Debit and Credit: Translated from the German of Gustav FreytagFreytag, Gustav
General
Debit and Credit: Translated from the German of Gustav Freytag
Freytag, Gustav
German fiction -- Translations into English; Mercantile system -- Germany -- Fiction; Social classes -- Germany -- Fiction
And so Anton found an old friend; but Karl was not his only military
acquaintance. The captain was delighted with a countryman who had played
so bold a part against the insurgents. He introduced him to the colonel
who commanded the division. To him Anton had to tell his adventures, and
to receive high commendation from a large circle of epaulets; and the
following day the captain invited him to dinner, and introduced him to
the officers of his own squadron. Anton's modest composure made a
favorable impression upon them all. At home they would probably have
been restricted by their views of human greatness from becoming intimate
with a young merchant, but here in the camp they were themselves wiser
men than in the idle days of peace, their social prejudices were fewer,
and their recognition of others' deserts less impeded. Consequently,
they soon came to consider the young clerk as a "deuced good fellow,"
fell into the habit of calling him by his Christian name, and whenever
they were going to drink their coffee or to play a game of dominoes,
they invariably invited him to join them. An obscure tradition of large
means and mysterious relationship once more emerged from the abyss of
past years, but, to do the squadron justice, it was not this which
prompted their kind attentions to their countryman. Anton himself was
more exalted by this good fellowship with these noble lads than he would
have chosen to confess to himself or to Mr. Pix. He now enjoyed a free
intercourse with men of mark, and felt as if born to many enjoyments
which heretofore he had only contemplated with silent reverence from
afar. Old recollections began to reassert their sway, and he felt once
more drawn into the magic circle, where every thing appeared to him
free, bright, and beautiful. Lieutenant von Rothsattel belonged to the
number of Anton's friendly acquaintance. Our hero treated him with the
tenderest consideration, and the lieutenant, who was at bottom a
reckless, light-hearted, good-natured fellow, was readily pleased by
Anton's cordial admiration, and repaid him with peculiar confidence.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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