When Marquard paid his usual visit to the "tun" the following morning,
he found everything in the household exactly the same as usual. In
spite of the late hour at which Reginchen returned from the country,
she had been at the pump at six o'clock, and an hour after carried the
brothers their blue milk and cleared up the room, but without talking
much; for kindly as Edwin treated her, she felt a great awe of him and
became terribly embarrassed at his most innocent jest.
The brothers also, according to old habit, had begun their day very
silently. When the doctor entered, Balder was sitting at his turning
lathe, making a set of ivory chess-men. Marquard talked to him for some
time with apparent unconcern, asked about one thing and another and
felt his pulse, but gave no prescription, except that he must drink the
wine regularly.
But on the stairs, when Edwin was accompanying him down, he suddenly
turned and said in a low tone: "You must not let the lad go on so. This
stooping and keeping shut up in the house won't do, he will weaken his
chest over that confounded turning lathe. If I were in your place, I
should assert my authority."
"In my place," sighed Edwin, shrugging his shoulders. "My dear fellow,
if you were in my place, that is, not a physician, but a philosopher,
you would know that there is no authority which can transform a man's
nature. Have I not tried every stratagem to get him out? When I
attacked him on his weakest, or rather his strongest side, his
brotherly love, and represented how dull it was for me to go out
without him, you ought to have seen the efforts he made to be a gay
companion, in order to cheer my walks and rides. But I know him too
well. I saw how he suffered from the noise and bustle of the streets,
and even when we once drove to Tegel, he was only comfortable while we
were alone. When we arrived, we found a crowd of school girls playing
graces, various mothers and aunts knitting, several pairs of lovers, in
short the usual Berlin pleasure seekers. As soon as possible he urged
me to return. You must know that it annoys him when people stare at
him, and he is exposed to this more frequently than any one else; he
attracts attention everywhere by his beauty and his lameness, and
moreover because he has an expression in his eyes unlike any other
mortal."
"I wish he were less peculiar; we should keep him longer."
Edwin stopped, seized Marquard's arm and whispered: "you fear--"
"Nothing--and everything. His texture is so delicate, a fly might tear
it. But possibly it is more tenacious than we think," he added, as he
felt Edwin's hand tremble on his arm.
"The wine you sent did him good," he said. "I thank you; it was a kind,
philanthropic thought. I can not wish him different from what he is
now. He would no longer be the same, if he had the nerves and muscles
of a groom. And would he be happier? You don't know how happy he is,
what a boundless capacity he has for transfiguring all the poverty
around us by the wealth of his own soul, transmuting common dust into
gold. If _I_ gave him no cause for anxiety, he would have scarcely
anything to desire."
"I have a word to say to you about yourself too, Philosopher. I alluded
to it a short time ago in your room, but Balder was present, who is
just like a girl; there are certain things which cannot be mentioned
before him. Listen man, this disorder of your nerves is entirely your
own fault; it's a sin and shame for you to permit that sponge, the
brain, to exhaust the best strength of the rest of your organization.
How can there be any balance of power? I tell you your whole trouble is
to be cured in one way."
"You may be right, Fritz," replied Edwin quietly, as they crossed the
courtyard. "But you see it's the same with this medicine, as with the
one you just prescribed for Balder. We have not the natures to take it,
and if we should force ourselves to do so, the disease would attack a
more vital spot."
"Nature, nature!" burst forth the doctor, looking almost fiercely at
his friend through his gold spectacles. "I'll answer for it, my son,
that your excellent nature, which you have tormented so long with your
cursed abstract idealism, that it no longer ventures to grumble--would
instantly recuperate and grow merry again, if you would only for once
dismount from the high horse of speculation and rely upon your own good
common sense. Deuce take it! A healthy fellow like you living on
locusts and wild honey, like the hermits in the Theban deserts, and if
a woman passes by your cave, exclaiming: _Apage, Satanas!_ I had
trouble with you even at the university. But now you seem to wish to
continue this course, until nature, so shamefully abused for the sake
of mere mind, is overstrained and fairly crazed with impatience."
"A very clever pathological lecture," replied Edwin smiling. "I will
request the continuation in our next; there is always something to be
learned. But for all that, Fritz, you wont get a kuppel'pelz[3] from
me."
"Nonsense! Who's talking about any such thing? But if _I_, with my
constantly increasing practice, can find time for little romances, in
which the mind has employment--"
"And also the heart, my boy."
"Well, the heart too, for aught I care, though that muscle is greatly
overestimated, and with all your sentimentality, only fit for a
dangerous hypertrophy. I'm now on the track of a little witch--"
"A fair Helen or Galatea?"
"Aristocratic, my son, and unfortunately very unapproachable--so far.
But what am I thinking about? You must have already made her
acquaintance."
"I?"
"Didn't you sit beside her in the box, day before yesterday? At least
the doorkeeper told me she always took the same place."
Edwin turned pale.
"I have a faint recollection of it," he replied. "Didn't she sit very
far front, and have brown hair, a very fair complexion, blue eyes--"
"Black or brown, my son. But we must mean the same person--and I,
magnanimous mortal that I am, solemnly renounce all my claims in your
favor."
"Then you must lend me your carriage, to continue this love affair
properly," said Edwin, forcing a smile, "for one can hardly pay
attention to this princess as a private tutor."
"You need have no anxiety on that score. To be sure I don't know the
will-o'-the-wisp very well, she baffled all my conversational powers.
But haughtily as she turns up her little nose--by the way it's a nose
to rave over--there is evidently something wrong about her. Young
ladies who go to the theatre alone, find their company home afterwards.
But I will discover in whose cage this bird of paradise has its
nest--yesterday I unfortunately came across an old Geheimrath, who
wanted to consult me about his liver, just as I was going to follow the
proud little nose. If it is as I suspect, you shall see, my son, what a
base materialist is capable of doing for his friends."
Laughing merrily, he sprang into his light carriage, took the reins
from the coachman and drove rapidly away.
Edwin looked after him. He could not be angry; only yesterday he had
himself weighed possibilities and struggled with impressions, which
placed this mysterious creature in no more favorable light. But to hear
these thoughts expressed by another, as a matter of course, gave him a
feeling akin to physical pain.
He had taken two volumes of Goethe to carry to her. Now he thought it
would be the wisest course to avoid her house, her presence, and any
further intercourse with her. But her face rose before his memory for a
moment, her voice sounded in his ear, and all hesitation was over.
Suppose she was better than she seemed? And what would she think of the
strange man, who had at first forced himself so eagerly upon her, and
then never appeared again?
But at least he would not see her to-day, and therefore merely handed
the books to the striped waistcoat, and in reply to the boy's question
whether he would come in, answered dryly: "It was not necessary, he
would bring the next volumes at the end of the week."
As he went down stairs, he praised himself for his resolution and
determined not even to look up at her windows. But this was beyond his
strength. He even remained standing on the shady side a moment, as if
uncertain which way to go, and allowed his eyes to wander, apparently
by chance, toward the windows with the palms and the bird cage. He
fancied he saw something moving behind the drawn curtains. The
thought that it might be a man's head shot through his heart like a
burning-iron. He closed his eyes and walked on.
He had promised to commence his lessons at the little house in the
lagune to-day. As he mechanically turned his steps in that direction,
it seemed almost impossible to retain any connected thoughts. Besides,
the interview with the little artist and his daughter appeared as far
behind him as if months had intervened, and was a matter of as much
indifference as the people who passed him. He resolved to merely go
there, excuse himself for to-day, and shake off the whole engagement he
had undertaken, as best he could.
But the reception he met with in the little house, baffled his designs.
The artist, clad in his thread-bare velvet coat, with a barette shaped
cap set jauntily over his left ear, was standing in the door-way, and
as soon as he saw Edwin approaching between the wood piles, turned back
into the entry, calling: "He's coming, he's coming!" Then he hastily
advanced to meet him, took his hand in both of his, and said: "So I've
won my wager, and can exult over my wise child, who for once was not so
clever as her old father."
"What was your wager?" asked Edwin.
"Whether you would come or not. Leah said you had only promised, in
order to avoid telling us to our faces, that you did not wish to teach
such an ignorant pupil. With all your kindness, you glanced around you
in such an indifferent way--looked so absent, and in a certain sense
weary--"
"My dear sir," interrupted Edwin, "your daughter deserved to win the
wager for her penetration. I _am_ somewhat weary and absent-minded, my
head is revenging itself because I have racked my brains too often, and
the injuries it received cannot be quickly healed. In fact, if it were
not for you and your daughter, I should be wiser to defer our lessons
till a more favorable time. But if you prefer--"
"Leah! Leah!" cried the little artist, darting forward into the house.
"Where are you?"
The young girl was just coming out of the studio, in the same plain
brown dress she had worn the day before. Her black eyes greeted Edwin
with a quiet, almost wondering glance.
"I hear, Fraeulein," he said in a jesting tone, "that you have lost a
wager on my account. You thought I would not come again, and as people
usually believe what they desire--"
She gazed at him with a look, that entreated him to spare her
embarrassment.
"It's true," she said blushing, "and I'm very much frightened to think
that I must confess to some one _how_ ignorant and bewildered I am. I
was so anxious last night, that I could scarcely sleep."
"Than we must relieve you as quickly as possible," he answered smiling.
"I will make any wager that you will sleep admirably to-night."
"Do you also know what is the forfeit of our bet?" cried the artist
merrily rubbing his hands: "the loser was to paint you something, you
may rejoice that you will have a picture by Leah, instead of one of my
wretched daubs. You see virtue is its own reward."
They had entered the studio, which to-day seemed far more neatly
arranged. Instead of the desk with its painting apparatus, a table
containing only writing materials and a portfolio, stood at Leah's
window. But there was a fresh bouquet of flowers on the sill, tall
dahlias and asters whose bright colors mingled as if they wished to
conceal the dull grey of the bare wall outside.
"We thought you would be more undisturbed here, than in the sitting
room on the other side of the entry. Well; and so the hedge-sparrow is
turned out of his nest by his unfilial off-spring!" said the old man,
gently stroking the young girl's cheek. "My dear Herr Doctor, believe
me: one may fare badly with spoiled children, but the real tyrants are
the good, well behaved ones. It's a worse slavery than that of the most
henpecked husband. Well, adieu, child, and be industrious; meantime I
will make some studies from the back of the house near the stable as I
have long intended. It's just the right light."
He kissed her on the forehead and left the teacher alone with his
pupil.
When at the end of an hour he returned, he heard Edwin's deep, musical
voice, and would gladly have listened a moment to learn the subject
under discussion, but such a course was repugnant to his delicacy, and
besides he hoped to hear how the lesson had passed off from the young
girl herself.
Edwin rose as the little man entered. "Have I remained too long?" he
asked. "I hope Fraeulein Leah will bear witness that I have not tired
her."
Leah said nothing. She was standing before the little table like a
person just roused from a dream. The portfolio was unopened, the pen
had not been dipped into the ink.
Edwin asked whether he could not see the sketches. "No, no," replied
the little artist, "they are only for myself. And to-day in particular
I have worked with my eyes, rather than my hand. I will only tell you,"
he added, smiling mysteriously; "that I am attempting something which
will probably exceed my powers. I have long been anxious to make a
picture of our lagune. You cannot imagine what charms of coloring the
old muddy, dirty canal often displays, of course in a favorable light.
I have also been experimenting with a little foreground I shall need,
nay which will form the principal part of the picture, for I shall not
succeed very well with the water. A week ago one of the wood piles was
removed, which has stood for years directly in my way, since it
obstructed the best view of the wall and quay. And see, that has
revealed a fence, before which the prettiest weeds grow so luxuriantly,
that I shall have scarcely any alteration to make. If I succeed, it
will be my best picture, and may perhaps mark a new era in my
development."
He rubbed his hands contentedly and went up to his daughter. "I hope,
child, you have not become such a learned woman, that you forgot to
offer the Herr Doctor any refreshment. You really have forgotten? Then
I will do so at once--we have a bottle of excellent port wine in the
house--a present from our good friend, the professor's widow. By the
way, dear Doctor, I wanted to ask you something: you must do me the
favor to pay her a visit. We are so much indebted to her for Leah's
education--she was really a little piqued because I engaged a teacher
for the child without first introducing him to her. The best woman in
the world, and in many respects, that is in church history and the
positive divinity, exceptionally well educated. You will not regret
taking the short walk--she lives in Louisenstrasse--if I accompany
you--"
"With pleasure, dear Herr Koenig," replied Edwin. "But let me make the
acquaintance of the giver before I taste her gift. Fraeulein Leah has
learned to-day, that a Greek philosopher believed that the earth rose
from the water, so for to-day I will take only a glass of water. Next
time we will see whether there is truth in wine."
Leah brought the glass of water, but was so silent, that her father
before going away, asked anxiously if she were ill. "I never felt
better," she replied with a radiant glance from her beautiful, calm
eyes.
Shaking his head, the little man went out, accompanied by Edwin, who
took leave of his pupil with a cordial pressure of the hand.
"My dear Herr Doctor," said he when they were in the open air, "is it
not strange that a father cannot understand his own child? Certainly
every human being is a fresh marvel from the hand of God. This is not
like our other experiences, which are only a copy of our own natures
and enlighten us in regard to ourselves, our strength or weakness. Only
the great masters can have a similar feeling, when from the breath of
divine art something new appears, which resembles nothing in the world,
and surprises the artist himself. I believe that Raphael, when his
Sistine Madonna was completed, did not understand her much better than
I do my daughter. Yes, yes, my dear friend, these are transcendent
mysteries; we can only pray and thank God that we are considered worthy
to experience them."