The Sleepwalkers (193 page)

Together
with
the
mother,
her
two
daughters
were
also
offered
to
me
–
under
an
unfavourable
omen,
if
an
offence
to
probity
can
be
interpreted
as
such:
for
the
project
was
presented
by
the
well-wishers
of
the
ladies
in
a
form
which
was
not
very
proper.
The
ugliness
of
this
project
upset
me
intensely;
yet
I
began
nevertheless
to
inquire
into
the
conditions.
As
I
thus
transferred
my
interest
from
widows
to
virgins,
and
continued
to
think
of
the
absent
one
[the
mother]
whom,
so
far,
I
had
not
seen,
I
was
captivated
by
the
appearance
and
pleasant
features
of
the
one
who
was
present
[the
daughter].
Her
education
had
been,
as
it
became
sufficiently
clear,
more
splendid
than
it
would
be
useful
to
me.
She
had
been
brought
up
in
luxury
that
was
above
her
station,
also
she
was
not
of
sufficient
age
to
run
a
household.
I
decided
to
submit
the
reasons
which
spoke
against
the
marriage
to
the
judgment
of
the
mother,
who
was
a
wise
woman
and
loved
her
daughter.
But
it
would
have
been
better
if
I
had
not
done
so,
because
the
mother
did
not
seem
to
be
pleased.
This
was
the
second
one,
and
now
I
come
to
the
third."

The
third
was
a
maiden
in
Bohemia
whom
Kepler
found
attractive,
and
who
took
a
liking
to
his
orphaned
children.
He
left
them
for
a
while
in
her
care
"which
was
a
rash
act,
for
later
on
I
had
to
fetch
them
back
at
my
own
expense".
She
was
willing
to
marry
him,
but
she
had,
a
year
earlier,
given
her
word
to
another
man.
That
other
man
had,
in
the
meantime,
begotten
a
child
with
a
prostitute,
so
that
the
maiden
considered
herself
free;
but
she
thought
it
nevertheless
necessary
to
obtain
the
permission
of
her
ex-fiancé's
employer.
This
employer
had
some
time
ago
given
Kepler
a
letter
of
recommendation
–
and
by
a
mysterious
non-sequitur
,
Kepler
states
that
this
prevented
the
marriage.
We
are
left
to
wonder.

The
fourth he would have married gladly, in spite of her "tall
stature and athletic build", if meanwhile the fifth had not
entered the scene. The fifth was Susanna, his future wife:

"In
comparing
her
to
the
fourth
the
advantage
was
with
the
latter
as
regards
the
reputation
of
the
family,
earnestness
of
expression,
property
and
dowry;
but
the
fifth
had
the
advantage
through
her
love,
and
her
promise
to
be
modest,
thrifty,
diligent
and
to
love
her
step-children...
While
I
was
waging
my
long
and
heavy
battle
with
this
problem,
I
was
waiting
for
the
visit
of
Frau
Helmhard,
wondering
whether
she
would
advise
me
to
marry
the
third,
who
would
then
carry
the
day
over
the
last-mentioned
two.
Having
at
last
heard
what
this
woman
had
to
say,
I
began
to
decide
in
favour
of
the
fourth,
annoyed
that
I
had
to
let
the
fifth
go.
As
I
was
turning
this
over,
and
on
the
point
of
making
a
decision,
fate
intervened:
the
fourth
got
tired
of
my
hesitations
and
gave
her
word
to
another
suitor.
Just
as
I
had
been
previously
annoyed
about
having
to
reject
the
fifth,
I
was
now
so
much
hurt
about
the
loss
of
the
fourth,
that
the
fifth
too
began
to
lose
her
attraction
for
me.
In
this
case,
to
be
sure,
the
fault
was
in
my
feelings.

Concerning
the
fifth,
there
is
also
the
question
why,
since
she
was
destined
for
me,
God
permitted
that
in
the
course
of
one
year,
she
should
have
six
more
rivals?
Was
there
no
other
way
for
my
uneasy
heart
to
be
content
with
its
fate
than
by
realizing
the
impossibility
of
the
fulfilment
of
so
many
other
desires?"

And
so
to
No.
6,
who
had
been
recommended
to
Kepler
by
his
step-daughter:

"A
certain
nobility,
and
some
possessions
made
her
desirable;
on
the
other
hand,
she
was
not
old
enough,
and
I
feared
the
expense
of
a
sumptuous
wedding;
and
her
noble
rank
in
itself
made
her
suspect
of
pride.
In
addition,
I
felt
pity
for
the
fifth,
who
had
already
understood
what
was
afoot
and
what
had
been
decided.
This
division
in
me
between
willingness
and
unwillingness
had,
on
the
one
hand,
the
advantage
that
it
excused
me
in
the
eyes
of
my
advisers,
but
on
the
other
the
disadvantage
that
I
was
as
pained
as
if
I
had
been
rejected...
But
in
this
case
too,
Divine
Providence
had
meant
well
because
that
woman
would
not
have
fitted
in
at
all
with
my
habits
and
household.