CHAPTER IV

A DEPARTURE AND AN ARRIVAL

Mr. Thornau, who was staying with his sick wife at the baths of Leuk had just received two letters. One was from his daughter, and one from the children’s governess. Both letters expressed an urgent desire to see him as soon as possible as the writers wished to speak to him. He felt no particular joy at the complete harmony of their wishes, because he knew that this usually resulted from a great difference of opinion. Laying the letters on his wife’s bed, he said, “They’ve asked me to come to them again, and it is sure to be some matter I have to settle with Miss Landrat. Don’t be alarmed, though, for worrying might hurt you.”

Mr. Thornau could see that his wife was agitated as she murmered to herself, “I wish we had not sent the children away, it is not good for them. They should be here with us.”

“If you want them here, Alida,” said he, “you only need to say so, and I’ll fetch them. But you know that I installed them there to give you the quiet you ought to have.”

“I’ll be more quiet if you bring them,” replied she. “Apparently they are not very happy. The governess may mean well, but she is too strict; which shows that she does not understand children. She uses the greatest severity when it is not necessary. I see that Hugo grows more quiet and reserved and Alida more obstinate and head-strong, despite her best intentions. Neither of them is easy to handle, as you know.”

“Quite right,” the husband agreed. “Alida has my temperament and being a girl, needs specially good guidance. Nature has curiously changed things, for Hugo needs special care, too. He has inherited your temperament and delicate health.”

“Yes, he too needs special consideration,” the mother added. “Please promise me always to treat him affectionately. He will stand in such need of it, especially when I am no more.”

“But for heaven’s sake, Alida, do not think of such a thing, and let us never say another word about it!” Mr. Thornau cried out. “I’ll start right off to settle this new law-suit. I shall walk there, because the road is charming. It will take two hours, but I’ll probably take a carriage back.”

Mr. Thornau was quietly chuckling to himself as he strolled down the mountain. He clearly recollected the last case he had had to arbitrate. Alida, while practicing, had rather urgently banged the innocent keys to make them feel how little to her taste it was to have to spend her time with them. Miss Landrat had given her a well-earned scolding, but had unfortunately grown violently angry. Suddenly Alida had pressed both hands on her mouth to keep herself from bursting out laughing. “Why are you laughing?” Miss Landrat had asked, still more angry. Alida shortly declared she could not tell why. On being asked three times more, she repeated the same answer. Finally the governess absolutely commanded her to tell the truth and she was reminded of her duty to obey. Alida knew that she must do so and therefore she informed the questioner that her face had grown so pointed while she was scolding her that she had resembled a drawing in her natural history book. She had suddenly thought her governess’s name might really be Miss Landrat.[B] This impertinence was reported to her father, but Alida vigorously objected that she had not meant to be impertinent in the least. As her father had ordered her to obey, she could not do otherwise. The father had really found it a rather hard case to settle.

Mr. Thornau reached Mrs. Troll’s house. The door was violently thrown open and Alida, who had spied her father, came rushing out. At the first moment of their greeting a whole stream of information about the event in question came pouring from her lips. But the father checked her. “Miss Landrat will be heard first; your turn comes next,” he said. He kept his word and first got one version, which was followed by a vivid second from his daughter. Alida fully described Mrs. Troll’s horrid behavior to Vinzi when she had sent him off. Hugo figured as witness and assured his father that Vinzi was a charming looking boy and not a common street boy by any means. He boldly stated that he would much rather associate with Vinzi than with Mrs. Troll.

The father never doubted that his daughter’s sudden enthusiasm for music had an extraordinary cause. But this was not the most important point. He felt that the boy who had so honestly returned his daughter’s property, and had been invited by her to return to the house, had been treated most insultingly. He felt anxious to offer some kind of reparation and decided to pay a little call on the boy and his parents and to apologize for what had happened. They might give the boy a small present as a reward for returning the shawl. Full of joy Alida offered to act as guide, as Vinzi had told her where he lived and how to get there. They had no trouble finding Lesa’s house as a slightly curving path which led across the big meadow took them there in the shortest time. Everything round about was quiet, with the exception of peaceful cackling sounds from the farm-yard. The house looked most tidy. The lawn was newly mowed, the road was swept, and the bench in the shade of the walnut tree seemed to have been polished.

“I like the looks of this place,” said Mr. Thornau, glancing about with satisfaction. “Too bad, too, bad,” he added. The last words he had murmered to himself, but Alida had heard and interpreted them.

“Don’t you mean it is too bad we don’t live here, papa?” she cried. “But we could easily move here, as our piano is only rented. Vinzi could practice with me every day. Then I’d really enjoy it. You know, papa, it is dreadfully stupid to learn alone. That’s why I gave him lessons; it made him practice, too. He is so clever that he’ll soon learn.”

The father burst into a laugh. “I see the reason for the music lessons now! Excellent! Did you say your pupil was anxious to learn?”

“Oh, yes, and he was so clever, too,” exclaimed Alida. “Just think, papa, when I explained anything to him he usually understood it better than I did and afterwards was able to explain it all to me.”

The father could not help smiling as he approached the door, which was unfastened.

Mr. Thornau, entering the hall, knocked on the first door. In answer to a call from within he went into a large bright room. Mrs. Lesa was sitting near the window with some sewing and Stefeli in front of her. The little girl’s small fingers were with difficulty holding several thick knitting-needles; the coarse thread was wound six times around her index-finger. The woman rose at once and met her visitors. Mr. Thornau, introducing himself, gave her to understand that he had come to express his sincere regret for what Mrs. Troll had said to Vinzi. He knew that the boy had brought back Alida’s property and had been invited by Alida to come again. He also hoped that he and his children would be able to tell Vinzi themselves how sorry they were about Mrs. Troll’s unkind words. He wondered if he would accept some friendly attention from them in gratitude for finding the shawl. Mrs. Lesa did not know what Mrs. Troll’s words had been, for Vinzi had not repeated them. She realized what must have happened, however, and it came into her mind that Mrs. Troll’s remarks to her husband had occasioned Vinzi’s immediate removal from home. He had left only that morning and all the mother’s thoughts had been engrossed by his going. Begging the gentleman to take a seat she told him where Vinzi had been sent.

Alida, rushing up to Stefeli, asked her impetuously, “Where is your brother?”

“He has gone away,” was Stefeli’s reply.

“Why are you not on the pasture? I thought you always stayed on the pasture till he comes back,” said Alida, evidently well informed on the matter. “If you were there you would not have to knit such a heavy stocking.”

“Vinzi has not gone for but an hour; he has gone for weeks and weeks. That’s why somebody else will have to take care of the cows now, but we don’t know who is to attend to them yet,” Stefeli replied. “You see I couldn’t possibly do it all alone. I couldn’t manage them if they were all jumping around at once. But mother told me that all bad things have a good side, too. She thought I couldn’t spend my time better than knitting woolen stockings for Vinzi to wear when he comes home again.”

“I should say that that decidedly belonged to the very worst side of all,” replied Alida quickly. “Those thick needles are hurting you and the heavy thread is cutting into your finger. Won’t you show me your barnyard? I can hear the funny little noises the chickens are making. Can’t you come out with me?”

Stefeli looked towards her mother, who had heard what the children were saying. With a nod Stefeli was given permission, and the girls ran out.

“I am sure the boy wants to go, too,” said Mrs. Lesa, glancing towards Hugo, who had posted himself shyly behind his father’s chair. “The air would do him good.”

“Yes, Hugo, you can go and see the place,” remarked the father. “Look how those two are running, or rather flying about. Go and run about with them.”

Hugo obeyed.

“If I have understood you rightly, Mrs. Lesa,” Mr. Thornau continued the interrupted conversation, “the boy has been sent away because he shows no interest in your fine, prosperous farm and has evidently no inclination for his future life’s work. But I cannot believe him to be a dull boy, for he seems to have been tremendously eager to take music lessons from my daughter. According to her he showed the most extraordinary comprehension.”

“Oh, no, he is not dull,” replied Mrs. Lesa with animation, “the trouble with him is that he has his thoughts where they ought not to be. If he happens to be out in the field with his father and he hears the sound of a bell anywhere he drops everything and pays attention to absolutely nothing else till no sound of it can be heard any more. Very often when no one else can hear anything he seems to be listening to something. Naturally his father gets impatient with him. He thought that if Vinzi lived for a while with boys who love farm life he might change and get to like it, too. But I don’t know how it will work out,” added Mrs. Lesa with a wistful shake of the head. “These things are so deeply rooted in Vinzi. When he was a baby he would stand stock-still at hearing a beautiful sound. Whenever he got hurt and was crying, I only had to take him on my lap and sing him a song to make him happy and quiet again.”

“But, my dear Mrs. Lesa, all this clearly shows that your boy has an ear for music and a real devotion to it, together with natural talent,” Mr. Thornau said eagerly. “Did you never think of having his talent developed? The boy and you, too, might reap the greatest happiness that way.”

“I do not know what the gentleman means,” answered Mrs. Lesa with a questioning look.

“What I mean? Your boy might be sent to a music school where they could judge his talent. He could study there. It takes years, of course, but what of that? If he turns out to be a finished musician he would be happy and satisfied, and you, too, of course.”

“That’s nothing for Vinzi,” said Mrs. Lesa deliberately. “His father would not consent. He would never let his only son leave home for years and years. He would not let him live among strangers for such a reason, and it would be altogether too uncertain a future for the boy.”

“Isn’t the world strange?” exclaimed Mr. Thornau. “Just look at my boy! He is my only son, too. He only needs to say what he wants and I give it to him. He may study what he pleases, and it makes me happy to let him. But what do you think? If I ask him, ‘Would you like riding horseback?’ he answers, ‘No, I’d rather not.’ Should I ask him if he wants to learn to play the violin, or the piano, or the flute, all he says is, ‘No, I’d rather not.’ ‘Would you like to become a sailor and go far across the sea into foreign countries?’ He always says, ‘Oh, no, father, I’d rather not,’ and that is the answer I get every time. I cannot help being envious of your son who has such a decided inclination for music.”

Mrs. Lesa had watched Hugo for quite a while through the open window. Leaning against a tree, he was staring indifferently before him. The two girls in the meanwhile were playing tag, shrieking violently whenever they were caught, and then eagerly beginning again.

“He probably is not very strong,” she said sympathetically. “He looks pale and thin. He would get stronger if he could live a while on the pasture.”

“Yes, I suppose that would do him good,” replied Mr. Thornau. “He never was very hardy and now he seems more frail than ever. Since my wife was taken ill and the boy had to be separated from her, all the life seems to have gone out of him.”

“Why don’t you let him stay with his mother?” Mrs. Lesa inquired. Her voice clearly showed an interest, as if it were a matter of great importance to herself and as if her visitor were an old friend of hers.

Mr. Thornau smiled.

“You are a real mother, Mrs. Lesa, even for children that are not your own. I like that. But you see, my wife has been ordered a complete rest. So I had to send the children away. If the boy is allowed to be with his mother, the girl wants to be with her, too, and she is by nature very noisy--of course she can’t help it. But the mother wants her children back for she worries about them more when they are absent. But I think my visit has been long enough, Mrs. Lesa,” said Mr. Thornau, getting up. “Please permit me to come again, for I like your home extremely.”

Mrs. Lesa accompanied her guest outside and called the children. Hugo was still leaning against the tree, but when the girls came running forward he slowly followed. When Stefeli heard that her mother had invited Mr. Thornau to come again, she said quickly, “You must be sure to come, too, Alida. I might be up on the pasture then, and you could see what it is like there.”

Alida promised to return, and after taking leave, Mr. Thornau and the children wandered back to Mrs. Troll’s house. As she appeared in the doorway just then, Mr. Thornau immediately informed her that the children were leaving her in a few days. Their mother wanted them back sooner than he had expected to take them home, but he promised her to fulfill his obligations. The chief reason for their going, though, was that he wished no one to suffer for an act of courtesy shown his children.

How changed Mr. Thornau was of a sudden, Mrs. Troll thought to herself. He had turned from her so abruptly, he who had always been so courteous and friendly. He really meant to take the children away. Of course he would never bring them back. And all on account of that miserable boy across the way. It was really laughable. However, Mrs. Troll was not in a mood to laugh at all. Now when it was too late she would willingly have taken back the harsh words she had said to Vinzi.

Just then the carriage Mr. Thornau had ordered drove up. Alida, close at her father’s side, extracted a triple promise from him that he would soon take them away. When the carriage started she had to let him go. Lost in deep thought, Mr. Thornau drove down the mountain-side. His impression of Mrs. Lesa and her household had been extremely pleasant, and he wished he had known the woman before he had placed his children elsewhere. She might have been justified in feeling deep resentment against them, as the boy had really been banished on their account, but not a trace of such feeling had she shown. He also decided to let his daughter discontinue her music study. He was sure that if she had real love for music it would show itself in some other way. Suddenly Mr. Thornau was greeted by a wanderer going in the same direction and in whom he recognized his table-companion from the hotel.

“Oh, Mr. Delrick, what a hermit you are!” he called out, ordering his carriage to stop. “If you refuse to get into my carriage I shall think that my company is not good enough for you.”

Mr. Delrick politely thanked him for the offer, but said that he was unwilling to give up his daily walk even for such good company.

“Good! then I’ll join you,” said Mr. Thornau, jumping out of the carriage. “I am sure what I have to say will interest you.”

Mr. Delrick smiled, and the two men walked along side by side.

“Do not smile in such an incredulous way,” continued Mr. Thornau. “Do you really intend to turn your back on society and live alone?”

“It is not quite so bad as that,” Mr. Delrick answered with a smile, “but I don’t mind admitting that I should leave the hotel if I could find a pleasant home with simple upright people to stay in. I should enjoy nature much more there.”

“I have found the very house for you,” said Mr. Thornau triumphantly. “That’s what I was going to tell you.”

He then related his experiences of the day and described his new acquaintance, Mrs. Lesa, with great enthusiasm. The deep peace of the surroundings and the unusual order and cleanliness in the house and garden, barn and stable would make anybody long to live there. “Enough, Mr. Delrick,” he concluded. “It certainly is the home for you. I really feel very unselfish telling you this, because we shall be the losers if you leave us. But strangely enough, one cannot help doing you a favor. You win people’s hearts in spite of themselves.”

“My dear Mr. Thornau,” said his companion, patting him on the shoulder, “you are kind indeed to take pity on a poor unpractical hermit. I feel ever so grateful to you. Your description has awakened a keen desire in me to take a look at the house.”

At this point a beautiful path joined the road. Though much longer it repaid by the very fine views to be had from several spots. As Mr. Delrick wanted to walk home that way, the friends separated and Mr. Thornau again climbed into his carriage.

When Vinzenz Lesa came out of the house next day to look after his business on the farm, he noticed a stranger, who was apparently seeking someone. As soon as the latter saw the farmer, he approached.

“Does this house by any chance belong to a Mr. Lesa?” he asked politely.

“Yes, sir,” was the answer.

“Do I have the honor of speaking to the owner of it?” asked the stranger.

“Yes, sir.”

“I am lucky to find you, Mr. Lesa. I’d like to do some business with you. My name is Delrick, and I came from Dresden. I am stopping in the baths of Leuk, where there are too many people for my taste. As I want to stay in the neighborhood, I am looking for a quiet home to live in for a few weeks. When Mr. Thornau told me about yours I came to see it myself. I cannot help wishing that you would take me as a boarder.”

“I live here with my wife and child and I take in no strangers,” Mr. Lesa replied curtly.

“You are right,” Mr. Delrick answered pleasantly. “If I were in your place I’d do the same.”

Lesa could not help looking at the stranger in astonishment. “I suppose then that our business is settled?”

“I am afraid so,” replied Mr. Delrick, “but I wish you could tell me another house where I could live. One as much like yours as possible, just as well situated and surrounded by such mighty trees. You have a picked estate, Mr. Lesa, and I realize that I can’t expect to find such order and care anywhere else.”

Mr. Lesa was visibly pleased that the gentleman had eyes enough to see that his home was kept differently from many others. But his wife really merited most of the praise for the condition of the yard and garden. He could not help thinking of her, sitting in the house and worrying about her boy. By now Vinzi had probably reached his cousins on the mountain. She had hardly spoken a word all day, and he was sorry for her. It might be a good plan to take this gentleman into the house to fill her loss. She had thought before of getting a room ready for boarders and as the stranger had made a most agreeable impression on him he felt not at all averse to the idea of spending his free evenings with such a man.

After reflecting he answered, “I can’t really think of any other place. But you might go in and speak to my wife--if she should agree to take you I won’t have any objections. May I attend to my work now?”

With this he offered his hand in farewell.

At this unexpected turn Mr. Delrick was most happy and surprised. Holding Lesa’s hand in his a moment he asked, “Do I understand you right, Mr. Lesa? Will you really be satisfied with whatever your wife decides to do?”

“Yes, I’ll be satisfied,” Lesa answered before turning about.

When Mr. Delrick’s knocking had been answered by a response to come in, he entered the room. The child was there alone, knitting a heavy stocking at the window. Going up to Stefeli, he asked the little one to call her mother as he wanted to speak to her.

“Oh, she’ll soon be here. When she heard you knocking she went to her room because she was crying a little,” said Stefeli.

“Oh, I am sorry. Has something sad happened that your mother has to cry?” asked the stranger.

“Yes, because Vinzi has gone away for all summer and she doesn’t even know the people he is living with,” Stefeli went on.

“Is Vinzi your brother?” the gentleman asked, full of sympathy. “Why did he have to go away?”

“We don’t quite know,” Stefeli replied, “perhaps because Alida gave him music lessons.”

“Oh, what a strange case!” Mr. Delrick remarked with a smile. “I suppose you have always been with your brother. You must miss him now that you are all alone?”

“Yes, of course, and mother does, too, and he is missed also on the pasture. We were on the pasture all day long. Father has a cow-boy now and my mother won’t let me go to the pasture any more. Father said the cows won’t graze and are running about as if lost. Schwärzeli wants to jump all the hedges, and when the new boy chases her she turns about wildly and runs away frightened. I believe it, too. We have known each other so long and well, and she doesn’t like a new boy who tries to rule her. She doesn’t know his voice and she doesn’t feel at home at all, poor Schwärzeli!”

When Stefeli had gotten as far as that in her recital the door opened and her mother entered. Mr. Delrick, going to meet her, said that he had come with her husband’s permission to ask her a question, but as he had heard of her recent sorrow from her little daughter, he did not feel it right to trouble her.

“It is often good for us if we have to pull ourselves together. Then we have less time to brood over our troubles,” Mrs. Lesa replied collectedly.

“It might be still better to look on our grief as if it were no grief at all. That makes it yet easier to bear. What do you think, Mrs. Lesa?” said Mr. Delrick as confidentially as an old friend.

Mrs. Lesa looked up in surprise.

“I think I understand what the gentleman means, but I hardly seem to find an answer,” she replied after a pause.

“There is no hurry,” said Mr. Delrick kindly. “If you will permit me to live in your home for a few months we might find many an hour to continue our conversation.”

More astonished than ever, Mrs. Lesa glanced at the stranger. A happy smile spread for a moment over her features, only to disappear as suddenly. “It does not depend on me alone, sir,” she said calmly. “I know that my husband won’t have strangers in the house. That settles the matter, I fear.”

“Mr. Lesa and I understand each other already,” said Mr. Delrick. “He told me himself that he would be satisfied with whatever you decide to do.”

Mrs. Lesa knew not what to think. Only a short time ago her husband had positively declared that he wanted no strangers to live with him. However, the gentleman might look at the two rooms possible, in order to know if they would suit him. She would then consult with her husband and send him word at the hotel. Having no intention to hurry Mrs. Lesa in her decision, Mr. Delrick agreed. Climbing the stairs, he glanced into the rooms. One had an eastern exposure and in the other the noonday sun was shining through the windows. The branches of the old walnut trees outside were swaying in the breeze, and Mr. Delrick was immensely taken with them. If he had had his way he would have taken possession of the rooms at once. This Mrs. Lesa could not fail to observe.

“I must say good-bye to your little daughter,” he said going towards the door. “We are good friends already and I hope we can continue to be so.”

Stefeli, who had been hiding behind her mother, shot forward at these words. She had taken in everything and had followed her mother in order to find out if the gentleman liked the rooms. She was hoping that he would come to live there. That would give her somebody to talk to, for he had listened very attentively to everything she had told him about the pasture.

Mr. Delrick, shaking her hand, begged her to lead him up to the pasture some day. At parting Mrs. Lesa promised to send their decision to him as soon as possible, for he was anxious to know.

When Vinzenz Lesa returned home in the evening, the first question he asked his wife was, “Well, what did you settle with the gentleman?”

She told him about their conversation and her having put off a decided answer until she knew what he thought about it.

“But I am quite sure, Vinzenz,” she concluded, “if this gentleman comes to live with us he is sure to bring a blessing to our home.”

“I suppose we need not scorn it,” replied the farmer. “You had better send him word that we expect him soon.”

His wife did so with joy in her heart and a few days ago later Mr. Delrick moved into Mr. Lesa’s house.