"I cannot deny it," said Arno, who had been an attentive listener as he
paced the room to and fro, and who now paused before his brother and
nodded assent. "I, too, have pondered upon what was to be done for
Celia. Something must be arranged for her further culture, but I have
vainly tried to devise what it shall be."
"And yet the matter is simple enough. Two methods are open to you. Let
my father choose which he prefers. The first, which I myself think the
best and would therefore most strongly recommend, is perhaps the one
that will prove least pleasing to my father. Frau von Adelung's school
in Dresden has the best of reputations, and Frau von Adelung herself is
a woman of refinement and culture, who moves in the first society. I
made an excursion to Dresden before I came hither, saw Frau von Adelung
myself, and spoke with her regarding Celia, whom she is quite willing
to receive among her pupils."
"Deuce take you for your pains!" cried the Freiherr, with a burst of
anger. "I know without being told that if I choose to pay for it the
best boarding-school in the country will be thankful to have my Celia,
but I tell you, once for all, I will not hear of it. I cannot part with
the child. Celia is my sunshine in this gloomy house. My heart rejoices
at the sight of her. The pain that tortures me is forgotten when I look
into her laughing eyes. I am a sick old man. You ought not to be so
cruel, Werner; leave me my jewel for the few years that I have to
live."
The Freiherr's tone from one of angry reproach had become that of
almost humble entreaty.
The Finanzrath nodded and smiled. "I hope you will rejoice for many
years in your jewel, and one day see her a happy wife and mother," he
said; and then continued: "If you will not part with Celia, she must
have the training here in Hohenwald which she could indeed procure more
easily at school; all that remains to be done is to engage a good
governess for her."
Arno suddenly paused in his pacing to and fro in the room.
"Impossible!" he exclaimed. "What are you thinking of, Werner? A
governess here in the house! Live with the pedantic, insufferable
creature day after day, week after week, and always have her
interfering between our Celia and ourselves! Our entire life would have
to be changed. If so pretentious a person were to come here she would
require to be amused; we should have visitors, and would be forced to
pay visits in return. The peaceful repose that has hitherto reigned in
Hohenwald would be gone if a strange inmate were introduced among us."
"Would you rather send Celia to school? I confess I should prefer it
myself."
"But I should not!" the old Freiherr exclaimed, with decision. "I do
not like womenfolk, but sooner than part with Celia I will endure a
governess in the house. After all, she will be only a superior sort of
servant. We get along with Frau Kaselitz, and we can get along with her
too!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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