"Well, the Herr Director wrote me that he had recommended me for a very advantageous situation to a Frau von Osternau, of Osternau, in Silesia, who had applied to him for a tutor for her son, a boy six years of age. I was to reside with the family and receive three hundred thalers yearly. I could enter upon my duties immediately. He enclosed a letter of introduction to Frau von Osternau, and another to my Principal requesting him to put no obstacle in the way of my good fortune, but to release me immediately from my engagement to him. I was supremely happy. Three hundred thalers and my board! I could save up two hundred thalers a year, and in two years and a half at the latest I should have my five hundred thalers again. I went instantly to my Principal, who, however, declared that he could not possibly spare me before the 3d of July. This I wrote to the Herr Director, and in a few days heard from him in reply that Frau von Osternau was willing to wait, and that she would expect me on the 6th of July."
"The 6th of July? Why, that is the day after tomorrow."
"Precisely. The day after to-morrow. I left my situation yesterday,--a day of misery which has ruined my life forever. So soon as I received from the Herr Director the letter which confirmed my hopes of the situation at Osternau I wrote to my Annemarie and told her of my good luck, in three years at the furthest, I wrote her, we should be married. I had written several letters to her during the year, and had received no reply from her; now I had an answer by return of mail. Her father had forbidden her, she told me, to reply before, but now that he had hopes of my becoming a respectable man once more, he had permitted her to write. She would be true to me, and surely wait the three years for me, but she was nevertheless afraid that we never should be man and wife, for she was forced to go with her father across the sea to America. They had been very unfortunate,--their farm-house had been burned down just after harvest, before the crops had been insured, and her father had therefore resolved to dispose of his farm and to try his fortune in America. Everything was prepared for their departure. Her father was to bring her to Berlin on the 1st of July, that he might receive the last payment of the purchase-money of his estate, and on the 3d they were to leave for Bremen, whence their passage to America was taken. I might expect them at the railway-station on the evening of the 1st, and we could at least spend a few hours together. It was a dear, good letter, as good and kind as my Annemarie herself. I wept as I read it, so transported was I with delight. She would be true to me. In three years I should have enough to follow her to America. Perhaps I could buy a small farm there with my five hundred thalers, and become a farmer. The world lies open to the man who has money, he can purchase every conceivable delight."
"Do you think so?" the listener drawled, contemptuously. "But go on; I beg pardon for interrupting you."
"On the evening of the 1st I received the Schulze and Annemarie at the railway-station, and went with them to the little inn where they were to lodge. Annemarie was unchanged, and the Schulze was as cordial to me as he had been formerly. He read my patron's letter carefully, as also the testimonial which my Principal had given me. He expressed his satisfaction with my plans for the future, and promised that he would give me Annemarie so soon as I could show him five hundred thalers of my own. His confidence in me was entirely restored, as was shown me the next day, when, after he had received all the purchase-money for his estate, he intrusted to me twelve hundred and seventy-two marks to hand over to my uncle in Wennersdorf. Many years ago my uncle had loaned this money upon interest to the Schulze, and had always objected to its repayment, but now, upon the eve of his departure for America, the Schulze as an honest man insisted upon returning it. On my way to Osternau in Silesia, it would be very easy for me to turn a little aside and visit my uncle Widman, at Wennersdorf. The Schulze impressed it upon me to get a receipt for the money and transmit it to him. I had a delightful day with my Annemarie and her father, and yesterday morning I accompanied them to the railway-station, where I took leave of them. At noon I was to leave for Wennersdorf, whence, after leaving the money with my uncle Widman, I could continue my journey to Osternau. Everything was ready for my departure.
"When Annemarie and her father had left me, and I turned away from the railway-station, my heart was so heavy that I could hardly bear it. I felt so weak, so forlorn, that I needed something to strengthen me, and I turned into a small restaurant to get a glass of beer. I seated myself at a table, and I had hardly done so before three men, who had entered the house just after me, took their places at my elbow. In the early morning we four were the only people in the room. The men talked for a while, and then began to play cards,--lansquenet,--taking no notice of me. I looked on, not thinking of playing; but when I saw the thalers passing from hand to hand, as the game grew more absorbing, my interest grew keen, and the wretched passion for play was again aroused within me. I was seized with an uncontrollable desire to join the game. The Evil One had me in his clutches once more----"
"Go on, Pigglewitch, go on!"
"Forgive me; I could not help it. I was, indeed, possessed by a demon. I asked the gentlemen if I might take part in the game, they assented, and in an instant I had joined them. I had not played for more than a year, but the passion for gambling had got hold of me. I lost, doubled the stakes, lost again, and went on increasing the stakes in hopes of winning back my money. Still I went on losing, in my desperation I drank glass after glass, everything reeled before my eyes, and when at the end of an hour I had staked my last piece of money, I suddenly became conscious that I had gambled away my life. I was a thief condemned to jail, for I had lost not only my own money, but the sum intrusted to me for my uncle. I sat alone at the table, the gentlemen had left me, finding I had nothing more to lose, and I had not noticed their departure. The last hour seemed to me like an evil dream. I laid my head upon the table and wept. After a while a waiter roused me and requested me to leave, my score had been paid by my friends. I staggered out of the place. How I reached my lodgings I do not know. I lay in a feverish stupor all day long, in the evening I came to myself. How terrible was my awaking! I now saw clearly what I had done. I knew that I was lost. My uncle would demand his money of me. I should be handed over to the authorities as a thief. I should be sent to jail. I was lost,--lost past rescue. But I would die sooner than be sent to jail.
"Suddenly there arose in my memory the picture of the lake of Wandelitz. How often in my boyhood had I wandered away from Wilhelmshagen to this quiet lake in the forest, and, seated upon the bank yonder, passed hours in dreaming and gazing down into the green depths of water! The thought of it came to me like an inspiration. I gathered myself together. On the chair beside my bed lay my travelling-bag, I packed it early in the morning for my noon-day departure, and it contained, as I now remembered, ten silver thalers, every penny I possessed in the world. It was enough to purchase a ticket for Wilhelmshagen, whither I might go by the night train. I scarcely know what followed,--how I set out, how I arrived here. I only remember that I sang a hymn, and then--well, you know the rest. I am an unfortunate, miserable wretch!"
"You're a very queer fellow, friend Pigglewitch," the other declared, in answer to Gottlieb's last desperate exclamation. "You are a compound of contradictions. I do not understand you, and least of all can I comprehend how a fellow can be so overwhelmed by despair at losing a paltry twelve hundred marks at cards. Such a trifle!"