Das landhaus am Rhein. English
Page 69
CHAPTER XIV.
ONE'S FELLOW-MAN.
Again the days flowed quietly on in work and recreation. One day Clauscame and asked Roland to keep his promise of showing him the wholevilla from top to bottom.
"Why do you want to see it?" asked Eric.
"I should like for once to see all the things which rich people have,to know what they do with all their money."
A knavish glance shot from the huntsman's eye, as he spoke. Eric gavethe requested permission; he would have preferred to send a servant,but he went himself with the man, of whom he felt a sort of dread, notliking to leave him alone with Roland. He could scarcely give a reasonfor his uneasiness, except that the manner in which the huntsman dweltupon the rich and poor might confuse Roland's mind.
They went through all the stories of the house, and Claus, who hardlydared to put his foot down, kept saying,--
"Yes, yes, all this can be had for money! what can't be got for money?"
In the great music-hall, he stood on the platform, and called to Ericand Roland:
"Herr Captain, may I ask a question?"
"If I can answer it, why shouldn't you?"
"Tell me fairly and honestly, what would you do, if you--you are aliberal-minded man and a friend of humanity--what would you do, if youwere the owner of this house and so many millions?"
The huntsman's loud voice resounded through, the great hall with adiscordant echo, which seemed as if it would never cease.
"What would you do?" he repeated. "Do you know no answer?"
"It is not necessary for me to give you one."
"All right; I knew you couldn't."
He came down from the platform, saying, "I am field-guard, and as Iwander about at night, it seems to me as if I were possessed of an evilspirit, which I can't get rid of. I can't help thinking all the time,what would you do if you had many millions? It drives me almost crazy;I can't get away from it, and it appears that you can't answer thequestion, either."
"What would you do?" asked Eric.
"Have you no idea?"
"If I had much money," answered Claus, laughing maliciously, "first ofall I'd cudgel the Landrath to a jelly, even if it cost a thousandgulden; it's worth the money."
"But then?"
"Yes, then--that I don't know."
Eric looked at Roland, who looked back at him with dull, troubled eyes,and compressed lips. The unconsciousness of wealth to which Knopf hadalluded seemed destroyed, suddenly and unseasonably uprooted. Rolandcould never be led back to it, and yet was not mature enough to see hisway forward.
Eric said to Roland in English, that, he would clear up the matter forhim, but that it was impossible to find an answer fit for an ignorantman.
"Would an ignorant man have asked the question?" answered Roland in thesame language.
Eric remained silent, for he could not disturb and spoil the clearpreception of his pupil, even to relieve and set him at rest.
"Ha, ha!" laughed the huntsman scornfully, "now I'm rid of it, now,you've got it. Wherever you go or rest you will hear what I've beenasking myself in all the passages and all the rounds. Very well! if youever find the answer, let me have the benefit of it."
He put on his hat and went away. It was impossible to fix Roland'sattention upon anything throughout that day; he sat alone in his room;late at night, after Eric had been asleep, he heard him go into thelibrary to get something.
Eric let him take his own course, then going into the library, he sawthat it was the Bible which he had taken; he was probably reading thepassage concerning the rich young man; the seed, which had until nowlain dormant, was beginning to sprout. Eric had pursued his work ofquiet preparation until now, when an outside influence had come in, andwith rude grasp had awakened what should have slept on. What is all ourteaching and preparation for? It is the same in external nature; thebuds swell quietly till a wild tempest bursts them suddenly open. Nowthe wild tempest had swept over Roland, and Eric could not shelter him.
Very early the next morning Roland came to Eric's room, saying,--
"I have a favor to ask."
"Tell me what it is. I will grant it if I can."
"You can. Let us forget all our books to-day, and come with me to thecastle."
"Now?"
"Yes; I have a plan. I want to see myself how it is. Let me, just thisone day."
"Let you do what?"
"I want to work like the masons' apprentices up there. I don't want toeat and drink anything except what they do, and I want to carry loadsup and down like them."
Eric went to the castle with Roland, but on the way, he said,--
"Roland, your purpose is good, and your wish pleases me, but nowconsider. You are not undertaking the same work as the men yonder, butwork much harder, for you are not accustomed to it; this one day wouldbring ten times as much fatigue to you as to them, for you come to itfrom different circumstances. What is habit to them is new to you, anddoubly difficult; and, moreover, you are not like them, for you havebeen tenderly and carefully nurtured; your bed is wholly unlike theirs;you have tender hands; it is quite a different sort of strength whichyou possess. So you would not learn what poor people feel, who havenothing but their native energy to help them support life."
Roland stood still, and there was an echo of what he had read in thenight in the question, as he asked with a troubled voice, "What shall Ido then, to make my own the life of my fellow-men?"
Eric was struck by his tone, and by the form of his question; he couldnot tell Roland how happy he felt, but he was sure at this moment thata soul, which bore and cherished such desires within it, could never gofar astray, nor lose the sense of the union and mutual dependence ofmankind. He restrained himself from expressing his feeling, however,and said,--
"Dear Roland"--he had never before said dear Roland--"the world is agreat labor-association; the same task is not laid upon all of us,but it is enjoined on every one to feel himself the brother of hisfellow-men, and to know that he is the guardian of himself and of hisbrothers. What we can do is, to prepare ourselves and hold ourselvesready to stand by our brother's side, and reach out a hand to him asoften as the call may come. The work which will one day be yours isdifferent from that of the laborers yonder, who carry stone and mortar;your work is greater, and more productive of happiness. Come, the timehas arrived for you to see into many things."