THE LAST THURGAU.
About a week had passed since the visit to Heilborn, when Dr. Reinsfeld
again took his way to Wolkenstein Court, but on this occasion he was
not alone, for beside him walked Superintendent Elmhorst.
"I never should have dreamed, Wolfgang, that fate would bring us
together again here," said the young physician, gaily. "When we parted
two years ago, you jeered at me for going into 'the wilderness,' as you
were pleased to express yourself, and now you have sought it yourself."
"To bring cultivation to this wilderness," Wolfgang continued the
sentence. "You indeed seem very comfortable here; you have fairly taken
root in the miserable mountain-village where I discovered you, Benno; I
am working here for my future."
"I should think you might be contented with your present." Benno
observed. "A superintendent-engineer at twenty-seven,--it would be hard
to surpass that. Between ourselves, your comrades are furious at
your appointment. Take care, Wolf, or you will find yourself in a
wasps'-nest."
"Do you imagine I fear to be stung? I know all you say is true, and I
have already given the gentlemen to understand that I am not inclined
to tolerate obstacles thrown in my way, and that they must pay me the
respect due to a superior. If they want war, they shall have it!"
"Yes, you were always pugnacious; I never could endure to be
perpetually upon a war-footing with those about me."
"I know it; you are the same peace-loving old Benno that you always
were, who never could say a cross word to anyone, and who consequently
was maltreated by his beloved fellow-beings whenever an opportunity
offered. How often have I told you that you never could get on in the
world so! and to get on in the world is what we all desire."
"You certainly are striding on in seven-league boots," said Reinsfeld,
dryly. "You are the acknowledged favourite, they say, of the omnipotent
President Nordheim. I saw him again lately at Wolkenstein Court."
"Saw him again? Did you know him before?"
"Certainly, in my boyhood. He and my father were friends and
fellow-students; Nordheim used to come to our house daily; I have sat
upon his knee often enough when he spent the evening with us."
"Indeed? Well, I hope you reminded him of it when you met him."
"No; Baron Thurgau did not mention my name----"
"And of course you did not do so either," said Wolfgang, laughing.
"Just like you! Chance brings you into contact with an influential man
whose mere word would procure you an advantageous position, and you
never even tell him your name! I shall repair your omission; the first
time I see the president I shall tell him----"
"Pray do no such thing. Wolf," Benno interrupted him. "You had better
say nothing about it."
"And why not?"
"Because--the man has risen to such a height in life that he might not
like to be reminded of the time when he was a simple engineer."
"You do him injustice. He is proud of his humble origin, as all clever
men are, and he could not fail to be pleased to be reminded of an early
friend."
Reinsfeld gently shook his head. "I am afraid the memory would be a
painful one. Something happened later,--I never knew what,--I was a boy
at the time; but I know that the breach was complete. Nordheim never
came again to our house, and my father avoided even the mention of his
name; they were entirely estranged."
"Then of course you could not reckon upon his favour," said Elmhorst,
in a disappointed tone. "The president seems to me to be one who never
forgives a supposed offence."
"Yes, they say he has grown extremely haughty and domineering. I wonder
that you can get along with him. You are not a man to cringe."
"That is precisely why he likes me. I leave cringing and fawning to
servile souls who may perhaps thus procure some subordinate position.
Whoever wishes really to rise must hold his head erect and keep his
eyes fixed upon the goal above him, or he will continue to crawl on the
ground."
"I suppose your goal is a couple of millions," Benno said, ironically.
"You never were very modest in your plans for the future. What do you
wish to be? The president of your company?"
"Perhaps so at some future time; for the present only his son-in-law."
"I thought there was something of the kind in your mind!" exclaimed
Benno, bursting into a laugh. "Of course you are sure to be right,
Wolf; but why not rather pluck down yonder sun from the sky? It would
be quite as easy."
"Do you fancy I am in jest?" asked Wolfgang, coolly.
"Yes, I do take that liberty, for you cannot be serious in aspiring to
the daughter of a man whose wealth and consequence are almost
proverbial. Nordheim's heiress may choose among any number of Freiherrs
and Counts, if indeed she does not prefer a millionaire."
"Then all the Freiherrs and Counts must be outdone," said the young
engineer, calmly, "and that is what I propose to do."
Dr. Reinsfeld suddenly paused and looked at his friend with some
anxiety; he even made a slight movement as if to feel his pulse.
"Then you are either a little off your head or in love," he remarked,
with decision. "For a lover nothing is impossible, and this visit to
Heilborn seems to be fraught with destiny for you. My poor boy, this is
very sad."
"In love?" Wolfgang repeated, a smile of ineffable contempt curling his
lip. "No, Benno, you know I never have either time or inclination to
think of love, and now less than ever. But do not look so shocked, as
if I were talking high treason. I give you my word that Alice Nordheim,
if she marries me, shall never repent it. She shall have the most
attentive and considerate of husbands."
"Indeed you must forgive me for finding all this calculation most
sordid," the young physician burst forth indignantly. "You are young
and gifted; you have attained a position for which hundreds would envy
you, and which relieves you from all care; the future lies open before
you, and all you think of is the pursuit of a wealthy wife. For shame,
Wolfgang!"
"My dear Benno, you do not understand," Wolfgang declared, enduring his
friend's reproof with great serenity. "You idealists never comprehend
that we must take into account human nature and the world. You will, of
course, marry for love, spend your life slaving laboriously in some
obscure country town to procure bread for your wife and children, and
at last sink noiselessly into the grave with the edifying consciousness
that you have been true to your ideal. I am of another stripe,--I
demand of life everything or nothing."
"Well, then, in heaven's name win it by your own exertions!" exclaimed
Benno, growing every moment more and more indignant. "Your grand model,
President Nordheim, did it."
"He certainly did, but it took him more than twenty years. We are now
slowly and laboriously plodding up this mountain-road in the sweat of
our brows. Look at that winged fellow there!" He pointed to a huge bird
of prey circling above the abyss. "His wings will carry him in a few
minutes to the summit of the Wolkenstein. Yes, it must be fine to stand
up there and see the whole world at his feet, and to be near the sun. I
do not choose to wait for it until I am old and gray. I wish to mount
_now_ and, rely upon it, I shall dare the flight sooner or later."
He drew himself up to his full height; his dark eyes flashed, his fine
features were instinct with energy and ambition. The man impressed you
as capable of venturing a flight of which others would not even dream.
There was a sudden rustling among the larches on the side of the road,
and Griff came bounding down from above, and leaped about the young
physician in expectation of the wonted caress. His mistress also
appeared on the height, following the course which the dog had taken,
springing down over stones and roots of trees, directly through the
underbrush, until at last, with glowing cheeks, she reached the road.
Frau von Lasberg would certainly have found some satisfaction in the
manner in which the greeting of the Herr Superintendent was returned,
with all the cool dignity becoming a Baroness Thurgau, while a
contemptuous glance was cast at the elegance of the young man's
costume.
Elmhorst wore to-day an easy, loose suit bearing some similitude to the
dress of a mountaineer, and very like that of his friend, but it became
him admirably; he looked like some distinguished tourist making an
expedition with his guide. Dr. Reinsfeld with his negligent carriage
certainly showed to disadvantage beside that tall, slender figure; his
gray jacket and his hat were decidedly weather-worn, but that evidently
gave him no concern. His eyes sparkled with pleasure at sight of the
young girl, who greeted him with her wonted cordial familiarity.
"You are coming to us, Herr Doctor, are you not?" she asked.
"Of course, Fraeulein Erna; are you all well?"
"Papa was not well this morning, but he has nevertheless gone shooting.
I have been to meet him with Griff, but we could not find him; he must
have taken another way home."
She joined the two gentlemen, who now left the mountain-road and took
the somewhat steep path leading to Wolkenstein Court. Griff seemed
scarcely reconciled to the presence of the young engineer: he greeted
him with a growl and showed his teeth.
"What is the matter with Griff?" Reinsfeld asked. "He is usually kindly
and good-humoured with everybody."
"He does not seem to include me in his universal philanthropy," said
Elmhorst, with a shrug. "He has made me several such declarations of
war, and his good humour cannot always be depended upon; bestirred up a
terrible uproar in Heilborn, in the Herr President's drawing-room,
where Fraeulein von Thurgau achieved a deed of positive heroism in
comforting a little child whom the dog had nearly frightened to death."
"And, meanwhile, Herr Elmhorst applied himself to the succour of the
fainting ladies," Erna said, ironically. "Upon my return to the
drawing-room I observed his courteous attentions to both Alice and Frau
von Lasberg,--how impartially he deluged both with cologne. Oh, it was
diverting in the extreme!"
She laughed merrily. For an instant Elmhorst compressed his lips with
an angry glance at the girl, but the next he rejoined politely: "You
took such instant possession of the heroic part in the drama, Fraeulein
von Thurgau, that nothing was left for me but my insignificant _role_.
You cannot accuse me of timidity after meeting me upon the Wolkenstein,
although in my entire ignorance of the locality I did not reach the
summit."
"And you never will reach it," Reinsfeld interposed. "The summit is
inaccessible; even the boldest mountaineers are checked by those
perpendicular walls, and more than one foolhardy climber has forfeited
his life in the attempt to ascend them."
"Does the mountain-sprite guard her throne so jealously?" Elmhorst
asked, laughing. "She seems to be a most energetic lady, tossing about
avalanches as if they were snowballs, and requiring as many human
sacrifices yearly as any heathen goddess."
He looked up to the Wolkenstein,[1] which justified its title: while
all the other mountain-summits were defined clearly against the sky,
its top was hidden in white mists.
"You ought not to jest about it, Wolfgang," said the young physician,
with some irritation. "You have never yet spent an autumn and winter
here, and you do not know her, our wild mountain-sprite, the fearful
elemental force of the Alps, which only too frequently menaces the
lives and the dwellings of the poor mountaineers. She is feared, not
without reason, here in her realm; but you seem to have become quite
familiar with the legend."
"Fraeulein von Thurgau had the kindness to make me acquainted with the
stern dame," said Wolfgang. "She did indeed receive us very
ungraciously on the threshold of her palace, with a furious storm, and
I was not allowed the privilege of a personal introduction."
"Take care,--you might have to pay dearly for the favour!" exclaimed
Erna, irritated by his sarcasm. Elmhorst's mocking smile was certainly
provoking.
"Fraeulein von Thurgau, you must not expect from me any consideration
for mountain-sprites. I am here for the express purpose of waging war
against them. The industries of the nineteenth century have nothing in
common with the fear of ghosts. Pray do not look so indignant. Our
railway is not going over the Wolkenstein, and your mountain-sprite
will remain seated upon her throne undisturbed. Of course she cannot
but behold thence how we take possession of her realm and girdle it
with our chains. But I have not the remotest intention of interfering
with your faith. At _your_ age it is quite comprehensible."
He could not have irritated his youthful antagonist more deeply than by
these words, which so distinctly assigned her a place among children.
They were the most insulting that could be addressed to the girl of
sixteen, and they had their effect. Erna stood erect, as angry and
determined as if she herself had been threatened with fetters; her eyes
flashed as she exclaimed, with all the wayward defiance of a child, "I
wish the mountain-sprite would descend upon her wings of storm from the
Wolkenstein and show you her face,--you would not ask to see it again!"
With this she turned and flew, rather than ran, across the meadow, with
Griff after her. The slender figure, its curls unbound again to-day,
vanished in a few minutes within the house. Wolfgang paused and looked
after her; the sarcastic smile still hovered upon his lips, but there
was a sharp tone in his voice.
"What is Baron Thurgau thinking of, to let his daughter grow up so? She
would be quite impossible in civilized surroundings; she is barely
tolerable in this mountain wilderness."
"Yes, she has grown up wild and free as an Alpine rose," said Benno,
whose eyes were still fixed upon the door behind which Erna had
disappeared. Elmhorst turned suddenly and looked keenly at his friend.
"You are actually poetical! Are you touched there?"
"I?" asked Benno, surprised, almost dismayed. "What are you thinking
of?"
"I only thought it strange to have you season your speech with
imagery,--it is not your way. Moreover, your 'Alpine rose' is an
extremely wayward, spoiled child; you will have to educate her first."
The words were not uttered as an innocent jest; they had a harsh,
sarcastic flavour, and apparently offended the young physician, who
replied, irritably, "No more of this, Wolf! Rather tell me what takes
you to Wolkenstein Court. You wish to speak with the Freiherr?"
"Yes; but our interview can hardly be an agreeable one. You know that
we need the estate for our line of railway; it was refused us, and we
had to fall back upon our right of compulsion. The obstinate old Baron
was not content: he protested again and again, and refused to allow a
survey to be made upon his soil. The man positively fancies that his
'no' will avail him. Of course his protest was laid upon the table, and
since the time of probation granted him has expired and we are in
possession, I am to inform him that the preliminary work is about to
begin."
Reinsfeld had listened in silence with an extremely grave expression,
and his voice showed some anxiety as he said, "Wolf, let me beg you not
to go about this business with your usual luck of consideration. The
Freiherr is really not responsible on this head. I have taken pains
again and again to explain to him that his opposition must be
fruitless, but he is thoroughly convinced that no one either can or
will take from him his inheritance. He is attached to it with every
fibre of his heart, and if he really must relinquish it, I am afraid it
will go nigh to kill him."
"Not at all! He will yield like a reasonable man as soon as he sees the
unavoidable necessity. I certainly shall be duly considerate, since he
is the president's brother-in-law; otherwise I should not have come
hither to-day, but have set the engineers to work. Nordheim wishes that
everything should be done to spare the old man's feelings, and so I
have undertaken the affair myself."
"There will be a scene," said Benno, "Baron Thurgau is the best man in
the world, but incredibly passionate and violent when he thinks his
rights infringed upon. You do not know him yet."
"You mistake; I have the honour of knowing him, and his primitive
characteristics. He gave me an opportunity of observing them at
Heilborn, and I am prepared to-day to meet with the roughest usage. But
you are right; the man is irresponsible in matters of grave importance,
and I shall treat him accordingly."
They had now reached the house, which they entered. Thurgau had just
come in; his gun still lay on the table, and beside it a couple of
moor-fowl, the result of his morning's sport. Erna had probably advised
him of the coming visitors, for he showed no surprise at sight of the
young superintendent.
"Well, doctor," he called out to Reinsfeld, with a laugh, "you are just
in time to see how disobedient I have been. There lie my betrayers!" He
pointed to his gun and the trophies of his chase.
"Your looks would have informed me," Reinsfeld replied, with a glance
at the Freiherr's crimson, heated face. "Moreover, you were not well
this morning, I hear."
He would have felt Thurgau's pulse, but the hand was withdrawn: "Time
enough for that after a while; you bring me a guest."
"I have taken the liberty of calling upon you, Herr von Thurgau," said
Wolfgang, approaching; "and if I am not unwelcome----"
"As a man you are certainly welcome, as a superintendent-engineer you
are not," the Freiherr declared, after his blunt fashion. "I am glad to
see you, but not a word of your cursed railway, I entreat, or, in spite
of the duties of hospitality, I shall turn you out of doors."
He placed a chair for his guest and took his own accustomed seat.
Elmhorst saw at a glance how difficult his errand would be; he felt as
a tiresome burden the consideration he was compelled by circumstances
to pay, but the burden must be shouldered, and so he began at first in
a jesting tone.
"I am aware of what a fierce foe you are to our enterprise. My office
is the worst of recommendations in your eyes; therefore I did not
venture to come alone, but brought my friend with me as a protection."
"Dr. Reinsfeld is a friend of yours?" asked Thurgau, in whose
estimation the young official seemed suddenly to rise.
"A friend of my boyhood; we were at the same school, and afterwards
studied at the same university, although our professions differed. I
hunted up Benno as soon as I came here, and I trust we shall always be
good comrades."
"Yes, we all lived here very pleasantly so long as we were by
ourselves," the Freiherr said, aggressively. "When you came here with
your cursed railway the worry began, and when the shrieking and
whistling begin there will be an end of comfort and quiet."
"Now, papa, you are transgressing your own rule and talking of the
railway," Erna cried, laughing. "But you must come with me, Herr
Doctor. I want to show you what my cousin Alice has sent me from
Heilborn; it is charming."
With the eager impatience of a child, who cannot wait to display its
treasures, she carried off the young physician into the next room, thus
giving the Herr Superintendent fresh occasion to disapprove of her
education, or rather of the want of it. On this point he quite agreed
with Frau Lasberg. What sort of way was this to behave towards a young
man, were he even ten times a physician and the friend of the family!
Benno as he followed her glanced anxiously at the two left behind; he
knew what topic would now be discussed, but he relied upon his friend's
talent for diplomacy, and, moreover, the door was left open. If the
tempest raged too fiercely, he might interfere.
"Yes, yes, the matter cannot be avoided," the Freiherr growled, and
Elmhorst, glad to come to business, took up his words.
"You are quite right, Herr Baron, it will not be ignored, and on peril
of your fulfilling your threat and really turning me out of doors, I
must present myself to you as the agent of the railway company
intrusted with imparting to you certain information. The measurements
and surveys upon the Wolkenstein estate cannot possibly be delayed any
longer, and the engineers will go to work here in the course of a few
days."
"They will do no such thing!" Thurgau exclaimed, angrily. "How often
must I repeat that I will not allow anything of the kind upon my
property!"
"Upon your property? The estate is no longer your property," said
Elmhorst, calmly. "The company bought it months ago, and the
purchase-money has been lying ready ever since. That business was
finished long ago."
"Nothing has been finished!" shouted the Freiherr, his irritation
increasing. "Do you imagine I care a button for judgments that outrage
all justice, and which your company procured God only knows by what
rascality? Do you suppose I am going to leave my house and home to make
way for your locomotives? Not one step will I stir, and if----"
"Pray do not excite yourself thus, Herr von Thurgau," Wolfgang
interrupted him. "At present there is no idea of driving you away,--it
is only that the preliminary surveys must be begun; the house itself
will remain entirely at your disposal until next spring."
"Very kind of you!" Thurgau laughed, bitterly. "Till next spring! And
what then?"
"Then, of course, it must go."
The Freiherr was about to burst forth again, but there was something in
the young man's cool composure that forced him to control himself. He
made an effort to do so, but his colour deepened and his breath was
short and laboured, as he said, roughly,--
"Does that seem to you a matter 'of course'? But what can you know of
the devotion a man feels for his inheritance? You belong, like my
brother-in-law, to the century of steam. He builds himself three--four
palaces, each more gorgeous than its predecessor, and in none of them
is he at home. He lives in them one day and sells them the next, as the
whim takes him. Wolkenstein Court has been the home of the Thurgaus for
two centuries, and shall remain so until the last Thurgau closes his
eyes, rely----"
He broke off in the midst of his sentence, and, as if suddenly attacked
by vertigo, grasped the table, but it was only for a few seconds;
angry, as it were, at the unwonted weakness, he stood erect again and
went on with ever-increasing bitterness: "We have lost all else; we did
not understand how to bargain and to hoard, and gradually all has
vanished save the old nest where stood the cradle of our line; to that
we have held fast through ruin and disaster. We would sooner have
starved than have relinquished it. And now comes your railway, and
threatens to raze my house to the ground, to trample upon rights
hundreds of years old, and to take from me what is mine by the law of
justice and of God! Only try it! I say no,--and again no. It is my last
word."
He did indeed look ready to make good his refusal with his life, and
another man might either have been silent or have postponed further
discussion. But Wolfgang had no idea of anything of the kind; he had
undertaken to bring the matter to a conclusion, and he persisted.
"Those mountains outside," he said, gravely, "have been standing longer
than Wolkenstein Court, and the forests are more firmly rooted in the
soil than are you in your home, and yet they must yield. I am afraid
Herr von Thurgau, that you have no conception of the gigantic nature of
our undertaking, of the means at its disposal, and of the obstacles it
must overcome. We penetrate rocks and forests, divert rivers from their
course, and bridge across abysses. Whatever is in our path must give
way. We come off victorious in our battle with the elements. Ask
yourself if the will of one man can bar our progress."
A pause of a few seconds ensued. Thurgau made no reply; his furious
anger seemed dissipated by the invincible composure of his opponent,
who confronted him with perfect respect and an entire adherence to
courtesy. But his clear voice had an inexorable tone, and the look
which encountered that of the Freiherr with such cold resolve seemed to
cast a spell upon Thurgau. He had hitherto shown himself entirely
impervious to all persuasion, all explanation; he had, with all the
obstinacy of his character, intrenched himself behind his rights, as
impregnable, in his estimation, as the mountains themselves. To-day for
the first time it occurred to him that his antagonism might be
shattered, that he might be forced to succumb to a power that had laid
its iron grasp thus upon the mountains. He leaned heavily upon the
table again and struggled for breath, while speech seemed denied him.
"You may rest assured that we shall proceed with all possible regard
for you," Wolfgang began again. "The preliminary work which we are
about to undertake will scarcely disturb you, and during the winter you
will be entirely unmolested; the construction of the road will not
begin until the spring, and then, of course----"
"I must yield, you think," Thurgau interposed, hoarsely.
"Yes, you _must_, Herr Baron," said Elmhorst, coldly.
The fateful word, the truth of which instantly sank into his
consciousness, robbed the Freiherr of the last remnant of composure; he
rebelled against it with a violence that was almost terrifying, and
that might well have caused a doubt as to his mental balance.
"But I will not,--will not, I tell you!" he gasped, almost beside
himself "Let rocks and mountains make way before you, _I_ will not
yield. Have a care of our mountains, lest, when you are so arrogantly
interfering with them, they rush down upon you and shatter all your
bridges and structures like reeds. I should like to stand by and see
the accursed work a heap of ruins; I should like----"
He did not finish his sentence, but convulsively clutched at his
breast; his last word died away in a kind of groan, and on the instant
the mighty frame fell prostrate as if struck by lightning.
"Good God!" exclaimed Dr. Reinsfeld, who had appeared at the door of
the next room just as the last sentences were being uttered, and who
now hurried in. But Erna was before him; she first reached her father,
and threw herself down beside him with a cry of terror.
"Do not be distressed, Fraeulein Erna," said the young physician, gently
pushing her aside, while with Elmhorst's help he raised the unconscious
man and laid him on the sofa. "It is a fainting-fit,--an attack of
vertigo such as the Herr Baron had a few weeks ago. He will recover
from this too."
The young girl had followed him, and stood beside him with her hands
convulsively clasped and her eyes riveted upon the face of the speaker.
Perhaps she saw there something that contradicted the consoling words.
"No, no!" she gasped. "You are deceiving me; this is something else!
Papa! papa! it is I. Do you not know your Erna?"
Benno made no rejoinder, but tore open Thurgau's coat; Elmhorst would
have helped him, but Erna thrust away his hand with violence.
"Do not touch him!" she exclaimed, in half-stifled accents. "You have
killed him, you have brought ruin to our household. Leave him! I will
not let you even touch his hand!"
Wolfgang involuntarily recoiled and looked in dismay that was almost
terror at the girl, who at this moment was no longer a child. She had
thrown herself before her father with outspread arms as if to shield
and defend him, and her eyes flashed with savage hatred as though she
were confronting a mortal foe.
"Go, Wolfgang," Reinsfeld said in a low tone, as he led him away. "The
poor child in her anguish is unjust, and, moreover, you must not stay.
The Baron may possibly recover consciousness, and if so he must not see
you."
"May recover?" Elmhorst repeated. "Do you fear----"
"The worst! Go, and send old Vroni here; she must be somewhere in the
house. Wait outside, and I will bring you tidings as soon as possible."
With these whispered words he conducted his friend to the door.
Wolfgang silently obeyed; he sent into the room the old maid-servant,
whom he found in the hall, and then went out into the open air, but
there was a dark cloud on his brow. Who could have foreseen such an
issue!
A quarter of an hour might have elapsed, when Benno Reinsfeld again
made his appearance. He was very pale, and his eyes, usually so clear,
were suffused.
"Well?" Wolfgang asked, quickly.
"It is all over!" the young physician replied in an undertone. "A
stroke of apoplexy, undoubtedly mortal. I saw that at once."
Wolfgang was apparently unprepared for this reply; his lips quivered as
he said in a strained voice, "The affair is intensely painful, Benno,
although I am not in the least to blame. I went to work with the
greatest caution. The president must be informed."
"Certainly; he is the only near relative, so far as I know. I shall
stay with the poor child, who is suffering intensely. Will you
undertake to send a messenger to Heilborn?"
"I will drive over myself to inform Nordheim. Farewell."
"Farewell," said Benno, as he returned to the house.
Wolfgang turned to go, but suddenly paused and walked slowly to the
window, which was half open.
Within the room Erna was on her knees, with her hands clasped about her
father's body. The passionate man who had been standing here but one
short quarter of an hour ago in full vigour, obstinately resisting a
necessity, now lay motionless, all unconscious of the despairing tears
of his orphan child. Fate had decreed that his words should be true;
Wolkenstein Court had remained in the possession of the ancient race
whose cradle it had been until the last Thurgau had closed his eyes
forever.