up, dressed himself carefully and started for the house of his youthful
sweetheart.
On the way, his heart throbbed violently and he with difficulty
restrained himself from turning down a side street in the direction of
Ghost Lane. But the nearer he drew to his destination the calmer he
grew. His fate lay still in his own hands; nothing compelled him to say
the decisive word that night--especially as he had his long-intended
journey before him. So he mounted the steps of the house with
indifference, and with a firm hand pulled the well-known bell.
The daughter of the house opened the door herself, but greeted him with
a cool, well-feigned surprise, as one might a visitor whom he had
believed to be a hundred miles away, and ushered him at once into the
parlor, where a little circle of family friends was assembled. The
father was still at his office, but the mother, who had always petted
the young man as if he were the legacy of her deceased friend,
exhibited this evening a stiff, reserved manner, congratulated him upon
successfully passing his last examination, inquired how long he
expected to remain in the city, and addressed him once and again as
Herr Doctor. He noticed at once that the conversation which he had
interrupted had been concerned with himself, but he maintained his
composure and excused his deferred visit on the ground of an accident
which had befallen him--he had made a false step and had fallen,
striking his head against a stone; on which account he had been for
several days under a physician's care.
No one expressed, save for mere politeness' sake, any regret at this,
and the conversation dragged itself wearily along.
Philip had leisure to observe the daughter of the house, as she sat
near him, her little nose tilted high in the air, and her lips pursed
up ironically. She had been so frequently told that she was the
prettiest girl in town, she had been so unquestionably the queen of the
ballroom for three winters, that it seemed a mere matter of course that
everyone should pay homage to her youthful highness; and especially did
she expect it of her old playmate who had been used to bring her the
most bouquets at every cotillon. Moreover, in spite of his disfigured
forehead, he pleased her better than all her other society slaves, and
she had in secret decided that if he should prove himself worthy of the
honor, she would make him overwhelmingly happy by the bestowal of her
favor upon him. And now to have him sit there by her side, as impassive
as a block of wood, was unpardonable; and she resolved within her cold
little heart that he should feel her righteous anger.
The changed deportment of her prospective son-in-law was still more
annoying to the high-spirited Frau Stadtrath, who had fancied that the
long-awaited betrothal, for which she already had in readiness a
touching and impressive speech, would take place at the earliest
opportunity. The presence of the other ladies at this time seemed to
her most undesirable; and as she continued to hope that Philip's
evidently adverse humor proceeded from the fact that he could not meet
Rosa alone, she made several awkward attempts to get rid of the
company. As these were thwarted by the general curiosity to see more of
the young doctor, she broke in at last with the words: "You never would
have guessed, my dear Doctor, that during this last year, while you
have been away, we could make such progress in all kinds of occult
science and maintain such a lively intercourse with the world of
spirit. Instead of the regular evening card-playing, we now question
this round table about many things we wish to know; and even I, who at
the beginning was quite incredulous, have been gradually converted. I
see you shrug your shoulders; of course, modern natural science regards
all spiritualistic experiments as so many humbugs, and as it is quite
true that much deception does creep in, I will not allow any medium or
hypnotist to cross my threshold. But a wooden table--what interest
could that have in leading us astray, especially as we are able to
control its oracles?"
"And have these ghostly revelations always been found reliable and
correct by you?" inquired Philip--careful lest his words betray the
scorn he felt.
"Not always; of course, sometimes the answers sound ambiguous,
sometimes they are wide of the mark, and then again they hit it so
exactly that no one could doubt their supernatural origin. Heaven
knows, one cannot expect a departed spirit to be omniscient; and you
know well that a fool--I beg the company's pardon--a fool can ask more
questions than ten of the wisest tables can answer. But you shall judge
for yourself, my dear Doctor. Rosa has already enjoyed anticipating the
kind of face you would make if you were once to attend such a sitting."
"I beg you will leave me out of the game, Frau Stadtrath," said Philip,
evasively. "I fear the tips of my fingers lack the necessary fluid, and
I should only frustrate your design if I were to form one of the
chain."
"No, no!" put in the daughter, hastily. "You must take part; otherwise
you will think the thing is not done honestly and that each of us finds
his sport in deceiving the rest. Come, now, and try for yourself to
thwart the thing. You will see that the table will always have the last
word."
The tea service and cloth were accordingly removed forthwith, and the
seven or eight persons who sat around the circular table closed the
magic chain with their outstretched hands, and waited with suppressed
impatience the things which should come to pass.
Philip's little finger rested with a light pressure upon that of his
fair young neighbor; but though, formerly, such a tender proximity
would have sent a glow of warmth through his veins, to-day he remained
quite cool as though he were merely waiting until the reputed magic
fluid should stream from the slender hand near his own and animate the
lifeless wood.
Now, it happened that on this evening our old acquaintance, Heinrich
Mueller, had undertaken the spiritualistic duties in this house,
although he usually reserved himself for commissions of a higher order.
But upon the preceding evening his more ignorant colleague had been put
to rout so ignominiously that he would not expose himself soon again to
a like experience. At the request of the assembled company, the medium
had called up the spirit of Napoleon, and had propounded to it all
kinds of historical questions. Now, as Johann Gruber, in his former
capacity of house-servant, had known nothing of the great Corsican,
and, indeed, had only heard his name when the talk had turned upon
Napoleon-players--of whom he had had occasion to eject several from the
inn when in the service of its landlord--he gave such startling and
distorted answers that the leading spiritualist was overcome with
embarrassment, and finally bade him go to the devil, while he explained
to the questioners that the spirit had played one of his scornful jokes
upon them because he was very angry at being dragged down to earth
again from his heavenly exaltation.
Heinrich Mueller, on the contrary, who had more culture and was never at
a loss to furnish some ambiguous solution for difficult questions,
responded to the summons from the Stadtrath's house the more willingly
in that he had seen his rival enter it, and burned to play him a trick.
For this an opportunity was soon afforded. For, when he had slipped
into the table and had announced his presence by raising one foot and
stamping softly, the Fraeulein Rosa, after some inconsequential
skirmishing, asked directly whether he knew that a strange guest had
inserted himself into the chain.
"Yes," answered the table, to the great satisfaction of the believing.
Did he know his name?
"Philip," rapped the table foot.
Did he know where this Philip had been staying since he came to town?
"Ghost Lane," spelled the table, without reflecting that this would be
a surprise to the company; for what should a young physician just
returned home have to call him to that ill-omened street?
And so the Fraeulein, for she alone had noticed the strange flush mount
to her neighbor's face, inquired promptly what had taken him thither;
and forthwith the table-spirit stamping the foot by a violent motion,
rapped out:
"A love affair!"
The impression which this word made was so strong that the chain at
once parted, and all eyes were turned toward the young man, who
concealed his embarrassment by a scornful laugh and remarked that such
scandalous jokes proved to him plainly that they were bent upon teasing
him, and the innocent table had been forced into the plot.
However, Fraeulein Rosa, who had kept a sharp eye upon him, grew
crimson, not from shame, but from righteous indignation, that her
heretofore obedient and submissive subject had allowed himself to be
led into such a course of treachery. Accordingly she commanded the
circle to form again instantly, and while her trembling little finger
betrayed all her emotion to her neighbor at the table, she put the
decided question: "For whom in Ghost Lane has Dr. Philip conceived a
tender feeling?" The table answered immediately: "G-u-n-d-e-l-chen!"
"Gundelchen!" said the questioner, spelling the word after it, and she
drew back her hand as though she had touched a wet frog. "Well, Herr
Doctor, do you require any further evidence? And so it is really
that frivolous little person, the daughter of that disreputable old
woman!--you remember, mamma, don't you? our seamstress brought the
little country girl to our house with her once to help with the
sewing--a creature entirely without culture. And to her you have
actually paid court, Herr Doctor, and have found her society so
interesting that you have neglected your oldest friends for it?"
With flaming eyes she hurled these reproaches at him, in her rash
excitement never stopping to consider that she thus disclosed the deep,
hidden wound in her own heart. But the others divined it, and her
mother made her a sign with her eyes that she should control herself.
To Philip it was a matter of indifference whether his young friend,
whose face at this moment appeared to him distorted by passion and
almost hateful, thus laid bare her feelings in her jealous anger. His
only concern was to refute the unfounded and malignant suspicions which
had attached to the good woman in Ghost Lane.
He therefore exclaimed with quiet firmness that he would hear nothing
against the mother and daughter. It was with gross injustice they had
been termed "disreputable;" and whoever called the young girl
"frivolous," clearly could not know her. Here he related with frank
ingenuousness how he had made their acquaintance and come to be under
obligations of gratitude to these good Samaritans.
When he had finished his recital, Fraeulein Rosa stood up and said with
a trembling voice: "There is no disputing about tastes. I understand
now that for this whole fortnight you had no wish to look up your
nearest friends, because you were lost in admiration of these two
pearls. As people of our own station can bear no comparison with them,
I would prefer to withdraw, that you need not be too long detained from
your evening visit to Ghost Lane."
Whereat, she curtesied with a very grand air to the young man, bowed to
the others, and withdrew to the adjoining room.
The rest of the company sat, as if turned to stone, in the stillness
which ensued. Finally, the Frau Stadtrath, in her dire dismay, said:
"You must excuse this little burst of temper, my dear Doctor. She at
one time conceived an antipathy for the little sewing-girl, and cannot
understand how one of the dearest friends of her youth can feel
otherwise. And besides, you, with your chivalric notions, put too much
warmth into your defense. If you will go after our Rosa and say that
you did not really mean--"
"I regret, gracious lady," interrupted Philip, rising, "that it is
impossible for me to take back a word of what I have said in favor of
the two so misunderstood. If your daughter cannot tolerate the society
of a man who interests himself in two people, unjustly accused, I must
renounce all further intercourse with this friendly household, from
whom I was formerly the recipient of so much kindness. I have the honor
to wish the ladies and gentlemen Good-evening."
With that he took his hat, bowed, and left the room.
When he found himself in the open air, such a feeling of relief came
over him at his escape from the stifling atmosphere of this respectable
Philistine house, that, forgetting his new professional dignity, he
waved his hat, made a leap into the air, and hummed a student song to
himself. A couple of the neighbors who knew him, and his status with
the fair daughter of the Stadtraths, smiled, as he passed by them
unheeding, and whispered to each other that it had probably just been
settled between the young pair, and the gentleman was a trifle
exhilarated by the betrothal wine. But Philip was eager to get out of
the dark streets into open space, and drew a deep breath when he
reached the shaded park which lay along the river, and was peopled in
the daytime by the children of the town and their nurses. At this late
hour, however, only solitary pairs of lovers walked here, and their
shadows, as they glided past, moved the lonely wanderer to melancholy
reflections. He seated himself on a bench and for a long time gazed
upward through the gently swaying branches at the stars, from which a
soft coolness flowed down upon him. With a hushed sound, the river
rolled along at his feet. Philip could not but think how delightful it
would be to let himself be carried away by the current, in a boat, with
a certain being at his side, all through the night, only to land at the
first flush of morning near some secluded little house, and there to
set up his own hearthstone. The image of little Gundula came before him
so lifelike, she appeared with all her gifts and graces in so bright a
light, that he could not conquer his longing to take the fair form in
his arms; and springing up, he set out in a straight line for the town
again, resolved to make his way that very evening into the haunted
house, cost what it might, and have a serious talk with Frau Cordula
concerning the present and the future.
But when he had passed the outlying districts of the town, and was
nearing his goal, he noticed an unwonted commotion in the streets--a
running and shouting of men who at the hour of ten are usually sitting
at home, or over their beer. He made inquiry and heard with alarm that
a fire had broken out in Ghost Lane. And now he rushed on ahead of all
the others, and as he reached the street and saw the glow of the fire
lighting up the black houses, he made a way for himself by elbowing and
pushing through the dense crowd that blocked the entrance. But the
people stood idly by gaping at the spot whence the red blaze shot
upwards, so that Philip had no difficulty in fighting his way through
them to the seat of the mischief. His fearful surmise had not led him
astray--the house of "The Unbelieving Thomas" was really on fire, and
the flames, which until now had issued only from the porter's room,
were just beginning to encircle the old entrance gate. The men who
stood in front of it, in a half circle, pointed to the fiery spectacle
with stupid indifference, or even with malicious grins. A few even gave
vent to jeers: it was time that Satan at last laid hold of the old
witchmonger by the collar; perhaps he had been trying to make gold, and
a flame from hell had shot up out of the crucible and singed his head.
It could not be expected that any good Christian would put out such a
fire, and thus arrest the judgment of Heaven.
As soon as Philip reached the house, and took in the situation, he
shouted to the bystanders to get axes and break in the door and rescue
those who lived back in the court. Not a foot stirred; only a pair of
saucy tongues gave it as their opinion that it would be no harm if the
whole pack of witches were burned, too,--they had deserved a funeral
pile this long time;--a sentiment which was greeted with general
laughter. The young man heard this with a throb of rage; and casting
about him for some implement with which he could burst open the door,
he seized a beam which the pavers had left lying at the edge of the
sidewalk, and with superhuman exertion dragged the burden to the
entrance that with it he might batter in the woodwork of the door,
which was already ignited; when the rotten lock, as of a miracle,
yielded of itself in the sockets, and the door swung slowly inward on
its hinges. In the dark opening appeared a strange pair of human
figures. Gundelchen was carrying her mother pick-a-pack through the
smoke and showering sparks out into the open air.
The child had gone to bed earlier than usual that night, weary with her
day's work, and was awakened by a cry of terror from her mother, who
had not yet fallen asleep. When she perceived the light from the fire,
she put on a skirt, threw a shawl around her shoulders, and without
stopping for shoes or stockings, with swift decision she lifted her
mother, who could move but slowly, to her back and bore her down the
little stairs and across the court, there to stand a few agonizing
moments in the dark hallway until her guardian angel opened the house
door.
As she stood now outside, bent under her living burden and looking
around at the crowd as it fell back, she espied their young friend and
guest, who, with a cry of joy, dropped the beam and sprang toward her.
A happy smile crossed her flushed face and the fresh lips faltered:
"Good evening; Herr Doctor"--simple words enough, but they sounded to
him like sweetest music. He could only say: "Thank God! O Gundelchen!
To think that you are alive!" and would have caught them both in his
arms but for the eyes which were turned upon them.
She had not yet put down her burden, and seemed uncertain whither to
turn with it. In vain did Philip conjure the people to fetch a
wheelbarrow, or even a push-cart. They turned away, shrugged their
shoulders and murmured imprecations.
"Well, we must get one ourselves, Gundelchen, since these pious
Christians cannot summon this much of neighborly kindness," said the
young man, as he set the woman gently down upon the pavement, and,
crossing his hands with those of the girl, raised the mother again on
this swinging litter, bidding her put her arms around their necks. So
they carried her submissively obedient, through the parting throng,
which fell back at their approach, down the street as far as the
marketplace. There, as by accident, an empty cab came rattling sleepily
along. Philip hailed it, put the two women into it, and swung himself
up on the seat behind, telling the coachman to drive to a little inn by
the river, a half mile distant, which served as the terminus for the
summer evening walks of the better class families.
From Ghost Lane, which grew even ruddier with the glare of the fire,
sounded a duller hum and tumult; and now they heard the roll of the
hose-cart, which was at last on its way to the scene of the fire. From
all sides, great and small were flocking to the ill-omened street; but
soon they had left the last houses behind them and were driving along
at a slow trot, through the star-lit night.
And now, for the first, the young doctor had time to regard the rescued
pair more closely. The older woman, with closed eyes, lay back in one
corner of the carriage as though she would collect her thoughts, and
thank Heaven for the miracle of her deliverance. Her child sat beside
her, a little ashamed of her own scanty attire, holding the shawl
tightly about her shoulders and saying no word to the young man
opposite. But the black eyes met his steadily, and only once, when the
bare feet came into view beneath the short skirt, did the long lashes
droop hastily. Philip asked if she were cold. She shook her head, but
he drew his handkerchief from his pocket and wound it about her slender
ankles. Then he stretched out his hand and she laid her own in it, with
a charming look of confidence, and so they held each other's hands in a
mute pledge until the carriage drew up before the little hostelry.
Here first the mother opened her eyes, but spoke no word and suffered
Philip to lift her out and carry her into the house. Host and hostess
were not a little astonished when they saw their singular guests, for
whom the young man engaged a room in the upper story. He gave the
landlord a gold piece and told him it would be to his advantage to
attend carefully to the ladies, whom he had rescued from great peril by
fire in the city.
The Frau Wirthin would help the Fraeulein out with her wardrobe. Then he
himself mounted to the room where Frau Cordula sat in an arm-chair,
looking dreamily before her. He went up to her and said gravely: "Dear
mother, I must leave you now and go back to the city. But first I want
to clear up an important matter. Your daughter and I have silently
plighted our troth during the journey hither. I beg now that you will
give us your blessing. I promise to be a faithful husband to your child
and a loving son to you."
The mother had listened to him with no change of manner, quite as if
she had been prepared for something similar. Now she shook her head
gently and said: "Dear Herr Doctor, you are very good, and I believe
that you are sincere in your request. Still, I am an old woman, and
must keep a cool head when the fire of enthusiasm has so heated your
young one that you regard as proper and practical what is, and must
remain, an impossibility. You are a young man of education and wealth,
and we are poor people. How could you answer your friends if they
should ask you why you had played the fool over the daughter of a poor
tailoress who is denounced as a witch?"
"That is _my_ affair," returned Philip with emphasis; "and I shall take
care to express myself quite clearly and plainly on the subject.
Moreover, I take delight in setting all my acquaintances to wondering
and shaking their heads in a knowing way; indeed, I shall enjoy all the
talk and sensation which will be created in the church when the
announcement of our betrothal is made from the chancel. In three weeks,
therefore, so it please you, the wedding will take place. I propose
then to take the young Frau Doctor upon a tour, and we shall spend a
whole year in travel. She will thus have time to become somewhat
accustomed to society, and to receive that polish which even the
costliest jewels must have in order that they may be estimated at their
true value. In the meantime, our dear mother will remain quietly in the
apartments which will be provided for her in my new home; and her
daughter, let us hope, will keep her informed, by frequent letters,
that she was not deceived when she thought proper to try her arts of
witchery upon a certain Doctor Philip."
He bent down and kissed the mother upon both cheeks, down which two
tears trickled silently. Then, drawing the radiant girl to his breast,
he kissed her upon lips and eyes; and before either of them could
breathe a word, he rushed downstairs, flung himself into the carriage
and drove back to town.
The house of "The Unbelieving Thomas" was burned out so completely
during the night that when morning dawned only the four black walls,
like the sides of some deep shaft or well, remained standing; while the
chestnut-tree lay, a heap of ashes, in the court, and only a few
smoking ruins covered the site of the coach-house. In the porter's room
were found a pile of blackened human bones, and among them four bits of
copper which had bound the corners of the large Bohemian Bible, and had
not been melted, despite the intense heat.
High above, on the pointed ridge of one of the neighboring houses, sat,
in the early gray of the morning, the two former occupants of the
coach-house, both in the worst possible humor.
Heinrich Mueller cast a savage glance at the wet debris of the charred
timbers, from which rose an ill-smelling vapor.
"Well, the comedy is ended!" he said, shaking himself. "I am glad that
no one suspected who was the author."
"Not you, after all, Herr Heinrich?" inquired his comrade, who was
looking away over the roofs into one of the side streets.