Volume I Part 26 (1/2)
”Who told you he has a Jew-beard? Nevertheless he has a beard; but pray hold your tongue about the Jews,--at least till you know hiht I diffidently, ”to talk to the old gentleman
If he is a Jew I shall know it, and it will be enough;” but I did not say so to Santonio, who did not appear to prize his lineage as I did the half of an to beat faster than fro orously upon another unseen door I heard no voice reply, but I concluded he did, as he deliberately turned the lock, and drew me immediately after him as I had shrunk behind him I need not have been afraid,--the rooht; that is, all tones which blended into it were dim, and its quaint nicety put every neorld notion out of the way for the tihtly trimmed, but not wax,--only slender wax ones beaan that took up the whole side of the rooining childhood lost in the clouds, indeed, for the roof of the roolittered black and white, and I was only too glad to be able to examine it as closely as I wished The room had no carpet, but I did not ht with polish, and its general effect was ebony, while that of the furniture was oak
There was a curious large closet in a corner, like another little room put away into this one; but what surprised me most was that the chamber was left to itself
”Where is he?” said Santonio, appealing to the silence; but then he seemed to be reminded, and shouted very loud in Ger since realized
”Aronach![13] where art thou?”
In Geran-pipes: ”I a an evil spirit; nor will I descend until I have packed the devil downstairs” At this instant, more at hand than the sound I had met upon the staircase, there was a wail as of a violin in pain; but I could not tell whether it was a fiddle or a child, until the wail, in continuing, shi+fted from semitone to sehed; then arose, having recovered hio and see after your boxes Keep yourself here till I come back; but if he coht”
He retired and I reood look One side of the room I had not yet exaed stools, fixed one into the other, and nearest thes It was covered with baize, and a pile of music-books reposed upon the baize, besides soer cases were on the floor beneath the harpsichord; there hung a talis ribbons of red
Then I fastened e wreaths of withered leaves that waved between thee As I stood beneath those pictures, those dead-brown garlands rustled as if ht breath had been the autumn wind I was stricken at once with melancholy and romance, but I understood not clearly the precise charm of those relics, or my melancholy would have lost itself in romance alone
There was one portrait of Bach I knew it again, though it was a worthier hint of hi of the same kind, which vividly fascinatedhead, al, over an oblong book, such in shape as those represented in pictures of literary cherubs The face waslocks could not conceal, though they strove to shadow; and in revenge, the hair swept back and tu into the very swell of the tender shoulder The countenance was of sun-bright witchery, lustrous as an elf of su out of a full-blown rose Tiny hands were doubled round the book, and the lips wore themselves a smile that seelets It was strange I was, though so unutterably drawn to it, in nothing reht it an ideal of the infant aze I looked away, expressly to have the delight of returning to it; and then I saw the stove and approved of it, instead ofand roseate fire-shi+ne
Indeed, the stove wasto my outlandish taste
Before I returned to the picture Santonio re-entered, and finding me still alone, took up a brooion, and, entle de, which was low, and which he could thus easily reach In about ten minutes more, I could feel, no less than hear, a footstep I did not know, for I anizant of footsteps This was cautious and slow, yet not heavy; and I are it could be none other than that of my master presumptive If I could have turned myself into a mustard-pot, to delay htest hesitation; but no! I remained myself, and he, all himself, opened the door and caentleer than Davy, with a firarment that wrapped about his feet, in color brown, that passed well into the atmosphere of his cave He confronted Santonio as if that wonder were a little girl in petticoats, with no more reverence and not less benevolence, for he laid one arland only very young and tender brothers embrace, or a son eether with condescension in his aspect; but when he turned upon me, both complaisance and condescension were overpast, and a lour of indifference clouded my very faculties as with a film of worldly fear Then he chuckedahether he examined me or not, so conveniently disposed were his black eye-lashes; and then he let ain, and turned his back upon me
”Sit!” said he to Santonio; and then he threw his hand behind hiroup of stools I nervously disentangled one and sat down upon it then and there by the side of the very harpsichord Santonio being also seated, and wearing, though as cool as usual, a less dominant aspect, the brisk demon marched to the bureau, which I had taken little heed of, under the , but which, upon his opening, I discovered to be full of all sorts of drawers and pigeon-holes, where a faa, without any apology, for some time, and only left off when a female servant, brilliant and stolid as a Dutch doll, threw the door open again to bring in supper
She carried both tureens and dishes, and went into the closet after bottles of wine and a tablecloth; and everything she did was very orderly, and done very quietly She spoke to Aronach, having arranged the table; and he arose, wiped his pen, and closed the bureau Then he came to Santonio, and addressed him in most beautiful clear Gerue
”I travelled very comfortably, thank you,” said Santonio, in reply to solad to see you younger than ever”
”Oh! h as hempen cloth It is _that_ make which frets itself threadbare,”--he pointed obviously at me
”What is to be done with hireed”
”Recollect my conditions I turn him out if he become ill”
”Oh! he is very well indeed; they are all pale in England, they have no sun”
”_Be_ well then!” said Aronach, threateningly, yet not terrifyingly, ”and _keep_ well!”
What a silvery stream swept over his shi+rt-bosoht I--”how beautiful ht still touched me, when in came a boy in a blouse, and I heard no h the wail still caone This boy was tall and slender, and his face, though he had an elegant head, was too for for hty self-content; but there was no real pride in his bearing, and no reserve His hands were large, but very well articulated and extremely white; there was no spirit in them, and no spirituality in his aspect He took no notice of me, except to curl his upper lip--which was not short, and which a curl did not become--as he lifted a second stool and carried it up to the table; nor did he wait to be asked to sit down upon it, and having done so, to smooth his hair off his forehead and lean his elbows upon the table Then Aronach took a chair, and admonished Santonio to do the same The latter ly so, and began to help hientleman upon the stool was just about to lift the cover from the tureen in the sarandly upon him said, or rather muttered, ”Where are thy uests? See to thy companion there, who is wearier than thou, and yet he waits Go and bring hihter”
”So I will,” responded the blouse, with assurance; and leaving his stool abruptly, he ran into the closet aforeht back a kitten, which as he held it by the nape of its neck cahly to the floor, set up a squeak Now the wrath of Aronach appeared too profound for utterance Raising his deep-set but lightsoave the ih in the lion's den Then, ladling three or four spoonfuls of soup or broth into a plate, he set the plate upon the floor and the kitten at it, so seriously, that I dared not laugh The kitten,meats, for it was not a week-old e lamentations of another cat in the closet, its maternal parent The blouse never stirred an inch, save carelessly to sneer over his shoulder at me; and I never loved hinificantly, as to say, ”Come here!” and I came and planted my stool at his side
Aronach took no notice, but went on pouring coffee, one cup of which he set by the kitten Again she piteously s it even worse than the broth, she crept up to the closet-door and smelled at that
”Go up!” said Aronach, to the blouse, ”and send Burney to his supper
He shall have the cat's supper, as thou hast given thine to the cat”