Short Stories From Austria- Ferdinand Von Saar

by Ferdinand Ludwig Adam

“I am not surprised at anything, ma'am,” said I in a certain and yet respectful tone; “At the most about the one thing that you have gone under the writers.”

  “My God,” she said with a smile, with a smile; “I hardly know how I came to it myself. I had never thought of such a thing before and also read very little. Last year, however, I happened to come across a few books that made a big impression on me. But even then, it did not occur to me to write myself; only when my husband had to travel for some time and I remained completely alone, only then did it overcame me. And all of a sudden; - without much thought, I wrote the story.”

  This was completely in line with my requirements, and I was pleased with the innocent admission. Involuntarily, I felt tempted to play on our very first encounter and to find out if she still remembers me from that distant time. If I had been alone with her, I would have done it anyway, but the presence of my companion held me back, and I said nothing.

  “I did not put any weight on it at first,” she continued after a pause; “It was a mere diversion - a relief to my heart. Later, however, I showed the pages of a friend, and she thought I should try to make use of them; There are now so many women who buy with such money. She offered me her mediation - and you - friend here - “she gesticulated to women” was so gracious to make a favorable judgment.”

  He threw himself on his chair in the chest. “Merit only, Mrs. Elsa,” he said.

  “So even you mean,” she said slowly, shyly turned her gaze on me, “and you think that the thing -”

  “You heard it!” The other one interrupted her, shaking her long hair impatiently.

  I was in some embarrassment again.

  “Your performance is certainly a very interesting one,” he said I kind of reluctant, “and with some changes that need to be made -”

  “I'll get everything!” Exclaimed Frauenlob. “Also the publication! Success can not be avoided, Mrs. Elsa, and if you continue to entrust yourself to my leadership, you will have a great future.”

  She looked doubtfully to herself. “Do you really think so?” She asked thoughtfully, more turned against me. “I have so much to learn. And where should I take the time from? We live, as you see, in limited circumstances - and my husband is very spoiled; I have my hands full to set up our domesticity according to their needs. He would not like it very much if I worked elsewhere “-

  “After that you have not to ask!” Said Frauenlob in a sharp, educational tone. Thankfully, the bondage of the woman is over - and you need to establish an independent position alongside your husband.

  “My God, I'm not thinking of that,” she replied distractedly; it was as if she were listening out of the room. “And then - he has an aversion to writing women.”

  “You have to get rid of him - have to teach him a better one!”

  She did not reply and apparently heard the last words half-eared. Then she suddenly cried, “Here he comes!”

  Outside there had been a cracking of the bell, and now Röber entered through the kitchen, where the presence of a maid had long ago become apparent. He had to stoop his tall figure under the door all the more as he kept the hat on his head. Only in the middle of the room did he reluctantly remove him, his eyes fixed on me, surprised and disconcerted.

  We had risen.

  “The doctor has brought us a pleasant visit, Leo,” said Elsa, and the tone of her voice had something pleadingly insecure, “a famous writer. Maybe you know the Lord of sight.”

  He looked at me steadfastly and said, without forgetting, with a slight bow: “Have not the honor.” Then he made a half turn and, speaking back to us, went on: “The gentlemen will apologize. I've been up since this morning and need to get comfortable. “He stepped up to a side door, opened it, and disappeared into a small room that was apparently used as a bedchamber.

  “He's really busy,” Elsa confirmed, looking after him regretfully. Then, with a brief apology, she went into the kitchen to see, as she said, the tea.

  I now felt a great desire to leave and looked questioningly at my companion. But he did not seem willing to clear the field; he leaned back in the chair with a sort of dogged defiance and stretched his legs out.

  Now the housewife came in again, carrying a cold bowl in each hand. The maid followed with all sorts of accessories. Then the boiling teakettle was brought; later followed by a large beer mug filled with beer.

  In the meantime, Röber had also come to light. He had wrapped himself in a long, worn dressing-gown, which had traces of earlier elegance; He wore comfortable slippers on his feet.

  “The gentlemen will not resent it,” he began in a condescending tone, as if he forgave us for possibly offending his clothing, “the Gentlemen will not mind that I appear so before them. But as I said, I feel overpowered - and I'm already suffering for some time on the feet.”

  “Oh, yes!” Interposed Elsa. “And it does not want to get better. Do you have more pain today? “She asked anxiously.

  “Well, not exactly that. - But,” he went on to the table, “I see it's all ready. The gentlemen are our guests?”

  “Certainly they will give us the pleasure,” Elsa said invitingly.

  What could I do? It was too late to devise any valid excuse, and thus missed the opportune moment to leave; So I had to sit down at the table.

  Elsa, with attentive attention, turned to the landlady, while Röber, with obvious need, very casually tapped the dishes. Only now could I look at him with full attention. Also in his Exteriors showed a big change. Elsa had fallen bodily in recent years, but he had increased proportionately. But it was not the blossoming overabundance of health and strength, but that pale and soft puffiness that clings to so many people who lead an irregular and anxious life. This was especially noticeable in his face, whose features were so swollen that the dark gray eyes, which were once so exceedingly beautiful, barely stood out. He did not shave his chin, but wore a very short beard, which left him feeling sick and in which numerous silver threads were already noticeable; also showed over the forehead strongly increasing baldness. The whole man did indeed look very degenerate.

  Right now he brought a potato to his plate and while he let the still steaming into four parts and let cool, he opened, visibly in a more comfortable mood, the conversation.

  “So you want,” he began, turning to both of us with an ironical twist of the corners of his mouth. “So you want my El-sa-” he pronounced the name with satirically exaggerated emphasis - ” à tout prixto the poetess?”

  Exclaimed Frauenlob in a sharp voice. He just seemed to have been waiting for an attack, and his small, greenish eyes flashed pugnaciously. “Do? How would you do that if it were not already?”

  “I know,” replied the other nobly, taking up a potato piece: ” poeta nascitur. But you can also talk someone into something.”

  “What's the point of it?” Replied Frauenlob, turning her head back contemptuously.

  “Quite right, what would you get from it? Even though Elsa has a talent - which, incidentally, I do not want to doubt - the whole thing remains a most useless thing.”

  “But you can earn it, Leo,” Elsa said shyly.

  Röber laughed out loud. “To earn? With the writing? Ha! Ha!”

  “Allow,” exclaimed Frauenlob fiercely, while I silently gave the man no wrong, “that is an assertion that only proves how much you are back in your beliefs. It is true, in the past even the greatest spirits had to starve; but nowadays you can buy a lot with the pen.”

  “As a journalist maybe. By the way, that is a lot or a matter of opinion. If I'm to consider sums, it must be hundreds of thousands.”

  “You do not give it cheap!” Frauenlob laughed with venomous scorn. He had just rushed down the third glass of beer, and his bony, broad face, which was always unhealthily reddened, began to glow bluish.

  “That's my business,” replied Röber with calm pride, and for the first time his eyes were bright and big again. “The gentlemen poets constantly speak of their ideals; other people h
ave some. Mine is a very large fortune, an ideal that pretty much includes every other.”

  “But the more ideal remains,” cried the enemy snappily.

  “Depending on the circumstances. This can already be shown by the large number of important capitalists in the world. - Speaking, Lisi, “he continued with a view of the housewife,” I have brought good news today. The thing in Bulgaria seems finally to want to flow.”

  “Really! Really! “She exclaimed, surprised and blushing with pleasure, from the embarrassing embarrassment she had come to understand in the exchange of words. “Really?” She repeated, as if overcome by an involuntary doubt, a little sheepish and stretched.

  He had meanwhile wiped his mouth and lit a cigarette without asking us to smoke.

  “Yes, really, my child. Good things take a while, and I understand that it takes you a little too long. But you are forgiven. And if everything goes as I hope, then you can blubber blue for your pleasure.”

  “It probably should have been shuddering at the stocking plug,” Frauenlob said with relentless rudeness.

  “Always write a more useful occupation than novels. Incidentally, I feel no desire to get involved in a further treatment of this subject. The gentlemen did not come to me, but to the poet. I'm not allowed to disturb the literary conferences any longer. “He got up with a yawn, stepped heavily to Elsa and kissed her on the forehead. “Good night my child.”

  “You really want to retire?” She asked. One could see the inner helplessness she was in.

  “Certainly, I am tired and sleepy. Good night, gentlemen! “He only bowed to me and strode to the next room; Elsa followed him to the door.

  I had enough, got up and looked for my hat; Frauenlob, choking on his anger, remained seated.

  “You want to go away?” Elsa asked, returning and in a tone that proved the relief that would be to her.

  “Of course,” I replied, looking at the clock. “The hour has come, and you know, I have a long way to go. Are you still staying? “I addressed my companion significantly.

  He looked undecided to himself, then he jumped up.

  “I did, however, want to negotiate some important matters with Mrs. Elsa, alone in such a mood - - In fact, Madam,” - he stepped before her - “it takes the whole extent of my worship and admiration for you - -”

  “Oh my God, dear doctor,” she interrupted him, “you should know Rober a bit already. He's just that - he has a head full of worries that makes him ill-tempered - and there - - but he's behaved irresponsibly today. And I must regret twice - because of you - “She looked at me expressively and as if pleading for leniency. “What will you think of us?”

  “Do not worry, ma'am,” I replied. “I'm not hurt so easily. Rather, I have you very much to ask for forgiveness. For certainly it was my unprepared visit, to which I should never have ever decided, which at least contributed to the unpleasant upset of the evening.”

  “Oh, do not believe that,” she said hastily. Then, thinking of women's praise, she continued with a persuasive voice: “As always, you can be convinced that I am very pleasant was, you met - or rather, to have seen again. And anyway, I would ask you to renew your dear visit, if I should venture to do so under such circumstances.”

  “Well, one is always brought together in life. For today you take the assurance that, as far as I am concerned, I do not regret the night of the accident.”

  I squeezed the hand she handed me. Then she escorted us into the kitchen, where she woke the maid, who had fallen asleep in a chair and was now preparing to shine us through the dark corridor to the already locked front door.

  “I'll be back tomorrow afternoon,” said Frauenlob as she left; “I hope I find you alone.”

  She did not reply and only called out “Good night” in a subdued voice.

  As soon as I stepped onto the street, my companion, in whom it still seemed to be cooking, shouted, “The impudent one! And you, my best, have not supported me in any way!”

  “What should I have said? I also do not understand how you could be so excited. The man is uncomfortable with the new relationships of his wife or lover. On the whole he just behaved like a jealous person.”

  “Jealous? He does not love her at all. His vanity is hurt because he suddenly sees himself mentally overshadowed by a woman he has only considered to be a compliant maid.”

  “Possible. By the way, he does not seem to me to be that deeply mentally.”

  “What! A hollow head he is, on top of that suffers from megalomania. Did you hear him throwing around with the hundreds of thousands?”

  “Well, he seems to be dealing with a lot of business speculation. And there it would be in ours At any rate, the time of earning money makes it possible for him to succeed in any combination.”

  “Tell me some dizziness. Man has all the facilities to get acquainted sooner or later with the criminal court.”

  “That too is not excluded. At all, circumstances prevail, in which one is best not to interfere. You too, I think, should retire.”

  “Withdrawal? I? Having penetrated so far? No, you know me badly, sir! This woman must open her eyes, she must be put on the train she is called to walk. I am very interested in her - and, as I quite frankly want to confess, not just for the writer.”

  “If that's the case, then your prospects are not very favorable. For though you may be right that he does not love her, she certainly loves him passionately.”

  “Oh well! That may be! “He exclaimed, angry with the truth that contained my saying. “But that can change too. The main thing is that she recognizes to which man she chained herself. Therefore one must create a literary position for her; once your ambition has been awakened, then everything else will follow automatically.”

  “Well, now you are master of your decisions.”

  In the meantime we had arrived at the Freiung, where the illuminated clock of the Schottenkirche pointed half an hour before midnight.

  “Will you still bump into a tramway car?” He asked coolly, obviously hurt by my dubious approval.

  “I suppose that's not too late. But at least I prefer to walk. The night is bright and pleasant.”

  “Well, then you live well! I'm turning back.”

  We parted pretty measured from each other; then, on the glare of the crescent, on which, across, stood a motionless, dark cloud-stripe, I made my way home.

  VI.

  The “novel of a woman” had indeed appeared. Frauenlob had won a young, up-and-coming bookseller, who hoped to find salvation in piquant articles and paid a relatively small fee. However, the success did not quite correspond to the excessive expectations of the two gentlemen; but it was after all a success that met almost entirely with my requirements. Initially ignored by the authoritative critics, the book found its way into the reading public and was praised by women, who lived in obvious or secretive misery, with a kind of personal sympathy. As a result, it gradually penetrated into literary circles; one tested, found what I found, and did not hold back with more or less restrictive recognition. So it came about that the author's name was mentioned several times, but she herself appeared here and there as an interesting phenomenon on the scene of the public. How far this changed everything in their previous life changing, remained unknown to me. For in my own circumstances a change had taken place which, having been prepared for a long time, had determined me to leave Vienna and choose another place of residence; I had left without seeing Elsa Röber again. Frauenlob, who had remarkably neglected me since that evening, was very cool and taciturn at parting, voicing the silent self-confidence of a man who, with proud reserve, merely lets the facts speak for themselves. that the name of the author was mentioned several times, but she herself appeared here and there as an interesting phenomenon on the scene of the public. How far this changed everything in their previous life changing, remained unknown to me. For in my own circumstances a change had taken place which, having been prepared for a long time, had determined me to leave Vienna and choose anot
her place of residence; I had left without seeing Elsa Röber again. Frauenlob, who had remarkably neglected me since that evening, was very cool and taciturn at parting, voicing the silent self-confidence of a man who, with proud reserve, merely lets the facts speak for themselves. that the name of the author was mentioned several times, but she herself appeared here and there as an interesting phenomenon on the scene of the public. How far this changed everything in their previous life changing, remained unknown to me. For in my own circumstances a change had taken place which, having been prepared for a long time, had determined me to leave Vienna and choose another place of residence; I had left without seeing Elsa Röber again. Frauenlob, who had remarkably neglected me since that evening, was very cool and taciturn at parting, voicing the silent self-confidence of a man who, with proud reserve, merely lets the facts speak for themselves. However, she herself appeared here and there as an interesting phenomenon on the scene of the public. How far this changed everything in their previous life changing, remained unknown to me. For in my own circumstances a change had taken place which, having been prepared for a long time, had determined me to leave Vienna and choose another place of residence; I had left without seeing Elsa Röber again. Frauenlob, who had remarkably neglected me since that evening, was very cool and taciturn at parting, voicing the silent self-confidence of a man who, with proud reserve, merely lets the facts speak for themselves. However, she herself appeared here and there as an interesting phenomenon on the scene of the public. How far this changed everything in their previous life changing, remained unknown to me. For in my own circumstances a change had taken place which, having been prepared for a long time, had determined me to leave Vienna and choose another place of residence; I had left without seeing Elsa Röber again. Frauenlob, who had remarkably neglected me since that evening, was very cool and taciturn at parting, voicing the silent self-confidence of a man who, with proud reserve, merely lets the facts speak for themselves. For in my own circumstances a change had taken place which, having been prepared for a long time, had determined me to leave Vienna and choose another place of residence; I had left without seeing Elsa Röber again. Frauenlob, who had remarkably neglected me since that evening, was very cool and taciturn at parting, voicing the silent self-confidence of a man who, with proud reserve, merely lets the facts speak for themselves. For in my own circumstances a change had taken place which, having been prepared for a long time, had determined me to leave Vienna and choose another place of residence; I had left without seeing Elsa Röber again. Frauenlob, who had remarkably neglected me since that evening, was very cool and taciturn at parting, voicing the silent self-confidence of a man who, with proud reserve, merely lets the facts speak for themselves.