"Brothers, let's go it
And drink while we're young;
Age will come quickly
And dry up the tongue.
For the gentle wine
Was made for good fellows:
Brothers, be mellow,
And drink the good wine."
The "warm wine" which was brought would have provoked a smile from any
American or English boon companion. It bore about the same relation to
mulled wine which water-gruel has to pepper-pot. The heat it had
received from the fire was counterbalanced by the infusion of water
until a child might have fattened upon it unharmed. But Germans can
sing more drinking-songs over a cup of vinegar than would be heard in
an American bar-room where brandy enough has been swallowed to account
for a dozen murders.
Constantine welcomed the arrival of the beverage with a song, which he
accompanied with his fists on the table:--
"I and my old wife,
We go the whole figure;
She carries the beggar's pouch,
And I sing the jigger.
Bring some Bavarian beer;
Let's be Bavarians here;
Bavarians, Bavarians let us be here.
"She's gone to town to beg,
I wait and snicker;
What she'll bring back with her
I'll spend for liquor.
Bring some Bavarian beer," &c.
It grew late. A boy had brought Ivo the key to his father's house. The
beadle had come to announce the hour for silence, but Constantine
quieted him with a glass of wine: the same deep artifice succeeded with
the watchman, who came an hour later. Constantine began to mimic the
professors and boast of his student's pranks. Ivo rose to go. The
others tried to hold him, but Constantine made room for him: in Ivo's
absence there was nothing to interfere with his making himself the hero
of the adventures of other students. He called after him, however, to
"take the room-door into bed with him;" but Ivo did not hear it, for he
was already in the open air.
The soft light of the summer moon was poured over the land, and seemed
to strew the earth with calm and quiet. Ivo frequently stood still,
laid his hand on his beating breast, and took off his cap to permit the
gentle gales to fan him. When, at home, he undertook to undress
himself, he felt doubly how his quick pulses were chasing each other:
he left the house once more, therefore, to find refreshment in the
peaceful silence of night. He walked along the highroad and across the
fields: he was happy, he knew not why; he could have walked on forever:
with his heart beating joyfully, the love of life was revived in him,
and carried him aloft over the lovely, peaceful earth. Having returned
home at last, he saw that the door of the first-floor chamber was open.
Almost unconsciously, he entered, and stood spell-bound; for there lay
Emmerence. The moon shone on her face: her head lay under her right
arm, and her left hand rested on the frame. Ivo's breast heaved: he
trembled from head to foot; he knew not what befell him; but he bent
over Emmerence and kissed her cheek, almost as gently as the moonbeam
itself. Emmerence seemed to feel it, for, turning upon her side, she
murmured, "A cat, cat, cat." He waited a while to see if she would
wake. But she slept on, and the august stillness recalled him to
himself. Striking his forehead, he left the room. Arrived at his own
bedside, he threw himself upon the floor, and, torturing his inmost
soul, he cried, "God forgive me! let me die! I have sinned! I am a
castaway, a villain! Lord God, stretch out thy right hand and crush
me!"
Shivering with cold, he awoke, and found it broad day. He crept into
his bed. His mother brought him coffee, found him looking very ill, and
urged him not to get up; but he would not be dissuaded, for he had made
up his mind to go to church that morning.