Diederich Schwarzkopf did not offer to shake hands with him. He merely
gave a jerky bow with the upper part of his heavy figure, that had an
air of saying: “This is the proper thing, I suppose.”
Herr Grünlich, with measured tread, passed between Morten and his
mother and went out the door.
CHAPTER XII
Thomas appeared with the Kröger calèche. The day was at hand.
The young man arrived at ten o’clock in the forenoon and took a bite
with the family in the living-room. They sat together as on the first
day, except that now summer was over; it was too cold and windy to sit
in the verandah; and--Morten was not there. He was in Göttingen. Tony
and he had not even been able to say good-bye. The Captain had stood
there and said, “Well, so that’s the end of that, eh!”
At eleven the brother and sister mounted into the wagon, where Tony’s
trunk was already fastened at the back. She was pale and shivered in
her soft autumn coat--from cold, weariness, excitement, and a grief
that now and then rose up suddenly and filled her breast with a painful
oppression. She kissed little Meta, pressed the house-wife’s hand, and
nodded to Herr Schwarzkopf when he said, “Well, you won’t forget us,
little Miss, will you? And no bad feeling, eh? And a safe journey and
best greetings to your honoured Father and the Frau Consul.” Then the
coach door slammed, the fat brown horses pulled at their traces, and
the three Schwarzkopfs waved their handkerchiefs.
Tony crooked her neck in the corner of the coach, in order to peer
out of the window. The sky was covered with white cloud-flakes; the
Trave broke into little waves that hurried before the wind. Now and
then drops of rain pattered against the glass. At the end of the front
people sat in the doors of their cottages and mended nets; barefoot
children came running to look curiously at the carriage. _They_ did not
have to go away!
As they left the last houses behind, Tony bent forward to look at the
light-house; then she leaned back and closed her tired and burning
eyes. She had hardly slept for excitement. She had risen early to
finish her packing, and discovered no desire for breakfast. There was a
dull taste in her mouth, and she felt so weak that she made no effort
to dry the slow, hot tears that kept rising every minute.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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