Then the dancing began. First the Polonaise. Fritz Triddelsitz had the lead for Herr Süssmann was not yet visible, and what a dance he led them! Through the hall, and through the garden, and through the kitchen, and the entry, and the living room and the sleeping rooms, and back into the garden again, and into the hall went the procession, until Jochen's stout relations were quite out of breath, and Bräsig called out to him, why didn't he take the barn-yard by the way? And Jochen Nüssler danced, third couple, with Aunt Zaphie in her flower-pot on one side, and Bauschan in his wreath on the other, and he looked between them like a pearl in a golden setting, or an ass between two bundles of hay. And when the Polonaise was over, David Berger played the slowest of waltzes, "Thou, thou reign'st in this bosom, There, there, hast thou thy throne," and another band answered out of the distance: "Our cat has nine kits," and as he played on: "Speak, speak, Love, I implore thee! Say, say, hope shall be mine!"--came the answer from the distance: "Son and daughter, Into the water!"--and so on, for Frau Nüssler had given orders that there should be dancing in the milk-cellar also, and there sat old Hartloff, with his one eye, and Wichmann the joiner, and Ruhrdanz the weaver, and all the rest; and Hartloff had helped them all to a good drink, and told them not to be discouraged, they could cope with such a city band as that, any day, and so they did their best, and Krischan the coachman kept them supplied with liquor. And when the fun was at its height, Rudolph and Mining came into the milk-cellar, and Mining danced with Krischan, and Rudolph with the cook, and the bailiff got up a hurrah for the married pair, and Hartloff fiddled so madly that Ruhrdanz tried in vain to keep up with him on the clarionet, and finally gave up in despair. And when the bridal pair had gone, Krischan stood behind the door with the cook, arguing the matter.
"Dürt, what must be, must."
"Eh, Krischan, what do you want?"
"Dürt, we are a bridal pair too, and what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander; we must show ourselves on this occasion, they cannot take it ill of us."
And Dürt said it was very disagreeable to her, and, if she must do it, she would rather dance with Inspector Bräsig, for she knew him; and Krischan said, for all he cared, and he would dance with the Frau. And nobody thought it anything out of the way, in the temple of art, when Krischan stood up with Frau Nüssler and Bräsig with Dürt, and danced as merrily as the rest. So it was, in those times, and 'tis a pity it is so no longer,--at least not in many places. Great joy and profound grief bring high and low together: why should a master who wishes his laborers to mourn at his funeral not share his pleasures with them also?
It was a joyful occasion, and I could not possibly describe the pleasure which filled every heart, as the young feet danced merrily about, and hands silently pressed each other. I only know that Fritz Triddelsitz stood there as commander-in-chief, and that the little assessor at his side very often blushed, and after the dance ran to Louise, as if to seek her protection. I only know that the little pupil got knocked over several times, in the dance, because he was lost in arithmetical calculations, how he, when his predecessor came to be sexton, and he should be appointed school-master, might live with the greatest economy, and rent a bit of potato-land from the shoemaker at four shillings the square rood, and if the rich Uncle Bräsig could help them with a few thalers, perhaps he might marry the lovely blue eyes and the golden hair which looked up to him so joyously, and in the confusion of the dance got entangled in his black coat, which was about one third paid for at Kurz's shop. I only know that the only unhappy being, in the whole company, was Herr Süssmann, and he only when his eyes happened to fall upon Jochen's old blue trousers.
Yes, it was a joyful occasion; but everything has its end; the little fairies and the shopmen and school-boys and the dancers, and David Berger with the musicians, drove off home,--the old people had gone before,--and Jochen placed himself at the head of his relations, and showed them to their quarters, and Frau Nüssler took the ladies to their rooms, and every married lady had her nice bed; but the unmarried ones, with Aunt Zaphie at their head, had to sleep in the great blue room, en table d'hôte.
CHAPTER XLII.
The Sunday after the wedding the young Frau von Rambow was busy in the morning with her housekeeping, and wrote down her expenses in her account book, and then sat in deep thought, till she was wholly disheartened with vague distress and anxiety, for she felt certain that things were going badly with Axel; but she had no idea of the desperate condition at which they had really arrived, through his unwise management, for her worst suspicions and anxieties fell far short of the truth. She merely inferred from his unsteady, hasty demeanor, and the restlessness which drove him hither and thither, that he was in great difficulty. That it was the most extreme difficulty, that the knife was at his throat, and a slight accident, a little maliciousness, might finish the business, she truly did not dream. He had told her nothing; he had ordered horses to be put to the carriage that morning, and had gone off for three days. Where? Why? Those were questions that no longer passed her lips, for why should she knock at a door from which issued only falsehood and evasion? She closed her account book with a sigh, and said to herself, "What is the use? A woman's hands cannot prop up a falling house." And as she saw Fritz Triddelsitz, through the window, strolling wearily and sleepily across the yard, she let her hands fall in her lap, saying, "And all the management depends on him; and it is fortunate too, for he is honest, and has been brought up by Habermann. Ah, Habermann! Habermann!" she cried, and mournful and remorseful thoughts overcame her, and enclosed her in their grasp. Who has not, some time in his life, passed such an hour, when one thought crowds upon the heels of another, like the ghosts of by-gone days, and all point with their fingers to the weak places in our hearts? They will not stir nor move, they stand like wall and mortar, ever pointing to the place, and connecting our present trouble with that place, and calling in our ears, this is the consequence, why hast thou acted thus? And what she had done, had been only out of love; but the ghosts did not turn any for that,--what does a ghost know of love?
As she sat there, Daniel Sadenwater came in, and announced the Herr Proprietor Pomuchelskopp. The Herr was not at home, Frida said. He had told him so, said Daniel, but the Herr Pomuchelskopp had said expressly, he wished to speak with the gracious Frau. "I will come directly," said Frida. She would not have said that usually, but at the moment she was glad to escape from her gloomy thoughts; she had a great aversion to Pomuchelskopp, but still he was a flesh and blood man, he was none of her grisly ghosts.