The Lover´s Stratagem
| Preis: | 16.95 EUR* (inkl. MWST zzgl. Versand - Preis kann jetzt höher sein!) |
| Versand: | 0.00 EUR Versandkostenfrei innerhalb von Deutschland |
| Partner: | buecher.de |
| Hersteller: | Forgotten Books (Carlen, Emilie Flygare) |
| Stand: | 2015-08-04 03:50:33 |
Produktbeschreibung
Excerpt from The Lover´s Stratagem: Or, the Two Suitors However much the feelings in mature years may be occupied with the present, yet it is seldom powerful enough exclusively to fix the thoughts; Memory always reverts to the past, while Hope seeks the future. - Sparre. On a cold, foggy, February morning a ragged boy, such as one often meets in the streets, hastened through a long, narrow, back street in the town of L. He stopped before a little insignificant house, drew forth a piece of paper, folded up, which he had hid in the fragments of his waistcoat-pocket, looked at it narrowly, and grumbled to himself - "I shall get nothing from him for this; he can neither pay for letters, nor indeed for any thing else. But he must get this scrap; I dare not do otherwise." Hereupon he entered the house, went through a long dark passage, and at last ascended a narrow, rickety staircase, which led to the second floor, and close by a low door, which was fastened by a wooden latch, he stopped. The lad knocked, and a deep, somewhat harsh bass voice answered from within with the usual "Come in!" But before we go further we will take the liberty of making our readers acquainted with this miserable dwelling, and the persons who inhabited it. It was a close, dark, and uncomfortable room, the gloomy appearance of which was much heightened by the window being entirely frozen over. Some dying embers glimmered in a stove composed of tiles, which had been formerly plastered with cement, but was now partly fallen in, and covered with smoke, and the whole bore the stamp of great poverty. In an antique arm-chair, whose gilt work and faded cover of gold brocade, contrasted strangely with the few wooden chairs and plain deal table, which, along with a most miserable bed, formed the whole furniture, set the post-inspector, William Von Spalden. This old relic of family furniture, as well as its occupier, seemed by some unfavorable caprice of Fate, to have been thrown into this wretched hovel. On the post-inspector´s wrinkled brow might be read the quiet of resignation, but at the same time one distinctly saw, that while his eyes were immovably fixed on the expiring embers, his thoughts were not in the present, but in the remembrance of past days; and as these silent images appeared more clear or gloomy, his figure swayed forward, or sank back into its former position. He was a tall, thin man, whose fiery dark eyes at times shot forth flashes, which seemed as though they could consume the objects they fell upon. His whole exterior showed that sorrow, more than years, had bent his frame and imprinted the stamp of premature old age on his pale countenance. At the corner of the stove sat his wife, a lady of middle age, on whose soft, mild features years and anxieties had made but slight impression, and had still left evident traces of a once unusual beauty. She industriously turned her spinning-wheel, which from the cold had become quite heavy, and moistened at times the thread with silent tears, when she thought of the days of sorrow and privation, which were yet perhaps to be struggled through, and over which no star of hope seemed to rise. During the silence which had followed after a previous conversation, the post-inspector got up, knocked his pipe with such force against the stove, that another piece of the cement came off, and said, in a violent tone: "It shall be as I have said, so not another word upon the subject." "In heaven´s name, then," answered the wife, with quiet resignation, "I have done what I could to persuade you, but it is in vain. Spare me at least the pain of informing poor Augusta of this last sacrifice. You will do it yourself, husband? I know how deeply it will grieve
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