Thus left behind on the dreary heath, I gave vent to countless tears,
which seemed to lighten my bosom of its intolerable weight. But I saw no
bounds, no outlet, no term to my terrible misery, and with wild
impatience I sucked in the poison which the mysterious being had poured
into my wounds. When I recalled the image of Mina, her soft and lovely
form appeared pale and weeping before me, as I had seen her in my hour of
ignominy; and the shade of Rascal impudently and contumaciously seemed to
step between us. I veiled my face, I fled across the waste; but the
ghastly vision still pursued me; I ran--it was close to me. I sank
breathless to the ground, and watered it with renewed springs of tears.
And all about a shadow! a shadow which a stroke of the pen would have
restored to me! I mused again on the strange proposal and my refusal.
All was dark and desolate within me; I had neither argument nor reason
left.
The day rolled by. I calmed my hunger with wild fruits; my thirst with
the nearest mountain stream. Night approached; I stretched myself under
a tree. The damp dawn awaked me from a heavy sleep, in which I had heard
myself groan, as if struggling with death. Bendel had surely lost my
traces, and I rejoiced to think so. I determined to return no more among
men, from whom I fled like the shy beasts of the mountain. Thus I
existed through three weary days.
On the morning of the fourth I found myself on a shady plain, where the
sun was shining brightly. I sat down there on the fragment of rock in
its beam, for I enjoyed to bask again in its long-forbidden glance. I
nourished my heart with its own despair. But I was alarmed by a gentle
rustling. I looked eagerly round me preparing to fly--I saw no one; but
there passed by on the sunny sand a man's shadow not unlike my own,
wandering about alone, and which appeared straying from its owner.
A mighty impulse was roused within me. Shadow, thought I, art thou
seeking thy master. I will be he; and I sprang forward to possess myself
of it. I imagined that if I were lucky enough to get into its track, I
could so arrange that its feet should just meet mine; it would even
attach and accommodate itself to me.
{Schlemihl chasing his shadow: p78.jpg}
The shadow on my moving fled before me, and I was compelled to begin an
active chase after the unsubstantial wanderer. The eager desire to be
released from the perplexities in which I stood armed me with unusual
strength. It fled to a distant wood, in whose obscurity it necessarily
would have been immediately lost. I saw it--a terror pierced my heart,
kindled my burning desire, and gave wings to my feet. I gained on the
shadow, approached it nearer and nearer,--I was within reach of it. It
stopped suddenly and turned round towards me; like the lion pouncing on
its prey, I sprang forward upon it with a mighty effort to take
possession. I felt most unexpectedly that I had dashed against something
which made a bodily resistance--I received from an unseen power the most
violent thrust which a human being ever felt. The working of terror was
acting dreadfully within me; its effect was to close my arms as in a
spasm, to seize on what stood unseen before me. I staggered onwards, and
fell prostrate on the ground; beneath me on his back was a man whom I
held fast, and who now was visible.
The whole affair was now naturally explained. The man must have
possessed the viewless charm which makes the possessor but not his
shadow, invisible. He first held it, and afterwards had thrown it away.
I looked round, and immediately discovered the shadow of the invisible
charm. I leaped up and sprang towards it, and did not miss at last the
valuable spoil; unseen, and shadowless, I held the charm in my hand.
The man rose up speedily; he looked round after his fortunate subduer,
not being able to discover in the broad sunny plain either him or his
shadow, which he sought with the greatest anxiety: for he had no reason
to suspect, and no time to observe, that I was a shadowless being. As
soon as he discovered that every trace was vanished, he raised his hands
against himself in the wildest despair, and tore his hair. But this
newly-acquired treasure gave me the means and the disposition to mingle
again among my fellow-men. No pretext was wanting for palliating to my
own mind this despicable robbery; or, rather, it wanted no such pretext.
With a view of ridding myself of any internal reproaches, I hurried away,
not even looking back on the unfortunate victim, whose agonized tones I
heard long repeated after me. So, at least, at that time I looked upon
the circumstances of that event.
I longed to go to the forest-garden, in order to inform myself of the
truth of what the hated one had announced to me; but I knew not where I
was; and in order to inform myself as to the neighbourhood, I mounted the
nearest hill, and saw from its brow the tower of the forest-garden lying
at my feet. My heart beat with agitation, and tears, very different from
those I had before shed, burst into my eyes. I was to see her again. An
anxious, longing desire hurried my steps down the straightest path. A
crowd of peasants I passed unseen going from town; they were talking of
me and of Rascal, and of the forester. I would listen to nothing; I
hastened by.
I walked into the garden, my bosom trembling with the alarm of
expectation. A laugh approached me. I shook; looked eagerly around me,
but could perceive nobody. I moved farther forward, and a noise as of
the pacing of human feet seemed near me. Still I could see nothing--I
thought my ears were deceived; but it was early, nobody was in Count
Peter's arbour--the garden was empty. I rambled over the familiar paths,
until I came near to the mansion. I heard the same sound more
distinctly. I sat down with a sorrowful heart upon a bank immediately
opposite the front door, in a sunny spot. It appeared to me as if I
heard the invisible imp laughing insultingly. The key was turned in the
door, which opened, and the forest-master walked out with papers in his
hand. I felt something like a mist around my eyes--I looked round--and,
oh horrible! the man in the grey coat was sitting close to me, looking on
me with a satanic smile. He had drawn his wishing cap over my head. At
his feet my shadow and his own lay peacefully one against the other; he
was playing carelessly with the well-known parchment, which he held in
his hand; and while the forest-master was walking backwards and forwards
in the shade of the arbour, he bent himself familiarly to my ear, and
whispered to me these words:--
"Now, then, you have at last accepted my offer, and so we set two heads
under one cap. Very good! very good! But pray give me my charm
again--you do not want it any more, and are too honourable a man to keep
what does not belong to you: no thanks--I assure you I lent it to you
from my heart." He took it gently from my hand, put it into his pocket,
laughed insultingly at me, and so loudly, that the forest-master looked
round attracted by the noise. I sat there as if I had been petrified.
"You must agree," he rejoined, "that such a cap is much more convenient.
It does not cover its possessor alone, but his shadow also, and as many
people besides as he likes to have with him. Look, now, to-day I get two
of ye." He laughed again. "You must know, Schlemihl, that what is not
done by fair means at first, may be enforced at last; I still thought you
would have bought the trifle. Take back your bride (there is yet time),
and send Rascal to swing on the gallows; that is an easy matter while we
have a rope at hand. Hearken, I give you the cap into the bargain."
The mother came forth, and this conversation followed. "What is my Mina
doing?"--"Weeping."--"Simple child! but can it not be altered?"--"No,
indeed."--"But to give her so soon to another--O husband! you are cruel
to your own child!"--"Mother! you don't see clearly. Even before she has
wept out her childish tears, when she finds herself the wife of a rich
and noble man, she will be consoled for her sorrows, as if awakened from
a dream. She will thank Heaven and us; and that you will see."--"God
grant it!"--"She already possesses a pretty handsome dowry; but after the
noise made by that unfortunate adventurer, do you believe that so
brilliant a proposal as Mr. Rascal's will soon or easily be found? Do
you know what wealth he possesses? He has six million florins in landed
property in this country paid for in cash, free from all incumbrances. I
have the writings in hand. It was he who forestalled me always in the
best purchases. Besides this, he has in his portfolio bills of exchange
on Mr. Thomas Jones for above three millions and a half of florins."--"He
must have pilfered at a pretty rate."--"That's all nonsense. He has
hoarded wisely, where others foolishly squandered."--"But a man who has
worn a livery!"--"Folly! he has an irreproachable shadow!"--"You are
right, but--"
The man in the great coat laughed and looked full in my face. The door
opened, and Mina came out; she was supporting herself on her maid's arm;
silent tears were flowing over her pale and lovely cheeks. She sat down
in a chair placed for her under the lime-trees, and her father seated
himself beside her. He gently seized her hand, and while she wept still
more bitterly, addressed her in the gentlest accents.
"Thou art my best, my dearest child; thou wilt be prudent too; thou wilt
not grieve thy old father, who thinks only of making thee happy. I well
understand, my sweet girl, that this has sadly shaken thee; thou hast
wonderfully escaped from misery. Before the shameless cheat was
unveiled, thou lovedst that unworthy one most affectionately. I know it,
Mina, but I do not reproach thee. I, too, loved him, while I deemed him
to be a rich and noble man. But thou hast seen in what it ended. The
veriest vagabond has his own shadow; and shall my beloved, my only
daughter, be married to--Oh, no! thou thinkest of him no more. Listen,
my Mina: a lover addresses thee, who does not dread the sun; an
honourable man, who is no Count indeed, but who possesses ten millions,
ten times more than thou hast ever possessed; a man who will make my
beloved child happy. Do not oppose me; make no reply; be my good,
obedient daughter. Let thy affectionate father care for thee, and dry
thy tears. Promise me to give thy hand to Mr. Rascal; say, wilt thou
promise me?"
She answered with a dying voice, "I have no farther will nor wish on
earth; let my father's will be accomplished!" On this Mr. Rascal was
announced, and daringly joined the circle. Mina lay in a swoon. My
hated evil genius fixed his eyes angrily on me, and whispered in these
rapid words, "Can you bear _that_ too? What runs in your veins instead
of blood?" With a swift motion he made a slight wound in my hand--blood
gushed forth: he cried, "Red blood, truly! sign." The parchment and the
pen were in my hand.