"I am very anxious to do so," he replied.
"You must have patience and be indulgent to this kind of entertainment," laughed Cornelia. "It is the personal friendship that unites our little circle which makes it interesting to us, and of course that is a thing you cannot yet share."
"You must know," said Veronica, in a low tone, "that my darling child has established among her friends a sort of nursery, in which she wishes to rear clearness of intellect and feeling, n.o.ble principles, and independent judgment; and the gentlemen eagerly a.s.sist her; they are all more or less in love with her. Every week Cornelia gives the young girls a subject for prose or poetic treatment, or a work to be critically examined. Whoever receives the greatest praise from the majority obtains the prize,--a picture by some one of the artists present, or the dedication of a song by one of our musicians. The young poets criticise the essays and read their own productions aloud.
Finally, the older gentlemen p.r.o.nounce their ultimatum. You will probably belong to this last and highest court to-day, though less ent.i.tled to do so by age than intellect."
"That is a charming idea," said _Heinrich_, "and is in harmony with you both. You thus give society an intellectual seasoning which it usually lacks. Have you poets in your circle?"
"Oh, certainly!" replied Veronica. "Don"t you know our young celebrities? See, that one yonder is the tender lyric poet, D----, a sensitive, foreboding soul; the stout, broad-shouldered man is the bold, patriotic bard, B----; and the pale aristocrat, with the bent head, is the poet T----, a very talented person. You have surely heard of the enthusiastic reception of his first tragedy. I only fear his intellect is developing too rapidly. Sooner or later this premature growth will make it sickly, and that would be a pity. There is splendid material in him, which, by the forcing system of our times, would be made to shoot upwards too quickly to form a stout, healthy trunk, from whence the productive power is always freshly supplied. The young man is only twenty-four years old, and his work is already much more ma.s.sive than Schiller"s first attempts; but he accomplishes a remarkable amount in his department, and is a n.o.ble, estimable man.
These are the poor victims of our times, where the utmost is extorted from every one."
"You are right," replied _Heinrich_. "I am familiar with young T--"s work, and, like you, think it unnaturally mature for his years.
Schiller and Goethe themselves won their way by degrees to what is recognized as the highest stand-point. But our young people want to be born upon this height and begin where they ended. It is perfectly comprehensible that they don"t wish to remain where they begin, but struggle on and test the powers of their young intellects, as Lessing, Goethe, and Schiller did when they gradually raised themselves above the inferior performances and requirements of their times."
"That is just what I always say," cried Veronica; "and this runs through all circles of society. Our young people no longer have any _simplicity_, and I think this is the gla.s.s case beneath which the young plants of the soul should grow, with all their faults and excrescences, until they are strong enough to bear without injury the storms of life and the shears of negation. Without simplicity there are no illusions, and without illusions there is no youth! You will perhaps find here a circle which answers to my demand in this respect. True, there are only a few poets of importance among them, but these compensate me for all the famous, keen, a.n.a.lytical minds which pluck the fragrant rose to find faults its calyx would have concealed, and give us only the purified but empty branch of thorns. You see I am not called the Sensitive Plant without reason."
"Yes, yes," said _Heinrich_, with a kindly smile, "we must learn from you how to keep young!"
Meantime a reading-table had been placed in the centre of the room.
With cheeks glowing with embarra.s.sment, a young girl seated herself at it, cast a hasty glance at Ottmar, and read aloud from a ma.n.u.script an essay whose subject and t.i.tle were the justification of sympathy in opposition to the judgments of reason. It was simple, but written in a style free from faults; some of the ideas were not devoid of talent; and it revealed a more thorough culture than is usually to be found in young girls. _Heinrich_ perceived Cornelia"s influence. His eyes rested steadily upon her; she was standing behind the reader"s chair, and often looked thoughtfully at him. It was evident that she had given this subject from a recollection of him.
The following essays, which were read aloud in turn by the young girls, all treated the same idea with more or less talent, and three poems reproduced it in rhyme.
_Heinrich_ perceived with increasing admiration the activity of the Prison Fairy, whose strong, earnest will effected good results, even under the garb of jest, and gave purpose to the most useless things.
The reading ended, and the gentlemen, in mingled jest and earnest, gave a stern criticism. Each sought the lady whose essay had made the most impression upon him,--discussed and opposed the separate points. The auth.o.r.esses were obliged to defend themselves, and thus the argument continued till Cornelia, who had previously been inclosed in the circle, suddenly started up, exclaiming: "Say what you please against sympathy, it is the only true oracle among us! If our reason enjoined upon us ever so strictly to keep together as we are now, should we not rush apart to all quarters of the globe if it were not for sympathy?
And if reason causes a person to appear ever so wicked, and sympathy attracts us to him, we follow the latter, and often convince ourselves that reason, which judges only by deceptive facts, misled us. Reason disjoints and severs, sympathy conciliates. Reason calculates, sympathy discovers; and, what is after all the princ.i.p.al thing, reason does not make people happy,--sympathy does."
"Cornelia," cried the poet T--, "I have never heard you talk so before!
What has become of the logic, the clearness of perception, with which you gave these young ladies the guiding threads for their essays upon this subject?"
"If we were permitted to refer to this enthusiasm, we should be greatly delighted, my dear T----; but I fear it is one of her whims," said H----, the novelist.
The gentle poet D---- whispered, softly, "I know what you mean, Cornelia, but I no longer understand you."
"I understand you," a voice which thrilled all the chords in her nature suddenly murmured in her ear. "I thank you, Prison Fairy!" She turned towards _Heinrich_ and looked up into his face. She was bewilderingly beautiful at that moment, with the bold, n.o.ble profile half turned towards him, the slender neck thrown back, the full lips curved in a smile which made the small, white teeth glitter in the light, and the hair combed up to form a natural diadem above the thoughtful brow. The floating folds of her dress, the drooping crimson flowers, which trembled at every motion, gave her an ideal, fairylike aspect, which was increased by her dark eyes. Those eyes belonged to the cla.s.s which, the ancient myth tells us, had power to turn to stone any one on whom their gaze rested. The large, sparkling pupils allowed very little of the white of the eye to be seen. They often gleamed like two suns when the long lashes were raised; and softly and sweetly as they rested upon the object of their observation, their expression must be terrible in anger. Ottmar gazed at her with increasing rapture. "Yes, yes," he said, under his breath, "that is the Medusa from whose blood Pegasus sprang."
"How little she knows herself, that she thinks I could see her without coveting her!" thought _Henri_, making a fresh effort to dislodge _Heinrich_; _Heinrich_ resisted his attack with unaccustomed strength.
He gazed into the depths of those mysterious eyes; and the secrets which, unconsciously to herself, slumbered within them, irresistibly allured him.
"Cornelia," said the young girl who had read the first essay,--and a tear trembled on her lashes,--"they are looking for you."
Cornelia looked up as if aroused from a dream, threw her arm around her friend"s neck, and embraced her warmly. "I thank you, Hedwig!" Then she entered the noisy circle and summoned the gentlemen to select the essay most worthy of the prize.
The company voted, and the majority decided in favor of the first one read.
"Oh, I am glad, dear Hedwig!" said Cornelia, hastily, taking the garland of fresh flowers she had woven for the victor and placing it upon her brow.
It was a beautiful sight as the loveliest maiden in the throng adorned the diffident young girl and led her triumphantly into the middle of the room. The gentlemen came forward, bringing the prize upon a cushion. Poor Hedwig, who, in her embarra.s.sment, had by no means the air of a conqueror, received the gift from the hands of the young artist A----, who whispered, gently, "I beg you all not to show it to the original, if it can be avoided. I did not know he would be here."
The young girl did not understand him, and hastily raised the cover, but dropped it again in terror when she saw the sketch, while a burning blush overspread her face.
"Why, what is the matter?" asked Cornelia, taking out the picture. "A study of a head! Herr von Ottmar,--a perfect likeness!" she exclaimed, undisturbed by the young artist"s embarra.s.sment.
_Heinrich_ stepped forward and gazed in astonishment at the successful portrait.
"I must crave your pardon for presuming to steal your features, Herr Geheimrath," stammered the artist. "I know you are very highly esteemed in this circle, and could not refrain from robbing my portfolio of the picture, in order to give pleasure to those who a.s.semble here; otherwise this bold attempt of my talent would have remained entirely concealed."
_Heinrich_ smilingly listened to the long apology, and watched, with silent amus.e.m.e.nt, an old gentleman standing at some distance from the artist, who was accompanying his speech with numerous bows. This gentleman was a certain Archivrath Linderer, an old friend of Veronica"s. The worthy man possessed such a wonderful impulse of courtesy that he could not see any one make a bow without mechanically imitating him, and never heard any sort of speech without mentally making one also.
_Heinrich"s_ inclination to laugh was so greatly aroused by this sight that he could scarcely utter a few rea.s.suring words in reply to the embarra.s.sed artist. He was about to go in search of Veronica, to question her about this comical man, when he saw Cornelia, who had been gazing at the picture in silence, go to a table and take up a pencil.
He went up and glanced over her shoulder at the portrait. She cast a hasty look at him and then fixed her eyes upon the sketch. She felt his beard touch her hair, and shrank back.
"Look, my dear A----!" she exclaimed. "Here are only two false strokes!
When these are altered the picture will be masterly! The lines just over the eyebrows, expressing penetration, are very strongly marked in Herr von Ottmar, and you have not brought them out sufficiently. The upper portion of the brow is also remarkably expressive; there must be a shadow here, and here."
"You may be right," said A----, looking at Ottmar"s forehead; "make the strokes."
Cornelia rapidly deepened the shadows, and all the bystanders exclaimed, in astonishment, "Ah, that"s it exactly! One would think you had studied the head!"
Cornelia quietly compared the picture with the original. "It is a n.o.ble work! You have really been carried away by your subject! The eyes and mouth seem as if they were about to speak!"
"Your praise makes me very proud," said the young man.
"And me!" whispered _Heinrich_, almost inaudibly.
"May I ask you to come in to tea?" cried Veronica, from the doorway.
"If any one of the gentlemen has anything to read aloud, he must be kind enough to defer it until after supper. It is already somewhat late."
_Heinrich_ was in the act of offering Cornelia his arm when Veronica requested him to take her to the table. He patiently submitted to this duty, and the ill-a.s.sorted pair moved on into the tea-room followed by the others.
Cornelia and Hedwig stood together a moment alone. Hedwig threw herself on her friend"s breast, and exclaimed, in a low, rapid tone,--
"I will give you the picture, Cornelia. I don"t want it."
"You don"t want it?" asked the latter, in astonishment.
"What should I do with it? I think you would value it more, and take more pleasure in it than I," replied Hedwig.
"But, Hedwig, you were always so enthusiastic about him."
"Even if I were, it was all in joke. But you know and value him in earnest: I saw that to-day; and if _he_ had given the picture, he would have bestowed it on no one but you; so how could I take a thing to which I have no right? Keep it, I beg of you. It is of no value to me."
"But ought I to accept it from you?" asked Cornelia. "Shall I not be robbing you?"
"Robbing me? I owe you so much, and am so poor in comparison with you, that it will make me rich if I can offer anything that will please you.
I would give you more, far more, if I had it to bestow."
She pressed Cornelia lovingly to her heart, and the young girls were holding each other in a close embrace when T---- came in search of them, and Heinrich appeared behind him in the doorway.