At last they drove up to the assembled villagers, and Hawermann
approaching the carriage said a few words of welcome that came straight
from his heart, and as Alick, in spite of his knowledge of human
nature, had nothing ready to say on the spur of the moment, the young
lady bent forward and gave the old man her hand with a friendly smile.
As she did so, she read in his face as he did in hers, truth, honesty
and uprightness. Alick now shook hands in his turn. Then the
schoolmaster came forward followed by the line of Äsel, and gave out
the key-note of one of the "Hymns of thanksgiving for peculiar
mercies." The one chosen was No. 245 in the Mecklenburg hymn-book, and
was intended to be used "after a severe thunder-storm." Very wisely,
however, Master Strull began at the second verse because he thought it
most suited to his squire: "Lord, we praise thy might."--Bräsig now
wanted to wave his flag, but Gustavus Kegel held on tight: "Will you
let the string go, you young rascal!" he cried.--"We know thy dreadful
wrath!" sang the schoolmaster.--"Let the string go; d'ye hear me, boy?"
said Bräsig impatiently.--"Yea, in thee do we trust, nor find thee to
fail," sang the schoolmaster.--"Wait till I get hold of you, boy, and
I'll give you such a thrashing," cried Bräsig.--"Thy kindness how
tender, how firm to the end," sang the schoolmaster.--"I say, Sir, the
strings have caught in the poplar," cried Gustavus. So Bräsig pulled
and tugged at the banner, and in setting it free dragged off some of
the small branches and leaves round which the string was entangled. The
schoolmaster sang: "Hark, the crash of the storm." Fred Triddelfitz,
who had meanwhile taken possession of the dinner-bell that was kept in
the passage, rang a violent alarum. Bräsig waved his banner, and all
the men and women, young men and maidens, boys and girls shouted at the
top of their voices: "Hurrah! Hurrah!" And David Däsel blew on his
horn: "The Prussians have taken Paris, &c." so solemnly that it was
enough to touch the heart of even a dog. At the last toot of the horn,
at the end of the first line, the old watch-dog, which Gustavus Kegel
had let loose for fun, rushed at David Däsel's legs, and at the same
moment the two brown horses began to dance and snort so much, that it
was lucky that Degel the coachman was prepared for something of the
kind happening, and at once drove on to the front-door. Alick got out
of the carriage, and then helped his young wife out. The house was as
grandly decorated within as without, and Mary Möller bustled about
amongst the garlands of leaves and flowers in her new red jackonet
gown, with a flushed face and red arms. As soon as she had grown a
little cooler amongst the flowers, she rushed back to the kitchen to
see how the cook was getting on with the dinner, just as if she were an
iron heater and must be put in the oven again every time she got cool.
As Mrs. von Rambow crossed the threshold, Mary came forward to meet her
with her red arms extended as if she were a daughter of Moloch, and
placed a wreath of blush-roses on her mistress' head. Then stepping
back a few paces, and kneading her arms as if she wanted to make them
flash fire, she repeated the following address, which she and Bräsig
had been three months in composing:
"Hail to thee our queen and lady dear!
I swear to do all my duty here,
To be of thine ev'ry wish observant,
And to remain thy most obedient,
Ever faithful, humble servant."
She threw open the dining-room door when she had concluded her address,
and showed the table ready spread for dinner. Nothing could have been
better timed, for it was long past the usual hour. Alick whispered a
few words to his wife, who nodded assent, and then turning to the old
bailiff with a smile, told him that he must be her guest that day, and
asked him to invite the schoolmaster and the young gentleman, who was
learning farming, to dine with them also; adding that she hoped the
good old gentleman, who had waved the banner, would likewise give her
the pleasure of his company. After that she left the room and went to
thank Mary Möller for her address, and for the excellent way in which
she had managed the household during their absence, and said that now
that she had come home, she would herself help Mary to continue as she
had begun. Mary Möller blushed so red with pleasure, that she might be
said to resemble a baker's oven filled with glowing red-hot coals.
The guests soon afterwards assembled. Hawermann brought Bräsig into the
dining-room with him, and introduced him to the squire and his wife as
a very dear old friend of his, adding, that he had known the late
squire well, and that he had always taken a warm interest in the joys
and sorrows at Pümpelhagen. Then Bräsig went up to Alick, and seizing
his hand whether he would or not, shook it heartily and assured him
with many an emphatic nod, of his eternal friendship, saying in
conclusion: "I'm delighted to see you looking so well, Sir. And as I
was just saying to Charles, I hope and trust that you will follow in
the footsteps of your worthy father."--He now went up to Mrs. von
Rambow, and taking her hand, said: "Honoured Mrs. Lieutenant von
Rambow," here he was on the point of kissing her hand, but suddenly
changing his mind, went on: "No, I will not. I was always expected to
kiss the Countess' hand as a sort of courtly duty; I should never be
able to bring myself to do it again if I were to treat you in the same
way, you look so good and kind. But remember if ever you want anyone to
do you a service--my name is Zachariah Bräsig--send for me--I live a
short five miles from here at Haunerwiem--and I promise that the day
shall not be too hot, nor the night too dark for me to help you."
This sort of talk is either understood or misunderstood according to
the character of the hearer. Bräsig, like an honest man spoke out of
the fulness of his heart without fear of misconception, but Alick did
not take his speech to him as it was meant. He thought it very
impertinent of a man like old Bräsig to hold up any one--even his own
father who had always been so good to him--as an example for him to
follow, so he remained silent and displeased.--Frida, on the contrary,
had the gift of reading character, and saw the real kindness of heart
below the eccentricity of diction, and so laying her hand again in that
of the old gentleman she made him sit beside her at table.
Fred Triddelfitz arrived soon after Hawermann. He was dressed like a
young squire in a blue coat and brass buttons, that looked exactly like
a child of Pomuchelskopp's best blue coat. The schoolmaster came next.
He was a tall muscular man, who appeared to be better fitted by nature
for hewing wood, than for thrashing children. With his round black head
and seedy black clothes he resembled nothing so much as a huge nail
that fate had stuck crookedly in a wall, and which had now grown rusty
in its unnatural position. His face also was somewhat rusty. The only
thing about him that might be said to look cheerful was his shirt
front, and that was because his mother, seeing that it had grown yellow
with lying in the drawer had freshened it up by rubbing some laundry
blue on it, under which process it had gained a lovely sea-green
colour.
These two last guests were received with more cordiality by Alick than
the two first; he made them sit one on each side of him at dinner, and
was much pleased when he heard that Fred's father was the apothecary at
Rahnstädt, and that he understood chemical analysis. When uncle Bräsig
heard the word analysis, he said in a low voice to Hawermann:
"Annalissis! Annalissis! What in all the world is that? Is it an
insect?" Then, without waiting for an answer, he turned to Alick, and
said: "For that sort of thing, my dear Sir, you should get the
apothecary's son to bring you a pot of 'urgent Napoleon' (unguentum
Neapolitanum)."--Naturally enough Alick did not understand what he
meant, and even if he had understood he had not time to explain, for by
this time they were all seated and dinner had begun. The schoolmaster
looked rather uncomfortable, for he was seated on the extreme edge of
his chair.--Alick now introduced his favourite subject of conversation,
farming as it ought to be at Pümpelhagen. He told his guests that he
intended to manure the land with bone-dust, nitre and guano, and to
make a large hop-garden in the field below the flower-garden. Poor old
Hawermann listened to all these plans in silence, saying to himself
that he had never imagined that the new squire had such strange views
of agriculture, and that he wondered how Bräsig could laugh as he was
doing. But it was only natural that Bräsig should laugh, he regarded
the whole thing as a joke, and a very good joke too; it never occurred
to him that Alick could possibly be in earnest, and when he said in
conclusion: "But of course the ground must be thoroughly prepared
first," Bräsig answered with a hearty laugh: "Yes--and when we've had a
good crop of hops, we'll plant raisins and almonds there to feed the
pigs. And then, Madam," turning to Mrs. von Rambow, "you'll see what
capital pork a pig fattened on raising and almonds will produce."
Of course Alick did not like that; he looked straight at his plate, and
drew his eye-brows together, but he was riding his hobby too gallantly
to give in for so slight a check, and went on to explain his views
about agricultural machines. He described the plough and clod-breaker
in one, which he was trying to invent, addressing his remarks chiefly
to Triddelfitz, who replied in such learned terms that Mary Möller
listened with open mouth, and beat upon her breast, murmuring: "God be
merciful to me a sinner! And I really, fool that I was, thought myself
a fit wife for a man like that! Nay, one might as soon, expect a goose
and an eagle to set up house together."--As soon as dinner was
finished, Mrs. von Rambow rose to leave the dining-room, saying to
Hawermann as she did so, that she and Alick had agreed to walk over the
farm on the next morning, and that she hoped Hawermann would go with
them. He was only too delighted to do as she asked. When she had left
the room the wine was passed round, and Daniel Sadenwater--whom Alick
had retained in his service at his wife's request--was desired to bring
cigars.
Bräsig helped himself to a "ceegar" as he called it, and told Mr. von
Rambow that he smoked such things now and then, but not one of those
that Bröker, the sexton, had in his shop; no, they were too strong, and
besides that, they didn't look nice, and some people even went so far
as to say that Bröker rubbed them up in the same way as the old women
at the apple-stalls do their apples, to make them look fresh, which to
say the least was very nasty. Alick made no reply to this remark,
for--somehow or other--he did not like Bräsig. The old man was too
satirical when other people's notions of farming did not agree with his
own. Fred Triddelfitz was a very different sort of person; he had
nodded and shaken his head, had looked astonished, had Oh'd and A'd at
the proper times, and had altogether seemed so much impressed by the
wisdom of what he had heard, that Alick began to look upon himself as a
good useful tallow-candle, stuck in a tall candle-stick, and set where
it could give light to Pümpelhagen and the neighbouring villages--and
perhaps even to the whole world. But in spite of his foibles, Alick was
really a good-hearted man, he only wanted to enlighten the world at
large, and to make the little world over which he reigned happy and
comfortable in his own way. He called Hawermann to join him in the
window, and asked him how Fred was getting on. Hawermann replied that
he was pretty well satisfied with him, and that he hoped he would be a
reasonably good farmer in course of time. That was sufficient to
confirm Alick in his good opinion of the young man, and he next
enquired what salary he received, and whether a horse was kept for his
use. No, Hawermann said, he hadn't a horse, and he neither paid nor
received any money.
Alick then went to Fred, and said to him: "I'm very much pleased,
Triddelfitz, to hear from Mr. Hawermann that he is perfectly satisfied
with the progress you are making, I, therefore, intend to offer you a
small salary of ten pounds a year, and the keep of a horse."--Fred
hardly knew whether he was standing on his heels or his head: Hawermann
so much pleased with him! Could it be possible? Ten pounds a year of
pocket-money! That was very delightful, but a horse! His breath was so
taken away with surprise and pleasure, that he could only stammer out a
few words of thanks. Alick did not give him time to recover his
presence of mind, but retired once more to the window with Hawermann.
Fred could think of nothing but his good fortune. His head was as full
of all the horses in the neighbourhood, black and brown, chestnut and
bay as if the Mecklenburg government had suddenly determined that the
Rahnstädt horse-market should be held in it. Bräsig sat opposite,
watching him with a smile of amusement. At last Fred exclaimed:
"Oh, Mr. Bräsig, I _must_ have her before the Grand-Duke comes to
Rahnstädt next month, for it has been arranged that his Royal
Highness is to be received and conducted into the town by a company of
young farmers."--"Who must you have?" asked Bräsig.---"Augustus
Prebberow's sorrel-mare, Whalebone."--"I know her," said Bräsig
indifferently.--"She's a beauty!"--"An old r ...." radical, he was
going to have called her, but stopped himself because he thought it too
vulgar an expression to be used in the aristocratic mansion in which he
then was. "She's an old democrat, and won't be of any use to you when
the Grand-Duke makes his entrance into Rahnstädt, for she'll never hear
the people cheering him."--That was a pity, because there would be a
great deal of shouting and hurrahing at such a time, but then Fred knew
how fond Bräsig was of opposing everything he did too well to let his
ridicule turn him from his fixed intentions.
Meanwhile Alick had been giving his old bailiff a short lecture on the
immense advance that had been lately made in the science of
agriculture, and when he had finished what he had to say, he pressed a
book into Hawermann's hand, saying: "I hope you will like this book,
which I have much pleasure in giving you, and which, I firmly believe,
will henceforth be the only recognised authority in agricultural
matters."--Hawermann thanked him for his gift, and then as it was
beginning to grow dusk, he and his companions took leave of Mr. von
Rambow. Bräsig and Master Strull accepted the bailiff's invitation to
accompany him home. And Fred went to the stables.
Why he went there no one knew, not even he himself. He went there by
instinct to look at the horses; he wanted to bring his inward feelings
into more conformity with his outward circumstances, and so he visited
the old farm-horses that he had already seen a thousand times, and
examined their legs carefully. He thought of all the horses he knew
that had anything the matter with them. One had spavin--_he_ would take
care not to buy a horse that had spavin. Another horse's legs were not
quite so straight as they might be, and a third had string-halt--he had
learnt to distinguish that, within the last two years. A fourth had the
staggers--any man would be a fool to buy that horse. A fifth had been
fired for another illness, and so on, and so on. But there was another
thought uppermost in his mind as he stood in the door-way of the
stables. And that thought was of the wonderful beauty and refinement of
Mrs. von Rambow. The young rascal imagined that he had fallen over head
and ears in love with her, and now in spite of Alick's kindness to him
about the horse, he did not hesitate to cause him unhappiness--in
thought. "Yes," he said, as he stood in the door-way in the gathering
darkness, "what is Louisa Hawermann in comparison with that angelic
lady? Ah, Louisa, I'm sorry for you! I don't know how on earth I came
to fall in love with you. And then Mina and Lina. They're poor little
bits of things. And Mary Möller--pah! That would never have done. She
looked like a great red plum to-day, and Mrs. von Rambow like a
delicately tinted peach. When the sorrel-mare is mine, I can perhaps go
on a message for the lady--to the post or somewhere. And then, when she
comes home at night from a ball at Rahnstädt, I may perhaps open the
carriage-door for her, if Daniel Sadenwater happens to be out of the
way. If she has forgotten her handkerchief or--or her goloshes at
Rahnstädt, I'll mount my sorrel-mare, and--tch, tch--I'll get back with
her things in half an hour; ten miles in half an hour!---'Here are your
goloshes, Madam,' I'll say. 'Thanks, Triddelfitz,' she'll answer, 'your
attention .....' The devil take that beastly pole!" he exclaimed; for
as he was going home in the dark immersed in dreams about his new
love-affair, he tripped over a pole that had been left in the yard
through his own carelessness, and now he lay at full length on ground
that felt wonderfully cool and soft. What he had fallen on he could not
tell, though his nose made him suspect what it was, and he thought it
might be better to go to his own room, and find out before joining
Hawermann in the parlour.
The three old gentlemen on arriving at the bailiff's house, seated
themselves comfortably in the parlour, and then Bräsig asked: "Is that
book a no-vell, Charles, to amuse you on winter evenings?"--"I hardly
know what it is, Zachariah, but I'll light the lamp and look."--When
the lamp was lighted, Hawermann was going to look at the title
of the book, but Bräsig took it out of his hand, saying: "Nay,
Charles, we have a learned man here, Strull must read it to us."--The
schoolmaster drew a long breath, and began to read as if it were Sunday
and he were reading the gospel for the day; and whenever he paused for
breath, it was when he came to a word he did not know. "'Printing and
Paper from Frederic Vieweg & Son in Brunswick Chemistry in relation to
A-gri-culture and Phy-si-ology.'"--"Stop!" cried Bräsig. "That's not
the word, it's fisionomy."--"No," said Stroll, "it's pronounced
'phy-si-ology' here."--"Well, it doesn't much matter," said Bräsig.
"Foreign words are rather peculiar, one man pronounces them in this
way, and another in that.--Please go on!"--"'By Justus Liebig Drrr of
Medicine and Philosophy Professor of Chemistry in the Ludwig University
at Giessen Knight of the Ludwig-order of the Grand-duchy of Hesse and
of the third class of the order of S-t-Anne of the Russian Empire
Foreign member of the Royal Society of Science at Stockholm of
the'--there's something in Latin that I can't read--'in London Honorary
member of the Dublin Academy--cor-res-pon-d .....'"--"Stop!" cried
Bräsig. "Preserve us all, Charles! What a lot of things that fellow
is."--"But that isn't nearly all," said the schoolmaster, "there's as
much again to come yet."--"Then we'll skip all that. Go on!"--"'Fifth
revised and enlarged edition Published by Vieweg & Son Brunswick 1843.'
Now comes a preface."--"We'll skip that too," said Bräsig, "begin where
the book begins."--"There's a heading 'Subject' and it has got a stroke
under it"--"All right!" said Bräsig. "Fire away!"--"'The task of
organic chemistry is to investigate the chemical conditions of
life and the completed development of all organisms.' End of the
sentence."--"_What_ did you say?" asked Bräsig.--"'Of all organisms,'"
repeated the schoolmaster.--"Well!" exclaimed Bräsig. "I've heard many
an outlandish word, but Organism, Organ ..... Stay! Charles, do you
remember the bit of Gellert we had to learn by heart for parson
Behrens: 'Mr. Orgon went to the door.' Perhaps this Orgon has something
to do with that one."--"Do let the schoolmaster read on, Bräsig,
otherwise we'll never understand."--"Why, Charles, talking of a thing
is great use in teaching us what it means. You'll see that this book is
just like those I tried to read about the water-cure, and begins with
all kinds of incompr'ensible things. Now go on!"--"'The duration of all
living things is dependent upon their reception of certain materials
which we call food and which are necessary for the development and
reproduction of every organism.' End of the sentence."--"The man's
right enough there," said Bräsig. "All living creatures require food,
and"--here he took the book from Strull---"'it is necessary for
every organism.' I know what he means by organism now, it's the
stomach."--"Yes," assented the schoolmaster, "but you forget that he
uses the word 'reproduction' also."--"Ah!" said Bräsig, with a wave of
his hand. "'Production.' That's a thing that has only been known in the
last few years. When I was a child no one ever heard of production, and
now they call every bushel of wheat and every ox a production. I'll
tell you what it is, Master Strull, they only use these words as a
flower of speech and to show how learned they are."--When they had read
a little more of the book the schoolmaster rose to go home, and then
the two old friends were left alone together, for Bräsig was to
spend the night at Pümpelhagen.--At last Hawermann said with a
deep sigh: "I'm very much afraid, Zachariah, that bad times are
beginning for me."--"Why, what do you mean? Your young squire is
a merry light-hearted sort of man, and is fond of a joke too.
Didn't you notice that in the way he was talking about farming at
dinner to-day?"--"What _you_ thought a joke, Bräsig, _he_ meant in
earnest"--"_In earnest!_"--"Most certainly. He has studied farming; in
new-fashioned books which don't at all approve of our old-fashioned
ways, and I can't undertake the management of these new ways of farming
at my age, for I don't understand them well enough."--"You're right
there, Charles. People who have been accustomed to climb high towers
from the time they were little children, don't get dizzy when they are
called upon to do it in their old age, and people who have been brought
up to learn science in their childhood find it quite easy to dance
on a scientific tight rope when they are old. Do you understand
me?"--"Perfectly. And, Bräsig,"--pointing to the book--"we were never
taught to dance on that rope when we were young, and now my old bones
are too stiff to attempt it. I've nothing to say against the new ways,
I don't understand them, and if Mr. von Rambow will tell me how he
wants things to be done, I'll carry out his views as well as I can; but
I'm afraid that that kind of farming will require a great deal of money
if it is to be done properly, and our purse is not a very heavy one. I
thought at first that he would get something with his wife, but he
didn't.[2] He had to get all new things in Rahnstädt himself, and
they're not paid for yet"--"Don't distress yourself about that,
Charles. He has made a good choice all the same. I was much taken with
the young lady."--"So was I, Bräsig."--"You see what a woman can do in
keeping things straight in what your sister has done. I'm going to call
on her to-morrow, for those two young parsons seem to have been getting
into a scrape of some kind. Good-night, Charles."--"Good-night,
Bräsig."