CHAPTER XIV.
A VOLUNTARY SACRIFICE AND A FULFILMENT OF DESTINY.
Flowers of all sorts were blooming in the conservatories, buds upon theartistically trained espalier trees were opening, and the park wasresounding with songs of the birds, restlessly chirping and flyingabout at this time of wooing and mating.
Never before had Eric enjoyed the dawn of spring so intensely as now.He was filled with the joy of love, and the heavy burdens which Fatehad laid upon him seemed like an accident, a dream, which he could allat once shake off.
Early in the morning he would stroll in the park; a peculiar feeling ofjoyousness would come over him at the thought that Spring would soonreign over this, his own estate. Why should not these trees, thesemeadows, these plantations put on new bloom and verdure, now that theywere his? And while wondering whether it would really ever be his lotto pass here an industrious and peaceful life, he could not freehimself from a feeling of compassion for Sonnenkamp. The man hadplanted and fostered all this--where was he now?
Manna and the Professorin were walking with the Banker'sdaughter-in-law, who had been drawn thither by her desire to knowRoland's sister, and her much praised mother-in-law. The three ladieshad quickly formed a league of friendship, based on the foundation of afine and liberal culture. Yet, though the inmates of the Villa were sohappy together, each one harbored the restless longing to depart.
The ladies entered the conservatory.
A wave of aromatic perfumes floated towards them, and flowed aroundthem. Their eyes were refreshed by the thousand hues of thenewly-opened blossoms.
The Professorin spoke of the rest she should find in watching over theculture of these plants.
Manna expressed her intention of devoting herself, in the days thatwere to come, to botany, both theoretical and practical. The Banker'sdaughter-in-law promised soon to do the same.
With a feeling of pleasurable excitement, they sat in the green-house,where to-day, for the first time, the great windows had beenopened. Manna sent for her harp, and they found that the Banker'sdaughter-in-law could sing several songs of which the harpist knew theaccompaniment. It was an hour filled with the pure joy of existence,untroubled by one thought of the past, by one anxiety for the morrow.
Manna had caused a beautiful myrtle-tree to be placed on the table,wishing to weave from its boughs a crown for Lina, whose marriage wasto be solemnized almost immediately. As she sat thus, with the bloomingbranches before her, Weidmann entered, and said joyously,--
"This tree bears leaves and blossoms enough for threefold bridalwreaths, and I hope they will be worn."
Then he told them that he came as the Major's ambassador, to summon theladies' attention to the story of Fraeulein Milch.
The Major came in with the Fraeulein, who, casting a strange look at theBanker's daughter-in-law, said,--
"You are to be present too."
The Major, having called thither the Banker and Professor Einsiedel,declared his readiness to yield to the instance of his friends, andreside at the Villa, in order to superintend and keep everything ingood condition; but only with the stipulation that Fraeulein Milchshould at last be released from her vow; stating that she was ready,after having related her life-history, to submit to the verdict oftheir friends, the Banker and the Professor.
"Another story!" moaned the Professor. He dreaded the idea ofpronouncing a judgment which was wholly without results, as in the caseof Sonnenkamp.
The Major, however, begged so urgently that he consented, and FraeuleinMilch began:--
"You, Herr Professor, are just like my father, and yet you are verydifferent! He, too, was a learned man, but in a very different sphere.
"You have many of his habits, and, if you accompany me to the altar, itwill seem as though my father were with me, although you are muchyounger. And you, my friends,--you, Frau Professorin, who have honoredme before knowing my life, and you, Fraeulein Manna, who, afterconquering a strong prejudice, have given me your rich love,--you shallnow be made really acquainted with me. But you (turning to the Banker),you will best be able to pass sentence upon me; for you are a Jew, as Iam a Jewess."
All were astounded.
Fraeulein Milch waited quietly until her auditors had recovered fromtheir amazement, then continued:--
"I am the daughter of a learned Hebrew, and an only daughter. I had onebrother, of whom we shall hear later. My father was a noble and piousman; he was considered a scholar of great discernment, with finepolemical gifts; but in life he was childishly simple and--why should Inot say it?--shiftless. He read the sacred books from morning tillnight.
"My mother sprang from a wealthy house, had once been blessed in earlychildhood by the hands of Moses Mendelssohn; from this it was predictedthat she would one day marry a man of great knowledge. This provedtrue. According to the will of her parents she became the wife of myfather, on account of his piety and learning.
"Such was the way in which the opulent Israelites formerly exhibitedtheir gratitude and respect for a learned man of their faith, as theChristians bestowed gifts upon the convents. The Jews could found noestablishments. They had no protection; all their goods were movable,and thus they devoted a portion of their wealth to the support of ourscientific men.
"My mother's whole being was absorbed in her adoration of my father.The quiet and uniformity of life; the calm content which reigned in myparental abode; how the poor were fed; how our entire existence wasnought save the pause between one pious deed and another, between onefestival and another, no one present can know but you (turning towardsthe Banker), you alone can conceive of it. I myself often recall it asa dream. In winter, when my father was unable to go out, the communitycame to my father, to unite together in prayer in his study, and, whilea little child, I used to hear much discourse on worldly events.
"What did we know of the world?
"The world belonged to the officials outside, to the soldiers. Theywere, in our eyes, beings moving in a fabulous realm, into which wecould never enter.
"My brother, who was a handsome man--he resembled Herr Dournay--formeda friendship with a young drummer named Grassler, who was billetted inour house. We were all made perfectly happy by the reverence which thisyouth showed towards my father, whom he regarded as a saint, and by hisgentleness and timidity when in his presence. I yet remember, as thoughit were but yesterday, how I stood on the steps, turning round andround with my hand one of the knobs of the balustrade, when the drummersaid to me:--
"'Yes, Rosalie, when you are grown up, and I have become an officer, Iwill come back and take you away with me.'
"He went away drumming; but I kept hearing those strange words in thesound of the drum, and still stood on the steps, twirling the knob,while the whole world seemed to whirl with me. But I beg pardon, I amgrowing too prolix."
"No, go into details as much as you like."
"But I cannot," replied Fraeulein Milch. "Well, then, they went to thewar. My brother fell. Conrad came back. He had become an ensign, and hebrought back to my father my brother's little prayer-book, its coverand leaves pierced by a ball. My father and my mother and I sat on theground, mourning for seven days. Conrad came and sat with us: hehonored our foreign observances.
"Father seated himself again among his sacred books; but, whereas heused formerly to read with a low, humming sound, he now spoke the wordsaloud and with violence. He seemed obliged to put a constraint upon histhoughts, which would go out after his son.
"Time gradually healed our wounds. My brother had long been at rest inhis grave,--who can say where? Conrad had returned to his home. I wasseventeen. It was on Easter eve; we had solemnized the Passover, and myfather discoursed much on the liberation from servitude, incommemoration of which we keep Easter, and lamented the oppressionbeneath which we were sighing still. He loved Jesus heartily andwarmly, and only bewailed unceasingly the misuse of his name as anauthority for the misery into which we, members of his race, wereplunged. That
night I heard him say that our great and wise Rabbi,Moses ben Maimon, had taught that Jesus had overthrown heathenidolatry; that he was not Messias, but his fore-runner!
"It was late at night ere we went to rest. I slept in a room adjoiningthat of my parents. Thus I heard my father say to my mother:--
"'How wretched we Jews are! there is that splendid man, so loyal, sogood-hearted, Conrad Grassler, returned. He has worked his way up to acaptaincy, and retired on a major's pension, and now here he comes andasks for our Rosalie. If the good man were only of our faith, if hewere a Jew, how gladly would I give him my child! I could not desire abetter husband for her; but, as it is, it cannot be, and God forgive mysin in thinking of it!'
"I heard this from my chamber, and that night, though I was still undermy parents' roof, my spirit was already far away, out into the wideworld, where the officers lived, and the soldiers, and those who ownedit.
"Father had nothing against Conrad if it had not been for that onething. A voice within me repeated this all night long. And in themorning, while my father and mother were in the synagogue, I sat alonewith my prayer-book. See this little prayer-book. It is a devotionalmanual for women, composed by my father--but my thoughts were not uponit. How still it was! I was alone in the house. No one was to be seenin the streets, for the whole community was at the synagogue. I seatedmyself in the middle of the room; I did not wish to look out of thewindow; Conrad would surely be passing by.
"But how did he look? How wonderful that he had kept that promise madeto me in my childhood! What had he become? How would I seem to him?
"Then, I cannot tell how it was, but as I was standing at the window,looking out, I saw Conrad, grown into a noble-looking man. I withdrewfrom the window, but then, came footsteps on the stairway, and my heartthrobbed as though it would burst. Conrad stood alone in the world; heis a military orphan."
A smile passed round the circle of listeners, and Fraeulein Milch wenton:--
"I told Conrad what my father had said to my mother, the night before.I could give him up for my parents' sake; but he was not in duty boundto renounce me, and I had not the right to relinquish for him, and itwas settled that I should elope with him.
"My father returned from the synagogue, and I have never felt a heaviersorrow than when he laid his hand in blessing on my head, as is thecustom with us. I would not disturb the joy of the feast, and not untilit was ended--oh! I ruined the joy of his whole life! There were nomore feasts for him--did I flee with Conrad. I persuaded myself that myfather would give us his blessing, when he should see that it could notbe otherwise. We wrote to him, but he did not answer. He sent us word,through a friend, that he had had two children, who were dead, and forwhom he earnestly prayed that it might be well with them in the otherworld. And one word more he sent me,--'Thou seekest honor before theworld, and for honor hast thou forsaken thy father.' I wrote backprotesting with a solemn oath that I had wished to obtain no earthlyhonor through Conrad, promising to clothe myself with humiliation andshame in the eyes of the world, and that oath I have kept until thepresent day.
"Conrad soon received tidings of my mother's death, and my fatherfollowed her in a few months. I inherited a small fortune, and we wentto the Rhine. Down below, yonder, we lived twelve years in a littlelower Rhenish village, hidden from all the world, happy in each other.We needed nothing from the world but ourselves. Conrad wishedconstantly to marry me; but I had vowed to robe myself in ignominyduring the whole period of my existence. We might have been united hereby civil contract. That, too, I refused. I used to attend church,impelled by the desire to pray in common with my fellow human beings. Ihad my quiet corner, and while the organ was pealing, and a divineservice different from my own was being solemnized, I would sit aloneand pray out of the prayer-book which my father had composed, and fromthe other, which my brother had had on the field of battle, and whichhad rested on his heart till it beat no more. I was in the church andwas no stranger, for there were people beside me, praying after anotherfashion, but to the same Spirit which I also invoke, and this Spiritwill know and explain why men turn themselves to him in such differentways. Now I believe I may revoke my sentence of self-excommunication."
"You may, you must," said the Banker, speaking first, and rising as hespoke. The Professorin rose and embraced the narrator.
"Well, then, will you hear the close, too?" resumed Fraeulein Milch. Allwere still, and she proceeded:--
"We came hither. How I have lived here, you know. At our change ofresidence, Conrad expressed his wish for a formal union, but Ipreferred not to be called Frau Majorin; it was to me a constantpenance and chastisement for my faithlessness to my parents and mydesertion of all my people. Now we lived in faithfulness, in oneness,without any formal tie. Thus we have lived, and now it is fulfilled."
"I shall go with you to the wedding," cried the Professor and Weidmann.
But the latter now took Manna's hand, saying:--
"Do you know for whom is the third bridal wreath which shall be wovenfrom this myrtle-tree?"
Manna trembled, and he went on:--
"It is for you. You have struggled and waited. Help me, Frau Dournay."
The Mother, too, took Manna's hand. The Major, hastening out, came backbringing Eric, to whom, on their way, he said a great many things mixedup in strange confusion.
The following day saw the three couples united, and no one can say whowere the happiest. Manna and Eric, the Major and Fraeulein Milch, orLina and the Architect.
Rooms were fitted up in the castle, and there Manna and Eric were topass the first days of their marriage.
They were sitting at the wedding-feast, which had been tastefullyarranged under the direction of Joseph, who was himself betrothed.Manna and Eric had helped him to buy an inn at the capital, and he hadplighted his troth to the daughter of mine host of the Victoria. Now,however, he had returned of his own accord, and was the servant of thehouse as formerly.
Very modestly did Knopf bring forward three different poems which hehad composed for the triple wedding; into these he had skilfullyinterwoven all sorts of little occurrences, to the amusement of all.
Eric whispered to Manna, as he sat by her side: "I am glad that I havealready danced with you. I feel as though I must now whirl round withyou in the dance, and forget everything. But I must hush: our goodteacher is about to speak."
Einsiedel arose, with a smile upon his face, saying with sparklingeyes: "Come hither, you children of the Rhine, and I will teach yousomething. My pupil, here, Dr. Dournay, knows it, I shall only remindhim of it; but to you I must say it:--
"All my theologies tell us of immortal gods; but they are not immortalby nature, they are only so by the divine drink, by means of nectar,wine, and mead: these are the potions which give eternal life; and,floating in the clouds, and drinking from the clouds, the deitiesbecome immortal, and with them the inspired breath of arisen souls.Yes, it is by drinking! Look here, see how the sun shines in thisglass, and here the lightning is embosomed, the primitive life-fire. Wedrink, and are immortal, like the gods. And this is my desire! Drinkalways a drop of this divine draught from the ocean of ether, thespirit-sea, which undulates and floats over the world. Then you will beforever happy and immortal."
Evening came, and Manna and Eric went hand in hand to the castle.
The moon stood over the stream, bathing with trembling light tree andbush, where the buds were gently bursting and the nightingaleunweariedly singing. The world was flooded with bliss.
For three days they remained alone at the castle, and on the thirdevening they came down again to Villa Eden.
Das landhaus am Rhein. English Page 211