CHAPTER III.
[DUAL LOVE AND EVIL REPUTE.]
A few days later, two strangers engaged in eager conversation sat together in the garden-square, between the four Kur-houses of Bad Neukuhren. In the one, notwithstanding that he wore fashionable summer garments, we again recognise the sportsman of the forest, whose sun-burnt features contrasted so strongly with the light straw hat and light-coloured clothes; the other gazed morosely from beneath an untidy felt hat, his sharp furrowed face, which was, however, cast in a noble and somewhat elevated mould, suited the muscular figure.
He might have been taken for a sailor, owing to the power and determination that lay in his whole appearance, had not a refined spiritual expression in his eyes shown that he was wont to occupy himself with intellectual subjects.
"I rejoice, dear Doctor, to have become better acquainted with you here," said the sportsman, "the companions of my own position are somewhat too coolly indifferent to everything that interests me. At the Chief Forester's, things are conducted too patriarchally, and, therefore, I fled to the sea to distract my mind. I will only return to my castle when the rebuilding of the one wing is completed. I gave the architect the exact plan; but always to be present oneself, and to watch its being carried out, is not in accordance with my taste. Everything unfinished is odious to me; those lime pits, those carts of stone, those scaffoldings, make an uncomfortable impression upon me. Therefore, I accepted the Chief Forester's invitation at first, he being an old friend of my father."
"How long have you been back in Europe, Herr Von Blanden?" asked the Doctor.
"I have been in Europe for two years; but during that time I have exhausted the romance of the south; spent two summers on the Italian lakes, whose charms are indescribable! I have seen the Highland lakes in the giant mountains of Thibet and the sun of Palestine; yet the peculiarity of a Lago Maggiore; that balminess that hovers over the water, the islands, the shores, cannot be found elsewhere! My father's death, two month's ago, recalled me to East Prussia; it marked a turning point in my life."
"You became rich," said the Doctor.
"I have never needed to trouble myself about money, and I consider that a great advantage. Those are unhappy mortals who, amongst all the other ills of life, must also take that vile metal into consideration in everything that they do or wish! Is there a more inconsolable slavery than that of dependance upon money? Therein consists the happiness of riches, that they do not know these limits."
"The German student does not know them either," interposed the Doctor, "or, rather, will not know them. Youth is free! But the unpaid accounts follow us for many long years, and a frowning father reminds us that this youthful freedom belongs to the kingdom of dreams."
"Thus, it was not that," continued Blanden, "which made such a metamorphosis in my life; yet I returned with the firm determination to put an end, at last, to the epoch of adventures by land and sea; not to seek an object in life in the refined, inordinate longing after enjoyment of travelling; not in the varying circumstances which it offers to the mind and heart, but rather in active, earnest work, and, above all, by these means, to extinguish the unpleasant recollections that cling to my past."
"Youthful recollections!" said the Doctor, as he removed his felt hat, and took advantage of its pliability to press it into diverse forms, "who has not similar ones to note down in his diaries? And, after all, one may ask if these wanderings astray do not give more worth to life, than our exertions drawn by rule and measure?"
"But, at some time, one must put an end to it, I feel that! Far abroad as one may have wandered, a man must sometime prove to his nearest, his relations, his country associates that he has changed, that he can do something, can work, that he can do his duty to his neighbour, although he may see farther than they all."
"It does not require much to do that," said the Doctor, as he pushed his somewhat tangled hair from his forehead. "Our landed gentry's horizon does not extend far beyond the price of corn in summer, beyond l'ombre and sleighing parties in the winter. Here they possess a peculiar instrument called a zoche, with which they attack Mother Earth's body! All the world uses the plough; here they have the zoche, a two-legged agricultural implement of very ancient date! This zoche is a species of East Prussian symbol; we do not imitate it, but that which we possess ourselves is still less worthy of imitation."
"I must defend my brother squires, best of Doctors," replied Von Blanden, "there are many sterling, educated men amongst them, and especially amongst those whom I must still reckon as my opponents, to gain whose friendship is a wish very dear to my heart. Yes, dear Doctor," continued von Blanden, "I am contented with the spirit which now pervades this province, and the conditions are favourable to my plan. Here we have a public life, which, until now, has been wanting; the political spirit is awakened, and, if it was always painful for me, in the midst of the life and bustle of London and Paris, where great political questions stirred all minds, to think of the intensely quiet home and its inhabitants, who, like political backwoodsmen, live in the densest gloom of ignorance and indifference, now a joyous feeling fills me at the thought that the first pulse's throbs of constitutional existence are heard here, that all Germany gazes at the Baltic shores, at our East Prussia."
The Doctor shook his head.
"It may be, may be! It is a little better than formerly; but all politics are merely a struggle about forms! No one becomes happier by them. A more deeply penetrating revolution is necessary. The old views of the world must change their grooves."
"Those were the dreams of my youth! I longed for a new religion, which should develop itself out of the old one; yet one learns gradually to limit oneself to the Possible. You are still a young man; I am thirty-six years old; a decade lies between us! At that age I was an enthusiast like you! Now, I look upon the groundwork of political liberty as the most worthy object to strive for, by means of which we first become the equals of other nations. My wishes are to be elected to the Provincial Diet. A general representation will not long have to be waited for. I will pledge my mental power, the whole of my experiences upon it."
"Always practical!" muttered the Doctor to himself, "and, at the same time, it is nothing but misty theory! The Provincial Diet to be united to the General Diet--possible! Perhaps some day, too, we may even have a Parliament. Many grand discourses will be held there; but so long as Government holds the reins in its hands, it will do as it chooses, let others speak as they may."
"I do not look so gloomily upon matters," said Blanden. "The world's spirit becomes elevated by a more liberal organisation. I long for political labour, but shall not for it neglect the management of my estate. I have learnt much abroad, and also look upon the world from the position of a landowner. And then--if a man will do anything great in a narrow circle, he must limit himself in every respect, form a domestic hearth, and, in fact, I am resolved to marry!"
"The Philistines are upon you, Sampson!" cried the Doctor, as he crushed his hat angrily on to his head.
"What is there so astounding in it?" asked Blanden.
Now the Doctor was riding his favourite hobby!
"Marry! The thought makes my blood boil!"
"Then you are easily excited. What all the world does--"
"Is exactly that which one must not do," interrupted the Doctor.
"There we have the zoche, instead of the plough!" said Blanden, smiling.
"No, respected friend! I am a practical doctor, although until now I may only have cured few sick; but in the same illnesses I should not prescribe the same remedies to all constitutions. Natures such as ours are not fitted for matrimony. For it, steady, equable minds are needed--we do not possess them. Any one who is accustomed to a variety of sensations would be killed by everlasting sameness. Marriage cannot be happy without blinkers; but is it happiness to wander through life in them?"
"Alas, you are an incorrigible radical, who attacks everything!"
"A man must study himself!" said the Doctor, as he assumed a tone of instruction. "He must study the original phenomenon, and that is his own heart. After observing myself closely, I cannot but believe that marriage in general is no beneficent arrangement; at least it is not for such natures as mine. It is based upon the dogma of one faith which alone can bring salvation; it requires of the husband, 'You shall have none other gods but me!' But I could not confine myself to this love; I consider this exclusiveness of affection to be one of the greatest drawbacks with which mankind has been indoctrinated, not only by its priests, but also by its great poets with their tragedies of love and jealousy. Not alone for Turkish sensuality, but for the most intellectual and imaginative view of life, such exclusiveness is an obstructive barrier! And what narrow-mindedness lies in this wilful possession, which feels hatred and enmity towards everything, and lays claim to the same right! How indeed can any one talk of rights, when free affection is in question? Why should not two women love the same man, and be loved by him, without wishing to tear each other into pieces? Is it not more natural and more human that similar emotions and affections should dwell together in peace? I know that this is boundless heresy, and yet it is my conviction. Richly endowed natures which would live their lives cannot exhaust their hearts in one single love."
"Halt, halt," Blanden smilingly interrupted the eccentric Doctor, "You cannot thus, with one breath, cast existing customs to the winds."
Doctor Kuhl did not feel himself beaten; he pushed his chair uneasily back and forward, sprang up, and with arms folded, defiantly continued to force his worldly wisdom upon his companion. Kuhl was known along the shores of the Baltic Sea by his Herculean strength. He was a preserver of life by profession; wherever misfortunes loomed, he was present. He caught the reins of runaway horses; where any one was, voluntarily or involuntarily, near death in the water, Doctor Kuhl appeared as a guardian angel. He was an excellent swimmer, and when the flag hung out in the sea-baths, forbidding people to bathe because a storm stirred up the billows of the East Sea, Doctor Kuhl was sure to hazard a conflict with the waves, as the only living creature who at once defied the tempest and bathing-police. By means of all these valiant deeds, he had become more popular than any other person, and even in society his extreme views, of which he made no secret, were pardoned. He was simply considered eccentric, and public opinion judged him by an exceptional standard.
"Look here, dear fellow," he continued his lecture, "you know both the Fräulein von Dornau, Olga and Cäcilie; may heaven's and their mother's anger punish me! I love them both at once, and with the finest apothecary's scales could not discover the least preponderance of either in the balance."
"And what, then, do these ladies say to your simultaneous love?"
"I believe I have already somewhat converted them to my theory, even although the old Adam or the old Eve in them still rebels against it. On days so full of vigour as this, when the ocean glistens in the sunshine, and a fresh breeze blows hither from the north, when the feeling of strength fills my breast, then Olga is my calendar's saint. She possesses something fresh, natural, voluptuous in all her being, something Juno-like, and even the large eye is not wanting, which old Homer eulogises with such a base comparison. I will not say for a moment that a large mind speaks from that large eye, but Nature has made everything abundant about her. She reminds me of hotels, in which everything is arranged with the greatest comfort; nor must large plate glass windows be wanting there, either."
"That is, indeed," interposed Blanden, "quite a new form of praise of the fair sex, and our poets might go to school to you."
"She is purely sensual life," continued the Doctor, without letting himself be disturbed by this interlocutory remark. "All nature, instinct, little knowledge, no reason; she does not raise any special opposition even to my most daring views. It is quite different with Cäcilie: she is my calendar's saint for intellectual days; she is slighter, more refined; she has something Lacertian about her, that escapes one easily, that one would always grasp anew; everything about her has form, body and mind. She argues with me, she refutes, her eyes scintillate, and yet in the midst of the conflict she seems suddenly to lay down her arms; if her delicate lips do weave the most ingenious arguments wherewith to conquer me, the charm of submission lies already in her eyes. She is a Penelope; her mind weaves a web, that her heart ever again unravels. Olga acts by the charm of nature's body, Cäcilie by the charm of the spirit. I bear both in my heart; I stand as closely to the one as to the other. Shall I sacrifice one part of my being, in order to do homage to exclusive love?"
"We have," said Blanden, "no social forms in which a dual love could be lastingly secured; it is indeed a daring, yes, reprehensible innovation."
"Not at all," replied the Doctor. "It is the greatest secret of our society but certainly is only seldom spoken of; yet sometimes when you open books of the history of literature, in the lives of gifted men, you will find pages on which it is legibly written! Think of Bürger, of Doris and Molly; think of Schiller, of Charlotte and Caroline. How candid are the confessions of our great poets! I do not flatter myself I am the first who makes this great discovery, but I utter it fearlessly; this is Nature's law, which society outlaws, while it exercises its secret dominion undisturbedly."
"That may hold good during the stormy impetuous period of life," said Blanden. "I have experienced it in every quarter of the globe. Now I long for tranquillity, for restriction; I know that now in it alone can I find happiness, and I have no longing to lead either an Olga or a Cäcilie home, but a sweet, modest maiden who has not yet developed into independent womanliness, who is still capable of being formed, and growing up to twine herself around me."
"The old fable," replied Doctor Kuhl, scoffingly; "as if ever a girl was formed or changed by a man! Girls are the pure elementary spirits, but what they are, they are from the beginning. An elf will never become a nymph, and if one lives in the water and has a fish's tail, no power in the world will make her into a salamander with a sparkling golden crown."
"All the same," said Blanden, "I shall take an elf, and be satisfied with it."
"Then you have probably already found the one beauty which can make you happy?" asked the Doctor, inquisitively.
"Indeed, I almost think it," replied Blanden. "Lately, in the forest, I made the acquaintance of a beautiful wood-maiden, and I shall soon renew it in Warnicken."
"Well, you have my blessing," said the Doctor, with annoyance, crushing the felt hat, which in the meantime had again become a plaything in his hands, violently on to his head.
At this moment, the pair of sisters walked past the friends; Olga and Cäcilie came out of the sea, and, as is customary at bathing places, let their long wet, nymph-like hair flow down to dry in the sun. They both had splendid figures; the one fuller, the other slighter.
The Doctor greeted them with an eager bow, and soon found himself sailing in the wake of the elder sister, while the younger one, with a slight side movement sent a whole broadside of fiery glances upon him.
Blanden meditated over the peculiarity of those singular fellows who seek to bring everything into a system, of which they at last become the slaves. A hand was suddenly placed upon his shoulder, and his neighbour, Freiherr von Wegen, looked at him good-temperedly, as he turned round--
"There, I have found you at last; I sought you in vain at the Chief Forester's."
"Well, and what news do you bring me?" Blanden asked the fair, affectionate friend of his childish and youthful days, who, since his return, had become his indispensable assistant.
Wegen took a chair, lighted his cigar, beckoned to the waiter, and then began in an important manner--
"It is fatal, really fatal!"
"What then?" asked Blanden.
"That stupid story of former days!"
"Well."
"You know that I travel about as your agent, from estate to estate, in order to ensure your election to the Diet, and I am a commercial traveller who is not afraid of being seen. I advance all your qualifications--first-rate recommendations, clever, great traveller, wealthy, undoubted possessions! So far I met with no dispute. Liberal--then the symptoms of questioning begin. 'Liberal?' says Oberamtmann von Schlöhitten, whom I sought in his sheep-fold, while he examined his breed of sheep, one of the few which can exist in Silesia and Australia--'well as yet he has given no proof of it.' 'Only first elect him, and the proofs will follow,' replied I, prompt to serve. 'Now, from what I know about it--he belonged to the religious set--that is a species which I cannot endure, wolves in sheep's clothing!' He had by this time arrived at the principal ewe, whose fleece he allowed to glide through his fingers with satisfaction. I utilised this moment of tranquil delight, and said--'That was in his youth, he has changed.' 'Any one who changes his colours so quickly,' said the Oberamtmann, disagreeably, as he released the mother sheep with a loud smack, 'is not fitted for a representative! They stand bold to their colours!'"
"Well," said Blanden, "we will generously relinquish that vote."
"Yes, if it were the only one! I went to the wealthy Milbe of Kuhlwangen, the same who once announced in the newspapers; always of Kuhlwangen, but seldom in Kuhlwangen--that man is every inch a peasant, but he is a splendid humorist; he was just looking at a horse, that had arrived fresh from Trakehner; I went straight to my point. 'Blanden,' asked he, 'is that the same Blanden who was mixed up in that ugly Königsberg affair?' 'That was ten years ago,' replied I. 'That is all the same, the mark has been burnt into him like this Trakehner stud-brand.' He also invited me to a good breakfast, that I enjoyed thoroughly, although it was not without reluctance that I broke bread and drank wine at the table of a man who turned so deaf an ear to my proposals."
"Dear friend," said Blanden, "in politics one must accustom oneself to failure."
"But not when it comes thick as hail," replied Wegen, as he struck the table with his riding-whip, and with his left hand angrily curled his fair moustache. "There was Hermann von Gutsköhnen, Sengern von Laerchen, they only knew that you are a large and rich landed proprietor, and will give you their votes; there they live upon their sixty acres, and plough their manors themselves; they are homely people who understand nothing of the world."
"Now I know, according to your views, where I must seek my supporters."
"Graf von Donahoff," Wegen continued his report, "received me very pleasantly; he belongs to those nobles, about whose party-leaning I was still uncertain; he is connected with the Liberals by marriage. 'Blanden,' cried he, 'surely a pious man, one of those who remained true to his creed and defied calumny; we Conservatives should have a good supporter in him!' I hardly dared to undeceive the man with silvery locks. And yet it must be done! 'A Liberal, then?' exclaimed he, 'that is inconsolable! If that species now grows wild here in our province, well so be it; but when men who have drank at our refreshing well of salvation, are so fickle as to go over to the camp of the unrighteous, one could shed burning tears!' And he folded his hands, yet what was worse, he poured me out no more of that exquisite Madeira which stood upon the table; for he had discovered that I, too, wandered upon the paths of the godless, and sat amongst the seats of the scornful; I took leave very dejectedly, and disappeared as though the earth had swallowed me up."
"Oh, I know--a sister of his formerly belonged to our sect; she, too, in the meanwhile has become a Liberal, since she married, and has seceded disgracefully."
"Yes, the women, dear Blanden," said Wegen, shrugging his shoulders, "the women, you are really in their black books! Baron von Fuchs is a very sensible man, he recognises your mental superiority, is ready to give you his vote, and has only a smile for the reproaches which are brought against you on all sides. He invited me to dinner. I took my place triumphantly beside the lady of the house, who helped me liberally. We had just arrived at the joint--no, it was at the pudding--now I recollect it quite accurately, when the conversation turned upon you. 'Only to name such a man,' cried the Baroness, angrily, and threw her knife and fork upon the table. I received no more of the delicious wine-sauce. 'Well, what more is there?' said the Baron, as with great equanimity he poured himself out a glass of Johannisberger, 'we are going to return him to the Assembly!' Then the storm broke loose. 'That wicked man, that hypocrite--no Adalbert, if you do that!--I do not trouble myself about your politics, I never have troubled myself about them; but if you make your Assembly into a Sodom and Gomorrah, all we must protest who have been brought up with proper principles, and who know what morality demands! You at least shall not give your vote to Blanden!' and she sprang up from the table, the tart did not go round again, the most beautiful dessert remained untouched. The Baron, as far as appearances went, did not allow himself to be disturbed, but yet he was put out, and I am convinced that she will conquer in this domestic war, because she is a woman of principle--and the devil must manage all such as her."
"Our prospects seem bad," said Blanden, after a pause, while he sat lost in meditation, "I shall feel it most painfully if my new wish to take to active life should meet with insurmountable obstacles, just because I feel the power within me to enter upon new paths, because I have the earnest desire to break with my past, because I would as it were grasp the firm shore, I should not like to be hurled back into the breakers."
"Dear friend," replied Baron von Wegen, "all is not lost as yet! The Landrath is on your side, and he commands a considerable number of electors, but you must take decided steps yourself."
"And which?" asked Blanden.
"You must return to your castle; the rebuilding of the one wing will be ready in a few days; you must pay visits yourself amongst your neighbours; you are a kindly fellow at heart--and that after all is the principal thing; before it all the on dit disappear, what people say and what they think! Then invite them all to a sumptuous dinner, and they will come, be convinced! You are still one of the most respected landowners, whom they will not dare to scorn. But a good dinner opens people's hearts, I know it! When once the veuve Cliquot is uncorked, and she exercises her magical influence, then people allow themselves to be persuaded to anything, to which otherwise they do not show the slightest inclination. Then you can hold a little electioneering speech. You are a master of oratory, and you will see, even those obstinate von Schlöhitten and Kuhlwangen will pledge themselves to follow your standard. A good dinner is not only the most agreeable thing that there is--but also under certain circumstances the most necessary! I know it!"
"You may be right, dear Caspar--"
"For heaven's sake do not address me by my Christian name, I hate it! I always think of the Free-shooter and the 'Wolf's schlucht,' when I hear myself spoken to by it, or what is still much worse, of the 'Kasperle Theatre.'"
"But before I go home, I must take three or four days more leave."
"What for?"
"I wish to go across to Warnicken; I have discovered a treasure there, that I must inspect more closely; perhaps I shall adorn my castle with it."
"Good heavens--a love adventure!" said Wegen, humming--
'Reich mir die hand mein Leben!
Komm 'auf mein Schloss mit mir!'
"Always the same old Don Juan!"
"You are mistaken! The marble governor took him away long ago! It is a more serious love affair, but which, I allow, requires careful scrutiny."
"Indeed," said Wegen, while his good-natured face assumed a peculiarly kindly expression. "Marriage would not be the most stupid of all the things that you have done hitherto. A married man--that sounds so respectable, inspires such confidence! I have always thought that it would be a most fortunate move on the board. The queen would then rule over all the squares! Everything in the past is forgiven and forgotten! If an amiable young woman is not alarmed at that past, then all will probably follow her example, and even the Baroness von Fuchs will beat the retreat. I do not care much for matrimony, I shall remain a bachelor. A fiancée may be an angel, but one never knows how she may cook when she is one's wife. And a constantly bad cuisine--I should prefer the infernal regions!"
"You encourage me, old friend; it pleases me! Then--leave for four days! Perhaps they will be the most important in my life--and after that, back to the Castle!"
"I will ride over to my place to-day, and will see that things are right on yours."
"Thank you! And afterwards I will invite a newly-made friend to stay with me--Doctor Kuhl--he is an original fellow; but I like people to have and express new ideas."
"Then I am not sufficient for you, dear friend!" replied Wegen, stroking his blonde moustache in a melancholy manner. "Certainly, I possess few new ideas! Only at a good dinner they pour in upon me; then I understand what the poets call inspiration--I am often astonished at myself."
"You are good-natured," said Blanden, pressing his friend's hand, "and that is worth more than all this world's wisdom. Then we will seek Kuhl--he was abducted by two fair women."
"Stop, stop!" cried Wegen, with a pathetic gesture. "I am still breathless with my business-journies and reports, and you would have this state of exhaustion continue still longer? Storm and tempest--we have fasted long enough; now for a substantial breakfast! A few glasses of sherry, to defy wind and weather, and a beefsteak as underdone as possible--in that I am an Englishman!"
He beckoned to a waiter, and tied a napkin, that was lying upon the table, round his neck, brandishing his knife and fork impatiently in the air.