Part 36 (1/2)

”Frau Nussler,” said Brasig, ”have I not looked after them, till all my bones were sore? But there is no harm done, so far as I can see. What do you say to it, Jochen?”

”I have nothing to say; my blessed mother always said: A candidate and a governess----”

”Jochen,” cried Frau Nussler, ”you will talk me dead, and you learned this very chattering from Rudolph, the rascal!”

”Blockhead!” exclaimed Kurz, dancing about the pair, ”why didn't you tell me that, in the first place? I would have forgiven you anything, on account of this little--this dear little daughter!” and he lifted up Mining's head, and kissed her.

”Gracious heavens!” cried Frau Nussler, ”there is Kurz calling her his daughter, and kissing her, and his boy is nothing at all yet, and Mining is so inconsiderate!”

”So?” said Brasig. ”You mean because she is the youngest? Now come here a minute, I want to speak to you privately,” and he led Frau Nussler into the corner, and the two looked attentively at the old spittoon, which stood there. ”Frau Nussler,” said he, ”what is right for one, must be reasonable for the other. You have given your blessing to Lining, why not to Mining? Yes, it is true, she is not so thoughtful, because she is the youngest; but after all, Madame Nussler, the difference in years is so little, in a pair of twins, that it is scarcely to be regarded, and then--you must give your daughter to the presbyter, and how he will take care of her, the devil knows! we know nothing about the ways of the clergy, for you and Jochen and I have never studied theology; but the other, the duel-fighter, you see how he stands there, as if he could cut his way through the world--a confounded rascal! well, you see with him, as a farmer, we shall have the advantage, for you and Habermann and I, and if the worst comes to the worst, Jochen himself, an look after him, and admonish him, and Keep him in order. And you see, Frau Nussler, I always thought Jochen would improve with age; but does he improve? No, he doesn't improve, and it may be a real blessing for you to have this youth here, as a son-in-law, if he does well, for we are getting old, and when I close my eyes--well, I shall last a little while longer, perhaps--but it would be a great comfort to me to know that you had some one on hand, to look after you.”

And the old fellow looked down fixedly into the spittoon, and Frau Nussler threw her arm around his neck, and kissed him, for the first time in her life, and said in a quiet, friendly way; ”Brasig, if you really think it right, then it cannot be against the will of G.o.d.” Many an arbor has witnessed a fresher, rosier, more glowing kiss, but the old spittoon would not exchange with them.

And Frau Nussler turned back, and went up to Rudolph, and said, ”Rudolph, I say nothing more but, In G.o.d's name,” and she drew Mining to her arms, and reached after Lining, and laid the two little twins alternately upon her breast, as she had done years ago, and hope stood again at her side, in her freshest, green wreath, as she had done years ago; yet it was quite different to-day, from that other time. Then she had given the two little twins, now she would take them away; for hope is like the bee, she plunger into every flower, and extracts from each its honey.

And Brasig went up and down the room, with great strides, and held his nose in the air, and snuffed about, and elevated his eyebrows, and turned out his little legs, with as much dignity and importance, as if he were the rightful father, who should give away the children, and had made up his mind to the sacrifice, and by him also stood a fair, womanly image. With a wreath, it was a wreath of moss and yellow immortelles; but it harmonized well with the still, sad eyes, and she took him softly by the hand, and led him again and ever again towards the mother and children, till he laid his hands on her head, and whispered in her ears, ”Be content, you shall have them still.”

Rudolph had gone directly up to Gottlieb, and offered him his hand: ”You are no longer angry with me, to-day, are you, Gottlieb?” and Gottlieb pressed his hand, saying, ”How can you think so, dear brother?

Forgiveness is the Christian's duty.” And the rector coughed, as if he were preparing to deliver a brief oration, but Kurz caught hold of his coat, and begged him, for G.o.d's sake, not to spoil the business--and then all at once, the company became aware that Jochen was missing.

Where was Jochen?

”Good gracious!” cried Frau Nussler, ”where is my Jochen?”

”Good gracious! where is Jochen?” repeated one and another; but Brasig was the first who made any efforts to bring him back to his proper place; he ran out, and screamed out of the front door, across the court-yard, ”Jochen!” and ran back again, and screamed through the garden, ”Jochen!” and, as he came back through the kitchen, he saw a fiery face puffing and blowing at the coals, under a great copper kettle, and that was Jochen's face.

The feeling had come over him, that he ought to do something, in honor of such a special occasion, and his heart became so warm, that five and twenty degrees (Reaumur) in the shade seemed too cool for him, and since he wanted to bring his outside into harmony with his inside, and could think of nothing more suitable to a family festival, he decided upon punch, and was brewing it in the most energetic manner. Brasig a.s.sisted, and undertook the tasting, and they came back finally, bearing in Frau Nussler's largest soup-tureen, both fiery as a pair of dragons guarding a treasure, and Jochen placed it on the table, with the single word, ”There!” and Brasig said to the little twin-apples, ”Go to your father, and thank him; your father thinks of everybody.”

As the old fellows gathered about the punch-bowl, and the young people had something else to think about, Frau Nussler stole quietly out of the room; she wished to talk over the matter with an older friend than Brasig.

The little twin-apples were hidden in the green arbor of their happy future; only as Uncle Brasig's playful jests blew aside the green leaves, their blus.h.i.+ng faces were revealed.

”Yes,” said he to Gottlieb, ”there are all sorts of people in the world, and wicked Pietists among them. You wanted to convert me, take care I don't convert you; I shall convert you by means of Lining.” And as Gottlieb was about to reply, he stood up, and gave him his hand in the heartiest manner, ”Well, never mind, you will have fire enough yet, and if you are the village pastor, I shall get on well with you, and we shall be good friends.”

And to Rudolph, he said, ”Just wait! You have caught my tench out of the pool, you rascal, but Hilgendorff will make you face the music,”

and he went up to his young fis.h.i.+ng-comrade and whispered in his ear: ”It is not so bad! You must always think of Mining, with every bushel of corn you measure out, and when you are out in the spring, in a stiff east wind, with a dozen laborers, and the old loam-dust flies in your nose, and sticks there, as if a swallow had built her nest in your head, and the sun looks out through the dust, as round and red as a copper-kettle, then you must think that is Mining's face, looking down on you. Isn't it so, my little G.o.dchild?”

Meanwhile the rector had drank three gla.s.ses of punch, one to the health of each betrothed pair, and one to the health of the company, and he would allow himself no longer to be hindered, even by Kurz, from resuming his interrupted speech. He began with the introduction to the introduction. He stood up, reached after a tea-spoon and after the sugar-tongs, which had been on the table since coffee was served, coughed a couple of times, as a sign that he was ready to begin, and when he was aware that all were looking at him, and Jochen had folded his hands, he first looked very thoughtfully, now at the spoon, and then at the tongs. All at once, he thrust the spoon right under Brasig's nose, as if Brasig had stolen it, and must be convicted of the act: ”Do you know that?”

”Yes,” said Brasig, ”what of it?” Then he held the sugar-tongs before Kurz's eyes, and asked if he knew it.

Kurz knew it, it was Jochen's.

”Yes,” he began; ”you know them; that is, you have a sensible perception of them, you know how to distinguish them from other objects by color, shape, and brightness: but the moral conception, which I connect with them, you do not know.”

He looked around, as if he expected some one to contradict him; but they were all silent.

”No, you do not know it! I must communicate and explain it to you. See, how long will it be before the careful housewife of this family will come and take spoon and tongs, and put these, which are now visibly divided, lying here on the table, into one common tea-caddy, where they will rest together; in thousands of houses they rest together in one tea-caddy, and for a thousand years, they rest together in one tea-caddy. It is a custom honored for ages, that what belongs together should not be separated. And Adam”--here he held up the sugar-tongs--”and Eve”--then he held up the tea-spoon--”belonged together, for they were created for each other,”--here he held them both up--”and the Lord himself put them together in the tea-caddy of Paradise. And what did Noah do? He built himself an ark, a tea-caddy,--if you will, my beloved,--and he called the males and females, and they followed his call,”--here he marched the sugar-tongs over the table, alternately pinching them together and letting them loose again, and shoved the tea-spoon after them--”and they went----”

”Come in!” cried Brasig, for somebody knocked at the door, and in walked Fritz Triddelsitz. ”Herr Habermann's compliments to Herr Nussler, and would he lend him a pair of rape-sifters, as they were ready to begin harvesting.” This made a little disturbance, but the rector remained standing at his post.