CHAPTER VI.
[THE CASTLE LAKE.]
Two years had passed away since lovely Eva Kalzow had met her death in the waves of the amber sea. The obscurity that veiled her end had never been lifted.
Blanden brooded in solitude, retired from the world in his Castle Kulmitten; he absorbed himself completely in the study of Sanscrit and of the Indian philosophical systems; in these he found the original spring from which eastern wisdom has always drawn its supplies, even supposing that the same train of thought has not led the minds in the eastern and western worlds into the same path.
He had little intercourse with his neighbours; only his friend Baron von Wegen and the worthy Landrath of the district remained true to him. Of all others he was suspicious; he did not know who, at the late election, had voted for or against him, and, under his peculiar circumstances at the time of the election, and the similarity of his political views to those of the electors, he felt obliged to look upon the, to him, unfavourable record of votes, as an expression of want of esteem, or at last of decided aversion.
But intensely as he mourned the unhappy occurrences at the sea-side, for the malignity of fate which by means of his past had destroyed all his plans for a beautiful future, and entangled an innocent noble maiden in his own doom and hurled her into destruction, yet he was but little qualified for a hermit's life; amidst the penance to which he had condemned himself, the promptings to activity and love of life stirred ever anew within him; he would work and labour, and if at times he thought more with silent sadness of the charming girlish picture that had entered into his life like a transient dream, full of beautiful promise, yet the recollection of a shattered bliss could not force the relinquishment of every one of the joys of life upon him.
He had much sympathy with the belief and mode of thought of the Buddhists, but not the inclination to bury himself in nonentity. He seemed to hear in distant reverberation the stream of the great world pass by, and it drove him forth out of his solitude into the temptations of life. He often imagined himself to be like Saint Augustine, who was visited in his desert by the seductive spirits of brighter days; often the pictures of Lago Maggiore rose before his mind, the recollection of a southern night, and while wandering through the apartments of his castle, he believed still to perceive the shining traces of that mysterious visit which had never been explained to him.
He had been neither to the chief town nor to the sea-side during those two years; then an event occurred which drew him forth out of his brooding quiet life, the Jubilee at the University.
He would not be missing when all the scattered intellectual life in the Province suddenly concentrated round one focus, and the companions of his youth, the veterans of former days at the University, the later rising generation of studious youths, bound in one common bond, met one another in equal enthusiasm for works of science.
Blanden's first walk in Königsberg was to the little house in the Prinzessinstrasse in which the great Thinker lived. If any one spirit descended to preside at this festival, it could only be that of Emmanuel Kant, who had imprinted his noble impression for ever upon this High School. Like the silver Albertus upon the cap, all citizens of Alma Mater bore the Thinker's picture in their heart.
And Blanden heard the inflammatory words of the spirited King who laid the foundation stone of the new University in the Königsgarten.
He declared that it should be a home of light, and should scare the bird of night back into its darkness. What a noble flight did that Prince's enthusiasm take! He sounded the trumpet in the conflict of intellect, but by his call he never failed to awake that which was opposed to his own ideas.
The stirring life of this festival made a feverishly exciting impression upon Blanden after his long retirement; his pulses throbbed, his heart beat, the undecided need for mental occupation as for a life transfigured by soul and beauty, became so overpowering within him, that he felt physically oppressed and often gasped for breath. All others here possessed some certain object in life, and rejoiced in the pleasures of communion of labour; only he in the midst of these thousand jubilant beings was a solitary man, yes, he even fancied that his college friends avoided him, that the friendliness of their greetings was somewhat constrained.
Towards evening he went across the bridge of the castle lake. There a varied scene prevailed: gondolas filled with men singing, passed up and down and frightened the proud swans as they sailed along; rockets and balls of light ascended from the more distant gardens, while those nearest began to gleam in a fairy-like manner, so that not only the shade of the tree tops, but also the reflection of their radiance floated in the water.
Blanden entered the Börsengarten; here too a dense, gay crowd prevailed. Hardly had he forced his way past several well-filled tables, before he encountered Dr. Kuhl, in the cheeriest, most excited mood.
"Welcome, welcome--I should never have expected you to be here; this alone converts the festivity into a thorough jubilee!"
"You have not allowed me to see anything of you for a long time," said Blanden, reproachfully, "if even our friends forget us, we must become perfect savages yonder in our Masuren desert."
"I have too much to do, new chemical discoveries and divers other elective affinities! But the main thing is that you are here! To-day it is delightful! Walpurgis for all authorities, and there is no lack of charming witches. It is true that little red mice do not leap out of their mouths as they did from that of the blessed Lilith, but to-day most unguarded declarations escape the custody of their lips. All the world is infatuated; the closest men of learning permit a glance into their empty waistcoat pockets, and even the most prudish girls expand a little to-day."
"But where shall we sit?"
"I am to sit by Dr. Reising, and shall be able to obtain a seat for you."
"Dr. Reising is here?"
"How could he fail at the University Jubilee? besides, he is now a special professor; his father-in-law has provided for him."
"And which daughter did he marry?"
"Like a sensible, order-loving man, the eldest naturally, Euphrasia! But really he has to provide for all; old Baute is dead, they say in consequence of a stroke of paralysis, which he brought upon himself by his constant discussions with his son-in-law. Fortunately Dr. Reising's uncle, whose heir he was, is also dead, and left him several hundred thousand dollars. But Euphrasia is very economical with the money, and as the sisters do not obtain what they wish from her, they have struck into a better path and seek to win him over to themselves by the development of their united amiability!"
"But of course he would provide for them?"
"Yes, what was needful, but they have plans which he shall further. Lori has passed her examination as governess, and would like to begin a boarding school here; but thrifty Emma, on the contrary, wishes to set up a boarding-house, the sisters should help partly here partly there. Then the question is how to get hold of the Doctor's capital for these mild institutions; but Euphrasia guards the Nibelungen treasure like the dragon Fafner in the legend."
The friends meanwhile had drawn near to the table, at which the Professor with his wife and her three sisters Lori, Emma and Albertine were sitting; the others had stayed behind in their new home. Reising's appearance betrayed unwonted fashion; he even wore a gay coloured neckerchief. That was Lori's taste, and at the same time a trophy of her victory, because although Euphrasia had objected and maintained that her husband must avoid everything remarkable, as it did not suit him, Lori had conquered, and he had taken a grass green and ocean blue tie from his drawer.
Reising greeted Blanden very pleasantly, as did his wife and sisters-in-law. Of all those merry and sad events at the sea-side, the ball beneath the pear-tree alone lived in their recollection.
"A glorious festival!" said the Professor, while pushing his hand through his rebellious hair, which hitherto had opposed invincible resistance to the combined attempts at beautifying it on the part of his six sisters-in-law. "By it East Prussia makes progress in the consciousness of liberty."
"You will take cold, dear brother," said Emma, "there is a cold air from the lake."
Lori, with superior decision, took up a shawl that lay upon the table, and wrapped the Professor in it. Unanimous as the two sisters were that their brother-in-law's large heritage should be diminished in their favour, yet a constant small internecine war of jealousy as to the privilege of such favours, raged between them: Lori struggled for intellectual cultivation, Emma for food and attendance. Euphrasia looked upon her sisters' loving coquetry with proud indifference; she knew that the key of the cash box lay in her hands.
"My brother is right," said Lori. "Such festivals contribute considerably to the people's education, and the people must be educated; one feels this necessity most keenly on such occasions as the present. Not only the lower orders, even the higher require education; people may say that men's student life for a time unsettles them; scorn of citizen-like customs is implanted in them; late hours, beer-drinking, smoking are acquired as noble habits of life, and to be intoxicated is considered manly and correct, perhaps because the ancient Germans, even upon their bearskins, sometimes lost their sense of sobriety with drinking mead. Thus it is with men; but the daughters of the higher classes are not much better off; more or less, they are all badly brought up. Yes, people may even maintain the same of us, although we are the daughters of a professor."
"You go too far," said Albertine, angrily, and thus broke the silence, deep as an abyss, with which until now she had celebrated the day of jubilee.
"Too far? What, have we then really learned, according to any system, any principle? Nothing, absolutely nothing! Yes, any one who gave herself the trouble, who followed her own inclinations, might attain splendid results. But that is the case even with the Bœotians! Method is everything; I shall introduce a method into my educational institution that will satisfy the most temperate minds."
Reising looked timidly at Euphrasia, who always resisted the mention of this future boarding-school most decidedly, to-day she contented herself with carelessly humming a few bars of music.
"That is very grand," said Emma; "but I believe that physical well-being has its rights also. Living in hotels is as uncomfortable as possible; a stranger runs about like a numbered prisoner whose whole rights of humanity depend upon the numeral of his rooms. How totally different is a furnished house upon the English model; everything in common, breakfast-table, dinner, tea in the evening, all flavoured with conversation; an hotel transformed into a drawing-room--I could arrange it capitally, like that intellectual society of which papa always talked."
"What, intellectual society!" said Dr. Reising, while he coughed slightly, as though this Herbartian allusion had stuck in his throat, "all you have to do is to provide for the system of wants, for good food and drink, that soul of every hotel, and even of an hotel garni."
"What is the use of these castles in the air?" said Euphrasia, shrugging her shoulders.
"What do you say to it, Herr von Blanden," began Lori, who wished to draw the silent guest into the conversation.
"I have become estranged from all society in my forest solitude," replied he.
"And you live solitarily and alone?" asked Lori, with peculiar emphasis.
"Alone with my thoughts and with the remembrance of the grief that has befallen me."
Lori's eyes shone. Here was a chance, and the daughters of the upper classes might wait. With rapid change of front, she turned away from her brother-in-law and looked on without jealousy while Emma buttoned up his overcoat. She herself began to pour out a cornucopia of sweetness which was only destined for Herr von Blanden. She possessed esprit and aspirations, did that little Lori, and under pedagogic education the enfant terrible would have developed into a more reserved lady of mental acuteness.
"I imagine life to be so beautiful in those primeval forests, where elks and bison rove as in the days of the blessed Pikullus! How delightful to be able thus to live upon one's recollections. You have seen the world, Herr von Blanden; what a miserable part we must play compared with you. You have seen the snowy peaks of the Himalaya, the calm lakes of Thibet, the cloisters and pagodas, the tea-gardens of Japan and the tea-plantations of the Celestial Empire. Lions, tigers and apes are as familiar to you as generals, counsellors and dancing partners of the haute volée are to us; how insignificant to you must the society appear that revolves in a circle upon this tiny spot of earth! And yet you should not live in such retirement; a man of intellect such as you is guilty of robbing us all, of robbing society even when he buries himself in quietude."
Blanden listened with polite attention, when his glance suddenly fell upon two ladies who passed by, accompanied by an officer and several gentlemen, and who were greeted on all sides. His glance had only swept slightly over the features of the one; but there was no doubt she was his principessa of the Lago Maggiore.
He would have liked to spring up and follow her; but how could he treat the gifted speaker so cavalierly who turned to him with such ardour and held him enthralled in the spell of her eyes and words. From that moment, however, his distraction was unmistakable; his glances wandered into space, but Lori would not release the victim of her eloquence.
"You must spend the winter season in the town here; oh, you have more female admirers than you imagine; you will be fêted as you deserve, for in truth the world is not so well supplied with intellectual men as it appears to be, when one sees so many wildly luxuriant whiskers and menacing eyebrows and the superior smile, which after all means so little, of so many lords of creation. No, no, Herr von Blanden, you must not withdraw yourself from society, you cannot condemn yourself to everlasting solitude; too many wistful glances, that would be glad to share it, follow you."
"Lori's distaff buzzes incessantly to-day," said Albertina, casting a glance ready for conquest upon the gentleman sitting beside her.
Emma, who found the bird in the hand worth two in the bush, meanwhile redoubled her attentions to her brother-in-law, whose hand she pressed cordially, so as to console him for the few wounding sparks that flew towards him from the anvil of Lori's loquaciousness.
"Yes," said she, "so long as there are gentlemen like Herr von Blanden, and our good brother-in-law, the social circle cannot become oppressed with tedium."
"I feel," said Dr. Kuhl, "that I am de trop here; no one thinks it worth while to transplant me amongst the stars. Therefore I must come to the miserable end of a falling one."
Blanden meanwhile had risen, and after a polite bow had hastened through the leafy garden paths after that form which wholly occupied his attention; it had surely been no vision, but nowhere fluttered the green veil, that like a greeting of hope flowed from the hat of his principessa.
Here at a turn of the road, close to the lake, he believed he had recognised it. It was the veil, but another, a strange face looked at him from beneath the hat, a face fearfully hideous, that seemed to laugh and grin at his disappointment.
He hastened back once more; with slow scrutiny he went from table to table; here and there sat officers, but with unknown companions, the one who had accompanied those ladies was remarkably tall and stout, he was unmistakable.
All in vain; she must have already left the garden, but who was this stranger who appeared to be so well known here, was universally greeted with respect, with friendliness? Feeling annoyed, Blanden went up and down the garden walks, he looked at every lady, found all ugly as though the one had borne away with her all the radiance of beauty.
The Professor now made a move, followed by his female retinue. Lori walked triumphantly in front of her sisters, but Blanden hastened to evade a fresh experience of her loquacity. He deemed it safest to take refuge by the castle lake; he entered a boat that lay by the water's edge, and gave himself up to the guidance of the waves.
The moonlight made the lake; the jewel of that town on the Pregel, sparkle in most splendid effulgence; although the evening was cold, a southern shimmer, a dreamlike illumination swept around the lofty trees in the garden, and the festive lights and gay lanterns in the verdant shade, the ascending rockets and balls of light increased the emotional impression of the small inland lake, lovely even in its everyday life. A regatta of gondolas glided on wings through the waves, a race between the sons of the muses of the oldest and most recent terms. The gondolas of the former were left behind, for only few still had strength to guide their oars. The others sat on board with redly glowing faces; a few stared into the water in that silent despair which was the fruit of enthusiastic hours, and powerful drinks, which the brewers of Löbnichten understood how to prepare.
The gaudeamus sung by powerful voices, echoed from afar, and as the skiff drew nearer, Blanden perceived that the singers were gentlemen with grey and silvery white hair, but their faces were as if suffused with the reflection of youthful enthusiasm; it was no Charon's boat with candidates for Orkus, enjoyment of life was written in their features upon which at the same moment rested tokens of a glorious emotion.
"Immortal youth of German student life," thought Blanden to himself, "you are the guarantee for the youth of our nation, for the intellectual freshness even of its older years, for the enthusiasm which worships the highest gods, the freedom of the spirit and the friendship of all hearts.
"But I myself--am I not become old? Do I not glide like a shadow amongst these joyous beings? Does my heart still possess a youth? Must I not guard myself against the funeral song of the land of the lotos flowers, against the Indian barcarolle of [Nirvana]? Softly as the moon sinks into the waters, sinks the soul into dreamlessness, after having exhausted one dream after another! No! no! My pulses still throb, my life has still an object, even although it only be the rapturous magic of the moment! Diva, I seek my star!"
And with a powerful stroke of the oars, he clove the waves, he guided his boat towards the town, away beneath the bridge! There busy life was moving on the water; even the windows of the backs of the houses, the balconies and seats were peopled with a gay human throng, and despite the hoarse confused noise of many hundred voices, the chime of the clock in the reformed church, whose tower cast a long shadow in the waves, was heard above all.
There in the fitful light of the moon, and lamps with which the barks were ornamented, he saw as in a vision the marble-like beautiful features which lived so vividly in his recollection.
The lady sat in a boat with two others; the colossal lieutenant and several young gentlemen rowed: at first the beautiful woman looked up and appeared to contemplate the play of the rockets in the moonlight night, or did she gaze upwards at the stars, which here stood paler in the heavens, which seemed to be wanting in the fire of the south?
Blanden saw the profile of those finely cut features, the harmonious lines of the face; they were the same as those which had enchanted him upon the terrace of Lago Maggiore, when she stood there beneath the unicorn of the Boromei, her gaze directed side-ways upon the peaceful Isola Madre, and again as at that time he felt all the sensation of artistic contentment which such euphonious beauty sheds. Quickly her skiff glided past; now she cast a side glance at him, she too had recognised him; she smiled, she bowed, but then flung the bouquet of flowers which she held in her hand, into the water.
The lieutenant who bent over the gunwale to find the flowery sacrifice, one probably little flattering for him, the donor of the nosegay, suddenly concealed the Principessa's picture. His effort was futile, and with reproaches in which, as it appeared, the other gentlemen also took part, he pulled the boat once more with irate impetuosity towards the garden side of the lake.
Blanden followed in eager haste, but he found himself amid a confusion of barks that formed an inextricably entangled clew. Intoxicated sons of the muses increased the confusion, they took pleasure in the cries of terror of the girls whose boats began to rock dreadfully, and would have liked to enact the rape of the Sabines upon the water. Blanden cursed the interruption; at last he succeeded in freeing his boat; the Principessa's bark had gained a great advantage, but he might hope to encounter it again on its return journey.
This hope disappointed him! When he had rowed along the extent of the last gardens beside the castle lake, he met the empty boat guided by a boatman.
The party must have landed at some private garden, several of which enframed the lake at this part; the surly old man on being hailed, replied "that he knew nothing." The traces of the mysterious beauty were lost to him again.
"But not for ever," he vowed to himself!
She had thrown the nosegay into the water; should all memory of the happiness of love be buried with it?
But, no! He was filled with a new hope in life; the castle lake had suddenly been transformed, as if by fairy's art, into the enchanted Italian one. Vine clad hill terraces rose on its level shores, distant lofty ice peaks cast avalanches upon the Alpine passes, and in the shade of the pines lay the villa upon whose windows the moonlight played, telling of happiness to come.