Greatly disturbed by what she had heard, Elise hastened to seek her husband. She found him deeply engaged over his books and papers, but he left all the moment he saw the troubled countenance of his wife. She related to him what she had heard from Ulla, and informed him that it was her intention to go now immediately to the churchyard.
"I will go with you," said the Judge, "only tell Louise to defer supper for us till we come back; I fancy n.o.body will miss us, they are so occupied by their music."
No sooner said than done. The husband and wife went out together; it was half-past nine in the middle of May, but the air was cold, and a damp mist fell.
"Good heavens!" said the Judge softly, "she"ll get her death of cold if she stops in the churchyard so late, and in air like this!"
As they approached the churchyard, they saw that a female form pa.s.sed hastily through the gate. It was not Eva, for she sat on the grave of her brother! she sat there immovably upon the earth, and resembled a ghost. The churchyard was, with this exception, deserted. The figure which had entered before them, softly approached the grave, and remained standing at the distance of a few paces.
"Eva!" said a beseeching mournful voice; it was Leonore. The parents remained standing behind some thick-leaved fir-trees. On precisely the same spot had the father stood once before, and listened to a conversation of a very different kind.
"Eva!" repeated Leonore, with an expression of the most heartfelt tenderness.
"What do you want with me, Leonore?" asked Eva impatiently, but without moving. "I have already prayed you to let me alone."
"Ah! I cannot leave you, dear Eva," replied her sister, "why do you sit here on the ground, on this cold, wet evening? Oh, come home, come home with me!"
"Do you go home, Leonore! this air is not proper for you! Go home to the happy, and be merry, with them," returned Eva.
"Do you not remember," tenderly pleaded Leonore, "how I once, many years ago, was sick both in body and mind? Do you know who it was then that left the gay in order to comfort me? I prayed her to leave me--but she went not from me--neither will I now go away from you."
"Ah, go! leave me alone!" repeated Eva, "I stand now alone in the world!"
"Eva, you distress me!" said her sister, "you know that there is no one in this world that I love like you: I mourned so much when you left us; the house without you seemed empty, but I consoled myself with the thought that Eva will soon come back again. You came, and I was so joyful, for I believed that we should be so happy together. But I have seen since then of how little consequence I am to you! still I love you as much as ever, and if you think that I have not sympathised in your sorrows, that I have not wept with you and for you, you do me certainly injustice! Ah, Eva, many a night when you have believed perhaps that I lay in sweet sleep, have I sat at your door, and listened how you wept, and have wept for you, and prayed for you, but I did not dare to come in to you because I imagined your heart to be closed to me!" And so saying, Leonore wept bitterly.
"You are right, Leonore," answered Eva, "much has become closed in me which once was opened. This feeling, this love for him--oh, it has swallowed up my whole soul! For some time I believed I should be able to conquer it--but now I believe so no longer----"
"Do you repent of your renunciation?" asked Leonore;--"it was so n.o.ble of you! Would you yet be united to him!"
"No! no! the time for that is gone by," said Eva. "I would rather die than that; but you see, Leonore, I loved him so--I have tasted love, and have felt how rapturous, how divine life might be!--Oh, Leonore, the bright sun-warm summer-day is not more unlike this misty evening hour, than the life which I lived for a season is unlike the future which now lies before me!"
"It seems so to you now, Eva--you think so now," answered her sister; "but let a little time pa.s.s over, and you will see that it will be quite otherwise; that the painful feelings will subside, and life will clear up itself before you. Think only how it has already afforded you pleasure to look up to heaven when the clouds separated themselves, and you said, "see how bright it will be! how beautiful the heaven is!" and your blue eyes beamed with joy and peace, because it was so. Believe me, Eva, the good time will come again, in which you will thus look up to heaven, and feel thus joyful, and thus gay!"
"Never!" exclaimed Eva, weeping; "oh, never will that time return! Then I was innocent, and from that cause I saw heaven above me clear;--now so much that is bad, so much that is impure has stained my soul--stains it yet!--Oh, Leonore, if you only knew all that I have felt for some time you would never love me again! Would you believe it that Louise"s innocent happiness has infused bitterness into my soul; that the gaiety which has again began to exist in the family has made me feel bitterness--bitterness towards my own family--my own beloved ones! Oh, I could detest myself! I have chastised myself with the severest words--I have prayed with bitter tears, and yet----"
"Dear Eva, you must have patience with yourself," said Leonore, "you will not----"
"Ah! I am already weary of myself--of my life!" hastily interrupted Eva; "I am like some one who has already travelled far, who is already spent, but who must still go on, and can never come to his journey"s end. It seems to me as if I should be a burden to all who belong to me; and when I have seen you all so happy, so gay one with another, I have felt my heart and my head burn with bitterness; then have I been obliged to go out--out into the cold evening dew, and I have longed to repose in the earth upon which it fell--I have longed to be able to hide myself from every one--deep, deep in the grave below!"
"But from me," said Leonore, "you will not be able to hide yourself--nor to go from me, since where you go there will I follow. Oh, what were life to me if you were to leave it in despair! You would not go alone to the grave, Eva! I would follow you there--and if you will not allow that I sit by your side, I will seat myself on the churchyard wall, that the same evening damps which penetrate you may penetrate me also; that the same night wind which chills your bosom may chill mine; that I may be laid by your side and in the same grave with you! And willingly would I die for you, if--you will not live for me, and for the many who love you so much! We will try all things to make you happier! G.o.d will help us; and the day will come in which all the bitter things of this time will seem like a dream, and when all the great and beautiful feelings, and all the agreeable impressions of life will again revive in you. You will again become innocent--nay, become more, because virtue is a higher, a glorified innocence! Oh, Eva! if he whose dust reposes beneath us, if his spirit invisibly float around us--if he who was better and purer than all of us, could make his voice audible to us at this moment, he would certainly join with me in the prayer--"Oh, Eva! live--live for those who love thee! Mortal life, with all its anguish and its joy, is soon past--and then it is so beautiful that our life should have caused joy to one another on earth--it causes joy in heaven! The great Comforter of all affliction will not turn from thee--only do not thou turn from _Him!_ Have patience! tarry out thy time! Peace comes, comes certainly----""
The words ceased; both sisters had clasped their arms around each other, and mingled their tears. Eva"s head rested on Leonore"s shoulder as she, after a long pause, spoke in a feeble voice:
"Say no more, Leonore; I will do what you wish. Take me--make of me what you will--I am too weak to sustain myself at this moment--support me--I will go with you--you are my good angel!"
Other guardian angels approached just then, and clasped the sisters in a tender embrace. Conducted by them, Eva returned home. She was altogether submissive and affectionate, and besought earnestly for forgiveness from all. She was very much excited by the scenes which had just occurred, drank a composing draught which her mother administered, and then listened to Leonore, who read to her, as she lay in bed, till she fell asleep.
The Judge paced up and down his chamber uneasily that night, and spoke thus to his wife, who lay in bed:
"A journey to the baths, and that in company with you, would be quite the best thing for her. But I don"t know how I can now do without you; and more than that, where the money is to come from! We have had great losses, and see still great expenses before us: in the first place Louise"s marriage--and then, without a little money in hand, we cannot let our girls go from home; and the rebuilding of our house. But we must borrow more money--I see no other way. Eva must be saved; her mind must be enlivened and her body strengthened, let it cost what it may. I must see and borrow----"
"It is not necessary, Ernst," said Elise; and the Judge, making a sudden pause, gazed at her with astonishment; whilst she, half raising herself in bed, looked at him with a countenance beaming with joy. "Come,"
continued she, "and I will recall something to your memory which occurred fifteen years ago."
"What sort of a history can that be?" said he, smiling gaily, whilst he seated himself on the bed, and took the hand which Elise extended to him.
"Five-and-twenty years ago," began she.
"Five-and-twenty years!" interrupted he, "Heaven help me! you promised to go no farther back than fifteen."
"Patience, my love!--this is part the first of my story. Do you not remember, then," said she, "how, five-and-twenty years ago, at the commencement of our married life, you made plans for a journey into the beautiful native land of your mother? I see now, Ernst, that you remember it. And how we should wander there you planned, and enjoy our freedom and G.o.d"s lovely nature. You were so joyful in the prospect of this; but then came adversity, and cares, and children, and never-ending labour for you, so that our Norwegian journey retreated year by year more into the background. Nevertheless, it remained like a point of light to you in the future; but now, for some time, you seem to have forgotten it; yes, for you have given up all your own pleasures in labouring for your family; have forsaken all your own enjoyments, your own plans, for your own sphere of activity and your home. But I have not forgotten the Norwegian journey, and in fifteen years have obtained the means of its accomplishment."
"In fifteen years!--what do you mean?" asked he.
"Now I am arrived," she answered, "at part the second of my history. Do you still remember, Ernst, that fifteen years ago we were not so happy as we are now? You have forgotten? Well, so much the better; I scarcely remember it myself any more, for the expansive rind of love has grown over the black scar. What I, however, know is, that at that time I was not so properly at home in actual life, and did not rightly understand all the good that it offered me, and that to console myself on that account I wrote a romance. But now it happened that by reason of my novel I neglected my duties to my lord and husband--for the gentlemen are decidedly unskilled in serving themselves----"
"Very polite!" interposed the Judge, smiling.
"Be content!" continued she: "now it happened that one evening his tea and my novel came into collision--a horrible history followed. But I made a vow in my heart that one of these days the two rivals should become reconciled. Now you see my ma.n.u.script--you had the goodness to call it rubbish--I sent to a very enlightened man, to a man of distinguished taste and judgment, and thus it befel, he found taste in the rubbish; and, what say you to it? paid me a pretty little sum for permission to bring it before the world. Do not look so grave, Ernst; I have never again taken up the pen to write novels; my own family has found me enough to do; and besides, I never again could wish to do anything which was not pleasant to you. You have displaced all rivals, do you see! But this one I decided should be the means of your taking the Norwegian journey. The little sum of two hundred crowns banco which it produced me have I placed in the savings" bank for this purpose; and in fifteen years it has so much augmented itself, that it will perfectly accomplish that object; and if ever the time for its employment will come, it is now. The desire for travelling is gone from me--I covet now only rest. But you and----"
"And do you think," said the Judge, "that I shall take your----"
"Oh, Ernst! why should you not?" exclaimed she; "if you could but know what joy the thought of this has prepared for me! The money, which from year to year increased, in order to give you pleasure, has been to me like a treasure of hidden delight, which has many a time strengthened and animated my soul! Make me only perfectly happy by allowing yourself to have enjoyment from it. Take it, my Ernst, and make yourself pleasure with it, this summer; I pray you to do so, on account of our children.
Take Eva with you, and if possible Leonore also. Nothing would refresh Eva"s soul more than such a journey with you and Leonore in a magnificent and beautiful country. The money can be obtained in a month"s time, and a few months" leave of absence cannot possibly be denied to one who has spent more than thirty years in incessant service for the state; and when Louise and her husband have left us, and spring and nature are in their very loveliest, then you shall set out: you shall be refreshed after so many years of painful labour, and the wounded heart of our sick child shall be healed."
CHAPTER XII.
PLANS AND COUNTER PLANS.
Eva entered her father"s study the next morning. He immediately left his work, received her with the greatest tenderness, drew her to his side on the sofa, and placing one arm round her waist, took her hand in his, and inquired, with a searching glance, "Do you want anything from me, my child? Can I do anything for you? Tell me!"
Encouraged by his kindness, Eva described the state of her mind to her father, and explained how she wished to commence a more active life in order to overcome her weakness, and to regain strength and quiet. The situation of teacher in a girl"s school in the city was vacant, and she wished immediately to take it, but only for the summer, during which time she and Leonore would prepare themselves to open a school in autumn. It was a plan of which they had long thought, and which would afford them a useful and independent life. Eva besought the acquiescence of her father to this proposition.
"Leonore and I," continued she, "have this morning talked a deal on the subject; we hope that with the counsel and countenance upon which we may reckon, to be able to make it succeed. Ah, father! I am become quite anxious about it on account of my own weakness. I must speedily resort to external means, that I may overcome it. I will become active; I will work; and whilst thus employed I shall forget the past and myself, and only live for the happiness of those who love me, and to whom I have caused so much trouble."
"My child! my dear child, you are right; you do rightly!" said the father, deeply affected, and clasping his daughter in his arms; "your wish shall be granted, and whatever is in my power will I do to forward your plans. What a many inst.i.tutions for education will there not proceed from our house! But there is no harm at all in that--there are no more useful inst.i.tutions on the face of the earth! One reservation, however, I must make from your and Leonore"s determination. You may dedicate the autumn and the winter to your school--but the summer you must devote to your father!--and Madame B. may find a teacher where she can, only not from my family--for I am not now in a condition to furnish her one."
"Ah, father," said she, "every unemployed hour is a burden to me!"
"We will bear the burden together, my child! Leonore, I, and you, in our wanderings towards the west. In a few weeks I am thinking of undertaking a journey, after which I have longed for these many years; I will visit the beautiful native land of my mother. Will you, Eva, breathe this fresh mountain air with me? I should have very little pleasure in the journey alone, but in company with you and Leonore it will make me young again! Our heads are become bowed, my child, but in G.o.d"s beautiful nature we will lift them up again! You will go with me--is it not so?
Good! Come then with me to your mother, for it is she alone who has managed this journey!"
With an arm round the waist of his daughter the Judge now went to his wife; they found Leonore with her; nor was ever a quartet of Mozart"s more harmonious than that which was now performed among them.