“Here I should probably be obliged to crowd somebody else out of one in order to obtain a position,” replied Wolf, “and I am unwilling to do so.”
“You are wrong,” cried the violinist. “The course of the world causes the stronger--and that you are--to take precedence of the weaker. Learn at last to give up this modest withdrawal and elbow your way forward!”
“Pressing and jostling are not in my nature;” replied Wolf with a slight shrug of the shoulders. “Since I may hope to be relieved of anxiety concerning my daily bread, I am disposed to leave the court and seek quiet happiness in a more definite circle of duties at home. You see, Massi, it is just the same with us human beings as with material things. There is my man cutting the rope from yonder package with his sharp knife. The contents are distributed in a trice, and yet it was tiresome to collect them and pack them carefully. Thus it would need only a word to separate myself from the court; but to join it again would be a totally different affair. There have been numerous changes in this city since I went away, and many a hand which pressed mine in farewell is no longer here, or would perhaps be withdrawn, merely because I am a Catholic and intend to stay here among the Protestants. Besides--lay the roll on the table, Janche--besides, as you have already heard, the final decision does not depend upon myself.--Take care, Jan. That little package is breakable!”
This last exclamation was addressed to Wolf’s Netherland servant, who was just unpacking his master’s leather bag.
Massi noticed that the articles taken out could scarcely be intended for a man’s use, and, pointing to a piece of Flanders velvet, he gaily remarked:
“So my guess was correct. Here, too, the verdict is to be pronounced by beardless lips.” Wolf blushed like a girl, but, after the violinist had waited a short time for the confirmation of his conjecture, he continued more gravely:
“It ill befits me to intrude upon your secret. Every one must go his own way, and I have wondered why a person who so readily renders a service to others pursues his own path so unsocially. Will you ever let your friend know what stirs your heart?”
“I should often have confided in you gladly,” replied Wolf, “but a certain shyness always restrained me. How can others be interested in what befalls a lonely, quiet fellow like me? It is not my habit to talk much, but you will always find me ready to use hand and brain in behalf of one who is as dear to me as you, Massi.”