CHAPTER IV.
A FRUSTRATED PLAN.
Eric found great difficulty in keeping his pupil steadily at hislessons, so completely was he taken up with the thought of the journey.
The day came for the journey to the convent; it was a bright day ofsunshine.
Eric requested that he might remain behind; Sonnenkamp immediatelyagreed, adding kindly that it would probably be agreeable to Eric tohave a few quiet days alone. This considerateness appeared veryfriendly to Eric, who returned it by saying that it should be hisendeavor not to estrange Roland from his family.
Pranken drove over with his sister, and Bella told Eric that Clodwigsent a message, begging for his company during their absence. Ericbecame thus aware, for the first time, that he had never been expectedto join the party; he immediately stifled the sensitive feelingsarising from this, as well as from some other occurrences. Roland aloneurged him pressingly to go with them, saying, unreservedly,--
"Manna will be very much vexed if you do not come; she ought to see youtoo."
Sonnenkamp smiled oddly at this entreaty, and Pranken turned away toconceal his features.
Roland took a most affectionate leave of Eric; it was the first timethat he was to be parted from him for hours and through the night: hepromised, meanwhile, to tell Manna much about him. Something unusualmust have been passing in the boy's mind, for just at the moment ofdeparture, he said to Eric,--
"You and the house, you don't go away from your place."
Eric pressed his hand warmly.
They drove to the steamboat in three carriages. Pranken with FrauCeres, Sonnenkamp with Fraeulein Perini and Bella, and, in the thirdcarriage, Roland and the servants.
They drove a short distance up the river to take the boat, and as theyafterwards shot quickly past the Villa, Eric was standing on thebeautiful, wooded hill, whence there was a view down the stream, wherethe mountains seemed to meet to compel the river to spread out into alake. Roland waved his hat from the boat, and Eric answered thegreeting in the same way, saying to himself,--
"Farewell, boy dear to my heart."
Whoever understands the meaning of the fact that Eric could not send agreeting into the distance, where it was inaudible, without speaking anearnest word of love,--whoever understands this, has the key to thedepths of Eric's character.
The boat puffed by, the waves in its wake plashed for a while againstthe shore, and tossed the pretty pleasure-boat up and down, then allwas still again. The steamboat shot down the stream, and the party onboard was very cheerful. Pranken occupied himself with specialattentions to Frau Ceres, who, wrapped in fine shawls, sat on the deck.
Roland had received permission to take Griffin with him. All on boardwere struck by the handsome boy, and many expressed their admirationaloud.
For a short distance the Wine-count and his son, the Wine-chevalier,travelled with them. The old gentleman, a tall, distinguished-lookingman, wore his red ribbon in his button-hole; the young man was verymuch pleased to meet Pranken there, and especially happy to be able tosalute Frau Bella.
Towards Sonnenkamp and his family both these old inhabitants hadhitherto borne themselves with some reserve; to-day they seemed to wishto change this reserve for a more friendly manner, but Sonnenkamp heldback, not choosing that they should make advances to him now that theysaw him in a position of honor; and he was evidently relieved when theyleft the steamer, at the second stopping-place, where there was a largeWater-cure establishment. On the landing stood the steward of theprince's household with his invalid son, waiting for the two gentlemen.Bella received a most respectful bow from his Excellency, and she toldHerr Sonnenkamp, as they went on their way, that it was almost asettled matter, that the daughter of the rich wine-merchant was tomarry the invalid son of the steward.
The day was bright and clear; hardly a breath of wind blew upon theswiftly-moving boat. Roland frequently overheard: some one whisperinghalf aloud to some passenger, newly come on board, "There is the richAmerican, who is worth ten millions."
A special table was laid on deck for Sonnenkamp's party, and Joseph hadit ornamented with flowers and brightly-polished wine-coolers.Sonnenkamp's servants, in their coffee-colored livery, waited on them.
At table Roland asked,--
"Father, is it true, that you are worth ten millions?"
"People have not yet counted my money," replied Sonnenkamp, smiling;"at all events you will have enough to allow you to order such a dinneras we have to-day."
The boy did not seem satisfied with this answer, and Sonnenkampadded,--
"My son, one is rich only by comparison."
"Mark the words, rich only by comparison," repeated Pranken; "that's afine expression; it includes a whole balance-sheet."
Sonnenkamp smiled; he was always pleased when any one dwelt on anexpression of his with special emphasis.
"Ah, travelling is so pleasant, so jolly, if we only had Eric with us!"cried Roland.
No one answered. The boy seemed unusually talkative, for as thechampagne was opened, and Bella proposed Manna's health, he said toPranken,--
"You ought to marry Manna."
The ladies gave an odd look at the two men; Roland had given utteranceto the wish of all. He became more and more the central object of theconversation and the jesting, and more and more talkative andextravagant; he uttered the wildest nonsense, and at last complied withPranken's request that he would imitate the candidate Knopf. Hesmoothed his hair back, took snuff from his left hand, which he heldlike a snuff-box, and constantly tapped; he suddenly assumed aperfectly strange voice and expression, as, in a stiff, wooden manner,he declaimed the fourth conjugation, and the precepts of Pythagoras,with a mixture of all sorts of other things.
"Now can you mimic Herr Dournay?" asked Pranken.
Roland was struck dumb. A stony look came into his face, as if he hadseen some monster; then he grew suddenly calm, and looked at Pranken asif he would annihilate him, saying,--
"I will never again imitate Candidate Knopf, that I vow from this dayforth."
The boy, who was excited by wine and by talking, became suddenly quiet,and disappeared, so that the servants had to be sent in search of him.He was found on the forward deck with his dog, great tears in his eyes;he allowed himself to be led back to his friends without opposition,but he continued silent.
The steamboat glided on and on; the vineyards glowed in the middaysunshine, and soon it was said,--
"Only two more stops, then comes the convent."
Roland went back to his dog, and said,--
"Griffin, now we are going to Manna; aren't you glad?" It was stillhigh noon when they landed by the weeping-willows on the shore, andentered the refreshing shade of the park which surrounded the convent.The servants were left in a large inn on the other bank of the river.
No one was on the shore awaiting the travellers, although their cominghad been announced beforehand.
"Manna not here?" asked Sonnenkamp as he sprang ashore, and the fiercelook, which he generally knew how to conceal, came into his face.
Frau Ceres only turned her head towards him, and he became gentle andmild.
"I only hope the good child is not sick," he added, in a tone whichwould have suited a hermit doing penance.
They went to the convent, whose doors were closed; the church alone wasopen, and a nun, with veiled face, was prostrate in prayer, while thebright sunshine sparkled out of doors. The visitors, who had crossedthe threshold, drew quietly back; they rang at the convent door, andthe portress opened it. Herr Sonnenkamp inquired whether FraeuleinHermanna Sonnenkamp were well; the portress answered in theaffirmative, and added, that if they were her parents, the Superiorbegged them to come to her in the parlor. Sonnenkamp asked Bella,Pranken, and Fraeulein Perini to wait in the garden; he wished Roland tostay with them, but the boy said,--
"No, I'm going with you."
His mother took his hand and spoke for the first time.
"Very well, you can stay with me."
Griffin remained outside. Roland and his parents were shown into thepresence of the Superior, who received them with a very friendly anddignified bearing. She asked a sister who was with her to leave themalone, and then requested the visitors to be seated. It was cool andpleasant in the large room, where hung pictures of saints painted on agold background.
"What is the matter with our daughter?" asked Sonnenkamp at last,breathing deeply.
"Your child, whom we may call our child also,--for we love her no lessthan you do,--is quite well; she is generally yielding and patient too,but sometimes she shows an incomprehensible self-will, amounting almostto stubbornness."
A rapid flash from Sonnenkamp's eyes fell upon his wife, who looked athim and moved her upper lip very slightly. The Superior did not noticethis, for while she spoke she either closed her eyes or kept them castdown; she quietly continued,--
"Our dear Manna refuses to see her parents, unless they will promisebeforehand that she may remain with us at the convent through thewinter; she says that she does not yet feel herself strong enough toenter the world."
"And you have granted her this condition?" asked Sonnenkamp, as he ranhis hand through his white neck-handkerchief, and loosened it.
"We have nothing to grant to her; you are her parents, and haveunconditional power over your child."
"Of course," burst out Sonnenkamp, "of course, if her thoughts areinfluenced--but I beg your pardon, I interrupted you."
"By no means, I have finished; you have to decide whether you willagree to the condition beforehand; you have full parental power. I willcall one of the sisters to conduct you to Manna's cell; it is notlocked. I have only performed the child's commission, now act accordingto your own judgment."
"Yes, that I will do, and she shall not stay here an hour longer!"
"If her mother has any voice in the matter," began Frau Ceres.
Sonnenkamp looked at her as if some speechless piece of furniture hadspoken, and Frau Ceres continued, not to him, but to the Superior,--
"I declare as her mother that we will lay no compulsion upon her; Igrant her this condition."
Sonnenkamp started up and clutched the back of a chair; there was aviolent struggle within him, but suddenly he said, in a most gentletone,--
"Roland, go now to Herr von Pranken."
Roland was forced to leave the convent, his heart beating fast. Therewas his sister in a room above; what was to happen to her? Why could henot go to her, embrace and kiss her, and play with her long dark hairas he used to do? He went out of doors, but not to Pranken; he enteredthe open church, and there he knelt and prayed with deep fervor. Hecould not have said for what he prayed, but he asked for peace andbeauty, and suddenly, as he looked up, he started back; there was thegreat picture of St. Anthony of Padua, and, wonderful to say, thispicture resembled Eric,--the noble, beautiful face was Eric's.
The boy gazed long at it; at last he laid his head on his hands,and--blessed power of youth!--he fell asleep.