FRIENDS OF HIS YOUTH
155
things Up. But things have split the human heart!" He had jumped
up, but he remained standing at the table. "Clarisse!" he said. "He is
a menace to you! Look, Clarisse, there is nothing that everybody
needs so urgently today as simplicity, nearness to the earth, health–
and, yes, definitely, you can say whatever you like-a child too, be–
cause a child is what ties one firmly to the ground. All the things
VIo tells you are inhuman. I assure you, I
have
got the courage,
when I come home, simply to have my cup of coffee with you, and
listen to the birds, go for a bit of a walk, have a little chat with the
neighbors, and let the day fade out quietly. That is human life!"
The tenderness of his picture had slowly drawn him closer to
her. But as soon as from afar father-feelings raised their gentle bass
voice, Clarisse became stubborn. Her face shut down, while he came
nearer to her, and drew up lines of defense.
By the time he had reached her, he was radiating warm gentle–
ness like a good farm-house range. Clarisse swayed for a moment
in these rays. Then she said: "Nothing doing, my dear boy!" She
grabbed a piece of bread-and-cheese from the table and kissed him
quickly on the forehead. "I'm going out to see if there are any moths
about."
"But, Clarisse," Walter implored, "there aren't any more Lepi–
doptera at this time of the year!"
"Oh, you never can tell."
Nothing of her remained in the room but her laughter. With her
piece of bread-and-cheese she roamed through the meadows. The dis–
trict was safe, and she needed no escort. Walter's tenderness col–
lapsed like a souffle taken out of the oven too soon. He heaved a
deep sigh. Then, hesitantly, he sat down again at the piano and
struck a few notes. With or without his will, it turned into improvisa–
tions on themes from Wagner operas, and in the splashings of this
dissolutely swelling substance, which he had denied himself in the
days of his pride, his fingers waded and wallowed, gurgling through
the flood of sound. Let them hear it far and wide! His spinal cord
was paralyzed by the narcotic influence of this music, and his lot
gr.ew lighter:
(The Man Without Qualities
will be published zn June by
Coward-McCann, Inc.)
