Withered Leaves Volume I Part 17

Has she given up her secret--does a duty no longer bind her to maintain it? Has a turning-point in the circ.u.mstances of her life been attained?

What brings her hither?--only love for me? My name, my place of abode, she knew--she has noted it better than I believed, as she seemed too indifferent to listen to it; but what does she seek here--what can she bring me but disappointment? The glamour of the magic-lantern is burned down; here are no evergreen islands, no myrtles and laurels--and a Venus Aphrodite would s.h.i.+ver with cold, if she had to rise out of these chilly waters.

"To all these questions, which shall no longer disquiet me, I have the answer ready--my betrothal to Eva Kalzow--and this I will hasten, in order to oppose a decided fact as a defence against the adventure which seeks me here. I have broken with my past, and I will not that what is past should interfere any longer with my present life."

Blanden had finished his recital; Doctor Kuhl, who had listened attentively, let the cigar in his hand die slowly out, as, after a rather long silence, he began to hum a popular air.

"And you say absolutely nothing?" Blanden enquired of his friend.

"I think," replied Kuhl, "a _principessa_ always remains a _principessa_--a Venus a Venus--in the North as in the South; I should have her turned out at the first opportunity, by your friend the Landrath, if she let herself be seen again in this district. She is a sort of beautiful pagan G.o.ddess--a sort of Bride of Corinth--and these ghosts are dangerous, especially for brides who are not so very distant, and whom the clergyman shall bless. But it has become late!

One more dip in the sea, and then I will dream of your marble bride!"

CHAPTER IX.

AN ELECTION DINNER.

The Ordensburg Kulmitten had donned a festive garb; its portal was garlanded with flowers, the servants appeared in livery, and the Jger's plume of feathers especially attracted the hall-boys' and dairy-maids' attention when he showed himself in the doorway.

Towards noon the carriages containing the guests arrived. Wegen was the first; he had decorated himself with the cross of the Order of St.

John, which also adorned Blanden's breast.

Wegen immediately rushed about like a whirlwind over the whole house!

even the cook in the kitchen had to doff his white cap to him. There he was a person to be respected; he knew many secrets of the culinary art, and conversed with the cook like one who understood the dishes whose names stood upon the _menus_, and also those which ought to have stood there. Then he went with Olkewicz into the wine-cellar, and had bottles with the most divers labels upon them marshalled upstairs, like regiments before a battle.

"This is no ordinary dinner, good Olkewicz," said he, while deciding upon the order of battle. "To-day we aim at gaining votes, and for that purpose these here are our best coadjutors. Here sherry and Madeira, which put people into a good humour, so that they become most susceptible of farther enjoyments; there good claret--people thaw, conversation begins, the political arena is opened; opposite opinions greet one another politely, like combatants with their rapiers. There delicious Rhenish wine, Metternich'scher Johannisberger, flowers of the reaction; things become more lively already; the debate grows animated, sympathies find one another out, those of the same opinions shake hands together, opponents exchange fiery glances, and fight hand-to-hand.

Political pulses beat high. Then comes Widow Cliquot, and, by magic, sheds a rosy light all around her; a conciliatory spirit prevails; people only feel that they are patriots, citizens of the Prussian Fatherland; even enemies now shake hands.

"That is the moment; when the reserve champagne bottles are uncorked, then must Blanden, too, overflow, with a right delicious, foaming, sparkling speech; then all goes merrily; enthusiastic consent; chairs are pushed aside; the election is ensured, and a few gla.s.ses of Tokay guard against any weak termination of the meeting. Well, then, here stand our auxiliaries--a gay army, with all possible caps--and in any case very numerous; that is the princ.i.p.al thing!

"On that point I agree with Napoleon--victories only are gained by numerical preponderance."

When Wegen returned to the reception room from the kitchen and cellar, he found that as yet Herman, of Gutskhnen, and Sengen, of Lrchen, were the only guests present. They were the squires of small manors, to whom a frock-coat was an uncomfortable acquisition; they wore blue habiliments with steel b.u.t.tons, and looked in amazement at their reflections in the great pier gla.s.ses of the Kulmitten drawing rooms.

They were adherents of Blanden, whose hand they shook heartily; was the latter not a cavalier, not merely in political, but also in social respects? Doctor Kuhl felt himself especially drawn to them; their Herculean figures attracted him, as did the deficiency of a frock coat, for his own in which he had pa.s.sed his doctor's examination had long since been hung in the lumber closet; in politics, also, he loved the representatives of the ancient cantons, the powerful men of the people, and commenced a conversation with them which, beginning with the yoking of oxen, ended with the democracy of the future.

"We must first elect worthy representatives like Blanden," said he, for he considered that he owed this acknowledgment to his friend, "but that is only the beginning. Our aim is a const.i.tution, in which every member of the State can record his own vote upon every question. Can any one be actually represented? As little in politics as in love. Such a deputy seems to me like a harlequin, who is patched up out of so many voting papers; if he chatters about freely with a speaking trumpet, he is applauded and admired; yet he still merely represents his own views and his own convictions; there are many questions springing up afresh, upon which I myself may take a different view. What use is it to me?

When I have once given my vote, from a political point of view, I am a squeezed out lemon, a cypher. Every man should give his own vote for his own opinion on every question; so must it be. The whole 'representation' rests upon an illusion that means, an X is made for an U. But we want no more illusions; and then the Parliamentary stable forage is more expensive than pasturage upon the democratic parish common. Well, in the first place, we must elect, so let us choose people of intellect, heart, and independence!"

Hermann with his Bardolph nose, that constant light-house in his face, expressed his entire concurrence with the Doctor by a powerful shake of the hand, while Sengen, a very thoughtful man, who made a short pause between every word, and between every thought a pause of several bars, expressed his doubts still as to whether his tenants would be capable of entertaining any opinion whatever about the welfare of the state.

In the meanwhile the Landrath had appeared a kindly old gentleman, a friend of Schnd and Auerswaldd, an enlightened, tolerant man, as far as the burning question was concerned, a supporter of the National a.s.sembly, and much prepossessed in Blanden's favour, whose spirit he admired; he was the latter's most important ally. It is true he was not greatly beloved in the district; many landowners were displeased at the mildness of his rule, and also that at the Landrath's office, the superior court of corporal punishment, a mode of discipline used to bring up an improved race, was exercised in so inefficient a manner.

With him came Baron von Fuchs, a perfect gentleman, who reminded one of the _roccoco_ days, and distinguished himself by being utterly free from all prejudices. But he could not act with the same freedom, as he owned a wife of principles, a categorical imperative mood in petticoats.

Oberamtmann Werner of Schlohitten, entered the room noisily: he had first driven up to the sheepfold.

"You must sell me the new ram, Herr von Blanden; no refusal! I want it!"

"I do not sell my rams," replied Blanden.

"I will pay well, think it over! Besides, all respect for your sheepfold, my compliments to it! Not quite Schlohitten, upon my honour!

The last touch so to say is wanting, the finer shades; but if I did not sit amidst the Schlohitten wool, I should gladly do so amidst that of Kulmitten!"

The reception room filled more and more, several elderly gentlemen with the iron cross upon their b.r.e.a.s.t.s appeared, at last also Herr Milbe, of Kuhlw.a.n.gen, who again had not been in Kuhlw.a.n.gen, but whom the note of invitation had found at the house of some intimate friend, where he had been engaged in a three days' game of _ombre_.

The uncomfortable mood which oppresses people's spirits before large dinners, as well as the craving of the inner man, by which the mind also is forced into an unwonted state of expectation, at first prevented all animated conversation, although the powerful organs of one or two agriculturists were thus able to a.s.sert themselves.

Dinner was served in the hall; the windows with their stained gla.s.s pictures did not allow the dazzling suns.h.i.+ne to penetrate, but shed a soft twilight, which so greatly enhances the enjoyments of a feast; the splendid table appointments, the bouquets of flowers in elegant vases, the tasteful arrangement of the table in the hall, which the slender pillar supported, and whose vaulted arch seemed to form the rays of a sun of stone, dispensed a sensation of comfort which unconsciously communicated itself to the guests. The stone flags of the floor, too, awoke historical recollections, for the spurs of the brave knights of the Order once upon a time clattered over these stones.

The dinner took its course almost in accordance with the programme, which that cunning Wegen had drawn up in the wine cellar; gradually minds and spirits became more lively, the gentlemen with the iron cross told of Leipzig and Waterloo, the Oberamtmann of Schlohitten of his ewes, Baron von Fuchs of a few adventures of the East Prussian _haute vole_. The old Landrath led the general conversation to the absorbing topic; he spoke of Schn and Stein with that warmth which for all ages has distinguished the staunch friends of their Fatherland in East Prussia; he was only interrupted by Herr Milbe's noisy explanations, who sought to prove to his neighbour, that yesterday he must positively have won a _grand_ at _ombre_ if he had played _spadille_ at once and called for _basta_.

"Our King," said the Landrath, "is an intellectual gentleman; he is even enthusiastic about the English state of affairs, about the land of inherited wisdom, and would be very comfortable with the Parliamentary system, because he himself is a man of great eloquence and knows how to value the results of clever speeches; but his unhappy affection for a romantic view of the State's system, in which he is strengthened by pietistic advisers, prevents him fulfilling former promises about the National a.s.sembly; he fears to destroy the nimbus of the crown, and to endanger a divine right, which is confided to his faithful keeping."

"We are no backwoodsmen here," cried Milbe, "they shall learn that in Germany; here in East Prussia there are men who know what they want.

The National a.s.sembly is the _spadille_ with which we will win the game."

"Our King has sense," interposed Baron von Fuchs, "he has ideas which Voltaire might envy him, although no greater contrast can be conceived than that which exists between the French scoffer's views of life and those of our King, so devoted to religious romance; but spell-bound as he is by a philosophy and poetry, which represent the charm of the moonlight-enchanted nights of the middle ages, as suitable ideas for the enlightened days of the present time, yet he has a perfect appreciation of new ideas, and his decisions can be so little counted upon, that I should not be amazed if he suddenly placed himself at the head of the political movement, and bore the banner in his own hand before us all."

"Until then," said Hermann, for whose political fervour his nose, already in a state of red-heat, was the best gauge, "we will trust to our own strength."

And, at the same time, he struck the table until the gla.s.s of Johannisberger before him fell over.

Doctor Kuhl cried enthusiastically--

"That is right! This trial of our own strength pleases me! Thus may all perish that comes from Metternich!"

"Only do not pour away the child with the bath," cried Baron Fuchs.

"Johannisberger is a delicious wine, even although the dove of Patmos does not fly around Johannisberg, and his revelations have always become fatal to the German people--pale messengers of death, like the riders in the Apocalypse!"

"If we talk of biblical wines," cried Kuhl, "then I prefer the '_Lachrim Christi_.' It grows on fire-belching Vesuvius, and the future of nations only flourishes upon the volcanic ground of revolution."

"Heaven preserve us from revolutions!" cried the Landrath.

"As regards Johannisberger," said Fuchs, as he drank off his gla.s.s with gusto, "we will grant ample acknowledgment to our host's exquisite wine. But Prince Metternich may remind us of Goethe's verse--

'Ein echter deutscher Mann mag keinen Franzmann leiden Doch seine Weine trinkt er gern!'"

"Drink, gentlemen, drink!" Wegen continually repeated his invitation, as he hastened from chair to chair. "Best of Barons, of what use are your beautiful speeches--your gla.s.s is empty! Herr Milbe of Kuhlw.a.n.gen, _tournez_, _tournez_, Johannisberger is trump! Dear Doctor Kuhl do not think of '_Lachrim Christi_' and the people's tears; taste this glorious flower of the reaction!"

Wegen did not need to urge Oberamtmann Werner, he had already done good work, and his neighbour, Sengen, listened, with sleepy resignation to the hymns in praise of sheep-breeding, which the best wool-producer in East Prussia sang in a voice becoming more and more maudlin.

"Two things we must have here--a National a.s.sembly and better wool. A National Diet and wool market--those are the two vital arteries in political as in agricultural life. There is no truly free people without wool! The fine kinds, that is the princ.i.p.al matter. In what are we in advance of the Australians? We have no kangaroos, but we have no superfine sheep either. And in Silesia; do you see, Silesia is bestirring itself also; the States are bestirring themselves; there is intelligence in the province. The Breslau wool market proves that. I am a good patriot, yes I am," continued he, in a voice stifled with tears, "but if a man will be useful to his Fatherland, it does not merely depend upon how he votes, it does not merely depend upon the speeches that are made, it also depends upon the wool that is shorn. You understand me, Sengen, oh, we understand one another, brotherly heart!"

Sengen could only make his a.s.sent known by an animated shake of the head; for he, too, was so moved that his halting speech had become one great pause.

"The National a.s.sembly would have a much better chance," said Hermann, in a loud, ringing voice, "if the Knigsberg Jews did not also desire to have them."