King Copethua's Wife, Chapters XIII-XIV [pp. 292-299]

King Cophetua's Wife.
KING COPHETUA'S WIFE.
CHAPTER XIII.
"A shining isle in a stormy sea,
WVe seek it ever with smiles and sighs;
To-day is sad. In the bland to-be,
Serene and lovely to-morrow lies.
"It mocked us, the beautiful yesterday,
It left us poorer. 0, never mind!
In the fair to-morrow, far away,
It waits the joy that we failed to find."
IN the spring I went to Germany. There
was need of a change in my abiding place,
for I was growing rapidly nervous and
morose, and each day in Boston or New
York hung over me like a cloud that hid
some lurking horror behin'd it. I could not
sleep at night, and I could not work in the
daytime. So I covered up my manuscripts,
laid away my little household treasures, took
the doctor's advice that chimed in tune
with my own wish, and started for Germany.
I had said good by to all my friends
either personally or by letter, yet there was
quite a gathering of these good people to
see me off; and when we steamed out of
the harbor I was glad enough to get down
into my stateroom, where there was scarcely
room to turn around in, so many flowers
had been placed there. Those who send
bouquets and baskets and wreaths of fragrant blossoms to a person about to take
a sea-voyage are very kind, but I wonder if
they realize how sickening the smell of
flowers can become. I ordered these all
taken out and thrown overboard, and much
gratitude went with them; almost as much
that they were out of my sight and smell as
that any friends had been good enough to
remember me. Had the flowers been
changed into fruit, I think that I should
have been glad to keep them in my room.
With a great deal of outward bravery and
inward trembling I went to.my first dinner
on board. A man sitting opposite me ordered a glass of brandy and seltzer before
he touched his soup, and as he had spoken
of having "been across" a dozen times, I
thought he must know the proper thing to
do, and followed his order. Oh, how I suffered for the imitation!
In a couple of days, however, I was able to
go to the smoke-room, and play at "nap"
or whist, and burn my cigars with the
stoutest seafarer. Meeting the gentleman
whose call for brandy and seltzer I had so
disastrously followed, I related my experience.
"O, that is my ordinary custom at home
or abroad," he replied. "If you had not
followed my example no doubt you would
have kept on your legs. It's the worst of
drinks for a man unaccustomed to sea-voyages."
We landed at Hamburg, and I realized at
once that I was abroad. Hardly had I become accustomed to my hotel, however,
before a morning when Adam Jaquith
called upon me. It was pleasant to know
that I had a friend in the strange city, but
I should have been glad to feel for a whilejust a little while-that there was no one
near who might care to note my moods or
my wanderings.
What I had fled from was again upon me.
Heaven forbid that I was ungracious in the
thought!
Jaquith had been staying in Hamburg for
a long time-as time goes on-and knew of
many nooks and corners into which I
should never have penetrated alone. The
narrow, dark streets, and the canals overhung by balconies belonging to quaint
houses with tiled roofs, grew bright under
the companionship of my friend, who
seemed to have brought out from somewhere in the depth of his nature a lightness
and jollity I had never found in him before.
Full of wit and good cheer, he bore me
along with him until I half forgot that I had
any burdens to carry, or that I had left my
home to escape the ghosts that haunted it.
292
[Sept.