Read Online Irretrievable by Theodor Fontane - Free Book Online Page B

drifting around for six months and now are only thinking of making up for lost time and throwing away all the money they have saved. Copenhagen is a town of drinking and pleasure.”
    Holk laughed. “Presumably including in your description the Thorwaldsen Museum, the Norse antiquities, St. Olaf’s Cross, and the Church of our Lady, with Christ and the twelve Apostles as well?”
    â€œOh Holk, what a question! You could easily make a longer list and of course I am not blind to all the lovely things to be found there. They are certainly a highly civilized people, very intelligent and talented, endowed in many, many ways. But if they have all the virtues of social intercourse, they have all its vices as well. They are all completely worldly; they have never had to worry or exert themselves and wealth and good fortune have just fallen into their laps. They have never known what it is to have a thrashing and that is what sets their whole tone and gives them their taste for pleasure. What is more, not content with merely drifting along with them, the court even sets the pace, instead of having the sense to realize that whoever wants to govern must first learn to control himself. But they don’t understand that, in Copenhagen, and even your Princess does not know it and least of all our good Baron Pentz who seems to imagine that the Tivoli pleasure gardens are one of the pillars of society. And he writes in that way, too. I cannot bear that tone and I feel bound to say that, in my view and with my upbringing, I think that it is heading straight for disaster.”
    Holk dissented. “Believe me, Christine, however much royal and less than royal junketing takes place, it is really not like Balthazar’s feast and the writing will not be on the wall for my dear friends from Copenhagen for a long time yet. But what shall I do about this summons from the Princess?”
    â€œObey it, of course. You are in her service and as long as you think fit to continue in it, you will continue to have certain duties that you have to fulfil. And in the present case, the sooner the better, at least in my view. I shouldn’t believe all that he says about there being no hurry and, in any case, I shouldn’t take advantage of it. I have always avoided having anything to do with courts and I have a horror of princesses, old or young, but I do know enough about the life there and its laws to realize that you cannot show too much deference and that there would be something rather improper about calmly accepting any liberties that you are offered. And then, even if you were to stay here, you would only be restless, and so should I, too—we all should be. So my advice to you is to leave tomorrow.”
    â€œYou’re right; that is the best thing to do, not to think about it too long. But you should come with me, Christine. Frau Hansen has a whole house to let over there, which is more room than we should need, and she is the best of landladies. And you would have the company of your friend Countess Schimmelmann and the daughter-in-law of our good friends the Brockdorffs and Helen Moltke. I mention those three because I know how much you like them. And then there are all the churches in Copenhagen, and Melbye is your favourite painter, and you have always had the greatest admiration for old Grundtvig the theologian.”
    The countess smiled and said: “Yes, Helmut, that is just like you. Only a moment ago we were talking about the children and our arrangements for them and you have already forgotten every word about it. One of us must be here to make sure that we do the right thing. I should like to know what is on your mind. Your memory seems to miss all the good grain and keep only the chaff. Forgive me, but I must speak the truth even if it seems a little harsh. I think that if my brother Alfred were to die, or perhaps someone even closer to you, and you happened to be going shooting, you would forget to go