"Wer niemals sinen Rausch gehabt,Das ist kein braver Mann,"
"Wer niemals sinen Rausch gehabt,Das ist kein braver Mann,"
and behind him sat his companions, blowing the same tune, though not in the same time, for since they sat on the second, third and fourth seats they could not possibly keep it, since he was always three ahead of them; and when he turned round angrily, or Krischan would go faster and used his whip, he always got his hair pulled, for one of his mischievous companions had fastened the handle of the whip to his back hair, and when Krischan touched the whip, or when he stirred himself, he was in constant torment.
And behind this wagon came another harvest wagon, full of white dresses, and from under the white dresses peeped pretty little dancing feet, and above them, on the round heads, nodded roses and pinks, which looked out modestly from the curly locks, as if they were too bashful to glance at the pretty faces. These were the little fairies. And right in the midst of the fairies sat the Herr Postmaster, in his new uniform, the only one Rahnstadt had to show,--otherwise he would not have arrived at such an honor,--and sung, gay as a finch, his finest song in this garden of roses. Behind this wagon came yet another harvest wagon, loaded with gentlemen, with dancers, the best dancers in Rahnstadt, and Kurz's Herr Süssmann danced along the wagon pole in front, and the Herr Rector's youngest pupil sat, with his legs dangling in the air, behind.
The guests all looked very joyous, but the Frau Hostess was in the greatest perplexity, for she was not acquainted with a single one of them, since Bräsig had selected them merely with reference to their capacities for dancing, and she called for Bräsig; but when he finally came Krischan the coachman had brought them all in, and undertook to dispose of them. He opened the doors of the kitchen and dining-room, and shoved them all in: "In with you, there! Take it easy! Get a little something to eat and drink; they are not ready yet!"
And the advice was good, for the marriage was delayed a little, because one of the groomsmen had not yet arrived, namely Fritz Triddelsitz, who at Rudolph's request had been persuaded to remove the ban from the Nüssler house, and to officiate in that capacity. At last he came, riding up the court on his dapple-gray and in full state, and mingled among the guests with so much dignity, and bowed right and left with so much elegance, that the rector's foolish little pupil whispered in Herr Süssmann's ear: "What a pity that we are all ready, he might have helped us." Whereupon Herr Süssmann regarded him with a look of compassion, and turning to Bräsig, who stood at his other side, said, "Herr Inspector, have you heard that I am chosen dance-director for our fraternity ball, day after tomorrow?"
Bräsig was going to tell him that he would be a blockhead if he undertook it, for Kurz would discharge him, but he did not have time to say it, for just then the bridal pair entered the room.
Rudolph was truly a fine looking bridegroom. His fresh, joyous demeanor was hidden, to-day, under a quiet earnestness, and only the firm resolve under all circumstances to fight for his wife and himself, like an honest fellow, shone in his brown eyes. Yes, he was a handsome bridegroom, for when does a man look handsomer than when, full of courage and hope, he goes out to his first conflict? Who could blame his mother, the good old advocate, for going up to him at this moment, and kissing him, and stroking his brown curls, and secretly pulling out his ruffle a little, from the dress coat, so that people might see it?
And now Mining! Mining looked, in her white satin dress and myrtle wreath, like a Bauersdorf apple, freshly plucked from the tree, and laid in its green leaves on a silver salver. Fresh and cool outside, as the ripe fruit, but her heart was glowing, and before Gottlieb had uttered a word of the ceremony, there was a pair betrothed,--confident hope and quiet blessedness had joined hands. And Frau Nüssler was crying quietly behind her handkerchief, and saying to Bräsig, "I cannot help it, she is my last, my youngest." And Bräsig looked at her, full of friendliness, and said, "Frau Nüssler, control yourself! It will soon be over;" and going up to Louise Habermann, he made a bow, saying, "My Fräulein, if you are ready, it is time,"--usually he called her "Louise," but to-day he was a groomsman, and must do what was proper. And Fritz Triddelsitz went up to the little assessor, for she was the other bride's maid, and Kurz and Rector Baldrian placed themselves as leaders by Rudolph, and when young Jochen after some delay was shoved forward, he stood by his Mining, and on his other side stood Habermann, for they were the two leaders for the bride,--and then the procession moved to carpenter Schultz's temple of art, where Gottlieb stood behind a green and white altar, and began to read Lining's marriage ceremony.
I know very well that a marriage at home is not thought much of,--now-a-days all marriages must be celebrated in church, and I have nothing against it, for I was married in church myself about that time, since my wife was a minister's daughter, and would not have it otherwise; but, as I was saying, at that time this kind of marriage ceremony had not been established in Mecklenburg by the ecclesiastical consistory, and the old modes were still in fashion, and children were married as their parents had been. New modes were in fashion too, as Krischan Schultz said, when he fastened his horse by the tail; but Gottlieb knew nothing about them, and if he had known about them, and had wished to fasten his horse in the new mode. Lining would not have allowed it; Lining was a married woman, but she would not allow her other half to disgrace himself before these rich, stout, stupid Nüsslers, and the Rahnstadt shopmen and school-boys, or that her twin sister should have her marriage feast spoiled by an ecclesiastical consistory, although she was the most dignified of pastors' wives, that is, after the Frau Pastorin, who was always the nearest.
After the ceremony, the two little twin-apples lay in each other's arms, in full, untroubled blessedness, and Rudolph embraced them both together, and Frau Nüssler stood a little aside, looking over her handkerchief, with her head turned over our shoulder, as if she were listening to something,--possibly the angel's song,--and as the stout, rich, stupid Nüsslers pressed around, with their congratulations, young Jochen stood among them and bowed to this one and that, as if it were his own wedding-day over again: "Uncle Luting, it is my Mining! Cousin Wilhelming, it is our little governess! Aunt Zaphie, what shall we do about it!" These people crowded up, the men with their bright waistcoats, and gold watch-chains across their breasts, and the women with whole flower-pots on their caps, and some of them with dropping eyes, as if the flowerpots had been watered too plentifully, and were running over. And the men and the women of Jochen's family kissed, alternately, Rudolph and Mining, as if before all things they must be taken into this rich, stout, stupid relationship, so that Kurz at last grew terribly angry, because he could not reach his new daughter-in-law, and for once his good old advocate agreed with him, because she could not reach her own son. And the Rahnstadt dancers also crowded about and wandered around the pair, and what else could they do? they could not have their kisses yet; and among this company stood Fritz Triddelsitz with the little assessor, tall and slender and imposing, not as a groomsman, no, as commander of the whole, and behind him stood the rector's little pupil, imitating with his short body and black woolen stockings all the motions that Fritz made with his long body and black silk stockings. He was Fritz's natural shadow, that is, at noon-day, when shadows are short.
Near by stood two other couples, who were not crowding up, for they were sufficiently occupied with themselves, and had time to spare; these were Habermann and his Louise, and Uncle Bräsig and the Frau Pastorin. Louise lay with her head on her father's breast, looking up to him, as if she had been long ill, and had been brought out from her couch, for the first time, into the free air, and the blue sky seemed to say: "Better days! better days!" and her face looked as peaceful and happy as the blue sky, and sun and moon and stars might wander there, and dew and rain might fall, to refresh and rejoice and enlighten mankind. Close to this pair stood Zachary Bräsig, with his arm round the little Frau Pastorin, and his eyebrows elevated, and he blew his nose, and said, "My little Mining! My little goddaughter! How happy she is!" and every time that one of the old, stout Nüsslers gave Mining a kiss, he bent down to the Frau Pastorin, and gave her a kiss, as if he must make up to this good old lady what the stupid old people were inflicting upon Mining. "You see, because!" as our servant maid, Lisette, says, here in Eisenach, when she can think of no other reason. And so Bräsig kissed the Frau Pastorin, and the Frau Pastorin suffered it, without thinking any harm; but when Aunt Zaphie, who had formerly been very handsome, and a sort of Venus among the Nüsslers, gave Rudolph three or four kisses, the little Frau Pastorin was startled, and when Bräsig approached his lips again, in such a friendly way, she said, "Bräsig, you ought to be ashamed of yourself! What have you particularly to do with me?"
And Bräsig drew back embarrassed, and said, "Frau Pastorin, don't take it unkindly, but my feelings ran away with me," and he brought the Frau Pastorin to Habermann, saying, "Karl, you must exchange. Louise is my bride's maid, and I am a bachelor, and you and the Frau Pastorin are both widowers, and that is suitable."
Mining had taken her Rudolph by the hand, and, when she saw her dearest and oldest friends standing a little on one side, had made various efforts to penetrate the sand-bags of stout, rich, stupid Nüsslers, and the wooden palisades of shopmen and school-boys, but without success; but when her brand new husband saw her futile manœuvres, he came to her assistance, shoved aside sand-bag No. 1, the rich Uncle Luting, and sand-bag No. 2, the witty cousin Wilhelming, grasped the longest palisade, Fritz Triddelsitz himself, in the short ribs, and moved him gently to another place, and neatly sent his pupil-shadow after him, and having thus made a breach through obstinacy, stupidity and tedium,--certainly no easy thing to do,--he brought his brand new bride to the people, who instead of congratulating her with flower-pots, and gay waistcoats and gold watch-chains, did it with what lies beneath them, their heads and their hearts. And when Frau Nüssler came up, and pressed her children, alternately, to her heart, Rudolph wiped the tears from his eyes, and said, "Let us all come out into the garden, and be by ourselves a little while."
And the carpenter, Schultz, who stood near and heard him, said; "Yes, out with you! All of you, out! We must set the tables here!" and he began to shove the rich Nüsslers about as if they were blocks and lumber. And when our company,--I sayour--had come to the famous arbor, Bräsig pointed to the cherry-tree, and said, "Mining, this tree must be an indicium and a token to you, all your life, since your future was decided under it, and under me that time; and since we are talking about tokens, Mining, bring me a blue larkspur again, there is one!"
And when Mining had gone for it Uncle Bräsig said, "Rudolph, have you always remembered the blue larkspur?" And when Rudolph said he had, Bräsig looked in his clear eyes, and then examined him from head to foot, and said, "I believe you!" and when Mining came back with the flower he said, "Thank you, Mining! And now I will give you my wedding present for it," and he pulled out an old thick, black pocket-book from his brown coat, and rummaged among his old milk and corn accounts, and took out a withered flower, saying, "See, my little godchild, this is the flower of that time,"--and he held it towards her with the fresh blossom,--"and if, after long years, Rudolph can look at you with the same clear eyes, and give you this new flower, then you may say, 'I have been a happy wife.' I have nothing more to say, nothing! and I have nothing else to give you, nothing at all!" and with that he walked away, and our company heard him saying to himself, "Nothing at all! but this indicium, Rudolph's indicium!" And when they found him again, he was walking with his sister and his niece Lotting, and the two women were caressing and thanking him, because he had never forgotten or forsaken them.
Then Frau Nüssler came up to our company: "Come children, all is ready. But don't take it ill! Jochen's family are the most distinguished, and I cannot offend Jochen to-day,--he is master for this once,--they must sit nearest the bridal pair. Kurz and his wife, of course, will sit among them, for, as you say, Frau Pastorin, they are the nearest, and Gottlieb and Lining must also sit there, he as clergyman, and she as twin, and Jochen, too, because they are his friends. But we, Frau Pastorin, Karl, Louise, and you, Bräsig! we will sit together at one end, and it shall be a merry wedding."
"A la bong kör!" said Bräsig, "but where is the shopman, Süssmann? I must speak to him about the fraternity ball."
"Oh, bless you! the poor fellow is sitting in the back kitchen; he and Triddelsitz were performing some kind of antics over a heap of pea-straw, and he fell, and something split, and Krischan had to get him Jochen's old blue trousers, and he will not let himself be seen by daylight, but is waiting until evening, when they will not noticed."
"And he wants to be dance-director!" said Bräsig, as he followed our company to the hall.
Then the feast began, and Frau Nüssler's little waiting-maids, with their fresh faces and three-cornered caps, and white bib-aprons, ran about the temple of art, and turned and whirled like humming tops,--for the old waiters with their shabby black dress-coats, and white neck-tiesà laturkey-cock, and white cotton gloves which are always dipping into the gravy, were not the fashion then,--and the stout Nüsslers sat there and ate, as if there were a French commissary in their stomachs, provisioning an army for a Russian campaign, and when they had finished the fricassee they began on the pudding, and when they had disposed of the pudding they attacked the roasted pigeons and sparrows, and wondered that the pigeons in Mecklenburg were not as large as the geese, and murmured against providence because sparrows were not as thick as hops, and when the roast meat came, Cousin Wilhelming, the wit of the Nüssler family, stood up and clinked his glass, and cried, "Quiet!" three times, and holding up his glass said, "To the health of the old General Knusemong (que nous aimons), who has been a very distinguished general, and is so to this day!" and with that he looked towards the young pair, blinking with his left eye at Mining, and with his right at Rudolph. And Uncle Luting--understand me, the rich Uncle Luting--stood up expressly for the purpose, and said, "Wilhelming, you are a devilish fellow!" And Bräsig said to the Frau Pastorin, "Frau Pastorin, I know you are opposed to the Reform, but I assure you the witty shoemaker in the Reform would have done it much better!" And Frau Nüssler sat on thorns and thistles, in distress lest Jochen should take it into his head to make a speech; but Jochen restrained himself, his speeches were not for the world at large, they were only for the neighborhood, and all he said was, "Wilhelming, fill Luting's glass! Luting, help Wilhelming!"
And when the punch-bowls were placed on the table, and the champagne came, the old Nüsslers looked at the labels, and said they had just such in their cellars, and Fritz Triddelsitz and the Herr Shopmen and the Herr Pupils drank one glass after another, losing no time, until the left wing of the wedding-army became so uproarious that the little assessor remarked to the commander of these light troops, to Fritz Triddelsitz, that if they were to attack the enemy in that condition they would be obliged to retreat, and when Fritz was making arrangements to withdraw his forces, then there happened a diversion, for him and for the whole company. Well, just to think what clever things an ignorant beast will do sometimes! Bauschan, Jochen's Bauschan, our old Bauschan was sitting with a green wreath about his neck, and another about his tail,--for Krischan the coachman had dressed him up for the occasion,--on the green and white altar, which was behind the bridal pair, and where Gottlieb and Lining had married them, and he thrust his dignified autocratic face between their heads and licked Mining with his tongue, and struck Rudolph with his tail, and then licked Rudolph, and struck Mining. And when he had done this, the old fellow settled down again upon the altar with the greatest dignity, looking as if he were well contented with the whole affair, but meant to sit there a little longer, for his own pleasure. Jochen sprang up: "Bauschan, for shame! Down with you!" But Uncle Bräsig sprang up also, saying; "Jochen, do you treat your best friend like that, on this solemn occasion?" and turning to Pastor Gottlieb, he added: "Herr Pastor, let Bauschan alone! When the beast shows his affection, here on this Christian altar, the beast knows something that we don't. And Bauschan is a clever dog! I know it; for when I heard about the love-affairs, up in the cherry-tree, he heard them from below, for he was lying in the arbor, under the bench. Herr Pastor, this Bauschan is certainly a marriage witness, for he was there when they were betrothed."
Gottlieb turned pale at the scandalous idea, but did not break out into a sermon this time, for there was suddenly a humming and buzzing, as of a swarm of bees; everybody had risen, and began to remove chairs and tables,--"Out! out!" cried carpenter Schultz,--and dishes and platters, and the rector's youngest pupil tumbled down with a great pile of Frau Nüssler's china plates, and the fragments clattered through the hall, and he stood looking at his work, and feeling in his vest-pocket for treasures which were as much concealed from his own eyes as from those of other people, and as Frau Nüssler passed by and saw the performance he turned very red, and said he would gladly pay for them, but he hadn't so much by him. And Frau Nüssler patted him kindly on the shoulder and said, "Oh, nonsense! But you must be punished!" and she took him by the hand and led him to Bräsig's niece Lotting, and said, "You shall dance out my plates here, this evening." And he paid his debt honestly.
Then the dancing began. First the Polonaise. Fritz Triddelsitz had the lead for Herr Süssmann was not yet visible, and what a dance he led them! Through the hall, and through the garden, and through the kitchen, and the entry, and the living room and the sleeping rooms, and back into the garden again, and into the hall went the procession, until Jochen's stout relations were quite out of breath, and Bräsig called out to him, why didn't he take the barn-yard by the way? And Jochen Nüssler danced, third couple, with Aunt Zaphie in her flower-pot on one side, and Bauschan in his wreath on the other, and he looked between them like a pearl in a golden setting, or an ass between two bundles of hay. And when the Polonaise was over, David Berger played the slowest of waltzes, "Thou, thou reign'st in this bosom, There, there, hast thou thy throne," and another band answered out of the distance: "Our cat has nine kits," and as he played on: "Speak, speak, Love, I implore thee! Say, say, hope shall be mine!"--came the answer from the distance: "Son and daughter, Into the water!"--and so on, for Frau Nüssler had given orders that there should be dancing in the milk-cellar also, and there sat old Hartloff, with his one eye, and Wichmann the joiner, and Ruhrdanz the weaver, and all the rest; and Hartloff had helped them all to a good drink, and told them not to be discouraged, they could cope with such a city band as that, any day, and so they did their best, and Krischan the coachman kept them supplied with liquor. And when the fun was at its height, Rudolph and Mining came into the milk-cellar, and Mining danced with Krischan, and Rudolph with the cook, and the bailiff got up a hurrah for the married pair, and Hartloff fiddled so madly that Ruhrdanz tried in vain to keep up with him on the clarionet, and finally gave up in despair. And when the bridal pair had gone, Krischan stood behind the door with the cook, arguing the matter.
"Dürt, what must be, must."
"Eh, Krischan, what do you want?"
"Dürt, we are a bridal pair too, and what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander; we must show ourselves on this occasion, they cannot take it ill of us."
And Dürt said it was very disagreeable to her, and, if she must do it, she would rather dance with Inspector Bräsig, for she knew him; and Krischan said, for all he cared, and he would dance with the Frau. And nobody thought it anything out of the way, in the temple of art, when Krischan stood up with Frau Nüssler and Bräsig with Dürt, and danced as merrily as the rest. So it was, in those times, and 'tis a pity it is so no longer,--at least not in many places. Great joy and profound grief bring high and low together: why should a master who wishes his laborers to mourn at his funeral not share his pleasures with them also?
It was a joyful occasion, and I could not possibly describe the pleasure which filled every heart, as the young feet danced merrily about, and hands silently pressed each other. I only know that Fritz Triddelsitz stood there as commander-in-chief, and that the little assessor at his side very often blushed, and after the dance ran to Louise, as if to seek her protection. I only know that the little pupil got knocked over several times, in the dance, because he was lost in arithmetical calculations, how he, when his predecessor came to be sexton, and he should be appointed school-master, might live with the greatest economy, and rent a bit of potato-land from the shoemaker at four shillings the square rood, and if the rich Uncle Bräsig could help them with a few thalers, perhaps he might marry the lovely blue eyes and the golden hair which looked up to him so joyously, and in the confusion of the dance got entangled in his black coat, which was about one third paid for at Kurz's shop. I only know that the only unhappy being, in the whole company, was Herr Süssmann, and he only when his eyes happened to fall upon Jochen's old blue trousers.
Yes, it was a joyful occasion; but everything has its end; the little fairies and the shopmen and school-boys and the dancers, and David Berger with the musicians, drove off home,--the old people had gone before,--and Jochen placed himself at the head of his relations, and showed them to their quarters, and Frau Nüssler took the ladies to their rooms, and every married lady had her nice bed; but the unmarried ones, with Aunt Zaphie at their head, had to sleep in the great blue room,en table d'hôte.
The Sunday after the wedding the young Frau von Rambow was busy in the morning with her housekeeping, and wrote down her expenses in her account book, and then sat in deep thought, till she was wholly disheartened with vague distress and anxiety, for she felt certain that things were going badly with Axel; but she had no idea of the desperate condition at which they had really arrived, through his unwise management, for her worst suspicions and anxieties fell far short of the truth. She merely inferred from his unsteady, hasty demeanor, and the restlessness which drove him hither and thither, that he was in great difficulty. That it was the most extreme difficulty, that the knife was at his throat, and a slight accident, a little maliciousness, might finish the business, she truly did not dream. He had told her nothing; he had ordered horses to be put to the carriage that morning, and had gone off for three days. Where? Why? Those were questions that no longer passed her lips, for why should she knock at a door from which issued only falsehood and evasion? She closed her account book with a sigh, and said to herself, "What is the use? A woman's hands cannot prop up a falling house." And as she saw Fritz Triddelsitz, through the window, strolling wearily and sleepily across the yard, she let her hands fall in her lap, saying, "And all the management depends onhim; and it is fortunate too, for he is honest, and has been brought up by Habermann. Ah, Habermann! Habermann!" she cried, and mournful and remorseful thoughts overcame her, and enclosed her in their grasp. Who has not, some time in his life, passed such an hour, when one thought crowds upon the heels of another, like the ghosts of by-gone days, and all point with their fingers to the weak places in our hearts? They will not stir nor move, they stand like wall and mortar, ever pointing to the place, and connecting our present trouble with that place, and calling in our ears, this is the consequence, why hast thou acted thus? And what she had done, had been only out of love; but the ghosts did not turn any for that,--what does a ghost know of love?
As she sat there, Daniel Sadenwater came in, and announced the Herr Proprietor Pomuchelskopp. The Herr was not at home, Frida said. He had told him so, said Daniel, but the Herr Pomuchelskopp had said expressly, he wished to speak with the gracious Frau. "I will come directly," said Frida. She would not have said that usually, but at the moment she was glad to escape from her gloomy thoughts; she had a great aversion to Pomuchelskopp, but still he was a flesh and blood man, he was none of her grisly ghosts.
But she would not have done it, if she had known what awaited her. Pomuchel had previously, and at last on that very morning, held wise counsel with David and Slusuhr, and they were agreed in this conclusion: that it would be best for him to buy the estate of Axel, at private sale; "For" said Pomuchelskopp, "if it comes to an auction, they will put it up too high for me. Ah, how they would drive it up! the old nobility would come together, and some of them have a great deal of money,--and they stick to each other, like burs,--and they would pay his debts, if it came to the hammer, or buy it in for him."
"You must look out for them," said Slusuhr.
"No! no!" cried Pomuchelskopp. "If I can get it quietly, that is the best way. He is as mellow, as mellow as a rotten apple, and I know him, he never looks over the fence, he only reaches after the nearest thing, and if I offer him a good bit of money, enough to pay his debts and have a little left over, he will take it."
"You forget one thing," said the notary, "she is there still."
"Oh, she knows nothing about it," said Muchel. "Fortunate for us, else it would not have gone so far. She looked at me once,--when they had that fuss about the stolen money,--with a pair of eyes that I shall never forget, so long as I live."
"Well," said David, "what of that? she is a woman,--not such a woman as Frau Pomuchelskopp, forsheis a dreadfully clever woman,--she is a noble lady, she knows a great deal about some things, and nothing at all about others. If he is mellow, well, she must be made mellow too."
David's advice prevailed; yes, when the poor lady should learn all, blow upon blow, then she must become pliable in their hands, then she would not oppose the sale of the estate; and it was decided that Pomuchelskopp should make a beginning, and the others should follow him, that very morning; they knew that Axel was not at home.
When the Frau von Rambow went down to Pomuchelskopp, he looked as gentle and compassionate as if he were a clergyman, come to condole with her upon her mother's death; he stretched out both hands with a cordial gesture, as if he would take her hand in his, and press it warmly. Not getting her hand, however, he folded his own together, and regarded her with such a fatherly expression, in his old fat eyes, as a crocodile assumes when he is just ready to cry.
He had come, he said, as an old friend, as a true neighbor, to speak with the Herr von Rambow; the business was very pressing, and since the young Herr was not at home, it was necessary that he should speak with the gracious lady. It would be a great grief to him, if he, as a neighbor, could not help, when there was such a misfortune in prospect as the public auction sale of Pumpelhagen.
Frida started back, exclaiming, "Sale of Pumpelhagen!"
And now Pomuchelskopp looked like an unfortunate, innocent mother, who has overlaid her child in sleep; "God bless me!" he cried, "what have I done! I believed, gracious Frau, that you knew already----"
"I know nothing," said Frida, pale, but firm, and looking at the old sinner as if she would look him through; "I know nothing, but I wish to know all. Why should Pumpelhagen be sold?"
"Gracious lady," said the Herr Proprietor, almost wringing his hands, "the many debts----"
"Whom is my husband indebted to?"
"I believe, to many people."
"To yourself, also?"
And now it seemed as if a sluice were drawn up in Pomuchelskopp's heart, and the streams of friendliness, which had been accumulating for long years, were poured out at once upon the house of Pumpelhagen. Yes, he said, he had also demands upon him, but the money which he had loaned had been given out of friendship, and so it should remain. He had merely come over, this morning, to give the young Herr good advice, how the business might be managed, and if possible to help him out of his difficulties. So far as he knew, it was Moses who insisted on the sale, and if his mouth could be stopped everything might be settled. And as he took leave, he said, very kindly, with such a dignified shaking of the head, and much blinking of the eyes, as if to repress tears, if he had known that the gracious lady knew nothing about it, he would rather have pulled out his tongue than have uttered a word on the subject.
If it had been a matter with which she was less nearly connected, she must have perceived the falseness of Pomuchelskopp's behavior; but she had only a vague feeling of it, for distress and terror prevented her from seeing clearly. She felt as if the house had been shaken by an earthquake, as if the walls, which had hitherto protected from the storm, were ready to fall upon her and her child, and bury, beneath themselves, the little happiness she still hoped for in the future, she must get out into the open air, into the garden; and there she walked up and down in the cool shade, thinking and thinking, and it seemed to her as if the very shadows cast by the trees were hers no longer, or even the flowers blooming at her feet, which she herself had planted. She sat down on the same bench where her father-in-law, the old Kammerrath, had sat, when he told Habermann of his troubles; Habermann had helped then,--where was Habermann now? The same tree shadowed her, which she had first seen from the distance when Axel had so proudly pointed out to her his fair estate; where was this pride? where was the estate? To whom did this tree belong?
She sat there for a moment, as she thought, but the moment lasted two hours. She heard steps approaching on the Gurlitz pathway, and started to go; but before she could get away the notary and David stood before her. Slusuhr was a little startled, coming unawares upon the woman whom he was about to put to the torture; but David grinned like a monkey, into whose hand an apple had fallen unexpectedly. The notary went up to the gracious lady with great respect, and with a low bow inquired if they could speak with the gracious Herr.
"He is away from home," said Frida.
"It is very necessary that we should see him," said David. Slusuhr looked at David over his shoulder, as if to say, "Will you hold your stupid tongue?" but he repeated the same words:
"Yes, gracious lady, it is necessary that we should see him."
"Then you must come again on Wednesday; Herr von Rambow is coming back on Tuesday," and she turned to go.
The notary stepped before her, saying, "The business is not so much ours, as the Herr von Rambow's; perhaps a messenger might be sent after him. It is really a very pressing case. We know of a purchaser for Pumpelhagen, a thoroughly safe man, who wishes, however, a definite answer, within three days, whether Herr von Rambow will dispose of the estate at private sale, or let it come to an auction, at the end of the term. The Herr, here, is the son of Moses, who has given notice of his money for St. John's day, and through me, as his man of business, urges the private sale."
Of course this was all a tissue of lies. The fair young Frau stood still and looked at the two rascals; her first fright was over, and all the pride of her innocent soul rose against this undeserved misfortune.
"Gracious lady," said David, after he had fumbled at his watch-chain a while, in great embarrassment under her steady gaze, "bethink yourself; there is my father with the seven thousand thalers,--with the interest and costs, it amounts to eight,--there is Herr Pomuchelskopp's eight thousand thalers, there are the trades-people at Rahnstadt,--we have the accounts by us,--three thousand, then there are the bills of exchange, and, here and there, ten thousand more, owing,--well, what do I know? perhaps to Israel at Schwerin. If you should sell, now, to a safe man, and you could sell the furniture, and the beds, and the linen, you would have ten thousand thalers over, or perhaps eleven, or, for all I know, even twelve thousand. And then, if you should move to Rahnstadt, and rent a house there, you would have nothing to do, and could live like a countess."
Frida said nothing, but bowed coldly to the two companions, and went into the house. Nothing drives a high spirit to defend itself and to present a brave front to the world, like the rude intrusion of the world into one's private affairs. Then the foot advances to tread upon the head of the adder, and pride and honor and a good conscience turn out all other emotions which have restlessly worked in the heart, and there is no longer strife, there is calm repose; but it is like the repose of death.
"There she goes, like a princess!" said David.
"You blockhead, you!" cried Slusuhr. "Well, I will never, in my life, go on any business again with such a dunce."
"Why, what is the matter?" asked David. "Didn't we do just that way with the peasant at Kanin, and the matter was settled at once?"
"Yes, with a peasant. But did you come into the world yesterday, that you don't know that a noble lady is no peasant? We wanted to make her mellow and pliable--well, much good may it do you! we have only stiffened her neck. If it had come over him in that way, he would have said yes to everything; but," he added, rather to himself than to David, "there are men,--yes, and women, truly,--who are really strong, for the first time, under misfortune."
As they returned to the Herr Proprietor, and he learned how the young Frau had received them, he was greatly enraged.
"Good heavens!" said he to David, "how is it possible you could go about such a critical business in such a rough way? You should merely have bored and pricked and teased her, instead of setting her whole future life before her. God bless me! I had it all so nicely in train; and now, you shall see, when he comes home she will stiffen his back up as well, and the end will be, it will come to an auction."
"Then you can buy it," said Slusuhr.
"No, no! They will drive it up too high for me, and it joins so finely to my estate!" So the worthy Herr complained and disputed with the others, and consulted what should be done, and how they could manage it.
In another part of Gurlitz, there were also consultations going on. In weaver Ruhrdanz's room, day-laborers and day-laborers wives were sitting together, and the talk that went round was not hasty and reckless, but thoughtful and deliberate, though venomous.
"Well, what do you say, brother?"
"Eh, what should one say? He must be got rid of, he is a regular skinner! Well, now you, Ruhrdanz?"
"You are right there, I say so, too; he must be got rid of! But, friends, you should see, they would send him back to us again. If we only had papers about it, so that he dare not come back."
"Oh, your stupid papers!" cried a great rough woman, from behind the stove, "when you come home, in the evenings, from the city, with your heads full of brandy, you are ready to do great things, and afterwards you flop together, like a dish-cloth. What? Must I send my children about the country, begging? I have had no bread, for three days, but such as the children have brought home."
"Things are a little better than they were, though," said old father Brinkman.
"Yes," cried Willgans, "but from fear, not from kindness. We will go up to the court, each with a good staff, and there we will teach him to know the Lord, and then we will lead him over the boundary, and give him a start on the way: 'There! now travel!'"
"What?" cried Kapphingst, "and that Satan of a woman, who almost killed my girl about an old chicken, will you let her stay?"
"And the old girls," cried a young woman, "who tormented us so, when we were servants at the court, and seemed like merciful angels in the parlor, when there was company, and knocked us round in the kitchen, like regular devils,--shall they stay too?"
"We must get rid of the whole concern," said Willgans.
"No, children, no!" said old Brinkman. "Do not meddle with the innocent children!"
"Yes," said Ruhrdanz's old wife, who sat by herself, peeling potatoes for dinner, "you are right, Brinkman, and Gustaving must stay too; I saw him bringing old Schultz a measure of potatoes, secretly; and when he measures the land for potatoes and flax, he always gives a couple of rods more thanhedoes; and, Willgans, see! your oldest boy wears a pair of his outgrown breeches, at this moment. He cannot do as he would, the old man looks after him too closely. No, against Gustaving and the little ones, nobody must lift a hand."
"Mother, I say so, too," said Ruhrdanz. "And, let me tell you something, we must do everything regularly! The others are not here now; this evening we will talk about it again. He will not be at home; Johann Jochen had to get the glass coach ready, they are going to the ball, in the city, this evening; then we can talk it over."
"Yes," cried the great rough woman, "yes, talk and talk! You drink your heads full of brandy, and we are starving. Ifyoudon't get rid of these people,weshall do it, for we can do as other women have done, all over the country; thorn-bushes and nettle-stalks are not far to seek." With that, she went out of the door, and the company dispersed.
"Bernhard," said Ruhrdanz's wife to him, "the matter may turn out badly."
"So I say, mother, and you are quite right; but if the business is only conducted with regularity, the grand-duke can have nothing against it. The only trouble is that we have no proper papers to show; but if he should have to showhispapers, fine papers they would be."
Ruhrdanz was right; as for the grand-duke, I don't know about that; but he was right about the glass coach, and Pomuchelskopp's journey to the ball; for towards evening the Herr Proprietor sat in the coach, in his blue dress-coat, and his brave, old Häuning sat by him, looking, in her yellow-brown silk, like one of her own cookies, with all sorts of scalloped flourishes, though the soapy flavor was lacking; she was as dry and tough as a leather strap, and her bones clattered over the rough roads, like a bunch of hazelnuts, hung in the chimney-corner. Opposite sat the two fair daughters, sumptuously arrayed; but greatly vexed, because their father positively insisted upon taking them tothisball, aburgherball. To punish him for it, they made no effort to amuse him, and talked of the burghers ascanaille, and also wrought vengeance upon his shins, by the way, by means of the new hoops in their crinoline, which the wheelwright had put in freshly, that morning, of stout hazel stock. Gustaving sat by the coachman, Johann Jochen, on the box.
I cannot think of dancing, this evening, with my pretty readers, at the fraternity ball, I am too old, and besides, it is only three days since Rudolph's wedding, where I did my utmost. I will merely go as a spectator, and enjoy the pleasant summer evening, on the bench before Grammelin's door; I can look into the hall for a few moments, later in the evening, and drink a glass of punch, and fraternize a little, like the rest.
There were great doings at Grammelin's. All the grandees of Rahnstadt were there, the burghers, head and tail and neck and crop, a few proprietors, Pomuchelskopp at the head, a few noblemen and their sons,--their wives were not there, they were all troubled with corns that afternoon, and the daughters were absent from home,--the pächters in the neighborhood, and the young country people came in crowds. Very few of our friends were to be seen, for it was church-going with Jochen Nüssler's family, and the Frau Pastorin and Habermann and Louise had gone out there, and Rector Baldrian and Kurz, with their wives and Bräsig, had also gone, but had returned in time to go to the ball. Kurz did not go, however, for he had been so provoked over Jochen's stout relations, that his wife put him to bed, which was a good thing, not only for himself, but for Herr Süssmann and the ball, for the young Herr could manage his affairs as dance-director without disturbance. He had got himself a new pair of trousers, and had put so much lard on his hair, that there was plenty to spare to grease his joints with. The little assessor went with her parents, and Fritz Triddelsitz, who was aware that she was coming, appeared as a proprietor of the highest rank, connected with the nobility. The little pupil, whose groschens were all gone, and who had discovered that Bräsig's niece would not be there, sat just across the street from Grammelin's, before a forlorn old piano, which he belabored, while he sung:
"Mich fliehen alle Freuden, ich sterb vor Ungeduld,"
"Mich fliehen alle Freuden, ich sterb vor Ungeduld,"
and so forth, only he mispronounced, in his distress, and said:
"Mich freuen alle Fliegen!"
"Mich freuen alle Fliegen!"
Rector Baldrian came, with his wife, and Bräsig with Schultz the carpenter, and Slusuhr and David. David had on two gold rings more than usual, which had been given him in pawn, and chewed cinnamon bark, to counteract the odor of the produce business.
And when they were all there, and they were ready to begin, David Berger played the "Mamsell jäs"--as the dyer Meinswegens called the thing,--and Herr Süssmann sang out, quite loud:
"Allons enfant de la partie!"
"Allons enfant de la partie!"
At first, all seemed very good-natured, but, as a whole, there wasn't much fraternity. On one side it was all right, the young gentlemen among the grandees, and those from the country, were very brotherly towards the pretty little burghers' daughters; but the young ladies from the country, and the grandees' daughters, were positively determined not to fraternize with the burghers' sons, and the first open quarrel began with Malchen Pomuchelskopp. The shoemaker, the wit of the Reformverein, who was a burgher's son in Rahnstadt, asked her to dance, and she thanked him, but she was engaged; and then she sat there, and waited for Fritz Triddelsitz or Herr Süssmann, or some other helping angel, whom providence might send to dance the next hop waltz with her. But there were no angels of the kind ready, and she remained sitting. The rogue of a shoemaker cracked his jokes over it, and at last said, quite aloud, that if the distinguished ladies would not dance with them, they ought not to let the distinguished gentlemen dance with their women-folks, for they had not come there to look at each other. And then the storm broke upon the poor, pretty, innocent, little burghers' daughters, and their brothers and lovers attacked them: "Fika, don't you dance any more with that long-legged apothecary's son!" and "Dürt, wait, I shall tell mother!" and "Stine, another dance with the advocate, and we are parted!" So it went through the hall, and at last it came to Father Pomuchelskopp's ears, how the trouble originated, and it disturbed him so much that he went to Malchen, and represented to her in the most pathetic terms the mischief she had done. The shoemaker, he said, was a very worthy young man, he was counted equal to any ten in the Reformverein, on account of his terrible wit, and it must be made up, and in spite of all her opposition Father Pomuchelskopp took his educated daughter upon his arm, and led her through the hall to the shoemaker, and said it was a great mistake, his daughter would consider it a special honor to dance with such a distinguished member of the Reformverein. And, behold! the shoemaker and Malchen were dancing together!
Father Pomuchel had now, so to speak, sacrificed his first born upon the altar of fraternity, but it did not avail much, the discordant elements would not harmonize. Uncle Bräsig was doing his utmost, on the other side, he puffed about in his brown dress-coat, introduced Herr von So and So to the wife of Thiel the joiner, and compelled himself to walk arm-in-arm, about the hall, with his worst enemy in the Reformverein, the tailor Wimmersdorf, and at last, before everybody, gave the wife of Johann Meinswegens, the dyer, a couple of fraternity kisses on her red face; but it was a hopeless task, what could one man accomplish, though with the best will in the world? "Herr Schultz," he said, at last, quite worn out with his labors, "when it comes to the eating and drinking, I hope we may be a little more brotherly; the dancing only seems to bring us farther apart."
But even the eating and drinking did not help the matter; the people of rank sat at one end of the table, the burghers at the other; at one end they drank champagne, at the other a frightful tipple, which Grammelin sold, with the greatest impudence, as fine red wine, at twelve shillings the bottle. The shoemaker, indeed, was invited by Pomuchelskopp to be his guest at table, he sat by Malchen, and Father Pomuchel filled his glass assiduously; the dyer, Meinswegens, had sat down with his wife between two proprietors, and ordered "Panschamber," for he had filled his pocket with four-groschen pieces; but when he went to pay he became aware that he had made a mistake, in the twilight, for he brought out a handful of dyer's tickets. Bräsig had seated himself between a couple of the dearest little burghers' daughters, whom he treated in such a fatherly way that the Frau Pastorin, if she had seen it, would not have given him a good word for a week, and Gottlieb would certainly have preached him a sermon; but what good did it all do? Grammelin's sour wine did not suit well with his champagne, and so at supper they were farther asunder than ever.
"Herr Schultz," said Bräsig to his old friend, who sat opposite, "now it is time to play our last trump, you speak to Herr Süssmann, I will tell David Berger."
Herr Schultz went round to Herr Süssmann. "Have you your song-books ready?"
"Oh, yes."
"Go ahead, then! Now is the time!"
Herr Süssmann distributed the songbooks, while Bräsig went up to David Berger, and inquired:
"Herr Berger, do you know that air of Schiller's: