Villa Elsa Part 23

Their temperaments, voices, manners, are somewhat softer than those of the north.

"I haven't been in Cologne in twenty years," Furstenheimer explained. "Just stopped off. I wonder if you--I see you too are a tourist--happen to be going my way. Excuse me, but that would be odd, wouldn't it?"

"Yes--I'm bound for Rotterdam."

"Rotterdam--- why so am I!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed the German in a happy moment.

"I'm on my way to visit my sister there. I haven't seen her for years. It's really shameful. What train do you take?"

"The two o'clock. I wish you might be going along. One gets somewhat bored traveling alone."

"I'm the same way. I like company. I had intended going on to-night, but this Cologne one hears so much about is disappointingly dull, isn't it? Nothing to see." They conversed in German to Kirtley's linguistic satisfaction.

"But I'm stopping off at Aix-la-Chapelle," he had to say. "That's at four. Then I'm taking the late train."

"What is there at Aix? I don't remember."

"I want to see Charlemagne's tomb."

"Oh, _so_? That can't be duller than Cologne, can it? I don't see that I would be losing any time by it either. I'll tell you what I'll do. If I decide to join you--and I hope I shall--you'll see me at the two o'clock. But if I don't--well, Aufwiedersehen!--let us hope--and I am delighted to have met you."

Gard was gratified when the sociable Wuerttemberger arrived at the station. They went on to Aix in a compartment full of _militaires_.

The countryside, swimming in the sunlight, lay tidy and dimpling in the gentle arms of a peace and prosperity that made the newspaper talk of a campaign seem unreal and preposterous.

Furstenheimer appeared to have only the interests of a small land-holder, and gossiped about his farm, his horses and prices. He was not apparently concerned about the war excitement. Agriculture in Wuerttemberg was more important. Like most Germans, whether there was war or no war, seemed much the same thing with him. Either must be taken naturally and philosophically like a state of Nature.

Furstenheimer was not fond of being away from home. To be frank, his brother-in-law in Rotterdam had got into financial straits and his own sister was ill. They had become almost strangers in the long separation. And that was not right, _was_ it? He really had had to go.

When they arrived at Aix--the German Aachen--they decided to leave their grips in an inn, across the station Platz, so that they could conveniently dine there and be near at hand for the express. Then they started for the cathedral which, with its eleven centuries, loomed under a lofty octagon from a low hill.

CHAPTER x.x.xIX

THE TOMB OF CHARLEMAGNE

In a few minutes the two travelers reached the side portal of the h.o.a.ry temple. It represented the seat of Charlemagne's political and ecclesiastical power--the capitol of the ancient Franks. The door was closed. A service was being held. It would be out at five o'clock.

To occupy the interim Gard and his new friend went over to the neighboring town hall, located on the site of the emperor's palace.

They found it a gay Gothic edifice, the roof flanked by two pert towers. Inside they tiptoed about with silent respect in the immense coronation gallery--one of the largest rooms in the world. Here the medieval German emperors were crowned and imperial diets held.

When the tourists returned to the cathedral they met two young, clean-shaven Germans, obviously travelers like themselves, also wishing to enter. One was tall, the other short. While waiting for the audience to file out, the four struck up a casual conversation about the edifice. Gard, full of his guide book, was pleased to inform them on a subject of which they pleaded ignorance.

They sauntered into the somber, august interior. Above were the impressive stained gla.s.s windows, high-flung in the octagon.

Kirtley's binocular, strung over his shoulders, came in handy to the others. The Germans seemed somewhat posted on stained gla.s.s (Teuton erudition!) and with Gard's binocular they went off for an inspection from the exterior.

He preferred to remain and contemplate alone the solemn scene about him. It was an hour he had looked forward to. He wanted to recall what he had read of this historic spot and the epic and romantic a.s.sociations here of the most celebrated of Carolingians.

In the mosaic flooring at his feet, as he sat down, was the tombstone which (in the tradition) lies above the imperial victor who sits below waiting with his scepter in his hand and his white beard ever growing--the king of the Middle Ages. How many, many potentates, great and small, during all the intervening centuries, had bowed their heads and spoken words of reverence in the presence of the only sepulchre remaining _in situ_ and intact of the world-conquerors of antiquity! Of all these reputed soliloquies, that of Don Carlos, in the s.p.a.cious Alexandrines of Victor Hugo in "Hernani," Gard remembered as being the most famous. He had heard what a long and impressive recital it always is as one of the tests of the dramatic actor at the Theatre Francais.

His thoughts ran on. Without Charlemagne's military successes, his widespread reorganizations, the political and civil grandeur of his acts, his picturesque journeys, his union of church and state, what would the Dark Ages have been? In its mountains of fact and luring mists of fable he had stood mighty and solitary, inspiring its imagination, its legends, its superst.i.tions, its songs. He was its compelling figure. He it was who unified medievaldom and laid the bases of what had since governed in western Europe and prevented it from remaining a vast region of large and small tribes fighting among themselves. And he alone, among the powerful military chieftains of the old, old past, had died both peacefully and undefeated.

Why, then, has he faded from view? This was an interesting question to Kirtley. Why has Caesar so outshone Charlemagne? Why are Homer and Vergil, in comparison, coming ever more to the fore? Why has Dante become the masterly profile of medievalism?

A significant answer had before occurred to Gard. These four personages could _write_ marvelously well while Charlemagne could scarcely even write his name. Had he been a great author, why would not his fame be burning brightly like theirs? In every inst.i.tution of education their cla.s.sic language is kept before both youth and professor. Their cults accordingly grow. While the Frank so largely shaped the Middle Ages and furnished leading motives for its background, the Italian merely pictured it.

And yet the latter has become its most distinct luminary. His art has surpa.s.sed in renown the medieval sword and crown. His pen is a constant self-advertiser while those emblems of state fall to the ground. Though every spot a.s.sociated with the lives of Caesar, of Vergil, of Dante, is sought by student and sage, the tomb of Charlemagne is being forgotten. Who knows that it exists or cares?

And is it all because he had no literary skill? A gigantesque character, surrounded by his romantic paladins--Roland, Oliver, Ganelon and the rest--his face turned alike toward west, east and south--to France and Germany and Italy--he nevertheless has long been sinking into the ever-darker shadows of a dulled obscurity....

Gard's friend and the other two Germans presently returned and interrupted his ruminations. They had seen their fill and were anxious to escape from this gray cavern of a dim oblivion. Outdoors the party of four found the sun shining, but rain clouds were hovering in the east. The strangers had plenty of time as they were without a fixed itinerary. They were very agreeable and it was suggested that all dine together. Would not a stroll in the environs be meanwhile a suitable diversion?--out toward the attractive Lousberg and its belvedere?

Herr Furstenheimer had indicated an inquiry to Kirtley as to whether he would like to join the other two. Upon his signifying affirmatively, the four walked northward. The flat face of one of the young men Gard fancied he had seen before. It was, however, of a somewhat familiar Teuton variety and lost in the maze of all the German visages he had seen.

They idled along, recounting their exciting experiences in traveling. Gard told of the wax image in the train as the singular incident he had to offer. As it did not appear to appeal to the curiosity of his companions, he dropped the subject. The Germans are used to the grotesque and egregious.

At intervals the company changed about by twos, their hats coming off frequently in the warmth of the evening. On reaching the top of a small ascent, a summer inn there invited to cooling drinks. It was a low-storied, straggling construction, with a large green yard and trees. There were no guests as yet for the approaching meal time.

The cathedral acquaintances took one side of a table under the branches, and the companionable Furstenheimer with Gard faced them.

With the beer they began comparing the parts of the world they hailed from. Kirtley belonged to that distant land--America!

Incredible! He had traveled so far. It was a country the two newcomers wished to visit. They could not credit the surprising things they had heard concerning the United States. All was so odd there.

The smaller German, with the broad face, having lost no time in being full of compliments about Kirtley's accent, went on:

"You Americans learn our language better than we do yours. I could never get the th in my school. You seem to _do_ everything so differently in America, too. Now, there's your great game of cards, for instance. I was on a boat once going down the Danube and some of your compatriots were playing it. They called it--ach Gott!--what did they call it? _You_ know."

"Poker," said Gard, amused.

"No, that isn't it."

"Bridge."

"No, the devil, why can't I think of it? They played it--if I had a pack of cards I would show you what I mean. You could name it then."

The German called the attendant. The latter did not come. The other hurried into the restaurant and came back waving a deck.

"Now I will try to show you. I can't do it well. I have never seen it but once."

"Monte," said Gard. It was not the name the German recognized.

Kirtley laughed over this old county fair acquaintance. Three card monte under the walls of Charlemagne's church! This was bringing the ancient and the modern together with a vengeance. Furstenheimer thought the game was droll. He had never seen any played like that.

"How can that be a game!" he exclaimed--"only three cards! You must have left out something. It looks ridiculous. What's the point?"

"Why, you _bet_!" cried the dealer who was awkwardly manipulating the cards. The two strangers wagered with each other, and the Wuerttemberger at last got interested and bet first against one, then the other. In a few minutes he had lost two hundred marks to the dealer, and acted as if worried. The dealer won also from his a.s.sociate, but not so readily.

"A gambler, and playing clumsily to fool me," Gard had promptly said to himself. He endeavored to save his friend from falling deeper into the toils. He nudged him under the table, but the Teuton stupidly understood nothing. He kept on, more and more distraught, losing money, then groaning about it and wiping his trickling and distressed countenance.

When the dealer finally saw that Kirtley would not wager, he grew noisy.

"Not to play your own national game--is it polite, I say?" He flaunted the cards before Gard.