THE LONG DAY.
HAMILTON could not help feeling flattered at the evident pleasure which
his return caused to every member of the Rosenberg family. The two
little boys began immediately to tell him that the Christmas-tree was
expected the next day. Gustle said that he had written a list of all the
toys he wished for, had placed it under his pillow, and that the little
child Christ had come for it and carried it off; “So, you see, I must
have been very good, or he would not have taken the list, and I shall
get all the things I wrote for.”
“And,” said Peppy, “mamma met the infant Christ in the Ludwig Street,
and he asked if I had been a good child, and when mamma said yes, he
promised to fly into the nursery to-morrow evening and light the
candles, and bring me a gun, and a cart, and _bon-bons_, and
gingerbread.”
“To-morrow is Christmas-eve,” said Madame Rosenberg, “a great day with
us. Captain Smith told me that you do not celebrate it in the same
manner as we do. As to Gustle,” she added in a whisper, “he is a cunning
little fellow, and only half believes what he says, but Peppy has still
all the innocent faith of childhood. I, for my own part, firmly believed
that Jesus gave me all my Christmas presents until I was nearly ten
years old; but children now are not so easily made to believe what we
say.”
“I don’t quite like this idea,” said Hamilton. “Speaking in this way
seems to me to be irreverent, and must oblige you to tell the children a
number of untruths.”
“Ah, bah!” cried Madame Rosenberg, laughing, “you are all too particular
in this respect.”
“I think,” said her husband, “that as long as they can believe it, they
may, and when they cease to do so, they naturally think that it is God
who has given us the means of gratifying their wishes, and so the gifts
after all come from him.”
“Oh, how I enjoy the idea of my Christmas-tree this year,” exclaimed
Crescenz.
“Of course you do,” said Madame Rosenberg, “as you know that you will
get so many presents. The Major returns to-morrow in order to give you
the gold chain and topaz ornaments he promised you, and perhaps he may
bring something of his sister’s for you from Nuremberg.”
“And what do you expect to get?” said Hamilton, turning to Hildegarde.
“I don’t know,” she replied, looking with a smile towards her father,
“but I have a sort of idea that I shall get my first ball dress and some
books. Mamma has promised me a tree for myself, so perhaps I shall give
you some of my _bon-bons_.”
“How I wish to-morrow were come!” cried Gustle.
“I wish dinner were on the table,” said Mr. Rosenberg, “although we get
nothing now but veal to eat, which my wife considers as a sort of
preservative against cholera.”
“You are just as much afraid of cholera as I am, Franz,” she said, and
then added in a whisper to Hamilton, “He laughs at me, but he takes
drops and pills every night. While you were at Edelhof, we had some
scenes which would, perhaps, have alarmed you. First, I thought I had
got the cholera, but it was only some fat of roast lamb which had
disagreed with me. Then the cook made herself ill by eating the apples
which I had given her that the children might not ask for them. Then
Peppy——”
“Dinner is on the table,” cried old Hans, merely putting his grey head
into the room.
“That’s right,” cried Mr. Rosenberg, “and now I request that the cholera
be no more named among us. A fine of six kreutzers for every time the
word is said.”
“Oh, as to not saying the word ‘cholera,’” began his wife.
“A fine, a fine,” cried Mr. Rosenberg; “the money shall be put into a
box and given to the poor.”
“Oh, dear,” exclaimed Crescenz, “I must take great care, or all my
pocket-money will be spent on the cho——”
Hildegarde’s hand was on her mouth before the word was pronounced. The
little boys clapped their hands, Hamilton laughed, and Mr. Rosenberg
said he was sure that his wife and Crescenz would prove themselves the
most charitable by their contributions.
The next morning Hamilton spent in choosing his presents; he was for
some time exceedingly puzzled, and wavered long between books and
bronze, glass and gold; at length he recollected having heard Hildegarde
once say that she wished for nothing in this world so much as a little
watch, but that she feared she never would be in possession of one. This
decided at once his doubts, and as the others interested him less, he
had soon completed his purchases with a large box of toys for the
children.
On his return, he found Fritz at home for the holidays; he was sitting
at the drawing-room window with his brothers, all three yawning and
looking most melancholy. “What o’clock is it?” was the exclamation as he
entered.
“Four o’clock,” said Hamilton; “but why do you look so sorrowful?”
“Two whole hours to wait,” sighed Fritz.
“Two long hours,” yawned Gustle.
“Two hours before the angel comes to light the candles and ring the
bell,” said Peppy.
“Pshaw, mamma might light the candles at five o’clock; it will be dark
enough, I am sure,” said Fritz, in a whisper to Hamilton.
“Where are your sisters?”
“They are with mamma, hanging the _bon-bons_ and fastening the wax
tapers on the trees, I suppose; but when the presents are being brought
in they will be sent off too, though Crescenz thinks herself old enough
to light the candles and do everything.”
“In what room are they?”
“In the school-room, but you need not expect to get in; both doors are
locked.”
“What do you think the little child Jesus will send you?” asked Peppy,
approaching Hamilton confidentially. “Did you, too, put a list under
your pillow, like Gustle? Next year, if I can write, I shall ask for so
many things. Trumpets, and drums, and harlequins. What do you think you
will get?”
“_Bon-bons_, probably.”
“And something else, too,” said Gustle, nodding his head.
“You promised not to tell,” cried Fritz, threateningly approaching his
brother.
“Don’t you think,” cried Gustle, boldly, “that because you wear a
uniform, I’m afraid of you. I’ll tell what I like——”
Fritz caught him by the collar, Gustle threw off his arm, and a
considerable scuffle ensued.
“Hildegarde has not finished the travelling-bag,” shouted Gustle,
angrily, “and papa says it is just as well, as it was not a civil sort
of present.”
At this moment Hildegarde and Crescenz entered the room.
“Turned out! turned out!” cried Fritz and Gustle, unanimously joining in
the attack on their sisters.
Hildegarde smiled, Crescenz grew red, and observed that everything was
ready; there was nothing more to be done.
“Turned out all the same,” said Fritz, “though you are nearly sixteen,
and going to be married. Ha! ha! ha!”
“You are very ill-natured, Fritz, always talking of my going to be
married, though you know I dislike its being spoken of.”
“Not you! Didn’t I see you playing grand with Lina Berger when I was at
home last Sunday? You both seemed to consider Hildegarde beneath your
notice, and she is worth a dozen such as you, and a hundred such as Lina
Berger.”
“I was learning to make a new kind of purse.”
“As if I did not know the purses were all made! No, you were talking of
old Count Zedwitz, who was so ill that the Doctor had to visit him at
his castle. I heard all you said, and understood you, too, though you
spoke French.”
Crescenz blushed deeply. Hildegarde became very pale, turned suddenly to
her sister, and said, in a scarcely audible voice, “Crescenz, you surely
have not had the cruelty to explain to Lina Berger, or gratify her
curiosity?”
“Lina suspected almost everything, and asked me so many questions that I
did not know what to say. You forget that the Doctor was sent for, and
that the old Count was ill from mental agitation; I dare say he told him
everything.”
“What he left untold you have supplied. It is the last time I shall ever
confide in you.”
“Don’t be angry, Hildegarde,” cried Crescenz, with tears in her eyes;
“surely it is no disgrace to you that such a man as Count Zedwitz wished
to——”
“Silence!” cried Hildegarde, sternly, “and never mention his name
again.”
“Whew,” whistled Fritz; “Hildegarde is in a passion; look at her eyes!
Fight it out, Cressy, and then make it up again!”
But Crescenz threw herself on her knees before her sister, and, seizing
her hands, faltered, “Oh, Hildegarde, forgive me; I have done wrong, but
you know that Lina always makes me do as she pleases. Forgive me—only
say that you forgive me this time!”
“I forgive you,” said Hildegarde, “but I never can trust you again.”
The sound of Madame Rosenberg’s voice speaking to Major Stultz in the
adjoining room made Crescenz spring up and follow the children, who ran
to meet him.
Hamilton looked at Hildegarde, but did not utter a word. Every feature
of her face expressed intense annoyance, as she slowly turned to the
window and leaned her head against it. The greetings in the next room
were cordial; the children boisterously reminded Major Stultz of the
presents which he had promised to bring them from Nuremberg.
“They are come or coming,” he answered; “I had them all packed up; and
only think, the infant Christ met me on my way here, took them all from
me, and promised to place them all under the Christmas-tree this evening
himself.”
“Well,” cried Fritz, “I must say that this 24th of December is the very
longest day in the whole year.”
“And yet it is generally supposed to be one of the shortest,” said Major
Stultz, laughing; he advanced towards Hamilton and shook his hand.
“You are a new arrival as well as myself, I hear. All my people in
Nuremberg tried to persuade me to stay there in order to be out of the
way of the cholera, and they would, perhaps, have succeeded, had not my
impatience to see Crescenz again been so great; besides, I hope to hurry
matters by my presence, and that in about a fortnight at furthest,
Madame Rosenberg——”
“I have no objection, my dear Major, but Franz has taken it into his
head that Crescenz ought to wait until after her birthday, and go to one
ball with her sister before her marriage. We do not yet know when the
first museum ball will take place.”
“Pooh, nonsense! She can go to the ball after our marriage, just as well
as before it; eh, Crescenz?”
Crescenz smiled unmeaningly, and Hildegarde turned the conversation by
telling her mother that the Hoffmanns had requested permission to come
to the Christmas-tree in the evening, to see the presents.
“You have invited them, of course. The Bergers are coming too, and old
Madame Lustig; I invited her because I intend to ask her to take charge
of you all some day next month, as I have promised to visit my father at
the iron-works; besides, she has taken a deal of trouble about workwomen
for Crescenz, and all that sort of thing; I expect her to offer to stay
here to-night and take care of the children until we return from the
midnight mass. I hope, Major, you can remain awake until twelve
o’clock.”
“In Crescenz’s society I can answer for myself; otherwise I must say I
consider nine o’clock as the most rational hour for retiring to rest.”
“But you will go with us to hear the high mass at midnight, won’t you?”
“Oh, of course.”
“Come, girls, assist me to arrange the tea things; we will not, however,
employ Mr. Hamilton to make tea this time, but he may help to carry the
long table out of the next room for us.”
Hamilton and Major Stultz carried in the table, and everything was soon
arranged for the expected guests.
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