The Children of the World Part 49

"And will yours allow you to devote yourself to such grave studies in another department? Certainly the words: 'How difficult it is even to attain the means by which we ascend to the source of things!' do not apply to you."

"Of course not; but just because, as a favorite women's doctor and happening to be first in this specialty, my time is very much occupied; I should not be able to finish the difficult task without the a.s.sistance of a co-worker so tasteful as Adeline. Well, you'll come and see us, it's high time. We'll take you into our laboratory, and you must bear witness--but first of all, what brought you here without your dear better-half?"

"Happy fellow," laughed Edwin, "who doesn't suspect what summer vacations mean to a poor pedagogue! Hitherto, I've always spent them in traveling with Leah, but this time mysterious and higher considerations forced me--"

"Must I congratulate you, my old friend? No shame-faced evasions with your physician! You'll make an excellent papa. It's a pity," he added in an undertone, "that uncle Balder is no longer here to see it."

Edwin shook his head. "I fear the point in question does not concern such important matters," said he, "or I should probably be admitted into the secret. To be sure, it might be possible; for who can thoroughly understand a woman! For instance, would you believe that this affectionate daughter, who when she left the hut on the lagune shed bitter tears because her father would be there alone, can't yet make up her mind to visit him, simply because he did the wisest thing he could, under the circ.u.mstances, and married his old friend, Frau Valentin?"

"So that's true!" exclaimed Marquard. "Adeline thought she had read it in the newspaper, but afterwards we could not find the sheet to make sure of the names, and of course they didn't send cards to us. Well, I believe they'll live as happily as two doves, content with their G.o.d, and good works will now flourish in partnership. But what does our Leah see to condemn in such a match, which was certainly made in heaven and which moreover is such a sensible arrangement; for where could the lonely old man find a better refuge, now that a huge tenement house has been built on the site of his Venetian palace, than under the protecting wings of his excellent old sweetheart?"

"That's just it," replied Edwin, "that touched a spot in his daughter's heart and she will hear no reasoning upon it. If the point in question had simply concerned a new mode of life, in which other considerations than her father's comfort had turned the scale, no one would have been more glad, than my good wife. But papa zaunkonig informed her of his decision in a letter which was certainly strange enough. The parts were exactly exchanged; the father addressed the daughter in the tone a good son or younger brother would use in informing a highly respected mother or sister of a marriage of which she would probably disapprove, but which, as an accomplished fact, must be accepted with the best grace possible. He knew his child; he knew that she watched with a deep-rooted jealousy, to see that her dead mother's image was not supplanted. Her pa.s.sionate love would not have rebelled against what is termed a sensible marriage with anyone except his old love; but throughout the letter, it was perfectly evident that a late blossom of their youthful love had unfolded, a joyous midsummer warmth had awakened in these two by no means aged souls, and that both the worthy people felt all the timidity and embarra.s.sment of a real love.

Frau Valentin's letter was also constrained, and in spite of their excuse--they had perceived it was G.o.d's will, and had yielded to his decree--it was easy to see that they had submitted with heartfelt joy to this same higher will. This did not escape the penetration of my little philosopher, and never was any letter of hers so tart as the reply to this news. Nay, although during the two years which have since elapsed, thanks to the truly Christian feeling that pervades the marriage, the daughter's feelings toward her new mother have softened and she has become almost reconciled--she still refuses to see her father in his new relations--! And yet there are people, who attempt to deny that women have their peculiar ethics!"

Both were silent for a time. It had grown perfectly dark, only the gold frames of the spectacles sometimes glittered, when the lighted cigar came near them. Suddenly Marquard said:

"Will you answer me a question, my lad. An indiscreet one, but I have my reasons for it--are you happy?"

"I don't think that question at all indiscreet when propounded by a friend," replied Edwin quietly. "But to answer it conscientiously, we must first understand what you mean by happiness. In the ordinary sense, of no wish remaining unfulfilled, and the absence of all oppressing care, I know only one happy couple amongst our acquaintance: our worthy tribune of the people and his little wife. Papa Feyertag has, as you know, opened his pocket so generously, that Franzel, who insisted upon moving to L. with me, was able to establish a very fine printing office. We have only to turn the corner to reach their house, and I needn't a.s.sure you that we're very neighborly. One can't find anything prettier than this little rosy, fair-haired mother, with her three red cheeked children--"

"Three? The marriage was only--"

"There's a pair of twins, now just two years old, exactly like their papa and already recognizable at a long distance as young tribunes of the people by their powerful voices. You ought to see our Franzel carry the little mob about, one on each arm and the third pick-a-pack, his bronzed face and the white teeth under his bushy beard fairly radiant with fatherly pride; and Frau Reginchen, when he's romped enough, pushes his s.h.a.ggy hair back from his forehead and scolds him for making the boys still wilder than they are by nature, her eyes meantime sparkling with delight, I'm sure they never held conflicting opinions for half an hour; she can twist him around her little finger now as well as during their betrothal, in everything concerning household affairs, and too, she's clever enough not to meddle with things she does not understand--his business and theories for reforming the world.

He's still strong in them, but we've silently agreed not to argue social questions, and what he does practically is very thorough. His care for his workmen is really exemplary, they all have a certain share of the profits--it's a sort of joint stock company, in which the individual stockholders give labor instead of money, a system, which depends solely upon the good will of the capitalist, and will be imitated only when all manufacturers become philanthropists like our Franzel. But here all have their share of the profits, and it's pleasant to see how they all cling to him from the foreman down to the youngest errand boy, idolize Frau Reginchen, and spoil the black-haired boys and little girl. And moreover the cobbler's daughter, whose father didn't trouble her with two many arts and sciences, has become a very clever little woman, who plays no bad part in the discussion of every day authors, provided the conversation doesn't go above Schiller. At least so Leah says; she still stands in as much awe of me as if I were the Holy Ghost incarnate, and avoids all literary topics in my presence. Nevertheless we're on very pleasant terms with each other; she calls me her G.o.d-father and I call her Frau G.o.d-mother; you ought to come and see our quiet life--although you could gather no new ideas for your gastronomical work."

"I am coming," said Marquard, "I certainly will! You've roused my appet.i.te, I can tell you. But we've wandered a long distance from the main topic."

"Whether or not I am happy? You know it doesn't take much to satisfy an idealist. The world is what we make it, and I've good reasons to be very well satisfied with it. I've no occasion to be anxious about the ordinary wants of life, and have never regretted for a single hour, that I gave up the professorship to take a quiet subordinate position as teacher in a school. While imparting the precepts of Pythagoras, my metaphysical system has time to mature, and I needn't teach anything for which I can't be fully responsible. Ambition I never possessed.

What I have not in myself, no one can give me; I never cared to have my own opinion of myself corroborated by a crowd of people whom I don't know and therefore can't respect. But I'm indebted to the little city for one thing which I thought superfluous in the capital, but have now learned to prize because it enriches and strengthens my existence: I've entered into the midst of a motley throng of human beings, and the hundred-fold contact with an apparently thoughtless reality has benefited not only the man, but the philosopher. You smile, you arrogant metropolitan! You can't imagine, that one's view of the world may become more comprehensive in the atmosphere of a little town. And yet man is everywhere the same, and such a little town is a retort in which I can most easily insulate the experiment that slipped through my fingers in the great busy city. You would be surprised if I should give you examples of the psychological results I've obtained from my active and daily share in the interests of my worthy fellow citizens. What did I know of the genius _h.o.m.o sapiens_, when I lived in our tun and only allowed a few chosen specimens to approach me? Only from the average can pervading laws be discovered. But you'll find all this some day in my book, if I ever write it. But I'll say this--that nothing external more richly rewards the trouble, than, wherever we maybe or whatever people we may be a.s.sociated with, to honestly devote ourselves to them and share with them the best we have. These worthy people who at first eyed me curiously, because I was wanting in those things which usually help to win popularity and neither visited their usual places of resort nor joined in their games of skittles, any more than Leah attended their coffee parties, now know, that despite all this, they have a very good friend in me. Now and then, on public occasions, I have asked permission to address them and found fresh confirmation of my old opinion, that no one can guide a crowd so easily as one who stands on a higher plane, if he has but the power of awakening the true manly spirit which sleeps in the breast of the lowest boor. Afterwards they have not unfrequently come to me as this spirit moved within them, but failed to find courage in its own strength. They would have elected me to the Chamber of Deputies, if I'd not positively forbidden it.

_Basta!_ You may think I imagine it a wonder to be Caesar in a village.

No, indeed, my dear fellow! Nay, I confess that it always costs me a special effort to do my fellow citizens these trifling services; for at the bottom of my heart I'm still the aristocrat whom only the old saying _n.o.blesse oblige_ can lure from his seclusion. I'm bound to few by the tie of affection, and whether that wouldn't break up too, if I should strike my tent and continue my journey--"

"Do you intend to resign your position?"

"No; but certain people, who can't bear to have a simple teacher of mathematics take the liberty of thinking and saying what doesn't suit their turn, may drive me to it. It's a very simple story; I delivered, before a sort of society for the education of workmen, which Franzelius of course inst.i.tuted immediately upon coming to the city, and at which every week honorary as well as working members a.s.semble, a lecture on Darwinism, relating purely to natural history; I was quite thoughtless of the consequences, which were nevertheless very striking. Our city pastor, my worthy colleague in the school, where he gives religious instruction, took it so much amiss, that he instigated the princ.i.p.al to suggest to me to send in my resignation. As I felt neither desire nor obligation to do so, a report has been sent to the authorities, the answer to which is still delayed. I'm awaiting it very calmly. I'm not in the way of my other colleagues, the princ.i.p.al is well disposed toward me and only yielded reluctantly to the authority of our spiritual shepherd; if any change should occur in my position, my opponent's victory is not to be envied, as the favor of young and old will accompany me in my exile. So you see I'm beginning to make a career, though at first in the sense of the rolling stone that gathers no moss. But motion refreshes the blood, and a child of the world finds his home everywhere."

"But your wife?"

"She'd undoubtedly find it much harder to part from our friends, than I. Reginchen is as dear to her heart as a sister. For the rest, we two are so well satisfied with each other's society, that we could not long lack anything if we kept each other.

"True," he continued after a pause, as Marquard thoughtfully brushed the ashes from his cigar, "one thing I do lack, or rather my dear wife.

It's strange, I was very fond of children, and a marriage without the fulfillment of this purpose of life always seemed to me a very sorrowful thing. Now that I experience the sorrow, I see that the deficiency brings its own compensation. There's no third person between husband and wife to divert their love; they're always alone, everything remains as it was during the honeymoon, which extends to years. I only wish it for Leah's sake, since she knows my old fondness for children and can't look upon Reginchen's blessings without a sigh. For my part, I could spend my life with what I have, and the natural desire for offspring would gradually die out entirely. How few can boast of having a wife who is a constant novelty, and yet as indispensable as the oldest, most cherished habit! We are not always of one mind, like our neighbors; Leah's blood is not so light and her thoughts stir it, and then she has hours of hard secret struggle, and the conclusions at which she arrives her honesty forces her to defend. But it's all the prettier and more touching, when she regains her bright cheerful moods.

I can't help laughing when she doubts whether she's the right wife for me, whether I should not have been happier with a fair haired child like my little Frau G.o.d-mother." Marquard had risen and was pacing up and down the room puffing violently at his cigar. "And the old love?"

he said after a pause.

"Rusted out, in defiance of the proverb! It becomes more and more clear to me that the whole affair, the sudden mad pa.s.sion, was only a symptom of my general condition at the time and was melted out of my blood with other useless stuff by the nervous fever. Since that time I've never uttered her name, and have heard and seen no more of her than if her husband's estates were in Sirius."

"I wish they were," muttered the physician between his teeth, stamping indignantly on the floor. "I meant to keep it from you," he continued, as he again threw himself on the sofa beside Edwin. "But since there'll be no danger to you if she comes to a bad end some day--"

"She? Do you know anything about her? Have you seen her again?"

"I had the honor of kissing the countess' hand a few hours ago. Nay, I can even tell you, we should have blindly pa.s.sed each other here, if your old friend and patron, the striped waistcoat, who was idling around before the house, had not seen you at the upper window and instantly recognized you."

"Little Jean? But how in the world--"

"You shall hear all. As I said before, I wished to keep it from you, as I didn't know what impression it might make upon you, to suddenly find yourself so near your old love. You know I've always had a great regard for your wife, and have thought that no one could suit you better. I hoped you'd be drawn toward each other by degrees and so regain your full health. But when you began in such a heels-overhead fashion and were so suddenly betrothed, I, as an experienced psychologist, couldn't help shaking my head. Such speedy cures are rarely permanent; they denote injury to some other organ. But the way in which you speak of your domestic happiness, rea.s.sures me! I don't think I risk anything, when I say, your old friend, in spite of her countess' coronet, has made a worse match, than if she had taken the head master, Edwin."

"Unhappy? Poor thing! Does he ill treat her?"

"There!" said Marquard, "after all it will be better for me to keep what I know to myself. It seems to me you can't yet, with the necessary objectivity--"

"Don't torture me with delays and evasions!" exclaimed Edwin. "How could I remain perfectly unmoved, when I heard that a creature once so dear to me has such a hard fate to endure? But I a.s.sure you, even if I heard it from her own lips, no other thought would enter my mind than that an unhappy woman was lamenting her sufferings and had claims upon my brotherly sympathy. The time when she could have bound me with a hair of her head and forced me to do her will, is gone forever."

"Well then, listen," replied the physician. "Perhaps, as pious people say, it's a dispensation of Providence, that I've found you here, since I've been able to do nothing myself.

"A fortnight ago, I received a letter from a Count ----, who invited me to his castle for a consultation. An address was enclosed, which left me in no doubt that he was the richest of the counts of the name, and the lady in question no other than our old friend. You'll understand that I was curious to see her again. Adeline, who is far too generous to be jealous, eagerly urged me to go. I had sent most of my patients to various springs, so I set off at once and reached the place on the third day.

"The count had sent a carriage to meet me at the station, as it was a two hour's ride to the castle which was situated in the heart of the mountains. But the drive didn't seem long; on the way I renewed another old acquaintance, that of our little Jean, who's grown taller since his unlucky drinking bout, but is not much more mature. The lad still stares at the world with the same zealous boyish eyes he had in Jagerstra.s.se. I tried to pump him, but his information never went beyond the external magnificence that surrounded his master and mistress. To judge from his story, there was no happier, more enviable or charitable creature on the face of the earth, than his lady, the countess, and as she, according to his account drove out daily, rode horseback, or took long walks, never sparing herself or uttering any complaint, there didn't seem to be the least occasion for having summoned so distinguished a physician as your old friend, from so great a distance to feel her pulse.

"The first conversation I held with her husband certainly made a great change in my opinion. I found your successful rival an entirely different man from what I had imagined, a person really needing pity, who finds no enjoyment in all he possesses, money, lands, a n.o.ble name, and a long line of ancestors, and who is not happy though in the prime of life and surrounded by the utmost splendor.

"The style of the house I can only term ducal! A magnificent castle, forests such as I've seen only in Russia, a four-in-hand of which no prince need be ashamed, a kitchen and cellar that considerably enlarged the horizon even of the author of the 'Art of Eating.' The ten days I spent in the castle gave me an idea of the enviableness of the genuine old n.o.bility, living regardless of expense and not yet infected by the industrial spirit of our times.

"The count himself, who has grown up amid these surroundings, is a gentleman from head to foot, every inch a cavalier, a man who can talk admirably about hunting and the ballet, and from whom, without the smallest conscientious scruple, one can win a few hundred louis d'ors at whist. That's however probably the best thing to be had of him; for in other respects--but perhaps I'm unjust, I could not help continually comparing him with you and asking myself--without wishing to flatter you--in what way he'd have got the start of you, if you had both appeared before our princess on equal terms. He seemed to me like a beautifully carved, richly gilded old picture frame, containing a cheap, poorly colored lithograph. But, as I said before, my old prejudice in your favor may have played me a trick.

"'If it's only not something of the same kind, a comparison which must result to the disadvantage of the man she has chosen, that is affecting our countess', I instantly said to myself. But I soon perceived that your old relations had not the slightest connection with the matter.

"In the first place, the count who made various confessions, such as are heard only by a physician or priest, did not give the slightest intimation that an older affection might be at the bottom of her mysterious conduct. He took me directly to his study and there gave me a detailed account of the four years of his married life. He knew that she became his wife without love. She had not attempted to conceal the fact from him for a moment, and, madly in love with her, as he was and unfortunately is to this hour, contented himself with the thought that he was no more repulsive to her than other men, toward whom she usually showed a coldness of which he cheerfully bore his share. The old, oft verified consolation that 'love will come after marriage,' and 'there's no ice which a real fire can't ultimately melt,' helped him through the short period of betrothal. Then came the strangeness of her new surroundings, her struggle with all sorts of hostile elements in his family, which to be sure resulted in a brilliant victory for the young plebeian, but which did not exactly win her to greater tenderness. But to his astonishment, even after marriage, the statue did not grow warm in his arms. Probably the worthy n.o.bleman lacked many qualities essential to a Pygmalion. Yet he a.s.sured me that, despite her inflexible coldness and reserve, he had treated her with the utmost affection and spared her in every way.

"But now comes the strangest part of the tale. A child was born, a bright boy, yet even this most powerful of all mediators did not succeed in breaking the ice. Nay, it actually seemed as if the much desired happy event only estranged the young wife still more. After the child's birth, the countess, although she continued to live under the same roof, effected an entire separation from her husband, locked herself up in her own rooms, which he was never permitted to enter, and only spoke to him at table, at large entertainments, and at hunting parties, in which she took the most enthusiastic delight.

"All his efforts to break through this unnatural seclusion were in vain. Nay, she even extended her aversion to the child, and usually left it entirely to the nurse. But when, at seven months it suddenly fell sick with any apparent cause, she didn't leave its bed day or night and was evidently deeply affected by its death.

"But the expectations of her husband and the old countess that she would now be softened and feel disposed to resume the old relations again, were not verified. Nay, she began to seclude herself still more and to adopt an even more capricious mode of life. This went so far that she turned day into night and night into day, and only very seldom, on some unusual occasion, though always present at the hunting parties, did she appear among the guests in the castle. At such times there was nothing noticeable in her manner, she was cordial and even gay, and a stranger would have had no suspicion that anything unusual was taking place. When the count's mother died, she attended the funeral with every sign of sincere sorrow and held out her hand to her husband for the first time in a year. But directly after the body was interred, she again disappeared in her own rooms and continued the old hermit life.

"I asked the count whether he had not himself questioned her concerning the cause of this singular seclusion. He replied that he had done so more than once, but she would not speak frankly, and only said she perceived that she had been very foolish to marry him. She could not and would not reproach him, but it would be better for both if he would consent to a separation. She would never change her mind, never submit to live with him as his wife again. She was sorry for him, but she couldn't help it.

"In this resolution she remained firm, and neither kind measures nor harsh produced any effect. After lavishing prayers and endearments, anger overpowered him. The thought of being made a fool of by a woman, to whose obedience he had the best claim, made his brain whirl. In the madness of his pain and anger he burst into savage threats and cursed the hour when he first saw her. She looked at him with a perfect calmness and only replied: 'you're right to curse my existence; I curse it, too. Put an end to this sad story and set me free.'

"But this he could not resolve to do. He could not banish the thought that time must aid him. To give her a chance for reflection and perhaps to accustom himself to do without her, he spent six months in traveling and led a tolerably gay life in Paris and Berlin, but his love was not weakened nor did he find the smallest change in her on his return; If there was any alteration, it was for the worse; she was even colder, sterner, and more reserved toward him and more dissatisfied with life.

Yet her bodily health had never been better, her sleep, her looks, her pleasure in hunting and even in dancing, when, during the winter, she was sometimes invited to neighboring castles. Now, however, even strangers couldn't fail to notice, that in the midst of the gayest mood her features would become terribly rigid and stony, and she either turned her horse and dashed off home, or left her partner standing on the ball room floor, and without the slightest reason or excuse ordered her horses to be harnessed. There were a great many discussions and consultations about the matter; the family physician, an old and tolerably skillful man, with whom I speedily came to an understanding, shrugged his shoulders; one medical notability after another, upon being consulted, could not even obtain an interview, or, like the christian physician in the harem, be permitted to feel the beautiful patient's pulse through a hole in the wall; so matters were as hopeless as they well could be, and the fear that monomania or some serious derangement of the mind was imminent, was unfortunately only too well justified.

"A lady who had known the count in Berlin, and in whose family I had once been successful in curing a patient, mentioned my name to him. So I came to the castle, and when on the following day I sent in my name to the countess, simply as an old acquaintance, who had accidentally wandered here while on a journey and merely wished to present himself to her, I cherished the brightest hopes of penetrating the secret, since I was at least admitted, a favor which had been obstinately refused to all the other physicians who had been summoned.

"But I was very much mistaken. She received me as frankly and cordially as in Jagerstra.s.se, seemed to remember every incident of those days, down to the magical feast in the PaG.o.da, which was the last time I saw her. She even inquired about you; you were doubtless married and no longer lived in Berlin; then she wished to know what had happened to the other guests at our baccha.n.a.lian revel at Charlottenburg. I clearly perceived that she listened to my answers absently, not as if she were giving herself airs, like a great lady who wishes to awe a plebeian, but with an expression of profound weariness, numbness, and joylessness, such as I have seen in the first stages of mental disorder, or in the half lucid intervals of incurable lunatics. I can truly say, that rarely have I so earnestly desired to be a medical genius, which--between ourselves--I'm not. She's a beautiful creature, you've no idea what she has become; I can easily understand, that a man who has once possessed her, would rather die than consent to a separation. If _I_ say this, who knows tolerably well what beautiful women are, and that in the end one gets tired of even the fairest, it means something. She probably perceived what an impression she made upon me, and that I asked how _she_ had fared with real friendly solicitude. 'Dear Herr Doctor,' said she, suddenly rising as if to close the interview, 'I know why you're here. The count wishes to learn from you whether I'm still in possession of my five senses, or if I run any risk of losing one or more of them. Give yourself no anxiety about me, I'm as well as a fish in water, and what I lack to be able to enjoy my life as thoughtlessly as most other women, is not to be had from an apothecary or discovered anywhere between heaven and earth. The count has doubtless told you that I should like to go away from here, and be free again. If you could persuade him to consent to this, it would be the best thing you could do and I should be sincerely grateful to you.

Besides, it's more for his sake than my own, that I should like to be separated from him. I pity him, as I should pity a living man bound to a corpse. Just feel how cold! She held out her hand to me; it was really cold enough to startle one. 'Yes, yes,' said she, 'it's always so; I wish all was over. But what's done can't be undone.'

"Then she talked of indifferent subjects until I took leave, and the two or three times that I afterwards saw her at dinner, she always wore the same expression, of immovable cold insensibility to every joy.