LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume XX, Issue 1369, 5 July 1878, Page 3

LITERATURE.

THE COMET. {Concluded.) ' I mean that at dusk I saw Steffi running on the highroad to W . I wanted to stop him, but he would not hear. He yelled out something about the end of the world, and rushed on frantically. He snared me OUt of my wits' I was never so frightened in my life. The comet's advent couldn't startle me more.' 'Steffi gone!' moaned Blasl, wringing his hands. ' Steffi gone ; and his treasure ! Has he taken his treasure ?' They thought he was raving ; and he, fearing he had said too much, stopped abruptly. He threw himself upon his bed, crying and groaning. Then wildly starting up, he wailed out, ' Is it coming then friends ? is the end of the world coming ?' But they could not attend to him ; they were much too busy in observing ' something fiery' sweeping all across the sky. ' There—there!' They all left the room in a hurry, and even the schoolmaster followed, after having whispered a word in Maria's ear that made her heart beat high. ' Steffi, Steffi,thou haetfoi-Haken me ! What! have they all gone ? Oh, my poor child, we shall die alone, forsaken by all the world!' For the first time something like parental affection broke through the hard crust that had so long closed over the heart of the father. ' No, you are not alone,' said the schoolmaster, re-entering with Lenz ; ' your friends are staying with you. If we must die, we will die together.' Blasl caught hold of their hands ; it is hard v to say whether in hio agony he recognised Lenz or not. ' Slop with me,' he entreated ; ' midnight is coming on. Oh, do not forsake us!' Just then the old clock in the corner struck a quarter to twelve, and the schoolmaster said solemnly, 'Yes, Blasl, the hour is at hand; let us prepare for it. Bias], there is little left for you to make up for all the grief you caused your poor child.' Blasl stared at him in bewilderment. 'What can I do?' ' You will—won't you —give your daughter to this young man : she was and still is his promised wife, you know. Nothing could break their betrothal. Now, Blasl, say you will,' added he, shaking him by the arm to wake him out of his state of torpor. ' No, I won't," said Blasl, sitting down upon his bed and folding his arms in a determined manner. For some time the schoolmaster spoke to no purpose. At last r e pointed to the clock : ' One minute wanting ; now, let us prepare for the awful moment. Blasl, will ?' But Blasl shook his head. ' You won't ? —it's going to strike !' The clock began, and up started Blasl, groping as if in darkness, for the lovers' hands eagerly stretched out towards him. Joining them, he kept them in his grasp, calling out, ' I've done it—done it schoolmaster ; you see I have done it. God will be merciful to me for their sakes.' ' Declare,'urged Hcrr Schmitt, 'that you give your daughter Maria to Lorena Steiner to wife.' ' I do, I do !' cried. Blasl, shaking with the fever of anguish, and tightening his iron grip over their united hands. ' And these our friends and neighbours are witnesses,'said Her Schmitt solemnly, turning to those who had re-entered the room. 'We are witnesses,' echoed they. ' It is done,' examined the schoolmaster, with a sigh of relief, whilst Blasl sank back on his bgd, covering his face with his hands to shut out the coming crash. There was a solemn pause—— Nothing was to be heard—not a sound outside or inside the house for a long while. At last the peasants began to wonder amongst each other whether the clock could be right—whether midnight was past; but when the quarter struck they breathed more freely, and they gave expression to their opinion that die danger might bo over. The comet, might have pasaod the earth without touching it —

they had all felt its presence; it must have passed very close to them ; the ea,rth had had a narrow escape! Blasl raised his head and listened attentively to their words, which became more and cheerful as the hand of the clock neared the half hour. 'Why are you two there together?' cried he suddenly, as his eye fell on the young people, who stood at the window hand in hand. ' Ho, ho!' said the schoolmaster, stepping between him and the pair ; these two belong to each other : you cannot part them any more; you have given your daughter to be the wife of Lenz Steiner.' 'I have, have 1 ?' 'You have,' they all answered; 'and we are witnesses thereto.' 'Ah !' cried he, clapping his hands with a childish triumph, ' I have not said a word about the money ; she shan't have a penny.' ' mind,' said Lenz, in happy tones, Maria and I will work to live—won't we Maria ?—and never trouble you for money.' ' "We will,' replied Maria. Be kind to us, father; give us your blessing instead of money !' * * * # # In the little hut in the wood two poor lonely women had also watched for the comet: Lisbeth and her aunt. For Lisbetli was not drowned. The wind had carried off her kerchief as she crossed the bridge, and must have blown it into the river. She had merely left the village, which had become hateful to her, and found service at some distant farm. But when the rumours of the comet and the end of the world reached her, she felt pangs of remorse for having left her kind old relative without any warning: she must go home to comfort her. And so it came to 'pass that Lisbeth walked towards A on the evening of 12th of August, purposely choosing the time of dusk for her return. She was shocked and frightened at the fog which stretched over the low-lying ground near the river, but rather glad of it still, for it would help her to escape notice. Having come half-way across the bridge, she heard another step coming towards her from the other end, and soon she saw a tall figure advancing which she at once recognised to be—the very last person she would have wished to meet—Steffi ! Tremblingly she leant against the railing, giving him room to pass on the narrow planks, but he, suddenly perceiving her close before him, white and motionless, veiled by the fog, was seized with the terror of guilt. He fell back, and with the shrill cry, • The dead are rising! the end of the world is surely coming ! ' he ran away as if chased by fiends ; and was never seen again. Neither Steffi nor the comet was heard of any more. Who knows whether the comet, on meeting the earth, was not equally shocked, and jumping out of his route went straying into space ? At any rate, comet and Steffi had gone together, and no one wished for the return of either the one or the other. _ After Steffi had been away for some time his room was opened. Blasl, who had hovered about it, would be present, but to his great astonishment no treasure could be found. Three weeks after the terrible night the good old Pfarrer cried for joy when he married Lenz and Maria, who were both his special favourites. Maria did not carry a penny out of her father's house. She followed her husband to the farm, his present home, where she found employment, amongst the women ; it was not the life of a servant she led there, though ; they all respected her as rich Blael's daughter, and considered her volunteering in service a great condescension. Two years passed. Old Blasl's life had become more and more secluded, until no one ever saw him leave his house during the day, but in the night he had taken to carrying his treasure from place to place all over his garden, unburying and reburying it constantly. There was but one thing dawning on his clouded mind; the wish to hide the money so well that even after his death it should not be found by any one. When one day he suddenly died, the schoolmaster, who for Maria's sake had watched him, was able to show her, her husband, and the magistrates he had sent for, the place where he had seen him digging last. They found a vast amount of money—much more than they could have ever expected. They bought land, and Lorenz works on it after the schoolmaster's precept, and is getting on to have a model farm. Children's voices now ring through the new house which Lenz and Marie built on the height opposite the church and the old Pfarrhaus. Matjtb Obn.