menu_book Chapter 1

chapter i two worlds I will begin my story with an event of the time when I was ten or eleven years old and went to the Latin school of our little town. Much of the old-time fragrance is wafted back to me, but my sensations are not unmixed as I pass and review my memories. Dark streets and bright houses and towers, the striking of clocks and the features of men, comfortable and homely rooms, rooms full of secrecy and dread of ghosts.

I sense again the atmosphere of cozy warmth, of rabbits and servant girls, of household remedies and dried fruit. Two worlds passed there, one through the other. From two poles came forth day and night. The one world was my home, but it was even narrower than that, for it really comprised only my parents. this world was for the most part very well known to me it meant mother and father love and severity good example and school it was a world of subdued luster of clarity and cleanliness

here were tender friendly words washed hands clean clothes and good manners here the morning hymn was sung and christmas was kept in this world were straight lines and paths which led into the future. Here were duty and guilt, evil conscience and confession, pardon and good resolutions, love and adoration, Bible texts and wisdom. To this world our future had to belong. It had to be crystal pure, beautiful and well-ordered. The other world, however, began right in the midst of

our own household and was entirely different, had another odor, another manner of speech, and made different promises and demands in this second world were servant girls and workmen ghost stories and breath of scandal there was a gaily colored flood of monstrous tempting terrible enigmatical goings-on things such as the slaughterhouse and prison drunken men and scolding women cows in birth throes plunging horses tales of burglaries murders suicides all these beautiful

and dreadful wild and cruel things were round about in the next street in the next house policemen and tramps passed to and fro drunken men beat their wives crowds of young girls flowed out of factories in the evening old women were able to bewitch you and make you ill robbers dwelt in the wood incendiaries were rounded up by mounted policemen everywhere seethed and reeked this second passionate world everywhere except in our rooms where mother and father were

and that was a good thing it was wonderful that here in our house there were peace order and repose duty and a good conscience pardon and love and wonderful that there were also all the other things all that was loud and shrill sinister and violent yet from which one could escape with one bound to mother and the oddest thing was how closely the two worlds bordered each other how near they both were for instance our servant lena as she sat by the sitting room door at

evening prayers and sang the hymn with her bright voice her freshly washed hands laid on her smoothed out apron belonged absolutely to father and mother to us to what was bright and proper immediately after in the kitchen or in the woodshed when she was telling me the tale of the headless dwarf or when she quarreled with the women of the neighborhood in the little butcher's shop then she was another person belonged to the other world and was enveloped in mystery

it was the same with everything and everyone especially with myself to be sure i belonged to the bright respectable world i was my parents child but the other world was present in everything i saw and heard and i also lived in it although it was often strange and foreign to me although one had there regularly a bad conscience and anxiety sometimes i even liked to live in the forbidden world best, and often the homecoming into the brightness, however necessary and good

it might be, seemed almost like a return to something less beautiful, to something more uninteresting and desolate. At times I realized this, my aim in life was to grow up like my father and mother, as bright and pure, as systematic and superior. But the road to attainment was long. You had to go to school and study and pass tests and examinations. The road led past the other dark world and through it, and it was not improbable that

you would remain there and be buried in it. There were stories of prodigal sons to whom that had happened. I was passionately fond of reading them. There, the return home to father and to the respectable world was always so liberating and so sublime i quite felt that this alone was right and good and desirable but still that part

of the stories which dealt with the wicked and profligate was by far the most alluring and if one had been allowed to acknowledge it openly it was really often a great pity that the prodigal repented and was redeemed but one did not say that nor did one actually think it it was only present somehow or other as a presentiment or a possibility, down deep in one's feelings. When I pictured the devil to myself, I could quite well imagine him down below in the street,

openly or in disguise, or at an annual fair, or in the public house, but I could never imagine him with us at home. My sisters also belonged to the bright world. It often seemed to me that they approached more nearly to father and mother that they were better and nicer mannered than myself without so many faults they had their failings they were naughty but that did not seem to me to be deep-rooted it was not the same as for me for whom the contact with evil was strong

and painful and the dark world so much nearer my sisters like my parents were to be treated with regard and respect if you had had a quarrel with them your own conscience accused you afterwards as the wrongdoer and the cause of the squabble as the one who had to beg pardon for in opposing my sisters i offended my parents the representatives of goodness and law there were secrets which i would much sooner have shared with the most depraved street urchins than with my sisters

on good bright days when i had a good conscience it was often delightful to play with my sisters to be gentle and nice to them and to see myself under a halo of goodness that was how it must be if you were an angel that was the most sublime thing we knew to be an angel surrounded by sweet sounds and fragrance like christmas and happiness but oh how seldom were such days and hours perfect often when we were playing one of the nice harmless proper games i was so vehement and

impetuous and i so annoyed my sisters that we quarreled and were unhappy then when i was carried away by anger i did and said things the wickedness of which i felt deep and burning within me even while i was doing and saying them then came sad dark hours of remorse and contrition the painful moment when I begged pardon, then again a beam of light, a peaceful, grateful happiness without discord for minutes or hours. I used to go to the Latin school. The sons of the mayor and of the

head forester were in my class and sometimes used to come to our house. They were wild boys, but still they belonged to the world of goodness and of propriety. In spite of that, I had close relations with neighbors boys children of the public school whom in general we despised with one of these i must begin my story one half holiday i was little more than 10 at the time i went out with two boys of the neighborhood a public school boy of about 13 years joined our

party he was bigger than we were a coarse and robust fellow the son of a tailor his father was a drunkard and the whole family had a bad reputation i knew frank cromer well i was afraid of him and was very much displeased when he joined us he had already acquired manly ways and imitated the gate and manner of speech of the young factory hands under his leadership we stepped down to the bank of the stream and hid ourselves from the world under the first arch of the bridge the

little bank between the vaulted bridge wall and the sluggishly flowing water was composed of nothing but trash of broken china and garbage of twisted bundles of rusty iron wire and other rubbish you sometimes found there useful things we had to search the stretch under frank cromer's direction and show him what we found he then either kept it himself or threw it away into the water. He bid us note whether the things were of lead, brass, or tin. Everything we found of this

description he kept for himself, as well as an old horn comb. I felt very uneasy in his company, not because I knew that Father would have forbidden our playing together, had he known of it, but through fear of Frank himself. I was glad that he treated me like the others. He commanded and we obeyed. It seemed habitual to me, although that was the first time I was with him. At last we sat down. Frank spat into the water and looked like a full-grown man. He spat

through a gap in his teeth, directing the sputum in any direction he wished. He began a conversation and the boys vied with one another in bragging of schoolboy exploits and pranks. I was silent, and yet if i said nothing i was afraid of calling attention to myself and inciting cromer's anger against me my two comrades had from the beginning turned their backs on me and had sided with him i was a stranger among them and i felt my clothes and manner to be a provocation

it was impossible that frank should like me a latin school boy and the son of a gentleman and the other two i felt as soon as it came to the point would disown me and leave me in a lurch at last through mere fright i also began to relate a story i invented a long narration of theft of which i made myself the hero in a garden by the mill on the corner i recounted i had one night with the help of a friend stolen a whole sack of apples and those none of the ordinary sorts

but russets and golden pippins the very best in the danger of the moment i had recourse to the telling of this story which I invented easily and recounted readily. In order not to have to finish off immediately and so perhaps be led from bad to worse I gave full scope to my inventive powers. One of us I continued always had to stand sentinel while the other was throwing down apples from the tree and the sack had become so heavy that at last we had to open it again and

leave half the apples behind but we returned at the end of half an hour and took the rest away with us i hoped at the end to gain some little applause i had warmed to my work and had let myself go in my narration the two small boys waited quiet and expectant but frank cromer looked at me penetratingly through half closed eyes and asked me in a threatening tone is that true yes i said really and truly yes really and truly i asserted defiantly though inwardly i was

stifling through fear can you swear to it i was terribly frightened but i answered without hesitation yes then say i swear by god and all that's holy i said i swear by god and all that's holy. Agawan, said he and turned away. I thought that everything was now all right and was glad when he got up and made for the town. When we were on the bridge, I said timidly that I must go home now. Don't be in such a hurry, laughed Frank. We both go the same way. He dawdled on and I dared

not tear myself away, especially as he was actually taking the road to our house. As we arrived, I looked at the heavy brass knocker the sun on the window and the curtains in my mother's room and i breathed a sigh of relief home at last what a blessing it was to be at home again to return to the brightness and peace of the family circle as i quickly opened the door and slipped inside ready to shut it behind me frank cromer forced his way in as well he stood beside

me in the cool dark stone corridor which was only lighted from the courtyard held me by the arm and said softly not so fast you terrified i looked at him his grip on my arm was one of iron i tried to think what he had in his mind whether he was going to maltreat me i wondered if i should scream whether anyone would come down quickly enough to save me but i gave up the idea what's the matter i asked what do you want nothing much i only want to ask you something something the others needn't

hear well what do you want me to tell you i must go upstairs you know you know don't you whose orchard that is by the mill on the corner said frank softly no i don't know i think it's the millers frank had wound his arm around me and he drew me quite close to him so that i had to look up directly into his face. His look boded ill. He smiled maliciously, and his face was full of cruelty and power. Now, kid, I can tell you whose the garden is. I have known for a long time that

the apples had been stolen, and I also know that the man said he would give two marks to anyone who would tell him who stole the fruit. Good heavens, I exclaimed, but you won't tell him anything? I felt it was useless to appeal to his sense of honor. He came from the other world. For him, betrayal was no crime. I felt that for a certainty. In these matters, people from the other world were not like us. Say nothing? laughed Cromer. Look here, my friend. You think I am

minting money and can make two shilling pieces myself? I'm a poor chap, and I haven't got a rich father like yours, and when I get the chance of earning two shillings, I must take it. He might even give me more. Suddenly he let me go free. Our house no longer gave me an impression of peace and safety. The world fell to pieces around me. He would report me as a criminal. My father would be told perhaps even the police might come for me. The terror of utter chaos

menaced me. All that was ugly and dangerous was aligned against me. The fact that I had not stolen at all did not count in the least. I had sworn to it besides. Oh, dear. Oh, dear. I burst into tears. I felt I must buy myself off. Despairingly, I searched all my pockets, not an apple, not a penknife, absolutely nothing. All at once I thought of my watch. It was an old silver one, which wouldn't go. I wore it for no special reason. It came down to me from my grandmother.

I drew it out quickly. Cromer, I said, listen, you mustn't give me away. That wouldn't be nice of you. Look here, I'll give you my watch. I haven't anything else.

Worst luck. You can have it. It's a silver one. The mechanism is good. There is only one little thing wrong, that's all.

It needs repairing. He smiled and took the watch in his big hand. I looked at his hand and felt how coarse and hostile it was, how it grasped at my life and peace it's silver i said timidly i wouldn't give a star for your silver in your old watch he said with deep scorn get it repaired yourself but frank i exclaimed

quivering with fear lest he should go away wait a minute do take the watch it's really silver really and truly and i haven't got anything else he gave me a cold and scornful look very well then you know who I am going to, or I can tell the police. I know the sergeant very well. He turned to go. I held him back by the sleeve. I could not let that happen. I would much rather have died than bear all that would take place if he went away like that. Frank, I implored, hoarse with

emotion, please don't do anything silly. Tell me it's only a joke, isn't it? Oh yes, a joke, but it might cost you dear. Do tell me, Frank, what to do. I'll do anything. He examined me critically through his screwed-up eyes and laughed again. Don't be silly, he said with affected affability. You know as well as I do.

I've got the chance of earning a couple of marks, and I'm not such a rich fellow that I can afford to throw it away. You know that well enough. But you're rich. Why, you've even got a watch.

You need only give me just two marks, and everything will be all right. I understood his logic. But two marks? for me that was as much and just as unobtainable as ten as a hundred as a thousand marks i had no money there was a money box that my mother kept for me with a couple of ten and five fennec pieces

inside which i received from my uncle when he paid us a visit or from similar sources i had nothing else at that age i received no pocket money at all i have nothing i said sadly i have no money at all but i'll give you everything i have i've got a book about red indians and also soldiers and a compass i'll get that for you but cromer only screwed up his evil mouth and spat on the ground quit your joy he said commandingly you can keep your old trash yourself a compass

don't make me angry do you hear and hand over the money but i haven't any i never get money i can't help it very well then you'll bring me the two marks in the morning i shall wait for you in the market after school that's all if you don't bring any money look out yes but where shall i get it then good lord if i haven't any there's enough money in your house that's your business tomorrow after school then and i tell you if you don't bring it his eyes darted a terrible

look at me he spat again and vanished like a shadow i could not go upstairs my life was ruined chapter one part one two worlds