THE CASTLE LAKE.
Two years had passed away since lovely Eva Kalzow had met her death in
the waves of the amber sea. The obscurity that veiled her end had never
been lifted.
Blanden brooded in solitude, retired from the world in his Castle
Kulmitten; he absorbed himself completely in the study of Sanscrit and
of the Indian philosophical systems; in these he found the original
spring from which eastern wisdom has always drawn its supplies, even
supposing that the same train of thought has not led the minds in the
eastern and western worlds into the same path.
He had little intercourse with his neighbours; only his friend Baron
von Wegen and the worthy Landrath of the district remained true to him.
Of all others he was suspicious; he did not know who, at the late
election, had voted for or against him, and, under his peculiar
circumstances at the time of the election, and the similarity of his
political views to those of the electors, he felt obliged to look upon
the, to him, unfavourable record of votes, as an expression of want of
esteem, or at last of decided aversion.
But intensely as he mourned the unhappy occurrences at the sea-side,
for the malignity of fate which by means of his past had destroyed all
his plans for a beautiful future, and entangled an innocent noble
maiden in his own doom and hurled her into destruction, yet he was but
little qualified for a hermit's life; amidst the penance to which he
had condemned himself, the promptings to activity and love of life
stirred ever anew within him; he would work and labour, and if at times
he thought more with silent sadness of the charming girlish picture
that had entered into his life like a transient dream, full of
beautiful promise, yet the recollection of a shattered bliss could not
force the relinquishment of every one of the joys of life upon him.
He had much sympathy with the belief and mode of thought of the
Buddhists, but not the inclination to bury himself in nonentity. He
seemed to hear in distant reverberation the stream of the great world
pass by, and it drove him forth out of his solitude into the
temptations of life. He often imagined himself to be like Saint
Augustine, who was visited in his desert by the seductive spirits of
brighter days; often the pictures of Lago Maggiore rose before his
mind, the recollection of a southern night, and while wandering through
the apartments of his castle, he believed still to perceive the shining
traces of that mysterious visit which had never been explained to him.
He had been neither to the chief town nor to the sea-side during those
two years; then an event occurred which drew him forth out of his
brooding quiet life, the Jubilee at the University.
He would not be missing when all the scattered intellectual life in the
Province suddenly concentrated round one focus, and the companions of
his youth, the veterans of former days at the University, the later
rising generation of studious youths, bound in one common bond, met one
another in equal enthusiasm for works of science.
Blanden's first walk in Koenigsberg was to the little house in the
_Prinzessinstrasse_ in which the great Thinker lived. If any one spirit
descended to preside at this festival, it could only be that of
Emmanuel Kant, who had imprinted his noble impression for ever upon
this High School. Like the silver Albertus upon the cap, all citizens
of _Alma Mater_ bore the Thinker's picture in their heart.
And Blanden heard the inflammatory words of the spirited King who laid
the foundation stone of the new University in the _Koenigsgarten_.
He declared that it should be a home of light, and should scare the
bird of night back into its darkness. What a noble flight did that
Prince's enthusiasm take! He sounded the trumpet in the conflict of
intellect, but by his call he never failed to awake that which was
opposed to his own ideas.
The stirring life of this festival made a feverishly exciting
impression upon Blanden after his long retirement; his pulses throbbed,
his heart beat, the undecided need for mental occupation as for a life
transfigured by soul and beauty, became so overpowering within him,
that he felt physically oppressed and often gasped for breath. All
others here possessed some certain object in life, and rejoiced in the
pleasures of communion of labour; only he in the midst of these
thousand jubilant beings was a solitary man, yes, he even fancied that
his college friends avoided him, that the friendliness of their
greetings was somewhat constrained.
Towards evening he went across the bridge of the castle lake. There a
varied scene prevailed: gondolas filled with men singing, passed up and
down and frightened the proud swans as they sailed along; rockets and
balls of light ascended from the more distant gardens, while those
nearest began to gleam in a fairy-like manner, so that not only the
shade of the tree tops, but also the reflection of their radiance
floated in the water.
Blanden entered the _Boersengarten_; here too a dense, gay crowd
prevailed. Hardly had he forced his way past several well-filled
tables, before he encountered Dr. Kuhl, in the cheeriest, most excited
mood.
"Welcome, welcome--I should never have expected you to be here; this
alone converts the festivity into a thorough jubilee!"
"You have not allowed me to see anything of you for a long time," said
Blanden, reproachfully, "if even our friends forget us, we must become
perfect savages yonder in our Masuren desert."
"I have too much to do, new chemical discoveries and divers other
elective affinities! But the main thing is that you are here! To-day it
is delightful! Walpurgis for all authorities, and there is no lack of
charming witches. It is true that little red mice do not leap out of
their mouths as they did from that of the blessed Lilith, but to-day
most unguarded declarations escape the custody of their lips. All the
world is infatuated; the closest men of learning permit a glance into
their empty waistcoat pockets, and even the most prudish girls expand a
little to-day."
"But where shall we sit?"
"I am to sit by Dr. Reising, and shall be able to obtain a seat for
you."
"Dr. Reising is here?"
"How could he fail at the University Jubilee? besides, he is now a
special professor; his father-in-law has provided for him."
"And which daughter did he marry?"
"Like a sensible, order-loving man, the eldest naturally, Euphrasia!
But really he has to provide for all; old Baute is dead, they say in
consequence of a stroke of paralysis, which he brought upon himself by
his constant discussions with his son-in-law. Fortunately Dr. Reising's
uncle, whose heir he was, is also dead, and left him several hundred
thousand dollars. But Euphrasia is very economical with the money, and
as the sisters do not obtain what they wish from her, they have struck
into a better path and seek to win him over to themselves by the
development of their united amiability!"
"But of course he would provide for them?"
"Yes, what was needful, but they have plans which he shall further.
Lori has passed her examination as governess, and would like to begin a
boarding school here; but thrifty Emma, on the contrary, wishes to set
up a boarding-house, the sisters should help partly here partly there.
Then the question is how to get hold of the Doctor's capital for these
mild institutions; but Euphrasia guards the Nibelungen treasure like
the dragon Fafner in the legend."
The friends meanwhile had drawn near to the table, at which the
Professor with his wife and her three sisters Lori, Emma and Albertine
were sitting; the others had stayed behind in their new home. Reising's
appearance betrayed unwonted fashion; he even wore a gay coloured
neckerchief. That was Lori's taste, and at the same time a trophy of
her victory, because although Euphrasia had objected and maintained
that her husband must avoid everything remarkable, as it did not suit
him, Lori had conquered, and he had taken a grass green and ocean blue
tie from his drawer.
Reising greeted Blanden very pleasantly, as did his wife and
sisters-in-law. Of all those merry and sad events at the sea-side, the
ball beneath the pear-tree alone lived in their recollection.
"A glorious festival!" said the Professor, while pushing his hand
through his rebellious hair, which hitherto had opposed invincible
resistance to the combined attempts at beautifying it on the part of
his six sisters-in-law. "By it East Prussia makes progress in the
consciousness of liberty."
"You will take cold, dear brother," said Emma, "there is a cold air
from the lake."
Lori, with superior decision, took up a shawl that lay upon the table,
and wrapped the Professor in it. Unanimous as the two sisters were that
their brother-in-law's large heritage should be diminished in their
favour, yet a constant small internecine war of jealousy as to the
privilege of such favours, raged between them: Lori struggled for
intellectual cultivation, Emma for food and attendance. Euphrasia
looked upon her sisters' loving coquetry with proud indifference; she
knew that the key of the cash box lay in her hands.
"My brother is right," said Lori. "Such festivals contribute
considerably to the people's education, and the people must be
educated; one feels this necessity most keenly on such occasions as the
present. Not only the lower orders, even the higher require education;
people may say that men's student life for a time unsettles them;
scorn of citizen-like customs is implanted in them; late hours,
beer-drinking, smoking are acquired as noble habits of life, and to be
intoxicated is considered manly and correct, perhaps because the
ancient Germans, even upon their bearskins, sometimes lost their sense
of sobriety with drinking mead. Thus it is with men; but the daughters
of the higher classes are not much better off; more or less, they are
all badly brought up. Yes, people may even maintain the same of us,
although we are the daughters of a professor."
"You go too far," said Albertine, angrily, and thus broke the silence,
deep as an abyss, with which until now she had celebrated the day of
jubilee.
"Too far? What, have we then really learned, according to any system,
any principle? Nothing, absolutely nothing! Yes, any one who gave
herself the trouble, who followed her own inclinations, might attain
splendid results. But that is the case even with the B[oe]otians!
Method is everything; I shall introduce a method into my educational
institution that will satisfy the most temperate minds."
Reising looked timidly at Euphrasia, who always resisted the mention of
this future boarding-school most decidedly, to-day she contented
herself with carelessly humming a few bars of music.
"That is very grand," said Emma; "but I believe that physical
well-being has its rights also. Living in hotels is as uncomfortable as
possible; a stranger runs about like a numbered prisoner whose whole
rights of humanity depend upon the numeral of his rooms. How totally
different is a furnished house upon the English model; everything in
common, breakfast-table, dinner, tea in the evening, all flavoured with
conversation; an hotel transformed into a drawing-room--I could arrange
it capitally, like that intellectual society of which papa always
talked."
"What, intellectual society!" said Dr. Reising, while he coughed
slightly, as though this Herbartian allusion had stuck in his throat,
"all you have to do is to provide for the system of wants, for good
food and drink, that soul of every hotel, and even of an _hotel
garni_."
"What is the use of these castles in the air?" said Euphrasia,
shrugging her shoulders.
"What do you say to it, Herr von Blanden," began Lori, who wished to
draw the silent guest into the conversation.
"I have become estranged from all society in my forest solitude,"
replied he.
"And you live solitarily and alone?" asked Lori, with peculiar
emphasis.
"Alone with my thoughts and with the remembrance of the grief that has
befallen me."
Lori's eyes shone. Here was a chance, and the daughters of the upper
classes might wait. With rapid change of front, she turned away from
her brother-in-law and looked on without jealousy while Emma buttoned
up his overcoat. She herself began to pour out a cornucopia of
sweetness which was only destined for Herr von Blanden. She possessed
_esprit_ and aspirations, did that little Lori, and under pedagogic
education the _enfant terrible_ would have developed into a more
reserved lady of mental acuteness.
"I imagine life to be so beautiful in those primeval forests, where
elks and bison rove as in the days of the blessed Pikullus! How
delightful to be able thus to live upon one's recollections. You have
seen the world, Herr von Blanden; what a miserable part we must play
compared with you. You have seen the snowy peaks of the Himalaya, the
calm lakes of Thibet, the cloisters and pagodas, the tea-gardens of
Japan and the tea-plantations of the Celestial Empire. Lions, tigers
and apes are as familiar to you as generals, counsellors and dancing
partners of the _haute volee_ are to us; how insignificant to you must
the society appear that revolves in a circle upon this tiny spot of
earth! And yet you should not live in such retirement; a man of
intellect such as you is guilty of robbing us all, of robbing society
even when he buries himself in quietude."
Blanden listened with polite attention, when his glance suddenly fell
upon two ladies who passed by, accompanied by an officer and several
gentlemen, and who were greeted on all sides. His glance had only swept
slightly over the features of the one; but there was no doubt she was
his _principessa_ of the Lago Maggiore.
He would have liked to spring up and follow her; but how could he treat
the gifted speaker so cavalierly who turned to him with such ardour and
held him enthralled in the spell of her eyes and words. From that
moment, however, his distraction was unmistakable; his glances wandered
into space, but Lori would not release the victim of her eloquence.
"You must spend the winter season in the town here; oh, you have more
female admirers than you imagine; you will be _feted_ as you deserve,
for in truth the world is not so well supplied with intellectual men as
it appears to be, when one sees so many wildly luxuriant whiskers and
menacing eyebrows and the superior smile, which after all means so
little, of so many lords of creation. No, no, Herr von Blanden, you
must not withdraw yourself from society, you cannot condemn yourself to
everlasting solitude; too many wistful glances, that would be glad to
share it, follow you."
"Lori's distaff buzzes incessantly to-day," said Albertina, casting a
glance ready for conquest upon the gentleman sitting beside her.
Emma, who found the bird in the hand worth two in the bush, meanwhile
redoubled her attentions to her brother-in-law, whose hand she pressed
cordially, so as to console him for the few wounding sparks that flew
towards him from the anvil of Lori's loquaciousness.
"Yes," said she, "so long as there are gentlemen like Herr von Blanden,
and our good brother-in-law, the social circle cannot become oppressed
with tedium."
"I feel," said Dr. Kuhl, "that I am _de trop_ here; no one thinks it
worth while to transplant me amongst the stars. Therefore I must come
to the miserable end of a falling one."
Blanden meanwhile had risen, and after a polite bow had hastened
through the leafy garden paths after that form which wholly occupied
his attention; it had surely been no vision, but nowhere fluttered the
green veil, that like a greeting of hope flowed from the hat of his
_principessa_.
Here at a turn of the road, close to the lake, he believed he had
recognised it. It was the veil, but another, a strange face looked at
him from beneath the hat, a face fearfully hideous, that seemed to
laugh and grin at his disappointment.
He hastened back once more; with slow scrutiny he went from table to
table; here and there sat officers, but with unknown companions, the
one who had accompanied those ladies was remarkably tall and stout, he
was unmistakable.
All in vain; she must have already left the garden, but who was this
stranger who appeared to be so well known here, was universally greeted
with respect, with friendliness? Feeling annoyed, Blanden went up and
down the garden walks, he looked at every lady, found all ugly as
though the one had borne away with her all the radiance of beauty.
The Professor now made a move, followed by his female retinue. Lori
walked triumphantly in front of her sisters, but Blanden hastened to
evade a fresh experience of her loquacity. He deemed it safest to take
refuge by the castle lake; he entered a boat that lay by the water's
edge, and gave himself up to the guidance of the waves.
The moonlight made the lake; the jewel of that town on the Pregel,
sparkle in most splendid effulgence; although the evening was cold, a
southern shimmer, a dreamlike illumination swept around the lofty trees
in the garden, and the festive lights and gay lanterns in the verdant
shade, the ascending rockets and balls of light increased the emotional
impression of the small inland lake, lovely even in its everyday life.
A regatta of gondolas glided on wings through the waves, a race between
the sons of the muses of the oldest and most recent terms. The gondolas
of the former were left behind, for only few still had strength to
guide their oars. The others sat on board with redly glowing faces; a
few stared into the water in that silent despair which was the fruit of
enthusiastic hours, and powerful drinks, which the brewers of
Loebnichten understood how to prepare.
The _gaudeamus_ sung by powerful voices, echoed from afar, and as the
skiff drew nearer, Blanden perceived that the singers were gentlemen
with grey and silvery white hair, but their faces were as if suffused
with the reflection of youthful enthusiasm; it was no Charon's boat
with candidates for Orkus, enjoyment of life was written in their
features upon which at the same moment rested tokens of a glorious
emotion.
"Immortal youth of German student life," thought Blanden to himself,
"you are the guarantee for the youth of our nation, for the
intellectual freshness even of its older years, for the enthusiasm
which worships the highest gods, the freedom of the spirit and the
friendship of all hearts.
"But I myself--am I not become old? Do I not glide like a shadow
amongst these joyous beings? Does my heart still possess a youth? Must
I not guard myself against the funeral song of the land of the lotos
flowers, against the Indian barcarolle of Nirvana? Softly as the moon
sinks into the waters, sinks the soul into dreamlessness, after having
exhausted one dream after another! No! no! My pulses still throb, my
life has still an object, even although it only be the rapturous magic
of the moment! _Diva_, I seek my star!"
And with a powerful stroke of the oars, he clove the waves, he guided
his boat towards the town, away beneath the bridge! There busy life was
moving on the water; even the windows of the backs of the houses, the
balconies and seats were peopled with a gay human throng, and despite
the hoarse confused noise of many hundred voices, the chime of the
clock in the reformed church, whose tower cast a long shadow in the
waves, was heard above all.
There in the fitful light of the moon, and lamps with which the barks
were ornamented, he saw as in a vision the marble-like beautiful
features which lived so vividly in his recollection.
The lady sat in a boat with two others; the colossal lieutenant and
several young gentlemen rowed: at first the beautiful woman looked up
and appeared to contemplate the play of the rockets in the moonlight
night, or did she gaze upwards at the stars, which here stood paler in
the heavens, which seemed to be wanting in the fire of the south?
Blanden saw the profile of those finely cut features, the harmonious
lines of the face; they were the same as those which had enchanted him
upon the terrace of Lago Maggiore, when she stood there beneath the
unicorn of the Boromei, her gaze directed side-ways upon the peaceful
Isola Madre, and again as at that time he felt all the sensation of
artistic contentment which such euphonious beauty sheds. Quickly her
skiff glided past; now she cast a side glance at him, she too had
recognised him; she smiled, she bowed, but then flung the bouquet of
flowers which she held in her hand, into the water.
The lieutenant who bent over the gunwale to find the flowery sacrifice,
one probably little flattering for him, the donor of the nosegay,
suddenly concealed the _Principessa's_ picture. His effort was futile,
and with reproaches in which, as it appeared, the other gentlemen also
took part, he pulled the boat once more with irate impetuosity towards
the garden side of the lake.
Blanden followed in eager haste, but he found himself amid a confusion
of barks that formed an inextricably entangled clew. Intoxicated sons
of the muses increased the confusion, they took pleasure in the cries
of terror of the girls whose boats began to rock dreadfully, and would
have liked to enact the rape of the Sabines upon the water. Blanden
cursed the interruption; at last he succeeded in freeing his boat; the
_Principessa's_ bark had gained a great advantage, but he might hope to
encounter it again on its return journey.
This hope disappointed him! When he had rowed along the extent of the
last gardens beside the castle lake, he met the empty boat guided by a
boatman.
The party must have landed at some private garden, several of which
enframed the lake at this part; the surly old man on being hailed,
replied "that he knew nothing." The traces of the mysterious beauty
were lost to him again.
"But not for ever," he vowed to himself!
She had thrown the nosegay into the water; should all memory of the
happiness of love be buried with it?
But, no! He was filled with a new hope in life; the castle lake had
suddenly been transformed, as if by fairy's art, into the enchanted
Italian one. Vine clad hill terraces rose on its level shores, distant
lofty ice peaks cast avalanches upon the Alpine passes, and in the
shade of the pines lay the villa upon whose windows the moonlight
played, telling of happiness to come.