Frederick the Great and His Court Part 43

"Of course; that is surely understood; no decent tailor would work in any other style. I should indeed be ridiculous to appear at court in a stiff old German costume. You must make me the tight-fitting French waist, the long points in front, the narrow sleeves reaching to the elbow and trimmed with rich lace."

p.r.i.c.ker folded his measure with heroic determination and laid it upon the table.

"Your dress cannot be made in the house of p.r.i.c.ker, mademoiselle."

"What, you refuse to work for me?"

"I will not adopt the French fas.h.i.+ons! that would be an insult to my ancestors. I will remain true to the good old German customs."

"Reflect," said Count Rhedern, "how much this obstinacy will cost you.

You will lose all the patronage of the court; all the world adopts the new French fas.h.i.+ons."

"That is true," said the sorrowful p.r.i.c.ker; he approached and pointed through the window to the house opposite. "Once all those carriages stood before my door; once I dressed all those n.o.ble people; a wink would be sufficient to recall them. Would I be untrue to the customs of my fathers, would I employ French workmen, all those carriages would be arrayed before my door. I hold the destiny of that contemptible Frenchman in my hands; a word from me, and he would be ruined; but I will not speak that word. Let him live to the disgrace and shame of the Germans who abandoned the time-honored customs of their fatherland."

The count offered his arm to his bride, and said, mockingly:

"I thank you for your address. I see that a German tailor may be a consummate fool! Come, my dear Caroline, we will go to M. Pelissier."

p.r.i.c.ker remained alone; grand and proud he stood in the middle of the saloon, and looked up, like a conquering hero, at the grim portraits of his ancestors.

"Be satisfied with me," he murmured; "I have made a new sacrifice to your names. My house is German, and German it shall remain."

At this moment there arose on the air the clear, full voice of his daughter, who was practising with Quantz a favorite Italian air of the king. "Nel tue giorni felice ricordati da me," sang the beautiful Anna, while Father p.r.i.c.ker ran, like a madman, up and down the room, and stopped his ears, that he might not hear the hateful sound. He cursed himself for allowing the monster Quantz to come to the house.

"Alas! alas! I have closed my heart to the new era and its horrors, hut I shall lose my children; they will not wish to wander in my ways."

At this moment Anna entered the room, with sparkling eyes and rosy cheeks.

"Father," she said, hastily, "the supreme desire of my heart will now be fulfilled. Quantz has at last promised that I shall sing at the next court concert. In eight days the king returns, and a concert will be arranged, at which I, your happy daughter, will sing an Italian song."

"Italian!"

"She will sing Italian," murmured Quantz, who was listening at the door. "She will give all the world an opportunity to laugh and ridicule her; and I shall be held responsible; I would rather die!"

Anna was greatly excited, and did not notice her teacher; and, as her mother entered the room, she embraced her warmly.

"Mother, mother, Quantz has p.r.o.nounced me worthy to sing at the court.

I shall cover myself with glory, and the daughter of the tailor will fill all Germany with her fame!"

"Unhappy child, do you not know that your father is present?"

"Oh, my father shall be proud of me!" cried Anna.

Mother p.r.i.c.ker was frightened at the looks of her husband. Anna scarcely noticed her parents; she said:

"Father, it is high time to think of my dress; it must be new and elegant."

"You shall have it," said her father, solemnly; "it is an honor to sing before the king. I will make you a magnificent dress out of your mother's bridal robe."

Anna laughed contemptuously. "No, no, father; the time is past when we dared to wear the clothes of our great-grandmothers. The day is gone by for family relics. How the ladies of the court would laugh at my mother's old flowered robe! Besides, the dress is too narrow for a modern hoop robe, the only style now tolerated."

"A hoop robe!" cried the father, in tones of horror; "she wishes to wear a hoop robe!"

"Yes, and why not?" said Anna. "Does not the beautiful Blanche wear one? and have not all the court ladies adopted them? No fas.h.i.+onable lady would dare now appear without a hoop robe."

"Who is Blanche?" cried M. p.r.i.c.ker, rising from his chair and looking threateningly at Anna, "who is Blanche?"

"Do you not know, father? Oh, you are only pretending not to know!

Dearest Blanche, whom I love like a sister, and to whom I can only pay stolen visits, for her father is furious that you have not returned his visit, and has forbidden any of his family to enter our house."

"He did right; and I also forbid you to cross his threshold. I thought, Anna, you had too much pride to enter the house of your father's enemy, or speak to his daughter."

Anna shrugged her shoulders silently, and now quick steps were heard approaching.

"Oh, quel pleusir d'etre amoreuse," sang a fresh, manly voice.

"French!" cried Father p.r.i.c.ker, wild with rage. "William singing French!"

The door was hastily opened, and William, heir to the house of p.r.i.c.ker, stood upon the sill. He was arrayed in a most charming costume. A tight-fitting coat, short-waisted and long-tailed, wide sleeves, and large mother-of-pearl b.u.t.tons; the cuffs and high-standing collar were richly embroidered in silver; his vest was "coleur de chair," and instead of a long plait, William had covered his hair with a powdered wig. A small three-cornered hat, worn jauntily to one side, was embroidered with silver, and ornamented with a black feather; in his hand he held a slight, graceful cane. William appeared before his father a complete model of a new-fas.h.i.+oned French dandy; rage and horror choked the old man's utterance.

"Well, father, do I please you? is not this attire worthy of a n.o.bleman? only I cannot wear the white feather, which they say belongs exclusively to the n.o.bility."

"Where did you get these clothes, William?" said his father, approaching him slowly; "who gave you the money to pay for them? It is a fool's costume! Who made it for you?"

"Well, you gave me the money, dear father," said William, laughing; "that is, you will give it to me. This handsome suit has not yet been paid for. The name of p.r.i.c.ker has a silvery sound; Pelissier knows that, and credited me willingly; though at first he refused to work for me, and I thank Blanche that I have a costume from the celebrated shop of Pelissier."

Old p.r.i.c.ker uttered a cry of rage, and seizing, with feverish violence, the long tails of his son's coat, he dragged him to and fro.

"So Pelissier made this! he has dared to array my son, the son and heir of the house of p.r.i.c.ker, in this ridiculous manner! And you, William, you were shameless enough to receive this suit from your father's enemy. Alas! alas! are you not afraid that your ancestors will rise from their graves to punish you?"

"Dear father," said William, "it is only a costume, and has nothing to do with character or principle."

"Never will I allow my son to be lost to me in this manner," cried p.r.i.c.ker; "and if in the blindness of his folly he has lost himself, I will bring him back with violence, if necessary, to the right path.

Off, then, with this absurd coat! off with this fool's cap! off with all this livery!"

p.r.i.c.ker now began to pull and tear madly at his son's clothes; he knocked his hat off, and trampled it under his feet; he seized with both hands the lace collar, and laughed when the shreds remained in his hands. William was at first dumb with terror, but the loud laugh of his sister, who found this scene amusing, restored his presence of mind; with mad violence he pushed his father from him.

"Father," he cried, "I am no longer a boy! I will not bear this treatment; I will dress as I like, and as the fas.h.i.+ons demand."

"Well spoken, my brother," said Anna, laughingly, springing to his side; "we are children of the new era, and will dress as it demands.

Why did our parents give us modern educations if they wished us to conform to old-fas.h.i.+oned prejudice?"

"'Honour thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long in the land which the Lord thy G.o.d giveth thee,'" said p.r.i.c.ker, solemnly.

"Another Bible verse," said Anna, mockingly. "The book is no longer fas.h.i.+onable; and it is not half so amusing as Voltaire."

"Enough, enough," said p.r.i.c.ker; "now listen to my last determination. I command you to live and dress as your father and mother have dressed before you! Woe to you if you despise my commands! woe to you if you defy my authority! I will disown you--and my curse shall be your inheritance; remember this. If you ever enter that house again, or speak to any of its inhabitants--if I ever see you in this French livery again, or if you, Anna, ever appear before me in a hoop robe and toupe, from that moment you cease to be my children."