Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Volume 22. July, 1878.Various
History
Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Volume 22. July, 1878.
Various
Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; Science -- Periodicals
obliged to doom him to disappointment. My mind was occupied with the
grave question of finance, and about how long I should be obliged to
remain in Baden before I should receive a remittance from London. I
remembered having seen the gentleman once or twice in the park at
Baden, and thought him, with his splendid eyes, graying hair and
military bearing, a man of no ordinary appearance. He had the air of a
person looking for some one, and the expression was sad. Under ordinary
circumstances I should have been curious to learn more of him. My
coolness of manner, accompanied by the almost rude brevity of my replies
to his few ventured remarks, seemed to amuse him, for he smilingly
observed that I was a true "Anglaise."
To be taken for English always aroused my honest indignation, and I
quickly retorted, "Pardon, mais je ne suis pas Anglaise."
"Vraiment! but you speak with the English accent."
"Quite possible, monsieur, as English is my mother tongue, but I am a
_vrai Americaine."_
"_Americaine! Americaine!_" he repeated eagerly. "I once knew an
American lady, and I should prize above all things some knowledge of
her. I hope I may have the honor--" A blast from the engine broke upon
his speech at that juncture: we were at Baden.
Hastily thanking him--for abroad one falls into the continental habit of
thanking people "mille fois" for what they do not do, as for what they
do do--and saying "Bon jour," I hurried off to the Bergstrasse. The next
morning I refunded my borrowed guldens to the master of the cafe by post
(as I had not placed my entire bank in my purse), and feeling
conscience-smitten at having, in my direst extremity, been befriended by
one of those "dreadful Austrians" whom I had so bitterly berated, I
hinted my amazement, along with my thanks, at having been the recipient
of so graceful and needed a courtesy from a Viennese. He acknowledged
the receipt of the money, adding, "I hope you do not take me for a
Viennese: I am a Bavarian, and have lived twelve years in England."
Among the occupants of the house and dwellers in the garden where I
lodged and lived was a young Austrian woman, two years married, with
whom I formed a pleasant acquaintance, and whose chatty ways rapidly
revived my knowledge of the German, in which language only she could
express herself. I shall not soon forget her, for she told me that she
married to please the "Eltern"--that she "had never loved," and was so
naive in her mode of reasoning as to prove a source of infinite
surprise. She had no conception of any destiny for a girl but that of
marriage, and never tired of asking about "American girls," whom I
described as oftentimes living and dying unmarried.
"And do not the parents force them to marry? And what do they do if not
marry? And when they get old, what becomes of them? And they are
_doctors_ even? Did you ever see a woman-doctor?" etc., etc., and
hundreds of similar questions.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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