Irretrievable by Theodor Fontane Page B

days were not important. The count for his part continued to show the same lukewarmness which the countess was continually criticizing: he was not really against it but he was also never really for it. In any case, he denied that there was any need for haste, to which the countess made the vexed reply that that, at least, she refused to accept; it was not only time, it was high time. Asta was sixteen, Axel rising fifteen, and they were both at an age when character was being formed. They were, in fact, at the parting of the ways: were they to go left or right? “And are they going to be black sheep or white,” interrupted Holk maliciously and picked up the paper.
    This mocking tone should have warned the countess that she was once again taking things too seriously; instead, it merely made her more serious. Paying no attention to the presence of Julie, who in any case knew all about the matter, the countess said: “I do beg of you, Helmut, to stop taking this serious matter as a joke. I enjoy being amused …”
    â€œSorry, Christine, but that seems to have become a favourite expression of yours since yesterday.”
    â€œI enjoy being amused,” she repeated, “but there is a time for everything. I am not asking you to agree, I only want a firm answer and you need not even give your reasons. If you tell me that Strehlke is adequate and that you prefer Elizabeth Petersen to a whole boarding-school of young ladies, I shall not agree with you but I shall accept your decision and say nothing. It is true that I hardly call that education …”
    â€œAh, my dear Christine, here comes your hobby-horse again or one of your long list of them. If you had not been born Baroness Arne, you would certainly have been called Basedow or Pestalozzi and replaced Schwarzkoppen as principal of the seminary. Or perhaps even have become its inspector. Education, education, nothing but education all the time. To be quite honest, I find it impossible to believe all these stories about education. Even in education, the most important factor is predestination and grace. In this respect I am prepared to follow Calvin, however good a Lutheran I may be in other ways. And in case the mention of Calvin annoys you at the moment, since you happen to be in one of your high-minded moods, then let me simply remind you of the old proverb: What’s bred in the bone comes out in the flesh. Education has not really much to do with it; and if we are going to talk about education, then let me remind you that it comes from the home.”
    The countess gave a slight shrug of her shoulders which Holk ignored as he continued: “The home sets the example and example is the only thing which I think has the power to educate. Example and natural love. I love the children, in which I hope I have your full approval at least; and I feel the need to see them every day.”
    â€œIt is not a question of us, Helmut, or of what you need but of what the children need. You see the children only at breakfast when you read Dagbladet and at tea when you read the Hamburger Nachrichten and you lose your temper if they ask you a question or even if they talk. It may be that it gives you a certain feeling of satisfaction to have the children around but it is not really very different from the sugar-basin that must be at your right-hand side for you to be happy. You say that you need the children. Do you think that I don’t need them too, surrounded by all this quietness and loneliness with nobody but Julie? But the happiness of my children means more to me than my personal comfort and duty has nothing to do with one’s own well-being.”
    Holk stroked the table-cloth with his left hand while with his right he snapped the lid of the sugar-basin open and shut three or four times until the countess, who was always irritated by this sound, pushed the basin to one side. Holk made no effort to prevent her, for he fully appreciated that