United States or British Virgin Islands ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
It was the petroleum can, which he had freshly filled yesterday. And on whose advice? Who was it who came and said, "Father, father, for Jesus' sake, what do you want to do at Helenenthal?" And now, how much is there still in it? It is scarcely half full. As he unconsciously went on groping about, he came upon some boxes of matches which lay by the can.
There was one of the farm-servants who had been working almost the whole time at the Howdahs. His name was Michel Raudszus, and he came from Littau. He lived in a miserable hovel not far from Helenenthal, the walls of which were surrounded by piles of turf, so that the storms should not blow it down.
But Douglas seemed willing totally to ignore the ignominy he had suffered; he did not even demand the capital lent on mortgage. Paul's soul was overflowing with gratitude, and the less he found means to show it the deeper he felt the shame the more his unrest haunted him. So one night he again stood motionless at the garden fence of Helenenthal.
Then it seemed to him as if he saw Elsbeth's face vanishing in mist over his head, then it was night again round him.... At the first streak of dawn a sad procession went across the autumnal heath, on the way to Helenenthal. Two miserable wagons crept slowly, one behind the other. In them was found room for all that remained of the Haidehof.
Her old father let her alone. "She must cure him," he said, "so that I can question him." The gay cousin began to feel that his position was not an enviable one, and, after he had allowed his uncle to pay all his debts, left Helenenthal. Old Meyerhofer's body had been fetched by the twins the day after the fire.
Then he turned to the coachman, who, in his tasselled fur-cap, nodded haughtily from the box. "Is anybody from Helenenthal here?" he asked. "Yes; master and the young lady. They have come to fetch Mr. Meyerhofer." And directly after was heard from the steps, "Hey, holloa! there he is already Elsbeth, see! there he is already." Paul jumped up the steps, and the two men lay in each other's arms.
"It is difficult enough," he would say, when he had slept off his intoxication, "but I'll be even with the niggards! That Douglas, too, insolent fellow, shall pay for it. If I only knew how to tackle him. I will never enter Helenenthal again, were it only that I might not see how the fellow has neglected it for that he certainly has done and in town I never get sight of him.
Run to your room I will come in a moment." "And what a price it cost," he murmured, looking after them; then he gave a glance at Helenenthal, and went into the shed where "Black Susy" stood. "It is time that you should come back to life," he said, stroking her black body; "we shall have to work bravely, you and I, if we want to procure the dowry for the girls."
The village fire engine comes rattling along, the road to Helenenthal, too, becomes alive. Three, four times he rushes into the flames, the servants behind him, then he sinks down, fainting with pain, in the middle of the burning stables. A shriek, a piercing shriek from a woman, causes him to open his eyes once more.
"I must beg silence there," he said; "it is I who put the questions. On a repeated interruption I shall have you taken out of court. So, Mr. Paul Meyerhofer, what were you going to do in the garden of Helenenthal?" At the same moment there arose a fresh murmur in the background, and in the witness-box a circle formed itself around Elsbeth. "What is the matter over there?" asked the president.
Word Of The Day