Das landhaus am Rhein. English by Berthold Auerbach
CHAPTER V.
A HARSH JUDGMENT.
The Doctor desired Eric to tie his horse to the back of the carriage,and drive with him part way to the villa.
When the two were seated together, the Doctor began, after firstpuffing out a long breath:--
"A beautiful woman is Countess Bella, and a clever. She loves herparrot, which, apparently, is allowed to fly at liberty in the forest,but must return obediently to his mistress's shoulder."
"Permit me one observation," interrupted Eric. "I have noticed thathere in the country, and wherever the society is limited, theconversation is apt to turn upon a third person, and generally--not inyour case, perhaps, but in the case of most persons whom I have heardtalk--in a not very charitable way. Do you not consider this a proof ofnarrowness, or whatever else of that nature you may choose to call it?"
The Doctor perceived that Eric was disinclined to pursue this subject,but he nevertheless replied:--
"The human race affords the most abundant material for conversation,and of that race the most inexhaustible matter is furnished by thevariety woman. I am not meaning now to speak of Bella, but of myself. Ihave discovered in this woman an entirely new variety."
"With your permission, honored Herr Doctor, the Countess seems to be inperfect health."
"Did you never know Frau Bella before?"
"But slightly," said Eric reluctantly.
"I, however, knew her well. She made a marriage of convenience, as manyothers have done, and I think none the worse of her for it. My opinionon such matters differs from that of most men. The Countess is modestas far as her talents are concerned, but is proud of her morality. Ihappen to know that she told the Count before the betrothal, that shewas too insignificant for him, was, in fact, not worthy of him. Inregard to intellect, her modesty was sincere, though somewhatexaggeratedly expressed. She has talent, but no soul; she is allseasoning, no solid food. But morally this confession was perfectlytrue; morality with her is only propriety."
"I must beg you--" interposed Eric.
"And I must beg you," broke in the Doctor, "to let me finish mysentence. Her morality I mean is that of the world, which considersonly the outward marriage essential, and knows no relation of marriagesave a relation of the outward tie. To Count Clodwig, purity and beautyare a law; every sin against them offends his nature; he could not beguilty of the smallest violation of them, even if no mortal eye shoulddetect it."
In the pause which ensued, Eric's heart beat hard. Was the mandescribing Clodwig's purity, in order to show him how base would be theslightest approach to injuring or betraying such a friend?
The Doctor continued:--
"A man can receive no higher honor than that of being Clodwig's friend.I do not love the aristocracy; nay, I may even say I hate them; but inthis Count Clodwig there is a nobleness which perhaps can only come toperfection through the fostering care of generations, and cannot befully developed among us commoners, where everything is a freshconquest smelling of the new varnish, which is always likely to crackaway. There is a steady, even temperature about Clodwig, neveramounting to a hot blaze, but always a beneficent warmth. You see Ihave learned from you to make illustrations," he said playfully, thencontinued, more seriously:--
"His one passion is for rest, which makes it the more remarkable thathe should have sacrificed so much of it for your sake. I do not agreewith the wicked world in pronouncing Countess Bella to be a very dragonof virtue. On the contrary, she must have every week, or every month atfarthest, some fair name to destroy, or, better, some guilty person touse her cat's claws upon; like a well-trained hound, she likes best toattack a poor hare in the eyes; then she is satisfied, perfectly politeand obliging, harming nobody, for she is not really cruel and pitiless.She speaks very kindly of any one so long as he is unfortunate; whenpeople are humbled she readily pardons them; as soon as a man is sickshe is most kindly disposed towards him, but as long as he keeps wellhe need expect nothing but severity from her. She has beautiful andabundant hair, but that does not please her so much as the being ableto tell of this woman or that, how many pounds of false hair she wears.If she can say that any woman is scrofulous, she is quite happy; forshe would have only the Prankens perfectly sound. Once let her make anassertion, and she never retreats from it; better that her husband,Pranken, the whole world, should be illogical, than that she should bemistaken. Bella von Wolfsgarten never allows herself to be mistaken.She has never worn an unbecoming dress, has never said a word whichmight not be engraved upon stone. That she calls character; that shecalls strength,--never to confess to a mistake. Let the logic of thewhole world go to the devil first! She can make the eggs dance nicelyin conversation. Did you ever receive one of her dainty little notes?She can dance even upon paper with the most supple grace."
Eric passed his hand across his brow; he no longer knew where he was.The Doctor threw away a half-smoked cigar, and continued:--
"The wicked world hopes, and, alas! its hopes cannot be fulfilledwithout stabbing our noble Clodwig to the heart,--it hopes that thisdragon of virtue will one day find its unsaintly George. But that wouldhave to be a man whose ambition is, as we say, to be successful withthe women; not one to whom the words love, magnanimity, aspiration, arerealities, and who could not use them as a cloak for other ends."
Eric knew not what to answer. He clenched his fist to keep himselfstill, for he felt himself trembling.
The Doctor pulled a string which brought the drag against the wheel;the wagon went creaking and scraping down the hill; they looked overthe precipice, at the bottom of which a little brook was babbling overrocks. Such an abyss had opened before Eric. When they were drivingagain comfortably through the valley, the Doctor resumed:--
"When I say the wicked world, I am not using merely a figure of speech.I must explain to you what this new variety is that I have discoveredin Frau Bella. It is this. There have been, and there exist still, manywomen who are, or who imagine themselves to be, no matter which, veryunhappy, or consider themselves very unfortunate because they have suchinferior husbands,--men who love horses, dogs, and such like, whilethey themselves are lofty, unappreciated, ethereal souls. This newvariety, however, which Frau Bella represents, is different. She isunhappy because of the greatness of her husband. Had she one of thosewell-trained puppets which are in the world for the purpose of wearinga court-dress, she might be unhappy, but loftily so; she could lookupon herself as a fair flower-crowned victim, suffer with patience,bewail her fate, be on a pinnacle in fact, a being ever debarred fromthe noblest emotions of the heart. But by the side of the husband shehas, she grows constantly more odious, more insignificant. Hehumiliates her by casting her into the shade; nay, more: by condemningher immature ideas only by a raising of his eyebrows. In fact,--shedoes not, I think, acknowledge it to herself,--she hates her husbandfor making solemn earnest of her light trifling with intellectual andmoral things; he compels her to acknowledge mistakes and follies, andseverely enough is he punished for doing so. I understand now the fableof the Harpies. The modern harpies besmear every noble thought till itbecomes unpalatable and nauseous; and thus must Clodwig wrestle andfight for the common daily bread of the spirit. With all this, she isnot without nobleness; she likes to help the sick, only is somewhatdespotic in recommending her remedies. But do you know what the mostdangerous thing about Frau Bella is?"
"Indeed I do not; I cannot imagine what climax you have yet to reach."
"A very simple one. We hear the devil talked about in the churches,but in these days he appears as a very complaisant, very noble andself-sacrificing demon, who comes to us and says,--Here, you are thefriend of this woman; avail yourself of her esteem for you, herconfidence in you, to put her in the right frame of mind; you mustteach her to appreciate her husband, to honor him as he desires to behonored. This sophistical demon seems to be very subtle, but is reallythe clumsiest of all; for never did one human being learn to valueanother, least of all, a wif
"I know nothing about it," cried Eric in despair; he felt as if he mustjump out of the wagon.
"The only man who would do for her, the only man capable of subduingand governing this whole menagerie which bears the name of Bella, isHerr Sonnenkamp; in fact, there is a secret sympathy between them."
Eric was glad he could laugh; but the Doctor continued:--
"I am a heretic, my young friend; I believe that woman is an inferiorvariety in the human race. A man can never be so bad as a woman, cannever be so hypocritical. For the latter quality, to be sure, women arenot responsible, having been taught from childhood that the world caresonly for appearances. But the main defect is, that they have no broadhumanity; they, do not go down to the first principles from which allthings start; they regard everything as being sewed and colored, in thesame way that their hats and mantillas are by the mantuamakers. On theother hand, they stand under the curse of the beasts: they cannotheartily rejoice with another; slander is a peculiar symptom ofblood-thirstiness. Throughout all nature, the female is the crudest."
Eric sat still and heard all this talked at him. When they arrived atthe place where the Doctor was to get out, the good man puffed outanother long breath, and said, his face glowing with his earnestness,--
"Now I, feel better. I have been choking with this for a long while.Thank you for having listened so patiently. Young friend," hecontinued, laying his hand kindly on Eric's shoulder, "I am angry withthe poets, who, from fear of giving offence to women, have dressed upthis clever show-woman. If I have said too much of Frau Bella, as ispossible, I yet pray you to keep in mind the truths I have told of her,which I have not exaggerated, and which I am ready any moment tomaintain."
Eric took his horse by the bridle, but did not mount; he travelled on,lost in thought. That he should have heard such things against Bella,and should have so poorly defended her, pained him. With a look almostof devotion he gazed upward to the cloudless heaven above him; he wouldkeep himself free from the guilt of palliating his own faults. Hisheart turned to Roland, and something within him said, I hope from thistime to be worthy to educate a human being; for never again shall anycriminal trifling with thoughts and feelings have place in me. I wasvain; I was pleased at appearing brilliant, at being praised by ahandsome woman, at feeling the light touch of her warm glove upon myhand. No such man should dare to say, I will in all purity educate ahuman being. I hope now I am a man who can.
With a feeling of inward happiness he pursued his way and reached thevilla.
A telegram was awaiting him, saying that the family would spend thenight in the capital.
Eric was alone.