Part 57 (1/2)
Then came Phillipping, and tugged at his blue dress-coat,--for out of spite to his Hauning, he had kept it on, against all law and order,--and said the Herr von Rambow was there, and wished to speak to him.
The Herr von Rambow? Come, wait! now he had one whom he could torment in turn, upon whom he could avenge the sufferings his family had caused him; the Herr von Rambow? wait! he was going in, but there he came himself, towards him.
”Good morning, my respected Herr neighbor, how are you? I wanted to learn how it has gone about the pastor's acre.”
So? Pastor's acre? No, wait, don't let him see it! Pomuchelskopp looked down at the little bit of a nose which nature had given him, and said not a word.
”Now, how has it been?” asked Axel. But Pomuchelskopp said neither good nor bad, and looked along his nose, as if it extended for miles.
”My dear Herr Neighbor, what is the matter? It is all right, I hope?”
”I hope so,” said Muchel, stooping to pull a weed out of the potatoes; ”at least your note for the two thousand thalers is all right.”
”What?” asked Axel, astonished, ”what has that to do with it?”
Wait, Axel! that is all coming right; keep still! he only wants to tease you a little. What must be, must.
”You, Herr von Rambow,” said Muchel, still plucking weeds, and turning a red face up to the young Herr, ”you have the two thousand thalers, and I the Pastor's acre,--that is to say, I haven't it.”
”But, Herr Neighbor, you were so sure”----
”Not nearly so sure as you, you have the two thousand thalers--haven't you? You got them? and I”--and he shook his left leg, and thrust the words out from his chest, ”and I--I have--the devil!”
”But----”
”Ah, let your 'Buts' alone, I have heard 'Buts' enough this morning; our business is about these notes,” and he felt in his pocket, ”So! I have another coat on, and have not the pocket by me where they are. One was due three weeks ago.”
”But, my dear Herr Neighbor, how came you to think of it just to-day?
It is not my fault, that you have not been able to rent the acre.”
It does you no good, Axel, keep still! He'll not do anything, only torment you a little. Pomuchelskopp had heard too much already to-day, about that cursed field, to trouble himself about it any longer, so he pa.s.sed by Axel's remark, and took another turn at the screw.
”I am an amiable man, I am a friendly man; the people say, also, that I am a rich man, but I am not rich enough to throw my money into the street, I cannot afford that yet. But, Herr von Rambow, I must see something, I must see something. I must see that the soul stays in a gentleman, and when one has signed a note, then he must also see----”
”My best Herr Neighbor,” interrupted Axel, in great distress, ”I had clean forgotten it. I beg you--I had not thought of it at all.”
”So?” asked Muchel, ”not thought of it? But a man _should_ think, and”--he was going on, but his eye fell upon Pumpelhagen; no I don't let him notice! why should he shake the tree, the plums were not yet ripe. ”And,” he continued, ”I owe all this to my friends.h.i.+p for that miserable fellow, that Brasig. So he has repaid the kindnesses I did him in his youth. I lent him money when he wanted to buy a watch, he has worn trousers of mine when his were torn, and now? Ah! I know well how it all hangs together,--that old hypocrite, Habermann, is behind.”
Give the devil a finger, and he soon takes the whole hand, and then he leads you whither he will, and if it suits his humour, he holds you before him, and you must pray in distress and sorrow, in anguish and pain.
So it was with Axel; he must agree, in a friendly way, with the Herr Proprietor, he must hew at the same timber, against his honor and conscience, he must slander Brasig and Habermann. Why? Because the devil, with his note in his hand, pressed him down on his knees. And he did it, too; the gay, careless lieutenant of cuira.s.siers lay on his knees before the devil, and talked all sorts of malice and detraction concerning Brasig and Habermann, to appease his old Moloch, in the blue dress-coat; he was a traitor to his best friends, he was a traitor to his G.o.d. But when he came to himself sufficiently to be aware of what he had done, he was full of self-contempt, and rode hastily away from the house, where he had left a great part of his honor.
He rode home, and as he came to the boundary of his fields, he saw Habermann, in the oppressive heat of the sun, following the sowing-machine, and preparing everything for the seed-time, and for whom? For _himself_, he must answer, and the coals of fire burned his head. And when he had ridden a little farther, a linen frock appeared before him, and Uncle Brasig came toiling up, shouting across the field, ”Good day, Karl! I am on the right apropos, that is to say on a preliminary cow business and it is all right; we are going to farm it ourselves, and Zamel Pomuchelskopp may go hang;” and then he heard Axel's horse, and turned round, and the worm, that was gnawing in Axel's breast, made him a little more friendly to the old fellow, and he said:
”Good day, Herr Inspector! What? always on your legs?”
”Why not, Herr Lieutenant? They still hold out, in spite of the Podagra, and I have undertaken to procure an inventory for the young pastor people, and am on my way to Gulzow, to Bauer Pugal; he has a couple of milch cows, that I want to acquire for the Herr Pastor.”