"And what did Mistress do with you when she brought you home?"I asked.
His gaiety suddenly left him.He lifted one of his hands,and waved it to and fro gently in the air.
"You are too loud,David,"he said."All this part of it must be spoken softly--because all this part of it is beautiful,and kind,and good.
There was a picture in the room,of angels and their harps.I wish I had the angels and the harps to help me tell you about it.Fritz there came in with us,and called it a bedroom.I knew better than that;I called it Heaven.You see,I thought of the prison and the darkness and the cold and the chains and the straw--and I named it Heaven.You two may say what you please;Mistress said I was right."He closed his eyes with a luxurious sense of self-esteem,and appeared to absorb himself in his own thoughts.Fritz unintentionally roused him by continuing the story of Jack's introduction to the bedroom.
"Our little friend,"Fritz began confidentially,"did the strangest things when he found himself in his new room.It was a cold day;and he insisted on letting the fire out.Then he looked at the bedclothes,and--"Jack solemnly opened his eyes again,and stopped the narrative at that point.
"You are not the right person to speak of it,"he said."Nobody must speak of it but a person who understands me.You shan't be disappointed,David.I understand myself--_I'll_tell you about it.You saw what sort of place I lived in and slept in at the madhouse,didn't you?""I saw it,Jack--and I can never forget it."
"Now just think of my having a room,to begin with.And add,if you please,a fire--and a light--and a bed--and blankets and sheets and pillows--and clothes,splendid new clothes,for Me!And then ask yourself if any man could bear it,all pouring on him at once (not an hour after he had left Bedlam),without going clean out of his senses and screeching for joy?No,no.If I have a quality,it's profound common sense.Down Iwent on my knees before her again!'If you have any mercy on me,Mistress,let me have all this by a bit at a time.Upon my soul,I can't swallow it at once!'She understood me.We let the fire out--and surprised that deficient person,Fritz.A little of the Bedlam cold kept me nice and quiet.The bed that night if you like--but Heaven defend me from the blankets and the sheets and the pillows till I'm able to bear them!And as to putting on coat,waistcoat,and breeches,all together,the next morning--it was as much as I could do,when I saw myself in my breeches,to give the word of command in the voice of a gentleman--'Away with the rest of them!The shirt for to-morrow,the waistcoat for next day,and the coat--if I can bear the sight of it without screaming--the day after!'A gradual process,you see,David.And every morning Mistress helped me by saying the words she said in the carriage,'I believe in you,Jack.'You ask her,when she gets up,if I ever once frightened her,from the day when she took me home."He looked again,with undiminished resentment,at Fritz._"Now_do you understand what I did when I got into my new room?Is Fritz in the business,David?He'll want a deal of looking after if he is.Just step this way--I wish to speak to you."He got up again,and taking my arm with a look of great importance,led me a few steps away--but not far enough to be out of sight of my aunt's bell.
"I say,"he began,"I've heard they call this place Frankfort.Am Iright?"
"Quite right!"
"And there's a business here,like the business in London?""Certainly."
"And Mistress _is_Mistress here,like she is in London?""Yes."
"Very well,then,I want to know something.What about the Keys?"I looked at him,entirely at a loss to understand what this last question meant.He stamped his foot impatiently.
"Do you mean to say,David,you have never heard what situation I held in the London office?""Never,Jack!"
He drew himself up and folded his arms,and looked at me from the immeasurable height of his own superiority.
"I was Keeper of the Keys in London!"he announced."And what I want to know is--Am I to be Keeper of the Keys here?"It was now plain enough that my aunt--proceeding on the wise plan of always cultivating the poor creature's sense of responsibility--had given him some keys to take care of,and had put him on his honor to be worthy of his little trust.I could not doubt that she would find some means of humoring him in the same way at Frankfort.
"Wait till the bells rings,"I answered "and perhaps you will find the Keys waiting for you in Mistress'room."He rubbed his hands in delight."That's it!"he said."Let's keep watch on the bell."As he turned to go back again to his corner,Madame Fontaine's voice reached us from the top of the kitchen stairs.She was speaking to her daughter.Jack stopped directly and waited,looking round at the stairs.
"Where is the other person who came here with Mrs.Wagner?"the widow asked."A man with an odd English name.Do you know,Minna,if they have found a room for him?"She reached the lower stair as she spoke--advanced along the corridor--and discovered Jack Straw.In an instant,her languid indifferent manner disappeared.Her eyes opened wildly under their heavy lids.She stood motionless,like a woman petrified by surprise--perhaps by terror.
"Hans Grimm!"I heard her say to herself."God in heaven!what brings _him_here?"
CHAPTER XXIV
Almost instantaneously Madame Fontaine recovered her self-control.
"I really couldn't help feeling startled,"she said,explaining herself to Fritz and to me."The last time I saw this man,he was employed in a menial capacity at the University of Wurzburg.He left us one day,nobody knew why.And he suddenly appears again,without a word of warning,in this house."I looked at Jack.A smile of mischievous satisfaction was on his face.He apparently enjoyed startling Madame Fontaine.His expression changed instantly for the better,when Minna approached and spoke to him.
"Don't you remember me,Hans?"she said.