Short Stories From Austria- Ferdinand Von Saar

Home > Other > Short Stories From Austria- Ferdinand Von Saar > Page 19
Short Stories From Austria- Ferdinand Von Saar Page 19

by Ferdinand Ludwig Adam


  Now she had crossed the alley, which led into a broad street, very busy with people and wagons. There she hesitated a moment, then cautiously set on tiptoe over the track, which had only recently been spattered, and went on, turning to the right, a little further to one of those quiet, leading to the South Station Turn off alleys, which were then still formed for the most part of treetop-covered garden walls. Did she do that to give me opportunity for unremitting rapprochement? Hardly I could doubt it, because she had now looked back with a quick turn to me. Nevertheless, and although I also entered the alley, I could not control a certain discouraged self-consciousness and still held myself at a distance.

  She looked at me slightly from the side and then burst out laughing.

  “Do not apologize so much,” she said. “We are old acquaintances, because you pass our house daily. But who are you? “She pursued a pause, now examining me with her bright eyes.

  I confess that a peculiar embarrassment came over me now. The professional title “writer” did not at that time serve as a special recommendation; one was far more likely to make some disregard. Besides, I had not taken any public samples of my activity, so to some extent was neither meat nor fish. Nevertheless, I had to decide to say with some anxiety, “I am a writer.”

  “So,” she replied slowly. “And what are you writing?”

  New confusion on my part. “Well - dramas - short stories -”

  I could notice how her nose, his fine nostrils were slightly swollen, a little wrinkled.

  “So a poet!” She said mockingly. “But that does not matter; They do not look like it. By the way, “she added shortly,” we have to part. Stay back here; My way leads me in a completely different direction, and you must not accompany me. But if you want to meet me again, come to Schwwe once. You know -?”

  “Oh yes, I know -”

  “So now. Every Saturday, sometimes on Thursdays, I'm there in the evening. It is very funny. And now you live well! “She held out her hand to me, pressed mine mine short and strong and hurried with quick steps the way back, on which she had come.

  However, I remained in the desolate alley with very depressing feelings. Already the initial laughter and the first words of the young girl had alienated me; the casual, supremely frivolous manner in which she gave herself had me more and more disappointed and sobered; But when they asked me to come to “Schwott,” I had completely fallen from all the heavens.

  To sweat! This was a dance school named after its owner, which was located in an old, now defunct housing complex of the inner city. She was much less visited for the lessons given there: her main attraction was the so-called “total exercises,” which took place three evenings of the week. Not just a part of the jeunesse doréein all its varieties appeared; Older, even old, living men came here, who thought they were fishing here. For it was known that in the sultry and overcrowded rooms of the dance school, in addition to interesting, much sought-after apparitions from the finer female demimonde, one also encountered the fresh charms of civil servants and bourgeois daughters, who, as one might assume, came here without prior knowledge of their relatives, youthful pleasure addiction - or following worse drives. I had been there once in the past, and, as my beauty said, it had indeed been very funny. But she, too, was in this nefarious tangle- shewho had appeared to me behind her flowers as a picture of virginity! I felt my heart tighten at this thought. Nevertheless, after all, I would have been enough realist to welcome a rendezvous from such a charming creature at all costs. However, in order to get into closer relationship with a young lady who went to “Schwott", my circumstances were in no way taken. Thus, as I walked slowly home, I came more and more to the realization that the matter was to end once and for all and that all further traffic had to be stopped. The execution of this decision was also facilitated by external circumstances. Because, after I had for a while avoided showing myself on the main street, I had to vacate my apartment as a result of a termination. I then rented in a more remote part of the suburbs and saw the beautiful Elise Schebesta - the name I had learned later - in fact no more. Once, on one misty October evening, when I passed through the inner city, I thought I had recognized by the light of the gas flames that she had passed me by the side of a very distinguished-looking gentleman in a Fiaker.

  * *

  *

  And now, after a number of years, she stood, more beautiful than ever, adorned with shimmering myrtle at the altar.....

  The ceremony was over and the crowds were rushing out of the church into the glowing day to see the wedding attendants getting in the car. These, however, as the bride's veil rose in the blowing air and fluttered slightly back and forth, drove toward the burgher's house, which, at the entrance to the town, was awaiting its merry entrance with its flowered gate.

  II.

  The newlyweds did not have to start a honeymoon - no longer at least, for in the very near future I met them on a walk along the silent Danube area bordering the suburb. It was a mild, slightly cloudy evening, and the shores of the canal, richly animated during the day by arriving freighters and wooden rafts, were utterly desolate; only a patient angler sat by the gently flowing water. I was often here at this time, because I loved the atmospheric solitude of the area, and the two had probably visited them to be able to go outside in peace. They walked arm in arm, Close together, the banks ran along, looking together for a railroad that just sprouted into the land beyond a free-standing bridge. When I passed them I had to make a greeting, which worried me that perhaps the young woman would recognize me immediately. But though she looked at me quickly and attentively, saluting her husband, I could not infer from her expression whether this had been the case; probably she had already completely lost me from memory. Later, I could not help but stop and look after the couple until it disappeared behind a tall group of trees that, as in a Dutch landscape, darkened an old, single-building. Despite what I knew, I now had a wistful sense of abandonment - an almost envy of the happiness I had in mind. -

  And this happiness seemed to last untroubled, though beautiful Mrs. Stadler wore rather daring toilets with a somewhat provocative manner, and when she found herself with her husband in a well-attended inn on certain evenings in the week, she was at the family table everything vividly made the yard. It happened often enough that, late in the night, she was surrounded by a loud, tipsy swarm of men and entered the nearby, deserted cafe, where they made a noisy seat and let steaming punch glasses shoot the excited spirits completely free. Nevertheless, nothing was said that had come too close to the call of the lady; On the contrary, besides her cheerful enjoyment of life, she seemed to fulfill her duties in every respect with great care. She was, Mother had also undergone a significant change in her nature. She dressed much more simply, appeared less and less often at the family table, and was usually most attentive and anxious in the street, behind a nice basket cart pushed by a maid, in which a rosy baby slumbered under a blue veil. Yea, when one later saw the once lively and agile woman, leaning out of the window on fine summer evenings with increasing fullness of body and slightly swelling double chin, and looking down upon the busy street with a kind of full satisfaction, she did so well Impression of the solid and old-bourgeois. Then it always felt as if I had something to ask her, and I came to see how foolish and unjust it was, always wanting to deduce the future from the past. What was the reason for her having enjoyed her life as a girl, as the Volksmunde said? If now she was only a faithful, caring wife, a loving mother - and made her husband happy. And that she made him happy was recognized by his cheerful expression, his radiant eyes. He, too, now kept quite a distance from amusements, and seemed to prefer to confine himself to his intimate home, which now had two growing children, a boy and a girl, beautiful and thriving, as if cut out of a painting by Rubens. a loving mother was - and her husband was happy. And that she made him happy was recognized by his cheerful expression, his radiant eyes. He, too, now kept quite a distance from amusements, and seemed to prefer to confine himself to
his intimate home, which now had two growing children, a boy and a girl, beautiful and thriving, as if cut out of a painting by Rubens. a loving mother was - and her husband was happy. And that she made him happy was recognized by his cheerful expression, his radiant eyes. He, too, now kept quite a distance from amusements, and seemed to prefer to confine himself to his intimate home, which now had two growing children, a boy and a girl, beautiful and thriving, as if cut out of a painting by Rubens.

  Then, one winter, a personality was visible in the suburb, which attracted general attention. He was a tall, rather youthful, exquisitely-dressed man who had taken lodgings at the Hôtel garni and had logged himself into the registration register as Leo Röber, factory director. However, he seemed to be without any employment and was like someone living in complete independence of his pensions. He made, albeit quietly, quite a bit of effort, He dined at the casino, which was connected to the hotel, at a table specially reserved for him, and on trips to the city he made use of a rental car, spurning his omnibus and horse-drawn carriage. By and by, however, it was announced that the factory, whose director he called himself, was only beginning to develop, but that he himself had been instructed by a corporation to investigate the area around the village and to draw up estimates. At last he seemed to want to tackle this, and he entered into negotiations with a number of local experts-among them the Stadler brothers-without, however, getting involved with one of them more closely and with more certainty than avoiding any passable traffic with very haughty restraint, Also with the balls, which took place during the carnival in the great hall of the casino, he appeared only as a stiff spectator, in faultless tails, a white camellia in the buttonhole. Understandably, I seldom cared for him, even though I could not help but contemplate his really strikingly beautiful and interesting appearance on random encounters on the street. And he, like all unemployed people, was often enough on the street. Above all, he loved walking up and down the linden tree avenue, which stretched from the entrance of the village to the Linienwalle. This avenue, shady and fragrant in the summer, but now bare and transparent, passed the detached Stadler's house, separated from it by the broad driveway; on the other side, low planed, sprawling fields. One day - it was already in March, and the sun was shining bright and warm - I returned with the horse-drawn train from the city, I saw him there from afar and believed to notice that he was peering towards the windows of the community center, which we both approached now. In passing, I followed involuntarily his eyes and saw that Mrs. Elise stood upright close behind the windows. It flashed like lightning that hereAgreement. But did not I possibly wrong them? Could not I be wrong? For a while I thought about it; but at last I told myself that the matter was of no concern to me at all, and let my supposition be all the more self-reliant, as I was preparing for a trip to Italy, which I soon undertook.

  III.

  My wanderings in the south had been quite a long and sedate one with a friend in Styria, and so it had been almost two years before my return. I had maintained my apartment, and when I arrived in the twilight of a frosty late autumn evening, I found many things changed in the suburbs that had become so dear to me. Right next to Stadler's house there were new buildings: squiggly but very stately and spacious mansions, between which the old citizen's residence, circumcised for a very large part of its exposed grounds, was quite narrow and reserved. In addition, he was externally very neglected; the whitewash was weathered, the windows darkened as if blinded. In the course of the road a number of magnificently illuminated shops surprised me; and the traffic was much busier than it had been at this hour. When I went out the next morning, I met almost all unknown faces, a sign that many new inhabitants had grown over. But, as I now saw, new houses were rising everywhere; even the crossroads, which had been staked not long before my departure by a long flight of devastated gardens, were almost expanded in two rows of small palaces. I went to the cafe to have breakfast. Everything had stayed the same there; only the which had been staked out by a long flight of devastated gardens not long before my departure, was almost expanded in two rows of small palaces. I went to the cafe to have breakfast. Everything had stayed the same there; only the which had been staked out by a long flight of devastated gardens not long before my departure, was almost expanded in two rows of small palaces. I went to the cafe to have breakfast. Everything had stayed the same there; only the Windows had been enlarged and provided with bright mirrors. For the rest, also foreign guests, with the exception of an elderly man who wore glasses with dark glasses on his heavily reddened nose. He was known to me from the beginning as a ward secretary, and I was surprised to meet him here during office hours. When I approached him in greeting, he had some difficulty recognizing me, but then he was very glad to see me again and informed me that he had retired two months ago. Because of his increasing eye suffering. But, thank God, that's still not so bad; it would just have been a welcome excuse for the new mayor to put him, the old-time and deserving official, aside. The man wanted to transform everything from scratch. “Yes,” continued the old man in a melancholy tone, “the beautiful, comfortable times are over, and our dear Dobling takes on a different form. Already today it is hardly recognizable - be careful, in a few years it will have grown together with the city. I hope I do not experience it anymore.”

  I tried to comfort him and inquired about this and that, including the Stadler.

  “The Stadlers? Do not you know that the younger one died?”

  “Died?”

  “Yes, it was a sad story.”

  “How so?”

  “So you have not heard anything about it? His wife burned out. With this Mr. Röber, the so-called factory director. You still have to remember that. One fine morning she was gone, leaving husband and children in the lurch. She took away all her valuables and also a sum of money, which, however, was her property inasmuch as she brought some dowry into the house. The Poor good Ferdl - you know that he was called Ferdinand - was quite beside himself, close to the madhouse.”

  “He loved her very much?”

  “And how! More every year. It was beautiful, you have to say that. He had met her on a costumed peasant ball, which took place here in the casino and to which she had come from the city - as a Tyrolean. He instantly fell in love with her and married her, though some who knew her reputation was not the best advised him against it. Otherwise, the game was quite fitting. Fraulein Shebesta was of a good family, a master builder's daughter, and, as I said, not quite fortune either, though on the house which had fallen after her mother's death, she had enough debt. And during her marriage, she was also very well behaved for the longest time, even if she was a fleet woman. But then the scoundrel had to come with his proud bearing and his interesting whiskers - and that was all. however, After the first pain subsided a little, the abandoned spouse searched as best he could. For the sake of his children, he has made every effort to carry his heavy destiny with masculine power - and he was pretty successful. There, one day - six months ago - he is standing there by that billiard and playing table games as usual. Suddenly the cue falls from his hand, with the other he drives to his forehead - and sinks silently to the ground. The blow hit him. ” One day - six months ago - he is standing there by that billiard, playing table games as usual. Suddenly the cue falls from his hand, with the other he drives to his forehead - and sinks silently to the ground. The blow hit him. ” One day - six months ago - he is standing there by that billiard, playing table games as usual. Suddenly the cue falls from his hand, with the other he drives to his forehead - and sinks silently to the ground. The blow hit him.”

  “And the children?” I asked after a pause.

  “It also went with them peculiar. Of course she was taken by her brother, whose wife gave him no progeny. They would have been in good hands. But soon afterwards they fell ill, almost at the same time, with scarlet fever. When they were almost recovered, diphtheritis appeared - and both died in one night.”

  “That's really sad.”

 
“Well, maybe it was for her best. One should not complain once he is down there in the earth. Who knows what else the two little ones should have experienced? but in any case they were spared the trouble of later becoming aware of their mother. And yes, it has been said - with confidence - that the Stadler has been down for years now. The noise in the year 73 also affected the brothers; it was said that they only fought bankruptcy with difficulty. Therefore, when the younger died, the brickworks and the wood stores were immediately sold; and even the Johann drives the Zimmermeisterei only rather makeshift away. For the exclusiveness which has brought up the Father has long since passed, and the competition that prevails in every field has surpassed the Son. You will also tell the house if you pass by. It used to look so bright, so inviting; now it is dark and bleak next to the modern neighbors. Such is the course of the world, “he sighed,” the new is flourishing, and the old is ruining.”

 

‹ Prev