Elective Affinities (30 page)

The women came back. Charlotte understood at once what was taking place. ‘I have heard a great deal about these things,’ she said, ‘but I have never seen them work. As you have everything so nicely prepared, let me try and see if it will succeed with me.’

She grasped the thread in her hand, and as she was taking the matter seriously she held it steadily and without agitation: but not the slightest oscillation was to be observed. Then Ottilie was persuaded to do it. She held the pendulum even more quietly, composedly and unselfconsciously over the metals lying below. But in a moment the suspended object was agitated as if in a definite vortex and turned now to this side, now to that, now in circles, now in ellipses, or swung back and forth in a straight line, according to which metals were placed beneath it. Only the nobleman’s companion could have expected this effect, and indeed even his expectations were surpassed.

The nobleman himself was somewhat taken aback, but his companion derived such pleasure from it he could not have enough and continued to ask for the experiments to be repeated and varied. Ottilie was kind enough to accede to his demands, until she finally had to beg him to release her because
her headache had started again. Amazed, even delighted at this, he assured her enthusiastically he would completely cure her of this malady if she would entrust herself to his treatment. There was a moment’s uncertainty; but Charlotte, who quickly grasped what was meant, refused this well-intentioned offer because she was not minded to allow something about which she had always felt strongly apprehensive.

The visitors had departed and, notwithstanding they had caused strange confusion in the house, left behind them the desire for a reunion. Charlotte now employed the fine days in completing her return visits in the neighbourhood and found she could hardly get through them, since throughout the whole region round everybody had, in part through genuine interest, in part through habit, been diligently concerned on her behalf. At home she was cheered by the sight of her child; he was indeed worthy of all the love and care you could give him. He was regarded as a little marvel, indeed a prodigy, and in size, proportions, strength and health a delight to behold; and what aroused even greater wonder and amazement was that twofold resemblance, which was growing ever more striking. In his features and figure he was coming ever more to resemble the Captain, his eyes were becoming ever less distinguishable from Ottilie’s.

Under the influence of this strange affinity, and perhaps even more of the fine feeling of women who can embrace with tender affection the child of the man they love even when the child is not their own, Ottilie became as good as a mother to the growing little creature, or rather she became another kind of mother. When Charlotte was away Ottilie stayed alone with the child and his nurse. Nanni, jealous of the child, upon whom alone her mistress seemed to be lavishing her affection, had for some time been sulking and keeping away, and had now returned to her parents. Ottilie continued to carry the child out for his airing, and had grown
accustomed to taking longer and longer walks. She took the feeding-bottle with her so as to feed the child if need be. She seldom neglected to take a book too; and thus, reading and walking, with the child on her arm, she made a wholly delightful
penserosa.

CHAPTER TWELVE

T
HE
main objective of the campaign had been achieved and Eduard decorated and honourably discharged. He at once betook himself to his little farm, where he found detailed news of his family, whom, without their knowing or noticing it, he had had closely watched. His quiet dwelling had a very welcoming appearance, for in his absence much had been arranged and improved according to his instructions, so that what the domain lacked in depth and breadth it made up for by what was immediately enjoyable within it.

Now become accustomed to greater decisiveness through a more impetuous mode of life, Eduard straightway resolved to put into effect a plan he had ample time to think over. Before all else he contacted the Major. Their joy at seeing one another again was great. Friendships of youth have, like affinities of blood, this considerable advantage, that errors and misunderstandings, of whatever kind they may be, can never do them any fundamental damage and after a certain time the old relationship is restored.

Eduard inquired how his friend was and learned how completely fortune had favoured his desires. With half-humorous familiarity Eduard then asked whether a happy marriage might not be in the offing. His friend denied it, and it was clear his denial was serious.

‘I cannot and I must not keep back what I have to say,’ Eduard went on: ‘I must tell you at once what it is I have in mind. You know of my passion for Ottilie and you have long realized it was on her account I plunged into the late campaign. I do not deny that I wanted to be rid of a life which, without her, was of no further use to me; only at the same time I must confess I could not bring myself to despair
utterly. To be happy with her was so fair, so desirable, it was impossible for me to renounce it altogether. So many comforting presentiments, so many happy omens had confirmed me in the belief, in the illusion, that Ottilie could become mine. A chalice inscribed with a monogram failed to be shattered when it was thrown into the air at the laying of the foundation-stone; it was caught up and was now again in my hands. “That is what shall happen to me too,” I cried to myself after so many irresolute hours in this solitary place, “I myself will, in place of this glass, become an omen whether our marriage is possible or not. I shall go out and seek death, not as a madman but as one who hopes to live. Ottilie shall be the prize for which I fight; she it shall be whom I hope to win and to conquer behind every enemy battle-line, in every entrenchment, in every beleagured fortress. I shall do wonders with the desire to be spared, that is to be spared losing Ottilie, but instead to win her. These feelings have inspired me and stood by me through every danger; but now too I feel as one who has achieved his goal, who has overcome every obstacle, who no longer has anything in his way. Ottilie is mine, and whatever still lies between this thought and its realization I can only regard as of no significance whatever.’

‘You are wiping out with a few strokes everything that could and should be said against you,’ the Major replied. ‘And yet these things must be said. I leave it to you to recall the true value of your relationship with your wife; you owe it to her and to yourself not to remain in any doubt about it. But when I think that you have been given a son, how can I help saying that you belong to one another for ever, that you owe it to this little creature to live together, so that together you may care for his education and his future well-being.’

‘It is a mere piece of parents’ self-conceit to imagine that their presence is so necessary to their children,’ Eduard replied. ‘All that lives finds nourishment and succour, and if a
son does not have so comfortable and favoured a childhood when his father is dead, perhaps he may for that very reason learn more quickly how to live in the world, by recognizing betimes that he has to get on with others, which is what we all have to learn sooner or later. And here, in fact, there is no question of that: we are rich enough to provide for several children, and it is by no means a duty or a kindness to heap so many good things on to one head.’

As the Major was trying to make clear as briefly as he could how worthy Charlotte was and how long she had meant something to Eduard, the latter broke in impetuously: ‘We committed an act of stupidity, and I can see all too well what it was. He who thinks to realize when he is older the hopes and desires of youth is always deceiving himself, for every decade of a man’s life possesses its own kind of happiness, its own hopes and prospects. Woe to the man whom circumstances or delusion constrain to reach back into the past or forward into the future. We committed an act of stupidity, but do we have to go on committing it for the rest of our lives? Are there any scruples of any kind which can compel us to renounce that which the customs of the age do not forbid us? In how many things of life does a man not go back on his intentions or his acts, and is that to be impossible here, precisely here, where it is a question not of a part but of the whole, not of this or that condition of life but of the whole life-complex itself!’

The Major did not fail to delineate to Eduard, in a fashion as skilful as it was emphatic, his ties with and obligations towards his wife, his family, his properties: but he did fail to arouse any sympathetic response.

‘All these things, my friend,’ Eduard replied, ‘passed before my soul in the midst of the tumult of battle, when the earth was trembling with continuous thunder, when the bullets were whistling about my ears, my comrades falling to left and right, when my horse was hit and my hat filled
with holes; they hovered before my eyes as I lay beside the quiet fire by night beneath the starry vault of heaven. Then all my ties and obligations stepped before my soul; I have thought them through and felt them through; I have settled my accounts with them, again and again, and now for ever.

‘At such moments – why should I not tell you this? – you too were present, you too are part of my life; and have we not both for so long been part of one another’s life? If I have got into your debt, I am now in a position to repay you with interest; if you have ever got into my debt, you are now able to make it good to me. I know you love Charlotte, and she deserves your love; I know she is not indifferent to you, and why should she not recognize your worth! Receive her from my hand! Lead me to Ottilie! And we shall be the happiest human beings on earth.’

‘It is just because the gifts you want to bribe me with are such great gifts that I must be the more cautious and the more severe,’ the Major replied. ‘This suggestion of yours, for which I have every respect, instead of making the thing easier only makes it more difficult. Formerly only you were involved, now I am involved too; and whereas it was your destiny that was in question, what is now also in question is the hitherto unblemished good name and honour of two men, who are now, as a consequence of this strange action – not to call it by any other name – in danger of appearing to the world in a very peculiar light.’

‘It is just because our name and honour are unblemished,’ Eduard replied, ‘that we have the right to risk blemishing them for once. He who has proved himself a safe man all his life can safely perform an act which, if done by others, would appear dubious. As for me, I feel the recent trials I have imposed upon myself and the difficult and dangerous deeds I have done for others justify me in now doing something for myself. As for you and Charlotte, your fate is a thing for the future; but neither you nor anyone else is going to keep
me from doing what I intend. If I am offered the hand of friendship, I am again ready to listen to any proposal; if I am left to my own devices, not to speak of being opposed, then there will be a crisis and I don’t care what the nature of it is.’

The Major regarded it as his duty to oppose Eduard’s proposal for as long as possible, and he now employed against his friend the shrewd tactic of pretending to acquiesce and speaking only of the formalities and routine by which this divorce and the subsequent unions were to be brought about. As he spoke of these things, so much that was unpleasant, difficult and unbecoming came to light that Eduard was put into the worst of moods.

‘I can see well enough,’ he exclaimed at last, ‘that it is not only from enemies but from friends too that you have to take what you want by force. What I want, what I cannot do without, I shall keep firmly in view; I shall take it, and soon and surely. I know well enough that such relationships as these cannot be dissolved and created without much that is firm falling, and much that would like to persist having to give way. Such things cannot be dealt with by thinking about them; before the bar of reason all rights are equal, and a counterweight can always be found for the light end of the scales. So resolve, my friend, to act on my behalf and your own, and for my sake and your own to disentangle this situation. Let no consideration deter you; we have already given the world something to talk about, we shall now give it something else to talk about, but then it will forget us as it forgets everything when it has ceased to be a novelty, and will let us go our way as best we can without taking any further interest in us.’

The Major now had no other recourse but to let Eduard treat the matter as something that was definitely going to happen, and allow him to discuss in detail how it was all going to be arranged and launch forth on the future in the merriest and even bantering fashion.

Then, serious and thoughtful again, Eduard went on: ‘If we were to recline in the hope and expectation that everything will work out of its own accord, that chance is going to favour and direct us, that would be criminal self-deception. That would certainly not be the way to save ourselves and restore us all to our peace of mind; and how could I ever console myself if we failed, since I am innocently to blame for it all! It was at my insistence that Charlotte took you into our house, and it was only as a result of this change that Ottilie too joined us. We are no longer in control of what has come of all this, but we are still capable of rendering it harmless and directing it to our own good. Even if you would like to turn your eyes away from the fair and friendly prospect I have opened up for us, if you would like to offer me, offer us all a sad renunciation, so far as you think that possible, so far as it would be possible, would there not also be much that is unbecoming, uncomfortable, annoying to endure if we proposed returning to our old way of life, without anything good or happy resulting from it? Would the happy position in which you find yourself at present give you any pleasure if you were prevented from visiting me, from joining your life to mine? And after what has happened it would always be painful. For all our wealth, Charlotte and I would be in a very sad situation. And if, with other men of the world, you like to think that separation and the passing years will dull these feelings and wipe away these lines so deep-engraven, well, these years of which you are thinking are precisely those we should like to spend, not in grief and renunciation, but in joy and comfort. And, to speak last of the most important consideration of all: even if we were able to bide our time and put up with all of this – what is to become of Ottilie, who would have to leave our house, do without our care, and drift about miserably in the infamously cold world! Paint for me a situation in which Ottilie could be happy without me, without us, and you will have uttered an
argument stronger than any other and one which, though I cannot believe it can be produced, I am quite ready to take into consideration.’