“That’s settled, then. Thanks very much, Herr von Studmann,” said Frau von Prackwitz in her deep, even voice.
“It will cost you a heap of money to restore the barracks to its old condition,” declared the Geheimrat. “All this trellis-work and bolts must disappear as soon as possible, and the doorway be made free again.”
“Perhaps we could leave the place as it is for the moment,” suggested Studmann cautiously. “It would be a pity to tear everything out and have to put it back next year.”
“Next year? No detachment’s coming to Neulohe again!” announced the Geheimrat. “I have had about enough of your mother’s nervousness, Eva. Well, I’ll go up now and see how she is. All these green police coats will have cheered her up, of course! What an upset! And I keep asking myself what you’re going to do about your potatoes.” With this last thrust he left the office. The jealous father had taken a sufficient revenge for Studmann’s flush, for his daughter’s momentary embarrassment (perceived only by him), and for the accentuated indifference with which young Pagel was staring out of the window.
“Yes, what’s going to happen to our potatoes?” asked Frau von Prackwitz, looking doubtfully at Studmann.
“I don’t think that will offer any great difficulty,” said Studmann hurriedly, glad to have found something to talk about. “Unemployment and hunger are on the increase, and if we let it be known in the local town that we are digging potatoes, not paying cash, but giving ten or fifteen pounds in kind per hundredweight, we’ll get all the people we want. We shall have to send, two, three, perhaps four carts into town every morning to fetch the people and take them back at night, but we can manage that.”
“A nuisance—and expensive,” sighed Frau von Prackwitz. “Oh, if those convicts …”
“But far cheaper than if the potatoes are frozen. You, Pagel, won’t be a landed gentleman any longer. You will have to be in the fields all day and distribute tokens, one for every hundredweight.…”
“Thank Heaven!” said Pagel submissively.
“I have to be away tomorrow,” went on Studmann, “so I will also get a start on with this business—put an advertisement in the town paper, and settle things with the labor exchange.”
“You’re going away? Now, when the convicts … !” Frau von Prackwitz was very annoyed.
“Only a day in Frankfurt,” said Studmann. “Today is the twenty-ninth, you know.” Frau von Prackwitz didn’t understand. “The rent is due the day after tomorrow,” he added with emphasis. “I’ve already been in negotiation about it, but now it’s high time to scrape together the money. The dollar is a hundred and sixty million marks, and we shall have to raise an enormous amount—at any rate, an enormous amount of paper.”
“Rent! Rent! When convicts are loose in the district!” cried Frau Eva impatiently. “Did my father press for—?”
“Herr Geheimrat said nothing, but …”
“I am certain my father would not approve of your going off at this moment. In a way, you have taken over the job of protecting us.” She smiled.
“I shall be back by evening. In my opinion, the rent ought to be paid exactly on the minute. That is a point of honor with me.”
“Herr von Studmann! Papa loses nothing if he gets the rent a week later at the current dollar exchange. I will speak with him.”
“I don’t think the old gentleman will prove very amenable. You have just heard him demand that the harvesters’ barracks be immediately put into its former condition.”
“Anything might happen now, any minute!” pleaded Frau von Prackwitz. “Please, Herr von Studmann, don’t leave me alone now … I have such a disagreeable feeling.”
Herr von Studmann was embarrassed. For a moment he looked at Pagel, who was himself looking silently out of the window, but he immediately forgot about him again. “I would really like to say yes, but I’m sure you’ll understand; I don’t want to have to ask the Geheimrat for a postponement. It is really a point of honor. I took the management over from Prackwitz, and I am responsible to him. We are able to pay—I’ve gone into that thoroughly. I don’t want to look ridiculous. In life we have to be exact, punctual.…”
“Ridiculous!” cried Frau von Prackwitz angrily. “I tell you it’s the same to my father when we pay, since my husband’s not here. He’s only like that in order to annoy him. I tell you, when I think of the Villa, alone there with Vi and those stupid servants and the still more stupid Räder, and over five hundred yards to the nearest cottage.… Oh, it’s not that!” she exclaimed, irritated and surprised at meeting another Studmann and learning something at last of the drawbacks of pedantry and trustworthiness. “I have a disagreeable feeling, and I don’t want to be alone these next few days.”
“But you have nothing to fear,” declared Studmann, with that obstinate gentleness which can drive excited persons mad. “The gendarme officer is also of the opinion that the convicts have left the district. After all, an agreement is an agreement, especially among relatives. It must be carried out to the letter, and I am ultimately answerable for that. Prackwitz would rightly be able to reproach me—”
“The Rittmeister!” said Pagel in a low voice from the window. “He’s driving up to the farm now.”
“Who?” asked Studmann, dumbfounded.
“My husband? I thought he was shooting his five-hundredth rabbit!”
“Impossible!” said Studmann, yet in that moment he saw the Rittmeister getting out of a car.
“I had this uneasy feeling all day,” declared Frau von Prackwitz.
“Just what I thought,” said the Rittmeister entering, to shake hands, beaming, with the surprised trio. “A full council meeting once more to debate those quite insoluble problems my friend Studmann always solves in the end. Fine! Just as I thought; everything the same. Don’t pull such a face, Studmann. Your still unknown friend Schröck asks, by the way, to let you know you are, now as formerly, the right man for him. I’m good only to shoot rabbits. But, tell me, my dears, what are all the green frogs doing in Neulohe? I saw a whole section marching away into the woods. Is my father-in-law thinking of catching his poachers? That reminds me, I met our old Kniebusch this morning in the station at Frankfurt, quite broken up; his case is on today, about Bäumer.… So none of you, including my respected father-in-law, has been fretting himself much about the old chap. He might really have been spared that! Well, I shall have to get down to work again. And the gendarmes? Convicts have bolted? The gang’s withdrawn?” He laughed heartily, dropping into a chair. And the more he caught sight of the surprised, embarrassed faces, the more he laughed.
“But, my dears, you didn’t need to get rid of me for that. I could have committed such stupidities by myself. Magnificent. I suppose mother-in-law is shivering with fright as usual? And the young gentleman here doesn’t think of joining in the drive? Well, if I was your boss, Pagel, you’d have to go. It’s a question of honor; there ought to be someone at least from the estate. Otherwise they’ll think we’re afraid.…”
“Very good, sir,” said Pagel. “I’ll go.” And went.
“There!” beamed the Rittmeister. “Now he’s out of the way. The youngster can’t be always standing round here without lifting a hand; after all, he’s supposed to be working here. Well, children, now tell me your worries. You can’t imagine how fit and rested and restored I feel. Every day a pine-needle bath and ten hours’ sleep—that does one good! Now then, Studmann, out with the worst. What about the rent?”
“I am fetching the money tomorrow from Frankfurt,” replied Studmann without glancing at Frau von Prackwitz.
Strange. All of a sudden he no longer felt so pleased that he had had his way about that trip.