Das landhaus am Rhein. English
Page 34
CHAPTER VIII.
I SERVE.
The Major fortunately came as they were about to sit down to dinner. Hewas extremely glad to meet Clodwig and Bella here; every manifestationof friendliness between individuals was a cordial to him: it confirmedhis proposition that all human beings were immeasurably good, and hecould thereby silence the revilers and the doubters. He was grateful toClodwig and Bella, as if he had received a personal favor; he looked atthe chairs as if he would enjoin them to seat right comfortably theiroccupants. He extended his hand to Eric as to a son; he had becomethoroughly attached to him, and now he complained to him, with the toneof a child who has eaten dainties by stealth, that he had allowedhimself to be enticed; for, wishing to see for himself whether theworkmen at the castle had good food to eat, he had made trial of it,and it tasted so unexpectedly good, that he had completely satisfiedhis appetite.
Eric comforted him with the suggestion, that the nice dishes might yetperhaps find some spare room.
The Major nodded; he said, to Joseph the magic word, "Allasch." Josephunderstood. At a small side-table he poured out from a bottlesurrounded by little glasses; the Major drank off the tonic.
"That's a quartermaster;" then he nodded to Eric, and his face laughedall over, as Eric responded:--
"Of course, the spirit orders the vulgar mass to give way."
Frau Ceres did not come to dinner. They had hardly taken their seats,before the physician was called away; he immediately rose. Sonnenkampentreated him to remain, but Clodwig said in a very decided tone, thathe would like to urge him to obey the summons, for if one placedhimself in the situation of those who were expecting the physician, itwould appear a cruel thing to be detaining him here meanwhile for one'sown enjoyment.
"That is a nobleman, a genuine nobleman!" said the Major to Eric, andRoland, on hearing it, looked round as if somebody had suddenly seizedhold of him. Is his father, then, not noble, for desiring the contrary?
Eric had a feeling of what was passing in the boy's mind, and said tothe Major, so that Roland could not but hear him,--
"Herr Sonnenkamp spoke on the very just supposition, that the countrypeople very often exaggerate the danger, and needlessly hurry thephysician."
"That's true. I've made a mistake,--I thank you, comrade."
Roland drew a long breath, he gave Eric a smile; he would have liked toembrace and to kiss him.
Eric understood this smile. The table seemed disturbed, for thephysician, who had easily and briskly led the conversation, left a gapby his departure; and as they were obliged to sit more closely togetherbodily, in order to fill up this vacant space, so it seemed as if theymust now also for the first time draw nearer together spiritually. Andthe call made upon them to go, in imagination, with the physician tothe bedside of a moaning patient, and to the lamenting relatives, hadalso interrupted the pleasant mood with which they had seatedthemselves in good cheer at the table.
Eric, who might well consider that the visit of Clodwig and Bella wasmeant for him, felt under a double obligation to entertain the guestsas well as he could, and bring the company at table into a congenialmood. But while he was yet in search of some thoughts to direct thegeneral conversation, the Major stole a march upon him.
He smiled beforehand very pleasantly, for he had something to tell, andnow was the aptest time.
"Herr Sonnenkamp," he began, and his face again became blood-red, forhe had to speak in the presence of many persons,--
"Herr Sonnenkamp, it is said in the newspaper that you are soon toreceive a great number of visitors."
"I? In the newspaper?"
"Yes. It is not said in so many words, but I infer so. It is saidthere, that an emigration is now taking place from America, on accountof the high cost of living there; many families are coming from the NewWorld to Europe, because they can live with us at more reasonableprices, and in a pleasanter way."
The Major congratulated himself, that he had pushed forward into thegap something very agreeable and very suitable. He drank off, at onedraught, with great gusto, a glass of his favorite Burgundy.
Sonnenkamp remarked in a careless way, that probably a prejudice wouldbe created against Americans, like that which existed against Englishtravellers.
No one again took up the conversation; they would gladly have heardClodwig talk, but he was constrained from the feeling that he hadintruded into a strange house, had there sat down as a guest, and yetall the time, he was intending to commit a theft. This made him ill atease and reserved.
Eric took a different view of his deportment. He gave a fortunate turnto the conversation, referring to Goethe's poem which extolled Americabecause it had no ruined castles, and passing on to the favoritepursuits of Clodwig and of Sonnenkamp, and indeed drawing a parallelbetween a fondness for antiquity and for the rearing of plants. Ericwas very animated and communicative, introducing matters which, he knewwould awaken interest, and yet in the very midst of his talk there wasan accompanying feeling of self-reproach. Until now, throughout hiswhole life, he had simply replied to questions put to him, and hadalways spoken either to impart something to others, or to enlightenthem; now he was speaking with the view, at any rate with the secondaryview, of appearing well, taking pleasure in the effect of this and thatexpression. He was startled when he became aware of it, and continuedspeaking further. He repelled the reproachful suggestion, saying tohimself that it was really his duty to play the part of host. His eyesglistened, and he brought Sonnenkamp and Clodwig into a state ofpleasant animation. The ladies also received their share. But Bella hada manner,--and since she had it, it must be well-mannered,--when shewas not leading the conversation,--no matter who was speaking, or whatwas spoken about,--a manner of introducing into the little circle,where it was a disturbing element, a dialogue with the person sittingnext to her, and hindering him, even if he wished to do so, fromfalling into the general stream of conversation.
Eric had vanity enough to make him note her want of interest; it vexedhim at first, but afterwards he thought no more about it.
Herr Sonnenkamp was very well satisfied with the family-tutor, who notonly made a good appearance in his own sphere, and gave to him therightful consideration, but whose very presence was an ornament of thehouse, and brought to his table the noblest of the land.
Clodwig again requested that he might be immediately informed of everyremains of Roman Antiquities discovered in the restoration of thecastle; Sonnenkamp promised it with readiness, and gave an extremelyhumorous account of the silly motives attributed to him for rebuildingthe castle. Some said he wished to figure in "Baedeker's Traveller'sManual," which people carried with them in the summer season, when theypassed up and down the river, so that the castle might be pointed at,and the bored English, with finger upon the line of the book, mightgape at it awhile with open mouth; but that really an aesthetic reasondetermined him. He honestly confessed that he intended, in rebuildingthe castle, to give a harmonious finish to the view from his work-roomwindow, desiring at the same time to make some contribution to thebeauty of the German fatherland.
There was always a peculiar tang in Sonnenkamp's utterance of thesewords, "German fatherland;" one could detect therein something likedeep-seated savage hate, and yet the tone was rather that of tenderpity and commiseration. Sonnenkamp knew that Clodwig was, of all thingselse, a patriot, and he was ready to strike this chord. Eric looked atRoland, to see if he noticed the hypocrisy, for it was no longer agothan Sunday, that Sonnenkamp had expressed himself so strangely andcontemptuously, when the conversation turned on the subject of voting.But Roland's features were motionless.
In one view, it was encouraging that the inconsiderate mind of theyouth did not perceive the contradiction; while in another, Eric sawhere an enhancement of the difficulty of his work as an educator; itwas indeed his principal problem, to awaken and to establish in themind of his pupil the consecutiveness and interlinking of all thoughtand all action.
> Sonnenkamp expatiated, too, on the many strange things imputed to him;and yet no one had really made the charge: but he himself, togetherwith Pranken, had spread the report, that he was desirous of giving hisown name to the castle, the line of the original family having longsince become extinct. It was reported that the Rauhenberg coat of armswas not accurately known, and yet that it was purposed to place itagain over the entrance of the restored castle.
Clodwig, who prided himself, notwithstanding all his liberality, inknowing the genealogy of all the princely and noble families, withtheir coats of arms, affirmed that the Rauhenberg coat of arms wasunmistakably certain, and that it had as a device a Moor's head on ablue ground in the left field, and in the right, a pair of scales. Thefamily had greatly distinguished itself in the crusades, and had beenat that time invested with a high judicial function.
Sonnenkamp smiled in a very friendly manner, and he almost grinned, ashe requested the count to favor him, as soon as possible, with adrawing.
Eric's rich store of knowledge was again a matter of surprise, as heexcited attention by the information he gave concerning armorialmottoes.
They were in very good spirits whilst assigning to some one of theircircle of acquaintance one and another motto, which sometimes seemed alaughable contrast to the real character, and sometimes a strikingexpression of it.
"What motto would you select for yourself?" Sonnenkamp asked Eric; andhe gave for a reply these two simple words:--
"I serve."