George Pepusch felt strangely at this address; his breast heaved, his forehead glowed, and a shudder ran through all his limbs as if he had lain in a violent fever. Though this might mean nothing else than that he was over head and ears in love, yet there was another cause for this perturbation, which robbed him of all speech, and almost of his senses. When Dörtje Elverdink spoke of her belief that she had known him long before, it seemed to him as if another image was presented to his inward mind as in a magic lantern, and he perceived a long removed SELF, which lay far back in time. The idea, that by much meditation had assumed a clear and firm shape, flashed up in this moment, and this was nothing less than that Dörtje Elverdink was the Princess Gamaheh, daughter of King Sekakis, whom he had loved in a remote period, when he flourished as the thistle, Zeherit. It was well that he did not communicate this fancy to other folks, as he would most probably have been reckoned mad, and confined as such; although the fixed idea of a partial maniac may often, perhaps, be nothing more than the illusions of a preceding existence.
"Good God! you seem dumb, sir!" said the little-one, touching George's breast with the prettiest finger imaginable; and from the tip of it shot an electric spark into his heart, and he awoke from his stupefaction. He seized her hand in a perfect ecstasy, covered it with burning kisses, and exclaimed, "Heavenly, angelic creature!" &c. &c. &c. The kind reader will easily imagine all that George Pepusch would exclaim in a such a moment. It is sufficient to say, that she received his love-protests as kindly as could be wished; and that the fateful moment, in the corner of Leuwenhock's hall, brought forth a love affair that first raised the good George Pepusch up to heaven, and then again plunged him into hell. As he happened to be of a melancholy temperament, and withal pettish and suspicious, Dörtje's conduct could not fail of giving rise to many little jealousies. Now it was precisely these jealousies that tickled Dörtje's malicious humour; and it was her delight to torment the poor George Pepusch in a variety of ways: but as every thing can be carried only to a certain point, so at last the long-smothered resentment of the lover blazed forth. He was speaking of that wondrous time when he, as the thistle, Zeherit, had so dearly loved the fair Hollandress, who was then the daughter of King Sekakis, and was reminding her, with all the fire of love, that the circumstance of his battle with the Leech-Prince had given him the most incontestable right to her hand. On her part, she declared that she well remembered it, and had already felt the foreboding of it, when Pepusch gazed on her with the thistle-glance; she spoke, too, so sweetly of these wonderful matters, seemed so inspired with love to the thistle, Zeherit, who had been destined to study at Jena, and then again find the Princess Gamaheh in Berlin, that George Pepusch fancied himself in the Eldorado of all delight. The lovers stood at the window, and the little-one suffered her enamoured friend to wind his arm about her. In this familiar position they caressed each other, for to that at last came the dreamy talk about the wonders in Famagusta, when it chanced that a handsome officer of the guards passed by in a brand-new uniform, and familiarly greeted the little-one, whom he knew from the evening entertainments; Dörtje had half closed her eyes and turned away her head from the street, so that one would have thought it was impossible for her to see the officer; but great is the magic of a fine new uniform! The little-one,--roused, perhaps, by the clatter of the sabre on the pavement,--opened her eyes broad and bright, twisted herself from George's arm, flung open the window, threw a kiss to the officer, and watched him till he had disappeared round the corner.
"Gamaheh!" shouted George Pepusch, quite beside himself--"Gamaheh! what is this? Do you mock me? Is this the faith you have promised to your Thistle?"
The little-one turned round upon her heel, burst into a loud laughter, and exclaimed,--
"Go, go, George; if I am the daughter of the worthy old King Sekakis, if you are the thistle, Zeherit, that dear officer is the genius, Thetel, who, in fact, pleases me much better than the sad thorny thistle."
With this she darted away through the door, while George Pepusch, as might be expected, fell immediately into a fit of desperation, and rushed down the steps as if he had been driven by a thousand devils. Fate would have it, that he met a friend, in a post-chaise, who was leaving Berlin; upon which he called out, "Halt! I go with you;"--flew home, donned a great coat, put money in his purse, gave the key of his room to the hostess, seated himself in the chaise, and posted off with his friend.
Notwithstanding this hostile separation, his love to the fair Hollandress was by no means extinguished; and just as little could he resolve to give up the fair claims, which, as the thistle, Zeherit, he thought he had to the hand and heart of Gamaheh. He renewed, therefore, his pretensions, when some years afterwards he met with Leuwenhock again at the Hague; and how zealously he followed her in Frankfort the reader has learnt already.
George Pepusch was wandering through the streets at night, quite inconsolable, when his attention was attracted by an unusually bright light, that fell upon the street from a crevice in the window-shutter in the lower room of a large house. He thought that there must be fire in the chamber, and swung himself up by means of the iron-work to look in. Boundless was his surprise at what he saw. A large fire blazed in the chimney, which was opposite to the window, before which sate, or rather lay, the little Hollandress in a broad old-fashioned armchair, dressed out like an angel. She seemed to sleep, while a withered old man knelt before the fire, and, with spectacles on his nose, peeped into a kettle, in which he was probably brewing some potion. Pepusch was trying to raise himself higher to get a better view of the group, when he felt himself seized by the legs, and violently pulled down. A harsh voice exclaimed--"Now only see the rascal! To the watch-house, my master!" It was the watchman who had observed George climbing up the window, and could not suppose otherwise than that he wanted to break into the house. In spite of all protestations, George Pepusch was dragged off by the watchman, to whose help the patrol had hastened; and thus his nightly wandering ended merrily in the watch-house.
Third Adventure.
Appearance of a little monster.--Farther explanations respecting the fate of the Princess Gamaheh.--Remarkable bond of friendship entered into by Mr. Peregrine Tyss, and discovery of who the old gentleman is that lodges in his house.--Very wonderful effects of a tolerably small microscopic glass.--Unexpected arrest of the hero of the history.