Beloved Sisters Page #4

but never mind, that Herr Schiller

is a guest in our house

and also that the mood is joyous

while he's away.

He demands that I remind you

to consider both your reputations

and your marriage.

- Why not write to me?

- Speak French, Caroline!

I don't want every servant

repeating this conversation.

Close the window.

The children's games you play.

Letters in a secret language.

The absurd veiled performance two days

ago at Monsieur Schiller's in Volkstedt.

The public embarrassment

with the child at the river last week

that every idiot in Rudolstadt

heard about, even the Prince's family.

What else could we have done?

Let the child drown?

- Monsieur Schiller...

- Monsieur Schiller!

This Monsieur Schiller is...

Yes?

Caroline, your marriage with

Friedrich von Beulwitz saved us.

We'll never forget that, your sister and I.

I know it was hard on you.

It wasn't a marriage for love

but out of financial need.

As a young girl I was lucky.

I was allowed

to marry your father for love.

I don't know anything about money.

It is said there are good marriages

based on money,

better than some based on love.

Not in your case, unfortunately.

Your sister and I are

eternally indebted to you.

No, I...

We'd scrub your salon

on bare knees if you like!

We owe it to you.

But don't jeopardize your marriage.

We'd have to go begging,

all three of us.

No.

I know you're unhappy in this union.

Your husband is an evil elephant.

He knows nothing about women.

On top of that

he wants a dozen children,

but only because he won't come

into his father's inheritance otherwise.

Yes and no.

It's not just that,

he keeps pestering me.

But a divorce,

if that's what you have in mind,

is out of the question.

Your sister was

so badly humiliated in Weimar.

Don't hurt her again.

Keep away from this Schiller.

It's important when you love

that there are obstacles to be overcome.

The two sisters and the young man

were like three sides of a triangle.

They keep sending coded letters

and become

more like conspirators from day to day.

To them, the absent Herr von Beulwitz

is like an invisible enemy

who will show up soon.

Schiller would gladly use both hands

when writing each sister twice a day.

He's keen on preventing any kind

of competition between them,

so he sends them the same lines.

He writes that

they've chosen an earthling

whose health is heavily compromised

every spring and autumn.

That he's now medically banned from

the water, the river goddesses' element.

He can't swim anyway, as they'd seen.

And that he'd be fine again in two days

expecting them at a conspiratorial place.

Come.

Come.

Charlotte, remember the

wonderful Didot typeface in Weimar?

Look at these clumsy German letters.

French printing

is so much more advanced.

We're still at the level

of the Thirty Years' War.

There's news.

The two sisters and their mother

stand to inherit a substantial sum

from a deceased

very wealthy merchant from Batavia.

A man who hadn't only been

a very successful tradesman

but also an eminent authority

on the study of jungle apes.

Caroline and Charlotte immediately

make plans for the expected money,

the objective of which is a happy life

with Schiller as a threesome.

One day I'll write a book too.

About the love we three shared.

I'll call it, "Under the Waterfall".

Lollo, we must lay down a plan.

We'll let Maman

have the Batavia inheritance

on condition that she use it

to set up a new household.

Weimar would be best.

She always wanted to go there.

- By herself?

- Maybe with Knebel.

She doesn't want him.

But only because he...

What's going on in there now?

What is this?

That will change his mind.

As long as she moves

out of the rear house.

You'll move in with me

and Schiller can visit us anytime.

And my position with Frau von Stein?

Goethe could come back any day.

I'm moved and touched like never before.

I love him. Just like you do.

Hold me. Never let me go.

I hate Weimar.

How will we explain our get-togethers?

Your husband won't allow

a free thinker or male competition.

We have to convince Beulwitz

he is no competition.

And that Schiller

has chosen between us.

I'll do anything for you.

You two would marry

to save the love we three share.

Will Maman permit it?

That's interesting, but...

Here.

- It pricks.

- Yes, but it smells good.

Madame, compose yourself.

This is where we grew up.

When my father died we had to sell it.

A few years back the new owner

went bankrupt and moved away.

In the spring the house burnt down.

We'd heard about it,

but hadn't seen the house yet.

Maman, with the Batavian inheritance

you could buy it and rebuild it.

- And who would live here?

- You.

Me? By myself?

Over there.

Here. Come here.

That's no good.

It's full of brambles.

Go back. We'll go back there.

Here's good.

I'm really fond of Knebel.

But he has so few feelings.

Remind me of that if I consider letting

him into my bed after 10 glasses of port.

Madame, forgive me,

but he's much too old for you.

My husband was much older than me too.

But he's said to have been a great man.

Clever and funny.

That's where the spinet was.

Papa's portrait was here.

Our room is upstairs.

Wasn't the dining table here?

Schiller, do you think the ladies would

prefer to sit facing away from the house?

Yes, definitely facing away.

I know what you're planning.

You want to get rid of me

and the inheritance.

Motschekiebchen!

Sorry?

Motschekiebchen.

It's what you call them here.

- Motschekiebchen.

- Ladybird.

- Motschekiebchen.

- Ladybird.

When the sky was this color my mother

used to say, "The Swedes are coming."

"The Swedes are coming".

That's interesting.

That's what stuck with people.

The Swedes and their raids

that started out with heavy blazes.

What a time, the Thirty Years' War.

I want to write about it after

"The Revolt of the Netherlands".

But I've been so lazy,

it's not nearly finished.

You weren't lazy,

you were distracted.

And he was ill.

So ill that he had to send

each of you two notes a day.

So tell me, Schiller,

when will you enlighten us

about the meaning of two slashes,

a triangle and a circle?

Names? People we know?

We're anxiously awaiting the solution.

Knebel, we're not court crawlers who

need to scheme and play hide-and-seek.

In our family

all emotions are out in the open.

You just have to learn

to see and feel them.

We're enjoying

a moment at our old home.

However sad, it is also uplifting to be

close to our childhood and our father.

Be so kind as not to spoil it.

Oh, how well I feel in the evening

In the evening

- When bells ring for repose

- Oh, how well I feel in the evening

Remember?

Up there was our playroom.

We used to have a nanny.

Maman, what was her name?

- Friederike.

- Right.

We locked her in a closet

and forgot about her.

Did you have a happy home, Schiller?

It was small.

It didn't leave you much time

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