Now that Charlotte was occupied with the Captain, it was a natural
consequence that Edward should attach himself more to Ottilie.
Independently of this, indeed, for some time past he had begun to feel a
silent kind of attraction toward her. Obliging and attentive she was to
every one, but his self-love whispered that toward him she was
particularly so. She had observed his little fancies about his food. She
knew exactly what things he liked, and the way in which he liked them to
be prepared; the quantity of sugar which he liked in his tea; and so on.
Moreover, she was particularly careful to prevent draughts, about which
he was excessively sensitive, and, indeed, about which, with his wife,
who could never have air enough, he was often at variance. So, too, she
had come to know about fruit-gardens and flower-gardens; whatever he
liked, it was her constant effort to procure for him, and to keep away
whatever annoyed him; so that very soon she grew indispensable to
him--she became like his guardian angel, and he felt it keenly whenever
she was absent. Besides all this, too, she appeared to grow more open
and conversible as soon as they were alone together.
Edward, as he advanced in life, had retained something childish about
himself, which corresponded singularly well with the youthfulness of
Ottilie. They liked talking of early times, when they had first seen
each other; and these reminiscences led them up to the first epoch of
Edward's affection for Charlotte. Ottilie declared that she remembered
them both as the handsomest pair about the court; and when Edward would
question the possibility of this, when she must have been so exceedingly
young, she insisted that she recollected one particular incident as
clearly as possible. He had come into the room where her aunt was, and
she had hid her face in Charlotte's lap--not from fear, but from a
childish surprise. She might have added, because he had made so strong
an impression upon her--because she had liked him so much.
While they were occupied in this way, much of the business which the
two friends had undertaken together had come to a standstill; so that
they found it necessary to inspect how things were going on--to work up
a few designs and get letters written. For this purpose, they betook
themselves to their office, where they found their old copyist at his
desk. They set themselves to their work, and soon gave the old man
enough to do, without observing that they were laying many things on his
shoulders which at other times they had always done for themselves. At
the same time, the first design the Captain tried would not answer, and
Edward was as unsuccessful with his first letter. They fretted for a
while, planning and erasing, till at last Edward, who was getting on the
worst, asked what o'clock it was. And then it appeared that the Captain
had forgotten, for the first time for many years, to wind up his
chronometer; and they seemed, if not to feel, at least to have a dim
perception, that time was beginning to be indifferent to them.
In the meanwhile, as the gentlemen were thus rather slackening in their
energy, the activity of the ladies increased all the more. The every-day
life of a family, which is composed of given persons, and is shaped out
of necessary circumstances, may easily receive into itself an
extraordinary affection, an incipient passion--may receive it into
itself as into a vessel; and a long time may elapse before the new
ingredient produces a visible effervescence, and runs foaming over the
edge.
With our friends, the feelings which were mutually arising had the most
agreeable effects. Their dispositions opened out, and a general goodwill
arose out of the several individual affections. Every member of the
party was happy; and they each shared their happiness with the rest.
Such a temper elevates the spirit, while it enlarges the heart, and
everything which, under the influence of it, people do and undertake,
has a tendency toward the illimitable. The friends could not remain any
more shut up at home; their walks extended themselves further and
further. Edward would hurry on before with Ottilie, to choose the path
or pioneer the way; and the Captain and Charlotte would follow quietly
on the track of their more hasty precursors, talking on some grave
subject, or delighting themselves with some spot they had newly
discovered, or some unexpected natural beauty.
One day their walk led them down from the gate at the right wing of the
castle, in the direction of the hotel, and thence over the bridge toward
the ponds, along the sides of which they proceeded as far as it was
generally thought possible to follow the water; thickly wooded hills
sloped directly up from the edge, and beyond these a wall of steep
rocks, making further progress difficult, if not impossible. But Edward,
whose hunting experience had made him thoroughly familiar with the spot,
pushed forward along an overgrown path with Ottilie, knowing well that
the old mill could not be far off, which was somewhere in the middle of
the rocks there. The path was so little frequented, that they soon lost
it; and for a short time they were wandering among mossy stones and
thickets; it was not for long, however, the noise of the water-wheel
speedily telling them that the place which they were looking for was
close at hand. Stepping forward on a point of rock, they saw the strange
old, dark, wooden building in the hollow before them, quite shadowed
over with precipitous crags and huge trees. They determined directly to
climb down amidst the moss and the blocks of stone. Edward led the way;
and when he looked back and saw Ottilie following, stepping lightly,
without fear or nervousness, from stone to stone, so beautifully
balancing herself, he fancied he was looking at some celestial creature
floating above him; while if, as she often did, she caught the hand
which in some difficult spot he would offer her, or if she supported
herself on his shoulder, then he was left in no doubt that it was a very
exquisite human creature who touched him. He almost wished that she
might slip or stumble, that he might catch her in his arms and press
her to his heart. This, however, he would under no circumstances have
done, for more than one reason. He was afraid to wound her, and he was
afraid to do her some bodily injury.
[Illustration: EDWARD AND OTTILIE]
What the meaning of this could be, we shall immediately learn. When they
had got down, and were seated opposite each other at a table under the
trees, and when the miller's wife had gone for milk, and the miller, who
had come out to them, was sent to meet Charlotte and the Captain,
Edward, with a little embarrassment, began to speak:
"I have a request to make, dear Ottilie; you will forgive me for asking
it, if you will not grant it. You make no secret (I am sure you need not
make any), that you wear a miniature under your dress against your
breast. It is the picture of your noble father. You could hardly have
known him; but in every sense he deserves a place by your heart. Only,
forgive me, the picture is exceedingly large, and the metal frame and
the glass, if you take up a child in your arms, if you are carrying
anything, if the carriage swings violently, if we are pushing through
bushes, or just now, as we were coming down these rocks--cause me a
thousand anxieties for you. Any unforeseen blow, a fall, a touch, may be
fatally injurious to you; and I am terrified at the possibility of it.
For my sake do this: put away the picture, not out of your affections,
not out of your room; let it have the brightest, the holiest place which
you can give it; only do not wear upon your breast a thing, the presence
of which seems to me, perhaps from an extravagant anxiety, so
dangerous."
Ottilie said nothing, and while he was speaking she kept her eyes fixed
straight before her; then, without hesitation and without haste, with a
look turned more toward heaven than on Edward, she unclasped the chain,
drew out the picture, and pressed it against her forehead, and then
reached it over to her friend, with the words:
"Do you keep it for me till we come home; I cannot give you a better
proof how deeply I thank you for your affectionate care."
He did not venture to press the picture to his lips; but he caught her
hand and raised it to his eyes. They were, perhaps, two of the most
beautiful hands which had ever been clasped together. He felt as if a
stone had fallen from his heart, as if a partition-wall had been thrown
down between him and Ottilie.
Under the miller's guidance, Charlotte and the Captain came down by an
easier path, and now joined them. There was the meeting, and a happy
talk, and then they took some refreshments. They would not return by the
same way as they came; and Edward struck into a rocky path on the other
side of the stream, from which the ponds were again to be seen. They
made their way along it, with some effort, and then had to cross a
variety of wood and copse--getting glimpses, on the land side, of a
number of villages and manor-houses, with their green lawns and
fruit-gardens; while very near them, and sweetly situated on a rising
ground, a farm lay in the middle of the wood. From a gentle ascent, they
had a view, before and behind, which showed them the richness of the
country to the greatest advantage; and then, entering a grove of trees,
they found themselves, on again emerging from it, on the rock opposite
the castle.
They came upon it rather unexpectedly, and were of course delighted.
They had made the circuit of a little world; they were standing on the
spot where the new building was to be erected, and were looking again at
the windows of their home.
They went down to the summer-house, and sat all four in it for the first
time together; nothing was more natural than that with one voice it
should be proposed to have the way they had been that day, and which, as
it was, had taken them much time and trouble, properly laid out and
gravelled, so that people might loiter along it at their leisure. They
each said what they thought; and they reckoned up that the circuit, over
which they had taken many hours, might be traveled easily with a good
road all the way round to the castle, in a single one.
Already a plan was being suggested for making the distance shorter, and
adding a fresh beauty to the landscape, by throwing a bridge across the
stream, below the mill, where it ran into the lake; when Charlotte
brought their inventive imagination somewhat to a standstill, by putting
them in mind of the expense which such an undertaking would involve.
"There are ways of meeting that too," replied Edward; "we have only to
dispose of that farm in the forest which is so pleasantly situated, and
which brings in so little in the way of rent: the sum which will be set
free will more than cover what we shall require, and thus, having gained
an invaluable walk, we shall receive the interest of well-expended
capital in substantial enjoyment--instead of, as now, in the summing up
at the end of the year, vexing and fretting ourselves over the pitiful
little income which is returned for it."
Even Charlotte, with all her prudence, had little to urge against this.
There had been, indeed, a previous intention of selling the farm. The
Captain was ready immediately with a plan for breaking up the ground
into small portions among the peasantry of the forest. Edward, however,
had a simpler and shorter way of managing it. His present steward had
already proposed to take it off his hands--he was to pay for it by
instalments--and so, gradually, as the money came in, they would get
their work forward from point to point.
So reasonable and prudent a scheme was sure of universal approbation,
and already, in prospect, they began to see their new walk winding along
its way, and to imagine the many beautiful views and charming spots
which they hoped to discover in its neighborhood.
To bring it all before themselves with greater fulness of detail, in the
evening they produced the new chart. With the help of this they went
over again the way that they had come, and found various places where
the walk might take a rather different direction with advantage. Their
other scheme was now once more talked through, and connected with the
fresh design. The site for the new house in the park, opposite the
castle, was a second time examined into and approved, and fixed upon for
the termination of the intended circuit.
Ottilie had said nothing all this time. At length Edward pushed the
chart, which had hitherto been lying before Charlotte, across to her,
begging her to give her opinion; she still hesitated for a moment.
Edward in his gentlest way again pressed her to let them know what she
thought--nothing had as yet been settled--it was all as yet in embryo.
"I would have the house built here," she said, as she pointed with her
finger to the highest point of the slope on the hill. "It is true you
cannot see the castle from thence, for it is hidden by the wood; but for
that very reason you find yourself in another quite new world; you lose
village and houses and all at the same time. The view of the ponds with
the mill, and the hills and mountains in the distance, is singularly
beautiful--I have often observed it when I have been there."
"She is right," Edward cried; "how could we have overlooked it. This is
what you mean, Ottilie, is it not?" He took a lead pencil, and drew a
great black rectangular figure on the summit of the hill.
It went through the Captain's soul to see his carefully and
clearly-drawn chart disfigured in such a way. He collected himself,
however, after a slight expression of his disapproval and went into the
idea. "Ottilie is right," he said; "we are ready enough to walk any
distance to drink tea or eat fish, because they would not have tasted as
well at home--we require change of scene and change of objects. Your
ancestors showed their judgment in the spot which they chose for the
castle; for it is sheltered from the wind, with the conveniences of life
close at hand. A place, on the contrary, which is more for pleasure
parties than for a regular residence, may be very well yonder
there, and in the fair time of year the most agreeable hours may be
spent there."
[Illustration: CHARLOTTE, OTTILIE, EDWARD AND THE CAPTAIN DISCUSS THE
NEW PLAN OF THE HOUSE _From the Painting by Franz Simm_]
The more they talked it over, the more conclusive was their judgment in
favor of Ottilie; and Edward could not conceal his triumph that the
thought had been hers. He was as proud as if he had hit upon it himself.