Short stories, German -- Translations into English
Europe, and giving him your address, so as not to seem to be running
away from him. Then I went on board, and at last reached your home.
Dixi!"
Warren, who during this long story had taken care to keep his pipe
alight, and had, moreover, nearly drained the bottle of port placed
before him, now declared himself ready to listen to his friend's
confession. But Hermann had been saddened by all he had heard, and was
in no humor for talking. He remarked that it was getting late, and
proposed to postpone any further conversation till the morrow.
Warren merely answered, "Very well," knocked the ashes out of his pipe,
shared out the remainder of the wine between his host and himself, and,
raising his glass, said, in a somewhat solemn tone, "To our youth,
Hermann!" After emptying his glass at one draught, he replaced it on
the table, and said complacently, "It is long since I have drunk with
so much pleasure; for this time I have not drunk to forgetfulness, but
to memory."
II.
Warren spent another week in Leipzig with his friend. No man was easier
to live with: to every suggestion of Hermann's he invariably answered,
"Very well;" and if Hermann proposed nothing, he was quite content to
remain seated in a comfortable arm-chair by the fireside, holding a
book which he scarcely looked at, and watching the long rolls of smoke
from his pipe. He disliked new acquaintances; nevertheless, the friends
to whom Hermann introduced him found in him a quiet, unobtrusive, and
well-informed companion. He pleased everybody. There was something
strange and yet attractive in his person; there was a "charm" about
him, people said. Hermann felt the attraction without being able to
define in what it consisted. Their former friendship had been renewed
unreservedly. The kind of fascination that Warren exercised over all
those who approached him often led Hermann to think that it was not
unlikely that in his youth he had inspired a real love in Ellen Gilmore.
One evening Hermann took his friend to the theatre, where a comic piece
was being performed. In his young days Warren had been very partial to
plays of that kind, and his joyous peals of laughter on such occasions
still rang in the ears of his friend. But the attempt was a complete
failure. Warren watched the performance without showing the slightest
interest, and never even smiled. During the opening scenes he listened
with attention, as though he were assisting at some performance of the
legitimate drama; then, as if he could not understand what was going on
before his eyes, he turned away with a wearied air and began looking at
the audience. When, at the close of the second act, Hermann proposed
that they should leave the house, he answered readily:
"Yes, let us go; all this seems very stupid--we will be much better at
home. There is a time for all things, and buffoonery suits me no
longer."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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