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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Stories by Foreign Authors: German, by Various
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Stories by Foreign Authors: German
+
+Author: Various
+
+Posting Date: April 21, 2013 [EBook #5431]
+Release Date: April, 2004
+First Posted: July 18, 2002
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STORIES BY FOREIGN AUTHORS: GERMAN ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Nicole Apostola, Charles Franks and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+STORIES BY FOREIGN AUTHORS
+
+GERMAN
+
+
+
+
+THE FURY ...... BY PAUL HEYSE
+
+THE PHILOSOPHER'S PENDULUM ...... BY RUDOLPH LINDAU
+
+THE BOOKBINDER OF HORT........ BY LEOPOLD VON SACHER-MASOCH
+
+THE EGYPTIAN FIRE-EATER........BY RUDOLPH BAUMBACH
+
+THE CREMONA VIOLIN ........ BY E. T. HOFFMANN
+
+ADVENTURES Of A NEW-YEAR'S EVE...... BY HEINRICH ZSCHOKKE
+
+
+
+
+THE FURY
+
+BY
+
+PAUL HEYSE
+
+
+From "Tales from the German of Paul Heyse"
+
+
+
+
+THE FURY
+
+(L'ARRABIATA)
+
+The day had scarcely dawned. Over Vesuvius hung one broad gray stripe
+of mist, stretching across as far as Naples, and darkening all the
+small towns along the coast. The sea lay calm. Along the shore of the
+narrow creek that lies beneath the Sorrento cliffs, fishermen and their
+wives were at work already, some with giant cables drawing their boats
+to land, with the nets that had been cast the night before, while
+others were rigging their craft, trimming the sails, or fetching out
+oars and masts from the great grated vaults that have been built deep
+into the rocks for shelter to the tackle overnight. Nowhere an idle
+hand; even the very aged, who had long given up going to sea, fell into
+the long chain of those who were hauling in the nets. Here and there,
+on some flat housetop, an old woman stood and spun, or busied herself
+about her grandchildren, whom their mother had left to help her husband.
+
+"Do you see, Rachela? yonder is our padre curato," said one to a little
+thing of ten, who brandished a small spindle by her side; "Antonio is
+to row him over to Capri. Madre Santissima! but the reverend signore's
+eyes are dull with sleep!" and she waved her hand to a
+benevolent-looking little priest, who was settling himself in the boat,
+and spreading out upon the bench his carefully tucked-up skirts.
+
+The men upon the quay had dropped their work to see their pastor off,
+who bowed and nodded kindly, right and left.
+
+"What for must he go to Capri, granny?" asked the child. "Have the
+people there no priest of their own, that they must borrow ours?"
+
+"Silly thing!" returned the granny. "Priests they have in plenty--and
+the most beautiful of churches, and a hermit too, which is more than we
+have. But there lives a great signora, who once lived here; she was so
+very ill! Many's the time our padre had to go and take the Most Holy to
+her, when they thought she could not live the night. But with the
+Blessed Virgin's help she got strong and well, and was able to bathe
+every day in the sea. When she went away, she left a fine heap of
+ducats behind her for our church, and for the poor; and she would not
+go, they say, until our padre promised to go and see her over there,
+that she might confess to him as before. It is quite wonderful, the
+store she lays by him! Indeed, and we have cause to bless ourselves for
+having a curato who has gifts enough for an archbishop, and is in such
+request with all the great folks. The Madonna be with him!" she cried,
+and waved her hand again, as the boat was about to put from shore.
+
+"Are we to have fair weather, my son?" inquired the little priest, with
+an anxious look toward Naples.
+
+"The sun is not yet up," the young man answered; "when he comes, he
+will easily do for that small trifle of mist."
+
+"Off with you, then! that we may arrive before the heat."
+
+Antonio was just reaching for his long oar to shove away the boat, when
+suddenly he paused, and fixed his eyes upon the summit of the steep
+path that leads down from Sorrento to the water. A tall and slender
+girlish figure had become visible upon the heights, and was now hastily
+stepping down the stones, waving her handkerchief She had a small
+bundle under her arm, and her dress was mean and poor. Yet she had a
+distinguished if somewhat savage way of throwing back her head, and the
+dark tress wreathed around it was like a diadem.
+
+"What have we to wait for?" inquired the curato.
+
+"There is some one coming who wants to go to Capri--with your
+permission, padre. We shall not go a whit the slower. It is a slight
+young thing, but just eighteen."
+
+At that moment the young girl appeared from behind the wall that bounds
+the winding path.
+
+"Laurella!" cried the priest; "and what has she to do in Capri?"
+
+Antonio shrugged his shoulders. She came up with hasty steps, her eyes
+fixed straight before her.
+
+"Ha! l'Arrabiata! good-morning!" shouted one or two of the young
+boatmen. But for the curato's presence, they might have added more; the
+look of mute defiance with which the young girl received their welcome
+appeared to tempt the more mischievous among them.
+
+"Good-day, Laurella!" now said the priest; "how are you? Are you coming
+with us to Capri?"
+
+"If I may, padre."
+
+"Ask Antonio there; the boat is his. Every man is master of his own, I
+say, as God is master of us all."
+
+"There is half a carlino, if I may go for that?" said Laurella, without
+looking at the young boatman.
+
+"You need it more than I," he muttered, and pushed aside some
+orange-baskets to make room: he was to sell the oranges in Capri, which
+little isle of rocks has never been able to grow enough for all its
+visitors.
+
+"I do not choose to go for nothing," said the girl, with a slight frown
+of her dark eyebrows.
+
+"Come, child," said the priest; "he is a good lad, and had rather not
+enrich himself with that little morsel of your poverty. Come now, and
+step in," and he stretched out his hand to help her, "and sit you down
+by me. See, now, he has spread his jacket for you, that you may sit the
+softer. Young folks are all alike; for one little maiden of eighteen
+they will do more than for ten of us reverend fathers. Nay, no excuse,
+Tonino. It is the Lord's own doing, that like and like should hold
+together."
+
+Meantime Laurella had stepped in, and seated herself beside the padre,
+first putting away Antonio's jacket without a word. The young fellow
+let it lie, and, muttering between his teeth, he gave one vigorous push
+against the pier, and the little boat flew out into the open bay.
+
+"What are you carrying there in that little bundle?" inquired the
+padre, as they were floating on over a calm sea, now just beginning to
+be lighted up with the earliest rays of the rising sun. "Silk, thread,
+and a loaf, padre. The silk is to be sold at Anacapri, to a woman who
+makes ribbons, and the thread to another."
+
+"Spun by yourself?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"You once learned to weave ribbons yourself, if I remember right?"
+
+"I did, sir; but mother has been much worse, and I cannot stay so long
+from home; and a loom to ourselves we are not rich enough to buy."
+
+"Worse, is she? Ah! dear, dear! when I was with you last, at Easter,
+she was up."
+
+"The spring is always her worst time. Ever since those last great
+storms, and the earthquakes she has been forced to keep her bed from
+pain."
+
+"Pray, my child. Never slacken your prayers and petitions that the
+Blessed Virgin may intercede for you; and be industrious and good, that
+your prayers may find a hearing."
+
+After a pause: "When you were coming toward the shore, I heard them
+calling after you. 'Good-morning, l'Arrabiata!' they said. What made
+them call you so? It is not a nice name for a young Christian maiden,
+who should be meek and mild."
+
+The young girl's brown face glowed all over, while her eyes flashed
+fire.
+
+"They always mock me so, because I do not dance and sing, and stand
+about to chatter, as other girls do. I might be left in peace, I think;
+I do THEM no harm."
+
+"Nay, but you might be civil. Let others dance and sing, on whom this
+life sits lighter; but a kind word now and then is seemly even from the
+most afflicted."
+
+Her dark eyes fell, and she drew her eyebrows closer over them, as if
+she would have hidden them.
+
+They went on a while in silence. The sun now stood resplendent above
+the mountain chain; only the tip of Mount Vesuvius towered beyond the
+group of clouds that had gathered about its base; and on the Sorrento
+plains the houses were gleaming white from the dark green of their
+orange-gardens.
+
+"Have you heard no more of that painter, Laurella?" asked the
+curato--"that Neapolitan, who wished so much to marry you?" She shook
+her head. "He came to make a picture of you. Why would you not let him?"
+
+"What did he want it for? There are handsomer girls than I. Who knows
+what he would have done with it? He might have bewitched me with it, or
+hurt my soul, or even killed me, mother says."
+
+"Never believe such sinful things!" said the little curato very
+earnestly. "Are not you ever in God's keeping, without whose will not
+one hair of your head can fall? and is one poor mortal with an image in
+his hand to prevail against the Lord? Besides, you might have seen that
+he was fond of you; else why should he want to marry you?"
+
+She said nothing.
+
+"And wherefore did you refuse him? He was an honest man, they say, and
+comely; and he would have kept you and your mother far better than you
+ever can yourself, for all your spinning and silk-winding."
+
+"We are so poor!" she said passionately; "and mother has been ill so
+long, we should have become a burden to him. And then I never should
+have done for a signora. When his friends came to see him, he would
+only have been ashamed of me."
+
+"How can you say so? I tell you the man was good and kind; he would
+even have been willing to settle in Sorrento. It will not be so easy to
+find another, sent straight from heaven to be the saving of you, as
+this man, indeed, appeared to be."
+
+"I want no husband--I never shall," she said, very stubbornly, half to
+herself.
+
+"Is this a vow? or do you mean to be a nun?"
+
+She shook her head.
+
+"The people are not so wrong who call you wilful, although the name
+they give you is not kind. Have you ever considered that you stand
+alone in the world, and that your perverseness must make your sick
+mother's illness worse to bear, her life more bitter? And what sound
+reason can you have to give for rejecting an honest hand, stretched out
+to help you and your mother? Answer me, Laurella."
+
+"I have a reason," she said reluctantly, and speaking low; "but it is
+one I cannot give."
+
+"Not give! not give to me? not to your confessor, whom you surely know
+to be your friend--or is he not?"
+
+Laurella nodded.
+
+"Then, child, unburden your heart. If your reason be a good one, I
+shall be the very first to uphold you in it. Only you are young, and
+know so little of the world. A time may come when you will find cause
+to regret a chance of happiness thrown away for some foolish fancy now."
+
+Shyly she threw a furtive glance over to the other end of the boat,
+where the young boatman sat, rowing fast. His woollen cap was pulled
+deep down over his eyes; he was gazing far across the water, with
+averted head, sunk, as it appeared, in his own meditations.
+
+The priest observed her look, and bent his ear down closer.
+
+"You did not know my father?" she whispered, while a dark look gathered
+in her eyes.
+
+"Your father, child! Why, your father died when you were ten years old.
+What can your father (Heaven rest his soul in paradise!) have to do
+with this present perversity of yours?"
+
+"You did not know him, padre; you did not know that mother's illness
+was caused by him alone."
+
+"And how?"
+
+"By his ill-treatment of her; he beat her and trampled upon her. I well
+remember the nights when he came home in his fits of frenzy. She never
+said a word, and did everything he bade her. Yet he would beat her so,
+my heart felt ready to break. I used to cover up my head and pretend to
+be asleep, but I cried all night. And then, when he saw her lying on
+the floor, quite suddenly he would change, and lift her up and kiss
+her, till she screamed and said he smothered her. Mother forbade me
+ever to say a word of this; but it wore her out. And in all these long
+years since father died, she has never been able to get well again. And
+if she should soon die--which God forbid!--I know who it was that
+killed her."
+
+The little curato's head wagged slowly to and fro; he seemed uncertain
+how far to acquiesce in the young girl's reasons. At length he said:
+"Forgive him, as your mother has forgiven! And turn your thoughts from
+such distressing pictures, Laurella; there may be better days in store
+for you, which will make you forget the past."
+
+"Never shall I forget that!" she said, and shuddered. "And you must
+know, padre, it is the reason why I have resolved to remain unmarried.
+I never will be subject to a man, who may beat and then caress me. Were
+a man now to want to beat or kiss me, I could defend myself; but mother
+could not--neither from his blows nor kisses--because she loved him.
+Now, I will never so love a man as to be made ill and wretched by him."
+
+"You are but a child, and you talk like one who knows nothing at all of
+life. Are all men like that poor father of yours? Do all ill-treat
+their wives, and give vent to every whim and gust of passion? Have you
+never seen a good man yet? or known good wives, who live in peace and
+harmony with their husbands?"
+
+"But nobody ever knew how father was to mother; she would have died
+sooner than complain or tell of him, and all because she loved him. If
+this be love--if love can close our lips when they should cry out for
+help--if it is to make us suffer without resistance, worse than even
+our worst enemy could make us suffer--then, I say, I never will be fond
+of mortal man."
+
+"I tell you you are childish; you know not what you are saying. When
+your time comes, you are not likely to be consulted whether you choose
+to fall in love or not." After a pause, he added, "And that painter:
+did you think he could have been cruel?"
+
+"He made those eyes I have seen my father make, when he begged my
+mother's pardon and took her in his arms to make it up. I know those
+eyes. A man may make such eyes, and yet find it in his heart to beat a
+wife who never did a thing to vex him! It made my flesh creep to see
+those eyes again."
+
+After this she would not say another word. The curato also remained
+silent. He bethought himself of more than one wise saying, wherewith
+the maiden might have been admonished; but he refrained, in
+consideration of the young boatman, who had been growing rather
+restless toward the close of this confession.
+
+When, after two hours' rowing, they reached the little bay of Capri,
+Antonio took the padre in his arms, and carried him through the last
+few ripples of shallow water, to set him reverently down upon his legs
+on dry land. But Laurella did not wait for him to wade back and fetch
+her. Gathering up her little petticoat, holding in one hand her wooden
+shoes and in the other her little bundle, with one splashing step or
+two she had reached the shore. "I have some time to stay at Capri,"
+said the priest. "You need not wait--I may not perhaps return before
+to-morrow. When you get home, Laurella, remember me to your mother; I
+will come and see her within the week. You mean to go back before it
+gets dark?"
+
+"If I find an opportunity," answered the girl, turning all her
+attention to her skirts.
+
+"I must return, you know," said Antonio, in a tone which he believed to
+be one of great indifference. "I shall wait here till the Ave Maria. If
+you should not come, it is the same to me."
+
+"You must come," interposed the little priest; "you never can leave
+your mother all alone at night. Is it far you have to go?"
+
+"To a vineyard by Anacapri."
+
+"And I to Capri. So now God bless you, child--and you, my son."
+
+Laurella kissed his hand, and let one farewell drop, for the padre and
+Antonio to divide between them. Antonio, however, appropriated no part
+of it to himself; he pulled off his cap exclusively to the padre,
+without even looking at Laurella. But after they had turned their
+backs, he let his eyes travel but a short way with the padre, as he
+went toiling over the deep bed of small, loose stones; he soon sent
+them after the maiden, who, turning to the right, had begun to climb
+the heights, holding one hand above her eyes to protect them from the
+scorching sun. Just before the path disappeared behind high walls, she
+stopped, as if to gather breath, and looked behind her. At her feet lay
+the marina; the rugged rocks rose high around her; the sea was shining
+in the rarest of its deep-blue splendor. The scene was surely worth a
+moment's pause. But, as chance would have it, her eyes, in glancing
+past Antonio's boat, met Antonio's own, which had been following her as
+she climbed.
+
+Each made a slight movement, as persons do who would excuse themselves
+for some mistake; and then, with her darkest look, the maiden went her
+way.
+
+Hardly one hour had passed since noon, and yet for the last two Antonio
+had been sitting waiting on the bench before the fishers' tavern. He
+must have been very much preoccupied with something, for he jumped up
+every moment to step out into the sunshine, and look carefully up and
+down the roads, which, parting right and left, lead to the only two
+little towns upon the island. He did not altogether trust the weather,
+he then said to the hostess of the osteria; to be sure, it was clear
+enough, but he did not quite like that tint of sea and sky. Just so it
+had looked, he said, before the last awful storm, when the English
+family had been so nearly lost; surely she must remember it?
+
+No, indeed, she said, she didn't.
+
+Well, if the weather should happen to change before night, she was to
+think of him, he said.
+
+"Have you many fine folk over there?" she asked him, after a while.
+
+"They are only just beginning; as yet, the season has been bad enough;
+those who came to bathe, came late."
+
+"The spring came late. Have you not been earning more than we at Capri?"
+
+"Not enough to give me macaroni twice a week, if I had had nothing but
+the boat--only a letter now and then to take to Naples, or a gentleman
+to row out into the open sea, that he might fish. But you know I have
+an uncle who is rich; he owns more than one fine orange-garden; and,
+'Tonino,' says he to me, 'while I live you shall not suffer want; and
+when I am gone you will find that I have taken care of you.' And so,
+with God's help, I got through the winter."
+
+"Has he children, this uncle who is rich?"
+
+"No, he never married; he was long in foreign parts, and many a good
+piastre he has laid together. He is going to set up a great fishing
+business, and set me over it, to see the rights of it."
+
+"Why, then you are a made man, Tonino!"
+
+The young boatman shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"Every man has his own burden," said he, starting up again to have
+another look at the weather, turning his eyes right and left, although
+he must have known that there can be no weather side but one.
+
+"Let me fetch you another bottle," said the hostess; "your uncle can
+well afford to pay for it."
+
+"Not more than one glass; it is a fiery wine you have in Capri, and my
+head is hot already."
+
+"It does not heat the blood; you may drink as much of it as you like.
+And here is my husband coming; so you must sit a while, and talk to
+him."
+
+And in fact, with his nets over his shoulder, and his red cap upon his
+curly head, down came the comely padrone of the osteria. He had been
+taking a dish of fish to that great lady, to set before the little
+curato. As soon as he caught sight of the young boatman, he began
+waving him a most cordial welcome; and he came to sit beside him on the
+bench, chattering and asking questions. Just as his wife was bringing
+her second bottle of pure unadulterated Capri, they heard the crisp
+sand crunch, and Laurella was seen approaching from the left-hand road
+to Anacapri. She nodded slightly in salutation; then stopped, and
+hesitated.
+
+Antonio sprang from his seat. "I must go," he said. "It is a young
+Sorrento girl, who came over with the signor curato in the morning. She
+has to get back to her sick mother before night."
+
+"Well, well, time enough yet before night," observed the fisherman;
+"time enough to take a glass of wine. Wife, I say, another glass!"
+
+"I thank you; I had rather not;" and Laurella kept her distance.
+
+"Fill the glasses, wife; fill them both, I say; she only wants a little
+pressing."
+
+"Don't," interposed the lad. "It is a wilful head of her own she has; a
+saint could not persuade her to do what she does not choose." And,
+taking a hasty leave, he ran down to the boat, loosened the rope, and
+stood waiting for Laurella. Again she bent her head to the hostess, and
+slowly approached the water, with lingering steps. She looked around on
+every side, as if in hopes of seeing some other passenger. But the
+marina was deserted. The fishermen were asleep, or rowing about the
+coast with rods or nets; a few women and children sat before their
+doors, spinning or sleeping: such strangers as had come over in the
+morning were waiting for the cool of the evening to return. She had not
+time to look about her long; before she could prevent him, Antonio had
+seized her in his arms and carried her to the boat, as if she had been
+an infant. He leaped in after her, and with a stroke or two of his oar
+they were in deep water.
+
+She had seated herself at the end of the boat, half turning her back to
+him, so that he could only see her profile. She wore a sterner look
+than ever; the low, straight brow was shaded by her hair; the rounded
+lips were firmly closed; only the delicate nostril occasionally gave a
+wilful quiver. After they had gone on a while in silence, she began to
+feel the scorching of the sun; and, unloosening her bundle, she threw
+the handkerchief over her head, and began to make her dinner of the
+bread; for in Capri she had eaten nothing.
+
+Antonio did not stand this long; he fetched out a couple of the oranges
+with which the baskets had been filled in the morning. "Here is
+something to eat to your bread, Laurella," he said. "Don't think I kept
+them for you; they had rolled out of the basket, and I only found them
+when I brought the baskets back to the boat."
+
+"Eat them yourself; bread is enough for me."
+
+"They are refreshing in this heat, and you have had to walk so far."
+
+"They gave me a drink of water, and that refreshed me."
+
+"As you please," he said, and let them drop into the basket.
+
+Silence again. The sea was smooth as glass. Not a ripple was heard
+against the prow. Even the white sea-birds that roost among the caves
+of Capri pursued their prey with soundless flight.
+
+"You might take the oranges to your mother," again commenced Tonino.
+
+"We have oranges at home; and when they are gone, I can go and buy some
+more."
+
+"Nay, take these to her, and give them to her with my compliments."
+
+"She does not know you."
+
+"You could tell her who I am."
+
+"I do not know you either."
+
+It was not the first time that she had denied him thus. One Sunday of
+last year, when that painter had first come to Sorrento, Antonio had
+chanced to be playing boccia with some other young fellows in the
+little piazza by the chief street.
+
+There, for the first time, had the painter caught sight of Laurella,
+who, with her pitcher on her head, had passed by without taking any
+notice of him. The Neapolitan, struck by her appearance, stood still
+and gazed after her, not heeding that he was standing in the very midst
+of the game, which, with two steps, he might have cleared. A very
+ungentle ball came knocking against his shins, as a reminder that this
+was not the spot to choose for meditation. He looked round, as if in
+expectation of some excuse. But the young boatman who had thrown the
+ball stood silent among his friends, in such an attitude of defiance
+that the stranger had found it more advisable to go his ways and avoid
+discussion. Still, this little encounter had been spoken of,
+particularly at the time when the painter had been pressing his suit to
+Laurella. "I do not even know him," she said indignantly, when the
+painter asked her whether it was for the sake of that uncourteous lad
+she now refused him. But she had heard that piece of gossip, and known
+Antonio well enough when she had met him since.
+
+And now they sat together in this boat, like two most deadly enemies,
+while their hearts were beating fit to kill them. Antonio's usually so
+good-humored face was heated to scarlet; he struck the oars so sharply
+that the foam flew over to where Laurella sat, while his lips moved as
+if muttering angry words. She pretended not to notice, wearing her most
+unconscious look, bending over the edge of the boat, and letting the
+cool water pass between her fingers. Then she threw off her
+handkerchief again, and began to smooth her hair, as though she had
+been alone. Only her eyebrows twitched, and she held up her wet hands
+in vain attempts to cool her burning cheeks.
+
+Now they were well out in the open sea. The island was far behind, and
+the coast before them lay yet distant in the hot haze. Not a sail was
+within sight, far or near--not even a passing gull to break the
+stillness. Antonio looked all round, evidently ripening some hasty
+resolution. The color faded suddenly from his cheek, and he dropped his
+oars. Laurella looked round involuntarily--fearless, yet attentive.
+
+"I must make an end of this," the young fellow burst forth. "It has
+lasted too long already! I only wonder that it has not killed me! You
+say you do not know me? And all this time you must have seen me pass
+you like a madman, my whole heart full of what I had to tell you; and
+then you only made your crossest mouth, and turned your back upon me."
+
+"What had I to say to you?" she curtly replied. "I may have seen that
+you were inclined to meddle with me, but I do not choose to be on
+people's wicked tongues for nothing. I do not mean to have you for a
+husband--neither you nor any other."
+
+"Nor any other? So you will not always say! You say so now, because you
+would not have that painter. Bah! you were but a child! You will feel
+lonely enough yet, some day; and then, wild as you are, you will take
+the next best who comes to hand."
+
+"Who knows? which of us can see the future? It may be that I will
+change my mind. What is that to you?"
+
+"What is it to me?" he flew out, starting to his feet, while the small
+boat leaped and danced; "what is it to me, you say? You know well
+enough! I tell you, that man shall perish miserably to whom you shall
+prove kinder than you have been to me!"
+
+"And to you, what did I ever promise? Am I to blame if you be mad? What
+right have you to me?"
+
+"Ah! I know," he cried, "my right is written nowhere. It has not been
+put in Latin by any lawyer, nor stamped with any seal. But this I feel:
+I have just the right to you that I have to heaven, if I die an honest
+Christian. Do you think I could look on and see you go to church with
+another man, and see the girls go by and shrug their shoulders at me?"
+
+"You can do as you please. I am not going to let myself be frightened
+by all those threats. I also mean to do as I please."
+
+"You shall not say so long!" and his whole frame shook with passion. "I
+am not the man to let my whole life be spoiled by a stubborn wench like
+you! You are in my power here, remember, and may be made to do my
+bidding."
+
+She could not repress a start, but her eyes flashed bravely on him.
+
+"You may kill me if you dare," she said slowly.
+
+"I do nothing by halves," he said, and his voice sounded choked and
+hoarse. "There is room for us both in the sea. I cannot help thee,
+child"--he spoke the last words dreamily, almost pitifully--"but we
+must both go down together--both at once--and now!" he shouted, and
+snatched her in his arms. But at the same moment he drew back his right
+hand; the blood gushed out; she had bitten him fiercely.
+
+"Ha! can I be made to do your bidding?" she cried, and thrust him from
+her, with one sudden movement; "am I here in your power?" and she
+leaped into the sea, and sank.
+
+She rose again directly; her scanty skirts clung close; her long hair,
+loosened by the waves, hung heavy about her neck. She struck out
+valiantly, and, without uttering a sound, she began to swim steadily
+from the boat toward the shore.
+
+With senses benumbed by sudden terror, he stood, with outstretched
+neck, looking after her, his eyes fixed as though they had just been
+witness to a miracle. Then, giving himself a shake, he seized his oars,
+and began rowing after her with all the strength he had, while all the
+time the bottom of the boat was reddening fast with the blood that kept
+streaming from his hand.
+
+Rapidly as she swam, he was at her side in a moment. "For the love of
+our most Holy Virgin" he cried, "get into the boat! I have been a
+madman! God alone can tell what so suddenly darkened my brain. It came
+upon me like a flash of lightning, and set me all on fire. I knew not
+what I did or said. I do not even ask you to forgive me, Laurella, only
+to come into the boat again, and not to risk your life!"
+
+She swam on as though she had not heard him.
+
+"You can never swim to land. I tell you, it is two miles off. Think of
+your mother! If you should come to grief, I should die of horror."
+
+She measured the distance with her eye, and then, without answering him
+one word, she swam up to the boat, and laid her hands upon the edge; he
+rose to help her in. As the boat tilted over to one side with the
+girl's weight, his jacket that was lying on the bench slipped into the
+water. Agile as she was, she swung herself on board without assistance,
+and gained her former seat. As soon as he saw that she was safe, he
+took to his oars again, while she began quietly wringing out her
+dripping clothes, and shaking the water from her hair. As her eyes fell
+upon the bottom of the boat, and saw the blood, she gave a quick look
+at the hand, which held the oar as if it had been unhurt.
+
+"Take this," she said, and held out her handkerchief. He shook his
+head, and went on rowing. After a time she rose, and, stepping up to
+him, bound the handkerchief firmly round the wound, which was very
+deep. Then, heedless of his endeavors to prevent her, she took an oar,
+and, seating herself opposite him, began to row with steady strokes,
+keeping her eyes from looking toward him--fixed upon the oar that was
+scarlet with his blood. Both were pale and silent. As they drew near
+land, such fishermen as they met began shouting after Antonio and
+gibing at Laurella; but neither of them moved an eyelid, or spoke one
+word.
+
+The sun stood yet high over Procida when they landed at the marina.
+Laurella shook out her petticoat, now nearly dry, and jumped on shore.
+The old spinning woman, who in the morning had seen them start, was
+still upon her terrace. She called down, "What is that upon your hand,
+Tonino? Jesus Christ! the boat is full of blood!"
+
+"It is nothing, comare," the young fellow replied. "I tore my hand
+against a nail that was sticking out too far; it will be well
+to-morrow. It is only this confounded ready blood of mine, that always
+makes a thing look worse than it is."
+
+"Let me come and bind it up, comparello. Stop one moment; I will go and
+fetch the herbs, and come to you directly."
+
+"Never trouble yourself, comare. It has been dressed already; to-morrow
+morning it will be all over and forgotten. I have a healthy skin, that
+heals directly."
+
+"Addio!" said Laurella, turning to the path that goes winding up the
+cliffs. "Good-night!" he answered, without looking at her; and then
+taking his oars and baskets from the boat, and climbing up the small
+stone stairs, he went into his own hut.
+
+He was alone in his two little rooms, and began to pace them up and
+down. Cooler than upon the dead calm sea, the breeze blew fresh through
+the small unglazed windows, which could only be closed with wooden
+shutters. The solitude was soothing to him. He stooped before the
+little image of the Virgin, devoutly gazing upon the glory round the
+head (made of stars cut out in silver paper). But he did not want to
+pray. What reason had he to pray, now that he had lost all he had ever
+hoped for?
+
+And this day appeared to last for ever. He did so long for night! for
+he was weary, and more exhausted by the loss of blood than he would
+have cared to own. His hand was very sore. Seating himself upon a
+little stool, he untied the handkerchief that bound it; the blood, so
+long repressed, gushed out again; all round the wound the hand was
+swollen high.
+
+He washed it carefully, cooling it in the water; then he clearly saw
+the marks of Laurella's teeth.
+
+"She was right," he said; "I was a brute, and deserved no better. I
+will send her back the handkerchief by Giuseppe to-morrow. Never shall
+she set eyes on me again." And he washed the handkerchief with the
+greatest care, and spread it out in the sun to dry.
+
+And having bound up his hand again, as well as he could manage with his
+teeth and his left hand, he threw himself upon his bed, and closed his
+eyes.
+
+He was soon waked up from a sort of slumber by the rays of the bright
+moonlight, and also by the pain of his hand; he had just risen for more
+cold water to soothe its throbbings, when he heard the sound of some
+one at the door. Laurella stood before him.
+
+She came in without a question, took off the handkerchief she had tied
+over her head, and placed her little basket upon the table; then she
+drew a deep breath.
+
+"You are come to fetch your handkerchief," he said. "You need not have
+taken that trouble. In the morning I would have asked Giuseppe to take
+it to you."
+
+"It is not the handkerchief," she said quickly. "I have been up among
+the hills to gather herbs to stop the blood; see here." And she lifted
+the lid of her little basket.
+
+"Too much trouble," he said, not in bitterness--"far too much trouble.
+I am better, much better; but if I were worse, it would be no more than
+I deserve. Why did you come at such a time? If any one should see you?
+You know how they talk, even when they don't know what they are saying."
+
+"I care for no one's talk," she said, passionately. "I came to see your
+hand, and put the herbs upon it; you cannot do it with your left."
+
+"It is not worth while, I tell you."
+
+"Let me see it then, if I am to believe you."
+
+She took his hand, that was not able to prevent her, and unbound the
+linen. When she saw the swelling, she shuddered, and gave a cry: "Jesus
+Maria!"
+
+"It is a little swollen," he said; "it will be over in four-and-twenty
+hours."
+
+She shook her head. "It will certainly be a week before you can go to
+sea."
+
+"More likely a day or two; and if not, what matters?"
+
+She had fetched a basin, and began carefully washing out the wound,
+which he suffered passively, like a child. She then laid on the healing
+leaves, which at once relieved the burning pain, and finally bound it
+up with the linen she had brought with her.
+
+When it was done: "I thank you," he said. "And now, if you would do me
+one more kindness, forgive the madness that came over me; forget all I
+said and did. I cannot tell how it came to pass; certainly it was not
+your fault--not yours. And never shall you hear from me again one word
+to vex you."
+
+She interrupted him. "It is I who have to beg your pardon. I should
+have spoken differently. I might have explained it better, and not
+enraged you with my sullen ways. And now that bite--"
+
+"It was in self-defence; it was high time to bring me to my senses. As
+I said before, it is nothing at all to signify. Do not talk of being
+forgiven; you only did me good, and I thank you for it. And now, here
+is your handkerchief; take it with you."
+
+He held it to her, but yet she lingered, hesitated, and appeared to
+have some inward struggle. At length she said: "You have lost your
+jacket, and by my fault; and I know that all the money for the oranges
+was in it. I did not think of this till afterward. I cannot replace it
+now; we have not so much at home--or if we had, it would be mother's.
+But this I have--this silver cross. That painter left it on the table
+the day he came for the last time. I have never looked at it all this
+while, and do not care to keep it in my box; if you were to sell it? It
+must be worth a few piastres, mother says. It might make up the money
+you have lost; and if not quite, I could earn the rest by spinning at
+night when mother is asleep."
+
+"Nothing will make me take it," he said shortly, pushing away the
+bright new cross, which she had taken from her pocket.
+
+"You must," she said; "how can you tell how long your hand may keep you
+from your work? There it lies; and nothing can make me so much as look
+at it again."
+
+"Drop it in the sea, then."
+
+"It is no present I want to make you; it is no more than is your due;
+it is only fair."
+
+"Nothing from you can be due to me; and hereafter when we chance to
+meet, if you would do me a kindness, I beg you not to look my way. It
+would make me feel you were thinking of what I have done. And now
+good-night; and let this be the last word said."
+
+She laid the handkerchief in the basket, and also the cross, and closed
+the lid. But when he looked into her face, he started. Great heavy
+drops were rolling down her cheeks; she let them flow unheeded.
+
+"Maria Santissima!" he cried. "Are you ill? You are trembling from head
+to foot!"
+
+"It is nothing," she said; "I must go home;" and with unsteady steps
+she was moving to the door, when suddenly she leaned her brow against
+the wall, and gave way to a fit of bitter sobbing. Before he could go
+to her she turned upon him suddenly, and fell upon his neck.
+
+"I cannot bear it!" she cried, clinging to him as a dying thing to
+life--"I cannot bear it! I cannot let you speak so kindly, and bid me
+go, with all this on my conscience. Beat me! trample on me! curse me!
+Or if it can be that you love me still, after all I have done to you,
+take me and keep me, and do with me as you please; only do not send me
+away so!" She could say no more for sobbing.
+
+Speechless, he held her a while in his arms. "If I can love you still!"
+he cried at last. "Holy Mother of God! Do you think that all my best
+heart's blood has gone from me through that little wound? Don't you
+hear it hammering now, as though it would burst my breast and go to
+you? But if you say this to try me, or because you pity me, I can
+forget it. You are not to think you owe me this, because you know what
+I have suffered for you."
+
+"No!" she said very resolutely, looking up from his shoulder into his
+face, with her tearful eyes; "it is because I love you; and let me tell
+you, it was because I always feared to love you that I was so cross. I
+will be so different now. I never could bear again to pass you in the
+street without one look! And lest you should ever feel a doubt, I will
+kiss you, that you may say, 'She kissed me;' and Laurella kisses no man
+but her husband."
+
+She kissed him thrice, and, escaping from his arms: "And now
+good-night, amor mio, cara vita mia!" she said. "Lie down to sleep, and
+let your hand get well. Do not come with me; I am afraid of no man,
+save of you alone."
+
+And so she slipped out, and soon disappeared in the shadow of the wall.
+
+He remained standing by the window, gazing far out over the calm sea,
+while all the stars in heaven appeared to flit before his eyes.
+
+The next time the little curato sat in his confessional, he sat smiling
+to himself. Laurella had just risen from her knees after a very long
+confession.
+
+"Who would have thought it?" he said musingly--"that the Lord would so
+soon have taken pity upon that wayward little heart? And I had been
+reproaching myself for not having adjured more sternly that ill demon
+of perversity. Our eyes are but short-sighted to see the ways of
+Heaven! Well, may God bless her, I say, and let me live to go to sea
+with Laurella's eldest born, rowing me in his father's place! Ah! well,
+indeed! l'Arrabiata!"
+
+
+
+
+THE PHILOSOPHER'S PENDULUM
+
+BY
+
+RUDOLPH LINDAU
+
+
+
+
+THE PHILOSOPHER'S PENDULUM
+
+A TALE FROM GERMANY BY RUDOLPH LINDAU
+
+I.
+
+
+During many long years Hermann Fabricius had lost sight of his friend
+Henry Warren, and had forgotten him.
+
+Yet when students together they had loved each other dearly, and more
+than once they had sworn eternal friendship. This was at a period
+which, though not very remote, we seem to have left far behind us--a
+time when young men still believed in eternal friendship, and could
+feel enthusiasm for great deeds or great ideas. Youth in the present
+day is, or thinks itself, more rational. Hermann and Warren in those
+days were simple-minded and ingenuous; and not only in the moment of
+elation, when they had sworn to be friends for ever, but even the next
+day, and the day after that, in sober earnestness, they had vowed that
+nothing should separate them, and that they would remain united through
+life. The delusion had not lasted long. The pitiless machinery of life
+had caught up the young men as soon as they left the university, and
+had thrown one to the right, the other to the left. For a few months
+they had exchanged long and frequent letters; then they had met once,
+and finally they had parted, each going his way. Their letters had
+become more scarce, more brief, and at last had ceased altogether. It
+would really seem that the fact of having interests in common is the
+one thing sufficiently powerful to prolong and keep up the life of
+epistolary relations. A man may feel great affection for an absent
+friend, and yet not find time to write him ten lines, while he will
+willingly expend daily many hours on a stranger from whom he expects
+something. None the less he may be a true and honest friend. Man is
+naturally selfish; the instinct of self-preservation requires it of
+him. Provided he be not wicked, and that he show himself ready to serve
+his neighbor--after himself--no one has a right to complain, or to
+accuse him of hard-heartedness.
+
+At the time this story begins, Hermann had even forgotten whether he
+had written to Warren last, or whether he had left his friend's last
+letter unanswered. In a word, the correspondence which began so
+enthusiastically had entirely ceased. Hermann inhabited a large town,
+and had acquired some reputation as a writer. From time to time, in the
+course of his walks, he would meet a young student with brown hair, and
+mild, honest-looking blue eyes, whose countenance, with its frank and
+youthful smile, inspired confidence and invited the sympathy of the
+passer-by. Whenever Hermann met this young man he would say to himself,
+"How like Henry at twenty!" and for a few minutes memory would travel
+back to the already distant days of youth, and he would long to see his
+dear old Warren again. More than once, on the spur of the moment, he
+had resolved to try and find out what had become of his old university
+comrade. But these good intentions were never followed up. On reaching
+home he would find his table covered with books and pamphlets to be
+reviewed, and letters from publishers or newspaper editors asking for
+"copy"--to say nothing of invitations to dinner, which must be accepted
+or refused; in a word, he found so much URGENT business to despatch
+that the evening would go by, and weariness would overtake him, before
+he could make time for inquiring about his old friend.
+
+In the course of years, the life of most men becomes so regulated that
+no time is left for anything beyond "necessary work." But, indeed, the
+man who lives only for his own pleasure--doing, so to speak,
+nothing--is rarely better in this respect than the writer, the banker,
+and the savant, who are overburdened with work.
+
+One afternoon, as Hermann, according to his custom, was returning home
+about five o'clock, his porter handed him a letter bearing the American
+post-mark. He examined it closely before opening it. The large and
+rather stiff handwriting on the address seemed familiar, and yet he
+could not say to whom it belonged. Suddenly his countenance brightened,
+and he exclaimed, "A letter from Henry!" He tore open the envelope, and
+read as follows:
+
+"MY DEAR HERMANN,--It is fortunate that one of us at least should have
+attained celebrity. I saw your name on the outside of a book of which
+you are the author. I wrote at once to the publisher; that obliging man
+answered me by return of post, and, thanks to these circumstances, I am
+enabled to tell you that I will land at Hamburg towards the end of
+September. Write to me there, Poste Restante, and let me know if you
+are willing to receive me for a few days. I can take Leipzig on my way
+home, and would do so most willingly if you say that you would see me
+again with pleasure.
+
+"Your old friend,
+
+"HENRY WARREN."
+
+Below the signature there was a postscript of a single line: "This is
+my present face." And from an inner envelope Hermann drew a small
+photograph, which he carried to the window to examine leisurely. As he
+looked, a painful impression of sadness came over him. The portrait was
+that of an old man. Long gray hair fell in disorder over a careworn
+brow; the eyes, deep sunk in their sockets, had a strange and
+disquieting look of fixity; and the mouth, surrounded by deep furrows,
+seemed to tell its own long tale of sorrow.
+
+"Poor Henry!" said Hermann; "this, then, is your present face! And yet
+he is not old; he is younger than I am; he can scarcely be
+thirty-eight. Can I, too, be already an old man?"
+
+He walked up to the glass, and looked attentively at the reflection of
+his own face. No! those were not the features of a man whose life was
+near its close; the eye was bright, and the complexion indicated vigor
+and health. Still, it was not a young face. Thought and care had traced
+their furrows round the mouth and about the temples, and the general
+expression was one of melancholy, not to say despondency.
+
+"Well, well, we have grown old," said Hermann, with a sigh. "I had not
+thought about it this long while; and now this photograph has reminded
+me of it painfully." Then he took up his pen and wrote to say how happy
+he would be to see his old friend again as soon as possible.
+
+The next day chance brought him face to face in the street with the
+young student who was so like Warren. "Who knows?" thought Hermann;
+"fifteen or twenty years hence this young man may look no brighter than
+Warren does today. Ah, life is not easy! It has a way of saddening
+joyous looks, and imparting severity to smiling lips. As for me, I have
+no real right to complain of my life. I have lived pretty much like
+everybody; a little satisfaction, and then a little disappointment,
+turn by turn; and often small worries; and so my youth has gone by, I
+scarcely know how."
+
+On the 2d of October Hermann received a telegram from Hamburg
+announcing the arrival of Warren for the same evening. At the appointed
+hour he went to the railway station to meet his friend. He saw him get
+down from the carriage slowly, and rather heavily, and he watched him
+for a few seconds before accosting him. Warren appeared to him old and
+broken-down, and even more feeble than he had expected to see him from
+his portrait. He wore a travelling suit of gray cloth, so loose and
+wide that it hung in folds on the gaunt and stooping figure; a large
+wide-awake hat was drawn down to his very eyes. The new-comer looked
+right and left, seeking no doubt to discover his friend; not seeing
+him, he turned his weary and languid steps towards the way out. Hermann
+then came forward. Warren recognized him at once; a sunny, youthful
+smile lighted up his countenance, and, evidently much moved, he
+stretched out his hand. An hour later, the two friends were seated
+opposite to each other before a well-spread table in Hermann's
+comfortable apartments.
+
+Warren ate very little; but, on the other hand, Hermann noticed with
+surprise and some anxiety that his friend, who had been formerly a
+model of sobriety, drank a good deal. Wine, however, seemed to have no
+effect on him. The pale face did not flush; there was the same cold,
+fixed look in the eye; and his speech, though slow and dull in tone,
+betrayed no embarrassment.
+
+When the servant who had waited at dinner had taken away the dessert
+and brought in coffee, Hermann wheeled two big arm-chairs close to the
+fire, and said to his friend:
+
+"Now, we will not be interrupted. Light a cigar, make yourself at home,
+and tell me all you have been doing since we parted."
+
+Warren pushed away the cigars. "If you do not mind," said he, "I will
+smoke my pipe. I am used to it, and I prefer it to the best of cigars."
+
+So saying, he drew from its well-worn case an old pipe, whose color
+showed it had been long used, and filled it methodically with moist,
+blackish tobacco. Then he lighted it, and after sending forth one or
+two loud puffs of smoke, he said, with an air of sovereign satisfaction:
+
+"A quiet, comfortable room--a friend--a good pipe after dinner--and no
+care for the morrow. That's what I like."
+
+Hermann cast a sidelong glance at his companion, and was painfully
+struck at his appearance. The tall gaunt frame in its stooping
+attitude; the grayish hair and sad, fixed look; the thin legs crossed
+one over the other; the elbow resting on the knee and supporting the
+chin,--in a word, the whole strange figure, as it sat there, bore no
+resemblance to Henry Warren, the friend of his youth. This man was a
+stranger, a mysterious being even. Nevertheless, the affection he felt
+for his friend was not impaired; on the contrary, pity entered into his
+heart. "How ill the world must have used him," thought Hermann, "to
+have thus disfigured him!" Then he said aloud:
+
+"Now, then, let me have your story, unless you prefer to hear mine
+first."
+
+He strove to speak lightly, but he felt that the effort was not
+successful. As to Warren, he went on smoking quietly, without saying a
+word. The long silence at last became painful. Hermann began to feel an
+uncomfortable sensation of distress in presence of the strange guest he
+had brought to his home. After a few minutes he ventured to ask for the
+third time, "Will you make up your mind to speak, or must I begin?"
+
+Warren gave vent to a little noiseless laugh. "I am thinking how I can
+answer your question. The difficulty is that, to speak truly, I have
+absolutely nothing to tell. I wonder now--and it was that made me
+pause--how it has happened that, throughout my life, I have been bored
+by--nothing. As if it would not have been quite as natural, quite as
+easy, and far pleasanter, to have been amused by that same
+nothing--which has been my life. The fact is, my dear fellow, that I
+have had no deep sorrow to bear, neither have I been happy. I have not
+been extraordinarily successful, and have drawn none of the prizes of
+life. But I am well aware that, in this respect, my lot resembles that
+of thousands of other men. I have always been obliged to work. I have
+earned my bread by the sweat of my brow. I have had money difficulties;
+I have even had a hopeless passion--but what then? every one has had
+that. Besides, that was in bygone days; I have learned to bear it, and
+to forget. What pains and angers me is, to have to confess that my life
+has been spent without satisfaction and without happiness."
+
+He paused an instant, and then resumed, more calmly: "A few years ago I
+was foolish enough to believe that things might in the end turn out
+better. I was a professor with a very moderate salary at the school at
+Elmira. I taught all I knew, and much that I had to learn in order to
+be able to teach it--Greek and Latin, German and French, mathematics
+and physical sciences. During the so-called play-hours, I even gave
+music lessons. In the course of the whole day there were few moments of
+liberty for me. I was perpetually surrounded by a crowd of rough,
+ill-bred boys, whose only object during lessons was to catch me making
+a fault in English. When evening came, I was quite worn out; still, I
+could always find time to dream for half an hour or so with my eyes
+open before going to bed. Then all my desires were accomplished, and I
+was supremely happy. At last I had drawn a prize! I was successful in
+everything; I was rich, honored, powerful--what more can I say? I
+astonished the world--or rather, I astonished Ellen Gilmore, who for me
+was the whole world. Hermann, have you ever been as mad? Have you, too,
+in a waking dream, been in turn a statesman, a millionaire, the author
+of a sublime work, a victorious general, the head of a great political
+party? Have you dreamt nonsense such as that? I, who am here, have been
+all I say--in dreamland. Never mind; that was a good time. Ellen
+Gilmore, whom I have just mentioned, was the eldest sister of one of my
+pupils, Francis Gilmore, the most undisciplined boy of the school. His
+parents, nevertheless, insisted on his learning something; and as I had
+the reputation of possessing unwearying patience, I was selected to
+give him private lessons. That was how I obtained a footing in the
+Gilmore family. Later on, when they had found out that I was somewhat
+of a musician--you may remember, perhaps, that for an amateur I was a
+tolerable performer on the piano--I went every day to the house to
+teach Latin and Greek to Francis, and music to Ellen.
+
+"Now, picture to yourself the situation, and then laugh at your friend
+as he has laughed at himself many a time. On the one side--the Gilmore
+side--a large fortune and no lack of pride; an intelligent, shrewd, and
+practical father; an ambitious and vain mother; an affectionate but
+spoilt boy; and a girl of nineteen, surpassingly lovely, with a
+cultivated mind and great good sense. On the other hand, you have Henry
+Warren, aged twenty-nine; in his dreams the author of a famous work, or
+the commander-in-chief of the Northern armies, or, it may be, President
+of the Republic--in reality, Professor at Elmira College, with a modest
+stipend of seventy dollars a month. Was it not evident that the
+absurdity of my position as a suitor for Ellen would strike me at once?
+Of course it did. In my lucid moments, when I was not dreaming, I was a
+very rational man, who had read a good deal, and learned not a little;
+and it would have been sheer madness in me to have indulged for an
+instant the hope of a marriage between Ellen and myself. I knew it was
+an utter impossibility--as impossible as to be elected President of the
+United States; and yet, in spite of myself, I dreamed of it. However, I
+must do myself the justice to add that my passion inconvenienced
+nobody. I would no more have spoken of it than of my imaginary command
+of the army of the Potomac. The pleasures which my love afforded me
+could give umbrage to no one. Yet I am convinced that Ellen read my
+secret. Not that she ever said a word to me on the subject; no look or
+syllable of hers could have made me suspect that she had guessed the
+state of my mind.
+
+"One single incident I remember which was not in accordance with her
+habitual reserve in this respect. I noticed one day that her eyes were
+red. Of course I dared not ask her why she had cried. During the lesson
+she seemed absent; and when leaving she said, without looking at me, 'I
+may perhaps be obliged to interrupt our lessons for some little time; I
+am very sorry. I wish you every happiness.' Then, without raising her
+eyes, she quickly left the room. I was bewildered. What could her words
+mean? And why had they been said in such an affectionate tone?
+
+"The next day Francis Gilmore called to inform me, with his father's
+compliments, that he was to have four days' holidays, because his
+sister had just been betrothed to Mr. Howard, a wealthy New York
+merchant, and that, for the occasion, there would be great festivities
+at home.
+
+"Thenceforward there was an end of the dreams which up to that moment
+had made life pleasant. In sober reason I had no more cause to deplore
+Ellen's marriage than to feel aggrieved because Grant had succeeded
+Johnson as President. Nevertheless, you can scarcely conceive how much
+this affair--I mean the marriage--grieved me. My absolute nothingness
+suddenly stared me in the face. I saw myself as I was--a mere
+schoolmaster, with no motive for pride in the past, or pleasure in the
+present, or hope in the future."
+
+Warren's pipe had gone out while he was telling his story. He cleaned
+it out methodically, drew from his pocket a cake of Cavendish tobacco,
+and, after cutting off with a penknife the necessary quantity, refilled
+his pipe and lit it. The way in which he performed all these little
+operations betrayed long habit. He had ceased to speak while he was
+relighting his pipe, and kept on whistling between his teeth. Hermann
+looked on--silently. After a few minutes, and when the pipe was in good
+order, Warren resumed his story.
+
+"For a few weeks I was terribly miserable; not so much because I had
+lost Ellen--a man cannot lose what he has never hoped to possess--as
+from the ruin of all my illusions. During those days I plucked and ate
+by the dozen of the fruits of the tree of self-knowledge, and I found
+them very bitter. I ended by leaving Elmira, to seek my fortunes
+elsewhere. I knew my trade well. Long practice had taught me how to
+make the best of my learning, and I never had any difficulty in finding
+employment. I taught successively in upwards of a dozen States of the
+Union. I can scarcely recollect the names of all the places where I
+have lived--Sacramento, Chicago, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Boston, New
+York; I have been everywhere--everywhere. And everywhere I have met
+with the same rude schoolboys, just as I have found the same regular
+and irregular verbs in Latin and Greek. If you would see a man
+thoroughly satiated and saturated with schoolboys and classical
+grammars, look at me.
+
+"In the leisure time which, whatever might be my work, I still
+contrived to make for myself, I indulged in philosophical reflections.
+Then it was I took to the habit of smoking so much."
+
+Warren stopped suddenly, and, looking straight before him, appeared
+plunged in thought. Then, passing his hand over his forehead, he
+repeated, in an absent manner, "Yes, of smoking so much. I also took to
+another habit," he added, somewhat hastily; "but that has nothing to do
+with my story. The theory which especially occupied my thoughts was
+that of the oscillations of an ideal instrument of my own imagining, to
+which, in my own mind, I gave the name of the Philosopher's Pendulum.
+To this invention I owe the quietude of mind which has supported me for
+many years, and which, as you see, I now enjoy. I said to myself that
+my great sorrow--if I may so call it without presumption--had arisen
+merely from my wish to be extraordinarily happy. When, in his dreams, a
+man has carried presumption so far as to attain to the heights of
+celebrity, or to being the husband of Ellen Gilmore, there was nothing
+wonderful if, on awaking, he sustained a heavy fall before reaching the
+depths of reality. Had I been less ambitious in my desires, their
+realization would have been easier, or, at any rate, the disappointment
+would have been less bitter. Starting from this principle, I arrived at
+the logical conclusion that the best means to avoid being unhappy is to
+wish for as little happiness as possible. This truth was discovered by
+my philosophical forefathers many centuries before the birth of Christ,
+and I lay no claim to being the finder of it; but the outward symbol
+which I ended by giving to this idea is--at least I fancy it is--of my
+invention.
+
+"Give me a sheet of paper and a pencil," he added, turning to his
+friend, "and with a few lines I can demonstrate clearly the whole
+thing."
+
+Hermann handed him what he wanted without a word. Warren then began
+gravely to draw a large semicircle, open at the top, and above the
+semicircular line a pendulum, which fell perpendicularly and touched
+the circumference at the exact point where on the dial of a clock would
+be inscribed the figure VI. This done, he wrote on the right-hand side
+of the pendulum, beginning from the bottom and at the places of the
+hours V, IV, III, the words Moderate Desires--Great Hopes,
+Ambition--Unbridled Passion, Mania of Greatness. Then, turning the
+paper upside-down, he wrote on the opposite side, where on a dial would
+be marked VII, VIII, IX, the words Slight Troubles--Deep Sorrow,
+Disappointment--Despair. Lastly, in the place of No. VI, just where the
+pendulum fell, he sketched a large black spot, which he shaded off with
+great care, and above which he wrote, like a scroll, Dead Stop,
+Absolute Repose.
+
+Having finished this little drawing, Warren laid down his pipe,
+inclined his head on one side, and raising his eyebrows, examined his
+work with a critical frown. "This compass is not yet quite complete,"
+he said; "there is something missing. Between Dead Stop and Moderate
+Desires on the right, and Slight Troubles on the left, there is the
+beautiful line of Calm and Rational Indifference. However, such as the
+drawing is, it is sufficient to demonstrate my theory. Do you follow
+me?"
+
+Hermann nodded affirmatively. He was greatly pained. In lieu of the
+friend of his youth, for whom he had hoped a brilliant future, here was
+a poor monomaniac!
+
+"You see," said Warren, speaking collectedly, like a professor, "if I
+raise my pendulum till it reaches the point of Moderate Desires and
+then let it go, it will naturally swing to the point of Slight
+Troubles, and go no further. Then it will oscillate for some time in a
+more and more limited space on the line of Indifference, and finally it
+will stand still without any jerk on Dead Stop, Absolute Repose. That
+is a great consolation!"
+
+He paused, as if waiting for some remark from Hermann; but as the
+latter remained silent, Warren resumed his demonstration.
+
+"You understand now, I suppose, what I am coming to. If I raise the
+pendulum to the point of Ambition or Mania of Greatness, and then let
+it go, that same law which I have already applied will drive it to Deep
+Sorrow or Despair. That is quite clear, is it not?"
+
+"Quite clear," repeated Hermann sadly.
+
+"Very well," continued Warren, with perfect gravity; "for my
+misfortune, I discovered this fine theory rather late. I had not set
+bounds to my dreams and limited them to trifles. I had wished to be
+President of the Republic, an illustrious savant, the husband of Ellen.
+No great things, eh? What say you to my modesty? I had raised the
+pendulum to such a giddy height that when it slipped from my impotent
+hands it naturally performed a long oscillation, and touched the point
+Despair. That was a miserable time. I hope you have never suffered what
+I suffered then. I lived in a perpetual nightmare--like the stupor at
+intoxication." He paused, as he had done before, and then, with a
+painfully nervous laugh, he added, "Yes, like intoxication. I drank."
+Suddenly a spasm seemed to pass over his face, he looked serious and
+sad as before, and he said, with a shudder, "It's a terrible thing to
+see one's self inwardly, and to know that one is fallen."
+
+After this he remained long silent. At last, raising his head, he
+turned to his friend and said, "Have you had enough of my story, or
+would you like to hear it to the end?"
+
+"I am grieved at all you have told me," said Hermann; "but pray go on;
+it is better I should know all."
+
+"Yes; and I feel, too, that it relieves me to pour out my heart. Well,
+I used to drink. One takes to the horrid habit in America far easier
+than anywhere else. I was obliged to give up more than one good
+situation because I had ceased to be RESPECTABLE. Anyhow, I always
+managed to find employment without any great difficulty. I never
+suffered from want, though I have never known plenty. If I spent too
+much in drink, I took it out of my dress and my boots.
+
+"Eighteen months after I had left Elmira, I met Ellen one day in
+Central Park, in New York. I was aware that she had been married a
+twelve-month. She knew me again at once, and spoke to me. I would have
+wished to sink into the earth. I knew that my clothes were shabby, that
+I looked poor, and I fancied that she must discern on my face the
+traces of the bad habits I had contracted. But she did not, or would
+not, see anything. She held out her hand, and said in her gentle voice:
+
+"'I am very glad to see you again, Mr. Warren. I have inquired about
+you, but neither my father nor Francis could tell me what had become of
+you. I want to ask you to resume the lessons you used to give me.
+Perhaps you do not know where I live? This is my address,' and she gave
+me her card.
+
+"I stammered out a few unmeaning words in reply to her invitation. She
+looked at me, smiling kindly the while; but suddenly the smile
+vanished, and she added, 'Have you been ill, Mr. Warren? You seem worn.'
+
+"'Yes,' I answered, too glad to find an excuse for my appearance--'yes,
+I have been ill, and I am still suffering.'
+
+"'I am very sorry,' she said, in a low voice.
+
+"Laugh at me, Hermann--call me an incorrigible madman; but believe me
+when I say that her looks conveyed to me the impression of more than
+common interest or civility. A thrilling sense of pain shot through my
+frame. What had I done that I should be so cruelly tried? A mist passed
+before my eyes; anxiety, intemperance, sleeplessness, had made me weak.
+I tottered backwards a few steps. She turned horribly pale. All around
+us was the crowd--the careless, indifferent crowd.
+
+"'Come and see me soon,' she added hastily, and left me. I saw her get
+into a carriage, which she had doubtless quitted to take a walk; and
+when she drove past, she put her head out and looked at me with her
+eyes wide open--there was an almost wildly anxious expression in them.
+
+"I went home. My way led me past her house--it was a palace. I shut
+myself up in my wretched hotel-room, and once more I fell to dreaming.
+Ellen loved me; she admired me; she was not for ever lost to me! The
+pendulum was swinging, you see, up as high as Madness. Explain to me,
+if you can, how it happens that a being perfectly rational in ordinary
+life should at certain seasons, and, so to speak, voluntarily, be
+bereft of reason. To excuse and explain my temporary insanity, I am
+ready to admit that the excitement to which I gave way may have been a
+symptom of the nervous malady which laid hold of me a few days later,
+and stretched me for weeks upon a bed of pain.
+
+"As I became convalescent, reason and composure returned. But it was
+too late. In the space of two months, twenty years had passed over my
+head. When I rose from my sick-bed I was as feeble and as broken-down
+as you see me now. My past had been cheerless and dim, without one ray
+of happiness; yet that past was all my life! Henceforward there was
+nothing left for me to undertake, to regret, or to desire. The pendulum
+swung idly backwards and forwards on the line of Indifference. I wonder
+what are the feelings of successful men--of men who HAVE been
+victorious generals, prime ministers, celebrated authors, and that sort
+of tiling! Upheld by a legitimate pride, do they retire satisfied from
+the lists when evening conies, or do they lay down their arms as I did,
+disappointed and dejected, and worn out with the fierce struggle? Can
+no man with impunity look into his own heart and ask himself how his
+life has been spent?"
+
+Here Warren made a still longer pause than before, and appeared
+absorbed in gloomy thought. At last he resumed in a lower tone:
+
+"I had not followed up Ellen's invitation. But in some way she had
+discovered my address, and knew of my illness. Do not be alarmed, my
+dear Hermann; my story will not become romantic. No heavenly vision
+appeared to me during my fever; I felt no gentle white hands laid on my
+burning brow. I was nursed at the hospital, and very well nursed too; I
+figured there as 'Number 380,' and the whole affair was, as you see, as
+prosaic as possible. But on quitting the hospital, and as I was taking
+leave of the manager, he handed me a letter, in which was enclosed a
+note for five hundred dollars. In the envelope there was also the
+following anonymous note:
+
+"'An old friend begs your acceptance, as a loan, of the inclosed sum.
+It will be time enough to think of paying off this debt when you are
+strong enough to resume work, and you can then do it by instalments, of
+which you can yourself fix the amount, and remit them to the hospital
+of New York.'
+
+"It was well meant, no doubt, but it caused me a painful impression. My
+determination was taken at once. I refused without hesitation. I asked
+the manager, who had been watching me with a friendly smile while I
+read the letter, whether he could give the name of the person who had
+sent it. In spite of his repeated assurances that he did not know it, I
+never doubted for a single instant that he was concealing the truth.
+After a few seconds' reflection I asked if he would undertake to
+forward an answer to my unknown correspondent; and, on his consenting
+to do so, I promised that he should have my answer the next day.
+
+"I thought long over my letter. One thing was plain to me--it was Ellen
+who had come to my help. How could I reject her generous aid without
+wounding her or appearing ungrateful? After great hesitation I wrote a
+few lines, which, as far as I can recollect, ran thus:
+
+"'I thank you for the interest you have shown me, but it is impossible
+for me to accept the sum you place at my disposal. Do not be angry with
+me because I return it. Do not withdraw your sympathy; I will strive to
+remain worthy of it, and will never forget your goodness.'
+
+"A few days later, after having confided this letter to the manager, I
+left New York for San Francisco. For several years I heard nothing of
+Ellen; her image grew gradually fainter, and at last almost disappeared
+from my memory.
+
+"The dark river that bore the frail bark which carried me and my
+fortunes was carrying me smoothly and unconsciously along towards the
+mysterious abyss where all that exists is engulfed. Its course lay
+through a vast desert; and the banks which passed before my eyes were
+of fearful sameness. Indescribable lassitude took possession of my
+whole being. I had never, knowingly, practised evil; I had loved and
+sought after good. Why, then, was I so wretched? I would have blessed
+the rock which wrecked my bark so that I might have been swallowed up
+and have gone down to my eternal rest. Up to the day when I heard of
+Ellen's betrothal, I had hoped that the morrow would bring happiness.
+The long-wished-for morrow had come at last, gloomy and colorless,
+without realizing any of my vague hopes. Henceforth my life was at an
+end."
+
+Warren said these last words so indistinctly that Hermann could
+scarcely hear them; he seemed to be speaking to himself rather than to
+his friend. Then he raised the forefinger of his right hand, and after
+moving it slowly from right to left, in imitation of the swing of a
+pendulum, he placed it on the large black dot he had drawn on the sheet
+of paper exactly below his pendulum, and said, "Dead Stop, Absolute
+Repose. Would that the end were come!"
+
+Another and still longer interval of silence succeeded, and at last
+Hermann felt constrained to speak.
+
+"How came you to make up your mind," he said, "to return to Europe?"
+
+"Ah, yes, to be sure," answered Warren, hurriedly; "the story--the
+foolish story--is not ended. In truth it has no end, as it had no
+beginning; it is a thing without form or purpose, and less the history
+of a life than of a mere journeying towards death. Still I will
+finish--following chronological order. It does not weary you?"
+
+"No, no; go on, my dear friend."
+
+"Very well. I spent several years in the United States. The pendulum
+worked well. It came and went, to and fro, slowly along the line of
+Indifference, without ever transgressing as its extreme limits on
+either hand, Moderate Desires and Slight Troubles. I led obscurely a
+contemplative life, and I was generally considered a queer character. I
+fulfilled my duties, and took little heed of any one. Whenever I had an
+hour at my disposal, I sought solitude in the neighboring woods, far
+from the town and from mankind. I used to lie down under the big trees.
+Every season in turn, spring and summer, autumn and winter, had its
+peculiar charm for me. My heart, so full of bitterness, felt lightened
+as soon as I listened to the rustling of the foliage overhead. The
+forest! There is nothing finer in all creation. A deep calm seemed to
+settle down upon me. I was growing old. I was forgetting. It was about
+this time that, in consequence of my complete indifference to all
+surroundings, I acquired the habit of answering 'Very well' to
+everything that was said. The words came so naturally that I was not
+aware of my continual use of them, until one day one of my
+fellow-teachers happened to tell me that masters and pupils alike had
+given me the nickname of 'Very well.' Is it not odd that one who has
+never succeeded in anything should be known as 'Very well'?
+
+"I have only one other little adventure to relate, and I will have told
+all. Then I can listen to your story.
+
+"Last year, my journeyings brought me to the neighborhood of Elmira. It
+was holiday-time. I had nothing to do, and I had in my purse a hundred
+hardly earned dollars, or thereabout. The wish seized me to revisit the
+scene of my joys and my sorrows. I had not set foot in the place for
+more than seven years. I was so changed that nobody could know me
+again; nor would I have cared much if they had. After visiting the town
+and looking at my old school, and the house where Ellen had lived, I
+bent my steps towards the park, which is situated in the environs--a
+place where I used often to walk in company of my youthful dreams. It
+was September, and evening was closing in. The oblique rays of the
+setting sun sent a reddish gleam the leafy branches of the old oaks. I
+seated on a bench beneath a tree on one side of the path. As I drew
+near I recognized Ellen. I remained rooted to the spot where I stood,
+not daring to move a step. She was stooping forward with her head bent
+down, while with the end of her parasol she traced lines upon the
+gravel. She had not seen me. I turned back instantly, and retired
+without making any noise. When I had gone a little distance, I left the
+path and struck into the wood. Once there, I looked back cautiously.
+Ellen was still at the same place and in the same attitude. Heaven
+knows what thoughts passed through my brain! I longed to see her
+closer. What danger was there? I was sure she would not know me again.
+I walked towards her with the careless step of a casual passer-by, and
+in a few minutes passed before her. When my shadow fell on the path,
+she looked up, and our eyes met. My heart was beating fast. Her look
+was cold and indifferent; but suddenly a strange light shot into her
+eyes, and she made a quick movement, as if to rise. I saw no more, and
+went on without turning round. Before I could get out of the park her
+carriage drove past me, and I saw her once more as I had seen her five
+years before in Central Park, pale, with distended eyes, and her
+anxious looks fixed upon me. Why did I not bow to her? I cannot say; my
+courage failed me. I saw the light die out of her eyes. I almost
+fancied that I saw her heave a sigh of relief as she threw herself back
+carelessly in the carriage; and she disappeared. I was then thirty-six,
+and I am almost ashamed to relate the schoolboy's trick of which I was
+guilty. I sent her the following lines: 'A devoted friend, whom you
+obliged in former days, and who met you yesterday in the park without
+your recognizing him, sends you his remembrances.' I posted this letter
+a few minutes before getting into the train which was to take me to New
+York; and, as I did so, my heart beat as violently as though I had
+performed a heroic deed. Great adventures, forsooth! And to think that
+my life presents none more striking, and that trifles such as these are
+the only food for my memory!
+
+"A twelvemonth later I met Francis Gilmore in Broadway. The world is
+small--so small that it is really difficult to keep out of the way of
+people one has once known. The likeness of my former pupil to his
+sister struck me, and I spoke to him. He looked at me at first with a
+puzzled expression, but after a few moments of hesitation he recognized
+me, a bright smile lighted up his pleasant face, and he shook hands
+warmly.
+
+"'Mr. Warren,' he exclaimed, 'how glad I am to see you! Ellen and I
+have often talked of you, and wondered what could have become of you.
+Why did we never hear from you?'
+
+"'I did not suppose it would interest you.' I spoke timidly; and yet I
+owed nothing to the young fellow, and wanted nothing of him.
+
+"'You wrong us by saying that,' replied Francis; 'do you think me
+ungrateful? Do you fancy I have forgotten our pleasant walks in former
+days, and the long conversations we used to have? You alone ever taught
+me anything, and it is to you I owe the principles that have guided me
+through life. Many a day I have thought of you, and regretted you
+sincerely. As regards Ellen, no one has ever filled your place with
+her; she plays to this day the same pieces of music you taught her, and
+follows all your directions with a fidelity that would touch you.'
+
+"'How are your father and mother, and how is your sister?' I inquired,
+feeling more deeply moved than I can express.
+
+"'My poor mother died three years ago. It is Ellen who keeps house now.'
+
+"'Your brother-in-law lives with you, then?'
+
+"'My brother-in-law!' replied Francis, with surprise; 'did you not know
+that he was on board the Atlantic, which was lost last year in the
+passage from Liverpool to New York?'
+
+"I could find no words to reply.
+
+"'As to that,' added Francis, with great composure--'between you and
+me, he was no great loss. My dear brother-in-law was not by any means
+what my father fancied he was when he gave him my sister as a wife. The
+whole family has often regretted the marriage. Ellen lived apart from
+her husband for many years before his death.'
+
+"I nodded so as to express my interest in his communications, but I
+could not for worlds have uttered a syllable.
+
+"'You will come and see us soon, I hope,' added Francis, without
+noticing my emotion. 'We are still at the same place; but to make sure,
+here is my card. Come, Mr. Warren--name your own day to come and dine
+with us. I promise you a hearty welcome.'
+
+"I got off by promising to write the next day, and we parted.
+
+"Fortunately my mind had lost its former liveliness. The pendulum, far
+from being urged to unruly motion, continued to swing slowly in the
+narrow space where it had oscillated for so many years. I said to
+myself that to renew my intimacy with the Gilmores would be to run the
+almost certain risk of reviving the sorrows and the disappointments of
+the past. I was then calm and rational. It would be madness in me, I
+felt, to aspire to the hand of a young, wealthy, and much admired
+widow. To venture to see Ellen again was to incur the risk of seeing my
+reason once more wrecked, and the fatal chimera which had been the
+source of all my misery start into life again. If we are to believe
+what poets say, love ennobles man and exalts him into a demigod. It may
+be so, but it turns him likewise into a fool and a madman. That was my
+case. At any cost I was to guard against that fatal passion. I argued
+seriously with myself, and I determined to let the past be, and to
+reject every opportunity of bringing it to life again.
+
+"A few days before my meeting with Francis, I had received tidings of
+the death of an old relative, whom I scarcely knew. In my childhood I
+had, on one or two occasions, spent my holidays at his house. He was
+gloomy and taciturn, but nevertheless he had always welcomed me kindly.
+I have a vague remembrance of having been told that he had been in love
+with my mother once upon a time, and that on hearing of her marriage he
+had retired into the solitude which he never left till the day of his
+death. Be that as it may, I had not lost my place in his affections, it
+seems: he had continued to feel an interest in me; and on his deathbed
+he had remembered me, and left me the greater part of his not very
+considerable fortune. I inherited little money; but there was a small,
+comfortably-furnished country-house, and an adjoining farm let on a
+long lease for two hundred and forty pounds per annum. This was wealth
+for me, and more than enough to satisfy all my wants. Since I had heard
+of this legacy I had been doubtful as to my movements. My chance
+meeting with Francis settled the matter. I resolved at once to leave
+America, and to return to live in my native country. I knew your
+address, and wrote to you at once. I trusted that the sight of my old
+and only friend would console me for the disappointments that life has
+inflicted on me--and I have not been deceived. At last I have been able
+to open my heart to a fellow-creature, and relieve myself of the heavy
+burden which I have borne alone ever since our separation. Now I feel
+lighter. You are not a severe judge. Doubtless you deplore my weakness,
+but you do not condemn me. If, as I have already said, I have done no
+good, neither have I committed any wicked action. I have been a
+nonentity--an utterly useless being; 'one too many,' like the sad hero
+of Tourgueneff's sad story. Before leaving, I wrote to Francis
+informing him that the death of a relative obliged me to return to
+Europe, and giving him your address, so as not to seem to be running
+away from him. Then I went on board, and at last reached your home.
+Dixi!"
+
+Warren, who during this long story had taken care to keep his pipe
+alight, and had, moreover, nearly drained the bottle of port placed
+before him, now declared himself ready to listen to his friend's
+confession. But Hermann had been saddened by all he had heard, and was
+in no humor for talking. He remarked that it was getting late, and
+proposed to postpone any further conversation till the morrow.
+
+Warren merely answered, "Very well," knocked the ashes out of his pipe,
+shared out the remainder of the wine between his host and himself, and,
+raising his glass, said, in a somewhat solemn tone, "To our youth,
+Hermann!" After emptying his glass at one draught, he replaced it on
+the table, and said complacently, "It is long since I have drunk with
+so much pleasure; for this time I have not drunk to forgetfulness, but
+to memory."
+
+
+
+
+II.
+
+
+Warren spent another week in Leipzig with his friend. No man was easier
+to live with: to every suggestion of Hermann's he invariably answered,
+"Very well;" and if Hermann proposed nothing, he was quite content to
+remain seated in a comfortable arm-chair by the fireside, holding a
+book which he scarcely looked at, and watching the long rolls of smoke
+from his pipe. He disliked new acquaintances; nevertheless, the friends
+to whom Hermann introduced him found in him a quiet, unobtrusive, and
+well-informed companion. He pleased everybody. There was something
+strange and yet attractive in his person; there was a "charm" about
+him, people said. Hermann felt the attraction without being able to
+define in what it consisted. Their former friendship had been renewed
+unreservedly. The kind of fascination that Warren exercised over all
+those who approached him often led Hermann to think that it was not
+unlikely that in his youth he had inspired a real love in Ellen Gilmore.
+
+One evening Hermann took his friend to the theatre, where a comic piece
+was being performed. In his young days Warren had been very partial to
+plays of that kind, and his joyous peals of laughter on such occasions
+still rang in the ears of his friend. But the attempt was a complete
+failure. Warren watched the performance without showing the slightest
+interest, and never even smiled. During the opening scenes he listened
+with attention, as though he were assisting at some performance of the
+legitimate drama; then, as if he could not understand what was going on
+before his eyes, he turned away with a wearied air and began looking at
+the audience. When, at the close of the second act, Hermann proposed
+that they should leave the house, he answered readily:
+
+"Yes, let us go; all this seems very stupid--we will be much better at
+home. There is a time for all things, and buffoonery suits me no
+longer."
+
+There was nothing left in Warren of the friend that Hermann had known
+fifteen years before. He loved him none the less; on the contrary, to
+his affection for him had been superadded a feeling of deep compassion.
+He would have made great sacrifices to secure his friend's happiness,
+and to see a smile light up the immovable features and the sorrowful
+dulness of the eye. His friendly anxiety had not been lost upon Warren;
+and when the latter took his leave, he said with emotion:
+
+"You wish me well, my old friend, I see it and feel it; and, believe
+me, I am grateful. We must not lose sight of each other again--I will
+write regularly."
+
+A few days later, Hermann received a letter for his friend. It was an
+American letter, and the envelope was stamped with the initials "E. H."
+They were those of Ellen Howard, the heroine of Warren's sad history.
+He forwarded the letter immediately, and wrote at the same time to his
+friend: "I hope the inclosed brings you good news from America." But in
+his reply Warren took no notice of this passage, and made no allusion
+to Ellen. He only spoke of the new house in which he had just settled
+himself--"to end," as he said, "his days;" and he pressed Hermann to
+come and join him. The two friends at last agreed to pass Christmas and
+New Year's Day together; but when December came, Warren urged his
+friend to hasten his arrival.
+
+"I do not feel well," he wrote, "and am often so weary that I stay at
+home all day. I have made no new acquaintances, and, most likely, will
+make none. I am alone. Your society would give me great pleasure. Come;
+your room is ready, and will be, I trust, to your liking. There is a
+large writing table and tolerably well-filled book-shelves; you can
+write there quite at your ease, without fear of disturbance. Come as
+soon as possible, my dear friend. I am expecting you impatiently."
+
+Hermann happened to be at leisure, and was able to comply with his
+friend's wish, and to go to him in the first week of December. He found
+Warren looking worn and depressed. It was in vain he sought to induce
+him to consult a physician. Warren would reply:
+
+"Doctors can do nothing for my complaint. I know where the shoe
+pinches. A physician would order me probably to seek relaxation and
+amusement, just as he would advise a poor devil whose blood is
+impoverished by bad food to strengthen himself with a generous diet and
+good wine. The poor man could not afford to get the good living, and I
+do not know what could enliven or divert me. Travel? I like nothing so
+well as sitting quietly in my arm-chair. New faces? They would not
+interest me--yours is the only company I prefer to solitude. Books? I
+am too old to take pleasure in learning new things, and what I have
+learned has ceased to interest me. It is not always easy to get what
+might do one good, and we must take things as they are."
+
+Hermann noticed, as before, that his friend ate little, but that, on
+the other hand, he drank a great deal. The sincere friendship he felt
+for him emboldened him to make a remark on the subject.
+
+"It is true," said Warren, "I drink too much; but what can I do? Food
+is distasteful to me, and I must keep up my strength somehow. I am in a
+wretched state; my health is ruined."
+
+One evening, as the two friends were seated together in Warren's room,
+while the wind and sleet were beating against the window-panes, the
+invalid began of his own accord to speak about Ellen.
+
+"We now correspond regularly," he said. "She tells me in her last
+letter that she hopes soon to see me. Do you know, Hermann, that she is
+becoming an enigma for me? It is very evident that she does not treat
+me like other people, and I often wonder and ask myself what I am in
+her eyes? What does she feel towards me? Love? That is inadmissible.
+Pity, perhaps? This then, is the end of my grand dreams--to be an
+object of pity? I have just answered her letter to say that I am
+settled here with the fixed intention of ending my useless existence in
+quiet and idleness. Do you remember a scene in Henry Heine's
+'Reisebilder,' when a young student kisses a pretty girl, who lets him
+have his own way and makes no great resistance, because he has told
+her, 'I will be gone to-morrow at dawn, and I will never see you
+again'? The certainty of never seeing a person again gives a man the
+courage to say things that otherwise he would have kept hidden in the
+most secret depths of his being. I feel that my life is drawing to a
+close. Do not say no, my dear friend; my presentiments are certain. I
+have written it to Ellen. I have told her other things besides. What
+folly! All I have ever done has been folly or chimera. I end my life
+logically, in strict accordance with my whole Past, by making my first
+avowal of love on my deathbed. Is not that as useless a thing as can
+be?"
+
+Hermann would have wished to know some particulars about this letter;
+but Warren replied, somewhat vaguely, "If I had a copy of my letter, I
+would show it to you willingly. You know my whole story, and I would
+not be ashamed to lay before you my last act of folly. I wrote about a
+fortnight ago, when I felt sure that death was drawing near. I was in a
+fever, not from fear--Death gains but little by taking my life--but
+from a singular species of excitement. I do not remember what were the
+words I used. Who knows? Perhaps this last product of my brain may have
+been quite a poetical performance. Never mind! I do not repent of what
+I have done; I am glad that Ellen should know at last that I have loved
+her silently and hopelessly. If that is not disinterested, what is?" he
+added with a bitter smile.
+
+Christmas went by sadly. Warren was now so weak that he could scarcely
+leave his bed for two or three hours each day. Hermann had taken upon
+himself to send for a doctor, but this latter had scarcely known what
+to prescribe. Warren was suffering from no special malady; he was dying
+of exhaustion. Now and then, during a few moments, which became daily
+more rare and more brief, his vivacity would return; but the shadow of
+Death was already darkening his mind.
+
+On New Year's Eve he got up very late. "We will welcome in the New
+Year," he said to Hermann. "I hope it may bring you happiness; I know
+it will bring me rest." A few minutes before midnight he opened the
+piano, and played with solemnity, and as if it had been a chorale, a
+song of Schumann's, entitled "To the Drinking-cup of a Departed
+Friend." Then, on the first stroke of midnight, he filled two glasses
+with some old Rhenish wine, and raised his own glass slowly. He was
+very pale, and his eyes were shining with feverish light. He was in a
+state of strange and fearful excitement. He looked at the glass which
+he held, and repeated deliberately a verse of the song which he had
+just been playing. "The vulgar cannot understand what I see at the
+bottom of this cup." Then, at one draught, he drained the full glass.
+
+While he was thus speaking and drinking, he had taken no notice of
+Hermann, who was watching him with consternation. Recovering himself at
+length, he exclaimed, "Another glass, Hermann! To friendship!" He
+drained this second glass, like the first, to the very last drop; and
+then, exhausted by the effort he had made, he sank heavily on a chair.
+Soon after, Hermann led him, like a sleepy child, to his bed.
+
+During the days that followed, he was unable to leave his room; and the
+doctor thought it right to warn Hermann that all the symptoms seemed to
+point to a fatal issue.
+
+On the 8th of January a servant from the hotel in the little
+neighboring town brought a letter, which, he said, required an
+immediate answer. The sick man was then lying almost unconscious.
+Hermann broke the seal without hesitation, and read as follows:
+
+"MY DEAR FRIEND,--A visit to Europe which my father had long planned
+has at last been undertaken. I did not mention it to you, in order to
+have the pleasure of surprising you. On reaching this place, I learn
+that the illness of which you spoke in your last letter has not yet
+left you. Under these circumstances, I will not venture to present
+myself without warning you of my arrival, and making sure that you are
+able to receive me. I am here with my brother, who, like myself, would
+not come so near to you without seeing you. My father has gone on to
+Paris, where Francis and I will join him in a few days.
+ELLEN."
+
+Hermann, after one instant's thought, took up his hat and dismissed the
+messenger, saying he would give the answer himself. At the hotel he
+sent in his card, with the words, "From Mr. Warren," and was
+immediately ushered into Ellen's presence.
+
+She was alone. Hermann examined her rapidly. He saw an extremely
+beautiful woman, whose frank and fearless eyes were fixed on him with a
+questioning look.
+
+Hermann had not frequented the society of women much, and was usually
+rather embarrassed in their presence. But on this occasion he thought
+only of his friend, and found no difficulty in explaining the motive of
+his visit. He told her his friend was ill--very ill--dying--and that he
+had opened the letter addressed to Warren. Ellen did not answer for
+some time; she seemed not to have understood what she had heard. After
+a while her eyes filled with tears, and she asked whether she could see
+Mr. Warren. On Hermann answering in the affirmative, she further
+inquired whether her brother might accompany her.
+
+"Two visitors might fatigue the invalid too much," said Hermann; "your
+brother may come later."
+
+"Are you not afraid that my visit may tire him?"
+
+"I do not think so; it will make him very happy."
+
+Ellen only took a few minutes to put on her hat and cloak, and they
+started. The short journey was accomplished in silence. When they
+reached the house, Hermann went in first to see how the dying man was.
+He was lying in his bed, in the delirium of fever, muttering incoherent
+sentences. Nevertheless he recognized Hermann, and asked for something
+to drink. After having allayed his thirst, he closed his eyes, as if to
+sleep.
+
+"I have brought you a friend," said Hermann; "will you see him?"
+
+"Hermann? He is always welcome."
+
+"No; it is a friend from America."
+
+"From America?...I lived there many years...How desolate and monotonous
+were the shores I visited!..."
+
+"Will you see your friend?"
+
+"I am carried away by the current of the river. In the distance I see
+dark and shadowy forms; there are hills full of shade and
+coolness...but I will never rest there."
+
+Hermann retired noiselessly, and returned almost immediately with Ellen.
+
+Warren, who had taken no notice of him, continued to follow the course
+of his wandering thoughts.
+
+"The river is drawing near to the sea. Already I can hear the roar of
+the waves...The banks are beginning to be clothed with verdure...The
+hills are drawing nearer....It is dark now. Here are the big trees
+beneath which I have dreamed so often. A radiant apparition shines
+through their foliage....It comes towards me... Ellen!"
+
+She was standing beside the bed. The dying man saw her, and without
+showing the least surprise, said with a smile, "Thank God! you have
+come in time. I knew you were coming."
+
+He murmured a few unintelligible words, and then remained silent for a
+long while. His eyes were wide open. Suddenly he cried, "Hermann!"
+
+Hermann came and stood beside Ellen.
+
+"The pendulum...You know what I mean?" A frank childish smile--the
+smile of his student days--lighted up his pallid face. He raised his
+right hand, and tracing in the air with his forefinger a wide
+semicircle, to imitate the oscillation of a pendulum, he said, "Then."
+He then figured in the same manner a more limited and slower movement,
+and after repeating it several times, said, "Now." Lastly, he pointed
+straight before him with a motionless and almost menacing finger, and
+said with a weak voice, "Soon."
+
+He spoke no more, and closed his eyes. The breathing was becoming very
+difficult.
+
+Ellen bent, over him, and called him softly, "Henry, Henry!" He opened
+his eyes. She brought her mouth close to his ear, and said, with a sob,
+"I have always loved you."
+
+"I knew it from the first," he said, quietly and with confidence.
+
+A gentle expression stole over his countenance, and life seemed to
+return. Once more he had the confident look of youth. A sad and
+beautiful smile played on his lips; he took the hand of Ellen in his,
+and kissed it gently.
+
+"How do you feel now?" inquired Hermann.
+
+The old answer, "Very well."
+
+His hands were plucking at the bedclothes, as if he strove to cover his
+face with them. Then his arms stiffened and the fingers remained
+motionless.
+
+"Very well," he repeated.
+
+He appeared to fall into deep thought. There was a long pause. At last
+he turned a dying look, fraught with tender pity and sadness, towards
+Ellen, and in a low voice, which was scarcely audible, he said these
+two words, with a slight emphasis on the first--"PERFECTLY well."
+
+
+
+
+THE BOOKBINDER OF HORT
+
+BY
+
+LEOPOLD VON SACHER-MASOCH
+
+
+
+
+From "Jewish Tales," published by A.C. McClurg & Co.
+
+Copyright, 1894, by A.C. McClurg & Co.
+
+
+
+
+Looking abroad from the table-land of Esced, over the Hungarian plain
+that stretches from the foot of Mount Matra to Szolnok, and finally
+merges into the horizon where the silver thread of the Theiss winds its
+way, the eye is attracted by a smiling section of country whose
+vineyards and cornfields gleam brightly in the sun. This fair spot is
+neither a park nor grove nor pleasant woodland, but the imposing
+village of Hort, its pretty white houses half concealed by a wealth of
+trees and shrubbery.
+
+In this village lived a Jewish bookbinder, Simcha Kalimann, a wit and
+bel esprit, the oracle of the entire province, the living chronicle of
+his times and people.
+
+Reviewing in reverie the procession of events in his own life, Kalimann
+could see, as in a mirror, the phases through which his co-religionists
+in Hungary had passed in their efforts toward liberty. He had lived
+during that dark period when the Jew dared claim no rights among his
+fellow-countrymen. He had suffered evil, he had endured disgrace, and
+the storehouse of his memory held many a tragi-comic picture of the
+days that were no more. But he had also lived in times when the spirit
+of tolerance took possession of men's minds, and he had been swept
+along on that tidal movement inaugurated by Count Szechenyi, the
+greatest of Hungarians, through his celebrated book, "Light."
+
+The revolution of 1848 brought about the new Hungarian Constitution,
+and put an end to feudal government. Light penetrated into the darksome
+streets of the Ghetto, and through the windows opened to receive the
+Messiah, a saviour entered proclaiming liberty and equality to the
+downtrodden and oppressed.
+
+Crushed and forsaken, as all Israel was, it gratefully responded to
+this message of universal brotherhood.
+
+The Hungarian Jew had found a country, and from that moment he had
+thrown aside his native timidity, and found the strength to display his
+patriotism with an ardor and enthusiasm worthy of the cause. Thousands
+quitted the Ghettos, and gathered around the tricolored flag. Among the
+warm-hearted soldiers was Simcha Kalimann. He followed Kossuth as a
+simple honved (volunteer), and fought at Kapolna, Vaitzen, and Temesvar.
+
+High hopes and golden dreams were succeeded by despondency and
+disillusion; then supervened years of impatient waiting,--a standing
+with folded arms when so much remained to be done, a time of despair,
+of restless suffering. But the Jew had acquired his franchise, and
+gratefully he remembered those to whom he owed this priceless blessing.
+
+When the Austro-Hungarian Convention gave Hungary her king and
+constitution, the hearts of the people of the Ghetto beat high. This
+time, however, liberty did not make her entry with clang of arms and
+beat of drum,--peace and reconciliation were her handmaidens, and
+progress followed in her footsteps.
+
+It was at this epoch in Hungary's history that Israelites began to
+speak the language of the country, and to accept Hungarian names. To
+her credit be it said that no such shameful sale was made as disgraced
+the time of Joseph II., when surnames were sold, according to their
+attractiveness or desirability, to the highest bidder.
+
+Consequently, as a high-sounding name cost no more than a simple one,
+Kalimann chose the most imposing he could find, and, his country's hero
+in mind, called himself Sandor Hunyadi. This historic title revived, as
+it were, his latent patriotism, and, digging his gun and cartridge-box
+from their hiding-place in the garden where he had carefully buried
+them after the capitulation of Vilagos, he proudly hung these trophies
+of his prowess over his bed, and rejoiced in the memories of his
+martial exploits.
+
+Liberty and religious peace held equal sway. Reciprocal kindliness and
+toleration spread light where darkness had been, and scattered the
+shadows of prejudice.
+
+Hunyadi, or Kalimann, was regarded in Hort as a freethinker. This was
+scarcely just; he was pious, and strictly discharged his religious
+observances, emancipating himself at the same time from those
+distinctions in dress and customs which he deemed neither in accordance
+with Mosaic law nor with his ideas of progress.
+
+He followed the observance of wearing his hat while at synagogue, but
+during no other religious ceremony; troubled himself but little
+regarding the dietary laws; dressed as his Christian neighbor did; and
+strictly prohibited any superstitious practices in his house. He even
+permitted his wife to let her hair grow,--a bold innovation.
+
+His appearance was by no means suggestive of the hero. Short, thin, and
+insignificant-looking, with hair that frizzled beyond all thought of
+disentanglement, a tanned and freckled skin, flaxen moustache, and gray
+eyes that blinked continuously, Kalimann had truly no cause for vanity.
+Besides, he was excessively near-sighted, and as his large spectacles
+were taken from their red case only when he read or worked, it not
+unfrequently happened that when he took his walk abroad he would
+mistake a tall post for the chief magistrate of the county, and salute
+it with his most respectful bow; or, with a composure born of
+self-complacency, it would be his misfortune to pass by Madame Barkany,
+his best customer, with a vacant stare, under the impression that the
+fair apparition was linen hung to bleach in the sun.
+
+Kalimann worked alone with a little apprentice named Hersch, whom he
+had indentured far more from charity than necessity, since the worthy
+bookbinder felt within him that love for his art which would have
+enabled him to bind the entire literature of Europe with no greater aid
+than his good right arm. He was a conscientious, faithful workman, and,
+as a rule, his entire days were spent in his shop; when necessity
+demanded he would toil on late into the night by the light of a tallow
+candle, or an ill-smelling lamp.
+
+His work was his pride; reading his delight. If a single dark spot
+clouded the surface of this simple honest life, that shadow fell from
+the portly form of Mrs. Rachel Kalimann, or Rose Hunyadi, as it was
+that lady's pleasure now to be called. It would be unjust, however, to
+the handsome woman, whose buxom proportions served, as it were, to give
+weight to the establishment, to say that her faults were of a serious
+nature; she was, at the most, insensible to her husband's intellectual
+aspirations, which she termed, with more vigor than the occasion
+demanded, "stuff and nonsense."
+
+Quotations from the Talmud and the Scriptures were equally impotent to
+quell the torrent of the worthy woman's eloquence when she felt that
+the occasion demanded her timely interference; in vain Kalimann
+supported his side of the question by citing from the book of Job: "The
+gold and the crystal cannot equal it, and the exchange of it shall not
+be for jewels of fine gold. No mention shall be made of coral or of
+pearls; for the price of wisdom is above rubies." [Footnote: See Job
+xxviii. 17, 18.]
+
+Rose would retort curtly: "What can I buy with your wisdom? Will it
+give me wherewith to eat and to drink, and to clothe myself? No! Very
+well then, what is the good of it?"
+
+The learned bookbinder would, as a rule, sigh and silently abandon the
+argument when it had reached this stage, but at times his composure
+would break down under the strain imposed on it. Disputes and quarrels
+would ensue, but in the end Kalimann would capitulate, his conjugal
+love overcoming his anger and resentment.
+
+Occasionally, however, he would endeavor to escape his wife's
+vigilance, and take refuge in a remote corner with one of his treasured
+volumes. On one of these "secret" evenings she surprised him in the
+poultry house, at his side a small lantern shedding a doubtful light
+upon a fine edition of "Hamlet" on his lap. Rose read him a long
+lecture, and commanded him to retire at once. The good man obeyed, but
+carried "Hamlet" to bed with him, turning once more to his Shakespeare
+for refreshment and sweet content. He had scarcely read half a page,
+when his spouse rose in all her majesty and blew out the candle.
+
+Kalimann was desperate, and yet resistance would have been unwise.
+Sadly resigned, he turned his head upon the pillow, and soon snored in
+unison with Hersch. A half-hour of profound silence, then the culprit
+rose, and making sure that his wife was sleeping the sleep of the just,
+he cautiously took his book and spectacles, glided out of doors, and
+sitting upon the old moss-grown bench in front of the house, continued
+the tragedy of the Danish prince by the light of the moon.
+
+Yes, he loved his books with passion and tenderness; but not having
+means wherewith to buy them, he read every book that was entrusted to
+him to bind. Not being the collector of the volumes in his workshop,
+chance alone being responsible for the heterogeneous display,--to-day a
+sentimental love-tale, to-morrow a medical treatise, the next day a
+theological work,--it followed that the poor little bookbinder's head
+was filled with as confused a mass of lore, religious and profane, as
+ever cast in its lot in the sum of human knowledge. The more a book
+pleased him, the longer did the owner have to wait for it; and it was
+only after repeated insistence that the coveted volume was placed in
+the rightful possessor's hands.
+
+Naturally, Kalimann's prices varied according to the work required, or
+the cost of material; but when it came to the question of ornamental
+finishing or decorative impressions, his customer's orders were totally
+ignored, and he it was who decided upon the finishing according to the
+subject or the value of the work.
+
+When he carried the books back to his customers, he would always tie
+them up carefully in a large colored handkerchief, and, while
+unwrapping them, would embrace the opportunity of expressing his views
+upon their contents; at times, however, he regarded the open assertion
+of his opinion as dangerous, and could not be induced to pass judgment.
+On these occasions he never failed to say with a sorrowful shake of the
+head, "While we are living we may not speak, when we are dead it is too
+late!"
+
+There lived in Hort at this time a wealthy and pretty widow, Mrs. Zoe
+Barkany by name, originally Sarah Samuel. From her, Kalimann would get
+his novels and classical literature; these he bound in pale blues and
+greens and brilliant scarlets, ornamenting them with a golden lyre,
+surmounted with an arrow-pierced heart. He worked upon these bindings
+con amore, and, transported by his love of the aesthetic, would
+occasionally give vent to his enthusiasm, and venture observations
+bordering upon the chivalrous. In each and every heroine of the plays
+and romances he devoured, he could see the captivating face and figure
+of Mrs. Barkany.
+
+Entering the fair widow's garden one morning, and discovering her
+seated on a rustic bench, dressed in white, a guitar in her hand, he
+exclaimed, with a reverential bow: "Ah, mon Dieu, there sits Princess
+Eboli!" (the heroine in "Don Carlos"). Another time seeing her in a.
+morning gown of Turkish stuff, he declared she must be sitting for the
+picture of Rebecca in "Ivanhoe." In short, Mrs. Barkany very soon
+learned to anticipate her bookbinder's speeches, and would say, with a
+pretty smile: "Well, am I Esmeralda to-day?" or, "I wager that I am
+reminding you of the Duchess; tell me, am I right or not?"
+
+Binding works on jurisprudence for the notary, he developed his
+philosophy of law; returning some volumes to the village doctor, he
+surprised that worthy by launching forth with enthusiasm into a
+disquisition on medicine; and dropping in one fine day at Professor
+Gambert's,--the pensioned schoolmaster,--he proved himself no mean
+adversary in a discussion upon natural history. He invariably
+approached a subject with a refreshing originality, and on one occasion
+maintained with an obstinacy born of conviction that the reason Moses
+had prohibited the Jews from eating pork was because he had discovered
+the trichina.
+
+Simcha Kalimann had taken upon himself the office of censor in his
+village, as may be seen by the following incident. The widow had given
+him a richly illustrated German edition of "Nana" to bind. At dusk one
+evening he discovered his apprentice crouched in a corner by the
+window, evidently intensely amused over the illustrations. He quietly
+seized the culprit by the hair, shook him as he would a puppy, and
+then, putting on his spectacles, began inspecting the volume himself.
+At first he shook his head, then took off his glasses and rubbed them
+as though they were playing him some prank, and finally closed the book
+with an expression of profound disgust.
+
+Mrs. Barkany awaited the return of her "Nana" with unruffled patience;
+finally she despatched her cook Gutel with an order for the book.
+Kalimann was ready with his excuses, and after a fortnight's delay the
+widow found her way into the workshop, and began suing for the book in
+person.
+
+"I want my copy of 'Nana,'" she began.
+
+"Nana?" Kalimann went on with his work.
+
+"You have not bound it yet?"
+
+"No, madame."
+
+"But when am I to have it?" "You are not to have that book at all."
+
+"What! You talk absurdly."
+
+   "We merit trust, the Count will own;
+   For nothing's left of flesh or bone,"
+
+quoted Kalimann from Schiller's ballad "The Forge." "As for 'Nana,'
+I've simply pushed it in the stove."
+
+"Kalimann, this is going too far."
+
+"It is not a book for a Jewish woman to own."
+
+The widow flushed indignantly, but would not yield the victory to her
+adversary.
+
+"If you have burned my book you must give me an equivalent."
+
+"With pleasure," replied the bookbinder, and taking down a picture from
+the wall, he begged her acceptance of it. It represented a scene from
+Schiller's "Song of the Bell," a fair young woman, surrounded by her
+children, seated on the balcony of her house. As title to the picture
+were printed these lines:
+
+     "The house spreadeth out,
+     And in it presides
+     The chaste gentle housewife,
+     The mother of children;
+     And ruleth metely
+     The household discreetly."
+
+Our bookbinder had a reverential admiration for all scholars, poets, or
+artists, irrespective of race or creed. Awaiting the widow in her
+library one day, his attention was attracted by an engraving
+representing Schiller at Carlsbad seated upon an ass. His eyes filled
+with tears at the sight. "A man like that," he exclaimed, "riding upon
+an ass! While ordinary people like Baron Fay or Mr. de Mariassy ride
+about proudly on horses."
+
+Later on it occurred to him that Balaam too was mounted on an ass, and
+he derived a measure of consolation from the thought that Schiller was
+a prophet as well. Would it be venturesome to say that in Kalimann
+there was the stuff for poet or prophet?
+
+In addition to his trade, our bookbinder carried on another pursuit
+which was quite lucrative in its way, and one universally well
+established among all Jewish communities of Eastern Europe. Kalimann
+was Cupid's secretary: in other words, he wrote love-letters for those
+who could neither read nor write. The opportunity thus vouchsafed his
+native tendency toward sentiment helped not only to swell the hearts of
+his clients with gratitude, but also to swell his own slender income.
+Thus it was that the fire of his poetic genius was enkindled, and thus
+it was he became the Petrarch of Hort.
+
+One day Gutel Wolfner, Mrs. Barkany's cook, came to him with the
+request that he would write a letter for her to a friend at Gyongos.
+
+"Well, well, little one," said the scribe, "so Love's arrow has reached
+you at last!"
+
+"Heaven preserve me!" cried the girl, "he is not named Love, but Mendel
+Sucher, and he has never drawn a bow in his life."
+
+Gutel now gave the bookbinder a general idea of the letter she wished
+written, and inquired the price.
+
+"That will not depend upon the length of the epistle," he replied, "but
+upon its quality." Thereupon he read aloud to her his tariff.
+
+ 1st. A friendly letter ................... 10 kreutzers
+ 2d. A kind and well-intentioned letter ... 15  "
+ 3d. A tender letter ...................... 20  "
+ 4th. A touching letter ................... 30  "
+ 5th. A letter that goes straight to the
+     heart ................................ 1/2 florin
+
+"Very good; a friendly letter will do well enough this time," said the
+girl, as she deposited her ten kreutzers on the table.
+
+"I will write a kind and well-intentioned letter for you for the same
+price as a friendly one," said Kalimann, gallantly.
+
+Mendel Sucher received the missive the following day, and as his
+scholarship was as limited as Gutel's, he forthwith sought out Saul
+Wahl, a lawyer's clerk at Gyongos, likewise a member of the same erotic
+profession as the bookbinder of Hort. Wahl read Kalimann's letter to
+the smiling recipient with such pathos that Mendel was completely
+overcome. Placing twenty kreutzers on the table, the happy swain begged
+the clerk to write as finely turned a letter to Gutel as the one she
+had sent him.
+
+Saul, who had at a glance recognized Kalimann's calligraphy, said to
+himself: "It will go hard with me but I will show the bookbinder that
+they know how to write letters at Gyongos, and can also quote from the
+classic authors."
+
+He at once wrote Gutel a missive so thickly interlarded with quotations
+from the Song of Solomon, from Goethe, Petofi, Heine, and
+Chateaubriand, that when Kalimann read the billet-doux to the blushing
+girl her head was quite turned.
+
+The bookbinder himself scratched his head and muttered: "This Saul is a
+man of letters; his style is vigorous! Who would have thought it?"
+
+The correspondence between Gutel and Mendel, or rather between Kalimann
+and Saul, flourished for some time. If Kalimann addressed Mendel as "my
+cherished friend," "my turtle dove," Saul on his side would intersperse
+throughout his letters such expressions as "your gazelle-like eyes,"
+"your fairy form," "your crimson lips," "your voice rivalling the music
+of the celestial spheres."
+
+Kalimann's "friendly" letter was followed by those of the tender and
+touching variety, and finally Gutel decided upon sacrificing her half
+florin and sending one that "would go straight to the heart." To make
+assurance doubly sure she supplemented her silver piece by a bottle of
+wine. Her amanuensis poured out a glass, emptied it at a draught,
+smacked his lips, and began to write. Suddenly, however, he stopped,
+and turning to the girl, said: "Do you know, Gutel, that wine of yours
+was a happy inspiration, but the great poet Hafiz was not alone
+inspired by the spirit of wine, he placed a great virtue upon the
+crimson lips of pretty girls."
+
+Gutel was not slow to understand.
+
+"As I have given you a half florin and a bottle of wine," she said, in
+a shamefaced way, wiping her mouth with the corner of her apron the
+while, "I see no reason why I should not add a touch of my lips as
+well." So saying she gave the happy bookbinder a hearty kiss. The
+consequence of all this was that the pen flew over the paper, and when
+Kalimann read the letter for Gutel's approval the tender-hearted girl
+burst into tears of emotion.
+
+As for Mendel, when Saul read him this letter going "straight to the
+heart," he could contain himself no longer; rushing from the house he
+flew to the factory where he worked, and asked his employer, Mr.
+Schonberg, to permit him to quit his service.
+
+"What is the matter with you?" cried Schonberg. "Why do you wish to
+leave? Do you want more wages?"
+
+"No, no, Mr. Schonberg, that is not the reason. But--but I can stay no
+longer here at Gyongos, I must go to Hort."
+
+"To Hort? What is the reason of that?"
+
+For reply the dazed fellow held out the letter for him to read.
+Schonberg glanced over it, and smiled. "This Kalimann," he murmured,
+"is a deuce of a fellow. The world has lost a novelist in him. But let
+me see how I can arrange matters. Mendel," he continued, turning to the
+open-mouthed lover, "you shall stay here, and you shall marry your
+Gutel. I will give you two or three rooms in the factory for your
+housekeeping, and Mrs. Barkany will give the girl her trousseau. How
+does that strike you?"
+
+Mendel beamed. He would have thrown himself on his employer's neck, but
+resisted the impulse, and, instead, brushed the back of his hand across
+his eyes. Schonberg gave him a day's holiday, and the happy fellow lost
+no time in making his way to Hort, and subsequently into the arms of
+his inamorata. Mrs. Barkany gave Gutel the trousseau, and the marriage
+took place at harvest-time.
+
+At one end of the table, in the seat of honor next to the rabbi, sat
+the bookbinder of Hort. All had been his work, and, truth to tell, this
+was not the first happy couple he had been the means of bringing
+together.
+
+When it was his turn to deliver a toast in honor of the bride and
+groom, he rose, filled his glass, and holding it in his hand, declaimed
+from his favorite poet Schiller, and with an enthusiasm worthy the
+occasion:
+
+  "Honor to women! round Life they are wreathing
+   Roses, the fragrance of Heaven sweet-breathing!"
+
+
+
+
+THE EGYPTIAN FIRE-EATER
+
+BY
+
+RUDOLPH BAUMBACH
+
+
+
+From "Summer Legends," translated by Helen B. Dole. Published by T. Y.
+Crowell & Co.
+
+Copyright, 1888, by T.Y. Crowell & Co
+
+
+
+
+Next Easter he must go to N--to school.--Fact.--It is high time; he is
+eleven years old, and here he is running wild with the
+street-boys.--That's what I say."
+
+He, that is, I, hung my head, and I felt more like crying than
+laughing. I had passed eleven sunny boyhood years in the little country
+town, I stood in high esteem among my playmates, and would rather be
+the first in the ranks of my birthplace than second in the metropolis.
+
+Through the gray mist, which surrounded my near future like a thick
+fog, gleamed only one light, but a bright, attractive light; that was
+the theatre, the splendor of which I had already learned to know. The
+white priests in the "Magic Flute," Sarastro's lions, the fire-spitting
+serpents, and the gay, merry Papageno,--such things could not be seen
+at home; and when my parents promised me occasional visits to the
+theatre, as a reward for diligence in study and exemplary conduct, I
+left the Eden of my childhood, half consoled.
+
+Young trees, transplanted at the proper time, soon take root. After a
+tearful farewell to my friends and a slight attack of home-sickness, I
+was quite content. I was received into the second class at the
+gymnasium, and drank eagerly of the fountain of knowledge; a certain
+Frau Eberlein, with whom I found board and lodging, cared for my bodily
+welfare.
+
+She was a widow, and kept a little store, in which, with the assistance
+of a shop-girl, she served customers, who called from morning to night.
+She dealt principally in groceries and vegetables, but besides these,
+every conceivable thing was found piled up in her shop: knitting-yarn,
+sheets of pictures, slate-pencils, cheese, pen-knives, balls of twine,
+herring, soap, buttons, writing-paper, glue, hairpins, cigar-holders,
+oranges, fly-poison, brushes, varnish, gingerbread, tin soldiers,
+corks, tallow candles, tobacco-pouches, thimbles, gum-balls, and
+torpedoes. Besides, she prepared, by means of essences, peach brandy,
+maraschino, ros solis, and other liqueurs, as well as an excellent ink,
+in the manufacture of which I used to help her. She rejoiced in
+considerable prosperity, lived well, and did not let me want for
+anything.
+
+My passion for the theatre was a source of great anxiety to good Frau
+Eberlein. She did not have a very good opinion of the art in general,
+but the comedy she despised from the bottom of her heart. Therefore she
+made my visiting the theatre as difficult as possible, and it was only
+after long discussions, and after the shop-girl had added her voice,
+that she would hand over the necessary amount for purchasing a ticket.
+The shop-girl was an oldish person, as thin as a giraffe which had
+fasted for a long time, and was very well read. She subscribed
+regularly to a popular periodical with the motto, "Culture is freedom,"
+and Frau Eberlein was influenced somewhat by her judgment. This
+kind-hearted woman was friendly towards me, and as often as her
+employer asked, "Is the play a proper one for young people?" she would
+answer, "Yes," and Frau Eberlein would have to let me go.
+
+Those were glorious evenings. Long before it was time for the play to
+begin, I was in my seat in the gallery, looking down from my dizzy
+height, into the house, still unlighted. Now a servant comes and lights
+the lamps in the orchestra. The parquet and the upper seats fill, but
+the reserved seats and the boxes are still empty. Now it suddenly grows
+light; the chandelier comes down from an opening in the ceiling. The
+musicians appear and tune their instruments. It makes a horrible
+discord, but still it is beautiful. The doors slam; handsomely dressed
+ladies, in white cloaks, gay officers, and civilians in stiff black and
+white evening dress take their seats in the boxes. The conductor mounts
+his elevated seat and now it begins. The overture is terribly long, but
+it comes to an end. Ting-aling-aling,--the curtain rises. Ah!--
+
+I soon decided in my own mind that it should be my destiny, some time,
+to delight the audience from the stage, but I was still undecided
+whether I would devote myself to the drama or the opera, for it seemed
+to me an equally desirable lot to shoot charmed bullets in "Der
+Freischutz," or, hidden behind elderberry bushes, to shoot at
+tyrannical Geslers in "William Tell." In the meantime I learned Tell's
+monologue, "Along this narrow path the man must come," by heart, and
+practised the aria, "Through the forest, through the meadows."
+
+Providence seemed to favor my plan, for it led me into an acquaintance
+with a certain Lipp, who, on account of his connections, was in a
+position to pave my way to the stage.
+
+Lipp was a tall, slender youth, about sixteen years old, with terribly
+large feet and hands. He usually wore a very faded, light-blue coat,
+the sleeves of which hardly came below his elbows, and a red vest. He
+had a rather stooping gait, and a beaming smile continually played
+about his mouth. Besides, the poor fellow was always hungry, and it was
+this peculiarity which brought about our acquaintance.
+
+On afternoons when there was no school, and I went out on the green to
+play ball with my companions or fly my kite, Frau Eberlein used to put
+something to eat in my pocket. Lipp soon spied it out, and he knew how
+to get a part, or even the whole of my luncheon for himself. He would
+pick up a pebble off the ground, slip it from one hand to the other
+several times, then place one fist above the other, saying:
+
+     "This hand, or that?
+      Burned is the tail of the cat.
+      Which do you choose?
+      Upper or under will lose!"
+
+If I said "upper," the stone was always in the lower hand, and vice
+versa. And Lipp would take my apple from me with a smile, and devour it
+as if he were half-famished.
+
+Why did I allow it? In the first place because Lipp was beyond me in
+years and in strength, and in the second place, because he was the son
+of a very important personage. His father was nothing less than the
+doorkeeper of the theatre; a splendid man with a shining red nose and
+coal-black beard reaching to his waist. The wise reader now knows how
+young Lipp came by a light-blue coat and red vest.
+
+My new friend from his earliest years had been constantly on the stage.
+He played the gamin in folk-scenes and the monster in burlesques.
+Besides, he was an adept at thunder and lightning; by means of cracking
+a whip and the close imitation of the neighing of horses, he announced
+the approaching stage-coach; he lighted the moon in "Der Freischutz;"
+and with a kettle and pair of tongs gave forewarning of the witches'
+hour. When I opened my heart to Lipp and confided to him that I wanted
+to go on the stage, he reached out his broad hand to me with emotion
+and said, "And so do I." Hereupon we swore eternal friendship, and Lipp
+promised as soon as possible to procure me an opportunity for putting
+my dramatic qualifications to the test. From that hour his manner
+changed towards me. Before, he had treated me with some condescension,
+but now his behavior towards me was more like that of a colleague.
+Moreover, the game of chance for my lunch came to an end, for from that
+time forth I shared it with him like a brother.
+
+The fine fellow kept his promise to make a way for me to go on the
+stage. A few evenings later ("Der Freischutz" was being played), I
+stood with a beating heart behind the scenes, and friend Lipp stood by
+my side. In my hand I held a string, with which I set the wings of the
+owl in the wolf's glen in rhythmic motion. My companion performed the
+wild chase. By turns he whistled through his fingers, cracked a whip,
+and imitated the yelping of the hounds. It was awfully fine.
+
+"You did your part splendidly," said Lipp to me at the end of the
+scene; "next time you must go out on the stage."
+
+I swam in a sea of delight. A short time after, "Preciosa" was given,
+and Lipp told me that I could play the gypsy boy. They put a white
+frock on me and wound red bands crosswise about my legs. Then a
+chorister took me by the hand and led me up and down the back of the
+stage two or three times. That was my first appearance.
+
+It was also my last. The affair became known. In school I received a
+severe reprimand, and in addition, as a consequence of the airy gypsy
+costume, a cold with a cough, which kept me in bed for a day or two.
+
+"It serves you right," said Frau Eberlein. "He who will not hear must
+feel. This comes from playing in the theatre. If your blessed
+grandmother knew that you had been with play-actors she would turn in
+her grave."
+
+Crushed and humiliated, I swallowed the various teas which my nurse
+steeped for me one after another. But with each cup I had to listen to
+an instructive story about the depravity of actors. In order to lead me
+back from the way of the transgressors to the path of virtue, Frau
+Eberlein painted with glowing colors; one story in particular, in which
+occurred three bottles of punch-essence never paid for, made a deep
+impression on me. But Frau Eberlein's anecdotes failed to make me
+change my resolves.
+
+Soon after, something very serious happened. Lipp's father, the
+doorkeeper of the theatre, after drinking heavily, fell down lifeless
+by the card-table in the White Horse; and my friend, in consequence of
+this misfortune, came under the control of a cold-hearted guardian, who
+had as little comprehension of the dramatic art as Frau Eberlein. Lipp
+was given over to a house-painter, who, invested with extended
+authority, took the unfortunate fellow as an apprentice.
+
+Lipp was inconsolable at the change in his lot. The smile disappeared
+from his face, and I too felt melancholy when I saw him going along the
+street in his paint-bespattered clothes, the picture of despair.
+
+One day I met the poor fellow outside the city gate, where the last
+houses stand, painting a garden fence with an arsenic-green color. "My
+good friend," he said, with a melancholy smile, "I cannot give you my
+hand, for there is paint on it; but we are just the same as ever." Then
+he spoke of his disappointed hopes. "But," he continued, "because they
+are deferred, they are not put off for ever, and these clouds" (by this
+he referred to his present apprenticeship as painter) "will pass away.
+The time will come--I say no more about it; but the time will come."
+Here Lipp stopped speaking and dipped his brush in the paint-pot, for
+his master was coming around the corner of the house.
+
+One day Lipp disappeared. The authorities did everything in their power
+to find him, but in vain; and since, at that time, the river, on which
+the city stood, had overflowed its banks, it was decided that Lipp had
+perished. The only person who did not share in this opinion was myself.
+I had a firm conviction that he had gone out into the wide world to
+seek his fortune, and that some day he would turn up again as a
+celebrated artist and a successful man. But year after year passed by
+and nothing was heard of Lipp.
+
+I had entered upon my fifteenth year, was reading Virgil and Xenophon,
+and could enumerate the causes which brought the Roman empire to ruin.
+But in the midst of my classical studies I did not lose sight of the
+real aim of my life, the dramatic art; and as the stage had been closed
+to me since my first appearance, I studied in my own room the roles in
+which I hoped to shine later. Then I had already tried my skill as a
+dramatic author, and in my writing-desk lay concealed a finished
+tragedy. It was entitled "Pharaoh." In it occurred the seven plagues of
+Egypt and the miracles of Moses; but Pharaoh's destruction in the Red
+Sea formed the finale from which I promised myself the most brilliant
+success.
+
+Therefore I went about dressed as a regular artist. My schoolmates
+imitated the University students,--wore gay-colored caps, dark
+golden-red bands, and carried canes adorned with tassels; but I wore
+over my wild hair a pointed Calabrian hat, around my neck a loose silk
+handkerchief fastened together in an artistic knot, and in unpleasant
+weather a cloak, the red-lined corner of which I threw picturesquely
+over my left shoulder.
+
+In this attire I went about in my native town, where I was accustomed
+to spend my summer vacations. The boys on the street made sport of me
+by their words and actions, but I thought, "What does the moon care
+when the dog bays at her!" and holding my head high, I walked past the
+scoffers.
+
+Every year, in the month of August, a fair was held in the little town.
+On the common, tents and arbors were put up, where beer and sausages
+were furnished. Further entertainment was provided in the way of
+rope-dancers, jugglers, a Punch-and-Judy show, fortune-tellers,
+monstrosities, wax figures, and tragedies.
+
+As a spoiled city youth, I considered it decidedly beneath my dignity
+to take part in the people's merry-making; but I couldn't get out of
+it, and so I went with my parents and brothers and sisters to the
+opening of the festival out in the park, and walked more proudly than
+ever under my Calabrian hat.
+
+The sights were inspected one after another, and in the evening we all
+sat together in the front row of a booth, the proprietor of which
+promised to exhibit the most extraordinary thing that had ever been
+seen. The spectacle was divided into three parts. In the first a little
+horse with a large head was brought out, which answered any questions
+asked him by nodding, shaking, and beating his hoofs. In the second
+part two trained hares performed their tricks. With their forelegs they
+beat the drum, fired off pistols, and in the "Battle with the Hounds"
+they put to flight a whining terrier.
+
+The proprietor had kept the best of all--that is, the Egyptian
+fire-eater, called "Phosphorus"--for the last part. The curtain went up
+for the third time, and on the stage, in fantastic scarlet dress, with
+a burning torch in his left hand, there stood a tall--ah! a form only
+too well known to me. It was Lipp, who had been looked upon as dead.
+
+I saw how the unfortunate fellow with a smile put a lump of burning
+pitch in his mouth, and then everything began to swim around me. I
+pulled my hat down over my eyes, made my way through the crowd howling
+their applause, and staggered home exhausted.
+
+During the rest of the festival I kept myself in strict seclusion. I
+announced that I was not well, and this was really no untruth, for I
+was very miserable. "That is because he is growing," said my anxious
+mother; and I assented, and swallowed submissively the family remedies
+which she brought to me.
+
+At last the fair was over, and the Egyptian fire-eater had left the
+town. But the poor fellow did not go far. In the city where he
+exhibited his skill he was recognized and arrested, because he had
+avoided service in the army. To be sure, he was set free again after a
+few weeks as unqualified; but in the meantime his employer with the
+performing hares had gone nobody knew where, and Lipp was left solely
+dependent on his art, which he practised for some time in the
+neighboring towns and villages.
+
+The end of his artistic career is sad and melancholy. He fell a victim
+to his calling. As an ambitious man he enlarged his artistic
+capabilities; he ate not only pitch but also pieces of broken glass,
+and an indigestible lamp-chimney was the cause of his destruction.
+
+When I returned to the city I burned my tragedy of "Pharaoh," and sold
+my cloak and Calabrian hat to an old-clothes dealer. I was thoroughly
+disgusted with the career of an artist, and whenever afterwards I was
+inclined to relapse, Frau Eberlein would call out to me, "Do you, too,
+want to die from a lamp-chimney?" Then I would bend my head and bury my
+nose in my Greek grammar.
+
+
+
+
+THE CREMONA VIOLIN
+
+BY
+
+E.T.A. HOFFMANN
+
+
+From "Weird Tales," translated by J.T. Beally. Published by Charles
+Scribner's Sons.
+
+
+
+
+Councillor Krespel was one of the strangest, oddest men I ever met with
+in my life. When I went to live in H---for a time the whole town was
+full of talk about him, as he happened to be just then in the midst of
+one of the very craziest of his schemes. Krespel had the reputation of
+being both a clever, learned lawyer and a skilful diplomatist. One of
+the reigning princes of Germany--not, however, one of the most
+powerful--had appealed to him for assistance in drawing up a memorial,
+which he was desirous of presenting at the Imperial Court with the view
+of furthering his legitimate claims upon a certain strip of territory.
+The project was crowned with the happiest success; and as Krespel had
+once complained that he could never find a dwelling sufficiently
+comfortable to suit him, the prince, to reward him for the memorial,
+undertook to defray the cost of building a house which Krespel might
+erect just as he pleased. Moreover, the prince was willing to purchase
+any site that he should fancy. This offer, however, the Councillor
+would not accept; he insisted that the house should be built in his
+garden, situated in a very beautiful neighborhood outside the
+town-walls. So he bought all kinds of materials and had them carted
+out. Then he might have been seen day after day, attired in his curious
+garments (which he had made himself according to certain fixed rules of
+his own), slacking the lime, riddling the sand, packing up the bricks
+and stones in regular heaps, and so on. All this he did without once
+consulting an architect or thinking about a plan. One fine day,
+however, he went to an experienced builder of the town and requested
+him to be in his garden at daybreak the next morning, with all his
+journeymen and apprentices, and a large body of laborers, etc., to
+build him his house. Naturally the builder asked for the architect's
+plan, and was not a little astonished when Krespel replied that none
+was needed, and that things would turn out all right in the end, just
+as he wanted them. Next morning, when the builder and his men came to
+the place, they found a trench drawn out in the shape of an exact
+square; and Krespel said, "Here's where you must lay the foundations;
+then carry up the walls until I say they are high enough." "Without
+windows and doors, and without partition walls?" broke in the builder,
+as if alarmed at Krespel's mad folly. "Do what I tell you, my dear
+sir," replied the Councillor quite calmly; "leave the rest to me; it
+will be all right." It was only the promise of high pay that could
+induce the builder to proceed with the ridiculous building; but none
+has ever been erected under merrier circumstances. As there was an
+abundant supply of food and drink, the workmen never left their work;
+and amidst their continuous laughter the four walls were run up with
+incredible quickness, until one day Krespel cried, "Stop!" Then the
+workmen, laying down trowel and hammer, came down from the scaffoldings
+and gathered round Krespel in a circle, whilst every laughing face was
+asking, "Well, and what now?" "Make way!" cried Krespel; and then
+running to one end of the garden, he strode slowly towards the square
+of brickwork. When he came close to the wall he shook his head in a
+dissatisfied manner, ran to the other end of the garden, again strode
+slowly towards the brickwork square, and proceeded to act as before.
+These tactics he pursued several times, until at length, running his
+sharp nose hard against the wall, he cried, "Come here, come here, men!
+break me a door in here! Here's where I want a door made!" He gave the
+exact dimensions in feet and inches, and they did as he bid them. Then
+he stepped inside the structure, and smiled with satisfaction as the
+builder remarked that the walls were just the height of a good
+two-storeyed house. Krespel walked thoughtfully backwards and forwards
+across the space within, the bricklayers behind him with hammers and
+picks, and wherever he cried, "Make a window here, six feet high by
+four feet broad!" "There a little window, three feet by two!" a hole
+was made in a trice.
+
+It was at this stage of the proceedings that I came to H---; and it was
+highly amusing to see how hundreds of people stood round about the
+garden and raised a loud shout whenever the stones flew out and a new
+window appeared where nobody had for a moment expected it. And in the
+same manner Krespel proceeded with the buildings and fittings of the
+rest of the house, and with all the work necessary to that end;
+everything had to be done on the spot in accordance with the
+instructions which the Councillor gave from time to time. However, the
+absurdity of the whole business, the growing conviction that things
+would in the end turn out better than might have been expected, but
+above all, Krespel's generosity--which indeed cost him nothing--kept
+them all in good-humor. Thus were the difficulties overcome which
+necessarily arose out of this eccentric way of building, and in a short
+time there was a completely finished house, its outside, indeed,
+presenting a most extraordinary appearance, no two windows, etc., being
+alike, but on the other hand the interior arrangements suggested a
+peculiar feeling of comfort. All who entered the house bore witness to
+the truth of this; and I too experienced it myself when I was taken in
+by Krespel after I had become more intimate with him. For hitherto I
+had not exchanged a word with this eccentric man; his building had
+occupied him so much that he had not even once been to Professor
+M----'s to dinner, as he was in the habit of doing on Tuesdays. Indeed,
+in reply to a special invitation, he sent word that he should not set
+foot over the threshold before the house-warming of his new building
+took place. All his friends and acquaintances, therefore, confidently
+looked forward to a great banquet; but Krespel invited nobody except
+the masters, journeymen, apprentices, and laborers who had built the
+house. He entertained them with the choicest viands; bricklayers'
+apprentices devoured partridge pies regardless of consequences; young
+joiners polished off roast pheasants with the greatest success; whilst
+hungry laborers helped themselves for once to the choicest morsels of
+truffes fricassees. In the evening their wives and daughters came, and
+there was a great ball. After waltzing a short while with the wives of
+the masters, Krespel sat down amongst the town musicians, took a violin
+in his hand, and directed the orchestra until daylight.
+
+On the Tuesday after this festival, which exhibited Councillor Krespel
+in the character of a friend of the people, I at length saw him appear,
+to my no little joy, at Professor M---'s. Anything more strange and
+fantastic than Krespel's behavior it would be impossible to find. He
+was so stiff and awkward in his movements, that he looked every moment
+as if he would run up against something or do some damage. But he did
+not; and the lady of the house seemed to be well aware that he would
+not, for she did not grow a shade paler when he rushed with heavy steps
+round a table crowded with beautiful cups, or when he manoeuvred near a
+large mirror that reached down to the floor, or even when he seized a
+flower-pot of beautifully painted porcelain and swung it round in the
+air as if desirous of making its colors play. Moreover, before dinner
+he subjected everything in the Professor's room to a most minute
+examination; he also took down a picture from the wall and hung it up
+again, standing on one of the cushioned chairs to do so. At the same
+time he talked a good deal and vehemently; at one time his thoughts
+kept leaping, as it were, from one subject to another (this was most
+conspicuous during dinner); at another, he was unable to have done with
+an idea; seizing upon it again and again, he gave it all sorts of
+wonderful twists and turns, and couldn't get back into the ordinary
+track until something else took hold of his fancy. Sometimes his voice
+was rough and harsh and screeching, and sometimes it was low and
+drawling and singing; but at no time did it harmonize with what he was
+about. Music was the subject of conversation; the praises of a new
+composer were being sung, when Krespel, smiling, said in his low,
+singing tones, "I wish the devil with his pitchfork would hurl that
+atrocious garbler of music millions of fathoms down to the bottomless
+pit of hell!" Then he burst out passionately and wildly, "She is an
+angel of heaven, nothing but pure God-given music!--the paragon and
+queen of song!"--and tears stood in his eyes. To understand this, we
+had to go back to a celebrated artiste, who had been the subject of
+conversation an hour before.
+
+Just at this time a roast hare was on the table; I noticed that Krespel
+carefully removed every particle of meat from the bones on his plate,
+and was most particular in his inquiries after the hare's feet; these
+the Professor's little five-year-old daughter now brought to him with a
+very pretty smile. Besides, the children had cast many friendly glances
+towards Krespel during dinner; now they rose and drew nearer to him,
+but not without signs of timorous awe. What's the meaning of that?
+thought I to myself. Dessert was brought in; then the Councillor took a
+little box from his pocket, in which he had a miniature lathe of steel.
+This he immediately screwed fast to the table, and turning the bones
+with incredible skill and rapidity, he made all sorts of little fancy
+boxes and balls, which the children received with cries of delight.
+Just as we were rising from table, the Professor's niece asked, "And
+what is our Antonia doing?" Krespel's face was like that of one who has
+bitten of a sour orange and wants to look as if it were a sweet one;
+but this expression soon changed into the likeness of a hideous mask,
+whilst he laughed behind it with downright, bitter, fierce, and, as it
+seemed to me, satanic scorn. "Our Antonia? our dear Antonia?" he asked
+in his drawling, disagreeable singing way. The Professor hastened to
+intervene; in the reproving glance which he gave his niece I read that
+she had touched a point likely to stir up unpleasant memories in
+Krespel's heart. "How are you getting on with your violins?" interposed
+the Professor in a jovial manner, taking the Councillor by both hands.
+Then Krespel's countenance cleared up, and with a firm voice he
+replied, "Capitally, Professor; you recollect my telling you of the
+lucky chance which threw that splendid Amati [Footnote: The Amati were
+a celebrated family of violin-makers of the sixteenth and seventeenth
+centuries, belonging to Cremona in Italy. They form the connecting-link
+between the Brescian school of makers and the greatest of all makers,
+Straduarius and Guarnerius.] into my hands. Well, I've only cut it open
+to-day--not before to-day. I hope Antonia has carefully taken the rest
+of it to pieces." "Antonia is a good child," remarked the Professor.
+"Yes, indeed, that she is," cried the Councillor, whisking himself
+round; then, seizing his hat and stick, he hastily rushed out of the
+room. I saw in the mirror how that tears were standing in his eyes.
+
+As soon as the Councillor was gone, I at once urged the Professor to
+explain to me what Krespel had to do with violins, and particularly
+with Antonia. "Well," replied the Professor, "not only is the
+Councillor a remarkably eccentric fellow altogether, but he practises
+violin-making in his own crack-brained way." "Violin-making!" I
+exclaimed, perfectly astonished. "Yes," continued the Professor,
+"according to the judgment of men who understand the thing, Krespel
+makes the very best violins that can be found nowadays; formerly he
+would frequently let other people play on those in which he had been
+especially successful, but that's been all over and done with now for a
+long time. As soon as he has finished a violin he plays on it himself
+for one or two hours, with very remarkable power and with the most
+exquisite expression, then he hangs it up beside the rest, and never
+touches it again or suffers anybody else to touch it. If a violin by
+any of the eminent old masters is hunted up anywhere, the Councillor
+buys it immediately, no matter what the price put upon it. But he plays
+it as he does his own violins, only once; then he takes it to pieces in
+order to examine closely its inner structure, and should he fancy he
+hasn't found exactly what he sought for, he in a pet throws the pieces
+into a big chest, which is already full of the remains of broken
+violins." "But who and what is Antonia?" I inquired, hastily and
+impetuously. "Well, now, that," continued the Professor,--"that is a
+thing which might very well make me conceive an unconquerable aversion
+to the Councillor, were I not convinced that there is some peculiar
+secret behind it, for he is such a good-natured fellow at bottom as to
+be sometimes guilty of weakness. When we came to H---, several years
+ago, he led the life of an anchorite, along with an old housekeeper, in
+---- Street. Soon, by his oddities, he excited the curiosity of his
+neighbors; and immediately he became aware of this, he sought and made
+acquaintances. Not only in my house but everywhere we became so
+accustomed to him that he grew to be indispensable. In spite of his
+rude exterior, even the children liked him, without ever proving a
+nuisance to him; for, notwithstanding all their friendly passages
+together, they always retained a certain timorous awe of him, which
+secured him against all over-familiarity. You have to-day had an
+example of the way in which he wins their hearts by his ready skill in
+various things. We all took him at first for a crusty old bachelor, and
+he never contradicted us. After he had been living here some time, he
+went away, nobody knew where, and returned at the end of some months.
+The evening following his return his windows were lit up to an unusual
+extent! This alone was sufficient to arouse his neighbors' attention,
+and they soon heard the surpassingly beautiful voice of a female
+singing to the accompaniment of a piano. Then the music of a violin was
+heard chiming in and entering upon a keen ardent contest with the
+voice. They knew at once that the player was the Councillor. I myself
+mixed in the large crowd which had gathered in front of his house to
+listen to this extraordinary concert; and I must confess that, besides
+this voice and the peculiar, deep, soul-stirring impression which the
+execution made upon me, the singing of the most celebrated artistes
+whom I had ever heard seemed to me feeble and void of expression. Until
+then I had had no conception of such long-sustained notes, of such
+nightingale trills, of such undulations of musical sound, of such
+swelling up to the strength of organ-notes, of such dying away to the
+faintest whisper. There was not one whom the sweet witchery did not
+enthral; and when the singer ceased, nothing but soft sighs broke the
+impressive silence. Somewhere about midnight the Councillor was heard
+talking violently, and another male voice seemed, to judge from the
+tones, to be reproaching him, whilst at intervals the broken words of a
+sobbing girl could be detected. The Councillor continued to shout with
+increasing violence, until he fell into that drawling, singing way that
+you know. He was interrupted by a loud scream from the girl, and then
+all was as still as death. Suddenly a loud racket was heard on the
+stairs; a young man rushed out sobbing, threw himself into a
+post-chaise which stood below, and drove rapidly away. The next day the
+Councillor was very cheerful, and nobody had the courage to question
+him about the events of the previous night. But on inquiring of the
+housekeeper, we gathered that the Councillor had brought home with him
+an extraordinarily pretty young lady whom he called Antonia, and she it
+was who had sung so beautifully. A young man also had come along with
+them; he had treated Antonia very tenderly, and must evidently have
+been her betrothed. But he, since the Councillor peremptorily insisted
+on it, had had to go away again in a hurry. What the relations between
+Antonia and the Councillor are has remained until now a secret, but
+this much is certain, that he tyrannizes over the poor girl in the most
+hateful fashion. He watches her as Doctor Bartholo watches his ward in
+the Barber of Seville; she hardly dare show herself at the window; and
+if, yielding now and again to her earnest entreaties, he takes her into
+society, he follows her with Argus' eyes, and will on no account suffer
+a musical note to be sounded, far less let Antonia sing--indeed, she is
+not permitted to sing in his own house. Antonia's singing on that
+memorable night has, therefore, come to be regarded by the townspeople
+in the light of a tradition of some marvellous wonder that suffices to
+stir the heart and the fancy; and even those who did not hear it often
+exclaim, ever any other singer attempts to display her powers in the
+place, 'What sort of a wretched squeaking do you call that? Nobody but
+Antonia knows how to sing.'"
+
+Having a singular weakness for such like fantastic histories, I found
+it necessary, as may easily be imagined, to make Antonia's
+acquaintance. I had myself often enough heard the popular sayings about
+her singing, but had never imagined that that exquisite artiste was
+living in the place, held a captive in the bonds of this eccentric
+Krespel like the victim of a tyrannous sorcerer. Naturally enough I
+heard in my dreams on the following night Antonia's marvellous voice,
+and as she besought me in the most touching manner in a glorious adagio
+movement (very ridiculously it seemed to me, as if I had composed it
+myself) to save her--I soon resolved, like a second Astolpho,[Footnote:
+A reference to Ariosto's Orlando Furioso. Astolpho, an English cousin
+of Orlando, was a great boaster, but generous, courteous, gay, and
+remarkably handsome; he was carried to Alcina's island on the back of a
+whale.] to penetrate into Krespel's house, as if into another Alcina's
+magic ca stle, and deliver the queen of song from her ignominious
+fetters.
+
+It all came about in a different way from what I had expected; I had
+seen the Councillor scarcely more than two or three times, and eagerly
+discussed with him the best method of constructing violins, when he
+invited me to call and see him. I did so; and he showed me his
+treasures of violins. There were fully thirty of them hanging up in a
+closet; one amongst them bore conspicuously all the marks of great
+antiquity (a carved lion's head, etc.), and, hung up higher than the
+rest, and surmounted by a crown of flowers, it seemed to exercise a
+queenly supremacy over them. "This violin," said Krespel, on my making
+some inquiry relative to it, "this violin is a very remarkable and
+curious specimen of the work of some unknown master, probably of
+Tartini's [Footnote: Giuseppe Tartini, born in 1692, died in 1770, was
+one of the most celebrated violinists of the eighteenth century, and
+the discoverer (in 1714) of "resultant tones," or "Tartini's tones," as
+they are frequently called. Most of his life was spent at Padua. He did
+much to advance the art of the violinist, both by his compositions for
+that instrument, as well as by his treatise on its capabilities.] age.
+I am perfectly convinced that there is something especially exceptional
+in its inner construction, and that, if I took it to pieces, a secret
+would be revealed to me which I have long been seeking to discover,
+but--laugh at me if you like--this senseless thing which only gives
+signs of life and sound as I make it, often speaks to me in a strange
+way of itself. The first time I played upon it I somehow fancied that I
+was only the magnetizer who has the power of moving his subject to
+reveal of his own accord in words the visions of his inner nature.
+Don't go away with the belief that I am such a fool as to attach even
+the slightest importance to such fantastic notions, and yet it's
+certainly strange that I could never prevail upon myself to cut open
+that dumb lifeless thing there. I am very pleased now that I have not
+cut it open, for since Antonia has been with me I sometimes play to her
+upon this violin. For Antonia is fond of it--very fond of it." As the
+Councillor uttered these words with visible signs of emotion, I felt
+encouraged to hazard the question, "Will you not play it to me,
+Councillor?" Krespel made a wry face, and falling into his drawling,
+singing way, said, "No, my good sir!" and that was an end of the
+matter. Then I had to look at all sorts of rare curiosities, the
+greater part of them childish trifles; at last thrusting his arm into a
+chest, he brought out a folded piece of paper, which he pressed into my
+hand, adding solemnly, "You are a lover of art; take this present as a
+priceless memento, which you must value at all times above everything
+else." Therewith he took me by the shoulders and gently pushed me
+towards the door, embracing me on the threshold. That is to say, I was
+in a symbolical manner virtually kicked out of doors. Unfolding the
+paper, I found a piece of a first string of a violin about an eighth of
+an inch in length, with the words, "A piece of the treble string with
+which the deceased Stamitz [Footnote: This was the name of a well-known
+musical family from Bohemia. Karl Stamitz is the one here possibly
+meant, since he died about eighteen or twenty years previous to the
+publication of this tale.] strung his violin for the last concert at
+which he ever played."
+
+This summary dismissal at mention of Antonia's name led me to infer
+that I should never see her; but I was mistaken, for on my second visit
+to the Councillor's I found her in his room, assisting him to put a
+violin together. At first sight Antonia did not make a strong
+impression; but soon I found it impossible to tear myself away from her
+blue eyes, her sweet rosy lips, her uncommonly graceful, lovely form.
+She was very pale; but a shrewd remark or a merry sally would call up a
+winning smile on her face and suffuse her cheeks with a deep burning
+flush, which, however, soon faded away to a faint rosy glow. My
+conversation with her was quite unconstrained, and yet I saw nothing
+whatever of the Argus-like watchings on Krespel's part which the
+Professor had imputed to him; on the contrary, his behavior moved along
+the customary lines, nay, he even seemed to approve of my conversation
+with Antonia. So I often stepped in to see the Councillor; and as we
+became accustomed to each other's society, a singular feeling of
+homeliness, taking possession of our little circle of three, filled our
+hearts with inward happiness. I still continued to derive exquisite
+enjoyment from the Councillor's strange crotchets and oddities; but it
+was of course Antonia's irresistible charms alone which attracted me,
+and led me to put up with a good deal which I should otherwise, in the
+frame of mind in which I then was, have impatiently shunned. For it
+only too often happened that in the Councillor's characteristic
+extravagance there was mingled much that was dull and tiresome; and it
+was in a special degree irritating to me that, as often as I turned the
+conversation upon music, and particularly upon singing, he was sure to
+interrupt me, with that sardonic smile upon his face and those
+repulsive singing tones of his, by some remark of a quite opposite
+tendency, very often of a commonplace character. From the great
+distress which at such times Antonia's glances betrayed, I perceived
+that he only did it to deprive me of a pretext for calling upon her for
+a song. But I didn't relinquish my design. The hindrances which the
+Councillor threw in my way only strengthened my resolution to overcome
+them; I MUST hear Antonia sing if I was not to pine away in reveries
+and dim aspirations for want of hearing her.
+
+One evening Krespel was in an uncommonly good humor; he had been taking
+an old Cremona violin to pieces, and had discovered that the sound-post
+was fixed half a line more obliquely than usual--an important
+discovery!--one of incalculable advantage in the practical work of
+making violins! I succeeded in setting him off at full speed on his
+hobby of the true art of violin-playing. Mention of the way in which
+the old masters picked up their dexterity in execution from really
+great singers (which was what Krespel happened just then to be
+expatiating upon) naturally paved the way for the remark that now the
+practice was the exact opposite of this, the vocal score erroneously
+following the affected and abrupt transitions and rapid scaling of the
+instrumentalists. "What is more nonsensical," I cried, leaping from my
+chair, running to the piano, and opening it quickly--"what is more
+nonsensical than such an execrable style as this, which, far from being
+music, is much more like the noise of peas rolling across the floor?"
+At the same time I sang several of the modern fermatas, which rush up
+and down and hum like a well-spun peg-top, striking a few villainous
+chords by way of accompaniment.
+
+Krespel laughed outrageously and screamed: "Ha! ha! methinks I hear our
+German-Italians or our Italian-Germans struggling with an aria from
+Pucitta, [Footnote: Vincenzo Pucitta (1778-1861) was an Italian opera
+composer, whose music "shows great facility, but no invention." He also
+wrote several songs.] or Portogallo, [Footnote: Il Portogallo was the
+Italian sobriquet of a Portuguese musician named Mark Anthony Simao
+(1763-1829). He lived alternately in Italy and Portugal, and wrote
+several operas.] or some other Maestro di capella, or rather schiavo
+d'un primo uomo." [Footnote: Literally, "The slave of a primo uomo,"
+primo uomo being the masculine form corresponding to prima donna, that
+is, a singer of hero's parts in operatic music. At one time also female
+parts were sung and acted by men or boys.] Now, thought I, now's the
+time; so turning to Antonia, I remarked, "Antonia knows nothing of such
+singing as that, I believe?" At the same time I struck up one of old
+Leonardo Leo's [Footnote: Leonardo Leo, the chief Neapolitan
+representative of Italian music in the first part of the eighteenth
+century, and author of more than forty operas and nearly one hundred
+compositions for the Church.] beautiful soul-stirring songs. Then
+Antonia's cheeks glowed; heavenly radiance sparkled in her eyes, which
+grew full of reawakened inspiration; she hastened to the piano; she
+opened her lips; but at that very moment Krespel pushed her away,
+grasped me by the shoulders, and with a shriek that rose up to a tenor
+pitch, cried, "My son--my son--my son!' And then he immediately went
+on, singing very softly, and grasping my hand with a bow that was the
+pink of politeness, "In very truth, my esteemed and honorable
+student-friend, in very truth, it would be a violation of the codes of
+social intercourse, as well as of all good manners, were I to express
+aloud and in a stirring way my wish that here, on this very spot, the
+devil from hell would softly break your neck with his burning claws,
+and so in a sense make short work of you; but, setting that aside, you
+must acknowledge, my dearest friend, that it is rapidly growing dark,
+and there are no lamps burning to-night, so that, even though I did not
+kick you downstairs at once, your darling limbs might still run a risk
+of suffering damage. Go home by all means; and cherish a kind
+remembrance of your faithful friend, if it should happen that you
+never,--pray, understand me,--If you should never see him in his own
+house again." Therewith he embraced me, and, still keeping fast hold of
+me, turned with me slowly towards the door, so that I could not get
+another single look at Antonia. Of course it is plain enough that in my
+position I couldn't thrash the Councillor, though that is what he
+really deserved. The Professor enjoyed a good laugh at my expense, and
+assured me that I had ruined for ever all hopes of retaining the
+Councillor's friendship. Antonia was too dear to me, I might say too
+holy, for me to go and play the part of the languishing lover and stand
+gazing up at her window, or to fill the role of the lovesick
+adventurer. Completely upset, I went away from H---; but, as is usual
+in such cases, the brilliant colors of the picture of my fancy faded,
+and the recollection of Antonia, as well as of Antonia's singing (which
+I had never heard), often fell upon my heart like a soft faint
+trembling light, comforting me.
+
+Two years afterwards I received an appointment in B---, and set out on
+a journey to the south of Germany. The towers of H---- rose before me
+in the red vaporous glow of the evening; the nearer I came the more was
+I oppressed by an indescribable feeling of the most agonizing distress;
+it lay upon me like a heavy burden; I could not breathe; I was obliged
+to get out of my carriage into the open air. But my anguish continued
+to increase until it became actual physical pain. Soon I seemed to hear
+the strains of a solemn chorale floating in the air; the sounds
+continued to grow more distinct; I realized the fact that they were
+men's voices chanting a church chorale. "What's that? what's that?" I
+cried, a burning stab darting as it were through my breast. "Don't you
+see?" replied the coachman, who was driving along beside me, "why don't
+you see? they're burying somebody up yonder in yon churchyard." And
+indeed we were near the churchyard; I saw a circle of men clothed in
+black standing round a grave, which was on the point of being closed.
+Tears started to my eyes; I somehow fancied they were burying there all
+the joy and all the happiness of life. Moving on rapidly down the hill,
+I was no longer able to see into the churchyard; the chorale came to an
+end, and I perceived not far distant from the gate some of the mourners
+returning from the funeral. The Professor, with his niece on his arm,
+both in deep mourning, went close past me without noticing me. The
+young lady had her handkerchief pressed close to her eyes, and was
+weeping bitterly. In the frame of mind in which I then was I could not
+possibly go into the town, so I sent on my servant with the carriage to
+the hotel where I usually put up, whilst I took a turn in the familiar
+neighborhood to get rid of a mood that was possibly only due to
+physical causes, such as heating on the journey, etc. On arriving at a
+well-known avenue, which leads to a pleasure resort, I came upon a most
+extraordinary spectacle. Councillor Krespel was being conducted by two
+mourners, from whom he appeared to be endeavoring to make his escape by
+all sorts of strange twists and turns. As usual, he was dressed in his
+own curious home-made gray coat; but from his little cocked-hat, which
+he wore perched over one ear in military fashion, a long narrow ribbon
+of black crape fluttered backwards and forwards in the wind. Around his
+waist he had buckled a black sword-belt; but instead of a sword he had
+stuck a long fiddle-bow into it. A creepy shudder ran through my limbs:
+"He's insane," thought I, as I slowly followed them. The Councillor's
+companions led him as far as his house, where he embraced them,
+laughing loudly. They left him; and then his glance fell upon me, for I
+now stood near him. He stared at me fixedly for some time; then he
+cried in a hollow voice, "Welcome, my student friend! you also
+understand it!" Therewith he took me by the arm and pulled me into the
+house, up the steps, into the room where the violins hung. They were
+all draped in black crape; the violin of the old master was missing; in
+its place was a cypress wreath. I knew what had happened. "Antonia!
+Antonia!" I cried, in inconsolabie grief. The Councillor, with his arms
+crossed on his breast, stood beside me, as if turned into stone. I
+pointed to the cypress wreath. "When she died," said he, in a very
+hoarse solemn voice, "when she died, the sound-post of that violin
+broke into pieces with a ringing crack, and the sound-board was split
+from end to end. The faithful instrument could only live with her and
+in her; it lies beside her in the coffin, it has been buried with her."
+Deeply agitated, I sank down upon a chair, whilst the Councillor began
+to sing a gay song in a husky voice; it was truly horrible to see him
+hopping about on one foot, and the crape strings (he still had his hat
+on) flying about the room and up to the violins hanging on the walls.
+Indeed, I could not repress a loud cry that rose to my lips when, on
+the Councillor making an abrupt turn, the crape came all over me; I
+fancied he wanted to envelop me in it and drag me down into the
+horrible dark depths of insanity. Suddenly he stood still and addressed
+me in his singing way, "My son! my son! why do you call out? Have you
+espied the angel of death? That always precedes the ceremony." Stepping
+into the middle of the room, he took the violin-bow out of his
+sword-belt, and, holding it over his head with both hands, broke it
+into a thousand pieces. Then, with a loud laugh, he cried, "Now you
+imagine my sentence is pronounced, don't you, my son? but it's nothing
+of the kind--not at all! not at all! Now I'm free--free--free--hurrah!
+I'm free! Now I shall make no more violins--no more violins--hurrah! no
+more violins!" This he sang to a horrible mirthful tune, again spinning
+round on one foot. Perfectly aghast, I was making the best of my way to
+the door, when he held me fast, saying quite calmly, "Stay, my student
+friend, pray don't think from this outbreak of grief, which is
+torturing me as if with the agonies of death, that I am insane; I only
+do it because a short time ago I made myself a dressing-gown in which I
+wanted to look like Fate or like God!" The Councillor then went on with
+a medley of silly and awful rubbish, until he fell down utterly
+exhausted; I called up the old housekeeper, and was very pleased to
+find myself in the open air again.
+
+I never doubted for a moment that Krespel had become insane; the
+Professor, however, asserted the contrary. "There are men," he
+remarked, "from whom nature or a special destiny has taken away the
+cover behind which the mad folly of the rest of us runs its course
+unobserved. They are like thin-skinned insects, which, as we watch the
+restless play of their muscles, seem to be misshapen, while
+nevertheless everything soon comes back into its proper form again. All
+that with us remains thought passes over with Krespel into action. That
+bitter scorn which the spirit that is wrapped up in the doings and
+dealings of the earth often has at hand, Krespel gives vent to in
+outrageous gestures and agile caprioles. But these are his lightning
+conductor. What comes up out of the earth he gives again to the earth,
+but what is divine, that he keeps; and so I believe that his inner
+consciousness, in spite of the apparent madness which springs from it
+to the surface, is as right as a trivet. To be sure, Antonia's sudden
+death grieves him sore, but I warrant that to-morrow will see him going
+along in his old jog-trot way as usual." And the Professor's prediction
+was almost literally filled. Next day the Councillor appeared to be
+just as he formerly was, only he averred that he would never make
+another violin, nor yet ever play on another. And, as I learned later,
+he kept his word.
+
+Hints which the Professor let fall confirmed my own private conviction
+that the so carefully guarded secret of the Councillor's relations to
+Antonia, nay, that even her death, was a crime which must weigh heavily
+upon him, a crime that could not be atoned for. I determined that I
+would not leave H---- without taxing him with the offence which I
+conceived him to be guilty of; I determined to shake his heart down to
+its very roots, and so compel him to make open confession of the
+terrible deed. The more I reflected upon the matter, the clearer it
+grew in my own mind that Krespel must be a villain, and in the same
+proportion did my intended reproach, which assumed of itself the form
+of a real rhetorical masterpiece, wax more fiery and more impressive.
+Thus equipped and mightily incensed, I hurried to his house. I found
+him with a calm smiling countenance making playthings. "How can peace,"
+I burst out--"how can peace find lodgment even for a single moment in
+your breast, so long as the memory of your horrible deed preys like a
+serpent upon you?" He gazed at me in amazement, and laid his chisel
+aside. "What do you mean, my dear sir?" he asked; "pray take a seat."
+But my indignation chafing me more and more, I went on to accuse him
+directly of having murdered Antonia, and to threaten him with the
+vengeance of the Eternal.
+
+Further, as a newly full-fledged lawyer, full of my profession, I went
+so far as to give him to understand that I would leave no stone
+unturned to get a clue to the business, and so deliver him here in this
+world into the hands of an earthly judge. I must confess that I was
+considerably disconcerted when, at the conclusion of my violent and
+pompous harangue, the Councillor, without answering so much as a single
+word, calmly fixed his eyes upon me as though expecting me to go on
+again. And this I did indeed attempt to do, but it sounded so
+ill-founded and so stupid as well that I soon grew silent again.
+Krespel gloated over my embarrassment, whilst a malicious ironical
+smile flitted across his face. Then he grew very grave, and addressed
+me in solemn tones. "Young man, no doubt you think I am foolish,
+insane; that I can pardon you, since we are both confined in the same
+mad-house; and you only blame me for deluding myself with the idea that
+I am God the Father because you imagine yourself to be God the Son. But
+how do you dare desire to insinuate yourself into the secrets and lay
+bare the hidden motives of a life that is strange to you and that must
+continue so? She has gone and the mystery is solved." He ceased
+speaking, rose, and traversed the room backwards and forwards several
+times. I ventured to ask for an explanation; he fixed his eyes upon me,
+grasped me by the hand, and led me to the window, which he threw wide
+open. Propping himself upon his arms, he leaned out, and, looking down
+into the garden, told me the history of his life. When he finished I
+left him, touched and ashamed.
+
+In a few words, his relations with Antonia rose in the following way.
+Twenty years before, the Councillor had been led into Italy by his
+favorite engrossing passion of hunting up and buying the best violins
+of the old masters. At that time he had not yet begun to make them
+himself, and so of course he had not begun to take to pieces those
+which he bought. In Venice he heard the celebrated singer Angela----i,
+who at that time was playing with splendid success as prima donna at
+St. Benedict's Theatre. His enthusiasm was awakened, not only in her
+art--which Signora Angela had indeed brought to a high pitch of
+perfection--but in her angelic beauty as well. He sought her
+acquaintance; and in spite of all his rugged manners he succeeded in
+winning her heart, principally through his bold and yet at the same
+time masterly violin-playing. Close intimacy led in a few weeks to
+marriage, which, however, was kept a secret, because Angela was
+unwilling to sever her connection with the theatre, neither did she
+wish to part with her professional name, that by which she was
+celebrated, nor to add to it the cacophonous "Krespel." With the most
+extravagant irony he described to me what a strange life of worry and
+torture Angela led him as soon as she became his wife. Krespel was of
+opinion that more capriciousness and waywardness were concentrated in
+Angela's little person than in all the rest of the prima donnas in the
+world put together. If he now and again presumed to stand up in his own
+defence, she let loose a whole army of abbots, musical composers, and
+students upon him, who, ignorant of his true connection with Angela,
+soundly rated him as a most intolerable, ungallant lover for not
+submitting to all the Signora's caprices. It was just after one of
+these stormy scenes that Krespel fled to Angela's country seat to try
+and forget in playing fantasias on his Cremona violin the annoyances of
+the day. But he had not been there long before the Signora, who had
+followed hard after him, stepped into the room. She was in an
+affectionate humor; she embraced her husband, overwhelmed him with
+sweet and languishing glances, and rested her pretty head on his
+shoulder. But Krespel, carried away into the world of music; continued
+to play on until the walls echoed again; thus he chanced to touch the
+Signora somewhat ungently with his arm and the fiddle-bow. She leapt
+back full of fury, shrieking that he was a "German brute," snatched the
+violin from his hands, and dashed it on the marble table into a
+thousand pieces. Krespel stood like a statue of stone before her; but
+then, as if awakening out of a dream, he seized her with the strength
+of a giant and threw her out of the window of her own house, and,
+without troubling himself about anything more, fled back to Venice--to
+Germany. It was not, however, until some time had elapsed that he had a
+clear recollection of what he had done; although he knew that the
+window was scarcely five feet from the ground, and although he was
+fully cognizant of the necessity, under the above-mentioned
+circumstances, of throwing the Signora out of the window, he yet felt
+troubled by a sense of painful uneasiness, and the more so since she
+had imparted to him in no ambiguous terms an interesting secret as to
+her condition. He hardly dared to make inquiries; and he was not a
+little surprised about eight months afterwards at receiving a tender
+letter from his beloved wife, in which she made not the slightest
+allusion to what had taken place in her country house, only adding to
+the intelligence that she had been safely delivered of a sweet little
+daughter the heartfelt prayer that her dear husband and now a happy
+father would come at once to Venice. That, however, Krespel did not do;
+rather he appealed to a confidential friend for a more circumstantial
+account of the details, and learned that the Signora had alighted upon
+the soft grass as lightly as a bird, and that the sole consequences of
+the fall or shock had been psychic. That is to say, after Krespel's
+heroic deed she had become completely altered; she never showed a trace
+of caprice, of her former freaks, or of her teasing habits; and the
+composer who wrote for the next carnival was the happiest fellow under
+the sun, since the Signora was willing to sing his music without the
+scores and hundreds of changes which she at other times had insisted
+upon. "To be sure," added his friend, "there was every reason for
+preserving the secret of Angela's cure, else every day would see lady
+singers flying through windows." The Councillor was not a little
+excited at this news; he engaged horses; he took his seat in the
+carriage. "Stop!" he cried suddenly. "Why, there's not a shadow of
+doubt," he murmured to himself, "that as soon as Angela sets eyes upon
+me again, the evil spirit will recover his power and once more take
+possession of her. And since I have already thrown her out of the
+window, what could I do if a similar case were to occur again? What
+would there be left for me to do?" He got out of the carriage, and
+wrote an affectionate letter to his wife, making graceful allusion to
+her tenderness in especially dwelling upon the fact that his tiny
+daughter had, like him, a little mole behind the ear, and--remained in
+Germany. Now ensued an active correspondence between them. Assurances
+of unchanged affection--invitations--laments over the absence of the
+beloved one--thwarted wishes--hopes, etc.--flew backwards and forwards
+from Venice to H----, from H---- to Venice. At length Angela came to
+Germany, and, as is well known, sang with brilliant success as prima
+donna at the great theatre in F----. Despite the fact that she was no
+longer young, she won all hearts by the irresistible charm of her
+wonderfully splendid singing. At that time she had not lost her voice
+in the least degree. Meanwhile, Antonia had been growing up; and her
+mother never tired of writing to tell her father how that a singer of
+the first rank was developing in her. Krespel's friends in F---- also
+confirmed this intelligence, and urged him to come for once to F---- to
+see and admire this uncommon sight of two such glorious singers. They
+had not the slightest suspicion of the close relations in which Krespel
+stood to the pair. Willingly would he have seen with his own eyes the
+daughter who occupied so large a place in his heart, and who moreover
+often appeared to him in his dreams; but as often as he thought upon
+his wife he felt very uncomfortable, and so he remained at home amongst
+his broken violins. There was a certain promising young composer, B----
+of F----, who was found to have suddenly disappeared, nobody knew
+where. This young man fell so deeply in love with Antonia that, as she
+returned his love, he earnestly besought her mother to consent to an
+immediate union, sanctified as it would further be by art. Angela had
+nothing to urge against his suit; and the Councillor the more readily
+gave his consent that the young composer's productions had found favor
+before his rigorous critical judgment. Krespel was expecting to hear of
+the consummation of the marriage, when he received instead a
+black-sealed envelope addressed in a strange hand. Doctor R----
+conveyed to the Councillor the sad intelligence that Angela had fallen
+seriously ill in consequence of a cold caught at the theatre, and that
+during the night immediately preceding what was to have been Antonia's
+wedding-day, she had died. To him, the Doctor, Angela had disclosed the
+fact that she was Krespel's wife, and that Antonia was his daughter;
+he, Krespel, had better hasten therefore to take charge of the orphan.
+Notwithstanding that the Councillor was a good deal upset by this news
+of Angela's death, he soon began to feel that an antipathetic,
+disturbing influence had departed out of his life, and that now for the
+first time he could begin to breathe freely. The very same day he set
+out for F----. You could not credit how heartrending was the
+Councillor's description of the moment when he first saw Antonia. Even
+in the fantastic oddities of his expression there was such a marvellous
+power of description that I am unable to give even so much as a faint
+indication of it. Antonia inherited all her mother's amiability and all
+her mother's charms, but not the repellent reverse of the medal. There
+was no chronic moral ulcer, which might break out from time to time.
+Antonia's betrothed put in an appearance, whilst Antonia herself,
+fathoming with happy instinct the deeper-lying character of her
+wonderful father, sang one of old Padre Martini's [Footnote:
+Giambattista Martini, more commonly called Padre Martini, of Bologna,
+formed an influential school of music there in the latter half of the
+eighteenth century. He wrote vocal and instrumental pieces both for the
+church and for the theatre. He was also a learned historian of music.
+He has the merit of having discerned and encouraged the genius of
+Mozart when, a boy of fourteen, he visited Bologna in 1770.] motets,
+which, she knew, Krespel in the heyday of his courtship had never grown
+tired of hearing her mother sing. The tears ran in streams down
+Krespel's cheeks; even Angela he had never heard sing like that.
+Antonia's voice was of a very remarkable and altogether peculiar
+timbre: at one time it was like the sighing of an Aeolian harp, at
+another like the warbled gush of the nightingale. It seemed as if there
+was not room for such notes in the human breast. Antonia, blushing with
+joy and happiness, sang on and on--all her most beautiful songs, B----
+playing between whiles as only enthusiasm that is intoxicated with
+delight can play. Krespel was at first transported with rapture, then
+he grew thoughtful--still--absorbed in reflection. At length he leapt
+to his feet, pressed Antonia to his heart, and begged her in a low
+husky voice, "Sing no more if you love me--my heart is bursting--I
+fear--I fear--don't sing again."
+
+"No!" remarked the Councillor next day to Doctor R----, "when, as she
+sang, her blushes gathered into two dark red spots on her pale cheeks,
+I knew it had nothing to do with your nonsensical family likenesses, I
+knew it was what I dreaded." The Doctor, whose countenance had shown
+signs of deep distress from the very beginning of the conversation,
+replied, "Whether it arises from a too early taxing of her powers of
+song, or whether the fault is Nature's--enough, Antonia labors under an
+organic failure in the chest, while it is from it too that her voice
+derives its wonderful power and its singular timbre, which I might
+almost say transcend the limits of human capabilities of song. But it
+bears the announcement of her early death; for, if she continues to
+sing, I wouldn't give her at the most more than six months longer to
+live." Krespel's heart was lacerated as if by the stabs of hundreds of
+stinging knives. It was as though his life had been for the first time
+overshadowed by a beautiful tree full of the most magnificent blossoms,
+and now it was to be sawn to pieces at the roots, so that it could not
+grow green and blossom any more. His resolution was taken. He told
+Antonia all; he put the alternatives before her--whether she would
+follow her betrothed and yield to his and the world's seductions, but
+with the certainty of dying early, or whether she would spread round
+her father in his old days that joy and peace which had hitherto been
+unknown to him, and so secure a long life. She threw herself sobbing
+into his arms, and he, knowing the heartrending trial that was before
+her, did not press for a more explicit declaration, He talked the
+matter over with her betrothed; but, notwithstanding that the latter
+averred that no note should ever cross Antonia's lips, the Councillor
+was only too well aware that even B---- could not resist the temptation
+of hearing her sing, at any rate arias of his own composition. And the
+world, the musical public, even though acquainted with the nature of
+the singer's affliction, would certainly not relinquish its claims to
+hear her, for in cases where pleasure is concerned people of this class
+are very selfish and cruel. The Councillor disappeared from F---- along
+with Antonia, and came to H----. B---- was in despair when he learned
+that they had gone. He set out on their track, overtook them, and
+arrived at H---- at the same time that they did. "Let me see him only
+once, and then die!" entreated Antonia. "Die! die!" cried Krespel, wild
+with anger, an icy shudder running through him. His daughter, the only
+creature in the wide world who had awakened in him the springs of
+unknown joy, who alone had reconciled him to life, tore herself away
+from his heart, and he--he suffered the terrible trial to take place.
+B---- sat down to the piano; Antonia sang; Krespel fiddled away
+merrily, until the two red spots showed themselves on Antonia's cheeks.
+Then he bade her stop; and as B---- was taking leave of his betrothed,
+she suddenly fell to the floor with a loud scream. "I thought,"
+continued Krespel in his narration, "I thought that she was, as I had
+anticipated, really dead; but as I had prepared myself for the worst,
+my calmness did not leave me, nor my self-command desert me. I grasped
+B----, who stood like a silly sheep in his dismay, by the shoulders,
+and said (here the Councillor fell into his singing tone), 'Now that
+you, my estimable pianoforte-player, have, as you wished and desired,
+really murdered your betrothed, you may quietly take your departure; at
+least have the goodness to make yourself scarce before I run my bright
+hanger through your heart. My daughter, who, as you see, is rather
+pale, could very well do with some color from your precious blood. Make
+haste and run, for I might also hurl a nimble knife or two after you.'
+I must, I suppose, have looked rather formidable as I uttered these
+words, for, with a cry of the greatest terror, B---- tore himself loose
+from my grasp, rushed out of the room, and down the steps." Directly
+after B---- was gone, when the Councillor tried to lift up his
+daughter, who lay unconscious on the floor, she opened her eyes with a
+deep sigh, but soon closed them again as if about to die. Then
+Krespel's grief found vent aloud, and would not be comforted. The
+doctor, whom the old housekeeper had called in, pronounced Antonia's
+case a somewhat serious but by no means dangerous attack; and she did
+indeed recover more quickly than her father had dared to hope. She now
+clung to him with the most confiding childlike affection; she entered
+into his favorite hobbies--into his mad schemes and whims. She helped
+him take old violins to pieces and glue new ones together. "I won't
+sing again any more, but live for you," she often said, sweetly smiling
+upon him, after she had been asked to sing and had refused. Such
+appeals, however, the Councillor was anxious to spare her as much as
+possible; therefore it was that he was unwilling to take her into
+society, and solicitously shunned all music. He well understood how
+painful it must be for her to forego altogether the exercise of that
+art which she had brought to such a pitch of perfection. When the
+Councillor bought the wonderful violin that he had buried with Antonia,
+and was about to take it to pieces, she met him with such sadness in
+her face and softly breathed the petition, "What! this as well?" By
+some power, which he could not explain, he felt impelled to leave this
+particular instrument unbroken, and to play upon it. Scarcely had he
+drawn the first few notes from it than Antonia cried aloud with joy,
+"Why, that's me!--now I shall sing again." And, in truth, there was
+something remarkably striking about the clear, silvery, bell-like tones
+of the violin; they seemed to have been engendered in the human soul.
+Krespel's heart was deeply moved; he played, too, better than ever. As
+he ran up and down the scale, playing bold passages with consummate
+power and expression, she clapped her hands together and cried with
+delight, "I did that well! I did that well."
+
+From this time onwards her life was filled with peace and cheerfulness.
+She often said to the Councillor, "I should like to sing something,
+father." Then Krespel would take his violin down from the wall and play
+her most beautiful songs, and her heart was right glad and happy.
+Shortly before my arrival in H----, the Councillor fancied one night
+that he heard somebody playing the piano in the adjoining room, and he
+soon made out distinctly that B---- was flourishing on the instrument
+in his usual style. He wished to get up, but felt himself held down as
+if by a dead weight, and lying as if fettered in iron bonds; he was
+utterly unable to move an inch. Then Antonia's voice was heard singing
+low and soft; soon, however, it began to rise and rise in volume until
+it became an ear-splitting fortissimo; and at length she passed over
+into a powerfully impressive song which B---had once composed for her
+in the devotional style of the old masters. Krespel described his
+condition as being incomprehensible, for terrible anguish was mingled
+with a delight he had never experienced before. All at once he was
+surrounded by a dazzling brightness, in which he beheld B---and Antonia
+locked in a close embrace, and gazing at each other in a rapture of
+ecstasy. The music of the song and of the pianoforte accompanying it
+went on without any visible signs that Antonia sang or that B----
+touched the instrument. Then the Councillor fell into a sort of dead
+faint, whilst the images vanished away. On awakening he still felt the
+terrible anguish of his dream. He rushed into Antonia's room. She lay
+on the sofa, her eyes closed, a sweet angelic smile on her face, her
+hands devoutly folded, and looking as if asleep and dreaming of the
+joys and raptures of heaven. But she was--dead.
+
+
+
+
+ADVENTURES OF A NEW-YEAR'S EVE
+
+BY
+
+HEINRICH ZSCHOKKE
+
+
+From "Tales by Heinrich Zschokke." Translated by Parke Godwin.
+Published by G. P. Putnam's Sons.
+
+
+
+
+Mother Kate, the watchman's wife, at nine o'clock on New Year's Eve,
+opened her little window, and put out her head into the night air. The
+snow was reddened by the light from the window as it fell in silent,
+heavy flakes upon the street. She observed the crowds of happy people,
+hurrying to and fro from the brilliantly lighted shops with presents,
+or pouring out of the various inns and coffee-houses, and going to the
+dances and other entertainments with which the New Year is married to
+the Old in joy and pleasure. But when a few cold flakes had lighted on
+her nose, she drew back her head, closed the window, and said to her
+husband: "Gottlieb, stay at home, and let Philip watch for thee
+to-night; for the snow comes as fast as it can from Heaven, and thou
+knowest the cold does thy old bones no good. The streets will be gay
+to-night. There seems dancing and feasting in every house, masqueraders
+are going about, and Philip will enjoy the sport."
+
+Old Gottlieb nodded his assent. "I am willing, Kate," he said. "My
+barometer, the old wound above my knee, has given me warning the last
+two days of a change of weather. It is only right that my son should
+aid me in a service to which he will be my successor."
+
+We must give the reader to understand that old Gottlieb had been a
+sergeant of cavalry in one of the king's regiments, until he was made a
+cripple for life by a musket-ball, as he was the first mounting the
+walls of a hostile fort in a battle for his fatherland. The officer who
+commanded the attack received the cross of honor on the battlefield for
+his heroism, and was advanced in the service; while Gottlieb was fain
+to creep homewards on a pair of crutches. From pity they made him a
+schoolmaster, for he was intelligent, liked to read, and wrote a good
+hand. But when the school increased they took it away from him to
+provide for a young man who could do none of these as well as he,
+merely because he was a godson of one of the trustees. However, they
+promoted Gottlieb to the post of watchman, with the reversion of it to
+his son Philip, who had in the meantime bound himself to a gardener. It
+was only the good housewifery of Mistress Katharine, and the extreme
+moderation of old Gottlieb, that enabled them to live happily on the
+little they possessed. Philip gave his services to the gardener for his
+board and lodging, but he occasionally received very fine presents when
+he carried home flowers to the rich people of the town. He was a fresh,
+handsome young fellow, of six-and-twenty. Noble ladies often gave him
+sundry extra dollars for his fine looks, a thing they would never have
+thought of doing for an ugly face. Mrs. Kate had already put on her
+cloak to go to the gardener's house to fetch her son, when he entered
+the apartment.
+
+"Father," said Philip, giving a hand to both father and mother, "it's
+snowing, and the snow won't do you much good. I'll take the watch
+to-night, and you can get to bed."
+
+"You're a good boy," said old Gottlieb.
+
+"And then I've been thinking," continued Philip, "that as to-morrow is
+New Year's Day, I may come and dine with you and make myself happy.
+Mother perhaps has no joint in the kitchen, and--"
+
+"No," interrupted the mother, "we've no joint, but then we have a pound
+and a and a half of venison; with potatoes for a relish, and a little
+rice with laurel leaves for a soup, and two flasks of beer to drink.
+Only come, Philip, for we shall live finely to-morrow! Next week we may
+do better, for the New Year's gifts will be coming in, and Gottlieb's
+share will be something! Oh! we shall live grandly."
+
+"Well, so much the better, dear mother," said Philip; "but have you
+paid the rent of the cottage yet?"
+
+Old Gottlieb shrugged his shoulders.
+
+Philip laid a purse upon the table.
+
+"There are two-and-twenty dollars that I have saved. I can do very well
+without them; take them for a New Year's gift, and then we can all
+three enter on the new year without a debt or a care. God grant that we
+may end it in health and happiness! Heaven in its goodness will provide
+for both you and me!"
+
+Tears came into Mother Katharine's eyes as she kissed her son; old
+Gottlieb said: "Philip, you are the prop and stay of our old age.
+Continue to be honest and good, and to love your parents, so will a
+blessing rest on you. I can give you nothing for a New Year's gift, but
+a prayer that you may keep your heart pure and true--this is in your
+power--you will be rich enough--for a clear conscience is a Heaven in
+itself."
+
+So said old Gottlieb, and then he wrote down in an account-book the sum
+of two-and-twenty dollars that his son had given him.
+
+"All that you have cost me in childhood is now nearly paid up. Your
+savings amount to three hundred and seventeen dollars, which I have
+received."
+
+"Three hundred and seventeen dollars!" cried Mistress Katharine, in the
+greatest amazement; and then turning to Philip with a voice full of
+tenderness, "Ah, Philip," she said, "thou grievest me. Child of my
+heart! Yes, indeed thou dost. Hadst thou saved that money for thyself
+thou might have bought some land with it, and started as gardener on
+thy own account, and married Rose. NOW that is impossible. But take
+comfort, Philip. We are old, and thou wilt not have to support us long."
+
+"Mother!" exclaimed Philip, and he frowned a little; "what are you
+thinking of? Rose is dear to me as my life, but I would give up a
+hundred Roses rather than desert you and my father. I should never find
+any other parents in this world but you, but there are plenty of Roses,
+although I would have none but Mrs. Bittner's Rose, were there even ten
+thousand others."
+
+"You are right, Philip," said Gottlieb; "loving and marrying are not in
+the commandments--but to honor your father and mother is a duty and
+commandment. To give up strong passions and inclinations for the
+happiness of your parents is the truest gratitude of a son. It will
+gain you the blessing from above:--it will make you rich in your own
+heart."
+
+"If it were only not too long for Rose to wait," said Mrs. Katharine,
+"or if you could give up the engagement altogether! For Rose is a
+pretty girl, that can't be denied; and though she is poor, there will
+be no want of wooers. She is virtuous and understands housekeeping."
+
+"Never fear, mother," replied Philip; "Rose has solemnly sworn to marry
+no man but me; and that is sufficient. Her mother has nothing to object
+to me. And if I was in business and had money enough to keep a wife
+with, Rose would be my wife to-morrow. The only annoyance we have is,
+that her mother will not let us meet so often as we wish. She says
+frequent meetings do no good; but I differ from her, and so does
+Rose--for we think meeting often does us both a great deal of good. And
+we have agreed to meet to-night, at twelve o'clock, at the great door
+of St. Gregory's Church, for Rose is bringing in the year at a friend's
+house, and I am to take her home."
+
+In the midst of such conversation the clock of the neighboring tower
+struck three-quarters, and Philip took his father's great-coat from the
+warm stove where Katharine had carefully laid it, wrapped himself in
+it, and taking the lantern and staff, and wishing his parents
+good-night, proceeded to his post.
+
+
+
+
+II.
+
+
+Philip stalked majestically through the snow-covered streets of the
+capital, where as many people were still visible as in the middle of
+the day. Carriages were rattling in all directions, the houses were all
+brilliantly lighted. Our watchman enjoyed the scene, he sang his verses
+at ten o'clock, and blew his horn lustily in the neighborhood of St.
+Gregory's Church, with many a thought on Rose, who was then with her
+friend. "Now she hears me," he said to himself; "now she thinks on me,
+and forgets the scene around her. I hope she won't fail me at twelve
+o'clock at the church door." And when he had gone his round, he always
+returned to the dear house and looked up at the lighted windows.
+Sometimes he saw female figures, and his heart beat quick at the sight;
+sometimes he fancied he saw Rose herself; and sometimes he studied the
+long shadows thrown on the wall or the ceiling to discover which of
+them was Rose's, and to fancy what she was doing. It was certainly not
+a very pleasant employment to stand in frost and snow and look up at a
+window; but what care lovers for frost and snow? And watchmen are as
+fiery and romantic lovers as ever were the knights of ancient ballads.
+
+He only felt the effects of the frost when, at eleven o'clock, he had
+to set out upon his round. His teeth chattered with cold; he could
+scarcely call the hour or sound his horn. He would willingly have gone
+into a beer-house to warm himself at the fire. As he was pacing through
+a lonely by-street, he met a man with a black half-mask on his face,
+enveloped in a fire-colored silken mantle, and wearing on his head a
+magnificent hat turned up at one side, and fantastically ornamented
+with a number of high and waving plumes.
+
+Philip endeavored to escape the mask, but in vain. The stranger blocked
+up his path and said: "Ha! thou art a fine fellow; I like thy phiz
+amazingly. Where are you going, eh? I say, where are you going?"
+
+"To Mary Street," replied Philip. "I am going to call the hour there."
+
+"Enchanting!" answered the mask. "I'll hear thee: I'll go with thee.
+Come along, thou foolish fellow, and let me hear thee, and mind thou
+singest well, for I am a good judge. Canst thou sing me a jovial song?"
+
+Philip saw that his companion was of high rank and a little tipsy, and
+answered: "I sing better over a glass of wine in a warm room, than when
+up to my waist in snow."
+
+They had now reached Mary Street, and Philip sang and blew the horn.
+
+"Ha! that's but a poor performance," exclaimed the mask, who had
+accompanied him thither. "Give me the horn! I shall blow so well that
+you'll half die with delight."
+
+Philip yielded to the mask's wishes, and let him sing the verses and
+blow. For four or five times all was done as if the stranger had been a
+watchman all his life. He dilated most eloquently on the joys of such
+an occupation, and was so inexhaustible in his own praises that he made
+Philip laugh at his extravagance. His spirits evidently owed no small
+share of their elevation to an extra glass of wine.
+
+"I'll tell you what, my treasure, I've a great fancy to be a watchman
+myself for an hour or two. If I don't do it now, I shall never arrive
+at that honor in the course of my life. Give me your great-coat and
+wide-brimmed hat, and take my domino. Go into a beer-house and take a
+bottle at my expense; and when you have finished it, come again and
+give me back my masking-gear. You shall have a couple of dollars for
+your trouble. What do you think, my treasure?"
+
+But Philip did not like this arrangement. At last, however, at the
+solicitations of the mask, he capitulated as they entered a dark lane.
+Philip was half frozen; a warm drink would do him good, and so would a
+warm fire. He agreed for one half-hour to give up his watchmanship,
+which would be till twelve o'clock. Exactly at that time the stranger
+was to come to the great door of St. Gregory's and give back the
+great-coat, horn, and staff, taking back his own silk mantle, hat, and
+domino. Philip also told him the four streets in which he was to call
+the hour. The mask was in raptures: "Treasure of my heart, I could kiss
+thee if thou wert not a dirty, miserable fellow! But thou shalt have
+naught to regret, if thou art at the church at twelve, for I will give
+thee money for a supper then. Joy! I am a watchman!" The mask looked a
+watchman to the life, while Philip was completely disguised with the
+half-mask tied over his face, the bonnet ornamented with a buckle of
+brilliants on his head, and the red silk mantle thrown around him. When
+he saw his companion commence his walk he began to fear that the young
+gentleman might compromise the dignity of the watchman. He therefore
+addressed him once more, and said:
+
+"I hope you will not abuse my good nature and do any mischief or
+misbehave in any way, as it may cost me the situation."
+
+"Hallo!" answered the stranger. "What are you talking about? Do you
+think I don't know my duty? Off with you this moment, or I'll let you
+feel the weight of my staff. But come to St. Gregory's Church and give
+me back my clothes at twelve o'clock. Good-bye. This is glorious fun!"
+
+The new guardian of the streets walked onward with all the dignity
+becoming his office, while Philip hurried to a neighboring tavern.
+
+
+
+
+III.
+
+
+As he was passing the door of the royal palace, he was laid hold of by
+a person in a mask who had alighted from a carriage. Philip turned
+round, and in a low whispering voice asked what the stranger wanted.
+
+"My gracious lord," answered the mask, "in your reverie you have passed
+the door. Will your Royal Highness--"
+
+"What? Royal Highness?" said laughing. "I am no highness. What put that
+in your head?"
+
+The mask bowed respectfully, and pointed to the brilliant buckle in
+Philip's hat. "I ask your pardon if I have betrayed your disguise. But,
+in whatever character you asume, your noble bearing will betray you.
+Will you condescend to lead the way? Does your Highness intend to
+dance?"
+
+"I? To dance?" replied Philip. "No--you see I have boots on."
+
+"To play, then?" inquired the mask.
+
+"Still less. I have brought no money with me," said the assistant
+watchman.
+
+"Good heaven!" exclaimed the mask. "Command my purse--all that I
+possess is at your service!" Saying this, he forced a full purse into
+Philip's hand.
+
+"But do you know who I am?" inquired Philip, and rejected the purse.
+
+The mask whispered with a bow of profound obeisance: "His Royal
+Highness, Prince Julian."
+
+At this moment Philip heard his deputy in an adjoining street calling
+the hour very distinctly, and he now became aware of his metamorphosis.
+Prince Julian, who was well known in the capital as an amiable, wild,
+and good-hearted young man, had been the person with whom he had
+changed his clothes. "Now, then," thought Philip, "as he enacts the
+watchman so well, I will not shame his rank; I'll see if, for one
+half-hour, I can't be the Prince. If I make any mistake, he has himself
+to blame for it." He wrapped the red silken mantle closer round him,
+took the offered purse, put it in his pocket, and said: "Who are you,
+mask? I will return your gold to-morrow."
+
+"I am the Chamberlain Pilzou."
+
+"Good--lead the way--I'll follow." The Chamberlain obeyed, and tripped
+up the marble stairs, Philip coming close behind him. They entered an
+immense hall lighted by a thousand tapers and dazzling chandeliers,
+which were reflected by brilliant mirrors. A confused crowd of maskers
+jostled each other, sultans, Tyrolese, harlequins, knights in armor,
+nuns, goddesses, satyrs, monks, Jews, Medes, and Persians. Philip for a
+while was abashed and blinded. Such splendor he had never dreamt of. In
+the middle of the hall the dance was carried on with hundreds of people
+to the music of a full band. Philip, whom the heat of the apartment
+recovered from his frozen state, was so bewildered with the scene that
+he could scarcely nod his head as different masks addressed him, some
+confidentially, others deferentially.
+
+"Will you go to the hazard table?" whispered the Chamberlain, who stood
+beside him, and who Philip now saw was dressed as a Brahmin.
+
+"Let me get thawed first," answered Philip; "I am an icicle at present."
+
+"A glass of warm punch?" inquired the Brahmin, and led him into the
+refreshment-room. The pseudo-prince did not wait for a second
+invitation, but emptied one glass after the other in short time. The
+punch was good, and it spread its genial warmth through Philip's veins.
+
+"How is it you don't dance tonight, Brahmin?" he asked of his
+companion, when they returned into the hall. The Brahmin sighed, and
+shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"I have no pleasure now in the dance. Gayety is distasteful to me. The
+only person I care to dance with--the Countess Bonau--I thought she
+loved me; our families offered no objection--but all at once she broke
+with me." His voice trembled as he spoke.
+
+"How?" said Philip, "I never heard of such a thing."
+
+"You never heard of it?" repeated the other; "the whole city rings with
+it. The quarrel happened a fortnight ago, and she will not allow me to
+justify myself, but has sent back three letters I wrote to her,
+unopened. She is a declared enemy of the Baroness Reizenthal, and had
+made me promise to drop her acquaintance. But, think how unfortunate I
+was! When the Queen-mother made the hunting party to Freudenwald, she
+appointed me cavalier to the Baroness. What could I do? It was
+impossible to refuse. On the very birthday of the adorable Bonau I was
+obliged to set out.....She heard of it.....She put no trust in my
+heart!"
+
+"Well, then, Brahmin, take advantage of the present moment. The New
+Year makes up all quarrels. Is the Countess here?"
+
+"Do you not see her over there--the Carmelite on the left of the third
+pillar beside the two black dominos. She has laid aside her mask. Ah,
+Prince! your intercession would--"
+
+Philip thought: "Now I can do a good work!" and, as the punch had
+inspired him, he walked directly to the Carmelite. The Countess Bonau
+looked at him for some time seriously, and with flushed cheeks, as he
+sat down beside her. She was a beautiful girl; yet Philip remained
+persuaded that Rose was a thousand times more beautiful.
+
+"Countess," he said,--and became embarrassed when he met her clear
+bright eye fixed upon him.
+
+"Prince," said the Countess, "an hour ago you were somewhat too bold."
+
+"Fair Countess, I am therefore at this present moment the more quiet."
+
+"So much the better. I shall not, then, be obliged to keep out of your
+way."
+
+"Fair lady, allow me to ask one question. Have you put on a nun's gown
+to do penance for your sins?"
+
+"I have nothing to do penance for."
+
+"But you have, Countess!--your cruelties--your injustice to the poor
+Brahmin yonder, who seems neglected by his God and all the world."
+
+The beautiful Carmelite cast down her eyes, and appeared uneasy.
+
+"And do you know, fair Countess, that in the Freudenwald affair the
+Chamberlain is as innocent as I am?"
+
+"As you, Prince?" said the Countess, frowning, "what did you tell me an
+hour ago?"
+
+"You are right, dear Countess, I was too bold. You said so yourself.
+But now I declare to you the Chamberlain was obliged to go to
+Freudenwald by command of the Queen-mother--against his will was
+obliged to be cavalier to the hated Reizenthal--"
+
+"Hated--by him?"--interrupted the Countess with a bitter and sneering
+laugh.
+
+"Yes--he hates,--he despises the Baroness. Believe me, he scarcely
+treated her with civility, and incurred the Royal displeasure by so
+doing. I know it; and it was for your sake. You are the only person he
+loves--to you he offers his hand, his heart--and you!--you reject him!"
+
+"How comes it, Prince, that you intercede so warmly for Pilzou? You did
+not do so formerly."
+
+"That was because I did not know him, and still less the sad state into
+which you have thrown him by your behavior. I swear to you he is
+innocent--you have nothing to forgive in him--he has much to forgive in
+you."
+
+"Hush!" whispered the Carmelite, "we are watched here; away from this."
+She replaced her mask, stood up, and placing her arm within that of the
+supposed Prince, they crossed the hall and entered a side-room. The
+Countess uttered many bitter complaints against the Chamberlain, but
+they were the complaints of jealous love. The Countess was in tears,
+when the tender Brahmin soon after came timidly into the apartment.
+There was a deep silence among the three. Philip, not knowing how to
+conclude his intercession better, led the Brahmin to the Carmelite, and
+joined their hands together, without saying a word, and left them to
+fate. He himself returned into the hall.
+
+IV.
+
+Here he was hastily addressed by a Mameluke: "I'm glad I have met you,
+Domino. Is the Rose-girl in the side-room?" The Mameluke rushed into
+it, but returned in a moment evidently disappointed. "One word alone
+with you, Domino," he said, and led Philip into a window recess in a
+retired part of the hall.
+
+"What do you want?" asked Philip.
+
+"I beseech you," replied the Mameluke, in a subdued yet terrible voice,
+"where is the Rose-girl?"
+
+"What is the Rose-girl to me?"
+
+"But to me she is everything!" answered the Mameluke, whose suppressed
+voice and agitated demeanor showed that a fearful struggle was going on
+within. "To me she is everything. She is my wife. You make me wretched,
+Prince! I conjure you drive me not to madness. Think of my wife no
+more!"
+
+"With all my heart," answered Philip, dryly; "what have I to do with
+your wife?"
+
+"O Prince, Prince!" exclaimed the Mameluke, "I have made a resolve
+which I shall execute if it cost me my life. Do not seek to deceive me
+a moment longer. I have discovered everything. Here! look at this! 'tis
+a note my false wife slipped into your hand, and which you dropped in
+the crowd, without having read."
+
+Philip took the note. 'T was written in pencil, and in a fine delicate
+hand: "Change your mask. Everybody knows you. My husband watches you.
+He does not know me. If you obey me, I will reward you."
+
+"Hem!" muttered Philip. "As I live, this was not written to me. I don't
+trouble my head about your wife."
+
+"Death and fury, Prince! do not drive me mad! Do you know who it is
+that speaks to you? I am the Marshal Blankenswerd. Your advances to my
+wife are not unknown to me, ever since the last rout at the palace."
+
+"My Lord Marshal," answered Philip, "excuse me for saying that jealousy
+has blinded you. If you knew me well, you would not think of accusing
+me of such folly. I give you my word of honor I will never trouble your
+wife."
+
+"Are you in earnest, Prince?"
+
+"Entirely."
+
+"Give me a proof of this?"
+
+"Whatever you require."
+
+"I know you have hindered her until now from going with me to visit her
+relations in Poland. Will you persuade her to do so now?"
+
+"With all my heart, if you desire it."
+
+"Yes, yes! and your Royal Highness will prevent inconceivable and
+unavoidable misery."
+
+The Mameluke continued for some time, sometimes begging and praying,
+and sometimes threatening so furiously, that Philip feared he might
+make a scene before the whole assembly that would not have suited him
+precisely. He therefore quitted him as soon as possible. Scarcely had
+he lost himself in the crowd, when a female, closely wrapped in deep
+mourning, tapped him familiarly on the arm, and whispered:
+
+"Butterfly, whither away? Have you no pity for the disconsolate Widow?"
+
+Philip answered very politely: "Beautiful widows find no lack of
+comforters. May I venture to include myself amongst them?"
+
+"Why are you so disobedient? and why have you not changed your mask?"
+said the Widow, while she led him aside that they might speak more
+freely. "Do you really fancy, Prince, that every one here does not know
+who you are?"
+
+"They are very much mistaken in me, I assure you," replied Philip.
+
+"No, indeed," answered the Widow, "they know you very well, and if you
+do not immediately change your apparel, I shall not speak to you again
+the whole evening. I have no desire to give my husband an opportunity
+of making a scene."
+
+By this Philip discovered whom he was talking with. "You were the
+beautiful Rose-girl; are your roses withered so soon?"
+
+"What is there that does not wither? not the constancy of man? I saw
+you when you slipped off with the Carmelite. Acknowledge your
+inconstancy--you can deny it no longer."
+
+"Hem," answered Philip, dryly, "accuse me if you will, I can return the
+accusation."
+
+"How,--pretty butterfly?"
+
+"Why, for instance, there is not a more constant man alive than the
+Marshal."
+
+"There is not indeed!--and I am wrong, very wrong to have listened to
+you so long. I reproached myself enough, but he has unfortunately
+discovered our flirtation."
+
+"Since the last rout at Court, fair Widow---"
+
+"Were you so unguarded and particular--pretty butterfly!"
+
+"Let us repair the mischief. Let us part. I honor the Marshal, and, for
+my part, do not like to give him pain."
+
+The Widow looked at him for some time in speechless amazement.
+
+"If you have indeed any regard for me," continued Philip, "you will go
+with the Marshal to Poland, to visit your relations. 'Tis better that
+we should not meet so often. A beautiful woman is beautiful--but a pure
+and virtuous woman is more beautiful still."
+
+"Prince!" cried the astonished Widow, "are you really in earnest? Have
+you ever loved me, or have you all along deceived?"
+
+"Look you," answered Philip, "I am a tempter of a peculiar kind. I
+search constantly among women to find truth and virtue, and 'tis but
+seldom that I encounter them. Only the true and virtuous can keep me
+constant--therefore I am true to none; but no!--I will not lie--there
+is one that keeps me in her chains--I am sorry, fair Widow, that that
+one--is not you!"
+
+"You are in a strange mood to-night, Prince," answered the Widow, and
+the trembling of her voice and heaving of her bosom showed the working
+of her mind.
+
+"No," answered Philip, "I am in as rational a mood to-night as I ever
+was in my life. I wish only to repair an injury; I have promised to
+your husband to do so."
+
+"How!" exclaimed the Widow, in a voice of terror, "you have discovered
+all to the Marshal?"
+
+"Not everything," answered Philip, "only what I knew."
+
+The Widow wrung her hands in the extremity of agitation, and at last
+said, "Where is my husband?"
+
+Philip pointed to the Mameluke, who at this moment approached them with
+slow steps.
+
+"Prince," said the Widow, in a tone of inexpressible rage,--"Prince,
+you may be forgiven this, but not from me! I never dreamt that the
+heart of man could be so deceitful,--but you are unworthy of a thought.
+You are an impostor! My husband in the dress of a barbarian is a
+prince; you in the dress of a prince are a barbarian. In this world you
+see me no more!"
+
+With these words she turned proudly away from him, and going up to the
+Mameluke, they left the hall in deep and earnest conversation. Philip
+laughed quietly, and said to himself: "My substitute, the watchman,
+must look to it, for I do not play my part badly; I only hope when he
+returns he will proceed as I have begun."
+
+He went up to the dancers, and was delighted to see the beautiful
+Carmelite standing up in a set with the overjoyed Brahmin. No sooner
+did the latter perceive him, than he kissed his hand to him, and in
+dumb-show gave him to understand in what a blessed state he was. Philip
+thought: "'T is a pity I am not to be prince all my life-time. The
+people would be satisfied then; to be a prince is the easiest thing in
+the world. He can do more with a single word than a lawyer with a
+four-hours' speech. Yes! if I were a prince, my beautiful Rose would
+be--lost to me for ever. No! I would not be a prince." He now looked at
+the clock, and saw 't was half-past eleven. The Mameluke hurried up to
+him and gave him a paper. "Prince," he exclaimed, "I could fall at your
+feet and thank you in the very dust. I am reconciled to my wife. You
+have broken her heart; but it is better that it should be so. We leave
+for Poland this very night, and there we shall fix our home. Farewell!
+I shall be ready whenever your Royal Highness requires me, to pour out
+my last drop of blood in your service. My gratitude is eternal.
+Farewell!"
+
+"Stay!" said Philip to the Marshal, who was hurrying away, "what am I
+to do with this paper?"
+
+"Oh, that,-'tis the amount of my loss to your Highness last week at
+hazard. I had nearly forgotten it; but before my departure, I must
+clear my debts. I have indorsed it on the back." With these words the
+Marshal disappeared.
+
+
+
+
+V.
+
+
+Philip opened the paper, and read in it an order for five thousand
+dollars. He put it in his pocket, and thought: "Well, it's a pity that
+I'm not a prince." Some one whispered in his ear:
+
+"Your Royal Highness, we are both discovered; I shall blow my brains
+out."
+
+Philip turned round in amazement, and saw a negro at his side.
+
+"What do you want, mask?" he asked, in an unconcerned tone.
+
+"I am Colonel Kalt," whispered the negro. "The Marshal's wife has been
+chattering to Duke Herman, and he has been breathing fire and fury
+against us both."
+
+"He is quite welcome," answered Philip.
+
+"But the King will hear it all," sighed the negro. "This very night I
+may be arrested and carried to a dungeon; I'll sooner hang myself."
+
+"No need of that," said Philip.
+
+"What! am I to be made infamous for my whole life? I am lost, I tell
+you. The Duke will demand entire satisfaction. His back is black and
+blue yet with the marks of the cudgelling I gave him. I am lost, and
+the baker's daughter too! I'll jump from the bridge and drown myself at
+once!"
+
+"God forbid!" answered Philip; "what have you and the baker's daughter
+to do with it?"
+
+"Your Royal Highness banters me, and I am in despair!--I humbly beseech
+you to give me two minutes' private conversation."
+
+Philip followed the negro into a small boudoir dimly lighted up with a
+few candles. The negro threw himself on a sofa, quite overcome, and
+groaned aloud. Philip found some sandwiches and wine on the table, and
+helped himself with great relish.
+
+"I wonder your Royal Highness can be so cool on hearing this cursed
+story. If that rascally Salmoni was here who acted the conjurer, he
+might save us by some contrivance, for the fellow was a bunch of
+tricks. As it is, he has slipped out of the scrape."
+
+"So much the better," interrupted Philip, replenishing his glass;
+"since he has got out of the way, we can throw all the blame on his
+shoulders."
+
+"How can we do that? The Duke, I tell you, knows that you, and I, and
+the Marshal's wife, and the baker's daughter, were all in the plot
+together, to take advantage of his superstition. He knows that it was
+you that engaged Salmoni to play the conjurer; that it was I that
+instructed the baker's daughter (with whom he is in love) how to
+inveigle him into the snare; that it was I that enacted the ghost, that
+knocked him down, and cudgelled him till he roared again. If I had only
+not carried the joke too far, but I wished to cool his love a little
+for my sweetheart. 'T was a devilish business. I'll take poison."
+
+"Rather swallow a glass of wine--'t is delicious," said Philip, taking
+another tart at the same time. "For to tell you the truth, my friend, I
+think you are rather a white-livered sort of rogue for a colonel, to
+think of hanging, drowning, shooting, and poisoning yourself about such
+a ridiculous story as that. One of these modes would be too much, but
+as to all the four--nonsense. I tell you that at this moment I don't
+know what to make out of your tale."
+
+"Your Royal Highness, have pity on me, my brain is turned. The Duke's
+page, an old friend of mine, has told me this very moment, that the
+Marshal's wife, inspired by the devil, went up to the Duke, and told
+him that the trick played on him at the baker's house was planned by
+Prince Julian, who opposed his marriage with his sister; that the
+spirit he saw was myself, sent by the Princess to be a witness of his
+superstition; that your Highness was a witness of his descent into the
+pit after hidden gold, and of his promise to make the baker's daughter
+his mistress, and also to make her one of the nobility immediately
+after his marriage with the Princess. 'Do not hope to gain the
+Princess. It is useless for you to try,' were the last words of the
+Marshal's wife to the Duke."
+
+"And a pretty story it is," muttered Philip; "why, behavior like that
+would be a disgrace to the meanest of the people. I declare there is no
+end to these deviltries."
+
+"Yes, indeed. 'T is impossible to behave more meanly than the Marshal's
+lady. The woman must be a fury. My gracious Lord, save me from
+destruction."
+
+"Where is the Duke?" asked Philip.
+
+"The page told me he started up on hearing the story, and said, 'I will
+go to the King.' And if he tells the story to the King in his own way--"
+
+"Is the King here, then?"
+
+"Oh, yes, he is at play in the next room, with the Archbishop and the
+Minister of Police."
+
+Philip walked with long steps through the boudoir. The case required
+consideration.
+
+"Your Royal Highness," said the negro, "protect me. Your own honor is
+at stake. You can easily make all straight; otherwise, I am ready at
+the first intimation of danger to fly across the border. I will pack
+up, and to-morrow I shall expect your last commands as to my future
+behavior."
+
+With these words the negro took his leave.
+
+
+
+
+VI.
+
+
+"It is high time I were a watchman again," thought Philip. "I am
+getting both myself and my substitute into scrapes he will find it hard
+to get out of--and this makes the difference between a peasant and a
+prince. One is no better off than the other. Good heavens! what stupid
+things these court lords are doing which we do not dream of with our
+lanterns and staff in hand, or when at the spade. We think they lead
+the lives of angels, without sin or care. Pretty piece of business!
+Within a quarter of an hour I have heard of more rascally tricks than I
+ever played in my whole life. And--" but his reverie was interrupted by
+a whisper.
+
+"So lonely, Prince! I consider myself happy in having a minute's
+conversation with your Royal Highness."
+
+Philip looked at the speaker; and he was a miner, covered over with
+gold and jewels.
+
+"But one instant," said the mask. "The business is pressing, and deeply
+concerns you."
+
+"Who are you?" inquired Philip.
+
+"Count Bodenlos, the Minister of Finance, at your Highness's service,"
+answered the miner, and showed his face, which looked as if it were a
+second mask, with its little eyes and copper-colored nose.
+
+"Well, then, my lord, what are your commands?"
+
+"May I speak openly? I waited on your Royal Highness thrice, and was
+never admitted to the honor of an audience; and yet--Heaven is my
+witness--no man in all this court has a deeper interest in your Royal
+Highness than I have."
+
+"I am greatly obliged to you," replied Philip; "what is your business
+just now? But be quick."
+
+"May I venture to speak of the house of Abraham Levi?"
+
+"As much as you like."
+
+"They have applied to me about the fifty thousand dollars which you owe
+them, and threaten to apply to the King. And you remember your promise
+to his Majesty, when last he paid your debts."
+
+"Can't the people wait?" asked Philip.
+
+"No more than the Brothers, goldsmiths, who demand their seventy-five
+thousand dollars."
+
+"It is all one to me. If the people won't wait for their money, I
+must--"
+
+"No hasty resolution, my gracious Lord! I have it in my power to make
+everything comfortable, if--"
+
+"Well, if what?"
+
+"If you will honor me by listening to me one moment. I hope to have no
+difficulty in redeeming all your debts. The house of Abraham Levi has
+bought up immense quantities of corn, so that the price is very much
+raised. A decree against importation will raise it three or four
+percent. higher. By giving Abraham Levi the monopoly, the business will
+be arranged. The house erases your debt, and pays off your seventy-five
+thousand dollars to the goldsmiths, and I give you over the receipts.
+But everything depends on my continuing for another year at the head of
+the Finance. If Baron Griefensack succeeds in ejecting me from the
+Ministry, I shall be unable to serve your Royal Highness as I could
+wish. If your Highness will leave the party of Griefensack, our point
+is gained. For me, it is a matter of perfect indifference whether I
+remain in office or not. I sigh for repose. But for your Royal
+Highness, it is a matter of great moment. If I have not the mixing of
+the pack, I lose the game."
+
+Philip for some time did not know what answer to make. At last, while
+the Finance Minister, in expectation of his reply, took a pinch out of
+his snuff-box set with jewels, Philip said:
+
+"If I rightly understand you, Sir Count, you would starve the country a
+little, in order to pay my debts. Consider, sir, what misery you will
+cause. And will the King consent to it?"
+
+"If I remain in office I will answer for that, my gracious Lord! When
+the price of corn rises, the King will, of course, think of permitting
+importation, and prevent exportation by levying heavy imposts. The
+permission to do so is given to the house of Abraham Levi, and they
+export as much as they choose. But, as I said before, if Griefensack
+gets the helm, nothing can be done. For the first year he would be
+obliged to attend strictly to his duty, in order to be able afterwards
+to feather his nest at the expense of the country. He must first make
+sure of his ground. He is dreadfully grasping!"
+
+"A pretty project," answered Philip; "and how long do you think a
+finance minister must be in office before he can lay his shears on the
+flock to get wool enough for himself and me?"
+
+"Oh, if he has his wits about him, he may manage it in a year."
+
+"Then the King ought to be counselled to change his finance minister
+every twelve months, if he wishes to be faithfully and honorably
+served."
+
+"I hope, your Royal Highness, that since I have had the Exchequer, the
+King and Court have been faithfully served?"
+
+"I believe you, Count, and the poor people believe you still more.
+Already they scarcely know how to pay their rates and taxes. You should
+treat us with a little more consideration, Count."
+
+"Us!--don't I do everything for the Court?"
+
+"No! I mean the people. You should have a little more consideration for
+them."
+
+"I appreciate what your Royal Highness says; but I serve the King and
+the Court, and the people are not to be considered. The country is his
+private property, and the people are only useful to him as increasing
+the value of the land. But this is no time to discuss the old story
+about the interests of the people. I beg your Royal Highness' answer to
+my propositions. Shall I have the honor to discharge your debts on the
+above specified conditions?"
+
+"Answer,--no--never, never! at the expense of hundreds and thousands of
+starving families."
+
+"But, your Royal Highness, if, in addition to the clearance of your
+debts, I make the house of Abraham Levi present you with fifty thousand
+dollars in hard cash? I think it may afford you that sum. The house
+will gain so much by the operation, that--"
+
+"Perhaps it may be able to give YOU also a mark of its regard."
+
+"Your Highness is pleased to jest with me. I gain nothing by the
+affair. My whole object is to obtain the protection of your Royal
+Highness."
+
+"You are very polite!"
+
+"I may hope, then, Prince? My duty is to be of service to you.
+To-morrow I shall send for Abraham, and conclude the arrangement with
+him. I shall have the honor to present your Royal Highness with the
+receipt for all your debts, besides the gift of fifty thousand dollars."
+
+"Go, I want to hear no more of it."
+
+"And your Royal Highness will honor me with your favor? For unless I am
+in the Ministry, it is impossible for me to deal with Abraham Levi so
+as--"
+
+"I wish to Heaven you and your Ministry and Abraham Levi were all three
+on the Blocksberg! I tell you what, unless you lower the price of corn,
+and take away the monopoly from that infernal Jew, I'll go this moment
+and reveal your villainy to the King, and get you and Abraham Levi
+banished from the country. See to it--I'll keep my word." Philip turned
+away in a rage, and proceeded into the dancing-room, leaving the
+Minister of Finance petrified with amazement.
+
+
+
+
+VII.
+
+
+"When does your Royal Highness require the carriage?" whispered a stout
+little Dutch merchant in a bob-wig.
+
+"Not at all," answered Philip.
+
+"'Tis after half-past eleven, and the beautiful singer expects you. She
+will tire of waiting."
+
+"Let her sing something to cheer her."
+
+"How, Prince? Have you changed your mind? Would you leave the
+captivating Rollina in the lurch, and throw away the golden opportunity
+you have been sighing for for two months? The letter you sent to-day,
+inclosing the diamond watch, did wonders. The proud but fragile beauty
+surrenders. This morning you were in raptures, and now you are as cold
+as ice! What is the cause of the change?"
+
+"That is my business, not yours," said Philip.
+
+"I had your orders to join you at half-past eleven. Perhaps you have
+other engagements?"
+
+"Perhaps."
+
+"A petit souper with the Countess Born? She is not present here; at
+least among all the masks I can't trace her out. I should know her
+among a thousand by that graceful walk and her peculiar way of carrying
+her little head--eh, Prince?"
+
+"Well, but if it were so, there would be no necessity for making you my
+confidant, would there?"
+
+"I will take the hint, and be silent. But won't you at any rate send to
+the Signora Rollina to let her know you are not coming?"
+
+"If I have sighed for her for two months, she had better sigh a month
+or two for me. I sha'n't go near her."
+
+"So that beautiful necklace which you sent her for a New Year's present
+was all for nothing?"
+
+"As far as I am concerned."
+
+"Will you break with her entirely?"
+
+"There is nothing between us to break, that I know of."
+
+"Well, then, since you speak so plainly, I may tell you something which
+you perhaps know already. Your love for the Signora has hitherto kept
+me silent; but now that you have altered your mind about her, I can no
+longer keep the secret from you. You are deceived."
+
+"By whom?"
+
+"By the artful singer. She would divide her favors between your Royal
+Highness and a Jew."
+
+"A Jew?"
+
+"Yes! with the son of Abraham Levi."
+
+"Is that rascal everywhere?"
+
+"So your Highness did not know it? but I am telling you the exact
+truth; if it were not for your Royal Highness, she would be his
+mistress. I am only sorry you gave her that watch."
+
+"I don't regret it at all."
+
+"The jade deserves to be whipped."
+
+"Few people meet their deserts," answered Philip.
+
+"Too true, too true, your Royal Highness. For instance, I have
+discovered a girl--O Prince, there is not such another in this city or
+in the whole world! Few have seen this angel.--Pooh! Rollina is nothing
+to her. Listen--a girl tall and slender as a palm tree--with a
+complexion like the red glow of evening upon snow--eyes like
+sunbeams--rich golden tresses,--in short, the most beautiful creature I
+ever beheld--a Venus--a goddess in rustic attire. Your Highness, we
+must give her chase."
+
+"A peasant girl?"
+
+"A mere rustic; but then you must see her yourself, and you will love
+her. But my descriptions are nothing. Imagine the embodiment of all
+that you can conceive most charming--add to that, artlessness, grace,
+and innocence. But the difficulty is to catch sight of her. She seldom
+leaves her mother. I know her seat in church, and have watched her for
+many Sundays past, as she walked with her mother to the Elm-Gate. I
+have ascertained that a handsome young fellow, a gardener, is making
+court to her. He can't marry her, for he is a poor devil, and she has
+nothing. The mother is the widow of a poor weaver."
+
+"And the mother's name is?"
+
+"Widow Bittner, in Milk Street; and the daughter, fairest of flowers,
+is in fact called Rose."
+
+Philip's blood boiled at the sound of the beloved name. His first
+inclination was to knock the communicative Dutchman down. He restrained
+himself, however, and only asked:
+
+"Are you the devil himself?"
+
+"'T is good news, is it not? I have taken some steps in the matter
+already, but you must see her first. But perhaps such a pearl has not
+altogether escaped your keen observation? Do you know her?"
+
+"Intimately."
+
+"So much the better. Have I been too lavish of my praises? You confess
+their truth? She sha'n't escape us. We must go together to the widow;
+you must play the philanthropist. You have heard of the widow's
+poverty, and must insist on relieving it. You take an interest in the
+good woman; enter into her misfortunes; leave a small present at each
+visit, and by this means become acquainted with Rose. The rest follows,
+of course. The gardener can be easily got out of the way, or perhaps a
+dozen or two dollars slipped quietly into his hand may--"
+
+Philip's rage broke forth.
+
+"I'll throttle you--"
+
+"If the gardener makes a fuss?" interposed the Dutchman. "Leave me to
+settle this matter. I'll get him kidnapped, and sent to the army to
+fight for his country. In the meantime you get possession of the field;
+for the girl has a peasant's attachment for the fellow, and it will not
+be easy to get the nonsense out of her head, which she has been taught
+by the canaille. But I will give her some lessons, and then--"
+
+"I'll break your neck."
+
+"Your Highness is too good. But if your Highness would use your
+influence with the King to procure me the Chamberlain's key--"
+
+"I wish I could procure you--"
+
+"Oh, don't flatter me, your Highness. Had I only known you thought so
+much of her beauty, she would have been yours long ago."
+
+"Not a word more," cried the enraged Philip, in a smothered voice; for
+he dared not speak aloud, he was so surrounded by maskers, who were
+listening, dancing, talking, as they passed him, and he might have
+betrayed himself; "not a word more!"
+
+"No, there will be more than words. Deeds shall show my sincerity. You
+may advance. You are wont to conquer. The outposts will be easily
+taken. The gardener I will manage, and the mother will range herself
+under your gilded banners. Then the fortress will be won!"
+
+"Sir, if you venture," said Philip, who now could hardly contain
+himself. It was with great difficulty he refrained from open violence,
+and he clutched the arm of the Dutchman with the force of a vice.
+
+"Your Highness, for Heaven's sake, moderate your joy. I shall
+scream--you are mashing my arm!"
+
+"If you venture to go near that innocent girl, I will demolish every
+bone in your body."
+
+"Good, good," screamed the Dutchman, in intense pain; "only let go my
+arm."
+
+"If I find you anywhere near Milk Street, I'll dash your miserable
+brains out. So look to it."
+
+The Dutchman seemed almost stupefied; trembling, he said:
+
+"May it please your Highness, I could not imagine you really loved the
+girl as it seems you do."
+
+"I love her! I will own it before the whole world!"
+
+"And are loved in return?"
+
+"That's none of your business. Never mention her name to me again. Do
+not even think of her; it would be a stain upon her purity. Now you
+know what I think. Be off!"
+
+Philip twirled the unfortunate Dutchman round as he let go his arm, and
+that worthy gentleman slunk out of the hall.
+
+
+
+
+VIII.
+
+
+In the meantime Philip's substitute supported his character of watchman
+on the snow-covered streets. It is scarcely necessary to say that this
+was none other than Prince Julian who had taken a notion to join the
+watch--his head being crazed by the fire of the sweet wine. He attended
+to the directions left by Philip, and went his rounds, and called the
+hour with great decorum, except that, instead of the usual watchman's
+verses, he favored the public with rhymes of his own. He was cogitating
+a new stanza, when the door of a house beside him opened, and a
+well-wrapped-up girl beckoned to him, and ran into the shadow of the
+house.
+
+The Prince left his stanza half finished, and followed the apparition.
+A soft hand grasped his in the darkness, and a voice whispered:
+
+"Good-evening, dear Philip. Speak low, that nobody may hear us. I have
+only got away from the company for one moment to speak to you as you
+passed. Are you happy to see me?"
+
+"Blest as a god, my angel,--who could be otherwise than happy by thy
+side?"
+
+"I've some good news for you, Philip. You must sup at our house
+to-morrow evening. My mother has allowed me to ask you. You 'll come?"
+
+"For the whole evening, and as many more as you wish. Would we might be
+together till the end of the world! 'T would be a life fit for gods!"
+
+"Listen, Philip; in half an hour I shall be at St. Gregory's. I shall
+expect you there. You won't fail me? Don't keep me waiting long--we
+shall have a walk together. Go now--we may be discovered." She tried to
+go, but Julian held her back and threw his arms round her.
+
+"What, wilt thou leave me so coldly?" he said, and tried to press a
+kiss upon her lips.
+
+Rose did not know what to think of this boldness, for Philip had always
+been modest, and never dared more than kiss her hand, except once, when
+her mother had forbidden their meeting again. They had then exchanged
+their first kiss in great sorrow and in great love, but never since
+then. She struggled to free herself, but Julian held her firm, till at
+last she had to buy her liberty by submitting to the kiss, and begged
+him to go. But Julian seemed not at all inclined to move.
+
+"What! go? I'm not such a fool as that comes to! You think I love my
+horn better than you? No indeed!"
+
+"But then it isn't right, Philip."
+
+"Not right? why not, my beauty? there is nothing against kissing in the
+ten commandments."
+
+"Why, if we could marry, perhaps you might--but you know very well we
+can't marry, and--"
+
+"Not marry? why not? You can marry me any day you like."
+
+"Philip!--why will you talk such folly? You know we must not think of
+such a thing."
+
+"But _I_ think very seriously about it--if you would consent."
+
+"You are unkind to speak thus. Ah, Philip, I had a dream last night."
+
+"A dream--what was it?"
+
+"You had won a prize in the lottery; we were both so happy! you had
+bought a beautiful garden, handsomer than any in the city. It was a
+little paradise of flowers--and there were large beds of vegetables,
+and the trees were laden with fruit. And when I awoke, Philip, I felt
+so wretched--I wished I had not dreamed such a happy dream. You've
+nothing in the lottery, Philip, have you? Have you really won anything?
+The drawing took place to-day."
+
+"How much must I have gained to win you too?"
+
+"Ah, Philip, if you had only gained a thousand dollars, you might buy
+such a pretty garden!"
+
+"A thousand dollars! And what if it were more?"
+
+"Ah, Philip--what? is it true? is it really? Don't deceive me! 'twill
+be worse than the dream. You had a ticket! and you've won!--own it! own
+it!"
+
+"All you can wish for."
+
+Rose flung her arms around his neck in the extremity of her joy, and
+kissed him.
+
+"More than the thousand dollars? and will they pay you the whole?"
+
+Her kiss made the Prince forget to answer. It was so strange to hold a
+pretty form in his arms, receive its caresses, and to know they were
+not meant for him.
+
+"Answer me, answer me!" cried Rose, impatiently. "Will they give you
+all that money?"
+
+"They've done it already--and if it will add to your happiness I will
+hand it to you this moment."
+
+"What! have you got it with you?"
+
+The Prince took out his purse, which he had filled with money in
+expectation of some play.
+
+"Take it and weigh it, my girl," he said, placing it in her hand and
+kissing her again. "This, then, makes you mine!"
+
+"Oh, not THIS--nor all the gold in the world, if you were not my own
+dear Philip!"
+
+"And how if I had given you twice as much as all this money, and yet
+were not your own dear Philip?"
+
+"I would fling the purse at your feet, and make you a very polite
+curtsey," said Rose.
+
+A door now opened; the light streamed down the steps, and the laughing
+voices of girls were heard. Rose whispered:
+
+"In half an hour, at St. Gregory's," and ran up the steps, leaving the
+Prince in the darkness. Disconcerted by the suddenness of the parting,
+and his curiosity excited by his ignorance of the name of his new
+acquaintance, and not even having had a full view of her face, he
+consoled himself with the rendezvous at St. Gregory's Church door. This
+he resolved to keep, though it was evident that all the tenderness
+which had been bestowed on him was intended for his friend the watchman.
+
+
+
+
+IX.
+
+
+The interview with Rose, or the coldness of the night, increased the
+effect of the wine to such an extent that the mischievous propensities
+of the young Prince got the upper hand of him. Standing amidst a crowd
+of people, in the middle of the street, he blew so lustily on his horn
+that the women screamed, and the men gasped with fear. He called the
+hour, and then shouted, at the top of his lungs:
+
+     The bus'ness of our lovely state
+     Is stricken by the hand of fate--
+     Even our maids, both light and brown,
+     Can find no sale in all the town;
+     They deck themselves with all their arts,
+     But no one buys their worn-out hearts."
+
+"Shame! shame!" cried several female voices from the window at the end
+of this complimentary effusion, which, however, was crowned with a loud
+laugh from the men. "Bravo, watchman!" cried some; "Encore! encore!"
+shouted others. "How dare you, fellow, insult ladies in the open
+street?" growled a young lieutenant, who had a very pretty girl on his
+arm.
+
+"Mr. Lieutenant," answered a miller, "unfortunately watchmen always
+tell the truth, and the lady on your arm is a proof of it. Ha! young
+jade, do you know me? do you know who I am? Is it right for a betrothed
+bride to be gadding at night about the streets with other men?
+To-morrow your mother shall hear of this. I'll have nothing more to do
+with you!"
+
+The girl hid her face, and nudged the young officer to lead her away.
+But the lieutenant, like a brave soldier, scorned to retreat from the
+miller, and determined to keep the field. He therefule made use of a
+full round of oaths, which were returned with interest, and a sabre was
+finally resorted to, with some flourishes; but two Spanish cudgels were
+threateningly held over the head of the lieutenant by a couple of stout
+townsmen, while one of them, who was a broad-shouldered beer-brewer,
+cried: "Don't make any more fuss about the piece of goods beside
+you--she ain't worth it. The miller's a good fellow, and what he says
+is true, and the watchman's right too. A plain tradesman can hardly
+venture to marry now. All the women wish to marry above their station.
+Instead of darning stockings, they read romances; instead of working in
+the kitchen, they run after comedies and concerts. Their houses are
+dirty, and they are walking out, dressed like princesses; all they
+bring a husband as a dowry are handsome dresses, lace ribbons,
+intrigues, romances, and idleness! Sir, I speak from experience; I
+should have married long since, if girls were not spoiled."
+
+The spectators laughed heartily, and the lieutenant slowly put back his
+sword, saying peevishly: "It's a little too much to be obliged to hear
+a sermon from the canaille."
+
+"What! Canaille!" cried a smith, who held the second cudgel. "Do you
+call those canaille who feed you noble idlers by duties and taxes? Your
+licentiousness is the cause of our domestic discords, and noble ladies
+would not have so much cause to mourn if you had learned both to pray
+and to work."
+
+Several young officers had gathered together already, and so had some
+mechanics; and the boys, in the meantime, threw snowballs among both
+parties, that their share in the fun might not be lost. The first ball
+hit the noble lieutenant on the nose, and thinking it an attack from
+the canaille, he raised his sabre. The fight began.
+
+The Prince, who had laughed amazingly at the first commencement of the
+uproar, had betaken himself to another region, and felt quite
+unconcerned as to the result. In the course of his wanderings, he came
+to the palace of Count Bodenlos, the Minister of Finance, with whom, as
+Philip had discovered at the masquerade, the Prince was not on the best
+terms. The Countess had a large party. Julian saw the lighted windows,
+and still feeling poetically disposed, he planted himself opposite the
+balcony, and blew a peal on his horn. Several ladies and gentlemen
+opened the shutters, because they had nothing better to do, and
+listened to what he should say.
+
+"Watchman," cried one of them, "sing us a New Year's greeting!"
+
+This invitation brought a fresh accession of the Countess' party to the
+windows. Julian called the hour in the usual manner, and sang, loud
+enough to be distinctly heard inside:
+
+    "Ye who groan with heavy debts,
+     And swift approaching failure frets,
+     Pray the Lord that He this hour
+     May raise you to some place of power;
+     And while the nation wants and suffers,
+     Fill your own from the people's coffers."
+
+"Outrageous!" screamed the lady of the Minister; "who is the insolent
+wretch that dares such an insult?"
+
+"Pleashe your exshellenshy," answered Julian, imitating the Jewish
+dialect in voice and manner, "I vash only intendsh to shing you a
+pretty shong. I am de Shew Abraham Levi, vell known at dish court. Your
+ladyship knowsh me ver' well."
+
+"How dare you tell such a lie, you villain?" exclaimed a voice,
+trembling with rage, at one of the windows; "how dare you say you are
+Abraham Levi? I am Abraham Levi! You are a cheat!"
+
+"Call the police!" cried the Countess. "Have that man arrested!"
+
+At these words the party confusedly withdrew from the windows. Nor did
+the Prince remain where he was, but quickly effected his escape through
+a cross-street. A crowd of servants rushed out of the palace, led by
+the secretaries of the Finance Minister, and commenced a search for the
+offender. "We have him!" cried some, as the rest eagerly approached. It
+was in fact the real guardian of the night, who was carefully
+perambulating his beat, in innocent unconsciousness of any offence. In
+spite of all he could say, he was disarmed and carried off to the
+watch-house, and charged with causing a disturbance by singing
+libellous songs. The officer of the police shook his head at the
+unaccountable event, and said: "We have already one watchman in
+custody, whose verses about some girl caused a very serious affray
+between the town's people and the garrison."
+
+The prisoner would confess to nothing, but swore prodigiously at the
+tipsy young people who had disturbed him in the fulfilment of his duty.
+One of the secretaries of the Finance Minister repeated the whole verse
+to him. The soldiers standing about laughed aloud, but the ancient
+watchman swore with tears in his eyes that he had never thought of such
+a thing. While the examination was going on, and one of the secretaries
+of the Finance Minister began to be doubtful whether the poor watchman
+was really in fault or not, an uproar was heard outside, and loud cries
+of "Watch, watch!"
+
+The guard rushed out, and in a few minutes the Field-Marshal entered
+the office, accompanied by the captain of the guards on duty. "Have
+that scoundrel locked up tight," said the Marshal, pointing behind
+him--and two soldiers brought in a watchman, whom they held close
+prisoner, and whom they had disarmed of his staff and horn.
+
+"Are the watchmen gone all mad to-night?" exclaimed the chief of police.
+
+"I'll have the rascal punished for his infamous verses," said the
+Field-Marshal angrily.
+
+"Your excellency," exclaimed the trembling watchman, "as true as I
+live, I never made a verse in my born days."
+
+"Silence, knave!" roared the Marshal. "I'll have you hanged for them!
+And if you contradict me again, I'll cut you in two on the spot."
+
+The police officer respectfully observed to the Field-Marshal that
+there must be some poetical epidemic among the watchmen, for three had
+been brought before him within the last quarter of an hour, accused of
+the same offence.
+
+"Gentlemen," said the Marshal to the officers who had accompanied him,
+"since the scoundrel refuses to confess, it will be necessary to take
+down from your remembrance the worlds of his atrocious libel. Let them
+be written down while you still recollect them. Come, who can say them?"
+
+The officer of police wrote to the dictation of the gentlemen who
+remembered the whole verses between them:
+
+    "On empty head a flaunting feather,
+     A long queue tied with tape and leather;
+     Padded breast and waist so little,
+     Make the soldier to a tittle;
+     By cards and dance, and dissipation,
+     He's sure to win a Marshal's station."
+
+"Do you deny, you rascal," cried the Field-Marshal to the terrified
+watchman; "do you deny that you sang these infamous lines as I was
+coming out of my house?"
+
+"They may sing it who like, it was not me," said the watchman.
+
+"Why did you run away, then, when you saw me?"
+
+"I did not run away."
+
+"What!" said the two officers who had accompanied the Marshal--"not run
+away? Were you not out of breath when at last we laid hold of you there
+by the market?"
+
+"Yes, but it was with fright at being so ferociously attacked. I am
+trembling yet in every limb."
+
+"Lock the obstinate dog up till the morning," said the Marshal; "he
+will come to his senses by that time!" With these words the wrathful
+dignitary went away. These incidents had set the whole police force of
+the city on the qui vive. In the next ten minutes two more watchmen
+were brought to the office on similar charges with the others. One was
+accused of singing a libel under the window of the Minister of Foreign
+Affairs, in which it was insinuated that there were no affairs to which
+he was more foreign than those of his own department. The other had
+sung some verses before the door of the Bishop's palace, informing him
+that the "lights of the church" were by no means deficient in tallow,
+but gave a great deal more smoke than illumination. The Prince, who had
+wrought the poor watchmen all this woe, was always lucky enough to
+escape, and grew bolder and bolder with every new attempt. The affair
+was talked of everywhere. The Minister of Police, who was at cards with
+the King, was informed of the insurrection among the hitherto peaceful
+watchmen, and, as a proof of it, some of the verses were given to him
+in writing. The King laughed very heartily at the doggerel verse about
+the miserable police, who were always putting their noses into other
+people's family affairs, but could never smell anything amiss in their
+own, and were therefore lawful game, and ordered the next poetical
+watchman who should be taken to be brought before him. He broke up the
+card-table, for he saw that the Minister of Police had lost his good
+humor.
+
+
+
+
+X.
+
+
+In the dancing-hall next to the card-room, Philip had looked at his
+watch, and discovered that the time of his appointment with Rose at St.
+Gregory's had nearly come. He was by no means sorry at the prospect of
+giving back his silk mantle and plumed bonnet to his substitute, for he
+began to find high life not quite to his taste. As he was going to the
+door, the Negro once more came up to him, and whispered: "Your
+Highness, Duke Herrman is seeking for you everywhere." Philip shook his
+head impatiently and hurried out, followed by the Negro. When they got
+to the ante-chamber, the Negro cried out, "By Heaven, here comes the
+Duke!"--and slipped back into the hall.
+
+A tall black mask walked fiercely up to Philip, and said: "Stay a
+moment, sir; I've a word or two to say to you; I've been seeking for
+you long."
+
+"Quick, then," said Philip, "for I have no time to lose."
+
+"I would not waste a moment, sir; I have sought you long enough; you
+owe me satisfaction, you have injured me infamously."
+
+"Not that I am aware of."
+
+"You don't know me, perhaps," said the Duke, lifting up his mask; "now
+that you see me, your own conscience will save me any more words. I
+demand satisfaction. You and the cursed Salmoni have deceived me!"
+
+"I know nothing about it," said Philip.
+
+"You got up that shameful scene in the cellar of the baker's daughter.
+It was at your instigation that Colonel Kalt made an assault upon me
+with a cudgel."
+
+"There's not a word of truth in what you say."
+
+"What!--you deny it? The Lady Blankenswerd, the Marshal's lady, was an
+eye-witness of it all, and she has told me every circumstance."
+
+"She has told your grace a fancy tale--I have had nothing to do with
+it; if you made an ass of yourself in the baker's cellar, that was your
+own fault."
+
+"I ask, once more, will you give me satisfaction? If not, I will expose
+you. Follow me instantly to the King. You shall either fight with me,
+or--go to his Majesty."
+
+Philip was nonplussed. "Your grace," he said, "I have no wish either to
+fight with you or to go to the King."
+
+This was indeed the truth, for he was afraid he should be obliged to
+unmask, and would be punished, of course, for the part he had played.
+He therefore tried to get off by every means, and watched the door to
+seize a favorable moment for effecting his escape. The Duke, on the
+other hand, observed the uneasiness of the Prince (as he thought him),
+and waxed more valorous every minute. At last he seized poor Philip by
+the arm, and was dragging him into the hall.
+
+"What do you want with me?" said Philip, sorely frightened, and shook
+off the Duke.
+
+"To the King. He shall hear how shamefully you insult a guest at his
+court."
+
+"Very good," replied Philip, who saw no hope of escape, except by
+continuing the character of the Prince. "Very good. Come, then, I am
+ready. By good luck I happen to have the agreement with me between you
+and the baker's daughter, in which you promise--"
+
+"Nonsense! stuff!" answered the Duke, "that was only a piece of fun,
+which may be allowed surely with a baker's daughter. Show it if you
+like, I will explain all that."
+
+But it appeared that the Duke was not quite so sure of the explanation,
+for he no longer urged Philip to go before the King. He, however,
+insisted more earnestly than ever on getting into his carriage, and
+going that moment--Heaven knows where--to decide the matter with sword
+and pistol, an arrangement which did not suit our watchman at all.
+Philip pointed out the danger and consequences of such a proceeding,
+but the Duke overruled all objections. He had made every preparation,
+and when it was over he would leave the city that same night.
+
+"If you are not the greatest coward in Europe, you will follow me to
+the carriage--Prince!"
+
+"I--am--no--prince," at last stuttered Philip, now driven to
+extremities.
+
+"You are! Everybody recognized you at the ball. I know you by your hat.
+You sha'n't escape me."
+
+Philip lifted up his mask, and showed the Duke his face.
+
+"Now, then, am I a prince?"
+
+Duke Herrman, when he saw the countenance of a man he had never seen
+before, started back, and stood gazing as if he had been petrified. To
+have revealed his secrets to a perfect stranger! 'T was horrible beyond
+conception! But before he had recovered from his surprise, Philip had
+opened the door and effected his escape.
+
+
+
+
+XI.
+
+
+The moment he found himself at liberty he took off his hat and
+feathers, and wrapping them in his silk mantle, rushed through the
+streets towards St. Gregory's, carrying them under his arm. There stood
+Rose already, in a corner of the high church door, expecting his
+arrival.
+
+"Ah, Philip, dear Philip," she said, pressing his hand, "how happy you
+have made me! how lucky we are! I was very uneasy to get away from my
+friend's house, and I have been waiting here this quarter of an hour,
+but never cared for the frost and snow--my happiness was so great: I am
+so glad you're come back."
+
+"And I too, dear Rose, thank God that I have got back to you. May the
+eagles fly away with these trinkum-trankums of great people. But I'll
+tell you some other time of the scenes I've had. Tell me now, my
+darling, how you are, and whether you love me still!"
+
+"Ah! Philip, you've become a great man now, and it would be better to
+ask if you still care anything for me."
+
+"Thunder! How came you to know so soon that I've been a great man?"
+
+"Why, you told me yourself. Ah! Philip, Philip, I only hope you won't
+be proud, now that you've grown so rich. I am but a poor girl, and not
+good enough for you now--and I have been thinking, Philip, if you
+forsake me, I would rather have had you continue a poor gardener. I
+should fret myself to death if you forsook me."
+
+"What are you talking about, Rose? 'T is true that for one half-hour I
+have been a prince; 't was but a joke, and I want no more of such jokes
+in my life. Now I am a watchman again, and as poor as ever. To be sure,
+I have five thousand dollars in my pocket, that I got from a Mameluke;
+that would make us rich, but unfortunately they don't belong to me!"
+
+"You're speaking nonsense, Philip," said Rose, giving him the purse of
+gold that the Prince had given her. "Here, take back your money, 't is
+too heavy for my bag."
+
+"What should I do with all this gold? Where did you get it, Rose?"
+
+"You won it in the lottery, Philip."
+
+"What! have I won? and they told me at the office my number was not yet
+out. I had hoped and wished that it might come to give us a setting up
+in the world; but gardener Redman said to me as I went a second time
+towards the office: 'Poor Philip--a blank.' Huzzah! I have won! Now I
+will buy a large garden and marry you. How much is it?"
+
+"Are you crazy, Philip, or have you drunk too much? You must know
+better than I can tell you how much it is. I only looked at it quietly
+under the table at my friend's, and was frightened to see so many
+glittering coins, all of gold, Philip. Ah! then I thought, no wonder
+Philip was so impertinent--for, you know, you were very impertinent,
+Philip,--but I can't blame you for it. Oh, I could throw my own arms
+round your neck and cry for joy."
+
+"Rose, if you will do it I shall make no objections. But there's some
+misunderstanding here. Who was it that gave you this money, and told
+you it was my prize in the lottery? I have my ticket safe in my drawer
+at home, and nobody has asked me for it."
+
+"Ah! Philip, don't play your jokes on me! you yourself told me it half
+an hour ago, and gave me the purse with your own hand."
+
+"Rose--try to recollect yourself. This morning I saw you at mass, and
+we agreed to meet here to-night, but since that time I have not seen
+you for an instant."
+
+"No, except half an hour ago, when I saw you at Steinman's door. But
+what is that bundle under your arm? why are you without a hat this cold
+night? Philip! Philip! be careful. All that gold may turn your brain.
+You've been in some tavern, Philip, and have drunk more than you
+should. But tell me, what is in the bundle? Why--here's a woman's silk
+gown.--Philip, Philip, where have you been?"
+
+"Certainly not with you half an hour ago; you want to play tricks on
+me, I fancy; where have you got that money, I should like to know?"
+
+"Answer me first, Philip, where you got that woman's gown. Where have
+you been, sir?"
+
+They were both impatient for explanations, both a little jealous--and
+finally began to quarrel.
+
+
+
+
+XII.
+
+
+But as this was a lovers' quarrel, it ended as lovers' quarrels
+invariably do. When Rose took out her white pocket-handkerchief, put it
+to her beautiful eyes, and turned away her head as the sighs burst
+forth from her breast, this sole argument proved instantly that she was
+in the right, and Philip decidedly in the wrong. He confessed he was to
+blame for everything, and told her that he had been at a masked ball,
+and that his bundle was not a silk gown, but a man's mantle and a hat
+and feathers. And now he had to undergo a rigid examination. Every
+maiden knows that a masked ball is a dangerous maze for unprotected
+hearts. It is like plunging into a whelming sea of dangers, and you
+will be drowned if you are not a good swimmer. Rose did not consider
+Philip the best swimmer in the world--it is difficult to say why. He
+denied having danced, but when she asked him, he could not deny having
+talked with some feminine masks. He related the whole story to her, yet
+would constantly add: "The ladies were of high rank, and they took me
+for another." Rose doubted him a little, but she suppressed her
+resentment until he said they took him for Prince Julian. Then she
+shook her little head, and still more when she heard that Prince Julian
+was transformed into a watchman while Philip was at the ball. But he
+smothered her doubts by saying that in a few minutes the Prince would
+appear at St. Gregory's Church and exchange his watch-coat for the mask.
+
+Rose, in return, related all her adventure; but when she came to the
+incident of the kiss--
+
+"Hold there!" cried Philip; "I didn't kiss you, nor, I am sure, did you
+kiss me in return."
+
+"I am sure 'twas INTENDED for you, then," replied Rose, whilst her
+lover rubbed his hair down, for fear it should stand on end.
+
+"If 'twas not you," continued Rose, anxiously, "I will believe all that
+you have been telling me."
+
+But as she went on in her story a light seemed to break in on her, and
+she exclaimed: "And, after all, I do not believe it was Prince Julian
+in your coat!"
+
+Philip was certain it was, and cried: "The rascal! He stole my
+kisses--now I understand! That's the reason why he wanted to take my
+place and gave me his mask!" And now the stories he had heard at the
+masquerade came into Philip's head. He asked if anybody had called at
+her mother's to offer her money; if any gentleman was much about Milk
+Street; if she saw any one watching her at church; but to all his
+questions her answers were so satisfactory, that it was impossible to
+doubt her total ignorance of all the machinations of the rascally
+courtiers. He warned her against all the advances of philanthropical
+and compassionate princes--and Rose warned him against the dangers of a
+masked ball and adventures with ladies of rank, by which many young men
+have been made unhappy--and as everything was now forgiven, in
+consideration of the kiss not been wilfully bestowed, he was on the
+point of claiming for himself the one of which he had been cheated,
+when his designs were interrupted by an unexpected incident. A man out
+of breath with his rapid flight rushed against them. By the great-coat,
+staff, and horn, Philip recognized his deputy. He, on the other hand,
+snatched at the silk cloak and hat. "Ah! sir," said Philip, "here are
+your things. I would not change places with you again in this world! I
+should be no gainer by the operation."
+
+"Quick! quick!" cried the Prince, and threw the watchman's apparel on
+the snow and fastened on his mask, hat, and cloak. Philip returned to
+his old beaver and coat, and took up the lantern and staff. Rose had
+shrunk back into the door.
+
+"I promised thee a dole, comrade--but it's a positive fact--I have not
+got my purse."
+
+"I've got it here," said Philip, and held it out to him. "You gave it
+to my intended there; but, please your Highness, I must forbid all
+presents in that quarter."
+
+"Comrade, keep what you've got, and be off as quick as you can. You are
+not safe here."
+
+The Prince was flying off as he spoke, but Philip held him by the
+mantle.
+
+"One thing, my Lord, we have to settle--"
+
+"Run! watchman! I tell you. They're in search of you."
+
+"I have nothing to run for. But your purse, here--"
+
+"Keep it, I tell you. Fly! if you can run."
+
+"And a billet of Marshal Blankenswerd's for five thousand dollars--"
+
+"Ha! what the plague do you know about Marshal Blankenswerd?"
+
+"He said it was a gambling debt he owed you. He and his lady start
+to-night for their estates in Poland."
+
+"Are you mad? how do you know that? Who gave you the message for me?"
+
+"And, your Highness, the Minister of Finance will pay all your debts to
+Abraham Levi and others if you will use your influence with the King to
+keep him in office."
+
+"Watchman! you've been tampering with Old Nick."
+
+"But I rejected the offer."
+
+"YOU rejected the offer of the Minister?"
+
+"Yes, your Highness. And, moreover, I have entirely reconciled the
+Baroness Bonau with the Chamberlain Pilzou."
+
+"Which of us two is a fool?"
+
+"Another thing, your Highness. Signora Rollina is a bad woman. I have
+heard of some love affairs of hers. You are deceived--I therefore
+thought her not worthy of your attentions, and put off the meeting
+to-night at her house."
+
+"Signora Rollina! How did you come to hear of her?"
+
+"Another thing. Duke Herrman is terribly enraged about that business in
+the cellar. He is going to complain of you to the King."
+
+"The Duke! Who told you about that?"
+
+"Himself. You are not secure yet--but I don't think he'll go to the
+King, for I threatened him with his agreement with the baker's
+daughter. But he wants to fight you; be on yoor guard."
+
+"Once for all--do you know how the Duke was informed of all this?"
+
+"Through the Marshal's wife. She told all, and confessed she had acted
+the witch in the ghost-raising."
+
+The Prince took Philip by the arm. "My good fellow," he said, "you are
+no watchman." He turned his face towards a lamp, and started when he
+saw the face of this strange man.
+
+"Are you possessed by Satan, or...Who are you?" said Julian, who had
+now become quite sober.
+
+"I am Philip Stark, the gardener, son of old Gottlieb Stark, the
+watchman," said Philip, quietly.
+
+
+
+
+XIII.
+
+
+"Lay hold on him! That's the man!" cried many voices, and Philip, Rose,
+and Julian saw themselves surrounded by six lusty servants of the
+police. Rose screamed, Philip took her hand, and told her not to be
+alarmed. The Prince clapped his hand on Philip's shoulder.
+
+"'Tis a stupid business," he said, "and you should have escaped when I
+told you. But don't be frightened; there shall no harm befall you."
+
+"That's to be seen," said one of the captors. "In the meantime he must
+come along with us."
+
+"Where to?" inquired Philip; "I am doing my duty. I am watchman of this
+beat."
+
+"That's the reason we take you. Come."
+
+The Prince stepped forward. "Let the man go, good people," he said, and
+searched in all his pockets for his purse. As he found it nowhere, he
+was going to whisper to Philip to give it him, but the police tore them
+apart, and one of them shouted: "On! We can't stop to talk here."
+
+"The masked fellow must go with us too; he is suspicious-looking."
+
+"Not so," exclaimed Philip; "you are in search of the watchman. Here I
+am, if you choose to answer for taking me from my duty. But let this
+gentleman go."
+
+"We don't want any lessons from you in our duty," replied the sergeant;
+"march! all of them!"
+
+"The damsel too?" asked Philip; "you don't want her surely!"
+
+"No, she may go; but we must see her face, and take down her name and
+residence; it may be of use."
+
+"She is the daughter of Widow Bittner," said Philip; and was not a
+little enraged when the whole party took Rose to a lamp and gazed on
+her tearful face.
+
+"Go home, Rose, and don't be alarmed on my account," said Philip,
+trying to comfort her; "my conscience is clear."
+
+But Rose sobbed so as to move even the policemen to pity her. The
+Prince, availing himself of the opportunity, attempted to spring out of
+his captors' hands, but one of the men was a better jumper than he, and
+put an obstacle in his way.
+
+"Hallo!" cried the sergeant, "this conscience is not quite so clear;
+hold him firm; march!"
+
+"Whither?" said the Prince.
+
+"Directly to the Minister of Police."
+
+"Listen," said the Prince, seriously but affably, for he did not like
+the turn affairs were taking, as he was anxious to keep his watchman
+frolic concealed. "I have nothing to do with this business. I belong to
+the court. If you venture to force me to go with you, you will be sorry
+for it when you are feasting on bread and water tomorrow in prison."
+
+"For Heaven's sake, let the gentleman go," cried Philip; "I give you my
+word he is a great lord, and will make you repent your conduct. He is--"
+
+"Hush; be silent," interrupted Julian; "tell no human being who I am.
+Whatever happens keep my name a secret. Do you hear? an entire secret
+from every one!"
+
+"We do our duty," said the sergeant, "and nobody can punish us for
+that; you may go to a prison yourself; we have often had fellows speak
+as high, and threaten as fiercely; forward!"
+
+"Men! take advice; he is a distinguished man at court."
+
+"If it were a king himself he should go with us. He is a suspicious
+character, and we must do our duty."
+
+While the contest about the Prince went on, a carriage, with eight
+horses and outriders, bearing flambeaux, drove past the church.
+
+"Stop!" said a voice from the carriage, as it was passing the crowd of
+policemen who had the Prince in custody.
+
+The carriage stopped. The door flew open, and a gentleman, with a
+brilliant star on the breast of his surtout, leaped out. He pushed
+through the party, and examined the Prince from head to foot.
+
+"I thought," he said, "I knew the bird by his feathers. Mask, who are
+you?"
+
+Julian was taken by surprise, for in the inquirer he recognized Duke
+Herrman.
+
+"Answer me," roared Herrman in a voice of thunder.
+
+Julian shook his head, and made signs to the Duke to desist, but he
+pressed the question he upon him, being determined to know who it he
+had accosted at the masquerade. He asked the policemen. They stood with
+heads uncovered, and told him they had orders to bring the watchman
+instantly before the Minister of Police, for he had been singing wicked
+verses, they had heard some of them; that the mask had given himself
+out as some great lord of the court, but that they believed that to be
+a false pretence, and therefore considered it their duty to take him
+into custody.
+
+"The man is not of the court," answered the Duke; "take my word for
+that. He himself clandestinely into the ball, and himself off for
+Prince Julian. I forced him to unmask, and detected the impostor, but
+he escaped me. I have informed the Lord Chamberlain; off with him to
+the palace! You have made a fine prize!"
+
+With these words the Duke strode back to his carriage, and once more
+urging them not to let the villains escape, gave orders to drive on.
+
+The Prince saw no chance left. To reveal himself now would be to make
+his night's adventures the talk of the whole city. He thought it better
+to disclose his incognito to the Chamberlain or the Minister of Police.
+"Since it must be so, come on then," he said; and the party marched
+forward, keeping a firm hand on the two prisoners.
+
+
+
+
+XIV.
+
+
+Phipip was not sure whether he was bewitched, or whether the whole
+business was not a dream, for it was a night such as he had never
+passed before in his life. He had nothing to blame himself for except
+that he had changed clothes with the Prince, and then, whether he would
+or no, been forced to support his character. He felt pretty safe, for
+it was the princely watchman who had been at fault, and he saw no
+occasion for his being committed. His heart beat, however, when they
+came to the palace. His coat, horn, and staff were taken from him.
+Julian spoke a few words to a young nobleman, and immediately the
+policemen were sent away. The Prince ascended the stairs, and Philip
+had to follow.
+
+"Fear nothing," said Julian, and left him. Philip was taken to a little
+ante-room, where he had to wait a good while. At last one of the royal
+grooms came to him, and said: "Come this way; the King will see you."
+
+Philip was distracted with fear. His knees shook so that he could
+hardly walk. He was led into a splendid chamber. The old King was
+sitting at a table, and laughing long and load; near him stood Prince
+Julian without a mask. Besides these, there was nobody in the room.
+
+The King looked at Philip with a good-humored expression. "Tell me
+all--without missing a syllable--that you have done to-night."
+
+Philip took courage from the condescension of the old King, and told
+the whole story from beginning to end. He had the good sense, however,
+to conceal all he had heard among the courtiers that could turn to the
+prejudice of the Prince. The King laughed again and again, and at last
+took two gold-pieces from his pocket and gave them to Philip. "Here, my
+son, take these, but say not a word of your night's adventures. Await
+your trial; no harm shall cone of it to you. Now go, my friend, and
+remember what I have told you."
+
+Philip knelt down at the King's feet and kissed his hand as he
+stammered some words of thanks. When he arose, and was leaving the
+room, Prince Julian said: "I beseech your Majesty to allow the young
+man to wait a few minutes outside. I have some compensation to make to
+him for the inconvenience he has suffered."
+
+The King, smiling, nodded his assent, and Philip left the apartment.
+
+"Prince!" said the King, holding up his forefinger in a threatening
+manner to his son, "'tis well for you that you told me nothing but the
+truth. For this time I must pardon your wild scrape, but if such a
+thing happens again you will offend me. There will be no excuse for
+you! I must take Duke Herrman in hand myself. I shall not be sorry if
+we can get quit of him. As to the Ministers of Finance and Police. I
+must have further proofs of what you say. Go now, and give some present
+to the gardener. He has shown more discretion in your character than
+you have in his."
+
+The Prince took leave of the King, and having changed his dress in an
+ante-room, sent for Philip to go to his palace with him; there he made
+him go over--word for word--everything that had occurred. When Philip
+had finished his narrative, the Prince clapped him on the shoulder and
+said: "Philip, listen! You're a sensible fellow. I can confide in you,
+and I am satisfied with you. What you have done in my name with the
+Chamberlain Pilzou, the Countess Bonau, the Marshal and his wife,
+Colonel Kalt, and the Minister of Finance--I will maintain--as if I had
+done it myself. But, on the other hand, YOU must take all the blame of
+my doings with the horn and staff. As a penalty for verses, you shall
+lose your office of watchman. You shall be my head-gardener from this
+date, and have charge of my two gardens at Heimleben and Quellenthal.
+The money I gave your bride she shall keep as her marriage
+portion,--and I give you the order of Marshal Blankenswerd for five
+thousand dollars, as a mark of my regard. Go, now; be faithful and
+true!"
+
+Who could be happier than Philip! He almost flew to Rose's house. She
+had not yet gone to bed, but sat with her mother beside a table, and
+was weeping. He threw the purse on the table and said: "Rose, there is
+thy dowry! and here are five thousand dollars, which are mine! As a
+watchman I have transgressed, and shall therefore lose my father's
+situation; but the day after to-morrow I shall go, as head-gardener of
+Prince Julian, to Heimleben. And you, mother and Rose, must go with me.
+My father and mother also. I can support you all. Huzza! Gods send all
+good people such a happy New Year!"
+
+Mother Bittner hardly knew whether to believe Philip or not,
+notwithstanding she saw the gold. But when he told her how it had all
+happened--though with some reservations--she wept with joy, embraced
+him, laid her her daughter on his breast, and then danced about the
+room in a perfect ecstasy, "Do thy father and mother know this,
+Philip?" she said. And when he answered no, she cried: "Rose, kindle
+the fire, put over the water, and make some coffee for all of us." She
+then wrapped herself in her little woollen shawl and left the house.
+
+But Rose lay on Philip's breast, and forgot all about the wood and
+water. And there she yet lay when Mother Bittner returned with old
+Gottlieb and Mother Katharine. They surrounded their children and
+blessed them. Mother Bittner saw if she wanted coffee, she would be
+obliged to cook it herself.
+
+Philip lost his situation as watchman. Rose became his wife in two
+weeks; their parents went with them to--; but this does not belong to
+the adventures of a New Year's Eve, a night more ruinous to the
+Minister of Finance than any one else; neither have we heard of any
+more pranks by the wild Prince Julian.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Stories by Foreign Authors: German, by Various
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