Withered Leaves Volume Ii Part 17

"If you insist upon it."

"And then we will return here; we will have ink and paper brought to us, and you will write the guarantee, will you not, dear, good friend?"

She clung to his arm, and he sealed the agreement with a brother-in-law's kiss.

Frulein Sohle had rented two _tages_ of a large house for her educational establishment; in the upper storey were the boarders'

rooms, in the lower one the schoolrooms, the reception and conference apartments.

Several teachers and pupils were going out and in. Reising remarked _en pa.s.sant_ that Lori returned their greetings with a certain condescension, and these greetings were very polite--she was already looked upon as future mistress, and felt herself to be such. The little creature could a.s.sume very dictatorial manners.

Frulein Sohle received her and Reising in her drawing-room. She was a lady of imposing stature, but astoundingly thin and so short-sighted that without very strong spectacles she should have mistaken all her pupils when quite close to her. Lori's princ.i.p.al object was by means of her brother-in-law, who was known to be rich, to represent herself to Frulein Sohle as a lady of fortune. Frulein Sohle respected that motive, and received her to-day with peculiar politeness.

"I will conduct you through all the apartments, but the spirit of my inst.i.tution you must also learn. The rooms are a little confined; one must do the best one can in a town. But as far as the spirit is concerned, I may surely say that on the wings of freedom it soars above the commonplace into the atmosphere of most refined cultivation. Look at the daughters of the educated cla.s.ses in our town; they quite fulfil the name which it enjoys as the beacon of the East. And this, to a great extent, is my humble merit. My pupils interest themselves in every question of life; I have awakened the feeling for it within them.

Enlightenment--no obscurity--is my watchword. There must be no veil for the mind."

The mistress commenced her round with her guests. At that moment one of the lower cla.s.ses was rus.h.i.+ng out for a few moments to enjoy the fresh air in the garden, which consisted of a small patch of gravel and an arbour.

It was a wild troop that clattered down the stairs, and did not allow itself to be disturbed by Frulein Sohle's cries.

"I will keep better order," said Lori softly, but with decision, to her companion.

First the rooms of the pupils were subjected to inspection; they were not inelegantly furnished, but small, and considerable disorder reigned within them. Several of the elder fair creatures had used their beds for a short afternoon nap; cus.h.i.+ons and coverlets were therefore in a chaotic condition, and the emblems of future rule, the little slippers, lay isolated about the room, just as they had been thrown from the tiny feet.

Here and there upon writing tables lay open books, which were treated by Frulein Sohle with much discretion, while Lori cast her eyes coolly upon the essays, and pretended to discover from the superscriptions of letters which were begun, that there must be several cousins in the school, who were on friendly terms with absent ones, and she was touched at the a.s.surances of affection that prevailed between these loving relatives.

Upon one table Lori even espied a glove, which upon most scientific examination and measurement she p.r.o.nounced to be a gentleman's which had come there by some mistake. Any lady at least to whom such a glove belonged might have exhibited herself amongst female giants at a fair. All these discoveries she imparted confidentially to her brother-in-law.

Frulein Sohle extolled the improving private reading of her young ladies, and pointed to Schiller, Herder and the "Hours of Devotion,"

which looked down, in elegant bindings, from small, hanging book-shelves.

"Fnlon," too, and other French writings of honourable renown, stood side by side. But Lori, with her talent for research, that would have especially qualified her for archaeological unearthings, discovered amongst some fine needlework and knitting materials less elegant books from a circulating library. Amongst them were "The Sorrows of a Prince's Aspasia," "The Student and the Pin," "The Fatal Wanderings of Knight Hugo von Schauerthal."

One young lady, who studied French with peculiar zeal, had a volume of "Paul de k.o.c.k" lying beside "George Sand" under her embroidery frame, upon which a Madonna with the Holy Child was being laboriously worked in many wools.

Only in one single room did the greatest cleanliness and order prevail.

While in the others isolated articles of the wardrobe, both those which were destined for the brilliance of publicity as well as many for the comfort of cosy _neglig_, had fled from the cupboards to various nails upon the walls, no such deserter was bunched out here on door and wall, barring the pa.s.sage; slippers stood side by side as if united in holy bonds, only select cla.s.sics occupied the book-shelves, no forbidden wares were littered upon those tables.

Lori was annoyed at orderliness with which she could find no fault, and only regained her composure upon hearing Frulein Sohle's explanation that this was her own private room.

The cla.s.s and schoolrooms were next visited. In the first one the German essays were given back; a moustachioed master, who belonged to that dubious cla.s.s of so-called handsome men, praised the patriotic spirit with which the pupils had executed the somewhat whimsical theme, "A Maiden's Thoughts on seeing a Hussar Officer."

Iduna especially had entered into the subject with her wonted intensity of feeling, and sketched a life-like picture of Theodore Krner.

Upon this the tutor cast a friendly glance at Iduna, which she reciprocated with glowing enthusiasm.

Lori could not perceive anything particularly intellectual in Iduna, a tall maiden with large features. She said to Reising that she should consider the girl more likely to display the talent of an Odaliske than of a Sappho.

Meanwhile the teacher poured out all the vials of his wrath upon a nice little girl, who listened to the lecture with tears in her eyes.

Sophie had totally misinterpreted the theme. No thoughts had filled her mind at the sight of that lieutenant whom the master had depicted as a marked out enemy, in order to exercise his pupils in man[oe]uvring; she had only described his cloak, his entire uniform with sword and carbine; for the rest of the portrait the tutor himself had sat, and she had not neglected to expatiate upon the warlike fire that flashed in the eye of the officer and his imposing moustache.

Sophie was sharply reprimanded on account of that unseemly representation! she had gained no elevating ideas from the Lieutenant, and, besides, had described him in very clumsy style. It was, said the master, a veritable hurdle-race, over fences and ditches, in which the German language must break its legs and arms.

The master pleased Lori. She should not dismiss him on any account. By means of this very fanciful theme that he had selected, he would bring the pupils to a clear consciousness of a feeling of propriety.

History was being taught in the second cla.s.s; the teacher was a girl not much older than her pupils, with a face like painted china, and full of painfully stiff dignity.

She was examining the girls about the Seven Years' War, and utter strategic embarra.s.sment was displayed. The Austrians were beaten at Rossbach, the French at Zorndorf. As regards the dates hopeless confusion prevailed, which was shared by the teacher, who was deprived of her self-possession by the visitors, and at last it was unanimously decided, with her silent consent, to transpose the peace of Hubertusburg to a period in which Frederick the Great was only preparing for war.

Frulein Sohle considered it advisable to interfere so as to reduce Frederick the Great's affairs to something like order. However, she could not even provide any proper place for the battle of Kunersdorf, and wandered vainly from one date to another.

The third cla.s.s was in a state of complete anarchy; the teacher had been obliged to send an apology for her absence on account of violent toothache, but that message had not reached Frulein Sohle.

Miss Sourland, a little English girl, had a.s.sumed the lecturer's seat, and parodied the teacher's English in so comical a manner that all the girls crowded round her with peals of laughter; she was at that moment engaged in uttering some guttural tones when Frulein Sohle's appearance interrupted the merry fun.

This lady inflicted some punishment task upon the cla.s.s, but then let it return home.

Lori made a note of the name of the princ.i.p.al culprit; she considered a black book indispensable, so that the mistress of a school could at once detect the black sheep in every cla.s.s.

At heart, nevertheless, she felt sympathy with the girl, and acknowledged to herself that in a similar case she should have been just as wild as the red-haired islander.

They inspected the lower cla.s.ses, where the young curly-headed creatures were struggling with the alphabet and the four first rules of arithmetic, and at the same indulged in various surrept.i.tious acts of naughtiness, which did not escape Lori's sharp vision. In the fifth they were alarmed by a window blind descending impetuously; the young teacher complained of this often recurring mishap, which was so trying to her nerves; Frulein Sohle promised her intervention, but Lori had immediately perceived that it was owing to no chance but to some misdemeanour, and that the little wild creatures fastened the string so loosely before the commencement of the lesson, that by the least shake, the monster should rattle down with its heavy rod.

The head of the establishment expatiated upon all its advantages once more in the conference-room--she drew attention to the proper behaviour of the young ladies in the upper cla.s.ses, which was peculiarly her work; all were fitted to appear at Court, and would pa.s.s brilliantly through the ordeal. Etiquette, indeed, was the princ.i.p.al thing; the whole world rests upon it; remove it, and we should see what is left.

People would do away with the laced bodice--how foolis.h.!.+ Without it there would be no truly seemly carriage. She would not permit one of her young ladies to come without it. A sensation of control is necessary to all mankind, but especially to all young girls; it is the guarantee of propriety. Decorum is a species of control; it is much more comfortable not to be decorous; and also as to French, she still maintained the old views, although she was a good German. But girls are born without logic, they must learn to think in succinct manner. The French language teaches this, tolerating no fancifulness. Besides it is the language for what is unavoidable, for what in German would be a stumbling block can be glided over easily in French.

After this exposition, Frulein Sohle brought out her books, went over her affairs, her incomings and outgoings, and stated her terms. Lori examined all; Professor Reising yawned, at last all was found to be acceptable. Lori conducted her brother-in-law back to the confectioner's, where he signed the guarantee, but after that he could endure it no longer, and hastened home, where doubtlessly Euphrasia had been already long expecting him.

Lori in the consciousness of a triumph gained, enjoyed supreme complacency; she drank iced punch, and eat cakes and _marzipan_ to her heart's content; she felt raised above the storms of life; she had attained a desired object, but malicious chance ordained that the two gentlemen, Von Blanden and Wegen, should enter at that moment. Lori's exalted frame of mind collapsed suddenly, a new but unattained and perhaps unattainable aim stood before her. This made her sad, all human efforts possess a sad false flavour. All the worry of the school suddenly rose before her--how different if she made a rich match, married a Herr von Blanden! How the whole grand establishment with the golden-haired English girl, and the attractive moustachioed master, faded before this prospect! The paper in her hand, her brother-in-law's guarantee, suddenly lost all charm; she crumpled the note while indulging in idle thought.

Herr von Blanden could not overlook her; a transfiguring radiance from her pink hat was shed throughout the confectioner's room; any one who saw her must remember the verse by Rckert--

"When the rose adorns herself, Then she eke adorns the garden."

In truth Herr von Blanden had recognised and gone up to her; she manifested all her sweetness in order to attract him.

"Do you ever attend the theatre, Herr von Blanden? Signora Bollini--not bad, only her voice is a little _pa.s.se_."

Wegen, who had also drawn near, smiled awkwardly.

"But sit down, gentlemen! She is beautiful, that one must allow; but it is a different kind of beauty from that which grows wild with us. Do you like that sun-burnt complexion, those dark eyes, that excessively brunette appearance? The profile has been stolen out of the picture galleries of the Capitol, it is fitted for an atelier."

Wegen concurred entirely, while Blanden sat there lost in thought; Lori found the blockade ineffectual, she opened her guns.

"One knows your taste, Herr von Blanden. You are more inclined to Germanic beauty, if they--are clever; clever--that is the princ.i.p.al thing! Can an Italian possess intellect? _Chi la sa!_ I believe the climate is too hot, their days are spent in a perpetual _siesta_, but German girls have all kinds of minds, roguish, playful, fiery, thoughtfully intellectual; yes, all these qualities are often even to be found in one person---as in the bottle out of which the conjuror can, as is desired, pour red or white wine, Hungarian, Madeira, champagne, into the gla.s.ses--and in addition, they have blue eyes and a warm heart. You see I am not speaking of myself--my eyes are brown."