Only a Girl Part 21

Johannes looked fixedly at Herbert and said, "I am no dreamer, Doctor Herbert, although I believe in the virtue that requires no certificate of character. And, I repeat, I believe so firmly in this virtue, that I denounce as a slanderer the man who dares to a.s.sail it by a single word!"

"Sir!" cried Herbert with irritation, "your remark is insulting!"

"Only to him to whom it may apply!" said Johannes calmly.

Angelika ran to her brother and threw her arms around him. "Johannes!

Johannes! consider who it is that you are defending. You do not even know her."

"Yes, yes, she is right!" added several of the gentlemen.

Johannes held up Ernestine's paper, and said with earnest gravity, "I do know her."

Herbert took his hat, and, with a silent bow, was about to leave the room, when the beadle of the University rushed in and handed Johannes a letter. "Herr Professor! Herr Professor! this comes in haste from his Honor, and concerns all the gentlemen."

Johannes opened the letter, and Herbert stood listening upon the threshold. After reading it, Johannes looked around the circle with a smile. "Gentlemen, we have been most strangely mystified. The prize essay upon the '_Capacity of the Eye for Stereoscopic Vision_,' which we all attributed to Hilsborn, is by--Fraulein Hartwich!"

An exclamation of surprise greeted this announcement. All present crowded around Johannes to read the letter; even Herbert entered the room again, to make sure that what he had heard was true. There was no doubt of it,--the fact was indisputable that these gentlemen had accorded the prize offered for the best essay upon the '_Capacity of the Eye for Stereoscopic Vision_' to Ernestine, to whom they had just denied admission to the University because she was a woman. It was a fact not exactly pleasant to contemplate, and the professors exchanged glances of chagrin.

"What is to be done?" asked some.

"This alters the case entirely," said Beck.

"Mollner," cried Meibert, "this is embarra.s.sing enough. I think we shall have to reconsider our decision."

"We can scarcely withhold a diploma from a woman to whom we have awarded this prize," said Taun.

Heim nodded in high good humour, and growled, "Ah, yes, you sing a different tune now!"

"Gentlemen," said Johannes with emphasis, "I pray you do not mistake the point at issue. If the question had been of the capacity of the applicant, the essay that we have already read would have influenced our decision; but there is a social principle concerned, which we must not violate for the sake of an individual. Must I remind you of what you know so well?"

"Our colleague is still victorious," said Taun, offering his hand with kindly dignity to Johannes. "We cannot think you in the wrong."

"The prize awarded to a woman!" muttered Herbert, as he left the room.

"It is enough to kill one with vexation!"

"It is a pity," said the others, when he had departed, "that our pleasant morning should have been so spoiled by Herbert."

"Do not be disturbed by it, dear friends," laughed Johannes; "it did me good to tell him the truth for once. He is one of those who sustain their mental existence by continual conflict. 'Destroy, that you may exist,' is their motto,--and of course they are the sworn enemies of all rising talent. They must be so, because they are not conscious of any power in themselves to soar above it; they need all the strength of their nature to enable them to avoid being extinguished by the wealth of vital force that is expended all around them. Those whose lot is cast beyond the sphere of such individuals can afford to pity them, but those who are within reach of their poisonous fangs must fear them as the arch-enemies of all creation and growth. Although I could not accede to Fraulein Hartwich's request, the envious malice with which he criticised her pained me excessively."

"That is very true," said the philosopher Taun. "It is sad enough when such embodied negations interfere with the free, joyous activity of art,--doubly so when they meddle with science!"

"Who would have thought it," cried Angelika, "of the gallant Professor Herbert, who is sure to propose 'the ladies' at every supper-party! I am amazed!"

"One who pays court to 'the ladies,' my fair colleague, may very possibly be no advocate for woman, since, according to my brother Schopenhauer, what const.i.tutes the modern lady is not the strength, but the weakness, of her s.e.x," replied Taun.

"True enough," said Johannes. "Such a man might show consideration for weakness,--he can only contend with strength."

"Only wait awhile, Herr Professor Herbert!" cried Angelika, shaking her plump little forefinger towards the door of the room. "I shall not forget you,--only wait--I will strip the sheep's clothing from the wolf's back, in full conclave of his lady friends! And you too, Moritz,--I have a word to say to you, but not until we are alone."

The gentlemen laughed, and took their hats.

"Come, we must not deprive our friend Kern for one moment longer of such a charming curtain-lecture," said Taun.

All took their leave, except Heim, Hilsborn, and Moritz.

"And so," began Angelika with a pout, "you miserable, detestable man, we are to do nothing but knit stockings?"

"One thing beside," said Moritz, seizing both her hands,--"you may kiss--that is a charming vocation."

"Nonsense! any stupid fool can do that,--the clever ones must do something better."

"No woman with so pretty a mouth can do anything better! Only those who are ugly or old shall knit stockings."

"There is no getting a serious word from you, Moritz, but I am sorry for poor Ernestine, and it grieves me that you were so hard upon her."

One single stern glance from Moritz's black eyes encountered his wife's; it was enough--it silenced her instantly.

"You know," he said kindly, but gravely, as if to a child, "that I do not like to have you undertake to decide upon matters of which you understand nothing."

Angelika looked down, and a tear trembled upon her long eyelashes.

"What is it?" asked Moritz soothingly, and drew her towards him,--"tears? And why not? Nothing more than a dewdrop in the bosom of a rose,--nothing more." He brushed away her tears, and she smiled at him again.

"It is well for you, my son," said the Staatsrathin gently, but gravely, "that your wife's heart is so warm that the frost made in it by unkind words melts to tears and does no further injury."

Moritz looked at his mother-in-law, and then at his wife.--"Angelika, was I unkind?"

Angelika shook her fair curls and said, in a tone which told all the sweetness of her childlike disposition, "No, Moritz, you were right."

"There, mamma, that is a true woman as she comes from the hand of her Creator to be a blessing to the man to whom she belongs," cried Moritz, with a fond look at his wife.

The Staatsrathin stood beside them, her eyes resting with unspeakable affection upon her child, but there was a strange mixture of delight and anxiety in her heart.

"This youthful devotion is very beautiful, but, when its first fervour has pa.s.sed, nothing remains of the bridegroom but the lord and master of the wife, who is oftentimes as unhappy a slave as she is now a happy one." Such thoughts pa.s.sed through the mother's mind, and she sighed.

Meanwhile, Johannes had been talking in a low voice with Heim and Hilsborn about the contents of a letter which Heim had handed him to read. "Then, Father Heim, that is settled," he said.

The Staatsrathin turned to them, and asked, "What have you there?"

"A letter from Fraulein Hartwich to Uncle Heim, mother."

Johannes handed her the letter, and the Staatsrathin read:

"Herr Geheimrath:

"I do not know whether you remember a little girl called Ernestine Hartwich, whose life you once saved, but I do know that, even if you do not remember her, you will not refuse aid to any one who appeals to you. I have sent an application to the University here to be allowed to attend the lectures. I did this without my guardian's knowledge, for he disapproved of the plan. I therefore wish to keep the matter a secret from him until results shall reconcile him to my mode of proceeding."