“Mein Gott!” she exclaimed. “But I have just prepared his bath! But I, Hiobe Lutz! This is the climax8. I met him wandering in the hall with his eyes half opened and seeming to look for something he could not find. He wore a pink dressing-gown with green facings, and his bare feet were not even in slippers9. I asked him if he were ill. He said, No, that he had no bath. It never occurred to him to walk downstairs and ask for his tub, nor even to call out of the window. But he looked so helpless, so young, that I—Himmel!—I ran downstairs and found for that giant baby his tub, which had been put in the shed. Then, accompanied by the daughter of the house, I carried it up to his room—then returned again with jugs10 of water, hot and cold! He thanked us ‘so much.’ Oh, he has the prettiest manners. They never fail. But myself, I shall have to cross the English Channel and pass those examinations for him.”
“You know you are devoted11 to him.”
“What is it?” asked Lutz with sudden suspicion. “Can it be this hypnotism they talk about?”
“Charm comes from the same root, I fancy. And then he really is helpless. How can people, even the rich and great, bring up a boy like that?”
Lutz nodded in sage12 disgust. “The aristocracy! Ach Gott! What will become of them when the next French Revolution, so to speak, comes? How they must have suffered, those poor pampered13 things! It was not the fear of death. That was nothing. Race can always meet downfall and death with an air—an air that sustains them within as without. But before the scaffold! When they had to dress, to wait on themselves!—to think! Ah, that was the tragedy. I feel sorry for these poor helpless aristocrats14; but no, I would not abolish the institution, because it gives to us humble15 bourgeois16 the savour that Europe furnishes for America! So, when I saw that poor helpless boy—who can talk like his grandfather—ach! I cannot understand him. He is made up of too many parts, contradictions, for my old brain. On the whole, I should like to spank17 him.”
Styr laughed and put the finishing touches to her costume of brown linen18, which looked simple and bucolic19, but had been cut in Paris, and, with a hat and veil as soft and rich in their shading as a pheasant’s wing, was no less artistic20 and becoming than the white frocks she put on for supper. A few moments later Ordham entered their common sitting room, fresh, smiling, unconscious of the comment he had inspired. He had quite forgotten the episode of the bath.
He shook hands with Countess Tann and Fr?ulein Lutz in his usual formal manner, his eyes beaming with pleasure as they always did upon entering the presence of his chosen friend, unless something had happened to put him out of temper. As he was so much more amiable21 and happy even than usual this morning, Styr suddenly understood how he must have missed his servant, although he had never referred to the man. He was feeling pleasantly cared for once more, even if he had ungratefully forgotten the author of his well-being22. No doubt the warm water for his bath had often failed to appear, and he had none of the national mania23 for “cold tubs.” From this time forth24, until he was safely deposited in the Legation once more, Lutz grimly made a nurse of herself. She not only saw to his bath, but she packed and unpacked25 his trunk, and discovering that many objects were mateless, divorced, of course, in the laundry, she wrote to Hines for a new supply. He accepted all these attentions with the most charming courtesy, but his lack of emphasis amused Styr, although poor Lutz took his polite acquiescence26 in her devotions as a matter of course.
Upon this morning he went at once out upon the little balcony where they were to breakfast, and murmured his delight, calling Styr to join him with an imperious motion of his head. They had arrived after dark and seen little of the long straggling village on the bank of its narrow stream. Their lodging27 was at the very end of the street, where the road branches to Ettal, and from the balcony they could see the romantic winding28 village in the narrow valley, above which towered a peak surmounted29 by a cross. There were mills with great wheels on the river, dilapidated bridges, peasants in costume, the usual church with its domed30 steeple high on its terrace, and surrounded by tombs. Even the roofs of the houses were picturesque, the women working in the narrow fields. On all sides, covering the mountains, was the forest, and over all a peace indescribable.
As they had brought their own coffee, and fruit was abundant, they enjoyed their breakfast even if the bread was sour and the butter ill-made; luxuries they had dismissed from their minds. When it was over, leaving Lutz to consult with their hostess, Margarethe and Ordham strolled through the village. Oberammergau resembled many other Bavarian and Tyrolean villages up to a certain point, and then its individuality began. On the plastered fa?ades of the pointed31 houses were beautiful religious frescoes32 as soft and mellow33 as those of Ghirlandajo, and in the church, larger and more graceful34 than many, were two hideous35 bedizened skeletons of saints. Protected by glass, and gorgeously arrayed, their awful skulls37 and hands, chemically preserved, seemed to cry out for the last act of death, which would grant them the dust and oblivion of the grave. The church was half full of men and women, dropped in for a casual prayer, and all dressed in the picturesque garb38 of Ober-Bayern, so rare these few years later.
Even the people of this village of the Passion Play are different from those of other villages. Bavarian peasants are kindly39, but these of Oberammergau have an exquisite40 and unfailing courtesy, and every child greets the stranger with “Grüss Gott,” and runs to kiss his hand. Although it would be several years before the next performance of the Passion Play, many of the men wore their hair long, for a religious drama of some sort is given every year. The very expression of these people indicated a superiority of intelligence and character. All hoped to be chosen, or rechosen, for the next great performance; and few in that village, where the light was as searching as ever was turned upon a throne, but cultivated the best that was in him. It is probably the only spot on Earth where Christianity is a working success.
Ordham and Margarethe lingered at the windows of the shops, admiring the wood carving41, and bought a number of crucifixes and religious groups for the servants at home. Finally, they sat down at a table outside one of the cafés, where the Christus of the last performance, who looked as much like Christ as any mortal can, was drinking beer and eating a large piece of black bread and Swiss cheese. Our friends listened for a few moments to his animated42 discussion with a neighbour upon the utility of damming the river, that it might do more good in summer and less harm in winter. When he had finished his repast he rose, bowed profoundly to the strangers, and sauntered off, followed by a troop of children that all hoped to be Christuses in their turn.
“I should think it must be a terrible strain,” said Ordham. “Surely human nature must break out occasionally.”
“No doubt it does. But these people are saturated43 with the spirit of the Passion Play, and so have their ancestors been before them—for three hundred years. They are not only moral but happy. The first time I came here, one young woman, whose histrionic talent was remarkable44, told me that she had refused two offers from Berlin managers because life would be a blank to her if she could not look out of her window every morning and see the cross on Kochel. This is the only community in the world which is consistent generation in and out to a high ideal.”
“I wonder if it is a haven45 of rest to outsiders,” said Ordham, who was staring at her after his habit, his cigarette cold. “Could you come here if your voice failed you; if, for any reason, you could not act—come here and find peace?”
Margarethe shook her head. “For a week—a fortnight. Then I should fly to the very centres of distraction46. This peace is not for the outsider. It is not sold in the shops with the crucifixes. It takes generations to make. Even if one brought here a peaceful, even a religious, mind, one would never feel quite the real thing. And yet I do not believe there is a self-righteous person in Oberammergau. Alas47! Our tête-à-tête is over. Here comes your grenadier.”
Ordham hastily lit a cigarette as his Lutz strode up, exclaiming: “Did you think to escape your lesson? We shall have it here. It shall be conversation and dictation.”
“The morning is so beautiful—you are going away?” Margarethe was opening her parasol.
“But yes,” said Lutz severely48. “Is her place here, to distract your sufficiently49 frivolous50 mind? Ask me a question.”
“Do you prefer chocolate or coffee?” he asked ingratiatingly.
“Chocolate, with thanks. But we are no longer in the Ollendorff stage or you would not be returning next month to England to face your destiny. I have thought of ten terrible questions, than which they can construct nothing more difficult, more ridiculous. I have brought pencil and paper. Write, while I drink the excellent chocolate.”
And Ordham groaned51 and resigned himself.
If Lutz was inexorable in her own province she was an irreproachable52 chaperon. They saw little of her save at meals, and wandered in the woods, or, here in Oberammergau, sat for hours beside the cross, high on Kochel, indulging in those long silences where ego’s wing-tips graze one another now and again. Often Ordham went frankly53 to sleep, and Styr forgot him, and dreamed of conquests in London and New York, such as Patti herself had never wrung54 from those blasé publics.
They went on to Berchtesgaden, that strange tumbled mass of peaks and ledges55 and rocky walls, with its bit of valley, its castle, its village dotted all over the scenery it cannot escape. They climbed to the glacier56, explored the salt mine, and spent hours on the great green lake, K?nigsee; which looks as if a mountain had been sliced through its middle, the high walls thrust apart, and waters, from some dark and sinister57 depths of Earth, depths where she prepared her demoniacal schemes to blast surfaces dear to man, had risen and covered the floor of the gorge36. It is a wild primeval landscape, suggestive of centuries of convulsions, perhaps that the end is not yet. But if the mountains were terrible, the lake gloomy, the monastery58 in the tiny valley was peaceful, and when they climbed into the recesses59 of these volcanic60 masses, they found the peasants, in the little dairy huts, very hospitable61 and friendly. But once, when they went out by moonlight, quite alone on the lake, the great dark expanse between its bare and menacing walls filled them with terror, and they took hands and ran home like children.
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1
detesting
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| v.憎恶，嫌恶，痛恨( detest的现在分词 ) | |
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picturesque
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| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
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leisurely
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| adj.悠闲的；从容的，慢慢的 | |
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sapphire
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| n.青玉，蓝宝石；adj.天蓝色的 | |
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alpine
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| adj.高山的；n.高山植物 | |
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lodged
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| v.存放( lodge的过去式和过去分词 )；暂住；埋入；（权利、权威等）归属 | |
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outskirts
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| n.郊外，郊区 | |
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climax
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| n.顶点；高潮；v.(使)达到顶点 | |
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slippers
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| n. 拖鞋 | |
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jugs
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| （有柄及小口的）水壶( jug的名词复数 ) | |
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devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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sage
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| n.圣人，哲人；adj.贤明的，明智的 | |
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pampered
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| adj.饮食过量的，饮食奢侈的v.纵容，宠，娇养( pamper的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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aristocrats
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| n.贵族( aristocrat的名词复数 ) | |
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humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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bourgeois
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| adj./n.追求物质享受的(人)；中产阶级分子 | |
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spank
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| v.打，拍打(在屁股上) | |
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linen
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| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
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19
bucolic
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| adj.乡村的；牧羊的 | |
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artistic
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| adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的 | |
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21
amiable
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| adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的 | |
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well-being
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| n.安康，安乐，幸福 | |
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mania
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| n.疯狂；躁狂症，狂热，癖好 | |
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24
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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unpacked
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| v.从（包裹等）中取出（所装的东西），打开行李取出( unpack的过去式和过去分词 )；拆包；解除…的负担；吐露（心事等） | |
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acquiescence
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| n.默许；顺从 | |
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lodging
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| n.寄宿，住所；(大学生的)校外宿舍 | |
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winding
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| n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈 | |
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29
surmounted
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| 战胜( surmount的过去式和过去分词 )； 克服（困难）； 居于…之上； 在…顶上 | |
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30
domed
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| adj. 圆屋顶的, 半球形的, 拱曲的 动词dome的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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frescoes
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| n.壁画( fresco的名词复数 )；温壁画技法，湿壁画 | |
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33
mellow
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| adj.柔和的；熟透的；v.变柔和；(使)成熟 | |
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graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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gorge
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| n.咽喉，胃，暴食，山峡；v.塞饱，狼吞虎咽地吃 | |
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37
skulls
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| 颅骨( skull的名词复数 )； 脑袋； 脑子； 脑瓜 | |
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38
garb
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| n.服装，装束 | |
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kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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40
exquisite
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| adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的 | |
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41
carving
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| n.雕刻品，雕花 | |
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42
animated
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| adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的 | |
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43
saturated
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| a.饱和的，充满的 | |
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44
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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haven
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| n.安全的地方，避难所，庇护所 | |
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46
distraction
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| n.精神涣散，精神不集中，消遣，娱乐 | |
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47
alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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48
severely
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| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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49
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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50
frivolous
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| adj.轻薄的；轻率的 | |
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51
groaned
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| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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52
irreproachable
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| adj.不可指责的，无过失的 | |
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53
frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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54
wrung
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| 绞( wring的过去式和过去分词 )； 握紧（尤指别人的手）； 把（湿衣服）拧干； 绞掉（水） | |
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55
ledges
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| n.（墙壁，悬崖等）突出的狭长部分( ledge的名词复数 )；（平窄的）壁架；横档；（尤指）窗台 | |
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56
glacier
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| n.冰川，冰河 | |
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57
sinister
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| adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的 | |
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monastery
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| n.修道院，僧院，寺院 | |
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59
recesses
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| n.壁凹( recess的名词复数 )；（工作或业务活动的）中止或暂停期间；学校的课间休息；某物内部的凹形空间v.把某物放在墙壁的凹处( recess的第三人称单数 )；将（墙）做成凹形，在（墙）上做壁龛；休息，休会，休庭 | |
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60
volcanic
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| adj.火山的；象火山的；由火山引起的 | |
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hospitable
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| adj.好客的；宽容的；有利的，适宜的 | |
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