CHAPTER XIII.
THE MAJOR MAKES A CONQUEST.
The same sun that shone at Wolfsgarten, where Bella was maintaining asevere internal struggle, and that shone through the lowered greenshades in the court-room upon the bench of the accused, glimmered alsothrough the closed Venetian blinds in the quiet sitting-room of theProfessor's widow in the University-town. Eric's mother sat by thewindow filled with flowers, in the piano recess, at her silent work,thinking of her son; it was a subject of constant thought with her, whyhe had to enter upon a mode of life so out of the ordinary course.
She often looked up sadly to the portrait of her husband, which seemedto say to her: My child, both of us entered upon a path in life out ofthe ordinary course, thou even more than I: and that is transmitted asan inheritance from generation to generation; we ought to rest content,as thereby we keep a firmer hold upon the spirit of our son, and thoughhe may be thrown down to the ground by fortune, he can never be heldthere permanently.
So did the mother console herself; and Eric's letters were also asource of consolation. He had made a faithful report to her, then heexcused himself for the irregularity and haste of his letters, on theground that he must forget, for a time, himself and everybody elsewho belonged to him, as only in this way could he hope to gainpossession of another soul. At first he mentioned Clodwig and Bellafrequently,--his home feeling with these friends, and the happyrealization of a state of tranquillity; then, for a while, there wasnothing said of Bella, except sometimes a brief greeting from her ather request. The mother had not noticed this, but aunt Claudine, whoseldom said any thing unless her opinion was asked, and then hadsomething to say very much to the purpose, did not hesitate to remarkunreservedly, after Clodwig's and Bella's visit, on being asked whatimpression it had left, that she had noticed a certain restlessness inBella's look, and she feared from the manner in which she had looked ata likeness of Eric, taken when he was young, that there was here a morethan common interest. The mother was forced to assent to this, for shehad also noticed how deeply interested Bella had been in makinginquiries concerning Eric's youthful years. But she said further to hersister-in-law that Bella was an artist, at least was more than a commondilettante, and had observed with the eye of an artist the picture,that was exceedingly well painted; a considerable sum had already beenoffered for it in order to be put into an art-collection.
There was stillness in the abode of the two ladies, who lived almost asquietly as the flowers which throve so well under their watchfulnessand care. The postman, brought a letter in Clodwig's neat handwriting,in every word of which the man himself could be discerned, so neat andregular were the letters, with no stroke hastily made, and none tooelaborately precise; the whole had an appearance of uniformity, and thelines were straight and at an equal distance apart, though the paperwas unruled. A feeling of pleasure was awakened by the mere sight ofthe letter, and the contents were such as to strengthen this quietsatisfaction. He said that the Professor's widow would lay him under anobligation of gratitude by accepting an invitation to make a visit ofseveral weeks. He appealed to the friendly relations with her deceasedhusband, and the beautiful renewal of them in his intercourse withEric, who gave to him a youthful friendship such as he had scarcelydreamed of. Lastly, he appealed to their mutual personal acquaintance,and there was a written smile when he added, that, during his wholelife, he had never made a demand upon the heart which had not met witha response, and he prayed her now not to shame him in his old age. Heclosed by saying that he entreated the mother of his friend Eric topermit him to call himself "her friend Clodwig." There was no formalpoliteness in the letter, and yet it was full of a delicatefriendliness.
Bella had hastily scratched underneath, in a coarse hand, a requestthat the mother and aunt would honor her with a visit; she said thatshe wrote only a few words, as she felt sure that she should be favoredwith the intimate intercourse of the respected mother and the amiableaunt. In a postscript she besought them to bring with them Eric'smusic.
In the letter there was enclosed a second one from the Doctor, whoclaimed to have been a scholar of the old Professor. He offeredgood-humoredly his professional services, and there was only one briefsentence in which he suggested that it would be a protection and asafeguard to his young friend Eric, to be again under the eye of hismother.
This awakened in her many thoughts, and she resolved to accept theinvitation. Sonnenkamp's telegram was delivered.
Just as she had finished reading this, there was another knock, and theMajor entered.
When the mother saw him, at first she was frightened, not recognizinghim, as she looked at the red face, the short, white hair, and thedecoration on his breast. For a moment it seemed to her that he wassome messenger of justice, who had come to execute some commission orother, she knew not what, that endangered Eric's welfare.
The Major did not mend matters at all, when he said,--
"Frau Professorin, I come to execute a warrant of ejection; but I amnot indeed to drive you out of Paradise, but to shut you up in theGarden of Eden."
He had been making up this pretty speech during the whole journey, andhe had said it over inaudibly to himself certainly a hundred times: andnow it came out so clumsily, that the good lady trembled so that shecould not rise.
The Major cried:--
"Don't get up; everybody knows that there's no ceremony at all to bemade with me. I don't desire to incommode any one; I greatly preferthat people would sit when I enter. Isn't it the same with you? Onefeels sure in this case that he doesn't make any disturbance."
"Have you come from my son?"
"Yes, from him too. Observe, I'm not one of the best people in theworld, neither am I one of the worst; but there's one thing I can sayto my credit, that I have never in all my life envied anybody but you,and you I did envy when you said, 'my son;' that I did envy you for.Why can't I say this too? If I only had such a son as you have!"
Now there was tranquillity at last. The Major delivered a letter fromSonnenkamp and the Cabinetsraethin, and desired that the letters shouldbe read immediately, as they would render it unnecessary for him to sayanything.
The Professorin read, and the Major watched her countenance while shewas reading, with peculiar marks of quiet satisfaction.
The Professorin bade him welcome, and called her sister-in-law, whocame in.
The blinds were opened, and the instreaming light shone upon cheerfulfaces.
"What shall we decide upon doing?" asked Aunt Claudine.
"There is no longer any question of deciding; we accept the heartyinvitation."
"Which?"
"Of course Herr Sonnenkamp's."
"That's right," said the Major with a broad smile. "Will you allow meto light a cigar? Did your husband, now gone to his eternal home, smoketoo?"
"Yes, indeed."
Aunt Claudine had quickly lighted a match, and held it up to the Majorwith her delicate fingers.
"That's fair! that's fair!" cried the Major. "You've given me fire, andI promise to go through fire for you."
He was very happy over this turn, and he puffed away yet happier.
There were, of course, a great many things to be got ready, before theycould set out. The Major promised that Joseph should come and bringeverything away after they had departed; not one thread should be leftbehind. He then withdrew for a few hours, in order to pay a visit tosome brother free-masons.
At midday, the Major was riding with the two ladies in a first-classrailroad car towards the Rhine, and he was as proud and as happy as ifhe had carried off the army-chest of the enemy.