Part 91 (1/2)
Brasig went up to the gracious Frau, who had rested her arm on the table and covered her eyes with her hand, as if the light hurt them, made a deep bow, and inquired after her health, and when she had answered quietly, he asked, ”And how is the young Herr von Rambow?”
Frida shrank together, and Habermann, who had intended to call in the others, one by one, saw that a diversion must be made, or Brasig, in all innocence, would distress the young Frau with his questions and remarks.
”Zachary,” said he, ”do me the favor to bring in the Frau Pastorin and my sister; Louise may come, too.”
”Very well, Karl,” and presently he returned with the women.
Frau Pastorin went up directly to the young Frau, and pressed her to her heart, and could not restrain herself from weeping bitterly. Louise stood by, with the deepest, though silent, compa.s.sion in her heart.
”G.o.d of Abraham!” exclaimed Moses, ”what a night is this! They want to transact a business, and they cry over each other, and press each other's hands, and hang about each other's necks, and are magnanimous and affectionate, and keep an old man, like me, sitting up till morning. Mamselle Habermann,” he added aloud, ”when you are done with your tender feelings, perhaps you can get me a drop of wine; I am an old man.”
Louise ran and brought a bottle of wine and a gla.s.s, and Brasig said, ”Bring me a gla.s.s, too, Louise!” and had possibly the intention of having a little frolic with Moses, for he sat down by him, and began to touch gla.s.ses: ”To your good health, Moses!”
But it wasn't successful, Moses did not seem disposed to respond, and Habermann brought up his sister; Moses moistened his pencil, and wrote.
After Frau Nussler came the Frau Pastorin; Moses wrote again, and before the young Frau, who sat in the corner with Louise, knew what was going on, it was all settled; and Moses stood up, saying:
”Shall I tell you some news? I will tell you: the thirty-one thousand thalers are secured, and the people are all good; but it is no business, your magnanimity has run away with you. Well, what will you have? I am a Jew, it has run away with me too; I will advance the money. But I am an old man, I am a cautious man. If the Herr von Rambow will not employ an Inspector, and do as he ought, the business is worthless, and I will have nothing to do with it. When they lay me in the church-yard, under the fir-trees, where I have built an enclosure, then people would say, 'Well, he built that enclosure for himself; what is an enclosure of oaken-wood? Shortly before his death he got honest people into trouble, only that he might make a speculation.' There is Frau Nussler, there is Frau Pastorin, there is Herr Habermann, and there is also Herr Brasig. I have been a man of business, from my youth, first with my pack, and then with my produce and wool, and finally with my money, and as a man of business I will die; but a cautious one. Come, Habermann, take hold of me, and help me home again!
Good-night, Frau Nussler, my regards to Herr Jochen, he must come and see me. Good-night, Herr Inspector Brasig, you must come and see me too; but don't talk about the Reform any more, I am an old man.
Good-night, Mamselle Habermann, when you pa.s.s my house again, greet me as kindly as you did last time. Good-night, Frau Pastorin, when you go to bed, you can say I have had honest people in my house, tonight, the old Jew, also, is an honest man.” Then he went up to Frida:
”Good-night, gracious Frau, you have wept to-night, because you are not used to it; but never fear, it will all come right; you have a new friend, it is the old Jew; but the old Jew has shed tears over you, and he will not forget it; he does not weep often now.”
He turned away, and, saying ”Good-night!” once more, without looking round, went out with Habermann, Louise lighting them to the door. All was silent in the room; each was busy with his own thoughts. The first to recollect herself was Frau Nussler; she called Krischan, who was asleep in the hall, and made him bring around the carriage. Krischan obeyed with unusual celerity, for, when Habermann returned from convoying Moses home, the young Frau and his sister were already in the carriage, and he had barely time to say a few friendly, hopeful words to the young Frau, when Frau Nussler said, ”Good-night, Karl! She must go back to her child. Krischan, to Pumpelhagen!” and they drove off.
Habermann was still standing in the street, looking after the carriage, and was just turning to go into the house, when, another carriage came slowly up the street, with a pair of gray horses s.h.i.+ning before it, in the moonlight. The old man stepped back, and stood in the doorway, his daughter had left a candle for him, in the hall, and he stood there like a gigantic shadow against the light. He waited to see who was driving, so late or so early, through the silent streets; the carriage came nearer, it stopped before the house.
”Take the reins!” cried a voice which seemed strangely familiar to him, and a man on the front seat threw back the reins to the coachman, and jumped down.
”Habermann! Habermann! Don't you know me?”
”Franz! Herr von Rambow!”
”What is going on here, that you are up so late? No misfortune?”
”No,--thank G.o.d!--no! I will tell you directly.”
The young man threw his arms about the old man, and pressed him to his heart, and kissed him, again and again, and it was no misfortune, it was the purest happiness, and yet one might have supposed it was misfortune, if he had seen the maiden who sat in the next room. The color was all gone out of her cheeks, and her great eyes grew larger and larger, staring at the door, and she pressed both hands against her heart, and when she tried to rise, it seemed as if the earth trembled, and thunder rolled above her, and the voice outside struck like, lightning to her heart. She did not know, she could not make it clear in this brief moment; but the garden, which she had planted years ago, with quiet, modest flowers, with shady trees, where she had so often watched the evening star, and on which the silent night had fallen, stood suddenly revealed before her, in the lightning flashes, and when these pa.s.sed over, and the heart was bowed down, suddenly the sun arose, with such blinding radiance, that she must turn away her eyes; but yet she could not, for in her quiet garden wonder after wonder was bursting into bloom in the sunlight; the modest violets changed into red roses, s.h.i.+ning like a bridal wreath, and the odor of the fragrant blossoms changed into the song of nightingales calling to their mates.
And her hands sank down from her heart, and her heart beat evenly, and full, and when he entered the door, holding Habermann's hand, she threw herself on his breast, and the earth no longer trembled, and the thunder no longer rolled, and no lightning flashes smote her; but light was all around her, pure light! And they spoke to each other, they talked much with each other: ”Franz!” ”Louise!” and no one understood their language, and they all stood about her, and could not understand, for it was long since they had heard the language, and yet they must have had some perception of its meaning, for Uncle Brasig took pity on the young people, who were flying away, above the earth, among the clouds, and brought them back, with a shock, to terra firma.
”Frau Pastorin,” said he, ”when I had three sweethearts at once----”
”For shame, Brasig!” cried Frau Pastorin, through her tears of emotion.
”Frau Pastorin, you said the same thing, when I wrote, through Doctor Urtlingen, to the young Herr von Rambow, at Paris; but I wasn't, at all ashamed, and I am not ashamed to-day; I have never in my life done anything to be ashamed of. For, you see, Frau Pastorin,” and he placed himself before her with great dignity, and blew his nose, but rather, above it, as if something had got into his eyes; ”you see, Frau Pastorin, I have brought about a good many rendezvous lately; first in the water-ditch----”
”Brasig!” cried the little Frau Pastorin.
”Be quiet, Frau Pastorin, I shall say nothing about it, and I will tell lies for you, if it is necessary. Secondly, Gottlieb and Lining in the cherry-tree; thirdly, Rudolph and Mining, also in the cherry-tree; but you must not think it strange if a man has a certain feeling of pride, at having brought about a rendezvous between Rahnstadt and Paris; and that is what I have done.”