Page:Hoffmann's Strange Stories - Hoffman - 1855.djvu/66

62 Martin accepts thee for son-in-law, and when Rosa loves thee?"

"There again," said Reinhold, "is a phantasmagoria of thy jealous brain. I know, my dear brother, that Rosa would have accepted me for a husband, in obedience to or through fear of her father; but hearts are not taken by force, and her care is not for me. But, really, had it not been for that, I should truly have become a cooper, and like any other, scrape, hoop and guage during six days, and on the seventh display my dignity with the graces of madame Reinhold, in the church of Saint Catherine or Saint Sebald, and then in the evening walk virtuously in the flowery meadows."

"Oh, do not mock," said Frederick, "these simple and peaceful manners. Happiness is hidden in common places."

"Thou art more than right," continued Reinhold, "but let me go on. I found the opportunity to tell Rosa that I loved her, and that her father would consent to our union. At these words I saw the tears start to her eyes, her hand trembled in mine, and she answered me, turning her head aside—'Reinhold, I shall obey the orders of my father.' I took very good care not to press the matter further. A sudden light found its way to my soul, and I very fortunately discovered that my love for the cooper's daughter was nothing but the dream of an enthusiast. It was not Rosa that I loved, but it was an ideal being, of which she had shown me a copy, that I incessantly retraced with all the passion of an artist. I understood that I was in love with a portrait, with a dream, with a fantastic beauty; and I caught a glimpse, with a shudder of disgust, at the poor future that awaited me when I should be installed in the dignity of master workman, with a family. What I loved in the little Rosa, was a heavenly image, which clothed itself in my heart with divine brilliancy, and which my art will cause to live in the creations that I shall spread around me. The destiny of the artist is to go incessantly towards the future, without stopping to pluck flowers by the way. How could I have renounced the