At Schweidnitz, on new year's eve, the Fessel family were gathered around the well lighted and richly covered table; but no one had an inclination to eat; for Dorn, the idol of the house, was still absent, and anxiety for her beloved relatives saddened the countenance of the affectionate Katharine.
'I thought master Dorn would have kept his word better,' cried the impatient Martin, striking the empty seat which had been placed near him for the expected traveler. 'The supper will soon be over and still he is not here.'
'He will yet be sure to come,' said the confiding Ulrich. 'God grant it,' sighed Katharine. 'A carriage! a carriage!' cried the listening daughters, running to the window. 'It is father's horses!' they shouted. Out ran the two boys, overthrowing their seats with a tremendous racket; and, as if there had been a wager among the four children, which should first break their necks, they all rushed out of the door and down the steep stairs.
'Welcome to Schweidnitz, my dear mother!' joyfully cried the master of the house from the window, to which he also had hastened.
'Has my sister come with you?' asked the anxious Katharine, running to the door. The children had already let down the steps of the carriage, and madam Rosen with her daughter hastened to meet their expectant friends. The cloaks and wrappers soon fell off, and mother and daughters were clasped in a mutual embrace.
'Happily redeemed from the prison of the hateful Holofernes?' asked Fessel, affectionately greeting his mother-in-law.
'After great trouble and anxiety,' answered the widow, drawing a long breath, whilst the attentive Katharine was busily relieving her of her superfluous traveling garments.
'Had you not sent us so bold a knight,' said Faith playfully; 'to rescue us from the terrible giant, we should have been at this moment sitting in Sagan, listening to the insupportable boastings of the monster.'
'Where is the valiant knight, that I may thank him for his good service?' asked Katharine.
At that moment Dorn entered the room, leading the young Engelmann by the hand, and surrounded by the four children of the house.
'How! Do you bring the boy, also?' asked the astonished master, warmly embracing his book-keeper.
'He has permission to remain and pursue his studies here,' answered Dorn. 'Here is the Duke's consent in his own hand-writing.'
'You must understand the black art,' cried the overjoyed Fessel. 'I should sooner have expected to remove the everlasting hills from their foundations than to move the Friedlander from his purpose.'
'I could not, however, save your property,' said Dorn. 'The houses already lay in ruins, and all applications for indemnification are rejected by the ducal court.'
'I am sorry to lose the capital,' said Fessel; for I had already built a fine speculation upon it; but you have saved my dear friends, and so in God's name let the guilders go. Now seat yourselves and relate to me circumstantially how this eighth wonder of the world has been accomplished.'
They placed themselves at table. Dorn obtained a seat near the charming Faith; and, as among a swarm of bees, narrations and corrections, questions and answers, praise and astonishment, fear, anger and laughter, so buzzed about the table that the business of eating was scarcely thought of.
'Thank God we are finally here!' remarked madam Rosen, reaching her goblet of Hungary wine to the book-keeper, for the purpose of touching his glass. 'My best thanks,' said she with emotion, and at the same time gave an intimation to Faith to follow her example.
'Thank me not so much, dear madam,' said the youth with a pensive air, while touching glasses with the blushing maiden; 'else I shall have my whole reward in thanks.'
'And in consequence lose the courage to ask for a dearer one,' jested Katharine, who had noticed the glance he gave her sister.
'We are so merry to-night!' cried Fessel's youngest daughter, the little Hedwig, 'cannot you let us have the play of the light boats now, dear mother? You promised it to us on Christmas eve; which, by the by, was passed sadly enough.'
'Yes, yes, the light boats!' shouted the other children, clapping their hands.
'Well, bring the large soup-dish,' said the mother, who could refuse nothing to her youngest daughter; 'but be careful not to spill the water.'
'Glorious, excellent!' cried the children in chorus. Hedwig flew out of the room; the other children produced wax candles of various colors, and began cutting them into innumerable small pieces; while Faith, Dorn, and young Engelmann, were instructed to divide the walnuts, of which the table famished an abundant supply, in halves, and neatly to extricate the kernels without injuring the shells.
'I know not if you are acquainted with this play of the Silesian children,' said Fessel, laughing, to Dorn. 'It was omitted by us last year, in consequence of my wife's illness. It is a solemn oracle upon matters of love, marriage, and death. The children, however, do not trouble themselves about the serious signification; but only take pleasure in the movements of the boats and in splashing the water.'
The door now opened, and little Hedwig stepped into the room, with the large dish full of water in her hands, with a solemn and consequential air, and deposited her burden upon the centre of the table.
'Now put the lights in the boats,' commanded Martin; 'we have prepared enough of them.' A small wax taper was placed in each shell, projecting like the mast of a boat.
'Who shall swim first?' asked Elizabeth, lighting the tapers in two of the boats.
'Mother and father!' cried the others, and the shells were placed in the platter near each other, when they moved forth upon the clear liquid surface with a regular motion, and burning with a steady light, until they reached the opposite side where they quietly remained.
'We are already anchored in a safe haven,' said Fessel to his beloved wife; 'and in the quiet enjoyment of domestic happiness, we can have no wish to be restlessly driving about upon the open seas.'
'Ah, may God grant that the troubles of the times reach us not in our safe haven and rend our bark from its fast anchorage,' cried the true-hearted Katharine with timid foreboding.
At this moment the light in one of the boats began to hiss and sputter, and after flashing for an instant was extinguished, amid exclamations of sad surprise from the children.
'What does that forbode?--to whom does that boat belong?' asked Katharine, smilingly.
'That is not decided,' eagerly cried Ulrich; 'and the whole oracle is invalid.'
'Elizabeth filled the boat with water by her awkwardness, when she started it,' announced Martin, who had been investigating the causes of the accident.
'Every event in life must have had its cause,' said Fessel with more earnestness than the trifling accident merited. 'If this portends the extinguishment of the light of life in either of us, I pray God in mercy to grant that mine may be the first to expire.'
'Say not so,' tenderly replied Katharine. 'Our children would lose in you their only stay. Their mother would be more lightly missed, and the strong man would better bear the sad bereavement than weak and helpless woman.'
'Why this earnest and deep-meaning conversation on new year's evening?' said madam Rosen, half angry. 'Come, children; go on more briskly with your play and give us something pleasanter to think about.'
'Who comes next?' asked Elizabeth.
'Honor to whom honor is due,' laughed Hedwig. 'Cousin Faith must swim now.'
'But she must herself decide with whom,' said Fessel. 'I have not been at Sagan for some years, and know not who has made himself most agreeable to her.'
'Indeed, I know not whom to name to you,' said the maiden with a low tone and hesitating manner, blushing deeply for the untruth which thus escaped her lips.
'Then we will take master Dorn for the occasion,' cried the obstreperous Martin, whose natural boldness was increased by the wine he had tasted; 'he is constantly giving Faith such friendly glances!'
'It shall be so,' shouted Ulrich; 'and they shall have the handsomest tapers. Choose your own colors; here are red, and green, and white, and variegated.'
'Red for Faith and green for me,' quickly cried Dorn, silencing the maiden by a gentle pressure of her hand under the table, as she was about to make some objections.
'They must not, however, start together from the shore,' said Ulrich. 'Well, do you set the red ship on that side and I will place the green one here,' answered Martin; 'and then they may seek each other if they wish to come together.'
Brightly burning, the little barks swam towards each other for a moment; then, both floated to the edge of the platter and remained motionless, at some little distance apart.
'Master Dorn is too indolent!' cried Martin, throwing a nut-kernel at the green skiff to urge it towards the red; but it only reeled to and fro, without removing from its place.
'Insufferable!' cried Dorn. At that moment the water became slightly agitated, and both skiffs left their stations at the side for the open sea.
'Faith has jostled the table!' cried the falcon-eyed Hedwig.
'I--no--I wish to hinder their meeting,' stammered the confused Faith.
'Did you really jostle the table, dearest maiden?' asked Dorn, his hand again seeking hers.
'Ah, ah, my daughter!' reprovingly exclaimed madam Rosen, and amid the exclamations of the children the two skiffs met in mid ocean, while a gentle pressure from Faith's hand gave an affirmative answer to the bold question of the youth.
The joy of the children, which the grandmother's remonstrances only increased, was every moment becoming more bold and noisy. Without aim or object a crowd of lights were now set afloat in the mimic ocean, and apple cuttings and bread bullets flew like bombs among them, causing immense damage and innumerable shipwrecks. 'It is enough!' cried Fessel, the disturbance becoming excessive, and moved his chair from the table. A respectful silence succeeded the wild tumult. The children dutifully arose, folded their hands with a serious air, and Martin said grace with decent solemnity.
The mistress of the house now invited her beloved guests to retire to rest; that they might sleep away the fatigues of the day; but the children, who had again become as noisy as ever, and had not the least inclination to sleep, strongly opposed the movement.
'It would be fine indeed,' cried Martin, 'if we should have no writing of notes.'
'Pray, pray, dear mother!' entreated the flattering and constant petitioner, Hedwig. 'You well know that you promised me, if I filled a writing book without blotting, that I should be indulged with writing notes, on new year's evening. My last writing book is without a spot, and you must now keep your word.'
'Children are the most inexorable creditors,' said Fessel, directing little Ulrich to bring the writing materials from the counting-room, while the table was being cleared.
'This is a strange remnant of the old heathen times,' explained Fessel to the book-keeper, who looked inquiringly at him. 'It is a form of new year's congratulation, and an oracle at the same time. You write three several wishes upon three slips of paper, which you fold and give to the person who would try his fate. These wishes may be, honors, offices and success in business, to the men,--chains, bracelets, and new dresses, to the women,--agreeable suitors to maidens. All place the notes they have received under their pillows, and the wish contained in the one which is first opened on new year's morning shall be fulfilled in the course of the current year.'
'I always take great pleasure in this sport,' said Katharine to her mother; 'my husband is always so anxious to fulfil his oracle and to present me what is wished me in the note I open.'
'There comes Ulrich!' screamed the children, as he entered, heavily laden, and deposited his burden upon the table. The notes were prepared, and the whole family were soon seated around the table, moving their pens as assiduously as if an instrument was to be drawn for securing religious liberty. Amidst the scratching of the pens, which were very awkwardly handled by the younger children, and therefore made the more noise, arose the admonitions of the father to sit erect, and of the mother not to bespatter themselves with ink; which admonitions were obeyed just so long as they were heard. Meanwhile Dorn was sharply watching the paper upon which Faith was writing; who, as soon as she became aware of it, covered the writing with her little hand and whispered to him: 'If you watch me, you will get no packet from me to-night.' He discreetly drew back and began writing his notes.
Fessel now strewed sand upon his last note, enclosed it with the others and gave the packet with a kiss to his Katharine. The children snapped their pens to the infinite damage of the well scoured white floor, for which their grandmother very properly scolded them. Dorn handed his packet to the beauteous Faith, who hid hers in her bosom, strenuously asserting that she could think of nothing to write.
The clock now struck the midnight hour, and a peal of bells from the tower of the city hall greeted the new year.
'A happy new year! a happy new year!' shouted the children, springing from their seats; and the impetuous Hedwig proposed to open the notes directly, as the new year had already commenced; but Fessel interposed his decided negative and commanded them to defer it until the actual rising of the new year sun.
Amid the noise and confusion of the thousand new year congratulations, Dorn once more approached the lovely Faith.
'Must I enter upon the new year without one kind wish from you?' he pensively asked. She looked at him with embarrassment and irresolution. At that moment she was called by her mother who was already standing in the door. The startling call helped her to come to a decision, and, suddenly drawing the packet from her bosom and smilingly placing it in Dorn's hand, she hastened after her mother.
Long did the youth hold the much coveted packet pressed to his lips. 'How much earthly happiness,' said he to himself with deep emotion, 'have I destroyed in my military career. Do I indeed deserve that love should crown me with its freshest wreaths in a land I have helped to lay waste?'
Dorn, who had retired late and awoke betimes with the interesting little packet under his pillow, found himself at an early hour leaning against a window in the family parlor, and engaged in examining a delicate little note. While thus occupied, Faith, impelled by a similar restlessness, entered the room. As she perceived him whose image had embellished her dreams, an enchanting blush overspread her delicate face, and her beautiful blue eyes beamed with love and joy; but when Dorn, enraptured at the encounter, affectionately tendered her the congratulations appropriate to the new year's morning, changing her mood she turned away from him with feigned displeasure and exclaimed: 'Pshaw, captain! I am angry with you. You have wished me two horrible suitors.'
'Before I undertake to exculpate myself,' said Dorn, 'only tell me which you drew from the packet.'
'The duke of Friedland,' stammered the embarrassed maiden with downcast eyes.
'Look me directly in the eye!' cried Dorn, seizing the hand of the unpractised dissembler. 'Did you really draw no other name?'
'Ah, let me go,' she murmured, her confusion and maidenly timidity rendering her still more charming.
'You do not once ask what wish I have drawn!' said Dorn, holding up his note.
'Who knows whether you would tell me the truth,' answered Faith.
'Have a care,' cried Dorn. 'The suspicion can only spring from a consciousness that you have deceived me, and that is not fair. I will set you an example of ingenuousness. You wished a poor mortal to choose among three daughters of heaven. Love, Hope, and Faith, were inscribed upon your three notes. My good genius helped me to the best choice. Love I already had deep in my heart from the moment I first saw you; Hope visited me last evening; and I only lacked Faith in the certainty of my good fortune. I drew it with this note.'
'A gallant officer well knows how to convert trifles into matters of importance,' said the maiden, repelling the persevering youth. 'I wrote the three names for you, merely in jest, Faith, Hope, and Charity, because they follow each other in the calendar.'
'Only for that reason?' asked Dorn in a tender tone, throwing his arms around her slender waist. Endeavoring to push him gently back with her right hand, she dropped a note which Dorn caught up and read before she could hinder him.
'Victoria!' shouted he. 'You have drawn my name, as I have drawn yours. Who can doubt now that we are destined for each other? Obey the friendly oracle, dear maiden, and become mine, as I am yours, in life and death.'
He embraced the lovely creature more ardently, while she, no longer able to withstand the solicitations of the youth and the pleadings of her own heart, sank on his bosom, and exclaimed in low accents: 'Thine, forever.'
'Well, really, master Dorn, you begin the portentous new year upon which we are entering in a very worldly manner,' cried a reproving voice behind them. Faith shrieked with terror that those blessed moments should have had a witness, and fled from the room. At the same time Dorn, displeased at the awkward interruption, turned suddenly round and stood facing the parson, who viewed him with severe and reproachful looks. 'Is it well,' at length said the angry preacher, 'to seduce the inconsiderate sister-in-law of your brother and benefactor into an amorous intrigue?'
'You are right, reverend sir,' answered Dorn; 'that would be to do him foul wrong; but to seek the honorable love of a maiden whom I hope one day to lead to the altar as my beloved wife, appears to me to be well, and is not forbidden in the holy scriptures.'
'You wish to espouse the maiden, then?' said the parson; 'that is quite a different thing, and I take back my censure. In that case my office imposes upon me another sacred duty. The maiden is how under my spiritual care, and I must be answerable to heaven for her religious principles, which might be perverted by an unbelieving husband. I have become doubtful of you, from your own conversations, and therefore, as a called and ordained servant of the word, I ask you, are you an orthodox Lutheran christian?'
'You would find it very difficult to justify that question before the great author of your reformation,' answered Dorn, moodily. 'Know you not how peremptorily he forbade the professors of his doctrines to designate themselves by his name?'
'You wish to evade my question!' cried the parson, feeling the sting, but endeavoring to conceal the smart.
'That is not my custom,' said Dorn. 'I will never deny that I adhere to the doctrines which were first promulgated in Switzerland, and have thence spread throughout the German empire.'
'As I feared!' cried the parson. 'A Calvinist, or perhaps even a Zuinglian! and you wish to take a wife of the Augsburg faith?'
'Why not?' asked Dorn. 'That God who has disposed my heart toward the maiden, will not be angry that I choose her as my companion for life.'
'I much doubt whether you can have and keep a true heart for one who is of a different faith,' said the parson, shaking his head.
'God, who is eternal love, pardon you for the doubt, reverend sir,' said Dorn with emotion. 'It is a sad consideration, that contentions about unimportant dogmas and forms so frequently divide christians who should stand united against the common enemy. It would be dreadful if the feeble chains by which you are yet fettered, after throwing off those of popery, should bar the way between two innocent individuals, whose souls have become united by the bonds of holy love.'
'Unimportant dogmas and forms?' repeated the parson.
'I consider them so,' answered Dorn. 'Adhering to the words of Christ, we celebrate, in the Lord's supper, only a holy remembrance of the Savior; while you, by virtue of the same words, find therein a mysterious presence of his body and his blood. You ornament your churches with pictures, of which practice we disapprove. Are such differences really sufficient grounds for the quarrels and contentions which the followers of both confessions continue to wage against each other with such reprehensible bitterness?'
'You wilfully overlook a principal point,' said the parson; 'the almost insurmountable partition wall which your Calvin has raised between you and us. I mean your monstrous doctrine of election.Aliis vita æterna, aliis damnatio æterna præordinatur!How can you reconcile this declaration with infinite love and eternal justice?'
'I willingly give up these doctrines to your disposal,' answered Dorn; 'for they have never formed a part of my creed. Even Calvin himself stated, that he had some scruples whether predestination could be reconciled with God's wisdom, the rock upon which this doctrine has always foundered.'
'I take this concession for all it is worth,' said the parson; 'but I cannot pass over your assertion, that our difference upon the subject of the Lord's supper is a contestde lana caprina. Because your presumptuous reason cannot comprehend the declaration of our Savior, 'this is my body,' you wish to strike it out of the bible; but this we cannot permit; because we cannot give up one tittle of God's word, and because the communion solemnity falls to the ground when the mystery becomes robbed of the wings which bear it up to heaven. If, however, you take away from the holy scriptures all that is not clear to you, nothing will remain but a good sensible book, but with no high revelation which can only be received by pious faith. If you can see nothing in the sacrament of the Lord's supper but a remembrance of its founder, you need not partake of the bread and wine. Without thismediumit would be impossible for us to forget our Lord and Master.'
'Sensual man,' answered Dorn, 'needs sensible signs as symbols of spiritual things. To be reminded of the author of our religion is to be reminded of his doctrines; and as he established this solemnity and consecrated it to the remembrance of himself on the evening before the death with which he sealed his doctrines, so must it, according toourcreed, be deemed sacred--must soften and purify our hearts, and inspire us with devout and holy resolutions, which is the important point in question for you as well as us. We consider themysteryunnecessary, and we have the voices of the earliest churches with us, as the transubstantiation doctrine of Paschasius Radbertus, from which yours but very little differs, was first heard of in the ninth century.'
'For a book-keeper and ci-devant military officer you are deeply learned,' remarked the somewhat excited preacher.
'My early religious education,' answered Dorn, 'was superintended by a well informed, clear headed Bernardine monk, who afterwards, like myself, went over to Zuinglius's belief. I may thank him that I at least know what the point in dispute is,--a knowledge which, alas, is needed by many thousands of our brethren in the faith.'
'I supposed something like that,' said the parson. 'But I interrupted you. Proceed with your pretended refutation of my arguments.'
'Excuse me from answering further,' modestly replied Dorn.
'Because you cannot answer them!' exclaimed the parson in imaginary triumph.
'These controversial battles,' calmly continued Dorn, 'have been too often fought in vain for me to hope that we can be brought to agree. I have not endeavored to defend my doctrines; but only to show that a difference in creeds need not divide hearts. I abide by my tenets; but I believe that you also may attain salvation with yours. Believe you the same of mine, as I doubt not you do, and we can readily co-operate for the advancement of the good cause. The remaining topics of difference are not essential. Here it only concerns us, setting aside the creeds of men, to hold the doctrines of Christ as the true teachings of God's holy word, and by them so to govern our minds and actions that we may win the approbation of a good conscience, a serene dying hour, and a merciful judgment. That, in my opinion, is the true, living, christian faith; and whoever has it is our brother in Christ, whether he calls himself Lutheran, Calvinist, Zuinglian, or even catholic.'
'My God! you are then not even a Zuinglian!' angrily exclaimed the parson. 'This despicable toleration of all opinions is godless indifference, behind which naturalism and deism conceal themselves. Were you an intelligent and confirmed heretic, the argument might be continued; but you are nothing but aneclecticus, who seeks in christianity just so much as suits his purpose, and throws the rest aside!'
'Paul said, 'prove all things and hold fast that which is good,'' interposed Dorn.
'I am well satisfied that you do not desire to know any thing of the true faith,' continued the parson; 'and yet it is the only foundation of our religion. Know you not that Christ himself has said, 'he that believeth not shall be damned?''
'If you could convince me,' angrily remarked Dorn, 'that Christ intended those words to mean what intolerance would construe them, I would become a heathen from this moment, and joyfully take my portion in that hell in which the noble Socrates and just Aristides are burning.'
The parson started back with a shudder. Dorn checked himself and continued in a subdued tone; 'Be not alarmed, reverend sir, at my audacious words. My belief is not so bad as you fear. Would to God all christians had it, and then much less of tears and blood would be made to flow. Now repeat to me, quickly and peacefully to end our strife, that which Christ pronounced to be the chief commandment of God.'
'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and thy neighbor as thyself,' said the parson.
'Even thine enemy!' added Dorn. 'How much more then those who only differ from us in opinion! Here you have my profession of faith, and I trust in God that I shall be able to stand before him at the last day with it.'
'You confound ideas,' cried the vexed parson. 'You speak of christian ethics, and I am reasoning only of the articles of faith.'
'Devised by men!' said Dorn. 'I hold the chief point to be the observance of the system of morals taught by Christ. Do not you also?'
'No!' emphatically exclaimed the parson after a short pause.
'No?' asked Dorn with some surprise. 'The divine doctrine that we must live devoutly to die happily, not the substance of our religion! Ah, my dear sir, it was your cloth, and not your head or heart, which dictated that negative. You are too good and too intelligent not to be of my opinion.'
'Ah, do not press me with suchargumenta ad hominem,' said the parson with excited but not unfriendly feelings. 'In point of fact there can be no disputing about matters of faith. It must come from within, and cannot be derived from without. Nevertheless I do not for that reason give you up. A time will come when you will be no longer satisfied with cold syllogisms, and you will then seek a refuge in the open maternal arms of the true faith, in which only you can find peace. Until when, only let your conduct be as fair as your speech, and I shall at all events hope that the maiden will not have made a bad choice. One thing, however, you must promise me with hand and word. Urge not upon your future wife your unbelief, or half belief, or whatever else you may choose to call it. Cause her not to waver in her own, which she has imbibed with her mother's milk. Yet more than the strong and self-relying man does weak, delicate and suffering woman need a steadfast faith. You would rob her of a belief, which is capable of sustaining her in the hour of sorrow and trial, and give her nothing in return but cheerless and disconsolate doubt; which would be an exchange unworthy of the magnanimity of a man.'
'In this case you are for once wholly right, my worthy friend,' said Dorn: 'and I promise youwith this handgrip, by God and my honor, to do as you require. Now let a lasting peace be concluded between us. When we hereafter meet above, as I firmly believe we shall, when the scales shall fall from our eyes, when we shall clearly see what we perceive but dimly here below, then shall we as surely be one in knowledge as we now are in feeling, and side by side before the throne of the father of all men shall we unite with full hearts in the song of praise to the one true God.'
'So may it be!' cried the parson, pressing the youth's hand and leaving the room with visible emotion.
In the forenoon of the 20th January, 1629, a joyful bustle prevailed in Fessel's house. The floors and steps were carefully swept, strewed with a beautiful yellow sand, and adorned with evergreens. A large fire was crackling in the kitchen, before which the spit was turning, and pots and stew-pans were steaming. The diligent housewife, notwithstanding the ready assistance of her mother, had her hands full of business; her two daughters, who insisted on being employed, hindered more than they aided her; and the sons who, with their cousin Engelmann, had just returned from school, raced about the house like wild animals, practically illustrating the 'Dulce est desipere in loco,' which they had that day construed in their class. In short, it was the betrothing day of the beauteous Faith and Fessel's new partner in business, master Dorn.
The interesting pair had just returned from the church, where, in pursuance of a good old custom, they had made their mutual engagements in the presence of their God, and commended themselves to his protection by pious prayer. In the house-door they encountered their brother-in-law, who was returning from the city council-room, where his attendance had a short time before been required. He was, however, unusually pale, returned but brief thanks for the joyous greeting of the lovers, and silently mounted the stairs with a slow and dull motion, as if he had been troubled with asthma.
'In God's name, my brother, what has happened to you?' cried Dorn, returning from the kitchen, where he had left his fair companion.
'Dark clouds are beginning to overshadow our horizon,' answered Fessel, with anxious concern. 'Colonel von Goes has arrived, and demands permission to march through the city with seven squadrons of the Lichtensteins.'
'Goes!' exclaimed Dorn, becoming paler than his brother-in-law, and covering his face with his hands.
'What is the matter with you?' asked the astonished Fessel. 'Do you know so much evil of the man?'
'From the knowledge I obtained of him during my military service,' answered Dorn, making an effort to command himself, 'I may pronounce him a good soldier, and a man of honor; but he adheres to the catholic faith with ferocious zeal.'
'We are under no obligation,' continued Fessel, 'to admit troops within our walls, except upon the especial command of his imperial majesty....'
'You will not do so on this occasion!' exclaimed Dorn with fearful vehemence. 'You will render the people of your city miserable if you open your gates to these dreadful protectors. They have given a specimen of the manner in which they treat protestants, at Glogau.'
'What can we do?' said Fessel, shrugging his shoulders. 'The honorable council have a great inclination to admit them, and for that purpose hastily called some of the most respectable burghers to the town-house, to give their opinions as to what answer should be returned to the request. We honestly stated to the gentlemen what we expected of them. The colonel then remarked, that he hoped we would not show such disrespect to the imperial troops, as to compel them to take a wide circuit round the city in the present cold state of the weather. He then proceeded solemnly to swear and protest, that he only desired a passage through the city, and a brief rest for the refreshment and recovery of the frozen. Indeed, he said he would have no part in God's kingdom, if any citizen were injured in consequence of the granting of his request.'
'For God's sake, trust not to that oath,' begged Dorn.
'If the colonel be a man of honor, as you say, wherefore not?' asked Fessel with surprise.
'Have you forgotten that horrible saying,hæreticis non est servanda fides?' cried Dorn. 'No time is to be lost in averting the evil. The council is still in session. I will accompany you to the town-house, and ask leave to address them upon this matter. Schweidnitz must not open her gates to these hordes. They certainly can show no mandate from the emperor, and if the worst come, we have walls and ditches, and strong burgher hands accustomed to the use of arms, to defend our dearest treasure, religious freedom.'
During this conversation, he had with eager impetuosity drawn his brother-in-law towards the door. There they heard the distant notes of a march from trumpets, clarions and kettle-drums, and the confused murmurs of a crowd reached them from the great public square.
'We are too late,' sighed Fessel. 'The music comes from the direction of the Striegauer-gate. The Lichtensteins are already in the city.'
'Then may God by some miracle give the lie to my fears, and Goes keep his word!' cried Dorn. 'I anticipate dreadful scenes.'
Fessel opened the window and listened to the music, which at first appeared to approach, but afterwards sounded fainter and fainter as if receding. 'Do you hear?' said he to his distrusting brother-in-law, 'you owe an apology to the worthy colonel for your suspicions. The troops are already passing out by the Nieder-gate.'
'God grant it may be so,' sighed Dorn, placing himself by Fessel's side at the window. 'I am not yet satisfied of the fact, however.' Both continued listening to the last dying tones of the march.
'How the ear can deceive one!' said Fessel. 'It now seems to me as if the music were again approaching.'
'I fear it does not deceive you this time,' answered Dorn significantly. At that moment a cry of fear and anguish arose along the main street, and the worthy serjeant-at-arms of the city council was seen breathlessly running toward the town-house.
'Whither with such haste?' cried Fessel to him from the window.
'God be merciful to us!' cried the serjeant. 'The soldiers have made a halt at the Nieder-gate, have relieved and dismissed the burgher guard there, and, turning to the left about, are now marching up the main street.
'That indeed does not look much like passing through the city,' sighed Fessel, closing the window. 'It rather indicates an intention to take up permanent quarters here.'
'For the purpose of proselytism!' cried Dorn, despondingly. 'Now God be merciful to me! For if these villains insult our women, I shall die no natural death.'
He hastened forth, while Fessel remained standing at the window awaiting the event in silent sadness.
The music of the Lichtensteins sounded nearer and nearer, and soon their banners, muskets and halberds came waving and glistening up the street, and in serried ranks the troops came marching into the public square. 'Halt! order arms!' was now echoed by the commanders. The muskets and halberds rattled upon the stone pavement with a dull crash, the music ceased, and the silent and motionless soldiers remained standing by their arms. Only a malicious smile, which played upon their dark faces, and the restless and inquisitive movements of their twinkling eyes, gave them any appearance of being aught but lifeless statues.
Katharine and Faith, pale as ghosts, followed by their mother, now burst into the room. The children, naturally excited by these unusual occurrences, crowded in after them, to get a better view of what was going forward.
'Have the Lichtensteins turned back?' simultaneously asked or rather shrieked the three women, as Fessel directed their attention to the human masses in the public square. 'My end has come,' groaned the matron, sinking down upon a seat. The children hastened to the window, and in their innocent ignorance right heartily enjoyed the view of the brilliant uniforms, splendid standards and glistening arms of the soldiers.
'Children,' said Fessel calmly, 'lamentations and complainings cannot help us. Let us not, in the present emergency, lose our presence of mind, which in times of misfortune is the greatest misfortune. I will go to the compting-room, and as far as possible during the short time that remains to us, place my property in safety. My Katharine will hastily collect the most valuable of our things, and conceal them in the under cellar. I will afterwards see what course is required for our personal safety. My mother and sister-in-law must meanwhile prepare for the quartering of the soldiers. As a well conditioned merchant, and a warden of the evangelical church, I may expect that a full share of them will be assigned to my house.'
'It is fortunate that we have a repast already provided for them,' sighed Katharine, seeking, among a bunch hanging at her girdle, for the key of the plate closet.
'Provided for the betrothal-feast of our good sister!' said Fessel, compassionately caressing the cold cheek of the maiden. 'Poor child! they will leave you little enjoyment of it to-day.'
'Only see!' cried little Hedwig at the window, 'the officers are all crowding around a tall stately chief, and our alderman Newmann is standing near him with uncovered head and a great number of slips of paper in both hands.'
'The tall officer is the colonel,' said Fessel to them by way of explanation, 'They are drawing tickets for their quarters.'
'My God!' suddenly shrieked Faith, who had stepped to the window, and flew back to the remotest corner of the room.
'What is the matter with thee, sister?' asked the sympathizing Katharine, hastening to her side.
'It is all over with us,' sighed Faith, pressing her little hands upon her beating heart. 'One of the officers suddenly stared wildly up towards the house. I saw his face but for an instant, and it was partly shaded by his plume; but I recognised it so certainly and with so much alarm that I could not help screaming. It was childish, I know. Pardon me that I frightened you so needlessly. How could this man come here at the present time? and what a fool I was instantly to fear the worst!'
'Of whom do you speak, my daughter?' asked the anxious widow; and, as Faith was about to explain, Dorn rushed into the room.
'Save yourself!' he cried. 'Your persecutor, the broken captain of dragoons, now commands a company of the Lichtensteins, and is endeavoring to get your brother-in-law's house for his quarters. His hellish object is obvious, and he may be expected here every moment.'
'Then are we all lost,' groaned the mother.
'Not yet,' said Katharine, with calm self-possession. 'Listen to my proposal. These soldiers cannot stay here forever. While they remain, mother and sister can conceal themselves in the dry vault back of the cellar, whose opening in the garden is concealed by the thick grove of yew-trees. We can pile up boxes and casks before the door, and every evening convey to them provisions and consolation.
'The captain shall be told,' interposed Dorn, 'that you fled from Schweidnitz the moment you heard of the approach of the Lichtensteins. God reward you, Katharine, for the lucky thought.'
'You will accompany us in our hiding place, beloved sister will you not?' asked Faith.
'Shall I take my husband and children into your circumscribed retreat?' smilingly asked Katharine; 'or could you really and in earnest ask me to desert the dearest objects on earth to me? Nor is there any reason why I should. You have a sufficient cause for concealing yourself, having offended a bad man who would probably improve the first opportunity to avenge himself. I am only threatened with the same misfortunes every family in the city must expect, and with God's help I must endeavor to bear them.'
'She is entirely right,' decided the mother.
'My noble wife!' cried Fessel, embracing his courageous and confiding spouse. At the same instant Hedwig, who was still at the window, cried: 'There comes a hateful red-bearded officer directly towards the house, with a whole troop of soldiers behind him.'
'Then indeed there is no time to be lost,' said Dorn, hurrying the mother and daughter from the room. 'Farewell!' cried the women to each other. 'God's angels protect you!' said Fessel, proceeding to the door, at which the Lichtensteins were loudly knocking.
At the head of the table, which had been beautifully adorned for the betrothal-feast, the red-bearded captain had seated himself in terrible majesty. Desiring, for the present, to appear unusually gracious, he had invited the heads of the family and their children to take places at the table. The hospitality so kindly extended to them in their own house by a stranger, imparted no especial pleasure to those invited. The children had formed the heroic resolution of not eating a morsel, merely to show their dislike to the detestable red-beard. Fessel looked with a gloomy brow directly before him; while the faithful Katharine forced herself to introduce and sustain the conversation, that a want of occupation might not give the fiend leisure for evil thoughts. Four arquebusiers guarded the doors, and in every part of the house arose the boisterous songs of the converters, who were revelling with Fessel's choicest wines.
'We are satisfied,' said the captain; and, emptying his goblet, he took off his military cap, murmured some words in a low voice, crossed himself, again put on his cap, and then, with feigned affability asked: 'So, your mother-in-law left you last night, Herr Fessel?' and as the latter answered affirmatively, he further asked: 'And her daughter, little Faith,--did the good woman take her with her?'
'Certainly!' stammered Fessel, who was not altogether prepared for this close examination.
'Strange!' said the captain, extending his goblet to the lady of the house to be replenished. 'How a man's eyes may deceive him! As I was standing with the other officers before the house three hours since, I would have sworn that I saw the little Faith standing at that very window.'
'It was probably me whom you saw, captain,' interposed Katharine. 'You must have observed that I resemble my sister very nearly.'
'Possibly!' observed the captain with a still more hateful smile. 'You had, indeed, at that time, a rose-colored band in your blond hair, and now you have brown locks and a black plaited cap. However, that is not so very strange. Women's toilets often produce much greater transformations.'
At this moment a violent outcry was heard from without. Fessel hastened from the room, and soon returned with his eldest apprentice, who was profusely bleeding from a wound on the head.
'What is the matter?' asked the captain, addressing himself to the wounded man. 'How dare you thus disturb me while at table?'
'By your leave, captain!' said the apprentice, with confidence; 'your sergeant has robbed me of all the money I had about me, and then beat me over the head with his sword because I had no more to give him. It was proper that I should complain to you in order that you might take measures to punish the outrage.'
'You did not know how to behave yourself properly, my son,' said the captain. 'My people are always kind and harmless as children to all who are complaisant towards them, and give them every thing they desire. Go and have your wound dressed, and be more careful another time.'
'Is that all the satisfaction I am to get for my injuries?' asked the apprentice, irritated by the pain of his wound, and still more by the captain's contemptuous answer.
The captain's eyes flashed like two baneful meteors. 'Satisfaction!--injuries! How dare you, a damned heretic, use such words in my presence? vociferated he, starting from his seat. You ought to thank God that my sergeant did not cleave your head asunder. Pack yourself hence, if you do not wish that I should complete the work he began.'
He grasped his sword, the young man sprang beyond his reach, and Katharine, in soft and soothing tones, besought the savage to be pacified; but the last link of the chain, by which his natural brutality had hitherto been restrained, was now broken; the wild beast in human form was let loose, and yielded only to the most savage impulses.
'Do you suppose, vagabonds,' roared the fiend, 'that we have come here to keep strict discipline and to wait quietly for what you may please to dispense to us? We are come to chastise you for your heresy, which is a revolt alike against God and the emperor. We are come to convert you to the true faith; and if your stubbornness will not suffer our object to be accomplished by fair means, you are given over to us as a prize, with your property and lives, bodies and souls, to be tormented by us to our heart's content, until you are brought to repentance and an abandonment of your abominable opinions, or sink in despair.'
'No, captain,' cried Fessel, with manly firmness; 'that is not the will of our emperor, and I should consider it treasonable to believe your scandalous assertions. Nor was that the condition upon which we admitted you within our walls. From your colonel's own mouth have I heard quite a different speech, and I shall go and ask him if he is about to give the lie to his own words.'
'First go to your own chamber as an arrested prisoner,' said the captain, with a smile of contempt; 'until I have had you tried for your rebellious speech. Lead him forth!' commanded he to the guards. 'Lock him up, watch him sharply, and if he attempts to escape shoot him down.'
'Eternal justice, judge and avenge!' cried Fessel, as the soldiers dragged him away.
'Mercy!' implored his faithful wife, clasping the captain's knees; but the latter disengaged himself from her, put the children, who pressed around her, out of the room, drew Katharine to a window, and in a low voice said to her, 'you see that I can be either good or bad as you would have me. Upon you alone it depends how I shall further proceed. Therefore answer me honestly and truly, where is your sister?'
'She fled last night,' answered Katharine, with calm firmness; 'to escape the horrors which threaten us. Whither, I do not consider it my duty to inform you.'
'This is fine!' exclaimed the captain, grinning like a Bengal tiger when his keeper compels him to show his teeth. 'I like to know how people feel towards me. I now go to my colonel, and you shall soon hear from me again.'
He departed, and the children, again rushing in, embraced their mother with loud lamentation. Katharine sank upon her knees, and her children with her, and, raising their eyes and hands towards heaven, with a bleeding heart but nevertheless with confidence, the pious woman prayed in the words of the royal psalmist: 'Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? Hope thou in God; for I shall yet praise him for his countenance who is my help and my God.'
The boisterous sorrow of the children subsided into gentle weeping, and from every lip was heard the loud, believing, joyful, amen!'