Wilhelm's wounds once dressed, and his clothes put on, the surgeon
hastened off, just as the harper with a number of peasants arrived. Out
of some cut boughs, which they speedily wattled with twigs, a kind of
litter was constructed, upon which they placed the wounded youth, and
under the conduct of a mounted huntsman, whom the noble company had left
behind them, carried him softly down the mountain. The harper, silent,
and shrouded in his own thoughts, bore with him his broken instrument.
Some men brought on Philina's box, herself following with a bundle.
Mignon skipped along through copse and thicket, now before the party,
now beside them, and looked up with longing eyes at her hurt protector.
He, meanwhile, wrapped in his warm surtout, was lying peacefully upon
the litter. An electric warmth seemed to flow from the fine wool into
his body: in short, he felt in the most delightful frame of mind. The
lovely being, whom this garment lately covered, had affected him to the
very heart. He still saw the coat falling down from her shoulders; saw
that noble form, begirt with radiance, stand beside him; and his soul
hied over rocks and forests on the footsteps of his vanished
benefactress.
It was nightfall when the party reached the village, and halted at the
door of the inn where the rest of the company, in the gloom of
despondency, were bewailing their irreparable loss. The one little
chamber of the house was crammed with people. Some of them were lying
upon straw, some were occupying benches, some had squeezed themselves
behind the stove. Frau Melina, in a neighboring room, was painfully
expecting her delivery. Fright had accelerated this event. With the sole
assistance of the landlady, a young, inexperienced woman, nothing good
could be expected.
As the party just arrived required admission, there arose a universal
murmur. All now maintained, that by Wilhelm's advice alone, and under
his especial guidance, they had entered on this dangerous road, and
exposed themselves to such misfortunes. They threw the blame of the
disaster wholly on him: they stuck themselves in the door, to oppose his
entrance; declaring that he must go elsewhere and seek quarters. Philina
they received with still greater indignation, nor did Mignon and the
harper escape their share.
The huntsman, to whom the care of the forsaken party had been earnestly
and strictly recommended by his beautiful mistress, soon grew tired of
this discussion: he rushed upon the company with oaths and menaces;
commanding them to fall to the right and left, and make way for this new
arrival. They now began to pacify themselves. He made a place for
Wilhelm on a table, which he shoved into a corner: Philina had her box
put there, and then sat down upon it. All packed themselves as they best
could, and the huntsman went away to see if he could not find for "the
young couple" a more convenient lodging.
Scarcely was he gone, when spite again grew noisy, and one reproach
began to follow close upon another. Each described and magnified his
loss, censuring the foolhardiness they had so keenly smarted for. They
did not even hide the malicious satisfaction they felt at Wilhelm's
wounds: they jeered Philina, and imputed to her as a crime the means by
which she had saved her trunk. From a multitude of jibes and bitter
innuendoes, you were required to conclude, that, during the plundering
and discomfiture, she had endeavored to work herself into favor with the
captain of the band, and had persuaded him, Heaven knew by what arts and
complaisance, to give her back the chest unhurt. To all this she
answered nothing, only clanked with the large padlocks of her box, to
impress her censurers completely with its presence, and by her own good
fortune to augment their desperation.