Courts and courtiers -- Fiction; German fiction -- Translations into English; Germany -- Fiction
At that time Delphinenort was far from ready, and the Spoelmanns at once
took possession of the first floor of the chief hotel, where a big,
haughty, paunch-bellied man in black, the steward or butler of the
Spoelmann establishment, who had preceded them, had made preparations
for them, and put the chamber-velocipede together with his own hands.
Every day, while Miss Imma with her Countess and Percy went for a ride
or a visit to some charitable institution, Mr. Spoelmann hung about his
house, superintending the work and giving orders, and when the end of
the year approached, just after the first snow had fallen, prospect
became fact, and the Spoelmanns took up their abode in Schloss
Delphinenort. Two motor cars (their arrival had been watched with
interest--splendid cars they were) bore the six members of the
party--Messrs. Phlebs and Slippers sat in the hinder one--driven by the
leather-clad chauffeurs, with servants in snow-white fur coats and
crossed arms beside them, in a few minutes from the hotel through the
City Gardens; and as the cars dashed along the noble chestnut avenue
which led to the drive, the urchins climbed up the high lamp-posts which
stood at all four corners of the big spa-basin, and waved their caps and
cheered....
So Spoelmann and his belongings settled down among us, and we basked in
the light of his presence. His white-and-gold livery was seen and known
in the city, just as the brown-and-gold Grand Ducal livery was seen and
known; the negro in scarlet plush who was doorkeeper at Delphinenort
soon became a popular figure, and when passers-by heard the subdued
rumble of Mr. Spoelmann's organ from the interior of the Schloss they
lifted a finger and said: "Hark, he's playing. That means that he's not
got colic for the moment."
Miss Imma was to be seen daily by the side of Countess Löwenjoul,
followed by a groom and with Percy capering round, riding, or driving a
smart four-in-hand through the City Gardens--while the servant who sat
on the back seat stood up from time to time, drew a long silver horn
from a leather sheath and wound a shrill warning of their approach; and
by getting up early one could see father and daughter every morning go
in a dark-red brougham, or, in fine weather, on foot through the park of
Schloss "Hermitage" to the Spa-Garden, in order to drink the waters.
Imma for her part, as already mentioned, again began a course of visits
to the benevolent institutions of the city, though she appeared not to
give up her studies for all that; for from the beginning of the
half-term she regularly attended the lectures of the Councillor
Klinghammer at the University--sat daily in a black dress with white
collar and cuffs among the young students in the lecture-theatre, and
drove her fountain-pen--with her fore-finger raised in the air, a trick
of hers when writing--over the pages of her notebook.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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