watcher there will be better able to tell you whether I was quiet or
talked nonsense and threw my hands and feet about. But I dreamed a
great deal, and such lovely dreams--nothing in them of blood or wounds.
And this morning when I came to myself it gave me a sudden stab in the
heart to think how I must have alarmed you last night, and that you do
not even know to whom you have been so unspeakably kind. Nay,"
continued he, seizing hold of her hand on seeing that she was again
going to impose silence, "I will not let you go, even though it should
be better for me to remain four-and-twenty hours without speaking. It
makes me wild to lie here and let that good Samaritan, and yourself
above all, feel that you are wasting your time and trouble upon a
fellow who better deserves to lie on the straw of a hospital amongst
brawlers and swashbucklers whom the beadle picks up half-dead on the
streets. I owe my present plight to my greenness and presumption,
having always held that with a good conscience and good courage, nobody
need fear to face the devil. My father has often enough shaken his head
at me warningly and said, 'Touch not pitch if thou wilt keep clean
hands; and don't mix with wolves if thou dost not mean to howl with
them.' And when I left Augsburg how my mother charged me only to enter
respectable houses and keep good company! The egg, however, thought
itself wiser than the hen. For you see, noble lady, I am naturally a
restless sort of a fellow, and beautiful as my native town is, and
cheerful too at times, I found it too confined, and wanted to see the
world, Switzerland more especially, because I had heard so much of it
from my father. He served his apprenticeship here in Berne in the house
of the rich master-clothier, Aufdembuehel, whom you doubtless know.
Afterwards he settled in Augsburg, and married my mother and set up a
great fabric of his own; and yet he has always thought fondly of
Berne, so that when I told him my wish to visit it he made no
objection. I almost think he had some idea of a daughter-in-law from
that house, which suited my notions too, for I have grown to the age of
five-and-twenty in Augsburg, and all the blue and brown, eyes there
have left me scathless. And so for about a fortnight I rode southward
in highest spirits, and crossed the beautiful Lake of Constance in a
boat, and last evening when it was getting rather late I came through
the gates by the bear-pits, thinking no evil; but I did not like to
come down at once upon Herr Aufdembuehel, bag and baggage as they say,
so put up my horse at the 'Stork,' and then set out strolling about the
town to take a general survey of it, as I always do on first getting to
any new place. Yesterday, however, it was unfortunate that I did not
first of all have a meal at the inn. For owing to the long ride and
great sultriness while the storm was gathering, I suddenly became
intolerably thirsty, and felt that I should turn to tinder unless I
could get a draught of wine. I was looking about me, therefore, for a
tavern, just as I passed the one on the island where I heard music and
dancing going on, and I asked a well-dressed burgher whether one could
get tolerable wine there. 'The wine was good enough,' he said, 'much
better than the company. If he were to judge me by my dress he should
say I should not find people of my own class there.' 'I would go into a
stable full of cows and goats,' I laughingly replied, 'if I could find
red wine in one of the milk-pails.' And there I left my worthy,
standing, looking rather anxiously after me, and crossed the bridge to
the tavern.
"When I opened the door, however, I saw that my friend had not
cautioned me for nothing, and that in a stable with brute beasts I
should have found better manners and customs than there. Whether it be
a haunt of thieves I cannot say, but most of the people looked to me as
if they had narrowly escaped the gallows, or were on the high way
thither, men and women both, and when I entered they nudged each other
with surprise. But I who did not like to show the white feather, and
held that a stranger might safely do what an inhabitant of the place
could not, boldly seated myself in a corner, and ordered a measure of
wine. And as I kept quiet, they seemed to be getting used to me, at
least most of them had either drunk themselves stupid, or else were
taken up with their female companions. Amongst the last class, was one
better dressed, and with hair neater than the others, but a bold hussy
like the rest. She neither danced nor sang, nor seemed to care for
drink. She sat on the knee of a tall strong man, whose clothes looked
as if they had originally been good, but were now stained with rain and
wine. His face too might once have been handsome, before he got the red
scar across his forehead, or his red eyelids and straggling beard. I
could not help watching the pair--he throwing down the dice
disdainfully, as though good or bad luck were all the same to him, and
when he won giving a push to the girl to collect the money, whereupon
she would take a long dagger that lay on the table, and with the bare
blade just sweep the coins to one side as if they were so much dirt.
Neither of them spoke a word, while their partners--rough young churls
with red faces and glassy eyes--cursed freely in Spanish and French,
and struck the table with their clenched fists. The girl seemed at
length to tire of the game, and looking round her with a yawn, chanced
to spy me out for the first time, for when I entered she was dozing on
the man's shoulder. I suppose my dress took her fancy, or the ring on
my finger; suffice it to say that she began to cast meaning glances at
me, and to make signs with her hand behind her lover's back, which I
neither understood nor attended to, but gulped down my wine the more
quickly that I might slip away, when all of a sudden she sprang from
the knee of the gloomy gambler, and seated herself on the bench beside
me as if intending to sleep, but in reality she kept ogling me all the
time. The man with the scar seemed aware of something wrong, for he
loudly called to her in French to come back at once, but she pretended
to be asleep, and not to hear him. At that he started up in a rage and
bade me go my ways at once--said he had seen me making signals to the
girl, and luring her from his lap. I who was inwardly furious at his
brutality, put on a careless semblance, and said that no one had a
right to bid me leave, that I was interfering with nobody, and paying
for my wine like the rest. At that he grew frantic, dragged the girl
from the bench, and called out to the host to know why he did not keep
his house clear of suspicious characters who only came to spy, called
me all sorts of opprobrious names, and when the girl took my part,
seized hold of my doublet, and tore my collar. I saw now pretty plainly
what I had brought upon myself, for all the rest of the gamblers joined
in the outcry, and the landlord, who got his livelihood through men of
that class, and did not want decent customers, rudely told me that I
was out of place in a house like his where people knew their manners.
'Very good,' I said, 'I will no longer disturb you.' I threw my money
on the table and moved away. But as I was opening the door, the girl
suddenly clung to me and begged me to take her with me for a walk, as
she was sick of the company. '_Allez-vous-en_,' cried I. '_Je ne veux
pas de vous_,' and what else of bad French I could muster. Just then
the storm began, and the uproar within got worse and worse, for the
lover wanted to tear her away, and the others screamed and stormed, and
she clung to me like a wild cat to a tree, and I could not help
thinking in my anger and vexation, 'What if thy good mother saw thee?'
Then came so dazzling a flash, that even those rude beings were quieted
for a moment, the music stopped, and the landlady put up a sort of
prayer. I took advantage of this interval to shake off my troublesome
fair one, and slip out of the house. But while I was on the bridge,
thanking God for having got off with only a black eye, the whole
of them rushed out upon me with drawn blades, and had they not been
half-drunk, my last hour would inevitably have struck! The French
girl too came to my aid, and when she saw her lover--the man with the
scar--drive his dagger into my shoulder, she yelled like a maniac,
pushed me against the railing, and covered me with her own body.
Meanwhile, seeing my life was at stake, I drew out my short sword, and
laid about me so lustily, that all fell back with the exception of my
chief foe who was maddened with jealousy and wine. He actually ran in
upon my sword, gave a roar like a bull, and then fell speechless on his
face. Instantly all was so still one only heard the thunder and
the rush of the river. But then came two flashes and showed us the
train-band marching towards the island. 'Get him into the boat,' said
one of the fellows to another. 'He is already in,' was the reply; 'the
best way were to throw him into the river.' Meanwhile they had caught
hold of the whimpering girl, and were pushing her off by the shoulders.
'_Allons, depechez-vous_,' she cried. '_Voila les gendarmes! On nous
attrapera tous._' And then there was such a rush along the narrow
bridge that no one took any notice of me, and under cover of the
darkness and pelting rain I made my escape. The rest, you know, noble
lady. And now just picture to yourself my fate if Heaven had not
touched your heart, if you had refused me your protection. Indelible
disgrace must have attached to me as a brawler, if not as a murderer;
found in a disreputable house; no worthy man to bear witness to my
innocence, and Herr Aufdembuehel, instead of writing word to my father
that he rejoiced to renew their old friendship by welcoming his son,
would but have come to see me in prison, and have shaken his head
incredulously over my self-justification, whereas I read in your eyes
that you do not hold me an empty liar, but feel compassion for my
reckless youth, and will not withdraw your hand from me."
After this impetuous narrative, which evidently excited him much, the
youth sank back on his pillows with a deep sigh, and closed his
eyelids. "Be of good cheer," said Frau Helena, her black eyes moist
with tears. "You shall want for nothing under my roof, and since I have
had you laid in this bed, I should look upon you as my son, even if
everything about you did not assure me that I might give credence to
your words. Valentin thinks that in about a week you may be able to
rise. Till then I shall only ask one thing from you, to be a tractable
patient, and not through impatience or anxiety to retard your recovery.
If you wish, as you cannot move your arm, I will write word to your
mother how you are, and that she need fear no danger for you."
"Oh, my gracious hostess," cried the youth, catching hold of the sleeve
of her dress and pressing it to his lips; "you are indeed like a mother
to me, for you offer of your own accord what I scarcely dared ask. And
yet I know what a favour you will be conferring upon my dear mother.
For indeed both parents are now sitting anxiously together like two
birds in a nest whose young one has just taken his first flight, and I
had promised to send them tidings as soon as I reached my journey's
end. But now, if you are good enough to write to Frau Martina Brucker,
Augsburg, will you make light of my hurt and keep back from her the way
I got it, until I can send her a circumstantial account. For she is
very easily frightened, and as I am her only child, she has always
taken as much care of me as though I were a girl, and hitherto I have
tried to give her as little uneasiness as possible. If she were to know
what a scrape her Kurt got into on the very first night of his arrival
at Berne, she would not have an hour's peace until she could get him
out of this dangerous atmosphere. But you will see at once what to do.
You will know perfectly what to say to a mother so as to comfort even
more than alarm her."
He grew so pale while uttering these last words, that Valentin hurried
to the bed-side with a cordial, and gave his mistress plainly to
understand that her interview had been too long. So after a few further
directions, she crept softly out on tip-toe, and in the lobby came upon
Lisabethli.
"You have been listening?" said she sternly.
"Dearest mother, forgive me," returned her child. "I could not help it.
I needs must know how it all happened. God be praised and thanked--I
was right--he is innocent."
"Come down, child, you have nothing to do up here. Should any one call
I am engaged. I must sit down at once and write to his mother."
* * * * *
But nevertheless a visitor came whom neither Donate could send away,
nor Lisabethli receive alone. It was no other than the chief sergeant,
the greatest man in the town next to the mayor, and distantly related
to Frau Helena. He came on the part of the Town Council to apologise
for the intrusion of the previous night, and also to say that the
disorders on the island should now be effectually put a stop to by the
closing of the tavern, which had long been a thorn in the side of the
civic authorities. As to the savage doings of yesterday evening, a
mystery lay over them which up to the present hour no one had been able
to penetrate. Both combatants had disappeared as completely as though
the earth had swallowed them up, their bloody traces had been washed
away by the heavy rain, and nothing was known of their names or their
antecedents. Only a boat usually fastened to the bridge had been found
two or three miles from the town keel uppermost, and the landlord of
the Stork stated that a horse had been left in his stable last evening,
whose rider had never made his appearance since.
During this communication Frau Helena had often changed colour, but did
not utter a syllable which could have betrayed her secret knowledge,
nay, she was even careful not to speak a word of any kind, as it must
needs have been at least indirectly untrue. As soon as she was alone
again, she wrote to Frau Martina Brucker in Augsburg, judiciously
keeping back all that might have made her uneasy as to her son's
conduct, and concluding by a cordially expressed promise to nurse
him as a real mother might, since she--this she added with silent
tears--was not so favoured by Heaven as to have her own son under her
roof.
This letter she herself took in the afternoon to the post, accompanied
by her daughter, without whom, indeed, she seldom left the house.
Neither of them said a word about their hidden guest, and yet neither
thought of anything else. So it was in the evening too when they
silently sat at their spinning wheels. It was only when Donate came in
at a late hour to announce that the fever was higher, the patient
unable to sleep, and delirious, calling constantly for his mother, and
wanting to get up and ride off homewards, that they held a council as
to whether it was any longer possible or justifiable not to call in a
chirurgeon, but trust to the skill and experience of old Valentin, who
had served half his time as apprentice to a leech before Herr Amthor
took him into his service. At last Frau Helena went up herself to
inspect the wound. There was nothing in its aspect to alarm, and the
old man assured her that the rambling, Donate had been frightened by,
merely resulted from the full-bloodedness of youth, and that in
four-and-twenty hours all danger would be perfectly over. Frau Helena
knew that her faithful servant was accustomed to weigh his words before
he spoke positively. She stood for a while by the side of the feverish
sufferer, who did not know her, but when he felt the touch of her hand
called her "mother," and then with a sudden brightness in his face
began to talk to her in a tone of affectionate confidence, telling her
she was not to suppose he had set his heart on Herr Aufdembuehel's
daughter--that she knew he would never marry unless he found some one
like her. Then he would break out into French, as if violently
remonstrating with the bold girl of the tavern, telling her not to hang
about his neck, since though she might stain his doublet with wine, she
could not ogle the ring off his finger--and all sorts of delirious
fancies. To all which the judicious matron listened attentively, for
she well knew men, and was silently touched by the evidence thus
afforded of a good and innocent nature. She felt her motherly
partiality for the young stranger grow hour by hour, till she was
almost angry that this youth should assert a claim to a place in her
heart, long entirely filled by sorrow for her lost one.
The night was again restless, and so was the day. But just as Valentin
had foretold, on the third night came a refreshing sleep, and when Frau
Helena paid her morning visit to her guest, he looked at her with clear
intelligent eyes, and even tried to move his wounded arm, which was
still helpless, but going on as well as possible. The lady shook her
head lovingly at him, and bade him not play any pranks, or fancy
himself well before the time, and the youth, although in the highest
spirits, gravely assured her that he would be passive as an unweaned
child. But that very evening, as mother and daughter were sitting in
their saloon by candlelight, and Lisabethli practising some foreign
tune upon the spinett, there came a knock at the door, and in answer to
a somewhat nervous "Come in,"--for the ladies were not accustomed to
such late visitors--their young guest appeared leaning on the arm of
Valentin, who by silent shrugs, gave them to understand that this was
no doing of his, and that he washed his hands of the consequences of
such imprudence. Kurt, however, over whose pale cheeks a flush of
pleasure passed at this escape from the sick room, gaily and gracefully
bent his knee before the grave matron, and prayed her forgiveness for
having ventured once more to stand on his own feet contrary to her
command. He only wanted to wish his benefactress good-night, and to
thank the young lady too, whom he had not seen since that terrible
evening, for the trouble she had taken in making lint and sewing
bandages together. It was impossible to resist his lively cordial
manner: and even Lisabethli, who had been more startled by his
unexpected appearance on this occasion than on the first, soon regained
her natural ease and replied playfully and intelligently to his
friendly talk. At a signal from her mother she brought in a tray of
fruit and pastry, and their guest who had fasted for some days (first,
however, asking and obtaining leave from Valentin), was soon biting
with his white teeth into the juicy early pears.
"Noble lady," he said, "I cannot describe to you how pleasant it is to
me to find myself at this table. When I first saw your lights shine
from the terrace below, and directed my fugitive steps hither, how
little I dreamed that I should ever sit here safely and happily, and
that you would be so very kind to me! You must know that I am a
thoroughly spoilt child, and on my journey here, much as I enjoyed the
freedom and novelty of it, yet in the wretched hostelries, spite of
good food and fiery wine, I used to long for the clean tablecloth laid
by our maid at home for our simple fare. I never ventured to sleep in
any of their beds without spreading my cloak over the sheets. Now here
I find everything just as it is at my own mother's--only better
appointed--and that there I have to be son and daughter in one, while
here I sit merely on sufferance, because, as my old friend tells me,
your son is on his travels, while a daughter is left to you such as my
mother has long vainly wished for."
At these words the old servant slipped away, for this reference to the
absent son distressed him, but Lisabethli came to her mother's rescue.
"Often," she playfully observed, "did people wish themselves a cross,
and if her mother would be candid, she would admit that she not seldom
found herself desiring better companionship than that of a silly little
daughter, her head full of freaks and fancies, who strummed on the
spinet half the day through, roasted the meat too brown, and made the
soup too light, and cost more than she was worth in ribands and
tuckers." At this the mother with a faint smile, observed that the
picture was certainly like, though somewhat darkly shaded; but that
even were it a correct one, each must accept the punishment Heaven
adjudged him. And so saying her face grew very sad, for she thought
that in her case this was but too true. The young people, however, paid
no attention, but went on chatting in the liveliest manner, and
becoming so thoroughly at home with each other that they felt like old
acquaintances; and when Lisabethli had risen from her instrument after
playing three or four national airs to their guest, the minster tower
struck twelve before any of them knew that they had been more than an
hour together.
There is little to record about the following days and evenings, except
that both the young people, and even the mother, daily thought the time
longer until--the house-door being barred and bolted--they were able to
receive their guest in safety, and chat half the night away in the
cheerful, well-lit sitting-room. They seemed to fall into this state of
things as if it always had been and must always continue, and the very
fact of having a secret to keep and a peril to avert, gave to these
innocent meetings an excitement and a charm against which even Frau
Helena herself was not quite proof. She was wise enough, however, to
foresee that there was another danger besides that of the discovery of
her hidden guest and of her own untruth. Lisabethli, who until the
present time had very seldom, and only for short periods, been in the
company of young men, had already spent eleven days under the same roof
with this stranger; and if, since she had fathomed his candid and
upright nature, the mother had learnt to love him, was it not expecting
too much to suppose the daughter blind to all his gifts and virtues?
He, indeed, confidential and friendly as he was, appeared to have taken
good care of his own heart, and in all the unchecked playfulness of
their talk throughout the long evenings, not a word escaped his lips
that sounded other than brotherly in its tone. But if it were really
so, if this bird of passage had no thought of nest-building, it would
be all the worse for the child, and a mother's duty was to put an end
to it at once. She blamed her own weakness and inability to remind her
guest (who was really now quite able to travel) of the journey he no
longer seemed anxious to take. She felt how much she should miss him,
when she had him no longer to expend her motherly care upon, and no
more heard his frank loving voice call her "lady-mother," or even vie
with her little daughter in devising pet names for her. Then, too, she
had a sense of the ungraciousness and unfitness of hastening a guest's
departure. And so she was glad and sorry both, when a letter arrived
from Augsburg, written by his parents, who at its close enjoined their
son not to trespass too long upon the hospitality of the noble lady to
whom he owed his life, but to set out as soon as ever his wound was
healed and journey homewards; as so only could his anxious mother be
fully convinced that he was really out of danger, and that the
punishment of his recklessness had been on this occasion a lenient one.
When young Kurt had read out this letter to his two friends, not a word
was spoken by any of the three for a long time, and afterwards the talk
turned only on grave or indifferent subjects. For the sense of this
being their last evening was heavy upon the hearts of all, though none
chose to confess it. After midnight--when he had left them--mother and
daughter went on sitting up, pretending to have something to do, for
neither felt able to sleep. Then Lisabethli left the room to give some
last directions to Donate. On her return she held a sheet of paper in
her hand, and her face was as white as the paper.
"Dear mother," she stammered out, "Donate has just given me this. It is
from _him_. Will you read it."
"Read it yourself," said her mother, "there can be no harm in it."
"Oh mother," whispered the girl, "I cannot see to read it. There is a
cloud before my eyes--I know that it is a farewell!"
"Give it me," said Frau Helena. "He asks you," she said, after a pause,
"whether you have any objection to his applying to me for my consent to
give you to him. He does this in writing because if you do not love
him, which he fears is but too likely, as you have always seemed so
cheerful and unconcerned--he would prefer not to see you again, but to
set out without any leave-taking, and take his unhappy heart as far as
possible from hence."
The girl did not answer, and her mother too was silent. Suddenly Frau
Helena felt her child's arms around her neck, her tears on her cheek,
while her soft little mouth whispered in her ear. "I should have died,
dearest mother, if he had not loved me." Then her mother took her upon
her knee as she had not done since she was a child, pressed her closely
to her heart, and said with trembling voice, "God bless you, my good
children: you have to make up to me for much."
That night no one closed an eye till morning, when they snatched an
hour or two, and the daughter, who woke first, glad as she was that her
mother should have more rest, could yet hardly wait patiently until she
rose and went to return an answer to the young lover's letter.