Part 23 (1/2)
”Unfortunately,” said Molly, still ungraciously. ”It is very sad to be a bachelor. Why do you not marry?”
”I?” cried Benno, dismayed at the question.
”Certainly; you must marry as soon as possible.”
The words sounded so dictatorial that the doctor did not venture to contradict them; he merely bowed so profoundly that Frau Molly began to feel her irritation evaporate, and she added, in a milder tone,--
”Albert is married and likes it extremely. Do you doubt it?”
”Oh, no, a.s.suredly not,” poor Benno hastened to reply; ”but I----”
”Well, you, Herr Doctor?” his new relative persisted.
”I am not accustomed to ladies' society, and my manners are very rude,”
he said, sadly,--”very rude, madame,--and that unfits me for social enjoyment.”
This confession found favour with Molly. A man who felt his deficiencies so profoundly deserved sympathy. She laid aside her air of severity and rejoined, kindly,--
”They can easily be improved. Come, sit down, Herr Doctor, and let us discuss the matter.”
”What! Marriage?” Benno asked, in renewed dismay. This seemed like an immediate settlement of his future life, and he was naturally startled.
”Oh, no: only your manners, for the present. You are anxious to learn, I can see; all you want is some one to advise and train you. I will do it!”
”Oh, madame, how kind you are!” said the doctor, with so touching an expression of grat.i.tude that his instructor of eighteen was entirely won over.
”I am your cousin, and my name is Molly,” she rejoined. ”We must call each other by our first names; so, Benno, come and sit down by me.”
He complied with her invitation rather shyly, but the little lady soon put him entirely at his ease. She questioned him closely, and he soon grew very confidential; he told her about his awkwardness at the Nordheim villa, his consequent mortification, and his desperate but fruitless attempts to attain some degree of ease of manner. As he went on, all his awkwardness vanished and he showed himself as he was, frank, true, intelligent, and kindly. When Gersdorf returned at the end of a quarter of an hour, he found his wife and his cousin talking together like the best of friends.
”I have had the luggage brought here for the present,” he said, ”and I have sent to know if we can have rooms at the inn.”
”Not at all necessary,” said Molly; ”we can stay here. I am sure Benno will make room for us; will you not, Benno?”
”Of course I will,” the doctor exclaimed, eagerly. ”I shall move out.
Gronau and I can move into the garret, and you can have the lower rooms, Molly. I will go and have it arranged immediately.”
He sprang up, and hurried out to do as he said.
”Benno?--Molly? You seem to have made astonis.h.i.+ng progress in a few minutes!”
”Albert, your cousin is a very superior man,” Molly declared. ”We must befriend the young fellow; it is our duty as his relatives.”
Her husband burst out laughing: ”The young fellow? Allow me to observe, madame, that he is just twelve years your senior.”
”I am a married woman,” was the dignified reply, ”and he, unfortunately, is a bachelor. But it is not his fault, and I shall have him married as soon as possible.”
”Good heavens!” exclaimed Gersdorf, ”you have scarcely seen poor Benno, and you are already scheming to marry him? I beg you----”