The following afternoon Reinhard and Elisabeth went for a walk on the
farther side of the lake, strolling at times through the woodland, at
other times along the shore where it jutted out into the water.
Elisabeth had received injunctions from Eric, during the absence of
himself and her mother to show Reinhard the prettiest views in the
immediate neighbourhood, particularly the view toward the farm itself
from the other side of the lake. So now they proceeded from one point
to another.
At last Elisabeth got tired and sat down in the shade of some
overhanging branches. Reinhard stood opposite to her, leaning against
a tree trunk; and as he heard the cuckoo calling farther back in the
woods, it suddenly struck him that all this had happened once before.
He looked at her and with an odd smile asked:
"Shall we look for strawberries?"
"It isn't strawberry time," she said.
"No, but it will soon be here."
Elisabeth shook her head in silence; then she rose and the two
strolled on together. And as they wandered side by side, his eyes ever
and again were bent toward her; for she walked gracefully and her step
was light. He often unconsciously fell back a pace in order that he
might feast his eyes on a full view of her.
So they came to an open space overgrown with heather where the view
extended far over the country-side. Reinhard bent down and plucked a
bloom from one of the little plants that grew at his feet. When he
looked up again there was an expression of deep pain on his face.
"Do you know this flower?" he asked.
She gave him a questioning look. "It is an erica. I have often
gathered them in the woods."
"I have an old book at home," he said; "I once used to write in it all
sorts of songs and rhymes, but that is all over and done with long
since. Between its leaves also there is an erica, but it is only a
faded one. Do you know who gave it me?"
She nodded without saying a word; but she cast down her eyes and fixed
them on the bloom which he held in his hand. For a long time they
stood thus. When she raised her eyes on him again he saw that they
were brimming over with tears.
"Elisabeth," he said, "behind yonder blue hills lies our youth. What
has become of it?"
Nothing more was spoken. They walked dumbly by each other's side down
to the lake. The air was sultry; to westward dark clouds were rising.
"There's going to be a storm," said Elisabeth, hastening her steps.
Reinhard nodded in silence, and together they rapidly sped along the
shore till they reached their boat.
On the way across Elisabeth rested her hand on the gunwale of the
boat. As he rowed Reinhard glanced along at her, but she gazed past
him into the distance. And so his glance fell downward and rested on
her hand, and the white hand betrayed to him what her lips had failed
to reveal.
It revealed those fine traces of secret pain that so readily mark a
woman's fair hands, when they lie at nights folded across an aching
heart. And as Elisabeth felt his glance resting on her hand she let it
slip gently over the gunwale into the water.
On arriving at the farm they fell in with a scissors grinder's cart
standing in front of the manor-house. A man with black, loosely-flowing
hair was busily plying his wheel and humming a gipsy melody between his
teeth, while a dog that was harnessed to the cart lay panting hard by.
On the threshold stood a girl dressed in rags, with features of faded
beauty, and with outstretched hand she asked alms of Elisabeth.
Reinhard thrust his hand into his pocket, but Elisabeth was before
him, and hastily emptied the entire contents of her purse into the
beggar's open palm. Then she turned quickly away, and Reinhard heard
her go sobbing up the stairs.
He would fain have detained her, but he changed his mind and remained
at the foot of the stairs. The beggar girl was still standing at the
doorway, motionless, and holding in her hand the money she had
received.
"What more do you want?" asked Reinhard.
She gave a sudden start: "I want nothing more," she said; then,
turning her head toward him and staring at him with wild eyes, she
passed slowly out of the door. He uttered a name, but she heard him
not; with drooping head, with arms folded over her breast, she walked
down across the farmyard:
Then when death shall claim me,
I must die alone.
An old song surged in Reinhard's ears, he gasped for breath; a little
while only, and then he turned away and went up to his chamber.
He sat down to work, but his thoughts were far afield. After an hour's
vain attempt he descended to the parlour. Nobody was in it, only cool,
green twilight; on Elisabeth's work-table lay a red ribbon which she
had worn round her neck during the afternoon. He took it up in his
hand, but it hurt him, and he laid it down again.
He could find no rest. He walked down to the lake and untied the boat.
He rowed over the water and trod once again all the paths which he and
Elisabeth had paced together but a short hour ago. When he got back
home it was dark. At the farm he met the coachman, who was about to
turn the carriage horses out into the pasture; the travellers had just
returned.
As he came into the entrance hall he heard Eric pacing up and down the
garden-room. He did not go in to him; he stood still for a moment, and
then softly climbed the stairs and so to his own room. Here he sat in
the arm-chair by the window. He made himself believe that he was
listening to the nightingale's throbbing music in the garden hedges
below, but what he heard was the throbbing of his own heart.
Downstairs in the house every one went to bed, the night-hours passed,
but he paid no heed.
For hours he sat thus, till at last he rose and leaned out of the open
window. The dew was dripping among the leaves, the nightingale had
ceased to trill. By degrees the deep blue of the darksome sky was
chased away by a faint yellow gleam that came from the east; a fresh
wind rose and brushed Reinhard's heated brow; the early lark soared
triumphant up into the sky.
Reinhard suddenly turned and stepped up to the table. He groped about
for a pencil and when he had found one he sat down and wrote a few
lines on a sheet of white paper. Having finished his writing he took
up hat and stick, and leaving the paper behind him, carefully opened
the door and descended to the vestibule.
The morning twilight yet brooded in every corner; the big house-cat
stretched its limbs on the straw mat and arched its back against
Reinhard's hand, which he unthinkingly held out to it. Outside in the
garden the sparrows were already chirping their patter from among the
branches, and giving notice to all that the night was now past.[9]
[9] Literally, "sang out pompously, like priests." The word seems to
have been coined by the author. The English 'patter' is derived from
_Pater noster_, and seems an appropriate translation.
Then within the house he heard a door open on the upper floor; some
one came downstairs, and on looking up he saw Elisabeth standing
before him. She laid her hand upon his arm, her lips moved, but not a
word did he hear.
Presently she said: "You will never come back. I know it; do not deny
it; you will never come back."
"No, never," he said.
She let her hand fall from his arm and said no more. He crossed the
hall to the door, then turned once more. She was standing motionless
on the same spot and looking at him with lifeless eyes. He advanced
one step and opened his arms toward her; then, with a violent effort,
he turned away and so passed out of the door.
Outside the world lay bathed in morning light, the drops of pearly dew
caught on the spiders' webs glistened in the first rays of the rising
sun. He never looked back; he walked rapidly onward; behind him the
peaceful farmstead gradually disappeared from view as out in front of
him rose the great wide world.
* * * * *