But in vain; his advances are
repulsed and his generosity is eyed with suspicion. He is a
stranger--the Stranger.[161] Evening falls, and the angelus rings. Some
work-girls come trooping out of their workshop, singing a merry
folk-song.[162] One of the young girls, Vita, goes up to the Stranger
and speaks to him, for she alone, of all the village, is his friend. The
two feel themselves drawn together by a secret sympathy. Vita confides
artlessly in the unknown man; they love each other though they do not
admit it. The Stranger tries to repress his feelings; for Vita is young
and already affianced, and he thinks that he has no right to claim her.
But Vita, offended by his coldness, seeks to wound him, and succeeds.
In the end he betrays himself. "Yes, he loves her, and she knew it well.
But now that he has told her so, he will never see her again; and he
bids her good-bye."
[Footnote 161: There is a certain likeness in the subject to Herr
Richard Strauss's _Feuersnot_. There, too, the hero is a stranger who is
persecuted, and treated as a sorcerer in the very town to which he has
brought honour. But the _denouement_ is not the same; and the
fundamental difference of temperament between the two artists is
strongly marked.
Pages:
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179