MASTER FINK ENDEAVORS TO RESCUE KATRINE LOEBEG FROM THE EVIL INFLUENCE
OF PRETZEL THE MISER.
I did not entirely lose sight of Gideon. It is not easy in a town like
this for a man to hide himself and his doings from the knowledge of his
neighbors, and it was very soon known to everybody that Gideon Wolf
and I had parted company. The question now was what he would do, how
he intended to live. I devoutly hoped that he would leave the town and
seek his fortune elsewhere, but my hope was not fulfilled. Old Anna,
womanlike, was more curious about him than I, and she made it her
business to find out all she could concerning his movements. Thus for
some time all the information I received with reference to him came
through her. On one day it was,
"Gideon Wolf called this morning upon Peterson the tanner, to collect
some money he owes Miser Pretzel."
On another day,
"They were walking together this afternoon, Pretzel and Gideon."
And at length,
"Gideon Wolf has gone to live in the Temple, in the garret of the house
immediately opposite Miser Pretzel's."
There have been great changes in the town these last few years. The
Temple has been pulled down to make room for the new railway-station
which is to bring confusion into our quiet lives. That demon, Steam,
will no longer permit us to live in peace and quietness. The young may
rejoice in these changes; to the old they are an affliction.
It was certainly time the Temple was destroyed, for it was a disgrace.
Long, long since, hundreds of years ago, it had been used as a refuge
for monks and priests, and it was then that it got to be called the
Temple. The houses, I have no doubt, were grand places in those days,
but now they were so old and rickety that timid people had a fear of
them. As for honest and virtuous folk, on no account would they reside
there. It bore a dreadful reputation, and was given up entirely to vile
and desperate characters, jailbirds, loose women, desperadoes, and
adventurers. Nevertheless, there it was that Gideon Wolf took up his
quarters, at the top of a house four stories high, the roof of which
nearly touched the clouds. To save it from tumbling down, a heavy beam
had been fixed high in the air, in between it and the rotten old house
on the opposite side, in which Pretzel lived. These decrepit, worn-out
tenements leaned towards each other from sheer weakness, and could not
stand without support, like human beings who in their old age require a
prop to save them from falling to the earth. The crossbeam between the
two houses was fixed, on the left, just below the top window of Miser
Pretzel's house, and, on the right, immediately below the window of the
garret in which Gideon Wolf slept. The lower portion of this house was
occupied by people of bad character, the second and third floors were
empty, and only Gideon lived in the garret. In Miser Pretzel's house
no one resided but himself; it was his own property, and he would not
admit a tenant. Dwelling for years among lawless people, and keeping
always, as was currently reported, a large sum of money in his rooms,
it was wonderful that he was not robbed. But he seemed to be protected
by a charm, for no ill befell him, and he was able to carry on his
usurious practices without check or hinderance. It was understood that
Pretzel had taken Gideon into his employ, for the young man was now
regularly engaged in collecting debts owing to the miser by poor people
who had been drawn into his web.
But if appearances went for anything, Gideon Wolf did not thrive in his
new vocation. Miser Pretzel, who loved his money with a closer love
than men have for their children, was not likely to pay liberal wages
to those who worked for him, and Gideon grew shabbier and poorer week
by week. I had opportunities of observing this, for he sometimes passed
my shop; but between us not a word was exchanged.
"Miser Pretzel will get Gideon well into his clutches," said Anna, "and
then the devil will fly away with the pair of them."
The autumn waned, and winter came on. A bitter, cheerless winter,
always remembered because of its heavy snowfalls, the like of which had
never been seen in the town. In the first week of November Anna burst
in upon me with the words,
"What do you think? Katrine Loebeg has left her situation, and has gone
to attend upon Miser Pretzel."
"That is bad news indeed," I said.
"The child!" cried Anna, in deep distress. "The foolish, foolish child!
She will come quickly now to shame and ruin! Will no one stretch out a
helping hand to her--will no one save her?"
"How can it be done?" I asked. "Heaven knows I would sacrifice much to
save the poor girl, but you remember how she received us when we spoke
to her before. She is her own mistress, and can do as she pleases; no
person has any legal authority over her. Were I her grandfather, or her
uncle, or even a distant relative of her dead mother, I might have some
right to interfere--although it would be useless, Anna, quite useless;
of that I am certain. She does not see Gideon Wolf with our eyes, and
it is he, no doubt, who has been instrumental in getting her into Miser
Pretzel's house."
"Master Fink," said Anna, "you have a solemn duty before you, and you
must not shrink from it. You must save that sweet child from life-long
grief. It is in your power. All the town will bless you for the deed."
"I don't want all the town to bless me," I said, somewhat testily I
must own. "I am content to do what is right for right's sake, and for
the sake of my conscience. In Heaven's Dame enlighten me how it is in
my power to save Katrine!"
Old Anna spoke now very earnestly. "There is no one in the world who
is so thoroughly acquainted as yourself with the vile nature of that
scorpion, Gideon Wolf. To stand tamely by, and allow him to drag the
innocent soul of Katrine down to perdition would be a heavy sin. Oh,
Master Fink, I think there is a way. You have no wife, you have no
child--"
"Ah," I exclaimed, "I see! you wish me to adopt Katrine as my child.
Thank you, Anna, thank you; you have a kind heart. It is a noble idea.
I will do it--yes, Anna, I will do it, if Katrine will consent. I will
be a father unto her, and as God is my judge I will deal tenderly and
lovingly by her. It will be a beautiful thing to have a fresh young
being like her in the house. And in course of time she shall forget
that rascal, Gideon Wolf, and set her heart upon some fine honest young
fellow who will make her happy." I glowed with pleasurable excitement;
I could not keep my seat; I walked up and down the room, rubbing my
hands.
"Master Fink," said Anna, wiping her tears away with the back of her
hand, "I bless the day I first took service with you."
"Never mind that, never mind that," I cried; "it is a waste of time
to talk of such things. We must see her at once--we must not lose a
moment. She is in danger, in positive danger." And then, all in a
moment, my spirits fell. "Are you sure, Anna, that she lives with Miser
Pretzel?"
"Yes, there is no doubt of it, and we must go to his house, and speak
to her there."
"Speak to her in Pretzel's house! Do you forget the enmity he bears to
me? He will not admit us; he will laugh at us, and shut the door in our
faces. He has been waiting for years to spite me; old as he is he would
walk a hundred miles to do me an injury."
"We go to see Katrine, not to see him, Master Fink. There is nothing
to be afraid of; he will not eat us, and if he won't admit us into
the house we will call Katrine out, and speak to her in the streets.
Because it is unpleasant to do, you must not shrink from it."
"I will not," I said, firmly. "Come, Anna, you shall accompany me. What
is right to be done should be done without delay."
In less than three minutes I had locked up my shop, and Anna and I were
on our way to the Temple and in due time we paused before the door of
Pretzel's house.
It was years since I had visited the Temple, and I was struck by the
ruined appearance of the habitations. Dirt and filth, rotting timbers,
broken windows stuffed with rags to keep out wind and rain, crumbling
stones, and signs of dilapidation, met my eye whichever way I turned.
One house had shrunk in the middle, just as if it had a pain in its
stomach, and there was not a dwelling that did not bear some strange
resemblance to a drunkard in the last days of his evil life. The signs
of animation were quite as deplorable. The cats were skinny, vicious,
fiery-eyed; fowls I should have fled from in horror had their emaciated
bodies been placed on my table were pecking in the gutters; and a dog,
a very skeleton of a dog, whose ribs were almost breaking through its
skin, barked and snapped at my heels as I knocked at Miser Pretzel's
door. Katrine herself opened it. She turned pale when she saw us, and
made a motion as though she would shut the door in our faces; but I
held it back, and said, in a gentle tone,
"Katrine, we have come in perfect friendship, Anna and I. We wish to
speak to you in love and honest friendship--"
"Who is there--who is there?" cried Miser Pretzel, from the lower part
of the house. "What is keeping you so long, Katrine?"
"It is Master Fink and Anna," replied Katrine.
He was up in an instant, and glided before Katrine and faced us.
"What an honor--what an honor!" he exclaimed, surveying us with his
sly eyes. "Now, whoever would have thought that honest Master Fink,
upright Master Fink, who wastes young men's lives, and ruins them, and
treats them like dirt under his feet--whoever would have thought that
_he_ would make a friendly visit to poor old Pretzel! And handsome
Anna, too, with her beautiful white teeth close shut over her malicious
old tongue--she has come to see the poor old man! Katrine, my child,"
and Pretzel drew the girl, who was now looking at us in anger, close
to him, "how shall we receive these worthy people who take away a
young girl's character, and lay cunning plots to ensnare a faithful,
generous-hearted, hard-working young man whom they have robbed of his
rights? How shall we receive them, eh?" And he patted the young girl's
hand, which he had placed on his arm, and smiled at us malevolently.
I sighed. The power the old villain exercised over the innocent girl
was apparent; every word he spoke struck home, and increased the
dislike with which she regarded us. I was afraid that the mischief had
gone too far for me to repair it but I would not leave without making
the attempt. I had some difficulty in preventing Anna from reviling
Pretzel; she had not my prudence or self-control.
"I have not come to see you, Pretzel; my visit is to Katrine."
"Ah, ah," he rejoined, "you have not come to see me; but who is to
believe a liar? I had a notion that you wished to borrow another three
thousand florins of me for two years without interest. That is what I
did for this old fellow once, Katrine--ask him to deny it. He cannot,
you see. He was on the point of ruin, and because I did this good deed
out of pure compassion, because I lent him three thousand florins
without interest, and so saved him from beggary and the gutter, he has
gone on ever since speaking ill of me, and maligning me behind my back,
as he has maligned his confiding, unfortunate apprentice. It is how he
serves everybody. First he pretends to be kind to them, and when he has
got them in his power he bites them and blackens their reputations. He
is a wolf in sheep's clothing. His appearance is quite benevolent, is
it not, Katrine, my child? But never trust a man with such a face as
that never, never, or you will rue the day. Now I would lay a wager
that he has some evil intention in his mind as he stands there looking
at you with pretended sadness. Ask him what it is he wants to say to
you?"
"What do you want of me?" asked Katrine, in a tone of deep resentment.
By a great effort I controlled myself. "Katrine Loebeg," I said, "this
is no place for you. None but bad people live in this neighborhood--"
Pretzel interrupted me. "What did I tell you, Katrine? And here stand
I, Pretzel, Gideon Wolf's best friend, the friend who is going one day
to make him rich and in the opposite house lives Gideon himself. Oh,
what bad people live here--what bad, bad people!"
"I have come with a fatherly intention, Katrine," I said, "and old Anna
is with me--old Anna, who loves you, and wishes you nothing but good."
"First a kiss, and then a scratch," sneered Pretzel. "Think of old Anna
loving you so dearly--she who said to you what she did about Gideon,
who would not sleep in the same house with him, and who would not cook
a meal for him for all the money that could be offered her! Dear me,
dear me--what a benevolent, kind-hearted, backbiting old woman!"
I continued I would not be driven from my purpose by his sneers.
"I ask you to come and live with me as my daughter, Katrine. I will
protect you as a father; I will provide for you as a father. Inquire of
any person in the town about my character--"
"Yes, yes," said Pretzel, "ask Gideon Wolf for Master Fink's character.
Ask Gideon, ask Gideon."
"--And you will learn that I have never wronged a human being--"
"Then Gideon Wolf is not human," said Pretzel, "and I am an image of
stone. You shall prove for yourself, Katrine, what kind of a man this
is who stands before us. He shall himself show you his benevolent
heart. Ask him but one question--whether, if you accept his offer, he
will open his doors to Gideon Wolf, so that you may all live together
in love and good-will?"
"Will you do this?" asked Katrine.
"No," I answered, "it is impossible."
"What do you say to that, Katrine?" cried Pretzel. "Does not that show
you something of his real meaning? He has abominable ideas in his head
about you. He wants you as his daughter--oh yes, as his daughter! That
is his pretence. It is infamous, infamous! If Gideon were here he
would throw this old sinner from my door-step into the road. Katrine
my child, I think I hear a window slamming down-stairs. Run and shut
it, and see that all the doors are secure. We must protect ourselves
against this wrong-doer."
Katrine obeyed, and the moment she was out of sight Pretzel came close
to me and Anna.
"How many years is it, Master Fink," he hissed, "since I told you I
would be even with you? Pretzel never forgets--never forgets and never
forgives--never forgives! You will find that I shall be more than even
with you. I will strike you through this simple girl. I will ruin her,
yes, I will blight her life, because I know it will cause you sorrow.
That will be interest for the money you borrowed of me--good interest,
good interest! I have Katrine and her lover in my power, and nothing
that you can do shall save them. The deeper the misery into which she
is plunged the deeper will be your suffering. I shall remember that, I
shall remember that, and Gideon Wolf and I, between us, shall strike
her with wretchedness. What do you say to that, you old hag?" And he
poked his face, upon which there was really a diabolical expression,
so close to Anna's that she jumped back, as if the evil one himself
were attempting to seize her. Katrine now re-appeared, and Pretzel put
his arm round her waist to protect her, and continued, "This scoundrel
has been unbosoming himself to me while you were away, and has been
gloating over his wicked intentions. You have heard his offer, and if
you allow him to go on he will tell you, being the prince of liars,
that if you do not accept it you will be ruined and brought to sorrow.
He is not at all particular in what he says. Perhaps you wish to hear
him."
"I do not," said the poor girl, firmly.
"Remember, then, how he has treated Gideon Wolf, and give him his
answer, Katrine."
She looked me full in the face. "You are a slanderer," she said; "you
have an abominable heart. You cheat your workmen; you set snares for
the innocent; and you would separate me and Gideon, whom I love with
all my soul. Go; I will have nothing to say to you."
"Heaven pity you!" I sighed; and Anna and I walked slowly away, and did
not speak a single word till we reached home. Then Anna said,
"Do not take it too much to heart, Master Fink. You have done your
duty."
But we were both very sad for many days.