CHAPTER VI.
THE VOLUNTEER.
In accordance with a wish of Weidmann's, Eric accompanied Roland andJoseph to the city, in order to deposit the valuable papers in a placeof safety.
The first house they visited on arriving in the city was the Banker's,which, situated in a garden outside the gates, combined the repose ofthe country with the animation of the city. The business life of theowner was in the heart of the city: here he was his own master.Everywhere throughout the richly furnished house were marks ofrefinement and elegance.
To Eric's surprise, he found the Banker in the great library where wereseveral beautiful statues. The man, who, at Wolfsgarten, at the time ofClodwig's death, had kept so modestly in the background, here in hisdomestic life presided over a rich and solid establishment.
After a short explanation of the object of their visit, the Banker tookhis guests to his office. Here, in his business activity, he seemedanother man, or rather two men. He had, so to speak, an office natureand a home nature: in his own house friendly, amiable, generous, andcommunicative; at his office chary of words, curt, decided, andcautious.
He declined receiving all these valuable papers himself, but advisedtheir being taken to the city bank for deposit: as an additionalprecaution, the coupons should be separated from the bonds, and kept bythemselves.
The Banker advised that Roland should acquire some insight of his owninto business and money matters. As he would one day have themanagement of such a large property, it would be desirable for him toenter some business house for a while; otherwise he would always be ina measure dependent upon others. He offered to make an exception inRoland's favor, and, contrary to his custom, receive the young man intohis own office.
Eric assented, seeing what an advantage this would be; but Rolandlooked embarrassed. The Banker now produced Weidmann's letter in whichthe same desire was expressed.
Roland cast a timid look about the room, where several young men werestanding at desks writing, or were walking to and fro. Should he bestanding there too? What did these strangers mean by disposing of himso, and wishing to give him a career?
All this passed rapidly through his mind, and, when he was asked hisopinion, he replied,--
"I am grateful not only for the kindness, but for the frankness, ofHerr Weidmann and yourself in speaking so openly with me."
The Banker sent word through a speaking-tube, that he desired HerrRudolph Weidmann to come up to his room.
Weidmann's youngest son, who was a clerk in the banking house, soonentered.
There was a general introduction: the young man bowed to Eric, andshook hands with Roland. The Banker told young Weidmann that he shouldbe excused from work as long as Roland remained; but the young manreplied, that there was so much work going on as to make thatimpossible. The Banker dismissed him with an invitation to come thatevening to his house; and, after a few friendly words with Roland, theboy departed.
The Banker considered whether it would not be well to sell some ofSonnenkamp's American paper, owing to the unsettled state of the times;but, on the other hand, he could hardly take upon himself theresponsibility. He received with a cordial smile Roland's suggestion,that they were bound to keep his money as it was till there should besome new developments.
Roland and Eric next accompanied the Banker to the house. It was justat the time, when, owing to the election of Lincoln, American paper wasfalling from day to day in value, occasioning great excitement inbusiness circles. Roland and Eric were greatly impressed by the fact;and the question arose in their minds. How could men take a purelymoral and disinterested view of great public events, when the rise andfall which they occasioned affected so immediately their own profit andloss?
Bewildered by the noise and the contradictory emotions that the scenearoused in them, they left the Exchange, and became the Banker's guestsin his own house.
Here the Banker assumed the part of teacher, and explained to his twoguests that the laws of economics and those of humanity were hard toreconcile, almost as hard as the conflict between the freedom of thewill and the limitations of nature in the department of philosophy.They are parallel lines that rarely meet, and then only to part againat once. After all, what was one man's loss was another man's gain, sothat none of the world's property was really lost.
Eric showed how these contrasts had been recognized, though in adifferent way, in the most ancient times. The rod of Hermes is at oncethe wand of divination and the symbol of that instantaneous flash--theintroduction into life and the dismissal from it--by which the oldmyths represented human life and death.
The Banker, who was always ready to receive information, listened toEric's explanation of the myths and sagas, and their similarity in allthe different nations. He was always eager to penetrate any new realmof knowledge, and grateful for instruction.
While the company were at table, several telegrams were brought to theBanker, who read them tranquilly, and then handed them to his two sons,who were sitting at table with him.
Here, at this table, Eric was for the first time conscious of a changein himself. The Banker liked to have every finished result of scienceserved up for him, and he brought intelligence and relish to theenjoyment of it, as he did at the same time to a perfectly ripepine-apple; but Eric was not so communicative as he used to be, and nolonger felt called upon to give himself out at every demand. He keptsilence, and left the talking to others. As soon as he had finished hiscomparisons of the different mythologies, the Banker, in his turn,spoke of the effect that was produced by the rise or fall of this orthat paper; the exchange also he described as an organic existence.
Eric was a ready listener, he wanted now to be instructed by others.
The Banker's daughter-in-law, a lady of noble bearing, treated Eric andRoland with marked cordiality, and expressed a great desire to becomeacquainted with the Professorin and Manna.
Eric was surprised at being reminded of an incident that had almostpassed from his memory. This lady had heard him sing at the festival,and said how much pleasure it would give her to hear him again, as shesang a little herself: upon his saying, however, that he was not atthat moment at all in the mood for singing, she at once ceased from herrequest, in the hope that it might, by and by, at some happier time begranted her.
As the company were rising from table, young Weidmann and the cashierFassbender were announced. The host made them come in, and sit downwith the party at dessert. The young men were evidently embarrassed,and felt it a great favor to be thus admitted into the private life oftheir chief.
The gentlemen repaired to the billiard room. And the young men, as aspecial favor, were allowed to smoke a cigar in the house of the chief,even in his presence.
As Roland showed ho inclination to take part in the game, the Bankertold him to consider himself at perfect liberty to go to his room, orto take a walk with Weidmann and Fassbender. He preferred going withthe young men to his room. He returned presently, when the gentlemen,having finished their game, were sitting in familiar chat about theopen fire, and with many thanks announced his resolution of enteringthe office for a while; only stipulating that he should not be chargedwith fickleness of purpose, if he did not stay long in the employ.
Far into the night, Roland talked with Eric, telling him how strange itseemed to have so much guidance and protection offered him, although heacknowledged the advantage it was to him, and the gratitude he felttowards these gentlemen for it.
The next morning, the box of papers was taken to the vaults of thebank. Eric and Roland stood as in a fairy tale before all this hiddentreasure. Some old recollection must have been stirred in Roland; forhe suddenly said to Eric,--
"What would Claus say if he could see all this?"
He looked in amazement at Eric, standing there so tranquil andindifferent.
"Does it not impress you strongly too?" he said.
"Not at all; for what is all this treasure? From the top of a
mountain,you see things of much more value than this stamped metal. Houses,fields, trees, are much more, much greater."
Roland looked disheartened. For a long time to come, he would havenothing to do but cast accounts, and watch the money market. The fulllife at the Villa, the mountains, the river, the drives, andMattenheim, all seemed removed to an immeasurable distance.Nevertheless, he remained firm.
Eric took Roland to the counting-house, where the latter was assigned aplace at young Weidmann's desk.
Eric staid several days; for he wished to become acquainted withRoland's associates. He was especially pleased with the cashier,Fassbender's son, a young man of much discernment and youthfulfreshness, active in body, and vivacious in mind. He was president ofthe mercantile _turnverein_, and assiduously cultivated the love oflearning in himself and his companions.
Eric could resign the guidance of Roland to this young man with entireconfidence.
He talked much with the Banker about Clodwig. The Banker was verylenient in his judgment of Bella, and could not refrain fromreproaching Clodwig with having married again: he had deceived himself,and allowed Bella to be deceived; for the latter had really believedthat she could find pleasure in a quiet life, and relinquish all theprivileges of youth; and it was the smothered passion for adventurewhich had driven her to this extreme.
Eric listened, but said little. He even felt it his duty to tell theBanker that he had got over his old zeal for imparting knowledge, andwas no longer in a condition to give the total results of his thoughtsand study.
The Banker considered this perfectly natural. The knowledge whichconstituted a man's calling, he said, was a man's capital, and oughtnot to be drawn upon: every man held a kind of trust fund, and theinterest only should be risked and freely employed in trade.
He thought it eminently proper that Eric should now learn to beeconomical of himself.
On the third day, Eric returned alone to Villa Eden, promising toforward all necessary aids for Roland.
He came, as it were, out of another world; but his heart was lightened:he rejoiced at Roland's sudden resolve, and even began to considerhimself no longer as a mere scholar, but as one to whom a greattreasure has been intrusted which he is to care for next to truth.
The announcement of Roland's decision created great astonishment atVilla Eden.
Eric found Professor Einsiedel and Fraeulein Milch at his mother's; andall gazed wonderingly at the latter when she suddenly exclaimed,--
"Roland enter the house of a Jew!" But to the inquiry what there wasstrange about this, she made no reply, only looking round as ifbewildered.
Eric told the Professor he should now make great allowance for therich, to whom full aspiration could scarcely be possible with theirvast possessions ever in their thoughts. The safe-key in the breastpocket must, he thought, lock up something in the heart.
Manna, alone, comprehended the true grounds of Roland's strangeresolve; for she said that it would not merely prove the youth'ssalvation to learn the management of wealth, which, after all, was onlya kind of military drill, but that he evidently considered it afortunate opportunity to be transplanted into an entirely new sphere oflife.
And so it was.
Manna almost envied her brother the opportunity of doing and becomingsomething new. She, too, would gladly have engaged in some occupation.A trait of Sonnenkamp's strange nature asserted itself within her. Shewanted to go forth into the world. She was more with the Aunt thanwith the Professorin, who desired, if possible, to effect a speedy andfundamental cure; while the Aunt preferred to begin by a tenderfostering care.
Eric and his mother pondered much upon how best to deal with Manna'srestless mood, and to satisfy her longing aspirations.
So much had come upon her at once; and her love for Eric did not seemquite to compensate her for what she had lost, since at heart she stillyearned for a firm support in the Church.
Weidmann came, and with him they discussed the question of waiving allordinary considerations, and celebrating Manna's and Eric's marriage atonce.
He declared that one ought never to have recourse to marriage as aremedy, but should enter into a new phase of existence with a tranquilheart, and a new joy in existence itself.
This coincided with Eric's own secret feeling, and he said to Manna,--
"Your desire to travel, to find something outside yourself, is aperfectly natural one. You miss that great other home of yours, thechurch, which you could visit at any time, and come back in an alteredframe of mind. You want some other human being to proffer you out ofhis own thought and soul, and upon constituted authority, somethingdistinct from yourself,--something which you yourself have lost.Instead of this, you have now to find your all at home and in yourself.It is hard, I know; but so it must be. So long as you seek any thingwithout, you are not at home with yourself. Here in this place, inthese rooms where such horror overwhelmed us, we must learn to composeand control ourselves. 'Stand to your post!' is the military command;and it has also a moral significance."
With such words, and more to the same effect, did Eric lighten Manna'sperplexities: she embraced and thanked him for thus entering into hervery soul, and freeing her from every yoke.
Quietly and serenely the days glided by, until an invitation arrivedfrom the Justice's wife. The Professorin accepted at once; but Mannasaid she could not accompany her: she was not yet chastened and calmenough to mingle with the world and submit to being received withcompassion.
Eric made a sign to his mother not to urge Manna; and she was left todo as she liked.
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