Friedrich August Schulze

“ I now proceeded to give an accurate description of the blind passenger, when Wagen assured me that he did not recollect ever having seen such a person. According to all appearances, then, my blind man belonged to a gang, which, it was probable, would soon fall into the hands of justice, and I had been seen in familiar conversation with him!—I had even followed him on leaving the diligence! The consequences were likely to be unpleasant, more especially as, according to Wagen’s assurance, a band of robbers had been lurking about in the country for some weeks. ”

“ In about half an hour after, Wagen came to me at the hotel.
“My friend,” he exclaimed, “you have brought matters to a fine pass! The aunt has employed all her talents of strife-making against you, and I need not tell you they are of the first order. On the present occasion she seems to be more than usually triumphant; could I have suspected all this I never would have recommended your coming to the Spa to wash off your disgrace, for, as matters stand, you are in much worse repute than before your visit. ”

“ A fitter refuge for such gentry could not have been imagined, and perhaps the blind passenger was one of their spies; if so my sympathy with his distress was likely to find no pleasant recompense! Still when I thought of his face and manners,—and they had left a strong impression on me,—I could not believe that they were those of a robber. On the other hand, how often does villany shroud itself under a fair mask!—To exchange, however, uncertainty for the certain, I hastened to recover the footpath, and took my way to Rudendorf. ”

“ For one real invalid there are at least ten in good health, who come only to eat, drink, or fool themselves into sickness. The fine mornings are slept away, while the moist evenings are chosen as the fittest time for enjoyment. Night-sleep, too, that best of all physicians, is for the most part neglected, and feasts and dancing and every sort of tumultuous pleasure occupy the hours of midnight, as was now to be the case; indeed, to carry the frenzy still higher, the ball was to be a masked ball. ”

“ It is well known that all were then called robbers who did not believe in the proposition of might constituting right.
I need add nothing more than that this trifling adventure led to a real friendship, and that in another point I deemed myself much indebted to it. Who knows how long the malicious aunt might have put off my marriage with Eloisa, for she was dependent upon her, if the unpleasant adventure at the Spa had not led to the subsequent friendly dinner at Rudendorf? ”

“ She said that she had recognised me on my entrance into the saloon, but assured me that the domino with the tall white feather was perfectly unknown to her. At the same time she proposed that I should mediate for herself and her aunt with the police officer, as neither of them would like to be known in their present dress. On turning round to comply with her request I observed the eyes of the Frenchman fixed steadfastly upon me, and it was plain enough that what the other whispered to him had reference to myself. I did not, however, the more hesitate to answer for the ladies. ”

“ Wagen thought that since we were at the Spa, we might as well go through with it by becoming a party to this ball—a proposition which I would fain have scouted, for what pleasure could I expect from it?
“The less you expect,” replied Wagen jestingly, “the more easily you will be satisfied with what you really do find. And seriously, do you think our aunt will be absent?—You do not know the good lady; it is precisely on account of this masked ball that she is here, and if she be at the ball, it follows as a matter of course that Eloisa will be there too.” ”

“ The police pressed forward to possess themselves above all things of the mask in the coffin, but the laugh was loud and general, when the officers, deceived by the excellent imitation, darted upon the supposed man, and found that all their fury had been wasted upon a figure of straw. Their next impulse was to seize the coffin-bearers, and here too they were disappointed; no one was to be found except a few well-known common porters, who knew nothing of those that had fled. ”

“ As if he himself felt the annoyance of his presence, he kept as far from me as possible, squeezing himself up in the remotest corner, but it was this very thing that now attracted me to him; my suspicions of him, or rather of his situation, began to dissipate, for it seemed that an evil-intentioned person would rather have kept at the side by the coach-door; in the dark corner where he sate there was no connexion with the country, and I now began to reproach myself for fancying evil, where perhaps there was nothing but misfortune, and that too, it might be, unmerited. ”

“ It was only a short time before that a robbery and murder had been committed by a pretended blind passenger in a diligence, and our careless driver would not even look at the paper, which the stranger gave out for a passport!—Yet his appearance was that of a man who would risk all, having nothing to lose beyond a wretched existence. ”

“ The band of robbers in my part of the country have been taken up, and already, on the delations of the infamous captain, many an honest man has been submitted to his trial. Such an event must be in any way extremely painful to honourable minds, though we have at least this comfort; the judges, before whom the business is to come, are just, keen-sighted men, who must soon see the impossibility of our participation in any thing so dishonourable. ”

“ It was to be expected that the aunt would now be heartily tired of the Spa, and Eloisa and myself had never agreed with her so cordially in any thing before. Wagen, indeed, seemed to be fettered by some secret attraction to the ball-room, but he burst his chains like a hero. We hurried back to our lodgings, changed our clothes, and before the dawn were on our return home. By the middle of the day we were in Rudendorf.
The robber-history, if it did no other good, at least effected something in making the aunt more tolerable than usual ”

“ But this change was difficult of itself, not to speak of what might happen in the event of the strange history, in which we were concerned, being again brought forward, and our incognito discovered; our attempted concealment would certainly bring us into suspicion. Still less was Wagen’s consolation, that the police officer, from particular good-will to himself, would scarcely expose us to such a humiliation. The poor man might be compelled, quite contrary to his inclination, to submit us to a trial from our apparent connexion with this robber-history. ”

“ When once jealousy begins to speak, reason has no voice, but a lucky accident came to the assistance of poor reason; a sudden rush of the crowd divided me from the objects of my pursuit, and the general attention seemed to be concentrated towards a single point ”

“ When a woman can no longer attract by sighs and looks, she endeavours to command attention by the singular and grotesque, and, to be candid, I never saw a harlequin of more grace and activity.”
So too the rest of the company seemed to think, for a thick crowd had collected about Eloisa and her aunt, who were dancing together. All were curious to know who the harlequin was. ”