positively will not do!" And before +Pilar could prevent him, he had rapidly pulled out all the hairpins, +removed the diadem, and disarranged with nervous fingers the whole +artistic edifice. + +"A coiffure that bears my signature must not be allowed to leave my +hands like that," he said. "And yet the ground is burning beneath my +feet. It is three o'clock, and I have not yet lunched." + +"Poor Monsieur Martin!" cried Pilar. "Will you have something to eat +at once? They shall serve it to you downstairs." + +"Madame la Comtesse is very good, but I have no time to sit down +comfortably at a table. I have all that is necessary in my carriage, +and shall take some slight refreshment there, on my way to my next +client." + +"Have you much to do to-day?" + +Monsieur Martin drew out a little notebook, with ivory tablets, and +a silver monogram, and held it up before Pilar's eyes. + +"Eleven heads after that of Madame la Comtesse." + +"All for the embassy ball?" + +"No, madame; I have another dance to-night in the Faubourg, and a +betrothal party in the American colony." + +While speaking he had not remained idle. The coiffure was being +built up on a different plan, and this time Monsieur Martin appeared +to be satisfied with his creation. He walked all round the smiling +countess, begged her to walk slowly up and down the room once or +twice, touched up the front locks a little, and then the back, and +finally ejaculated: + +"Charming! Ravishing! Our head will have a great success!" + +He departed, after a ceremonious leave-taking. At the door of the +boudoir his servant again relieved him of his box, and carried it +after him downstairs, and a few minutes later they heard his +carriage drive away. + +"You have not anything like that in Berlin yet," said Pilar, +laughing, when the solemn and important artist had left. + +"I think not," Wilhelm replied; "at least, not in the circles with +which I am acquainted. But I do not laugh at him--on the contrary, I +envy him. He takes himself so seriously, and combs with his whole +soul. Happy man!" + +It was about half-past ten when Pilar entered the red salon, in full +ball dress. Wilhelm was sitting by the fire reading. She came up to +him: + +"How do you like me?" she asked. + +She had on a salmon-colored broche velvet dress, with ostrich +feather trimmings, and a long train. Shoulders and bust rose as out +of pink foam from the scarf-like folds of some very airy material; +brilliants flashed at her breast and on her arms, the diadem was in +her hair, two solitaires in the delicate little ears, a double row +of pearls round her neck, and an ostrich feather fan, with enameled +gold mounts, in her hand. A superb figure! + +"How beautiful!" he said, and stroked her chin fondly. He dared not +touch her cheeks, for fear of disturbing the pearl powder. "But you +look just as regal without the brilliants." + +"Flatterer! Would you not like to come, after all? Make haste and +dress." + +He only shook his head, smiling. + +"But are you not a little bit jealous, when you see me go off by +myself to a ball? I shall talk to the men, and take their arm and +dance with them; the people will look at me and pay me attention-- +does it not make any difference to you?" + +"No, dear heart, for I hope it will make none to you either." + +"Ah, yes--you need have no fear on that score. But still--in your +place--you men, you love differently from us. And not so well," she +added with a sigh, as Anne appeared with her fur-lined cloak, and +announced that the carriage was waiting. + +Some hours later Wilhelm was startled out of a deep sleep by burning +kisses. He opened his dazed eyes, and, blinking in the lamplight, +saw Pilar standing by the bed as if in a cloud. She held her great +bouquet in one hand, and with the other was plucking the roses and +gardenias to pieces, and strewing the petals over his head and face, +as she did in the sunny afternoons at St. Valery. She must have been +engaged in this pastime for a considerable time, for the pillows and +quilt were covered with flowers, and his hair was full of them. As +neither Pilar's entry with the lamp nor the shower of blossoms had +succeeded in wakening him, she had leaned over him and roused him +with a kiss. + +"Oh, sleepy head!" she cried, and continued to rain flowers on his +dazzled, blinking eyes. "At least you have been dreaming of me?" + +"To tell the truth," he returned, "I have not dreamed at all." + +"And I have never left off thinking about you all the time, and have +longed so for you. Look here!" + +She took a lamp off the chimney-piece, and held up her ball +programme before his eyes. The blank places were filled up with +pencil-writing, which looked as if it might be lines of poetry: +which in truth it was--Spanish improvisations breathing burning love +and passionate longing. He would have understood or guessed their +meaning even if Pilar had not translated them with kisses and +caresses. + +"Now, you see, you bad boy," she went on, "those were my thoughts +while I was away from you. I had not thought it would be so +difficult to enjoy myself without you. It was impossible. It is only +three, but I could not stand it any longer. I escaped before the +cotillion. If you only knew how hollow and stupid it all seemed to +me! How dull I thought the men's conversation, how ludicrous the +affectations of the women! What are all these people compared to +you! No, I will never go out again without you. Come, Wilhelm, and +help me to undress. I will not have Anne about me now--nobody--only +you." + +Had she been drinking champagne at the ball? Had the lights, the +music, the dancing, the perfumes, her own verses gone to her head? +Whatever was the cause, her nerves were certainly very highly +strung, and only calmed down when the morning was well advanced, and +she had exhausted herself in a thousand fond extravagances. + +During the next few days Wilhelm noticed something odd in Pilar's +manner which he failed to understand. She seemed strangely absent +and thoughtful, by turns unnaturally silent and feverishly +talkative, would sit for hours beside him glancing mysteriously at +him from time to time, as if she knew something very wonderful, and +were debating in her own mind whether to tell it or keep it to +herself. She blushed if he looked at her inquiringly, and rushed +away and locked herself into her boudoir. + +He watched these peculiar proceedings patiently for about a week, +and then asked one day, not without a secret misgiving: + +"Pilar, what is the matter with you lately?" + +Probably she had only waited for this. She cast herself upon his +breast, drew his head down, and whispered something in his ear. He +straightened himself up with a jerk. + +"Are you certain?" he asked, with an unsteady voice. + +"Almost, I think; yes, Wilhelm, it must be so," she stammered, +hiding her face on his shoulder. + +It was well she did not look at him at that moment. Unskilled as he +was in the art of dissembling, his face expressed no pleasure at +all, but only painful surprise. For weeks, but more especially since +his gloomy broodings on New-Year's night, the anxious thought lay +heavy on him, "What if our connection should have results?" The +situation would then become so complicated that he saw no prospect +of ever putting it straight again. The idea had only hitherto been +an indefinite cause of anxiety--now it resolved itself into a fact +which appalled him. At the same time he could not but see how happy +Pilar was at the prospect, and it seemed to him unkind, even brutal, +to let her have an inkling of what he felt at her news. He kissed +her in silence, and pressed her hand long and warmly. + +"You have not said yet that you are glad," she said, and raised her +eyes to his in fond reproach. + +"Must one put everything into words?" he returned, with an uneasy +smile. + +"It is true," she answered; "I ought to be accustomed to your German +ways by this time. But your reserve is quite uncanny to us +Southerners. You are silent where our hearts simply overflow with +words quite of themselves. You are content to think where we shout +for joy." + +With these words Pilar depicted her own state. She felt in truth +that she could shout for joy, and the happy words flowed of +themselves from her lips. Now at last the future stood clearly and +definitely outlined before her eyes. Now indeed she was bound to +Wilhelm, as was her burning desire, and that far faster than by any +documents with solemn signatures and official seals. Her heart was +so light, she felt as if her feet no longer touched the ground and +that she must float away into the blue ether like the ecstatic +saints in the church pictures of her own country. She talked +incessantly of the coming being, and thought of nothing else waking +or sleeping. She had not the slightest doubt that it would be a boy. +Isabel had to lay the cards a dozen times, and the knave of spades +came to the top nearly every time, an infallible promise of a boy. +And how beautiful he would be, the son of such a handsome father, +the fruit of such transcendent love! She consulted with Wilhelm what +name he should receive, and wanted a definite statement or a +suggestion, or at least some slight conjecture as to the profession +his father would choose for him. And should he be educated in Paris? +Would it not be too great a strain upon the little brain to have to +learn French, Spanish, and German at the same time? What anxieties, +what responsibilities, but at the same time what bliss! She did not +even let Wilhelm see the whole depth of her feelings, knowing that +he would not follow her in these extravagant raptures. She did not +let him see her kneel two or three times a day at the altar or on +her priedieu, and cover the silver Madonna del Pilar with ecstatic +kisses. He knew nothing of her having sent for the priest of the +diocese and ordered a number of masses. She did not take him with +her when--her impatience leading her far ahead of events--she rushed +from shop to shop looking for a cradle, and only put off buying one +because she could find none in all Paris that was sumptuous and +costly enough. + +This went on for about a fortnight, till one day she tottered into +Wilhelm's room, all dissolved in tears, sank sobbing at his feet, +and hid her face on his knee. + +"Pilar, what has happened?" he cried in alarm. + +"Oh, Wilhelm, Wilhelm," was all the answer he could get from her; +and only after long and loving persuasion did she murmur in such low +and broken tones that she had to repeat her words before he could +understand her, "My happiness was premature, I was mistaken." + +She was insolable at the destruction of her airy castle, and was ill +for days, the first time since Wilhelm had known her. He sympathized +deeply with her in her grief, but he did not conceal from himself +that he was infinitely relieved at the turn affairs had taken. With +such a morbidly analytical and yet profoundly moral nature as his, +no rapture of the senses could possibly last for six months and +more. The passion in which reason plays no part was past and over +long ago, and during the last few weeks he had reflected upon the +situation with ever-increasing clearness and deliberation. At first +he had not been quite sure of his feelings, but earnest self- +examination by degrees made everything plain to him. What he was +most distinctly conscious of was a sense of profound disgust at his +present manner of life. Things could not remain as they were. Sooner +or later it must inevitably come to the knowledge of his friends. +What would they think of him for leading such a life at Pilar's +side, in her house? She had children who would some day sit in +judgment upon her conduct and his. And how did he stand in the eyes +of the servants and the visitors whose acquaintance Pilar had forced +upon him? If at least she would give up her outside circle of +friends! But that she either could not or would not do, and so +brought ill-natured witnesses of their relations to the house, and +Wilhelm must needs accommodate himself to an intercourse with +second-rate people who inevitably form the set of a woman whose +domestic circumstances are not clearly, or rather all too clearly +defined. And before these people, who appeared to him greatly +inferior to himself, both morally and intellectually, he was forced +to cast down his eyes. Reflect as he might upon the situation, the +result was always the same--it must be put to an end to. But how? + +There remained always the possibility that her husband might die and +she be thus free to marry him. Strange, he always hurried over this +solution of the difficulty. In his inner consciousness he was +apparently not desirous of making the connection a lifelong one, +even if sanctioned by lawful formalities. Leave her. He shuddered at +the thought. It would be criminal to cause her so great a grief, for +he was assured that she loved him passionately, and he was deeply +and fondly grateful to her for doing so. She might some day grow +tired of him. He hoped for this, but the hope was so faint, so +secret, so hidden, that he hardly dared confess it to himself, +knowing well that it was a deadly and altogether undeserved insult +to her love. And even this faint hope vanished when she whispered +the news of her prospective motherhood in his ear; now there was no +possibility of a dissolution of their connection. If a human +creature was indebted to him for its life, he must give himself up +to it, and to this sacred duty he must sacrifice freedom, happiness, +even self-respect. But his heart contracted with a bitter pang at +the thought. It was as if a black curtain had been drawn in front of +him, or a window walled up which permitted a view over the open +country from a dark room. + +However, he had been spared this crowning addition to the burden of +his discomfort, and he breathed more freely. But the episode had +served to rend the last remaining veil that hung before his moral +eye. That the situation should seem so unbearable, that he was so +sensitive to the opinion of others, that his blood had run cold at +Pilar's news, that he had felt the disappointment of her hopes as a +relief, that the idea that the danger might recur should fill him +with terror--this all pointed to one fact, the realization of which +forced itself upon him with inexorable persistency; he did not love +Pilar, or at any rate he did not love her sufficiently--not enough +to take her finally into his life, and, possessing her, to forget +himself and all the world beside. + +In the midst of his torturing efforts to come to some conclusion he +noticed that Auguste, who had come to his room with a letter, +lingered about in an undecided manner, as if he had something to say +but did not know exactly how to say it. + +"What is it?" asked Wilhelm, coming to his assistance. + +He liked Auguste, for he was always civil and attentive to him, +whereas the hostility of the rest of the servants was easily +discerned in spite of their forced show of servility. + +"Monsieur le Docteur must excuse me," said the man, "but I really +can't listen to it any longer and keep quiet. The lady's maid never +stops saying the most scandalous things about monsieur. She says it +is not true that monsieur is a celebrated doctor and a member of +Parliament, and that they are not going to make him President of the +German Republic." + +"Who has been trying to impose upon you with such stories?" + +"But Madamela Comtess tells everybody so, and all the world knows +it. I have long wanted to ask monsieur for something against the +rheumatism in my left shoulder, but did not like to because madame +says monsieur may not practice here." + +What object could Pilar have in inventing these fables? + +As he remained silent Auguste resumed: + +"Monsieur may trust me, I am discreet, and I always defend him +against Anne, who is spiteful as a cat. She says monsieur is a +Prussian spy and a fortune-hunter, and is simply preying upon +madame. And she calls monsieur something still worse, which I would +not like to repeat. It is a shame, for monsieur has never done her +any harm, and it would not be quite so bad if she only let out her +vile temper before us, but she slanders monsieur to outsiders and +gives him a dreadfully bad name." + +"I am sorry that you should retail such gossip to me," said Wilhelm, +making a great effort to appear unmoved. + +"I considered it my duty, as an honest man. I am not saying more +than the truth about the maid, and am perfectly ready to repeat it +all to her face. Madame la Comtesse is really wrong in keeping the +viper. There are plenty of respectable and handy young women who +would think themselves lucky to be taken into madame's service. I +have a cousin, for instance, who has been in the best houses--Anne +couldn't hold a candle to her; if monsieur would recommend her to +Madame la Comtesse--" + +"I can do nothing in the matter," said Wilhelm brusquely. + +He turned his back upon the man and absorbed himself pointedly in +his books. Auguste stood a moment, but seeing that Wilhelm would +take no further notice of him, shrugged his shoulders and left the +room. + +Wilhelm was surprised himself at the impression the man's +information had made upon him. Dismay, anger, and shame struggled +for the mastery in his breast. What a suffocating air he breathed in +this house! How vile and underhand and insincere were the people by +whom he was surrounded! But was this true that Auguste told him? Did +he not lie and slander like the rest? Was he not doing the servant +far too great an honor by letting his mind dwell on the low gossip +of the servants' hall? He felt a kind of dim revolt against his own +excitement which he felt to be unworthy of him, and, under other +circumstances, he really would have been too proud to allow such +tale-bearing to exert the slightest influence upon his thoughts or +actions. But, in his present state of mind, Auguste's words sounded +to him like a brutal translation of his own thoughts, condemning him +for his cowardice in submitting to his humiliating position, and he +recognized more clearly than ever that he must fight his way out of +this degradation. + +It was not easy to carry out this resolve. When Pilar came to his +room and took his arm to lead him down to lunch, she was as +bewitching and fond as ever. At table she chattered brightly about +an exhibition of pictures in the Cercle des Mirlitons, which she +wanted to see with him that afternoon, asked him about the work he +had done to-day, and if he had given a thought to her now and then +between his crusty old books, and altogether gave evidence of such +childlike and implicit confidence in his love and faith, such utter +absence of suspicion as to possible rocks ahead, that that which he +had it in his mind to do seemed almost like a stab in the dark. His +mental suffering was so poignant as to be visibly reflected in his +countenance, and Pilar interrupted her lively flow of talk to ask +anxiously: + +"What is the matter with you to-day, darling? Don't you feel well?" + +He took his courage in both hands, and answered with another +question: + +"Tell me, Pilar, did you really trump up a story about me? That I +was a celebrated doctor and member of Parliament, and the future +President of the German Republic?" + +She flashed, but tried to laugh off her embarrassment. "Oh, it was +only a harmless little romance to amuse myself. You could be all +that if you liked, I am sure, you are ever so much cleverer than +these puppets--" She stopped short in the middle of the sentence as +she caught sight of the menacing frown upon his face, drew her chair +with a rapid movement close to his, and said, in her most humble and +insinuating tones, "Dearest, are you vexed with me?" + +"Yes, for it is a humiliating, and beside which, a totally +unnecessary invention, and lays me open to the worst construction." + +"And who has taken upon themselves to retail it to you? That Cuerbo, +I suppose?" + +"It was not the Countess Cuerbo--not that it matters if the actual +fact is true." + +"Forgive me, Wilhelm," she pleaded, "I thought to act for the best. +The whole story was chiefly for my mother's benefit. I wanted her to +love you and be grateful to you. I wanted her to take you to her +heart like a son. I do not care a bit about the other people. I only +told them the story to keep myself in practice. And beside, you know +what the world is. A man's personal worth goes for nothing, it only +cares for the outward signs of success, and that is why I said you +were a celebrated man and had a great future before you. That is no +invention, for I believe it firmly. And I told them that you had +saved my life, because it is true, for life was a burden to me till +I knew you, and you have made it worth living." + +"But do you not see into what a degrading position you force me?" + +"I hoped you would never hear about it. My intentions were so good. +Our relations to one another must be explained in some way. I wanted +to shield your reputation from these people and shut their mouths." + +"You see, my poor Pilar," said Wilhelm sadly, "your excuse is the +bitterest criticism upon our relations. You yourself feel how ugly +the naked truth would look, and try to dress it up before the eyes +of the world. That kind of life cannot go on. We are doomed to +destruction in such an atmosphere of lies. We must return somehow to +truth and order." At his last words she let go of him and turned +very pale. + +"Ah, then it is only a pretext," she cried; "you want to get up a +quarrel with me as an excuse for breaking with me. That is unmanly +of you, that is cowardly. Be frank, tell me straight out what you +want. I have a right to demand absolute candor of you." + +Her words stabbed him like a knife. There was some truth in her +accusation. It was neither honest nor manly to make so much of her +fibs when he had something very different in his mind. She appealed +to his candor--she should not do so in vain. + +"It was not a pretext," he said, and forced himself to look into her +face that seemed turning to stone, "but a prompting cause. You ask +for the truth, and you shall have it, for I owe it you. Well then, +things cannot remain as they are. I cannot go on living as a hanger- +on in this house. I--" + +He sought painfully for words, but could find none. + +Pilar breathed hard. "Well--in short--" The words came out as if she +were being strangled. + +"In short, Pilar--I must--we shall have--" + +"I will not help you. Finish--you shall say the word." + +"We shall have to part, Pilar." + +"Wretch!" The cry wrenched itself from her breast. + +Wilhelm rose and prepared to leave the room. But at the same instant +she had rushed to him, and clinging wildly to him, she cried, beside +herself with anguish: + +"Don't go, Wilhelm, don't be angry with me. You don't know what I +feel--you are torturing me to death." + +Her sobs were so violent that she could not keep upon her feet, and +sank on the floor in front of him. He lifted her up and set her on a +chair, and his own eyes were wet as he said: + +"I am not suffering less than you, Pilar, but the cup of bitterness +must be drunk." + +"You do not love me," she moaned. "You have never loved me." + +"Do not say that, Pilar. I have loved you, but it is our ill-luck--" + +"You have loved me, you say. So you do not love me now? Wilhelm, +speak--do you not love me any more?" + +He tried to evade the question. "You know, from the first, I did not +want to come here. My weak compliance is revenging itself upon me +now. You yourself only spoke of it as a trial; if I could not +accustom myself to it you would not insist on my remaining." + +"You do not love me any more! So that is your boasted German +constancy of which you are so proud! These are your vows which I +took for gospel truth!" + +"I have no recollection of having made any vows," he retorted. He +was sorry for it the moment the words had left his mouth. + +"That is true," she answered bitterly; "you never promised anything. +You left me to do all the vowing. It is unpardonable of me to +reproach you, I have no claim upon you. I forced myself upon you-- +why don't you tell me so? Shout it in my ears! Despise me, kick me-- +I deserve no better. I have been guilty of the deadly sin of loving +you madly, and forgetting everything else in the world for that. You +are quite right to punish me for it. And see how low I have sunk! +see what my love has brought me to! You may curse me, you may ill- +treat me; I love you all the same, Wilhelm--do what you will, I love +you all the same." + +She was so distraught that she could not stay in the dining room. +With a sudden violent movement she grasped his arm and dragged him +away with her upstairs to the bedroom, where she threw herself +exhausted on the sofa. Wilhelm stood before her, looking thoroughly +crestfallen, and wishing devoutly that he had the dread hour behind +him. The silence frightened Pilar. She raised her head, and said in +a weak, changed voice: + +"It is all over, is it not? Tell me that it was only a bad dream-- +tell me that you will not frighten me like that again." + +"Pilar," he returned miserably, "I wish you would listen to me +quietly. You are generally so reasonable." + +"No, no," she cried; "I am not reasonable--I will not be reasonable. +I love you out of all reason. I shall repeat it a thousand times, +till you give up talking to me of reason." + +"And yet it is impossible for me to stay in this house." + +She straightened herself up, looked at him for a moment, and then +said with unnatural calmness, as she wiped the tears from her eyes: + +"Very well; but if you go I shall go with you." + +"What! you would leave your home, your friends, your beloved Paris-- +give up all you have been accustomed to, and follow me to Germany?" + +"To Germany--to the Inferno--wherever you like." + +"You do not mean it seriously." + +"I do mean it, very seriously. I cannot live without you." + +"But you have duties, you have your children--" + +"I have no children, I have only you. And if my children were a +barrier between you and me, I would strangle them with my own +hands." + +She spoke with such savage determination that he shuddered. But the +battle must be fought out. He must not yield now. + +"There is nothing for it," he said after a pause, during which he +stood with downcast eyes, fumbling nervously with the buttons of his +morning coat. "Our position would be equally wretched wherever we +were. Fate is stronger than we are. I do not see how we are to +escape it. Wherever we went, we should have to hide the truth, and +surround ourselves with a tissue of lies, and that I cannot stand. I +would rather die." + +"Die?" she exclaimed, and her eyes flamed up wierdly--"I am quite +ready. That is a way out of the difficulty. Die--whenever you like; +but live without you? No, I will cling to you; no power on earth +shall tear me from you. If you want to shake me off, you will have +to kill me first." "And yet you said you would not try to hold me +back if I wished to leave you." + +"And you remembered those foolish words! While my heart was +overflowing, you listened coolly and took note of everything, so +that you might use it against me afterward. I really did not think +you were so noble, so generous minded, as that." + +"You see that you were mistaken in me. I am narrow-minded, mean- +spirited, a thorough Philistine; you have said so repeatedly. What +do you see in me to care for? Let me go." + +"Oh, how you fix on every word and then turn it against me! I am not +equal to you; you are stronger than I, because you do not love me +and I love you. What do I care if you are narrow-minded--a +Philistine? If you were a highway robber I would not let you go." + +She stretched out her arms to him and drew him to her, and pressed +him so tightly to her bosom that he could hardly breathe. Then she +burst into tears, and wept so bitterly, so inconsolably, from the +bottom of her heart, like a child who has been very deeply hurt. In +order to value woman's tears aright, one must have often seen them +flow. Wilhelm was a novice in this respect. He imagined that Pilar's +tears were the outcome of the same amount of pain as he must have +felt to weep like that, and every drop fell like molten lead upon +his heart. His resolutions melted like ice before the fire; he had +not the courage to wound this clinging, loving, sobbing creature. He +rocked her gently in his arms till, exhausted by her frightful +excitement, she fell asleep. + +The storm was averted for this time, but her confidence, her joyous +sense of security, was gone forever. The scene left her with a +nervous restlessness which gradually increased to morbid fear. She +was haunted by the idea, that Wilhelm had some plan for deserting +her. She could not get rid of the thought--it assumed the aspect of +a possession. She changed color as she did regularly two or three +times in the course of the morning--she opened the door of his room +unexpectedly and did not see him at the writing table, because, +maybe, he had gone out on to the balcony for a moment, to rest from +his work and cool his heated brow. Then she would search the house +distractedly till she found him, and breathed again. In the night, +she would start up, and feel about her hurriedly, to make sure that +Wilhelm was there. She would not let him go a step out of the house +without her. She even accompanied him to the National Library, and +while he read or made notes, she sat beside him apparently occupied +with a book, but in reality never taking her eye off him. She made +no more visits except to the houses where she could take Wilhelm +with her. She had curious jealous fancies, examining, for instance, +with great care every letter that came for him, lest the address +should be in a feminine hand. Her desire to be forever proving to +herself that he was there, that he still belonged to her, took the +form of an insatiable craving for love, admitting, so to speak, of +no pauses for digestion. She was a beautiful, greedy werewolf, +knowing neither consideration nor restraint, her vampire mouth +forever draining the warm life-blood. + +"She is crazy," said Anne to one of Queen Isabella's ladies who had +been calling on Pilar, and remarked afterward to the maid that she +found the countess strangely altered. Isabel, the cook with the red +nose and alcoholic, watery eyes, passed whole mornings with her +mistress laying the cards, till she forgot all about lunch. The +father confessor, too, became an ever more frequent guest in the +house of his fashionable parishioner, and received in exchange for +his mild and discreet exhortations, donations for his church, gifts +for his poor, and requests for masses and prayers. But in none of +these distractions did Pilar find the peace she sought, and in her +terror of heart she telegraphed one day to her mother to come at +once to Paris and stay with her for a time. Don Pablo had taken the +message to the office, and talked about it afterward downstairs. +Auguste hurried to retail the news to Wilhelm, who had no difficulty +in understanding the motive. In the first moment he thought he was +glad of the approaching arrival of the Marquise de Henares. For, +distasteful as the idea might be that the mother should become a +witness of the daughter's questionable relations, he hoped that her +presence would have a quieting effect on Pilar, and help to bring +her to reason. But, on second thoughts, he was seized with afresh +anxiety. He knew that Pilar's was the stronger spirit of the two, +that she had a great influence over her mother, and could induce her +to adopt any opinion or feelings she might choose. What if the +marquise ranged herself on her daughter's side? Then, instead of +one, he would have two women against him, and his struggle for +freedom, in which he had already succumbed to one of them, would be +utterly hopeless. + +The Marquise de Henares did not come. She wrote that she was out of +health, and was beside detained in Madrid by a thousand social +duties; but in the spring or summer she would be very pleased to +come and spend a few weeks with her only child and her +grandchildren. + +Wilhelm maintained an outward show of calm. He did not renew his +attempt at revolt, made no resistance against the fact that Pilar +took entire possession of his existence, and clung to him like his +shadow; he only grew paler, and quieter, and more despondent than +before. But he pondered day and night upon some way of unraveling +the knot, and was in despair at finding none. Should he cut it? He +could not. He lived over again the scene in the dining room; he +pictured to himself how Pilar would sob, and fling herself on the +floor, and clasp his knees, and tear her hair, and saw himself, +after a useless repetition of his torture, disarmed anew. For one +moment he thought of giving a cry for help, of calling Schrotter to +his aid, but he was ashamed of his want of manliness, and put the +idea from him. There was nothing for it but to resign himself. He +did so with a gloomy, desperate relinquishment of all his +principles, his sense of morality, his ideals of life. He was the +victim of a malign fate, and there was no use fighting against it. +He must accept it as he would sickness or death. He was untrue to +himself, was a dissembler before himself and others: it lay in the +inexorable logic of things that he must suffer for it. But what a +shipwreck! After a pure and dignified life, wholly filled up by duty +and a striving after knowledge, entirely devoted to warring against +the animal element in man, and to educating himself up to an ideal +standard of freedom from ignoble instincts, thus shamefully to choke +and drown in the muddy lees of a love-potion! + +Pilar, who fancied him reconciled to the situation, grew easier in +her mind, and by degrees lost much of her distrust. About a month +later, toward the middle of March, she had so far regained her +equanimity as to allow herself, after a steady resistance, to be +persuaded by a friend to attend her house-warming ball--"pendre la +cremaillere," as they call it in Paris. The friend was quite as +superstitious as Pilar herself, and had vowed a hundred times over +that she would have no luck in her new house if Pilar were absent +from the opening ball. + +It was not till ten o'clock in the evening that she finally made up +her mind. She waited till Wilhelm had gone to bed, and then sent for +Isabel, and shut herself up with her in the boudoir. After Isabel +had turned up the knave of hearts eight times running, and she had +seen that Wilhelm was in bed, reading the newspaper, she gave Anne +and Don Pablo a few orders, dressed hurriedly, and went off, after +many kisses and embraces, and with the promise of not staying long. + +Wilhelm read his paper to the end, blew out the light, and turned +himself to the wall. But sleep forsook him, and he stared with wide- +open eyes into the darkness. Suddenly an odd suggestion flashed +across his mind--was rejected--returned again obstinately, grew +stronger, and finally was so imperative that Wilhelm sat up in bed +excitedly and relit the candles. Don Pablo had gone home, Anne had +accompanied Pilar, Isabel was in the back premises, engaged upon the +Val de Penas, two fresh casks of which had lately arrived, and +Auguste was probably in his bedroom asleep. He was as good as alone +in the house. Now or never! + +He sprang out of bed, and began to dress with a beating heart. Had +it come to this with him? He was on the point of committing an act +of cowardice--yes, but no greater, perhaps even less so, than +smouldering away in slavery and degradation. It was an ugly breach +of trust. Not really so, for he had expressed, himself plainly to +Pilar, and she must know how matters stood between them. Moreover, +if you fall into the mire, you cannot expect to get out of it again +without besmirching yourself. But--what will poor Pilar's feelings +be when she comes home and finds him gone? At the picture he +faltered, and very near returned to bed. But no--he put it forcibly +from him. + +He rapidly finished dressing, and went into his room to collect such +things as were absolutely necessary. The two large trunks had been +removed, and would in any case have been out of the question at this +juncture. The portmanteau lay behind a wardrobe. Into it he stuffed +some linen and clothes, a few books and his manuscript, cast one +look round the rooms in which he had encountered such heavy storms +of the heart, extinguished the lights, and walked resolutely +downstairs. + +The gas was burning in the hall, the front door stood half open, and +on the doorstep was Auguste, talking to a maid-servant from the next +house. She flitted away as the man turned round, and, to his +astonishment, perceived Wilhelm with a portmanteau in his hand. He +stepped quickly indoors. + +"Ah," he said in a muffled tones, "Monsieur le Docteur! I +understand--I understand. I would have done it long ago. It really +couldn't go on like that any longer. But monsieur might have said a +word to me; for as to me--I am dumb!" + +Wilhelm was crushed to the earth. So he was not to be spared one +humiliation, not even the patronizing familiarity of this lackey! +But it could not be helped now. Regardless of his opposition, +Auguste took the portmanteau out of his hand, and asked with eager +civility where he should carry it. + +"Only to a fiacre," Wilhelm answered. + +They went out together into the Boulevard Pereire, and as they +walked along beside the deep cutting of the circle railway, Auguste +inquired: + +"Monsieur is leaving Paris, no doubt?" + +Wilhelm made no reply. + +"Has Monsieur le Docteur left any address?" he continued urgently. + +"No," answered Wilhelm. + +"But it would be better if he did so, in case any letters might +come. And it will surely interest monsieur to know how things go on +in the house. Monsieur need only confide it to me. I would not tell +it to a single soul, not even if le bon Dieu himself came down with +all his saints." + +Wilhelm was weak enough to form a fresh link between himself and +Pilar, when he had just severed the old one. He wrote Schrotter's +address on a leaf of his pocketbook and gave it to Auguste, saying: + +"Anything will reach me safely under that address." + +They reached the cab stand in the Avenue de Villiers; Wilhelm got +into one, took the portmanteau inside, and pressed a sovereign into +Auguste's hand, who thanked him and asked where the cabman was to +drive to. + +"First of all, just along the avenue," answered Wilhelm. + +Auguste grinned as he repeated this order to the driver, and was +just closing the door, when there was a yelp of pain. + +"Infamous beast!" cried Auguste, and gave Fido, who had followed +them unperceived, a kick. The poor animal had always been accustomed +to going with them when Wilhelm and Pilar drove out, and now was +preparing to jump into the vehicle, when he just escaped being +crushed in the door. Wilhelm stooped to give the puffing, +affectionate creature a farewell pat. + +"Monsieur should take him as a souvenir," said Auguste, with thinly- +veiled sarcasm. "Nobody will take any notice of him now, in any +case." + +"You are quite right," said Wilhelm, and let the dog come in. The +fiacre moved off, and Auguste looked after it for a long time, as he +whistled the latest popular air. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +CONSUMMATION. + + +It wanted but little to midday when Wilhelm came out of a hotel on +the Neuer Jungfernstieg in Hamburg, and made his way toward the +Alster, Fido trotting behind him, whose coat, for want of its +accustomed daily washing and brushing, looked sadly neglected. + +The sky was thickly overcast, the air unusually mild, on account of +the prevailing west wind, and the pavement of the Jungfernstieg damp +and muddy. A thin veil of yellow fog lay over the Binnen Alster, +giving the objects far and near the indefinite, wavering appearance +of a mirage. Above the dark masses of houses to the right rose four +sharp spires, from the points of which, smoke-wreaths seemed to rise +and trail away. Far away in front the Lombardsbrucke was just +distinguishable, its three arches apparently hung with gray +draperies. Swans glided lazily in groups or singly over the muddy- +looking surface of the water, or came under the open windows of the +Alster Pavilion, through which late breakfasting guests threw them +crumbs. + +The small, green-painted Uhlenhorst steamer lay alongside of the +second landing-place. Wilhelm stepped on board, and remained on +deck, staring absently into the fog or at the dim outlines of the +houses on the shore. On the night of his escape from the Boulevard +Pereire he had driven to the Gare du Nord, and taken a midnight +train, which brought him at about six the next evening to Cologne. +He was dead with fatigue when he got there, stayed the night, and +went on the following afternoon to Hamburg. He had been there two +days now, but had not been able till to-day to gather sufficient +courage to go and see Paul. Solitude had been an absolute necessity +to him; he fancied that he who ran might read upon his brow the +story of how he had lived and of what he had been guilty. His +thoughts were incessantly in Paris. During the journey, in Cologne, +since his arrival in Hamburg, he saw nothing but Pilar's room, her +return from the ball, and her passionate exhibition of grief during +the hours and days that followed. He only lived in these imaginings. +There seemed as yet no immediate connection between his natural +surroundings and his mental life. He felt as if a few steps would +bring him again to Pilar's side, and more than once the desire came +over him to return to her, and lay himself at her feet, there to +vegetate luxuriously henceforth, without a will or thought, to the +end. He resisted this impulse, but he was powerless against the +tyranny of his imagination, which ceased not to call up before him +the scenes that were being enacted in the house in Paris. + +After a minute or two the boat started. The shores receded and +spread apart, and the lines of houses came and went like dissolving +views upon a white wall. The boat shot under the dark and clammy +arch of the bridge, where the echo increased the splashing of the +steamer waves and the thump of the machinery to a roar. The noise +subsided suddenly, as when a damper is laid over a resounding +instrument; the steamer had passed the bridge, and floated out on to +the broad waters of the Aussen Alster, which widened apparently into +a great bay, the mist having wiped out the boundary lines between +its oily surface and the flat shores which barely rose above it. The +boat described bold curves from side to side, touching at the +different landing-places, and presently--dimly at first and then +more distinctly--the square tower and ponderous, castle-like +structure of the Fahrhaus Hotel came in sight. The steamer had +reached the furthest point of its journey. + +Wilhelm found himself once more at the familiar spot which had so +often been the goal of his short walks with Willy. Scarcely ten +months had elapsed since he had looked at it for the last time, but +his morbid mental vision prolonged that time to an eternity. He felt +like the sultan of the Eastern legend, who fancied he had lived an +entire lifetime, while, in reality, he sank for one moment into his +bath in sight of his whole court. He overcame a strange attack of +shyness, and rang at the door in the Carlstrasse. The liveried +servant opened it, gave an exclamation of surprise, and hurried +before him to the smoking room. Wilhelm followed closely on his +heels, and only left him time to open the door and call loudly into +the room: + +"Herr Dr. Eyuhardt!" + +"What! Is it you or your ghost? Well, I must say--" cried Paul, +overjoyed, receiving him with open arms. + +The first tempestuous greetings over, he pressed him, down upon the +sofa, seated himself beside him, and rained down a torrent of +questions upon him--Where had he come from? How had he fared all +this time? What were his plans? And, above all things, where was his +luggage? + +"At the hotel," Wilhelm answered, a little nervously. + +"At the hotel? Are you in your right senses? There is only one hotel +for you in Hamburg, and that is the hotel Haber. Were you so +uncomfortable there before that you have withdrawn your custom from +it?" + +"Don't try to persuade me, my good Paul. Believe me, it is best so. +Your hospitality oppresses me." + +"Is that the remark of a friend?" grumbled Paul. + +"It is a fault in me, I know, but I do beg of you to let me have my +own way." + +"Just wait till I send Malvine to you--you will have to lay down +your arms before her." + +"No, Paul, I really cannot live in your house again. I will come and +see you--so often that you will get tired of me--" + +"Never!" + +"But let me live here as I am accustomed to in Berlin, especially as +it will probably be for a long time." + +"Then you are going to stay in Hamburg? That is splendid!" + +"For the present at least. I see nothing else to be done." + +"But in the summer you will surely come and spend some weeks at +Friesenmoor?" + +"That is more likely." + +The door opened and Malvine hurried in, and ran up to Wilhelm as he +rose to meet her. + +"To think of you falling from the clouds like this!" she cried, and +shook both his hands warmly. "Not a letter, not a telegram, nothing! +Well, you knew, at any rate, that you would always be welcome." + +Again he had to make a determined stand against having their +hospitality forced upon him, and kind, persistent Malvine would not +give up the struggle as easily as Paul. As Wilhelm, however, was +equally persistent in his refusal, and would not even divulge the +name of his hotel till they had sworn to leave him his independence, +they finally gave up the fight. + +"And now tell us all that has happened to you," said Paul, patting +him on the shoulder. "You must have had a very good time, for you +either did not write at all or only in a flash--like this: 'Dear +friend, am quite well--how are you all? Best love--always yours.' +Well, I don't think any the worse of you. In gay Paris one has +something better to do than to think of dull old fogies on the +Uhlenhorst." + +"You don't think that seriously," answered Wilhelm, pressing his +hand. + +"I should rather be inclined to think that the doctor had been ill," +said Malvine, whose woman's eye had instantly remarked the pallor +and weariness of Wilhelm's thin face. + +"Really--have you been ill?" cried Paul, concerned. + +"No, no, there is nothing the matter with me," Wilhelm hastened to +answer, with a forced smile. + +The awakened anxiety of his friends would not be dispelled, however, +till he had repeated his assurance many times, and reinforced it by +additions and enlargements. + +Paul then returned to his question as to Wilhelm's adventures, the +latter doing his best to get out of it by a few vague remarks on the +uneventful character of his life during the last few months, and +then hurried to descant on Paris, describing the town to them with +the volubility of a guide-book. On his inquiring in return about +their affairs, Paul and Malvine vied with one another in the +redundancy of their account. All was well, so far. At the last +distribution of Orders Paul had received the Order of the Red Eagle, +and beside that, during the course of the winter, two new foreign +decorations. There were all sorts of innovations on the estate, +which he described in detail. At present he was hard at work on an +entirely new scheme: the founding of a colony on the moor, composed +of discharged prisoners, tramps, and such like ne'er-do-wells; +where, by supplying them with agricultural labor, they might be +brought back to a decent and remunerative way of life. + +Malvine had much to tell of the autumn and winter festivities, both +at her own and other houses, and also, that of the three heiresses +whom she had picked out for Wilhelm, one was married, another +engaged, and there remained only the third, the one with the curly +hair, who still asked after him from time to time. + +Meanwhile the news of Wilhelm's arrival had penetrated as far as +Willy, who now came rushing in. + +"Onkelchen, Onkelchen! have you come back?" he shouted, long before +he reached Wilhelm, and stretched out his little arms to him. He had +not grown much, but was plump and rosy as a ripe apple. Wilhelm +kissed him, and stroked the soft, fair curls that felt so much like +Pilar's silky hair. + +"Have you been a good boy all this time?" he asked. + +"Oh, yes, very good--haven't I, father?" the boy cried eagerly. "And +I can read now--everything--the newspaper too. I got a beautiful big +box of bricks for it at Christmas." + +Wilhelm had taken him on his knee, but the lively child would not +keep quiet for long. He jumped down and hopped about in front of his +godfather and chattered away. + +"I say, Onkelchen, you have just come in time for my birthday, +haven't you?" + +Wilhelm had not thought of it. + +"When is your birthday, my boy?" he asked, rather crestfallen. + +"Why, don't you know? It is the day after to-morrow. And what have +you brought me?" + +He did not wait for an answer, having caught sight, at that moment, +of Fido, who, shy as all dogs are in a strange place and among +strange people, had crept away under a table, and sat there very +still with his eyes firmly fixed on Wilhelm. + +"A dog! A spitz!" Willy shrieked with joy. "Is he for me, +Onkelchen?" + +He rushed at Fido, took hold of him by the paw, and dragged him out. + +Malvine cried anxiously: + +"Let him go, Willy!" + +But Wilhelm reassured her. + +"He won't hurt him, he is quite gentle." + +Fido allowed himself to be dragged without much resistance into the +middle of the room, only turning his head away nervously and eying +the child askance, as if doubtful as to his intentions. But when +Willy began to pat and stroke him kindly, and set him on his hind +legs in the first position for begging, Fido realized that no harm +was going to befall him, and attached himself instantly to the new +friend with that easy confidence which was this sociable creature's +great fault of character. He fell to wagging his bushy tail in a +highly expressive manner, tried to lick Willy's rosy face, and was +altogether so overcome by pleasing emotions that he got a severe +attack of coughing, sneezing, and snorting, and Willy exclaimed: + +"My Spitz has caught a cold on the journey. We must give him some +black-currant tea, mother!" + +The boy took a great delight in the dog, playing with him the whole +time of Wilhelm's visit, feeding him at dinner, and even wanted to +make him drink beer, which Fido steadfastly refused to do, and was +much disappointed when, at leaving, Wilhelm prepared to take the dog +with him. + +"Didn't you bring him for me?" he asked with a pout. + +Wilhelm consoled him by promising that he should see Fido every day, +and solemnly transferred to him all legal rights to the animal. On +these conditions Willy was content that Fido should go on living +with Wilhelm, and that he should come frequently on a starring tour, +as it were, to the Carlstrasse. + +Wilhelm's first visit to his friends on the Uhlenhorst did not tend +to lighten his spirit. In their home he breathed a pure and +wholesome atmosphere, which, it seemed to him, he must contaminate +by the heavy, noxious perfume which still clung to him, and which he +could not get rid of. Their life was as transparent as crystal, +every moment would bear the scrutiny of the severest eye. He, on the +other hand, had much to conceal. His memory recalled many a scene; +he saw himself again in various situations, and thought--what would +they say if they knew? Paul and Malvine told him cheerfully of all +that had occurred to them during the last eight months; he was +condemned to lock away his experiences in the depths of his heart. +His open and confiding nature was little used to keeping a secret. +It rose to his lips as often as he found himself alone with his +friend, and his longing to unburden himself was all the more intense +that he had himself formed no certain judgment on his course of +action, and yearned to hear from the mouth of an unprejudiced person +of sound moral tone and worldly experience, that he had done no +great harm. He carried in his own breast an accusing voice which +called him faithless and mean-spirited, and showed him Pilar as the +victim of his treachery; and he had need of an advocate, seeing that +he was himself unable to refute these accusations with any sort of +confidence. + +He was to receive the support he longed for. Soon after his arrival +in Hamburg he had written to Schrotter, telling him of his change of +residence, and expressing, at the same time, his intense desire to +see him again after their long separation, also, if it would not be +asking too much, to propose that he, Schrotter, should make a short +journey, say to Wittenberg, where they might meet and spend a few +days together, if it were possible for Schrotter to get away from +Berlin for a short time. + +Schrotter answered by return of post. He was delighted to find that +Wilhelm was so near, and promised to take advantage of the first +fine days of April to make his little excursion to Hamburg. He would +arrange it so that he could at least spend a week with Wilhelm. It +was not impossible that he might bring Bhani with him. + +Only a fortnight had passed since Wilhelm received this letter, +when, on his return one afternoon from the Uhlenhorst, the hotel +porter informed him that a gentleman had arrived from Berlin, and +had asked for him; that he was expecting him in his room, the number +of which he mentioned. With joyful foreboding Wilhelm hurried +upstairs so fast that Fido could not follow, and knocked at the +door. A familiar voice answered. "Come in!" and the next moment he +was in Schrotter's arms. + +The first greetings over, Schrotter gave his young friend a long and +penetrating look from under the half-closed lids, and remarked + +"I suppose you are surprised that I did not wait till April, but +dropped down upon you unawares like this?" + +"I am too delighted to be surprised," answered Wilhelm, and pressed +Schrotter's large, strong hand. + +He had scarcely altered at all in the year and a quarter, and with +his herculean shoulders and powerful head, his fair hair, blushed +into a great tuft above his forehead, only just beginning to turn +gray, he was still the very type and picture of ripe manhood and +strength. + +"But I had a reason for changing my original plan," Schrotter went +on. "Unwittingly I have committed a breach of good manners against +you, for which I must personally ask you to forgive me." He drew a +letter out of his breast-pocket and handed it to Wilhelm. "This +letter came yesterday. Seeing the address, I took it for granted +that it was for me, and so I read it, and discovered then that it +was for you." + +Wilhelm turned pale as Schrotter handed him the letter. It bore the +Paris postmark, and Schrotter's name and address in a large, clumsy +hand. Nothing on the outside to betray that it was for Wilhelm. +Auguste--Wilhelm divined at once that he was the writer of the +letter--had not thought of putting it in a second envelope directed +to Wilhelm, or of adding his name to the original address. + +Wilhelm's hand shook as he unfolded the letter, and a veil fell +before his eyes. For one moment he had the idea to put the letter in +his pocket, and say he would read it later on, for it was torture to +him that Schrotter should be a witness of the emotion he knew he +must feel on reading it. But of what use was it to dissemble? +Schrotter would have to know. He glanced over Auguste's stiff +characters. + +The man wrote in his ill-bred tone, with spelling to match: + +"PARIS, March 26, 1880. + +"MONSIEUR LE DOCTEUR: It is a week now since you left, and time that +you should know what has been going on during that time. It was as +good as a play! But you shall hear. + +"When Madame la Comtesse came home, and I opened the door to her, I +said nothing, but I thought to myself--what a row there will be +presently. And sure enough, she had hardly set foot in her rooms +when we heard an awful scream. It didn't scare me, because I knew +all about it; but Isabel came tumbling out, and howled in French and +Spanish mixed: 'Is it a fire? Are there thieves in the house?' It +was enough to make you die of laughing. + +"I was called upstairs and questioned by Anne--the countess had not +the strength. She was kneeling in her ball-dress beside the bed, her +face buried in the pillows that still showed the pressure of your +head, and crying as if her heart would break. I know that madame +cries very easily--she has always been that way as long as I have +known her--but I really should not have thought, to look at her, +that she could hold such a quantity of tears. Anne cross-examined me +like a magistrate, but of course I made an innocent face, and knew +nothing at all. I saw plainly that she did not really care a bit, +the viper, for while she was cross-questioning me she gave me a look +once or twice that told me quite enough. But Madame la Comtesse is +very sharp. She saw at once that I knew more than I had a mind to +tell. She turned a face to me, as white as a cheese, and looked at +me with such eyes, that I might well have been frightened if I had +not--I may say it without boasting--been born in Carpentras. At +first she tried it with kindness, and then she threatened to turn me +out of the house that minute, and then she wanted to bribe me by all +sorts of promises--ma foi! it was not a very easy moment, but I +stood firm, and madame threw herself back on the bed, and the tap +was turned on full again. Would you believe it, that that Anne had +the face to say to madame she had better look in the bureau to see +if her money and jewels were safe. 'Silence, wretch!' cried Madame +la Comtesse, so that the windows rattled, and gave the person a look +that made her double up like a penknife. She does not come from +Carpentras. To make a long story short, none of us went to bed that +night. Madame took it into her head you might have gone for a little +walk in the middle of the night, and would come back. Good idea, +wasn't it? But when the morning came, she saw that the bird had +really flown, and that changed the whole affair. She took to her +bed, and stayed there for five days with the room all darkened, ate +nothing, drank nothing, was delirious, had four doctors called in +each at fifty francs the visit, beside priests and nuns, and Madame +la Marquise, her mamma, got three telegrams, one longer than the +other, and arrived here the day before yesterday, and now they are +trying which can cry the most. But the daughter has the best of it. +Since she had her mamma with her, madame seems calmer. She got up +yesterday for the first time, and--not to keep back anything from +you--I have great hopes that in a fortnight or three weeks' time we +shall see her going to balls again. That will do her a world of +good. + +"She had your things taken up to the box-room, so that she might not +see them any more, and Madame la Marquise has your room, but Madame +la Comtesse never sets foot in it. The artist in hair says that +there is talk of renting a new house, or even of going to Spain. I +should be very sorry to leave Madame la Comtesse, but to Spain I +would not go. + +"I should be glad to know from Monsieur le Docteur whether, after +madame has consoled herself a little, I may give her monsieur's +address, that his things may be forwarded. I hope you are well, and +that you will write me a line. You need not be anxious about madame, +she will soon be all right again. You were not the first, and, let +us hope, you will not have been the last. + +"I salute Monsieur le Docteur, "Your very obedient servant, +"AUGUSTE. + +"POSTSCRIPT.--In spite of her desperation, madame had the presence +of mind to try and persuade Anne you very probably had to fly from +your political enemies, or had even been carried off and murdered by +Prussian agents. Anne said, 'Yes; such things have happened.' The +viper! You did well to take yourself out of this." + +Wilhelm was unaware that he read the letter twice or three times +over without a pause between. When he was beginning for the fourth +time, he suddenly remembered that he was not alone, and that +Schrotter was sitting there watching him. He folded the letter in +confusion. He had not the courage to say anything, or even to look +at his friend, but dropped his hands and his head, and cast down his +miserable eyes. + +Schrotter was the first to break the silence. + +"I must beg you once more to forgive me for opening the letter. Of +course, I could not have an idea--" + +"No," said Wilhelm in a low voice, "it is for me to ask your +forgiveness for not having been open with you. But I had every +intention of making good my fault. It was for that I asked you to +meet me at Wittenberg." + +"Spare yourself the telling of anything that might be painful to +you," said Schrotter, with kindly forethought. "I can guess the +drift of it, and now understand your last letter. I thought you +would probably be in a frame of mind to need a friend near you, and +so I came without delay." + +"I will not leave you to guess anything," Wilhelm returned, and +pressed Schrotter's hand. "I will tell you all; it is an absolute +necessity to me, and will, at the same time, be a kind of +atonement." + +And he began his confession in a low, dull voice, and with downcast +eyes, like a sinner acknowledging a shameful deed, and Schrotter +listened to him gravely and in silence, like a priest before whom +some poor oppressed soul is casting down its burden of guilt. +Wilhelm kept nothing back, neither the mad intoxication of the first +weeks, nor the bitter humiliation of the last. He disclosed Pilar's +passion and his own weakness, the pagan sensuality and the artifices +of the woman's insatiable love, and the unworthy part he had played +in her house before the servants and strangers. He spoke of his +tormenting doubts as to the justice of his actions, and concluded: +"And now, tell me, shall I answer this letter?" + +"What are you thinking of?" cried Schrotter, when Wilhelm stopped +speaking, and looked at him in anxious expectation. "Your only plan +now is to keep dark. If, notwithstanding your silence, they write to +you again, I would advise you to burn the letters unread. That will +demand a certain amount of fortitude, no doubt, but as the letters +will come to my address, I will do it for you, if you authorize me." + +Wilhelm tried hard to make up his mind. + +"No, do not burn them unread," he said, after a pause; "open the +letters, and then judge for yourself, in each case, whether you will +let me know the whole or part of the contents." + +"Always the same want of will power!" returned Schrotter. "First you +free yourself, and then have not the courage to burn your ships +behind you. Believe me, it is best that you should have no further +news from Paris, and after some months you can send for your things +through a third person. Have you anybody in Paris who could arrange +that for you?" + +"No." + +"Then I will do it. And even if you were to let the things go, it +would be no great loss. Above all things, no renewing of old +fetters. This lackey takes a healthy enough view of the matter, for +all his cynicisms. You must not take it too tragically. You have +passed through your heart crisis--it comes to most of us--only with +you it has happened late, and under unpropitious circumstances. That +has tended to make it more severe than is usually the case. But now, +let it be past and over, though naturally it will take some little +time for your mind to regain its normal balance. What I regret most +in the affair is, that it precludes the idea of marriage for you for +some time to come, and I had wished that so much for you. As long as +the fascinations of this siren are fresh in your memory, no +respectable German girl will have any attraction for you, and the +love she is able to offer you will seem flat and insipid." + +"You only speak of me," Wilhelm ventured to remark, "but that is not +the worst side of the story; what weighs most heavily on my mind is, +that I have broken my faith with her." + +"Do not let that worry you," Schrotter replied. "You were in such a +position as to be forced to act in self-defense. It would have been +inexcusable in you to have stayed any longer where you were. For a +liaison of that kind is only conceivable when the man loves the +woman very deeply. You, my friend, did not love the lady at all. If +you have any doubts about it in your own mind, you may take my word +for it--had you loved her, you would not have parted from her. You +would, if necessary, have carried her off from Paris, and continued +to live with her in some world-forgotten spot, as you did at St. +Valery. Or you would have gone off to the Philippines, and fought +her husband to the death, in order to gain free possession of her or +die in the attempt. That is how love acts when it is of that +elemental force which alone can justify such relations before the +higher natural tribunal of morality. But if your love is not strong +enough to prompt you to do these things, then it is immoral, and +must be shaken off." + +Wilhelm was still unconvinced. + +"I surely owe her gratitude for having loved me? That imposes +certain duties upon me; I have no right to break a heart which gave +itself wholly to me." + +"Your idea has a specious air of generosity," answered Schrotter +firmly, "but in reality it is morbid and weak. Love accepts no alms. +One gives oneself wholly or not at all. Do you imagine that any +woman of spirit would be satisfied if you said to her: 'I do not +love you, I should like to leave you, but I will stay on with you +because I do not wish to give you pain, or from pity--soft- +heartedness.' Why, she would thrust you from her, and rather, a +thousand times, die than live on your bounty. On the other hand, the +woman who would still hold fast to a man after such a declaration, +must be of so poor a stuff that I do not consider her capable of +feeling any violent pain. Woman, in general, has a far truer and +more natural judgment in this question. Where she does not love she +has no scruples about want of consideration, and the knowledge that +it will hurt the man's feelings has rarely restrained her from +rejecting an unwelcome suitor. There is such a thing as necessary +cruelty, my friend--the physician knows that better than anybody." + +Wilhelm shook his head thoughtfully. + +"Your cruelties are not for your own advantage, but for that of your +patient. I have no such excuse to offer." + +"Yes, you have," cried Schrotter. "You cure the countess of a morbid +and hysterical sentiment. This Auguste is right--she will console +herself." + +"And if does not?" + +"If not--why, what can I say?--we must simply wait and see. But it +would surprise me very much. The worst is over. In such cases, if +women mean to commit some act of madness, they do it in the first +moment. The countess has her mother with her, she has three +children, she has, from all I hear, an extremely buoyant nature, her +despair will soon calm down. If not, it is always open to you to +return in a year's time and do the prodigal son, and have the fatted +calf killed for you." + +As Wilhelm looked at him with suppressed reproach, Schrotter laid +his hand on the young man's shoulder. + +"You no doubt think me a hard-hearted old fogey--you miss the ring +of romance in what I say. That is quite natural. The language of +reason always sounds flat to the ear of passion--and not to passion +only, but to sentimentality and feebleness. Let us finish. You know +my advice. Give no sign of life, and so give time a chance to do its +work. Try to forgot the past, and help the lady to do likewise, and +do not remind her of it again by letters, or any other kind of +communication. And now let us talk of something else. What are your +plans?" + +"I have none," answered Wilhelm, with a dispirited gesture. "I have +not forgotten what you wrote to me at New Year. If our wishes make +up our future, I have no future before me, for I have no wish." + +"Not even to be near me again?" asked Schrotter. + +"Ah, yes," answered Wilhelm quickly, and looked him affectionately +in the deep-set blue eyes. + +"You see now. This wandering life is no good for you. You must see +about getting back to Berlin." + +"Yes, but you know--" + +"Of course I know. But something must be done. You must apply to the +authorities to withdraw your sentence of banishment." + +"And you advise me to do this?" + +"Unwillingly, as you may well suppose. But I see nothing else for +you." + +"And how should I word such a petition? I could neither acknowledge +a transgression in the past, nor promise amendment in the future." + +"No, it would be of no use going into details. It would have to be a +bald petition for pardon." And seeing Wilhelm recoil involuntarily, +he added: "It does not do to be too proud in such a case. In the +preposterously unequal struggle between the individual and the +organized power of the State, it is no disgrace to declare yourself +beaten and ask for quarter." + +"A petition without any gush or protestations of loyalty, in which I +would simply say: 'Please allow me to come back to Berlin, because I +prefer it to any other place of residence,' would certainly be +ineffectual, and I should only have humiliated myself for nothing." + +"We must get somebody to take up your cause. I shall do all in my +power to make the Oberburgermeister put in a good word for you." + +"Would you yourself do what you are advising me to do?" + +Schrotter was silent for a moment. + +"I am not in the same case. If Berlin were as much a necessity to me +as it is to you I would do it--most certainly." + +Wilhelm looked as if he were swallowing a bitter draught. But +Schrotter's strong hand lay tenderly on the dark head. + +"Yes, friend Eynhardt," he said; "you will send in the petition, and +it will, I hope, have the desired result. Do it for my sake. Yes, +look at me; I have need of you. I miss you. I am getting to be an +old man. At sixty years of age one does not make new friendships. +All the more carefully does one keep those one has. Berlin has +seemed to me a desert--almost unbearable, without you. You do not +know how impossible things have become there. They are misusing, +without one pang of conscience, the most touching and lovable +characteristic of our people--its sense of gratitude, which it +exaggerates to the point of weakness. They are doing all they can to +bind Germany hand and foot, to gag her and drag her back into +absolutism before her sentimentality will allow her to put herself +on the defensive. They are pandering to the lowest instincts of the +people, and enervating their manhood by every artifice in their +power. Thus they have successfully achieved the introduction into +Germany of that most degraded form of self-worship--Chauvinism. They +poison her morality by wisely organizing that every conscience, +every conviction, should have its price. They debase her ideals by +decreeing that henceforth the officer is to be the national patron +saint to whom the people are to offer up their devotion and worship. +The press, literature, art, lecturing-room--all preach the same +gospel, that the highest product of humanity is the officer, and +that "soldierly discipline and smartness"--in other words, slavish +submission, self-conceit, arrogance, and the upholding of mere brute +force--are the noblest qualities of a man and a patriot. The army is +taught to forget that it is the armed population of the country, and +is trained to be a band of body servants. And even when the soldiers +return to private life, the idea of servitude is carefully kept up, +and he finds again in the military 'Verein' the beloved barrack +life, with all its servile submissiveness and abnegation of free +will. Whichever way I look, I am filled with horror. Everything is +ground down, everything laid waste, the governing spirit has not +left one stone standing upon another. Even our youth, with whom lies +our hope for the future, is rotten in part. In many student circles +I see a want of principle, a low cringing to success, a cowardly +worship of animal strength, that is without its parallel in our +history. Instinctively, this corrupt youth sides, in every question, +with the strong against the weak, with the pursuer against the +pursued, and that at the age when my generation exerted itself +passionately, without a question as to right or wrong, for everyone +oppressed against every oppressor. Of course we were simpletons, we +of '48, and the golden youth of to-day scoffs superciliously at our +naive ideals. In the present order of things everything has become a +curse--even the parliamentary system. For that gives the people no +means of making its will known, and has simply become a vehicle for +general corruption at the elections. Our officials, on whose +independence of spirit we used to pride ourselves so much, have sunk +into mere electioneering agents, and unless they pursue, oppress, +and grind the opponents of the government, have no chance of +promotion. It is a Police State such as we have never known, not +even before '48. For at least every man got his rights in those +days, scanty as those rights may have been, and the official was not +the enemy of the citizen, but his somewhat despotic guardian and +protector. Shall I say all? The most consoling class to me in +Germany to-day are the Social Democrats. They have independence of +spirit, self-denial, character, and idealism. Their ideals are not +my ideals--far from it--but what does that matter? It is relief +enough to find people who have any ideals at all, and who are ready +to suffer and die for them. I fear that not till this generation has +passed away will the German people become once more the upright, +true-hearted, incorruptible idealists they were, who, at every +turning-point of their history, were ready to bleed to death for +freedom of opinion, and other purely spiritual advantages. I take a +very black view of things perhaps. If only the harm done is not +permanent, if only Germany retains sufficient virile strength to +throw off the poison instilled into her veins and recover her former +health!" + +In his excitement he had risen, and was pacing the room like an +angry lion in a cage. Wilhelm did not like to interrupt the stream +of words, which seemed to be forced from him by some powerful inward +pressure. Now he said: + +"I can well understand your point of view. You emigrated in '48, and +kept your democratic ideas fresh in your heart. Twenty years of +absence, and an intense longing for your home, glorified the +Fatherland in your eyes. You come back and find a country whose +historical development has taken a totally different turn in the +meantime, and the plain reality in nowise corresponds to the +poetical picture you had painted for yourself. Naturally you are +painfully disappointed. I know that of old from my own father. But +may I venture to remark that your criticism is hard, and perhaps not +altogether well founded? A system of government passes--the people +remain. In its inner depths it is untouched by official corruption, +and you yourself acknowledge that the aggressive boasters only +formed a small part of our youth. I am not uneasy for the future of +my country." + +"You may be right," returned Schrotter, grown calmer meanwhile, and +standing still in front of Wilhelm. "But the present is gloomy, that +is very certain. But enough of this. I came to cheer you, and have +instead lightened my own heart. It was overflowing, and I have no +one in Berlin to whom I can unburden myself. You see, I must have +you near me. So write your petition, and if it is not accepted, why +then--then we will go together to Switzerland or America, and love +our country from afar, and without any admixture of bitterness, just +as I did in India." + +In face of this deep and unselfish concern over the condition of the +commonalty which trembled in Schrotter's voice and spoke from his +gloomy blue eyes, Wilhelm felt half ashamed of having made so much +of his own small troubles. He declared himself willing to send in +the petition, and for the first time for weeks he was able to think +of something else than Pilar and his dealings with regard to her. + +Schrotter stayed for a few days, which he passed almost exclusively +with Wilhelm and Paul. All three felt themselves younger by ten +years in this renewal of their intimacy, and Paul said more than +once, "Would it not be splendid, Herr Doctor, if you two would buy +some property near me? Then, in the summer months at any rate, we +could all live together, so to speak. I am quite convinced that that +would be a sure way of keeping ourselves young forever." Schrotter +smiled at this proposal. All he wanted was to have Wilhelm near him +once more. In the meantime, Bhani, his patients, his poor, recalled +him to Berlin, and he left in hope that Wilhelm might be able to +follow him ere long. + +Schrotter lost no time. He did his utmost to persuade influential +people to exert themselves on Wilhelm's behalf, but the difficulties +were greater than he had imagined. Wilhelm was in very bad odor with +the police authorities, who would not believe that he was not a +Socialist, and that he did not afford that party valuable support in +the shape of money. + +Some three weeks after Schrotter's visit to Hamburg another letter +came from Auguste. He was surprised, he said, that Monsieur le +Docteur had not answered, and proceeded to inform him of a new turn +in the affair. They had discovered that Madame la Comtesse injected +herself secretly with morphine, pricked herself, Auguste said, and +two Sisters of Mercy had to watch her day and night to prevent it. +Schrotter judged it unnecessary to inform Wilhelm of the contents of +this letter. + +Schrotter's visit had had an extremely salutary effect on Wilhelm. +His self-torture grew less poignant, the memory of Paris receded +into the background, and in proportion as it paled the red returned +to his cheeks and the light to his dull eyes. He still held aloof +from the busy turmoil of the world, and was still dominated by a +profound consciousness of the aimlessness of his life, and yet, for +the first time for years, perhaps since he took his degree, he +entertained a desire, a hope, that he might be permitted to return +to Berlin. + +On the last Sunday in April Wilhelm was spending the afternoon at +the Uhlenhorst. The family were preparing to remove shortly to +Friesenmoor, and Paul had gone over to the estate to make some +arrangements. He was expected back in the evening, when they were +all to go for a row on the Alster. + +Spring was unusually early that year; the trees showed gay sprigs of +green already, the air was wonderfully mild and balmy, and in the +exhilarating blue of the sky feathery white cloudlets were floating, +whose course one was fain to follow with sweet dreams and fancies. +It was a sin to stay indoors on such a lovely afternoon, Malvine +declared, and so proposed that they should go out to the terrace +overlooking the water and sit there till Paul came home. + +The terrace belonged to the villa in the Carlstrasse, laying on the +path round the shore which bears with perfect right the name "An der +schonen Aussicht"--the beautiful view--and was built out in a square +into the Alster. A low stone parapet surrounded it on three sides, +the fourth--that toward the pathway--being formed by an iron paling +with a locked gate in it. One corner of the terrace, which was +otherwise paved with asphalt, was laid out in a round flower bed, in +which the primroses and violets were just beginning to come up. Near +the balustrade at the waterside, under a large tentlike umbrella, +stood a garden table and a few chairs. Here Malvine and Wilhelm +seated themselves, while Willy played about with Fido. To the right +of the terrace was a narrow little bay where the shallow boat was +fastened in which they were to make their pleasure trip later on. +The boat was tied to a wooden landing-place, which inclosed the +little bay on the side away from the terrace, and from which a few +mossy steps led down to the water. The Alster was swollen with +melting snow and spring rains, and almost washed the foot of the +terrace; only one of the steps of the landing appeared above the +surface of the water. Willy, finding it rather dull on the terrace, +elected to play on the pier, and began jumping in and out of the +boat, into which Fido refused to follow him, as he was afraid of the +water. + +The view was enchanting. The opposite shore gleamed silvery blue in +the delicate white light of a northern spring day. In the distance, +the masses of houses and the spires of Hamburg hung upon the horizon +like a faintly tinted, half-washed out transparency. A light breeze +ruffled the broad bosom of the Alster, and the red and green +steamboats plowed dark furrows in its brightness, which remained +there long after the boats had passed, and faded away finally in +many a serpentine curve. Numbers of little rowing and sailing-boats +floated upon the slow current, peopled by couples and parties in +their Sunday clothes, their talk and merry laughter sounding across +the water to the shore. A sailing-boat passed quite close to the +terrace on its way to the Fahrhaus. A young boatman handled the +sails, a little boy was steering, and in the stern sat a young man +and a pretty rosy girl, their arms affectionately intertwined, +softly singing, "Life let us cherish." Malvine smiled as she caught +sight of the little idyll, and turning to Wilhelm, who was gazing +dreamily into the quiet sunny beauty of the surrounding scene: "Can +you imagine any more delightful occupation on a spring day like +this," she said, "than to go love-making like those two little +people over there?" + +A shadow passed over Wilhelm's face. He saw himself lying in the +high grass under a wide-spreading tree in St. Valery, and over him +there hovered a white hand that strewed him with fresh blossoms. + +At that instant they heard a little frightened cry, followed +immediately by a second one, and then a gurgle. Both sprang to their +feet, and Malvine uttered a piercing shriek of terror. Right in +front of them, not more than a step from the terrace, they saw Willy +in the midst of a whirl of foam which he had churned up round him +with his desperate, struggling little limbs. His arms were tossing +wildly above the water, but the head with its floating golden curls +dipped under from time to time, and the little distorted mouth +opened for an agonized breath and scream, only to be stopped by the +in-rushing water. The boat rocking violently close by explained with +sufficient clearness how the accident had happened. The boy had +clambered on to the edge of the boat to rock himself, had +overbalanced and fallen into the water, and in his struggles had +already drifted some paces from the shore. Fido stood barking and +gasping on the step and dipping his paws into the water only to draw +them out again. + +Malvine stretched out her arms to the child, but her feet refused +their office, she stood rooted to the spot, unable to do anything +but utter terrible inarticulate screams. Only a few seconds elapsed- +-just long enough to realize what had happened--when Wilhelm sprang +with lightning rapidity on to his chair, and from thence, with one +bound, over the parapet into the water. He disappeared below the +surface, but rose again at once just beside the child, who clung to +him with all his remaining strength. How he managed it he did not +know, but, although he could not swim, he managed to push the boy in +front of him toward the terrace, crying anxiously, "Catch hold of +him! Catch hold of him!" Life returned to Malvine's limbs, she +leaned over the parapet and stretched out her arms. Wilhelm made a +supreme effort and lifted the boy so far out of the water that she +could grasp him, put her arms round him, and drag him up, and with +him apparently Wilhelm, for his head and shoulders rose for a moment +above the water. With a jerk she dragged the fainting boy over the +parapet and held him in her arms, while she continued to scream for +help. People came running from the shore the Carlstrasse, the +Fahrhaus, and in an instant the terrace was crowded. They relieved +the still half-demented mother of the dripping child to carry him +across to the house. She was pushing her way through the closely +packed groups and tottering after them when a cry reached her. +"There is another one in the water!" Only then did she remember +Wilhelm. Terrified to death, she turned and flew back to the edge of +the terrace. A crowd stood there gesticulating wildly, all talking +at once, and obstructing the view. A gap opened when two or three +men with more presence of mind than the rest rushed down to the +landing, jumped into the boat, untied it, and pushed off from the +shore. And now, to her unspeakable horror, she saw that Wilhelm had +disappeared, and the thick muddy waters gave no clew to the spot +where he had gone down. This was too much, and she altogether lost +consciousness. When she came to herself she was lying on the sofa in +her husband's smoking room, her dress in disorder, and the maids +busy about her. She first looked round her startled, then her memory +returned with a flash, and she cried with quivering lips: "How is +Willy--and Dr. Eynhardt?" + +"Master Willy has quite come round, and they are putting him to +bed," the servants hastened to answer. + +"But Dr. Eynhardt?" + +To that they had no reply. + +Malvine jumped up and would have rushed out. + +"Gnadige Frau!" cried the girls, horrified, "you can't go out like +that!" + +They held her back; Malvine struggled to free herself, but at that +moment there was a sound of heavy footsteps and a confused murmur of +voices in the hall, some one flung open the door, the man-servant +put in his head, but started back at sight of his mistress and +closed the door abruptly. Then he went on, and the footsteps and +murmuring voices followed him. + +"They are bringing him in!" shrieked Malvine, and they could hold +her back no longer. A moment later and she knew that she was right. +On the billiard-table, in the room to the right of the hall, lay +Wilhelm's motionless form, while the people who had carried him in +stood round. Water flowed from his clothes and made little pools on +the green cloth and trickled into the leather pockets of the +billiard-table. His breast did not move, and death stared from the +glazed, half-open eyes. + +A doctor was soon on the spot, the curious were turned out of the +house, and they began the work of resuscitation. They had labored +uninterruptedly for nearly an hour when Paul burst in, crying in a +choking voice: "Doctor--doctor, is he alive?" The servants had told +him all in flying haste outside. + +The doctor shook his head. "There is nothing more to be done." + +But Paul would not believe it. He would not suffer them to cease +their efforts. The rubbing, the movements, the artificial +respiration had to be kept up for another full hour. But death held +his prey fast, and would not let them force it out of his clutches. + +Two days later, on a gray rainy day, they buried him. Schrotter came +over from Berlin for the funeral. He looked quite broken down, and +grief had aged his leonine features to an appalling extent. Malvine +and Willy were lying ill in bed, so that Paul and Schrotter followed +their friend alone to his last resting-place. When the coffin was +carried out and lifted into the hearse, and Paul came out of his +house, he saw through the veil of tears that obscured his vision +that several hundred men were standing in orderly array on the +opposite side of the Carlstrasse. They were young for the most part, +but there was a sprinkling of older men among them; all were poorly, +but cleanly and decently dressed, and every man had a red +everlasting in his buttonhole. They stood as motionless as a troop +under arms, and apparently followed the orders of a gray-bearded man +who paced authoritatively up and down the silent line. + +Paul was surprised, and asked the undertaker, who was waiting for +him beside the hearse, who these people were. He had not invited +anybody, and did not expect there would be a crowd of any kind, +although the Hamburg papers had devoted whole columns to the +accident. + +The undertaker went over and addressed himself to the man who was +evidently the leader of the party. He informed Paul on his return: +"They are workingmen's societies from Hamburg and Altona. Their +leader says the deceased was not one of them, but they wanted to +show him this last mark of respect because he had been kind to them +during his lifetime." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +UDEN HORIZO. + + +On the first of May of the following year, which happened to fall on +a Sunday, a long procession of carriages drove along the road from +Harburg to Friesenmoor. They stopped at the entrance to the estate. +Before them rose a triumphal arch composed of branches of fir +garlanded with flowers, and adorned with flags and ribbons, and a +gold inscription on a blue ground, which ran as follows: + + "A gracious Sovereign's due Reward + To fruitful Labour, honest Work." + +A "Verein" with its banner was posted beside the arch. There was a +roar of cannon, the banner waved, the Verein gave three "Hochs!" and +its chief, or spokesman, stepped up to the first carriage, in which +sat a youngish gentleman with spectacles, and an officer in the +gorgeous uniform of a Landwehr dragoon, his breast covered with +stars and crosses. The spectacled gentleman was the Landrath of the +circuit, and the cavalry officer was no other than Paul Haber, now +Herr Paul von Haber. For he had been raised to the nobility, and +celebrated his auspicious event to-day in the midst of his retainers +and a host of invited guests, whom he had fetched in a dozen +carriages from the station at Harburg, supported by his +distinguished young pupils. + +The spokesman of the Verein, a man of some fifty years of age, with +a grizzled beard, addressed the proprietor in a glowing speech, in +which, among other things, he assured him--the man of thirty-seven-- +that "We all look upon you as our father, and honor and love you as +if we were your children." Paul smiled, and returned thanks in a few +warm words, then renewed "Hochs!" more waving of banners and firing +of cannon, and the procession set itself in motion again. + +At the entrance to Kaiser Wilhelm's Dorf there ensued a second and +more elaborate welcome. Here too there was a triumphal arch and +cannons, and instead of one there were three Vereins with flags and +banners, also the schoolchildren, headed by the pastor and the +schoolmaster, and the whole female portion of the community lining +the roadway on either side, or massed round the base of the arch. +The pastor made a speech, a fair-haired schoolgirl recited a long +piece of poetry composed by the master in the sweat of his brow, the +Choral Verein sang, the Young Men's Verein--who were given to +instrumental music--piped and blew a chorale, and not till the all- +prevading joy and enthusiasm had found sufficient vent in the firing +of cannon, in speeches, poetry, and music, did the carriages move +on, and finally reach the steps of Friesenmoor House, where the +guests were received by Frau von Haber, assisted by Frau Brohl and +Frau Marker. At the moment of leaving the carriages three flags were +run up the flagstaff on the tower--the black, white, and red flag of +the empire, then the white and black Prussian one, and finally a +green, white, and red banner with a large coat-of-arms in the +center. This third flag, somewhat enigmatical to the guests, was the +new family banner of the House of von Haber, with the coat-of-arms +of that noble race, now displayed for the first time to the admiring +gaze of the beholders. + +The designing of a coat-of-arms had been no light task to Paul. From +the moment--now five months ago--that he knew his promotion to the +nobility was a settled affair, he had devoted the best part of his +thoughts to this weighty question. He hesitated long between +medieval simplicity and modern symbolism. An illustrative crest that +should be a play upon his name was out of the question; for of +course it was only another of Mayboom, the farce-writer's, jokes--he +had taken him into his confidence on one of his visits to Berlin--to +suggest a sack of oats, gules on a field, vert. After devising a +dozen crests, each of which he thought charming, only to reject it a +day or two afterward as inappropriate, he finally fixed on the one +which now adorned his proud banner. It displayed on a field, vert, +three waving transverse bars argent, and in a free quarter-purpure- +dexter a medal of the Franco-Prussian War in natural colors. The +waving bars were in allusion to the drainage canals on his marsh +estate, and the medal to his career in the war. He did not forget +that he owed the realization of his life's scheme to his wife's +marriage-portion, and wished to show his appreciation of the fact in +a delicate manner by crossing the transverse bars with a marshmallow +in natural colors. However, he abandoned this design when they +pointed out to him at the Herald's office that the crest would be +rather overladen thereby, and at the same time would betray too +plainly the "newly-baked" aristocrat. Paul left nothing undone. He +provided himself with a motto. The incorrigible Mayboom recommended, +"The Moor has done his duty." Paul decided on "Meinem Konige treu"-- +True to my king. Somebody at the Herald's office suggested putting +it "Minem Kunege treu," but he had not the courage. + +But though his promotion had occupied him almost exclusively during +the last few months, necessitating frequent journeys to Berlin, he +did not cease to think of poor Wilhelm. For a whole year he, as well +as Malvine and Willy, wore deep mourning for the friend who had +sacrificed himself for them, and Paul erected a magnificent monument +over him in the St. Georg Cemetery in Hamburg, on which neither +marble nor gilt nor verses were spared. The monument is one of the +sights of the churchyard, and pointed out to visitors with great +pride by the sexton. Old Frau Brohl, too, kept green the memory of +the departed friend. Her speciality now was the manufacturing of +flags and banners since Paul had founded quite a number of Vereins +among the settlers on his estate--latterly a Military Verein, and +one for Conservative electors. She was hard at work from morning +till night on these objects of art, which she constructed out of +heavy silk, and covered so thickly with symbolical devices, and +embroidered mottoes and inscriptions, that they were as stiff as +boards, and would neither flutter nor roll up. But when Wilhelm's +funeral monument was to be dedicated, she put aside Paul's banner +and coat-of-arms, upon which she was engaged, and wove a wreath of +wire and black and white and lilac beads, a yard and a half in +diameter, on which, between laurel leaves, were Wilhelm's name and +the date of his death, and the words: "Eternal gratitude." Nothing +the least like it had ever been seen in Hamburg before, and it was +much admired on the occasion of the ceremony. + +Paul showed himself throughout as a man of feeling and character. +When his patent of nobility was signed, and he came to Berlin to be +admitted to the emperor, to thank him for the honor accorded to him, +he went to Schrotter, and begged him, as a personal favor, to accept +his invitation to the festivity which should take place on his +estate on the first of May. "I look upon you as Wilhelm's substitute +here on earth," he said, "and our friend must not be absent from my +side on this joyful occasion. I owe everything to him. He laid the +foundation of my prosperity, and preserved my heir to me, for whom +alone I am working and striving. If Wilhelm were with us now, he +would not refuse my request, and with that thought before you, Herr +Doctor, you will not pain me by refusing." The words came from +Paul's heart, and showed that he felt keenly the desire to do +homage, in his way, to Wilhelm's memory. Schrotter could not but +accept. + +To all outward appearances he had recovered from the terrible shock +of his friend's death, in reality, however, he was all the less +likely to have got over his loss, owing to the circumstance that he +was often busied with the management of Wilhelm's affairs, and thus +the wound was inevitably kept open. + +Wilhelm left no will. After much inquiry, it was discovered that he +had a very distant relative living at Lowenhagen, near Konigsberg, +married to a poor village smith, and lavishly endowed with children. +The house in the Kochstrasse went to her--a very windfall, for which +the honest wife and mother was too thankful to be able to simulate +grief at the death of the relative she had never known. She +generously handed over all Wilhelm's papers to Schrotter, after +having assured herself by inquiries in various quarters that they +would only fetch the value of their weight. Schrotter gave them to +the young man whom he and Wilhelm had supported in his studies out +of the Dorfling legacy. The recipient was clever and shrewd, and +justified the confidences his patrons had placed in his future. He +found that the first volume of the "History of Human Ignorance," +testing of the early ideas of mankind and their psychological +reasons, was completely ready for the press; and all the notes and +literary sources for the two following volumes only needed putting +together to bring the work up to the end of the eighteenth century, +and the experiments of Lavoisier, from which the indestructibility +of matter was deduced. + +The first volume appeared in the autumn. On the title page he gave +his own name as the author, but did not omit, as a man of honor, to +mention in the preface that in compiling the work he had availed +himself of "the preparatory notes of the late Dr. Wilhelm Eynhardt, +an eminent scholar, lost all too early to the scientific word by a +tragic death." In the ensuing editions which followed rapidly upon +the first, the book meeting with great success, this preface was +omitted as unnecessary. The second volume appeared in the following +year; the third--very prudently--not till two years later. There +were no more. In the two last volumes there was no more mention of +Eynhardt. After the publication of the first volume, the young man +whose name adorned the title-page received a call to a public +school, of which he now forms one of the chief ornaments. To various +inquiries with regard to a concluding volume which should treat of +the nineteenth century, he replied by pointing out the doubtful +wisdom of a history or criticism of hypotheses and opinions which +were as yet incomplete and still under discussion, and put them off +with vague promises for the future. Schrotter only shrugged his +shoulders. He knew Wilhelm's views on the subject of posthumous +fame, and the immortality of the individual, and considered it +inexpedient to punish the clever young professor for being a man +like the rest. + +About three months after Wilhelm's death Schrotter received one more +letter from Auguste. He observed curtly and dryly that Monsieur le +Docteur evidently did not wish to have anything more to do with him; +he wrote, however, once more, and for the last time, in order to +give him his new address in case he might desire to answer. He had +been obliged to look for another place, the game was up at the +Boulevard Pereire. In spite of all their watchfulness, madame had +managed to obtain morphine, and one night in July, when the sister +who shared her room was asleep, she had given herself so many +"pricks" that they had been unable to bring her round again. Anne +declared that it was on the anniversary of the day on which Madame +la Comtesse had made the acquaintance of monsieur. At the breaking +up of the household, Monsieur le Docteur's things had been handed +over to him, Auguste, and he held them at monsieur's disposal. +Schrotter wrote in answer that he might keep them, and sent him a +small sum of money as a bequest from Wilhelm. + +Pilar's suicide made somewhat of an impression on him. So there were +women, after all, who could die of love, and that not in the first +moments of a mad and passionate grief, but after months, when the +nerves have had time to cool down. "She was hysterical," Schrotter +said to himself, endeavoring thereby to dispel various uncomfortable +suggestions. He did not wholly succeed. + +As Paul begged him so earnestly to come to his festival, he accepted +the invitation, and found himself, on the first of May, among the +guests whom Malvine received on the steps of Friesenmoor House. + +In the great oak-paneled dining room, with its windows looking to +the west, a banquet was laid for twenty-four guests. Following the +country custom, they sat down to table at twelve o'clock. Malvine, +handsomely dressed and richly adorned, sat enthroned in the middle +of the long side of the table, and had Chamberlain von Swerte (of +the House of Hellebrand) and the Landrath, to right and left of her. +Paul, who sat opposite, insisted against all the rules of etiquette +on having Schrotter beside him as his left-hand neighbor. On his +right, Frau Brohl, in rustling silk, sat in rapt silence. The ever- +modest Frau Marker was content to take a lower place. + +The pastor said grace before the dinner began, which seemed to +surprise the Landrath, but the Chamberlain was much edified. The +Young Men's Verein played dance-music and marches in front of the +open windows. Paul proposed the health of the emperor, whereupon the +Landrath, in a carefully worded speech, drank to the host and the +ladies. They all clinked glasses with an enthusiasm which was in no +way feigned, but perfectly accountable after so splendid a dinner +and such well-assorted wines. In the midst of the gayety and noise, +and while the clarionets and trumpets blared away outside, Paul +turned to his neighbor, and tapping the foot of his glass against +the edge of Schrotter's, he whispered to him, unheard by the others: +"To HIS memory!" He turned his head away abruptly, bent over his +glass, and was busily engaged in furtively passing his table-napkin +across his face and eyes. Schrotter put his lips to his glass and +closed his eyes. One could positively trace upon his broad brow how +a thought passed over it like a shadow. + +The dinner lasted fully two hours, and brought Malvine in many a +fiery compliment, especially from the chamberlain, which she could +accept with a good conscience, knowing well how much she would have +to pay to the great Hamburg pastry-cook who had provided it. At +dessert the heir was handed round. Willy, who was really beginning +to grow a little, was unquestionably a well-bred child. He went with +much dignity and propriety from guest to guest, closely followed by +Fido, who had grown far too stout, offered his cheek politely to +each one, shook hands prettily, and was permitted to withdraw, +accompanied by his short-winded dog, after they had all sufficiently +admired him. + +After dinner the guests amused themselves according to their several +tastes. Some went to enjoy Paul's excellent cigars in the smoking +room, others went down to the village to look on at the rural +festival arranged by the master for his people, and where, between +singing, music, dancing, and drinking, the fun ran high; others +again took a walk through the fields of the estate where the young +crops were just coming up, spreading a green haze over the yellow +coating of sand. It was altogether a radiant picture of joy and +prosperity; and the happiest of all, whether of the guests flushed +with the good dinner or the villagers stamping on the green, seemed +to be the master of the house. He was rich, respected, full of +health and spirits, his family life unclouded; he had a high +position, possessed numberless decorations, was a captain of the +Landwehr, had been promoted to the cavalry, and now was even raised +to the nobility. What more could he desire? + +Well then, if he seemed happy appearances were deceptive. A worm +gnawed at his heart. He had hoped to be created Freiherr--baron--and +here he was a simple "Herr von." How rarely is happiness perfect +here below. + +Pleading important business next morning in Berlin, Schrotter left +soon after four o'clock. He would not hear of Paul's deserting his +guests to accompany him to the station, as he was most anxious to +do, but drove alone to Harburg, and took the train that left at five +o'clock, bringing him to Berlin by way of Uelzen. + +It was nearly two in the morning when he reached home. He stole on +tiptoe into his room, but Bhani, whose sleep was light and restless +when he was not there, heard him directly. She stretched out her +arms to him with a low exclamation of joy, pressed him to her bosom +while he kissed her on the brow, and was for jumping up and +attending to his wants. He would not suffer it, and declared that he +wanted nothing. So she remained where she was, only following him +with her eyes while he unpacked his bag and put everything in order. +He then went into his study adjoining and locked the door behind +him. Bhani heard him walking up and down for awhile, and then caught +the sound of a creaking as of a drawer being opened. She knew what +that meant and heaved a deep sigh. He was taking out the great +leather book with metal-bound corners; his diary, which had become +his sole confidant now that Wilhelm was dead. Guided by the delicate +tact of the Oriental, the poor simple creature divined easily enough +that her sahib had cares which she could not understand and sorrows +which she might not share, and yet how happy she would be if he +would but deign to enlighten her ignorance, to explain it all to her +and disclose his heart to her fully. But, proud and reserved, he +scorned to acknowledge his troubles to any but himself, and it was +only in his diary that he unburdened himself of all that weighed +upon his heart and mind. + +And now he sat at his study table and wrote in the big book. + +"My poor Eynhardt! Only a year since he departed, and already it is +as if he had never been. What remains of him? A book that bears a +stranger's name upon the title-page; a little dog that is perhaps +happier now than when it belonged to him; a child like a dozen +others, who will presumably grow up to be a man like a dozen other +men; and a memory in my heart which will cease with the day, not far +hence, when this heart shall cease to beat. Now if Haber were to die +to-day, a flourishing tract of land and a hundred people whose +existence he has improved would testify aloud that his term on earth +had not been in vain. + +"And for all that, Eynhardt was a rare and noble character, and +Haber the personification of all that is commonplace and work-a-day. +Eynhardt's gaze was on the stars, Haber's eyes fixed on the ground +at his feet. Wilhelm plucked that supremest fruit of the Tree of +Knowledge, the consciousness of our ignorance; Paul has the conceit +to think himself a discoverer, to have solved enigmas. But the +noble, soaring spirit leaves no trace behind, and the dull, mediocre +person plows his name in deep and enduring characters in the soil of +his native land. What was wanting in Eynhardt to make him not only a +harmonious but a useful being? Obviously only the will. But was this +want an organic one? I do not think so, for his lofty moral beauty +was perfect in proportion and balance, and this noble nature could +not possibly have been born incomplete, impossible that in a being +so perfectly formed in all other respects such an important organ as +the will should be missing. His absence of volition was but the +result of his perception of the vanity of all earthly ambitions, and +his absence of desire the outcome of his contempt for all that was +worthless and transitory, his aversion to the ways of the world a +tragic foregoing of the hope of ever getting behind it, and reaching +the eternal root and significance of the thing itself. + +"Why was this German Buddhist not endowed with Haber's cheerful +activity? What an ideal and crowning flower of manhood would he not +have been if he had not only thought but acted! But am I not +desiring the impossible? Does not the one nature preclude the other? +I fear so. In order to attack unconcernedly that which lies nearest +to us, we must be unable to see beyond, like the bull charging at +the red cloak. He would not do it, if behind the red rag, he saw the +man with the sword, and behind the man with the sword the thousand +spectators who will not leave the arena till the sharp steel has +pierced his heart. He who sees or divines behind the nearest objects +their distant causes, paralyzed by the vision of the endless chain +of cause and effect, loses the courage to act. And inversely, to +retain that courage, to strive with pleasure and zeal after earthly +things, one must make use of the world and its ordinances, must move +the pieces on the chess-board of life with patience, and, according +to its puerile rules, attach importance to much that is narrow and +paltry, and that is what, in his superior wisdom, the sage will not +stoop to do. + +"I always come back to this thought. If the world consisted entirely +of Habers the earth would flourish and blossom, there would be +abundance of food and money, but our life would be like that of the +beasts of the field that graze and are happy when they chew the cud. +If, on the other hand, there were only Eynhardts, our existence +would be passed in wandering delightfully, our souls full of perfect +peace, through the gardens of the Academos in company with Plato; +but the world would starve and die out with this wise and lofty- +minded race; unless, indeed, the sun took pity on them, and brought +forth grains and fruits without their assistance, and unless a few +flighty little women, particularly inaccessible to the higher +philosophy, should surprise these transcendental and passionless +thinkers in an unguarded moment, and beguile them into committing +some slight act of folly. + +"To combine in one intelligence Haber's circumscribed vision, naive +self confidence, and enterprising activity with Enyhardt's sublime +idealism and knowledge of good and evil is outside the range of +possibility. And which of the two is of the greater benefit to the +world? Which of them raises mankind to a higher level of +development? Which of them best fulfills his purpose as a human +being? Whose point of view of the world and of life is the more +correct? Which of the two would I set up as a model before the child +whom Eynhardt snatched from death at the price of his own body, and +in whom his life as it were finds its continuation? My old friend +Pyrrhon, thou who hearkened, two thousand two hundred years before +my day, to the profound wisdom of the Brahmins, I can but answer in +thy words, 'Uden horizo,'--I do not decide." + + + +THE END. + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Malady of the Century +by Max Nordau + diff --git a/old/maldy10.zip b/old/maldy10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8b8e052 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/maldy10.zip |