All day long she sat in the window, absorbed in watching what was going on in the street beneath. Regiments1 of soldiers were constantly marching past, bands were playing, and flags flying from many of the opposite windows. Great forage-carts toiled2 up the hill, driven by soldiers; and Uhlans were for ever dashing up and down the street on their great tall horses, so that the points of their lances often seemed to come up to the very window at which she sat.
Going forth to War. Page 76.
But Violet was not afraid of them, for even in their haste they gave her often a nod as they went by. Many of the Uhlans were friends of her father's, and though she scarcely recognized some of them in their square caps, they knew her; and not a few, as they[Pg 77] rode quickly past and saw the white face in the window, felt a shiver at their heart as they asked themselves the question, "If John goes to the war, what is to happen to the child?"
But as yet the question was not decided4, and though Violet had heard through Kate some talk of the war, her heart lay still in an unsuspecting calm.
Once, as she saw a little child crying in the street below and holding on to its father's long military coat in an anguish5 of grief, she lifted her head suddenly and said to her father, who was busy making one of the wheels for her new carriage, "Thou art not a soldier, father?"
"No, darling, no, not at this moment."
"Thou wast a soldier once though, long ago, before Violet was born. Is it not so? Fritz has told me thou wert."
"Yes, a long time ago."
"And wert thou ever in a battle, father?"
"Yes, my sweetest treasure, in several; but we will not talk of battles. Thou hast not asked me all to-day about the carriage. I have got the springs home this morning from the blacksmith, and it will be so light when it is finished that even Fritz could draw thee about in it."
"How lovely to go up and down the street with[Pg 78] Fritz as Ella does, ever so fast down the hill, and ever so slow up. I am not so heavy as Ella, am I, father?"
"No, my poor little daughter, I am afraid not."
"And thou, father, some day, thou wilt6 take me in my carriage to the hill, and we will gather nuts and bring them home in my carriage; and every one will wonder when they see no one in the window. They will look up and they will say, 'Where is little Violet?' and they will never think that she is gone far, far away, to that hill which is so very far off."
The child's face was radiant; her eyes had turned to that deep purple hue7 which seemed always to match the shadows of her dress, and her cheeks had crimsoned8 with the thought of this new and wonderful life which was so soon to be hers.
Poor John put down his wheel and went over to his favourite seat on the broad sill beside her. He had purposely set her to talk on this theme, and now she was breaking his heart with her innocent raptures9.
"I am afraid father is a great idler," he said, putting his head down very softly against her shoulder. "I ought to be downstairs in my workshop now, instead of chattering10 nonsense to thee all day."
"But we were not talking nonsense, were we,[Pg 79] father? It is quite true about the carriage, is it not? it is not a fairy tale, father?"
"A fairy tale?"
"Fritz says—;" she paused.
"What does Fritz say?" John asked the question somewhat dreamily. He had been gazing at her earnestly for some minutes, and now he kissed her twice passionately11, as if without any apparent reason. "Thou art father's little treasure, his darling, his own sweet little maiden12," he said with almost a sob13 in his throat, "and thou must try and grow strong for father's sake."
Violet looked up a little shyly, and put her arms round his neck. "And thou art the best father in all the world—dear, dear father."
The old policeman, walking by in the street, saw the little maiden with her arms so tightly clasped round her father's neck; and he said to himself with a groan14, "Poor maiden! she knows it all now, and she would fain hold him back if she could;" and he walked on.
But Violet did not know it all, nor for many days did the truth dawn upon her. It fell to Fritz's lot, as usual, to be the one to proclaim the tidings.
It was one evening about a month after war had been proclaimed. It had been a very hot day, and[Pg 80] Violet was tired and weak, and not inclined to play or talk. She was leaning back against her pillows looking out at the pigeons, which always came at this hour of a summer's afternoon to sit and preen15 their feathers on the lantern-chain which hung high up across the street.
She knew these pigeons quite well; she had given them all names. She placed crumbs16 for them every day on the window-sill beside her chair, and she delighted to see their fussy17 ways, twirling round and cooing angrily, and trying to push each other off the sill so as to secure the larger share of the food.
But to-day she only watched them languidly. For the last three days neither Fritz nor Ella had called in to play with her. She had seen them in the street hanging on to the backs of the forage-waggons, and Fritz had once appeared in the window opposite with Ella's doll speared at the end of a lance, but seeing Violet beckoning18 to him to come across, he had shaken his head lugubriously19 and disappeared from her sight.
So Violet, whose back was aching and whose little heart sank easily under any depressing influence, was alternately watching her father putting some finishing touches to the hood20 of her new carriage, and gazing out languidly at the pigeons and the storks21 on the[Pg 81] red roofs, and the jackdaw in Fritz's window opposite, hopping22 everlastingly23 up and down from its perch24, and screaming out some words which the baker's boy had taught it with much trouble to say.
Beyond the roofs and between the fretted25 spire26 of the church she saw also the hill, looking so green and fresh in the golden evening air; and above it there was a pale green sky, flecked with amber27 clouds and little bars of red.
Violet sighed heavily, and John looked up from his work.
"Nothing, father, only I am so, so tired; and Fritz and Ella, they have not come to see me for so many days."
"Ah, I will call over there presently and send them across to thee. I have but one or two nails to put in this hood, and then thy carriage will be finished; that is good, is it not?"
"Delightful29!" cried Violet, raising herself up in her chair to see better the last finishing touches put to her new possession; but as she did so her eyes fell for a moment on the pavement opposite, where a soldier was just stopping at the Adlers' door with a bundle of papers in his hand, surrounded and followed by a large and excited crowd.
[Pg 82]
"What is it? father, come here. There is such a fuss in the street. A soldier has just gone in at the Adlers' house, and all the people are standing30 at their door, and one woman is crying."
"I am afraid a great many women and children will cry before this evening is over," said her father very gravely, as he rose and went over to the window.
"Why, father?"
"Because their husbands and fathers will have to go away from them to the war, and leave them. Yes; it is just as I thought. It is the orderly corporal leaving the names at the different houses. Whose turn will it be next?"
"But Fritz's father cannot be sent to the war; he is not a soldier, father?"
"We must all be soldiers, little one, when a war comes, and we are called out to fight."
"But thou, father, art not a soldier; thou saidst so to me thyself the other day. Father, dear father, turn round thy face to me. Tell Violet that thou wilt never be a soldier."
"I cannot tell Violet what she asks me," said John slowly, turning his face and speaking in a strained, thick voice. "If the king wants me to fight for God and the Fatherland, of course I must go."
[Pg 83]
"But he does not want thee; he has not sent for thee?"
"Not yet," he said, sitting down beside his little girl, and lifting up one of her hands tenderly; "but he may want me. And if he does, I must go; must I not, Violet? Father could not stay at home if his king called him. A brave soldier is always ready to fight for his country."
"But thou art not a soldier, father. The king has not called; and if he were to call for thee, I would not let thee go. For if father goes away to the war, and leaves Violet all alone, she must die! she must die! she must die!" Violet sobbed31, and rocked herself to and fro in her chair.
"There, there, my heart, thou must not say such things. The corporal has not called yet with father's name. Keep still, my lamb, and cease crying. Fritz will be here soon, and thou wilt see how brave he is. I will go over and call him," cried John, rising precipitately32. The corporal had come out of the Adlers' house, and was crossing over towards their own doorway33.
"Father, father, stay!" cried Violet. "I would rather have thee to sit with me than Fritz." She caught at his coat. "Come back to me! come back, come back!"
[Pg 84]
But he was already closing the door after him, and in a moment more she heard his footsteps hurrying down the stairs.
With eyes full of blinding tears, she turned quickly to see him emerge into the street beneath; but though she brushed them from her eyes, he was nowhere to be seen. She looked up at the windows opposite, but he was not there either—only she could see Fritz lying on his face on the floor, and Ella stooping caressingly34 over him, with her little white apron35 to her eyes.
The crowd was now gathered exactly under their own window, and Violet's heart beat so fast that at last she cried out loud in her misery36, and Kate opening the door came in.
"Kate, Kate, where is father?" she cried out anxiously.
"Father is busy talking to the corporal downstairs. He cannot come up just yet."
"The corporal!" screamed Violet passionately; "he is not coming to call my father to the war? Go down, Kate, to the door, and tell him he must not call him away. Father could not go to the war and leave me all alone."
"No, no; to be sure not," said Kate soothingly37. "Men with children have no business to go off fighting. I will tell him so when he comes up, and—[Pg 85] Ah, here comes Master Fritz, tearing across the street like a madman, and Miss Ella too."
"Shut the door!" screamed Violet. "I do not want to see Fritz; I do not want to see Ella: I want only father, only father to come back." But before Kate's stiff bones could bear her across the room, the door flew open and the children rushed in.
Fritz's cheeks were purple, his eyes were red, his blue-striped blouse was damp with tears. Ella tumbled in after him, her face also streaked38 and smeared39 from crying, and her pinafore hopelessly crumpled40.
"Hast thou heard the news, Violet?" screamed Fritz excitedly. "The Reserve has been called out, and father is to go to the war!"
"What is the Reserve?"
"Oh, all the soldiers who have been out fighting before, long ago. My father was in lots of battles before, and so was yours."
"My father is not in the Reserve?" cried Violet, leaning forward eagerly.
"Yes; of course he is. I saw the corporal put the same blue paper into his hand downstairs as he did into father's a few minutes ago."
"And he is to go away to the war?"
"Yes."
"When?"
[Pg 86]
"The day after to-morrow."
Then such a cry of bitter anguish burst from Violet's lips that Fritz and Ella absolutely stood aghast with terror. She struggled wildly to get free from her chair, and to push her little table away which held her a close prisoner—"Let me out! let me down, Fritz, Ella! I must find father.—Father, father, father!" till at last the bitter cry echoed through the room, the house, and out into the street.
Madam Adler opposite heard it, and thrust her fingers into her ears; the policeman walking past covered his eyes suddenly with his gloved hands; and John, saying farewell to the corporal in the hall, heard it also. In a few moments he was up the stairs, and held his darling close to his heart. Fritz and Ella speedily departed homewards, leaving the door wide open behind them. John rose and closed it, and he and Violet were left alone to their grief.
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1
regiments
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| （军队的）团( regiment的名词复数 )； 大量的人或物 | |
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2
toiled
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| 长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的过去式和过去分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉 | |
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3
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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4
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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5
anguish
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| n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼 | |
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6
wilt
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| v.(使)植物凋谢或枯萎；(指人)疲倦，衰弱 | |
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7
hue
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| n.色度；色调；样子 | |
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crimsoned
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| 变为深红色（crimson的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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9
raptures
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| 极度欢喜( rapture的名词复数 ) | |
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10
chattering
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| n. （机器振动发出的）咔嗒声，(鸟等)鸣，啁啾 adj. 喋喋不休的，啾啾声的 动词chatter的现在分词形式 | |
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11
passionately
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| ad.热烈地，激烈地 | |
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12
maiden
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| n.少女，处女；adj.未婚的，纯洁的，无经验的 | |
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13
sob
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| n.空间轨道的轰炸机；呜咽，哭泣 | |
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14
groan
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| vi./n.呻吟，抱怨；(发出)呻吟般的声音 | |
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15
preen
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| v.（人）打扮修饰 | |
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16
crumbs
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| int. (表示惊讶)哎呀 n. 碎屑 名词crumb的复数形式 | |
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17
fussy
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| adj.为琐事担忧的，过分装饰的，爱挑剔的 | |
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18
beckoning
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| adj.引诱人的，令人心动的v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的现在分词 ) | |
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19
lugubriously
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20
hood
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| n.头巾，兜帽，覆盖；v.罩上，以头巾覆盖 | |
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21
storks
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| n.鹳( stork的名词复数 ) | |
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22
hopping
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| n. 跳跃 动词hop的现在分词形式 | |
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23
everlastingly
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| 永久地，持久地 | |
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24
perch
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| n.栖木，高位，杆；v.栖息，就位，位于 | |
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25
fretted
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| 焦躁的，附有弦马的，腐蚀的 | |
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26
spire
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| n.(教堂)尖顶，尖塔，高点 | |
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27
amber
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| n.琥珀；琥珀色；adj.琥珀制的 | |
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28
ails
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| v.生病( ail的第三人称单数 )；感到不舒服；处境困难；境况不佳 | |
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29
delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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30
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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31
sobbed
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| 哭泣，啜泣( sob的过去式和过去分词 )； 哭诉，呜咽地说 | |
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32
precipitately
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| adv.猛进地 | |
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33
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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34
caressingly
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| 爱抚地，亲切地 | |
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35
apron
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| n.围裙；工作裙 | |
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36
misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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37
soothingly
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| adv.抚慰地，安慰地；镇痛地 | |
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38
streaked
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| adj.有条斑纹的，不安的v.快速移动( streak的过去式和过去分词 )；使布满条纹 | |
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39
smeared
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| 弄脏； 玷污； 涂抹； 擦上 | |
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40
crumpled
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| adj. 弯扭的, 变皱的 动词crumple的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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