If one may regard the judgment of Mr. Hummel as valid, it is rarely that the enthusiasm of Christmas week is fully developed in the men who have the honor of being the representatives of the family. "Believe me, Gabriel," said Mr. Hummel, one December evening, as he was watching some children who were passing by with toys, "at this time man loses his importance; he is nothing but a money-chest, in which the key is turning from morning till evening; the best wives become barefaced and foolish, all family confidence vanishes, everybody avoids everybody else, the order of the house is disturbed, one's night's rest is unscrupulously destroyed; when it is meal time, one's wife runs to the market, and when the lamps ought to be extinguished, one's daughter begins a new piece of embroidery. When at last the long bother is over, then one must be delighted at a pair of new slippers which are an inch too short, and for which later on one has to pay a long shoemaker's bill, and to be pleased with a cigar case of beads, which is flat and hard, like a dried flounder. Finally, after one has shot out golden sparks like a rocket, the ladies expect one to show one's good feeling by making them a present. Now, I have trained mine differently."
"But I have seen you yourself," rejoined Gabriel, "With a package and bandbox under your arm."
"That is true," replied Mr. Hummel, "a bandbox is inevitable. But, Gabriel, I have given up all worry, for that was the most humiliating part of the affair. I go every year to the same milliner now, and say, 'a hood for Madame Hummel;' and the person says, 'You shall be served, Mr. Hummel;' and she places the structure ready made before me. Besides this, I go every year to the same shop and say, 'I want a dress for my daughter Laura, at such and such a price, more or less,' and a dress well worth its value is placed before me. In confidence I must tell you I have a suspicion that the women have seen through my trick, and select the things themselves beforehand, for now they are always very much to their taste, whilst in former years they were often objected to. They have the trouble now of selecting the finery, and in the evening they practice all sorts of dissembling artifices, unfold and examine the goods, pretend to be astonished, and praise my excellent taste. This is my only satisfaction in the whole childish amusement. But it is a poor one, Gabriel."
Such was the discordant strain in which the master of the house indulged; but the dwellers in Park Street cared little for it, and like opinions will always be regarded with like indifference. So much sweeter is it to care for others than for one's self, and so much happier to give pleasure than to receive it.
For Ilse also the festival this year was to be a great event; she collected like a bee, and not only for the dear ones at home; in the city also she had nestled many great and little children in her heart, from the five young Raschke's down to the little barefooted creatures with the soup-pot. The sofa-corners assumed a mysterious appearance whenever her husband, or Laura, or the Doctor entered unexpectedly.
When the Chamberlain, some time before the holidays, deemed it becoming for his Prince to pay a visit to the new Rector, the gentlemen found Ilse and Laura busily at work, and the parlor of the Rector's wife was changed into a great market stall. On a long table stood little Christmas trees, and full sacks were leaning against the legs of the table; the ladies were working with yard-measures and scissors, dividing great hanks of wool, and unrolling pieces of linen, like shop-keepers. When Ilse met the gentlemen and made excuses for the state of her room, the Chamberlain entreated her not to disturb herself. "We will remain here only if we are allowed to make ourselves useful." The Prince also said, "I beg permission to help, if you have anything for me to do."
"That is very kind," replied Ilse, "there is still much to be done before evening. Permit me, your Highness, to give you your work. Pray take the bag of nuts; and you, my Lord Chamberlain, have the goodness to take the apples in charge; you, Felix, will have the gingerbread. I beg the gentlemen to make little heaps, to each twenty nuts, six apples, and a package of gingerbread."
The gentlemen went zealously to work. The Prince counted the nuts conscientiously, and was provoked that they would always roll together again, but discovered that he could keep the portions apart by means of strips of paper folded together. The gentlemen laughed, and related how once, in a foreign country, they had introduced this German Christmas amusement. The perfume of the apples and of the fir-trees filled the room, and gave a festive feeling to the souls of all present.
"May we ask the kind lady who are to benefit by our exertions?" said the Chamberlain; "I hold here an uncommonly large apple, which I hope may fall to the lot of one of your favorites. At all events, we are doing what will give the poor children pleasure."
"Finally it will," replied Ilse; "but that is not all; we shall give this to their mothers, for the greatest pleasure of a mother is to give presents herself to her children, to adorn the Christmas tree and to work what the little ones need. This pleasure we shall not deprive them of, and therefore we send them the stuff unmade. The Christmas trees, too, they prefer buying themselves, each according to their tastes; those you see here are only for children who have no mothers. These trees will be adorned by us. Everything for the festive evening will be carried out of the house today, so that the people may receive them in good time, and arrange them for themselves."
The Prince looked at the Chamberlain. "Will you allow us," he began, hesitatingly, "to contribute something towards these presents."
"Very willingly," replied Ilse, joyfully. "If your Highness wishes it, our servant can look after it immediately. He understands it, and is trustworthy."
"I should like to go with him myself," said the Prince. The Chamberlain listened with astonishment to this idea of his young master; but, as it was laudable and not against instructions, he only smiled respectfully. Gabriel was called. The Prince, much pleased, took his hat. "What shall we buy?" he asked eagerly.
"We want some little tapers," replied Ilse, "besides some playthings; – for the boys, leaden soldiers; and for the girls, little kitchen things; but all must be strong and cheap." Gabriel followed the Prince out of the house with a large basket.
"You heard what the lady ordered," said the Prince, in the street, to Gabriel. "First the wax-tapers; you do the selecting and I will pay. We are to buy them cheap; see that we are not cheated."
"We need not fear that, your Highness," replied Gabriel; "and if we should pay a few pennies too much, other children will benefit by it."
At the end of an hour the Prince returned. Gabriel had a heavily-laden basket, while the Prince also carried under his arms bundles of toys and large paper bags full of sweetmeats. When the young gentleman entered thus loaded, with color in his cheeks and as happy as a child, he looked so good and pleasing that all were delighted with him. He unpacked his treasures before the Professor's wife, and emptied the contents of the paper bags on the table.
His embarrassment had disappeared: he played with childish pleasure with the pretty things, showed the others the artistic work in the marchpane plums, begged of Laura to keep a candy knight-templar for herself, and moved about and arranged everything so gracefully and actively on the table that all looked at him with admiration and joined in his childish jokes. When the ladies began to adorn the Christmas trees, the Prince declared he would help them. He placed himself before the saucer with white of egg, and was shown the way to lay it upon the fruits and then roll them in gold and silver foil. Ilse arranged as a prize for the gentleman who worked best and did most, a large gingerbread lady with a hooped petticoat and glass eyes; and a praiseworthy contest arose among the gentlemen to produce the best things. The Professor and the Chamberlain knew how to employ their old skill; but the Prince as a novice worked somewhat carelessly-there remained some bare spots, and in others the gold foil bulged out. He was discontented with himself, but Ilse cheered him, saying, "But your Highness must be more sparing with the gold, otherwise we shall not have enough." Finally, the Chamberlain obtained the lady in the hooped dress, and the Prince, as an extra reward for his activity, a babe in swaddling-clothes which looked on the world with two glassy bead eyes.
Out of doors in the Christmas market, little children were standing round the fir-trees and Christmas shops, looking hopefully and longingly at the treasures there. And in Ilse's room the great children were sitting at the table, playful and happy. Here there were no cautious admonitions, and the Prince painted the outlines of a face with the white of egg on the palm of his hand, and gilded it with a gold-foil.
When the Hereditary Prince rose to go, the Professor asked, "May I venture to inquire where your Highness intends to pass Christmas Eve?"
"We remain here," answered the Prince.
"As some remarkable musical performances are in prospect," added the Chamberlain, "his princely Highness has denied himself the pleasure of having the Prince with him at this festival; we are, therefore, to pass a quiet Christmas here."
"We do not venture to invite you," continued the Professor; "but in case your Highness should not pass this evening in other society, it will be a great pleasure if you would do so with us."
Ilse looked thankfully at her husband, and the Prince this time did not leave it to the Chamberlain to answer, but eagerly accepted the invitation. As he walked with his attendant through the crowded streets, he began, cautiously, "But we must contribute something to the Christmas table."
"I had just thought of that," replied the Chamberlain; "but if your Highness honors those worthy people with your company that evening, I am not sure how your Highness's father will approve of a contribution to the Christmas tree from my gracious Prince."
"I do not wish it to be any of those eternal brooches and ear-rings from the court jeweler's cases," cried the Prince, with unwonted energy; "it should be some trifle; best of all, something as a joke."
"That is my view," assented the Chamberlain; "but it is advisable to leave the decision to his Grace, your father."
"Then I had rather remain at home," replied the Prince, bitterly. "I will not enter with some stupid present in my hand. Can it not be managed that the visit be without any ceremony, just as the invitation was?"
The Chamberlain shrugged his shoulders. "A few days afterwards the whole city will know that your Highness has shown Professor Werner this unusual honor. Without doubt the occurrence will be reported to the palace by persons who have no business to do so. Your Highness knows better than I do how your father will receive such an account, coming to him first from a stranger."
The Prince's pleasure was spoilt. "Write, then, to my father," he cried, angrily; "but represent the invitation just as it was given, and express yourself as opposed to any conventional present from the court: it would only wound this family."
The Chamberlain rejoiced in the tact of his young master, and promised to write the letter as he desired. This appeased the Prince, and after a time he began: "It has just occurred to me, Weidegg, what we should give. As the Professor's wife comes from the country, I will present her with the machine which I lately bought, as a case for pretty bonbons or something of that kind, that I will put in it."
"Now he wishes to get rid of the useless plaything," thought the Chamberlain. "That is impossible," he replied, aloud: "Your Highness is not quite sure whether the lady would take the joke as it is intended. It would not do to give a present which might give rise to misinterpretation. Your Highness should on no account venture upon such a thing. Even if the amiable lady herself did not object, it would be much discussed in her circle. Your Highness's joke might be easily considered as an ironical allusion to country manners, which undoubtedly become the lady well, but might here and there occasion a slight smile."
The Prince's heart froze within him; he was furious with the Chamberlain, and, on the other hand, shocked at the thought of wounding Ilse. The poetry of the festival was entirely spoilt for him. He went silently to his apartment.
The answer to the Chamberlain's letter was to the effect that the Prince, in spite of the apparent unsuitability, would not object to an incidental visit, and that, if some mark of attention was unavoidable, it might be procured from a gardener or confectioner. The Chamberlain, therefore, bought a quantity of flowers and sweetmeats, and laid them before the Prince. But he looked cold and silently on the gay bright colors. Towards evening two lackeys carried the things to the Rector with a little note from the Chamberlain, in which, in the name of his Most Serene Prince, he begged the accompanying gift might be applied to the ornamenting of the Christmas tree. Meanwhile the Prince stood gloomily before his butter-machine, and quarrelled bitterly with his princely dignity.
When at the proper hour he entered Werner's apartment, the Christmas gifts had been distributed and the candles extinguished. Ilse had done it purposely. "It is not necessary to let these strangers see what delight we take in these presents." The Prince received Ilse's thanks for the splendid adornment of her table with reserve, and sat before the tea-kettle silent and absent-minded. Ilse thought, "He is sorry that he has had no glad Christmas Eve: the poorest child is merry with his Christmas tree, and he sits as if shut out from the pleasures of this happy time." She made a sign to Laura, and said to the Prince: "Would your Highness like to see our Christmas tree? The lights had to be extinguished lest they should burn down, but if your Highness likes we will light it up again in all its splendor, and it would be very kind of your Highness to help us."
This was a welcome proposal to the Prince, and he went with the ladies into the festive room. There he offered to take the staff, at the end of which a wax-taper was fastened, in order to reach the highest lights of the mighty tree. Whilst he was thus busily working at the tree his heart became lighter, and he looked with interest at the presents which were lying under the tree.
"Now will your Highness have the kindness to go out of the room," said Ilse, "and when I ring it will signify to you and Mr. von Weidegg that your Highness is wanted."
The Prince hastened out; the bell rang. When the gentlemen entered they found two small tables laid out; on them small lighted trees, and under each a large dish of pastry, made after the fashion of their own country. "This is to be a remembrance of our home," said Ilse, "and on the trees are the apples and nuts which you have gilded: those with the red spots are your Highness's work. Here is a respectful gift sent from the farm of my dear father. I beg the gentlemen to eat this smoked goose's breast with a good appetite; we are not a little proud of this dish. But here, my gracious Prince, there is, as a keepsake from me, a small model of our churn; for this is at what I served my apprenticeship as a child." On the Prince's seat stood this useful instrument, made of march-pane. "On the bottom of it, your Highness, I have written my motto of long ago. May the gentlemen accept my good intentions!"
She said this so joyously, and offered her hand to the Chamberlain so kindly, that all thoughts of his dignity were forgotten, and he shook her hand right honestly. The Prince stood before his machine, and thought: "Now is the moment, or never." He read below the simple words, "If a person has devoted himself with honest perseverance to some one thing, it will be a blessing to him throughout his whole life." Then, without any thought of the threatening consequences of his daring, he said: "May I propose an exchange to you? I have bought a small churn; it has a large wheel and a small one for turning, and one can churn as much as one wants each morning. It would be a great pleasure to me if you would accept this."
Ilse thanked him with a bow; and the Prince requested that a servant might at once be sent to his apartment for it. Whilst the Chamberlain was still reflecting with amazement on the strange coincidence, the piece of mechanism was brought into the room. The Prince placed it with his own hands upon a corner of the table, explained the internal arrangements to the company, and was much delighted when Ilse said she had confidence in the invention. He was again the joyous child of the other day, gaily drank his glass of wine, and, with charming grace, proposed the health of the master and mistress of the house, so that the Chamberlain scarcely knew his Telemachus again. On taking leave, he himself packed up the marchpane, and carried it home in his pocket.
CHAPTER XXII.
THREE COUNCILS
The year of the Rectorate had so changed the household and the current of Ilse's thoughts that she remarked with astonishment to her husband, "I feel as if I had just come from school into the bustle of the world." Her husband's days were engrossed with distracting business: difficult transactions between the University and Government, and vexatious occurences among the students, took up a great portion of his time.
The evening, also, did not pass as in the first year, when Ilse watched the quiet labors of her husband, or listened to his friends; for many were occupied by the sessions of the Senate, and others by large parties, which, as Rector, he could not avoid. When their friends came to tea, the master of the house was often absent.
Ilse had taken her father's lessons to heart; she lived in the present, and avoided distracting thoughts. Her husband took pains to keep from her anything that could disturb her repose of mind, and the intellectual diet which he now gave her did her good. When he again saw her in society in all her health and strength, with color in her cheeks and a cheerful expression in her countenance, he felt it his duty for ever to preserve this soul from the intrusion of conflicting ideas; and he was pleased that, by frequent intercourse with various kinds of men, and by the light bonds of a genial society, she began to feel at home in his circle. It delighted him, too, to find that her ingenuous nature was appreciated; and she was not only treated with distinction by the men, but was also a favorite with the ladies.
Ilse would not, however, allow her private conclave-as she called the hours during which she received her husband's instruction-to be disturbed; she adhered to it with rigid strictness; and if a day was missed, the lost time had to be made up on the following one. But even these lessons took a different course. The Professor now read to her small extracts from old writers, who portrayed, in prose and verse, the attractive beauty of the life of the ancients; her innocent mind entered into the cheerful enjoyment of this strange world, and the impressions which she received agreed perfectly with the way in which she now regulated her own life. The Professor explained to her some of the poems of the Greek anthology and of Theocritus, and a few of the Roman lyrics; and, by way of comparison, he read to her the poems of the great German who, in a remarkable way, had been able to unite Greek beauty with German feeling.
At her reception, Ilse showed all the dignity of her position as the Rector's wife; every room was opened; the apartments were decorated and brilliantly illuminated; the heads of the University and city, with their wives, made their appearance in numbers; and the Prince and his Chamberlain did not fail to be present. Laura assisted gracefully in doing the honors, and quietly gave directions to the servants; cake and wine were passed around; the guests made themselves very agreeable, and separated in the highest spirits. The great evening had passed off happily; the Doctor and Laura had left; Ilse gave her last injunctions to Gabriel, and passed through the rooms once more, with the glad feeling that she had done honor to Felix and herself. She came into her dressing room, and glanced into the mirror.
"You need not examine yourself critically," said the husband, "everything was beautiful; but the most beautiful of all was the Rector's wife."
"Damon, my shepherd," replied Ilse, "you are blinded. It is not the first time you have said this, but I like to hear it; you may still tell it often to me. But Felix," she continued, as she unloosened her hair, "there is something inspiring about such a society even where people do nothing but talk. One does not carry away much of it, but still there is a pleasure in being among them; they are all so courteous and endeavor to appear to the best advantage, and each tries to please the other."
"They do not all succeed in giving a fair idea of what they are on such occasions, least of all we book-worms," replied Felix. "But there is no doubt these gatherings give a certain similarity of language and manner, and, finally, also of ideas to persons who live in the same circle. This is very necessary, for even those who live together often differ as much in their thoughts and feelings as if they had been born in different centuries. How did you like the Chamberlain?"
Ilse shook her head. "He is the most courteous and lively of all, and knows how to say something civil to every one; but one cannot trust him, for, as with an eel, one has no hold on him, and can never for a moment look into his heart. I prefer our Prince with his stiff manner. He talked to me about his sister to-day; she must be very clever and charming. To which of your centuries does he belong?"
"To the middle of the last," replied, her husband, laughing; "he is a full century earlier than we are, of the period when men were divided into two classes-those who were fit to be received at Court, and serfs. But if you examine those about us, you will discover even greater disparities. There is our Gabriel, who in his prejudices and his poetry belongs to an age three centuries earlier than the present. His ways of thinking remind one of the time in which the great Reformers first educated our people to think. On the other hand, the hostile neighbors are, in many points of view, the representatives of two opposing tendencies which ran parallel to each other towards the end of the last century-in our house, obstinate rationalism; in the old people over there, a weak sentimentality."
"And what time do I belong to?" asked Ilse, placing herself before her husband.
"You are my dear wife," he exclaimed, trying to draw her towards him.
"I will tell you," continued Ilse, eluding him: "in your opinion, I belong to a former age, and once that made me more unhappy than I can express. But I no longer care about it. For when I can compel you to kiss my hand as often as I desire it" – the Professor was very willing-"when I see that it requires no persuasion to induce you to kiss me on the lips-it is not necessary that you should try it now, – I believe you. Further, when I observe that the learned gentleman is not disinclined to hand my slippers to me, and perhaps even my dressing gown-I do not wish to give you trouble now, but unhook my ear-rings and open the jewel-box, – and when I, besides, observe that you are anxious to please me, that at my wish you took the wife of the Consistorial Councillor to dinner, whom you could not bear, and that you have bought me this beautiful dress, although you understand nothing about buying; when I, further, see that Magnificus is quite under my sway, that I have the keys of the pantry, and even manage the accounts; and, lastly, when I bear in mind that you, good bookworm, think me, your wife Ilse, worthy of a little discussion together with your Greeks and Romans, and that it is a pleasure to you when I understand a little of your learned writings-I come to the conclusion that you belong entirely to me, you and your century, and that it is quite indifferent to me in what period of the world's history my spirit originated. Then when I, the relic of a distant century, pinch your ear, as I do now, the great master of the present and future, and his philosophizing on the different natures of men, become simply ludicrous. Now that I have held this discourse, can you sleep quietly?"
"That would be difficult," replied the Professor, "whilst the learned housewife is fluttering about the bed, holding discourses in her dressing-gown which are more lengthy than those of a Roman philosopher, and whilst she rattles the doors of the cupboards and wanders about the room."
"My tyrant requires his coffee early in the morning, so it must be given out now, and I cannot sleep if I have not all the keys near me."
"I see nothing will be of any use." said the Professor, "but a serious exorcism."
"I must see whether there are any lights burning in the rooms." But immediately afterwards she knelt down by the bed, and threw her arms round his neck. "Everything is so charming in the world, Felix," exclaimed she; "let us humbly pray that our happiness may last."
Yes, you are happy. Ilse; but, as your father said, you have to thank your prudence for it, not your courage.
When Ilse wrote to her father, to describe how the great evening party had passed off, she did not forget to add that her future Sovereign had been among the guests, and that she had had much intelligent conversation with him. Her father did not appear to attach much value to this last communication, for he answered, rather irritated, "If you are so influential an adviser, exert yourself to obtain a decision for us in regard to the highway. The affair has been before the magistrates for ten years; it is a shame that we should be so cut off from all the world. The gray has broken his leg. Our estate would be worth ten thousand dollars more if the Government were not so dilatory."
Ilse read the letter to her husband, and said, "We can tell the Prince about the road; he can arrange it with his father."
Her husband laughed. "I will not undertake this commission: it does not appear to me as if the Prince would have great influence with the Government."
"We will see about that," replied Ilse, gaily; "at the next opportunity I shall speak to him about it."
This opportunity soon occurred. The Consistorial Councillor, who was now Theological Dean, had a tea-party. It was a distinguished and dignified assembly, but not agreeable to Ilse; she had long mistrusted the piety of the Dean, for beneath the gown of the bland gentleman she clearly saw a fox's tail peeping out; in the speeches of the Dean's wife there was an unpleasant mixture of honey and gall. The rooms were small and hot, and the guests seemed bored; but the Hereditary Prince and his Chamberlain had promised to come. As he entered, the master of the house and some of the guests who were acquainted with the customs of the Court endeavored to form a line for his reception; but all their attempts were vain, from the heedlessness or obstinacy of most of the company. The Prince, led by the Dean, had to make his way through the groups up to the mistress of the house. His eyes turned from her sharp features and wandered about to where Ilse stood, like a being from another planet; she looked quite majestic; her ribbon head-dress sat like a coronet on her wavy hair, which in great abundance almost surrounded her head. The Prince looked shyly up to her, and could scarcely find proper words with which to accost her. When, after a short greeting, he again turned to the rest of the company. Ilse was displeased; she had expected more attention from their intimacy. She did not consider that his position in society was not that of a private man, and that he had to fulfill his princely duties before he could go about like others. Whilst with inward disgust he did what his position required of him, going slowly round, he went first to Ilse's husband, then to the other dignitaries; had some presented to him, and asked the questions that are considered right in these cases; but he waited impatiently for the time when fate would allow him to have a little conversation with his countrywoman. But he did his duty bravely; the Professor of History expressed his pleasure that some old chronicles of his country would be published, and endeavored, half-talking and half-teaching, to impress him with their importance. Meanwhile the Prince thought that the Rector's wife would, at least, sit at his left hand, the Chamberlain having pointed out to him that the Dean's wife might be at his right.
The affair was doubtful. The Dean's wife was certainly the hostess, but the evening had a certain official University tone about it, and Ilse was undoubtedly entitled to precedence among the professors' wives. Nevertheless, all question ceased to exist when the fact was considered that the Dean, on account of numerous presentations of theological works, and many letters of admiring homage, had been made by the reigning sovereign, Knight Commander of his order. He had been so exalted by this, as the Chamberlain explained, that the difference of dignity between the Magnificus and Dean was more than compensated, and the Dean's wife had therefore the first place. The Chamberlain acknowledged that in reality it was a matter of no consequence how people were seated here, for there could be no question of any right of rank in this society. But it would be more becoming for the Prince not to neglect all distinctions.
At his left, at all events, the Prince hoped to have Ilse. But even this hope was frustrated by the artfulness of the Dean's wife. For there was amongst the company a Colonel's wife; they were people of old family, but recently come to the place. The lady of the house lost no time in taking the Colonel's wife up to the Chamberlain, and on meeting, it turned out that they had common relations. By this the whole arrangement of rank at supper was disturbed. The lady claimed her right to be presented. The Chamberlain took her to the Prince, who cleverly anticipated the former's intention, and expressed a wish to make the lady's acquaintance.