"Were you at your uncle Petrovitsch's?"
He still made no answer beyond a shake of the head, and Franzl helped
both him and herself out of the difficulty by saying: "I have no more
time now. I must go into the garden to pick the beans for dinner. I
have engaged a woman to-day to help me dig potatoes; are you willing?"
"Certainly; only see that everything is done as it should be."
Lenz, too, went to his work, but could not fix his mind upon it. None
of his tools suited him. Even his father's file, which he was generally
so careful of, he threw roughly aside.
The Magic Flute began to play. "Who wound up the clock?" asked Lenz,
surprised.
"I did," said the apprentice.
Lenz was silent. He must expect everything to go on in its old way. The
world does not stand still because one heart has ceased to beat and
another longs to be at rest forever. He worked on more quietly. The
journeyman told of a young man in Triberg who had lately come home from
foreign parts and wanted to set up a manufactory of musical clocks in
the neighborhood.
I might sell out to him, thought Lenz, and be free to travel and see
the world. But the thought awoke no enthusiasm in him now; it was only
like the echo of what he had once desired. The very fact of his uncle's
having spread a report of his going, wishing thereby to compel him to
it, made him averse to the plan. He took his father's file once more in
his hand. The man who used this file, he thought, spent his life on
this spot, except for one short season of absence, and was happy. To be
sure he married young; that makes a difference.
Lenz's habit was, when he had business at the foundry on the other side
of the mountain, to send his apprentice. To-day he went himself, and
sat but a little while at his work after his return. Before the morning
hours were half over, he went down into the village and thence up the
meadow to Pilgrim's. His old friend was sitting at his easel, painting.
He got up, passed both hands through his long, lank, sandy hair, and
offered the right to Lenz, who began at once to thank him for the
joyful surprise his mother's picture had given him, as well as for his
friend's kindness in thinking of it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account