Bertha Garlan | Page 3

branch in the little town on the Danube where his
married brother carried on business as a wine merchant. In the course
of a somewhat lengthy conversation which took place on the occasion
of his farewell visit to Bertha's parents, and which created a certain
impression upon her, he had mentioned that the principal reasons for
his asking to be transferred to the little town were that he felt himself to
be getting on in years, that he had no longer any idea of seeking a wife,
and that he desired to have some sort of a home amongst people who
were closely connected with him. At that time Bertha's parents had
made fun of his notion, which seemed to them somewhat
hypochondriacal, for Garlan was then scarcely forty years old. Bertha
herself, however, had found a good deal of common sense in Garlan's
reason, inasmuch as he had never appeared to her as, properly speaking,
a young man.
In the course of the following years Garlan used often to come to
Vienna on business, and never omitted to visit Bertha's family on such
occasions. After supper it was Bertha's custom to play the piano for
Garlan's entertainment, and he used to listen to her with an almost
reverent attention, and would, perhaps, go on to talk of his little
nephew and niece--who were both very musical--and to whom he
would often speak of Fraulein Bertha as the finest pianiste he had ever
heard.
It seemed strange, and Bertha's mother could not refrain from

commenting now and again upon it, that, since his diffident wooing in
the old days, Herr Garlan had not once ventured so much as to make
the slightest further allusion to the past, or even to a possible future.
And thus Bertha, in addition to the other reproaches to which she had to
listen, incurred the blame for treating Herr Garlan with too great
indifference, if not, indeed, with actual coldness. Bertha, however, only
shook her head, for at that time she had not so much as contemplated
the possibility of marrying this somewhat awkward man, who had
grown old before his time.
After the sudden death of her mother, which happened at a time when
her father had been lying ill for many months, Garlan reappeared upon
the scene with the announcement that he had obtained a month's
holiday--the only one for which he had ever applied. It was clearly
evident to Bertha that his sole purpose in coming to Vienna was to be
of help to her in that time of trouble and distress. And when Bertha's
father died a week after the funeral of her mother, Garlan proved
himself to be a true friend, and one, moreover, blessed with an amount
of energy for which she had never given him credit. He prevailed on his
sister-in-law to come to Vienna, so that she could help Bertha to tide
over the first few weeks of her bereavement, besides, in some slight
degree, distracting her thoughts. He settled the business affairs capably
and quickly. His kindness of heart did much to cheer Bertha during
those sad days, and when, on the expiration of his leave, he asked her
whether she would be his wife she acquiesced with a feeling of the
most profound gratitude. She was, of course, aware of the fact that if
she did not marry him she would in a few months' time have to earn her
own living, probably as a teacher, and, besides, she had come to
appreciate Garlan and had become so used to his company that she was
able, in all sincerity, to answer "Yes," both when he led her to the altar
and subsequently when, as they set off for their honeymoon, he asked
her, for the first time, if she loved him.
It was true that at the very outset of their married life she discovered
that she felt no love for him. She just let him love her and put up with
the fact, at first with a certain surprise at her own disillusionment and
afterwards with indifference. It was not until she found that she was

about to become a mother that she could bring herself to reciprocate his
affection. She very soon grew accustomed to the quiet life of the little
town, all the more easily because even in Vienna she had led a
somewhat secluded existence. With her husband's family she felt quite
happy and comfortable; her brother-in-law appeared to be a most genial
and amiable person, if not altogether innocent of an occasional display
of coarseness; his wife was good-natured, and inclined at times to be
melancholy. Garlan's nephew, who was thirteen years old at the time of
Bertha's arrival at the little town, was a pert, good-looking boy; and his
niece, a