Kronenberg

“ Kronenberg, whose thoughts had been interrupted in midstream, could not find the right words with which to resume the discussion. On such humours of the mind depend, far more frequently than most people think or notice, one's happiness or unhappiness in life, the falling out of friends, the forging of new acquaintances, the harbouring of grudges, which grow stronger and stronger and embitter one's existence. ”

“ For once, it seems, I have paid him back in his own coin, he exclaimed; he is determined that no one shall hoodwink him. His father has no intention of coming.
Kronenberg would have felt very ill at ease if the kindness of the beautiful girl and her courteous and obliging manner had not made amends. ”

“ I have taken the time and effort to teach my sensible daughter all these little arts, so that she will never be the victim of a cleverly educated man, who could trap an inexperienced girl with such tricks to her own misfortune. We delude men, but we must never allow ourselves to be deluded; I was surprised when you walked right into her trap on the very first day.
Kronenberg bowed politely and with some emotion declared himself grateful that she had not insisted on being too hard on him. ”

“ Kronenberg had to laugh, vexed as he was.
— So, it seems I have lost some very most important letters and my passport to boot, which I cannot possibly replace from here.
— I have it! cried Christoph. The stranger, who was so obliging at the final stop as to help you undress, and who very rudely pushed me away out of sheer politeness, and who went to such trouble to brush and carefully fold your overcoat. The scoundrel must have seen your wallet and filched it, because a rogue and a spy can always make great use of such a passport. ”

“ A servant addressed him and led him to a house where the Count was waiting for him. The latter embraced him in a fatherly manner and after congratulating him on his deliverance from an apparently life-threatening situation, to which Kronenberg was almost too ashamed to respond, he finally said:
— No doubt there are many people who are possessed of a certain charm, a talisman, that wins them love and friendship wherever they go, and makes them happy if they respect this obliging sympathy. ”

“ An open carriage drove up, and as another snowstorm had been forecast, Kronenberg boarded this vehicle with a stern expression, for he anticipated a rather unpleasant day in the mountains and on the bad roads. The waiter berated the poor accommodation of the mail-coach, but the landlady did not put in an appearance. As the carriage drove round the inn, a wan face looked out through a narrow window, which the traveller recognized as belonging to the supplicant of the previous evening ”

“ In the next town Kronenberg wrote to Baron Wildhausen and his son. The letter to the former included the following remarks, amongst others:
My dear friend, I could scarcely call these people atheists; but certainly they care little for God or Mankind. A happy marriage could change the daughter for the better, especially if it were possible to free her from the boredom which is ruining the entire family, and which has even subdued this young soul. I am convinced, however, that a profound mind such as yours could completely restore her, if she is still to be saved at all. ”

“ I don't know if he's right, but he ought to begin with himself; because he has ruined all the servants in the castle through his absentmindedness, and later, when he has caused mistakes, by uncalled-for severity; bit by bit he makes them all deceitful; several have already become scoundrels, and they are even infecting the others now. For, as I said, without proper order, strictness and punctuality, there can be absolutely no common sense in the world.
— You have always been too strict and moral, you old fogy, Kronenberg replied from under his coat.
— Why old fogy? continued Christoph. ”

“ Kronen was strong and alone. But she was alone and would always be. If it were a murder everybody would talk about it openly. It must be something worse than a murder or a divorce. She felt she must know, must make Mrs. Corrie tell her and knew at the same time that she did not want to be distracted from the pure solid glory of the weeks by sharing a horrible secret. ”

“ Krone is an intimate friend of more than one Councilman, and a man of much measure in the political world-that is, Mr. Krone is a politician-maker. When you say there exists too close an intimacy between the pugilist and the politician, Mr. Krone will bet twenty drinks with any one of his customers that he can prove such doctrines at fault. He can secure the election of his favorite candidate with the same facility that he can make an hundred paupers per week. You may well believe him a choice flower in the bouquet of the corporation ”

“ Kronborg spoke up from the next room. "He 's a good teacher, doctor. It 's good for us he does drink. He 'd never be in a little place like this if he did n't have some weakness. These women that teach music around here don't know nothing. I would n't have my child wasting time with them. If Professor Wunsch goes away, Thea 'll have nobody to take from. He 's careful with his scholars; he don't use bad language. Mrs. Kohler is always present when Thea takes her lesson. It 's all right." Mrs. Kronborg spoke calmly and judicially. ”

“ Christ sits there enthroned, and we too shall remain masters and lords over sin, death, the devil and every thing.”
The earnestness with which Cronberg espoused the Lutheran ideas is shown by the fact of his resigning, after the Diet of Worms, a yearly stipend of 200 gold gulden, promised him by the Emperor, when he entered his service with Sickingen in 1519. [961] The assistance he lent to Sickingen’s treacherous machinations against the Empire proved his undoing. His castle of Cronberg was seized on October 15, 1522. ”

“ I would not be thy debtor for all the silver in the mines of Bergen! Lord of Bothwell, I tell thee in thine own hall that thou art a dishonoured villain!"
"Thou art stark mad!" cried the earl. Then he went on, "Konrad, I have wronged thee deeply. In my youth I loved one who neglected me as cruelly as thou hast been neglected, and since then a mischievous spirit of vengeance, as it were, has led me to make women my playthings, to be won and thrown aside. I love thy spirit, Konrad. If I could be thy friend----"
"Never!" cried Konrad. "I come not for friendship, but for justice to Anna! ”

“ I have a little house all picked out where we are to live."
"Bringing up a family is not all it 's cracked up to be," said Mrs. Kronborg with a flicker of irony, as she tucked the letter back under her pillow. "The children you don't especially need, you have always with you, like the poor. But the bright ones get away from you. They have their own way to make in the world. Seems like the brighter they are, the farther they go. I used to feel sorry that you had no family, doctor, but maybe you 're as well off."
"Thea's plan seems sound to me, Mrs. Kronborg. ”

“ Mrs. Kronborg smiled. “Yes, it’s pretty of her. But that will pass. When these things happen far away they don’t make such a mark; especially if your hands are full and you’ve duties of your own to think about. My own father died in Nebraska when Gunner was born,—we were living in Iowa then,—and I was sorry, but the baby made it up to me. I was father’s favorite, too. That’s the way it goes, you see.”
The doctor took out Thea’s letter to him, and read it over to Mrs. Kronborg. ”

“ Archie, would have understood, she comprehended perfectly. To any other woman there, it would have meant that a child must have her hair curled every day and must play in public. Mrs. Kronborg knew it meant that Thea must practice four hours a day. A child with talent must be kept at the piano, just as a child with measles must be kept under the blankets. Mrs. Kronborg and her three sisters had all studied piano, and all sang well, but none of them had talent. Their father had played the oboe in an orchestra in Sweden, before he came to America to better his fortunes. ”

“ Kronborg along the narrow walk, past the little dark, sleeping houses, the doctor looked up at the flashing night and whistled softly. It did seem that people were stupider than they need be; as if on a night like this there ought to be something better to do than to sleep nine hours, or to assist Mrs. Kronborg in functions which she could have performed so admirably unaided. ”

“ The Germans never stray beyond the gravelled walks around the house. Such quietude would kill us, so we appease our love and habit of movement with a daily donkey ride among the Taunus Hills or a walk through the lovely woodland paths. The famous castles of Kronberg (Crown-hill) , Konistein (King's-stone) , and Falkenstein are within a reasonable walk. Konistein has been an immense fortress, and its story is interwoven with the annals of the country. ”

“ Mrs. Kronen saying nothing, smiling more and more without moving her face, growing bigger and stronger and taller as Mr. Corrie grumbled and Mr. Kronen fidgeted, cross and disappointed by the hall fire and then suddenly lifting her head and singing, a great flourish of clear strong notes filling the hall and pealing up through the house as she swept into the drawing-room.
Singing song after song to her own loud accompaniment, great emphatic sweeps of song, so that everyone came and sat about in the room listening and waiting, the men staring at the back of her head as she sat at the piano. ”

“ We’re sending an engine down with the doctor, and the operator at Saxony says Kennedy wants you to come along with us and bring your girl.” He stopped for breath.
Mr. Kronborg took off his glasses and began rubbing them with his napkin.
“Bring—I don’t understand,” he muttered. “How did this happen?”
“No time for that, sir. Getting the engine out now. Your girl, Thea. You’ll surely do that for the poor chap. Everybody knows he thinks the world of her.” Seeing that Mr. Kronborg showed no indication of having made up his mind, the operator turned to Gunner. “Call your sister, kid. ”

“ He then proceeds on his way, and is about to go off when Corman and his companions burst upon him from behind the buttress.]
CORMAN.
We seize thee in the name of the law.
ARDUSOFFE (still concealing his face) .
Go to! you mistake me for another; suffer me to pass. Ye have no right to detain me.
CORMAN.
Come under the lamp here, and let us see your face.
[They drag him towards the light, he making great resistance, when Kranzberg enters suddenly and lays hold of him.]
KRANZBERG.
Resistance is in vain, Van Maurice: we seize thee in the act of making escape from prison ”

“ Halting in the doorway of an inner room, Carl held the light high and nodded with approval.
Its dim rays fell upon dust and cobwebs, trunks and the nondescript relics of years of hoarding. There were no windows; only a skylight above clouded by the whirl of the storm.
Carl seated himself upon a trunk, placed the lamp beside him and directed his guest to a point opposite. Kronberg, with dark, fascinated eyes glued upon the glittering steel in his jailer's hand, obeyed.
"Kronberg," said Carl coldly, "there's a lot I want to know. Moreover, I'm going to know it. ”

“ Tiny scattered lights began to twinkle in the dark half of the town, while the part lighted by the loom of fires hummed with a deep and prolonged murmur. “He has come,” said Cornelius. “What? Already? Are you sure?” Brown asked. “Yes! yes! Sure. Listen to the noise.” “What are they making that row about?” pursued Brown. “For joy,” snorted Cornelius; “he is a very great man, but all the same, he knows no more than a child, and so they make a great noise to please him, because they know no better.” “Look here,” said Brown, “how is one to get at him?” ”

“ Harsanyi liked Miss Kronborg thoroughly. She saw in her the making of a pupil who would reflect credit upon Harsanyi. She felt that the girl could be made to look strikingly handsome, and that she had the kind of personality which takes hold of audiences. Moreover, Miss Kronborg was not in the least sentimental about her husband. Sometimes from the show pupils one had to endure a good deal. "I like that girl," she used to say, when Harsanyi told her of one of Thea's gaucheries. "She does n't sigh every time the wind blows. With her one swallow does n't make a summer." ”

“ At the conclusion of the day Cronenberg with 600 Walloon cavalry threw themselves around him and bore him from the field. The fierce old soldier is said to have burst into a passion of tears on beholding the slaughter and defeat of his infantry. Hitherto he had been invincible, this being the first defeat he had suffered in the course of his long military career. Great stores of provision and wine had been captured, and the night was spent in feasting in the Swedish camp.
The next morning the Elector of Saxony rode on to the field to congratulate Gustavus on his victory. ”

“ Kronborg. I wish we could get the old man off his bottle and keep him tidy. Do you suppose if I gave you an old overcoat you could get him to wear it?" The doctor went to the bedroom door and Mrs. Kronborg looked up from her darning.
"Why, yes, I guess he 'd be glad of it. He 'll take most anything from me. He won't buy clothes, but I guess he 'd wear em if he had 'em. I 've never had any clothes to give him, having so many to make over for."
"I 'll have Larry bring the coat around to-night. You are n't cross with me, Thea?" taking her hand. ”

“ Krone will tell you he deals out his poison without scruple, fills alms-houses without a pang of remorse, and proves that a politician-maker may do much to degrade society and remain in high favor with his friends of the bench of justice. On one side of the dungeon-like place stands a rickety old counter, behind which three savage-faced men stand, filling and serving incessant potions of deleterious liquor to the miserable beings, haggard and ragged, crowding to be first served. ”