Almost all night long Hans Unwirrsch had to listen to all the tower
clocks the strokes of which reached his pillow. He heard voices of all
kinds as he lay awake. The big city sounded every passing quarter of an
hour in his ear with a twelve-fold stroke. The tones came from nearby
and from far away;--first came the dull bell from quite close by,
then the light, clear tone that rang in the distance and sounded much
like the bell in a railway station. This fine, distant little voice
was followed by the sonorous rumbling of the clock on St. Nicholas'
tower; and so it went on and on, one clock and bell following close on
another's heels.
It was a curious thing to lie thus in a strange house, in a strange
town, in a strange world, counting the hours of night and recalling his
past life in an effort in some way to connect it with the mad events of
the present.
What was the relation of Dr. Théophile Stein to the Moses of Kröppel
Street, the Moses of the _Gymnasium_ and of the university? Hans
Unwirrsch gave up bothering his head about that. Inexplicable as this
figure might be that had suddenly risen out of the ground, its outlines
were yet too distinct and sharp to admit of any doubt as to its reality.
It is possible to think of many people while counting the hours in the
night. We can think of living people and of dead, particularly of the
latter, for the night is the time for spirits.
Hans thought of his dead,--of his mother, of her old black box where
she kept her savings, of her kind, faithful eyes and of the morning on
which he, returning from his sermon, had found those eyes closed. Hans
thought of his father, of the shining glass globe, of his beautiful
book of songs. Now, gradually all his narrow, hemmed-in childhood rose
before him in the dark, and once the restless dreamer raised himself
in bed believing that he heard the voices of Auntie Schlotterbeck and
Uncle Grünebaum on the stairs outside. It was a closely circumscribed
world, to be sure, that surrounded the candidate that night, but when
morning dawned it had made him able to meet with assurance the wider
world which now opened before him. Lieutenant Götz did not need to haul
"his preceptor" out of bed that morning. He found him fully clothed
and ready--as the lieutenant expressed it--"to offer a broad back for
everything that might be laid upon it."
Thrice Lieutenant Götz walked round Unwirrsch, candidate for the
ministry, and regarded him with favor.
"You look just as they do on the stage," he said as he finished his
third circle. "What is theology without black trousers? What is a
preceptor without a dress coat? My word!--You're capital! A little out
of fashion, but very decent! My friend, if those two beautiful black
coat-tails don't please my brother Theodor, it can only be the fault
of the blue handkerchief which peeps out from between them perhaps a
little too impertinently to suit my fastidious sister-in-law."
Hastily Hans stuffed the handkerchief as far down into the depths of
the pocket as he could, but the lieutenant cried:
"Let it hang, let it hang out boldly! That's not why I remarked upon
it, upon my word. What do you care for Theodor and Kleophea; if
only----"
The old man broke off; Hans did not learn at that time what was to have
followed the words "if only." At a quarter past eleven he was on his
way with the lieutenant to the house of the Privy Councillor Götz.
Hans had firmly declined the old soldier's advice to strengthen himself
for the expedition with a glass of cognac and the lieutenant had said:
"On the whole perhaps you are right; my brother has a pretty keen nose
and it might engender unjustified suspicions. Forward!"
Hans had buttoned his clerical coat awry above his beating heart. With
joking irony Colonel von Bullau had waved a white handkerchief from
the window of the "Green Tree;" the sun looked down from the sky at
the preceptor, smiling, but not ironically. The weather left less to
be desired that day than the lieutenant's humor. He talked or growled
to himself the whole way; he had pulled his cap well down over his
forehead and seemed to have clenched his fists in his overcoat pockets.
His shortness of temper was far from being delightful and the preceptor
gave a positive start when his ill-humored guide suddenly exclaimed:
"Confound it, here we are already!"
First they had left the busy, noisy business quarter of the town
behind them, had wandered through a quieter, better quarter and now,
by passing through a part of the park, they had reached the last row
of houses in a still more elegant section which lay along the side of
the park and was separated from it by driveways and riding paths. The
houses in that street were approached through small gardens, well-kept
even at that early season, and the lieutenant stopped before a fine
iron garden gate and pointed grimly to the fine building beyond the
round lawn and the empty fountain.
Grimly he pulled the bell of the garden gate, Sesame opened, and
the two men walked round the lawn and the fountain. Three steps--an
elaborately carved door which also seemed to open of itself--a dim,
elegant hall--colored panes of glass--the sound of a grand piano--a
screeching parrot somewhere in a room--a servant in green and gold on
whose foot Hans Unwirrsch stepped in his confusion and who scorned to
take any notice of the stammered apology--an opened door--a young lady
in violet--a melodious ejaculation of pleased surprise and the young
lady's clear laugh--a quarter to twelve!
"It's Uncle! Terrible Uncle! Uncle Petz! Oh what a joy! Uncle
Grimbeard, above all things a kiss, _mon vieux_!"
The young lady in violet fell on the bearish old man's neck so suddenly
that he had to endure the kiss and returned it, as it appeared, in a
somewhat better humor. Then, however, he freed himself quickly from the
beautiful arms, pushed the young lady in violet back and turned to his
black-gowned Hans.
"This is my niece Kleophea; my niece with the pious name and the wicked
heart. Beware of her, Candidate."
The candidate did not step on the beautiful young lady's foot; he bowed
to her at a respectful distance and she returned his greeting not at
all coldly. The changing, charming light in her eyes made a great
impression on Hans in spite of his faithful Eckart's warning.
"Won't you also introduce the gentleman to me, Uncle Rudolf?" asked
Kleophea, smiling. "You have given due publicity to my name and
character; you know that you occupy the lightest and most comfortable
corner in my wicked heart. Now be fair and----"
"Mr. Johannes Unwirrsch of Neustadt, candidate in theology--a young man
well fitted to make spoilt young scamps of both sexes see reason,--a
youth who possesses my entire approval."
"That bodes ill for you, Sir," said the young lady. "What my uncle
approves of--Jean, please, for goodness sake, don't stare at us with
such extraordinary intelligence, go; perhaps after all there may be
some useful occupation for you somewhere or other!--is in this house
often, exceedingly often, not recognized at its true worth. But you
please me and I will take you under my most frivolous protection, Mr.
Umquirl."
"Unwirrsch! Theological candidate Unwirrsch!" snapped the lieutenant.
"I beg your pardon. And so you are the patient gentleman whom we
have so long sought in vain for our lovely, angelic Aimé? How very
interesting, Mr. Rumwisch!"
"Unwirrsch!! Confound it!" shouted the lieutenant. "Is your father at
home, girl?"
Kleophea nodded. "March!" commanded the old man; as Kleophea, Hans and
the lieutenant ascended the stairs, Jean's wide-open rabbit-like eyes
and imposing whiskers appeared again in the hall where their indignant
possessor was waiting impatiently for the carriage containing his
mistress who would certainly be also much interested in the news that
the tutor, accompanied by Lieutenant Götz, had arrived.
Kleophea mounted the stairs at Hans' side; her uncle followed them
growling.
Twelve steps! At the thirteenth the stairs turned to the right and
when, in the corridor above, Hans looked round for the lieutenant the
latter had disappeared. The candidate stood alone with Kleophea and
she was much amused at the confused tutor.
"Why, where is he? Where can he be?" she said laughing. "Don't you know
that side of him yet? He has delivered you here and has disappeared
like an old bearded magician. The magic coach has turned into an empty
nut-shell, the horses are mice now and have run to their holes; you
might as well give up looking about you, Mr. Unwirrsch. It is highly
probable that my uncle has gone to find my cousin Franziska. So now
you are left entirely to yourself and to me;--here is my Papa's room;
I shall take much pleasure in introducing you. Without flattery, I am
very well pleased with you and I hope that we shall not embitter each
other's lives in this house."
As she looked at him while she spoke the last words Hans was quite
unable to beware of her as the lieutenant had so emphatically advised
him. Her brown eyes possessed a magic power of the first rank and if
Circe's glance was at all like this it was no wonder that Gryllus
would rather be a pig in her service than be a cook in the service of
Odysseus.
But the door opened. Kleophea led the tutor through a sumptuous drawing
room into another room full of books and cabinets for documents. Hans
bowed three times toward an extensive table covered with green cloth on
which lay still more books and documents. A gentleman sat behind the
table and on being greeted rose from his chair, grew taller, taller,
ever taller--thin, black, shadowy--and finally stood there behind his
papers, long, thin and black, buttoned up to his white tie like a
sign-post bearing the warning: no laughter here.
But Kleophea laughed nevertheless.
"Candidate Unwirrsch, Papa," said she; Hans bowed again and the Privy
Councillor Götz cleared his throat, seemed to regret very much that he
had risen, yet remained standing, now that he had once got up, and put
his right arm rapidly behind his back, an action which in everyone
except Hans would have aroused the suspicion that he was pressing a
spring, or turning a screw, or pulling a string.
Whatever he was trying to do with the two buttons on the back of his
coat, the result was a poor imitation of one of the six theological
bows.
"Candidate Unwirrsch," said Kleophea repeating her introduction, while
her father seemed to deliberate in privy council how he should receive
the tutor. At last he made up his mind and said:
"I see the gentleman, have expected him indeed for the last ten minutes
and now extend my welcome to him. Is my wife, your mother, at home,
dear Kleophea?"
"No, Papa."
"Most regrettable! Mr. Unwirrsch, I hope that a longer and nearer
acquaintance will bring us closer together. Kleophea, when will my
wife, your mother, return?"
"I can't say, Papa. You know that it is seldom possible to say
definitely as to that."
There was a sound of whirring in the Privy Councillor and he cleared
his throat ponderously. Hans Unwirrsch thought the time appropriate to
announce his firm desire to make himself as useful as possible and to
perform his difficult, but at the same time grateful, duties to the
best of his ability. He thanked the Councillor for the confidence which
he placed in a stranger and voluntarily promised in no way to prove
unworthy of it.
While he was speaking the Privy Councillor had again reached behind
him, set his mechanism in motion and had sunk slowly down into his
chair behind his heap of papers. It is doubtful whether he was
meditating deeply on the new tutor's words or whether he had not heard
them at all; but truly magical was the way in which he jumped up
again when the golden green lackey suddenly appeared in the room and
announced that his mistress had just returned and wished to see and
speak to the new tutor at once.
"Go, Jean, and tell my wife that I will bring Mr. Unwirrsch to her
immediately. My dear Kleophea, will you not precede us?"
Jean bowed and went; Kleophea shrugged her shoulders, smiled as she did
so and also went. When they had both gone a miracle took place--the
Privy Councillor took hold of the tutor by a coat button, drew him
close to him and whispered:
"It is my wish that you should remain in this house; as far as I can
judge after this preliminary acquaintance with your person and status,
you please me very well. I wish that you might also please my wife. Do
your part to that end, and now come."
The Privy Councillor now led the tutor across the drawing room through
which he had entered to the room on the opposite side, at the door of
which another noticeable change came over the man. The springs inside
him seemed suddenly to lose their elasticity, the wheels and wires
refused to work, his whole figure seemed to grow smaller,--the Privy
Councillor knocked at his wife's door and seemed to feel a desire to
peep through the keyhole first, or at least to listen at it. A moment
later Hans Unwirrsch stood before the--Mistress of the House.
He saw a stately lady in black with an aquiline nose and a double
chin--as solemn as a starless night; she sat on a dark divan behind
a table covered with dark drapery! The whole apartment made a solemn
impression--every chair and seat an altar of dignity. Serious,
chaste, solemn and dignified were walls, ceiling and rugs, pictures
and curtains--everything in stately order and regularity except the
seven-year-old, coffee-colored, puffy little brat who at sight of the
tutor raised a horrible, detestable, furious howl and attacked Hans
Unwirrsch's legs with a toy whip.
"Oh, Aimé, what a way to behave!" said the lady in black. "Come to me,
my darling, don't excite yourself so. Kleophea, won't you take the
little whip away from the child?"
Again Kleophea shrugged her shoulders.
"No thank you, Mama. Aimé and I----"
"Be silent, now;" the Councillor's wife cried with a gesture. "I know
very well what you want to say. Look here, my little lamb, see what I
will give you for your whip."
The charming child could not resist the box of sweets; he put his
instrument of torture into his mother's hands and she thus received the
last touch that completed her imposing appearance.
With the whip in her hand the lady of the house now devoted herself
entirely to the new tutor. She subjected him to a severe examination
and asked for the most detailed information about the "conduct" of his
life. The morals and dogmas of the young man to whom such a precious
jewel was to be entrusted were very important to her and not all her
questions could be answered without causing her to wrinkle her brow. On
the whole, however, the examination ended favorably for the candidate
and the conclusion was even very satisfactory.
"I am glad to be able to hope that your work in this house will be
blessed. You will find that the Lord has led you under a strictly
Christian roof. You will find that the seeds of faith have already been
sown in the heart of this sensitive little angel. Under my special,
maternal supervision you will be able to aid all the beautiful blossoms
in this young heart to unfold and the Lord will bless your work. With a
humble and simple heart you will work among us here and will not allow
yourself to be led astray by any worldly laughter and mockery (at this
point a glance and an imaginary blow with the whip struck her beautiful
daughter Kleophea). Aimé, my little rosebud, you may give your hand to
Mr. Unwirrsch now and say 'how do you do?'"
The little rosebud must have misunderstood this permission. Instead of
giving his tutor his hand he showed him something else and began again
to howl and scream in the terrible manner we have described. When Hans
dared to approach him he kicked him on the shins, so that with painful
feelings he withdrew and at a safe distance expressed the hope that he
and Aimé might soon become more intimate with each other.
"I hope so too," said Mrs. Götz. "I hope that you will try your best
to gain my boy's love and affection. It is easy to win a child's love
by a simple and humble manner. Oh, what a treasure I am laying in your
hands, Mr. Unwirrsch! Oh, my sensitive little lamb, my Aimé!"
The Privy Councillor had not spoken a word throughout the proceedings.
He stood there and apparently approved, at least externally, of
everything. No sign betrayed what he may have felt within; in the
presence of his wife the good man had learnt silently to possess his
soul in patience.
Kleophea had disappeared altogether. What she was doing behind the
window curtain where she had hidden herself remained as great a
secret as her father's feelings. The tutor's feelings were not of the
pleasantest. He looked into the future with apprehension and confessed
to himself sighingly that even Kohlenau had had its charms. He felt
himself surrounded by an atmosphere which furthered perspiration and
at the same time checked it. With no immoderate sense of gratitude
he thought of Lieutenant Rudolf Götz, who had procured for him the
honor and pleasure of entering this house as an educator. The puzzling
disappearance of the man at the most important moment and on the stairs
also admitted of no favorable interpretation; Hans Unwirrsch began to
think of him as a crafty character; the faithful Eckart was transformed
into a deceptive will-o'-the-wisp which suddenly went out in the middle
of the swamp. Beneath the gaze of the mistress of the house, Aurelia
Götz, _née_ von Lichtenhahn, Hans Unwirrsch sank slowly but surely into
the depths and neither from behind the window curtain nor from behind
the Privy Councillor's back did a helping hand appear.
It was from another direction that a hand brought aid.
"Where is Franziska?" asked Mrs. Götz. Kleophea behind the curtain did
not know; the Privy Councillor did not know either.
"Please, Mr. Unwirrsch, will you be kind enough to ring the bell?"
asked Mrs. Götz and Hans' eyes sought it. But just at the moment when
he had found it the door opened which led from the drawing room into
Mrs. Götz's apartment and a small, insignificant figure in a gray,
insignificant gown stepped into the room with downcast eyes;--Hans
Unwirrsch did not ring. During the last half hour he had not thought of
Franziska Götz.
"Oh, here you are, Franziska," cried Mrs. Götz. "My niece, Miss Götz,
Mr. Unwirrsch!" she added briefly, at the same time looking, if
possible, more stately and more like a glacier than before. "Have Mr.
Unwirrsch shown to his room, my child; we have received him into our
household."
Franziska Götz bowed in silence and, as she passed Hans inaudibly, she
raised her eyes to him only to drop them again instantly.
"Won't you follow my niece, Mr. Unwirrsch," said Mrs. Götz laying down
the whip. Hans made another bow of which this time no notice was taken;
he also bowed to the Privy Councillor, whose mechanism moved at least a
little bit and, as the window curtain now moved slightly, Hans bowed to
it as well; then he followed Lieutenant Rudolf's Fränzchen and, once in
the corridor, allowed himself to draw a deep, yet cautious, breath of
relief.
There stood the majestic servant again, whose whiskers seemed to swell
the longer you looked at him. He looked over his liveried shoulder at
the "new tutor" with legitimate contempt and manifested only a doubtful
inclination to show the ungenteel starveling his way.
But Fräulein Franziska Götz too looked doubtfully at the man in green
and gold, then turned to Hans and said softly:
"If you will be good enough to go with me I will show you your room."
Her voice was soft, gentle and low, "an excellent thing in woman"
as old King Lear said, and at its sound Jean turned on his heels and
walked away with unbent knees, quite superior and quite convinced that
he knew how to maintain the dignity of his position.
"Oh, Miss Götz, how strangely fate has brought us together again and
how thankful I am for that!" cried Hans; but the girl laid her finger
on her lips and whispered:
"I have seen my Uncle Rudolf--have talked to him--he has told me about
you. Oh, my poor, faithful, dear Uncle Rudolf!"
She stopped speaking but Hans Unwirrsch saw a tear on her lashes; he
did not dare to address her again but followed her silently up to the
second floor of the house. At the bottom of his soul he said: "God be
praised!" He must have had some reason to say so.
"Here is your room," said Franziska, unlocking a door. "May you pass
glad and happy hours in it. That is my sincere wish and my Uncle
Rudolf's too, who seems to be very fond of you."
"How much I thank you, and how much I thank your uncle. All this that
he has done for me is so undeserved. It is like a dream the way he has
taken my fortunes into his hand and led me into this house."
"He has often spoken of you since the evening when we met at that inn.
I was so troubled at that time, so unhappy. Oh, good Uncle Rudolf,
he has guided my poor life too. Oh, if you only knew him through and
through, Mr. Unwirrsch!"
"I hope to learn to know him and appreciate his full worth!" cried
Hans. "If I stay long enough in this house----"
Franziska again laid her fingers on her lips as if frightened.
"You must not talk so much about Uncle Rudolf in this house," she said.
"My Aunt does not like him. It is very sad."
"Oh!" sighed Hans Unwirrsch and a moment later the Lieutenant's
Fränzchen had left him alone in his new quarters. He could look at
them more closely and gaze out the window after he had examined the
four walls and the furniture. There was nothing extraordinary about
the blue-papered walls, the four chairs, the table, the hat-tree, the
little sofa and the little round cast-iron stove; but the view from the
window was not so easily forgotten.
In the middle of the lawn the fountain was now playing merrily with a
shining brass ball. There was the ornamental iron fence which separated
the Privy Councillor's property from the public street of the big city.
There was something wonderful to Hans Unwirrsch in the view of this
promenade with its throng of carriages, riders and pedestrians and he
waited in vain for the variegated stream to come to an end. And there,
beyond the driveway, riding and foot paths, was the wood-like park with
its long straight avenues into which one looked as into a peep-show.
And how beautiful that must all be when the trees were green! Truly,
the hope of this green to come was in itself some consolation for the
grayness of the present.
The porter from the "Green Tree" now came with a greeting from
Lieutenant Götz and brought the tutor his traveling bag, thus tearing
him away from his observations at the window. He would have to write
to the manager in Kohlenau for the things he had left behind there. As
Hans laid a Greek pocket edition of the New Testament on the table a
card fell out of it on which could be read in fine steel engraving:
Dr. Théophile Stein,
25 Hedwig Street.
Hans Unwirrsch had no more time to dream; he had to think and
deliberate as well as he could with his mind baffled by an entanglement
of persons and mutual relationships. Moses Freudenstein and Franziska
Götz, Franziska and the mistress of the house, the mistress of
the house and Kleophea, the Privy Councillor, Jean in green and
gold;--_bellum omnium contra omnes_, and Hans Unwirrsch, _Candidatus
theologiæ_ and tutor in the midst of them all! That was a state of
affairs in which a man was certainly justified in putting his hand to
his forehead like some one who has been turned round many times in a
circle blindfolded and after the bandage has been removed feels by no
means steady on his feet and knows still less what to think of his
surroundings.
Hans Unwirrsch, too, felt irresistibly the need of winding up some of
the springs in his being and tightening some of the screws. He read a
chapter in the New Testament and followed that with a page in a pocket
edition of Epictetus. He was then able to meet the stately Jean's eyes
with greater composure when the latter came to call him to dinner and
let fall the remark that it was customary to wear white gloves to that
function.
For the first time Hans partook of bread and salt with his new
associates in life. Again he had to answer many questions in regard to
his preëxistence and it appeared that in that preëxistence many of the
things that came onto the table were unknown. Mrs. Götz still remained
a born von Lichtenhahn, the Privy Councillor remained what he was;
Kleophea smiled and shrugged her shoulders, Aimé was very unamiable,
and Fränzchen sat at the lower end of the table next to the candidate
Hans Unwirrsch.
SUMMARY OF CHAPTERS XVIII-XXI
[Hans soon learned how things went on in the Privy Councillor's house.
The sovereign power lay in the hands of the mistress of the house.
Aurelia Götz, _née_ von Lichtenhahn, swayed the sceptre with a strong
hand. She ruled arbitrarily up to the boundaries of Kleophea's realm.
To the tutor Kleophea herself appeared to be a wonder. Unusually
beautiful and talented she drew and painted, played the piano, sang
and read several languages, with preference French and whatever she
should not have read. At five o'clock teas she loved to speak to pious
ladies of Boccaccio and the _Decameron_, to the vexation of her Mamma.
Kleophea hated her Mamma because of the name she had received from
the latter at her baptism and against which she had always protested.
Much in the development of her character was due to this name and her
opposition to it. She declared her brother to be a "horrid toad" and he
scarcely dared show himself in her presence. This did not improve her
relations with her mother. She had hoped to find an ally in her cousin
but soon pronounced her to be a "lamb." Still, she could not make an
absolute slave of her. She treated her now as a confidant, now as the
opposite, caressed her one day and pushed her brusquely aside the next.
Franziska was not well treated by her aunt. The latter had not been
friends either with "the despised, godless freebooter and Jacobite"
Felix, or with "the careless beggar and ill-mannered vagabond" Rudolf.
She had been glad, however, to take the orphan into her house; the
town talked of it, and she, too, was able to make it the subject of
conversation. The tutor was allowed to instruct the "sweet Aimé" only
under the eyes of his mother and this caused the teacher to sweat more
than the pupil.
One day, when Aimé was ill from overstudy, that is, from over-eating,
Hans sought out Dr. Théophile Stein. In answer to his knock a pretty,
laughing young lady with very black hair and a rather uptilted nose
opened the door. Behind this merry girl Théophile appeared, somewhat
annoyed and embarrassed, though he smiled when he recognized Hans and
said: "Oh, it's you, come in." The lady put on her dainty, rosy little
hat in front of the glass, threw the candidate a kiss and the words:
"_Bon jour, monsieur le curé_" and slipped out as gracefully as a
bird. Dr. Stein followed her into the passage and for some time after
Hans heard her joyful laughter. Then her clear voice cried: "_Traître,
va!_" and Moses came back into the room. He explained that this little
full-blooded Parisian was a poor orphan, a little maker of trimmings
to whom he had shown many kindnesses in Paris and who had now come to
town to try her luck in working for the ladies there. He questioned
Hans about his life and listened attentively when he heard that he was
tutor in the house of Privy Councillor Götz. He called Hans an enviable
fellow to be able to live under the same roof as the beautiful Kleophea
Götz and asked if he might come to see him there. He told of how he had
had fencing lessons from Franziska Götz's father, a drunkard and rather
a _canaille_, and that he had often protected the girl from hunger and
perhaps other misfortune. After the old freebooter had died of delirium
tremens he had taken care of the unhappy girl until the arrival of
her uncle from Germany. Of course he was a Jew and received the usual
reward. The young lady thought that he had exceeded his bounds. When
he had tried to defend himself he had been insulted and scorned. It
was the old story of the gratitude of the world. Thus in Hans' eyes he
cleared himself of the lieutenant's accusations. He objected strongly
to being called Moses, said that his name was now Théophile Stein, that
he had forsworn the faith of his fathers and had become a Christian, a
Roman Catholic, and that he might soon become a lecturer on the Semitic
languages at the university. All these revelations gave Hans plenty to
think about on his way home.
For some time after that everything remained as it was. The tutor did
his duty as well as he could; Mrs. Götz became more and more convinced
that unfortunately he too possessed a most obstinate and deceitful
character. Kleophea discovered a new name for Franziska, called her
_l'eau dormante_ and drew caricatures of Hans. Franziska's step
remained as inaudible as before and her kindly care-filled face seldom
brightened into a smile; nothing whatever was heard of the lieutenant;
he had disappeared and gave no sign of life. The person least spoken of
in the Privy Councillor's house was the Privy Councillor.
During this time the soul of the theological candidate, Johannes
Unwirrsch of Kröppel Street, was in an extraordinary state. He stood in
the centre of the life for which he had longed so much; he had stepped
down and the great roar had dissolved into single voices and tones
and the voices that he heard around him were more harsh and evil than
loving. He felt less satisfied than ever and was obliged to confess to
himself that he had not as yet acquired an understanding of this world.
Once for all he belonged to those happily unhappy natures who have to
solve every contradiction that meets them. It was simply that he had
that hunger for the symmetry and harmony of all things which so few
people understand, which is so hard to satisfy and is never completely
satisfied except in death.
In addition to all his other troubles Hans had much ado to defend
himself against the charm that Kleophea exercised over him.
Franziska was quieter than ever. In the meantime the signs of returning
spring multiplied. Dr. Théophile Stein paid his first visit to the
Privy Councillor's tutor and was very winning and very amiable. He
listened to every noise in the house, asked all sorts of questions
about the tutor's life there, asked about the architecture of the
house; the position and furnishings of the rooms on the first floor,
about the pictures on the walls and the service in the kitchen. He was
not uninterested in the sympathies of the Privy Councillor's wife and
still less so in her antipathies. He asked for detailed information
about Aimé as well as about the master of the house. At last he had
finished, inwardly shut up his note-book and succeeded by a clever
winding-up in convincing poor Hans that he had only asked all these
questions out of interest in the fate and present life of the companion
of his youth.
Mrs. Götz had of course heard of the visit and, at the dinner table,
asked about this Dr. Stein, who was much talked of in town at the
moment, and who was said to be very gifted and much traveled. At
that Hans began to speak out of the fullness of his heart and told
everything about Moses Freudenstein that he could tell. He praised his
kind heart, clever head and scholarliness and unfortunately did not
notice what a start the lieutenant's Fränzchen gave when she learnt who
had that day been in the house in which she had sought protection.
Hans said nothing of the merry French orphan as, when he was on the
point of leaving, Dr. Stein had modestly and laughingly begged him
not to mention her. The following day Franziska did not appear at the
table; she was not well. She was obliged to keep her bed for a whole
week and, for the first time Hans had the opportunity of noticing what
a gap her absence made. Suddenly the idea came into his mind that his
speech at the table about Moses Freudenstein might be the cause of the
poor child's illness and this thought sent all the blood rushing to
his heart so violently that he was scarcely able to breathe. The same
morning the mistress of the house sent for him to come to her room
where he found his friend Théophile Stein, _alias_ Moses Freudenstein,
sitting beside Mrs. Götz, opposite Kleophea, with little Aimé on his
knee. Another older man was sitting there too.
"Oh, here he is--the hunger pastor!" exclaimed Dr. Stein, thus giving
our Hans his title officially. "Wake up, Johannes, it is I in the
flesh."
Dr. Stein spoke easily and with polish and Dr. Blüthemüller, lecturer
on esthetics, made very fine, but quite academic speeches, about the
art of living beautifully.
After he had emptied his horn of plenty the lady of the house opened
hers. With sighing pathos she gave her views on the way to find
Christian, esthetic peace in God. She raved about the way of the saints
of God, and about old Italian pictures of virgins looking up to heaven,
of martyrs and donors.
Full of perfidy Dr. Stein asked the friend of his youth whether he had
seen the pictures of which Mrs. Götz spoke. Hans had seen them, but
unfortunately he said what he thought about them, thereby incurring the
displeasure of the lady of the house. Dr. Stein then entertained the
little circle with an excellent discussion of the Pre-Raphaelites and
showed his erudition, experience in art, and knowledge of the world
to the most brilliant advantage. He illumined all sides of life with
clever remarks; and in the great art of polishing up the mediocre, or
even silly remarks of those from whom he wanted to obtain something and
then giving them back their property with a bow, he was past-master. He
knew how all kinds of fish were caught and began by catching Mrs. Privy
Councillor Götz, _née_ von Lichtenhahn, but while he was pulling his
catch ashore he did not lose sight of the golden scales and purple fins
that still flashed about free in the water.
As Dr. Théophile Stein had expected, Hans knocked at his door several
times, to call him to account, but received no answer or else was told
that Dr. Stein was not at home.
When the lieutenant's Fränzchen came out of her little room again she
had become even quieter than before and although her behavior to the
rest of the household was as usual it made Hans feel the more deeply
and painfully that she was not the same to him as she had been. He
knew the reason well and yet was unable to ask whether what Moses
Freudenstein had said about her father was true. He watched her with
strained anxiety and never failed to hear her softest footstep nor a
single tone of her sweet voice.
To the same degree that the brilliant Kleophea lost her influence over
him Franziska won hers.
Dr. Théophile Stein repeated his visit without Professor Blüthemüller,
and Hans was not invited again to be present in the drawing room. Dr.
Stein did not blush when Franziska came into the room and, at the sight
of him, suddenly started and turned pale. He retained his composure
when he was introduced to her and merely spoke coolly of already having
had the pleasure of meeting Fräulein Götz in Paris. This declaration
caused Mrs. Götz and her husband much surprise and astonishment.
After Franziska had left the room Mrs. Götz asked for an explanation
of this curious circumstance and Dr. Stein expatiated on how sorry he
was to have recalled to Fräulein Götz such painful memories. He went
on to tell his tale, and he was a good story-teller; and his sonorous
voice was well-fitted tenderly to emphasize all tragic nuances. It was
the same tale that Hans had heard but adapted to another audience. This
time he took a most sympathetic interest in this family misfortune and
was able thoroughly to understand what Mrs. Götz must have suffered on
account of her brother-in-law's wretched life and death.
After a time Kleophea came skipping into the room. She brought sunshine
with her and youthful spirits; her eyes shone, her red lips laughed,
she scarcely touched the floor with her feet. She greeted Dr. Stein
with enchanting irony; she was just in the mood to hurt the feelings of
her fellowmen with small, perfidious insinuations and expressed a great
thirst for knowledge in regard to certain Mosaic customs and laws. Dr.
Théophile was more than equal to her. He talked about the Jews with
dramatic pathos, he knew how to make the best use of the heroes and
martyrs his race had produced. He even succeeded in making of Kleophea
a close and attentive listener.
He was able to leave with a humbly proud bow and to be satisfied with
the success of his visit. He was now what he wanted to be--a friend of
the family. From now on, without suffering any detriment to his bodily
or spiritual welfare, he could receive the visits of Candidate Hans
Unwirrsch.
Spring had come in all its beauty, but it did not bring Hans Unwirrsch
the consolation he had hoped. The lower he sank in the favor and
esteem of the Privy Councillor's wife the less she left him to
himself. And Fränzchen, Fränzchen Götz? What had she to do with his
great hunger for knowledge, for the world and life? What had she to
do with his disappointments? In everything she penetrated into the
innermost recesses of his heart. It was impossible to think of Auntie
Schlotterbeck, or even of Uncle Grünebaum without Franziska, Lieutenant
Rudolf Götz's niece. She sat in the low, dark room in Neustadt and
in the magically shining glass globe, she sat in the sunshine in the
Neustadt cemetery beside his mother's and father's grave.
The great sea of the world had tried to roll between them but it did
not separate them; they greeted each other in silence, in silence they
took their places beside each other; the poisonous shade of the son
of Samuel Freudenstein, the second-hand dealer of Kröppel Street, lay
between them.
Hans again sought out Dr. Théophile and for the second time he met the
French orphan who owed so much to Théophile. This time she passed him
with lowered head. She no longer skipped and laughed but leant heavily
on the banister and her head was sunk very low. She looked very pale
and had lost much of her former elegance.
Théophile answered all the questions that Hans put to him and allowed
himself to be catechized but the manner in which he justified himself
left much for an honest and pious nature to desire. Finally he
confessed quite openly that it was his intention to become a councillor
in the cabinet of his Majesty, the King, and to try to win the
affection and later the little hand of Kleophea Götz.
From now on Dr. Stein came to the house of the Privy Councillor's wife
daily, and daily she received him with a more cordial smile. He read
with the ladies of the house, he drove with them, and there were many
people in the city who envied Mrs. Götz this interesting acquaintance,
for the doctor was a man whose reputation was growing mightily. It
could be heard growing. He gave lectures before a select audience
of both sexes on "The Rights and Duties of Human Society" and the
exclusive, elegant fraction of humanity for whom these lectures were
prepared was much pleased with them. They delighted Mrs. Götz, but the
objections that Kleophea raised gave the doctor the desired opportunity
to throw a hundred shining nooses about her rebellious self. He talked
to her in a very different way from what he did to her mother. He spoke
of things which might give him a claim to a "world of sighs." He used
his descent and gloomy youth to good advantage and was elegiac. He was
wisely silent as to how easy his father had made his way in the world;
he had overcome all obstacles through the strength of his own manhood
and courage. He wore his shirt collar _à la_ Byron and insinuated that
he--"lord of himself; that heritage of woe!"--had not always trodden
the straight path, that there were depths, dark, unfathomable depths in
his bosom into which he could not look without becoming giddy. It was
night within him but he had not yet lost his hunger for the light and
that was the only reason that he was still able to mix with the living
without being crippled by the burden of existence.
Never in all her life had Kleophea been as silent as she became at this
time.
No change had taken place in Fränzchen's relations with Hans.
Lieutenant Rudolf still did not appear.
In order not to worry the old people at home Hans had always written
them that he was well off, very well off. But he was not well off! He
could not get out of the magic circle that fate had drawn around him.
He felt that the time was not far distant when he would hate Moses
Freudenstein, when he would love Franziska Götz and he was constantly
fleeing from his own thoughts. Poor Hans Unwirrsch was far from being
well off. Gradually he began to feel physically ill, suffered from
dizziness and headache and became more melancholy from day to day. He
no longer had any hunger for anything except to open his whole heart to
Fränzchen.
One Saturday afternoon Candidate Unwirrsch received a package from
Neustadt containing two presents and letters from Auntie Schlotterbeck
and Uncle Grünebaum. His uncle complained that things were going
miserably with him, that he was growing older every day, that his
digestion refused to work, that his eyes had gone back on him and
that he had sat down on his spectacles the day before yesterday. The
"Red Ram" had changed hands and had lost its attractiveness and even
politics were no longer what they used to be.
Auntie Schlotterbeck wrote full of solicitude for Hans' welfare and
warned him again and again against Moses Freudenstein, who was a bad
man, as old Esther and Professor Fackler too declared. When Hans had
done reading these letters he had to hold his head with both hands; it
seemed to him to be bursting. He wanted to open the window but could
not;----he was ill, so ill that all his painful feelings dissolved into
the nothingness of unconsciousness and then passed over into delirium.
Hans Unwirrsch had inflammation of the brain and for several days was
near death; but he saw visions during this illness which were not
bought too dear by all the pain that he suffered. Dr. Théophile Stein
was among them.
It was on the second day after the fever had broken out. Théophile was
alone with the sick man and believed himself unobserved. At Mrs. Götz's
desire he had come to see "what the young man was doing." Hans' mind
was all confusion but his delirious fantasies were interrupted by
strange moments of clearness. Théophile was very curious, as we know,
and liked to poke about in other people's things and affairs, nor did
he think it indiscreet to look into drawers that stood open and at
unsealed letters that lay there. He took Auntie Schlotterbeck's letter
during the perusal of which the illness had overtaken Hans and read,
first with pleasure and then with his teeth on his lower lip, what she
had written about him. "Absurdly original!" he said, "but still the
duffer might become an inconvenience; it will be best to get him out of
the house. Look out for yourself, my dear Hans!" He went over to the
sick man's bed. So utterly out of his mind did he believe poor Hans
to be that he thought it quite unnecessary to lay any restraint upon
himself. But he was mistaken: Hans saw clearly, quite clearly, horribly
clearly. Between life and death, consciousness and unconsciousness,
knowledge came to him in a flash. He saw Théophile's eyes shining
like those of an evil spirit rejoicing in his misfortune. All the
heartlessness of him whom he had once called his friend was revealed
in those eyes, in that smile. For the first time in his life Hans felt
what hatred is. He wanted to shriek aloud and jump up but he could only
reach the other with his eyes. Théophile Stein started; he smiled no
more; Hans sank again into the delirium of fever but he took with him
the certainty that he had gained an irreconcilable enemy.
When he again came to himself many a day had passed. He saw two other
figures beside his bed of pain. At the foot sat Privy Councillor
Götz, tired and careworn, and beside him stood Franziska--Fränzchen,
sympathetic and gentle and with tears in her eyes. And Fränzchen had
no idea how distinctly the sick man saw at that moment. She took no
pains whatever to control her features. And she started very much,
did Fränzchen, and blushed hotly when she suddenly noticed that Hans
was awake and could see. Hans closed his eyes and when he opened them
again--he could not tell just how long after that was--these two
figures also were no longer there.
But the sun had risen in Hans Unwirrsch's soul; he knew that he should
not die, and knew something much more important than that. There was
great rejoicing in his hungry soul and it did not matter a bit that his
senses left him once more; everything was now right.
Eventually the day came when the tutor, very lean and somewhat dizzy,
went downstairs into the drawing room to thank Mrs. Götz and Kleophea
for all their kindness. On the following day the mistress of the house
had a second interview with the candidate and expressed the desire that
the arrangement between them should come to an end by Christmas Day.
She gave it as her opinion that Mr. Unwirrsch's influence on her son
could not be regarded as entirely beneficial.
Utterly confused and benumbed Hans staggered back to his room only able
to murmur the name "Franziska."]