amrie knew so well how to make herself at home in the house of john’s parents, that, on the second day, it seemed as though from her childhood she had grown up there. the old man clattered after her, and observed how handily and neatly she took hold of every thing, and how she finished her work without haste and without rest.
there are people, who, if they were to do the smallest thing, to fetch a plate or jug, they disturb the thoughts of all who are sitting near; they draw, as it were, all thoughts and glances after them. amrie, on the contrary, accomplished every thing so quietly, that she made others feel more at ease, and of course more grateful for all she did for them.
how often had the old farmer scolded, because, when salt was needed, some one had to get up from the table to fetch it! amrie, as soon as the table-cloth was spread, placed the salt-cellar upon the table. as the old farmer praised her for it, his wife said, smiling, “one would think that you now[261] for the first time began to live, that nothing had been salted for you before.” then john told them that amrie was called the salt duchess, and related the story of the king and his daughter.
they had now a happy life together in the house, in the farm-yard and in the fields. the farmer said he had not for years tasted food as good as that prepared by amrie. he wished for something three and four times a day, at quite unusual hours, and she was obliged to sit by and see him eat.
the mother took amrie with quiet and secret satisfaction into the milk-cellar and store-rooms; afterwards to a gayly painted press, full of napery and linen, and opening it said, “this is thy dowry. there is nothing wanting but the shoes. i rejoice that you have preserved all yours, for i have a peculiar superstition upon that subject.”
when amrie inquired how certain things had been hitherto conducted in the house, she nodded, and expressed her secret satisfaction only in the tone of her voice, while her content with amrie brought joy to her very heart. as she now gave over to her much of the housekeeping, she said, “child, i must say one thing; if any of the present arrangements do not please you, alter them according to your own judgment, for i am not one of those who think that every thing must remain as it has been, and that no improvement is possible. you have a free hand, and i shall rejoice[262] to see fresh aid to the farm; but if you will take my advice, it will be to do good by degrees.”
that was a happy state of things, when both mentally and bodily youthful strength went hand in hand with old preserved experience. at the same time amrie, from the bottom of her heart, declared that she found every thing in the house so ordered that she should be too happy, if in her old age she could give up the house in its present established order.
“you look far before you,” said the mother, “but that is well—those who look forward look also back, and you will not forget me when i am no longer here.”
messengers had been sent to the sons of the house, and to the sons-in-law and their families, to invite them to zusmarshofen on the next sunday, to consult upon family matters. since the sending of these messengers, the old man followed amrie continually, and seemed to have something on his mind which it was difficult for him to express. it is said that a buried treasure is guarded by a black monster, and that in the night of christmas, a blue flame appears above the spot where the treasure is buried, which only a sunday’s child can see; and he, only, when he can keep himself calm and pure, can raise the treasure.
one would scarcely believe that in old farmer landfried such a treasure was buried, guarded by[263] the two monsters, pride and contempt, and that amrie saw the blue hovering flame, and knew how to recover the buried treasure. it is difficult to say what influence had impelled the old man to that moral exertion, to appear in her eyes good and true minded; especially that he gave himself so much trouble to please a poor, portionless girl. to amrie it was clear that he was not willing his wife should appear as the just and loving one, and he bitter and severe, and especially as amrie before she knew him had said, “she believed he would not give himself the trouble to appear well before others.” this had opened his heart. whenever they were alone, he talked so much that it appeared as though his thoughts had been under lock and key, and were now for the first time opened. they were, indeed, like wonderful, old fashioned coins, old keepsakes, that would not pass now, that had been stamped upon extraordinary occasions. some of them were of pure silver, without alloy of copper. he could not bring out his treasures as easily as the mother, when she was talking with john. his speech was stiff in the joints, but he always had something to say; he even appeared to take amrie’s part against the mother. “look!” he would say, “my wife is as good as the day, but the day is not a week or a year. she is but a woman. with women it is always april weather; a woman is but half a man. that i will maintain, whatever comes of it.”
[264]“you give us splendid praise,” said amrie.
“yes, it is true,” said the old man, “though i say it to you. but, as i said, my wife is thoroughly good—almost too good—it displeases her if one does not immediately take her advice: she means so well that she thinks we do not know how good she is, if we do not imitate her. she cannot understand that the circumstances are unsuitable when we do not follow her. one thing remember; do things in your own way as you think right; that will please her. you will easily remark that she does not like to have one appear subject to her. should any thing happen to go wrong, do not complain to your husband; nothing can be worse, than that a man should stand between his mother and her daughter-in-law. and the mother says, ‘i am nothing now; my daughter-in-law governs; even one’s own children forsake one in her old days.’ and the daughter-in-law says, ‘now i know what you are; you let your wife be oppressed.’ i advise you if any thing of this kind happens, to tell me in secret, and i will help you. say nothing to your husband; he has been a little spoiled by his mother. only go on quietly, and come to me. i am your natural protector, and, indeed, related to you by a distant connection with your mother.”
he now sought to connect the different branches of his family, but he could not find the right threads, became tangled like a snarled skein[265] of yarn, and concluded with, “you may believe it upon my word, though i cannot reckon it aright.”
the time had come when he gave away, not merely false groschens from his hoards, but it gave him pleasure to part with good honest money.
one evening he called amrie to him and said, “look, my girl, you are brave and sensible, but you do not know what men are. my john, indeed, has a good heart, but it may yet sometimes vex him that you came to him with nothing of your own. here, take this, but let no living soul know from whence it came; say, that by your industry you have saved it. here, take it.” he put into her hand a stocking well filled with crown dollars, and added, “i intended he should first receive them after my death; but it is better so; he will have it now, and think it came from you. your whole history is so strange, so contrary to all probability, that it may well be possible that you possessed a secret treasure. do not forget that there are two and thirty crown dollars; they are each worth a groschen more than common dollars. lock it well up in the chest where you keep your linen, and take the key always with you. on sunday, when the relations of the family are all collected, shake them out upon the table.”
amrie took the stocking very reluctantly and said, “i am not willing to do this; if it is necessary, i think john is the person to receive this money.”
[266]“it is necessary. john, however, may take it; but still, conceal it quickly. i hear john coming. quick, wrap it in your apron. i believe john is jealous of me.”
they parted hastily from each other. the same evening the mother took amrie into the store-room, and brought an apparently heavy sack out of a trunk, and said, “pray untie that string for me.”
amrie found it very difficult. “wait, i will bring you the scissors; we will cut it.”
“no,” said amrie, “i would not willingly do that. have a little patience, i shall soon untie it.”
the mother smiled, while amrie, with skilful fingers, at length untied the hard knot. “that is brave,” she said; “now look and see what there is within it.”
amrie saw gold and silver coins, while the mother continued, “look, child, you have worked a miracle with the farmer. i cannot understand how it has been done, but you have not wholly converted him; he still repeats what a pity it is that you have nothing; and he believes that in secret you possess a pretty little fortune, and that you only conceal it from us to try us, and see if we will accept you with nothing. we will not speak of this, his secret thought; thus an idea has come into my mind which i trust is not sinful in the eye of god. look, these i have spared and saved in the six and thirty years we have lived together.[267] part of it is also an inheritance from my mother. now take it, and say it is your own; this will make the farmer happy—especially as he has suspected something of the kind. why do you look so confused? trust me, when i tell you that you can do it without the least injustice. i have examined it upon every side. now conceal it, and say not a word to the contrary. give me no thanks, not a single word, for it is all one, whether my child receives it now, or later, and it will give my husband a life-long joy. now, fasten it up again.”
early the next morning, amrie told john all that his parents had said, and all that they had given her.
john burst into a hearty laugh. “heaven forgive me,” he said, “of my mother i could easily believe this—but from my father! i could never have dreamed of such a thing. you are a true witch. the best of it is, that neither of them is to know what the other has done; each would deceive the other, and both are deceived, for each will believe that you really had in secret the money they each have given you. it is too good! it is enough to make one die with laughing!”
in the midst of all this joy, there was yet mingled much anxiety.
