Villa Eden Part 189

You can be happy, you have imparted to the boy genuine strength.

When at last they were bidding good-bye, Roland begged Knopf to ride home on the pony. Knopf a.s.sured him repeatedly that it was a pleasure to him to roam about in the dark on foot; Roland a.s.serted that Puck was a right gentle beast, so tractable, so easy and intelligent; and he said to the little horse:--

"I want you to be good now, and make up for all the trouble I gave to my old teacher; do be well-behaved."

Knopf continued to object, and at last he brought out, in a plaintive tone, that he had no straps to his pants. Everybody laughed, and Roland in the midst of his sorrow laughed too. Knopf was extremely happy to find that Roland could laugh, and now he yielded. Roland helped him mount, stroking the arm of his former teacher, and stroking the horse; Knopf and the Prince rode off together. But Eric did not mount again; leading his horse by the bridle, he went hand in hand with Roland to the Villa.

And now, in the still night, Eric was incessantly occupied in thinking of what the Doctor had said; how great was the discord in the whole modern world, so that the life of states, and even many of the occupations of private life, were not regulated by ethical principles.

Not in the way prescribed by the Doctor,--besides, it had left no impression whatever on Roland,--would the youth gain rest and strength, nor in any way but in the acknowledgment that each one must strive earnestly to conform to the moral law, and make it an integral part of his actual life.

Roland listened to him quietly, occasionally clasping the speaker's hand with a firmer hold.

When they were approaching the Villa, Roland said, sighing deeply:--

"Ah, Eric, now the house is robbed in a very different way from what it was when we came back from Wolfsgarten."

No change had been wrought in the dejected feelings of Roland by what the Doctor had said, nor by Eric's utterances; the only effect was to enable him to express himself freely.

CHAPTER XIV.

A NEW PILLORY AT THE CHURCH DOOR.

The swallows were flocking together and twittering over Villa Eden, over the jail not far from the house of the Justice, over the military club-house in the capital, and wherever they flocked, everybody was talking of Sonnenkamp, of what had happened and of what would happen to him.

In the bas.e.m.e.nt, in the large room near the kitchen, Sonnenkamp's domestics were sitting at table. Bertram's chair was vacant. Somebody was saying that the porter would have to sc.r.a.pe the writing off the wall, and that he had already given the master notice that he should leave. The "chief," who spoke German quite fluently when he was in anger, was cursing the rascality of domestics in leaving their master, who had no farther to concern themselves than to get their regular pay.

The Cooper contested this, Of course, the honor of the master was the honor of the servant, but they ought still to remain with Sonnenkamp; if there was a good deal in him that was bad, there was also much that was good. Joseph, whose personal opinion did not have its just weight, on account of his confidential relations with Sonnenkamp, was glad that the Cooper had hit the right point.

The second coachman, the Englishman, who also wanted to give notice of leaving, now said that he should not do it; but of course he must always be ready for a boxing-match.

The Squirrel expressed his fear that some one would set fire to the place, for the whole neighborhood was possessed by the devil. Lootz was not there, and n.o.body knew where the master had sent him. Old Ursel mourned over the innocent children, at the same time eating away with a fearful appet.i.te, and uttering loudest lamentations with her mouth full.

The stuttering gardener made the proposal that they should remain, but should make a joint demand for higher wages. All agreed to do this, except Joseph and the Cooper, but were puzzled how it could be brought about.

The subterraneans were unanimous in their eulogies of Pranken. He was a n.o.bleman whose like could not be found, who did not desert the master for a single moment. He had ridden out with him in the broad daylight, and did not concern himself as to what his n.o.ble relatives might say of him.

Here, underground, they were also glad to know that men were ungrateful and base. It was even known here that Sonnenkamp had made a present of the Villa to the Cabinetsrath, for what the latter had given for it was only a trifling sum; and now the gardener of the Cabinetsrath had reported that the country-house and the vineyard had just been sold to the American Consul, as a sort of gibe at Sonnenkamp; for the family of the Cabinetsrath wished to have no more intercourse with Villa Eden.

In just the same way, although by men of a different position in society, were Sonnenkamp's circ.u.mstances discussed in the military club-house of the capital, as well as in the beer-houses. For some time, Adams, the negro servant of the Prince, had everywhere been the topic of conversation. There were various wonderful stories how five men were hardly able to restrain the raving negro; that he had tried to choke Sonnenkamp,--only with the greatest difficulty had they succeeded in getting him out of the capital, and removing him to a hunting-seat.

Then the conversation would turn upon Sonnenkamp. Everybody asked what he would do now; no one could understand how it was that Pranken stood by him, and how the family permitted such a thing. In the military club-house there was also an Ursel, but here she took the form of a pensioned lady of high rank, who also ate heartily, and, while eating, spoke very compa.s.sionately of the poor children of the millionaire.

But the conversation took a very peculiar turn in the house of Dr.

Richard, where they were to-day giving a great coffee-party in honor of Frau Weidmann, who had come on a visit; it had been arranged several days before, and the Professorin, Aunt Claudine, Frau Ceres, and Manna had been invited; of course they did not come. Here and there they were earnestly discussing how they should treat the Sonnenkamp family, if they had the audacity not to leave the country as soon as possible.

Lina, who had returned from the trip with her betrothed, said that she would be the same in Sonnenkamp's family that she had always been, and that she would remain Manna's friend; for wherever the Professorin was, there any one might maintain social intercourse without detriment to one's honor.

The tone of the conversation became kindly as Frau Weidmann gave unreserved support to Lina; she spoke of the n.o.ble character of Roland, who had been on a visit to her house, and of the solid worth of Eric, whom her husband held in very high esteem.

Thus every one in the house, as well as in the neighborhood, seemed to be putting himself right, and adopting a moderate, kindly tone towards the Sonnenkamp family. But the bitter, detestable consequences of the occurrence manifested themselves in the green cottage on Sunday morning.

During the hour before ma.s.s, the indigent neighbors used to come for their regular weekly allowance; to-day there came only one solitary woman, in a sorry plight. She was a drunkard's wife, who was forever complaining and lamenting; she was constantly fretting about two children, one of which she held in her arms, and the other she led by her side.

It was only with some difficulty that the Professorin had brought herself to furnish a.s.sistance to this woman, because she was afraid that the drunkard would only be made more s.h.i.+ftless by so doing; she had yielded to the persuasion of Fraulein Milch, though she generally cut the talkative woman short. But she had to listen patiently to-day, now that the woman came alone and no others were there. The Professorin trembled when the woman said to her:--

"Yes, yes, such is the world! It's a topsy-turvy world. My husband makes wife and children unhappy because he squanders everything, and Herr Sonnenkamp makes wife and children unhappy because he has got everything. Yes, just so! It's a world turned upside down."

She a.s.sured the Professorin that she would take none of the gold of the slave-trader, if she could help herself in any other way.

And out of this gold my son is to enrich himself, said the Professorin, to herself, sitting there alone soon afterwards, as the bells were ringing. She sat quiet for a long time. Then Eric came in and said:

"Ah mother, another dreadful thing has happened!"

"Something new? Still another dreadful thing? What has happened?"

"He was bold and defiant; he went to church with Pranken."

"Who did?"

"Herr Sonnenkamp. And when he came out of the church, there stood all the people in a row, looking at him. He went up to a poor man and handed him a gold piece; the poor man took the money, and then threw it away, exclaiming: 'I will have nothing from you!' And they all cried out: 'We want nothing more from you! Take yourself out of the country.'

Sonnenkamp went away, the piece of gold is still lying there before the church door, and no one will pick it up. O mother, the people are great and horrible at the same time."

"Did you see it too? Where did you hear about it? Were you too at the church?"

"No; Manna and Roland told me, and now they are sitting in the garden together, and weeping. I have hastened to you, for you only can help us. Comfort them, strengthen them."

"I have done all I can," said the Mother; "I am too weak, and I am afraid I shall be ill."

Eric called his aunt to remain with his mother, and returned to Roland and Manna.

The Doctor was sent for that very afternoon. The Professorin was sick.

CHAPTER XV.

A WHOLESOME ILLNESS.

She whom all depended upon, to whom every one repaired, sure of care and a.s.sistance,--she was now unexpectedly in want of a.s.sistance herself, and was in a dangerous condition. The remarkable events and vicissitudes some had begun to overcome by means of their youthful strength, by stern defiance, and others by indifference; the Professorin alone felt a constant gnawing at her heart day and night.

Eric had remarked several days before, although he ascribed it to the sudden shock she had received, that his mother, when he was walking before her hand in hand with Manna, took everything cordially and kindly, but still dully, and as if weighed down by some feeling of depression. His mother was in the habit of seeking help from no one, she had always the power of a.s.sisting others, and in this doing for others she always found renewed strength.

From the day on which Fraulein Milch made that communication to her, it had been different; she performed only mechanically the duties which had previously been executed with such freedom and animation.