CHAPTER V.
THE BLACK HORROR.
"Henry, come! Henry, come back! these are your trees, and your house.Come back! I will dance with you. Henry, Henry!"
Such was Frau Ceres' incessant cry.
She refused all nourishment; she insisted on waiting till her husbandsaid "Dear child, do take something." Only after the most urgententreaties of Fraeulein Perini, did she at last consent to eatsomething. She wanted to embroider, and took up her work; but the nextmoment she laid it down again.
Weeping and lamenting, she went through the gardens and greenhouses.
Fraeulein Perini had the greatest difficulty in soothing her.
Then Frau Ceres reprimanded the gardener for raking over the paths. Themarks of her husband's feet were in the gravel, and they must not beremoved, or he would die.
At other times, she would sit at the window for hours together, lookingout upon the hills and the clouds, and the river where the boats weresailing up and down; and all the while she would be grieving in a lowvoice to herself,--
"Henry, I grieved you sorely, I wounded you; you may whip me as youwould your slaves; only let me be with you, forgive me. Do youremember that day when you came out to me, and Caesar played the harp,and I danced in my blue frock and my gold-colored shoes? Do youremember?"--"Manna," she suddenly cried; "Manna, bring your harp andplay for me. I want to dance; I am still pretty. Come, Henry!"
Suddenly she turned to Fraeulein Perini, and asked, "He is coming back,is he not?" Her tone was so quiet and natural as for the moment tore-assure them.
"Tell him he shall marry Frau Bella when I die," she suddenly beganagain, her great eyes gazing vacantly before her. "Frau Bella is ahandsome widow, very handsome; and he shall give her my ornaments, theywill look so well on her."
"Pray, do not speak so."
"Come, we must see that his heaths are well taken care of. He taught meall about them. We will have some good bog-earth dried and pounded andsifted. Then, when he comes home, he will say, 'That was very clever ofyou, Ceres: you did that well.'"
She went with Fraeulein Perini to the hot-house, and gave intelligentdirections to the head gardener that he should be careful to keep theheaths very moist, and not in too high a temperature.
Fraeulein Perini sent one of the boys who was working in the garden tofetch Eric. Her anxiety was so great, she could not bear to be leftlonger alone with Frau Ceres.
Frau Ceres appeared very composed. After examining all the heaths, andlifting each one up to see that the saucers were kept properly damp,she left the hot-house, saying as she went,--
"It is quite time that Captain Dournay should learn the care of plants.These scholars fancy there is nothing they can learn from us: I canassure them they can learn a great deal from my husband. There are morethan two hundred heaths at the Cape. Yes, you may take my word for it;he told me so. Now let us go back into the house."
On their way, they came to an open space, where was a pond, and alittle fountain playing.
Suddenly Frau Ceres uttered a piercing cry. Down the broad path towardsthem came the black man Adams, with Roland on one arm, and Manna on theother.
"You are changed into a negro! Who did that to you? Henry! Fie, Henry!Take off the black skin!" With piercing cries, she threw herself uponAdams, and tore the clothes from his body; then sank lifeless on theground before him. They were just bearing her into the house, whenDoctor Richard and the Professorin arrived.
Frau Ceres never woke.
Her body was laid in the great music room; and the flowers thatSonnenkamp had so tenderly cared for were set about his wife's corpse.Here in the music room, where the young people had so often sung anddanced--would there ever be dancing and music here again?
The friends came, and kissed and embraced Roland; Lina also appeared,and embraced Manna in silence. By a pressure of the hand, a silentembrace, each one expressed to the mourners his sympathy, his desire tohelp them.
Pranken appeared also among the mourners, and, with Fraeulein Perini,knelt beside the body.
After a blessing had been pronounced in the church, the funeral-trainmoved towards the burial-ground.
The members of the music-club had been gathered together by Knopf andFassbender, and sang at the open grave. Roland stood leaning on Eric,while the Mother and aunt Claudine supported Manna.
Eric's thoughts reverted to that day in spring when he had sat over hiswine with Pranken, and had looked out at the churchyard where thenightingale was singing. Who could have foretold then that he would bestanding here a mourner at the grave of the mother of his betrothed,and of his pupil?
The music ceased, and the Priest advanced to the edge of the grave.There was a hush for a while over the whole assembly. The chattering ofthe magpies, and the screaming of the nut-peckers, was heard in thetrees.
After repeating a prayer in a low tone, the Priest raised his voice,and cried,--
"Thou poor rich child from the New World! Now thou art in the new worldindeed. Thou hast gone hence with thy sins unforgiven, in delusion, infrenzy. Thou hast left thy children behind to atone, to suffer, tosacrifice, for thee. They will do it: they must do it. Children, God isyour father; the church is your mother. Hearken unto me. Here we standbeside an open grave. Ye can live without us, without the church; but,when ye come to die, ye must call upon us: and, though ye have scornedus, we shall come full of grace and compassion; for God so commandethus. O thou departed one! now thou art ennobled; for death givesnobility: thou art decked with ornaments fairer than thy diamonds; for,with all thy worldliness, thou didst have a believing spirit. Grief sether crown of thorns upon thee: thou hast suffered much, and thou wiltbe forgiven. But I call upon ye who stand here this day alive: Ye canbuild country houses, and furnish them sumptuously; but the prince ofall life, which is death, shall come and mow you down, and ye shallmoulder in the ground. A house of boards, that is the country housewhich is decreed to every one, deep in the bosom of the earth. Butwoe to those men whose holy ark is the fire-proof safe! The men ofso-called philosophy and natural science come and flatter the believersin the fire-proof safe, and when the bolt from heaven falls, they say,'There is a lightening-rod on our house, we have nothing to fear.' Andif death comes, what say ye then? Ye have no answer. O ye poor, richchildren! Turn unto us! The arms of mercy are open to receive you; theyalone can defend you. To that rich young man the answer was:--I speaknot of how the wealth was won from which the young soul will not part;I only call--no, it is not I who call--my passing breath but bears theeternal word. Leave all that thou hast and follow me. Wilt thou too, gohence weeping, because thou canst not give up the riches of the world?Oh! I call thee--no, He who has brought this day upon us, who looksdown from the height of heaven into this grave--He calls to thee: Rendasunder the bonds of slavery! Thou art thyself a slave: be free! Andthou, noble maiden, who hast the highest in thyself, look down intothis grave, and forward to the time when such a grave shall open forthee. Save thyself! Despise not the hand that will save thee. Days ofsorrow, nights of desolation will come upon thee. In the day thou wiltask, 'Where am I?' and for what is my life on the earth? And thou wiltsend forth thy voice weeping into the night, and wilt shudder at thenight of death? Thou knowest what is salvation; thou bearest it inthyself. And now? Faithless--thrice faithless! Faithless to thyself, tothy friends, to thy God!" Beating himself upon the breast, he cried ina voice broken by tears,--
"How willingly, how joyfully would I die, I who am speaking to ye now,if I could say, I have saved them. And yet, not I, but the Spiritthrough the breath of my mouth. Come, leave all that holds ye back, allon which ye lean--come to me, ye children of sorrow; to me, ye childrenof misery, of pain, of riches, and of helpless poverty!"
There was a pause in which no one stirred, and the Priest resumed,--
"I have spoken, I have warned, I have called as I was forced to, andbecause I was forced. I appeal to thee whose mortal frame we are hereconsigning to the ear
th, speak to thy children, 'Children, the threehandfuls of earth which you were to throw upon my grave, ye shall throwthem when this hand resigns what is called the riches of this world,but which is nothing but the ransom of a lost soul.' If ye do it not,we shall still pray for ye who are dead in the living body, as we dofor thee whose dead body we are sinking into the grave, but whose soulis risen into eternity. Grant that thy, children may receive eternallife, only the life eternal!"--
The Priest's whole body trembled, and Roland trembled as he stood byEric. Weidmann approached the boy on the other side, and, laying hishand on his shoulder, said in a low voice, "Be calm."
The grave was filled up with earth; the Priest hurried from thechurch-yard and Pranken with him: the mourners took their way back tothe Villa.
"Who would have believed that the Priest would dare to speak so at thegrave? But it is well. What more can come? Is not all accomplished now?It is best that she should have died when she did. The poor richchildren!"
"What will the children do now?" Such were the words that might havebeen heard on all sides, as the people dispersed after the burial ofFrau Ceres.
The children returned from their mother's grave to the Villa.
Roland was the first to recover his self-command.
"I will not let myself be broken down," he cried. "The black horrorshall not frighten me. Give me something to do, Eric. Herr Weidmann,now for the first time, I am yours: I will work, and not let myselfgive way."
Manna, too, began to be herself again.
Their mother's death, and the painful scene at her grave, had givenadded firmness to the character of both.
The day after the funeral, Roland was first applied to upon a questionof money: Fraeulein Perini asked for her discharge. With the approval ofEric and Weidmann, she was abundantly provided for, besides receivingFrau Ceres' entire wardrobe. She packed the clothes in great trunks,and had them taken to the parsonage; but she herself soon departed forItaly, where she joined the young widow, the daughter of Herr vonEndlich.
Villa Eden stood now entirely at the disposal of Eric and Roland.
Once more, the Professorin became the one point of attraction; and allassembled in her cottage. She had now a good helper in ProfessorEinsiedel, who had obtained leave of absence, and promised to spend thewinter at the Villa.
After the shocks that Roland and Manna had experienced, their mourningfor their mother was almost a relief. That her death should have beencaused as it was by terror at the sight of Adams, by a diseasedimagination, and that the Priest at the grave had made his last,desperate attempt upon them,--these things were almost a comfort tothem. Roland gratefully clasped his sister's hand as she said,--
"Let us not have any feeling of hatred or bitterness towards the negrofor having been the innocent cause of our mother's death."
"If there were only something else in prospect for you, if you couldonly find such an active interest as I have at Mattenheim," saidRoland, in whose mind the idea became uppermost, that he must return toMattenheim. But with a sad smile, like a sunbeam breaking through heavyclouds, he soon added,--
"I forgot: there is something else for you, and something so beautiful!You will be Eric's wife."
Manna was silent.
"What are you reading so earnestly?" she asked Roland one day, after hehad been sitting for hours without looking up from his book. He showedher what it was, a book treating of forests. That subject was the onlyone which now fascinated him, he told her; and, as she spoke, it seemedalmost as if it must be Eric talking, so entirely had the boy enteredinto the spirit of his teacher.
He felt refreshed by the study of this perpetual and permanent growth,and the voluntary protection of it by men. With a real enthusiasm headded,--
"I could not be interested in raising flowers, as my father was; but Iget from him the love with which I can devote myself to the trees andwoods."
Das landhaus am Rhein. English Page 202