Villa Eden Part 104

He stood by the garden-fence, drumming with his fingers upon one of the rails, and lost in so deep a reverie, that the guests stood before him, without his having noticed their approach.

The meeting of the Mother and Fraulein Milch was not so cordial as the Major had hoped it would be. Each seemed to hold back a little, and they evidently gave each other a close inspection. But the Major laughed inwardly when he thought of the sweet cream, which Fraulein Milch poured out just as usual, without noticing it.

He soon tapped with his stump-finger upon his forehead, saying to himself,--

"She's much too smart to make any fuss before strangers. O, she's wise; one can't know how wise she is!"

How he would have liked to say that to the Professorin! But he resolved to speak as little as possible to-day, and leave the field wholly to Fraulein Milch.

Just the right subject of conversation did not seem to come up; but when the Doctor's wife was mentioned, Fraulein Milch expressed her respect for the n.o.ble woman, who had just the right sort of aristocracy.

"And what do you mean by the right sort of aristocracy?"

"It seems to me to receive every one's respect and honor."

"Exactly so, and that perhaps is still truer of Frau Dournay,"

interposed the Major.

It seemed to him that Fraulein Milch sneered a trifle, and it was not pleasant to him.

The Mother asked Fraulein Milch if she were a native of this part of the country.

She answered curtly in the negative.

At last an expedient occurred to the Major. Two strange horses must be left in the stable by themselves; perhaps they will kick a little at first, but they are soon on good terms. He busied himself in giving a long account to Eric and Roland of the vineyard, which would this year yield wine for the first time, virgin wine as it was called; they must go with him to see it.

The ladies were now by themselves. The Mother wanted to say something commendatory of Fraulein Milch, about whom she had heard so many favorable things; but this did not exactly suit her, and by a happy turn she referred to the strangeness of the change in her own life, and how much she needed help.

This was the right key to touch, for Fraulein Milch was in her element whenever she could render any advice and a.s.sistance. She took an unexpectedly deep view, saying that a firm position in life could be kept, so long as one's self-respect was preserved. The Mother was surprised at the tact and knowledge of the world she displayed. She expected to see a narrow-minded, frivolous, talkative housewife, and here was evidence of refined thought which could be the result only of deep and mature reflection.

She wanted to say, You are more than your circ.u.mstances would indicate; but she refrained, and expressed anew her satisfaction at the beauty of the landscape, which was continually unfolding hidden charms, and at the rich fulness of life, as revealed in human beings, who even in solitude cherished refined thoughts and n.o.ble sentiments. Fraulein Milch, who had seated herself with her cup of coffee a little apart from the table, now drew up nearer, and beginning with an allusion to Eric's discreet management, she proceeded to give a clear-sighted characterization of Herr Sonnenkamp and his wife.

She did not mention Fraulein Perini. She only expressed her regret that Herr Sonnenkamp, who was not really hardhearted, should have no systematic beneficence. She drew a picture of the necessitous condition of various people in the neighborhood, for she knew everybody for miles around. The Mother said finally:--

"I thank you; you remind me of a work which I had lost sight of, and which was the very reason of my coming here. If I have the disposal of Herr Sonnenkamp's charities, will you a.s.sist me?"

Fraulein Milch promised to do so; but she suggested that it would be very much more expedient for the Professorin to have the cooperation of the daughter of the house; in this way many good results could be secured. The girl, who was serious and earnest, would take again her proper place, and the immeasurable wealth of the father would have a secure and immovable basis if it were intrusted to the care of the daughter of the house.

The Mother's eyes gleamed as she looked, at Fraulein Milch; yonder the Doctor's wife, and here the housekeeper, are appealing to her to bring Manna out of the convent, and initiate her into an active life of common usefulness.

She made, very cautiously, further inquiries of the charitable and sensible housekeeper concerning the people in the neighborhood, but Fraulein Milch evaded them. She affirmed that she did not have the right view of people; she saw them on Sundays and holidays, when they were in a merry mood, singing, and going up and down the mountain with wreaths on their heads; but whoever was not in the very midst of this hilarious movement, whoever observed it from the window, or from behind the garden hedge, could form no suitable estimate of it; generally the whole seems one undistinguishable jumble, just as when one stops his ears and looks at people dancing, but hears nothing of the music.

The Mother led the talk back to Manna, and, forgetting her usual marked reserve, Fraulein Milch declared that Manna must have received some severe shock, as it was not natural for any one to go from the extreme of overbearing pride to the extreme of humility.

"I will relate to you one little incident of Manna, and you will know what she is. A stinging fly, a Rhine-gnat, as it is called, alighted on her hand, and sucked her blood; she quietly let it suck, and then said: 'The ugly fly! I have let it drink my blood without disturbing it, and just for that it has stung me.' Now can't you know what the child is from this little trait, supposing that they have not spoiled her in the convent? I can speak of the child with so much the more freedom, as she has a dislike to me, of which Fraulein Perini was the cause."

Fraulein Milch now launched out into a pa.s.sionate invective against Pranken.

She acknowledged that her aversion to him arose from his making the Major the target of his wit, more than was attributable to youthful arrogance; he was both witty and supercilious. And it was so much the more remarkable that now he should pretend to be pious, and that too, before he had married Manna; there must be some deep-laid game here, not easily seen through.

Engaged thus in friendly intercourse, the two women got to know each other. Frau Dournay, with her naturally ladylike and easy bearing, imparted a great deal, without seeming to do so; Fraulein Milch, with her acquired culture, which did not sit gracefully upon her, in every communication of deep thought showed plainly the difficult steps by which she had made it her own. When the Professorin spoke with such ease and fluency, Fraulein Milch nodded, saying to herself; "Yes, forsooth! this lady has sat down at the table all spread, and been served by others, with all the means of culture, while I have had to cook my own food and to set my own table."

The Major saw from a distance the two women take each other by the hand, and he spoke to Laadi fondling words that he would like to have spoken to Fraulein Milch.

"You are a pretty creature, smarter than all the world put together--clear as the day--quiet and steady--not you, Laadi,--what are you looking at me so for?"

He returned to the garden, Roland and Eric following immediately.

As the Major was escorting the Professorin a part of the way home, she said:--

"I believe that I am acquainted now not only with the two best, but also the two happiest people in this region."

The Major remained some time standing in the same place, and looking after the departing guests; then turning his eyes upward, he said:--

"Thanks to thee, thou Builder of all the worlds! Thou knowest what I would say, without my speaking,--oh dear!"

BOOK VIII.

CHAPTER I.

ON GOETHE'S BIRTH-DAY.

The swiftly-flowing Rhine between its bends seems transformed into a lake, until, curving around the jutting mountain, it continues its course.

This is very much the case with the story we are narrating.

The Mother wanted to go straightforward to the goal she had in view, but many obstacles interposed. First came a very pressing invitation from Clodwig, for the Mother and the whole of Sonnenkamp's family to celebrate Goethe's birth-day at Wolfsgarten.

The invitation was accepted; but Frau Ceres and Fraulein Perini remained at home.

They drove to Wolfsgarten. Eric did not say it in so many words, but his eyes expressed how much he felt protected and supported by the Mother's presence, in entering the house of his friend; she seemed a living testimony that he crossed the threshold with a pure heart and a pure eye. Yet he could not suppress all anxiety in regard to his first meeting with Bella. She came with the Aunt, as far as the wood, to meet them.

Bella embraced the Mother, and again thanked her for having subjected herself to the self-denial of letting Aunt Claudine remain with her.

Extending her hand to Eric, she said, with a sort of chilled look:--

"You were his first thought to-day, my young friend."

She said nothing further, and did not mention her husband's name.

Rain began to fall before they reached Wolfsgarten, and it did not cease during the whole day, so that they were confined in doors.