Lieschen

“ That such a calamity should have fallen on a household so estimable, seemed to add fuel to the people's wrath. Poor Lieschen! her pretty, playful ways—her opening prospects, as the only daughter of parents so well to do and so kind—her youth and abounding life—these were detailed with impassioned fervor by friends, and repeated by strangers who caught the tone of friends, as if they, too, had known and loved her. But amidst the surging uproar of this sea of many voices no one clear voice of direction could be heard; no clue given to the clamorous bloodhounds to run down the assassin. ”

“ I'm only quoting you, Bertha; when I wish to be convincing I always do so. Herr von Ernau has found his way over here in spite of the doctor, and I played eavesdropper involuntarily just now at the door of 'the master's arbour,' and can assure you that Fräulein Lieschen will not go very far away from Linau. For my part I am delighted, and so will you be, dear child, when you get over the remembrance of old times and your fancied dislike of Fräulein Lieschen. Think what an advantage it is to have such neighbours at Plagnitz! Clara will, I am afraid, spend half her time there. ”

“ You know, Herr von Ernau, that I was never at any time able to resist Fräulein Lieschen's requests, and I did not fail her in this the darkest hour of her life. I promised to report her decision to the Lieutenant. She thanked me with a look, and Frau von Osternau said, with a sigh, 'I must submit. Lieschen has inherited her father's strength of will in matters of conscience. The foolish child is destroying her future; it is sad, but I cannot prevent it. I must yield to her resolve. ”

“ I ask of you a favour, Storting, which will make me your debtor for life: tell Frau von Osternau what I have just told you. She is a woman of practical sense and discernment, she will not be led astray by the mood of the moment, but will perceive that a union between Lieschen and myself is the most natural and harmonious solution of the present unhappy state of affairs, for which the law of entail is to blame. As my wife, Lieschen will be mistress of the Osternau estate. ”

“ She thought of nothing save what she thought advantageous," Lieschen eagerly interposed. "I cannot even pity her. She knew from Uncle Sastrow all about that odious Egon von Ernau,--that he was a man without heart or principle,--and yet she was quite ready to marry him because he was rich. It makes me indignant!"
"Ought she then to have refused to obey her father?" asked the Lieutenant.
"Yes, she ought! No father has a right to ask his child to disgrace herself by such a marriage. I am indignant with Bertha Massenburg. ”

“ Lieschen looked at him rather dubiously. "I do not know what to think of you, Herr Pigglewitch," she replied, shaking her pretty head thoughtfully. "You change with every moment. When a little while ago you talked so wickedly and urged Soliman towards the river, I was afraid of you, and now you suddenly speak so sadly and gently that I almost have faith in you. But since you only ask that I should tell you what I think, without reserve, I can easily grant your request, I should do so whether or not, because I cannot help it." ”

“ Egon did not speak, but his eyes were more eloquent than words.
"You shall hear how I am at odds with myself," Lieschen went on. "It is about Bertha von Massenburg. My father wishes me to receive her affectionately, to let no word or look betray how indignant I am with her, with her sordid views, her odious conduct. My dear father is so gentle and kind, he cannot bear to think ill of any one. He does not believe in Bertha's low motives. It is easy for him to receive her kindly, but in me it would be hypocrisy. Must I be a hypocrite? Should not truth be our first consideration? ”

“ When these details became known, conjecture naturally interpreted Lieschen's absence at night as an assignation. But with whom? She was not known to have a lover. Her father, on being questioned, passionately affirmed that she had none; she loved no one but her parents, poor child! Her mother, on being questioned, told the same story—adding, however, that about seventeen months before, she had fancied that Lieschen was a little disposed to favor Franz Kerkel, their shopman ”

“ Lieschen looked approval, she bethought herself a moment and then said, "I have a plan to propose, Herr Candidate. It would be a great pity that you should stay away from table for several days, for it will take the tailor fully that length of time to provide you with a new suit. Herr Storting will help you. He is just your size, and his clothes will at all events fit you better than that ugly, ridiculous coat." ”

“ Frau von Osternau looked at her daughter in surprise, and, more for something to say than from a desire to defend Bertha, replied, "We ought not to weigh every hasty word with such nicety. One often says more in the heat of argument than reason would justify; you do so sometimes, as every one does. What, for example, should we think of Herr Pigglewitch, if all his words were so harshly criticised?"
Lieschen's cheek flushed slightly, but she looked up at her mother and replied, without embarrassment, "They are both puzzles to me. ”

“ Surely one ought eagerly to seek occasion for investing our commonplace existence with interest by means of physical and mental exertion. One might perhaps find life attractive if one had to struggle for it, it would then cease to be such an intolerable bore."
"I do not understand you, Herr Pigglewitch," Lieschen replied, staring at Egon in wide-eyed wonder. "What wicked nonsense are you talking? I cannot comprehend your meaning perfectly, but I can see that you are wrong in speaking thus before Fritz." ”

“ It arose from my desire to indemnify our cousin for the loss of the estate, but Lieschen's happiness is my first consideration, and I do not think Albrecht is the man to make a woman happy. He is wanting in force of character, he cannot forget his gay life in the capital, indeed I am afraid that he has continued it in his frequent visits to Berlin, and that he is in debt again. But why should we puzzle our brains with what the future has in store for us? ”

“ Turning to look at the unwelcome intruder they find themselves face to face with a strange old man; who, when they ask him who he is, replies quickly: "I am the King of the Alps". Dreadfully frightened Lieschen and Marthe look at each other in consternation, but finding that their sweet young faces are unchanged, they take courage, and kneeling before the majestic traveller they implore his help and blessing, which the latter willingly promises.
The second scene takes place in Rappelkopf's house. Lieschen comes to look for the man servant Habakuk, who is very much in love with her. ”

“ The father knelt beside the bed, and, sobbing, prayed. The mother sat staring with a stupefied stare, her lips faintly moving. In a short while the flood of grief, awakened to a thorough consciousness, burst from their laboring hearts. When the first paroxysms were over they questioned others, and gave incoherent replies to the questions addressed to them. From all which it resulted that Lieschen's absence, though obviously voluntary, was wholly inexplicable to them; and no clew whatever could be given as to the motives of the crime. ”

“ When I saw him coming across the courtyard this morning I was fairly frightened by his ugliness, I called him a scarecrow, and so did Lieschen when she first saw him, he looked so inconceivably ridiculous and uncouth, but ten minutes had not passed before I changed my mind. As he sat there at the piano, playing in that inspired way, he seemed to me a divinely-gifted artist. He cannot be a mere ordinary Candidate. His carriage and air are those of one used to refined society, and the conventional habits of such society are acquired only by association. ”

“ Lieschen replied, glancing for an instant with scorn in her eyes at Bertha, who, paying no apparent attention to what was going on, was engaged in a whispered conversation with her betrothed.
"There is no use," Herr von Osternau said at last, after reading the letter again over his wife's shoulder, "in our beating our brains over this mystery. The Candidate's going, like his coming, will always be a riddle for us." ”

“ It is Fräulein Lieschen's wish, and, as you will acknowledge before you have passed many days in Castle Osternau, this is a sufficient reason with every one of its inmates, from Herr von Osternau to the gardener's boy, with the exception perhaps of the Herr Lieutenant, for turning the world upside down. It is Fräulein Lieschen's wish, and to this wish you must bend. Pray come with me to my room. We shall soon be able to equip you suitably. To be honest with you, the young lady's wish is perfectly justifiable. ”

“ He contrived to interest his little pupil upon the spot, and the boy's cleverness and capacity interested him in turn. Egon could hardly believe that an hour had really passed when, upon the last stroke of six, Lieschen made her appearance as her mother's ambassador to carry off Fritz.
"We are to go to the meadows by the Oster," Lieschen said, to appease her brother's discontent at being forced to leave his new and delightful occupation. "It will be so pleasant there; even all the maids are busy raking the hay. Can anything be more charming than harvest in such glorious weather? ”

“ This might be the reason why Lieschen withstood the charm which Bertha exercised upon all the other members of the household. She alone treated Bertha with a scrupulously courteous reserve, which was not to be overcome by any effort on the part of the guest to win her affection.
"What is your objection to Bertha Massenburg?" Frau von Osternau asked her daughter one morning when they were alone together, Bertha having accompanied her uncle in his walk in the fields. "You treat her with a coldness and reserve that she really does not deserve at your hands. ”

“ She was sure to place the footstool just in the right place for Frau von Osternau's feet, and was always ready to take up dropped stitches in her knitting, or to ring the bell just when the servant was wanted, or to make herself useful and indispensable in the household in a thousand ways. Cultivated and well bred as she was, she disdained no feminine occupation. Indeed, she was a pattern for Lieschen, who had been allowed, her mother thought as she watched Bertha's ways, to run wild altogether too long. ”

“ Since Lieschen had so boldly entered the lists for Pigglewitch against the Lieutenant, Herr von Osternau had agreed with his wife in believing that the young girl's feelings for the tutor were warmer than those of a pupil for a teacher. He took a lively interest in the young man, indeed he was surprised to find how much he missed his conversation and his charming music, but he could not but see that his wife was right in regarding the tutor as a most undesirable son-in-law. ”

“ It belonged to a well-to-do tradesman (relative of a learned professor, a friend of the prisoner’s) , and the wife was one of 29those whom Maria von Grotius frequently visited on her marketing expeditions to Gorcum. The bearers of the chest were exorbitant in their demands, but Lieschen was very anxious to be relieved of their presence, and made little haggling about the price. ”

“ Certainly Lieschen least of all ought to find fault with her frank expression of her sentiments as to wealth. As in royal families, so also in the higher aristocratic circles, marriages were contracted without the sentimental affection talked of in novels; Bertha was only conforming to the laws of good society if she overlooked Egon von Ernau's trifling defects and showed herself ready for a union which would relieve her father from pecuniary embarrassment. ”

“ Glad would he have been to sit here philosophising forever, or till the litter, by accumulation, drove him out of doors: but Lieschen was his right-arm, and spoon, and necessary of life, and would not be flatly gainsayed. We can still remember the ancient woman ”

“ All who were able to work were busy gathering in the plentiful hay-crop of the year, for there had been warning clouds in the west at sunset for two or three days, although hitherto they had fled before the dawn. They were massing now about the descending sun. The harvesters would occasionally cast an anxious glance towards the west, and then proceed with their labour with renewed zeal.
"Is not the prospect from here charming?" Lieschen had asked, and Egon replied, "Most charming!" ”

“ The young executioner looked up at the sound of stranger footsteps, and though he would rather the visitor had been anyone else than his rival, yet upon the whole he was not displeased to see a human face after so long. His manner even warmed towards his visitor when he saw him advance with a smile on his face and an extended hand.
"Leo," began Heinrich Göbel with feigned friendship, "we have long been enemies, but everything has an end. I have now come to offer you my hand in friendship, for henceforth we are no longer rivals, but friends. Lieschen, think of her no more. ”

“ And so the pretty Lieschen, with feminine instinct of ruse, had affected to treat her lover with indifference; and to compensate him and herself for this restraint, she had been in the habit of escaping from home once or twice a week, and spending a delicious hour or two at night in the company of her lover and his mother. Kerkel and his mother lived in a cottage a little way outside the town. Lehfeldt's shop stood not many yards from the archway. ”