The Mysterious Stranger Manuscripts (Literature) (72 page)

C4

4.

Ernest Wasserman professed that he wasn't,
etc.
etc.

To return to Frau Stein. This masterly devil was the master's
second wife, & before that she had been the widow Vogel. She had
brought into the family a young thing by her first marriage, & this
girl was now seventeen and a blister, so to speak; for she was a
second edition of her mother-just plain galley-proof, neither revised nor corrected, full of turned letters, wrong fonts, outs &
doubles, as we say in the printing-shop-in a word pi,
etc.
Moses
Haas said that whenever she took up an en-quad fact, just watch
her and you would see her try and cram it in where there wasn't
room for a 4-m space; & she'd do it, too, if she had to take the
sheep('s)-foot to it. That daughter kept the name she was born toMarie Vogel; it was her mother's preference & her own. Both were

C-5

5.

Frau Stein-Maria (Stein) Vogel ["Stein" reinstated]-Marget
Regen

proud of it, without any reason,
etc.
Maria [MT's italics] had plenty
of energy & vivacity & tongue, & was shapely enough but not pretty,
barring her eyes, which had all kinds of fire in them, according to the mood of the moment-opal-fire, fox-fire, hell-f., & the rest. She
hadn't any fear, broadly speaking. Perhaps she had none at all, except for Satan, & ghosts, & witches & the priest & the magician, & a
sort of fear of God in the dark, & the lightning when she had been
blaspheming & hadn't time to get in ayes enough to square-up &
cash-in. She (ha) despised Marget Regen & her mother the master['s]
niece & dependent & bedridden (moth) sister. She loved Gustav
Fischer who did reciprocate & hated all the rest.

Marget Regen was Maria's age-17. She was lithe & graceful &
trim-built as a fish, & she was a blue-eyed blonde, & soft & sweet &
innocent & shrinking & winning

C-6

6.

& gentle & beautiful; just a vision for the eyes, (worshipful,) [MT's
cancellation] adorable, enchanting; but that wasn't the hive for her.
She was a kitten in a menagerie.

She was a second edition of what her mother had been at her age.
That poor meek mother! Yonder she (Iay) had lain, partially paralysed, ever since her brother my master had brought her eagerly
there a dear & lovely young widow 15 YEARS BEFORE,
etc.
[MT's
emphasis]

Next was old Katrina. She was cook & housekeeper; her forebears
had served the master's people & none else for 3 or 4 generations;
she was 60 & served the master all his life, from the time she was a
little girl & he a swaddled baby. She was erect, straight, 6 feet high,
with the port & stride of a grenadier; she was independent & masterful, & her fears were limited to the supernatural. She believed that
she could whip anybody on the place, & would have considered
an invitation a favor. As far as her

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7.

allegiance (went) stretched, she paid it with affection & reverence,
but it did not extend beyond "her family"-the master, his sister & Marget. She regarded Frau (Vogel) Stein & Maria as aliens & intruders, & was frank about saying so.

She had under her 2 strapping young wenches-Sara & Duffles
(a nickname), and a manservant, Jacob, & a porter, Fritz. & others

Next, we have the printing force!

Adam Binks, 60 years old, learned bachelor, proofreader, poor,
disappointed, surly.

Hans Katzenyammer, 36, printer, huge, strong, freckled, redheaded, rough. When drunk, quarrelsome. Drunk when opportunity
offered.

Moses Maas, 28, printer; a looker-out for himself; likely to say acid
things about people & to people; take him all around, not a pleasant
character.

Barty Langbein, 15; cripple; general-utility lad; sunny spirit; affectionate; could play the fiddle.

Ernest Wasserman, 17, apprentice; braggart, malicious, hateful,
coward, liar, cruel, underhanded, treacherous.

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8.

He and Moses had a sort of half-fondness for each other, which was
natural, they having one or more traits in common, down among
the lower grades of traits.

Gustav Fischer, 27, printer; large, well built, shapely & muscular;
quiet, brave, kindly, a good disposition, just & fair; a slow temper
to ignite, but a reliable burner when well going. Ile was about as
much out of place as was Marget. He was the best man of them all,
& deserved to be in better company.

Last of all comes August Feldner, 16, 'prentice. This is myself.

The stranger: No. 44, New series 864,962.

Martin v. Giesbach

Elisabeth v. Arnim

Emil Schwarz.

Group D

This group of notes consists of eleven note-size pages, 3" by 41%6",
in the blue-black ink of MS pp. 432-587, and must have been written
in the course of composing that portion of the manuscript.

Group D

D-1

DISAPPEARANCE of the maid discovered.

Hurry the public betrothal before she publishes the scandal.

DISAPPEARANCE of n me (or) and n my Duplicate discovered.

Great excitement in castle.

Betrothal stops.

Distress is killing Marget's mother.

Rumor of 3 murders

The bodies found. Close all exits. Search. They find the murderer
(44) with trinkets on him. Arrest him. Torture confession out of
him. Behead him-he picks up head, puts

D-2

2

it in basket & walks off. While they stare, claps it on & becomes
magician & disappears in thunder & lightning.

Big reputation.

44 invisible says it was I. The real magician will appear now.

FUNERALS

-the cat is around.

No consecrated ground-they lacked absolution. Buried with 44same ceremonies at night. Katrina & others grieve for cat & others.
(How long since K has seen this boy?)

D-3

3

The 3 murdered found again. Funerals.

The 3 found again. Funerals.