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CHAPTER VIII.
WHO IS THE TRAITOR?
NO, no!” he exclaimed, as he burst violently and hurriedly into the bedroom
assigned to him, and put down the light; “no, it is not possible! But whither shall
I turn myself! For the first time I think differently — for the first time I feel and
wish otherwise. Oh, my father! if you could be present invisibly, and look me
through and through, you would convince yourself that I am still the same, ever
the faithful, obedient and loving son. To say no — to oppose the dearest and
long-cherished wish of my father! How shall I reveal it? — how shall I express
it? No, I cannot marry Julia. Whilst uttering it, I am frightened. And how shall I
present myself to him — reveal it to him, my kind, dear father? He looks at me
astounded and silent; he shakes his head; the clearheaded, wise and learned man
cannot find a single word. Woe is me! Oh, I know well to whom I should
confide this pain, this embarrassment, whom I should choose as my intercessor:
of all people, you, Lucinda! And to you I should like to tell first, how I love you,
how I abandon myself to you, and implore you piteously, Be my representative;
and if you can love me, if you will be mine, then represent both of us.”
To explain this short, heartfelt, passionate soliloquy, a great many words will
be required.
Professor N — , of N — , had an only son of wonderful beauty, whom, until
his eighth year, he left under the care of his wife, a very worthy lady. She guided
the hours and days of the child to life, to learning, and all good conduct. She
died, and at the moment the father felt that he would be unable, personally, to
further continue this tutorship. Hitherto all had been harmony between the
parents; they worked with one object, together determined what was to be done
in the time immediately at hand, and the mother knew how to carry out
everything wisely. Double and threefold was now the anxiety of the widower,
who saw daily before his eyes that for sons of professors at the universities
themselves, only by a mere chance could a successful education be hoped for. In
this perplexity he turned to his friend the highbailiff at R — , with whom he had
already discussed earlier plans of a closer family connection. He was able to
advise and to help, so that the son was received in one of the good educational
institutes which then flourished in Germany, and in which all possible care was
taken of the whole man — body, soul, and spirit.
The son had now been provided for, yet his father felt himself far too much
alone: deprived of his wife, and strange to the lovely presence of the boy, whom,
without any trouble on his own part, he had seen brought up so satisfactorily. At
this point also the friendship of the highbailiff stood him in good stead; the
distance between their residences disappeared before the inclination to bestir
themselves and to seek distraction. Here the widowed scholar found in a family
circle, also deprived of a mother, two beautiful, and in different ways lovable,
daughters, just grown up. And so the two fathers more and more strengthened
themselves in the belief, in the prospect, of seeing at some future day their
houses connected in the pleasantest manner.
They lived in the prosperous dominions of a sovereign prince; the able man
was certain of his position for the length of his life, and so probably was a
successor of his own nomination.
In accordance with a prudent family and official arrangement, Lucidor was
now to prepare himself for the important place of his future father-in-law. In this
he succeeded step by step. Nothing was neglected to impart to him every kind of
knowledge, to develop in him all those capabilities of which the State at all times
stood in need: the study of the strict judicial law; of the more discretionary one,
where wisdom and ability lend their assistance to the functionary; calculation for
daily wants — without excluding higher views, but everything pertaining
immediately to life as it would surely and unfailingly be required for use.
To this intent Lucidor had completed his school years, and was now prepared
by his father and well-wisher for the university. He displayed the finest talent for
everything, and owed to nature also the rare good fortune of being willing, from
love to his father, and respect for his friend, to guide his faculties just in that
direction which was indicated to him, first from obedience and then from
conviction. He was sent to a foreign university, and there, according both to his
own epistolary accounts and to the testimonials of his teachers and tutors, he
pursued the path which ought to lead him to his goal. They could only
disapprove of his having in a few instances been too impetuously courageous. At
this the father shook his head, and the highbailiff nodded. Who would not have
wished for himself such a son!
Meantime the daughters, Julia and Lucinda, grew up — the former, who was
the younger, capricious, amiable, restless, and very amusing; the latter, difficult
to describe, because in rectitude and purity she represented just that which we
consider as most desirable in all women. They interchanged visits, and Julia
found the most inexhaustible entertainment in the professor’s house.
His specialty was geography, which he knew how to enliven by topographical
descriptions; and as soon as Julia had noticed but a single volume, a whole series
of similar ones from the Homann publications were ready at hand. Then the
towns in a body were passed in review, judged, preferred or rejected: all seaports
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