"The young rascal!" said old Sperber. She was often at their house, getting advice and meeting the young girls and their comrades, whom she had so long thought of and wished to know. Now that she was alone in the world, there was nothing any longer to keep her away from them.
There were two daughters of Councillor Kirsten from the Wunschenga.s.se down in Weimar, who, with their friends Bundang, Ernst von Schiller, and h.o.r.n.y, came up to see the old Sperbers and made real festivities of their visits. The old people loved them very dearly, for they knew how to be merry and pleasant and were full of youthful audacity and exuberance that cheered the hearts of the aged couple.
[Ill.u.s.tration: WIFE OF A CLAMDIGGER]
Beate had never known how to make the good old people smile and laugh in the same way. That hurt her. From her childhood up, there had always been a heavy weight upon her; she had not known what it was to be quite carefree. To her the two girls, Rose and Marie, were something wonderful. Now that she knew she herself was beautiful, she drew nearer to them as one of their own kind, and they welcomed her joyfully.
The girl of the Ettersberg, who had always been in the habit of taking flight when they met her by chance at the Sperbers", had long attracted them, especially since their three friends seemed to have so high an opinion of her.
"Is it for her mop of red hair that you like her?" the girls asked the young men.
"She has something queenly about her," said h.o.r.n.y. "I watched her once, two years ago last autumn, when she lit a fire in the field after the men and women were gone, all by herself, to roast potatoes. I saw her gathering dry weeds and setting fire to them, and laying the potatoes in the hot embers, and then crouching down looking into the glowing fire, lonely and full of thoughts. I was hidden in the wood, and I had to press my hands over my mouth to keep from crying out, so much her loneliness affected me, and her making the fire all by herself and taking her ease there in the solitude of the woods. Then she ate some of the potatoes, quite simply, like a young animal that had been deserted; and, you may believe me or not as you please, but tears ran down my cheeks. The fields and all around were so big and wide and gray and cool. Her fire, and she herself, seemed to me the only tiny living point in all the gray mist. I knew, too, that she had no mother. Then I saw her go, gravely and silently, along the path toward her home. I shall never forget that picture."
The two girls looked at each other in amazement. When h.o.r.n.y recounted to them the experience about which he had so long been reticent, they were walking up and down in the evening on the Sperber farm.
"Why did he never tell us that before?" asked Rose, but she got no answer. "The Sperbers want us to take more notice of her," she continued; "and now it"s really possible to do something with her.
She"s not so shy as she used to be, and one can talk quite sensibly with her. And she dislikes the same things we dislike. What pleases her best is to run about in the fields and work. Oh, but she"s got a nice life of it!"
"I don"t know," said Marie--"all alone like that!"
"Yes," said h.o.r.n.y again, "she has something about her that makes me think of a queen. She does what she pleases and thinks what she chooses. She lives her own life."
"As if queens did that!" said Rose.
"The kind of queens I mean," answered h.o.r.n.y, "may live in the Wunschgenga.s.se or on the Ettersberg."
"Oh, that sort of queens!" laughed Marie.
"That"s the only sort that"s worth while! They must be young, and pure, and free, and joyous, and look every one straight and proudly in the eye."
Rose and Marie were delighted. "We"re three queens!" they called to Ernst von Schiller and Budang. "Come, we"ll go and pay a visit to the third."
So they all set off and went by a narrow path through a few fields and meadows, by a sand-pit, to the Rauchfuss farm, and found its young mistress sitting in the garden under the lime-tree, eating her supper.
On the white-covered table was a bowl of sour milk from which she ladled some out every little while, and a loaf of fresh bread, and a plate of golden b.u.t.ter shining against the white cloth.
"Oh, how nice," said Rose, "the way she has her supper!" And they were asked to share it, and presently each of them was sitting in front of a bowl of sour milk and cutting bread and spreading b.u.t.ter on it. To themselves they thought, "There, Frau Sperber will be waiting supper for us!" But they saw in their minds the good-natured friendly face of the old woman who, they knew, would not begrudge them their pleasure, and they said to themselves, "Who knows? When we get back there, perhaps well be hungry enough again to eat what she"s got for us."
When they had finished their supper, the most natural thing was to begin to dance under the blossom-laden lime-tree. It needed no long discussion to decide on this.
"Off you go!" cried Rose. The couples paired off; singing or humming a tune, they swung round on the firm gravel. Tubby ran into the house when it began to grow dark and brought out a stable-lantern; for under the trees the light had faded when it was still only twilight in the garden. Then came the glow-worms and crawled about among the perfumed branches. The young creatures caught each other"s hands and danced in circles under the dark old tree, now to the right, now to the left, without tiring.
They were drawn to each other by the most delightful harmony. The still, peaceful garden around them, the fragrant, sheltering tree and the beaming lantern in whose rays young charms shone resplendent, all made for happiness. They spoke and laughed little. A great, sacred bliss spread through them all. The lonely maiden whom the merry friends had drawn into their circle was flooded with an almost unearthly joy.
That was her first dance, this silent, blissful circling under the trees, first right, then left, as long as their strength held out. It was a dance in praise of G.o.d"s goodness, of beauty on earth and of the wonder of youth. It seemed they could never really tire of it; and they all knew that they had loved each other from childhood. "Oh, it"s lovely!" said Rose.
Herr and Frau Sperber had come over to see what had become of the fugitives, and were standing at a little distance, not wishing to break in upon the sacred dance. Frau k.u.mmerfelden, who now and then spent the week-end in summer with them--for the Sperbers" hospitality was boundless--had come with them.
The three old people stood motionless. "Ah ... yes!" said good Herr Sperber; and if he had made a long speech on all the joy and all the sorrow of this mysterious earth, it could not have been deeper or more expressive. The old k.u.mmerfelden said to herself, "You dear good Sperber, I should like to shake hands with you for that--you"ve hit it exactly." And she repeated after him, "Ah ... yes!" But it went to Frau Sperber"s heart, for Frau k.u.mmerfelden had not been a famous tragic actress for nothing.
"Don"t make a person"s heart heavy, you foolish Suse!" she said to her good friend. "You must always go putting emotion into things."
"But," said Herr Sperber, "it can"t go on like this--it would be a nice state of things. Tubby must marry."
"Marry!" said Frau k.u.mmerfelden. "A beauty like her! That would be a shame!"
"Well, what do you intend to do with her?" asked Herr Sperber. "After all, that"s what women are meant for."
"Yes, more"s the pity."
"And old Rauchfuss"s daughter especially ought to marry early--or we shall see things. She"s a devil of a girl ... The pastor says he"s got somebody for her."
"Well, why not? The pastor, he"ll have somebody decent," said Frau k.u.mmerfelden.
"And what about our nephew?" asked Frau Sperber. "Both the girl and the estate would be just the thing for him; and then we should have him near us."
"Oh, of course," said Frau k.u.mmerfelden; "everything would be beautifully arranged then."
In the meantime the young people were still dancing under the trees, paying no attention to the old folks who have forgotten what real joy is, and with their hateful sensible theories based on experience can"t help spoiling pure young human happiness, however well they mean.
Without knowing that old eyes full of sorrowful memories and wisdom had rested on them, the happy young things danced on in silent bliss.
When at last they had had enough, they wandered into the darkening wood and sang and looked at the glow-worms, and talked as only very young men and maidens talk who are still afraid to speak of love.
It began to grow late. "I"m thirsty," said Rose, "and now we can"t expect to get any supper at the Sperbers"--we"ll be lucky if we get in without a scolding."
Beate had an idea: "Let"s go into the cow-stable and drink fresh milk."
Every one was agreeable. "But we shall have to be very quiet, because the men sleep quite near."
So they stole cautiously into the stable, Beate carrying the lantern.
The courtyard lay dark and still; a strong perfume rose from the high manure-piles. The lovely girl opened the old, worn door, and they entered. A warm breath blew into their faces. From a niche in the wall an oil lamp threw down a faint glimmer of yellow on the white back of a cow.
"It"ll soon begin to get light--the maid will be coming to milk before long." She threw the light of the lantern into a shelf on which stood all sorts of brightly-scoured bowls and porringers, and took down a snow-white wooden bowl.
Prom the swallows" nests up among the dark rafters sounded the chirping of the young birds, very sweet in the warm damp air. The little spring plashed in its trough.
Beate took the maid"s milking-stool, stroked and patted a fine brown and white cow, and began to milk into the bowl. The girl"s bright head stood out against the cow"s great side. h.o.r.n.y held the lantern.
Presently she had filled the bowl with foaming milk. The cow lowed a little at being disturbed so early and in such a peculiar manner.
"That _is_ milk!" said the young mistress proudly. "And now all of you drink." She held out the bowl to them, and they drank long, long draughts.
"A queen she is!" said h.o.r.n.y again to Rose. "How fine all this is! It"s great to have such a sea of white, fragrant milk rising in waves under your eyes and filling you with its warmth and strength."
"You"ve had as much as you want?" said Beate with blissful pride. They said good-by, reconducting their young hostess to the door of her lonely house.
But the three old folks had taken a very firm resolution to make some sort of settlement up at the Rauchfuss place. Tubby must not be left to herself--it would never do. "A girl like that all alone in the house!"
said both the Sperbers very thoughtfully; and so it came about that they invited their nephew to come and see them.
He was a good, wholesome fellow. But all the neighbors in the country round, on the Ettersberg and behind the Ettersberg, in Weimar and the suburbs, thought as did the old Sperbers: It isn"t the thing for a slip of a silly girl to be alone on the farm like that. Each thought of a nephew, a brother, a son or some other relative who might be launched, on the chase of the rare wild creature--all the while that the young girl was enjoying in fullest measure her freedom and her youth. In spite of them all, she lived very peacefully and properly, knowing how to make herself felt as mistress for all the bailiff and housekeeper were there; all she did was well and diligently done.
But presently there broke loose what the old people in their zeal had wished--a flood of suitors. The lovely youthful peace of the three queens and their good friends was disturbed. Such new, wonderful youth must first become conscious of itself before it can pa.s.s on to longings and desires. The three sensible elders would have better let the three queens go on quietly with their delightful dances--first to the right, then to the left, until they were weary. They will never have such dances again--never in their lives.