A FIRST DRIVE.
On the morning after, the long wished for day arrived. The sun shone
down gladly on the earth below, and Lenz felt gladdened also. He
immediately sent off his apprentice to Annele, to beg her to be ready,
for he would be with her in the course of an hour. And within that
time, dressed in his best attire, he was on his way to the "Lion."
Annele, however, was not yet dressed, though at his earnest and
repeated entreaty, she gave him one hand through the door of her room.
She would not let him see her, but handed him out red ribbons and
cockades, to give to the servant to put on the harness and the whip. At
last--at last she appeared, so smartly dressed!
"Is the carriage ready?" was her first word.
"No."
"Why did you not see that it was ready? Tell Gregor to put on his
postilion's livery, and take his horn with him."
"Oh, no! don't! Why should he do that?"
"We are to show ourselves to everybody, we have no leave to ask of any
one, and every one must look round as we pass."
At last they got in. When they passed the Doctor's house, Annele said
to Gregor: "Blow now! blow loud! The Doctor's daughters are sure to
look out, and they shall see that we are driving out together. I
declare! not a living creature to be seen, and the window in the corner
room shut. They are there sure enough, however. They are bursting with
rage inside there, and they must take some notice of us, in spite of
themselves, for I know that the old grandmother is quite sure to ask,
'Who is blowing that horn?' I should like to be behind the door to hear
them all discussing us."
"Annele, you are in a strange mood to-day!"
"Why not? I think you so goodlooking today. People are right in saying
that you have such honest bright eyes. I really did not know till today
that you were so goodlooking."
Lenz's face beamed with delight, which made him look still handsomer.
"I ought to get a new fashionable set of clothes, don't you think so?"
said Lenz.
"No, remain as you are. You look more solid and respectable as you
are."
"It does not only look so, but it is really so."
"Yes, indeed it is so. But pray don't speak as if every word were a
prong in a watchwheel."
"You are right."
They drove through the next village, and Annele again desired Gregor to
blow his horn with all his might! "Look! look! there is Ernestine, the
grocer's wife. She is a cousin of mine, and was long a servant in our
house, and then married a tailor, who afterwards became a grocer. She
can't bear me; she will be so spiteful that her green face will turn
blue, when she sees us drive past without our calling on her. Ah, ha!
there she comes to the window. Oh, yes! stare out your pig eyes, and
gape till you show your long teeth. Yes, it is Lenz and I,--look well
at my bridegroom! Much good may it do you!" They drove on.
"Now, does that give you any pleasure, Annele?" asked Lenz.
"Why not? We ought to be spiteful to spiteful people, and kind to the
good. Both are right."
"Perhaps; but I can't be so."
"You ought to be glad, then that you have got me. They shall all creep
into a mousehole before us, and be glad if we only look at them."
When they arrived in the town Annele gave her bridegroom fresh
directions for his deportment:--"If my brother-in-law's brother is
there, be sure you are very stiff to him. He would be glad to play you
a trick, for he is very malicious, because I did not take him; but I
did not care about him. And if my sister begins complaining, take it
coolly; you need not try to comfort her, it does no good, and is not
required. She has lots of money, and yet does nothing but grumble and
complain; her health is very bad. Our family in general are healthy
enough, you may see that by me."
The sister could not receive the betrothed couple at all, for she
was confined to bed by illness, and neither the husband nor the
brother-in-law were at home. They had both gone down the Rhine with a
large raft.
"I suppose you would like to stay with your sister, for I have some
business in the town."
"May I not go with you?"
"No; I have something to get for you."
"I had far better go with you in that case, for you men never know how
to choose."
"No, no; you must not be with me," insisted Lenz. He took a large-sized
packet out of the carriage and went with it into the town; for Babet's
house was down by the river, close to a large wood yard.
Without Annele having observed it, Lenz brought back what he had taken
with him, only rather larger in bulk, and put it into the carriage.
"What have you bought for me?" asked Annele.
"I will give it to you when we get home."
Annele was not a little provoked that she could not show the handsome
present to her sister; but she had already perceived that there were
points on which Lenz went his own way, and was not to be persuaded out
of it.
They had refreshments in the inn, and Annele told Lenz that the son
of the landlord, a superior young man, who had now a large hotel in
Baden-Baden, had wished to marry her, but she would not have him.
"There was no need to tell me that," said Lenz. "I am quite jealous
enough already of past days; but not of the future: here is my hand on
that. I know you. It pains me to think that others should ever have
raised their eyes to you. Let bygones be bygones; and let us commence
life afresh."
A pleasant, warm smile lit up Annele's face at these words, as if a
certain reflection of Lenz's kindness and simplicity beamed on her, and
she was gentle and loving in her manner.
She could not express this, according to her ideas, better than by
saying:--"Lenz, there is no need for you to buy me a bridal gift; you
don't require to do what others do: I know you; there is something more
precious than gold chains." Tears stood in her eyes as she said this,
and Lenz never had been happier than at this moment.
The church clock was striking five; when they set off home in the
carriage.
"My deceased father made that clock, and Faller helped him," said Lenz.
"Stop! it is lucky that it struck me: Faller says that you were
offended by some incautious expression of his; he will not tell me what
it was. Do not be angry with him, he is often awkward and abrupt, a
precise soldier, but an excellent man."
"Possibly; but, Lenz, you have a vast deal too many burrs sticking to
you; you must shake them off."
"I will never give up my friends."
"I don't wish you to do so; God forbid! I only meant that you should
not act so that everyone can come and persuade you to anything."
"There you are right; that is my failing; remind me of it as often as
you like, that I may cure myself by degrees."
Just as Lenz had said this in a humble manner, Annele suddenly stood up
in the carriage.
"What is it? what is the matter?" asked Lenz.
"Nothing, nothing at all; I don't know why I stood up. I mean I am not
comfortably seated; now I am more at ease. It is very agreeable to
drive in our carriage, is it not?"
"Yes, very; it is as easy as an armchair, and yet you can see round you
in all directions. It is so pleasant to drive, and it is the first time
I ever was in a carriage of my own; for your father's seems mine also."
"Certainly."
The first excursion of the betrothed couple had not been quite so
amusing as they had expected, but still both brought home with them
much that was pleasant. Annele said very little, and it was evident
that something unusual was occupying her mind.
It was still bright daylight when they arrived at home. Lenz assisted
Annele out of the carriage, and let her go in first by herself. He then
took out the parcel he had so carefully wrapped up, and when he was in
the house he called Annele into the back parlour.
There the mystery was unravelled by these words:--"Annele, I here
present you with the nearest and dearest object I possess on earth; my
excellent friend Pilgrim gave it to me, and now it shall be yours."
Annele gazed intently at the portrait, for which Lenz had secretly
ordered a frame in the town.
"Ah! I see you cannot speak, because my mother is looking at you!"
"So that is your mother? It is certainly her gown, and her cap and
handkerchief, but as for your mother herself? No, it might just as well
be old Annelise the carpenter's wife, or Faller's wife; indeed, I think
it is very like the latter. What makes you look so pale all of a
sudden? as if every drop of blood had left your cheeks? My good Lenz,
would you have me tell an untruth? I am sure you would not; and how can
you help it? Pilgrim never could do a thing well in his life. He has no
talent for anything, except for painting his everlasting church
towers."
"When I heard you speak, I felt as if my mother had died a second
time," said Lenz.
"Don't be so melancholy all of a sudden," said Annele more graciously.
"I will show all respect for the portrait, and hang it up over my bed.
Come, you are no longer sad? You have been so loveable to-day, and
really now, when I look again at the picture, I think it does remind me
of your mother."
Just as Lenz first became as hot as fire, and then as cold as ice, so
could Annele influence him as she chose, making him at one moment feel
the happiest of men, and the next giving him deadly offence.
And thus it went on for weeks and months; but the prevailing feeling,
however, was happiness, for Annele showed a degree of gentleness that
no one had ever suspected she possessed. Even Pilgrim came one day to
Lenz and said:--"Some men are happy when they see how wise they have
been; I rejoice that I have been a fool."
"Really? on what subject?"
"No one can understand a young girl's disposition. I do think that in
Annele's character, there is something that can make you entirely
happy. It is, perhaps, fortunate that she is not so tender hearted as
you."
"I thank you, Pilgrim; I am truly glad that you think so," cried Lenz,
and the two friends grasped each other's hands affectionately.