Chapter 29: Wallenstein and the new political game

 

The ordeal goes on

 

Caroline Lengefeld, the passionate and yet secret love of Uncle Fredrick, is now a pillar of the Saxon, and particularly the Weimar society. Now, as she was married to William von Wolzogen and has moved in Weimar, she would make herself again a reputation for her restless societal occupation.

 

In truth, wherever she went, people would always infer about her former story with Schiller, in the diffuse and mean way, which only people who are well born knows to inflict among each others yearlong without actually entering into dispute. However, despite his colorful past, Schiller has never maintained a passionate relationship with her. The matter, however, was completely different with Uncle Fredrick. Besides, Schiller would never let Lotte down, either physically or sentimentally, under any circumstances.

 

Actually unaware of the real stories going among them, the Weimarer particularly, have expected the split up of  Schiller and Lotte‘s loving couple with the arrival of Caroline in the city. Knowing however how he really felt towards Caroline, Schiller would only laugh at these somehow exaggerated gossips. He has not totally removed himself away from any passionate inclination, only has he shown that rather than to be overwhelm with any other physical love, he has only freed and strengthened even more his relationships with Lotte. People who wanted to accuse him of being the instigator of a love triangle or unreasonable conduct, would then only become confused before the regularity of his relationship with his wife.

 

It was his own witty and smart way, to point at the irrational and vain expectations of the Weimarer in their pretense to be knowledgeable about enlightened experiences. Naturally, rather than adopting another attitude, the Weimarer have sunken even deeper in their attempts to make of the details of the Schiller's' life, a societal object of continuous discussion.

 

The Weimarer were particularly apt at turning every occasion into a scene of societal extravagance during their encounters: at one time it was Caroline and her emancipated ideas upon which they made a lot of fuss, the next one, it will be Karoline Gunderode who would parade proudly in the salons with her young lover. She would explain to whoever wants to hear her, that her new friend was French and everyone would also notice, that he was far younger than she was. The society would then always exaggeratedly to rejoice or surprise itself with such occurrences, always brought into the semblance of an extravagance, for the purpose of entertaining themselves with actually nothing. In their context, it was the right attitude to observe towards any failure with etiquette. However, with Karoline  Gunderode it would have a semblance of true indignation:

 

            - "She is sleeping with our enemy!", would infer one lady as Karoline Gunderode was dancing elegantly with her young companion.

            - "And she dares to show it off before our eyes!", would add then another lady.

            - "She would only want to provoke! Everyone in Weimar knows that she is the ears and eyes of Mister Goethe in our midst! She is spying on us, in order to report our reactions towards her own behaviors!", would then comment the first lady. „Should we pronounce the slightest displaced remark against her, and Mister Goethe would strip our names from the court guest list!“

            - "Impossible! Is that true? God in Heaven, that is evil!", would then the second lady remark in horror.