Lay Down Your Arms 56

Lay Down Your Arms 56

I recollect still the singular impression which it made on me when I

entered the drawing-room, in which the rest were already assembled.

Glitter, cheerfulness, distinguished elegance, the well-dressed ladies,

the smart uniforms--what a contrast to the scenes of woe, filth, and

terror that I had seen so short a time since. And it is these same

glittering, cheerful, elegant personages who of their own accord set

this woe in motion, who refuse to do anything to abolish it, who on the

contrary glorify it, and by means of their gold lace and stars testify

the pride which they find in being the agents and props of this system

of woe!

 

My entrance broke up the conversation which was being carried on in the

different groups, since all our Prussian guests had to be introduced to

me, most of them distinguished-sounding names ending in “ow” and in

“witz,” many “vons,” and even a prince--one Henry--I don’t know of what

number--of the house of Reuss.

 

Such then were our enemies! perfect gentlemen with the most exquisite

manners in society. Well, certainly one knows as much as this: that if

war is to be carried on at the present day with a neighbouring nation

one has not to do with Huns and Vandals; but for all that it would be

much more natural to think of the enemy as a horde of savages, and it

requires some effort to look upon them as honourable and civilised

citizens. “God, who drivest back by Thy mighty protection the

adversaries of those who trust in Thee, hear us graciously as we pray

for Thy mercy, so that the rage of the enemy having been suppressed we

may praise Thee to all eternity.” This was the prayer daily offered by

the priest at Grumitz. What conception must there have been formed by

the common people of this “raging enemy”? Certainly not anything like

these courteous noblemen who were now giving their arms to the ladies

present to take them to dinner.... Besides this, God this time had

listened to the prayer of the other side and had suppressed _our_

rage--the foaming, murderous foe who through the might of the Divine

protection (which, to be sure, we called the needle-gun) had been driven

back were _ourselves_. Oh! what a pious concatenation of nonsense! I was

thinking something to this effect as we were sitting down in a brilliant

row at the table, adorned with flowers and dishes of fruit. The silver,

too, had been brought out of its hiding-place at the order of the master

of the house. I was seated between a stately colonel, ending in “ow,”

and a tall lieutenant in “itz”; Lilly, of course, by her lover’s side.

Rosa had been taken in to dinner by Prince Henry, and the naughty Lori

had once again succeeded in getting my Frederick as her next-door

neighbour. But what of that? I was not going to be jealous. He was

assuredly _my_ Frederick, my very own.

 

The conversation was very abundant and very lively. “The Prussians”

evidently felt highly pleased, after the toils and privations they had

gone through, to be sitting down again at a well-furnished table and in

good company; and the consciousness that the campaign which was ended

had been a victorious one must certainly have contributed to raise their

spirits. But even we, the vanquished, did not allow anything of grudge

or humiliation to appear, and did all we could to play the part of the

most amiable of hosts. To my father it must have cost some self-control,

as I could judge from knowing his sentiments, but he played his part

throughout with exemplary courtesy. The one who was most dejected was

Otto. It was visibly against the grain for him, with the hatred which he

had been cherishing against the Prussians in these late days, with his

eagerness to chase them out of the country, to have now to reach the

pepper and salt for this same foe in the most polite manner, instead of

being allowed to pierce him with a bayonet. The topic of the war was

carefully avoided in the conversation; the foreigners were treated by us

as if they had been pleasure-travellers who happened to be passing

through our neighbourhood, and they themselves with still greater

caution avoided even hinting at the real state of things--_viz._, that

they were stationed here as our conquerors. My young lieutenant even

tried, quite in earnest, to pay his court to me. He swore, by his honour

and credit, that there was no such pleasant place in the world as

Austria, and that there (shooting sidewards a needle-gun glance) the

most charming women in the world were to be found. I do not deny that I

too coquetted a little with the smart son of Mars, but that was to show

Lori Griesbach and her neighbour that in a certain given case I was

capable of having my revenge; the folks opposite, however, remained

quite as undisturbed as I myself was really at the bottom of my heart.

It would have been more reasonable and more to the purpose, however, if

my dashing lieutenant had directed his killing glances to the fair Lori.

Conrad and Lilly in their character of engaged persons (and such folks

should really be always put behind a grating) exchanged loving glances

quite openly, and whispered and clanked their glasses together by

themselves, and played all sorts of other drawing-room turtle-dove

tricks. And as it seemed to me a third flirtation began on the spot to

develop itself. For the German prince--Henry the So and So--kept

conversing in the most pressing way with my sister Rosa, and as it went

on his countenance became a picture of the most unconcealed admiration.

 

When we rose from table, we went back into the drawing-room, in which

the chandelier, which had now been lighted, diffused a festive glow.

 

The door on to the terrace was open. Outside was the warm summer night,

flooded by the gentle light of the moon. The evening star shed its rays

over the grassy expanse of the park, fragrant with hay, and mirrored

itself in glittering silver on the lake which spread out in the

background.... Could that really be the same moon which a short time ago

had shown me the heap of corpses against the church wall surrounded by

the shrieking birds of prey? And were these people inside--just then a

Prussian lieutenant opened the piano to play one of Mendelssohn’s

“Lieder ohne Worte”--could they be the same as were laying about them

with their sabres a short time since to cleave men’s skulls?

 

After a time Prince Henry and Rosa came out too. They did not see me in

my dark corner, and passed by me. They were now standing, leaning on the

balustrade, near, very near each other. I even believe that the young

Prussian--the foe--was holding my sister’s hand in his. They were

speaking low, but still some of the prince’s words reached me. “Charming

girl ... sudden, conquering passion ... longing for domestic happiness

... the die is cast ... for mercy’s sake do not say ‘No’. Do I then

inspire you with disgust?” Rosa shook her head. Then he raised her hand

to his lips and tried to put his arm round her waist. She, like a

well-brought-up girl, disengaged herself at once.

 

Ah! I would almost have preferred that the soft moonlight had then and

there shone on the kiss of love.... After all the pictures of hate and

bitter woe which I had been obliged to witness a short time ago, a

picture of love and sweet pleasure would have seemed to me like some

compensation.

 

“Oh! is it you, Martha?”

 

Rosa had now become aware of me, and was at first very much shocked that

any one should have been listening at this scene, but then pacified that

it was only me.

 

The prince, however, was in the highest degree discomposed and

perplexed. He stepped towards me.

 

“I have just made an offer of my hand to your sister, gracious madam.

Kindly say a word in my favour. My action may perhaps seem to both of

you somewhat sudden and presumptuous. At another time I should myself

perhaps have proceeded more cautiously and more modestly; but in these

last few weeks I have been accustoming myself to advance quickly and

boldly--no hesitation or trembling was allowed then--and the practice

which I formed in war I have now involuntarily again exercised in love.

Pray forgive me, and be favourable to me. You are silent, countess? Do

you refuse me your hand?”

 

“My sister,” said I, coming to Rosa’s assistance, who was standing there

in deep emotion with her head turned aside, “cannot surely be expected

to decide her fate so quickly. Who knows whether our father will give

his consent to a marriage with ‘an enemy’; who knows again whether Rosa

will return an inclination so suddenly kindled?”

 

“I know,” she replied, and stretched out both her hands to the young

man; and he pressed her warmly to his heart.

 

“Oh, you silly children,” I said, and drew back a few paces to the

drawing-room door, to watch that--at least at _that_ moment--no one

should come out.

 

* * * * *

 

On the following day the betrothal was celebrated. My father offered no

opposition. I should have thought that his hatred of the Prussians would

have made it impossible for him to receive into his family a hostile

warrior and a victor; but whether it was that he separated altogether

the individual question from the national (a common method of

action--for one often hears people protest: “I hate them as a nation,

not as individuals,” though there is no sense in it, no more sense than

if one were to say: “I hate wine as a drink, but I swallow each drop

with pleasure”; still a phrase need not be rational in order to be

popular, quite the contrary), or whether it was that ambition got the

upper hand and an alliance with a princely house flattered him, or,

finally, that the sudden love of the young folks so romantically

expressed touched him--in short, he said yes, and with seeming

heartiness. Aunt Mary was less disposed to agree. “Impossible!” was her

first exclamation. “The prince is surely of the Lutheran sect.” But in

the end she comforted herself with the consideration that Rosa would

probably convert her husband. The deepest resentment it awoke was in

Otto’s heart. “How would you like it,” he said, “supposing the war was

to break out again, that I should chase my brother-in-law out of the

country?” But to him also the famous theory of the difference between

nation and individual was explained, and to my astonishment--for I could

never understand it--he understood it.

 

How quickly and easily does one in happy circumstances forget the misery

one has gone through. Two pairs of lovers, or, if I may venture to say

so, _three_--for Frederick and I, the married ones, were not much less

in love with each other than the betrothed--well, so many pairs of

lovers in the little company gave an air of felicity to everything. For

the next day or two Schloss Grumitz was an abode of cheerfulness and

worldly enjoyment. I, too, gradually felt the pictures of terror of the

past weeks fading out of my remembrance. It was not without reproaches

of conscience that I became aware how my compassion, which had been so

burning a short time since, was at some moments quite gone. It is true

that sounds of mourning still came pealing from the world without, the

complaints of people who in the war had lost goods or money or lives of

those dear to them, accounts of threatened financial catastrophes, of

the outbreak of pestilence. It was said that the cholera had shown

itself among the Prussian troops; a case had even been reported in our

village, but only a doubtful one, it is true: “It might be diarrhœa,

which occurs every summer,” was the consolatory remark. Let us only

chase away troubled thoughts and anxious fears with: “It is nothing,” or

“It has passed over,” or “It will not come”; all this is so easy to say.

All that is wanted is a vigorous shake of the head and the unpleasant

facts are gone.

 

“I say, Martha,” said the happy _fiancée_ to me one day, “this war was

indeed a horrible thing, and yet I must bless it; without it should I

ever have been so immeasurably happy as I am now? Should I ever have had the opportunity of making Henry’s acquaintance? And as to him, would he ever have found a bride to love him so?”