Part 6 (2/2)
”It must be with my dear father as it is with me,” she said to herself by way of explanation. ”He recognizes the snake-like nature in Brother Jonathan, but dares not show it; and having been friends in early youth, he still loves him in spite of everything.”
Weeks and months pa.s.sed away. Mauer's house was in process of being completed, and he was constantly urging the workmen to have it ready for him as soon as possible, as he longed to be settled.
The plan had evidently been drawn on the same simple and s.p.a.cious style of the hacienda in Jamaica, where Carmen's mother had lived. A wide, shady veranda was to extend all around, and a broad flight of steps to lead from it to the s.p.a.cious grounds. Deep-seated windows were to open out on the garden, and elms instead of magnolias must shade them. But the veranda had to be given up, for, when the plan came under the observation of the elders, a committee called on Mauer and represented to him that such a thing would be a gross violation of the severe laws respecting the simple style of building used in the settlement, and would give cause for great offence. The inhabitants of the town must be content to live without ostentation and show, abiding by the general customs, and conducting themselves as humble members of the faith.
”Just to think: I, an old man, was going to set such a bad example and encourage foolish ideas!” said Mauer to his daughter, deeply mortified.
”When one has been abroad, in different lands, as I have, much that belongs to the outside world clings to him when he gets home, and is never so noticeable as when he mingles once more with his brethren.
The renouncing of our own will, and compliance with the wishes of others, has all to be learned over again.”
”But,” cried Carmen, impatiently, ”they find impropriety in so many things here that one must needs give up thinking, in order to please them. The free spirit within us is so cramped and restricted that we cease to be individuals. It is surely not necessary to make automatons of ourselves if we wish to be good. No; we should choose the right of our own free will, because it is right; then we will not fail to do what is pleasing in the sight of G.o.d.”
”Free spirit within us! What do you mean by that? We are so often the slaves of our own desires that our ideas of right and wrong get confused, and we lose our own souls thereby,” returned her father, much agitated. ”We should, therefore, never reject the path which our religion requires us to choose, but rather submit patiently, without arguing or any wish to rebel.”
Thus the building which had been so beautifully planned, and with so much pleasure, turned out to be, when finished, just like all the others. But Carmen did not bear the frustration of their cherished hopes as calmly as the old man. Her visit to Wollmershain, although it had not given rise to any new tastes or dislikes regarding the home customs, had strengthened the long-buried desires which lay within her breast, and quickened her natural spirit of resistance to the existing state of things. Frau von Trautenau, as well as the style and manner of life at Wollmershain, was peculiarly congenial to her taste.
Therefore, although the visit had never been repeated, she often lived it over again in her thoughts, and in speaking with her father always referred enthusiastically to persons and things there. One day, while describing the unrestrained and harmonious life of her new friends, the sound of trumpets playing a hymn came wafted in through the open door.
”Who is dead, Carmen?” asked Mauer, listening intently as he sat by the window. ”Is that not the dirge of a bachelor Brother? I remember the air, as I do that of all our funeral hymns. How often, when suffering under my bondage as a slave, I have thought that at my death no music would be heard. But now I know that some day the trumpets will tell to the other brothers when the heart of old Mauer has ceased to beat.”
”Oh, my father, you must not speak thus!” said Carmen, anxiously. ”The person for whom the music is sounding is the bachelor Brother Christopher Yager, who died yesterday evening. He was the one who spoke in defence of our unmarried sisters in the general council; and now some one will have to be elected in his place.”
This election followed immediately after the funeral, the elders casting votes for those they deemed most suitable for the position.
The majority were in favor of Jonathan Fricke, who was received with universal satisfaction. No one was more pleased with the result than Sister Agatha, who always depended so much on him for advice. She felt that now, being able to entrust the affairs of her department to his wisdom and circ.u.mspection, his piety and brotherly love, was as if she handed her s.h.i.+p over to the guidance of a skilful and able captain. He received the honor with great humility, as a duty laid upon him from which he must not shrink, however unworthy he felt to bear the heavy responsibility. Yet in spite of all his apparent absence of pride, there was something about him which elicited the homage of the Sisters as they gave their promise to be willing to trust him with their confidence and follow his instructions.
CHAPTER IX.
Notwithstanding its being the month of September, a burning July heat prevailed, and, as a breath of wind would occasionally stir, great clouds of dust rose from the streets and lanes of the settlement. But in spite of the intense warmth of the sun, masons and carpenters were busily at work on Brother Mauer's house, which was located in a pleasant district on the outskirts of the town. From the windows on the first floor, which stood quite high from the ground, one could catch a fine view of the broad, sunny landscape. There was the green meadow-land, with its duck-pond, and beyond, round the road to the old mill in the valley, the steep path leading uphill to the graveyard, and finally, away off towards the south, great ma.s.ses of dense forest, rising one above the other, covering the mountain-sides and shutting out all that lay beyond.
”So that will be your room dear father, and this one next to it mine,”
said Carmen, pleasantly, as she and the old man wandered about in the bright morning air over the grounds and through the partially finished building which was to be their home.
”How pretty it will be here, father! I will raise vines all around the windows, so that, in summer, a pretty shade will fall in the rooms; and even though we are not allowed to have any ornaments, a cabinet of books will be here, and by the window shall stand a table with a vase of flowers on it, while over there I will make a cosey little nook, like the one Frau von Trautenau has in her room. And then when evening comes, dear father, you shall sit by me, and tell me of the snow-capped Himalayas, and the wonders of the East Indian world. Or when the lamp is lighted, I will read to you, just as I did to Frau von Trautenau in her dear little nook.”
”How often you speak of that lady, Carmen! Is she so very dear to you?” asked Mauer.
”Yes, very dear, father,” she replied eagerly, and the warmth of her feelings betrayed itself in her countenance. ”She was very, very kind to me; and with her, I, who was so lonely, felt how good it must be to look into a mother's eyes. I could always turn to her for sympathy and advice, feeling sure of being understood; and that was a great comfort to me, when I thought you never would return, father. She is not grave and austere, like our Sisters here, but is in all things n.o.ble and good; and even though she belongs to those who are outside in the world, yet anyone following her could not go wrong. The world!” she continued thoughtfully. ”We are all of this world as long as we live.
How can one set of people consider themselves so much better than the others?”
”We do not think ourselves better, child, but on a surer road to become so,” interrupted the father. ”And yet, even with us, there are no insurmountable barriers to keep us from straying into the by-paths which lead us away from the goal!” he added, with a sigh.
”Yes father,” she said, with a fond smile. ”That is just what I say.
The right way and the wrong, cross each other everywhere in life, and we must ever be striving more and more to distinguish between them.”
”May your heart never mislead you, child!” answered the old man with emotion. ”One who has lived as long as I have, who has fallen and endeavored to make atonement, learns to mistrust the human heart.”
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