Selected Prose of Heinrich Von Kleist Read Online Free PDF Page A

other person left in the house is my daughter, a mestizo !” At that she shut the window, as if she intended to go straight down and open the door for him; but instead, under the pretense of not immediately being able to find the key, grabbing some clothes that she hastily snatched out of the closet, she dashed upstairs to wake her daughter. “Toni!” she said. “What is it, mother?” “Quick!” she said. “Get up and get dressed! Take these, a white petticoat and stockings! A white man on the run is at the door and begs entry!” “A white?” Toni asked, as she roused herself in bed. She took the clothes the old woman held out and said: “Is he alone, Mother? And do we have nothing to fear if we let him in!” “Nothing, nothing at all!” the old woman replied, lighting a lamp. “He’s unarmed and alone, and trembling in every limb with the fear that we may assault him!” With these words, while Toni got up and pulled on frock and stockings, Babekan lit the big lantern that stood in a corner of the room, hastilybound the girl’s hair up in a bun, in the local manner, and after fastening her pinafore, plunked a hat on her head, put the lantern in her hand and bid her go down to the yard to let the stranger in.
    Meanwhile, a boy named Nanky, whom Hoango had fathered out of wedlock with a Negress, and who slept with his brother Seppy in the storehouse next door, was awakened by the barking of some yard dogs; and since he saw a man standing alone on the back stoop of the house, he promptly hastened, as he was instructed to do in such cases, to the back gate, through which said person had entered, to lock it behind him. The stranger, who had no idea what to make of all this, asked the boy, whom he recognized with a shock upon drawing near as black: “Who lives on this estate?” And upon the latter’s reply: “Since the death of Monsieur Villeneuve, ownership fell to the Negro Hoango,” the white man was just about to knock the boy down, grab the key to the back gate from him and take flight, when Toni stepped outside, lantern in hand. “Quick,” she said, reaching for his hand and pulling him toward the door, “in here!” She took pains while saying this to tilt the light so that its glow lit up her face. “Who are you?” cried the stranger, stunned for more than one reason, taking in the sight of her lovely young figure. “Who lives in this house, in which, as you maintain, I am to find safe refuge?” “No one, I swear by the light of the sun,” said the girl, “but my mother and me!” and made every effort to pull him in. “No one!” cried the stranger, taking a step back and tearing his hand free. “Did that boy not just tell me that a Negro named Hoango resides here?” “I tell you, no!” said the girl, stamping her foot impatiently, “and even if the house belongs to a ruffian of that name, he’s out at the moment and a good ten miles away!” Whereupon with both her hands shedrew the stranger in, instructed the boy to tell no one of his presence, and after shutting the door, took the stranger’s hand and led him up the steps to her mother’s room.
    â€œSo,” said the old woman, who had overheard the entire conversation from her perch at the window, and had noticed in the gleam of the light that he was an officer, “what are we to make of the rapier dangling at the ready under your arm? At the risk of our own lives,” she added, putting on her spectacles, “we granted you safe haven in our house. Did you enter, in the manner of your countrymen, to repay our kindness with betrayal?” “Heaven forbid!” replied the stranger, who strode directly in front of her chair. He reached for the old woman’s hand and pressed it against his heart, and after casting a few furtive glances around the room, unbuckled the blade