138 



THE IRRIGATION AGE 



I would make a soft, warm nest 

 for her and I cannot.'' 



Ho said no more; she also 

 remained silent. 



***** 



Regina's mother who lived at 

 the city's farthest end did not 

 wonder a little to see the rich 

 Frau Kaunitz one day walk into 

 her shabby home. But even more 

 astonished was the rich woman 

 when she met Regina, so beautiful, 

 so prond, yet of such earnest mild- 

 ness as a god- sent being, like one 

 imagines the protecting angels of 

 the little children to be. 



It was hours before Frau 

 Kaunitz walked with smiling lips 

 the short distance from the little 

 house to her carriage at the next 

 corner. With decisive steps she 

 entered her husband's room that 

 day and actually heard, when she 

 began her tale of Regina, the 

 brutal, exaggerated laughter which 

 Bruno had mentioned. Verily, 

 never in his life before had Herr 

 Kaunitz laughed like this. 



But the woman kept on in a 

 quiet, resolute manner, though 

 her weak body shook with a wild 

 tremor. She gathered all her 

 strength unto her. With pale 

 lips she told him, how, as a young 

 bride she had cleaned his desk one 

 day and had found a letter from 

 her guardian, which plainly stated 

 that the stately handsome Herr 

 Kaunitz had sold himself to her. 

 the little, sickly girl. She told 

 him, that the sale passed through 

 the hands of her unscrupulous 

 guardian without her knowledge. 

 She had thought that her wooer 



had loved her and she had not 

 known that the stately, handsome 

 Herr Kaunitz was a bankrupt, who 

 only wished to marry the large 

 money-bag of the small girl, but 

 who, to his sorrow, was obliged to 

 take the "little charmless invalid," 

 whom he dreaded, into the bargain. 



She had learned all this through 

 the letter which she now held in 

 front of her husband's eyes 

 learned it all even in her honey- 

 moon and thus she had become his 

 silent, faithful, but joyless wife, 

 till the children came. The little 

 darlings had brought her happi- 

 ness, so pure, so immense, and yet 

 painful, for the father remained 

 hard and rough even to them. 

 Then her beloved daughter Amalie 

 left her according to his wishes 

 and she suffered her to go; then 

 the son went and again she suffered 

 his departure to place she ac- 

 quiesced every thing in slavish 

 subjection, because she loved the 

 man wildly, passionately, because 

 her very breath, her entire life 

 had been love, a wonderful love of 

 the hate-worthy man from the 

 beginning of her married life until 

 now. 



For his pleasure only were the 

 affairs of the family arranged. 

 Amalie, Bruno, and she, herself, 

 sacrificed everything and did any- 

 thing for his sake. For it was 

 that which had, in spite of all, 

 commanded the admiration of the 

 little woman. The power of his 

 indomitable will; the firmness with 

 which he alone of all of them was 

 endowed. Amalie and Bruno were 

 his children in appearance by thei r 



