We abstained but loved each other none the less.
I would have done anything for Henriette. But we didn’t use the familiar form of ‘you’ in front of others.
She suggested that I should turn my attention to Margarete.
I then had much money. Surely I was worth much more than those young men who came to the house.
‘I don’t need money,’ I said.
‘You’re a foolish boy!’ said Henriette.
So we walked peaceably next to each other and arrived at the village. I ate cheese and sour milk and porridge that Henriette cooked for me. Porridge was usually eaten only by the sick and by new mothers. Before I went to sleep Henriette squeezed my hand.
It was just around that time, when Fredy’s engagement party was to take place and when Perlefter had returned home from his bold flight, that a rich and widowed farmer courted Henriette.
When Perlefter heard about it, he said, ‘We cannot and must not stand in the way of their happiness!’ Frau Perlefter began to cry. She even began to feel ill and took bromide. But this time Henriette stuck by her decision to marry. She was attracted by the large farm and the role she would play in her village.
It was ambition.
The Perlefter family decided that Henriette could go off immediately after Fredy’s official engagement.
But Fredy’s official engagement depended on the engagement of his sister. Henriette, meanwhile, worked on sewing her trousseau. Every Sunday she went to the village. She brought back milk, butter, radishes, sauer-kraut and country bread.
She looked almost like her mother did many years before. One had to look at Henriette’s face for a long time to realize that she was once pretty.
By this time Henriette had a pale yellow face. Neither the joy of surprise, nor heat from the kitchen, nor a winter’s storm and wind could turn her cheeks red. They were emaciated cheeks. Her forehead jutted out and shaded her face, and deep within, like bay windows, lay her triangular-shaped blue, pale and hard-looking eyes.
And yet I still loved Henriette, and every day I was ready to marry her just as she was with her strong bony hands and skin that was like leather.
When Perlefter found out about my love he took me for crazy. He was speechless.
Perlefter was already two weeks at home. But he was still recounting stories of his travels. If one should believe him he had journeyed across the entire world. Yes, he was even rich in new artistic impressions. He had visited museums and studied paintings.
He appreciated only the dimensions of a painting. Perlefter liked to say, ‘Colossal! Such a painting!’ He was actually only describing its size. His highest praise was ‘As large as the wall!’
He sought to discover how long the painter of such a work had worked on it. Since returning home from his travels he read the art news for two hours a day. One time he went to an auction. He brought back to the house a painting of a dark-green sea on which a boat with two sailors rocked. He hung the painting in the salon and showed it to all his guests. ‘When I’m weary,’ he said, ‘I place a chair in front of the painting, sit myself down and study it. I could look at it for hours. This is art!’
Meanwhile, his daughter Karoline, the one they called Line, was annoyed. Yes, she was bold and said, ‘You don’t understand anything, Father!’ Then Frau Perlefter began to weep. She could not tolerate it when someone was offended.
But Perlefter didn’t concern himself with his daughter’s criticism. He regarded her as the least worthy of his children. ‘If someone has studied,’ said Perlefter, quite correctly, ‘one knows what one wants. God knows what will come of this Line! Frau Kempen hasn’t been around?’
Exactly! Frau Kempen came after a few days. As a precaution she had a list with her, but with her glassy and blind eyes she could not decipher a single name and refused to wear glasses. Herr Perlefter took the list from her hand and read, ‘Albert Koch, officer of Goldlust and Co., thirty-five years old; John Mitterwald, born in America, very rich; Alex Warjuschin, from Moscow, fled from the Bolsheviks.’
Perlefter interrupted the list and said reproachfully, ‘Nothing but strangers! Nobody knows who their parents are! If I’m going to give my child to someone I must know who, what and how he is!’
‘First we should hear more!’ urged Frau Perlefter, for she was afraid that Frau Kempen would be offended.
But Frau Kempen once again knew nothing of the parents.
‘Come with very precise information,’ said Herr Perlefter. ‘You need to treat this like a business. If someone offers me something …’ At this point Perlefter broke off. He was embarrassed to admit that he looked at his sons-in-law from a business perspective.
However, Karoline had proceeded with a significant change. She dressed herself carefully, she wore flowers on her chest and flowers stood ever in her room in various drinking glasses that had disappeared from their normal place in the household. I watched as Line blossomed and was young again, and once I ran into her on the outskirts of the city where there was a decent railway station but also pretty meadows. She sat on a bench with a young man. She rose and asked me not to mention this.
‘Naturally!’ I said.
Then something surprising happened. Karoline gave me a kiss. Oh! If only she had given me this kiss when she still wore a braid and swayed her hips.
The young man was a poor chemist. He had one arm in a sling and had shoddy boots and a battered hat. He was certain he wanted to be an inventor. So Karoline went her own way. I later learned that they had a small apartment, Karoline and the young man. One day I was invited over to celebrate the birthday of the young man (his name was Rudolf). We sat, the three of us, and drank and ate moderate but festive things. A purple silk tie lay on the table wrapped in thin paper. Karoline had purchased it. Karoline and Rudolf kissed constantly. Rudolf had injuries on all his fingers — he was quite diligent in his experiments. He wanted to marry as soon as he succeeded with his invention.
But, after three months passed and still no success, Karoline took the household by surprise one peaceful evening, while everyone was shelling nuts and said, ‘I’m engaged to be married!’
A great confusion arose. Herr Perlefter pulled himself together first and said, ‘One shouldn’t make bad jokes about serious matters.’ Then Karoline started to cry, and it was the first time in her life that she wept like that, such that everyone could see and hear her.
Perlefter let a long time of pleading pass before he consented. For a few days there was a mournful air in the Perlefter house, as if someone had suddenly been snatched away from them.
Perlefter took the occasion of this mood to eat at the club. After a few days he said to Karoline, ‘Bring the young man!’ It was as if he had ordered her to bring him a nutcracker.
Ultimately, a poor chemist was better than nothing. Now Fredy’s engagement could also be officially announced. The young chemist was very depressed when in the family circles. He bowed to everyone and sat stiffly at the table like a schoolboy at his desk.
Nobody knew who his parents were either. Perlefter said to all his friends, ‘A quiet young man! He will certainly be a great inventor. One can also earn a lot with inventions.’
Thus Fredy’s engagement was celebrated, and the young chemist got a couple of new suits. The wounds on his fingers finally healed and did not reappear. Had he decided not to invent any more?
One party chased the other.
After some weeks it was Henriette’s turn. I accompanied her once again and this time had a heavy suitcase to carry. Henriette sobbed the whole way. I attended her wedding. I gave her a gramophone and was held in high esteem.
‘He’s like my own son!’ said Henriette.
I danced with her, and then we went outside to cool off. Henriette said, ‘When the old man dies, you’ll be my heir!’