About this time Herr Becker died. He was the senior city official, and
had been living in the second story of the apartment for twenty-eight
years. Dr. Benda moved in at once with his mother.
Carovius told all about this at the reserved table in the Crocodile. His
companions were in a position to tell him a great deal more about the
ancestry and past life of the Bendas. They were said to have been very
rich once, to have lost their money in the great panic, and to be living
at present in quite moderate circumstances. Benda's father was said to
have shot himself, and his mother was reported to have taken the boy to
school every morning. Solicitor Korn had been told that, despite his
youth, Dr. Benda had written a number of scientific books on biology,
but that this had not enabled him to reach his desired goal.
"What goal?" the table companions asked in unison.
"Why, he wanted to be made a professor, but people had objected." Why
had they objected? came the question from more than one throat. "Well,
you see it was this way: the man is a Jew, and the authorities are not
going to appoint a Jew to an official position in a university without
raising objections. That is to be taken as a matter of course." That
this was in very truth to be taken as a matter of course was also the
opinion of Herr Carovius, who, however, insisted that Benda didn't
exactly look like a Jew; he looked more like a tolerably fat Dutchman.
He was in truth not quite blond, but he was not dark either, and his
nose was as straight as a rule.
"That is just the point: that's the Jewish trick," remarked the Judge,
and took a mighty draught from his beer glass. "In olden times," he
said, "the Jews all had the yellow spots, aquiline noses, and hair like
bushmen. But to-day no Christian can be certain who is Jew and who is
Gentile." To this the whole table agreed.
Herr Carovius at once began a system of espionage. He studied the faces
of the new tenants, and was particularly careful to note when they went
out and when they came in and with whom they associated. He knew
precisely when they turned the lights out at night and when they opened
the windows in the morning. He could tell exactly how many rugs they
had, how much coal they burned, how much meat they ate, how many letters
they received, what walks they preferred, what people they spoke to, and
who recognised them. As if this were not enough, he went down to the
bookstore, bought the complete works of Dr. Benda, and read these heavy
scientific treatises in the sweat of his brow. He was annoyed at the
thought that they had not been critically reviewed. He would have
embraced any one who would have told him that they were all perfectly
worthless compilations.
One evening, along towards spring, he chanced to go into the backyard to
feed Caesar. He looked up, and saw Marguerite standing on the balcony.
She did not see him, for she was also looking up. On the balcony of the
second floor, across the court from her, stood Friedrich Benda,
responding to some mute signals Marguerite was giving him. Finally they
both stopped and merely looked at each other, until Marguerite caught
sight of her brother, when she quickly disappeared behind the glass door
draped with green curtains.
"Aha," thought Carovius, "there's something up." The scene warmed his
very blood.
From that day on he avoided the court. He sat instead for hours at a
time in a room from which he could look out through a crack and see
everything that was taking place at the windows and on the balconies. He
discovered that signals were being sent from the first floor up to the
second by changing the position of a flower pot on the railing of the
balcony, and that these signals were answered by having a yellow cloth
flutter on now a vertical, now a horizontal pole.
At times Marguerite would come out quite timidly, and look up; at times
Benda appeared, and stood for a while at the window completely
absorbed, as it seemed, in melancholy thoughts. Herr Carovius caught
them together but on one single occasion. He opened the window as
quickly as he could, and placed his ear so that he could hear what was
being said, but it so happened that over in the adjoining yard some one
was just then nailing a box together. As a result of the noise it was
impossible for him to understand their remarks.
Since that day they exchanged no more signals, and never again appeared
on the balcony.
Carovius rubbed his hands at the thought that the majestic Andreas
Doederlein had after all grown horns. But his joy waned when he reflected
that two other people were deriving profit from the situation. That
should not be; that had to be corrected.
And so he stood at times in the evening out in the narrow passage at the
entrance to his apartment. His bathrobe fell down over his bony body in
many folds. In his right hand he carried a candle. Thus equipped, he
listened in, or rather into, the stillness of the house.
At times he would take a dark lantern, walk up the stairs slowly, step
by step, and listen, listen with the greedy ears of a man who was
determined to hear something. There was something in the air that told
him of secret, and of course illicit, transactions.
Was it the same medium through which he learned of the weakening of
Marguerite's mind and the beclouding of her soul? Was it this that told
him of her mental anxiety and the ever growing delusion of her terrified
and broken heart?
Later he learned of her mad outbursts of anxiety concerning the life of
her child. He heard that she would never allow the child out of her
sight; that she regarded the natural warmth of her body as a high fever;
that every morning she would stand by Dorothea's bed, weep, take her in
her arms, feel her pulse, and wrap her body in warm clothing. He heard,
too, that night after night she sat by the child's bedside watching over
her and praying for her, while the child herself slept like an old shoe.
All this he learned from the maid.
One day Herr Carovius came home, and found an ambulance and a crowd of
gaping people before the house. As he went up the stairway he heard a
hushed whimpering. Marguerite was being dragged from the house by two
men. The rear of this procession was brought up by Andreas Doederlein, on
whose face there was an expression of accusation. The room door was
open. He looked in, and saw bits of broken glasses and dishes, and in
the midst of the debris sat Dorothea. Her mouth was puckered as if just
on the point of weeping, and a cloth was bound about her forehead. The
maid stood in the door wringing her hands. And on a step above was
Friedrich Benda, white as a sheet, and evidently suffering from great
mental anxiety.
Marguerite offered but little resistance. She looked behind her, and
tried to see what the child was doing. Herr Carovius buried his hands in
his overcoat pockets, and followed the mournful caravan out on to the
street. The poor woman was taken to the insane asylum at Erlangen.
Herr Carovius said to himself: somebody is responsible for all this. He
determined at once to bring the guilty party to account. He took this
stand neither out of grief nor from a feeling of love for his fellow
men. His action was motivated by his hatred of a world in which
something is constantly going on, and in the midst of which he was
condemned to an inactive and deedless life.
V
Not much could be learned from Doederlein's maid. The efforts to draw
something out of little Dorothea were also fruitless. She was wrapped up
in her own affairs. She arranged her ribbons, played with her toys,
recounted the small incidents of her uneventful life, and could hardly
be persuaded even to listen to the ingenious questions Carovius put to
her when he stopped her out in the hall and asked her about this and
that.
One day he went over to Erlangen to visit his sister in the insane
asylum. He thought that he might be able to get some clue to this
mystery from her.
He found her sitting in the corner of a room, stroking her long,
yellowish hair. Her head was bowed; her eyes were fixed on the floor.
Through no cunning that he could devise was it possible to entice a
single statement from her.
The physician said: "She is a harmless patient, but most secretive and
passionate. She must have suffered for years from some heavy burden on
her soul."
Herr Carovius left her, and went back to the station. The sun was
shining bright. He soon saw to his infinite discomfort that it was
impossible to eliminate the picture of the melancholy woman from his
inner eye. He went into a cafe and drank some whiskey. On the return
journey an old woman sat opposite him who seemed to understand him.
There was a trace of compassion in her eyes. This made him so uneasy
that he found it necessary to change his seat.
He had met with unanticipated difficulties in his investigation. He
recognised these fully, but consoled himself with the thought that there
was still time. It occurred to him that he might somehow get hold of Dr.
Benda and cross-question him. He recalled having seen Friedrich Benda
meet little Dorothea on the stairway once, and no sooner had he seen her
coming than he made every effort to avoid her. That set Carovius to
thinking.
Some gas pipes had to be installed in the apartment about that time, and
this gave him, as superintendent, a splendid opportunity to go up and
see Benda. The doctor was just then making his final attempt to claim
his rights--the rights of a man and a scholar--against the conspiracy of
enemies who were really immune before the law.
He was all alone when Carovius called. He took him straight to his
study. The walls of his hall as well as those of his room were covered
with books from floor to ceiling. Benda said he was just getting ready
to go on an extended journey. The finished politeness with which he
removed the books from a chair and the tense way in which he eyed Herr
Carovius made it clear to the latter that this was neither the time nor
the place to engage in mock conversation. Carovius talked gas pipes.
Benda finished all he had to say on this subject in two short, crisp
sentences and got up to go.
Herr Carovius got up too, removed his nose glasses, and rubbed them with
his bright blue handkerchief. "Where are you going, if I may ask?" There
was an expression of apparent sympathy in his question.
Benda made it a habit never to treat any man impolitely, however little
regard he might have for him personally. He said that he was going to
Kiel to deliver his trial lecture at the university.
"Bravo!" cried Carovius, falling at once into the tone of awkward
familiarity. "You have simply got to show those fellows that you are not
a coward. Bravo!"
"I don't quite understand you," said Benda in amazement. His antipathy
for the man was growing. And no one recognised this better than Carovius
himself.
He cast a sideglance that reeked with hypocrisy at the young scholar.
"My dear doctor, you must not look upon me as a poor uncultured yokel,"
he said, "_anch' io sono pittore_. I have read, among other things, your
monograph on the morphogenetic achievements of the original sulcate
cell. Listen, man! I take off my hat to that book. Of course, it is not
exactly original, but then it is one of your earlier works. The idea
developed in it follows pretty closely that of the evolutionary and
mechanical theories of the much slandered Wilhelm Roux. And yet I am
bound to say you display considerable independence in your method.
Indeed you do. And more than that, you throw much needed light on the
mysteries of God himself. There is a good deal of incoherent drivel
these days about the freedom of science. Well, you'll have to show me
where it is. Scientists? They are a lot of conceited pin-heads, each
working for himself, and incurably jealous of what his colleagues are
doing. Up and at 'em, Doctor, that's my advice, and luck to you!"
Benda was amazed to hear Carovius mention a work that was otherwise
known only to specialists. This however merely tended to increase his
distrust. He knew too much about the man to stand before him without a
feeling of hostility. He merely needed to call to mind the story of the
woman whose youth he had made into a waste place and a prison to be made
aware of the fact that it was quite impossible to stand in his presence
and breathe easily. The air of the room in which Carovius chanced to be
was heavy, stuffy, depressing.
Benda's bearing, however, remained unchanged. He replied in a serious
tone: "It is not after all easy to get along with people. Each has his
own place and wants to keep it. I thank you very much for your visit and
your kind words, but my time is limited. I have a great deal to do--"
"Oh, certainly," said Carovius hastily, while a rancorous grin flitted
across his face, "but you don't need to drive me away. I am going on my
own accord. I have an engagement at the district court at five o'clock,
I am to sign some sort of a document concerning the detention of my
sister in the insane asylum. It probably has to do with the settling of
her estate or something like that. Who knows? By the way, what have you
to say about the affair? You knew her rather intimately. No hedging,
doctor. There she sits in the cell and combs her hair. Can you imagine
who is responsible? You know a woman doesn't lose her mind from a mere
love affair. And this music swindler down stairs--it is impossible to
get him to show his true colours. Yes, we all have our troubles."
In order to take the sting out of his impudent insinuations, for he
regretted having made a premature move with his trump card, Carovius
smiled in a scurrilous fashion, ducked his head, coward that he was, and
riveted his greedy, banal eyes on Benda.
But Benda was looking down. His eyes had been attracted by the fancy
buckle shoes of Herr Carovius. He was repelled by the man's foppish
socks with the yellow stripes which were made more conspicuous by the
fact that his trousers were too high. He had a feeling of unmitigated
mental nausea, too, when he noticed how Carovius lifted first one foot
and then the other from the floor, and then set it down, heel first. It
was a detestable habit; and indulging in it made an ugly noise.