They were separated from each other, the two friends, Louis and Leonard, who had come together in such faithful, enduring love. When Leonardus was alone, when he waved his last farewell to his friend, who had sailed to Plymouth with Fluit, he nowhere had a permanent place. He returned to Paris, found that he was not necessarily required in the diplomatic corps, and took further leave. On the straightest path he hurried to le Mans, where he again appeared as a merchant and completed some business, which then brought to his Amsterdam a friendly trading house to completion. Soon he started his search for Berthelmy – but they were and remain unsuccessful. He made [254]Acquaintance with the mayor, entertained and bestowed this to make him compliant, and this appointed him to the Mairie, where in his presence inquiries into the acts should be made. When Leonardus had arrived, the mayor, who had been buried among acts, after having invited the stranger to sit down, said: Citizens, you know the events of recent times. She was very bloody for the Vendée. I’m afraid there was not enough paper to write down the names of the many thousands the war strangled. Nobody lives in Le Mans anymore from the Berthelmy family. The man you are looking for is said to have remained, his wife went away, or disappeared in an enigmatic way, his parents are both dead, he has not had siblings. That he went with him,
Is it not possible to have it published in public papers? Leonardus asked.
Well, you could do that, replied the Maire: but it would not do much good. If the citizen, Etienne Berthelmy, still lived, he would have long ago returned here to receive his little inheritance; but if he really was alive, our newspapers would hardly reach him.
Could not he be declared dead?
No, citizen, for such an explanation the time of his absence is much too short. But why all this?
I am a relative of Berthelmy’s former wife; she has a chance to make another choice, and she does not want this until she is legally divorced from her husband.
The Maire smiled and said ironically: “This good woman seems to be a bad citizen, that she still has such outdated legal terms. When, on the thirteenth of December last year, General Marceau had fifteen thousand people shot in the same city on the same day, without regard to age and sex, to the glorious and indivisible Republic; we no longer have a church and no sacrament of marriage. The citizen Berthelmy is completely free to consider herself divorced and free when and who she wants.
[255] Angés Berthelmy is a German! Leonardus interjected.
Ah ok! the maire replied slowly. The Germans are still half barbarians, they still have many strange ideas and prejudices, but our glorious republic will make them happy in the same way as the Vendée has been made happy. If you are to be counseled, Citizen, then seek to get out of this country as soon as possible, for the infernal columns kill anyone who pushes them up and does not belong to them, he carries good and proper passports with them, belong to an embassy, or not. These columns are themselves an embassy – that of death.
Leonardus left with a despairing feeling in his heart. In a thousand dangers that threatened his life in a country ravaged and crushed by the bloodiest, most inhuman warfare, he had overthrown himself, and so completely fruitlessly, so in vain! What next? Should he visit Angés? And with what message could he come before her if he found her? There was still some hope in a time when every day was killing thousands, in which it was impossible to think of regulated conditions for a long time to find news of the life and death of a single man who had come out of nothing, in the great Stream of the unfortunate Vendee army had disappeared without a trace?
It became gloomy in such reflections in Leonardus otherwise so happy and bright mind, his heart was excited to a wildness, to a grudge against his fate, which almost confused his senses. He wished now that Berthelmy still wanted to live, would like to meet him alive, with weapons in his hand, he wanted to fight with him and wrestle with death and life for the possession of his beloved wife. But no Berthelmy approached him, nothing stood in his way, he could safely reach Paris again. But again he did not suffer there; everything seemed to him stale and colorless; only in the distance did the rosy cloud of his love, his longing, for him reach him, like the cloud embraced by the bold hero instead of the goddess. –
Windt had completed a letter to the imperial countess, whom he communicated to his wife before sending him off; Juliane loved [256] that she learned in this way some new thing that came into her husband’s life and they often immediately touched with, but to the special communication of her husband did not have time.
From day to day I have less time to write letters, said Windt to his wife: ah! It is a shame that you have not become a feather heroine, dear Jule, otherwise you would have to be my secretary, my Wippermann.
I’m glad, very happy, dear Windt, I’m very happy about it, I would have more to do! defended Mrs. Windt. Do not I have my hands full, and almost day and night?
You are right, dear old lady! soothed Windt. What we both go through here can never be remunerated. Our old lady, or our gracious old woman, has no idea how it is going here – well, I wrote it to her how the imperial ones got me out of bed in January and plundered me, where only by a miracle did I get out of bed Life came from it, as I had more than a hundred times bayonet and carabiner with drawn cocks on my chest, as they stole my last money, my laboriously saved a hundred ducats, which I designated for a well cure in Pyrmont, my two watches and my rifles. – Well cure! At the element! I can now enjoy the most beautiful, do not need to Pyrmont, because my wine, the villains have drunk me down to the last bottle! What do I need watches? Anyway, poor man, I know, how much it struck, and what about rifles, since I was completely defenseless?
Oh, just God, it was awful and pitiful, Windt! exclaimed Mrs. Juliane sobbing and moved by painful memory: how you left the castle as you went and stood.
To request a guard at the French general at Arnhem against these Walloon rude devils and rogues! supplemented Windt; and as I come to the gate of Arnhem, I hear that the city is not yet occupied by the French. I had slept in my clothes and boots for fourteen days, was dead tired, and had to haul myself to Wageningen in the company of a trumpeter to beg for French protection for the fort.
[257] Well, what did you write, and what does your writing help you, Windt? asked the housewife of the much-troubled and well-tested man, whose honesty and loyalty to the company consisted of all the fiery tests of the most penetrating experiences.
What will help my writing? Windt asked: nothing will help and nothing can help! But it is my duty. The old Excellency is still the master of this glory; she must be taught what her possessions are like. It is a misfortune to have castles on the Rhine at this time; I have seen everything coming through as it has come, have advised, have warned, all in vain, I was no counsel, I am only the steward, and man is always a fool, who gives a counsel, before such a one from him is required; I am always the stupid, good-natured fool.
Well, you are, Windt, that must be true, even if you are at times stubborn and short-tempered, his wife flattered him, opened a secret cupboard in the secure tower room that they now inhabited, and produced a bottle of old Port à Port out of it ,
Come on, dude, I’ve saved something, you should not drink the Doorwerther water, it tastes horrible and is cloudy like clay broth.
Is that a miracle, now, at the terrible flood? Wine too little and water too much. You are a gold grain, Jule! What would I be without your faithful help! cried Windt, had himself willingly poured, drank and began to read:
“Good luck, since I do not know if the post office is going back from Amsterdam to Hamburg, I’ll write to your Excellency that I’m still alive, and that I currently have a French guard in the fort. I have been met by the French generals and commanders with a philanthropy, a genuinely fraternal kindness, and in all my requests with a complacency which I can never boast enough of, nor the good order and discipline observed by the troops. I have gradually had seven French Sauvegards, sergeants, hussars, hunters, dragoons, cuirassiers, and can tell the truth that I bestow all upon their departure the best testimony. [258]could exhibit. But what I suffered before, always in the center of the mutual enemy outposts, during the battles in which I twice personally entered, when I went out seeking help, is indescribable and unbelievable. But I do not regret to have endured here, it would look miserable enough to Doorwerth otherwise. All those who have cowed from the local area and left their homes need not return to seek them, for they no longer find them. Nevertheless, my situation still remains dangerous and questionable. Things are going well in the cities, but in the flat country, to be so nearly alone in my unruly great fort, is a situation that not everyone carries out. The Republican vanguard arrived here on the seventeenth of January. The fate of the lord may well know excellency from the public papers, but I can say with certainty that in his misfortune he is fresh, cheerful, cheerful, and of good temperament-very good for him. As soon as possible I think to visit him, hope to speak to him and to learn how he stands. If Excellency knew how badly the emigrants were doing here, they closed their door to each of them. Had these people had so much heart to remain in their country and at their posts as I had done, I would not be as unhappy as I am now, all France and all who suffer under the pressure of the present times would be so Not.” that in his misfortune he is fresh, cheerful, cheerful and of good spirits – very good for him. As soon as possible I think to visit him, hope to speak to him and to learn how he stands. If Excellency knew how badly the emigrants were doing here, they closed their door to each of them. Had these people had so much heart to remain in their country and at their posts as I had done, I would not be as unhappy as I am now, all France and all who suffer under the pressure of the present times would be so Not.” that in his misfortune he is fresh, cheerful, cheerful and of good spirits – very good for him. As soon as possible I think to visit him, hope to speak to him and to learn how he stands. If Excellency knew how badly the emigrants were doing here, they closed their door to each of them. Had these people had so much heart to remain in their country and at their posts as I had done, I would not be as unhappy as I am now, all France and all who suffer under the pressure of the present times would be so Not.” how poorly the emigrants have done here, they closed their door to each of them. Had these people had so much heart to remain in their country and at their posts as I had done, I would not be as unhappy as I am now, all France and all who suffer under the pressure of the present times would be so Not.” how poorly the emigrants have done here, they closed their door to each of them. Had these people had so much heart to remain in their country and at their posts as I had done, I would not be as unhappy as I am now, all France and all who suffer under the pressure of the present times would be so Not.”
Windt! Windt! interrupted Mrs. Juliane. You should not have written that offended the Excellency. Do not you think that the Duke of la Tremouille, Prince Talmont, is her cousin?
If the dukes and princes of la Tremouille, Talmont, and whatever else they may have names for, replied Windt: not dreadfully and prematurely dodged, but acting differently, then the otherwise brave August Philip, Prince of Talmont, was truly brave had not been caught in December of the previous year and shot dead in the courtyard of his own castle. What I wrote to the old Excellency is always my righteous opinion, is the truth that she loves and that she does not blame me for. She called me once jokingly their “old soothsayer,” and I [259] replied Excellency’re quite right, I always say true and tell the truth, only a pity that your excellency my divinations not believe it when they are so gracious, my Truths not to resent.
After this interruption, Windt continued reading his letter: “In the future, I ask Excellency to write to me only at the address: Au Citoyen Windt à Doorwerth, franco Amsterdam. About Amsterdam is and will remain the best post office from Hamburg. Do not take your coat of arms for the Pettschaft, but about one with a motto, otherwise the post office throws the letter into the fire; A commission has been appointed in Amsterdam by the Municipality to which letters to Hamburg and Bremen must be delivered openly, so I enclose my letter to the address of the mother of the brave Dutchman Leonardus van der Valck, who was here with Count Ludwig Ask your Excellency to have me give you answers in this way too. Even the very Highly do not want to be surprised at the foolish address of this letter. One wants to give the name Doorwerth the name of a glory, Seigneurie”No longer, and as for your Excellency’s assertion that they are a Danish Countess, I wish you heard the remarks of the French generals. To them all this is null, there is no longer any respect for princes, counts, and lords, as in the dear German Reich, God forbid it before the Frankish kingdom! to say. It is very nice to me that the bill was honored on the twenty thousand marks banko; besides, Excellency can, for the sake of this matter, sleep soundly. They are still tied to nothing at the moment; the whole was a work of my perhaps exaggerated zealotry, I made in silence with the Lord, with the young Lord and with Mr. Leonardus van der Valck orally on faith and faith, to make money for your Excellency, because you needed it and you had to feed me emigrants immediately; It almost seems to me, and the flourish of your receipt suggests this, as if faith and fidelity were reckoned with the disreputable coins, with the Paduans, who nevertheless stood out as being outlawed in the Hochdero of a famous collection, and above [260] which Mr. Abbé Eckhel has written so much to you in Vienna. ”
Windt! Windt! For God’s sake! called the caring woman. You make it too bad, you insult!
Do not worry, it’s the truth! Windt calmed down, and went on reading: “It was as little demanded of a receipt as mine; All we wrote was the Obligation of the Lords for the fifty thousand gulden received on Varel. Your counselors, Excellency, do not seem to look at this thing from the right point of view, that is in the ignorance of your accounting department. These gentlemen calculate and reckon and thank God when their papers are full of numbers from top to bottom, but they do not realize that often the light of common sense emanates from them. But what good is it – time is out of joint, as Hamlet says; if ingratitude and misunderstanding could induce me to act differently from what I am doing, then, through your Excellency High Rhaethe, my zeal for service would have long ago become a barrier, then I would not have stayed here, and I would not have put my neck and neck, blood and life, good and I have to protect and shield your Excellency’s glory, so far only in one’s strength. Whoever here was from foreign officers, Englishmen, Dutch, Imperialists and now the Republicans, no one wanted to believe that I was only a servant, but everyone thought that I must definitely be the lord or heir of Doorwerth itself. All goods around the glory are totally devastated, Doorwerth alone is still in a tolerable condition. The line from the local border to Arnhem no longer looks the same; from Arnhem to Zuitphen no mouse can live anymore; all the beautiful avenues are overboard, none of the magnificent lime trees around the city stands more, The largest and most beautiful houses are horse stables or Lazarethe, the wood of the doors and furniture is burned. I have again had to deliver fifteen hundred rations of hay, I have six officers in the fort, two orderlies, a hussar. There is a company of volunteers in the village, in Helsum there are two, and thirteen hussars for the correspondence; in all other places of government there are thirty to one hundred and fifty men in each [261] home. After the terrible passage and billeting of the Allies, then all sorts of free corps, emigrant corps, ragged memory, then the speedy retreat on which whole columns came in at night, thereupon the violent, almost unbearable cold, then again the passage and billeting of the Northern Army, which was followed closely by the Sambre and Maas Army – after having taken all this and survived, I am now struggling with a water emergency that has not been experienced for a hundred years. I had bridges whipped in Helsum, for which I had a pair of scouring cut off to get wood, so that the army would only be able to continue, otherwise she would have stowed here, like a swelling weed, and eat us completely with skin and hair . ”
“I hope, and please, Excellency will now do something for me to safeguard my old days, and give me a reassurance of it, which corresponds to the feeling of humanity, equity, and righteousness that I trust Excellenz. Of course, I need a thorough cure in the summer if I am not to go completely down. At last I have to live again in another place, for here I can not and will not decide with my wife, who takes care of the landlord’s most trustworthy days, for my still granted days. Excellenz have the big house in Hamburg, have significant Allodialgüter, also construction and pastureland enough to provide an old truly loyal servant lifelong. A pension in money does not throw off Doorwerth, and I would have to thank for the local Rentmeister service. ”
»Today, the tree of liberty is planted under great celebrations at Arnhem; the city is so full of happiness that it wished to entertain the whole crew with wine; but the Commandant, General Lefebre, who is as clever as a brave man, has accepted the wine, but has appointed him to strengthen the sick and the wounded. Also around the glory, in Wageningen, Husum, Deventer, and also in Doesburg and Zuitphen, on Voorst, on Rhoon, and everywhere trees of liberty have been planted; Myself, I have it at the moment still omitted. As much as I understand laymen of forestry culture, trees that are found without roots [262]does not plant, but go to miserable ground, so such culture is not worth the cost and is a fruitless as well as fruitless effort, actually only a Holzfrevel. I beg you to tell my sister reassuring things about our local condition, my wife greets her in the best way. My sister is to write to my brother, Kammerrath Windt in Bückeburg, greet him and ask him to let me have news of his death. For the rest excellencies excuse the length of my letter, who knows when I will find time to report further, as it is always swarming with strangers around me. Always at your feet! Carl Heinrich Windt. ”
Always on my feet, you should write, dear Windt, said the brave housewife.
That’s me, that’s not what I need to write, that’s what old excellency can read between the lines, joked Windt.
Look, what comes back there for a knight of the sad shape through the water of the way to the castle? he interrupted himself, glancing down through the narrow tower-window at the causeway leading to the castle; He noticed a horseman, who in a nothing less than brilliant procession and by no means recommendable appearance, slowly gathered in, and now stopped in front of the drawbridge, to hand over to the watching guard a valid piece of paper justifying his request for enlistment.
Yes, what on earth is that? cried Windt, looking sharply and sharply. Does not my eye deceive me? How should I interpret that? Hurry, old lady! Put something on! Something Hamburg smoked meat, Westphalian ham, Edam cheese, fresh butter. Above all, cook a soup. And without waiting to see what his wife would say to his amazement and this swift arrangement, Windt hurried out of the tower chamber, hurried down the stairs in quick paces, and strode no less swiftly through the courtyard, toward the newly admitted rider who greeted him with a dull look, dismounted and sank into Windt’s arms.
Are you? Is it you or is it your spirit, Mr. Leonardus? Mr. Leonardus van der Valck?
[263] Well it’s me, today and tomorrow I am still, my dear, honest friend, Leonardus replied in an almost toneless voice: not for long and I am no longer, and then when you see a figure that resembles mine, that’s my mind.
For heaven’s sake, what must have happened to you? cried Windt, startled and astonished. You look very bad. But come up, rest, nurse! Your horse is taken care of, I recognized you right away, but I could not believe my eyes, did not think it was you who rode there.
Leonardus needed the support of his friend on the steps leading up to the tower room; he felt so weak and aggrieved, and when he greeted Windt’s talkative wife, both frightened and delighted, he sat for a few minutes, breathing deeply and slowly on an armchair His eyes closed, fainting, and he raised his hands to his face, as if wishing to obliterate all the memories of his recent past like a bad dream.
At that moment, a servant brought a newly arrived letter package from Amsterdam. Windt had been chosen by the friends as the mediator of their correspondence, and so he himself remained in constant knowledge of where they were. From Leonardus Windt had long received no message, Angés had written only once, thankful, and sent a valuable gift. She had happily reached the goal with the child, lived as her faithful nurse, as she wrote, in the most agreeable and desirable relationship, had bestowed cordial greetings on the friends, but did not name her whereabouts, “for greater safety,” she wrote. “Since this place as asylum is not my secret alone, as political considerations make it necessary to hide the child’s abode to the deepest. “If you want to write to them, may you use the company of your older house and insert letters in this inscription. Now Leonardus had come again and was able to receive firsthand the letters that had just arrived.
He recovered, enjoyed something, and, feeling a sense of infinite peace overcame him, he said, Oh, if only I had not left this lonely, dear sanctuary, I would be better off than I am now! My whole fare since the separation from you, my [264] dear friend, was nothing but a chain of pain and bitterness, and this separation has brought me with rapid steps to the goal of my days closer.
I do not want to hope? Windt asked with all the liveliness of his being.
You should know everything, if you want to tolerate me here again for a while, Leonardus said.
Want to tolerate? Are you not half and half the owner of this house and all this rule? cried Windt.
I need little, my dear, a small room, a camp, a small diet and rest, replied Leonardus.
Rooms and warehouses are to a sufficient extent to command, Mrs. Windt took the floor. The diet will be narrower than you would like, dear Herr van der Valck! And the rest, as far as these are concerned, there can only afford a little guarantee. You know how things are here, it has not changed since you left home with the young man. But if you want to be content with the highest room of this tower, you will perceive little of the noise in the house and in the courtyard; hopefully the time of the cannonades will not return.
I will accept with a thousandfold thanks what your kindness offers me, and may hope to recover at least something in you from me. Oh, you will complain if you learn what I experienced! Now I can not tell you, it shakes me too much. Let me read the friend’s letter, I hope his friendship will be a balm for me. Oh, how much my heart longs for news of him, how often I thought of him, if he had been by my side and perhaps the faithful Philip, everything would have become better.
Calm, rest, groom, consider this house as yours, without saying, it is my whole earnestness; They have the full right, Windt encouraged him. I will now go and look for business, and then return to hear from you how our young master is; So I just sent a letter to my wife to Count Ludwig’s grandmother; it will delight the high lady if I can add a favorable message to her darling [265] . You, dear lady, get everything necessary, as good as you can. –
Leonardus remained alone in the living room of Windt and his wife. How many times had he sat with his friend with these brave people in the same room when it was storming outside, as now? For a long time the meadows were under water, the village and castle as an island, the rivers: the Rhine, the Yssel, the Electorate and the Meuse had crossed their beds, even the dams were threatened; without a horse he could not have reached the castle, for in some places there were already considerable channels in the allée, which had formed the more and more pressing water, and every hour threatened to make them even larger.
Memories of the past passed through Leonardus Gemüth. Already a year and over had passed that he had found the friend, which wealth of experiences lay only in this one year! Here they had sat together, making plans for the future, the most beautiful of which was that Louis should acquire this rule with the help and means of his friend. He himself wanted to live in Rosendael in the beautiful mansion with its beautiful gardens and parking. What could not be done of all this, if the taste and the innate fondness of a nature-friendly man were creatively active here? Then Angés was to live with him, his dear, faithful, adored housewife; there, too, that child should unfold naturally, like the mysterious flower of the magnificent miracle flower, which the art gardeners call the Queen of the Night. Oh, that had been nice dreams!
Often the time was when their manifold changes had been discussed by the friends; opinions had been exchanged, not without vivacity, not without strife. Or, at times, the game of chess had also led thought to earnest contemplation, that meaningful “game of kings” with its ancient symbolism. All this was over, and Leonardus van der Valck was now in a different position and mood than he was then, alone in this cozy room. The wind shook the tower with violent blows, [266]and, with its whistling whirring, the murmur of the waters, which flooded all around the area, and out of which, as if by islands, the lonesome villages, farms, and castles stood out. Leonardus opened expectantly the letter of his dearest friend, to whom he consecrated on earth before him all his heart, to which he opened his heart, like no second, whom he loved with the most true fidelity.
Ludwig wrote: “My Leonardus! Since our separation in Amsterdam, I have experienced so much that I must save the most and best of the oral communication, for I can not possibly trust in this poor paper that goes through so many unskilled hands, which deeply grieves my heart and again full Joy moved, therefore take with these fleeting lines, which are to give you only an outline of the picture, which I will paint with bright colors, when we embrace again. I arrived safely at the port of Plymouth with my Philip, where our good flight did everything to accommodate me well, and to instruct me for the remainder of my journey. I traveled deeper into the country, rich and charming, adorned with high culture, park by park; I found everywhere already prepared good reception,
Well him, he found a heart, Leonardus interrupted himself in reading: so he will no longer look to indefinite distances with sinews and sinews, not to reach for the unreachable stars, he will pick the star flowers that bloom in the earthly Eden of his love!
“And yet, Leonardus! With this abundance of happiness, I can not and may no longer live in England, for once I forbid it the tenderest considerations, and then my concern for my still wavering health demands my return to the mainland. ”
[267]How – he loves, he prays, as this glowing language of his letter proclaims – and yet he wants to leave, for the most tender consideration? That is a riddle to me! Leonardus said to himself. – “The air here, as much as it is praised, is not wholly beneficial to my health, and as far as the sea-air is concerned, a more receptive sense than mine may belong to it perceive a diseased organism. I long for German air, it will never be more comfortable to me than in the German home. Unfortunately I still affront, in spite of all the happiest and most pleasurable emotions that have been felt in England, in London, and in all the glorious estates. I would like to, and well-meaning friends advise me to entrust this to a German doctor; I was called strong, which is a famous doctor in the small Saxon university town of Jena. In general, I always heard many good things from the little Saxon cities and farms; humane and educated princes govern their lands there; found, promote and maintain institutions of science and the arts; lay important collections for these purposes, and grant their instructive enjoyment and use to their people; while what the Dukes and Lords gather here is buried, as it were, and kept worse than the golden fleece of Colchis. I think it is very pleasant to travel to this heartland of the Holy Roman Empire, a realm of which we have no real idea. I hope I’ll be fine there again, and maybe I’ll find the inner peace that I still lack, even in the lap of happiness. Oh, How in England the restless striving and striving of the nobles for the attainment of political ends has depressed and unpleasantly affected me-even my cheerfulness suffered; what I long for, Leonardus, that is silence, that is loneliness, as the grandmother said to me at parting: believe that loneliness will grant miraculous hours. ”
