Joseph in the Snow, and The Clockmaker Volume I Part 12

"So, I have got you at last!" cried the fierce old Rottmannin. "Good Lord! this is Adam's son." So saying, she started up and grasped the child with eagle's talons.

"Yes, my father's name is Adam. Do you know him?"

"Come along with me; I will take you to my room and put you to bed,"

said the Rottmannin.

"No, I won't go with you," said Joseph. "You will stew me in a kettle, like the witches. Let me go, or I'll bite."

"Oh! I'll show you what stewing and boiling mean," cried the old woman with a fierce laugh. "It is a blessing from Heaven direct, that the child should have come here of his own accord. We will keep him hid, and not give him up. Now we can force both Adam and the others to dance to our piping."

"But I won't give you up the child," said the bride, coming forward.

"Don't be afraid, my boy--don't be afraid; come and sit in my lap. But wait; I will first take off your shoes, and you shall put on mine, and you will soon be quite warm. Now tell me, does your mother know that you left home? and why did you come so far alone in such a night?"

"I went to meet my father, for they all abuse him in the village; and they say my grandmother is the very devil, and I wanted to tell him all this."

"I will be-devil you," cried the savage old Rottmannin, furiously struggling with the bride to get the child from her, who, however, used all her strength to defend the boy; and at the moment when the women were contending with each other, the two grandfathers came in.

"Oh! here is my grandfather," said little Joseph in ecstacy, running up to him.

"Is that the lost grandchild?" asked Speidel-Rottmann. "Come here, my boy. You have got another grandfather now. What a fine fellow he is! It would have been a pity----"

"And I say, no! and no again! and a thousand times over, no, no, no!"

raged the Rottmannin; "and I would rather let my tongue be cut out and thrown to the dogs, than ever say yes, as long as I live."

"Quite right! Say no, if you like; but it's no use now. Is it not an actual miracle from Heaven, that a child should be lost in such a way and found again? In the wood yonder, all the people in the village are running about in search of the child. We may well be proud of such a grandson, and it is quite a privilege and an honour to have a child belonging to us, who is such a favourite that the neighbours are risking their lives for his sake. The good Lord has performed a miracle, and I hope He will perform one on you also, wife. Be kind, and give in. It is no sin to yield up your own will. Do you consent to it, Tony?"

"So far as I am concerned, I would on no account deprive the child of his father."

"But I say no, no! and with my last breath I will say no! and we shall see whether you can get the better of this _no_ of mine."

During this discussion Schilder-David had remained perfectly silent: he was holding Joseph in his arms, pa.s.sing his hand over his face and his limbs, as if to make sure that he really had him safe again. And now he slipped out at the door along with the boy: he could not exactly tell why: he wanted to be once more alone with Joseph at home; but when he got outside the house he, for the first time, perceived that his knees failed him--he was forced to sit down on the steps. Within the house he heard a commotion, a window was opened and a pungent smell of smoke was perceptible, for the lights on the Christmas tree were all blown out.

So sat Schilder-David. Who comes this way? Who can it be? It is Haspele. He shouted with joy on seeing Joseph, who was, however, s.h.i.+vering so much that Schilder-David was quite uneasy about him.

"Go back quickly into the wood and say that he is here, and prevent them all running about in search of him," said David, his teeth chattering.

Haspele hurried away, shouting out the good news. "He is found! he is found!" cried he up the hill till he was hoa.r.s.e.

A female figure now came out to David and said--

"Give me the child."

"No; I'll give him to no one here. What do you want with him?"

"I wish to carry him to my room, and to put him to bed. Come with us."

"Oh! you must be Tony, surely? Your mother was a good woman."

"And I hope I am, too. Come, quick; make haste!"

"I can't go up the steps; I find out now what I have gone through."

"Come into the stable, then; for you will be warmer there, at all events."

Tony took the old man straight into the stable, where she prepared a comfortable bed of dry hay, and laid the child on it, and covered him up warmly.

Schilder-David placed his hand on the child's forehead, who soon fell sound asleep; and his grandfather watched by him, scarcely daring to breathe. Not till they were both quietly sleeping did Tony glide softly out of the stable.

CHAPTER XVI.

ASLEEP AND AWAKE AGAIN IN THE FOREST MILL.

Haspele had been sent by the anxious parents to the eminence where they had observed a light, to see what was going on there. Martina would not believe what Adam said:--"Who knows but they may have found our Joseph in the mill?" and yet she wanted to go there instantly herself; but Adam persuaded her to wait, at all events till Haspele came back.

At last he came; he ran as fast as he could to the spot where he had left them, but they were no longer there. "Is the whole world entirely bewitched this blessed night?" said Haspele. Adam and Martina however, at that moment, were engaged in laying hold of the three angels. Adam shouted to them in his powerful voice to stop, as they came near: the angels, however, seemed to feel such desperate alarm at any of the Rottmann family, that they fairly took to their heels.

"You will see that our Joseph is gone with the Christmas singers," said Martina, in a hopeful tone.

Adam pursued the angels, and was lucky enough to catch hold of one by the wing, but it came off in his hand; he followed them; and the flying angels were not quick enough to escape a man like Adam. He clutched one of the angels tight, and asked him about Joseph; then he brought him to Martina, who was waiting above; but the boy was in such mortal terror, that they could not get a word out of him; above all he refused to say who his companions were, and when he was asked if he had not met a fine tall boy, seven years old, in the wood, the angel first said yes, and then no; it was impossible to make sense of what he said. In the midst of this judicial examination, Haspele appeared: "He is there! he is there!"

"Who is there?"

"Joseph," said Haspele, quite hoa.r.s.e.

"Where? where? where?" cried Martina, rus.h.i.+ng up to him. "Where is he?

for G.o.d's sake tell me! dead or living?"

"He is sitting in the mill below, drinking mulled wine."

"My child! my child!" cried Martina, in so shrill a tone that it vibrated through the valley, and running down the hill, as fast ever she could; Adam could scarcely keep up with her; she rushed up the steps and dashed open the door, crying out, "Joseph! Joseph! where is my Joseph?"

"You and your Joseph may go the devil," answered a voice: well did she know it; it was the voice of the Rottmannin. Neither fear, nor anxiety, nor peril of death, nor intense happiness could have overcome Martina, but this voice had such an overwhelming effect on her, that, with a loud scream, she sank to the ground in a swoon; even Adam, who was standing close behind her, was so terrified, that he let her fall, without trying to support her. "Mother! mother!" said he: he could not utter another syllable.

"Do not call her mother," said Tony; "go away, Adam; leave us; I will raise Martina myself: but first give me that warm mulled wine, and sprinkle some drops of snow water from your cloak on her face. So, so!

she breathes!"

"Capital!" said the old Rottmannin, with a harsh laugh, "if the whole world go crazy, I won't. If they all fall down dead around me, like so many c.o.c.kchafers, I will still say _no_!"

Speidel-Rottmann, however, instead of replying to his wife, went up to Martina, saying, "Come, Martina, try to be composed and to command your feelings--there, I have lifted you up, sit down here."