Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by Google Books
Transcriber's Notes:
1. Page scan source: Google Books
http://books.google.com/books?id=auUBAAAAQAAJ&source
2. The diphthong oe is represented by [oe].
OPINION OF THE
SATURDAY REVIEW
ON THE
GERMAN EDITION
OF
WITHERED LEAVES.
* * * * *
"'Withered Leaves' is a highly effective novel, * * * * * cleverly
constructed, full of varied incident, excellently written, and
indicating the accomplished literary craftsman on every page."
WITHERED LEAVES.
A Novel,
BY
Rudolf von Gottschall.
FROM THE GERMAN,
By BERTHA NESS.
Translator of Werner's "Riven Bonds" and "Sacred Vows."
THREE VOLUMES.
* * * * *
AUTHORISED TRANSLATION.
* * * * *
VOL. I.
* * * * *
London:
REMINGTON AND CO.,
5, Arundel Street, Stand, W.C.
* * *
1879.
[_All Rights Reserved_.]
CONTENTS OF VOLUME I.
CHAP.
I.--On the Fuchs-spitze.
II.--The Blue Campanula.
III.--Dual Love and Evil Repute.
IV.--Bathing Pictures.
V.--The Amber Merchant.
VI.--On Land and Sea.
VII.--The Ordensburg.
VIII.--On Lago Maggiore.
IX.--An Election Dinner.
X.--The Proposal.
XI.--In Neukuhren.
XII.--Under the Pear Tree.
WITHERED LEAVES.
CHAPTER I.
ON THE FUCHS-SPITZE.
Large and full stood the moon in the eastern sky, and reflected its
broken light in the troubled waves which the Baltic Sea cast upon the
coast of Samland; it silvered the tangled thicket of the ravine through
which here and there quivered a ray of the woodland stream, with its
scanty supply of water, as with difficulty it forced its way amongst
the stones onward to the ocean. The primordiate blocks of granite,
which kept watch at the estuary of the streamlet, gained a venerable
appearance in the light of the planets; but more venerable still
appeared the primeval oaks of Perkunos, with their silvery tips, as
they rose upon the rocky projection, and down whose lightning-struck
stems the moonlight glided softly.
Was it a priestess of the old heathen deities who stood there, in her
light robe, leaning against the trunk of the mightiest oak, her gaze
turned outwards upon the wide sea, whose opposite breakers washed the
land of the ancient Vikings? But no! The heathen priestesses, who
sacrificed at the oaks of their gods, were venerable women, while that
slender figure bore all the witchery of youth, and looked much too
gentle for such a horrible craft! So much spiritual tenderness lay in
her large, widely-opened gazelle-like eyes, and besides--many, many
centuries ago the days of Paganism had passed away, even although then,
as now, the waves beat upon the strand, and the tops of the oaks
rustled, for we live in the nineteenth century; old Herkus Monte and
the other Nathang and Samland leaders of armies have long since been
replaced by the commanders of the King of Prussia's regiments and
battalions, and for two years this coast, like the whole land of
Prussia, has been ruled over by that spirited Hohenzollern Prince,
Friedrich Wilhelm IV.
"How it blows," said the Regierungsrath, as he buttoned his overcoat
more closely, "I do not love these evening amusements; I find that the
sea makes a much deeper impression by day, and then, one does not
expose oneself to the danger of paying for these so-called enjoyments
of nature with rheumatic pains."
"But, my husband," replied the Regierungsräthin, a fine woman, a
thorough Lithuanian, whose cradle stood on the shores of Memel, "you
are indeed too prosaic! One must just for once see the ocean by
moonlight; besides Evchen has cherished this wish for long. Two weeks
already have we been in Warnicken, and always have gone to bed as the
moon rose."
"We do not go in for marine painting," replied the Regierungsrath
drily, as his chin disappeared farther and farther into his enormous
white cravat, "and Eva, too, will take cold. The girl has a delicate
constitution; you, dear wife, judge all the world by yourself; but we
are not all so fortunate as to possess weather-proof giant natures. How
the girl stands there in her light summer dress! Eva, wrap your shawl
round you, a cold breeze from the north is blowing."
The girl awoke as if from a dream, she wrapped herself obediently in
the shawl that she carried upon her arm, and hastened towards her
father and mother, who were standing against the foremost railing of
the projection.
"Oh, how beautiful, how enchantingly beautiful it is here," cried Eva,
with her heart full, and tears standing in her eyes, tears such as only
youth can shed in overflowing moods, when the charm of nature
presciently awakes gloomy feelings in the heart.
The Regierungsrath could not explain these tears to himself, because
every rational cause for them was wanting, and indeed every irrational
one; any kind of wish denied would speedily have solved the mystery for
him. Therefore he made the cold wind responsible, and folded his
daughter still more closely in her shawl. Her mother, on the contrary,
who had equally little sympathy with such-like emotional outbreaks, but
knew better how to divine their cause, cried, reprovingly--
"Learn to wean yourself from over-sensitiveness, dear child! How often
already have I been obliged to tell you so! You must learn gradually to
control your feelings. All this is very beautiful: moonshine and
ocean's tide, groups of trees and wooded vallies, and the steep
precipitous rocks; yet one must not admire it too much; it is after all
an old tale, and one must not appear too new to the world. What would
people say to it? At some period one must leave school behind, and
enter into life."
Eva pressed herself deprecatingly against her mother, whose gigantic
form towered above the slender girl; but her father, after having taken
a pinch of snuff, assumed a complacent tone of voice, and began to
expound his views as to the capabilities of profit possessed by the
Samland sea-bathing places. Eva had ample leisure to survey the
beautiful picture of the moonlight evening, to follow the lines of the
surf-surrounded coasts to the uttermost foreland, and ever again to
lower her gaze into the mystery of the Wolf's schlucht, above which the
most luxuriant vegetation rose and fell like green breakers in the
sough of the night wind.
Then voices suddenly arose from the paths which led upward through the
wood to the Fuchs-spitze; they were not the melodies of strolling
singers, but the music of artists. One female voice, by its beautiful
full tone, made itself conspicuous amongst all the others, and that
singer's execution appeared to be by no means inconsiderable. The
Regierungsrath found this interruption to his discourse the more
disagreeable, because he was about to make a few propositions by which
sea-bathing places, such as this romantic Warnicken, could be raised
out of their rude primitive condition into fashionable watering places.
In the meanwhile the party of male and female singers had reached the
summit, their hats and coats garlanded with wreaths of leaves. They
appeared to be in a most lively mood, and broke out into loud
rejoicings when they had gained the point whence a view could be
obtained; some clapped their hands, and at a signal, which an elderly
gentleman gave with a walking-stick used as a conductor's _bâton_, all
began to sing a most artistically correct _Jodler_. In the faces and in
the whole demeanour of the party there lay that peculiarity by which
actors and actresses are unmistakable even in their exterior; an air of
mental freedom, the assurance and self-sufficiency of manner, and at
the same time the appearance of struggling after an ideal, which even
those know how to maintain who follow their art as a rather rude
handicraft. In fact, they were singers from the provincial capital, who
were wandering along the shore for a holiday excursion, but had set up
their head-quarters in the favourite seaside watering place Cranz,
which by its sociable doings atoned for what its desolate strand lacked
in natural beauty.
It soon became apparent that the most prominent female person in the
group, a tall figure with southern glowing eyes, with noble
aristocratic features, and dark hair that shone amongst the green oak
branches with the polish of ebony, was that accomplished singer, who,
during the party's ascent, had borne away the prize of song. Leaning
over the balustrade, she warbled a melody into the night air, with
trills and cadences irreproachably executed, while the fuller notes
were uttered with most soul-felt intensity of expression.
"Bravo, Signora Bollini!" cried the elderly gentleman, who had
previously waved the _bâton_, "even the most unfavourable critic, the
most venomous monster that lurks in any newspaper's crevice, would be
obliged to write a laudatory criticism upon this performance. Besides
you are in wonderfully good voice."
"You know, dear Conductor," replied the Signora, "that I possess an
impressionable soul; here in free beautiful nature I regulate my powers
quite differently from what I do when I stand behind you at the piano,
looking down upon its venerable smooth surface, and the pages of music
upon the lifeless paper, that I am to transpose into ringing coin. One
must have illusions, best of conductors; but to sing to order, at the
appointed time, as announced on the black board, for wages which
themselves sometimes belong to illusions, takes away all inclination,
and acts most depressingly upon one's mind. Art can only thrive in
freedom!"
"It is well known to us all," said the Conductor, "that our beautiful
_prima donna_ belongs to those natures, which, in the language of art,
may be designated as _cappricciose_, and which only with difficulty can
accustom themselves to any regular walk in life, or indeed to any rules
of business."
"Now you are talking of business again," said the Signora, "naming art
and business in one breath, it is enough to make all the muses take to
flight!"
"Well, well," replied the Director, "everything in the world will have
its season, and as regards business, _prime donne_ do not understand
that so badly when honorariums for their performances, or profitable
paragraphs, are concerned."
"Not seldom, dear Master," said the singer, with a winning expression
of countenance, which suddenly became somewhat gentler, and more
amiable. That which she had said about her impressionability, had been
confirmed by the rapid change of her face's expression; yes, it
betokened cordial acquiescence, most unhesitating reciprocation of
everything that was friendly; the greatest readiness to follow the
other's moods, the trains of thought, certainly as it seemed, without
that reserve which stricter womanliness required, as the flattering
speeches by which she now sought to assuage the Conductor, contained
something syren-like; every word was a caress, and only slight mockery,
which sometimes echoed from them, showed that no real affection
prompted their utterance.
This party was very disagreeable to the Regierungsrath; he did not love
art, he liked to avoid all artists; in his eyes closer intercourse with
them did not appear suitable to his position and he was glad to
withdraw himself from the brotherly manner in which the disciples of
art seek to place themselves on a footing of equality with all other
mortals. He was on the point of taking flight from the Fuchs-spitze,
which had suddenly become a Parnassus to him, when he was prevented
doing so by the greeting of a young man, who released himself from the
oak-leaf-wreathed group and stepped towards him.
"Good evening, Herr Regierungsrath Kalzow," rang the cordial greeting
accompanied by a hearty shake of the hand, with which the female
members of the Kalzow family were also favoured.
"Ah, Herr Doctor Schöner," replied the Rath, "what brings you here,
then, in such jovial company?"
"You know," replied the young Doctor of Law, "that the ministry puts a
stop to my political career, will not grant me the _venia legendi_ at
the University. Thus I have been obliged to exchange the useful for the
agreeable; I have dedicated myself as dramatic scenery assistant to the
theatre, and belong to a certain extent to the strolling troupe. We
have just come from Memel, where we stirred up the Jack tars to
enthusiasm with our melodies; then we waded through the sand of the
Kurische Nehrung; sailed across the waters of the Kurische Haff in a
smoking steamboat and settled down domestically in Cranz. The opera
namely, and I, who although I really live on very bad terms with the
trebles and general bass, yet am more enthusiastic about the operatic
than the dramatic company, and at least enjoy my holidays with the
former; the ballet, too, is represented here! Look, that languishing
lady there is our _première danseuse_, does she not look something like
one of the moon's rays that had been left behind? Each of her _pas_ is
a danced sigh. None of these ladies will receive a part through me;
therefore I believe in the disinterestedness of their love glances."
The Doctor had only made these confessions to the Rath. Eva, with her
mother, had retreated farther into the shadowy net of a Perkunos oak;
but suddenly a peculiar pallor lay upon her features.
Young Schöner was well known to her; she had often seen and spoken to
him in a friend's house, and as he strove very eagerly to gain her
good-will, she had not remained perfectly indifferent to him.
Indeed, he might well win a girlish heart by his uncommon character. He
behaved much more romantically than all adherents of art; his velvet
coat, certainly, had been neat and glossy when it came from the tailor;
yet it was terribly receptive of everything that flies about in the
air, and soon lost all its charms of freshness.
A wide, turned-down shirt collar, without any intervening neckerchief,
lay extended over his shoulders, like linen upon a bleaching-ground; a
student's velvet cap sat defiantly upon his brow, even although it had
now forfeited the silver Albertus, the proud badge of the academical
citizens of Albertina, and the thorn stick in his hand quite answered
to that one which the "wild man" carries in popular pictures.
His long black hair, however, which fell down upon his shoulders,
enframed an interesting face, which was sharply, but not badly cut, and
was surmounted by a pair of fiery and remarkable eyes.
The young Doctor, indeed, was an aspiring young fellow, and had allowed
several poetical larks to rise, whose warbling notes had been heard
afar through Germany.
At two-and-twenty years of age he was a species of celebrity, and
celebrity is often the easily-obtained fruit of fashion. At that time
everything was the fashion that came from the Baltic shore, where the
beacons of political freedom blazed.
Thus young Doctor Schöner was deemed a genius--that is a strong letter
of recommendation to a young girl, who has just left school--and,
therefore, even the keen female eye does not perceive those tiny specks
upon the velvet coat and that unfashionable hair, which detests the
scissors.
The young poet now went towards Eva, and commenced a conversation with
her about the beauty of the evening, and the beauties in the party of
actresses, extolling Signora Bollini with glowing eulogy.
Eva, who leaned against the trunk of the giant oak, would have liked
best to hide herself in it like a dryad, so as not to be obliged to
listen to this praise, not to look at this goddess of art.
"Doctorchen, whither have you vanished?" suddenly rang the Signora's
mellifluous voice, audible far around, and stepping nearer, she said,
with a graceful inclination towards mother and daughter: "Ah, with the
blue-bell, in the shadow of the sacred oak! You must spare my
amanuensis tome to-day, ladies. He knows the road, the path, the names
of all the hills on the coast, and the little bays--he is my map."
At the Signora's first words, Schöner had retreated from Eva, as though
he had been caught upon forbidden paths. He introduced the ladies to
one another, and immediately disappeared amongst the group of actors.
After a few polite words, which she had exchanged with the
Regierungsrath's family, the Signora was back again in the midst of her
own people.
Again a bright song resounded, accompanied by the waves breaking still
louder on the shore.
Annoyed at the long stay, the Regierungsrath gave the signal to return
home, and as they departed Eva could still hear the singer's merry
words.
"Now ladies, away into the surging tide! Who would not wish to be a
moonlight-water-fairy for once? I feel like a spirit of the elements,
and my adorers have long since declared me to be an Undine, because in
their opinion I have no soul. All the same--souls are the cheapest
things in the world, and the smallest State has many hundreds of
thousands of them! Besides, one must be able to exist without a soul,
if one can only offer some substitute for it."
"Bravo!" cried Schöner; "long live our Undine!"
"Therefore, gentlemen, _abonnement suspendu_ for the Baltic Sea?
To-night it belongs to the ladies, and you return quietly to the hotel.
You need have no fear that I shall transform myself down below in the
breaking surf into a Melusina, and perhaps, coquette with a fish's
tail. I am no silvery-scaled monster, but both on land and in water a
woman _comme il faut_. _En avant_, ladies! Here are no hearses as in
Cranz; here one springs from the shore into the waves, and the only
Actæon who plays the spy upon us is the moon! It shall have its horns;
it will soon enter upon its last quarter!"
Ladies and gentlemen descended the Fuchs-spitze on separate paths.
Eva had not lost a word of the singer's speech; it caused her to shiver
uncomfortably, and she wrapped herself more closely in her shawl.
"An intolerable party," said the Regierungsrath to his wife; "so bold,
so impudent."
"I do not understand," replied she, "how young Doctor Schöner can find
pleasure in it."
"I understand it quite well! It is just the society for such
ill-regulated minds! He would never have been fitted for a political
career; it is not that he has no head, but everything ferments and
surges in him in wild confusion."
"Perhaps he would settle down in time."
"Never! A thorn bends itself early to the form which it is to assume,
and an official must bend himself betimes; I mean by this, control and
govern himself, as we have only one gospel, that of duty!"
"He is thoughtless with girls, too; without exception, he pays
attention to all, if they only belong in any degree to the fair sex.
Evchen, you have met him at Justizrath Spillner's; he is said to have
distinguished you, too."
Eva bent down and gathered a large-belled campanula, which grew by the
roadside.
"It is fortunate," said the Regierungsrath, "that he has not yet dared
to enter our house; in his poetry he has uttered such thoughts for the
world's reform, that I should fall into bad odour with the whole of my
colleagues, if he forced himself into my society."
"Perhaps he fears the same with his good friends," replied the
Regierungsräthin, shrugging her shoulders; "as these so-called Liberals
make their comments also, and we are certainly in their bad books."
"It is incredible, but you may be right. What have we not had to
experience since our King's accession to the throne! Parties are
formed, there is an Opposition, and we, who until now only had to
command in order to meet with obedience, are confronted by resistance!
Any young Doctor of Law thinks he can dictate to a President of Council
what he is to do or leave undone."
"Calm yourself, my dear husband! In return he is in this _prima
donna's_ fetters, and he must obey her signs, as you have seen, and be
a slave to her. A beautiful woman, certainly!"
"I did not look so closely at her."
"I know better, old man! I believe you could write her passport,
mentioning all her peculiar marks of distinction. It does not matter!
There is no danger in it, as she only seeks young admirers; I wager
that Doctor Schöner's baptismal certificate is dated a few years after
hers."
"I do not comprehend," said Kalzow, "how any man can place himself
under the command of a feminine being! What becomes of manly dignity in
such a case?"
At these words the Regierungsrath brought out a cigar-case so as to
light himself a Havannah cigar.
"What are you doing, old man? How often have I already told you that
you shall not smoke a cigar in the evening just before going to bed! It
does not agree with you, the Doctor advised you not to do it; I forbid
it positively in his name."
While speaking these words the Frau Regierungsräthin drew herself up to
her full height.
"Then, at least, I will have another glass of beer over there."
"Nothing! That too is injurious for you! In other matters you are quite
right! It is a disgrace to bow to the orders of such a theatrical
princess; but to obey a sensible woman has never brought evil or
dishonour."
Amid such conversations the family had reached the small fisherman's
cottage in which they lived; Eva soon went to her attic-chamber, locked
the door, opened the window and looked out into the moonlight night.
Silently she had listened to her parents' discussion; only a few days
ago she had taken young Doctor Schöner under her protection against all
accusations, to-day she could do so no longer! She had been credulous
enough to believe the Doctor's words of flattery; had he not
distinguished her amongst her girl friends! As yet no word of love had
been spoken, but a liking for the gifted young man had found utterance
in her heart.
People talk so much of first and only love--and yet, if one looks
closer into it, all kinds of budding affections, which never attain
their full development, precede this first love; near the first rose
there are plenty of buds which hang broken and faded on the stalk; many
side-chapels where love erects itself modest altars, are forsaken
before it strides to the high one in the great nave of the church. And
no girl leaves sixteen or seventeen years behind her, without having
obtained in a brother's friend, in a neighbour, in a _vis-à-vis_, a
small ideal for the preliminary studies of love. There is a heart's
idolatry even in earliest youth; yet the roots of such affections only
rest loosely in the lightest soil.
Eva's first attempt at love was devoted to the young Doctor; she had
erected a little temple for him in her heart, and adorned his picture
with many floral wreaths of tender feelings. It is true her friends had
often cautioned her in joke against the homage of the fickle poet; she
ascribed it to envy, which even amongst young female friends is not a
rarity. But now she had seen, with her own eyes, how he had bestowed
his admiration upon another proud beauty, yes wandered with her through
the country; she had heard how confidently that other had asserted her
rights over him; it had dealt a stab to her heart, and it was a
consolation for her, when her father and mother expressed themselves so
hostilely towards him: a defiant feeling became powerful within her,
she would hear nothing more from him, release herself entirely from
him, drive away his picture as one wipes a dream out of one's eyes.
Yet slightly below the surface as the roots of a love, in this case not
at all serious, had struck, it was a mixture of bitter and painful
emotions which besieged the girl's heart, as it dug up its first shy
affection.
Was that not the roar of the sea that sounded from afar? Was it not the
proud Melusina who sang as she bathed her beautiful form in the
billows. How small, how speechlessly she herself had stood beside that
other, yonder by the oak! What a homely little flower was she herself
beside that splendid exotic! With what spirit, with what fire that
other one could speak--and how shyly she herself brought out such
every-day words. Was it a marvel, that the poet turned away from her
and followed the admired singer? But even if she were not beautiful,
not proud, not intellectual, she yet had a sense of her own worth, and
would not allow herself to be insulted with impunity.
Come ye waves, and if ye have kissed the dark hair of the bathing
beauty, then rush upon the strand and efface for evermore the name of
the poet, which, with the point of a parasol, love has written upon the
sand; efface it there, and also--in my heart.
Scalding tears gushed from the maiden's eyes, she shut the window that
the surging of the distant sea might not reverberate in her dreams like
a triumphal song of victorious love! Weeping, she threw herself upon
her bed, but then slept soundly and well, as youth can sleep.
She owned a determined mind, she had indeed cast clods of earth upon
the coffin of a first, tender affection, which, as yet, had hardly
outgrown the incipient bud.