Das landhaus am Rhein. English

by Berthold Auerbach

  CHAPTER II.

  A PEBBLE ANSWERS FOR A JEWEL.

  Knopf, meanwhile, talked much with Roland, and congratulated him inhaving a man like Eric for a teacher. Roland was as inattentive asever, asking at last only this question,--

  "What is the maiden's name?"

  "Lilian. And this is the miraculous part of it! You gave her in thewood a Mayflower, and the Mayflower is also called Lily of the Valley."

  "What's her father?"

  "A famous lawyer, a leading opponent of slavery."

  Knopf would rather have given himself a slap on the mouth, than to haveuttered what he did. But it couldn't be unsaid. He turned suddenly andlooked sharply at Roland, and, to his satisfaction, he became convincedthat no effect had been produced upon the youth.

  During the whole distance they seemed to be hearing the music of thewaltz, and now, as they approached the farm, that ceased, for therestruck upon their ears the rushing and roaring of a mill-stream and theclattering of a mill. The stream flowed underneath a large part of thehouse, and turned the mill constructed there.

  "You will not sleep well to-night," said Knopf to Roland.

  "Why not?"

  "Because you must first get used to the noise of the mill; if one isaccustomed to it, he sleeps the more soundly for it. It was so with mylittle pupil."

  Not far from the farm buildings, the different individuals, meetingagain, were standing near the palings of an inclosure, where Roland wasdelighted with the handsome colts that were frisking about within, andwhich all came up to the fence when they sniffed Herr Weidmann'sproximity.

  He informed them that this was his "little children's school;" he hadestablished a "coltgarten" for colts, to which all the breeders ofhorses in the district sent the foals. There was good pasture-land,where they could perform their gymnastic exercises, be well-shelteredand safely cared for. This helped the whole surrounding country in therearing of horses.

  Roland was highly pleased with this information, and Eric took freshsatisfaction in the thought of having brought him here. A man likeWeidmann would exert an influence over Roland such as no other personcould.

  "Have you studied chemistry?" Weidmann asked, turning to Roland.

  He said no.

  Weidmann looked down, then up, and asked,--

  "Have you determined yet what you mean to do?"

  For the first time, Roland hesitated to give a direct answer.

  Weidmann urged the matter no further. Eric could not conceive what madeRoland so timid; but he saw clearly what a great influence this man hadacquired over his pupil. Perhaps also what Roland had heard caused himto waver, and he was reluctant to speak, before a man of such activeusefulness, of a vocation in which outward show and glory were the endsin view.

  But there was another reason. The child with golden hair let go herfather's hand, went up to Knopf and whispered to him, that now he mustbe convinced all was true she had told him; that he had never believedshe had met any one in the wood, but now the witness was before hiseyes.

  Roland whispered to Knopf, that Eric had never been disposed to believethat such a thing had really happened to him.

  Knopf, who saw himself placed in the midst of wonder-land, moved hishand repeatedly over his breast, while his eyes gleamed behind hisspectacles. Yes, in the very midst of chemistry, scientific feeding,locomotive whistles, and dividend calculations--in the midst of allthis there was still romance left in the world. True, this happens onlyto children born on Sunday, and Lilian was a Sunday-child.

  He only wished that he could do something towards deepening and makinglasting this gleaming romance of their wonderful meeting.

  But that's just it! One can't do anything in this sphere of theromantic, it always comes of its own accord, unexpected and surprising;it won't be regulated and reasonably built up. All one can do is, tokeep still and hold his breath, and make no sound; otherwise the charmis broken. He had to do something to further it, and he did the verybest thing; he went off and left the children by themselves.

  They looked at each other, but neither spoke. A handsome red heifer,with a bell on her neck and a garland over her horns, was led into thefarm-yard. The maiden went up to her, and stroking her, said,--

  "Ah, good evening, Brindy! Do you feel proud because you've taken theprize? Shall you tell your neighbors of it? Will you enjoy yourself nowat home, or don't you know anything about your honors?"

  The heifer was led to the barn, and the child, turning to Roland,cried,--

  "Wouldn't you like to know whether the heifer has any notion of whathas happened to her?"

  As Roland was still silent, the child continued, very seriously,--

  "Don't you want to be a husbandman, and have my uncle teach you? Thenyou can have my room. It's beautiful there!"

  The maiden found words sooner than Roland, who still did not open hislips.

  She continued,--

  "Why haven't you been to see us before?"

  "I did not know where you lived, nor who you were."

  "Ah! That was why!"

  And now they talked of their first meeting, how Lilian was carried awayby her uncle, and how Roland wandered on to find Eric. Then it wasspring, and now it is autumn.

  "Just think! In your lilies there were some pretty little flies, whichwent along with us in the carriage, and didn't stir."

  "Have you kept the flowers?"

  "No. I don't like withered flowers, Give me something--give mesomething, that doesn't wither."

  "I have nothing," replied Roland. "But I will send you my photograph,taken as a page--no. That's not fit for you. Oh, if I only had my ringsnow! I should like to give a ring, but Herr Eric has taken them all offmy fingers."

  "I don't want any ring. Well, give me that--give me the pebble that'snow under your foot."

  Roland stooped down, and giving her the pebble, begged she would alsogive him one.

  She did so, saying,--

  "Yes, this is dearer to me. I'd rather have that than anything else.Now I shall take a part of Germany with me over the ocean. Oh, HerrKnopf is right; it is all one whether you have a pebble or a diamond,if you only hold it dear; and it's very stupid for people to wearpearls and think that it's something very fine, because they must begot away down deep in the sea. Herr Knopf is right; it doesn't make athing beautiful or good to cost a great deal."

  Roland was silent; his heart beat fast.

  "You are the Roland then, of whom the good Herr Knopf is alwaystalking? You can't think how much he loves you."

  "Probably he loves you as much?"

  "Yes, he loves me too, and he has promised to come to America to seeus."

  "I am from America, too."

  "Ah, yes! Welcome, my dear countryman; come with me into the garden,and help me get a nosegay to take away with me to-morrow."

  "But where are you going to-morrow?"

  "Very early we start for home."

  The children were confronted, as it were, by a riddle. These childrenof the New World met each other to welcome the arrival in the OldWorld, and now to bid each other farewell.

  "We see one another only to say a welcome and a good-bye," said Roland.

  "Come into the garden with me," replied Lilian.