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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/35283-8.txt b/35283-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..545dae1 --- /dev/null +++ b/35283-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5152 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Riven Bonds. Vol. I., by E. Werner + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Riven Bonds. Vol. I. + A Novel, in Two Volumes + +Author: E. Werner + +Translator: Bertha Ness + +Release Date: February 14, 2011 [EBook #35283] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RIVEN BONDS. VOL. I. *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by Google Books. + + + + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + 1. Page scan source: + http://books.google.com/books?pg=PA284&id=e94BAAAAQAAJ#v + + 2. The diphthong oe is represented by [oe]. + + + + + RIVEN BONDS. + + A Novel, + + + IN TWO VOLUMES. + + + TRANSLATED BY + BERTHA NESS, + + + _FROM THE ORIGINAL OF E. WERNER_, + + Author of "SUCCESS AND HOW HE WON IT," + "UNDER A CHARM," &c. + + + + * * * * * + VOL. I. + * * * * * + + + + London: + REMINGTON AND CO., + 5, Arundel Street, Strand, W.C. + + 1877. + + [_All Rights Reserved_.] + + + + + + + RIVEN BONDS. + + + + + CHAPTER I. + + +The curtain fell amid thunders of applause from the whole house. Boxes, +pit, and gallery unanimously demanded the reappearance of the singer, +who, in the finale of the act just concluded, had carried all away with +her. The whole audience became excited, and would not be calmed, until, +greeted with applause, which broke forth with renewed vigour, +overwhelmed with flowers, wreaths, and homage of all kinds, the object +of this ovation showed herself, in order to thank the public. + +"This is quite like an evening in an Italian theatre," said an elderly +gentleman, entering one of the boxes in the first tier. "Signora +Biancona seems to understand the art of filling the otherwise quiet and +smoothly-flowing patrician blood of our noble Hanseatic town with the +fire of her Southern home. The infatuation for her begins to be quite +an epidemic. If it continue to increase in this way, we shall see the +Exchange voting her a torchlight procession, and the Senate of this +free town, appearing before her _in corpore_, to lay their homage at +her feet. Were I in your place, Herr Consul, I should make this +proposition to both these Corporations. I am sure it would meet with an +enthusiastic reception." + +The gentleman to whom these words were addressed, and who was sitting +by a lady, apparently his wife, in the front of the box, seemed unable +to withdraw himself from the universal excitement. He had applauded +with an energy and perseverance worthy of a better cause, and turned +round now, half-laughing, half-annoyed. + +"I was sure of it; the critic must place himself in opposition to the +general voice. Certainly, Herr Doctor, in your abominable morning +paper, you spare neither Exchange nor Senate; how, then, could Signora +Biancona hope to find mercy?" + +The Doctor smiled a little maliciously, and drew near to the lady's +chair, when a young man, who had been sitting beside her, rose politely +to make way for him. + +"Herr Almbach," said the lady, introducing them, "Herr Dr. Welding, the +editor of our morning paper, whose pen--" + +"For Heaven's sake, my dear madam," interrupted Welding, "do not throw +discredit on me, at once, in the gentleman's eyes. One has only to be +introduced as critic to a young artist, and immediately one gains his +deepest antipathy." + +"Possibly," laughed the Consul, "but this time your keenness has failed +you. Herr Almbach, thank goodness, can never be in a position to come +before your judgment seat. He is a merchant." + +"Merchant!" a look of astonishment was turned towards the young man, +"then I certainly apologise for my mistake. I should have taken you for +an artist." + +"There, you see, dear Almbach, your forehead and eyes do you a bad turn +again," said the Consul, playfully. "What would your people at home say +to the exchange? I almost fear they would look upon it as an insult." + +"Perhaps. I do not consider it as such," said Almbach, bowing slightly +to Welding. The words were intended to carry on the joking tone that +was begun, but there lay in them a half-concealed bitterness, which did +not escape Dr. Welding. He fixed his eyes searchingly on the young +stranger's features; but just at that moment the lady turned towards +him, and resumed the interrupted topic. + +"You must allow, Herr Doctor, that Biancona was quite ravishing +to-night. This young, dawning talent is indeed, a new star in our +theatrical firmament." + +"Which will some time become a shining sun, if it carry out what to-day +it promises. Certainly, dear madam; I do not deny it at all, even +although this future sun shows a few spots and imperfections at +present, which naturally escape so enthusiastic a public." + +"Well then, I advise you not to lay too much stress on these +imperfections," said the Consul, pointing to the pit. "There, below, +sits an army of knights, infatuated about the Signora. Take care, Herr +Doctor, or you will receive at least six challenges." + +The malicious smile played round Welding's lips again, as he cast a +glance of irony towards young Almbach, who had listened silently, but +with darkly lowering brow, to the conversation. + +"And perhaps a seventh, also! Herr Almbach, for instance, seems to look +upon the opinion which I have just expressed as a species of high +treason." + +"I regret, sir, to be so much behind you as regards criticism," coolly +replied the one addressed. "I--" hereupon his eyes flashed almost +passionately, "I am accustomed to worship genius unconditionally." + +"A very poetical style of criticism," sneered Welding. "If you were to +repeat that in person to our beautiful Signora, and in the same tone, I +could promise you her most complete favour. Besides, I am this time in +the pleasant position of being able to tell her in the article which +will appear to-morrow, that hers is indeed a talent of the first order, +that her faults and failings are only those of a beginner, and that it +lies in her power to become eventually, a musical celebrity. She is not +one at present." + +"In the meanwhile, that is praise enough from your lips," said the +Consul; "but I think we must retire now; the brilliant part of Biancona +is over, the last act offers nothing for her _rôle_, she hardly appears +again upon the stage, and our duties as hosts call us to our reception +evening. May I offer you a seat in our carriage, Herr Doctor? Your +critic's duty is also about at an end; and you, dear Almbach, will you +accompany us, or shall you remain to the last?" + +The young man had also risen. "If you and your gracious lady will allow +it--the opera is new to me--I should like--" + +"Very well then, remain without ceremony," interrupted the other in a +friendly manner, "but be punctual to-night. We count positively upon +your coming." + +He gave his arm to his wife, to lead her away. Dr. Welding followed +them. + +"How could you think," scoffed he, when in the corridor, "that your +young guest would move from the spot so long as Biancona had only one +more note to sing, or that he would be debarred from helping to form a +guard to her carriage with the rest of our gentlemen? The beautiful +eyes of the Signora have done much harm already--he has caught fire +worse than the others." + +"We must hope not," said the lady, with a touch of concern in her +voice. "What would his father and mother-in-law, and, above all, his +young wife say?" + +"Is Herr Almbach married already?" asked Welding, astonished. + +"Two years since," replied the Consul. "He is nephew and son-in-law of +my business correspondents. The firm is Almbach and Co., not a very +important, but a most substantial, respectable house. Besides, you do +the young man injustice with your suspicions; at his age one is easily +carried away, particularly when, as here, one so seldom enjoys a +musical treat. Between ourselves, Almbach has rather middle-class +views, and keeps his son-in-law tightly by the head. He will take care +that any harm which those eyes could do, shall be kept far from his +house. I know him well enough on that point." + +"All the better for him," said the Doctor, laconically, as he seated +himself by the married pair in the carriage, which took the direction +of the harbour, where the palaces of the rich business men were +situated. + +An hour later, a numerous company was assembled in the merchant's +drawing-rooms. Consul Erlau was one of the richest, most influential +men in this wealthy commercial town, and even although this +circumstance was sufficient to ensure him an undisputed position, he +made it, in addition, a point of honour, to hear his house called the +most brilliant and hospitable in H----. His reception evenings gathered +together every notability which the town had to offer. There was never +a celebrity who did not appear several times, and even the star of the +present season--_prima donna_ Biancona, who was here with the temporary +Italian Opera Company, had accepted the invitation which she had +received, and appeared after the end of the performance. The young +actress, after her evening's triumph in the theatre, was of course the +centre of attraction for all the company. Besieged by the gentlemen +with every species of homage, overwhelmed with compliments from the +ladies, distinguished by the host and his wife with most flattering +attentions, she was unable to escape from the stream of admiration +which flowed towards her from all sides, and which, perhaps, was due as +much to her beauty as her genius. + +Both were indeed united here. Even without her highly-worshipped +talent, Signora Biancona was not likely ever to be overlooked. She was +one of those women, who, wherever they appear, know how to attract, +and, oft to a dangerous degree, retain eye and senses; whose entrancing +charms do not lie only in their beauty, but far more in the singular, +almost witch-like magic, which certain natures exercise, without any +one being able to account for its cause. + +It seemed as if a breath of the glowing South, full of colour, lay upon +this apparition, who, with her dark hair and complexion, her large, +deep, black eyes, out of which shone such an ardent, full life, +contrasted go strangely with these Northern surroundings. Her manner of +speaking and moving was, perhaps livelier, less constrained than the +rules of '_convenance_' demanded, but the fire of a Southern nature, +which broke forth with every emotion, had an entrancing grace. Her +light ethereal-looking costume was not at all conformed to the reigning +fashion, but it appeared to be especially invented to display the +advantages of her figure in the best light, and held its own +triumphantly amongst the more magnificent toilets of the ladies around +her. + +The Italian was a being who seemed to stand above all the forms and +trammels of everyday life, and there was no one in the company who did +not willingly accord her this distinction. + +Almbach, too, had found his way here after the close of the theatre, +but he was quite a stranger to the circle, and evidently remained so, +notwithstanding the well-meant attempts of the Consul to make him +acquainted with one or another of the guests. All fell through, partly +on account of the young man's almost moody silence, partly on account +of the gentlemen's manners to whom he was introduced, and who, +belonging almost entirely to the circles of the Exchange and Finance, +did not think it worth while to take much trouble about the +representative of a small firm. He was standing quite isolated at the +lower end of the room, looking apparently indifferently at the +brilliant crowd, but his eyes always turned to one point, which +to-night was the magnet for all the assembled gentlemen. + +"Now, Herr Almbach, you make no attempt to approach the circle of the +sun of the drawing-room," said Dr. Welding, coming up to him, "shall I +introduce you there?" + +A slight uncomfortable blush, at his secret wish having been divined, +covered the young man's face. + +"The Signora is so occupied on all sides that I did not venture to +trouble her also." + +Welding laughed, "Yes, the gentlemen all seem to follow your method of +criticism, and equally to admire genius unconditionally. Well, art has +the privilege of inspiring all with enthusiasm. Come, I will present +you to the Signora." + +They crossed to the other side of the drawing-room where, the young +Italian was, but it really gave them some trouble to penetrate the +circle of admirers surrounding the honoured guest, and to approach her. + +The Doctor undertook the introduction; he named his companion, who, +to-day, had for the first time the pleasure of admiring the Signora on +the stage, and then left him to set himself at ease in the "sun's +circle." This designation was not so badly chosen; there really was +something of the scorching glow of this planet, at its midday height, +in the glance which she now turned upon Almbach. + +"Then you were also in the theatre this evening?" asked the Signora, +lightly. + +"Yes, Signora." + +Tie answer sounded curt and gloomy; no other word, none of those +compliments which the actress had heard so plentifully to-day, but the +look in the young man's eyes must have made up for his monosyllabic +reply. It is true that he only met Signora Biancona's for a moment, but +their lighting-up was seen and understood; it said much more than all +spoken flatteries. + +The other gentlemen might receive no high opinion of the new arrival's +social talents; who did not even understand how to make a pretty speech +to a lady. They ignored him thoroughly. The conversation, in which the +Consul now took part, became more general; they spoke of music, of a +known composer and his new work, just now causing great sensation, as +to whose conception Signora Biancona and Dr. Welding had a difference +of opinion. The former was full of enthusiasm for it, while the latter +accorded it very little value. The Signora defended her opinion with +Southern vivacity and was supported therein by all the gentlemen, who +took her side from the commencement, while the Doctor persisted coolly +in his own. The battle grew more determined, until at last the Signora +became somewhat annoyed, and turned away from her opponent. + +"I regret very much that our Conductor was prevented from accepting +to-day's invitation. He plays this composition perfectly, and I fear it +requires a performance to enable the company to judge which of us two +is right." + +The guests were of the same opinion, and regretted the Conductor +exceedingly, none offered to replace him. The playing of this music did +not appear to keep pace with the very remarkable enthusiasm for it, +until Almbach came forward suddenly and said, "I am at your disposal, +Signora." + +She turned quickly towards him and said with evident appreciation, "You +are musical, Signor?" + +"If you and the rest of the company will bear with the attempt of an +'amateur,'" he made a gesture of enquiry to the master of the house, +and as the latter agreed eagerly, he went to the piano. + +The composition under discussion, a modern show-piece in the fullest +sense of the word, owed its general popularity less to its real +worth--of which it had indeed very little--than to its great difficulty +of execution. Even the simple possibility of playing it at all, +required a masterly power over the instrument. People were accustomed +only to hear it performed by high-standing professionals, and therefore +looked half-astonished, half-contemptuously at the young man who +volunteered his services with so little concern. He had certainly +apologised for being an amateur, but still it was presumptuous to +attempt this in Consul Erlau's house, where the playing of so many +celebrities had been heard and admired. + +The guests were so much the more astonished that Almbach showed himself +perfectly equal to all these difficulties, as, without even a note of +music before him, he overcame them by playing at once, with an ease and +certainty which would have done honour to a regular artist. At the same +time he understood to put such fire into his performance as carried +away even the older and more expectant hearers. The piece of music +under his hands seemed to acquire quite a different form; he gave it a +meaning, which no one, perhaps not even the composer himself, had +attached to it, and especially the finale, rendered in a somewhat +stormy _tempo_, brought him most plenteous applause from all sides. + +"Bravo, bravissimo, Herr Almbach!" cried the Consul, who was the first +to come up, and who shook him heartily by the hand, "we must really be +grateful to the Signora and Doctor, whose musical dispute assisted us +to the discovery of such a talent. You modestly announce an attempt, +and give us a performance of which the most finished artist need not be +ashamed. You have helped our Signora to a brilliant victory; she is +right--unconditionally right, and the Doctor this time remains, with +his attack, decidedly in the minority." + +The singer had also approached the piano. + +"I, too, am grateful to you for having responded to my wish in so +knightly a manner," she said, smiling; now lowering her voice, "but +take care; I fear my critical enemy will still fight with you as to the +mode in which you proved my opinion. Was the playing, above all the +finale, quite correct?" + +A treacherous gleam shot across the young man's countenance, but he +also smiled. + +"It accorded with your views, and received your applause, Signora--that +is enough for me." + +"We will speak of it later," whispered the Signora quickly, as now the +lady of the house drew near to pay some civilities to her young guest, +and the greater part of the company followed her example. A stream of +phrases and compliments swept over Almbach, his playing was charming; +his execution--where had he studied music? The less he had been noticed +before--the less he was known to them, the more he had astonished all +by suddenly coming forward, added to the young man's modesty, which +hardly permitted him to reply to all the questions addressed to him; +every one present felt himself involuntarily to be a sort of Mecænas, +and was prepared to give the young genius his complete protection. Was +it really modesty that closed Almbach's lips? Sometimes a species of +mockery flashed in his eyes, as again and again this exquisite +performance was extolled; and it was declared that this composition had +never been heard in perfection before. He seized the first opportunity +to escape from the attention paid him, and in this attempt was taken +possession of by Dr. Welding. + +"Is it possible to reach you at last? You are regularly besieged with +compliments. Just one word, Herr Almbach; shall we go in here?" + +He pointed to an adjoining room, into which both had scarcely entered, +before the Doctor continued in a somewhat sharp tone-- + +"Signora Biancona was right: that is, according to your performance. My +attack was directed against the composition as it exists in the +original. May I ask where you found this very peculiar arrangement of +it? Until this moment it was quite unknown to me." + +"How do you mean, Herr Doctor?" asked the young man, coolly. "I only +know the piece of music in that form." + +Welding looked him up and down, an expression of annoyance struggled +with one of undisguised interest in his face, as he replied-- + +"You appear to gauge the musical knowledge of your audience quite +correctly, if you venture to offer them such things. They hear the air, +and are contented; but sometimes there are exceptions. For instance, it +would interest me very much to know from whom certain variations +emanate, which utterly change the character of the whole; and as +regards the finale, entirely; was this daring improvisation, perhaps, +the attempt of an amateur also?" + +Almbach raised his head somewhat defiantly, "And if it were, what +should you say to it?" + +"That it was a great mistake of your people to make you a merchant." + +"Herr Doctor, we are in a merchant's house." + +"Certainly," answered Welding, calmly, "and I am the last to depreciate +that class, especially when, like our host, it begins with earnest, +ceaseless work, and ends in reposing on millions; but it does not suit +all. Above everything, it requires a clear, cool head, and yours does +not appear to me to be quite made to devote itself to the grasping +debit and credit. Excuse me, Herr Almbach! that is only my candid +opinion; besides, I do not blame you at all for your daring. What would +one not do to make a beautiful woman's obstinacy appear right! In this +case, the man[oe]uvre was even _most agreeable_, any other person with +the best will could not have carried it out; I congratulate you upon +it." + +He made a half-ironical bow, and left the room; it adjoined the +drawing-room, but the half-closed _portières_ divided it from the +former; quite lonely and dimly-lighted, it offered a momentary solitude +to whomsoever desired it. The young man had thrown himself upon a seat, +and gazed dreamily before him. Of what he was thinking, perhaps he did +not dare to confess to himself, and yet it was betrayed by his starting +up at the sound of a voice, which said in a tone of slight +astonishment-- + +"Ah, Signor Almbach, you here!" + +It was Signora Biancona; whether, on entering, she had really not +perceived who was already there, could not be decided, as she continued +with perfect ease-- + +"I was seeking relief for a moment from the heat and whirl of the +drawing-room. You, too, have soon withdrawn from the company after your +triumph." + +Almbach had risen, quickly. "If it is a question of triumph, there is +certainly no doubt who gained it to-day. My improvised performance +cannot be compared, in ever so slight a degree, with that which you +offered to the public." + +The Signora smiled. "I only produced sounds, like you, but I confess, +candidly, it has surprised me, never, until to-night, and here, to meet +an artist who surely long since--" + +"Excuse me, Signora," interrupted the young man, coldly, "I have +already declared in the drawing-room that I only lay claim to being a +_dilettante_. I belong to the commercial world." + +The same look of astonishment which he had seen on Welding's +countenance in the theatre, was turned towards Almbach's face for the +second time. + +"Impossible! you are joking." + +"Why impossible, Signora? Because I could play a difficult _bravura_ +piece with facility?" + +"Because you could play it so, and because--" she looked at him fixedly +for a moment, and then added, with great decision--"because your face +bears the stamp one always imagines genius must carry on its brow." + +"You see how deceptive appearances sometimes are." + +Signora Biancona did not seem to agree with this; she sat down on the +couch, her pale-coloured dress lay airily and lightly, as a cloud, on +the dark velvet. + +"I admire you," she began again, "that you are able, with such artistic +qualities, to devote yourself to an every-day calling. It would be +impossible for me; I have grown up in a world of sounds and tones, and +cannot understand how there is room in it for any other duties." + +This time there lay an undisguised bitterness in the young man's voice +as he answered----"Also, your home is Italy; mine, a North-German +business town! In our every-day life, poetry is a rare, fleeting guest, +to whom a place is often refused. Work, striving after gain, stands +ever in the foreground." + +"With you, also, Signor?" + +"It should, at least, stand there; that it is not always the case, my +musical attempt will have shown you." + +The singer shook her head doubtfully. "Your attempt! I should like to +become acquainted with your finished work. But surely it cannot be your +intention to withdraw this talent entirely from the public, and only +exercise it in your home circle?" + +"In my home circle!" repeated Almbach, with singular emphasis, "I do +not touch a note there--least of all in my wife's presence." + +"You are married already?" asked the Italian quickly, as a momentary +pallor spread over her face. + +"Yes, Signora." + +This "yes," sounded dull and cold, and the half-mocking expression +which played for a moment on the singer's lips, as she looked at the +man of barely four-and-twenty years, disappeared at this tone. + +"People marry very young in Germany, it appears," she remarked, +quietly. + +"Sometimes." + +The young Italian seemed to find the pause which followed these words +somewhat painful; she changed rapidly to another topic-- + +"I fear you have already been subjected to the examination of which I +warned you. All the same, the company was charmed with your +performance." + +"Perhaps!" said the young man, half-contemptuously, "and yet it +certainly was not intended for the company." + +"Not! and for whom, then?" asked Signora Biancona, directing her glance +firmly towards him. And he looked at her; there seemed to be something +alike in both pairs of eyes which now met one another--both large, +dark, and mysterious. In Almbach's glance, too, shone the same light as +in the actress'; here also burned an ardent, passionate soul; also +here, in the depths, slumbered the demonlike spark which is so often +the heritage of genial natures, and becomes their curse when no +protecting hand restrains it, and when it is fanned into flame, then no +more brings light, but only destruction. + +He came a step nearer and lowered his voice; its great excitement, +however, still betrayed itself. + +"Only for her, who, for me and for us all, a few hours since, embodied +the highest beauty and the highest poetry, borne by the notes of an +undying master-work. You have been worshipped a thousand-fold to-day, +Signora. All that enthusiasm could offer was laid at your feet. The +stranger, the unknown, also wished to tell you how much he admired you, +and he did it in the language which alone is worthy of you. It is not +quite strange to me either." + +In his admiration there lay something that raised it above all +flattery, the tone of real true enthusiasm, and Signora Biancona was +actress enough to recognise this tone, woman enough to suspect what was +hidden beneath it; she smiled with enchanting grace. + +"I have seen, indeed, how very fluent you are in this language. Shall I +not often hear it from you?" + +"Hardly," said the young man, gloomily. "You return, as I hear, to +Italy shortly, I--remain here in the North. Who knows if we shall ever +meet again." + +"Our manager intends to remain here until May," interrupted the +Signora, quickly. "So our meeting to-day will surely not be our last? +Certainly not--I count positively on seeing you again." + +"Signora!" This passionate outbreak of Almbach's lasted only for a +second. Suddenly a recollection or warning seemed to shoot through him; +he drew back and bowed low and distantly. + +"I fear it must be the last--farewell, Signora." + +He was gone before it was possible for the singer to utter one word +regarding this strange adieu, and he seemed to be in earnest about it, +as not once during the whole evening did he approach the dangerous +"circle of the sun." + + + + + CHAPTER II. + + +"That is too bad. This mania really begins to surpass all limits. I +must forbid Reinhold all cultivation of music if he continues to pursue +it in so senseless a manner." + +With these words, the merchant Almbach opened a family council, which +took place in the parlour, in his wife's and daughter's presence, and +at which, fortunately, the special object of the same did not assist. + +Herr Almbach, a man about fifty, whose quiet, measured, almost pedantic +manner, generally served as a pattern for all the office people, +appeared to have quite lost his equilibrium to-day, by the above-named +mania, as he continued, in great excitement-- + +"The bookkeeper came home this morning about four o'clock from the +jubilee, which I had left directly after midnight. From the bridge he +sees the garden house lighted up, and hears Reinhold raving over the +notes, and lost to all sense of sight and hearing. Of course he could +not accompany me to the feast! he declared himself to be ill; but his +'unbearable headache' did not hinder him from maltreating the piano in +the icy-cold garden-room until morning's dawn. I shall be hearing again +from my partners that my son-in-law has been doing his utmost in +uselessness as well as in carelessness. It is hardly credible! The +youngest clerk understands the books better, and has more interest in +the business, than the partner and future head of the house of 'Almbach +& Co.' My whole life long have I worked and toiled to make my firm +secure and respected, and now I have the prospect of leaving it, at +last, in such hands." + +"I always told you that you should have forbidden his associating with +the Music-Director, Wilkins," interrupted Frau Almbach, "he is to blame +for it all; no one could get on with that misanthropical, musical fool. +Everyone hated and avoided him, but with Reinhold that was all the more +reason to form the most intimate friendship with him. Day after day he +was there, and there alone was laid the foundation of all this musical +nonsense, which his master seems to have bequeathed to him at his +death. It is hardly bearable since he had the old man's legacy--the +piano--in the house. Ella, what do you say, then, to this behaviour of +your husband?" + +The young wife, to whom the last words were addressed, had so far not +spoken a syllable. She sat in the window, her head bent over her +sewing, and only looked up as this direct question was addressed to +her. + +"I, dear mother?" + +"Yes, you, my child, as the affair affects you most. Or do you really +not feel the irresponsible manner in which Reinhold neglects you and +your child?" + +"He is so fond of music," said Ella, softly. + +"Do you excuse him also?" said her mother, excitedly. "That is just the +misfortune, he cares for it more than for wife or child; he never asks +for either of you if he can only sit at his piano and improvise. Have +you no idea of what a wife can and must demand from her husband, and +that, above all, it is her duty to bring him to reason? But to be sure, +nothing is ever to be expected of you." + +The young wife certainly did not look as if much were to be expected of +her. She had little that was attractive in her appearance, and the one +thing about her that could perhaps be called pretty, the delicate, +still girlishly slender figure, was entirely hidden under a most +unbecoming house dress, which in its boundless plainness was more +suggestive of a servant than of the daughter of the house, and was made +so as to disguise any possible advantages which there might be. Only a +narrow strip of the fair hair, which lay smoothly parted on her brow, +was visible, the rest disappeared entirely under a cap more suited to +her mother's years, and offering a peculiar contrast to the face of the +barely twenty-years-old wife. This pale face with its downcast eyes, +was not adapted to arouse any interest; it had no expression, there lay +in it something stolid, vacant, that nearly approached to stupidity, +and at this moment, when she let her sewing drop and looked at her +mother, it betrayed such helpless nervousness and senselessness, that +Almbach felt obliged to come to his daughter's assistance. + +"Leave Ella alone!" said he in that half-angry, half-compassionate tone +with which one rejects the interference of a child, "you know nothing +is to be done with her, and what could she effect here?" + +He shrugged his shoulders and continued bitterly; "That is the reward +for the sacrifice of adopting my brother's orphan children! Hugo throws +all gratitude, all reason and education in my face, and runs away +secretly; and Reinhold, who has grown up in my house, under my eyes, +causes me the greatest anxiety, with his good-for-nothing hankering +after all fancies. But with him, at all events, I have kept the reins +in my hand, and I shall draw them so tightly now, that he shall lose +all inclination to chafe against them any more." + +"Yes, Hugo's ingratitude was really outrageous!" Frau Almbach joined +in. "To fly from our house at night, in a fog, and go to sea, 'to try +his luck alone in the world,' as he said in the impudent letter of +farewell which he left behind him! Two years since there actually came +a letter to Reinhold from the Captain; and the former hinted only +lately, quite openly, about his probable return. I fear he knows +something positive about it." + +"Hugo shall not cross my threshold," declared the merchant, with a +solemn motion of his hand. "I know nothing of this interchange of +letters with Reinhold, and will know nothing. Let them correspond +behind my back, but if the unadvised youth should have the audacity to +appear before me, he will learn what the anger of an offended uncle and +guardian is." + +While the parents prepared to discuss this apparently often-treated +theme, with the wonted details and ire, Ella had left the room +unnoticed and now descended the staircase leading to the office, +situated on the ground floor. The young wife knew that now, at midday, +all the people would be absent, and this probably lent her courage to +enter. + +It was a large gloomy room; whose bare walls and barred windows caused +it somewhat to resemble a prison. No trouble had been taken to impart +any comfort or even a pleasant appearance to the office. And what for? +What belonged to work was there; the rest was luxury, and luxury was a +thing that the house of Almbach and Co., notwithstanding its +notoriously not inconsiderable wealth, did not allow itself. + +At present no one was to be found in the room, excepting the young man, +who sat at a desk with a big ledger open before him. He looked pale and +as if he had been up late; his eyes, which should have been busy with +figures, were fixed on the narrow strip of the sun's rays which fell +slantingly across the room. In his gaze was something of the longing +and bitterness of a prisoner, to whom the sunshine, penetrating into +his cell, brings news of life and freedom from without. He hardly +turned his head at the opening of the door, and asked indifferently-- + +"What is it? What do you want, Ella?" + +Every other wife at the second question would have gone to her husband +and put her arm round his shoulder. Ella remained standing close to the +doorway. It sounded far too icily cold, this "What do you want?" she +evidently was not welcome. + +"I wished to ask how your headache is?" she began, shyly. + +"My headache?" Reinhold recollected himself suddenly. "Ah, yes, I think +it has gone." + +The young wife closed the door and came a step or two nearer. + +"My parents are very furious again, that you were not at the feast +yesterday, and were playing, instead, the whole night long," she told +him hesitatingly. + +Reinhold knitted his brows. "Who told them? you perhaps?" + +"I?" her voice sounded half like a reproach. "The bookkeeper saw the +garden house lighted up, and heard you playing as he returned this +morning." + +An expression of contemptuous scorn played around the young man's lips, +"Ah! I certainly had not thought of that. I did not believe that those +gentlemen, after their jubilee, would have time or inclination left for +observations. To be sure for spying they are always ready enough." + +"My father thinks--" began Ella, again. + +"What does he think?" shouted Reinhold. "Is it not enough for him that +from morning to evening I am bound to this office; does he even grudge +me the refreshment I seek at night in music? I thought that I and my +piano had been banished far enough; that the garden house lay so +distant and so isolated, that I could run no risk of disturbing the +sleep of the righteous in the house. Fortunately no one can hear a +sound." + +"Not so," said the young wife, softly, "I hear every note when all is +still around, and I alone lie awake." + +Reinhold turned round and looked at his wife. She stood with downcast +eyes and thoroughly expressionless face before him. His glance swept +slowly down her figure as though he were unconsciously drawing some +comparison, and the bitterness in his features became more plainly +displayed. + +"I am sorry for it," he replied coldly, "but I cannot help your windows +looking into the garden. Close your shutters in future, then it is to +be hoped that my musical extravagances will not disturb your sleep any +more." + +He turned over the pages of his book, and appeared to lose himself +again in his calculations. Ella waited about a minute longer, but as +she saw that not the least notice was taken of her presence, she went +away as noiselessly as she came. + +She had hardly left before Reinhold flung the ledger from him +with a passionate movement. His glance, which fell upon the +contemptuously-treated object, and was cast around the office, showed +the most bitter hatred; then he laid his head on both arms and closed +his eyes, as if he wished to see and hear no more of the whole +surroundings. + +"God greet you, Reinhold!" said a strange voice suddenly, quite close +to him. + +He started up, and looked bewildered and inquiringly at the stranger in +sailor's clothes, who had entered unnoticed and now stood before him. +Suddenly, however, a recollection seemed to shoot through him, as with +a cry of joy, he threw himself on the new-comer's breast. + +"Is it possible, Hugo!--you here already?" + +Two powerful arms embraced him firmly, and a pair of warm lips were +pressed again and again upon his. + +"Do you really know me still? I should have picked you out from amongst +hundreds. Certainly you do look rather different from the little +Reinhold I left behind here. Well, with me I suppose it is not much +better." + +The first words still sounded full of deep emotion; but the latter +already bore a somewhat merrier tone. Reinhold's arm still lay fondly +round his brother's neck. + +"And you come so suddenly, so completely unannounced? I only expected +you in a few weeks' time." + +"We have had an unusually quick voyage," said the young captain, +cheerfully, "and once I was in the harbour, I could not stay a minute +longer on board, I must come to you. Thank God, I found you alone! I +was afraid I should have to pass the purgatorial fire of domestic anger +and to fight my way through the united relatives in order to reach +you." + +Reinhold's face, still beaming with the pleasure of meeting again, +became overcast at this recollection, and his arm fell slowly down. + +"No one has seen you surely?" he asked, "you know how my uncle feels +towards you, since--" + +"Since I withdrew myself from his _all-wise_ rule, which wished to +screw me absolutely to the office table, and ran away?" interrupted +Hugo. "Yes, I know; and I should have liked to look on at the row that +broke loose in the house when they discovered I had fled. But the story +is nearly ten years old. The 'good-for-nothing' is not dead and ruined, +as the family have, no doubt, prophecied hundreds of times, and wished +oftener; he returns as a most respected captain of a most splendid +ship, with all possible recommendations to your principal houses of +business. Should these mercantile and maritime advantages not at last +soften the heart of the angry house of Almbach and Co.?" + +Reinhold suppressed a sigh, "Do not joke, Hugo! you do not know my +uncle--do not know the life in his house." + +"No, I went away at the night time," asserted the Captain, "and that +was most sensible; you should do the same." + +"What are you thinking about? My wife--my child?" + +"Ah yes!" said Hugo, somewhat confused. "I always forget you are +married. Poor boy! they chained you fast by times. Such a betrothal +altar is the safest bolt to thrust before all possible longing for +freedom. There, do not fly out at once! I am quite willing to believe +they did not regularly force you to say 'yes.' But how you came to do +it, my uncle will probably have to answer for; and the melancholy +attitude in which I found you, does not say much for the happiness of a +young husband. Let me look into your eyes, that I may see how it really +is." + +He seized him unceremoniously by his arm, and drew him towards the +window. Here in broad daylight, one could see, for the first time, how +very unlike the brothers were, notwithstanding an undeniable +resemblance in their features. The Captain, the elder of the two, was +strongly, and yet gracefully built, his handsome, open countenance was +browned by sun and air; his hair curled lightly, and his brown eyes +sparkled with love of life and courage; his carriage was easy and +firm, like that of a man accustomed to move in the most varied +surroundings and circumstances, and his whole bearing had a species of +self-confidence which broke forth at every opportunity, with, at the +same time, such a fresh, open kindliness, that it was difficult to +resist him. + +Reinhold, his junior by a few years, made a totally different +impression. He was slighter, paler than his brother; his hair and eyes +were darker, and the latter had a serious, even gloomy expression. But +there lay on this brow, and in those eyes, something which attracted +all the more, as they did not disclose all which lay behind them. Hugo +was, perhaps, the handsomer of the two, and yet a comparison was sure +to be drawn unconditionally in favour of the younger brother, who +possessed, in the highest degree, that rare and dangerous charm of +being interesting, to which, often the most perfect beauty must give +way. + +The young man made a hasty attempt to withdraw from the threatened +inspection. "You cannot remain here," he said, decidedly, "uncle may +enter at any moment, and then there would be a terrible scene. I will +take you to the garden house for the present, which I have had fitted +up for my sole use. You will hardly dare to appear before the family, +and your arrival must be known. I will tell them." + +"And bear all the storm alone?" interrupted the Captain. "I beg your +pardon, but that is my affair! I am going up at once to my uncle and +aunt, and shall introduce myself as their obedient nephew!" + +"But Hugo! are you out of your senses? You have no idea of the state of +affairs here." + +"Exactly! The strongest fortresses are taken by surprise, and I have +long looked forward to one day entering like a bomb amongst the stormy +relations, and to seeing what sort of a grimace they would make. But +one thing more. Reinhold, you must give me your promise to remain +quietly below until I return. You shall not be placed in the painful +position of witnessing how the weight of the family wrath is poured +upon my erring head. You might wish to catch some of it out of +brotherly self-sacrifice, and that would disturb all my plans of +campaign. Jonas, come in!" + +He opened the door and admitted a man, who, until now, had waited +outside in the passage. "That is my brother. Look well at him! You have +to report yourself to him, and pay him your respects. Once more, +Reinhold, promise me not to enter the family parlour for the next +half-hour. I shall bring all to order up there by myself, if I have +even to take the whole barrack by storm." + +He was out of the door before his brother could make any remonstrance. +Still half-bewildered by the rapid changes of the last ten minutes, he +looked at the broad, square figure of the new arrival, who set a +good-sized portmanteau down on the floor, and planted himself close +beside it. + +"Seaman Wilhelm Jonas, of the 'Ellida,' now in the service of Herr +Captain Almbach!" reported he, systematically, and attempted a movement +at the same time, probably intended to be a bow, but which did not bear +the least similarity to the desired courtesy. + +"All right," said Reinhold, abruptly, "you can leave the luggage here +at present! I must first hear how long my brother proposes remaining." + +"We are to stay here a few days with his uncle," assured Jonas, very +quietly. + +"Oh! is that decided already?" + +"Quite positively." + +"I do not understand Hugo," murmured Reinhold. "He appears to have no +idea of what is before him, and yet my letters must have prepared him +for it. I cannot possibly let him bear the storm alone." + +He made a movement towards the door, but this was quite blocked up by +the sailor's broad figure, who, even at the young man's displeased +glance of enquiry, did not move from his position. + +"The Captain said that he would bring all to order up yonder by +himself," he explained laconically, "so he will do it. He succeeds in +everything." + +"Really?" asked Reinhold, somewhat struck by the insuperable confidence +of the words, "You seem to know my brother well." + +"Very well." + +Hesitating whether he should accede to Hugo's wish, Reinhold went to +the window which looked into the court, and became aware of three or +four faces, expressive of boundless curiosity, belonging to the +servants, who were trying to obtain a peep into the office. The young +man allowed a sound of suppressed annoyance to escape him, and turned +again to the sailor. + +"My brother's arrival seems to be known in the house already, said he +hastily. Strangers are not such a rarity in the office, and the +curiosity is evidently directed to you." + +"It does not matter," muttered Jonas, "even if the whole nest becomes +rebellious and stares at us. That sort of thing is nothing new. The +savages in the South Sea Islands do just the same when our 'Ellida' +lies-to." + +The question may remain undecided, as to whether the comparison just +drawn was exactly flattering to the inhabitants of the house. +Fortunately no one but Reinhold heard it, and he considered it +necessary to remove the object of this curiosity. He desired him to +enter the adjoining room and wait there; he himself remained behind and +listened uneasily if quarrelling voices were to be heard, but to be +sure the family parlour lay in the upper story and at the other side of +the house. The young man debated with himself as to whether he should +remain true to the half-promise which he had made to Hugo, and leave +him to manage alone, or if he should not, at least, attempt to cover +the unavoidable retreat, as, that such lay before Hugo, he believed to +be certain. He had too often heard the condemning verdict accorded to +his brother by the family, not to dread a scene, in which even the +former would be unable to hold his own, but he also knew his own +position towards his uncle too well, not to say to himself that his +interference would merely make matters worse. + +More than half-an-hour had passed in this painful anxiety, when at last +steps were heard and the Captain entered. + +"Here I am, the affair is settled." + +"What is settled?" asked Reinhold, hastily. + +"Well, the pardon of course. As much-beloved nephew, I have this moment +lain alternately in the arms of my uncle and aunt. Come upstairs with +me, Reinhold! you are missing in the reconciliation _tableau_, but you +must be prepared for endless emotion; they are all crying together." + +His brother looked at him doubtfully. "I do not know, Hugo, if this be +meant for fun, or--" + +The young Captain laughed mischievously. "You seem to have little +confidence in my diplomatic talents. But all the same, do not think +that the affair was easily settled. I was certainly prepared for a +storm. But here raged a regular tornado--bah, we sailors are accustomed +to such things--and when at last I could obtain speech, which +certainly was not for some time, the victory was already decided. I +represented the return of the lost son with a masterly hand; I called +heaven and earth as witnesses of my reformation. I ventured upon +falling at their feet--that took, at least with my aunt--I now made +sure of the hesitating female flank, in order to storm the centre in +conjunction with it, and the victory was brilliant. Forgiveness in due +form--general emotion and embraces--group of reconciliation--my Heaven, +do not look so incredulous. I assure you I am speaking in all +seriousness." + +Reinhold shook his head, yet unconsciously he drew a breath of relief. +"Comprehend it, who can! I should have thought it impossible! Have +you"--the question sounded peculiarly uncertain--"have you seen my +wife?" + +"To be sure," said Hugo, slyly. "That is to say, I have certainly not +seen much of her, and heard even less, as she remained quite passive +during the scene, and did not even cry like the rest. The same little +cousin Eleonore still, who always sat so quietly and shyly in her +corner, out of which even our wildest boyish teasings did not drive +her--and she has become your wife! But now, above all, I must admire +the representative of the house of Almbach! Where is he?" + +Reinhold looked up, and for a moment a bright gleam drove all the +gloominess away from his face. "My boy? I will show him to you. Come, +we will go up to him." + +"Thank God, at last a sign of happiness in your face," said the +Captain, with a seriousness of which one would hardly have deemed his +merry nature capable, and he added in a lowered voice, "I have sought +for it in vain so far." + + * * * * * + +The firm of Almbach and Co. belonged to that class whose names on the +Exchange, as well as in the commercial world generally, were of some +position, without being of conspicuous importance. The relations +between its head and Consul Erlau were not only of a business nature; +they dated from earlier times, when both, equally young and meanless, +were apprenticed in the same office, the one to raise himself until he +became a rich merchant, whose ships sailed on every ocean and whose +connections extended to every quarter of the globe--the other to found +a modest business, which never reached beyond certain bounds. Almbach +avoided all more daring speculations, all greater undertakings, which +he was by no means the man to superintend or guide; he preferred a +moderate, but steady gain, which also fell to his share to the fullest +extent. His social position was certainly as different from that of +Consul Erlau as was his old-fashioned gloomy house in Canal Street, +with its high gables and barred office windows, from the princely +furnished palace at the Harbour. The friendship between the former +youthful companions had gradually diminished, but it was certainly +Almbach who was principally to blame for it. He could not be reconciled +to the Consul after the latter had become a millionaire, living in the +style suited to that position. Perhaps he could not forgive him for +occupying the first place, while he himself only stood in the third or +fourth rank, and well as he knew how to utilise the advantages which +the intimate acquaintance with the great firm of Erlau opened to him, +yet he held, all the more, to his strictly middle-class, and somewhat +old-frankish household, and kept aloof from all communication with that +of the Consul. The latter's invitations had ceased when he saw that +they were never accepted; for years the mutual meetings had been +restricted to those occasional ones on Exchange or some chance place, +and lately Almbach had even, when any business matters required a +personal interview, let his son-in-law represent him. It was decidedly +disagreeable to him, that on this occasion the young man had received +the invitation to the opera and the succeeding evening party, and +impossible as it was to refuse this civility, the merchant did not +attempt to disguise from his family his dissatisfaction at Reinhold's +introduction into the "nabob's life," the designation with which he +usually honoured his old friend's household. + +Notwithstanding all this, Almbach was a well-to-do, even, as was +maintained by many, a very rich man, and on this account the centre and +support of numerous relations not blessed with over-much fortune. In +this manner the care of his two orphaned nephews, whom their father, a +ship's captain, had left quite without resources, fell to his charge. +Almbach had only one child, to whose existence he had never attached +very much importance, as she was a girl. The Consul and his wife were +the little one's god-parents, and it might always be considered as an +act of self-conquest, that Almbach gave his daughter Frau Erlau's name, +as he particularly hated the aristocratic, romantic-sounding "Eleonore" +and soon changed it for the much simpler "Ella." This designation was +also more suitable, as Ella Almbach was considered by every one to be, +not only a simple, but even a very contracted-minded being, whose +horizon never was extended beyond the trifling domestic events of +housekeeping. The child had formerly been very sickly, and this may +have had a crippling effect upon the development of her mental +faculties. They were indeed of a very inferior order, and the very +prejudiced, strictly domestic education in her father's house, +excluding every other circle of ideas and thought, did not appear +adapted to give them a higher direction. Thus, then, the girl had +grown up quiet and shy, always overlooked, everywhere set aside, and +without the least value, even amongst her nearest relations. They +were wont to consider her quite incapable of self-dependence, even +half-irresponsible, and her eventual marriage did not change things at +all. + +Neither of the young people raised any objection to the long-cherished, +and to them long-known, plan of a union. A girl of seventeen and a man +of twenty-two have certainly not much self-decision, least of all when +they have grown up under such repressed circumstances. Besides, in this +case, there was also the habit of always living together, which had +created a sort of liking, although in Reinhold it was really only +pitying tolerance, and in Ella secret fear of her mentally superior +cousin. They gave their hands obediently at the betrothal, which was +followed, after a year's reprieve, by the wedding. Almbach's sceptre +swayed over both as much after as before it, he allowed his new +son-in-law, who, as far as the name went, was literally his partner, as +little independence in the business as his wife did the young mistress +in the household. + + + + + CHAPTER III. + + +It was Sunday morning. The office was closed, and Reinhold at last had +a free morning before him, which certainly was seldom his good fortune. +He was in the garden house, to the entire and special possession of +which he had at last attained, to be sure only after many struggles and +by repeated reference to his musical studies, which were considered +highly disturbing in the house. It was here alone that the young man +was in any degree safe from the constant control of his parents-in-law, +which extended even into the young couple's dwelling, and he seized +every free moment to take refuge in his asylum. + +The so-called "garden" was of the only description possible in an old, +narrowly-built, densely populated town. On all sides high walls and +gables enclosed the small piece of ground, to which air and sunshine +were sparingly given, and where a few trees and shrubs enjoyed but a +miserable existence. The garden's boundary was one of those small +canals, which traversed the town in all directions, and whose quick, +dark stream formed a very melancholy background; beyond this, again, +walls and gables were to be seen; the same prison-like appearance, +which clung to Almbach's whole house seemed to reign over the only free +space belonging to it. + +The garden house itself was not much more cheerful--the single large +room was furnished with more than simplicity. Evidently the few +old-fashioned pieces of furniture had been set aside from some other +place as superfluous, and been sought out in order to fit up the room +with what was absolutely necessary. Only in the window, round which +climbed some stunted vines, stood a large, handsome piano, the legacy +of the late Music Director, Wilkens, to his pupil, and its magnificent +appearance contrasted as singularly and strangely with the room as did +the figure of the young man, with his ideal brow and large flashing +eyes, behind the barred office windows of the dwelling-house. + +Reinhold was sitting writing at the table, but to-day his face did not +wear the tired, listless expression, which rested upon it whenever he +had the figures of the account books before him; his cheeks were +darkly, almost feverishly red, and as he wrote a name rapidly on the +envelope, lying on the table, his hands trembled as if with suppressed +excitement. Steps were heard outside, and the glass door was opened; +with a quick gesture of annoyance the young man pushed the envelope +under the sheets of music lying on the table, and turned round. + +It was Jonas, servant of the Captain, who for a few days only had +accepted the hospitality offered by his relations, and then had +migrated to a dwelling of his own. The sailor saluted and entered in +his peculiarly rough and somewhat uncouth manner, and then laid some +books on the table. + +"The Herr Captain's compliments, and he sends the promised books from +his travelling library." + +"Is my brother not coming himself?" asked Reinhold astonished. "He +promised surely." + +"The Captain has been here some time," replied Jonas, "but they have +got hold of him in the house; your uncle wished to have a conference +with him on family affairs; your aunt requires his help to make some +alteration in the guest room, and the bookkeeper wants to catch him for +his society. All are fighting for him; he cannot tear himself away." + +"Hugo appears to have conquered the whole house in the course of a +single week," remarked Reinhold ironically. + +"We do that everywhere," said Jonas, full of self-consciousness, and +appeared inclined to add more about those conquests, when he was +interrupted by his master's entrance, who greeted his brother in the +most cheerful humour. + +"Good morning, Reinhold! Now Jonas, what are you staying here for? You +are wanted in the house. I promised my aunt that you should help at the +dinner to-day. Go at once to the kitchen!" + +"Amongst the women!" + +"Heaven knows," said Hugo, turning laughingly to his brother, "where +this man has learned his hatred for women. Certainly not from me; I +admire the lovely sex uncommonly." + +"Yes, unfortunately, quite uncommonly," muttered Jonas, but he turned +away obediently and marched out of the room, while the Captain came +quite close to Reinhold. + +"To-day there is a large family dinner!" he began, imitating his Uncle +Almbach's pedantic, solemn voice so well as almost to deceive any one. +"In my honour of course! I hope you will pay proper respect to this +important ceremony, and that you will not again behave in such a +manner, that I can at the utmost use you as a butt for my too developed +amiability." + +Reinhold knitted his brows slightly-- + +"I beg you, Hugo, do be sensible for once! How long do you intend to +continue this comedy, and amuse yourself at the expense of the whole +house? Take care, lest they find out what your amiability consists of, +and that you are really only ridiculing them all." + +"That would indeed be bad," said Hugo, quietly, "but they will not find +me out, depend upon that." + +"Then do me the kindness, at least, of ceasing your horrid Indian +tales! You really go too far with them. Uncle was debating with the +bookkeeper yesterday about the battle with the monster serpent, which +you served up for them lately, and which, even to him, appeared unheard +of. I became extremely confused in listening to them." + +"It put you to confusion?" mocked the Captain. "If I had been there, I +should immediately have given them the benefit of an elephant hunt, a +tiger story, and a few attacks of savages, with such appalling effects, +that the affair of the giant snake would have appeared highly probable +to them. Be easy! I know my hearers; the whole house oppresses me +almost, with its acts of sympathy." + +"Excepting Ella," suggested Reinhold, "it is certainly remarkable that +her shyness towards you is quite invincible." + +"Yes, it is very remarkable," said Hugo with an offended air. "I cannot +allow any one in the house to exist who is not entirely persuaded of my +perfections, and have already set myself the task of presenting myself +to my sister-in-law in all my utterly irresistible charms. I do not +doubt at all that she will thereupon immediately join the majority--you +are not jealous, I hope." + +"Jealous?--I? and on Ella's account?" The young man shrugged his +shoulders half-pityingly, half-contemptuously. + +"What are you thinking of?" + +"Well, there is no danger! I have sought an interview with her already, +but she was entirely occupied with the young one. Tell me, Reinhold, +where does the child get those wonderful, blue, fairy-tale-like eyes +from? Yours are not so, besides there is not the least resemblance, +and, excepting his, I do not know any in the family." + +"I believe Ella's eyes are blue," interrupted his brother +indifferently. + +"You believe only? Have you never convinced yourself then? Certainly it +may be somewhat difficult; she never raises them, and, under that +monstrous cap, nothing can be seen of her face. Reinhold, for Heaven's +sake, how can you allow your wife such an antediluvian costume? I +assure you, for me that cap would be grounds sufficient for a divorce." + +Reinhold had seated himself at the piano, and let his hands glide +mechanically over the notes, while he answered with perfect +indifference-- + +"I never trouble myself about Ella's toilet, and I believe it would be +useless to try and enforce any alterations there. What does it matter +to me?" + +"What it matters to you how your wife looks?" repeated the Captain, as +he seized some sheets of music on the table, and turned them over +lightly, "a charming question from a young husband! You used to have a +sense of beauty, too easily aroused, and I could almost fear--what is +this then? 'Signora Beatrice Biancona on it.' Have you Italian +correspondents in the town?" + +Reinhold sprang up, confusion and annoyance struggled in his face, as +he saw the letter, which he had pushed under the music, in his +brother's hands, who repeated the address unconcernedly. + +"Beatrice Biancona? That is the _prima donna_ of the Italian Opera, who +has made such a wonderful sensation here? Do you know the lady?" + +"Slightly," said Reinhold, taking the letter quickly from his hands. "I +was introduced to her lately at Consul Erlau's." + +"And you correspond with her already?" + +"Certainly not! The letter does not contain one single line." + +Hugo laughed aloud, "An envelope fully addressed, a very voluminous +sheet of paper inside it, with not a single line! Dear Reinhold, that +is more wonderful than my story of the giant snake. Do you expect me +really to believe it? There, do not look so savage, I do not intend to +force myself into your secrets." + +Instead of answering, the young man drew the paper out of the unsealed +envelope, and held it to his brother, who looked at it in astonishment. + +"What does it mean? Only a song--notes and words--no word of +explanation with it--just your name below. Have you composed it?" + +Reinhold took the paper again, closed the letter and put it in his +pocket. + +"It is an attempt, nothing more. She is _artiste_ enough to judge of +it. She can accept or reject it." + +"Then you compose also?" asked the Captain, whose face had become +serious all at once. "I did not think that your passionate liking for +music went so far as creating it yourself. Poor Reinhold, how can you +bear this life, with all its narrow, confined ways, wishing to stifle +every spark of poetry as being unnecessary or dangerous? I could not do +it." + +Reinhold had thrown himself upon the seat before the piano again. + +"Do not ask me how I endure it," he replied, with suppressed feeling. +"It is enough _that_ I do it." + +"I guessed long since that your letters were not open," continued Hugo; +"that behind all the contentment with which you tried to deceive me, +something quite different was concealed. The truth has become plain to +me, during one week in this house, notwithstanding that you gave +yourself all conceivable trouble to hide it from me." + +The young man gazed gloomily before him. "Why should I worry you, when +far away, with anxieties about me? You had enough to do to take care of +yourself, and there was a time, too, when I was contented, or at least +believed myself so, because my whole mental being lay, as it were, +under a spell, when I allowed everything to pass over me in stupid +indifference, and I offered my hand willingly for the chain. I have +done it; well, yes! But I must carry it my whole life long!" + +Hugo had gone towards him, and laid his hand upon his brother's +shoulder. + +"You mean your marriage with Ella? At the first news of it, I knew it +must be my uncle's work." + +A bitter smile played round the young man's lips as he answered +scornfully-- + +"He was always a splendid master of calculation, and he has shown it +again in this case. The poor relation, taken up out of kindness and +charity, must consider it happiness that he is raised to be son and +heir of the house, and the daughter must be married some time; so it +was a case of securing, by means of her hand, a successor for the firm, +who bore the same name. It was neither Ella's nor my fault that we were +bound together. We were both young, without wills, without knowledge of +life or of ourselves. She will always remain so--well for her. It has +not been so fortunate for me." + +One would hardly have credited those merry brown eyes with the power of +looking so serious as at this moment, when he bent down to his brother. + +"Reinhold," said he, in an undertone, "on the night when I fled to +save myself from a caprice, which would have ruined my freedom and +future, I had planned and foreseen everything, excepting one, the most +difficult--the moment when I should stand by your bed to bid you +farewell. You slept quietly, and did not dream of the separation; but +I--when I saw your pale face on the pillow, and said to myself that for +years, perhaps never again, should I see it, all longing for freedom +could not resist it--I struggled hard with the temptation to awake and +take you with me. Later, when I experienced the thorny path of the +adventurous homeless boy, with all its dangers and privations, I often +thanked God that I had withstood the temptation; I knew you were safe +and sound in our relation's house, and now"--Hugo's strong voice +trembled as with suppressed anger or pain--"now I wish I had carried +you with me to want and privation, to storm and danger, but at any rate +to freedom; it had been better." + +"It had been better," repeated Reinhold, listlessly; then rising as if +reckless, "Let us cease! What is the use of regrets, which cannot +change what is past. Come! They expect us upstairs." + +"I wish I had you on my 'Ellida,' and we could turn our backs on the +whole crew, never to see them again," said the young sailor, with a +sigh, as he prepared to follow his brother's bidding. "I never thought +things could be so bad." + +The brothers had hardly entered the house, when Hugo's indispensability +began to show itself again. He was in request, at least on three sides, +at once. Every one required his advice and help. The young Captain +appeared to possess the enviable power of throwing himself directly +from one mood into another, as, immediately after his serious +conversation with his brother, he was sparkling with merriment and +mischief, helped every one, paid compliments to each, and at the same +time teased all in the most merciless manner. This time it was the +bookkeeper who caught him, as Jonas expressed it, to explain the +affairs of his society; and while the two gentlemen were discussing it, +Reinhold entered the dining-room, where he found his wife busied with +preparations for the before-named guests. + +Ella was in her Sunday costume to-day, but that made little alteration +in her appearance. Her dress of finer material was not more becoming; +the cap, which inspired her brother-in-law with such horror, surrounded +and disfigured her face as usual. The young wife devoted herself so +assiduously and completely to her domestic duties, that she hardly +seemed to notice her husband's entrance, who approached her with rather +lowering mien. + +"I must beg you, Ella," he began, "to have more regard for my wishes in +future, and to meet my brother in such a manner as he can and would +expect his sister-in-law to do. I should think that the behaviour of +your parents, and every one in the house, might serve as an example for +you; but you appear to find an especial pleasure in denying him every +right of relationship, and in showing him a decided antipathy." + +The young wife looked as timid and helpless at this anything but kindly +expressed reproof, as she did when her mother desired her to interfere +about her husband's musical "mania." + +"Do not be angry, dear Reinhold," she replied, hesitatingly, "but I--I +cannot do otherwise." + +"You cannot?" asked Reinhold, sharply. "Of course, that is your +never-failing answer when I ask anything of you, and I should have +thought it was seldom enough that I do address a request to you. But +this time I insist positively that you should change your demeanour +towards Hugo. This shy avoidance and consequent silence whenever he +speaks to you is too ridiculous. I beg seriously that you will take +more care not to make me appear too much an object of pity to my +brother." + +Ella appeared about to answer, but the last unsparing words closed her +lips. She bowed her head, and did not make any further attempt to +defend herself. It was a movement of such gentle, patient resignation +as would have disarmed any one; but Reinhold did not notice it, as at +the same moment the old bookkeeper was heard taking leave in the next +room. + +"Then we may count upon the honour of your membership, Herr Captain? +And as regards the election of a President, I have your word that you +will support the opposition?" + +"Quite at your service," said Hugo's voice, "and of course only with +the opposition. I always join the opposition on principle whenever +there is one; it is generally the only faction in which there is any +fun. Excuse me, the honour is on my side." + +The bookkeeper left, and the Captain appeared in the room. He seemed +inclined to redeem the promise he had given to his brother, and at the +same time to convince the young wife of his perfections, as he +approached her with all the boldness and confidence of his nature, with +which a certain knightly gallantry was mingled. + +"Then I owe it to chance that at last I see my sister-in-law, and she +is compelled to remain with me a few moments? Certainly she never would +have accorded me this happiness of her own free will. I was complaining +bitterly to Reinhold this morning about your repelling me, which I do +not know that I have merited in any way." + +He wished to take her hand, even to kiss it, but Ella drew back, with +a, for her, quite unwonted decision. + +"Herr Captain!" + +"Herr Captain!" repeated Hugo, annoyed. "No, Ella, that is going too +far. I certainly, as your brother, have a right to the 'thou' which you +never refused to your cousin and childish companion, but as you, from +the first day of my arrival, laid so much stress on the formal 'you,' I +followed the hint you gave me. However, this 'Herr Captain' I will not +stand. That is an insult against which I shall call Reinhold to my +assistance. He shall tell me if I must really bear hearing myself being +called 'Herr Captain' by those lips." + +"Certainly not!" said Reinhold, as he turned to leave, "Ella will give +up this manner of speaking to you, as well as her whole tone towards +you. I have just been speaking distinctly to her about it." + +He went away, and his glance ordered his wife to remain, as plainly as +his voice demanded obedience. Neither escaped the Captain. + +"For goodness sake, do not interfere with your husband's authority! +Would you command friendliness towards me?" cried he after his brother, +and turned again quickly to Ella, while he continued, gallantly, "that +would be the surest way to prevent my ever finding favour in my +beautiful sister-in-law's eyes. But that is not required between us, is +it? You will permit me, at least, to lay the due tribute of respect at +your feet, to describe to you the joyful surprise with which I received +the news--" + +Here Hugo stopped suddenly, and seemed to have lost his train of ideas. +Ella had raised her eyes, and looked at him. It was a gleam of quiet, +painful reproach, and the same reproach lay in her voice as she +replied, "At least leave me in peace, Herr Captain. I thought you had +amusement enough for to-day." + +"I?" asked Hugo, taken aback. "What do you mean, Ella? You do not +think--" + +The young wife did not let him finish. "What have we done to you?" she +continued, and although her voice trembled timidly at first, it gained +firmness with every word. "What have we done to you that you always +scoff at us, since the day of your return, when you acted a scene of +repentance before my parents, until the present moment, when you make +the whole house the target for your jokes? Reinhold certainly tolerates +our being daily humiliated; he looks upon it as a matter of course. But +I, Herr Captain--" here Ella's voice had attained perfect steadiness, +"I do not consider it right that you should daily cast scorn and +contempt over a house in which you, after all that has passed, have +been received with the old love. If this house and family do appear so +very meagre and ridiculous to you, no one invited you here. You should +have remained in that world of which you are able to relate so much. My +parents deserve more respect and mercy even for their weaknesses; and, +although our house may be simple, it is still too good for the scoffs +of an--adventurer." + +She turned her back upon him, and left the room without waiting for a +single word of reply. Hugo stood and gazed after her, as if one of the +impossible scenes out of his own Indian stories had just been acted +before him. Probably, for the first time in his life, the young sailor +lost, with his presence of mind, the power of speech also. + +"That was plain," said he at last, as he sat down, quite upset; but the +next moment he sprang up as if electrified, and cried-- + +"She has them in truth; the child's beautiful blue eyes. And I +discovered them only now! Who, indeed, would look for this glance under +that horrible cap? 'We are too good for the scoffs of an adventurer.' +Not exactly flattering, but it was merited, although I expected least +of all to hear it from her! I shall often try that." + +Hugo moved as if going into the guest room, but he stopped again on the +threshold, and looked towards the door, by which his sister-in-law had +retired. All signs of mockery and mischief had entirely vanished from +his face; it bore a thoughtful expression as he said, gently, "And +Reinhold only _believes_ she has blue eyes! Incomprehensible!" + + * * * * * + +In the large concert-room of H----, all the _elite_ of the town seemed +to be gathered on the occasion of one of those concerts which, set on +foot for some charitable purpose, were patronised by the first +families, and whose support and presence there was considered quite a +point of honour. To-day the programme only bore well-known names, both +as regarded the performances as well as performers; and besides, it was +arranged by means of the highest possible prices that the audience +should consist principally, if not entirely, of persons belonging to +the best circles of society. + +The concert had not commenced, and the performers were in a room +adjoining, which served as a place of assembly on such occasions, and +to which only a few specially favoured of the outside world had the +right of entrance. Therefore the presence was the more remarkable of a +young man who did not belong either to the favoured or the performers, +and who kept aloof from both. He had entered shortly before and +addressed himself at once to the conductor, who, although he did not +appear to know him, yet must have been informed of his coming, as he +received him very politely. The gentlemen around only heard so much of +the conversation, that the conductor regretted not to be able to give +Mr. Almbach any information: it was Signora Biancona's wish; the +Signora would appear directly. The short interview was soon over, and +Reinhold drew back. + +The group of artists, engaged in lively conversation, broke up +suddenly, as the door opened and the young _prima donna_ appeared; she +had not been expected so soon, as she usually only drove up at the last +moment. Every one began to move. All tried to outdo one another in +attentions to their beautiful colleague, but to-day she took remarkably +little notice of the wonted homage of her surroundings. Her glance on +entering had flown rapidly through the room, and had at once found the +object of its search. The Signora deigned to reply to the greetings +only very slightly, exchanged a few words with the conductor, and +withdrew at once from all further attempts at conversation with the +gentlemen, as she turned to Reinhold Almbach, who now approached her, +and went towards the farthest window with him. + +"You have really come, Signor?" she began in a reproachful tone, "I did +not believe, indeed, that you would accept my invitation." + +Reinhold looked up, and the forced coldness and formality of the +greeting began already to melt as he met her gaze for the first time on +that evening. + +"Then it was your invitation," he said. "I did not know if I was to +consider the one sent by the conductor in your name, as such. It did +not contain a single line from you." + +Beatrice smiled. "I only followed the example set me. I, too, have +received a certain song, whose composer added nothing to his name. I +only retaliated." + +"Has my silence offended you?" asked the young man, quickly. "I dared +add nothing. What--" his eyes sank to the ground--"what should I have +said to you?" + +The first question was indeed unnecessary; as the devotion of the song +seemed to have been understood, and Signora Biancona looked the reverse +of offended as she answered-- + +"You appear to like the wordless form, Signor, and always to wish to +speak to me in notes of music. Well, I bowed to your taste, and have +determined to answer also only in our language." + +She laid a slight but still marked emphasis upon the word. Reinhold +raised his head in astonishment. + +"In our language?" he repeated slowly. + + + + + CHAPTER IV. + + +Beatrice drew a paper out of the roll of music which she held in her +hand. "I have waited in vain for the author of this song to come to me, +in order to hear it from my lips and receive my thanks for it. He has +left to strangers that which was his duty. I am accustomed to _be +sought_, Signor. You seem to expect the same." + +There certainly lay some reproach in her voice, but it was not very +harsh, and it would have been hardly possible, as Reinhold's eye +betrayed only too plainly what this staying away had cost him. He made +no reply to the reproach, did not defend himself against it, but his +glance, which seemed magnetically bound by the brilliantly beautiful +apparition, told her that his self-restraint was caused by anything +rather than indifference. + +"Do you think I have sent for you to hear the air which is put down in +the programme?" continued the Italian, playfully. "The audience always +desires this air _da capo_; it is too trying for a repetition; I +propose, therefore, instead of this, to sing--something else." + +A deep glow covered the young man's features, and he stretched out his +hand, as if with an unconscious movement, towards the paper. + +"For mercy's sake! surely not my song?" + +"You are uncommonly alarmed about it," said the singer, stepping back, +and withdrawing the music from him. "Are you afraid for the fate of +your work in my hands?" + +"No, no!" cried Reinhold passionately, "but--" + +"But? No objections, Signor! The song is dedicated to me, is handed +over to me for good or evil. I shall do with it what I choose. Only one +more question. The director is quite prepared; we have practised the +performance together, but I should prefer seeing you at the piano when +I appear before the audience with your music. May I count upon you?" + +"You will trust yourself to my accompaniment?" asked Reinhold, with +trembling voice. "Trust yourself entirely without first trying it? That +is a risk for us both." + +"Only if your courage fail, not otherwise," explained Beatrice. "With +your power over the piano I have already made acquaintance, and there +is certainly no question as to whether you are sure of the +accompaniment to your work. If you are as sure of yourself before this +audience as you were lately at the party, we can perform the song +without hesitation." + +"I will risk all, if you are at my side," Reinhold exclaimed, +passionately. "The song was written for you, Signora. If you decide +differently for it, its fate lies in your hand. I am ready for all." + +She answered only with a smile, proud and confident of success, and +turned to the conductor who at that moment drew near. Then ensued a +low, but lively conversation in the group, and the other gentlemen +regarded with undisguised displeasure the young stranger who quite +monopolised the attention and conversation of the Signora and, to their +great annoyance, occupied her until the signal for the commencement of +the concert was given. + +The room, in the meanwhile, had filled to the very last seat, and the +dazzlingly-lighted place, in conjunction with the rich toilets of the +ladies, offered a brilliant sight. Consul Erlau's wife sat with several +other ladies in the front part of the room, and was engaged in +conversation with Dr. Welding, when her husband, accompanied by a young +man, wearing a captain's uniform, came up to her seat. + +"Herr Captain Almbach," he said, introducing him, "to whom I owe the +rescue of my best ship and all its crew. It was he who came to the help +of the 'Hansa,' when already almost foundered, and it is entirely to +his self-sacrificing energy--" + +"Oh pray, Herr Consul, do not let Frau Erlau immediately anticipate a +storm at sea!" interrupted Hugo, "we poor sailors are always so +maligned as regards our adventures, that every lady looks forward with +secret horror to their inevitable relation. I assure you though, +Madame, that you have nothing to fear with me. I intend my +conversational attempts to be confined to the mainland." + +The young sailor appeared indeed to understand very thoroughly the +differences of the society in which he moved. It never entered his head +here, when the opportunity was offered him, to recount adventures, +which in his relative's house he lavished so liberally. The Consul +shook his head a little dissatisfied. + +"You appear wishful to laugh away all recognition of your services," +responded he. "I am not the less in your debt, even if you do make it +impossible for me to discharge it in any way. Besides, I do not believe +the relation of this adventure would injure you with the ladies, quite +the contrary. And as you refuse all account of it so positively, I +shall reserve it myself for the next opportunity." + +Frau Erlau turned with winning friendliness to Hugo. + +"You are no stranger to us, Herr Captain Almbach, even for your +family's sake. Only lately we had the pleasure of seeing your brother +at our house." + +"Yes--only once," added the Consul, "and then merely by chance. Almbach +appears unable to forgive me that my mode of living varies so from his +own. He purposely keeps himself and all his family at a distance, and +for years has stopped all visits from our godchild--we hardly know what +Eleanor looks like." + +"Poor Eleanor!" remarked Frau Erlau, compassionately. "I fear she has +been intimidated by a too strict bringing up, and being kept much too +secluded. I never see her otherwise than shy and quiet, and I believe +in the presence of strangers she never raises her eyes." + +"She does though," said Hugo, in a peculiar voice. "She does sometimes, +but certainly I doubt if my brother has ever seen her do so." + +"Your brother is not here, then?" asked the lady. + +"No. He declined to accompany me. I do not understand it, as I know his +infatuation for music and especially for Biancona's singing. I am to +see this sun of the south, whose rays dazzle all H----, rise to-day for +the first time." + +The Consul cautioned him laughingly with his finger. + +"Do not scoff, Captain; rather protect your own heart against these +rays. To you, young gentleman, such things are most dangerous. You +would not be the first who had succumbed to the magic of those eyes." + +The young sailor laughed confidently. + +"And who says then, Herr Consul, that I fear such a fate? I always +succumb in such cases with the greatest pleasure, and the consolatory +knowledge that the magic is only dangerous for him who flees it. +Whoever stands firm, is generally soon disenchanted, often sooner than +he wishes." + +"It appears you have had great experience already in such affairs," +said Frau Erlau, with a touch of reproof. + +"My God, Madame, when year after year one flies from country to +country, and never takes root anywhere, is nowhere so much at home as +on the rolling, ever-moving sea, one learns to look upon constant +change as inevitable, and at last to love it. I expose myself entirely +to your displeasure with this confession, but I must really beg of you +to look upon me as a savage, who has long forgotten, in tropical seas +and countries, how to satisfy the requirements of North German +civilisation." + +Yet the manner in which the young Captain bowed and kissed the lady's +hand as he spoke, betrayed a sufficient acquaintance with these +requirements, and Dr. Welding remarked, drily, as he turned to the +Consul-- + +"The tropical barbarism of this gentleman will not distinguish +itself very badly in our drawing-rooms. So the hero of the much +talked of 'Hansa' affair is really the brother of the young Almbach to +whom Signora Biancona is just now according an interview in the +assembly-room?" + +"Whom? Reinhold Almbach?" asked Erlau, astonished. "You heard just now +that he is not here." + +"Certainly not, according to the Herr Captain's views," said Welding, +quietly. "According to mine, he positively is. Pray do not mention it! +To-night's concert seems intended to bring us some surprise. I have a +certain suspicion, and we shall see if it be well-founded or not. The +Signora likes theatrical effects, even off the stage; everything must +be unexpected, lightning-like, overwhelming; a prosaic announcement +would spoil everything. The conductor is, of course, in the plot, but +was not so easily persuaded. We shall await it." + +He ceased, as Hugo, who until now had been talking to the ladies, came +to them, and immediately after the concert commenced. + +The first part and half of the second passed, according to the +programme, with more or less lively interest for the audience. Only +towards the close did Signora Biancona appear, whose performance, +notwithstanding all that had so far been heard, formed the point of +attraction of the evening. The audience received and greeted their +favourite, whose pale features were more charming than ever, with loud +applause. Beatrice was indeed radiantly beautiful as she stood under +the streaming light of the chandelier, in a flowing gauze dress strewn +with flowers, and roses in her dark hair. She acknowledged it with +smiling thanks on all sides, and, when the conductor, who undertook the +accompaniment, had seated himself at the piano, began her recitative. + +This time it was one of those grand Italian _bravura_ airs, which at +every concert and on every stage are certain of success, and demand the +audience's applause without at the same time fulfilling higher +requirements. A number of brilliant passages and effects made up for +the depth, which was really wanting in the composition, but it offered +the Italian an opportunity for perfect display of her magnificent +voice. All these runs and trills fell clearly as a bell from her lips, +and took such entrancing possession of the hearers' ears and senses, +that all criticism, all more serious longings, vanished in the pure +enjoyment of listening. It was a charming playing with tones--to be +sure, only playing, nothing more--but combined with the finished +certainty and grace of the performance, it acted like electricity upon +the audience, who overwhelmed the singer more lavishly than usual with +applause, and stormily encored the air _da capo_. + +Signora Biancona seemed also inclined to accede to this wish as she +came forward again, but at the same moment the conductor left the +piano, and a young man, who had hitherto not been observed among the +other performers, took his place. The spectators stared in +astonishment, the Consul and his wife gazed at him in surprise; even +Hugo at the first moment looked almost shocked at his brother, whose +presence he had not suspected, but he began to guess at the connection. +Only Dr. Welding said quietly, and without the least surprise, "I +thought it!" Reinhold looked pale, and his hands trembled on the keys; +but Beatrice stood at his side--a softly-whispered word from her mouth, +a glance out of her eyes, gave him back his lost courage. He began the +first chords steadily and quietly, which at once told the audience it +was not to be a repetition of their favourite piece. All listened +wonderingly and eagerly, and then Beatrice joined in. + +That was certainly something very different from the _bravura_ air just +heard. The melodies which now flowed forth had nothing in common with +those runs and trills, but they made their way to the hearers' hearts. +In those tones, which now rose as in stormy rejoicing, and again sank +in sad complaint, there seemed to breathe the whole happiness and +sorrow of a human life; a long-fettered yearning seemed at last to +struggle forth. It was a language of affecting power and beauty, and if +it was not quite understood by all, yet all felt that there was a sound +of something powerful, everlasting in it; even the most indifferent +superficial crowd cannot remain void of feeling when genius speaks to +it. + +And here genius had found its mate, who knew how to follow and perfect +it. There was no more talk of a risk for both, as the one met the idea +of the other. The most careful study could not have given so perfect a +mutual understanding as was here created in a moment and by +inspiration. Reinhold found himself comprehended in every note, grasped +at every turn, and never had Beatrice sung so enchantingly, never had +the spirit of her singing displayed itself so much. She took her part +with glowing _abandon_; the talent of the singer and the dramatic power +of the actress flowed together. It was a performance which would have +ennobled even the most insignificant composition--here it became a +double triumph. + +The song was ended. The breathless silence with which it had been +listened to continued a few seconds longer; no hand moved, no sign of +applause was heard; but then a storm broke forth, such as even the +_fêted prima donna_ had seldom heard, and at any rate is unknown in a +concert-room. Beatrice seemed only to have waited for this moment; in +the next she had stepped to Reinhold, seized his hand, and drawn him +with her to the foot-lights, introducing him to the audience. This one +movement said enough; it was understood at once that the composer stood +before them. The storm of applause for both raged anew, and the young +musician, still half-bewildered by the unexpected success, holding +Beatrice's hand, received the first greeting and first approbation of +the crowd. + +Reinhold only returned clearly to consciousness in the assembly-room, +whither he had accompanied Signora Biancona; a few moments of solitude +still remained to him; beyond, in the concert-room, the orchestra was +playing the finale to a most indifferent audience, which was still +completely impressed by what it had just heard. Beatrice withdrew her +arm which lay in that of her companion. + +"We have conquered," she said, softly; "were you satisfied with my +song?" + +With a passionate movement, Reinhold seized both her hands, "Ask not +this question, Signora! Let me thank you, not for the triumph, which +was more yours than mine, but that I was also permitted to hear my song +from your lips. I composed it in the recollection of you--for you +alone, Beatrice. You have understood what it says to you, otherwise you +could not have sung it in such a manner." + +Signora Biancona may have understood it only too well, but in the +glance with which she looked down at him there lay still more than the +mere triumph of a beautiful woman, who has again proved the +irresistibility of her power. "Do you say that to the woman, or the +actress?" asked she, half-playfully. "The road is now open, Signor, +will you follow it?" + +"I will," declared Reinhold, raising himself determinedly, "whatever +opposes me, and whatever form my future may take, it will have been +consecrated for me, since the Goddess of Song herself opened the gate +to me." + +The last words had the same tone of passionate adulation which Beatrice +heard from him once before; she bent closer towards him, and her voice +sounded soft, almost beseeching, as she answered-- + +"Do not then avoid the Goddess any more so obstinately as hitherto. The +composer will surely be allowed to come to the actress from time to +time. If I study your next work, Signor, shall I have to discover its +meaning alone again, or will you stand by me this time?" + +Reinhold gave no reply, but the kiss which he pressed burningly +hot upon her hand, did not say no. Nor did he this time bid her +farewell--this time no recollection tore him away from the dangerous +proximity. Whatever arose in the distance that time with gentle +warning, had now no place in a single thought of the young man's +mind. How could, indeed, the faint, colourless picture of his young +wife exist near a Beatrice Biancona, who stood before him in all the +witch-like charms of her being, this "Goddess of Song," whose hand had +just conducted him to his first triumph! He saw and heard her only. +What for years had lain hidden within him--what, since his meeting with +her had struggled and fought its way out, this evening decided the +beginning of an artist's career, and of a family drama. + + * * * * * + +The following days and weeks in the Almbachs' house were not the most +agreeable. It could naturally not remain concealed from the merchant +that his son-in-law had appeared before the public with his +composition, and for this reason, that Dr. Welding, in the morning +paper, gave a detailed account of the concert, in which the name of the +young composer was mentioned. But neither the praise which the usually +severe critic accorded in this instance, nor the approval with which +the song was everywhere received, nor even the intervention of Consul +Erlau, who, taking Reinhold's part very eagerly and decidedly, upheld +his musical gifts, could overcome Almbach's prejudices. He persisted in +seeing in all artistic efforts an idling as useless as it was +dangerous--the real ground of all incapacity for practical business +life, and the root of all evil. Knowing as little as most people that +it had been almost an act of compulsion by which Signora Biancona +had forced Reinhold to appear publicly, he regarded the whole as a +pre-arranged affair, which had been undertaken without his knowledge +and against his will, and which made him almost beside himself. He +allowed himself to be so carried away, that he called his son-in-law to +account like a boy, and forbade him, once for all, any farther musical +pursuits. + +That was, of course, the worst thing he could have done. At this +prohibition, Reinhold broke out into uncontrollable defiance. The +passion which, despite all that fettered it outwardly and held it in +bounds, formed the groundwork of his character now broke out into a +truly terrific fury. A fearful scene ensued, and had Hugo not +interposed with quick thought, the breach would have become quite +irremediable. Almbach saw with horror that the nephew whom he had +brought up and led, whom he had tied to himself by every possible bond +of family and business, had outgrown his control completely, and never +thought of bending to his power. The strife had ceased for the time +present, but only to break out afresh at the first opportunity. One +scene succeeded another; one bitterness surpassed another. + +Reinhold soon stood in opposition to his whole surroundings, and the +defiance with which he clung more than ever to his musical studies, and +maintained his independence out of the house, only increased the anger +of his father and mother-in-law. + +Frau Almbach, who shared her husband's opinion entirely, supported him +with all her strength; Ella, on the contrary, remained, as usual, quite +passive. Any interference or taking a part was neither expected nor +desired; her parents never thought of crediting her with the very least +influence over Reinhold, and he himself ignored her in this affair +altogether, and did not even seem to grant her the right of offering an +opinion. The young wife suffered undeniably under these circumstances; +whether she felt the sad, humiliating part which she, the wife, +played--thus overlooked by both factions--set aside and treated as if +incapable--could hardly be decided. At her parents' bitter and excited +discussions, and her husband's constant state of irritation, which +often found vent at trifling causes, and was generally directed against +her, she always showed the same calm, patient resignation, seldom +uttered a beseeching word, never interfered by any decided +partisanship, and when, as usual, roughly repulsed, drew back more +shyly than ever. + +The only one who remained now, as before, on the best terms with all, +and kept his undisputed place as general favourite, was, strange to +say, the young Captain. Like all obstinate people, Almbach resigned +himself more easily to a fact than to a struggle, and forgave more +easily the direct but quiet want of regard for his authority, such as +his eldest nephew had shown him, than the stormy opposition to his will +which was now attempted by the younger one. When Hugo saw that a hated +calling was forced upon him, he had neither defied nor offended his +uncle; he had simply gone away, and let the storm rage itself out +behind his back. Certainly, he did not hesitate later to enact the +return of the prodigal son to ensure his entrance into the house to +which his brother belonged, and his restoration to his relations' +favour. Reinhold possessed neither the capability nor the inclination +to play with circumstances in this way. Just as he had never been able +to disguise his dislike to business life, and his indifference to all +the provincial town interests, so he now made no secret of his contempt +for all around him, his burning hatred for the fetters which confined +him--and it was this which could not be pardoned. Hugo, who espoused +his brother's side positively, was permitted to take his part openly, +and did so on every occasion. His uncle pardoned him this, even looked +upon it as quite natural, as the young Captain's mode of treatment +never let it come to a rupture, while with Reinhold, the subject only +needed to be touched upon in order to cause the most furious scenes +between him and his wife's parents. + +It was about noontide, when Hugo entered the Almbachs' house, and met +his servant, whom he had sent before with a message to his brother, at +the foot of the stairs. Jonas was really nominally only a sailor in the +"Ellida;" he had long had his discharge from the ship, and been +appointed solely to the young Captain's personal service, whom he never +left, even during a lengthy stay on shore, and whom he followed +everywhere with constant, unvarying attachment. Both were of about the +same age. Jonas was truly far from ugly; in his Sunday clothes he might +even pass for a good-looking fellow, but his uncouth manner, his rough +ways and his chariness of speech never allowed these advantages to be +perceived. He was almost on an enemy's footing with all the servants, +especially the women of Almbach's household, and none of them had ever +seen a pleasant expression on his face, nor heard a word more than was +absolutely necessary. Even now he looked very sour, and the four or +five dollars he was just counting in his hand seemed to excite his +displeasure, judging from the savage way he looked at them. + +"What is it, Jonas?" asked the Captain, approaching, "are you taking +stock of your ready money?" + +The sailor looked up, and put himself in an attitude of attention, but +his face did not become more pleasant. + +"I am to go to the nursery garden and get a bouquet of flowers," he +grumbled, as he put the money in his pocket. + +"Oh! are you employed as messenger for flowers?" + +"Yes, here too," said Jonas, emphasising the last word, and with a +reproachful glance at his master, added, "I am used to it, to be sure." + +"Certainly," laughed Hugo. "But I am not used to your doing such things +for others than myself. Who has given you the commission?" + +"Herr Reinhold," was the laconic reply. + +"My brother--so?" said Hugo, slowly, while a shade flitted across his +features, so bright just now. + +"And it is a sin the sum I am to pay for it," muttered Jonas. "Herr +Reinhold understands even better than we how to throw away dollars for +things which will be faded to-morrow, and we at any rate are not +married, but he--" + +"The bouquet is of course for my sister-in-law?" the Captain +interrupted shortly. "What is there to wonder at? Do you think I shall +give my wife no bouquets when I am married?" + +The last remark must have been very unexpected by the sailor, as he +drew himself up with a jerk, and stared at his master in the most +perfect horror, but the next minute he returned reassured to his old +position, saying confidently-- + +"We shall never marry, Herr Captain." + +"I forbid all such prophetic remarks, which condemn me without further +ado to perpetual celibacy," said Hugo quickly, "and why shall '_we_' +never marry?" + +"Because we think nothing of women," persisted Jonas. + +"You have a very curious habit of always speaking in the plural," +scoffed the Captain. "So I think nothing of women; I thought the +contrary had often roused your ire?" + +"But it never comes to marriage," said Jonas triumphantly, in a tone of +unconquerable conviction, "at heart we do not think much of the whole +lot. The story never goes beyond sending flowers and kissing hands, +then we sail away, and they have the pleasure of looking after us. It +is a very lucky thing that it is so. Women on the 'Ellida'--Heaven +protect us from it!" + +This characteristic account, given with unmistakable seriousness, +although again in the unavoidable plural, appeared to be full of truth, +as the Captain raised no objection to it. He only shrugged his +shoulders laughingly, turned his back upon the sailor, and went +upstairs. He found Reinhold in his own rooms, which lay in the upper +story, and a single glance at his brother's face, who was walking +angrily up and down, showed him that something must have happened again +to-day. + +"You are going out?" asked he, after greeting him, while looking at the +hat and gloves lying on the table. + +"Later on!" answered Reinhold, recovering himself. "In about an hour. +You will stay some time?" + +Hugo overlooked the last question. He stood opposite his brother, and +gazed searchingly at him. + +"Has there been a scene again?" he asked half-aloud. + +The moody defiance, which had disappeared for a few moments from the +young man's face, returned. + +"To be sure. They have attempted once more to treat me like a +schoolboy, who, when he has accomplished his daily appointed task, is +to be watched, and made to render an account of every step he takes, +even in his hours of recreation. I have made it clear to them that I am +tired of their everlasting guardianship." + +The Captain did not ask what step the quarrel was about; the short +conversation with Jonas seemed to have explained all that sufficiently; +he only said, shaking his head--"It is unfortunate that you are so +completely dependent upon our uncle. If later on it end in a regular +rupture between you, and you leave the business, it would become a +question of existence for you--your income goes entirely with it. You, +yourself, might trust wholly to your compositions, but to think they +could support a family yet would be making your future very uncertain +from the beginning. I had only myself to act for; you will be compelled +to wait until a greater work places you in the position of being able +to turn your back, with your wife and child, upon all the envy of a +small provincial town." + +"Impossible!" cried Reinhold almost madly. "By that time I shall have +foundered ten times over, and what talent I possess with me. Endure, +wait, perhaps for years? I cannot do it, it is the same thing to me as +suicide. My new work is completed. If only in some degree it attain the +success of the first, it would enable me to live at least a few months +in Italy." + +Hugo was staggered. + + + + + CHAPTER V. + + +"You are going to Italy? Why there particularly?" asked the Captain. + +"Where then?" interposed Reinhold impatiently. "Italy is the school of +all art and artists. There alone could I complete the meagre, defective +study to which circumstances confined me. Can you not understand that?" + +"No," said the Captain, somewhat coldly. "I do not see the necessity +that a beginner should go at once to the higher school. You can find +opportunity enough for study here; most of our talented men have had to +struggle and work for years before Italy at last crowned their work. +Supposing, however, you carry out your plan, what is to become of your +wife and child in the meanwhile? Do you intend to take them with you?" + +"Ella?" cried the young man, in an almost contemptuous voice. "That +would be the most certain method of rendering my success impossible. Do +you think, that in the first step I take towards freedom, I could drag +the whole chain of domestic misery with me?" + +A slight frown was perceptible between Hugo's eyes-- + +"That sounds very hard, Reinhold," he answered. + +"Is it my fault, that I am at last conscious of the truth?" growled +Reinhold. "My wife cannot raise herself above the sphere of cooking and +household management. It is not her fault, I know, but it is not +therefore any less the misfortune of my life." + +"Ella's incapacity, certainly seems settled as a sort of dogma in the +family," remarked the Captain quietly. "You believe in it blindly, like +the rest. Have you ever given yourself the trouble to find out if this +accepted fact be really infallible?" + +Reinhold shrugged his shoulders-- + +"I think it would be unnecessary in this case. But in none can there be +a question of my taking Ella with me. Naturally she will remain with +the child in her parents' house until I return." + +"Until you return--and if that do not happen?" + +"What do you say? What do you mean?" said the young man angrily, while +a deep colour spread over his face. + +Hugo crossed his arms and looked fiercely at him-- + +"It strikes me you are now suddenly coming forward with ready-made +plans, which have certainly long been arranged, and probably well +talked over. Do not deny it Reinhold! You, by yourself, would never +have gone to such extremities as you do now in the disputes with my +uncle, listening to no advice or representations; there is some foreign +influence at work. Is it really absolutely necessary that you should go +day after day to Biancona?" + +Reinhold vouchsafed no reply; he turned away, and so withdrew himself +from his brother's observation. + +"It is talked of already in the town," continued the latter. "It cannot +continue long without the report reaching here. Is it a matter of +perfect indifference to you?" + +"Signora Biancona is studying my new composition," said Reinhold +shortly, "and I only see in her the ideal of an actress. You admired +her also?" + +"Admired, yes! At least in the beginning. She never attracted me. The +beautiful Signora has something too vampire-like in her eyes. I fear +that whoever it be, upon whom she fixes those eyes with the intention +of holding him fast, will require a powerful dose of strength of will +in order to remain master of himself." + +At the last words he had gone to his brother's side, who now turned +round slowly and looked at him. + +"Have you experienced that already?" he asked, gloomily. + +"I? No!" replied Hugo, with a touch of his old mocking humour. +"Fortunately I am very unimpressionable as regards such-like +romantic dangers, besides being sufficiently used to them. Call it +frivolity--inconstancy--what you will--but a woman cannot fascinate me +long or deeply; the passionate element is wanting in me. You have it +only too strongly, and when you encounter anything of the sort, the +danger lies close by. Take care of yourself, Reinhold!" + +"Do you wish to remind me of the fetters I bear?" asked Reinhold, +bitterly. "As if I did not feel them daily, hourly, and with them the +powerlessness to destroy them. If I were free as you, when you tore +yourself away from this bondage, all might be well; but you are right, +they chained me by times, and a bridal altar is the most secure bar +which can be placed before all longing for freedom--I experience it +now." + +They were interrupted; the servant from the house brought a message +from the bookkeeper to young Herr Almbach. The latter bade the man go, +and turned to his brother. + +"I must go to the office for a moment. You see I am not in much danger +of coming to grief by excessive romance; our ledgers, in which, +probably, a couple of dollars are not properly entered, guard against +that. Adieu until we meet again, Hugo!" + +He went, and the Captain remained alone. He stayed a few moments as if +lost in thought, while the frown on his brow became still darker; then +suddenly he raised himself as with some resolve, and left the room, but +not to go to the lower floor to his uncle or aunt; he went straight to +the opposite apartments inhabited by his sister-in-law. + +Ella was there; she sat by the window, her head was bent over some +needlework, but it seemed as if this had been seized hurriedly when the +door opened unexpectedly; the handkerchief thrown down hastily, and the +inflamed eyelids betrayed freshly dried tears. She looked up at her +brother-in-law's entrance with undisguised astonishment. It was +certainly the first time he had sought her rooms; he came half-way +only, and then stood still without approaching her seat. + +"May the adventurer dare to come near you, Ella? or did that condemning +verdict banish him entirely from your threshold?" + +The young wife blushed; she turned her work about in her hands in most +painful confusion. + +"Herr--" + +"Captain!" interrupted Hugo. "Quite right--thus do my sailors address +me. Once more this name from your lips, and I shall never trouble you +again with my presence. Pray Ella, listen to me to-day!" he continued +determinedly, as the young wife made signs of rising. "This time I +shall keep the door barred by which you always try to elude my +approach; fortunately, too, there is no maid near whom you can keep by +your side for some task. We are alone, and I give you my word I shall +not leave this spot until I am either forgiven, or--hear the +unavoidable 'Herr Captain' which will drive me away once for all." + +Ella raised her eyes, and now it was plainly evident that she had wept. + +"What do you care for my forgiveness?" she replied quickly. "You have +wounded me least of all; I only spoke in the name of my parents and all +the household." + +"For them I do not care," said Hugo with the most unabashed candour, +"but that I have hurt you I do regret, very much regret; it has lain +like a nightmare upon me until now. I can surely do no more than beg +honestly and heartily for forgiveness. Are you still angry with me, +Ella?" + +He put out his hand towards her. In the movement and words there lay +such a warm, open kindliness and frankness, that it seemed almost +impossible to refuse the petition, and Ella actually, although somewhat +reluctantly, laid her hand in his. + +"No," said she, simply. + +"Thank God!" cried Hugo, drawing a long breath. "So at last my rights +as brother-in-law are conceded. I thus take solemn possession of them." + +The words were followed by the deed, as he drew forward a chair and sat +down beside her. "Do you know, Ella, that since our late encounter you +have interested me very much?" continued he. + +"It seems one must be rude to you in order to arouse your interest," +remarked Ella, almost reproachfully. + +"Yes, it appears so," agreed the Captain, with perfect composure. "We +'adventurers' are a peculiar people, and require different treatment to +ordinary mankind. You have taken the right course with me. Since you +read me my lecture so unsparingly, I have left all the house in peace; +I have behaved towards my uncle and aunt with the most perfect respect +and deference, and even robbed my Indian stories of all their appalling +effects, simply from fear of certain rebuking eyes. This can surely not +have escaped your notice?" + +Something like a half-smile crossed Ella's countenance as she asked-- + +"It has been very hard for you, then?" + +"Very hard! Although the state of affairs in the house should have made +it somewhat easier for me, they have not been of a description lately, +on which one could exercise one's love of joking." + +The passing gleam of merriment vanished immediately from Ella's face at +this allusion; it bore an anxious, beseeching expression, as she turned +to her brother-in-law. + +"Yes, it is very sad with us," she said, softly, "and it becomes worse +from day to day. My parents are so hard, and Reinhold so irritated, so +furious at every occurrence. Oh, my God, can you do nothing with him?" + +"I?" asked Hugo, seriously, "I might put that question to you, his +wife." + +Ella shook her head in inconsolable resignation. "No one listens to me, +and Reinhold less than any one. He thinks I understand nothing about it +all--he would repulse me roughly." + +Hugo looked sorrowfully at the young wife, who confessed openly that +she was quite wanting in power and influence over her husband, and that +she was not permitted to share his longings and strivings in the least. + +"And yet something must be done," said he decidedly. "Reinhold +irritates himself in this struggle; he suffers tremendously under it, +and makes others suffer too. You had been crying, Ella, as I entered, +and in the last few weeks not a day has passed without my seeing this +red appearance about your eyes. No, do not turn aside so timidly! +Surely the brother may be allowed to speak freely, and you shall see +that I do more than talk nonsense. I repeat it; something must be +done--done by you. Reinhold's artistic career depends upon it, his +whole future; and in the struggle his wife must stand at his side, +otherwise others might do it instead, and that would be dangerous." + +Ella looked at him with a mixture of astonishment and alarm. For the +first time in her life she was called upon to take a side openly, and +some result was looked for depending upon her interference. What could +be meant by "others" who might take her place? Her face showed plainly +that she had not the slightest suspicion of anything. + +Hugo saw this, and yet had not the courage to go any farther; as going +farther meant planting the first suspicion in the mind of the so-far +quite unconscious wife--being his brother's betrayer--and unavoidably +calling forth a catastrophe, of whose necessity he was nevertheless +convinced. But the young Captain's whole nature rebelled against the +painful task; he sat there undecided, when chance came to his help. +Some one knocked at the door, and immediately Jonas entered, carrying a +large bouquet of flowers. + +The sailor was surely more prudent when he executed such commissions +for his master. He knew from experience, that the latter's offerings of +flowers, although received with pleasure by the young ladies, were not +always treated the same by their fathers and protectors, and although +with possible secret annoyance, he always took care to go to the right +address. But this time Hugo's casual remark that the flowers were +intended for his sister-in-law, caused the mistake. Jonas never doubted +that the Captain's remark, meant merely to shield his brother, was made +in earnest; he therefore went straight to the young Frau Almbach, and +presented the flowers to her, with the words-- + +"I cannot find Herr Reinhold anywhere in the house, so had better +deliver the flowers here at once." + +Ella looked down in surprise at the beautiful bouquet which, arranged +with as much skill as taste, showed a selection of the most perfect +flowers. + +"From whom are the flowers?" asked she. + +"From the garden," answered Jonas. "Herr Reinhold ordered them, and I +have brought them; but as I cannot find him--" + +"That will do. You can go," broke in Hugo, as he stepped quickly to his +sister-in-law's side, and put his hand on her arm as if to stop her. A +sign gave more stress to his order, and Jonas rolled away, but could +not help wondering that the young Frau Almbach received her husband's +attention in so peculiar a manner. She had started suddenly, as if she +had been seized with a pain at her heart, and become ashen white. But +the Captain stood there with knitted brows, and an expression on his +face as if he should have liked best to throw the expensive flowers out +of the window. Fortunately, Jonas was too phlegmatic to trouble himself +much about the state of affairs in the Almbachs' house; owing to the +warlike footing on which he stood to the servants he learned but little +about it; so, after wondering slightly, he gave it up, and being +satisfied he had executed his orders conscientiously, troubled himself +no more about the giver of them. + +Deep silence reigned a few seconds in the room. Ella still held the +bouquet convulsively in her hand, but her usually quiet, listless +countenance, with its vacant, almost stupid expression, had changed +curiously. Now every feature was dilated as if in agonising pain, and +her eyes remained fixed and immovable upon the gay, blooming beauty, +even when she turned to her brother-in-law. + +"Reinhold gave the order?" she asked, as if striving for breath, "then +the flowers only came by mistake to me!" + +"Why then," said Hugo, with a vain attempt to soothe her, "Reinhold +ordered the flowers; well, surely they are for you?" + +"For me?" Her voice sounded full of pain. "I have never yet received +flowers from him; these are certainly not intended for me." + +Hugo saw he could not hesitate any more; chance had decided for him; +now he must obey fate's signal. "You are right, Ella," he replied +firmly, "and it would be useless and dangerous to deceive you any +longer. Reinhold did not say for whom the flowers were, but I know that +this evening they will be in Signora Biancona's hands." + +Ella shivered, and the bouquet fell to the ground. "Signora Biancona," +repeated she, in a dull tone. + +"The actress who sang his first song in public," continued the Captain, +impressively, "for whom, also, his new composition is intended; to whom +he goes daily; who enters into all his thoughts and feelings. You know +nothing of it as yet, I see in your face, but you must learn it now, +before it is too late." + +The young wife made no reply; her face was as colourless as the white +blossoms which formed the outer circle of the bouquet; silently she +stooped, picked it up, and laid it on the table, but no sound, no +response came from her lips. Hugo waited for one in vain. + +"Do you believe the cruelty of disclosing that which one always hides +from every wife has given me any pleasure?" asked he, with suppressed +emotion. "Do you think I could not, by some pretence, have covered the +man's stupidity, and given myself out as the sender of the unlucky +flowers? If I do not act thus, if I discover the whole truth +unsparingly, I do it because the danger has become extreme--because +only you can still save him; and this you must see clearly. Signora +Biancona is about to return to her home, and Reinhold explained to me +just now that he must and will continue his studies in Italy. Do you +comprehend the connection?" + +Ella started. Now, for the first time, a desperate fear broke through +the stolid calm of her nature. + +"No, no!" she cried, as if beside herself, "He cannot! he _dare_ not. +We are married!" + +"He dare not?" repeated Hugo. "You know men but little, and your own +husband least of all. Do not trust too much to the right which the +Church gave you; even this power has its limits, and I fear Reinhold +already stands beyond them. To be sure, you have no conception of that +burning fiendish passion, which enchains and makes a man powerless--so +surrounds him with its bonds, that for its sake he forgets and +sacrifices everything. Signora Biancona is one of those demonlike +natures which can inspire such passions, and here she is connected with +everything which makes up Reinhold's life--with music, art and +imagination. Nor Church nor marriage can protect, if the wife cannot +protect herself. You are wife, and mother of his child. Perhaps he will +listen to your voice, when he will to nothing else." + +The young wife's heavily-drawn breath showed how much she suffered, and +two tears, the first, rolled slowly down her cheeks as she replied, +almost inaudibly, "I will try it." + +Hugo came close to her side. "I know I have thrown a lighted brand into +the family to-day, which will, perhaps, destroy the last remains of +peace," he said, earnestly. "Hundreds of wives would now rush +despairingly to their parents, so as, with them or alone, to call their +husbands to account, and cause a scene which would break the last bond, +and drive him irretrievably from the house. You will not do this, Ella; +I know it, therefore I dared do with you what I should not have +ventured on so easily with any other woman. What you may say to +Reinhold--what you may insist upon, rests with yourself; but do not let +him leave you now; do not let him go to Italy!" + +He ceased, and seemed to expect an answer--in vain; Ella sat there, her +face buried in her hands. She hardly moved as he said good-bye to her. +The young Captain saw that she must overcome the blow alone, so he +went. + +When, half-an-hour later, Reinhold returned from the office, he saw the +bouquet of roses lying on the writing-table in his own room, and took +it up under the firm impression that Jonas had put it there. In the +meanwhile Ella sat in her child's room and waited, not for a farewell +from her husband, she had not been used to such tendernesses ever since +her marriage; but she knew he never left the house without first going +to see his boy. The wife felt only too well that she herself was +nothing to her husband, that her only value for him lay in the child; +she felt that the love for his child was the only point by which she +could approach his heart, and therefore she waited here for him in +order to hold the terribly difficult and painful interview. He must +surely come; but to-day she had to wait in vain. Reinhold did not +come. For the first time he forgot the farewell kiss on his child's +brow--forgot the last and only bond which chained him to his home. In +his heart there was only room now for one thought, and that was +Beatrice Biancona. + +The opera was over. A stream of people flowed out of the theatre, +dispersing in all directions, and carriages rolled by on every side to +take up their respective owners. The house had been filled to +overflowing, as the Italian Opera Company had given their farewell +performance, and all H---- had tried to show the singers, especially +the _prima donna_, how much charmed it was with their efforts, and how +sorry it was to lose them now the hour of parting had arrived. The +stairs and corridors were still crowded; below in the vestibule people +were closely packed, and at the places of egress the numbers increased +to an uncomfortable, almost dangerous degree. + +"It is almost impossible to get through," said Doctor Welding, who, +with another gentleman, descended the stairs. "One's life is imperilled +in the crush below. Rather let us wait until the rush is over!" + +His companion agreed, and both stepped aside into one of the deep, dark +niches in the corridor, where a lady had already taken shelter. Her +dress, although simple, betokened that she belonged to the upper +classes; she had drawn her veil closely over her face, and appeared to +avoid the crowd, also to feel quite strange in the theatre, from the +manner in which she pressed herself with evident nervousness firmly +against the wall, when the two gentlemen approached, and, without +paying any attention to her, resumed their interrupted conversation. + +"I prophesied it from the commencement that this Almbach would make a +great sensation," said Welding; "his second composition surpasses his +first in every respect; and the first was great enough for a beginner. +I should think he might be satisfied with its reception this time; it +was, if possible, more enthusiastic. Certainly, every one has not the +luck to find a Biancona for his works, and to inspire her for them, so +that she exerts her utmost power. It was altogether her idea to sing +this newest song of Almbach's as introduction to the last act of the +opera, to-day, too, at her farewell; when applause was a matter of +course, she made sure, by those means, of success at once." + +"Well, I don't think he is wanting in gratitude," scoffed the other +gentleman. "People say all sorts of things. So much is certain, all her +circle of adorers is furious at this interloper, who hardly appears +before he is on the high road to be sole ruler. The affair, besides, +seems rather serious and highly romantic, and I am really anxious to +see what will be the end of it, when Biancona departs." + +The Doctor buttoned his overcoat quietly-- + +"That is not difficult to guess; an elopement of the first order." + +"You think he will elope with her?" asked the other incredulously. + +"He with her? That would be objectless. Biancona is perfectly free to +decide what she likes, as to the choice of her residence. But she with +him; that would be more like the case--the fetters are on his side." + +"To be sure, he is married," rejoined his companion. "Poor woman! Do +you know her personally?" + +"No," said Welding, indifferently; "but from Herr Consul Erlau's +description, I can form a truly correct picture of her. Contracted +ideas, passive, unimportant in the highest degree, quite given up to +the kitchen and household affairs--just the woman in fact to drive a +genial, fiery-headed fellow like Almbach to a desperate step; and as it +is a Biancona who is set up against her, this step will not have to be +waited for very long. Perhaps it would be fortunate for Almbach if he +were torn suddenly out of these confined surroundings, and thrown on to +the path of life, but certainly the little family peace there is would +be entirely ruined. The usual fate of such early marriages, in which +the wife cannot in the smallest degree raise herself to her husband's +importance." + +At these last words he turned round somewhat astonished; involuntarily +the lady behind them had made a passionate movement, but at the same +moment as the Doctor was about to observe her more narrowly, a side +door was opened, and Reinhold Almbach appeared, accompanied by Hugo, +the conductor, and several other gentlemen. + +Reinhold here was quite a different being from what he was at home. The +gloom which always rested on his features there, the reserve which made +him so often unapproachable, seemed thrown off with one accord; he +beamed with excitement, success, and triumph. His brow was raised +freely and proudly, his dark eyes flashed with conscious victory, and +his whole manner breathed forth passionate satisfaction, as he turned +to his companions. + +"I thank you, gentlemen. You are very kind, but you will excuse me if I +retire from these flattering acknowledgments. The Signora wishes for my +company at the entertainment, where the members of the opera assemble +once more as a farewell meeting. You will understand, I must obey this +command before all others." + +The gentlemen seemed to understand it perfectly, and also to regret +they had not to obey a similar command, when Doctor Welding joined the +group. + +"I congratulate you," he said, giving his hand to the young composer. +"That was a great, and what is more, a merited success." + +Reinhold smiled. Praise from the lips of a critic usually so exacting +was not indifferent to him. + +"You see, Herr Doctor, I have to appear at last before your judgment +seat," replied he pleasantly. "Herr Consul Erlau was unfortunately +wrong when he considered me quite safe from any such danger." + +"None should be considered happy before the end," remarked the Doctor +laconically. "Why do you rush so headlong into danger, and turn your +back upon the noble merchant's position? Is it true we are to lose you +with Signora Biancona? Shall you take flight to the south at the same +time?" + +"To Italy, yes!" said Reinhold positively. "It has been my plan for +long. This evening has decided it, but now--excuse me gentlemen, I +cannot possibly allow the Signora to wait." + +He bowed and left them, accompanied by his brother. The usually not +quite silent Captain had observed a remarkable reticence during the +conversation. He started slightly, when at Welding's approach the niche +was disclosed in which the woman's dark figure was pressed back in the +shadow of the wall, as if not wishing to be seen on any account, and no +one else did see her, at least no one took any notice of her; she could +not leave her place of refuge without passing the group, which kept its +place after the departure of the brothers. The gentlemen all knew one +another, and took advantage of this meeting to exchange their opinions +about the young composer, Signora Biancona, and the suspected state of +affairs between the two. The latter especially was subjected to a +tolerably merciless criticism. The scoffing, witty, and malicious +remarks fell thick as hail, and some time elapsed before the group +separated at last. Now that the corridor was quite empty, the lady in +the recess raised herself and prepared to depart, but she tottered at +the first few steps, and seized the banisters of the staircase as if +about to fall, when a powerful arm supported, and held her up. + + + + + CHAPTER VI. + + +"Come into the fresh air, Ella!" said Hugo, standing suddenly beside +her. "That was torture of the rack." + +He drew her hand within his arm, and led her down by the nearest way +into the street. Only here, in the cool, sharp night air did Ella +appear to regain consciousness; she threw back her veil and drew a long +breath, as if she had been nearly suffocated. + +"If I had dreamed that my warning would have brought you here, I should +have withheld it." continued Hugo, reproachfully. "Ella, for heaven's +sake, what an unfortunate idea!" + +The young wife drew her hand away from his arm. The reproach seemed to +pain her. + +"I wanted to see her for once," replied she softly. + +"Without being seen yourself?" added the Captain. "I knew that the +moment I recognised you, therefore I said nothing to Reinhold, but I +felt as if standing on hot coals here below, while the criticising +group above was holding forth before your place of refuge, and giving +free course to their amiable remarks and opinions. I can fancy pretty +well what you had to listen to." + +During the last words he had hailed a cabman, told the street and +number of house, and helped his sister-in-law into the carriage; but as +he showed signs of taking a seat beside her, she declined his doing so, +quietly but firmly. + +"Thanks, I shall go alone." + +"On no account!" cried Hugo, almost excitedly. "You are much agitated, +almost fainting; it would be unpardonable to leave you alone in this +state." + +"You are not responsible for what becomes of me," said Ella, with +uncontrolled bitterness, "and to others--it does not matter. Let me +drive home alone, Hugo, I beseech you." + +Her eyes looked at him entreatingly through their veil of tears. The +Captain did not say another word; he shut the door obediently, and +stepped back; but he watched the carriage as it rolled away until it +was out of sight. + +It was long past midnight when Reinhold returned, and, without entering +his house, he went at once to his garden room. The house and +outbuildings lay still and dark; nothing was moving around, all who +lived and worked here were accustomed to be occupied in the daytime, +and required the night for undisturbed repose. It was fortunate that +the garden-house lay so distant and isolated, otherwise his companions +and neighbours would have been much less patient with the young +composer, who could not refrain, however late he might return home, +from always seeking his piano, and often morning's dawn surprised him +at his musical phantasies. + +It was a quiet, moonlight, but sharp raw northern spring night. In the +dawning light, the walls and gables which enclosed the garden looked +even more gloomy and prison-like than by day; the canal appeared darker +in the pale moon's rays, which trembled over it, and the bare leafless +trees and shrubs seemed to tremble and shudder in the cold night wind, +which passed mercilessly over them. It was already April, and yet the +first buds were hardly to be seen. "This miserable spring, with its +tardy growth and bloom, its dreary rainy days and cold winds!" Reinhold +had heard these words spoken a few hours since, and then such a glowing +description followed of endless spring, which blossoms forth as by +magic in the gardens of the south, those sunny days, with ever blue +sky, and the thousandfold glorious colours of the earth; the moonlight +nights full of orange perfume and notes of song. The young man must +indeed have head and heart still full of this picture; he looked more +contemptuously than usual on the poor bare surroundings, and +impatiently pushed aside a branch of elderberry whose newly opening +brown buds touched his forehead. He had no more feeling for the gifts +of this miserable spring, and no more pleasure in growing and living as +miserably as these blossoms, ever fighting with frost and wind. Out +into freedom, that was the only thought which now filled his mind. + +Reinhold opened the door of the garden room and started back with +sudden alarm. A few seconds elapsed before he recognised his wife in +the figure leaning against the piano standing out clearly in the +moonlight as it fell through the window. + +"Is it you, Ella?" he cried at last, entering quickly. "What is it? +What has happened?" + +She made a movement of denial. "Nothing, I was only waiting for you." + +"Here? and at this hour?" asked Reinhold, extremely distantly. "What +has entered your head?" + +"I hardly ever see you now," was the soft response, "at least only at +table in my parents' presence, and I wished to speak to you alone." + +She had lighted the lamp at these words, and placed it upon the table. +She still wore the dark silk dress which she had on at the theatre this +evening; it was certainly plain and unornamented, but not so coarse and +unbecoming as her usual house dress. Also her never failing cap had +disappeared, and now, that it was missing, could be seen for the first +time what a singular wealth was hidden beneath it. The fair hair, of +which at other times only a narrow strip was visible, could hardly be +confined in the heavy plaits which showed themselves in all their +splendid abundance; but this natural ornament, which any other woman +would have displayed, was in her case hidden carefully day after day, +until chance disclosed it, and yet it appeared to give her head quite a +different mould. + +As usual, Reinhold had no eyes for it; he hardly looked at his young +wife, and only listened slightly and abstractedly to her words. There +was not even the slightest trace of reproach in them, but he must have +felt something of the sort lay there as he said impatiently-- + +"You know I am occupied on all possible sides. My new composition which +was completed a few weeks since, was brought out publicly to-night for +the first time--" + +"I know it," interrupted Ella. "I was in the theatre." + +Reinhold seemed taken aback. "You were in the theatre?" asked he +quickly and sharply. "With whom? At whose instigation?" + +"I was there alone--I wished--" she stopped, and continued +hesitatingly; "I too wished to hear your music for once, of which all +the world speaks and I alone do not know." + +Her husband was silent and looked enquiringly at her. The young wife +did not understand the art of deceiving, and an untruth would not pass +her lips. She stood before him, deadly pale, trembling in all her +limbs; no especially keen sight was required to guess the truth, and +Reinhold did so at once. + +"And only for this reason you went?" said he slowly at last. "Will you +deceive me with this excuse, or yourself, perhaps? I see the report has +found its way to you already! You wished to see with your own eyes, +naturally. How could I think it would be spared me and you?" + +Ella looked up. There was again the darkly lowering brow she was always +accustomed to in her husband, the look of gloomy melancholy, the +expression of defiant, suppressed suffering, no longer a breath of +that beaming triumph which had lighted up his features a few hours +before--that was when away, far from his own people; only the shadow +remained for home. + +"Why do you not answer?" he began afresh. "Do you think I should be +coward enough to deny the truth? If I have been silent towards you so +far, it was done to spare you; now that you know it, I will render +account. You have been told of the young actress, to whom I owe the +first incitement to work, my first success, and to-day's triumph. God +knows how the connection between us has been represented to you, and +naturally you look upon it as a crime worthy of death." + +"No, but as a misfortune." + +The tone of these words would surely have disarmed any one; even +Reinhold's irritation could not resist it. He came nearer to her and +took her hand. + +"Poor child!" said he, pitifully. "It certainly was no happiness what +your father's will decided for you. You, more than any other, required +a husband who would work and strive from day to day in the quiet +routine of daily life without even having a wish to step beyond it, and +fate has chained you to a man whom it draws powerfully to another +course. You are right; that is a misfortune for us both." + +"That is to say, I am one for you," added the young wife, sadly. "She +will, perhaps, know better how to bring you happiness." + +Reinhold let her hand fall and stepped back. "You are mistaken," he +replied, almost rudely, "and quite misconstrue the connection between +Signora Biancona and myself. It has been purely ideal from the +beginning, and is so still at this moment. Whoever told you differently +is a liar." + +At the first words, Ella seemed to breathe more easily, but at the +following her heart contracted as if with cramp. She knew her husband +was incapable of speaking a falsehood, least of all at such a moment, +and he told her the connection was spiritual. That it was so still she +did not doubt, but how long would it be so? This evening, in the +theatre, she had seen the flash of those demon-like eyes, which nothing +could resist; had seen how that woman, in her part, had run through the +whole scale of feelings to the greatest passion; how this passion +carried away the audience to a perfect storm of approbation; and she +could easily tell herself that if it had pleased the Italian so far +only to be the gracious goddess whose hand had led the young composer +into the realms of art, the hour was sure to come in which she would +wish to be more to him. + +"I love Beatrice," continued Reinhold, with a cruelty of which he +seemed to have no real conception; "but this love does not injure nor +wound any of your rights. It only concerns music, as whose embodied +genius she met me, concerns the best and highest in my life, the +ideal--" + +"And what is left for your wife, then?" interrupted Ella. + +He remained silent, struck dumb. This question, simple as it was, +sounded nevertheless peculiar from the lips of his wife, deemed so +stupid. It was a matter of course, that she should be satisfied with +what still remained--the name she bore and the child, whose mother she +was. Strange to say, she did not appear inclined to understand this, +and Reinhold became quite silent at the quiet but yet annihilating +reproach of the question. + +The wife rested her hand on the piano. She was visibly fighting with +the fear she had always cherished for her husband, whose mental +superiority she felt deeply, without, at the same time, ever venturing +on an attempt to raise herself to him. In the knowledge that he stood +so high above her, she had ever placed herself completely under him, +without ever attaining anything by it excepting toleration, which +almost amounted to contempt. + +Now that he loved another, the toleration ceased; the contempt +remained--she felt that plainly in his confession, which he made so +quietly, so positively; his love for the beautiful singer "neither +injured nor wounded any of her rights." She had indeed no right to his +spiritual life. And she should keep firm hold of that man now, when the +love of a beautiful, universally admired actress, when the magical +charm of Italy, when a future full of renown and glory beckoned to him, +she, who had nothing to give excepting herself--Ella was conscious for +the first time of the impossibility of the task which had been +appointed to her. + +"I know you have never belonged to us, never loved any of us," she +said, with quiet resignation. "I have always felt it; it has only +become clear to me since I was your wife, and then it was too late. But +I am it now, and if you forsake me and the child, you will give us up +for the sake of another." + +"Who says so?" cried Reinhold, with anger, which exonerated him from +the suspicion that such a thought had really entered his mind. +"Forsake? Give up you and the child? Never!" + +The young wife fixed her eyes enquiringly upon him, as if she did not +understand him. + +"But you said just now you loved Beatrice Biancona?" + +"Yes, but--" + +"But! Then you must choose between her and us." + +"You suddenly develope most unusual determination," cried Reinhold, +roused. "I must? And if I will not do it? If I consider this ideal +artist love quite compatible with my duties, if--" + +"If you follow her to Italy," completed Ella. + +"Then you know that already?" cried the young man, passionately. "You +seem to be so perfectly informed, that it only remains for me to +confirm the news others have been so kind as to tell you. It is +certainly my intention to continue my studies in Italy, and if I should +meet Signora Biancona there--if her vicinity give me fresh inspiration +to compose--her hand open me the door to the world of art, I shall not +be fool enough to reject all this, just because it is my fate to +possess a--wife!" + +Ella shuddered at the unsparing hardness of the last words. + +"Are you so ashamed of your wife?" she asked, softly. + +"Ella, I beg you--" + +"Are you so ashamed of me?" repeated the poor wife, apparently calmly; +but there was a strange, nervous, trembling inflection in her voice. +Reinhold turned away. + +"Do not be childish, Ella," he replied, impatiently. "Do you think it +is good or elevating for a man, when he returns home after his first +success, there to find complaints, reproaches, in short, all the +wretched prose of domestic life? So far you have spared me it, and +should do the same in future. Otherwise you might discover that I am +not the patient sort of husband who would allow such scenes to take +place without resistance." + +Only a single glance at the young wife was required to recognise the +boundless injustice of this reproach. She stood there, not like the +accuser, but like the condemned; indeed she felt that in this hour the +verdict was spoken upon her marriage and her life. + +"I know well that I have never been anything to you," said she, with +trembling voice, "never could be anything to you, and if I only were +concerned, I would let you go without a word, without a petition. But +the child is still between us, and therefore"--she stopped a moment, +and breathed heavily----"therefore you can comprehend that the mother +should pray once more for you to remain with us." + +The petition came out shyly, hesitatingly; in it could be heard the +effort it cost her to make it to the husband, in whose heart no chord +throbbed for her, and yet in the last words there rang such a touching, +frightened entreaty, that his ear could not remain quite deaf. He +turned to her again. + +"I cannot stay, Ella," he replied, more mildly than before, but still +with cool decision. "My future depends on it. You cannot conceive what +lies in that word for me. You cannot accompany me with the child. +Besides this being quite impossible in a tour undertaken for study, you +would soon be very miserable in a foreign country whose language you do +not understand, in circumstances and surroundings for which you are +quite unsuited. You must, indeed, now accustom yourself to measure me +and my life with another measure than that of narrow-minded prejudice +and middle-class contracted ideas. You can stay here with the little +one, under your parents' protection; at latest I shall return in a +year. You must resign yourself to this separation." + +He spoke calmly, even pleasantly; but every word was an icy rejection, +an impatient shaking off of the irksome bond. Hugo was right; he lay +already too firmly under the influence of his passion to listen to any +other voice--it was too late. A cold, pitiless, "You must resign +yourself," was the only answer to that touching prayer. + +Ella drew herself up with a determination at other times quite foreign +to her, and there was also a strange sound in her voice; there lay in +it something of the pride of a wife, who, trampled upon and kept down +for years, at last revolts when extremities are resorted to. + +"To the separation, yes," replied she, firmly. "I am powerless against +it. But not to your return, Reinhold. If you go now, go with her, +notwithstanding my prayers, notwithstanding our child, so do it. But +then, go for ever!" + +"Will you make conditions?" roared Reinhold, passionately. "Have I not +borne the yoke which your father's so-called kindness forced upon me +for years, which embittered my childhood, destroyed my youth, and now, +at the threshold of man's estate, compels me to conquer, only by means +of endless struggles, what every one requires as his natural right, +free decision for himself? You all have kept me apart from everything +that by others is called freedom and happiness; have bound me to a +hated sphere in life with all possible fetters, and now think +yourselves sure of your property. But at last the hour has come for me +when it begins to dawn, and if it penetrates like lightning to my soul, +and shows in flaming clearness the goal, and the reward at the goal, +then one awakes out of the dream of long years, and finds oneself--in +chains." + +It was an outbreak of the wildest passion, most burning hatred, which +welled forth without restraint, without asking if it were poured over +the guilty or the innocent. That is the horrible fiendishness of +passion, that it turns its hatred against everything which it +encounters, even if this hatred meet the nearest, most sacred--if it +even meet bonds voluntarily made. + +A long pause, still as death, followed. Reinhold, overpowered by +excitement, had thrown himself on a seat and covered his eyes with his +hands. Ella still stood on the same spot as before; she did not speak +or move; even the tremor which, during the conversation, had so often +passed through her, had ceased. Thus passed a few moments, until at +last she approached her husband slowly. + +"You will leave me the child, though?" said she, with quivering lips. +"To you it would only be a burden in your new life, and I have nothing +else in the world." + +Reinhold looked up, and then sprang suddenly from his seat. It was not +the words which moved him so strangely, not the deadly, fixed calm of +her face; it was the look which was so unexpectedly and astoundingly +unveiled before him as before his brother. For the first time he saw in +his wife's face "the beautiful fairy-tale blue eyes" which he had so +often admired in his boy, without ever asking whence they came; and +these eyes, large and full, were now directed towards him. No tear +stood in them, neither any more beseeching; but an expression for which +he never gave Ella credit, an expression before which his eyes sank to +the ground. + +"Ella," said he, uncertainly, "if I was too furious--What is it, Ella?" + +He tried to take her hand; she drew it back. + +"Nothing. When do you intend leaving?" + +"I do not know," answered Reinhold, more and more struck. "In a few +days--or weeks--there is no hurry." + +"I will inform my parents. Good-night." She turned to go. He made a +hasty step after her as if to detain her. Ella remained. + +"You have misunderstood me." + +The young wife drew herself up firmly and proudly. She appeared all at +once to have become a different person. This tone and carriage, Ella +Almbach had never known. + +"The 'fetters' shall not press upon you any longer, Reinhold. You can +attain your object unhindered, and your--prize. Good-night." + +She opened the door quickly and went out. The moonlight fell brightly +on the slight figure in the darkness, upon the sad pale face and the +blond plaits. In the next moment she had disappeared. Reinhold stood +alone. + + * * * * * + +"This house is miserable now," said the old bookkeeper in the office, +as he put his pen behind his ear, and closed the account book. "The +young master away for three days without giving any signs of his being +alive, without enquiring for wife or child. The Herr Captain does not +set his foot across the threshold; the principal goes about in such a +rage that one hardly dares to go near him; and young Frau Almbach looks +so wretched that one's heart aches to see her. Heaven knows how this +unhappy story will end." + +"But how, then, did this disturbance come so suddenly?" asked the head +clerk, who also--it was the hour for closing the office--put his +writing aside and shut his desk. + +The bookkeeper shrugged his shoulders. "Suddenly? I do not believe it +was unexpected by any of us. It has been smouldering in the family for +weeks and months; only the spark was wanting in all this inflammable +matter, and it came at last. Frau Almbach brought the news home from +some lady's party, and thus her husband learned what half the town knew +already, and what no one hears willingly, of his son-in-law. You know +our chief, and how he always looked upon all this artist business with +dislike; how he fought against it--and now this discovery! He sent for +the young master, and then there was such a scene--I heard part of it +in the next room. If Herr Reinhold had only behaved sensibly and given +in in this case when he really was not innocent, perhaps the affair +might have been set aside, instead of which he put on his most +obstinate manner, told his father-in-law to his face that he would not +remain a merchant, would go to Italy, would become a musician; he had +endured the slavery here long enough, and much more of the same kind. +The chief could not contain himself for rage; he forbade, threatened, +insulted at last, and then, of course, came the end. The young master +broke out so wildly that I thought something would happen. He stamped +his foot like a madman, and cried--'And if the whole world set itself +in opposition, it will still be. I will not be domineered over anyhow, +nor allow my thoughts and feelings to be prescribed for me.' And it +went on in this tone. An hour later he stormed out of the house, and +has not let himself be heard of since. God protect everyone from such +family scenes." + +The old gentleman laid his pen aside, left his seat, and wished the +others good-night, while he prepared to leave the office. He had hardly +gone a few steps along the passage when he met Herr Almbach, who turned +in quickly from the street. The bookkeeper struck his hands together in +joyful alarm. + +"Thank God that you, at least, are to be seen again, Herr Captain," he +cried. "We are indeed wretched in this house." + +"Is the barometer still pointing to stormy?" asked Hugo, with a glance +at the upper story. + +The bookkeeper sighed. "Stormy! Perhaps you will bring us sunshine." + +"Hardly," said Hugo, seriously. "At this moment I am seeking Frau +Almbach. Is she at home?" + +"Your aunt is out with the chief," said the former. + +"Not she. I mean my sister-in-law." + +"The young mistress? Oh dear, we have not seen her for three days. She +is sure to be upstairs in the nursery. She hardly leaves the little one +for a moment now." + +"I will seek her," said Hugo, as with a rapid adieu he hastened +upstairs. "Good-evening." + +The bookkeeper looked after him, shaking his head. He was not used to +the young Captain's passing him without some joke, some chaff; and he +had also remarked the cloud which to-day lay on the young man's usually +cheerful brow. He shook his head once more, and repeated his former +sigh, "God knows how the affair will end." + +In the meanwhile Hugo had reached his sister-in-law's apartments. + +"It is I, Ella," he said, entering. "Have I startled you?" + +The young wife was alone; she sat by her boy's little bed. The rapid, +youthful steps outside, and the quick opening of the door, might well +have deceived her as to the comer. She had surely expected another. Her +painful start and the colour in her face, which suddenly gave way to +intense pallor, as she recognised her brother-in-law, showed this. + +"My uncle carries his injustice so far as to forbid me the house also," +continued the latter, as he came nearer. "He persists in thinking I had +some share in this unhappy breach. I hope, Ella, that you exonerate me +from it." + +She hardly listened to the last words. "You bring me news from +Reinhold?" asked she quickly, with fleeting breath. "Where is he?" + +"You surely did not expect that he would come himself," said the +Captain, evasively. "Whatever blame may be due to him in the whole +affair, the behaviour on my uncle's part was such that every one would +have rebelled against it. On this point I stand on his side, and +understand thoroughly that he went with the intention not to return. I +should have done the same." + +"It was a terrible scene," replied Ella, with difficulty keeping back +the tears which were gushing out. "My parents learned elsewhere what I +would have hidden at any cost, and Reinhold was awful in his wild rage. +He left us, but he might have let me receive one word at least, during +the three days, through you. He is surely with you?" + +"No," replied Hugo, shortly, almost roughly. + +"No," repeated Ella, "he is not with you? I took it as a matter of +course that he would be there." + +The Captain looked down. "He came to me, and with the intention of +remaining, but a difference arose between us about it. Reinhold is +unboundedly passionate when a certain point is touched upon; I could +and would not hide my feelings about it, and we quarrelled for the +first time in our lives. He thereupon refused to be friends; I have +only seen him again this morning." + +Ella did not reply. She did not even ask what was the cause of the +quarrel; she felt only too well that in her brother-in-law, esteemed so +frivolous, mischievous, and heartless, she possessed the most energetic +protector of her rights. + +"I have tried my utmost once more," said he, coming close beside her, +"although I knew it would be in vain. But you, Ella, could you not keep +him?" + +"No," replied the young wife, "I could not, and at last I would not." + +Instead of any response, Hugo pointed to the sleeping babe; Ella shook +her head violently. + +"For his sake I conquered myself, and begged the husband, who wished to +tear himself away from me at any price, to remain. I was repulsed; he +let me feel what a fetter I am to him--he may then go free." + +Hugo's glance rested enquiringly on her countenance, that again showed +the energetic expression which was once so foreign to her features. +Slowly he drew forth a note. + +"If then you are prepared, I have a few lines to bring you from +Reinhold. He gave me them two or three hours since." + +The wife started. The firmness she had just shown could not continue +when she saw her husband's handwriting on the envelope; only his +handwriting, while with mortal agony she had clung to the hope that he +would come himself, if it had merely been to say farewell. With +trembling hand she took the letter and opened it; it contained only a +few lines-- + +"You witnessed the scene between your father and myself, and will +therefore comprehend that I do not enter his house again. That scene +has changed nothing in my decision. It only hastens my departure, as +the want of tact on your parents' part has given the affair a publicity +which does not make it appear desirable for me to remain an hour longer +in H---- than is absolutely necessary. I cannot bid you and the child +good-bye personally, as I shall not set foot again across a threshold +from which I was driven in such a manner. It is not my fault if a +separation, which I was resolved to obtain for a time, now becomes a +lengthened one that is brought about by a violent quarrel. It was you +who made the condition, that I should either remain or go for ever. +Well, then, I go! Perhaps it will be better for us both. Farewell!" + + + + + CHAPTER VII. + + +The Captain must have known what the letter contained, as he stood +close by Ella's side, apparently ready to support her, as in the +theatre; but this time she betrayed no weakness. She looked silently +down at the icy words of farewell with which her husband freed himself +from wife and child. With what haste had he seized the excuse which her +father's harshness and her own words offered him; with what relief had +he shaken off the irksome bonds! This blow did not fall unexpectedly +now. Since that last interview she knew her fate. + +"He is gone already?" asked she, without raising her eyes from the +letter, which she still held in her hand. + +"An hour ago." + +"And with her?" + +Hugo was silent; he could not say "No" to this question. Ella rose, +apparently calm, but she leaned heavily on the boy's bed. + +"I knew it. And now--leave me alone, I implore you!" + +The Captain hesitated. "I came, also, to bid you adieu," replied he. +"My departure was decided without this, and now, in my brother's +absence, nothing keeps me. I shall make no attempt to remove my uncle's +absurd prejudice against me, but I should like to take a word of +farewell from you, Ella, away with me. Will you refuse it me?" + +The young woman raised her eyes slowly; they met his, and as if +following an involuntary impulse, held out both hands to him-- + +"I thank you, Hugo, farewell!" + +With a quick movement he caught her hands in his-- + +"I have ever only been able to bring you pain," he said softly. "By me +came the first news which utterly destroyed your peace; it came too +late, and to-day it was again my hand which brought you the last. But +if I pained you, Ella, must pain you--my God, it has not been easy for +me." + +His lips rested for a moment on her hand, then he let it fall, and left +the room quickly; a few moments later he was in the open air. + +It was a raw, regular northern spring evening. The rain fell steadily; +mist hung heavily and densely in the streets; even the lamp light only +shone dimly red in the grey atmosphere. The rolling train bore Reinhold +Almbach away in this fog to the south, where fame and love, where his +future beckoned brightly to him; and in the same hour his young wife +lay at home on her knees by her child's cradle, pressing her head in +the pillow to smother the cry of despair, which now, that she knew +herself to be alone, broke forth at last. He had not come once to say +adieu; he had not one kind last word for her; not one farewell kiss for +his child. They were both forsaken, given up--probably forgotten +already. + + * * * * * + +The blazing glory of the sunset seemed to bathe heaven and earth in a +sea of fire, and illumination. All the wonderful colouring of the south +lighted up the western horizon, and the flood of light poured itself +far away over the town, with its cupolas, towers, and palaces. It was +an incomparable panorama stretching around the villa, which lay outside +the town on a slight elevation visible from afar, with its terrace and +colonnades, surrounded by the lower lying gardens, in which the most +luxuriant southern vegetation displayed itself. There sombre cypresses +raised their gloomy heads; pines waved in the gentle evening wind; +white marble statues peeped forth through laurel and myrtle bushes; +the waters from the fountains rippled and fell on the carpet of +turf; and thousands of flowers sent forth their intoxicating sweet +perfume--everywhere beauty and art, scent and flowers, light and +dazzling colours. + +A numerous party was assembled on the terrace and in the adjoining +parts of the park, preferring the enjoyment of this beautiful evening, +and the wonderful view outside, to remaining in the rooms. It seemed +principally to consist of the aristocracy, yet many a figure might be +seen there which undoubtedly betrayed the artist, and here and there +appeared the dark habit of a priest near the light toilettes of the +ladies or brilliant uniforms. The most different elements seemed to be +united here. They walked, chatted, and sat or stood together in +unconstrained groups. + +In one of these groups, which had gathered at the foot of a terrace +close to the great fountain, the conversation was conducted with +unusual vivacity; it must be about some subject of general interest. +The few words and names mentioned appeared to rouse the attention of +one of the guests, and he, coming from the terrace, passed close by the +group. He was clearly a stranger, as was denoted by his light brown +hair, eyes, and indeed his whole face, which, although tanned by sun +and air, still did not show the dark colouring of the southerner. The +uniform of a captain set off his strong manly figure very +advantageously, and in his bearing and movements was a happy +combination of the free, somewhat easy manner of a sailor with the +forms of good society. He stopped near the gentlemen who were talking +so eagerly, and listened to their conversation with evident interest. + +"This new opera is, and will be the chief event of the season," said an +officer in the uniform of the carbineers, "and therefore I do not +understand how it can be so easily postponed. The performance is +already arranged, the rehearsals have begun, all preparations are +nearly finished, when suddenly everything is interrupted, and the whole +performance postponed until the autumn, and all this without any +apparent reason." + +"The reason lies alone in the sovereign pleasure of Signor Rinaldo," +replied another gentleman, in a somewhat ill-natured tone. "He is +accustomed to treat the opera and public according to his humour and +fancy." + +"I am afraid you are mistaken, Signor Gianelli," interrupted a young +man of distinguished appearance, somewhat excitedly. "If Rinaldo +himself demanded the postponement, there is sure to be some cause for +it." + +"Excuse me, Marchese, it is not so," replied the former. "I, as +conductor of the grand opera, know best what endless trouble, and what +immense sacrifice of time and money it has cost to meet Rinaldo's +wishes. He brought the whole theatrical world into confusion with his +conditions and requirements, as he demanded changes in the company such +as had never been made before, and everything in the same way. As +usual, all was acceded to, and all expected at last to be sure of his +approval; but now, on arriving from M----, he finds nothing but what is +far beneath his anticipations, he orders alterations and dictates +improvements in the most inconsiderate manner. In vain was it attempted +to dissuade him, through Signora Biancona; he threatened to withdraw +the entire opera, and--" here the maestro shrugged his shoulders +satirically, "his Excellency the Director would not take the +responsibility of such a misfortune upon his shoulders. He promised +everything, conceded everything, and as it was quite impossible to +carry out the so peremptorily demanded additions in such a short time, +even although ordered by the sovereign Signor Rinaldo, the performance +was obliged to be postponed until the next season." + +"The Director in this case was quite right to give way to the wish, or, +if you like it, whim of the composer," said the young Marchese +decidedly. "The company would never have forgiven it if bad management +had robbed them of one of Rinaldo's operas. It is known that he would +be capable of carrying out his threat, and really withdrawing his work, +and with such an alternative before him, nothing remained but to give +way unconditionally." + +"Certainly; my objection only concerns this species of terrorism which +a strange composer allows himself here, in the heart of Italy, inasmuch +as he compelled the inhabitants to content themselves with his +essentially German ideas of music." + +"Especially when these same inhabitants have twice made a _fiasco_ of +an opera, while every new creation of Rinaldo's is greeted with +tempestuous applause by the audience," whispered the Marchese to his +neighbour. + +The latter, an Englishman, looked much bored. He only understood +Italian imperfectly, and the rapid, vivacious conversation was +therefore greatly lost to him. Nevertheless he answered the Marchese's +low spoken and contemptuous remark with a solemn nod, and then looked +attentively at the maestro, as if the latter had become an object of +curiosity for him. + +"We are speaking of Rinaldo's new opera," said the officer, turning +and explaining politely to the stranger, who so far had remained a +silent listener, and now replied in foreign sounding, but yet fluent +Italian--"I just heard the name. No doubt some musical celebrity." + +The gentlemen looked in speechless astonishment at the inquirer; only +the maestro's face betrayed unmistakable satisfaction that there was at +least one person in the world who did not know this name. + +"Some celebrity!" repeated Marchese Tortoni. "Excuse me Signor +Capitano, but you must have been a long time at sea, and perhaps come +from another hemisphere?" + +"Direct from the South Sea Islands!" said the Captain with a pleasant +smile, notwithstanding the ironical tone of the question, "and as +there, unfortunately, they are not so well acquainted with the artistic +productions of the present times as might be desired in the interests +of civilisation, I beg to receive assistance in my deplorable +ignorance." + +"We are speaking about the greatest and most charming of our present +composers," said the Marchese. "He is certainly by birth a German, but +since some years has belonged to us exclusively. He lives and works +only on Italian ground, and we are proud to be permitted to call him +ours. It will be easy for you to make his personal acquaintance this +evening. He is sure to appear!" + +"With Signora Biancona--of course!" interrupted the officer, "have you +had an opportunity already of hearing our beautiful _prima donna_?" + +The Captain made a gesture of denial. "I only arrived a few days since; +however, I saw her some years previously in my home, where she gained +her first laurels." + +"Ah, she was a rising star then," cried the others. "To be sure she +laid the foundation of her fame in the north. She returned to us as a +known actress. But now she stands undoubtedly at the height of her +power. You must hear her, and hear her in one of Rinaldo's operas, when +you can admire her in all her glory." + +"To be sure, as then one fire ignites the other," added the young +Marchese. "At any rate you will find in the Signora of to-day a +brilliantly beautiful apparition. Do not delay an introduction and +interview with her." + +"Provided it be agreeable to Signor Rinaldo," said the maestro, joining +in again. "Otherwise you may attempt to approach her in vain." + +"Has Rinaldo power to decide such points?" asked the Captain lightly. + +"Well, at least he takes the right to do so. He is so used to being +master and ruler everywhere that he tries it here also, and, alas, not +without result. I do not understand Biancona. An actress of her +importance, a woman of her beauty, to allow herself to be so completely +ruled by a man." + +"But he is Rinaldo," laughed the officer, "and that is saying enough. +Let us confess it, Tortoni, we can none of us compete with his +successes. All hearts fly towards him, wherever he appears; so at last +it is no wonder if even a Biancona bows willingly before the magic +which this man seems to bear about him." + +"Hum, it is not done quite so willingly," said Gianelli, grimly. +"Signora is passionate in the highest degree, but Rinaldo, if possible, +even surpasses her. Between them it is quite as often storm as +sunshine, and furious scenes are the order of the day." + +"This Rinaldo appears to govern all society as well as his audiences," +said the Captain, now turning exclusively to the conductor. "Do people +submit to such a thing from one single man, and he a stranger?" + +"Because all are blind, and will be to every other merit," cried the +maestro with suppressed violence. "When society once raises an idol to +a throne, it carries on its adoration until it becomes ridiculous. +They regularly worship Rinaldo, so it is no wonder if his pride and +self-appreciation become boundless, and he thinks he can trample on all +with impunity who do not pay him homage." + +The Captain looked steadily and with a peculiar smile at the excited +Italian. + +"It is a pity that such talent should have so dark a side! But after +all, it is not so much talent as fashion, whim of the public, unmerited +success; do not you think so?" + +Gianelli would probably have agreed with all his heart, but the other +gentlemen's presence put some restraint upon him. + +"The public generally decides in such cases," he replied, prudently, +"and here it is extravagant in its favours. For my part, I maintain, +without wishing in the least to detract from Rinaldo's fame, that he +might compose the most meritless work and they would extol it to the +skies, because it came from him." + +"Very probably," agreed the stranger. "And possibly this new opera is +meritless. I am certainly of your opinion, and shall assuredly--" + +"I advise you, Signor to withhold your opinion until you have become +acquainted with Rinaldo's works," interrupted the Marchese, sharply. +"He has certainly made the unpardonable mistake of attaining the summit +of fame in one unbroken course of triumph, and of acquiring greatness +to which no other can reach so easily. This cannot be forgiven him in +certain circles, and he must do penance for it on every occasion. +Follow my advice." + +The Captain bowed slightly. "With pleasure, and all the more as it is +my brother whom you have defended so eloquently, Marchese." + +This explanation, made with a most pleasant smile, naturally created a +great sensation in the group. Marchese Tortoni took a step backwards in +astonishment, and examined the speaker from head to foot. The maestro +became pale and bit his lips, while the officer with difficulty +refrained from laughing. The Englishman this time understood enough of +the conversation to comprehend the trick which had been played, and +which seemed to arouse his entire satisfaction. He smiled with an +expression of extreme contentment, and with long strides crossed over +immediately to the Captain, at whose side he placed himself silently, +thus giving him an unmistakable sign of approval. + +"The musical name of my brother appears only to be known to these +gentlemen," continued Hugo unabashed, "mine doubtless sounded too +foreign to you in the general introduction. We have, indeed, no reason +to deny our relationship." + +"Ah, Signor Capitano, I had heard already of your intended arrival," +cried the Marchese, offering his hand with evident heartiness, "but it +was not fair to cheat us with an _incognito_. To one, at least, it has +caused bitter confusion, although he richly deserved the lesson." + +Hugo looked round at once for the maestro, who had preferred to retire +unnoticed. "I wished to reconnoitre the ground a little," retorted he, +laughing, "and that was only possible so long as my _incognito_ lasted. +But it would soon have reached its termination, as I expect Reinhold +every moment; he was detained in the town, while I drove on in advance. +Ah, he is there already." + +He really appeared at that moment on the terrace, and the maestro would +have had fresh opportunity to give vent to his anger at the "adoration, +which became ridiculous," as the sudden cessation of all conversation, +the interest with which all eyes were directed to one point, the +movement which spread through all the company, was only due to +Reinhold's entrance. + +Reinhold himself had become quite different in these years--quite +different. The young genius who had once fought so impatiently against +the confining limits and prejudices of his surroundings, had raised +himself to be a renowned composer, whose name extended beyond the +boundaries of Italy and his home, whose works were familiar on the +stages of all capitals; to whom fame and honour, money and triumph, +flowed in richest abundance. The same mighty change had also been +carried out in his exterior, and this alteration was not at all +disadvantageous, as instead of the pale, serious youth, there now stood +a man in whom it was evident that he was at home with life and the +world, and only in the man did the always peculiarly attractive style +of his beauty manifest itself entirely. The proud self-consciousness +which now rested upon his _spirituel_ brow, and showed itself in all +his features and his whole bearing, became them well, but there lay +also a heavy shadow on this brow and on those features which happiness +had surely never placed there. His mouth curved with harsh mockery, +with contemptuous bitterness, and the former spark slumbered no more in +the depths of his eyes; now a flame shone there, burning, destroying, +flashing almost demonlike at every emotion. Whatever this face might +have gained outwardly, _peace_ spoke no more from within. + +He conducted Signora Biancona on his arm, no longer the youthful _prima +donna_ of a second-rate Italian opera company, which gave wandering +performances in the north, but a star of European renown, who, after +having gathered laurels and triumphs in all important places, now +occupied the first position at the theatre of her native town. Marchese +Tortoni was right; she was dazzlingly beautiful, this woman; there was +the old burning glance, which once understood how to set on fire the +honourable patrician blood of the noble Hanseatic town, only now it +appeared to have become more glowing, more scorching; there was still +the countenance, with its witch-like entrancing magic, the figure with +its noble plastic limbs, only everything seemed fuller, more +voluptuous. The flower had developed to the ripest, almost over-ripe +splendour; she still bloomed, her beauty was still at its zenith, if +even one could not but acknowledge that perhaps in the course of the +next few years the limits would be already passed beyond which she +would be tending irrecoverably to her descent. + +Both, especially Reinhold, were seized upon the moment they arrived. +All crowded around him; all sought his vicinity, his conversation. In a +few moments he had become the centre of the assemblage, and some time +elapsed before he could withdraw from all the attentions and flatteries +in order to look round for his brother, who had stood somewhat aloof. + +"There you are at last, Hugo," said he, approaching, "I missed you +already. You make one seek you?" + +"It was not possible to break through that triple circle of admirers, +which surrounds you like a Chinese wall; I have not attempted such a +piece of daring, but indulged in contemplating what happiness it is to +possess a celebrated brother." + +"Yes, this everlasting crush is really oppressive," said Reinhold, with +an expression which showed not contented triumph, but, on the contrary, +unmistakable weariness; "however come now, I will introduce you to +Beatrice." + +"Beatrice?--Ah, Signora Vampire! _must_ I, Reinhold?" + +His brother's look became overcast. "Certainly you must. You cannot +avoid seeing her in my company, much and often. She is beautiful, and +with reason wonders it has not already been done. What is it, Hugo? You +appear wishful to evade this introduction altogether, and yet you do +not know Beatrice even." + +"I do, though," replied the Captain shortly. "I have seen her already +at a concert on the stage at H----." + +"But never spoken to her. It is odd one must almost compel you to do +what any other would look upon as a privilege! Usually you are the +first, when acquaintance with a beautiful woman is in question." + +Hugo replied nothing, but followed without farther protest. Signora +Biancona, as was her custom, was surrounded by a circle of gentlemen, +and engaged in most lively conversation, which she, however, broke off +immediately the two appeared. Reinhold presented his brother to her. +Beatrice turned to the latter with all her fascinations. + +"Do you know, Captain, I have been angry with you already, without +knowing you?" she began. "Reinhold was beside himself when he received +the news of your arrival. He left me in M---- in the most ungallant +manner, in order to hasten towards you. I had to undertake my return +journey alone." + +Hugo bowed politely, but more distantly than was his wont to a lady, +nor did he appear to notice that Beatrice's beautiful hand was extended +confidently to Rinaldo's brother, at least he utterly resisted the +temptation of kissing it, which was certainly expected. + +"I am very unhappy, Signora, at having roused your ill-will. But one +who disposes so exclusively of Reinhold's presence and company, should +possess liberality enough to forego it a short time in favour of his +brother." + +He looked round for Reinhold, but the latter was already engaged. + +"I resign myself," said Beatrice, still with charming friendliness, "or +rather I must still resign myself, as, since you came, I have seen +little enough of Rinaldo. There will remain no other remedy than to beg +you to accompany him when he comes to see me." + +Hugo made a somewhat measured gesture of thanks-- + +"You are very kind, Signora. I shall seize with pleasure the +opportunity of becoming better acquainted with my brother's +admired--Muse." + +Signora Biancona, smiled-- + +"Has he called me so to you? To be sure the name is not strange in our +circle of friends. Rinaldo gave it me once, when I led his first steps +to the path of art. A somewhat romantic designation, especially +according to German views, is it not, Signor? You hardly have such in +your north?" + +"Sometimes," said the Captain quietly, "only with a slight difference. +With us, muses are ideal, floating in unattainable heights. Here they +are--beautiful women. An undeniable advantage for the artist!" + +The words sounded like a compliment, and adhered steadily to the +playful tone which Beatrice herself had commenced; nevertheless she +cast a quick searching glance at the speaker's face--perhaps she saw +the sparkling scorn in it--as she answered sharply-- + +"For my part, I confess to have no sympathy with the north. Simply +because compelled, did I pass some short time there, and could only +breathe again when Italy's sky rose above me. We southerners cannot +succeed in submitting to the icy, pedantic rules which confine society +there, to the fetters which they would wish even to impose upon +artists." + +Hugo leant with perfect indifference against the marble balustrade. + +"Good God, that is of no importance. They are easily broken, and then +one is free as the birds in the air. Reinhold proved that sufficiently, +and now he has foresworn home and pedantic rules for ever, which is +entirely due to you, Signora." + +Beatrice used her fan violently, although at this moment the evening +breeze blew refreshingly cool. + +"How do you mean, Signor?" asked she, quickly. + +"I? Oh, I mean nothing, excepting, perhaps, that it must be an +elevating sensation to have thus the entire fate of a man--or even a +family--in one's hands; in tearing him away from his 'fetters,' one +must feel in such a case something like an earthly providence. Is it +not so, Signora?" + +Beatrice had started slightly at these words, whether from astonishment +or anger was not easy to decide. Her eyes met his; but this time they +measured one another, as two antagonists do. The Italian's glance +flashed; but the Captain bore it so firmly and quietly, that she felt +it was not such an easy game opposite those clear brown eyes, which +dared fearlessly to break a lance with her. + +"I believe Rinaldo has every cause to be grateful to this providence," +replied she, proudly. "Perhaps he would have sunk amid circumstances +and surroundings which were unworthy of him, if it had not aroused his +genius and shown him the path to greatness." + +"Perhaps," said Hugo, coolly. "But people maintain that real genius +never does sink, and the more difficulties it has to penetrate the more +do they strengthen its power; however, that, of course, is also one of +the northern pedantic views. The result has decided in favour of your +view, Signora, and success is a god to which all bow." + +He inclined his head and retired. He had said all this in the lightest +conversational tone, apparently quite unmeaningly, but Signora Biancona +must surely have felt the bitterness which lay in the Captain's words, +for she pressed her lips together in most intense internal irritation, +and her fan was moved almost furiously. + + + + + CHAPTER VIII. + + +Meanwhile Hugo had sought his brother, whom he found in conversation +with Marchese Tortoni; both stood a little apart from the rest of the +company. + +"No, no, Cesario," said Reinhold, at that moment, refusing something. +"I have only shortly returned from M----, and cannot possibly think of +leaving town again. Perhaps later--" + +"But the opera is postponed," interrupted the young Marchese, in a +beseeching tone, "and the heat begins to be oppressive. You are sure to +select some _villegiatura_ in a few weeks. Come to my assistance, +Captain," said he, turning to Hugo, just then approaching. "You intend, +surely, to become acquainted with our south, and there is no better +opportunity than in my Mirando." + +"Do you know the Marchese already?" asked Reinhold. "Then I need not +introduce you." + +"Certainly not," replied Hugo, mischievously. "I introduced myself +personally to these gentlemen, just as they were sitting in judgment +upon you, and I had the harmless pleasure, as an unknown listener, of +rousing them against you by casual remarks. Unfortunately it only +succeeded with one. Marchese Tortoni, on the contrary, took your part +most passionately; I had to feel the whole weight of his displeasure, +as I allowed myself to doubt your talent." + +Reinhold shook his head. "Has he been playing his tricks already, +Cesario? Take care, Hugo, with your jokes! We are here on Italian +ground, where people do not take such things so lightly as in our +home." + +"Well, in this case the name was only required to reconcile us," said +the Marchese, smiling. "But we are losing the thread of our discussion +entirely," continued he, impatiently. "I have still received no reply +to my request. I count positively upon your visit, Rinaldo; naturally +on yours also, Signor." + +"I am my brother's guest," exclaimed Hugo, to whom the last words were +addressed. "Such a decision depends upon him and--Signora Biancona." + +"Upon Beatrice! How so?" asked Reinhold, quickly. + +"Well, she is already greatly annoyed that my presence keeps you so +much from her. It is decidedly a question whether she will set you at +liberty for any time, as Marchese Tortoni seems to wish." + +"Do you think I should allow myself to be so entirely governed by her +whims?" Reinhold's voice betrayed rising irritation. "I shall have to +show that I can form a decision without her leave. We will come, +Cesario, next month, I promise you." + +An expression of great pleasure passed over the young man's face at +this rapid, impetuous assent; he turned politely to the Captain. + +"Rinaldo knows my Mirando well, and has always praised it. I hope also +to be able to make your stay agreeable to you. The villa is beautifully +situated, close to the sea shore--" + +"And isolated," said Reinhold, with a peculiar mixture of melancholy +and longing. "One can breathe there while one is almost suffocated in +the drawing-room atmosphere. But our friends are going to dinner," said +he, turning the conversation, with an upward glance to the terrace. "We +must, I suppose, join the others. Will you take Beatrice to dinner, +Hugo?" + +"No, thank you," declined the Captain, coolly. "That is surely your +exclusive right. I do not wish to dispute it." + +"Your conversation with her was remarkably short," said Reinhold, as +together they ascended the steps of the terrace. "What was the matter +with you both?" + +"Nothing particular. A little outpost skirmish; nothing more. Signora +and I have taken up our positions towards one another at once. I hope +you do not object." + +He received no answer, as Signora Biancona's silk dress rustled close +by them, and the next moment stood between the brothers. The Captain +bowed low, with consummate gallantry, before the beautiful woman. It +would indeed have been impossible to find the least fault with this +mode of greeting, and Beatrice acknowledged it with an inclination of +her head, but the glance which she shot towards him showed sufficiently +that she also had taken up her position. The intense hatred of the +roused southerner blazed in her eye, only for a moment to be sure; the +next she turned round, laid her hand on Reinhold's arm, to let him lead +her into the dining-room. + +"That seems to me neither more nor less than a declaration of war," +murmured Hugo, as he followed the pair. "Wordless, but sufficiently +comprehensible. The enmity has begun--at your commands, Signora." + + * * * * * + +Marchese Tortoni was not wrong in his remarks; the heat, +notwithstanding the early season of the year, began to be oppressive. +The season was not over yet, but many families had already exchanged +their residence in the town for the usual _villegiatura_ in the +mountains or by the seaside, and the rest of the society was also on +the point of dispersing itself earlier than usual to all points of the +compass, until autumn brought them together once more. + +In Signora Biancona's house no preparations had been made so far which +might lead to the inference of a speedy departure, and yet one seemed +to be under discussion in the interview which had just taken place +between her and Reinhold Almbach. The two were alone in the singer's +brilliantly and dazzlingly illuminated saloon; but Beatrice's beautiful +face bore an expression of unmistakable excitement. Leaning against the +cushions of the divan, her lips pressed angrily together, she plucked +to pieces one of the beautiful bouquets which ornamented the celebrated +actress' reception-room so plentifully; while Reinhold was walking up +and down the room with folded arms and gloomily clouded brow. It only +required a single glance to guess that one of those stormy scenes was +being enacted which Maestro Gianelli declared were as frequent between +the two as was sunshine. + +"I beg you, Beatrice, spare me any more of these exhibitions," said +Reinhold, with great violence. "You cannot alter an affair already +determined upon. Marchese Tortoni received my promise, and our +departure for Mirando is arranged for to-morrow." + +"Well, then, you must retract this promise," replied Beatrice, in the +same tone. "You gave it without my knowledge, gave it weeks ago, and +then we had already decided to spend our _villegiatura_ in the +mountains this year." + +"Certainly! And I shall follow you there as soon as I return from +Mirando." + +"As soon as you return! As if Tortoni would not try every means to +chain you there as usual, and if now, in addition, you go in your +brother's company, it is a matter of course that you will be kept away +from me as long as possible." + +Reinhold stopped suddenly, and a dark look was turned towards her. + +"Will you not have the goodness to leave this wearisome, exhausted +subject at last?" asked he, sharply. "I know already quite well enough +that there is no sympathy between you and Hugo; but he, at any rate, +spares me any dissertations upon it, and does not require me to share +his sympathies and antipathies. Besides, you must allow that he has +never been impolite towards you." + +Beatrice threw her bouquet aside and rose. "Oh, yes, I allow that, +certainly; and it is just this courteousness which annoys me so much. +The agreeable conversations, with the everlasting, scornful smile on +his lips; the attentions, with contempt in his eyes; that is quite the +German manner, from which I suffered so much in your north, which +governs and rules us in the so-called circles of society, which knows +how to restrain us there, even when fighting ever so bitterly with any +one. Your brother understands that perfectly; nothing hits him, nothing +wounds him; everything glances off from his everlasting, mocking smile. +I--I hate him, and he me not less." + +"With difficulty," said Reinhold bitterly, "as you are such a mistress +of the art, as few others can be. I have often enough seen that, when +you have imagined yourself insulted by anyone. With you it overflows +all bounds at once. But this time, you will remember, that it is my +brother against whom this hatred is directed, and that through it I am +not disposed to let myself be robbed of our first short meeting for +years. I shall endure no insult, no attack, upon Hugo." + +"Because you love him more than me," cried Beatrice, wildly. "Because I +count for nothing beside your brother. To be sure, what am I to you?" + +And now the way was opened to a regular flood of reproaches, +complaints, and threats, which finally ended in a torrent of tears. All +the passion of the Italian broke forth; but Reinhold seemed to be moved +to nothing less than concession by it. He attempted to restrain her +several times, and as he did not succeed, he stamped furiously with his +foot. + +"Once more, Beatrice, cease these scenes. You know that you never gain +anything with me by them, and I should have thought you had already +found by experience that I am not such a slave without a will, that a +word or a caprice from you is a command. I shall not put up with these +continual exhibitions any longer, which you call forth on every +occasion." + +He went furiously to the balcony, and, turning his back upon the room, +looked down into the street, where the busy movement of the Corso was +visible. For a few minutes Beatrice's passionate sobs were heard in the +saloon; then all was still, and immediately after she placed a hand on +his shoulder, as he stood at the window. + +"Rinaldo!" + +Half-reluctantly he turned round. His glance met Beatrice's glowing +dark eye; a tear still stood in it, but it was no longer a tear of +anger, and her voice, just now so excited, had a soft, melting ring in +it. + +"You say I am a mistress in the art of hating. Only in hating, Rinaldo? +You have often enough experienced the contrary." + +Reinhold now turned completely to her, and returned from the balcony. + +"I know that you can love," replied he, more mildly, "love warmly and +wholly. But you can also torment with this love; that I have to feel +every day." + +"And you would wish to flee this torment, at least for a time?" + +A deep reproach sounded in her voice. Almbach made an impatient +movement. + +"I seek peace, Beatrice," said he, "and that I do not find at all near +you. You can only breathe in constant heat and excitement, both are +your conditions of life, and you drag your entire surroundings with you +in the everlasting fire of your nature. I--am tired." + +"Of society or of me?" asked Beatrice, with freshly rising fury. + +"Can you not cease from seeking a stab in every word?" asked Reinhold, +angrily. "I see we do not understand each other again to-day. Adieu!" + +"You are going!" cried the Italian, half-frightened, +half-threateningly. "And with this farewell for a separation of weeks!" + +Reinhold, who was already at the door, thought a moment and turned +slowly round. + +"Ah, yes; I forgot the departure. Farewell, Beatrice!" + +But he was not permitted to make his farewell so easily. Signora +Biancona had long since learned not to defy for any time the man who +now understood how to bend her otherwise capricious will to his own, +and when he again drew near to her all farther opposition was at an +end. Her voice trembled as she asked softly, "And you will really go +alone, without me?" + +"Beatrice--" + +"Alone, without me?" repeated she, more passionately. Reinhold made an +attempt to withdraw his hand from her, but it remained only an attempt. + +"Cesario expects me positively," he said, deprecatingly, "and I have +already explained that you cannot accompany me--" + +"Not to Mirando," interrupted Beatrice, "I know that. But what prevents +my altering the original plan, and making my first summer stay in +S---- instead of in the mountains, the great resort of all strangers? +It is near enough to Mirando, half-an-hour by boat would bring you +across to me. If I were to follow you--may I, Rinaldo?" + +This tone of flattering entreaty was irresistible, and her glance +begged still more. Reinhold looked down silently at the beautiful +woman, the possession of whose love once appeared to him the highest +prize of happiness. The magic still exercised its old power, and +exercised it now most strongly when he was attempting to escape from +it. The concession was not made in words, but Beatrice saw, as he bent +towards her, that she had conquered this time. When he really left her, +half-an-hour later, the change in the plan of her journey was quite +decided upon, and their farewell was not for a separation of weeks, but +only of days. + +It was already becoming dark, and the moon was rising slowly, when +Reinhold reached his own abode, which lay at some distance, in a more +open part of the town. On entering his reception-room he found the +Captain there, who appeared just to have been giving his servant an +impressive lecture, as Jonas stood before him with a most rueful +countenance, which was comically mixed with suppressed indignation, to +find words for which his master's presence only prevented him. + +"What is it?" asked Reinhold, somewhat astonished. + +"An inquisitorial enquiry," replied Hugo, annoyed. "For years I have +taken trouble in vain with this obstinate sinner and incorrigible +woman-hater, but neither teaching nor example--Jonas, you are to go +instantly up to the Padrona, beg her pardon, and promise to be more +mannerly in future. March! go along!" + +"I shall be obliged to send him back to the 'Ellida' at last," +continued he, turning to his brother, when Jonas had left the room. "The +ship's cat is the only female person there which he has near him; and +it is to be hoped he will not quarrel with it." + +Reinhold threw himself on a seat. "I wish I had your unconquerable +humour, your happy gift of taking life like a game. I never could do +it." + +"No, the ground notes of your being were always elegiac," said the +Captain. "I believe you never looked upon me as quite equal to yourself +in birth, as I could not take such ideal romantic flight to the +heights, nor penetrate to the depths, like your artistic natures. We +sailors are happy on the surface, and if now and then a storm should +disturb the deep, it does not matter to us, we remain above." + +"Quite true," said Reinhold, gloomily. "May you always, stay on your +sunny, bright surface! Believe me, Hugo, it is only muddy below in the +depths, where people seek for treasures; and an icy breath blows above +in the height, where one dreamed of nothing but sunlight. I have tasted +both." + +Hugo looked searchingly at his brother, who lay more than sat on his +seat, his head leaning back, as if tired to death, while his gloomy +eyes wandered out over the gardens of the neighbourhood, and at last +remained fixed on the faintly illumined horizon, where the last rays of +daylight just disappeared. + +"Listen, Reinhold; you do not please me at all," he broke forth +suddenly. "After years I come to see my brother again, whose name fills +the whole world, to whom fate has given everything it can give to one +man. I find you at the height of renown and success--and I expected to +find you different." + +"And how, then?" asked Reinhold, without raising his head or turning +his eyes from the darkening evening sky. + +"I do not know," said the Captain, earnestly. "But I know that after a +fortnight only I cannot endure this life, which you have led for years. +This restless rushing from pleasure to pleasure, without any +satisfaction; this constant wavering between wild excitement and deadly +exhaustion does not suit my nature. You should put a bridle on yours." + +Reinhold made a half-impatient movement. "Folly. I have become +accustomed to it for long; and besides, you do not understand it, +Hugo." + +"Possibly. At any rate I do not require to deaden my feelings." + +Reinhold started up. A glance of burning anger met his brother, who +attempted to pierce so far into his innermost thoughts, and who +continued, quite unmoved-- + +"It is only a means of deadening your feelings which you struggle for +day after day, which you seek everywhere without finding. Give up this +life, I entreat you. You will ruin yourself, body and mind, by it; you +must succumb to it at last." + +"How long is it since the joyous Captain of the 'Ellida' has become a +preacher of moralities," scoffed Reinhold, with as much scornful +expression as he could use. "Who would have thought long ago that you +would lecture me in this manner. But do not take any trouble about my +conversion, Hugo. I have foresworn all the pious ideas of my youth, +once for all." + +The Captain was silent. This was again the tone of wounding scorn with +which Reinhold made himself unapproachable the moment such topics were +touched upon; this tone, which made all influence impossible, which +jarred so upon every recollection of youth, and made the formerly warm +bond between the brothers strange and cold. Hugo did not even try +to-day to alter it; he knew that it would be in vain. Turning away, he +took up a book which was lying on the table, and began turning over its +leaves. + +"I have never heard a single word from you about my compositions," +began Reinhold, again, after a momentary silence. "You have had an +opportunity here of becoming acquainted with my operas. How do you like +them?" + +"I am no connoisseur of music," said Hugo, evasively. + +"I know that, and therefore I lay some value on your opinion, because +it is that of the unprejudiced, but acute public. How do you like my +music?" + +The Captain threw the book on the table. + +"It is agreeable and--" he stopped. + +"And?" + +"Unbridled as yourself. You and your tones go beyond all bounds." + +"An annihilating criticism," said Reinhold, half-struck by it. "It is +well that I should hear it; you would fare badly in the circle of my +admirers. How then do you allow that there is anything agreeable in +it?" + +"When you, yourself speak--yes!" explained Hugo, decidedly, "but that +is seldom enough. Generally this strange element predominates which has +given the turn to your talent, and still rules it. I cannot help it, +Reinhold, but this influence which from the commencement you have +followed, which all the world prizes as so elevating, has brought no +good, not even to the artist. Without it you might not have been so +celebrated, but undoubtedly greater." + +"Truly, Beatrice is right, when she dreads you as her implacable +opponent," remarked Reinhold, with undisguised bitterness. "Certainly, +she only thinks of a personal prejudice. That you do not even allow the +value of her artistic influence upon me would indeed be new to her." + +Hugo shrugged his shoulders. "She has quite drawn you into the Italian +style. You always storm when others only play, but it is all the same. +Why do you not write German music? But what am I talking about? You +have turned your back upon home and all its belongings for ever." + +Reinhold rested his head on his hand. "Yes certainly--for ever." + +"That almost sounds like regret," hazarded the Captain, looking with +fixed scrutiny at his brother's face. The latter looked up darkly. + +"What do you mean? Do you perhaps think I regret the old chains, +because I have not found the happiness dreamed of in freedom? If I +tried any communication it would--" + +"Ah, you did attempt some communication with your wife?" + +"With Ella?" asked Reinhold, and there was again the old mixture of +pity and contempt, which betrayed itself in his voice the moment he +spoke of his wife. "What good could that have done? You know how I +left; it was done by a complete rupture with her parents, and therefore +naturally a narrow, dependent nature like Ella's would join in the +verdict of condemnation if it were ever even able to raise itself to a +verdict of its own. If the breach between us was formerly wide, now, +after all that has happened, it has become impassable. No, there could +be no talk of that, but I wished to receive news of my child. I could +not bear longer to have my boy so far away, not to be able to see him, +not even to possess a picture of him. I wanted his at any price, +therefore I chose the shortest means, and wrote to the mother." + +"Well, and--?" asked Hugo, with interest. + +Reinhold laughed bitterly-- + +"T might have spared myself the humiliation. No answer came--that +certainly was answer enough, but I wanted just to know how the child +was; I thought of the possibility of a mistake, of its being lost--what +does one not think of in such a case?--and wrote again. The letter came +back unopened"--he clenched his fist in wild anger--"unopened, to me! +It is my uncle's work; there is no doubt of it. Ella would never have +dared to offer it to me." + +"Do you think so? You do not know your wife. She certainly has 'dared' +to offer it, and she alone could dare it, as her parents have been dead +some years." + +Reinhold turned round quickly-- + +"How do you know that? Are you still in communication with H----?" + +"No," said the Captain, quietly; "you may imagine that the state of +mind which existed in the family towards you was also partly carried +over to me. Since I left H---- at that time, a few days after you did, +I have never revisited it, but I correspond still with the former +bookkeeper of the firm of Almbach, who has taken over the business, and +continues it on his own account. I heard a few things from him." + +"And you only tell me this now, after being together for nearly a +fortnight?" cried Reinhold, almost furiously. + +"I have naturally not wished to touch upon a subject which it seemed to +me you wished to avoid," answered Hugo coolly. + +Reinhold walked up and down the room a few times-- + +"Her parents are dead, then? And Ella and the child?" + +"You need not be anxious about them; my uncle left a good fortune, much +more than people thought." + +"I knew he was richer than he wished to be deemed," said Reinhold +quickly, "and this certainly alone gave me perfect freedom of action in +my departure. I was not necessary for my wife and child. They were safe +from any change of fate, without even my presence. But where are they +now? Still in H----?" + +"Herr Consul Erlau was appointed the boy's guardian," informed Hugo, +rather shortly and distantly. "He appears also to have taken very +active interest in the deserted wife, as directly after expiration of +the time of mourning she moved into his house with the child. There +both were still living, half-a-year ago; so far my news extends." + +"Indeed?" said Reinhold thoughtfully, "only I do not understand how +Ella, with her education and her habits, can possibly exist in the +splendid establishment of the Erlaus. I suppose she will have arranged +a few back rooms so as never to appear, or, notwithstanding her +fortune, have undertaken the post of housekeeper. She will never be +able to rise above this ambition. Had it not been so, I should have +borne much, indeed all--for the child's sake." + +He went to the window, pushed it open, and leant out. The evening air +blew cool into the close room, where now a long silence ensued, as even +the Captain seemed to have no more inclination to prolong the +conversation. After a time he arose. + +"Our departure in the morning is arranged rather early; we must be +awake betimes. Good night, Reinhold!" + +"Good night!" replied Reinhold, without turning round. + +Hugo left the room. "I wish this Circe of a Beatrice could see him at +such moments," muttered he, shutting the door. "You have conquered, +Signora, and torn him to yourself as your indisputable property--you +have not made him happy." + +Reinhold remained a few moments longer immovable, at his place; then he +raised himself and went over to his work room. He had to pass through +several apartments in order to reach it. This abode, which occupied the +entire ground floor of the roomy villa, was not so brilliant as that of +Signora Biancona, but yet more extravagantly furnished, as the +magnificence which reigned there was here ten times surpassed by the +artistic decorations of the rooms; so there pictures hung on the walls, +statues stood in the window niches, whose value could only be estimated +by thousands; here were produced masterly copies of the most splendid +art treasures of Italy. Wherever the eye turned, it met vases, busts, +drawings and beautiful works, which elsewhere would have been each +alone the ornament of any drawing-room, and which here, scattered +everywhere, only served as additional decorations. Everywhere was +wealth of beauty and art such as only a Rinaldo could gather around +him in so lavish a manner, to whom gold as well as fame flowed in +never-ceasing plenty, and who was accustomed to throw the former away +quite recklessly. + +In the middle of the study there stood a splendid piano, the gift of an +enthusiastic circle of admirers, who wished to offer a visible +testimony of their thanks to the master; the writing-table was covered +with cards and letters, which bore the names of the first people in the +kingdom, both as regards birth and genius, and which here were +indifferently thrust aside, without the recipient placing the least +value on them; from the principal wall, a life-sized picture of +Beatrice Biancona looked down, painted by a celebrated hand, most +charmingly represented, a really speaking likeness. She wore the +fanciful costume of one of her chief parts in an opera of Rinaldo's, +through the successful representation of whose works she herself had +only risen to be an actress of the first order. The painter had +succeeded in embodying the utterly infatuating magic, the glowing charm +of the original, in this portrait. The beautiful figure appeared +half-turned to the piano in an inimitably graceful pose, and the dark +eyes gazed with deceptively life-like truth down upon the man whom they +had kept so long already in indissoluble bonds, as if even here, in the +sacred place of his works and labour, they would not leave him alone. + + + + + CHAPTER IX. + + +Reinhold sat at his piano, improvising. The room was not lighted, only +the moon's rays, streaming fully in, hung over the flood of tones, +which now rose as if the storm were raging in its waves, now rolling up +mountains high, and then again disclosing the depths of an abyss. The +melodies flowed forth passionately, glowing, intoxicatingly, and then +suddenly they would start and change as if to harsh dissonance, to +jarring discord. Those were the tones with which Rinaldo for years had +reigned in the realms of music, with which he carried the crowd away to +admiration; perhaps because they lent language to that demon-like +element which slumbers in every one's breast, and of which every one is +conscious, partly with dread, partly with secret shuddering. There lay, +too, in these melodies something of that wild rush from pleasure to +pleasure, of that rapid change from feverish excitement to deadly +exhaustion, from that striving to benumb all feeling, which, sought for +ever, is never found; and yet there rang forth something powerful, +eternal, which had nothing in common with that element with which it +fought, and which was raised above it, only to be wrecked within it at +last. + +The perfume of oranges rose from the gardens and streamed in through +the widely-opened doors on to the balcony, and was wafted +intoxicatingly through the apartments. Clear, full of great beauty and +intense peace, lay the moonlight above the old town, and the dim +distance disappeared in the blue, misty vapour. The fountain rustled +dreamily amongst the blooming trees, and the light which shone in the +falling drops illuminated with powerful distinctness the whole row of +apartments, with their marble treasures of art; it illuminated the +picture in the richly gilt frame, so that the witch-like, beautiful +figure above seemed to live; and the same light fell upon the +countenance of the man, whose brow, amid all this beauty and all this +peace, remained so heavily overcast. + +How many years, and, indeed, much besides which weighed more heavily +than years only, lay between those long northern winter nights on which +the young musician created his first compositions, and this balmy +moonlight night of the south, on which the world-renowned Rinaldo +repeated, in endless variations, the principal theme of his newest +opera. And yet all vanished in this hour. Softly, recollection passed +before him, and let long-forgotten days live again, long-forgotten +pictures stand before him; the little garden house, with its +old-fashioned furniture, and the stunted vines over the window, the +miserable little strip of garden with its few trees and shrubs, and the +high, prison-like walls around it; the narrow, gloomy house, with the +so intensely hated business-room. Faint, colourless pictures--and yet +they would not give way, as above them floated smilingly a pair of +large, deep, blue child's eyes, which only there had shone for the +father, and which here, in this orbit, full of poetry and beauty, he +sought for in vain. He had seen them so often in his child's face, and +also once--somewhere else. The remembrance of this was certainly but +dim, almost forgotten; they had only then shown themselves to him for a +moment, before being veiled again immediately, as they had been for +years; but it was still those eyes, which hovered before him, as now, +out of the storming and rolling tones, a magically sweet melody arose. +An endless longing spoke in it, a pain which his lips would not utter, +and thus formed a bridge across into the far distant past. Now had +genius burst the fetters which then oppressed and confined him; now he +stood aloft on the once dreamed-of heights. All that life and success, +fame and love could give had become his portion, and now--again like a +storm, it swept over the notes, wild, passionate, bacchante-like, and +through it ever again that melody came plaintively, with its touching +pain, its restless longing, which could not be pacified. + + * * * * * + +"I fear our captain will not endure Mirando much longer. It is +dangerous having the sea thus ever before his eyes; he gazes over it +with such longing, as if the sooner that he could sail away from us the +better." + +With these words Marchese Tortoni turned to his guest, who, for the +last quarter of an hour had taken hardly any part in the conversation, +and whom the young lord just caught in the act of a surreptitious yawn. + +"Indeed not," said Hugo, defending himself. "I only feel myself so +utterly unimportant and ignorant in these ideal art discussions, and so +deeply impressed with the sense of my ignorance, that I have just gone +hurriedly through all the words of command during a storm, in order to +obtain for myself the consolatory conviction that I do understand +something." + +"All evasion!" cried the Marchese. "You miss the female element +here, which you adore so much, and now appear unable to forego. +Unfortunately, my Mirando cannot offer you that charm, as yet. You know +I am not married, and have not been able to resolve upon sacrificing my +freedom." + +"Not resolve upon sacrificing your freedom," intimated Hugo. "My God, +that sounds shocking. If you have not yet ascended the highest ladder +of earthly happiness, as books express it--" + +"Do not believe him, Cesario," broke in Reinhold. "Notwithstanding all +his gallantry and knightliness, at heart he is of an icy nature, which +nothing warms too easily. He plays with all--has no feeling for any; +the ever-recurring romance, which he even sometimes calls passion, +lasts just so long as he is on shore, and disappears with the first +fresh breeze which wafts his 'Ellida' away on the sea. Nothing has ever +yet stirred his heart." + +"Abominable character!" cried Hugo, throwing away his cigar. "I protest +against it most solemnly." + +"Well you, perhaps, maintain that it is untrue?" + +The Captain laughed and turned to Tortoni. "I assure you, Signor +Marchese, that I too can be unimpeachably true to my beautiful blue +ocean bride"--he pointed towards the sea--"to her I am pledged with +heart and hand. She alone understands how to chain and hold me fast +again and again, and if she do allow me now and then to look into a +pair of beautiful eyes, she never tolerates serious faithlessness." + +"Until you look at last into a pair of eyes which teach you that you +also are not proof against the universal fate of mortals," said +Reinhold, half-jokingly, half with a bitterness which was intelligible +only to his brother. "There are such eyes." + +"Oh, yes, there are such eyes," repeated Hugo, looking out over the sea +with an almost dreamy expression. + +"Ah, sir, the tone sounds very suspicious," said the Marchese, +teasingly. "Perhaps you have already met with those kind of eyes?" + +"I?" The Captain had at once thrown off the momentary seriousness, and +was again full of the old mischief. "Folly! I hope to defy long enough +yet the 'universal doom of mortals.' Do you hear?" + +"What a pity you can find no opportunity here of proving this +determination," said Cesario. "The only neighbours whom we have keep +themselves so secluded that no attempt ever could be made. The young +Signora even--" + +"A young Signora? Where?" Hugo jumped up eagerly. + +The Marchese pointed to a country house, which, barely a mile distant, +lay half-hidden in an olive grove. + +"The villa Fiorina yonder has been inhabited for some months. So far as +I hear they are also countrymen of yours, Germans, who have settled +there for the summer; but they appear to make the most perfect solitude +and invisibility their law. No one is received, no one allowed to +enter. Visitors from S----, taking advantage of their acquaintance at +home, were dismissed, without exception, and, as the family confine +their walks chiefly to the park and terrace, it is impossible to +approach them." + +"And the Signora--is she beautiful?" asked Hugo, with most lively +eagerness. + +Cesario shrugged his shoulders. "With the best will I cannot tell you. +I only saw her once slightly, and at some distance. A slight, youthful +figure; a head covered with beautiful golden plaits; unfortunately her +face was not turned towards me, and I rode pretty quickly past her." + +"Without having seen her face? I admire your stoicism, Marchese, but +guarantee myself solemnly against the suspicion of doing likewise. By +this evening I will bring you and Reinhold information as to whether +the Signora be beautiful or no." + +"You may find it difficult," laughed the Marchese. "Do you not hear, +all entrance is forbidden?" + +"Bah! as if that would prevent me!" cried Hugo, confidently. "The +affair only now begins to be interesting. An unapproachable villa, an +invisible lady, who is, besides, fair and a German. I will enquire into +it, thoroughly examine into it. My duty as a countryman requires it." + +"Thank God that you put him upon this scent, Cesario," said Reinhold. +"Now let us hope that his ill-concealed yawns will not disturb us any +more, when we talk of music. I wished to discuss the parts with you +again." + +The young Marchese had risen and laid his hand entreatingly on +Rinaldo's shoulder. + +"Well, and the opera? Do you stand immovably by your ultimatum? I +assure you, Rinaldo, it is almost impossible to carry out all these +alterations by the autumn; I have convinced myself of it. A new +postponement will be required, and the public and company have been +waiting for months already." + +"They must wait longer." The words sounded haughty, and short in their +decision. + +"Spoken like a dictator," remarked Hugo. "Are you always so autocratic +towards the public? The picture which Maestro Gianelli sketches of you +appears to possess some very striking traits of resemblance. I believe +it was not really so absolutely necessary to bring the entire opera +company, including his Excellency the intendant, into such despair as +you have done this time." + +Reinhold raised his head with all the pride and indifference of the +spoilt, admired artist, who is accustomed to see his will obeyed as if +it were law, and to whom opposition is considered equal to an insult. + +"I dispose of my work and its performance. Either the opera shall be +heard in the form I wish, or not at all. I have left them the choice." + +"As if there were any choice!" said Cesario, shrugging his shoulders, +as he turned to his servant to give him an order, and left the two +brothers alone. + +"Unfortunately, there appears to be none in this case," said Hugo, +looking after his young host. "And Marchese Tortoni will have you on +his conscience also, if you become thoroughly spoiled at last with this +senseless worship of you. He does his utmost, like the rest of your +adoring circle! They set you up in their midst like a Llama, and group +themselves respectfully around you to listen to the remarks of your +genius, even if it should please your genius to maltreat your +infatuated, surrounders. I am sorry for you, Reinhold. You are driving +yourself with certainty to the rock on which already so many valuable +powers have been wrecked--self-adoration." + +"Hum! in the meanwhile you take care that this should not occur," +replied Reinhold, sarcastically. "You appear to like the part of the +faithful Eckhard in a remarkable degree, and rehearse it at every +opportunity; but it is the most thankless of all. Give it up, Hugo! It +does not suit your nature in the least." + +The Captain knit his brows, but he remained quite calm at the tone, +which might easily have irritated another, threw his fowling-piece over +his shoulder, and went out. A few minutes later he found himself by the +shore, and only when the fresh sea breeze cooled his head, did the +Captain's seriousness leave him; he struck at once into the road to the +Villa Fiorina. + +To tell the truth, Hugo began to be wearied of Mirando and the +prevailing artistic atmosphere which the Marchese's inclination and his +brother's presence created there. The paradise-like situation of the +property was nothing new to the sailor, who knew so well the beauties +of the tropical world, and the solitude to which Reinhold gave himself +up with an almost sick longing did not at all suit Hugo's joyous +nature. Certainly S----, so much frequented by strangers, lay pretty +near, but he could not sail over to it too frequently, and thus +indicate to the young host that he missed companionship. Therefore this +probably beautiful, and at any rate interesting and mysterious +neighbour was very welcome, and Hugo resolved immediately to utilise +it. + +"Let some one else endure these art lovers and art enthusiasts!" said +he, annoyed, as he followed the road by the sea. "Half the day long +they sit at the piano, and the rest of the time talk of music. Reinhold +always is in extremes. From the midst of the wildest life, out of the +most senseless excitement, he rushes head over heels into this romantic +solitude, and will hear and know of nothing but his music; I only +wonder how long it will last. And this Marchese Tortoni? Young, +handsome, rich, of a most noble line; this Cesario does not know what +better to do with his life than to bury himself for months in his +lonely Mirando, to play the _dilettante_ in grand style, and, with his +endless worship, turn Reinhold's head still more. I know how to spend +my time better than that." + +At these last words, spoken with great self-satisfaction, the Captain +stopped, as the end of his walk was already, so far, attained. Before +him lay the Villa Fiorina, shaded by high fir trees and cypresses, and +buried almost in blooming shrubs. The house itself appeared magnificent +and roomy, but the chief façade as well as the terrace turned towards +the sea, and were so thickly overgrown and surrounded by roses and +oleander bushes that even Hugo's hawk's eye was not able to penetrate +the balmy fortification. A high wall, covered with creeping plants, +enclosed the park-like grounds, which terminated in the olive grove +which surrounded the estate. It might formerly have been, judging by +the size of the grounds, the property of some great family, then, like +so many others, have often changed owners, and now served as temporary +residence for rich strangers. At all events, in beauty of situation, it +did not yield the palm to Marchese Tortoni's highly prized Mirando. + +The Captain had already formed his plan of campaign; he therefore only +scanned the country slightly, made a vain attempt to obtain a better +view of the terrace from the seaward side, measured the height of the +garden walls with his eye, in case of accident, and then went direct to +the entrance, where he rang the bell, and demanded to see the owners, +without hesitation. + +The porter, an old Italian, appeared to have received his instruction +for the like cases, as, without even asking the stranger's name, he +explained shortly and decidedly that his master and mistress received +no visits, and he regretted that the Signor had troubled himself in +vain. + +Hugo coolly drew out a card. "They will make an exception. It is +concerning an affair of importance, which requires a personal +interview. I will wait here in the meanwhile, as I am sure to be +received." + +He sat down quietly on the stone bench, and this immovable confidence +impressed the porter so much that he really began to believe in the +importance of the pretended mission. He disappeared with the card, +while Hugo, quite unconcerned as to the possible consequences, awaited +the result of his impudent man[oe]uvre. + +The result was unexpectedly favourable, as in a short time a servant +appeared and addressed the stranger, who had introduced himself by a +German name, in that language, and begged him to enter. He conducted +the Captain into a garden parlour and there left him alone, with the +intimation that his master would appear immediately. + +"I must be a lucky man," said Hugo, himself somewhat surprised at this +unexpected, rapid success. "I wish Reinhold and the Marchese could see +me now. Inside the 'unapproachable' villa, expecting the lord and +master of the same, and only a few doors apart from the blonde Signora. +That is certainly enough for the first five minutes, and what my +charming brother could not have attained, although all doors fly open +before him. But now I must be charming,--in lies, that is to say--what +in the world shall I say to this nobleman, to whom I have had myself +announced concerning some important affair, without ever having heard a +syllable about him, or he of me? Ah! some one or other, on some of my +voyages has given me some commission. In the worst case I can always +have mistaken the person; in the meanwhile the acquaintance has been +begun, and the rest will follow of itself. I will arrange the +improvisation according to the character of the person; at any rate I +shall not leave the place without having seen the beautiful Signora." + +He sat down and began to examine the room in a perfectly calm state of +mind. "My respected countrymen appear to belong to the happy minority, +who have at their disposal an income of several ten thousands. The +entire villa, with the park, rented for their exclusive use--the +arrangements made at great cost; one does not find this comfort in the +south--brought their own servants with them; I see no fewer than three +faces outside, on which German descent is written. Now the question +remains, have we to do with the aristocracy or the exchange? I should +prefer the latter; I can then pretend it is about some mercantile +affairs, while before some great nobleman, in the nonentity of a +citizen, I--how, Herr Consul Erlau!" + +With this exclamation, made in boundless astonishment, Hugo started +back from the doorway in which the well-known figure of the merchant +now appeared. The Consul had certainly aged much in the course of +years; the once luxuriant dark hair appeared grey and scant; his +features bore an expression of unmistakable suffering, and the friendly +good will which formerly enlivened them had given way, momentarily at +all events, to a distant coldness, with which he drew near to his +guest. + +"Herr Captain Almbach, you wish to speak to me?" + +Hugo had already recovered from his astonishment, and resolved at once +to take every advantage in his power of this unexpectedly favourable +chance. He put forth all his capacities for pleasing. + +"I am much obliged to you, sir. I hardly dared hope to be received +personally by you." + +Erlau sat down, and invited his guest by a sign to do the same. + +"I am also medically advised to avoid visits, but at the mention of +your name, I thought I ought to make an exception, as probably it +concerns my guardianship of your nephew. You come on your brother's +behalf?" + +"On Reinhold's behalf?" repeated Hugo uncertainly, "How so?" + +"I am glad that Herr Almbach has not attempted any personal +intercourse, as he did once already in writing," continued the Consul, +still in the same tone of cold restraint. "He appears, notwithstanding +our intentional seclusion, to know of his son's presence here. I +regret, however, being obliged to inform you, that Eleonore is not at +all disposed--" + +"Ella? Is she here? With you?" exclaimed Hugo so eagerly, that Erlau +gazed at him in utter amazement. + +"Did you not know it? Then Herr Captain Almbach, may I ask what has +really caused me the honour of your visit?" + +Hugo considered for a moment; he saw plainly that Reinhold's name, +which had opened the doors for him, was nevertheless the worst +recommendation which he could bring, and made his decision accordingly. + +"I must first of all clear up a mistake," replied he, with thorough +frankness. "I neither come as my brother's ambassador, which you seem +to imagine, nor am I here, indeed, in his interest or with his +knowledge. I give you my word for it, at this moment he has no +suspicion that his wife and son are in the neighbourhood, or, still +less, that they are even in Italy. I, on the contrary"--here the +Captain thought it necessary to mix a little invention with the +truth--"I on the contrary was put by chance on the track, and wished +first of all to satisfy myself of its correctness; I came to see my +sister-in-law." + +"Which had better remain undone," said the Consul, with remarkable +coldness. "You will comprehend that such a meeting could only be +painful for Ella." + +"Ella knows best how I have ever stood as regards the whole affair," +interrupted Captain Almbach, "and she will certainly not refuse me the +wished for interview." + +"Then I do so in my adopted daughter's name," declared Erlau +positively. Hugo rose-- + +"I know, Herr Consul Erlau, that you have gained a father's rights +towards my nephew, and also his mother, and honour these rights. +Therefore I entreat you to grant me this meeting. I will not wound my +sister-in-law with one word, with one recollection, as you appear to +dread, only--I should just like to see her." + +Such a warm appeal lay in the words, that the Consul wavered; perhaps +he remembered the time when young Captain Almbach's courage had saved +his best ship, and how politely, but positively, he had rejected the +gratitude which the rich merchant was ready to bestow so oppressively. +It would have been more than thankless to have persisted in his sturdy +refusal towards this man--he gave way. + +"I will ask if Eleonore be inclined for this interview," he said +rising; "she is already informed of your being here, as she was with me +when I received your card. I must ask you to be patient for a few +moments only." + +He left the room. A short period of impatient waiting passed, when at +last the door was again opened, and a lady's dress rustled on the +threshold. Hugo went quickly towards the new comer. + +"Ella! I knew you would not--" he stopped suddenly; his hand, stretched +out in welcome, dropped slowly, and Captain Almbach stood as if rooted +to the ground. + +"You do not seem to recognise me quite," said the lady, waiting in vain +for the rest of the greeting, "am I so much altered?" + +"Yes, very much," said Hugo, whose glance still hung in intense +astonishment on the figure of the lady before him. The impudent, +confident sailor, who had hitherto always shown himself equal to every +circumstance in his life, stood now dumb, confused, almost stupified. +Who, indeed, could ever have deemed this possible! + +This was what his brother's former wife had become, the shy, frightened +Ella, with the pale unlovely face, and the awkward timid manner! Now +only could one see how the dress had sinned, in which Eleanor Almbach +always appeared like the maidservant, and never like the daughter of +the house, and also that enormous cap, which, as if made for the brow +of a person of sixty, had covered the youthful woman's head day after +day. Every trace of all this had entirely disappeared. The light airy +morning dress let the still girlishly, slight, delicate figure display +itself in its full beauty, and the rich ornament of her fair plaits, +which were now worn uncovered, encircled her head in all their heavy, +glimmering, golden glory. Marchese Tortoni had not seen the face of the +"blonde Signora," but Hugo saw it now, and during this contemplation of +some seconds' duration, he asked himself, again and again, what had +really taken place in these features, which were once so stolid and +vacant that one reproached them with stupidity, and which now appeared +so full of intellect and thought, as if a ban had been lifted from off +them, and something, never suspected in them, awakened to life. +Certainly around the mouth there lay a line of tender, unconquered +pain, and her brow was shaded by a sadness it had formerly not known, +but no more did her eyes seek the ground timidly, as if veiled; now +they were clear and open, and they had truly forfeited none of their +former beauty. Ella appeared to have learned not to hide any longer +from the gaze of strangers that with which nature had endowed her. When +she was eighteen, every one asked, shrugging his shoulders, "how does +this wife come by that husband's side?" At eight and twenty, she was an +apparition, fitted to compete with any one. How heavily must the burden +and chains of her parents' house have rested upon the young wife, when +only a few years in freer, nobler surroundings had sufficed to remove +the former shroud, to the very last morsel, and to loose the wings of +the butterfly. The almost incredible alteration proved of what her +youthful education was guilty. + +"You wished an interview with me, Herr Captain Almbach?" began Ella, as +she seated herself upon an ottoman, "May I offer you a seat." Words and +bearing were as assured and easy, as if coming from a perfect woman of +the world receiving a visitor, but also distant and cool, as if she had +no deeper concern in this visit. Hugo bowed, a slight colour tinged his +cheeks, as he, following the invitation, sat down beside her. + +"I begged for it. Herr Consul Erlau thought himself obliged to deny me +this interview in your name, but I persisted in a direct appeal to you. +I had more confidence in your goodness, my dear Madame." + +She looked inquiringly with open eyes at him, "Are we become such +strangers? Why do you give me this name?" + +"Because I see that my visit here is considered as an intrusion to +which I have no right, which I was not utterly denied, only on account +of the name which I bear," replied Hugo, rather bitterly. "Herr Consul +Erlau made me feel that already, and now I experience it a second time, +and yet I can only repeat to you, that without the knowledge or on +behalf of another, am I here, and that the other up to this moment has +no suspicion of your vicinity." + +"Then, I beg you to allow this vicinity to remain still a secret," said +the young wife earnestly. "You will understand that I do not wish my +presence to be betrayed, and S---- is far enough to make that +possible!" + +"Who told you that we are staying in S----?" asked Hugo, somewhat +struck by the certainty of this conviction. + +She pointed to some newspapers lying on the table-- + +"I read this morning that two of the greatest musical celebrities were +expected there. The news has been delayed, as I see, and you are your +brother's guest." + +Hugo was silent; he had not courage to tell her how much nearer her +husband was, and he could easily explain the notice in the papers to +himself, as he knew of Beatrice's intended arrival. People were +accustomed always to name her and Reinhold together, and although the +latter was now even staying in Mirando, they considered his coming +as certain, the moment she arrived in S----. Indeed it was also a +pre-arranged meeting between the two, and could not be denied. + +"But why this concealment?" asked he, leaving the dangerous point quite +untouched. "It is not you, Ella, who have to avoid or flee from a +possible meeting." + +"No! but I will protect my boy at any cost from the possibility of such +a meeting." + +"With his father?" Hugo laid a reproachful stress upon the last word. + +"With your brother--yes!" + +Captain Almbach looked up surprised. The tone sounded freezingly cold, +and a stony, icy look lay on the young wife's countenance, which all at +once displayed the expression of an unbending will, such as no one +would have expected in so pleasing an apparition. + +"That is hard, Ella," said Hugo softly. "If you now render yourself +unapproachable--I can understand it, after all that has happened; but +why the boy also? Reinhold tried once already to communicate with his +child; you repulsed him." + +Ella interrupted him-- + +"You have told me that you come without any commission, Hugo, and I +believe you; therefore this subject need not be discussed between us, +let it rest! I was greatly astonished to see you again here, in Italy. +Do you purpose remaining long?" + +Captain Almbach took the hint given him, although somewhat taken aback +by it. He was so unaccustomed for his young sister-in-law, whom he had +almost always known as a silent, frightened listener, to govern the +conversation so entirely, and lead it with such decision and ease to +another topic when the former one had become painful to her. + +"Most likely longer than I thought at first," said he, replying to her +question. "My stay was originally only intended to be a short one, but +a storm which caught us on the open sea, so dismantled the 'Ellida,' +that I only reached the Italian harbour with great difficulty, and for +the present cannot think of another voyage. The repairs will occupy +some months, and my leave has therefore been prolonged indefinitely. I +certainly never anticipated finding you here." + +A shadow passed over the lady's face. + +"We are here by medical advice," she replied sadly. "Weakness of his +chest, obliged my adopted father to seek the south; his wife has been +dead some years, and you know that he is childless. I had long since +received all the privileges of a daughter, so that, of course, I also +undertook the duties of one. The doctor insisted particularly upon this +place, which indeed seems to exercise a most beneficial effect, and +however much I might have desired to avoid Italy, I could not persuade +myself to allow the invalid, to whom my presence is a necessity, to +travel alone. We hoped to escape any painful meeting by avoiding the +town in which Signor Rinaldo lives, and chose the most lonely, retired +villa in order to obtain the greatest seclusion possible. Our +precautions were in vain, as I see; you were no sooner in my vicinity +than you discovered my whereabouts." + +"I? Yes certainly," said Hugo with involuntary confusion. "And you +reproach me with it." + +Ella smiled. + +"No, but I wondered that Herr Captain Hugo still entertained sufficient +interest in the little cousin Ella, to insist so obstinately upon +seeing her, when he was at first refused. We thought we had guarded +amply against strange visits. You knew, nevertheless, how to force your +entrance, and this shows me that I even possessed friends in my former +life. Until to-day, I doubted it, but it is a fact which does me good, +and I thank you for it, Hugo." + +She raised her eyes clearly and openly to him; and with a charming +smile, which made her face appear intensely lovely, she stretched out +her hand to him. But the kindly thanks met with no response. Captain +Almbach's brow burned deeply red, then he sprang up suddenly and pushed +her hand aside. + + + + END OF VOL. I. + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Riven Bonds. Vol. I., by E. Werner + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RIVEN BONDS. VOL. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/35283-8.zip b/35283-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..06fc987 --- /dev/null +++ b/35283-8.zip diff --git a/35283-h.zip b/35283-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..89369aa --- /dev/null +++ b/35283-h.zip diff --git a/35283-h/35283-h.htm b/35283-h/35283-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bad858d --- /dev/null +++ b/35283-h/35283-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,5247 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<title>Riven Bonds. A Novel. Vol. I.</title> +<meta name="Author" content="E. Werner"> +<meta name="Publisher" content="Remington and Company"> +<meta name="Date" content="1877"> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"> +<style type="text/css"> +body {margin-left:10%; + margin-right:10%; background-color:#FFFFFF;} + + + +p.normal {text-indent:.25in; text-align: justify;} +p.center {text-align:center; margin-top:9pt;} + + +p.right {text-align:right; margin-right:20%;} + +p.continue {text-indent: 0in; margin-top:9pt;} +.text10 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:10%; margin-right:0px; font-size:90%;} +.text20 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:20%; margin-right:0px; font-size:90%;} + +.t0 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0em; margin-right:0px;} +.t1 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:1em; margin-right:0px;} +.t2 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:2em; margin-right:0px;} +.t3 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:3em; margin-right:0px;} +.t4 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:4em; margin-right:0px;} +.t5 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:5em; margin-right:0px;} +.t6 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:6em; margin-right:0px;} +.t7 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:7em; margin-right:0px;} +.t8 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:8em; margin-right:0px;} + +.quote {font-size:90%; margin-top:24pt; margin-bottom:24pt} +.dateline {text-align:right; font-size:90%; margin-right:10%; margin-top:24pt; margin-bottom:24pt} + +h1,h2,h3,h4,h5 {text-align: center;} + +span.sc {font-variant: small-caps; font-size:100%;} +span.sc2 {font-variant: small-caps; font-size:90%;} + +hr.W10 {width:10%; + color:black;} + +hr.W20 {width:20%; + color:black;} + +hr.W50 {width:50%; margin-top:12pt; color:black;} +hr.W90 {width:90%; margin-top:12pt; color:black;} + +p.hang1 {margin-left:1em; text-indent:-1em;} +p.hang2 {margin-left:1em; text-indent:0em;} + +.poem { + margin-top: 24pt; + margin-left: 20%; + margin-right: 10%; + text-align: left; + margin-bottom: 24pt + } + .poem .stanza { + margin : 1em 0; + margin-top:24pt; + } + +</style> + +</head> + +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Riven Bonds. Vol. I., by E. Werner + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Riven Bonds. Vol. I. + A Novel, in Two Volumes + +Author: E. Werner + +Translator: Bertha Ness + +Release Date: February 14, 2011 [EBook #35283] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RIVEN BONDS. VOL. I. *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by Google Books. + + + + + +</pre> + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p class="hang1">Transcriber's Note:<br> +1. Page scan source: http://books.google.com/books?pg=PA284&id=e94BAAAAQAAJ#v</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h1>RIVEN BONDS.</h1> +<br> +<h3>A Novel,</h3> +<br> +<br> +<h3>IN TWO VOLUMES.</h3> +<br> +<br> +<h5>TRANSLATED BY</h5> +<h3>BERTHA NESS,</h3> +<br> +<br> +<h3><i>FROM THE ORIGINAL OF E. WERNER</i>,</h3> +<br> +<h4><span class="sc">Author of</span> "SUCCESS AND HOW HE WON IT,"<br> +"UNDER A CHARM," &c.</h4> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<hr class="W20"> +<h3>VOL. I.</h3> +<hr class="W20"> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>London:<br> +REMINGTON AND CO.,<br> +<span class="sc2">5, Arundel Street, Strand, W.C.</span></h3> +<hr class="W10"> +<h3><span class="sc2">1877</span>.</h3> +<br> +<h5>[<i>All Rights Reserved</i>.]</h5> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h1>RIVEN BONDS.</h1> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER I.</h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">The curtain fell amid thunders of applause from the whole house. Boxes, +pit, and gallery unanimously demanded the reappearance of the singer, +who, in the finale of the act just concluded, had carried all away with +her. The whole audience became excited, and would not be calmed, until, +greeted with applause, which broke forth with renewed vigour, +overwhelmed with flowers, wreaths, and homage of all kinds, the object +of this ovation showed herself, in order to thank the public.</p> + +<p class="normal">"This is quite like an evening in an Italian theatre," said an elderly +gentleman, entering one of the boxes in the first tier. "Signora +Biancona seems to understand the art of filling the otherwise quiet and +smoothly-flowing patrician blood of our noble Hanseatic town with the +fire of her Southern home. The infatuation for her begins to be quite +an epidemic. If it continue to increase in this way, we shall see the +Exchange voting her a torchlight procession, and the Senate of this +free town, appearing before her <i>in corpore</i>, to lay their homage at +her feet. Were I in your place, Herr Consul, I should make this +proposition to both these Corporations. I am sure it would meet with an +enthusiastic reception."</p> + +<p class="normal">The gentleman to whom these words were addressed, and who was sitting +by a lady, apparently his wife, in the front of the box, seemed unable +to withdraw himself from the universal excitement. He had applauded +with an energy and perseverance worthy of a better cause, and turned +round now, half-laughing, half-annoyed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I was sure of it; the critic must place himself in opposition to the +general voice. Certainly, Herr Doctor, in your abominable morning +paper, you spare neither Exchange nor Senate; how, then, could Signora +Biancona hope to find mercy?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The Doctor smiled a little maliciously, and drew near to the lady's +chair, when a young man, who had been sitting beside her, rose politely +to make way for him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr Almbach," said the lady, introducing them, "Herr Dr. Welding, the +editor of our morning paper, whose pen--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"For Heaven's sake, my dear madam," interrupted Welding, "do not throw +discredit on me, at once, in the gentleman's eyes. One has only to be +introduced as critic to a young artist, and immediately one gains his +deepest antipathy."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Possibly," laughed the Consul, "but this time your keenness has failed +you. Herr Almbach, thank goodness, can never be in a position to come +before your judgment seat. He is a merchant."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Merchant!" a look of astonishment was turned towards the young man, +"then I certainly apologise for my mistake. I should have taken you for +an artist."</p> + +<p class="normal">"There, you see, dear Almbach, your forehead and eyes do you a bad turn +again," said the Consul, playfully. "What would your people at home say +to the exchange? I almost fear they would look upon it as an insult."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Perhaps. I do not consider it as such," said Almbach, bowing slightly +to Welding. The words were intended to carry on the joking tone that +was begun, but there lay in them a half-concealed bitterness, which did +not escape Dr. Welding. He fixed his eyes searchingly on the young +stranger's features; but just at that moment the lady turned towards +him, and resumed the interrupted topic.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You must allow, Herr Doctor, that Biancona was quite ravishing +to-night. This young, dawning talent is indeed, a new star in our +theatrical firmament."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Which will some time become a shining sun, if it carry out what to-day +it promises. Certainly, dear madam; I do not deny it at all, even +although this future sun shows a few spots and imperfections at +present, which naturally escape so enthusiastic a public."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well then, I advise you not to lay too much stress on these +imperfections," said the Consul, pointing to the pit. "There, below, +sits an army of knights, infatuated about the Signora. Take care, Herr +Doctor, or you will receive at least six challenges."</p> + +<p class="normal">The malicious smile played round Welding's lips again, as he cast a +glance of irony towards young Almbach, who had listened silently, but +with darkly lowering brow, to the conversation.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And perhaps a seventh, also! Herr Almbach, for instance, seems to look +upon the opinion which I have just expressed as a species of high +treason."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I regret, sir, to be so much behind you as regards criticism," coolly +replied the one addressed. "I--" hereupon his eyes flashed almost +passionately, "I am accustomed to worship genius unconditionally."</p> + +<p class="normal">"A very poetical style of criticism," sneered Welding. "If you were to +repeat that in person to our beautiful Signora, and in the same tone, I +could promise you her most complete favour. Besides, I am this time in +the pleasant position of being able to tell her in the article which +will appear to-morrow, that hers is indeed a talent of the first order, +that her faults and failings are only those of a beginner, and that it +lies in her power to become eventually, a musical celebrity. She is not +one at present."</p> + +<p class="normal">"In the meanwhile, that is praise enough from your lips," said the +Consul; "but I think we must retire now; the brilliant part of Biancona +is over, the last act offers nothing for her <i>rôle</i>, she hardly appears +again upon the stage, and our duties as hosts call us to our reception +evening. May I offer you a seat in our carriage, Herr Doctor? Your +critic's duty is also about at an end; and you, dear Almbach, will you +accompany us, or shall you remain to the last?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The young man had also risen. "If you and your gracious lady will allow +it--the opera is new to me--I should like--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Very well then, remain without ceremony," interrupted the other in a +friendly manner, "but be punctual to-night. We count positively upon +your coming."</p> + +<p class="normal">He gave his arm to his wife, to lead her away. Dr. Welding followed +them.</p> + +<p class="normal">"How could you think," scoffed he, when in the corridor, "that your +young guest would move from the spot so long as Biancona had only one +more note to sing, or that he would be debarred from helping to form a +guard to her carriage with the rest of our gentlemen? The beautiful +eyes of the Signora have done much harm already--he has caught fire +worse than the others."</p> + +<p class="normal">"We must hope not," said the lady, with a touch of concern in her +voice. "What would his father and mother-in-law, and, above all, his +young wife say?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is Herr Almbach married already?" asked Welding, astonished.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Two years since," replied the Consul. "He is nephew and son-in-law of +my business correspondents. The firm is Almbach and Co., not a very +important, but a most substantial, respectable house. Besides, you do +the young man injustice with your suspicions; at his age one is easily +carried away, particularly when, as here, one so seldom enjoys a +musical treat. Between ourselves, Almbach has rather middle-class +views, and keeps his son-in-law tightly by the head. He will take care +that any harm which those eyes could do, shall be kept far from his +house. I know him well enough on that point."</p> + +<p class="normal">"All the better for him," said the Doctor, laconically, as he seated +himself by the married pair in the carriage, which took the direction +of the harbour, where the palaces of the rich business men were +situated.</p> + +<p class="normal">An hour later, a numerous company was assembled in the merchant's +drawing-rooms. Consul Erlau was one of the richest, most influential +men in this wealthy commercial town, and even although this +circumstance was sufficient to ensure him an undisputed position, he +made it, in addition, a point of honour, to hear his house called the +most brilliant and hospitable in H----. His reception evenings gathered +together every notability which the town had to offer. There was never +a celebrity who did not appear several times, and even the star of the +present season--<i>prima donna</i> Biancona, who was here with the temporary +Italian Opera Company, had accepted the invitation which she had +received, and appeared after the end of the performance. The young +actress, after her evening's triumph in the theatre, was of course the +centre of attraction for all the company. Besieged by the gentlemen +with every species of homage, overwhelmed with compliments from the +ladies, distinguished by the host and his wife with most flattering +attentions, she was unable to escape from the stream of admiration +which flowed towards her from all sides, and which, perhaps, was due as +much to her beauty as her genius.</p> + +<p class="normal">Both were indeed united here. Even without her highly-worshipped +talent, Signora Biancona was not likely ever to be overlooked. She was +one of those women, who, wherever they appear, know how to attract, +and, oft to a dangerous degree, retain eye and senses; whose entrancing +charms do not lie only in their beauty, but far more in the singular, +almost witch-like magic, which certain natures exercise, without any +one being able to account for its cause.</p> + +<p class="normal">It seemed as if a breath of the glowing South, full of colour, lay upon +this apparition, who, with her dark hair and complexion, her large, +deep, black eyes, out of which shone such an ardent, full life, +contrasted go strangely with these Northern surroundings. Her manner of +speaking and moving was, perhaps livelier, less constrained than the +rules of '<i>convenance</i>' demanded, but the fire of a Southern nature, +which broke forth with every emotion, had an entrancing grace. Her +light ethereal-looking costume was not at all conformed to the reigning +fashion, but it appeared to be especially invented to display the +advantages of her figure in the best light, and held its own +triumphantly amongst the more magnificent toilets of the ladies around +her.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Italian was a being who seemed to stand above all the forms and +trammels of everyday life, and there was no one in the company who did +not willingly accord her this distinction.</p> + +<p class="normal">Almbach, too, had found his way here after the close of the theatre, +but he was quite a stranger to the circle, and evidently remained so, +notwithstanding the well-meant attempts of the Consul to make him +acquainted with one or another of the guests. All fell through, partly +on account of the young man's almost moody silence, partly on account +of the gentlemen's manners to whom he was introduced, and who, +belonging almost entirely to the circles of the Exchange and Finance, +did not think it worth while to take much trouble about the +representative of a small firm. He was standing quite isolated at the +lower end of the room, looking apparently indifferently at the +brilliant crowd, but his eyes always turned to one point, which +to-night was the magnet for all the assembled gentlemen.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now, Herr Almbach, you make no attempt to approach the circle of the +sun of the drawing-room," said Dr. Welding, coming up to him, "shall I +introduce you there?"</p> + +<p class="normal">A slight uncomfortable blush, at his secret wish having been divined, +covered the young man's face.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The Signora is so occupied on all sides that I did not venture to +trouble her also."</p> + +<p class="normal">Welding laughed, "Yes, the gentlemen all seem to follow your method of +criticism, and equally to admire genius unconditionally. Well, art has +the privilege of inspiring all with enthusiasm. Come, I will present +you to the Signora."</p> + +<p class="normal">They crossed to the other side of the drawing-room where, the young +Italian was, but it really gave them some trouble to penetrate the +circle of admirers surrounding the honoured guest, and to approach her.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Doctor undertook the introduction; he named his companion, who, +to-day, had for the first time the pleasure of admiring the Signora on +the stage, and then left him to set himself at ease in the "sun's +circle." This designation was not so badly chosen; there really was +something of the scorching glow of this planet, at its midday height, +in the glance which she now turned upon Almbach.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then you were also in the theatre this evening?" asked the Signora, +lightly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Signora."</p> + +<p class="normal">Tie answer sounded curt and gloomy; no other word, none of those +compliments which the actress had heard so plentifully to-day, but the +look in the young man's eyes must have made up for his monosyllabic +reply. It is true that he only met Signora Biancona's for a moment, but +their lighting-up was seen and understood; it said much more than all +spoken flatteries.</p> + +<p class="normal">The other gentlemen might receive no high opinion of the new arrival's +social talents; who did not even understand how to make a pretty speech +to a lady. They ignored him thoroughly. The conversation, in which the +Consul now took part, became more general; they spoke of music, of a +known composer and his new work, just now causing great sensation, as +to whose conception Signora Biancona and Dr. Welding had a difference +of opinion. The former was full of enthusiasm for it, while the latter +accorded it very little value. The Signora defended her opinion with +Southern vivacity and was supported therein by all the gentlemen, who +took her side from the commencement, while the Doctor persisted coolly +in his own. The battle grew more determined, until at last the Signora +became somewhat annoyed, and turned away from her opponent.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I regret very much that our Conductor was prevented from accepting +to-day's invitation. He plays this composition perfectly, and I fear it +requires a performance to enable the company to judge which of us two +is right."</p> + +<p class="normal">The guests were of the same opinion, and regretted the Conductor +exceedingly, none offered to replace him. The playing of this music did +not appear to keep pace with the very remarkable enthusiasm for it, +until Almbach came forward suddenly and said, "I am at your disposal, +Signora."</p> + +<p class="normal">She turned quickly towards him and said with evident appreciation, "You +are musical, Signor?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"If you and the rest of the company will bear with the attempt of an +'amateur,'" he made a gesture of enquiry to the master of the house, +and as the latter agreed eagerly, he went to the piano.</p> + +<p class="normal">The composition under discussion, a modern show-piece in the fullest +sense of the word, owed its general popularity less to its real +worth--of which it had indeed very little--than to its great difficulty +of execution. Even the simple possibility of playing it at all, +required a masterly power over the instrument. People were accustomed +only to hear it performed by high-standing professionals, and therefore +looked half-astonished, half-contemptuously at the young man who +volunteered his services with so little concern. He had certainly +apologised for being an amateur, but still it was presumptuous to +attempt this in Consul Erlau's house, where the playing of so many +celebrities had been heard and admired.</p> + +<p class="normal">The guests were so much the more astonished that Almbach showed himself +perfectly equal to all these difficulties, as, without even a note of +music before him, he overcame them by playing at once, with an ease and +certainty which would have done honour to a regular artist. At the same +time he understood to put such fire into his performance as carried +away even the older and more expectant hearers. The piece of music +under his hands seemed to acquire quite a different form; he gave it a +meaning, which no one, perhaps not even the composer himself, had +attached to it, and especially the finale, rendered in a somewhat +stormy <i>tempo</i>, brought him most plenteous applause from all sides.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bravo, bravissimo, Herr Almbach!" cried the Consul, who was the first +to come up, and who shook him heartily by the hand, "we must really be +grateful to the Signora and Doctor, whose musical dispute assisted us +to the discovery of such a talent. You modestly announce an attempt, +and give us a performance of which the most finished artist need not be +ashamed. You have helped our Signora to a brilliant victory; she is +right--unconditionally right, and the Doctor this time remains, with +his attack, decidedly in the minority."</p> + +<p class="normal">The singer had also approached the piano.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I, too, am grateful to you for having responded to my wish in so +knightly a manner," she said, smiling; now lowering her voice, "but +take care; I fear my critical enemy will still fight with you as to the +mode in which you proved my opinion. Was the playing, above all the +finale, quite correct?"</p> + +<p class="normal">A treacherous gleam shot across the young man's countenance, but he +also smiled.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It accorded with your views, and received your applause, Signora--that +is enough for me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"We will speak of it later," whispered the Signora quickly, as now the +lady of the house drew near to pay some civilities to her young guest, +and the greater part of the company followed her example. A stream of +phrases and compliments swept over Almbach, his playing was charming; +his execution--where had he studied music? The less he had been noticed +before--the less he was known to them, the more he had astonished all +by suddenly coming forward, added to the young man's modesty, which +hardly permitted him to reply to all the questions addressed to him; +every one present felt himself involuntarily to be a sort of Mecænas, +and was prepared to give the young genius his complete protection. Was +it really modesty that closed Almbach's lips? Sometimes a species of +mockery flashed in his eyes, as again and again this exquisite +performance was extolled; and it was declared that this composition had +never been heard in perfection before. He seized the first opportunity +to escape from the attention paid him, and in this attempt was taken +possession of by Dr. Welding.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is it possible to reach you at last? You are regularly besieged with +compliments. Just one word, Herr Almbach; shall we go in here?"</p> + +<p class="normal">He pointed to an adjoining room, into which both had scarcely entered, +before the Doctor continued in a somewhat sharp tone--</p> + +<p class="normal">"Signora Biancona was right: that is, according to your performance. My +attack was directed against the composition as it exists in the +original. May I ask where you found this very peculiar arrangement of +it? Until this moment it was quite unknown to me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"How do you mean, Herr Doctor?" asked the young man, coolly. "I only +know the piece of music in that form."</p> + +<p class="normal">Welding looked him up and down, an expression of annoyance struggled +with one of undisguised interest in his face, as he replied--</p> + +<p class="normal">"You appear to gauge the musical knowledge of your audience quite +correctly, if you venture to offer them such things. They hear the air, +and are contented; but sometimes there are exceptions. For instance, it +would interest me very much to know from whom certain variations +emanate, which utterly change the character of the whole; and as +regards the finale, entirely; was this daring improvisation, perhaps, +the attempt of an amateur also?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Almbach raised his head somewhat defiantly, "And if it were, what +should you say to it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"That it was a great mistake of your people to make you a merchant."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr Doctor, we are in a merchant's house."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Certainly," answered Welding, calmly, "and I am the last to depreciate +that class, especially when, like our host, it begins with earnest, +ceaseless work, and ends in reposing on millions; but it does not suit +all. Above everything, it requires a clear, cool head, and yours does +not appear to me to be quite made to devote itself to the grasping +debit and credit. Excuse me, Herr Almbach! that is only my candid +opinion; besides, I do not blame you at all for your daring. What would +one not do to make a beautiful woman's obstinacy appear right! In this +case, the manœ uvre was even <i>most agreeable</i>, any other person with +the best will could not have carried it out; I congratulate you upon +it."</p> + +<p class="normal">He made a half-ironical bow, and left the room; it adjoined the +drawing-room, but the half-closed <i>portières</i> divided it from the +former; quite lonely and dimly-lighted, it offered a momentary solitude +to whomsoever desired it. The young man had thrown himself upon a seat, +and gazed dreamily before him. Of what he was thinking, perhaps he did +not dare to confess to himself, and yet it was betrayed by his starting +up at the sound of a voice, which said in a tone of slight +astonishment--</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, Signor Almbach, you here!"</p> + +<p class="normal">It was Signora Biancona; whether, on entering, she had really not +perceived who was already there, could not be decided, as she continued +with perfect ease--</p> + +<p class="normal">"I was seeking relief for a moment from the heat and whirl of the +drawing-room. You, too, have soon withdrawn from the company after your +triumph."</p> + +<p class="normal">Almbach had risen, quickly. "If it is a question of triumph, there is +certainly no doubt who gained it to-day. My improvised performance +cannot be compared, in ever so slight a degree, with that which you +offered to the public."</p> + +<p class="normal">The Signora smiled. "I only produced sounds, like you, but I confess, +candidly, it has surprised me, never, until to-night, and here, to meet +an artist who surely long since--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Excuse me, Signora," interrupted the young man, coldly, "I have +already declared in the drawing-room that I only lay claim to being a +<i>dilettante</i>. I belong to the commercial world."</p> + +<p class="normal">The same look of astonishment which he had seen on Welding's +countenance in the theatre, was turned towards Almbach's face for the +second time.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Impossible! you are joking."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why impossible, Signora? Because I could play a difficult <i>bravura</i> +piece with facility?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Because you could play it so, and because--" she looked at him fixedly +for a moment, and then added, with great decision--"because your face +bears the stamp one always imagines genius must carry on its brow."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You see how deceptive appearances sometimes are."</p> + +<p class="normal">Signora Biancona did not seem to agree with this; she sat down on the +couch, her pale-coloured dress lay airily and lightly, as a cloud, on +the dark velvet.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I admire you," she began again, "that you are able, with such artistic +qualities, to devote yourself to an every-day calling. It would be +impossible for me; I have grown up in a world of sounds and tones, and +cannot understand how there is room in it for any other duties."</p> + +<p class="normal">This time there lay an undisguised bitterness in the young man's voice +as he answered----"Also, your home is Italy; mine, a North-German +business town! In our every-day life, poetry is a rare, fleeting guest, +to whom a place is often refused. Work, striving after gain, stands +ever in the foreground."</p> + +<p class="normal">"With you, also, Signor?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It should, at least, stand there; that it is not always the case, my +musical attempt will have shown you."</p> + +<p class="normal">The singer shook her head doubtfully. "Your attempt! I should like to +become acquainted with your finished work. But surely it cannot be your +intention to withdraw this talent entirely from the public, and only +exercise it in your home circle?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"In my home circle!" repeated Almbach, with singular emphasis, "I do +not touch a note there--least of all in my wife's presence."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are married already?" asked the Italian quickly, as a momentary +pallor spread over her face.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Signora."</p> + +<p class="normal">This "yes," sounded dull and cold, and the half-mocking expression +which played for a moment on the singer's lips, as she looked at the +man of barely four-and-twenty years, disappeared at this tone.</p> + +<p class="normal">"People marry very young in Germany, it appears," she remarked, +quietly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Sometimes."</p> + +<p class="normal">The young Italian seemed to find the pause which followed these words +somewhat painful; she changed rapidly to another topic--</p> + +<p class="normal">"I fear you have already been subjected to the examination of which I +warned you. All the same, the company was charmed with your +performance."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Perhaps!" said the young man, half-contemptuously, "and yet it +certainly was not intended for the company."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not! and for whom, then?" asked Signora Biancona, directing her glance +firmly towards him. And he looked at her; there seemed to be something +alike in both pairs of eyes which now met one another--both large, +dark, and mysterious. In Almbach's glance, too, shone the same light as +in the actress'; here also burned an ardent, passionate soul; also +here, in the depths, slumbered the demonlike spark which is so often +the heritage of genial natures, and becomes their curse when no +protecting hand restrains it, and when it is fanned into flame, then no +more brings light, but only destruction.</p> + +<p class="normal">He came a step nearer and lowered his voice; its great excitement, +however, still betrayed itself.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Only for her, who, for me and for us all, a few hours since, embodied +the highest beauty and the highest poetry, borne by the notes of an +undying master-work. You have been worshipped a thousand-fold to-day, +Signora. All that enthusiasm could offer was laid at your feet. The +stranger, the unknown, also wished to tell you how much he admired you, +and he did it in the language which alone is worthy of you. It is not +quite strange to me either."</p> + +<p class="normal">In his admiration there lay something that raised it above all +flattery, the tone of real true enthusiasm, and Signora Biancona was +actress enough to recognise this tone, woman enough to suspect what was +hidden beneath it; she smiled with enchanting grace.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have seen, indeed, how very fluent you are in this language. Shall I +not often hear it from you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hardly," said the young man, gloomily. "You return, as I hear, to +Italy shortly, I--remain here in the North. Who knows if we shall ever +meet again."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Our manager intends to remain here until May," interrupted the +Signora, quickly. "So our meeting to-day will surely not be our last? +Certainly not--I count positively on seeing you again."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Signora!" This passionate outbreak of Almbach's lasted only for a +second. Suddenly a recollection or warning seemed to shoot through him; +he drew back and bowed low and distantly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I fear it must be the last--farewell, Signora."</p> + +<p class="normal">He was gone before it was possible for the singer to utter one word +regarding this strange adieu, and he seemed to be in earnest about it, +as not once during the whole evening did he approach the dangerous +"circle of the sun."</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER II.</h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">"That is too bad. This mania really begins to surpass all limits. I +must forbid Reinhold all cultivation of music if he continues to pursue +it in so senseless a manner."</p> + +<p class="normal">With these words, the merchant Almbach opened a family council, which +took place in the parlour, in his wife's and daughter's presence, and +at which, fortunately, the special object of the same did not assist.</p> + +<p class="normal">Herr Almbach, a man about fifty, whose quiet, measured, almost pedantic +manner, generally served as a pattern for all the office people, +appeared to have quite lost his equilibrium to-day, by the above-named +mania, as he continued, in great excitement--</p> + +<p class="normal">"The bookkeeper came home this morning about four o'clock from the +jubilee, which I had left directly after midnight. From the bridge he +sees the garden house lighted up, and hears Reinhold raving over the +notes, and lost to all sense of sight and hearing. Of course he could +not accompany me to the feast! he declared himself to be ill; but his +'unbearable headache' did not hinder him from maltreating the piano in +the icy-cold garden-room until morning's dawn. I shall be hearing again +from my partners that my son-in-law has been doing his utmost in +uselessness as well as in carelessness. It is hardly credible! The +youngest clerk understands the books better, and has more interest in +the business, than the partner and future head of the house of 'Almbach +& Co.' My whole life long have I worked and toiled to make my firm +secure and respected, and now I have the prospect of leaving it, at +last, in such hands."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I always told you that you should have forbidden his associating with +the Music-Director, Wilkins," interrupted Frau Almbach, "he is to blame +for it all; no one could get on with that misanthropical, musical fool. +Everyone hated and avoided him, but with Reinhold that was all the more +reason to form the most intimate friendship with him. Day after day he +was there, and there alone was laid the foundation of all this musical +nonsense, which his master seems to have bequeathed to him at his +death. It is hardly bearable since he had the old man's legacy--the +piano--in the house. Ella, what do you say, then, to this behaviour of +your husband?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The young wife, to whom the last words were addressed, had so far not +spoken a syllable. She sat in the window, her head bent over her +sewing, and only looked up as this direct question was addressed to +her.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I, dear mother?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, you, my child, as the affair affects you most. Or do you really +not feel the irresponsible manner in which Reinhold neglects you and +your child?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He is so fond of music," said Ella, softly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do you excuse him also?" said her mother, excitedly. "That is just the +misfortune, he cares for it more than for wife or child; he never asks +for either of you if he can only sit at his piano and improvise. Have +you no idea of what a wife can and must demand from her husband, and +that, above all, it is her duty to bring him to reason? But to be sure, +nothing is ever to be expected of you."</p> + +<p class="normal">The young wife certainly did not look as if much were to be expected of +her. She had little that was attractive in her appearance, and the one +thing about her that could perhaps be called pretty, the delicate, +still girlishly slender figure, was entirely hidden under a most +unbecoming house dress, which in its boundless plainness was more +suggestive of a servant than of the daughter of the house, and was made +so as to disguise any possible advantages which there might be. Only a +narrow strip of the fair hair, which lay smoothly parted on her brow, +was visible, the rest disappeared entirely under a cap more suited to +her mother's years, and offering a peculiar contrast to the face of the +barely twenty-years-old wife. This pale face with its downcast eyes, +was not adapted to arouse any interest; it had no expression, there lay +in it something stolid, vacant, that nearly approached to stupidity, +and at this moment, when she let her sewing drop and looked at her +mother, it betrayed such helpless nervousness and senselessness, that +Almbach felt obliged to come to his daughter's assistance.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Leave Ella alone!" said he in that half-angry, half-compassionate tone +with which one rejects the interference of a child, "you know nothing +is to be done with her, and what could she effect here?"</p> + +<p class="normal">He shrugged his shoulders and continued bitterly; "That is the reward +for the sacrifice of adopting my brother's orphan children! Hugo throws +all gratitude, all reason and education in my face, and runs away +secretly; and Reinhold, who has grown up in my house, under my eyes, +causes me the greatest anxiety, with his good-for-nothing hankering +after all fancies. But with him, at all events, I have kept the reins +in my hand, and I shall draw them so tightly now, that he shall lose +all inclination to chafe against them any more."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, Hugo's ingratitude was really outrageous!" Frau Almbach joined +in. "To fly from our house at night, in a fog, and go to sea, 'to try +his luck alone in the world,' as he said in the impudent letter of +farewell which he left behind him! Two years since there actually came +a letter to Reinhold from the Captain; and the former hinted only +lately, quite openly, about his probable return. I fear he knows +something positive about it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hugo shall not cross my threshold," declared the merchant, with a +solemn motion of his hand. "I know nothing of this interchange of +letters with Reinhold, and will know nothing. Let them correspond +behind my back, but if the unadvised youth should have the audacity to +appear before me, he will learn what the anger of an offended uncle and +guardian is."</p> + +<p class="normal">While the parents prepared to discuss this apparently often-treated +theme, with the wonted details and ire, Ella had left the room +unnoticed and now descended the staircase leading to the office, +situated on the ground floor. The young wife knew that now, at midday, +all the people would be absent, and this probably lent her courage to +enter.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was a large gloomy room; whose bare walls and barred windows caused +it somewhat to resemble a prison. No trouble had been taken to impart +any comfort or even a pleasant appearance to the office. And what for? +What belonged to work was there; the rest was luxury, and luxury was a +thing that the house of Almbach and Co., notwithstanding its +notoriously not inconsiderable wealth, did not allow itself.</p> + +<p class="normal">At present no one was to be found in the room, excepting the young man, +who sat at a desk with a big ledger open before him. He looked pale and +as if he had been up late; his eyes, which should have been busy with +figures, were fixed on the narrow strip of the sun's rays which fell +slantingly across the room. In his gaze was something of the longing +and bitterness of a prisoner, to whom the sunshine, penetrating into +his cell, brings news of life and freedom from without. He hardly +turned his head at the opening of the door, and asked indifferently--</p> + +<p class="normal">"What is it? What do you want, Ella?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Every other wife at the second question would have gone to her husband +and put her arm round his shoulder. Ella remained standing close to the +doorway. It sounded far too icily cold, this "What do you want?" she +evidently was not welcome.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I wished to ask how your headache is?" she began, shyly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My headache?" Reinhold recollected himself suddenly. "Ah, yes, I think +it has gone."</p> + +<p class="normal">The young wife closed the door and came a step or two nearer.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My parents are very furious again, that you were not at the feast +yesterday, and were playing, instead, the whole night long," she told +him hesitatingly.</p> + +<p class="normal">Reinhold knitted his brows. "Who told them? you perhaps?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I?" her voice sounded half like a reproach. "The bookkeeper saw the +garden house lighted up, and heard you playing as he returned this +morning."</p> + +<p class="normal">An expression of contemptuous scorn played around the young man's lips, +"Ah! I certainly had not thought of that. I did not believe that those +gentlemen, after their jubilee, would have time or inclination left for +observations. To be sure for spying they are always ready enough."</p> + +<p class="normal">"My father thinks--" began Ella, again.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What does he think?" shouted Reinhold. "Is it not enough for him that +from morning to evening I am bound to this office; does he even grudge +me the refreshment I seek at night in music? I thought that I and my +piano had been banished far enough; that the garden house lay so +distant and so isolated, that I could run no risk of disturbing the +sleep of the righteous in the house. Fortunately no one can hear a +sound."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not so," said the young wife, softly, "I hear every note when all is +still around, and I alone lie awake."</p> + +<p class="normal">Reinhold turned round and looked at his wife. She stood with downcast +eyes and thoroughly expressionless face before him. His glance swept +slowly down her figure as though he were unconsciously drawing some +comparison, and the bitterness in his features became more plainly +displayed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am sorry for it," he replied coldly, "but I cannot help your windows +looking into the garden. Close your shutters in future, then it is to +be hoped that my musical extravagances will not disturb your sleep any +more."</p> + +<p class="normal">He turned over the pages of his book, and appeared to lose himself +again in his calculations. Ella waited about a minute longer, but as +she saw that not the least notice was taken of her presence, she went +away as noiselessly as she came.</p> + +<p class="normal">She had hardly left before Reinhold flung the ledger from him +with a passionate movement. His glance, which fell upon the +contemptuously-treated object, and was cast around the office, showed +the most bitter hatred; then he laid his head on both arms and closed +his eyes, as if he wished to see and hear no more of the whole +surroundings.</p> + +<p class="normal">"God greet you, Reinhold!" said a strange voice suddenly, quite close +to him.</p> + +<p class="normal">He started up, and looked bewildered and inquiringly at the stranger in +sailor's clothes, who had entered unnoticed and now stood before him. +Suddenly, however, a recollection seemed to shoot through him, as with +a cry of joy, he threw himself on the new-comer's breast.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is it possible, Hugo!--you here already?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Two powerful arms embraced him firmly, and a pair of warm lips were +pressed again and again upon his.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do you really know me still? I should have picked you out from amongst +hundreds. Certainly you do look rather different from the little +Reinhold I left behind here. Well, with me I suppose it is not much +better."</p> + +<p class="normal">The first words still sounded full of deep emotion; but the latter +already bore a somewhat merrier tone. Reinhold's arm still lay fondly +round his brother's neck.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And you come so suddenly, so completely unannounced? I only expected +you in a few weeks' time."</p> + +<p class="normal">"We have had an unusually quick voyage," said the young captain, +cheerfully, "and once I was in the harbour, I could not stay a minute +longer on board, I must come to you. Thank God, I found you alone! I +was afraid I should have to pass the purgatorial fire of domestic anger +and to fight my way through the united relatives in order to reach +you."</p> + +<p class="normal">Reinhold's face, still beaming with the pleasure of meeting again, +became overcast at this recollection, and his arm fell slowly down.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No one has seen you surely?" he asked, "you know how my uncle feels +towards you, since--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Since I withdrew myself from his <i>all-wise</i> rule, which wished to +screw me absolutely to the office table, and ran away?" interrupted +Hugo. "Yes, I know; and I should have liked to look on at the row that +broke loose in the house when they discovered I had fled. But the story +is nearly ten years old. The 'good-for-nothing' is not dead and ruined, +as the family have, no doubt, prophecied hundreds of times, and wished +oftener; he returns as a most respected captain of a most splendid +ship, with all possible recommendations to your principal houses of +business. Should these mercantile and maritime advantages not at last +soften the heart of the angry house of Almbach and Co.?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Reinhold suppressed a sigh, "Do not joke, Hugo! you do not know my +uncle--do not know the life in his house."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, I went away at the night time," asserted the Captain, "and that +was most sensible; you should do the same."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What are you thinking about? My wife--my child?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah yes!" said Hugo, somewhat confused. "I always forget you are +married. Poor boy! they chained you fast by times. Such a betrothal +altar is the safest bolt to thrust before all possible longing for +freedom. There, do not fly out at once! I am quite willing to believe +they did not regularly force you to say 'yes.' But how you came to do +it, my uncle will probably have to answer for; and the melancholy +attitude in which I found you, does not say much for the happiness of a +young husband. Let me look into your eyes, that I may see how it really +is."</p> + +<p class="normal">He seized him unceremoniously by his arm, and drew him towards the +window. Here in broad daylight, one could see, for the first time, how +very unlike the brothers were, notwithstanding an undeniable +resemblance in their features. The Captain, the elder of the two, was +strongly, and yet gracefully built, his handsome, open countenance was +browned by sun and air; his hair curled lightly, and his brown eyes +sparkled with love of life and courage; his carriage was easy and +firm, like that of a man accustomed to move in the most varied +surroundings and circumstances, and his whole bearing had a species of +self-confidence which broke forth at every opportunity, with, at the +same time, such a fresh, open kindliness, that it was difficult to +resist him.</p> + +<p class="normal">Reinhold, his junior by a few years, made a totally different +impression. He was slighter, paler than his brother; his hair and eyes +were darker, and the latter had a serious, even gloomy expression. But +there lay on this brow, and in those eyes, something which attracted +all the more, as they did not disclose all which lay behind them. Hugo +was, perhaps, the handsomer of the two, and yet a comparison was sure +to be drawn unconditionally in favour of the younger brother, who +possessed, in the highest degree, that rare and dangerous charm of +being interesting, to which, often the most perfect beauty must give +way.</p> + +<p class="normal">The young man made a hasty attempt to withdraw from the threatened +inspection. "You cannot remain here," he said, decidedly, "uncle may +enter at any moment, and then there would be a terrible scene. I will +take you to the garden house for the present, which I have had fitted +up for my sole use. You will hardly dare to appear before the family, +and your arrival must be known. I will tell them."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And bear all the storm alone?" interrupted the Captain. "I beg your +pardon, but that is my affair! I am going up at once to my uncle and +aunt, and shall introduce myself as their obedient nephew!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"But Hugo! are you out of your senses? You have no idea of the state of +affairs here."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Exactly! The strongest fortresses are taken by surprise, and I have +long looked forward to one day entering like a bomb amongst the stormy +relations, and to seeing what sort of a grimace they would make. But +one thing more. Reinhold, you must give me your promise to remain +quietly below until I return. You shall not be placed in the painful +position of witnessing how the weight of the family wrath is poured +upon my erring head. You might wish to catch some of it out of +brotherly self-sacrifice, and that would disturb all my plans of +campaign. Jonas, come in!"</p> + +<p class="normal">He opened the door and admitted a man, who, until now, had waited +outside in the passage. "That is my brother. Look well at him! You have +to report yourself to him, and pay him your respects. Once more, +Reinhold, promise me not to enter the family parlour for the next +half-hour. I shall bring all to order up there by myself, if I have +even to take the whole barrack by storm."</p> + +<p class="normal">He was out of the door before his brother could make any remonstrance. +Still half-bewildered by the rapid changes of the last ten minutes, he +looked at the broad, square figure of the new arrival, who set a +good-sized portmanteau down on the floor, and planted himself close +beside it.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Seaman Wilhelm Jonas, of the 'Ellida,' now in the service of Herr +Captain Almbach!" reported he, systematically, and attempted a movement +at the same time, probably intended to be a bow, but which did not bear +the least similarity to the desired courtesy.</p> + +<p class="normal">"All right," said Reinhold, abruptly, "you can leave the luggage here +at present! I must first hear how long my brother proposes remaining."</p> + +<p class="normal">"We are to stay here a few days with his uncle," assured Jonas, very +quietly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh! is that decided already?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Quite positively."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I do not understand Hugo," murmured Reinhold. "He appears to have no +idea of what is before him, and yet my letters must have prepared him +for it. I cannot possibly let him bear the storm alone."</p> + +<p class="normal">He made a movement towards the door, but this was quite blocked up by +the sailor's broad figure, who, even at the young man's displeased +glance of enquiry, did not move from his position.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The Captain said that he would bring all to order up yonder by +himself," he explained laconically, "so he will do it. He succeeds in +everything."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Really?" asked Reinhold, somewhat struck by the insuperable confidence +of the words, "You seem to know my brother well."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Very well."</p> + +<p class="normal">Hesitating whether he should accede to Hugo's wish, Reinhold went to +the window which looked into the court, and became aware of three or +four faces, expressive of boundless curiosity, belonging to the +servants, who were trying to obtain a peep into the office. The young +man allowed a sound of suppressed annoyance to escape him, and turned +again to the sailor.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My brother's arrival seems to be known in the house already, said he +hastily. Strangers are not such a rarity in the office, and the +curiosity is evidently directed to you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It does not matter," muttered Jonas, "even if the whole nest becomes +rebellious and stares at us. That sort of thing is nothing new. The +savages in the South Sea Islands do just the same when our 'Ellida' +lies-to."</p> + +<p class="normal">The question may remain undecided, as to whether the comparison just +drawn was exactly flattering to the inhabitants of the house. +Fortunately no one but Reinhold heard it, and he considered it +necessary to remove the object of this curiosity. He desired him to +enter the adjoining room and wait there; he himself remained behind and +listened uneasily if quarrelling voices were to be heard, but to be +sure the family parlour lay in the upper story and at the other side of +the house. The young man debated with himself as to whether he should +remain true to the half-promise which he had made to Hugo, and leave +him to manage alone, or if he should not, at least, attempt to cover +the unavoidable retreat, as, that such lay before Hugo, he believed to +be certain. He had too often heard the condemning verdict accorded to +his brother by the family, not to dread a scene, in which even the +former would be unable to hold his own, but he also knew his own +position towards his uncle too well, not to say to himself that his +interference would merely make matters worse.</p> + +<p class="normal">More than half-an-hour had passed in this painful anxiety, when at last +steps were heard and the Captain entered.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Here I am, the affair is settled."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What is settled?" asked Reinhold, hastily.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, the pardon of course. As much-beloved nephew, I have this moment +lain alternately in the arms of my uncle and aunt. Come upstairs with +me, Reinhold! you are missing in the reconciliation <i>tableau</i>, but you +must be prepared for endless emotion; they are all crying together."</p> + +<p class="normal">His brother looked at him doubtfully. "I do not know, Hugo, if this be +meant for fun, or--"</p> + +<p class="normal">The young Captain laughed mischievously. "You seem to have little +confidence in my diplomatic talents. But all the same, do not think +that the affair was easily settled. I was certainly prepared for a +storm. But here raged a regular tornado--bah, we sailors are accustomed +to such things--and when at last I could obtain speech, which +certainly was not for some time, the victory was already decided. I +represented the return of the lost son with a masterly hand; I called +heaven and earth as witnesses of my reformation. I ventured upon +falling at their feet--that took, at least with my aunt--I now made +sure of the hesitating female flank, in order to storm the centre in +conjunction with it, and the victory was brilliant. Forgiveness in due +form--general emotion and embraces--group of reconciliation--my Heaven, +do not look so incredulous. I assure you I am speaking in all +seriousness."</p> + +<p class="normal">Reinhold shook his head, yet unconsciously he drew a breath of relief. +"Comprehend it, who can! I should have thought it impossible! Have +you"--the question sounded peculiarly uncertain--"have you seen my +wife?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"To be sure," said Hugo, slyly. "That is to say, I have certainly not +seen much of her, and heard even less, as she remained quite passive +during the scene, and did not even cry like the rest. The same little +cousin Eleonore still, who always sat so quietly and shyly in her +corner, out of which even our wildest boyish teasings did not drive +her--and she has become your wife! But now, above all, I must admire +the representative of the house of Almbach! Where is he?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Reinhold looked up, and for a moment a bright gleam drove all the +gloominess away from his face. "My boy? I will show him to you. Come, +we will go up to him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thank God, at last a sign of happiness in your face," said the +Captain, with a seriousness of which one would hardly have deemed his +merry nature capable, and he added in a lowered voice, "I have sought +for it in vain so far."</p> + +<hr class="W20"> + +<p class="normal">The firm of Almbach and Co. belonged to that class whose names on the +Exchange, as well as in the commercial world generally, were of some +position, without being of conspicuous importance. The relations +between its head and Consul Erlau were not only of a business nature; +they dated from earlier times, when both, equally young and meanless, +were apprenticed in the same office, the one to raise himself until he +became a rich merchant, whose ships sailed on every ocean and whose +connections extended to every quarter of the globe--the other to found +a modest business, which never reached beyond certain bounds. Almbach +avoided all more daring speculations, all greater undertakings, which +he was by no means the man to superintend or guide; he preferred a +moderate, but steady gain, which also fell to his share to the fullest +extent. His social position was certainly as different from that of +Consul Erlau as was his old-fashioned gloomy house in Canal Street, +with its high gables and barred office windows, from the princely +furnished palace at the Harbour. The friendship between the former +youthful companions had gradually diminished, but it was certainly +Almbach who was principally to blame for it. He could not be reconciled +to the Consul after the latter had become a millionaire, living in the +style suited to that position. Perhaps he could not forgive him for +occupying the first place, while he himself only stood in the third or +fourth rank, and well as he knew how to utilise the advantages which +the intimate acquaintance with the great firm of Erlau opened to him, +yet he held, all the more, to his strictly middle-class, and somewhat +old-frankish household, and kept aloof from all communication with that +of the Consul. The latter's invitations had ceased when he saw that +they were never accepted; for years the mutual meetings had been +restricted to those occasional ones on Exchange or some chance place, +and lately Almbach had even, when any business matters required a +personal interview, let his son-in-law represent him. It was decidedly +disagreeable to him, that on this occasion the young man had received +the invitation to the opera and the succeeding evening party, and +impossible as it was to refuse this civility, the merchant did not +attempt to disguise from his family his dissatisfaction at Reinhold's +introduction into the "nabob's life," the designation with which he +usually honoured his old friend's household.</p> + +<p class="normal">Notwithstanding all this, Almbach was a well-to-do, even, as was +maintained by many, a very rich man, and on this account the centre and +support of numerous relations not blessed with over-much fortune. In +this manner the care of his two orphaned nephews, whom their father, a +ship's captain, had left quite without resources, fell to his charge. +Almbach had only one child, to whose existence he had never attached +very much importance, as she was a girl. The Consul and his wife were +the little one's god-parents, and it might always be considered as an +act of self-conquest, that Almbach gave his daughter Frau Erlau's name, +as he particularly hated the aristocratic, romantic-sounding "Eleonore" +and soon changed it for the much simpler "Ella." This designation was +also more suitable, as Ella Almbach was considered by every one to be, +not only a simple, but even a very contracted-minded being, whose +horizon never was extended beyond the trifling domestic events of +housekeeping. The child had formerly been very sickly, and this may +have had a crippling effect upon the development of her mental +faculties. They were indeed of a very inferior order, and the very +prejudiced, strictly domestic education in her father's house, +excluding every other circle of ideas and thought, did not appear +adapted to give them a higher direction. Thus, then, the girl had +grown up quiet and shy, always overlooked, everywhere set aside, and +without the least value, even amongst her nearest relations. They +were wont to consider her quite incapable of self-dependence, even +half-irresponsible, and her eventual marriage did not change things at +all.</p> + +<p class="normal">Neither of the young people raised any objection to the long-cherished, +and to them long-known, plan of a union. A girl of seventeen and a man +of twenty-two have certainly not much self-decision, least of all when +they have grown up under such repressed circumstances. Besides, in this +case, there was also the habit of always living together, which had +created a sort of liking, although in Reinhold it was really only +pitying tolerance, and in Ella secret fear of her mentally superior +cousin. They gave their hands obediently at the betrothal, which was +followed, after a year's reprieve, by the wedding. Almbach's sceptre +swayed over both as much after as before it, he allowed his new +son-in-law, who, as far as the name went, was literally his partner, as +little independence in the business as his wife did the young mistress +in the household.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER III.</h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">It was Sunday morning. The office was closed, and Reinhold at last had +a free morning before him, which certainly was seldom his good fortune. +He was in the garden house, to the entire and special possession of +which he had at last attained, to be sure only after many struggles and +by repeated reference to his musical studies, which were considered +highly disturbing in the house. It was here alone that the young man +was in any degree safe from the constant control of his parents-in-law, +which extended even into the young couple's dwelling, and he seized +every free moment to take refuge in his asylum.</p> + +<p class="normal">The so-called "garden" was of the only description possible in an old, +narrowly-built, densely populated town. On all sides high walls and +gables enclosed the small piece of ground, to which air and sunshine +were sparingly given, and where a few trees and shrubs enjoyed but a +miserable existence. The garden's boundary was one of those small +canals, which traversed the town in all directions, and whose quick, +dark stream formed a very melancholy background; beyond this, again, +walls and gables were to be seen; the same prison-like appearance, +which clung to Almbach's whole house seemed to reign over the only free +space belonging to it.</p> + +<p class="normal">The garden house itself was not much more cheerful--the single large +room was furnished with more than simplicity. Evidently the few +old-fashioned pieces of furniture had been set aside from some other +place as superfluous, and been sought out in order to fit up the room +with what was absolutely necessary. Only in the window, round which +climbed some stunted vines, stood a large, handsome piano, the legacy +of the late Music Director, Wilkens, to his pupil, and its magnificent +appearance contrasted as singularly and strangely with the room as did +the figure of the young man, with his ideal brow and large flashing +eyes, behind the barred office windows of the dwelling-house.</p> + +<p class="normal">Reinhold was sitting writing at the table, but to-day his face did not +wear the tired, listless expression, which rested upon it whenever he +had the figures of the account books before him; his cheeks were +darkly, almost feverishly red, and as he wrote a name rapidly on the +envelope, lying on the table, his hands trembled as if with suppressed +excitement. Steps were heard outside, and the glass door was opened; +with a quick gesture of annoyance the young man pushed the envelope +under the sheets of music lying on the table, and turned round.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was Jonas, servant of the Captain, who for a few days only had +accepted the hospitality offered by his relations, and then had +migrated to a dwelling of his own. The sailor saluted and entered in +his peculiarly rough and somewhat uncouth manner, and then laid some +books on the table.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The Herr Captain's compliments, and he sends the promised books from +his travelling library."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is my brother not coming himself?" asked Reinhold astonished. "He +promised surely."</p> + +<p class="normal">"The Captain has been here some time," replied Jonas, "but they have +got hold of him in the house; your uncle wished to have a conference +with him on family affairs; your aunt requires his help to make some +alteration in the guest room, and the bookkeeper wants to catch him for +his society. All are fighting for him; he cannot tear himself away."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hugo appears to have conquered the whole house in the course of a +single week," remarked Reinhold ironically.</p> + +<p class="normal">"We do that everywhere," said Jonas, full of self-consciousness, and +appeared inclined to add more about those conquests, when he was +interrupted by his master's entrance, who greeted his brother in the +most cheerful humour.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good morning, Reinhold! Now Jonas, what are you staying here for? You +are wanted in the house. I promised my aunt that you should help at the +dinner to-day. Go at once to the kitchen!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Amongst the women!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Heaven knows," said Hugo, turning laughingly to his brother, "where +this man has learned his hatred for women. Certainly not from me; I +admire the lovely sex uncommonly."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, unfortunately, quite uncommonly," muttered Jonas, but he turned +away obediently and marched out of the room, while the Captain came +quite close to Reinhold.</p> + +<p class="normal">"To-day there is a large family dinner!" he began, imitating his Uncle +Almbach's pedantic, solemn voice so well as almost to deceive any one. +"In my honour of course! I hope you will pay proper respect to this +important ceremony, and that you will not again behave in such a +manner, that I can at the utmost use you as a butt for my too developed +amiability."</p> + +<p class="normal">Reinhold knitted his brows slightly--</p> + +<p class="normal">"I beg you, Hugo, do be sensible for once! How long do you intend to +continue this comedy, and amuse yourself at the expense of the whole +house? Take care, lest they find out what your amiability consists of, +and that you are really only ridiculing them all."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That would indeed be bad," said Hugo, quietly, "but they will not find +me out, depend upon that."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then do me the kindness, at least, of ceasing your horrid Indian +tales! You really go too far with them. Uncle was debating with the +bookkeeper yesterday about the battle with the monster serpent, which +you served up for them lately, and which, even to him, appeared unheard +of. I became extremely confused in listening to them."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It put you to confusion?" mocked the Captain. "If I had been there, I +should immediately have given them the benefit of an elephant hunt, a +tiger story, and a few attacks of savages, with such appalling effects, +that the affair of the giant snake would have appeared highly probable +to them. Be easy! I know my hearers; the whole house oppresses me +almost, with its acts of sympathy."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Excepting Ella," suggested Reinhold, "it is certainly remarkable that +her shyness towards you is quite invincible."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, it is very remarkable," said Hugo with an offended air. "I cannot +allow any one in the house to exist who is not entirely persuaded of my +perfections, and have already set myself the task of presenting myself +to my sister-in-law in all my utterly irresistible charms. I do not +doubt at all that she will thereupon immediately join the majority--you +are not jealous, I hope."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Jealous?--I? and on Ella's account?" The young man shrugged his +shoulders half-pityingly, half-contemptuously.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What are you thinking of?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, there is no danger! I have sought an interview with her already, +but she was entirely occupied with the young one. Tell me, Reinhold, +where does the child get those wonderful, blue, fairy-tale-like eyes +from? Yours are not so, besides there is not the least resemblance, +and, excepting his, I do not know any in the family."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I believe Ella's eyes are blue," interrupted his brother +indifferently.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You believe only? Have you never convinced yourself then? Certainly it +may be somewhat difficult; she never raises them, and, under that +monstrous cap, nothing can be seen of her face. Reinhold, for Heaven's +sake, how can you allow your wife such an antediluvian costume? I +assure you, for me that cap would be grounds sufficient for a divorce."</p> + +<p class="normal">Reinhold had seated himself at the piano, and let his hands glide +mechanically over the notes, while he answered with perfect +indifference--</p> + +<p class="normal">"I never trouble myself about Ella's toilet, and I believe it would be +useless to try and enforce any alterations there. What does it matter +to me?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What it matters to you how your wife looks?" repeated the Captain, as +he seized some sheets of music on the table, and turned them over +lightly, "a charming question from a young husband! You used to have a +sense of beauty, too easily aroused, and I could almost fear--what is +this then? 'Signora Beatrice Biancona on it.' Have you Italian +correspondents in the town?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Reinhold sprang up, confusion and annoyance struggled in his face, as +he saw the letter, which he had pushed under the music, in his +brother's hands, who repeated the address unconcernedly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Beatrice Biancona? That is the <i>prima donna</i> of the Italian Opera, who +has made such a wonderful sensation here? Do you know the lady?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Slightly," said Reinhold, taking the letter quickly from his hands. "I +was introduced to her lately at Consul Erlau's."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And you correspond with her already?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Certainly not! The letter does not contain one single line."</p> + +<p class="normal">Hugo laughed aloud, "An envelope fully addressed, a very voluminous +sheet of paper inside it, with not a single line! Dear Reinhold, that +is more wonderful than my story of the giant snake. Do you expect me +really to believe it? There, do not look so savage, I do not intend to +force myself into your secrets."</p> + +<p class="normal">Instead of answering, the young man drew the paper out of the unsealed +envelope, and held it to his brother, who looked at it in astonishment.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What does it mean? Only a song--notes and words--no word of +explanation with it--just your name below. Have you composed it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Reinhold took the paper again, closed the letter and put it in his +pocket.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is an attempt, nothing more. She is <i>artiste</i> enough to judge of +it. She can accept or reject it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then you compose also?" asked the Captain, whose face had become +serious all at once. "I did not think that your passionate liking for +music went so far as creating it yourself. Poor Reinhold, how can you +bear this life, with all its narrow, confined ways, wishing to stifle +every spark of poetry as being unnecessary or dangerous? I could not do +it."</p> + +<p class="normal">Reinhold had thrown himself upon the seat before the piano again.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do not ask me how I endure it," he replied, with suppressed feeling. +"It is enough <i>that</i> I do it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I guessed long since that your letters were not open," continued Hugo; +"that behind all the contentment with which you tried to deceive me, +something quite different was concealed. The truth has become plain to +me, during one week in this house, notwithstanding that you gave +yourself all conceivable trouble to hide it from me."</p> + +<p class="normal">The young man gazed gloomily before him. "Why should I worry you, when +far away, with anxieties about me? You had enough to do to take care of +yourself, and there was a time, too, when I was contented, or at least +believed myself so, because my whole mental being lay, as it were, +under a spell, when I allowed everything to pass over me in stupid +indifference, and I offered my hand willingly for the chain. I have +done it; well, yes! But I must carry it my whole life long!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Hugo had gone towards him, and laid his hand upon his brother's +shoulder.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You mean your marriage with Ella? At the first news of it, I knew it +must be my uncle's work."</p> + +<p class="normal">A bitter smile played round the young man's lips as he answered +scornfully--</p> + +<p class="normal">"He was always a splendid master of calculation, and he has shown it +again in this case. The poor relation, taken up out of kindness and +charity, must consider it happiness that he is raised to be son and +heir of the house, and the daughter must be married some time; so it +was a case of securing, by means of her hand, a successor for the firm, +who bore the same name. It was neither Ella's nor my fault that we were +bound together. We were both young, without wills, without knowledge of +life or of ourselves. She will always remain so--well for her. It has +not been so fortunate for me."</p> + +<p class="normal">One would hardly have credited those merry brown eyes with the power of +looking so serious as at this moment, when he bent down to his brother.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Reinhold," said he, in an undertone, "on the night when I fled to +save myself from a caprice, which would have ruined my freedom and +future, I had planned and foreseen everything, excepting one, the most +difficult--the moment when I should stand by your bed to bid you +farewell. You slept quietly, and did not dream of the separation; but +I--when I saw your pale face on the pillow, and said to myself that for +years, perhaps never again, should I see it, all longing for freedom +could not resist it--I struggled hard with the temptation to awake and +take you with me. Later, when I experienced the thorny path of the +adventurous homeless boy, with all its dangers and privations, I often +thanked God that I had withstood the temptation; I knew you were safe +and sound in our relation's house, and now"--Hugo's strong voice +trembled as with suppressed anger or pain--"now I wish I had carried +you with me to want and privation, to storm and danger, but at any rate +to freedom; it had been better."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It had been better," repeated Reinhold, listlessly; then rising as if +reckless, "Let us cease! What is the use of regrets, which cannot +change what is past. Come! They expect us upstairs."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I wish I had you on my 'Ellida,' and we could turn our backs on the +whole crew, never to see them again," said the young sailor, with a +sigh, as he prepared to follow his brother's bidding. "I never thought +things could be so bad."</p> + +<p class="normal">The brothers had hardly entered the house, when Hugo's indispensability +began to show itself again. He was in request, at least on three sides, +at once. Every one required his advice and help. The young Captain +appeared to possess the enviable power of throwing himself directly +from one mood into another, as, immediately after his serious +conversation with his brother, he was sparkling with merriment and +mischief, helped every one, paid compliments to each, and at the same +time teased all in the most merciless manner. This time it was the +bookkeeper who caught him, as Jonas expressed it, to explain the +affairs of his society; and while the two gentlemen were discussing it, +Reinhold entered the dining-room, where he found his wife busied with +preparations for the before-named guests.</p> + +<p class="normal">Ella was in her Sunday costume to-day, but that made little alteration +in her appearance. Her dress of finer material was not more becoming; +the cap, which inspired her brother-in-law with such horror, surrounded +and disfigured her face as usual. The young wife devoted herself so +assiduously and completely to her domestic duties, that she hardly +seemed to notice her husband's entrance, who approached her with rather +lowering mien.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I must beg you, Ella," he began, "to have more regard for my wishes in +future, and to meet my brother in such a manner as he can and would +expect his sister-in-law to do. I should think that the behaviour of +your parents, and every one in the house, might serve as an example for +you; but you appear to find an especial pleasure in denying him every +right of relationship, and in showing him a decided antipathy."</p> + +<p class="normal">The young wife looked as timid and helpless at this anything but kindly +expressed reproof, as she did when her mother desired her to interfere +about her husband's musical "mania."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do not be angry, dear Reinhold," she replied, hesitatingly, "but I--I +cannot do otherwise."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You cannot?" asked Reinhold, sharply. "Of course, that is your +never-failing answer when I ask anything of you, and I should have +thought it was seldom enough that I do address a request to you. But +this time I insist positively that you should change your demeanour +towards Hugo. This shy avoidance and consequent silence whenever he +speaks to you is too ridiculous. I beg seriously that you will take +more care not to make me appear too much an object of pity to my +brother."</p> + +<p class="normal">Ella appeared about to answer, but the last unsparing words closed her +lips. She bowed her head, and did not make any further attempt to +defend herself. It was a movement of such gentle, patient resignation +as would have disarmed any one; but Reinhold did not notice it, as at +the same moment the old bookkeeper was heard taking leave in the next +room.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then we may count upon the honour of your membership, Herr Captain? +And as regards the election of a President, I have your word that you +will support the opposition?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Quite at your service," said Hugo's voice, "and of course only with +the opposition. I always join the opposition on principle whenever +there is one; it is generally the only faction in which there is any +fun. Excuse me, the honour is on my side."</p> + +<p class="normal">The bookkeeper left, and the Captain appeared in the room. He seemed +inclined to redeem the promise he had given to his brother, and at the +same time to convince the young wife of his perfections, as he +approached her with all the boldness and confidence of his nature, with +which a certain knightly gallantry was mingled.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then I owe it to chance that at last I see my sister-in-law, and she +is compelled to remain with me a few moments? Certainly she never would +have accorded me this happiness of her own free will. I was complaining +bitterly to Reinhold this morning about your repelling me, which I do +not know that I have merited in any way."</p> + +<p class="normal">He wished to take her hand, even to kiss it, but Ella drew back, with +a, for her, quite unwonted decision.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr Captain!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr Captain!" repeated Hugo, annoyed. "No, Ella, that is going too +far. I certainly, as your brother, have a right to the 'thou' which you +never refused to your cousin and childish companion, but as you, from +the first day of my arrival, laid so much stress on the formal 'you,' I +followed the hint you gave me. However, this 'Herr Captain' I will not +stand. That is an insult against which I shall call Reinhold to my +assistance. He shall tell me if I must really bear hearing myself being +called 'Herr Captain' by those lips."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Certainly not!" said Reinhold, as he turned to leave, "Ella will give +up this manner of speaking to you, as well as her whole tone towards +you. I have just been speaking distinctly to her about it."</p> + +<p class="normal">He went away, and his glance ordered his wife to remain, as plainly as +his voice demanded obedience. Neither escaped the Captain.</p> + +<p class="normal">"For goodness sake, do not interfere with your husband's authority! +Would you command friendliness towards me?" cried he after his brother, +and turned again quickly to Ella, while he continued, gallantly, "that +would be the surest way to prevent my ever finding favour in my +beautiful sister-in-law's eyes. But that is not required between us, is +it? You will permit me, at least, to lay the due tribute of respect at +your feet, to describe to you the joyful surprise with which I received +the news--"</p> + +<p class="normal">Here Hugo stopped suddenly, and seemed to have lost his train of ideas. +Ella had raised her eyes, and looked at him. It was a gleam of quiet, +painful reproach, and the same reproach lay in her voice as she +replied, "At least leave me in peace, Herr Captain. I thought you had +amusement enough for to-day."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I?" asked Hugo, taken aback. "What do you mean, Ella? You do not +think--"</p> + +<p class="normal">The young wife did not let him finish. "What have we done to you?" she +continued, and although her voice trembled timidly at first, it gained +firmness with every word. "What have we done to you that you always +scoff at us, since the day of your return, when you acted a scene of +repentance before my parents, until the present moment, when you make +the whole house the target for your jokes? Reinhold certainly tolerates +our being daily humiliated; he looks upon it as a matter of course. But +I, Herr Captain--" here Ella's voice had attained perfect steadiness, +"I do not consider it right that you should daily cast scorn and +contempt over a house in which you, after all that has passed, have +been received with the old love. If this house and family do appear so +very meagre and ridiculous to you, no one invited you here. You should +have remained in that world of which you are able to relate so much. My +parents deserve more respect and mercy even for their weaknesses; and, +although our house may be simple, it is still too good for the scoffs +of an--adventurer."</p> + +<p class="normal">She turned her back upon him, and left the room without waiting for a +single word of reply. Hugo stood and gazed after her, as if one of the +impossible scenes out of his own Indian stories had just been acted +before him. Probably, for the first time in his life, the young sailor +lost, with his presence of mind, the power of speech also.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That was plain," said he at last, as he sat down, quite upset; but the +next moment he sprang up as if electrified, and cried--</p> + +<p class="normal">"She has them in truth; the child's beautiful blue eyes. And I +discovered them only now! Who, indeed, would look for this glance under +that horrible cap? 'We are too good for the scoffs of an adventurer.' +Not exactly flattering, but it was merited, although I expected least +of all to hear it from her! I shall often try that."</p> + +<p class="normal">Hugo moved as if going into the guest room, but he stopped again on the +threshold, and looked towards the door, by which his sister-in-law had +retired. All signs of mockery and mischief had entirely vanished from +his face; it bore a thoughtful expression as he said, gently, "And +Reinhold only <i>believes</i> she has blue eyes! Incomprehensible!"</p> + +<hr class="W20"> + +<p class="normal">In the large concert-room of H----, all the <i>elite</i> of the town seemed +to be gathered on the occasion of one of those concerts which, set on +foot for some charitable purpose, were patronised by the first +families, and whose support and presence there was considered quite a +point of honour. To-day the programme only bore well-known names, both +as regarded the performances as well as performers; and besides, it was +arranged by means of the highest possible prices that the audience +should consist principally, if not entirely, of persons belonging to +the best circles of society.</p> + +<p class="normal">The concert had not commenced, and the performers were in a room +adjoining, which served as a place of assembly on such occasions, and +to which only a few specially favoured of the outside world had the +right of entrance. Therefore the presence was the more remarkable of a +young man who did not belong either to the favoured or the performers, +and who kept aloof from both. He had entered shortly before and +addressed himself at once to the conductor, who, although he did not +appear to know him, yet must have been informed of his coming, as he +received him very politely. The gentlemen around only heard so much of +the conversation, that the conductor regretted not to be able to give +Mr. Almbach any information: it was Signora Biancona's wish; the +Signora would appear directly. The short interview was soon over, and +Reinhold drew back.</p> + +<p class="normal">The group of artists, engaged in lively conversation, broke up +suddenly, as the door opened and the young <i>prima donna</i> appeared; she +had not been expected so soon, as she usually only drove up at the last +moment. Every one began to move. All tried to outdo one another in +attentions to their beautiful colleague, but to-day she took remarkably +little notice of the wonted homage of her surroundings. Her glance on +entering had flown rapidly through the room, and had at once found the +object of its search. The Signora deigned to reply to the greetings +only very slightly, exchanged a few words with the conductor, and +withdrew at once from all further attempts at conversation with the +gentlemen, as she turned to Reinhold Almbach, who now approached her, +and went towards the farthest window with him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You have really come, Signor?" she began in a reproachful tone, "I did +not believe, indeed, that you would accept my invitation."</p> + +<p class="normal">Reinhold looked up, and the forced coldness and formality of the +greeting began already to melt as he met her gaze for the first time on +that evening.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then it was your invitation," he said. "I did not know if I was to +consider the one sent by the conductor in your name, as such. It did +not contain a single line from you."</p> + +<p class="normal">Beatrice smiled. "I only followed the example set me. I, too, have +received a certain song, whose composer added nothing to his name. I +only retaliated."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Has my silence offended you?" asked the young man, quickly. "I dared +add nothing. What--" his eyes sank to the ground--"what should I have +said to you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The first question was indeed unnecessary; as the devotion of the song +seemed to have been understood, and Signora Biancona looked the reverse +of offended as she answered--</p> + +<p class="normal">"You appear to like the wordless form, Signor, and always to wish to +speak to me in notes of music. Well, I bowed to your taste, and have +determined to answer also only in our language."</p> + +<p class="normal">She laid a slight but still marked emphasis upon the word. Reinhold +raised his head in astonishment.</p> + +<p class="normal">"In our language?" he repeated slowly.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER IV.</h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">Beatrice drew a paper out of the roll of music which she held in her +hand. "I have waited in vain for the author of this song to come to me, +in order to hear it from my lips and receive my thanks for it. He has +left to strangers that which was his duty. I am accustomed to <i>be +sought</i>, Signor. You seem to expect the same."</p> + +<p class="normal">There certainly lay some reproach in her voice, but it was not very +harsh, and it would have been hardly possible, as Reinhold's eye +betrayed only too plainly what this staying away had cost him. He made +no reply to the reproach, did not defend himself against it, but his +glance, which seemed magnetically bound by the brilliantly beautiful +apparition, told her that his self-restraint was caused by anything +rather than indifference.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do you think I have sent for you to hear the air which is put down in +the programme?" continued the Italian, playfully. "The audience always +desires this air <i>da capo</i>; it is too trying for a repetition; I +propose, therefore, instead of this, to sing--something else."</p> + +<p class="normal">A deep glow covered the young man's features, and he stretched out his +hand, as if with an unconscious movement, towards the paper.</p> + +<p class="normal">"For mercy's sake! surely not my song?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are uncommonly alarmed about it," said the singer, stepping back, +and withdrawing the music from him. "Are you afraid for the fate of +your work in my hands?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no!" cried Reinhold passionately, "but--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"But? No objections, Signor! The song is dedicated to me, is handed +over to me for good or evil. I shall do with it what I choose. Only one +more question. The director is quite prepared; we have practised the +performance together, but I should prefer seeing you at the piano when +I appear before the audience with your music. May I count upon you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You will trust yourself to my accompaniment?" asked Reinhold, with +trembling voice. "Trust yourself entirely without first trying it? That +is a risk for us both."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Only if your courage fail, not otherwise," explained Beatrice. "With +your power over the piano I have already made acquaintance, and there +is certainly no question as to whether you are sure of the +accompaniment to your work. If you are as sure of yourself before this +audience as you were lately at the party, we can perform the song +without hesitation."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will risk all, if you are at my side," Reinhold exclaimed, +passionately. "The song was written for you, Signora. If you decide +differently for it, its fate lies in your hand. I am ready for all."</p> + +<p class="normal">She answered only with a smile, proud and confident of success, and +turned to the conductor who at that moment drew near. Then ensued a +low, but lively conversation in the group, and the other gentlemen +regarded with undisguised displeasure the young stranger who quite +monopolised the attention and conversation of the Signora and, to their +great annoyance, occupied her until the signal for the commencement of +the concert was given.</p> + +<p class="normal">The room, in the meanwhile, had filled to the very last seat, and the +dazzlingly-lighted place, in conjunction with the rich toilets of the +ladies, offered a brilliant sight. Consul Erlau's wife sat with several +other ladies in the front part of the room, and was engaged in +conversation with Dr. Welding, when her husband, accompanied by a young +man, wearing a captain's uniform, came up to her seat.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr Captain Almbach," he said, introducing him, "to whom I owe the +rescue of my best ship and all its crew. It was he who came to the help +of the 'Hansa,' when already almost foundered, and it is entirely to +his self-sacrificing energy--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh pray, Herr Consul, do not let Frau Erlau immediately anticipate a +storm at sea!" interrupted Hugo, "we poor sailors are always so +maligned as regards our adventures, that every lady looks forward with +secret horror to their inevitable relation. I assure you though, +Madame, that you have nothing to fear with me. I intend my +conversational attempts to be confined to the mainland."</p> + +<p class="normal">The young sailor appeared indeed to understand very thoroughly the +differences of the society in which he moved. It never entered his head +here, when the opportunity was offered him, to recount adventures, +which in his relative's house he lavished so liberally. The Consul +shook his head a little dissatisfied.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You appear wishful to laugh away all recognition of your services," +responded he. "I am not the less in your debt, even if you do make it +impossible for me to discharge it in any way. Besides, I do not believe +the relation of this adventure would injure you with the ladies, quite +the contrary. And as you refuse all account of it so positively, I +shall reserve it myself for the next opportunity."</p> + +<p class="normal">Frau Erlau turned with winning friendliness to Hugo.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are no stranger to us, Herr Captain Almbach, even for your +family's sake. Only lately we had the pleasure of seeing your brother +at our house."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes--only once," added the Consul, "and then merely by chance. Almbach +appears unable to forgive me that my mode of living varies so from his +own. He purposely keeps himself and all his family at a distance, and +for years has stopped all visits from our godchild--we hardly know what +Eleanor looks like."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Poor Eleanor!" remarked Frau Erlau, compassionately. "I fear she has +been intimidated by a too strict bringing up, and being kept much too +secluded. I never see her otherwise than shy and quiet, and I believe +in the presence of strangers she never raises her eyes."</p> + +<p class="normal">"She does though," said Hugo, in a peculiar voice. "She does sometimes, +but certainly I doubt if my brother has ever seen her do so."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Your brother is not here, then?" asked the lady.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No. He declined to accompany me. I do not understand it, as I know his +infatuation for music and especially for Biancona's singing. I am to +see this sun of the south, whose rays dazzle all H----, rise to-day for +the first time."</p> + +<p class="normal">The Consul cautioned him laughingly with his finger.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do not scoff, Captain; rather protect your own heart against these +rays. To you, young gentleman, such things are most dangerous. You +would not be the first who had succumbed to the magic of those eyes."</p> + +<p class="normal">The young sailor laughed confidently.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And who says then, Herr Consul, that I fear such a fate? I always +succumb in such cases with the greatest pleasure, and the consolatory +knowledge that the magic is only dangerous for him who flees it. +Whoever stands firm, is generally soon disenchanted, often sooner than +he wishes."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It appears you have had great experience already in such affairs," +said Frau Erlau, with a touch of reproof.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My God, Madame, when year after year one flies from country to +country, and never takes root anywhere, is nowhere so much at home as +on the rolling, ever-moving sea, one learns to look upon constant +change as inevitable, and at last to love it. I expose myself entirely +to your displeasure with this confession, but I must really beg of you +to look upon me as a savage, who has long forgotten, in tropical seas +and countries, how to satisfy the requirements of North German +civilisation."</p> + +<p class="normal">Yet the manner in which the young Captain bowed and kissed the lady's +hand as he spoke, betrayed a sufficient acquaintance with these +requirements, and Dr. Welding remarked, drily, as he turned to the +Consul--</p> + +<p class="normal">"The tropical barbarism of this gentleman will not distinguish +itself very badly in our drawing-rooms. So the hero of the much +talked of 'Hansa' affair is really the brother of the young Almbach to +whom Signora Biancona is just now according an interview in the +assembly-room?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Whom? Reinhold Almbach?" asked Erlau, astonished. "You heard just now +that he is not here."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Certainly not, according to the Herr Captain's views," said Welding, +quietly. "According to mine, he positively is. Pray do not mention it! +To-night's concert seems intended to bring us some surprise. I have a +certain suspicion, and we shall see if it be well-founded or not. The +Signora likes theatrical effects, even off the stage; everything must +be unexpected, lightning-like, overwhelming; a prosaic announcement +would spoil everything. The conductor is, of course, in the plot, but +was not so easily persuaded. We shall await it."</p> + +<p class="normal">He ceased, as Hugo, who until now had been talking to the ladies, came +to them, and immediately after the concert commenced.</p> + +<p class="normal">The first part and half of the second passed, according to the +programme, with more or less lively interest for the audience. Only +towards the close did Signora Biancona appear, whose performance, +notwithstanding all that had so far been heard, formed the point of +attraction of the evening. The audience received and greeted their +favourite, whose pale features were more charming than ever, with loud +applause. Beatrice was indeed radiantly beautiful as she stood under +the streaming light of the chandelier, in a flowing gauze dress strewn +with flowers, and roses in her dark hair. She acknowledged it with +smiling thanks on all sides, and, when the conductor, who undertook the +accompaniment, had seated himself at the piano, began her recitative.</p> + +<p class="normal">This time it was one of those grand Italian <i>bravura</i> airs, which at +every concert and on every stage are certain of success, and demand the +audience's applause without at the same time fulfilling higher +requirements. A number of brilliant passages and effects made up for +the depth, which was really wanting in the composition, but it offered +the Italian an opportunity for perfect display of her magnificent +voice. All these runs and trills fell clearly as a bell from her lips, +and took such entrancing possession of the hearers' ears and senses, +that all criticism, all more serious longings, vanished in the pure +enjoyment of listening. It was a charming playing with tones--to be +sure, only playing, nothing more--but combined with the finished +certainty and grace of the performance, it acted like electricity upon +the audience, who overwhelmed the singer more lavishly than usual with +applause, and stormily encored the air <i>da capo</i>.</p> + +<p class="normal">Signora Biancona seemed also inclined to accede to this wish as she +came forward again, but at the same moment the conductor left the +piano, and a young man, who had hitherto not been observed among the +other performers, took his place. The spectators stared in +astonishment, the Consul and his wife gazed at him in surprise; even +Hugo at the first moment looked almost shocked at his brother, whose +presence he had not suspected, but he began to guess at the connection. +Only Dr. Welding said quietly, and without the least surprise, "I +thought it!" Reinhold looked pale, and his hands trembled on the keys; +but Beatrice stood at his side--a softly-whispered word from her mouth, +a glance out of her eyes, gave him back his lost courage. He began the +first chords steadily and quietly, which at once told the audience it +was not to be a repetition of their favourite piece. All listened +wonderingly and eagerly, and then Beatrice joined in.</p> + +<p class="normal">That was certainly something very different from the <i>bravura</i> air just +heard. The melodies which now flowed forth had nothing in common with +those runs and trills, but they made their way to the hearers' hearts. +In those tones, which now rose as in stormy rejoicing, and again sank +in sad complaint, there seemed to breathe the whole happiness and +sorrow of a human life; a long-fettered yearning seemed at last to +struggle forth. It was a language of affecting power and beauty, and if +it was not quite understood by all, yet all felt that there was a sound +of something powerful, everlasting in it; even the most indifferent +superficial crowd cannot remain void of feeling when genius speaks to +it.</p> + +<p class="normal">And here genius had found its mate, who knew how to follow and perfect +it. There was no more talk of a risk for both, as the one met the idea +of the other. The most careful study could not have given so perfect a +mutual understanding as was here created in a moment and by +inspiration. Reinhold found himself comprehended in every note, grasped +at every turn, and never had Beatrice sung so enchantingly, never had +the spirit of her singing displayed itself so much. She took her part +with glowing <i>abandon</i>; the talent of the singer and the dramatic power +of the actress flowed together. It was a performance which would have +ennobled even the most insignificant composition--here it became a +double triumph.</p> + +<p class="normal">The song was ended. The breathless silence with which it had been +listened to continued a few seconds longer; no hand moved, no sign of +applause was heard; but then a storm broke forth, such as even the +<i>fêted prima donna</i> had seldom heard, and at any rate is unknown in a +concert-room. Beatrice seemed only to have waited for this moment; in +the next she had stepped to Reinhold, seized his hand, and drawn him +with her to the foot-lights, introducing him to the audience. This one +movement said enough; it was understood at once that the composer stood +before them. The storm of applause for both raged anew, and the young +musician, still half-bewildered by the unexpected success, holding +Beatrice's hand, received the first greeting and first approbation of +the crowd.</p> + +<p class="normal">Reinhold only returned clearly to consciousness in the assembly-room, +whither he had accompanied Signora Biancona; a few moments of solitude +still remained to him; beyond, in the concert-room, the orchestra was +playing the finale to a most indifferent audience, which was still +completely impressed by what it had just heard. Beatrice withdrew her +arm which lay in that of her companion.</p> + +<p class="normal">"We have conquered," she said, softly; "were you satisfied with my +song?"</p> + +<p class="normal">With a passionate movement, Reinhold seized both her hands, "Ask not +this question, Signora! Let me thank you, not for the triumph, which +was more yours than mine, but that I was also permitted to hear my song +from your lips. I composed it in the recollection of you--for you +alone, Beatrice. You have understood what it says to you, otherwise you +could not have sung it in such a manner."</p> + +<p class="normal">Signora Biancona may have understood it only too well, but in the +glance with which she looked down at him there lay still more than the +mere triumph of a beautiful woman, who has again proved the +irresistibility of her power. "Do you say that to the woman, or the +actress?" asked she, half-playfully. "The road is now open, Signor, +will you follow it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will," declared Reinhold, raising himself determinedly, "whatever +opposes me, and whatever form my future may take, it will have been +consecrated for me, since the Goddess of Song herself opened the gate +to me."</p> + +<p class="normal">The last words had the same tone of passionate adulation which Beatrice +heard from him once before; she bent closer towards him, and her voice +sounded soft, almost beseeching, as she answered--</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do not then avoid the Goddess any more so obstinately as hitherto. The +composer will surely be allowed to come to the actress from time to +time. If I study your next work, Signor, shall I have to discover its +meaning alone again, or will you stand by me this time?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Reinhold gave no reply, but the kiss which he pressed burningly +hot upon her hand, did not say no. Nor did he this time bid her +farewell--this time no recollection tore him away from the dangerous +proximity. Whatever arose in the distance that time with gentle +warning, had now no place in a single thought of the young man's +mind. How could, indeed, the faint, colourless picture of his young +wife exist near a Beatrice Biancona, who stood before him in all the +witch-like charms of her being, this "Goddess of Song," whose hand had +just conducted him to his first triumph! He saw and heard her only. +What for years had lain hidden within him--what, since his meeting with +her had struggled and fought its way out, this evening decided the +beginning of an artist's career, and of a family drama.</p> + +<hr class="W20"> + +<p class="normal">The following days and weeks in the Almbachs' house were not the most +agreeable. It could naturally not remain concealed from the merchant +that his son-in-law had appeared before the public with his +composition, and for this reason, that Dr. Welding, in the morning +paper, gave a detailed account of the concert, in which the name of the +young composer was mentioned. But neither the praise which the usually +severe critic accorded in this instance, nor the approval with which +the song was everywhere received, nor even the intervention of Consul +Erlau, who, taking Reinhold's part very eagerly and decidedly, upheld +his musical gifts, could overcome Almbach's prejudices. He persisted in +seeing in all artistic efforts an idling as useless as it was +dangerous--the real ground of all incapacity for practical business +life, and the root of all evil. Knowing as little as most people that +it had been almost an act of compulsion by which Signora Biancona +had forced Reinhold to appear publicly, he regarded the whole as a +pre-arranged affair, which had been undertaken without his knowledge +and against his will, and which made him almost beside himself. He +allowed himself to be so carried away, that he called his son-in-law to +account like a boy, and forbade him, once for all, any farther musical +pursuits.</p> + +<p class="normal">That was, of course, the worst thing he could have done. At this +prohibition, Reinhold broke out into uncontrollable defiance. The +passion which, despite all that fettered it outwardly and held it in +bounds, formed the groundwork of his character now broke out into a +truly terrific fury. A fearful scene ensued, and had Hugo not +interposed with quick thought, the breach would have become quite +irremediable. Almbach saw with horror that the nephew whom he had +brought up and led, whom he had tied to himself by every possible bond +of family and business, had outgrown his control completely, and never +thought of bending to his power. The strife had ceased for the time +present, but only to break out afresh at the first opportunity. One +scene succeeded another; one bitterness surpassed another.</p> + +<p class="normal">Reinhold soon stood in opposition to his whole surroundings, and the +defiance with which he clung more than ever to his musical studies, and +maintained his independence out of the house, only increased the anger +of his father and mother-in-law.</p> + +<p class="normal">Frau Almbach, who shared her husband's opinion entirely, supported him +with all her strength; Ella, on the contrary, remained, as usual, quite +passive. Any interference or taking a part was neither expected nor +desired; her parents never thought of crediting her with the very least +influence over Reinhold, and he himself ignored her in this affair +altogether, and did not even seem to grant her the right of offering an +opinion. The young wife suffered undeniably under these circumstances; +whether she felt the sad, humiliating part which she, the wife, +played--thus overlooked by both factions--set aside and treated as if +incapable--could hardly be decided. At her parents' bitter and excited +discussions, and her husband's constant state of irritation, which +often found vent at trifling causes, and was generally directed against +her, she always showed the same calm, patient resignation, seldom +uttered a beseeching word, never interfered by any decided +partisanship, and when, as usual, roughly repulsed, drew back more +shyly than ever.</p> + +<p class="normal">The only one who remained now, as before, on the best terms with all, +and kept his undisputed place as general favourite, was, strange to +say, the young Captain. Like all obstinate people, Almbach resigned +himself more easily to a fact than to a struggle, and forgave more +easily the direct but quiet want of regard for his authority, such as +his eldest nephew had shown him, than the stormy opposition to his will +which was now attempted by the younger one. When Hugo saw that a hated +calling was forced upon him, he had neither defied nor offended his +uncle; he had simply gone away, and let the storm rage itself out +behind his back. Certainly, he did not hesitate later to enact the +return of the prodigal son to ensure his entrance into the house to +which his brother belonged, and his restoration to his relations' +favour. Reinhold possessed neither the capability nor the inclination +to play with circumstances in this way. Just as he had never been able +to disguise his dislike to business life, and his indifference to all +the provincial town interests, so he now made no secret of his contempt +for all around him, his burning hatred for the fetters which confined +him--and it was this which could not be pardoned. Hugo, who espoused +his brother's side positively, was permitted to take his part openly, +and did so on every occasion. His uncle pardoned him this, even looked +upon it as quite natural, as the young Captain's mode of treatment +never let it come to a rupture, while with Reinhold, the subject only +needed to be touched upon in order to cause the most furious scenes +between him and his wife's parents.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was about noontide, when Hugo entered the Almbachs' house, and met +his servant, whom he had sent before with a message to his brother, at +the foot of the stairs. Jonas was really nominally only a sailor in the +"Ellida;" he had long had his discharge from the ship, and been +appointed solely to the young Captain's personal service, whom he never +left, even during a lengthy stay on shore, and whom he followed +everywhere with constant, unvarying attachment. Both were of about the +same age. Jonas was truly far from ugly; in his Sunday clothes he might +even pass for a good-looking fellow, but his uncouth manner, his rough +ways and his chariness of speech never allowed these advantages to be +perceived. He was almost on an enemy's footing with all the servants, +especially the women of Almbach's household, and none of them had ever +seen a pleasant expression on his face, nor heard a word more than was +absolutely necessary. Even now he looked very sour, and the four or +five dollars he was just counting in his hand seemed to excite his +displeasure, judging from the savage way he looked at them.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What is it, Jonas?" asked the Captain, approaching, "are you taking +stock of your ready money?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The sailor looked up, and put himself in an attitude of attention, but +his face did not become more pleasant.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am to go to the nursery garden and get a bouquet of flowers," he +grumbled, as he put the money in his pocket.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh! are you employed as messenger for flowers?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, here too," said Jonas, emphasising the last word, and with a +reproachful glance at his master, added, "I am used to it, to be sure."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Certainly," laughed Hugo. "But I am not used to your doing such things +for others than myself. Who has given you the commission?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr Reinhold," was the laconic reply.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My brother--so?" said Hugo, slowly, while a shade flitted across his +features, so bright just now.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And it is a sin the sum I am to pay for it," muttered Jonas. "Herr +Reinhold understands even better than we how to throw away dollars for +things which will be faded to-morrow, and we at any rate are not +married, but he--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"The bouquet is of course for my sister-in-law?" the Captain +interrupted shortly. "What is there to wonder at? Do you think I shall +give my wife no bouquets when I am married?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The last remark must have been very unexpected by the sailor, as he +drew himself up with a jerk, and stared at his master in the most +perfect horror, but the next minute he returned reassured to his old +position, saying confidently--</p> + +<p class="normal">"We shall never marry, Herr Captain."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I forbid all such prophetic remarks, which condemn me without further +ado to perpetual celibacy," said Hugo quickly, "and why shall '<i>we</i>' +never marry?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Because we think nothing of women," persisted Jonas.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You have a very curious habit of always speaking in the plural," +scoffed the Captain. "So I think nothing of women; I thought the +contrary had often roused your ire?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"But it never comes to marriage," said Jonas triumphantly, in a tone of +unconquerable conviction, "at heart we do not think much of the whole +lot. The story never goes beyond sending flowers and kissing hands, +then we sail away, and they have the pleasure of looking after us. It +is a very lucky thing that it is so. Women on the 'Ellida'--Heaven +protect us from it!"</p> + +<p class="normal">This characteristic account, given with unmistakable seriousness, +although again in the unavoidable plural, appeared to be full of truth, +as the Captain raised no objection to it. He only shrugged his +shoulders laughingly, turned his back upon the sailor, and went +upstairs. He found Reinhold in his own rooms, which lay in the upper +story, and a single glance at his brother's face, who was walking +angrily up and down, showed him that something must have happened again +to-day.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are going out?" asked he, after greeting him, while looking at the +hat and gloves lying on the table.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Later on!" answered Reinhold, recovering himself. "In about an hour. +You will stay some time?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Hugo overlooked the last question. He stood opposite his brother, and +gazed searchingly at him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Has there been a scene again?" he asked half-aloud.</p> + +<p class="normal">The moody defiance, which had disappeared for a few moments from the +young man's face, returned.</p> + +<p class="normal">"To be sure. They have attempted once more to treat me like a +schoolboy, who, when he has accomplished his daily appointed task, is +to be watched, and made to render an account of every step he takes, +even in his hours of recreation. I have made it clear to them that I am +tired of their everlasting guardianship."</p> + +<p class="normal">The Captain did not ask what step the quarrel was about; the short +conversation with Jonas seemed to have explained all that sufficiently; +he only said, shaking his head--"It is unfortunate that you are so +completely dependent upon our uncle. If later on it end in a regular +rupture between you, and you leave the business, it would become a +question of existence for you--your income goes entirely with it. You, +yourself, might trust wholly to your compositions, but to think they +could support a family yet would be making your future very uncertain +from the beginning. I had only myself to act for; you will be compelled +to wait until a greater work places you in the position of being able +to turn your back, with your wife and child, upon all the envy of a +small provincial town."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Impossible!" cried Reinhold almost madly. "By that time I shall have +foundered ten times over, and what talent I possess with me. Endure, +wait, perhaps for years? I cannot do it, it is the same thing to me as +suicide. My new work is completed. If only in some degree it attain the +success of the first, it would enable me to live at least a few months +in Italy."</p> + +<p class="normal">Hugo was staggered.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER V.</h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">"You are going to Italy? Why there particularly?" asked the Captain.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Where then?" interposed Reinhold impatiently. "Italy is the school of +all art and artists. There alone could I complete the meagre, defective +study to which circumstances confined me. Can you not understand that?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," said the Captain, somewhat coldly. "I do not see the necessity +that a beginner should go at once to the higher school. You can find +opportunity enough for study here; most of our talented men have had to +struggle and work for years before Italy at last crowned their work. +Supposing, however, you carry out your plan, what is to become of your +wife and child in the meanwhile? Do you intend to take them with you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ella?" cried the young man, in an almost contemptuous voice. "That +would be the most certain method of rendering my success impossible. Do +you think, that in the first step I take towards freedom, I could drag +the whole chain of domestic misery with me?"</p> + +<p class="normal">A slight frown was perceptible between Hugo's eyes--</p> + +<p class="normal">"That sounds very hard, Reinhold," he answered.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is it my fault, that I am at last conscious of the truth?" growled +Reinhold. "My wife cannot raise herself above the sphere of cooking and +household management. It is not her fault, I know, but it is not +therefore any less the misfortune of my life."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ella's incapacity, certainly seems settled as a sort of dogma in the +family," remarked the Captain quietly. "You believe in it blindly, like +the rest. Have you ever given yourself the trouble to find out if this +accepted fact be really infallible?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Reinhold shrugged his shoulders--</p> + +<p class="normal">"I think it would be unnecessary in this case. But in none can there be +a question of my taking Ella with me. Naturally she will remain with +the child in her parents' house until I return."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Until you return--and if that do not happen?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What do you say? What do you mean?" said the young man angrily, while +a deep colour spread over his face.</p> + +<p class="normal">Hugo crossed his arms and looked fiercely at him--</p> + +<p class="normal">"It strikes me you are now suddenly coming forward with ready-made +plans, which have certainly long been arranged, and probably well +talked over. Do not deny it Reinhold! You, by yourself, would never +have gone to such extremities as you do now in the disputes with my +uncle, listening to no advice or representations; there is some foreign +influence at work. Is it really absolutely necessary that you should go +day after day to Biancona?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Reinhold vouchsafed no reply; he turned away, and so withdrew himself +from his brother's observation.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is talked of already in the town," continued the latter. "It cannot +continue long without the report reaching here. Is it a matter of +perfect indifference to you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Signora Biancona is studying my new composition," said Reinhold +shortly, "and I only see in her the ideal of an actress. You admired +her also?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Admired, yes! At least in the beginning. She never attracted me. The +beautiful Signora has something too vampire-like in her eyes. I fear +that whoever it be, upon whom she fixes those eyes with the intention +of holding him fast, will require a powerful dose of strength of will +in order to remain master of himself."</p> + +<p class="normal">At the last words he had gone to his brother's side, who now turned +round slowly and looked at him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Have you experienced that already?" he asked, gloomily.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I? No!" replied Hugo, with a touch of his old mocking humour. +"Fortunately I am very unimpressionable as regards such-like +romantic dangers, besides being sufficiently used to them. Call it +frivolity--inconstancy--what you will--but a woman cannot fascinate me +long or deeply; the passionate element is wanting in me. You have it +only too strongly, and when you encounter anything of the sort, the +danger lies close by. Take care of yourself, Reinhold!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do you wish to remind me of the fetters I bear?" asked Reinhold, +bitterly. "As if I did not feel them daily, hourly, and with them the +powerlessness to destroy them. If I were free as you, when you tore +yourself away from this bondage, all might be well; but you are right, +they chained me by times, and a bridal altar is the most secure bar +which can be placed before all longing for freedom--I experience it +now."</p> + +<p class="normal">They were interrupted; the servant from the house brought a message +from the bookkeeper to young Herr Almbach. The latter bade the man go, +and turned to his brother.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I must go to the office for a moment. You see I am not in much danger +of coming to grief by excessive romance; our ledgers, in which, +probably, a couple of dollars are not properly entered, guard against +that. Adieu until we meet again, Hugo!"</p> + +<p class="normal">He went, and the Captain remained alone. He stayed a few moments as if +lost in thought, while the frown on his brow became still darker; then +suddenly he raised himself as with some resolve, and left the room, but +not to go to the lower floor to his uncle or aunt; he went straight to +the opposite apartments inhabited by his sister-in-law.</p> + +<p class="normal">Ella was there; she sat by the window, her head was bent over some +needlework, but it seemed as if this had been seized hurriedly when the +door opened unexpectedly; the handkerchief thrown down hastily, and the +inflamed eyelids betrayed freshly dried tears. She looked up at her +brother-in-law's entrance with undisguised astonishment. It was +certainly the first time he had sought her rooms; he came half-way +only, and then stood still without approaching her seat.</p> + +<p class="normal">"May the adventurer dare to come near you, Ella? or did that condemning +verdict banish him entirely from your threshold?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The young wife blushed; she turned her work about in her hands in most +painful confusion.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Captain!" interrupted Hugo. "Quite right--thus do my sailors address +me. Once more this name from your lips, and I shall never trouble you +again with my presence. Pray Ella, listen to me to-day!" he continued +determinedly, as the young wife made signs of rising. "This time I +shall keep the door barred by which you always try to elude my +approach; fortunately, too, there is no maid near whom you can keep by +your side for some task. We are alone, and I give you my word I shall +not leave this spot until I am either forgiven, or--hear the +unavoidable 'Herr Captain' which will drive me away once for all."</p> + +<p class="normal">Ella raised her eyes, and now it was plainly evident that she had wept.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What do you care for my forgiveness?" she replied quickly. "You have +wounded me least of all; I only spoke in the name of my parents and all +the household."</p> + +<p class="normal">"For them I do not care," said Hugo with the most unabashed candour, +"but that I have hurt you I do regret, very much regret; it has lain +like a nightmare upon me until now. I can surely do no more than beg +honestly and heartily for forgiveness. Are you still angry with me, +Ella?"</p> + +<p class="normal">He put out his hand towards her. In the movement and words there lay +such a warm, open kindliness and frankness, that it seemed almost +impossible to refuse the petition, and Ella actually, although somewhat +reluctantly, laid her hand in his.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," said she, simply.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thank God!" cried Hugo, drawing a long breath. "So at last my rights +as brother-in-law are conceded. I thus take solemn possession of them."</p> + +<p class="normal">The words were followed by the deed, as he drew forward a chair and sat +down beside her. "Do you know, Ella, that since our late encounter you +have interested me very much?" continued he.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It seems one must be rude to you in order to arouse your interest," +remarked Ella, almost reproachfully.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, it appears so," agreed the Captain, with perfect composure. "We +'adventurers' are a peculiar people, and require different treatment to +ordinary mankind. You have taken the right course with me. Since you +read me my lecture so unsparingly, I have left all the house in peace; +I have behaved towards my uncle and aunt with the most perfect respect +and deference, and even robbed my Indian stories of all their appalling +effects, simply from fear of certain rebuking eyes. This can surely not +have escaped your notice?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Something like a half-smile crossed Ella's countenance as she asked--</p> + +<p class="normal">"It has been very hard for you, then?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Very hard! Although the state of affairs in the house should have made +it somewhat easier for me, they have not been of a description lately, +on which one could exercise one's love of joking."</p> + +<p class="normal">The passing gleam of merriment vanished immediately from Ella's face at +this allusion; it bore an anxious, beseeching expression, as she turned +to her brother-in-law.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, it is very sad with us," she said, softly, "and it becomes worse +from day to day. My parents are so hard, and Reinhold so irritated, so +furious at every occurrence. Oh, my God, can you do nothing with him?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I?" asked Hugo, seriously, "I might put that question to you, his +wife."</p> + +<p class="normal">Ella shook her head in inconsolable resignation. "No one listens to me, +and Reinhold less than any one. He thinks I understand nothing about it +all--he would repulse me roughly."</p> + +<p class="normal">Hugo looked sorrowfully at the young wife, who confessed openly that +she was quite wanting in power and influence over her husband, and that +she was not permitted to share his longings and strivings in the least.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And yet something must be done," said he decidedly. "Reinhold +irritates himself in this struggle; he suffers tremendously under it, +and makes others suffer too. You had been crying, Ella, as I entered, +and in the last few weeks not a day has passed without my seeing this +red appearance about your eyes. No, do not turn aside so timidly! +Surely the brother may be allowed to speak freely, and you shall see +that I do more than talk nonsense. I repeat it; something must be +done--done by you. Reinhold's artistic career depends upon it, his +whole future; and in the struggle his wife must stand at his side, +otherwise others might do it instead, and that would be dangerous."</p> + +<p class="normal">Ella looked at him with a mixture of astonishment and alarm. For the +first time in her life she was called upon to take a side openly, and +some result was looked for depending upon her interference. What could +be meant by "others" who might take her place? Her face showed plainly +that she had not the slightest suspicion of anything.</p> + +<p class="normal">Hugo saw this, and yet had not the courage to go any farther; as going +farther meant planting the first suspicion in the mind of the so-far +quite unconscious wife--being his brother's betrayer--and unavoidably +calling forth a catastrophe, of whose necessity he was nevertheless +convinced. But the young Captain's whole nature rebelled against the +painful task; he sat there undecided, when chance came to his help. +Some one knocked at the door, and immediately Jonas entered, carrying a +large bouquet of flowers.</p> + +<p class="normal">The sailor was surely more prudent when he executed such commissions +for his master. He knew from experience, that the latter's offerings of +flowers, although received with pleasure by the young ladies, were not +always treated the same by their fathers and protectors, and although +with possible secret annoyance, he always took care to go to the right +address. But this time Hugo's casual remark that the flowers were +intended for his sister-in-law, caused the mistake. Jonas never doubted +that the Captain's remark, meant merely to shield his brother, was made +in earnest; he therefore went straight to the young Frau Almbach, and +presented the flowers to her, with the words--</p> + +<p class="normal">"I cannot find Herr Reinhold anywhere in the house, so had better +deliver the flowers here at once."</p> + +<p class="normal">Ella looked down in surprise at the beautiful bouquet which, arranged +with as much skill as taste, showed a selection of the most perfect +flowers.</p> + +<p class="normal">"From whom are the flowers?" asked she.</p> + +<p class="normal">"From the garden," answered Jonas. "Herr Reinhold ordered them, and I +have brought them; but as I cannot find him--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"That will do. You can go," broke in Hugo, as he stepped quickly to his +sister-in-law's side, and put his hand on her arm as if to stop her. A +sign gave more stress to his order, and Jonas rolled away, but could +not help wondering that the young Frau Almbach received her husband's +attention in so peculiar a manner. She had started suddenly, as if she +had been seized with a pain at her heart, and become ashen white. But +the Captain stood there with knitted brows, and an expression on his +face as if he should have liked best to throw the expensive flowers out +of the window. Fortunately, Jonas was too phlegmatic to trouble himself +much about the state of affairs in the Almbachs' house; owing to the +warlike footing on which he stood to the servants he learned but little +about it; so, after wondering slightly, he gave it up, and being +satisfied he had executed his orders conscientiously, troubled himself +no more about the giver of them.</p> + +<p class="normal">Deep silence reigned a few seconds in the room. Ella still held the +bouquet convulsively in her hand, but her usually quiet, listless +countenance, with its vacant, almost stupid expression, had changed +curiously. Now every feature was dilated as if in agonising pain, and +her eyes remained fixed and immovable upon the gay, blooming beauty, +even when she turned to her brother-in-law.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Reinhold gave the order?" she asked, as if striving for breath, "then +the flowers only came by mistake to me!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why then," said Hugo, with a vain attempt to soothe her, "Reinhold +ordered the flowers; well, surely they are for you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"For me?" Her voice sounded full of pain. "I have never yet received +flowers from him; these are certainly not intended for me."</p> + +<p class="normal">Hugo saw he could not hesitate any more; chance had decided for him; +now he must obey fate's signal. "You are right, Ella," he replied +firmly, "and it would be useless and dangerous to deceive you any +longer. Reinhold did not say for whom the flowers were, but I know that +this evening they will be in Signora Biancona's hands."</p> + +<p class="normal">Ella shivered, and the bouquet fell to the ground. "Signora Biancona," +repeated she, in a dull tone.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The actress who sang his first song in public," continued the Captain, +impressively, "for whom, also, his new composition is intended; to whom +he goes daily; who enters into all his thoughts and feelings. You know +nothing of it as yet, I see in your face, but you must learn it now, +before it is too late."</p> + +<p class="normal">The young wife made no reply; her face was as colourless as the white +blossoms which formed the outer circle of the bouquet; silently she +stooped, picked it up, and laid it on the table, but no sound, no +response came from her lips. Hugo waited for one in vain.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do you believe the cruelty of disclosing that which one always hides +from every wife has given me any pleasure?" asked he, with suppressed +emotion. "Do you think I could not, by some pretence, have covered the +man's stupidity, and given myself out as the sender of the unlucky +flowers? If I do not act thus, if I discover the whole truth +unsparingly, I do it because the danger has become extreme--because +only you can still save him; and this you must see clearly. Signora +Biancona is about to return to her home, and Reinhold explained to me +just now that he must and will continue his studies in Italy. Do you +comprehend the connection?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Ella started. Now, for the first time, a desperate fear broke through +the stolid calm of her nature.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no!" she cried, as if beside herself, "He cannot! he <i>dare</i> not. +We are married!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He dare not?" repeated Hugo. "You know men but little, and your own +husband least of all. Do not trust too much to the right which the +Church gave you; even this power has its limits, and I fear Reinhold +already stands beyond them. To be sure, you have no conception of that +burning fiendish passion, which enchains and makes a man powerless--so +surrounds him with its bonds, that for its sake he forgets and +sacrifices everything. Signora Biancona is one of those demonlike +natures which can inspire such passions, and here she is connected with +everything which makes up Reinhold's life--with music, art and +imagination. Nor Church nor marriage can protect, if the wife cannot +protect herself. You are wife, and mother of his child. Perhaps he will +listen to your voice, when he will to nothing else."</p> + +<p class="normal">The young wife's heavily-drawn breath showed how much she suffered, and +two tears, the first, rolled slowly down her cheeks as she replied, +almost inaudibly, "I will try it."</p> + +<p class="normal">Hugo came close to her side. "I know I have thrown a lighted brand into +the family to-day, which will, perhaps, destroy the last remains of +peace," he said, earnestly. "Hundreds of wives would now rush +despairingly to their parents, so as, with them or alone, to call their +husbands to account, and cause a scene which would break the last bond, +and drive him irretrievably from the house. You will not do this, Ella; +I know it, therefore I dared do with you what I should not have +ventured on so easily with any other woman. What you may say to +Reinhold--what you may insist upon, rests with yourself; but do not let +him leave you now; do not let him go to Italy!"</p> + +<p class="normal">He ceased, and seemed to expect an answer--in vain; Ella sat there, her +face buried in her hands. She hardly moved as he said good-bye to her. +The young Captain saw that she must overcome the blow alone, so he +went.</p> + +<p class="normal">When, half-an-hour later, Reinhold returned from the office, he saw the +bouquet of roses lying on the writing-table in his own room, and took +it up under the firm impression that Jonas had put it there. In the +meanwhile Ella sat in her child's room and waited, not for a farewell +from her husband, she had not been used to such tendernesses ever since +her marriage; but she knew he never left the house without first going +to see his boy. The wife felt only too well that she herself was +nothing to her husband, that her only value for him lay in the child; +she felt that the love for his child was the only point by which she +could approach his heart, and therefore she waited here for him in +order to hold the terribly difficult and painful interview. He must +surely come; but to-day she had to wait in vain. Reinhold did not +come. For the first time he forgot the farewell kiss on his child's +brow--forgot the last and only bond which chained him to his home. In +his heart there was only room now for one thought, and that was +Beatrice Biancona.</p> + +<p class="normal">The opera was over. A stream of people flowed out of the theatre, +dispersing in all directions, and carriages rolled by on every side to +take up their respective owners. The house had been filled to +overflowing, as the Italian Opera Company had given their farewell +performance, and all H---- had tried to show the singers, especially +the <i>prima donna</i>, how much charmed it was with their efforts, and how +sorry it was to lose them now the hour of parting had arrived. The +stairs and corridors were still crowded; below in the vestibule people +were closely packed, and at the places of egress the numbers increased +to an uncomfortable, almost dangerous degree.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is almost impossible to get through," said Doctor Welding, who, +with another gentleman, descended the stairs. "One's life is imperilled +in the crush below. Rather let us wait until the rush is over!"</p> + +<p class="normal">His companion agreed, and both stepped aside into one of the deep, dark +niches in the corridor, where a lady had already taken shelter. Her +dress, although simple, betokened that she belonged to the upper +classes; she had drawn her veil closely over her face, and appeared to +avoid the crowd, also to feel quite strange in the theatre, from the +manner in which she pressed herself with evident nervousness firmly +against the wall, when the two gentlemen approached, and, without +paying any attention to her, resumed their interrupted conversation.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I prophesied it from the commencement that this Almbach would make a +great sensation," said Welding; "his second composition surpasses his +first in every respect; and the first was great enough for a beginner. +I should think he might be satisfied with its reception this time; it +was, if possible, more enthusiastic. Certainly, every one has not the +luck to find a Biancona for his works, and to inspire her for them, so +that she exerts her utmost power. It was altogether her idea to sing +this newest song of Almbach's as introduction to the last act of the +opera, to-day, too, at her farewell; when applause was a matter of +course, she made sure, by those means, of success at once."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, I don't think he is wanting in gratitude," scoffed the other +gentleman. "People say all sorts of things. So much is certain, all her +circle of adorers is furious at this interloper, who hardly appears +before he is on the high road to be sole ruler. The affair, besides, +seems rather serious and highly romantic, and I am really anxious to +see what will be the end of it, when Biancona departs."</p> + +<p class="normal">The Doctor buttoned his overcoat quietly--</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is not difficult to guess; an elopement of the first order."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You think he will elope with her?" asked the other incredulously.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He with her? That would be objectless. Biancona is perfectly free to +decide what she likes, as to the choice of her residence. But she with +him; that would be more like the case--the fetters are on his side."</p> + +<p class="normal">"To be sure, he is married," rejoined his companion. "Poor woman! Do +you know her personally?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," said Welding, indifferently; "but from Herr Consul Erlau's +description, I can form a truly correct picture of her. Contracted +ideas, passive, unimportant in the highest degree, quite given up to +the kitchen and household affairs--just the woman in fact to drive a +genial, fiery-headed fellow like Almbach to a desperate step; and as it +is a Biancona who is set up against her, this step will not have to be +waited for very long. Perhaps it would be fortunate for Almbach if he +were torn suddenly out of these confined surroundings, and thrown on to +the path of life, but certainly the little family peace there is would +be entirely ruined. The usual fate of such early marriages, in which +the wife cannot in the smallest degree raise herself to her husband's +importance."</p> + +<p class="normal">At these last words he turned round somewhat astonished; involuntarily +the lady behind them had made a passionate movement, but at the same +moment as the Doctor was about to observe her more narrowly, a side +door was opened, and Reinhold Almbach appeared, accompanied by Hugo, +the conductor, and several other gentlemen.</p> + +<p class="normal">Reinhold here was quite a different being from what he was at home. The +gloom which always rested on his features there, the reserve which made +him so often unapproachable, seemed thrown off with one accord; he +beamed with excitement, success, and triumph. His brow was raised +freely and proudly, his dark eyes flashed with conscious victory, and +his whole manner breathed forth passionate satisfaction, as he turned +to his companions.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I thank you, gentlemen. You are very kind, but you will excuse me if I +retire from these flattering acknowledgments. The Signora wishes for my +company at the entertainment, where the members of the opera assemble +once more as a farewell meeting. You will understand, I must obey this +command before all others."</p> + +<p class="normal">The gentlemen seemed to understand it perfectly, and also to regret +they had not to obey a similar command, when Doctor Welding joined the +group.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I congratulate you," he said, giving his hand to the young composer. +"That was a great, and what is more, a merited success."</p> + +<p class="normal">Reinhold smiled. Praise from the lips of a critic usually so exacting +was not indifferent to him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You see, Herr Doctor, I have to appear at last before your judgment +seat," replied he pleasantly. "Herr Consul Erlau was unfortunately +wrong when he considered me quite safe from any such danger."</p> + +<p class="normal">"None should be considered happy before the end," remarked the Doctor +laconically. "Why do you rush so headlong into danger, and turn your +back upon the noble merchant's position? Is it true we are to lose you +with Signora Biancona? Shall you take flight to the south at the same +time?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"To Italy, yes!" said Reinhold positively. "It has been my plan for +long. This evening has decided it, but now--excuse me gentlemen, I +cannot possibly allow the Signora to wait."</p> + +<p class="normal">He bowed and left them, accompanied by his brother. The usually not +quite silent Captain had observed a remarkable reticence during the +conversation. He started slightly, when at Welding's approach the niche +was disclosed in which the woman's dark figure was pressed back in the +shadow of the wall, as if not wishing to be seen on any account, and no +one else did see her, at least no one took any notice of her; she could +not leave her place of refuge without passing the group, which kept its +place after the departure of the brothers. The gentlemen all knew one +another, and took advantage of this meeting to exchange their opinions +about the young composer, Signora Biancona, and the suspected state of +affairs between the two. The latter especially was subjected to a +tolerably merciless criticism. The scoffing, witty, and malicious +remarks fell thick as hail, and some time elapsed before the group +separated at last. Now that the corridor was quite empty, the lady in +the recess raised herself and prepared to depart, but she tottered at +the first few steps, and seized the banisters of the staircase as if +about to fall, when a powerful arm supported, and held her up.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER VI.</h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">"Come into the fresh air, Ella!" said Hugo, standing suddenly beside +her. "That was torture of the rack."</p> + +<p class="normal">He drew her hand within his arm, and led her down by the nearest way +into the street. Only here, in the cool, sharp night air did Ella +appear to regain consciousness; she threw back her veil and drew a long +breath, as if she had been nearly suffocated.</p> + +<p class="normal">"If I had dreamed that my warning would have brought you here, I should +have withheld it." continued Hugo, reproachfully. "Ella, for heaven's +sake, what an unfortunate idea!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The young wife drew her hand away from his arm. The reproach seemed to +pain her.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I wanted to see her for once," replied she softly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Without being seen yourself?" added the Captain. "I knew that the +moment I recognised you, therefore I said nothing to Reinhold, but I +felt as if standing on hot coals here below, while the criticising +group above was holding forth before your place of refuge, and giving +free course to their amiable remarks and opinions. I can fancy pretty +well what you had to listen to."</p> + +<p class="normal">During the last words he had hailed a cabman, told the street and +number of house, and helped his sister-in-law into the carriage; but as +he showed signs of taking a seat beside her, she declined his doing so, +quietly but firmly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thanks, I shall go alone."</p> + +<p class="normal">"On no account!" cried Hugo, almost excitedly. "You are much agitated, +almost fainting; it would be unpardonable to leave you alone in this +state."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are not responsible for what becomes of me," said Ella, with +uncontrolled bitterness, "and to others--it does not matter. Let me +drive home alone, Hugo, I beseech you."</p> + +<p class="normal">Her eyes looked at him entreatingly through their veil of tears. The +Captain did not say another word; he shut the door obediently, and +stepped back; but he watched the carriage as it rolled away until it +was out of sight.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was long past midnight when Reinhold returned, and, without entering +his house, he went at once to his garden room. The house and +outbuildings lay still and dark; nothing was moving around, all who +lived and worked here were accustomed to be occupied in the daytime, +and required the night for undisturbed repose. It was fortunate that +the garden-house lay so distant and isolated, otherwise his companions +and neighbours would have been much less patient with the young +composer, who could not refrain, however late he might return home, +from always seeking his piano, and often morning's dawn surprised him +at his musical phantasies.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was a quiet, moonlight, but sharp raw northern spring night. In the +dawning light, the walls and gables which enclosed the garden looked +even more gloomy and prison-like than by day; the canal appeared darker +in the pale moon's rays, which trembled over it, and the bare leafless +trees and shrubs seemed to tremble and shudder in the cold night wind, +which passed mercilessly over them. It was already April, and yet the +first buds were hardly to be seen. "This miserable spring, with its +tardy growth and bloom, its dreary rainy days and cold winds!" Reinhold +had heard these words spoken a few hours since, and then such a glowing +description followed of endless spring, which blossoms forth as by +magic in the gardens of the south, those sunny days, with ever blue +sky, and the thousandfold glorious colours of the earth; the moonlight +nights full of orange perfume and notes of song. The young man must +indeed have head and heart still full of this picture; he looked more +contemptuously than usual on the poor bare surroundings, and +impatiently pushed aside a branch of elderberry whose newly opening +brown buds touched his forehead. He had no more feeling for the gifts +of this miserable spring, and no more pleasure in growing and living as +miserably as these blossoms, ever fighting with frost and wind. Out +into freedom, that was the only thought which now filled his mind.</p> + +<p class="normal">Reinhold opened the door of the garden room and started back with +sudden alarm. A few seconds elapsed before he recognised his wife in +the figure leaning against the piano standing out clearly in the +moonlight as it fell through the window.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is it you, Ella?" he cried at last, entering quickly. "What is it? +What has happened?"</p> + +<p class="normal">She made a movement of denial. "Nothing, I was only waiting for you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Here? and at this hour?" asked Reinhold, extremely distantly. "What +has entered your head?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I hardly ever see you now," was the soft response, "at least only at +table in my parents' presence, and I wished to speak to you alone."</p> + +<p class="normal">She had lighted the lamp at these words, and placed it upon the table. +She still wore the dark silk dress which she had on at the theatre this +evening; it was certainly plain and unornamented, but not so coarse and +unbecoming as her usual house dress. Also her never failing cap had +disappeared, and now, that it was missing, could be seen for the first +time what a singular wealth was hidden beneath it. The fair hair, of +which at other times only a narrow strip was visible, could hardly be +confined in the heavy plaits which showed themselves in all their +splendid abundance; but this natural ornament, which any other woman +would have displayed, was in her case hidden carefully day after day, +until chance disclosed it, and yet it appeared to give her head quite a +different mould.</p> + +<p class="normal">As usual, Reinhold had no eyes for it; he hardly looked at his young +wife, and only listened slightly and abstractedly to her words. There +was not even the slightest trace of reproach in them, but he must have +felt something of the sort lay there as he said impatiently--</p> + +<p class="normal">"You know I am occupied on all possible sides. My new composition which +was completed a few weeks since, was brought out publicly to-night for +the first time--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know it," interrupted Ella. "I was in the theatre."</p> + +<p class="normal">Reinhold seemed taken aback. "You were in the theatre?" asked he +quickly and sharply. "With whom? At whose instigation?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I was there alone--I wished--" she stopped, and continued +hesitatingly; "I too wished to hear your music for once, of which all +the world speaks and I alone do not know."</p> + +<p class="normal">Her husband was silent and looked enquiringly at her. The young wife +did not understand the art of deceiving, and an untruth would not pass +her lips. She stood before him, deadly pale, trembling in all her +limbs; no especially keen sight was required to guess the truth, and +Reinhold did so at once.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And only for this reason you went?" said he slowly at last. "Will you +deceive me with this excuse, or yourself, perhaps? I see the report has +found its way to you already! You wished to see with your own eyes, +naturally. How could I think it would be spared me and you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Ella looked up. There was again the darkly lowering brow she was always +accustomed to in her husband, the look of gloomy melancholy, the +expression of defiant, suppressed suffering, no longer a breath of +that beaming triumph which had lighted up his features a few hours +before--that was when away, far from his own people; only the shadow +remained for home.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why do you not answer?" he began afresh. "Do you think I should be +coward enough to deny the truth? If I have been silent towards you so +far, it was done to spare you; now that you know it, I will render +account. You have been told of the young actress, to whom I owe the +first incitement to work, my first success, and to-day's triumph. God +knows how the connection between us has been represented to you, and +naturally you look upon it as a crime worthy of death."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, but as a misfortune."</p> + +<p class="normal">The tone of these words would surely have disarmed any one; even +Reinhold's irritation could not resist it. He came nearer to her and +took her hand.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Poor child!" said he, pitifully. "It certainly was no happiness what +your father's will decided for you. You, more than any other, required +a husband who would work and strive from day to day in the quiet +routine of daily life without even having a wish to step beyond it, and +fate has chained you to a man whom it draws powerfully to another +course. You are right; that is a misfortune for us both."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is to say, I am one for you," added the young wife, sadly. "She +will, perhaps, know better how to bring you happiness."</p> + +<p class="normal">Reinhold let her hand fall and stepped back. "You are mistaken," he +replied, almost rudely, "and quite misconstrue the connection between +Signora Biancona and myself. It has been purely ideal from the +beginning, and is so still at this moment. Whoever told you differently +is a liar."</p> + +<p class="normal">At the first words, Ella seemed to breathe more easily, but at the +following her heart contracted as if with cramp. She knew her husband +was incapable of speaking a falsehood, least of all at such a moment, +and he told her the connection was spiritual. That it was so still she +did not doubt, but how long would it be so? This evening, in the +theatre, she had seen the flash of those demon-like eyes, which nothing +could resist; had seen how that woman, in her part, had run through the +whole scale of feelings to the greatest passion; how this passion +carried away the audience to a perfect storm of approbation; and she +could easily tell herself that if it had pleased the Italian so far +only to be the gracious goddess whose hand had led the young composer +into the realms of art, the hour was sure to come in which she would +wish to be more to him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I love Beatrice," continued Reinhold, with a cruelty of which he +seemed to have no real conception; "but this love does not injure nor +wound any of your rights. It only concerns music, as whose embodied +genius she met me, concerns the best and highest in my life, the +ideal--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"And what is left for your wife, then?" interrupted Ella.</p> + +<p class="normal">He remained silent, struck dumb. This question, simple as it was, +sounded nevertheless peculiar from the lips of his wife, deemed so +stupid. It was a matter of course, that she should be satisfied with +what still remained--the name she bore and the child, whose mother she +was. Strange to say, she did not appear inclined to understand this, +and Reinhold became quite silent at the quiet but yet annihilating +reproach of the question.</p> + +<p class="normal">The wife rested her hand on the piano. She was visibly fighting with +the fear she had always cherished for her husband, whose mental +superiority she felt deeply, without, at the same time, ever venturing +on an attempt to raise herself to him. In the knowledge that he stood +so high above her, she had ever placed herself completely under him, +without ever attaining anything by it excepting toleration, which +almost amounted to contempt.</p> + +<p class="normal">Now that he loved another, the toleration ceased; the contempt +remained--she felt that plainly in his confession, which he made so +quietly, so positively; his love for the beautiful singer "neither +injured nor wounded any of her rights." She had indeed no right to his +spiritual life. And she should keep firm hold of that man now, when the +love of a beautiful, universally admired actress, when the magical +charm of Italy, when a future full of renown and glory beckoned to him, +she, who had nothing to give excepting herself--Ella was conscious for +the first time of the impossibility of the task which had been +appointed to her.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know you have never belonged to us, never loved any of us," she +said, with quiet resignation. "I have always felt it; it has only +become clear to me since I was your wife, and then it was too late. But +I am it now, and if you forsake me and the child, you will give us up +for the sake of another."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who says so?" cried Reinhold, with anger, which exonerated him from +the suspicion that such a thought had really entered his mind. +"Forsake? Give up you and the child? Never!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The young wife fixed her eyes enquiringly upon him, as if she did not +understand him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But you said just now you loved Beatrice Biancona?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, but--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"But! Then you must choose between her and us."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You suddenly develope most unusual determination," cried Reinhold, +roused. "I must? And if I will not do it? If I consider this ideal +artist love quite compatible with my duties, if--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"If you follow her to Italy," completed Ella.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then you know that already?" cried the young man, passionately. "You +seem to be so perfectly informed, that it only remains for me to +confirm the news others have been so kind as to tell you. It is +certainly my intention to continue my studies in Italy, and if I should +meet Signora Biancona there--if her vicinity give me fresh inspiration +to compose--her hand open me the door to the world of art, I shall not +be fool enough to reject all this, just because it is my fate to +possess a--wife!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Ella shuddered at the unsparing hardness of the last words.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Are you so ashamed of your wife?" she asked, softly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ella, I beg you--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Are you so ashamed of me?" repeated the poor wife, apparently calmly; +but there was a strange, nervous, trembling inflection in her voice. +Reinhold turned away.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do not be childish, Ella," he replied, impatiently. "Do you think it +is good or elevating for a man, when he returns home after his first +success, there to find complaints, reproaches, in short, all the +wretched prose of domestic life? So far you have spared me it, and +should do the same in future. Otherwise you might discover that I am +not the patient sort of husband who would allow such scenes to take +place without resistance."</p> + +<p class="normal">Only a single glance at the young wife was required to recognise the +boundless injustice of this reproach. She stood there, not like the +accuser, but like the condemned; indeed she felt that in this hour the +verdict was spoken upon her marriage and her life.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know well that I have never been anything to you," said she, with +trembling voice, "never could be anything to you, and if I only were +concerned, I would let you go without a word, without a petition. But +the child is still between us, and therefore"--she stopped a moment, +and breathed heavily----"therefore you can comprehend that the mother +should pray once more for you to remain with us."</p> + +<p class="normal">The petition came out shyly, hesitatingly; in it could be heard the +effort it cost her to make it to the husband, in whose heart no chord +throbbed for her, and yet in the last words there rang such a touching, +frightened entreaty, that his ear could not remain quite deaf. He +turned to her again.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I cannot stay, Ella," he replied, more mildly than before, but still +with cool decision. "My future depends on it. You cannot conceive what +lies in that word for me. You cannot accompany me with the child. +Besides this being quite impossible in a tour undertaken for study, you +would soon be very miserable in a foreign country whose language you do +not understand, in circumstances and surroundings for which you are +quite unsuited. You must, indeed, now accustom yourself to measure me +and my life with another measure than that of narrow-minded prejudice +and middle-class contracted ideas. You can stay here with the little +one, under your parents' protection; at latest I shall return in a +year. You must resign yourself to this separation."</p> + +<p class="normal">He spoke calmly, even pleasantly; but every word was an icy rejection, +an impatient shaking off of the irksome bond. Hugo was right; he lay +already too firmly under the influence of his passion to listen to any +other voice--it was too late. A cold, pitiless, "You must resign +yourself," was the only answer to that touching prayer.</p> + +<p class="normal">Ella drew herself up with a determination at other times quite foreign +to her, and there was also a strange sound in her voice; there lay in +it something of the pride of a wife, who, trampled upon and kept down +for years, at last revolts when extremities are resorted to.</p> + +<p class="normal">"To the separation, yes," replied she, firmly. "I am powerless against +it. But not to your return, Reinhold. If you go now, go with her, +notwithstanding my prayers, notwithstanding our child, so do it. But +then, go for ever!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Will you make conditions?" roared Reinhold, passionately. "Have I not +borne the yoke which your father's so-called kindness forced upon me +for years, which embittered my childhood, destroyed my youth, and now, +at the threshold of man's estate, compels me to conquer, only by means +of endless struggles, what every one requires as his natural right, +free decision for himself? You all have kept me apart from everything +that by others is called freedom and happiness; have bound me to a +hated sphere in life with all possible fetters, and now think +yourselves sure of your property. But at last the hour has come for me +when it begins to dawn, and if it penetrates like lightning to my soul, +and shows in flaming clearness the goal, and the reward at the goal, +then one awakes out of the dream of long years, and finds oneself--in +chains."</p> + +<p class="normal">It was an outbreak of the wildest passion, most burning hatred, which +welled forth without restraint, without asking if it were poured over +the guilty or the innocent. That is the horrible fiendishness of +passion, that it turns its hatred against everything which it +encounters, even if this hatred meet the nearest, most sacred--if it +even meet bonds voluntarily made.</p> + +<p class="normal">A long pause, still as death, followed. Reinhold, overpowered by +excitement, had thrown himself on a seat and covered his eyes with his +hands. Ella still stood on the same spot as before; she did not speak +or move; even the tremor which, during the conversation, had so often +passed through her, had ceased. Thus passed a few moments, until at +last she approached her husband slowly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You will leave me the child, though?" said she, with quivering lips. +"To you it would only be a burden in your new life, and I have nothing +else in the world."</p> + +<p class="normal">Reinhold looked up, and then sprang suddenly from his seat. It was not +the words which moved him so strangely, not the deadly, fixed calm of +her face; it was the look which was so unexpectedly and astoundingly +unveiled before him as before his brother. For the first time he saw in +his wife's face "the beautiful fairy-tale blue eyes" which he had so +often admired in his boy, without ever asking whence they came; and +these eyes, large and full, were now directed towards him. No tear +stood in them, neither any more beseeching; but an expression for which +he never gave Ella credit, an expression before which his eyes sank to +the ground.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ella," said he, uncertainly, "if I was too furious--What is it, Ella?"</p> + +<p class="normal">He tried to take her hand; she drew it back.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nothing. When do you intend leaving?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I do not know," answered Reinhold, more and more struck. "In a few +days--or weeks--there is no hurry."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will inform my parents. Good-night." She turned to go. He made a +hasty step after her as if to detain her. Ella remained.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You have misunderstood me."</p> + +<p class="normal">The young wife drew herself up firmly and proudly. She appeared all at +once to have become a different person. This tone and carriage, Ella +Almbach had never known.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The 'fetters' shall not press upon you any longer, Reinhold. You can +attain your object unhindered, and your--prize. Good-night."</p> + +<p class="normal">She opened the door quickly and went out. The moonlight fell brightly +on the slight figure in the darkness, upon the sad pale face and the +blond plaits. In the next moment she had disappeared. Reinhold stood +alone.</p> + +<hr class="W20"> + +<p class="normal">"This house is miserable now," said the old bookkeeper in the office, +as he put his pen behind his ear, and closed the account book. "The +young master away for three days without giving any signs of his being +alive, without enquiring for wife or child. The Herr Captain does not +set his foot across the threshold; the principal goes about in such a +rage that one hardly dares to go near him; and young Frau Almbach looks +so wretched that one's heart aches to see her. Heaven knows how this +unhappy story will end."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But how, then, did this disturbance come so suddenly?" asked the head +clerk, who also--it was the hour for closing the office--put his +writing aside and shut his desk.</p> + +<p class="normal">The bookkeeper shrugged his shoulders. "Suddenly? I do not believe it +was unexpected by any of us. It has been smouldering in the family for +weeks and months; only the spark was wanting in all this inflammable +matter, and it came at last. Frau Almbach brought the news home from +some lady's party, and thus her husband learned what half the town knew +already, and what no one hears willingly, of his son-in-law. You know +our chief, and how he always looked upon all this artist business with +dislike; how he fought against it--and now this discovery! He sent for +the young master, and then there was such a scene--I heard part of it +in the next room. If Herr Reinhold had only behaved sensibly and given +in in this case when he really was not innocent, perhaps the affair +might have been set aside, instead of which he put on his most +obstinate manner, told his father-in-law to his face that he would not +remain a merchant, would go to Italy, would become a musician; he had +endured the slavery here long enough, and much more of the same kind. +The chief could not contain himself for rage; he forbade, threatened, +insulted at last, and then, of course, came the end. The young master +broke out so wildly that I thought something would happen. He stamped +his foot like a madman, and cried--'And if the whole world set itself +in opposition, it will still be. I will not be domineered over anyhow, +nor allow my thoughts and feelings to be prescribed for me.' And it +went on in this tone. An hour later he stormed out of the house, and +has not let himself be heard of since. God protect everyone from such +family scenes."</p> + +<p class="normal">The old gentleman laid his pen aside, left his seat, and wished the +others good-night, while he prepared to leave the office. He had hardly +gone a few steps along the passage when he met Herr Almbach, who turned +in quickly from the street. The bookkeeper struck his hands together in +joyful alarm.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thank God that you, at least, are to be seen again, Herr Captain," he +cried. "We are indeed wretched in this house."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is the barometer still pointing to stormy?" asked Hugo, with a glance +at the upper story.</p> + +<p class="normal">The bookkeeper sighed. "Stormy! Perhaps you will bring us sunshine."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hardly," said Hugo, seriously. "At this moment I am seeking Frau +Almbach. Is she at home?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Your aunt is out with the chief," said the former.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not she. I mean my sister-in-law."</p> + +<p class="normal">"The young mistress? Oh dear, we have not seen her for three days. She +is sure to be upstairs in the nursery. She hardly leaves the little one +for a moment now."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will seek her," said Hugo, as with a rapid adieu he hastened +upstairs. "Good-evening."</p> + +<p class="normal">The bookkeeper looked after him, shaking his head. He was not used to +the young Captain's passing him without some joke, some chaff; and he +had also remarked the cloud which to-day lay on the young man's usually +cheerful brow. He shook his head once more, and repeated his former +sigh, "God knows how the affair will end."</p> + +<p class="normal">In the meanwhile Hugo had reached his sister-in-law's apartments.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is I, Ella," he said, entering. "Have I startled you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The young wife was alone; she sat by her boy's little bed. The rapid, +youthful steps outside, and the quick opening of the door, might well +have deceived her as to the comer. She had surely expected another. Her +painful start and the colour in her face, which suddenly gave way to +intense pallor, as she recognised her brother-in-law, showed this.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My uncle carries his injustice so far as to forbid me the house also," +continued the latter, as he came nearer. "He persists in thinking I had +some share in this unhappy breach. I hope, Ella, that you exonerate me +from it."</p> + +<p class="normal">She hardly listened to the last words. "You bring me news from +Reinhold?" asked she quickly, with fleeting breath. "Where is he?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You surely did not expect that he would come himself," said the +Captain, evasively. "Whatever blame may be due to him in the whole +affair, the behaviour on my uncle's part was such that every one would +have rebelled against it. On this point I stand on his side, and +understand thoroughly that he went with the intention not to return. I +should have done the same."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It was a terrible scene," replied Ella, with difficulty keeping back +the tears which were gushing out. "My parents learned elsewhere what I +would have hidden at any cost, and Reinhold was awful in his wild rage. +He left us, but he might have let me receive one word at least, during +the three days, through you. He is surely with you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," replied Hugo, shortly, almost roughly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," repeated Ella, "he is not with you? I took it as a matter of +course that he would be there."</p> + +<p class="normal">The Captain looked down. "He came to me, and with the intention of +remaining, but a difference arose between us about it. Reinhold is +unboundedly passionate when a certain point is touched upon; I could +and would not hide my feelings about it, and we quarrelled for the +first time in our lives. He thereupon refused to be friends; I have +only seen him again this morning."</p> + +<p class="normal">Ella did not reply. She did not even ask what was the cause of the +quarrel; she felt only too well that in her brother-in-law, esteemed so +frivolous, mischievous, and heartless, she possessed the most energetic +protector of her rights.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have tried my utmost once more," said he, coming close beside her, +"although I knew it would be in vain. But you, Ella, could you not keep +him?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," replied the young wife, "I could not, and at last I would not."</p> + +<p class="normal">Instead of any response, Hugo pointed to the sleeping babe; Ella shook +her head violently.</p> + +<p class="normal">"For his sake I conquered myself, and begged the husband, who wished to +tear himself away from me at any price, to remain. I was repulsed; he +let me feel what a fetter I am to him--he may then go free."</p> + +<p class="normal">Hugo's glance rested enquiringly on her countenance, that again showed +the energetic expression which was once so foreign to her features. +Slowly he drew forth a note.</p> + +<p class="normal">"If then you are prepared, I have a few lines to bring you from +Reinhold. He gave me them two or three hours since."</p> + +<p class="normal">The wife started. The firmness she had just shown could not continue +when she saw her husband's handwriting on the envelope; only his +handwriting, while with mortal agony she had clung to the hope that he +would come himself, if it had merely been to say farewell. With +trembling hand she took the letter and opened it; it contained only a +few lines--</p> + +<p class="normal">"You witnessed the scene between your father and myself, and will +therefore comprehend that I do not enter his house again. That scene +has changed nothing in my decision. It only hastens my departure, as +the want of tact on your parents' part has given the affair a publicity +which does not make it appear desirable for me to remain an hour longer +in H---- than is absolutely necessary. I cannot bid you and the child +good-bye personally, as I shall not set foot again across a threshold +from which I was driven in such a manner. It is not my fault if a +separation, which I was resolved to obtain for a time, now becomes a +lengthened one that is brought about by a violent quarrel. It was you +who made the condition, that I should either remain or go for ever. +Well, then, I go! Perhaps it will be better for us both. Farewell!"</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER VII.</h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">The Captain must have known what the letter contained, as he stood +close by Ella's side, apparently ready to support her, as in the +theatre; but this time she betrayed no weakness. She looked silently +down at the icy words of farewell with which her husband freed himself +from wife and child. With what haste had he seized the excuse which her +father's harshness and her own words offered him; with what relief had +he shaken off the irksome bonds! This blow did not fall unexpectedly +now. Since that last interview she knew her fate.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He is gone already?" asked she, without raising her eyes from the +letter, which she still held in her hand.</p> + +<p class="normal">"An hour ago."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And with her?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Hugo was silent; he could not say "No" to this question. Ella rose, +apparently calm, but she leaned heavily on the boy's bed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I knew it. And now--leave me alone, I implore you!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The Captain hesitated. "I came, also, to bid you adieu," replied he. +"My departure was decided without this, and now, in my brother's +absence, nothing keeps me. I shall make no attempt to remove my uncle's +absurd prejudice against me, but I should like to take a word of +farewell from you, Ella, away with me. Will you refuse it me?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The young woman raised her eyes slowly; they met his, and as if +following an involuntary impulse, held out both hands to him--</p> + +<p class="normal">"I thank you, Hugo, farewell!"</p> + +<p class="normal">With a quick movement he caught her hands in his--</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have ever only been able to bring you pain," he said softly. "By me +came the first news which utterly destroyed your peace; it came too +late, and to-day it was again my hand which brought you the last. But +if I pained you, Ella, must pain you--my God, it has not been easy for +me."</p> + +<p class="normal">His lips rested for a moment on her hand, then he let it fall, and left +the room quickly; a few moments later he was in the open air.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was a raw, regular northern spring evening. The rain fell steadily; +mist hung heavily and densely in the streets; even the lamp light only +shone dimly red in the grey atmosphere. The rolling train bore Reinhold +Almbach away in this fog to the south, where fame and love, where his +future beckoned brightly to him; and in the same hour his young wife +lay at home on her knees by her child's cradle, pressing her head in +the pillow to smother the cry of despair, which now, that she knew +herself to be alone, broke forth at last. He had not come once to say +adieu; he had not one kind last word for her; not one farewell kiss for +his child. They were both forsaken, given up--probably forgotten +already.</p> + +<hr class="W20"> + +<p class="normal">The blazing glory of the sunset seemed to bathe heaven and earth in a +sea of fire, and illumination. All the wonderful colouring of the south +lighted up the western horizon, and the flood of light poured itself +far away over the town, with its cupolas, towers, and palaces. It was +an incomparable panorama stretching around the villa, which lay outside +the town on a slight elevation visible from afar, with its terrace and +colonnades, surrounded by the lower lying gardens, in which the most +luxuriant southern vegetation displayed itself. There sombre cypresses +raised their gloomy heads; pines waved in the gentle evening wind; +white marble statues peeped forth through laurel and myrtle bushes; +the waters from the fountains rippled and fell on the carpet of +turf; and thousands of flowers sent forth their intoxicating sweet +perfume--everywhere beauty and art, scent and flowers, light and +dazzling colours.</p> + +<p class="normal">A numerous party was assembled on the terrace and in the adjoining +parts of the park, preferring the enjoyment of this beautiful evening, +and the wonderful view outside, to remaining in the rooms. It seemed +principally to consist of the aristocracy, yet many a figure might be +seen there which undoubtedly betrayed the artist, and here and there +appeared the dark habit of a priest near the light toilettes of the +ladies or brilliant uniforms. The most different elements seemed to be +united here. They walked, chatted, and sat or stood together in +unconstrained groups.</p> + +<p class="normal">In one of these groups, which had gathered at the foot of a terrace +close to the great fountain, the conversation was conducted with +unusual vivacity; it must be about some subject of general interest. +The few words and names mentioned appeared to rouse the attention of +one of the guests, and he, coming from the terrace, passed close by the +group. He was clearly a stranger, as was denoted by his light brown +hair, eyes, and indeed his whole face, which, although tanned by sun +and air, still did not show the dark colouring of the southerner. The +uniform of a captain set off his strong manly figure very +advantageously, and in his bearing and movements was a happy +combination of the free, somewhat easy manner of a sailor with the +forms of good society. He stopped near the gentlemen who were talking +so eagerly, and listened to their conversation with evident interest.</p> + +<p class="normal">"This new opera is, and will be the chief event of the season," said an +officer in the uniform of the carbineers, "and therefore I do not +understand how it can be so easily postponed. The performance is +already arranged, the rehearsals have begun, all preparations are +nearly finished, when suddenly everything is interrupted, and the whole +performance postponed until the autumn, and all this without any +apparent reason."</p> + +<p class="normal">"The reason lies alone in the sovereign pleasure of Signor Rinaldo," +replied another gentleman, in a somewhat ill-natured tone. "He is +accustomed to treat the opera and public according to his humour and +fancy."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am afraid you are mistaken, Signor Gianelli," interrupted a young +man of distinguished appearance, somewhat excitedly. "If Rinaldo +himself demanded the postponement, there is sure to be some cause for +it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Excuse me, Marchese, it is not so," replied the former. "I, as +conductor of the grand opera, know best what endless trouble, and what +immense sacrifice of time and money it has cost to meet Rinaldo's +wishes. He brought the whole theatrical world into confusion with his +conditions and requirements, as he demanded changes in the company such +as had never been made before, and everything in the same way. As +usual, all was acceded to, and all expected at last to be sure of his +approval; but now, on arriving from M----, he finds nothing but what is +far beneath his anticipations, he orders alterations and dictates +improvements in the most inconsiderate manner. In vain was it attempted +to dissuade him, through Signora Biancona; he threatened to withdraw +the entire opera, and--" here the maestro shrugged his shoulders +satirically, "his Excellency the Director would not take the +responsibility of such a misfortune upon his shoulders. He promised +everything, conceded everything, and as it was quite impossible to +carry out the so peremptorily demanded additions in such a short time, +even although ordered by the sovereign Signor Rinaldo, the performance +was obliged to be postponed until the next season."</p> + +<p class="normal">"The Director in this case was quite right to give way to the wish, or, +if you like it, whim of the composer," said the young Marchese +decidedly. "The company would never have forgiven it if bad management +had robbed them of one of Rinaldo's operas. It is known that he would +be capable of carrying out his threat, and really withdrawing his work, +and with such an alternative before him, nothing remained but to give +way unconditionally."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Certainly; my objection only concerns this species of terrorism which +a strange composer allows himself here, in the heart of Italy, inasmuch +as he compelled the inhabitants to content themselves with his +essentially German ideas of music."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Especially when these same inhabitants have twice made a <i>fiasco</i> of +an opera, while every new creation of Rinaldo's is greeted with +tempestuous applause by the audience," whispered the Marchese to his +neighbour.</p> + +<p class="normal">The latter, an Englishman, looked much bored. He only understood +Italian imperfectly, and the rapid, vivacious conversation was +therefore greatly lost to him. Nevertheless he answered the Marchese's +low spoken and contemptuous remark with a solemn nod, and then looked +attentively at the maestro, as if the latter had become an object of +curiosity for him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"We are speaking of Rinaldo's new opera," said the officer, turning +and explaining politely to the stranger, who so far had remained a +silent listener, and now replied in foreign sounding, but yet fluent +Italian--"I just heard the name. No doubt some musical celebrity."</p> + +<p class="normal">The gentlemen looked in speechless astonishment at the inquirer; only +the maestro's face betrayed unmistakable satisfaction that there was at +least one person in the world who did not know this name.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Some celebrity!" repeated Marchese Tortoni. "Excuse me Signor +Capitano, but you must have been a long time at sea, and perhaps come +from another hemisphere?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Direct from the South Sea Islands!" said the Captain with a pleasant +smile, notwithstanding the ironical tone of the question, "and as +there, unfortunately, they are not so well acquainted with the artistic +productions of the present times as might be desired in the interests +of civilisation, I beg to receive assistance in my deplorable +ignorance."</p> + +<p class="normal">"We are speaking about the greatest and most charming of our present +composers," said the Marchese. "He is certainly by birth a German, but +since some years has belonged to us exclusively. He lives and works +only on Italian ground, and we are proud to be permitted to call him +ours. It will be easy for you to make his personal acquaintance this +evening. He is sure to appear!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"With Signora Biancona--of course!" interrupted the officer, "have you +had an opportunity already of hearing our beautiful <i>prima donna</i>?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The Captain made a gesture of denial. "I only arrived a few days since; +however, I saw her some years previously in my home, where she gained +her first laurels."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, she was a rising star then," cried the others. "To be sure she +laid the foundation of her fame in the north. She returned to us as a +known actress. But now she stands undoubtedly at the height of her +power. You must hear her, and hear her in one of Rinaldo's operas, when +you can admire her in all her glory."</p> + +<p class="normal">"To be sure, as then one fire ignites the other," added the young +Marchese. "At any rate you will find in the Signora of to-day a +brilliantly beautiful apparition. Do not delay an introduction and +interview with her."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Provided it be agreeable to Signor Rinaldo," said the maestro, joining +in again. "Otherwise you may attempt to approach her in vain."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Has Rinaldo power to decide such points?" asked the Captain lightly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, at least he takes the right to do so. He is so used to being +master and ruler everywhere that he tries it here also, and, alas, not +without result. I do not understand Biancona. An actress of her +importance, a woman of her beauty, to allow herself to be so completely +ruled by a man."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But he is Rinaldo," laughed the officer, "and that is saying enough. +Let us confess it, Tortoni, we can none of us compete with his +successes. All hearts fly towards him, wherever he appears; so at last +it is no wonder if even a Biancona bows willingly before the magic +which this man seems to bear about him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hum, it is not done quite so willingly," said Gianelli, grimly. +"Signora is passionate in the highest degree, but Rinaldo, if possible, +even surpasses her. Between them it is quite as often storm as +sunshine, and furious scenes are the order of the day."</p> + +<p class="normal">"This Rinaldo appears to govern all society as well as his audiences," +said the Captain, now turning exclusively to the conductor. "Do people +submit to such a thing from one single man, and he a stranger?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Because all are blind, and will be to every other merit," cried the +maestro with suppressed violence. "When society once raises an idol to +a throne, it carries on its adoration until it becomes ridiculous. +They regularly worship Rinaldo, so it is no wonder if his pride and +self-appreciation become boundless, and he thinks he can trample on all +with impunity who do not pay him homage."</p> + +<p class="normal">The Captain looked steadily and with a peculiar smile at the excited +Italian.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is a pity that such talent should have so dark a side! But after +all, it is not so much talent as fashion, whim of the public, unmerited +success; do not you think so?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Gianelli would probably have agreed with all his heart, but the other +gentlemen's presence put some restraint upon him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The public generally decides in such cases," he replied, prudently, +"and here it is extravagant in its favours. For my part, I maintain, +without wishing in the least to detract from Rinaldo's fame, that he +might compose the most meritless work and they would extol it to the +skies, because it came from him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Very probably," agreed the stranger. "And possibly this new opera is +meritless. I am certainly of your opinion, and shall assuredly--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I advise you, Signor to withhold your opinion until you have become +acquainted with Rinaldo's works," interrupted the Marchese, sharply. +"He has certainly made the unpardonable mistake of attaining the summit +of fame in one unbroken course of triumph, and of acquiring greatness +to which no other can reach so easily. This cannot be forgiven him in +certain circles, and he must do penance for it on every occasion. +Follow my advice."</p> + +<p class="normal">The Captain bowed slightly. "With pleasure, and all the more as it is +my brother whom you have defended so eloquently, Marchese."</p> + +<p class="normal">This explanation, made with a most pleasant smile, naturally created a +great sensation in the group. Marchese Tortoni took a step backwards in +astonishment, and examined the speaker from head to foot. The maestro +became pale and bit his lips, while the officer with difficulty +refrained from laughing. The Englishman this time understood enough of +the conversation to comprehend the trick which had been played, and +which seemed to arouse his entire satisfaction. He smiled with an +expression of extreme contentment, and with long strides crossed over +immediately to the Captain, at whose side he placed himself silently, +thus giving him an unmistakable sign of approval.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The musical name of my brother appears only to be known to these +gentlemen," continued Hugo unabashed, "mine doubtless sounded too +foreign to you in the general introduction. We have, indeed, no reason +to deny our relationship."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, Signor Capitano, I had heard already of your intended arrival," +cried the Marchese, offering his hand with evident heartiness, "but it +was not fair to cheat us with an <i>incognito</i>. To one, at least, it has +caused bitter confusion, although he richly deserved the lesson."</p> + +<p class="normal">Hugo looked round at once for the maestro, who had preferred to retire +unnoticed. "I wished to reconnoitre the ground a little," retorted he, +laughing, "and that was only possible so long as my <i>incognito</i> lasted. +But it would soon have reached its termination, as I expect Reinhold +every moment; he was detained in the town, while I drove on in advance. +Ah, he is there already."</p> + +<p class="normal">He really appeared at that moment on the terrace, and the maestro would +have had fresh opportunity to give vent to his anger at the "adoration, +which became ridiculous," as the sudden cessation of all conversation, +the interest with which all eyes were directed to one point, the +movement which spread through all the company, was only due to +Reinhold's entrance.</p> + +<p class="normal">Reinhold himself had become quite different in these years--quite +different. The young genius who had once fought so impatiently against +the confining limits and prejudices of his surroundings, had raised +himself to be a renowned composer, whose name extended beyond the +boundaries of Italy and his home, whose works were familiar on the +stages of all capitals; to whom fame and honour, money and triumph, +flowed in richest abundance. The same mighty change had also been +carried out in his exterior, and this alteration was not at all +disadvantageous, as instead of the pale, serious youth, there now stood +a man in whom it was evident that he was at home with life and the +world, and only in the man did the always peculiarly attractive style +of his beauty manifest itself entirely. The proud self-consciousness +which now rested upon his <i>spirituel</i> brow, and showed itself in all +his features and his whole bearing, became them well, but there lay +also a heavy shadow on this brow and on those features which happiness +had surely never placed there. His mouth curved with harsh mockery, +with contemptuous bitterness, and the former spark slumbered no more in +the depths of his eyes; now a flame shone there, burning, destroying, +flashing almost demonlike at every emotion. Whatever this face might +have gained outwardly, <i>peace</i> spoke no more from within.</p> + +<p class="normal">He conducted Signora Biancona on his arm, no longer the youthful <i>prima +donna</i> of a second-rate Italian opera company, which gave wandering +performances in the north, but a star of European renown, who, after +having gathered laurels and triumphs in all important places, now +occupied the first position at the theatre of her native town. Marchese +Tortoni was right; she was dazzlingly beautiful, this woman; there was +the old burning glance, which once understood how to set on fire the +honourable patrician blood of the noble Hanseatic town, only now it +appeared to have become more glowing, more scorching; there was still +the countenance, with its witch-like entrancing magic, the figure with +its noble plastic limbs, only everything seemed fuller, more +voluptuous. The flower had developed to the ripest, almost over-ripe +splendour; she still bloomed, her beauty was still at its zenith, if +even one could not but acknowledge that perhaps in the course of the +next few years the limits would be already passed beyond which she +would be tending irrecoverably to her descent.</p> + +<p class="normal">Both, especially Reinhold, were seized upon the moment they arrived. +All crowded around him; all sought his vicinity, his conversation. In a +few moments he had become the centre of the assemblage, and some time +elapsed before he could withdraw from all the attentions and flatteries +in order to look round for his brother, who had stood somewhat aloof.</p> + +<p class="normal">"There you are at last, Hugo," said he, approaching, "I missed you +already. You make one seek you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It was not possible to break through that triple circle of admirers, +which surrounds you like a Chinese wall; I have not attempted such a +piece of daring, but indulged in contemplating what happiness it is to +possess a celebrated brother."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, this everlasting crush is really oppressive," said Reinhold, with +an expression which showed not contented triumph, but, on the contrary, +unmistakable weariness; "however come now, I will introduce you to +Beatrice."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Beatrice?--Ah, Signora Vampire! <i>must</i> I, Reinhold?"</p> + +<p class="normal">His brother's look became overcast. "Certainly you must. You cannot +avoid seeing her in my company, much and often. She is beautiful, and +with reason wonders it has not already been done. What is it, Hugo? You +appear wishful to evade this introduction altogether, and yet you do +not know Beatrice even."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I do, though," replied the Captain shortly. "I have seen her already +at a concert on the stage at H----."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But never spoken to her. It is odd one must almost compel you to do +what any other would look upon as a privilege! Usually you are the +first, when acquaintance with a beautiful woman is in question."</p> + +<p class="normal">Hugo replied nothing, but followed without farther protest. Signora +Biancona, as was her custom, was surrounded by a circle of gentlemen, +and engaged in most lively conversation, which she, however, broke off +immediately the two appeared. Reinhold presented his brother to her. +Beatrice turned to the latter with all her fascinations.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do you know, Captain, I have been angry with you already, without +knowing you?" she began. "Reinhold was beside himself when he received +the news of your arrival. He left me in M---- in the most ungallant +manner, in order to hasten towards you. I had to undertake my return +journey alone."</p> + +<p class="normal">Hugo bowed politely, but more distantly than was his wont to a lady, +nor did he appear to notice that Beatrice's beautiful hand was extended +confidently to Rinaldo's brother, at least he utterly resisted the +temptation of kissing it, which was certainly expected.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am very unhappy, Signora, at having roused your ill-will. But one +who disposes so exclusively of Reinhold's presence and company, should +possess liberality enough to forego it a short time in favour of his +brother."</p> + +<p class="normal">He looked round for Reinhold, but the latter was already engaged.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I resign myself," said Beatrice, still with charming friendliness, "or +rather I must still resign myself, as, since you came, I have seen +little enough of Rinaldo. There will remain no other remedy than to beg +you to accompany him when he comes to see me."</p> + +<p class="normal">Hugo made a somewhat measured gesture of thanks--</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are very kind, Signora. I shall seize with pleasure the +opportunity of becoming better acquainted with my brother's +admired--Muse."</p> + +<p class="normal">Signora Biancona, smiled--</p> + +<p class="normal">"Has he called me so to you? To be sure the name is not strange in our +circle of friends. Rinaldo gave it me once, when I led his first steps +to the path of art. A somewhat romantic designation, especially +according to German views, is it not, Signor? You hardly have such in +your north?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Sometimes," said the Captain quietly, "only with a slight difference. +With us, muses are ideal, floating in unattainable heights. Here they +are--beautiful women. An undeniable advantage for the artist!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The words sounded like a compliment, and adhered steadily to the +playful tone which Beatrice herself had commenced; nevertheless she +cast a quick searching glance at the speaker's face--perhaps she saw +the sparkling scorn in it--as she answered sharply--</p> + +<p class="normal">"For my part, I confess to have no sympathy with the north. Simply +because compelled, did I pass some short time there, and could only +breathe again when Italy's sky rose above me. We southerners cannot +succeed in submitting to the icy, pedantic rules which confine society +there, to the fetters which they would wish even to impose upon +artists."</p> + +<p class="normal">Hugo leant with perfect indifference against the marble balustrade.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good God, that is of no importance. They are easily broken, and then +one is free as the birds in the air. Reinhold proved that sufficiently, +and now he has foresworn home and pedantic rules for ever, which is +entirely due to you, Signora."</p> + +<p class="normal">Beatrice used her fan violently, although at this moment the evening +breeze blew refreshingly cool.</p> + +<p class="normal">"How do you mean, Signor?" asked she, quickly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I? Oh, I mean nothing, excepting, perhaps, that it must be an +elevating sensation to have thus the entire fate of a man--or even a +family--in one's hands; in tearing him away from his 'fetters,' one +must feel in such a case something like an earthly providence. Is it +not so, Signora?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Beatrice had started slightly at these words, whether from astonishment +or anger was not easy to decide. Her eyes met his; but this time they +measured one another, as two antagonists do. The Italian's glance +flashed; but the Captain bore it so firmly and quietly, that she felt +it was not such an easy game opposite those clear brown eyes, which +dared fearlessly to break a lance with her.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I believe Rinaldo has every cause to be grateful to this providence," +replied she, proudly. "Perhaps he would have sunk amid circumstances +and surroundings which were unworthy of him, if it had not aroused his +genius and shown him the path to greatness."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Perhaps," said Hugo, coolly. "But people maintain that real genius +never does sink, and the more difficulties it has to penetrate the more +do they strengthen its power; however, that, of course, is also one of +the northern pedantic views. The result has decided in favour of your +view, Signora, and success is a god to which all bow."</p> + +<p class="normal">He inclined his head and retired. He had said all this in the lightest +conversational tone, apparently quite unmeaningly, but Signora Biancona +must surely have felt the bitterness which lay in the Captain's words, +for she pressed her lips together in most intense internal irritation, +and her fan was moved almost furiously.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">Meanwhile Hugo had sought his brother, whom he found in conversation +with Marchese Tortoni; both stood a little apart from the rest of the +company.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no, Cesario," said Reinhold, at that moment, refusing something. +"I have only shortly returned from M----, and cannot possibly think of +leaving town again. Perhaps later--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"But the opera is postponed," interrupted the young Marchese, in a +beseeching tone, "and the heat begins to be oppressive. You are sure to +select some <i>villegiatura</i> in a few weeks. Come to my assistance, +Captain," said he, turning to Hugo, just then approaching. "You intend, +surely, to become acquainted with our south, and there is no better +opportunity than in my Mirando."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do you know the Marchese already?" asked Reinhold. "Then I need not +introduce you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Certainly not," replied Hugo, mischievously. "I introduced myself +personally to these gentlemen, just as they were sitting in judgment +upon you, and I had the harmless pleasure, as an unknown listener, of +rousing them against you by casual remarks. Unfortunately it only +succeeded with one. Marchese Tortoni, on the contrary, took your part +most passionately; I had to feel the whole weight of his displeasure, +as I allowed myself to doubt your talent."</p> + +<p class="normal">Reinhold shook his head. "Has he been playing his tricks already, +Cesario? Take care, Hugo, with your jokes! We are here on Italian +ground, where people do not take such things so lightly as in our +home."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, in this case the name was only required to reconcile us," said +the Marchese, smiling. "But we are losing the thread of our discussion +entirely," continued he, impatiently. "I have still received no reply +to my request. I count positively upon your visit, Rinaldo; naturally +on yours also, Signor."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am my brother's guest," exclaimed Hugo, to whom the last words were +addressed. "Such a decision depends upon him and--Signora Biancona."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Upon Beatrice! How so?" asked Reinhold, quickly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, she is already greatly annoyed that my presence keeps you so +much from her. It is decidedly a question whether she will set you at +liberty for any time, as Marchese Tortoni seems to wish."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do you think I should allow myself to be so entirely governed by her +whims?" Reinhold's voice betrayed rising irritation. "I shall have to +show that I can form a decision without her leave. We will come, +Cesario, next month, I promise you."</p> + +<p class="normal">An expression of great pleasure passed over the young man's face at +this rapid, impetuous assent; he turned politely to the Captain.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Rinaldo knows my Mirando well, and has always praised it. I hope also +to be able to make your stay agreeable to you. The villa is beautifully +situated, close to the sea shore--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"And isolated," said Reinhold, with a peculiar mixture of melancholy +and longing. "One can breathe there while one is almost suffocated in +the drawing-room atmosphere. But our friends are going to dinner," said +he, turning the conversation, with an upward glance to the terrace. "We +must, I suppose, join the others. Will you take Beatrice to dinner, +Hugo?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, thank you," declined the Captain, coolly. "That is surely your +exclusive right. I do not wish to dispute it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Your conversation with her was remarkably short," said Reinhold, as +together they ascended the steps of the terrace. "What was the matter +with you both?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nothing particular. A little outpost skirmish; nothing more. Signora +and I have taken up our positions towards one another at once. I hope +you do not object."</p> + +<p class="normal">He received no answer, as Signora Biancona's silk dress rustled close +by them, and the next moment stood between the brothers. The Captain +bowed low, with consummate gallantry, before the beautiful woman. It +would indeed have been impossible to find the least fault with this +mode of greeting, and Beatrice acknowledged it with an inclination of +her head, but the glance which she shot towards him showed sufficiently +that she also had taken up her position. The intense hatred of the +roused southerner blazed in her eye, only for a moment to be sure; the +next she turned round, laid her hand on Reinhold's arm, to let him lead +her into the dining-room.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That seems to me neither more nor less than a declaration of war," +murmured Hugo, as he followed the pair. "Wordless, but sufficiently +comprehensible. The enmity has begun--at your commands, Signora."</p> + +<hr class="W20"> + +<p class="normal">Marchese Tortoni was not wrong in his remarks; the heat, +notwithstanding the early season of the year, began to be oppressive. +The season was not over yet, but many families had already exchanged +their residence in the town for the usual <i>villegiatura</i> in the +mountains or by the seaside, and the rest of the society was also on +the point of dispersing itself earlier than usual to all points of the +compass, until autumn brought them together once more.</p> + +<p class="normal">In Signora Biancona's house no preparations had been made so far which +might lead to the inference of a speedy departure, and yet one seemed +to be under discussion in the interview which had just taken place +between her and Reinhold Almbach. The two were alone in the singer's +brilliantly and dazzlingly illuminated saloon; but Beatrice's beautiful +face bore an expression of unmistakable excitement. Leaning against the +cushions of the divan, her lips pressed angrily together, she plucked +to pieces one of the beautiful bouquets which ornamented the celebrated +actress' reception-room so plentifully; while Reinhold was walking up +and down the room with folded arms and gloomily clouded brow. It only +required a single glance to guess that one of those stormy scenes was +being enacted which Maestro Gianelli declared were as frequent between +the two as was sunshine.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I beg you, Beatrice, spare me any more of these exhibitions," said +Reinhold, with great violence. "You cannot alter an affair already +determined upon. Marchese Tortoni received my promise, and our +departure for Mirando is arranged for to-morrow."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, then, you must retract this promise," replied Beatrice, in the +same tone. "You gave it without my knowledge, gave it weeks ago, and +then we had already decided to spend our <i>villegiatura</i> in the +mountains this year."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Certainly! And I shall follow you there as soon as I return from +Mirando."</p> + +<p class="normal">"As soon as you return! As if Tortoni would not try every means to +chain you there as usual, and if now, in addition, you go in your +brother's company, it is a matter of course that you will be kept away +from me as long as possible."</p> + +<p class="normal">Reinhold stopped suddenly, and a dark look was turned towards her.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Will you not have the goodness to leave this wearisome, exhausted +subject at last?" asked he, sharply. "I know already quite well enough +that there is no sympathy between you and Hugo; but he, at any rate, +spares me any dissertations upon it, and does not require me to share +his sympathies and antipathies. Besides, you must allow that he has +never been impolite towards you."</p> + +<p class="normal">Beatrice threw her bouquet aside and rose. "Oh, yes, I allow that, +certainly; and it is just this courteousness which annoys me so much. +The agreeable conversations, with the everlasting, scornful smile on +his lips; the attentions, with contempt in his eyes; that is quite the +German manner, from which I suffered so much in your north, which +governs and rules us in the so-called circles of society, which knows +how to restrain us there, even when fighting ever so bitterly with any +one. Your brother understands that perfectly; nothing hits him, nothing +wounds him; everything glances off from his everlasting, mocking smile. +I--I hate him, and he me not less."</p> + +<p class="normal">"With difficulty," said Reinhold bitterly, "as you are such a mistress +of the art, as few others can be. I have often enough seen that, when +you have imagined yourself insulted by anyone. With you it overflows +all bounds at once. But this time, you will remember, that it is my +brother against whom this hatred is directed, and that through it I am +not disposed to let myself be robbed of our first short meeting for +years. I shall endure no insult, no attack, upon Hugo."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Because you love him more than me," cried Beatrice, wildly. "Because I +count for nothing beside your brother. To be sure, what am I to you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">And now the way was opened to a regular flood of reproaches, +complaints, and threats, which finally ended in a torrent of tears. All +the passion of the Italian broke forth; but Reinhold seemed to be moved +to nothing less than concession by it. He attempted to restrain her +several times, and as he did not succeed, he stamped furiously with his +foot.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Once more, Beatrice, cease these scenes. You know that you never gain +anything with me by them, and I should have thought you had already +found by experience that I am not such a slave without a will, that a +word or a caprice from you is a command. I shall not put up with these +continual exhibitions any longer, which you call forth on every +occasion."</p> + +<p class="normal">He went furiously to the balcony, and, turning his back upon the room, +looked down into the street, where the busy movement of the Corso was +visible. For a few minutes Beatrice's passionate sobs were heard in the +saloon; then all was still, and immediately after she placed a hand on +his shoulder, as he stood at the window.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Rinaldo!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Half-reluctantly he turned round. His glance met Beatrice's glowing +dark eye; a tear still stood in it, but it was no longer a tear of +anger, and her voice, just now so excited, had a soft, melting ring in +it.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You say I am a mistress in the art of hating. Only in hating, Rinaldo? +You have often enough experienced the contrary."</p> + +<p class="normal">Reinhold now turned completely to her, and returned from the balcony.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know that you can love," replied he, more mildly, "love warmly and +wholly. But you can also torment with this love; that I have to feel +every day."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And you would wish to flee this torment, at least for a time?"</p> + +<p class="normal">A deep reproach sounded in her voice. Almbach made an impatient +movement.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I seek peace, Beatrice," said he, "and that I do not find at all near +you. You can only breathe in constant heat and excitement, both are +your conditions of life, and you drag your entire surroundings with you +in the everlasting fire of your nature. I--am tired."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Of society or of me?" asked Beatrice, with freshly rising fury.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Can you not cease from seeking a stab in every word?" asked Reinhold, +angrily. "I see we do not understand each other again to-day. Adieu!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are going!" cried the Italian, half-frightened, +half-threateningly. "And with this farewell for a separation of weeks!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Reinhold, who was already at the door, thought a moment and turned +slowly round.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, yes; I forgot the departure. Farewell, Beatrice!"</p> + +<p class="normal">But he was not permitted to make his farewell so easily. Signora +Biancona had long since learned not to defy for any time the man who +now understood how to bend her otherwise capricious will to his own, +and when he again drew near to her all farther opposition was at an +end. Her voice trembled as she asked softly, "And you will really go +alone, without me?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Beatrice--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Alone, without me?" repeated she, more passionately. Reinhold made an +attempt to withdraw his hand from her, but it remained only an attempt.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Cesario expects me positively," he said, deprecatingly, "and I have +already explained that you cannot accompany me--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not to Mirando," interrupted Beatrice, "I know that. But what prevents +my altering the original plan, and making my first summer stay in +S---- instead of in the mountains, the great resort of all strangers? +It is near enough to Mirando, half-an-hour by boat would bring you +across to me. If I were to follow you--may I, Rinaldo?"</p> + +<p class="normal">This tone of flattering entreaty was irresistible, and her glance +begged still more. Reinhold looked down silently at the beautiful +woman, the possession of whose love once appeared to him the highest +prize of happiness. The magic still exercised its old power, and +exercised it now most strongly when he was attempting to escape from +it. The concession was not made in words, but Beatrice saw, as he bent +towards her, that she had conquered this time. When he really left her, +half-an-hour later, the change in the plan of her journey was quite +decided upon, and their farewell was not for a separation of weeks, but +only of days.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was already becoming dark, and the moon was rising slowly, when +Reinhold reached his own abode, which lay at some distance, in a more +open part of the town. On entering his reception-room he found the +Captain there, who appeared just to have been giving his servant an +impressive lecture, as Jonas stood before him with a most rueful +countenance, which was comically mixed with suppressed indignation, to +find words for which his master's presence only prevented him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What is it?" asked Reinhold, somewhat astonished.</p> + +<p class="normal">"An inquisitorial enquiry," replied Hugo, annoyed. "For years I have +taken trouble in vain with this obstinate sinner and incorrigible +woman-hater, but neither teaching nor example--Jonas, you are to go +instantly up to the Padrona, beg her pardon, and promise to be more +mannerly in future. March! go along!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I shall be obliged to send him back to the 'Ellida' at last," +continued he, turning to his brother, when Jonas had left the room. "The +ship's cat is the only female person there which he has near him; and +it is to be hoped he will not quarrel with it."</p> + +<p class="normal">Reinhold threw himself on a seat. "I wish I had your unconquerable +humour, your happy gift of taking life like a game. I never could do +it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, the ground notes of your being were always elegiac," said the +Captain. "I believe you never looked upon me as quite equal to yourself +in birth, as I could not take such ideal romantic flight to the +heights, nor penetrate to the depths, like your artistic natures. We +sailors are happy on the surface, and if now and then a storm should +disturb the deep, it does not matter to us, we remain above."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Quite true," said Reinhold, gloomily. "May you always, stay on your +sunny, bright surface! Believe me, Hugo, it is only muddy below in the +depths, where people seek for treasures; and an icy breath blows above +in the height, where one dreamed of nothing but sunlight. I have tasted +both."</p> + +<p class="normal">Hugo looked searchingly at his brother, who lay more than sat on his +seat, his head leaning back, as if tired to death, while his gloomy +eyes wandered out over the gardens of the neighbourhood, and at last +remained fixed on the faintly illumined horizon, where the last rays of +daylight just disappeared.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Listen, Reinhold; you do not please me at all," he broke forth +suddenly. "After years I come to see my brother again, whose name fills +the whole world, to whom fate has given everything it can give to one +man. I find you at the height of renown and success--and I expected to +find you different."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And how, then?" asked Reinhold, without raising his head or turning +his eyes from the darkening evening sky.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I do not know," said the Captain, earnestly. "But I know that after a +fortnight only I cannot endure this life, which you have led for years. +This restless rushing from pleasure to pleasure, without any +satisfaction; this constant wavering between wild excitement and deadly +exhaustion does not suit my nature. You should put a bridle on yours."</p> + +<p class="normal">Reinhold made a half-impatient movement. "Folly. I have become +accustomed to it for long; and besides, you do not understand it, +Hugo."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Possibly. At any rate I do not require to deaden my feelings."</p> + +<p class="normal">Reinhold started up. A glance of burning anger met his brother, who +attempted to pierce so far into his innermost thoughts, and who +continued, quite unmoved--</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is only a means of deadening your feelings which you struggle for +day after day, which you seek everywhere without finding. Give up this +life, I entreat you. You will ruin yourself, body and mind, by it; you +must succumb to it at last."</p> + +<p class="normal">"How long is it since the joyous Captain of the 'Ellida' has become a +preacher of moralities," scoffed Reinhold, with as much scornful +expression as he could use. "Who would have thought long ago that you +would lecture me in this manner. But do not take any trouble about my +conversion, Hugo. I have foresworn all the pious ideas of my youth, +once for all."</p> + +<p class="normal">The Captain was silent. This was again the tone of wounding scorn with +which Reinhold made himself unapproachable the moment such topics were +touched upon; this tone, which made all influence impossible, which +jarred so upon every recollection of youth, and made the formerly warm +bond between the brothers strange and cold. Hugo did not even try +to-day to alter it; he knew that it would be in vain. Turning away, he +took up a book which was lying on the table, and began turning over its +leaves.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have never heard a single word from you about my compositions," +began Reinhold, again, after a momentary silence. "You have had an +opportunity here of becoming acquainted with my operas. How do you like +them?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am no connoisseur of music," said Hugo, evasively.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know that, and therefore I lay some value on your opinion, because +it is that of the unprejudiced, but acute public. How do you like my +music?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The Captain threw the book on the table.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is agreeable and--" he stopped.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Unbridled as yourself. You and your tones go beyond all bounds."</p> + +<p class="normal">"An annihilating criticism," said Reinhold, half-struck by it. "It is +well that I should hear it; you would fare badly in the circle of my +admirers. How then do you allow that there is anything agreeable in +it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"When you, yourself speak--yes!" explained Hugo, decidedly, "but that +is seldom enough. Generally this strange element predominates which has +given the turn to your talent, and still rules it. I cannot help it, +Reinhold, but this influence which from the commencement you have +followed, which all the world prizes as so elevating, has brought no +good, not even to the artist. Without it you might not have been so +celebrated, but undoubtedly greater."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Truly, Beatrice is right, when she dreads you as her implacable +opponent," remarked Reinhold, with undisguised bitterness. "Certainly, +she only thinks of a personal prejudice. That you do not even allow the +value of her artistic influence upon me would indeed be new to her."</p> + +<p class="normal">Hugo shrugged his shoulders. "She has quite drawn you into the Italian +style. You always storm when others only play, but it is all the same. +Why do you not write German music? But what am I talking about? You +have turned your back upon home and all its belongings for ever."</p> + +<p class="normal">Reinhold rested his head on his hand. "Yes certainly--for ever."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That almost sounds like regret," hazarded the Captain, looking with +fixed scrutiny at his brother's face. The latter looked up darkly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What do you mean? Do you perhaps think I regret the old chains, +because I have not found the happiness dreamed of in freedom? If I +tried any communication it would--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, you did attempt some communication with your wife?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"With Ella?" asked Reinhold, and there was again the old mixture of +pity and contempt, which betrayed itself in his voice the moment he +spoke of his wife. "What good could that have done? You know how I +left; it was done by a complete rupture with her parents, and therefore +naturally a narrow, dependent nature like Ella's would join in the +verdict of condemnation if it were ever even able to raise itself to a +verdict of its own. If the breach between us was formerly wide, now, +after all that has happened, it has become impassable. No, there could +be no talk of that, but I wished to receive news of my child. I could +not bear longer to have my boy so far away, not to be able to see him, +not even to possess a picture of him. I wanted his at any price, +therefore I chose the shortest means, and wrote to the mother."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, and--?" asked Hugo, with interest.</p> + +<p class="normal">Reinhold laughed bitterly--</p> + +<p class="normal">"T might have spared myself the humiliation. No answer came--that +certainly was answer enough, but I wanted just to know how the child +was; I thought of the possibility of a mistake, of its being lost--what +does one not think of in such a case?--and wrote again. The letter came +back unopened"--he clenched his fist in wild anger--"unopened, to me! +It is my uncle's work; there is no doubt of it. Ella would never have +dared to offer it to me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do you think so? You do not know your wife. She certainly has 'dared' +to offer it, and she alone could dare it, as her parents have been dead +some years."</p> + +<p class="normal">Reinhold turned round quickly--</p> + +<p class="normal">"How do you know that? Are you still in communication with H----?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," said the Captain, quietly; "you may imagine that the state of +mind which existed in the family towards you was also partly carried +over to me. Since I left H---- at that time, a few days after you did, +I have never revisited it, but I correspond still with the former +bookkeeper of the firm of Almbach, who has taken over the business, and +continues it on his own account. I heard a few things from him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And you only tell me this now, after being together for nearly a +fortnight?" cried Reinhold, almost furiously.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have naturally not wished to touch upon a subject which it seemed to +me you wished to avoid," answered Hugo coolly.</p> + +<p class="normal">Reinhold walked up and down the room a few times--</p> + +<p class="normal">"Her parents are dead, then? And Ella and the child?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You need not be anxious about them; my uncle left a good fortune, much +more than people thought."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I knew he was richer than he wished to be deemed," said Reinhold +quickly, "and this certainly alone gave me perfect freedom of action in +my departure. I was not necessary for my wife and child. They were safe +from any change of fate, without even my presence. But where are they +now? Still in H----?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr Consul Erlau was appointed the boy's guardian," informed Hugo, +rather shortly and distantly. "He appears also to have taken very +active interest in the deserted wife, as directly after expiration of +the time of mourning she moved into his house with the child. There +both were still living, half-a-year ago; so far my news extends."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Indeed?" said Reinhold thoughtfully, "only I do not understand how +Ella, with her education and her habits, can possibly exist in the +splendid establishment of the Erlaus. I suppose she will have arranged +a few back rooms so as never to appear, or, notwithstanding her +fortune, have undertaken the post of housekeeper. She will never be +able to rise above this ambition. Had it not been so, I should have +borne much, indeed all--for the child's sake."</p> + +<p class="normal">He went to the window, pushed it open, and leant out. The evening air +blew cool into the close room, where now a long silence ensued, as even +the Captain seemed to have no more inclination to prolong the +conversation. After a time he arose.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Our departure in the morning is arranged rather early; we must be +awake betimes. Good night, Reinhold!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good night!" replied Reinhold, without turning round.</p> + +<p class="normal">Hugo left the room. "I wish this Circe of a Beatrice could see him at +such moments," muttered he, shutting the door. "You have conquered, +Signora, and torn him to yourself as your indisputable property--you +have not made him happy."</p> + +<p class="normal">Reinhold remained a few moments longer immovable, at his place; then he +raised himself and went over to his work room. He had to pass through +several apartments in order to reach it. This abode, which occupied the +entire ground floor of the roomy villa, was not so brilliant as that of +Signora Biancona, but yet more extravagantly furnished, as the +magnificence which reigned there was here ten times surpassed by the +artistic decorations of the rooms; so there pictures hung on the walls, +statues stood in the window niches, whose value could only be estimated +by thousands; here were produced masterly copies of the most splendid +art treasures of Italy. Wherever the eye turned, it met vases, busts, +drawings and beautiful works, which elsewhere would have been each +alone the ornament of any drawing-room, and which here, scattered +everywhere, only served as additional decorations. Everywhere was +wealth of beauty and art such as only a Rinaldo could gather around +him in so lavish a manner, to whom gold as well as fame flowed in +never-ceasing plenty, and who was accustomed to throw the former away +quite recklessly.</p> + +<p class="normal">In the middle of the study there stood a splendid piano, the gift of an +enthusiastic circle of admirers, who wished to offer a visible +testimony of their thanks to the master; the writing-table was covered +with cards and letters, which bore the names of the first people in the +kingdom, both as regards birth and genius, and which here were +indifferently thrust aside, without the recipient placing the least +value on them; from the principal wall, a life-sized picture of +Beatrice Biancona looked down, painted by a celebrated hand, most +charmingly represented, a really speaking likeness. She wore the +fanciful costume of one of her chief parts in an opera of Rinaldo's, +through the successful representation of whose works she herself had +only risen to be an actress of the first order. The painter had +succeeded in embodying the utterly infatuating magic, the glowing charm +of the original, in this portrait. The beautiful figure appeared +half-turned to the piano in an inimitably graceful pose, and the dark +eyes gazed with deceptively life-like truth down upon the man whom they +had kept so long already in indissoluble bonds, as if even here, in the +sacred place of his works and labour, they would not leave him alone.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CHAPTER IX.</h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">Reinhold sat at his piano, improvising. The room was not lighted, only +the moon's rays, streaming fully in, hung over the flood of tones, +which now rose as if the storm were raging in its waves, now rolling up +mountains high, and then again disclosing the depths of an abyss. The +melodies flowed forth passionately, glowing, intoxicatingly, and then +suddenly they would start and change as if to harsh dissonance, to +jarring discord. Those were the tones with which Rinaldo for years had +reigned in the realms of music, with which he carried the crowd away to +admiration; perhaps because they lent language to that demon-like +element which slumbers in every one's breast, and of which every one is +conscious, partly with dread, partly with secret shuddering. There lay, +too, in these melodies something of that wild rush from pleasure to +pleasure, of that rapid change from feverish excitement to deadly +exhaustion, from that striving to benumb all feeling, which, sought for +ever, is never found; and yet there rang forth something powerful, +eternal, which had nothing in common with that element with which it +fought, and which was raised above it, only to be wrecked within it at +last.</p> + +<p class="normal">The perfume of oranges rose from the gardens and streamed in through +the widely-opened doors on to the balcony, and was wafted +intoxicatingly through the apartments. Clear, full of great beauty and +intense peace, lay the moonlight above the old town, and the dim +distance disappeared in the blue, misty vapour. The fountain rustled +dreamily amongst the blooming trees, and the light which shone in the +falling drops illuminated with powerful distinctness the whole row of +apartments, with their marble treasures of art; it illuminated the +picture in the richly gilt frame, so that the witch-like, beautiful +figure above seemed to live; and the same light fell upon the +countenance of the man, whose brow, amid all this beauty and all this +peace, remained so heavily overcast.</p> + +<p class="normal">How many years, and, indeed, much besides which weighed more heavily +than years only, lay between those long northern winter nights on which +the young musician created his first compositions, and this balmy +moonlight night of the south, on which the world-renowned Rinaldo +repeated, in endless variations, the principal theme of his newest +opera. And yet all vanished in this hour. Softly, recollection passed +before him, and let long-forgotten days live again, long-forgotten +pictures stand before him; the little garden house, with its +old-fashioned furniture, and the stunted vines over the window, the +miserable little strip of garden with its few trees and shrubs, and the +high, prison-like walls around it; the narrow, gloomy house, with the +so intensely hated business-room. Faint, colourless pictures--and yet +they would not give way, as above them floated smilingly a pair of +large, deep, blue child's eyes, which only there had shone for the +father, and which here, in this orbit, full of poetry and beauty, he +sought for in vain. He had seen them so often in his child's face, and +also once--somewhere else. The remembrance of this was certainly but +dim, almost forgotten; they had only then shown themselves to him for a +moment, before being veiled again immediately, as they had been for +years; but it was still those eyes, which hovered before him, as now, +out of the storming and rolling tones, a magically sweet melody arose. +An endless longing spoke in it, a pain which his lips would not utter, +and thus formed a bridge across into the far distant past. Now had +genius burst the fetters which then oppressed and confined him; now he +stood aloft on the once dreamed-of heights. All that life and success, +fame and love could give had become his portion, and now--again like a +storm, it swept over the notes, wild, passionate, bacchante-like, and +through it ever again that melody came plaintively, with its touching +pain, its restless longing, which could not be pacified.</p> + +<hr class="W20"> + +<p class="normal">"I fear our captain will not endure Mirando much longer. It is +dangerous having the sea thus ever before his eyes; he gazes over it +with such longing, as if the sooner that he could sail away from us the +better."</p> + +<p class="normal">With these words Marchese Tortoni turned to his guest, who, for the +last quarter of an hour had taken hardly any part in the conversation, +and whom the young lord just caught in the act of a surreptitious yawn.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Indeed not," said Hugo, defending himself. "I only feel myself so +utterly unimportant and ignorant in these ideal art discussions, and so +deeply impressed with the sense of my ignorance, that I have just gone +hurriedly through all the words of command during a storm, in order to +obtain for myself the consolatory conviction that I do understand +something."</p> + +<p class="normal">"All evasion!" cried the Marchese. "You miss the female element +here, which you adore so much, and now appear unable to forego. +Unfortunately, my Mirando cannot offer you that charm, as yet. You know +I am not married, and have not been able to resolve upon sacrificing my +freedom."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not resolve upon sacrificing your freedom," intimated Hugo. "My God, +that sounds shocking. If you have not yet ascended the highest ladder +of earthly happiness, as books express it--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do not believe him, Cesario," broke in Reinhold. "Notwithstanding all +his gallantry and knightliness, at heart he is of an icy nature, which +nothing warms too easily. He plays with all--has no feeling for any; +the ever-recurring romance, which he even sometimes calls passion, +lasts just so long as he is on shore, and disappears with the first +fresh breeze which wafts his 'Ellida' away on the sea. Nothing has ever +yet stirred his heart."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Abominable character!" cried Hugo, throwing away his cigar. "I protest +against it most solemnly."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well you, perhaps, maintain that it is untrue?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The Captain laughed and turned to Tortoni. "I assure you, Signor +Marchese, that I too can be unimpeachably true to my beautiful blue +ocean bride"--he pointed towards the sea--"to her I am pledged with +heart and hand. She alone understands how to chain and hold me fast +again and again, and if she do allow me now and then to look into a +pair of beautiful eyes, she never tolerates serious faithlessness."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Until you look at last into a pair of eyes which teach you that you +also are not proof against the universal fate of mortals," said +Reinhold, half-jokingly, half with a bitterness which was intelligible +only to his brother. "There are such eyes."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, yes, there are such eyes," repeated Hugo, looking out over the sea +with an almost dreamy expression.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, sir, the tone sounds very suspicious," said the Marchese, +teasingly. "Perhaps you have already met with those kind of eyes?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I?" The Captain had at once thrown off the momentary seriousness, and +was again full of the old mischief. "Folly! I hope to defy long enough +yet the 'universal doom of mortals.' Do you hear?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What a pity you can find no opportunity here of proving this +determination," said Cesario. "The only neighbours whom we have keep +themselves so secluded that no attempt ever could be made. The young +Signora even--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"A young Signora? Where?" Hugo jumped up eagerly.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Marchese pointed to a country house, which, barely a mile distant, +lay half-hidden in an olive grove.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The villa Fiorina yonder has been inhabited for some months. So far as +I hear they are also countrymen of yours, Germans, who have settled +there for the summer; but they appear to make the most perfect solitude +and invisibility their law. No one is received, no one allowed to +enter. Visitors from S----, taking advantage of their acquaintance at +home, were dismissed, without exception, and, as the family confine +their walks chiefly to the park and terrace, it is impossible to +approach them."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And the Signora--is she beautiful?" asked Hugo, with most lively +eagerness.</p> + +<p class="normal">Cesario shrugged his shoulders. "With the best will I cannot tell you. +I only saw her once slightly, and at some distance. A slight, youthful +figure; a head covered with beautiful golden plaits; unfortunately her +face was not turned towards me, and I rode pretty quickly past her."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Without having seen her face? I admire your stoicism, Marchese, but +guarantee myself solemnly against the suspicion of doing likewise. By +this evening I will bring you and Reinhold information as to whether +the Signora be beautiful or no."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You may find it difficult," laughed the Marchese. "Do you not hear, +all entrance is forbidden?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bah! as if that would prevent me!" cried Hugo, confidently. "The +affair only now begins to be interesting. An unapproachable villa, an +invisible lady, who is, besides, fair and a German. I will enquire into +it, thoroughly examine into it. My duty as a countryman requires it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thank God that you put him upon this scent, Cesario," said Reinhold. +"Now let us hope that his ill-concealed yawns will not disturb us any +more, when we talk of music. I wished to discuss the parts with you +again."</p> + +<p class="normal">The young Marchese had risen and laid his hand entreatingly on +Rinaldo's shoulder.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, and the opera? Do you stand immovably by your ultimatum? I +assure you, Rinaldo, it is almost impossible to carry out all these +alterations by the autumn; I have convinced myself of it. A new +postponement will be required, and the public and company have been +waiting for months already."</p> + +<p class="normal">"They must wait longer." The words sounded haughty, and short in their +decision.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Spoken like a dictator," remarked Hugo. "Are you always so autocratic +towards the public? The picture which Maestro Gianelli sketches of you +appears to possess some very striking traits of resemblance. I believe +it was not really so absolutely necessary to bring the entire opera +company, including his Excellency the intendant, into such despair as +you have done this time."</p> + +<p class="normal">Reinhold raised his head with all the pride and indifference of the +spoilt, admired artist, who is accustomed to see his will obeyed as if +it were law, and to whom opposition is considered equal to an insult.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I dispose of my work and its performance. Either the opera shall be +heard in the form I wish, or not at all. I have left them the choice."</p> + +<p class="normal">"As if there were any choice!" said Cesario, shrugging his shoulders, +as he turned to his servant to give him an order, and left the two +brothers alone.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Unfortunately, there appears to be none in this case," said Hugo, +looking after his young host. "And Marchese Tortoni will have you on +his conscience also, if you become thoroughly spoiled at last with this +senseless worship of you. He does his utmost, like the rest of your +adoring circle! They set you up in their midst like a Llama, and group +themselves respectfully around you to listen to the remarks of your +genius, even if it should please your genius to maltreat your +infatuated, surrounders. I am sorry for you, Reinhold. You are driving +yourself with certainty to the rock on which already so many valuable +powers have been wrecked--self-adoration."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hum! in the meanwhile you take care that this should not occur," +replied Reinhold, sarcastically. "You appear to like the part of the +faithful Eckhard in a remarkable degree, and rehearse it at every +opportunity; but it is the most thankless of all. Give it up, Hugo! It +does not suit your nature in the least."</p> + +<p class="normal">The Captain knit his brows, but he remained quite calm at the tone, +which might easily have irritated another, threw his fowling-piece over +his shoulder, and went out. A few minutes later he found himself by the +shore, and only when the fresh sea breeze cooled his head, did the +Captain's seriousness leave him; he struck at once into the road to the +Villa Fiorina.</p> + +<p class="normal">To tell the truth, Hugo began to be wearied of Mirando and the +prevailing artistic atmosphere which the Marchese's inclination and his +brother's presence created there. The paradise-like situation of the +property was nothing new to the sailor, who knew so well the beauties +of the tropical world, and the solitude to which Reinhold gave himself +up with an almost sick longing did not at all suit Hugo's joyous +nature. Certainly S----, so much frequented by strangers, lay pretty +near, but he could not sail over to it too frequently, and thus +indicate to the young host that he missed companionship. Therefore this +probably beautiful, and at any rate interesting and mysterious +neighbour was very welcome, and Hugo resolved immediately to utilise +it.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let some one else endure these art lovers and art enthusiasts!" said +he, annoyed, as he followed the road by the sea. "Half the day long +they sit at the piano, and the rest of the time talk of music. Reinhold +always is in extremes. From the midst of the wildest life, out of the +most senseless excitement, he rushes head over heels into this romantic +solitude, and will hear and know of nothing but his music; I only +wonder how long it will last. And this Marchese Tortoni? Young, +handsome, rich, of a most noble line; this Cesario does not know what +better to do with his life than to bury himself for months in his +lonely Mirando, to play the <i>dilettante</i> in grand style, and, with his +endless worship, turn Reinhold's head still more. I know how to spend +my time better than that."</p> + +<p class="normal">At these last words, spoken with great self-satisfaction, the Captain +stopped, as the end of his walk was already, so far, attained. Before +him lay the Villa Fiorina, shaded by high fir trees and cypresses, and +buried almost in blooming shrubs. The house itself appeared magnificent +and roomy, but the chief façade as well as the terrace turned towards +the sea, and were so thickly overgrown and surrounded by roses and +oleander bushes that even Hugo's hawk's eye was not able to penetrate +the balmy fortification. A high wall, covered with creeping plants, +enclosed the park-like grounds, which terminated in the olive grove +which surrounded the estate. It might formerly have been, judging by +the size of the grounds, the property of some great family, then, like +so many others, have often changed owners, and now served as temporary +residence for rich strangers. At all events, in beauty of situation, it +did not yield the palm to Marchese Tortoni's highly prized Mirando.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Captain had already formed his plan of campaign; he therefore only +scanned the country slightly, made a vain attempt to obtain a better +view of the terrace from the seaward side, measured the height of the +garden walls with his eye, in case of accident, and then went direct to +the entrance, where he rang the bell, and demanded to see the owners, +without hesitation.</p> + +<p class="normal">The porter, an old Italian, appeared to have received his instruction +for the like cases, as, without even asking the stranger's name, he +explained shortly and decidedly that his master and mistress received +no visits, and he regretted that the Signor had troubled himself in +vain.</p> + +<p class="normal">Hugo coolly drew out a card. "They will make an exception. It is +concerning an affair of importance, which requires a personal +interview. I will wait here in the meanwhile, as I am sure to be +received."</p> + +<p class="normal">He sat down quietly on the stone bench, and this immovable confidence +impressed the porter so much that he really began to believe in the +importance of the pretended mission. He disappeared with the card, +while Hugo, quite unconcerned as to the possible consequences, awaited +the result of his impudent manœ uvre.</p> + +<p class="normal">The result was unexpectedly favourable, as in a short time a servant +appeared and addressed the stranger, who had introduced himself by a +German name, in that language, and begged him to enter. He conducted +the Captain into a garden parlour and there left him alone, with the +intimation that his master would appear immediately.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I must be a lucky man," said Hugo, himself somewhat surprised at this +unexpected, rapid success. "I wish Reinhold and the Marchese could see +me now. Inside the 'unapproachable' villa, expecting the lord and +master of the same, and only a few doors apart from the blonde Signora. +That is certainly enough for the first five minutes, and what my +charming brother could not have attained, although all doors fly open +before him. But now I must be charming,--in lies, that is to say--what +in the world shall I say to this nobleman, to whom I have had myself +announced concerning some important affair, without ever having heard a +syllable about him, or he of me? Ah! some one or other, on some of my +voyages has given me some commission. In the worst case I can always +have mistaken the person; in the meanwhile the acquaintance has been +begun, and the rest will follow of itself. I will arrange the +improvisation according to the character of the person; at any rate I +shall not leave the place without having seen the beautiful Signora."</p> + +<p class="normal">He sat down and began to examine the room in a perfectly calm state of +mind. "My respected countrymen appear to belong to the happy minority, +who have at their disposal an income of several ten thousands. The +entire villa, with the park, rented for their exclusive use--the +arrangements made at great cost; one does not find this comfort in the +south--brought their own servants with them; I see no fewer than three +faces outside, on which German descent is written. Now the question +remains, have we to do with the aristocracy or the exchange? I should +prefer the latter; I can then pretend it is about some mercantile +affairs, while before some great nobleman, in the nonentity of a +citizen, I--how, Herr Consul Erlau!"</p> + +<p class="normal">With this exclamation, made in boundless astonishment, Hugo started +back from the doorway in which the well-known figure of the merchant +now appeared. The Consul had certainly aged much in the course of +years; the once luxuriant dark hair appeared grey and scant; his +features bore an expression of unmistakable suffering, and the friendly +good will which formerly enlivened them had given way, momentarily at +all events, to a distant coldness, with which he drew near to his +guest.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Herr Captain Almbach, you wish to speak to me?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Hugo had already recovered from his astonishment, and resolved at once +to take every advantage in his power of this unexpectedly favourable +chance. He put forth all his capacities for pleasing.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am much obliged to you, sir. I hardly dared hope to be received +personally by you."</p> + +<p class="normal">Erlau sat down, and invited his guest by a sign to do the same.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am also medically advised to avoid visits, but at the mention of +your name, I thought I ought to make an exception, as probably it +concerns my guardianship of your nephew. You come on your brother's +behalf?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"On Reinhold's behalf?" repeated Hugo uncertainly, "How so?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am glad that Herr Almbach has not attempted any personal +intercourse, as he did once already in writing," continued the Consul, +still in the same tone of cold restraint. "He appears, notwithstanding +our intentional seclusion, to know of his son's presence here. I +regret, however, being obliged to inform you, that Eleonore is not at +all disposed--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ella? Is she here? With you?" exclaimed Hugo so eagerly, that Erlau +gazed at him in utter amazement.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Did you not know it? Then Herr Captain Almbach, may I ask what has +really caused me the honour of your visit?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Hugo considered for a moment; he saw plainly that Reinhold's name, +which had opened the doors for him, was nevertheless the worst +recommendation which he could bring, and made his decision accordingly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I must first of all clear up a mistake," replied he, with thorough +frankness. "I neither come as my brother's ambassador, which you seem +to imagine, nor am I here, indeed, in his interest or with his +knowledge. I give you my word for it, at this moment he has no +suspicion that his wife and son are in the neighbourhood, or, still +less, that they are even in Italy. I, on the contrary"--here the +Captain thought it necessary to mix a little invention with the +truth--"I on the contrary was put by chance on the track, and wished +first of all to satisfy myself of its correctness; I came to see my +sister-in-law."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Which had better remain undone," said the Consul, with remarkable +coldness. "You will comprehend that such a meeting could only be +painful for Ella."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ella knows best how I have ever stood as regards the whole affair," +interrupted Captain Almbach, "and she will certainly not refuse me the +wished for interview."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then I do so in my adopted daughter's name," declared Erlau +positively. Hugo rose--</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know, Herr Consul Erlau, that you have gained a father's rights +towards my nephew, and also his mother, and honour these rights. +Therefore I entreat you to grant me this meeting. I will not wound my +sister-in-law with one word, with one recollection, as you appear to +dread, only--I should just like to see her."</p> + +<p class="normal">Such a warm appeal lay in the words, that the Consul wavered; perhaps +he remembered the time when young Captain Almbach's courage had saved +his best ship, and how politely, but positively, he had rejected the +gratitude which the rich merchant was ready to bestow so oppressively. +It would have been more than thankless to have persisted in his sturdy +refusal towards this man--he gave way.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will ask if Eleonore be inclined for this interview," he said +rising; "she is already informed of your being here, as she was with me +when I received your card. I must ask you to be patient for a few +moments only."</p> + +<p class="normal">He left the room. A short period of impatient waiting passed, when at +last the door was again opened, and a lady's dress rustled on the +threshold. Hugo went quickly towards the new comer.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ella! I knew you would not--" he stopped suddenly; his hand, stretched +out in welcome, dropped slowly, and Captain Almbach stood as if rooted +to the ground.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You do not seem to recognise me quite," said the lady, waiting in vain +for the rest of the greeting, "am I so much altered?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, very much," said Hugo, whose glance still hung in intense +astonishment on the figure of the lady before him. The impudent, +confident sailor, who had hitherto always shown himself equal to every +circumstance in his life, stood now dumb, confused, almost stupified. +Who, indeed, could ever have deemed this possible!</p> + +<p class="normal">This was what his brother's former wife had become, the shy, frightened +Ella, with the pale unlovely face, and the awkward timid manner! Now +only could one see how the dress had sinned, in which Eleanor Almbach +always appeared like the maidservant, and never like the daughter of +the house, and also that enormous cap, which, as if made for the brow +of a person of sixty, had covered the youthful woman's head day after +day. Every trace of all this had entirely disappeared. The light airy +morning dress let the still girlishly, slight, delicate figure display +itself in its full beauty, and the rich ornament of her fair plaits, +which were now worn uncovered, encircled her head in all their heavy, +glimmering, golden glory. Marchese Tortoni had not seen the face of the +"blonde Signora," but Hugo saw it now, and during this contemplation of +some seconds' duration, he asked himself, again and again, what had +really taken place in these features, which were once so stolid and +vacant that one reproached them with stupidity, and which now appeared +so full of intellect and thought, as if a ban had been lifted from off +them, and something, never suspected in them, awakened to life. +Certainly around the mouth there lay a line of tender, unconquered +pain, and her brow was shaded by a sadness it had formerly not known, +but no more did her eyes seek the ground timidly, as if veiled; now +they were clear and open, and they had truly forfeited none of their +former beauty. Ella appeared to have learned not to hide any longer +from the gaze of strangers that with which nature had endowed her. When +she was eighteen, every one asked, shrugging his shoulders, "how does +this wife come by that husband's side?" At eight and twenty, she was an +apparition, fitted to compete with any one. How heavily must the burden +and chains of her parents' house have rested upon the young wife, when +only a few years in freer, nobler surroundings had sufficed to remove +the former shroud, to the very last morsel, and to loose the wings of +the butterfly. The almost incredible alteration proved of what her +youthful education was guilty.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You wished an interview with me, Herr Captain Almbach?" began Ella, as +she seated herself upon an ottoman, "May I offer you a seat." Words and +bearing were as assured and easy, as if coming from a perfect woman of +the world receiving a visitor, but also distant and cool, as if she had +no deeper concern in this visit. Hugo bowed, a slight colour tinged his +cheeks, as he, following the invitation, sat down beside her.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I begged for it. Herr Consul Erlau thought himself obliged to deny me +this interview in your name, but I persisted in a direct appeal to you. +I had more confidence in your goodness, my dear Madame."</p> + +<p class="normal">She looked inquiringly with open eyes at him, "Are we become such +strangers? Why do you give me this name?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Because I see that my visit here is considered as an intrusion to +which I have no right, which I was not utterly denied, only on account +of the name which I bear," replied Hugo, rather bitterly. "Herr Consul +Erlau made me feel that already, and now I experience it a second time, +and yet I can only repeat to you, that without the knowledge or on +behalf of another, am I here, and that the other up to this moment has +no suspicion of your vicinity."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then, I beg you to allow this vicinity to remain still a secret," said +the young wife earnestly. "You will understand that I do not wish my +presence to be betrayed, and S---- is far enough to make that +possible!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who told you that we are staying in S----?" asked Hugo, somewhat +struck by the certainty of this conviction.</p> + +<p class="normal">She pointed to some newspapers lying on the table--</p> + +<p class="normal">"I read this morning that two of the greatest musical celebrities were +expected there. The news has been delayed, as I see, and you are your +brother's guest."</p> + +<p class="normal">Hugo was silent; he had not courage to tell her how much nearer her +husband was, and he could easily explain the notice in the papers to +himself, as he knew of Beatrice's intended arrival. People were +accustomed always to name her and Reinhold together, and although the +latter was now even staying in Mirando, they considered his coming +as certain, the moment she arrived in S----. Indeed it was also a +pre-arranged meeting between the two, and could not be denied.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But why this concealment?" asked he, leaving the dangerous point quite +untouched. "It is not you, Ella, who have to avoid or flee from a +possible meeting."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No! but I will protect my boy at any cost from the possibility of such +a meeting."</p> + +<p class="normal">"With his father?" Hugo laid a reproachful stress upon the last word.</p> + +<p class="normal">"With your brother--yes!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Captain Almbach looked up surprised. The tone sounded freezingly cold, +and a stony, icy look lay on the young wife's countenance, which all at +once displayed the expression of an unbending will, such as no one +would have expected in so pleasing an apparition.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is hard, Ella," said Hugo softly. "If you now render yourself +unapproachable--I can understand it, after all that has happened; but +why the boy also? Reinhold tried once already to communicate with his +child; you repulsed him."</p> + +<p class="normal">Ella interrupted him--</p> + +<p class="normal">"You have told me that you come without any commission, Hugo, and I +believe you; therefore this subject need not be discussed between us, +let it rest! I was greatly astonished to see you again here, in Italy. +Do you purpose remaining long?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Captain Almbach took the hint given him, although somewhat taken aback +by it. He was so unaccustomed for his young sister-in-law, whom he had +almost always known as a silent, frightened listener, to govern the +conversation so entirely, and lead it with such decision and ease to +another topic when the former one had become painful to her.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Most likely longer than I thought at first," said he, replying to her +question. "My stay was originally only intended to be a short one, but +a storm which caught us on the open sea, so dismantled the 'Ellida,' +that I only reached the Italian harbour with great difficulty, and for +the present cannot think of another voyage. The repairs will occupy +some months, and my leave has therefore been prolonged indefinitely. I +certainly never anticipated finding you here."</p> + +<p class="normal">A shadow passed over the lady's face.</p> + +<p class="normal">"We are here by medical advice," she replied sadly. "Weakness of his +chest, obliged my adopted father to seek the south; his wife has been +dead some years, and you know that he is childless. I had long since +received all the privileges of a daughter, so that, of course, I also +undertook the duties of one. The doctor insisted particularly upon this +place, which indeed seems to exercise a most beneficial effect, and +however much I might have desired to avoid Italy, I could not persuade +myself to allow the invalid, to whom my presence is a necessity, to +travel alone. We hoped to escape any painful meeting by avoiding the +town in which Signor Rinaldo lives, and chose the most lonely, retired +villa in order to obtain the greatest seclusion possible. Our +precautions were in vain, as I see; you were no sooner in my vicinity +than you discovered my whereabouts."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I? Yes certainly," said Hugo with involuntary confusion. "And you +reproach me with it."</p> + +<p class="normal">Ella smiled.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, but I wondered that Herr Captain Hugo still entertained sufficient +interest in the little cousin Ella, to insist so obstinately upon +seeing her, when he was at first refused. We thought we had guarded +amply against strange visits. You knew, nevertheless, how to force your +entrance, and this shows me that I even possessed friends in my former +life. Until to-day, I doubted it, but it is a fact which does me good, +and I thank you for it, Hugo."</p> + +<p class="normal">She raised her eyes clearly and openly to him; and with a charming +smile, which made her face appear intensely lovely, she stretched out +her hand to him. But the kindly thanks met with no response. Captain +Almbach's brow burned deeply red, then he sprang up suddenly and pushed +her hand aside.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>END OF VOL. I.</h3> +<br> +<br> +<br> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Riven Bonds. Vol. I., by E. Werner + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RIVEN BONDS. VOL. 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Vol. I. + A Novel, in Two Volumes + +Author: E. Werner + +Translator: Bertha Ness + +Release Date: February 14, 2011 [EBook #35283] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RIVEN BONDS. VOL. I. *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by Google Books. + + + + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + 1. Page scan source: + http://books.google.com/books?pg=PA284&id=e94BAAAAQAAJ#v + + 2. The diphthong oe is represented by [oe]. + + + + + RIVEN BONDS. + + A Novel, + + + IN TWO VOLUMES. + + + TRANSLATED BY + BERTHA NESS, + + + _FROM THE ORIGINAL OF E. WERNER_, + + Author of "SUCCESS AND HOW HE WON IT," + "UNDER A CHARM," &c. + + + + * * * * * + VOL. I. + * * * * * + + + + London: + REMINGTON AND CO., + 5, Arundel Street, Strand, W.C. + + 1877. + + [_All Rights Reserved_.] + + + + + + + RIVEN BONDS. + + + + + CHAPTER I. + + +The curtain fell amid thunders of applause from the whole house. Boxes, +pit, and gallery unanimously demanded the reappearance of the singer, +who, in the finale of the act just concluded, had carried all away with +her. The whole audience became excited, and would not be calmed, until, +greeted with applause, which broke forth with renewed vigour, +overwhelmed with flowers, wreaths, and homage of all kinds, the object +of this ovation showed herself, in order to thank the public. + +"This is quite like an evening in an Italian theatre," said an elderly +gentleman, entering one of the boxes in the first tier. "Signora +Biancona seems to understand the art of filling the otherwise quiet and +smoothly-flowing patrician blood of our noble Hanseatic town with the +fire of her Southern home. The infatuation for her begins to be quite +an epidemic. If it continue to increase in this way, we shall see the +Exchange voting her a torchlight procession, and the Senate of this +free town, appearing before her _in corpore_, to lay their homage at +her feet. Were I in your place, Herr Consul, I should make this +proposition to both these Corporations. I am sure it would meet with an +enthusiastic reception." + +The gentleman to whom these words were addressed, and who was sitting +by a lady, apparently his wife, in the front of the box, seemed unable +to withdraw himself from the universal excitement. He had applauded +with an energy and perseverance worthy of a better cause, and turned +round now, half-laughing, half-annoyed. + +"I was sure of it; the critic must place himself in opposition to the +general voice. Certainly, Herr Doctor, in your abominable morning +paper, you spare neither Exchange nor Senate; how, then, could Signora +Biancona hope to find mercy?" + +The Doctor smiled a little maliciously, and drew near to the lady's +chair, when a young man, who had been sitting beside her, rose politely +to make way for him. + +"Herr Almbach," said the lady, introducing them, "Herr Dr. Welding, the +editor of our morning paper, whose pen--" + +"For Heaven's sake, my dear madam," interrupted Welding, "do not throw +discredit on me, at once, in the gentleman's eyes. One has only to be +introduced as critic to a young artist, and immediately one gains his +deepest antipathy." + +"Possibly," laughed the Consul, "but this time your keenness has failed +you. Herr Almbach, thank goodness, can never be in a position to come +before your judgment seat. He is a merchant." + +"Merchant!" a look of astonishment was turned towards the young man, +"then I certainly apologise for my mistake. I should have taken you for +an artist." + +"There, you see, dear Almbach, your forehead and eyes do you a bad turn +again," said the Consul, playfully. "What would your people at home say +to the exchange? I almost fear they would look upon it as an insult." + +"Perhaps. I do not consider it as such," said Almbach, bowing slightly +to Welding. The words were intended to carry on the joking tone that +was begun, but there lay in them a half-concealed bitterness, which did +not escape Dr. Welding. He fixed his eyes searchingly on the young +stranger's features; but just at that moment the lady turned towards +him, and resumed the interrupted topic. + +"You must allow, Herr Doctor, that Biancona was quite ravishing +to-night. This young, dawning talent is indeed, a new star in our +theatrical firmament." + +"Which will some time become a shining sun, if it carry out what to-day +it promises. Certainly, dear madam; I do not deny it at all, even +although this future sun shows a few spots and imperfections at +present, which naturally escape so enthusiastic a public." + +"Well then, I advise you not to lay too much stress on these +imperfections," said the Consul, pointing to the pit. "There, below, +sits an army of knights, infatuated about the Signora. Take care, Herr +Doctor, or you will receive at least six challenges." + +The malicious smile played round Welding's lips again, as he cast a +glance of irony towards young Almbach, who had listened silently, but +with darkly lowering brow, to the conversation. + +"And perhaps a seventh, also! Herr Almbach, for instance, seems to look +upon the opinion which I have just expressed as a species of high +treason." + +"I regret, sir, to be so much behind you as regards criticism," coolly +replied the one addressed. "I--" hereupon his eyes flashed almost +passionately, "I am accustomed to worship genius unconditionally." + +"A very poetical style of criticism," sneered Welding. "If you were to +repeat that in person to our beautiful Signora, and in the same tone, I +could promise you her most complete favour. Besides, I am this time in +the pleasant position of being able to tell her in the article which +will appear to-morrow, that hers is indeed a talent of the first order, +that her faults and failings are only those of a beginner, and that it +lies in her power to become eventually, a musical celebrity. She is not +one at present." + +"In the meanwhile, that is praise enough from your lips," said the +Consul; "but I think we must retire now; the brilliant part of Biancona +is over, the last act offers nothing for her _role_, she hardly appears +again upon the stage, and our duties as hosts call us to our reception +evening. May I offer you a seat in our carriage, Herr Doctor? Your +critic's duty is also about at an end; and you, dear Almbach, will you +accompany us, or shall you remain to the last?" + +The young man had also risen. "If you and your gracious lady will allow +it--the opera is new to me--I should like--" + +"Very well then, remain without ceremony," interrupted the other in a +friendly manner, "but be punctual to-night. We count positively upon +your coming." + +He gave his arm to his wife, to lead her away. Dr. Welding followed +them. + +"How could you think," scoffed he, when in the corridor, "that your +young guest would move from the spot so long as Biancona had only one +more note to sing, or that he would be debarred from helping to form a +guard to her carriage with the rest of our gentlemen? The beautiful +eyes of the Signora have done much harm already--he has caught fire +worse than the others." + +"We must hope not," said the lady, with a touch of concern in her +voice. "What would his father and mother-in-law, and, above all, his +young wife say?" + +"Is Herr Almbach married already?" asked Welding, astonished. + +"Two years since," replied the Consul. "He is nephew and son-in-law of +my business correspondents. The firm is Almbach and Co., not a very +important, but a most substantial, respectable house. Besides, you do +the young man injustice with your suspicions; at his age one is easily +carried away, particularly when, as here, one so seldom enjoys a +musical treat. Between ourselves, Almbach has rather middle-class +views, and keeps his son-in-law tightly by the head. He will take care +that any harm which those eyes could do, shall be kept far from his +house. I know him well enough on that point." + +"All the better for him," said the Doctor, laconically, as he seated +himself by the married pair in the carriage, which took the direction +of the harbour, where the palaces of the rich business men were +situated. + +An hour later, a numerous company was assembled in the merchant's +drawing-rooms. Consul Erlau was one of the richest, most influential +men in this wealthy commercial town, and even although this +circumstance was sufficient to ensure him an undisputed position, he +made it, in addition, a point of honour, to hear his house called the +most brilliant and hospitable in H----. His reception evenings gathered +together every notability which the town had to offer. There was never +a celebrity who did not appear several times, and even the star of the +present season--_prima donna_ Biancona, who was here with the temporary +Italian Opera Company, had accepted the invitation which she had +received, and appeared after the end of the performance. The young +actress, after her evening's triumph in the theatre, was of course the +centre of attraction for all the company. Besieged by the gentlemen +with every species of homage, overwhelmed with compliments from the +ladies, distinguished by the host and his wife with most flattering +attentions, she was unable to escape from the stream of admiration +which flowed towards her from all sides, and which, perhaps, was due as +much to her beauty as her genius. + +Both were indeed united here. Even without her highly-worshipped +talent, Signora Biancona was not likely ever to be overlooked. She was +one of those women, who, wherever they appear, know how to attract, +and, oft to a dangerous degree, retain eye and senses; whose entrancing +charms do not lie only in their beauty, but far more in the singular, +almost witch-like magic, which certain natures exercise, without any +one being able to account for its cause. + +It seemed as if a breath of the glowing South, full of colour, lay upon +this apparition, who, with her dark hair and complexion, her large, +deep, black eyes, out of which shone such an ardent, full life, +contrasted go strangely with these Northern surroundings. Her manner of +speaking and moving was, perhaps livelier, less constrained than the +rules of '_convenance_' demanded, but the fire of a Southern nature, +which broke forth with every emotion, had an entrancing grace. Her +light ethereal-looking costume was not at all conformed to the reigning +fashion, but it appeared to be especially invented to display the +advantages of her figure in the best light, and held its own +triumphantly amongst the more magnificent toilets of the ladies around +her. + +The Italian was a being who seemed to stand above all the forms and +trammels of everyday life, and there was no one in the company who did +not willingly accord her this distinction. + +Almbach, too, had found his way here after the close of the theatre, +but he was quite a stranger to the circle, and evidently remained so, +notwithstanding the well-meant attempts of the Consul to make him +acquainted with one or another of the guests. All fell through, partly +on account of the young man's almost moody silence, partly on account +of the gentlemen's manners to whom he was introduced, and who, +belonging almost entirely to the circles of the Exchange and Finance, +did not think it worth while to take much trouble about the +representative of a small firm. He was standing quite isolated at the +lower end of the room, looking apparently indifferently at the +brilliant crowd, but his eyes always turned to one point, which +to-night was the magnet for all the assembled gentlemen. + +"Now, Herr Almbach, you make no attempt to approach the circle of the +sun of the drawing-room," said Dr. Welding, coming up to him, "shall I +introduce you there?" + +A slight uncomfortable blush, at his secret wish having been divined, +covered the young man's face. + +"The Signora is so occupied on all sides that I did not venture to +trouble her also." + +Welding laughed, "Yes, the gentlemen all seem to follow your method of +criticism, and equally to admire genius unconditionally. Well, art has +the privilege of inspiring all with enthusiasm. Come, I will present +you to the Signora." + +They crossed to the other side of the drawing-room where, the young +Italian was, but it really gave them some trouble to penetrate the +circle of admirers surrounding the honoured guest, and to approach her. + +The Doctor undertook the introduction; he named his companion, who, +to-day, had for the first time the pleasure of admiring the Signora on +the stage, and then left him to set himself at ease in the "sun's +circle." This designation was not so badly chosen; there really was +something of the scorching glow of this planet, at its midday height, +in the glance which she now turned upon Almbach. + +"Then you were also in the theatre this evening?" asked the Signora, +lightly. + +"Yes, Signora." + +Tie answer sounded curt and gloomy; no other word, none of those +compliments which the actress had heard so plentifully to-day, but the +look in the young man's eyes must have made up for his monosyllabic +reply. It is true that he only met Signora Biancona's for a moment, but +their lighting-up was seen and understood; it said much more than all +spoken flatteries. + +The other gentlemen might receive no high opinion of the new arrival's +social talents; who did not even understand how to make a pretty speech +to a lady. They ignored him thoroughly. The conversation, in which the +Consul now took part, became more general; they spoke of music, of a +known composer and his new work, just now causing great sensation, as +to whose conception Signora Biancona and Dr. Welding had a difference +of opinion. The former was full of enthusiasm for it, while the latter +accorded it very little value. The Signora defended her opinion with +Southern vivacity and was supported therein by all the gentlemen, who +took her side from the commencement, while the Doctor persisted coolly +in his own. The battle grew more determined, until at last the Signora +became somewhat annoyed, and turned away from her opponent. + +"I regret very much that our Conductor was prevented from accepting +to-day's invitation. He plays this composition perfectly, and I fear it +requires a performance to enable the company to judge which of us two +is right." + +The guests were of the same opinion, and regretted the Conductor +exceedingly, none offered to replace him. The playing of this music did +not appear to keep pace with the very remarkable enthusiasm for it, +until Almbach came forward suddenly and said, "I am at your disposal, +Signora." + +She turned quickly towards him and said with evident appreciation, "You +are musical, Signor?" + +"If you and the rest of the company will bear with the attempt of an +'amateur,'" he made a gesture of enquiry to the master of the house, +and as the latter agreed eagerly, he went to the piano. + +The composition under discussion, a modern show-piece in the fullest +sense of the word, owed its general popularity less to its real +worth--of which it had indeed very little--than to its great difficulty +of execution. Even the simple possibility of playing it at all, +required a masterly power over the instrument. People were accustomed +only to hear it performed by high-standing professionals, and therefore +looked half-astonished, half-contemptuously at the young man who +volunteered his services with so little concern. He had certainly +apologised for being an amateur, but still it was presumptuous to +attempt this in Consul Erlau's house, where the playing of so many +celebrities had been heard and admired. + +The guests were so much the more astonished that Almbach showed himself +perfectly equal to all these difficulties, as, without even a note of +music before him, he overcame them by playing at once, with an ease and +certainty which would have done honour to a regular artist. At the same +time he understood to put such fire into his performance as carried +away even the older and more expectant hearers. The piece of music +under his hands seemed to acquire quite a different form; he gave it a +meaning, which no one, perhaps not even the composer himself, had +attached to it, and especially the finale, rendered in a somewhat +stormy _tempo_, brought him most plenteous applause from all sides. + +"Bravo, bravissimo, Herr Almbach!" cried the Consul, who was the first +to come up, and who shook him heartily by the hand, "we must really be +grateful to the Signora and Doctor, whose musical dispute assisted us +to the discovery of such a talent. You modestly announce an attempt, +and give us a performance of which the most finished artist need not be +ashamed. You have helped our Signora to a brilliant victory; she is +right--unconditionally right, and the Doctor this time remains, with +his attack, decidedly in the minority." + +The singer had also approached the piano. + +"I, too, am grateful to you for having responded to my wish in so +knightly a manner," she said, smiling; now lowering her voice, "but +take care; I fear my critical enemy will still fight with you as to the +mode in which you proved my opinion. Was the playing, above all the +finale, quite correct?" + +A treacherous gleam shot across the young man's countenance, but he +also smiled. + +"It accorded with your views, and received your applause, Signora--that +is enough for me." + +"We will speak of it later," whispered the Signora quickly, as now the +lady of the house drew near to pay some civilities to her young guest, +and the greater part of the company followed her example. A stream of +phrases and compliments swept over Almbach, his playing was charming; +his execution--where had he studied music? The less he had been noticed +before--the less he was known to them, the more he had astonished all +by suddenly coming forward, added to the young man's modesty, which +hardly permitted him to reply to all the questions addressed to him; +every one present felt himself involuntarily to be a sort of Mecaenas, +and was prepared to give the young genius his complete protection. Was +it really modesty that closed Almbach's lips? Sometimes a species of +mockery flashed in his eyes, as again and again this exquisite +performance was extolled; and it was declared that this composition had +never been heard in perfection before. He seized the first opportunity +to escape from the attention paid him, and in this attempt was taken +possession of by Dr. Welding. + +"Is it possible to reach you at last? You are regularly besieged with +compliments. Just one word, Herr Almbach; shall we go in here?" + +He pointed to an adjoining room, into which both had scarcely entered, +before the Doctor continued in a somewhat sharp tone-- + +"Signora Biancona was right: that is, according to your performance. My +attack was directed against the composition as it exists in the +original. May I ask where you found this very peculiar arrangement of +it? Until this moment it was quite unknown to me." + +"How do you mean, Herr Doctor?" asked the young man, coolly. "I only +know the piece of music in that form." + +Welding looked him up and down, an expression of annoyance struggled +with one of undisguised interest in his face, as he replied-- + +"You appear to gauge the musical knowledge of your audience quite +correctly, if you venture to offer them such things. They hear the air, +and are contented; but sometimes there are exceptions. For instance, it +would interest me very much to know from whom certain variations +emanate, which utterly change the character of the whole; and as +regards the finale, entirely; was this daring improvisation, perhaps, +the attempt of an amateur also?" + +Almbach raised his head somewhat defiantly, "And if it were, what +should you say to it?" + +"That it was a great mistake of your people to make you a merchant." + +"Herr Doctor, we are in a merchant's house." + +"Certainly," answered Welding, calmly, "and I am the last to depreciate +that class, especially when, like our host, it begins with earnest, +ceaseless work, and ends in reposing on millions; but it does not suit +all. Above everything, it requires a clear, cool head, and yours does +not appear to me to be quite made to devote itself to the grasping +debit and credit. Excuse me, Herr Almbach! that is only my candid +opinion; besides, I do not blame you at all for your daring. What would +one not do to make a beautiful woman's obstinacy appear right! In this +case, the man[oe]uvre was even _most agreeable_, any other person with +the best will could not have carried it out; I congratulate you upon +it." + +He made a half-ironical bow, and left the room; it adjoined the +drawing-room, but the half-closed _portieres_ divided it from the +former; quite lonely and dimly-lighted, it offered a momentary solitude +to whomsoever desired it. The young man had thrown himself upon a seat, +and gazed dreamily before him. Of what he was thinking, perhaps he did +not dare to confess to himself, and yet it was betrayed by his starting +up at the sound of a voice, which said in a tone of slight +astonishment-- + +"Ah, Signor Almbach, you here!" + +It was Signora Biancona; whether, on entering, she had really not +perceived who was already there, could not be decided, as she continued +with perfect ease-- + +"I was seeking relief for a moment from the heat and whirl of the +drawing-room. You, too, have soon withdrawn from the company after your +triumph." + +Almbach had risen, quickly. "If it is a question of triumph, there is +certainly no doubt who gained it to-day. My improvised performance +cannot be compared, in ever so slight a degree, with that which you +offered to the public." + +The Signora smiled. "I only produced sounds, like you, but I confess, +candidly, it has surprised me, never, until to-night, and here, to meet +an artist who surely long since--" + +"Excuse me, Signora," interrupted the young man, coldly, "I have +already declared in the drawing-room that I only lay claim to being a +_dilettante_. I belong to the commercial world." + +The same look of astonishment which he had seen on Welding's +countenance in the theatre, was turned towards Almbach's face for the +second time. + +"Impossible! you are joking." + +"Why impossible, Signora? Because I could play a difficult _bravura_ +piece with facility?" + +"Because you could play it so, and because--" she looked at him fixedly +for a moment, and then added, with great decision--"because your face +bears the stamp one always imagines genius must carry on its brow." + +"You see how deceptive appearances sometimes are." + +Signora Biancona did not seem to agree with this; she sat down on the +couch, her pale-coloured dress lay airily and lightly, as a cloud, on +the dark velvet. + +"I admire you," she began again, "that you are able, with such artistic +qualities, to devote yourself to an every-day calling. It would be +impossible for me; I have grown up in a world of sounds and tones, and +cannot understand how there is room in it for any other duties." + +This time there lay an undisguised bitterness in the young man's voice +as he answered----"Also, your home is Italy; mine, a North-German +business town! In our every-day life, poetry is a rare, fleeting guest, +to whom a place is often refused. Work, striving after gain, stands +ever in the foreground." + +"With you, also, Signor?" + +"It should, at least, stand there; that it is not always the case, my +musical attempt will have shown you." + +The singer shook her head doubtfully. "Your attempt! I should like to +become acquainted with your finished work. But surely it cannot be your +intention to withdraw this talent entirely from the public, and only +exercise it in your home circle?" + +"In my home circle!" repeated Almbach, with singular emphasis, "I do +not touch a note there--least of all in my wife's presence." + +"You are married already?" asked the Italian quickly, as a momentary +pallor spread over her face. + +"Yes, Signora." + +This "yes," sounded dull and cold, and the half-mocking expression +which played for a moment on the singer's lips, as she looked at the +man of barely four-and-twenty years, disappeared at this tone. + +"People marry very young in Germany, it appears," she remarked, +quietly. + +"Sometimes." + +The young Italian seemed to find the pause which followed these words +somewhat painful; she changed rapidly to another topic-- + +"I fear you have already been subjected to the examination of which I +warned you. All the same, the company was charmed with your +performance." + +"Perhaps!" said the young man, half-contemptuously, "and yet it +certainly was not intended for the company." + +"Not! and for whom, then?" asked Signora Biancona, directing her glance +firmly towards him. And he looked at her; there seemed to be something +alike in both pairs of eyes which now met one another--both large, +dark, and mysterious. In Almbach's glance, too, shone the same light as +in the actress'; here also burned an ardent, passionate soul; also +here, in the depths, slumbered the demonlike spark which is so often +the heritage of genial natures, and becomes their curse when no +protecting hand restrains it, and when it is fanned into flame, then no +more brings light, but only destruction. + +He came a step nearer and lowered his voice; its great excitement, +however, still betrayed itself. + +"Only for her, who, for me and for us all, a few hours since, embodied +the highest beauty and the highest poetry, borne by the notes of an +undying master-work. You have been worshipped a thousand-fold to-day, +Signora. All that enthusiasm could offer was laid at your feet. The +stranger, the unknown, also wished to tell you how much he admired you, +and he did it in the language which alone is worthy of you. It is not +quite strange to me either." + +In his admiration there lay something that raised it above all +flattery, the tone of real true enthusiasm, and Signora Biancona was +actress enough to recognise this tone, woman enough to suspect what was +hidden beneath it; she smiled with enchanting grace. + +"I have seen, indeed, how very fluent you are in this language. Shall I +not often hear it from you?" + +"Hardly," said the young man, gloomily. "You return, as I hear, to +Italy shortly, I--remain here in the North. Who knows if we shall ever +meet again." + +"Our manager intends to remain here until May," interrupted the +Signora, quickly. "So our meeting to-day will surely not be our last? +Certainly not--I count positively on seeing you again." + +"Signora!" This passionate outbreak of Almbach's lasted only for a +second. Suddenly a recollection or warning seemed to shoot through him; +he drew back and bowed low and distantly. + +"I fear it must be the last--farewell, Signora." + +He was gone before it was possible for the singer to utter one word +regarding this strange adieu, and he seemed to be in earnest about it, +as not once during the whole evening did he approach the dangerous +"circle of the sun." + + + + + CHAPTER II. + + +"That is too bad. This mania really begins to surpass all limits. I +must forbid Reinhold all cultivation of music if he continues to pursue +it in so senseless a manner." + +With these words, the merchant Almbach opened a family council, which +took place in the parlour, in his wife's and daughter's presence, and +at which, fortunately, the special object of the same did not assist. + +Herr Almbach, a man about fifty, whose quiet, measured, almost pedantic +manner, generally served as a pattern for all the office people, +appeared to have quite lost his equilibrium to-day, by the above-named +mania, as he continued, in great excitement-- + +"The bookkeeper came home this morning about four o'clock from the +jubilee, which I had left directly after midnight. From the bridge he +sees the garden house lighted up, and hears Reinhold raving over the +notes, and lost to all sense of sight and hearing. Of course he could +not accompany me to the feast! he declared himself to be ill; but his +'unbearable headache' did not hinder him from maltreating the piano in +the icy-cold garden-room until morning's dawn. I shall be hearing again +from my partners that my son-in-law has been doing his utmost in +uselessness as well as in carelessness. It is hardly credible! The +youngest clerk understands the books better, and has more interest in +the business, than the partner and future head of the house of 'Almbach +& Co.' My whole life long have I worked and toiled to make my firm +secure and respected, and now I have the prospect of leaving it, at +last, in such hands." + +"I always told you that you should have forbidden his associating with +the Music-Director, Wilkins," interrupted Frau Almbach, "he is to blame +for it all; no one could get on with that misanthropical, musical fool. +Everyone hated and avoided him, but with Reinhold that was all the more +reason to form the most intimate friendship with him. Day after day he +was there, and there alone was laid the foundation of all this musical +nonsense, which his master seems to have bequeathed to him at his +death. It is hardly bearable since he had the old man's legacy--the +piano--in the house. Ella, what do you say, then, to this behaviour of +your husband?" + +The young wife, to whom the last words were addressed, had so far not +spoken a syllable. She sat in the window, her head bent over her +sewing, and only looked up as this direct question was addressed to +her. + +"I, dear mother?" + +"Yes, you, my child, as the affair affects you most. Or do you really +not feel the irresponsible manner in which Reinhold neglects you and +your child?" + +"He is so fond of music," said Ella, softly. + +"Do you excuse him also?" said her mother, excitedly. "That is just the +misfortune, he cares for it more than for wife or child; he never asks +for either of you if he can only sit at his piano and improvise. Have +you no idea of what a wife can and must demand from her husband, and +that, above all, it is her duty to bring him to reason? But to be sure, +nothing is ever to be expected of you." + +The young wife certainly did not look as if much were to be expected of +her. She had little that was attractive in her appearance, and the one +thing about her that could perhaps be called pretty, the delicate, +still girlishly slender figure, was entirely hidden under a most +unbecoming house dress, which in its boundless plainness was more +suggestive of a servant than of the daughter of the house, and was made +so as to disguise any possible advantages which there might be. Only a +narrow strip of the fair hair, which lay smoothly parted on her brow, +was visible, the rest disappeared entirely under a cap more suited to +her mother's years, and offering a peculiar contrast to the face of the +barely twenty-years-old wife. This pale face with its downcast eyes, +was not adapted to arouse any interest; it had no expression, there lay +in it something stolid, vacant, that nearly approached to stupidity, +and at this moment, when she let her sewing drop and looked at her +mother, it betrayed such helpless nervousness and senselessness, that +Almbach felt obliged to come to his daughter's assistance. + +"Leave Ella alone!" said he in that half-angry, half-compassionate tone +with which one rejects the interference of a child, "you know nothing +is to be done with her, and what could she effect here?" + +He shrugged his shoulders and continued bitterly; "That is the reward +for the sacrifice of adopting my brother's orphan children! Hugo throws +all gratitude, all reason and education in my face, and runs away +secretly; and Reinhold, who has grown up in my house, under my eyes, +causes me the greatest anxiety, with his good-for-nothing hankering +after all fancies. But with him, at all events, I have kept the reins +in my hand, and I shall draw them so tightly now, that he shall lose +all inclination to chafe against them any more." + +"Yes, Hugo's ingratitude was really outrageous!" Frau Almbach joined +in. "To fly from our house at night, in a fog, and go to sea, 'to try +his luck alone in the world,' as he said in the impudent letter of +farewell which he left behind him! Two years since there actually came +a letter to Reinhold from the Captain; and the former hinted only +lately, quite openly, about his probable return. I fear he knows +something positive about it." + +"Hugo shall not cross my threshold," declared the merchant, with a +solemn motion of his hand. "I know nothing of this interchange of +letters with Reinhold, and will know nothing. Let them correspond +behind my back, but if the unadvised youth should have the audacity to +appear before me, he will learn what the anger of an offended uncle and +guardian is." + +While the parents prepared to discuss this apparently often-treated +theme, with the wonted details and ire, Ella had left the room +unnoticed and now descended the staircase leading to the office, +situated on the ground floor. The young wife knew that now, at midday, +all the people would be absent, and this probably lent her courage to +enter. + +It was a large gloomy room; whose bare walls and barred windows caused +it somewhat to resemble a prison. No trouble had been taken to impart +any comfort or even a pleasant appearance to the office. And what for? +What belonged to work was there; the rest was luxury, and luxury was a +thing that the house of Almbach and Co., notwithstanding its +notoriously not inconsiderable wealth, did not allow itself. + +At present no one was to be found in the room, excepting the young man, +who sat at a desk with a big ledger open before him. He looked pale and +as if he had been up late; his eyes, which should have been busy with +figures, were fixed on the narrow strip of the sun's rays which fell +slantingly across the room. In his gaze was something of the longing +and bitterness of a prisoner, to whom the sunshine, penetrating into +his cell, brings news of life and freedom from without. He hardly +turned his head at the opening of the door, and asked indifferently-- + +"What is it? What do you want, Ella?" + +Every other wife at the second question would have gone to her husband +and put her arm round his shoulder. Ella remained standing close to the +doorway. It sounded far too icily cold, this "What do you want?" she +evidently was not welcome. + +"I wished to ask how your headache is?" she began, shyly. + +"My headache?" Reinhold recollected himself suddenly. "Ah, yes, I think +it has gone." + +The young wife closed the door and came a step or two nearer. + +"My parents are very furious again, that you were not at the feast +yesterday, and were playing, instead, the whole night long," she told +him hesitatingly. + +Reinhold knitted his brows. "Who told them? you perhaps?" + +"I?" her voice sounded half like a reproach. "The bookkeeper saw the +garden house lighted up, and heard you playing as he returned this +morning." + +An expression of contemptuous scorn played around the young man's lips, +"Ah! I certainly had not thought of that. I did not believe that those +gentlemen, after their jubilee, would have time or inclination left for +observations. To be sure for spying they are always ready enough." + +"My father thinks--" began Ella, again. + +"What does he think?" shouted Reinhold. "Is it not enough for him that +from morning to evening I am bound to this office; does he even grudge +me the refreshment I seek at night in music? I thought that I and my +piano had been banished far enough; that the garden house lay so +distant and so isolated, that I could run no risk of disturbing the +sleep of the righteous in the house. Fortunately no one can hear a +sound." + +"Not so," said the young wife, softly, "I hear every note when all is +still around, and I alone lie awake." + +Reinhold turned round and looked at his wife. She stood with downcast +eyes and thoroughly expressionless face before him. His glance swept +slowly down her figure as though he were unconsciously drawing some +comparison, and the bitterness in his features became more plainly +displayed. + +"I am sorry for it," he replied coldly, "but I cannot help your windows +looking into the garden. Close your shutters in future, then it is to +be hoped that my musical extravagances will not disturb your sleep any +more." + +He turned over the pages of his book, and appeared to lose himself +again in his calculations. Ella waited about a minute longer, but as +she saw that not the least notice was taken of her presence, she went +away as noiselessly as she came. + +She had hardly left before Reinhold flung the ledger from him +with a passionate movement. His glance, which fell upon the +contemptuously-treated object, and was cast around the office, showed +the most bitter hatred; then he laid his head on both arms and closed +his eyes, as if he wished to see and hear no more of the whole +surroundings. + +"God greet you, Reinhold!" said a strange voice suddenly, quite close +to him. + +He started up, and looked bewildered and inquiringly at the stranger in +sailor's clothes, who had entered unnoticed and now stood before him. +Suddenly, however, a recollection seemed to shoot through him, as with +a cry of joy, he threw himself on the new-comer's breast. + +"Is it possible, Hugo!--you here already?" + +Two powerful arms embraced him firmly, and a pair of warm lips were +pressed again and again upon his. + +"Do you really know me still? I should have picked you out from amongst +hundreds. Certainly you do look rather different from the little +Reinhold I left behind here. Well, with me I suppose it is not much +better." + +The first words still sounded full of deep emotion; but the latter +already bore a somewhat merrier tone. Reinhold's arm still lay fondly +round his brother's neck. + +"And you come so suddenly, so completely unannounced? I only expected +you in a few weeks' time." + +"We have had an unusually quick voyage," said the young captain, +cheerfully, "and once I was in the harbour, I could not stay a minute +longer on board, I must come to you. Thank God, I found you alone! I +was afraid I should have to pass the purgatorial fire of domestic anger +and to fight my way through the united relatives in order to reach +you." + +Reinhold's face, still beaming with the pleasure of meeting again, +became overcast at this recollection, and his arm fell slowly down. + +"No one has seen you surely?" he asked, "you know how my uncle feels +towards you, since--" + +"Since I withdrew myself from his _all-wise_ rule, which wished to +screw me absolutely to the office table, and ran away?" interrupted +Hugo. "Yes, I know; and I should have liked to look on at the row that +broke loose in the house when they discovered I had fled. But the story +is nearly ten years old. The 'good-for-nothing' is not dead and ruined, +as the family have, no doubt, prophecied hundreds of times, and wished +oftener; he returns as a most respected captain of a most splendid +ship, with all possible recommendations to your principal houses of +business. Should these mercantile and maritime advantages not at last +soften the heart of the angry house of Almbach and Co.?" + +Reinhold suppressed a sigh, "Do not joke, Hugo! you do not know my +uncle--do not know the life in his house." + +"No, I went away at the night time," asserted the Captain, "and that +was most sensible; you should do the same." + +"What are you thinking about? My wife--my child?" + +"Ah yes!" said Hugo, somewhat confused. "I always forget you are +married. Poor boy! they chained you fast by times. Such a betrothal +altar is the safest bolt to thrust before all possible longing for +freedom. There, do not fly out at once! I am quite willing to believe +they did not regularly force you to say 'yes.' But how you came to do +it, my uncle will probably have to answer for; and the melancholy +attitude in which I found you, does not say much for the happiness of a +young husband. Let me look into your eyes, that I may see how it really +is." + +He seized him unceremoniously by his arm, and drew him towards the +window. Here in broad daylight, one could see, for the first time, how +very unlike the brothers were, notwithstanding an undeniable +resemblance in their features. The Captain, the elder of the two, was +strongly, and yet gracefully built, his handsome, open countenance was +browned by sun and air; his hair curled lightly, and his brown eyes +sparkled with love of life and courage; his carriage was easy and +firm, like that of a man accustomed to move in the most varied +surroundings and circumstances, and his whole bearing had a species of +self-confidence which broke forth at every opportunity, with, at the +same time, such a fresh, open kindliness, that it was difficult to +resist him. + +Reinhold, his junior by a few years, made a totally different +impression. He was slighter, paler than his brother; his hair and eyes +were darker, and the latter had a serious, even gloomy expression. But +there lay on this brow, and in those eyes, something which attracted +all the more, as they did not disclose all which lay behind them. Hugo +was, perhaps, the handsomer of the two, and yet a comparison was sure +to be drawn unconditionally in favour of the younger brother, who +possessed, in the highest degree, that rare and dangerous charm of +being interesting, to which, often the most perfect beauty must give +way. + +The young man made a hasty attempt to withdraw from the threatened +inspection. "You cannot remain here," he said, decidedly, "uncle may +enter at any moment, and then there would be a terrible scene. I will +take you to the garden house for the present, which I have had fitted +up for my sole use. You will hardly dare to appear before the family, +and your arrival must be known. I will tell them." + +"And bear all the storm alone?" interrupted the Captain. "I beg your +pardon, but that is my affair! I am going up at once to my uncle and +aunt, and shall introduce myself as their obedient nephew!" + +"But Hugo! are you out of your senses? You have no idea of the state of +affairs here." + +"Exactly! The strongest fortresses are taken by surprise, and I have +long looked forward to one day entering like a bomb amongst the stormy +relations, and to seeing what sort of a grimace they would make. But +one thing more. Reinhold, you must give me your promise to remain +quietly below until I return. You shall not be placed in the painful +position of witnessing how the weight of the family wrath is poured +upon my erring head. You might wish to catch some of it out of +brotherly self-sacrifice, and that would disturb all my plans of +campaign. Jonas, come in!" + +He opened the door and admitted a man, who, until now, had waited +outside in the passage. "That is my brother. Look well at him! You have +to report yourself to him, and pay him your respects. Once more, +Reinhold, promise me not to enter the family parlour for the next +half-hour. I shall bring all to order up there by myself, if I have +even to take the whole barrack by storm." + +He was out of the door before his brother could make any remonstrance. +Still half-bewildered by the rapid changes of the last ten minutes, he +looked at the broad, square figure of the new arrival, who set a +good-sized portmanteau down on the floor, and planted himself close +beside it. + +"Seaman Wilhelm Jonas, of the 'Ellida,' now in the service of Herr +Captain Almbach!" reported he, systematically, and attempted a movement +at the same time, probably intended to be a bow, but which did not bear +the least similarity to the desired courtesy. + +"All right," said Reinhold, abruptly, "you can leave the luggage here +at present! I must first hear how long my brother proposes remaining." + +"We are to stay here a few days with his uncle," assured Jonas, very +quietly. + +"Oh! is that decided already?" + +"Quite positively." + +"I do not understand Hugo," murmured Reinhold. "He appears to have no +idea of what is before him, and yet my letters must have prepared him +for it. I cannot possibly let him bear the storm alone." + +He made a movement towards the door, but this was quite blocked up by +the sailor's broad figure, who, even at the young man's displeased +glance of enquiry, did not move from his position. + +"The Captain said that he would bring all to order up yonder by +himself," he explained laconically, "so he will do it. He succeeds in +everything." + +"Really?" asked Reinhold, somewhat struck by the insuperable confidence +of the words, "You seem to know my brother well." + +"Very well." + +Hesitating whether he should accede to Hugo's wish, Reinhold went to +the window which looked into the court, and became aware of three or +four faces, expressive of boundless curiosity, belonging to the +servants, who were trying to obtain a peep into the office. The young +man allowed a sound of suppressed annoyance to escape him, and turned +again to the sailor. + +"My brother's arrival seems to be known in the house already, said he +hastily. Strangers are not such a rarity in the office, and the +curiosity is evidently directed to you." + +"It does not matter," muttered Jonas, "even if the whole nest becomes +rebellious and stares at us. That sort of thing is nothing new. The +savages in the South Sea Islands do just the same when our 'Ellida' +lies-to." + +The question may remain undecided, as to whether the comparison just +drawn was exactly flattering to the inhabitants of the house. +Fortunately no one but Reinhold heard it, and he considered it +necessary to remove the object of this curiosity. He desired him to +enter the adjoining room and wait there; he himself remained behind and +listened uneasily if quarrelling voices were to be heard, but to be +sure the family parlour lay in the upper story and at the other side of +the house. The young man debated with himself as to whether he should +remain true to the half-promise which he had made to Hugo, and leave +him to manage alone, or if he should not, at least, attempt to cover +the unavoidable retreat, as, that such lay before Hugo, he believed to +be certain. He had too often heard the condemning verdict accorded to +his brother by the family, not to dread a scene, in which even the +former would be unable to hold his own, but he also knew his own +position towards his uncle too well, not to say to himself that his +interference would merely make matters worse. + +More than half-an-hour had passed in this painful anxiety, when at last +steps were heard and the Captain entered. + +"Here I am, the affair is settled." + +"What is settled?" asked Reinhold, hastily. + +"Well, the pardon of course. As much-beloved nephew, I have this moment +lain alternately in the arms of my uncle and aunt. Come upstairs with +me, Reinhold! you are missing in the reconciliation _tableau_, but you +must be prepared for endless emotion; they are all crying together." + +His brother looked at him doubtfully. "I do not know, Hugo, if this be +meant for fun, or--" + +The young Captain laughed mischievously. "You seem to have little +confidence in my diplomatic talents. But all the same, do not think +that the affair was easily settled. I was certainly prepared for a +storm. But here raged a regular tornado--bah, we sailors are accustomed +to such things--and when at last I could obtain speech, which +certainly was not for some time, the victory was already decided. I +represented the return of the lost son with a masterly hand; I called +heaven and earth as witnesses of my reformation. I ventured upon +falling at their feet--that took, at least with my aunt--I now made +sure of the hesitating female flank, in order to storm the centre in +conjunction with it, and the victory was brilliant. Forgiveness in due +form--general emotion and embraces--group of reconciliation--my Heaven, +do not look so incredulous. I assure you I am speaking in all +seriousness." + +Reinhold shook his head, yet unconsciously he drew a breath of relief. +"Comprehend it, who can! I should have thought it impossible! Have +you"--the question sounded peculiarly uncertain--"have you seen my +wife?" + +"To be sure," said Hugo, slyly. "That is to say, I have certainly not +seen much of her, and heard even less, as she remained quite passive +during the scene, and did not even cry like the rest. The same little +cousin Eleonore still, who always sat so quietly and shyly in her +corner, out of which even our wildest boyish teasings did not drive +her--and she has become your wife! But now, above all, I must admire +the representative of the house of Almbach! Where is he?" + +Reinhold looked up, and for a moment a bright gleam drove all the +gloominess away from his face. "My boy? I will show him to you. Come, +we will go up to him." + +"Thank God, at last a sign of happiness in your face," said the +Captain, with a seriousness of which one would hardly have deemed his +merry nature capable, and he added in a lowered voice, "I have sought +for it in vain so far." + + * * * * * + +The firm of Almbach and Co. belonged to that class whose names on the +Exchange, as well as in the commercial world generally, were of some +position, without being of conspicuous importance. The relations +between its head and Consul Erlau were not only of a business nature; +they dated from earlier times, when both, equally young and meanless, +were apprenticed in the same office, the one to raise himself until he +became a rich merchant, whose ships sailed on every ocean and whose +connections extended to every quarter of the globe--the other to found +a modest business, which never reached beyond certain bounds. Almbach +avoided all more daring speculations, all greater undertakings, which +he was by no means the man to superintend or guide; he preferred a +moderate, but steady gain, which also fell to his share to the fullest +extent. His social position was certainly as different from that of +Consul Erlau as was his old-fashioned gloomy house in Canal Street, +with its high gables and barred office windows, from the princely +furnished palace at the Harbour. The friendship between the former +youthful companions had gradually diminished, but it was certainly +Almbach who was principally to blame for it. He could not be reconciled +to the Consul after the latter had become a millionaire, living in the +style suited to that position. Perhaps he could not forgive him for +occupying the first place, while he himself only stood in the third or +fourth rank, and well as he knew how to utilise the advantages which +the intimate acquaintance with the great firm of Erlau opened to him, +yet he held, all the more, to his strictly middle-class, and somewhat +old-frankish household, and kept aloof from all communication with that +of the Consul. The latter's invitations had ceased when he saw that +they were never accepted; for years the mutual meetings had been +restricted to those occasional ones on Exchange or some chance place, +and lately Almbach had even, when any business matters required a +personal interview, let his son-in-law represent him. It was decidedly +disagreeable to him, that on this occasion the young man had received +the invitation to the opera and the succeeding evening party, and +impossible as it was to refuse this civility, the merchant did not +attempt to disguise from his family his dissatisfaction at Reinhold's +introduction into the "nabob's life," the designation with which he +usually honoured his old friend's household. + +Notwithstanding all this, Almbach was a well-to-do, even, as was +maintained by many, a very rich man, and on this account the centre and +support of numerous relations not blessed with over-much fortune. In +this manner the care of his two orphaned nephews, whom their father, a +ship's captain, had left quite without resources, fell to his charge. +Almbach had only one child, to whose existence he had never attached +very much importance, as she was a girl. The Consul and his wife were +the little one's god-parents, and it might always be considered as an +act of self-conquest, that Almbach gave his daughter Frau Erlau's name, +as he particularly hated the aristocratic, romantic-sounding "Eleonore" +and soon changed it for the much simpler "Ella." This designation was +also more suitable, as Ella Almbach was considered by every one to be, +not only a simple, but even a very contracted-minded being, whose +horizon never was extended beyond the trifling domestic events of +housekeeping. The child had formerly been very sickly, and this may +have had a crippling effect upon the development of her mental +faculties. They were indeed of a very inferior order, and the very +prejudiced, strictly domestic education in her father's house, +excluding every other circle of ideas and thought, did not appear +adapted to give them a higher direction. Thus, then, the girl had +grown up quiet and shy, always overlooked, everywhere set aside, and +without the least value, even amongst her nearest relations. They +were wont to consider her quite incapable of self-dependence, even +half-irresponsible, and her eventual marriage did not change things at +all. + +Neither of the young people raised any objection to the long-cherished, +and to them long-known, plan of a union. A girl of seventeen and a man +of twenty-two have certainly not much self-decision, least of all when +they have grown up under such repressed circumstances. Besides, in this +case, there was also the habit of always living together, which had +created a sort of liking, although in Reinhold it was really only +pitying tolerance, and in Ella secret fear of her mentally superior +cousin. They gave their hands obediently at the betrothal, which was +followed, after a year's reprieve, by the wedding. Almbach's sceptre +swayed over both as much after as before it, he allowed his new +son-in-law, who, as far as the name went, was literally his partner, as +little independence in the business as his wife did the young mistress +in the household. + + + + + CHAPTER III. + + +It was Sunday morning. The office was closed, and Reinhold at last had +a free morning before him, which certainly was seldom his good fortune. +He was in the garden house, to the entire and special possession of +which he had at last attained, to be sure only after many struggles and +by repeated reference to his musical studies, which were considered +highly disturbing in the house. It was here alone that the young man +was in any degree safe from the constant control of his parents-in-law, +which extended even into the young couple's dwelling, and he seized +every free moment to take refuge in his asylum. + +The so-called "garden" was of the only description possible in an old, +narrowly-built, densely populated town. On all sides high walls and +gables enclosed the small piece of ground, to which air and sunshine +were sparingly given, and where a few trees and shrubs enjoyed but a +miserable existence. The garden's boundary was one of those small +canals, which traversed the town in all directions, and whose quick, +dark stream formed a very melancholy background; beyond this, again, +walls and gables were to be seen; the same prison-like appearance, +which clung to Almbach's whole house seemed to reign over the only free +space belonging to it. + +The garden house itself was not much more cheerful--the single large +room was furnished with more than simplicity. Evidently the few +old-fashioned pieces of furniture had been set aside from some other +place as superfluous, and been sought out in order to fit up the room +with what was absolutely necessary. Only in the window, round which +climbed some stunted vines, stood a large, handsome piano, the legacy +of the late Music Director, Wilkens, to his pupil, and its magnificent +appearance contrasted as singularly and strangely with the room as did +the figure of the young man, with his ideal brow and large flashing +eyes, behind the barred office windows of the dwelling-house. + +Reinhold was sitting writing at the table, but to-day his face did not +wear the tired, listless expression, which rested upon it whenever he +had the figures of the account books before him; his cheeks were +darkly, almost feverishly red, and as he wrote a name rapidly on the +envelope, lying on the table, his hands trembled as if with suppressed +excitement. Steps were heard outside, and the glass door was opened; +with a quick gesture of annoyance the young man pushed the envelope +under the sheets of music lying on the table, and turned round. + +It was Jonas, servant of the Captain, who for a few days only had +accepted the hospitality offered by his relations, and then had +migrated to a dwelling of his own. The sailor saluted and entered in +his peculiarly rough and somewhat uncouth manner, and then laid some +books on the table. + +"The Herr Captain's compliments, and he sends the promised books from +his travelling library." + +"Is my brother not coming himself?" asked Reinhold astonished. "He +promised surely." + +"The Captain has been here some time," replied Jonas, "but they have +got hold of him in the house; your uncle wished to have a conference +with him on family affairs; your aunt requires his help to make some +alteration in the guest room, and the bookkeeper wants to catch him for +his society. All are fighting for him; he cannot tear himself away." + +"Hugo appears to have conquered the whole house in the course of a +single week," remarked Reinhold ironically. + +"We do that everywhere," said Jonas, full of self-consciousness, and +appeared inclined to add more about those conquests, when he was +interrupted by his master's entrance, who greeted his brother in the +most cheerful humour. + +"Good morning, Reinhold! Now Jonas, what are you staying here for? You +are wanted in the house. I promised my aunt that you should help at the +dinner to-day. Go at once to the kitchen!" + +"Amongst the women!" + +"Heaven knows," said Hugo, turning laughingly to his brother, "where +this man has learned his hatred for women. Certainly not from me; I +admire the lovely sex uncommonly." + +"Yes, unfortunately, quite uncommonly," muttered Jonas, but he turned +away obediently and marched out of the room, while the Captain came +quite close to Reinhold. + +"To-day there is a large family dinner!" he began, imitating his Uncle +Almbach's pedantic, solemn voice so well as almost to deceive any one. +"In my honour of course! I hope you will pay proper respect to this +important ceremony, and that you will not again behave in such a +manner, that I can at the utmost use you as a butt for my too developed +amiability." + +Reinhold knitted his brows slightly-- + +"I beg you, Hugo, do be sensible for once! How long do you intend to +continue this comedy, and amuse yourself at the expense of the whole +house? Take care, lest they find out what your amiability consists of, +and that you are really only ridiculing them all." + +"That would indeed be bad," said Hugo, quietly, "but they will not find +me out, depend upon that." + +"Then do me the kindness, at least, of ceasing your horrid Indian +tales! You really go too far with them. Uncle was debating with the +bookkeeper yesterday about the battle with the monster serpent, which +you served up for them lately, and which, even to him, appeared unheard +of. I became extremely confused in listening to them." + +"It put you to confusion?" mocked the Captain. "If I had been there, I +should immediately have given them the benefit of an elephant hunt, a +tiger story, and a few attacks of savages, with such appalling effects, +that the affair of the giant snake would have appeared highly probable +to them. Be easy! I know my hearers; the whole house oppresses me +almost, with its acts of sympathy." + +"Excepting Ella," suggested Reinhold, "it is certainly remarkable that +her shyness towards you is quite invincible." + +"Yes, it is very remarkable," said Hugo with an offended air. "I cannot +allow any one in the house to exist who is not entirely persuaded of my +perfections, and have already set myself the task of presenting myself +to my sister-in-law in all my utterly irresistible charms. I do not +doubt at all that she will thereupon immediately join the majority--you +are not jealous, I hope." + +"Jealous?--I? and on Ella's account?" The young man shrugged his +shoulders half-pityingly, half-contemptuously. + +"What are you thinking of?" + +"Well, there is no danger! I have sought an interview with her already, +but she was entirely occupied with the young one. Tell me, Reinhold, +where does the child get those wonderful, blue, fairy-tale-like eyes +from? Yours are not so, besides there is not the least resemblance, +and, excepting his, I do not know any in the family." + +"I believe Ella's eyes are blue," interrupted his brother +indifferently. + +"You believe only? Have you never convinced yourself then? Certainly it +may be somewhat difficult; she never raises them, and, under that +monstrous cap, nothing can be seen of her face. Reinhold, for Heaven's +sake, how can you allow your wife such an antediluvian costume? I +assure you, for me that cap would be grounds sufficient for a divorce." + +Reinhold had seated himself at the piano, and let his hands glide +mechanically over the notes, while he answered with perfect +indifference-- + +"I never trouble myself about Ella's toilet, and I believe it would be +useless to try and enforce any alterations there. What does it matter +to me?" + +"What it matters to you how your wife looks?" repeated the Captain, as +he seized some sheets of music on the table, and turned them over +lightly, "a charming question from a young husband! You used to have a +sense of beauty, too easily aroused, and I could almost fear--what is +this then? 'Signora Beatrice Biancona on it.' Have you Italian +correspondents in the town?" + +Reinhold sprang up, confusion and annoyance struggled in his face, as +he saw the letter, which he had pushed under the music, in his +brother's hands, who repeated the address unconcernedly. + +"Beatrice Biancona? That is the _prima donna_ of the Italian Opera, who +has made such a wonderful sensation here? Do you know the lady?" + +"Slightly," said Reinhold, taking the letter quickly from his hands. "I +was introduced to her lately at Consul Erlau's." + +"And you correspond with her already?" + +"Certainly not! The letter does not contain one single line." + +Hugo laughed aloud, "An envelope fully addressed, a very voluminous +sheet of paper inside it, with not a single line! Dear Reinhold, that +is more wonderful than my story of the giant snake. Do you expect me +really to believe it? There, do not look so savage, I do not intend to +force myself into your secrets." + +Instead of answering, the young man drew the paper out of the unsealed +envelope, and held it to his brother, who looked at it in astonishment. + +"What does it mean? Only a song--notes and words--no word of +explanation with it--just your name below. Have you composed it?" + +Reinhold took the paper again, closed the letter and put it in his +pocket. + +"It is an attempt, nothing more. She is _artiste_ enough to judge of +it. She can accept or reject it." + +"Then you compose also?" asked the Captain, whose face had become +serious all at once. "I did not think that your passionate liking for +music went so far as creating it yourself. Poor Reinhold, how can you +bear this life, with all its narrow, confined ways, wishing to stifle +every spark of poetry as being unnecessary or dangerous? I could not do +it." + +Reinhold had thrown himself upon the seat before the piano again. + +"Do not ask me how I endure it," he replied, with suppressed feeling. +"It is enough _that_ I do it." + +"I guessed long since that your letters were not open," continued Hugo; +"that behind all the contentment with which you tried to deceive me, +something quite different was concealed. The truth has become plain to +me, during one week in this house, notwithstanding that you gave +yourself all conceivable trouble to hide it from me." + +The young man gazed gloomily before him. "Why should I worry you, when +far away, with anxieties about me? You had enough to do to take care of +yourself, and there was a time, too, when I was contented, or at least +believed myself so, because my whole mental being lay, as it were, +under a spell, when I allowed everything to pass over me in stupid +indifference, and I offered my hand willingly for the chain. I have +done it; well, yes! But I must carry it my whole life long!" + +Hugo had gone towards him, and laid his hand upon his brother's +shoulder. + +"You mean your marriage with Ella? At the first news of it, I knew it +must be my uncle's work." + +A bitter smile played round the young man's lips as he answered +scornfully-- + +"He was always a splendid master of calculation, and he has shown it +again in this case. The poor relation, taken up out of kindness and +charity, must consider it happiness that he is raised to be son and +heir of the house, and the daughter must be married some time; so it +was a case of securing, by means of her hand, a successor for the firm, +who bore the same name. It was neither Ella's nor my fault that we were +bound together. We were both young, without wills, without knowledge of +life or of ourselves. She will always remain so--well for her. It has +not been so fortunate for me." + +One would hardly have credited those merry brown eyes with the power of +looking so serious as at this moment, when he bent down to his brother. + +"Reinhold," said he, in an undertone, "on the night when I fled to +save myself from a caprice, which would have ruined my freedom and +future, I had planned and foreseen everything, excepting one, the most +difficult--the moment when I should stand by your bed to bid you +farewell. You slept quietly, and did not dream of the separation; but +I--when I saw your pale face on the pillow, and said to myself that for +years, perhaps never again, should I see it, all longing for freedom +could not resist it--I struggled hard with the temptation to awake and +take you with me. Later, when I experienced the thorny path of the +adventurous homeless boy, with all its dangers and privations, I often +thanked God that I had withstood the temptation; I knew you were safe +and sound in our relation's house, and now"--Hugo's strong voice +trembled as with suppressed anger or pain--"now I wish I had carried +you with me to want and privation, to storm and danger, but at any rate +to freedom; it had been better." + +"It had been better," repeated Reinhold, listlessly; then rising as if +reckless, "Let us cease! What is the use of regrets, which cannot +change what is past. Come! They expect us upstairs." + +"I wish I had you on my 'Ellida,' and we could turn our backs on the +whole crew, never to see them again," said the young sailor, with a +sigh, as he prepared to follow his brother's bidding. "I never thought +things could be so bad." + +The brothers had hardly entered the house, when Hugo's indispensability +began to show itself again. He was in request, at least on three sides, +at once. Every one required his advice and help. The young Captain +appeared to possess the enviable power of throwing himself directly +from one mood into another, as, immediately after his serious +conversation with his brother, he was sparkling with merriment and +mischief, helped every one, paid compliments to each, and at the same +time teased all in the most merciless manner. This time it was the +bookkeeper who caught him, as Jonas expressed it, to explain the +affairs of his society; and while the two gentlemen were discussing it, +Reinhold entered the dining-room, where he found his wife busied with +preparations for the before-named guests. + +Ella was in her Sunday costume to-day, but that made little alteration +in her appearance. Her dress of finer material was not more becoming; +the cap, which inspired her brother-in-law with such horror, surrounded +and disfigured her face as usual. The young wife devoted herself so +assiduously and completely to her domestic duties, that she hardly +seemed to notice her husband's entrance, who approached her with rather +lowering mien. + +"I must beg you, Ella," he began, "to have more regard for my wishes in +future, and to meet my brother in such a manner as he can and would +expect his sister-in-law to do. I should think that the behaviour of +your parents, and every one in the house, might serve as an example for +you; but you appear to find an especial pleasure in denying him every +right of relationship, and in showing him a decided antipathy." + +The young wife looked as timid and helpless at this anything but kindly +expressed reproof, as she did when her mother desired her to interfere +about her husband's musical "mania." + +"Do not be angry, dear Reinhold," she replied, hesitatingly, "but I--I +cannot do otherwise." + +"You cannot?" asked Reinhold, sharply. "Of course, that is your +never-failing answer when I ask anything of you, and I should have +thought it was seldom enough that I do address a request to you. But +this time I insist positively that you should change your demeanour +towards Hugo. This shy avoidance and consequent silence whenever he +speaks to you is too ridiculous. I beg seriously that you will take +more care not to make me appear too much an object of pity to my +brother." + +Ella appeared about to answer, but the last unsparing words closed her +lips. She bowed her head, and did not make any further attempt to +defend herself. It was a movement of such gentle, patient resignation +as would have disarmed any one; but Reinhold did not notice it, as at +the same moment the old bookkeeper was heard taking leave in the next +room. + +"Then we may count upon the honour of your membership, Herr Captain? +And as regards the election of a President, I have your word that you +will support the opposition?" + +"Quite at your service," said Hugo's voice, "and of course only with +the opposition. I always join the opposition on principle whenever +there is one; it is generally the only faction in which there is any +fun. Excuse me, the honour is on my side." + +The bookkeeper left, and the Captain appeared in the room. He seemed +inclined to redeem the promise he had given to his brother, and at the +same time to convince the young wife of his perfections, as he +approached her with all the boldness and confidence of his nature, with +which a certain knightly gallantry was mingled. + +"Then I owe it to chance that at last I see my sister-in-law, and she +is compelled to remain with me a few moments? Certainly she never would +have accorded me this happiness of her own free will. I was complaining +bitterly to Reinhold this morning about your repelling me, which I do +not know that I have merited in any way." + +He wished to take her hand, even to kiss it, but Ella drew back, with +a, for her, quite unwonted decision. + +"Herr Captain!" + +"Herr Captain!" repeated Hugo, annoyed. "No, Ella, that is going too +far. I certainly, as your brother, have a right to the 'thou' which you +never refused to your cousin and childish companion, but as you, from +the first day of my arrival, laid so much stress on the formal 'you,' I +followed the hint you gave me. However, this 'Herr Captain' I will not +stand. That is an insult against which I shall call Reinhold to my +assistance. He shall tell me if I must really bear hearing myself being +called 'Herr Captain' by those lips." + +"Certainly not!" said Reinhold, as he turned to leave, "Ella will give +up this manner of speaking to you, as well as her whole tone towards +you. I have just been speaking distinctly to her about it." + +He went away, and his glance ordered his wife to remain, as plainly as +his voice demanded obedience. Neither escaped the Captain. + +"For goodness sake, do not interfere with your husband's authority! +Would you command friendliness towards me?" cried he after his brother, +and turned again quickly to Ella, while he continued, gallantly, "that +would be the surest way to prevent my ever finding favour in my +beautiful sister-in-law's eyes. But that is not required between us, is +it? You will permit me, at least, to lay the due tribute of respect at +your feet, to describe to you the joyful surprise with which I received +the news--" + +Here Hugo stopped suddenly, and seemed to have lost his train of ideas. +Ella had raised her eyes, and looked at him. It was a gleam of quiet, +painful reproach, and the same reproach lay in her voice as she +replied, "At least leave me in peace, Herr Captain. I thought you had +amusement enough for to-day." + +"I?" asked Hugo, taken aback. "What do you mean, Ella? You do not +think--" + +The young wife did not let him finish. "What have we done to you?" she +continued, and although her voice trembled timidly at first, it gained +firmness with every word. "What have we done to you that you always +scoff at us, since the day of your return, when you acted a scene of +repentance before my parents, until the present moment, when you make +the whole house the target for your jokes? Reinhold certainly tolerates +our being daily humiliated; he looks upon it as a matter of course. But +I, Herr Captain--" here Ella's voice had attained perfect steadiness, +"I do not consider it right that you should daily cast scorn and +contempt over a house in which you, after all that has passed, have +been received with the old love. If this house and family do appear so +very meagre and ridiculous to you, no one invited you here. You should +have remained in that world of which you are able to relate so much. My +parents deserve more respect and mercy even for their weaknesses; and, +although our house may be simple, it is still too good for the scoffs +of an--adventurer." + +She turned her back upon him, and left the room without waiting for a +single word of reply. Hugo stood and gazed after her, as if one of the +impossible scenes out of his own Indian stories had just been acted +before him. Probably, for the first time in his life, the young sailor +lost, with his presence of mind, the power of speech also. + +"That was plain," said he at last, as he sat down, quite upset; but the +next moment he sprang up as if electrified, and cried-- + +"She has them in truth; the child's beautiful blue eyes. And I +discovered them only now! Who, indeed, would look for this glance under +that horrible cap? 'We are too good for the scoffs of an adventurer.' +Not exactly flattering, but it was merited, although I expected least +of all to hear it from her! I shall often try that." + +Hugo moved as if going into the guest room, but he stopped again on the +threshold, and looked towards the door, by which his sister-in-law had +retired. All signs of mockery and mischief had entirely vanished from +his face; it bore a thoughtful expression as he said, gently, "And +Reinhold only _believes_ she has blue eyes! Incomprehensible!" + + * * * * * + +In the large concert-room of H----, all the _elite_ of the town seemed +to be gathered on the occasion of one of those concerts which, set on +foot for some charitable purpose, were patronised by the first +families, and whose support and presence there was considered quite a +point of honour. To-day the programme only bore well-known names, both +as regarded the performances as well as performers; and besides, it was +arranged by means of the highest possible prices that the audience +should consist principally, if not entirely, of persons belonging to +the best circles of society. + +The concert had not commenced, and the performers were in a room +adjoining, which served as a place of assembly on such occasions, and +to which only a few specially favoured of the outside world had the +right of entrance. Therefore the presence was the more remarkable of a +young man who did not belong either to the favoured or the performers, +and who kept aloof from both. He had entered shortly before and +addressed himself at once to the conductor, who, although he did not +appear to know him, yet must have been informed of his coming, as he +received him very politely. The gentlemen around only heard so much of +the conversation, that the conductor regretted not to be able to give +Mr. Almbach any information: it was Signora Biancona's wish; the +Signora would appear directly. The short interview was soon over, and +Reinhold drew back. + +The group of artists, engaged in lively conversation, broke up +suddenly, as the door opened and the young _prima donna_ appeared; she +had not been expected so soon, as she usually only drove up at the last +moment. Every one began to move. All tried to outdo one another in +attentions to their beautiful colleague, but to-day she took remarkably +little notice of the wonted homage of her surroundings. Her glance on +entering had flown rapidly through the room, and had at once found the +object of its search. The Signora deigned to reply to the greetings +only very slightly, exchanged a few words with the conductor, and +withdrew at once from all further attempts at conversation with the +gentlemen, as she turned to Reinhold Almbach, who now approached her, +and went towards the farthest window with him. + +"You have really come, Signor?" she began in a reproachful tone, "I did +not believe, indeed, that you would accept my invitation." + +Reinhold looked up, and the forced coldness and formality of the +greeting began already to melt as he met her gaze for the first time on +that evening. + +"Then it was your invitation," he said. "I did not know if I was to +consider the one sent by the conductor in your name, as such. It did +not contain a single line from you." + +Beatrice smiled. "I only followed the example set me. I, too, have +received a certain song, whose composer added nothing to his name. I +only retaliated." + +"Has my silence offended you?" asked the young man, quickly. "I dared +add nothing. What--" his eyes sank to the ground--"what should I have +said to you?" + +The first question was indeed unnecessary; as the devotion of the song +seemed to have been understood, and Signora Biancona looked the reverse +of offended as she answered-- + +"You appear to like the wordless form, Signor, and always to wish to +speak to me in notes of music. Well, I bowed to your taste, and have +determined to answer also only in our language." + +She laid a slight but still marked emphasis upon the word. Reinhold +raised his head in astonishment. + +"In our language?" he repeated slowly. + + + + + CHAPTER IV. + + +Beatrice drew a paper out of the roll of music which she held in her +hand. "I have waited in vain for the author of this song to come to me, +in order to hear it from my lips and receive my thanks for it. He has +left to strangers that which was his duty. I am accustomed to _be +sought_, Signor. You seem to expect the same." + +There certainly lay some reproach in her voice, but it was not very +harsh, and it would have been hardly possible, as Reinhold's eye +betrayed only too plainly what this staying away had cost him. He made +no reply to the reproach, did not defend himself against it, but his +glance, which seemed magnetically bound by the brilliantly beautiful +apparition, told her that his self-restraint was caused by anything +rather than indifference. + +"Do you think I have sent for you to hear the air which is put down in +the programme?" continued the Italian, playfully. "The audience always +desires this air _da capo_; it is too trying for a repetition; I +propose, therefore, instead of this, to sing--something else." + +A deep glow covered the young man's features, and he stretched out his +hand, as if with an unconscious movement, towards the paper. + +"For mercy's sake! surely not my song?" + +"You are uncommonly alarmed about it," said the singer, stepping back, +and withdrawing the music from him. "Are you afraid for the fate of +your work in my hands?" + +"No, no!" cried Reinhold passionately, "but--" + +"But? No objections, Signor! The song is dedicated to me, is handed +over to me for good or evil. I shall do with it what I choose. Only one +more question. The director is quite prepared; we have practised the +performance together, but I should prefer seeing you at the piano when +I appear before the audience with your music. May I count upon you?" + +"You will trust yourself to my accompaniment?" asked Reinhold, with +trembling voice. "Trust yourself entirely without first trying it? That +is a risk for us both." + +"Only if your courage fail, not otherwise," explained Beatrice. "With +your power over the piano I have already made acquaintance, and there +is certainly no question as to whether you are sure of the +accompaniment to your work. If you are as sure of yourself before this +audience as you were lately at the party, we can perform the song +without hesitation." + +"I will risk all, if you are at my side," Reinhold exclaimed, +passionately. "The song was written for you, Signora. If you decide +differently for it, its fate lies in your hand. I am ready for all." + +She answered only with a smile, proud and confident of success, and +turned to the conductor who at that moment drew near. Then ensued a +low, but lively conversation in the group, and the other gentlemen +regarded with undisguised displeasure the young stranger who quite +monopolised the attention and conversation of the Signora and, to their +great annoyance, occupied her until the signal for the commencement of +the concert was given. + +The room, in the meanwhile, had filled to the very last seat, and the +dazzlingly-lighted place, in conjunction with the rich toilets of the +ladies, offered a brilliant sight. Consul Erlau's wife sat with several +other ladies in the front part of the room, and was engaged in +conversation with Dr. Welding, when her husband, accompanied by a young +man, wearing a captain's uniform, came up to her seat. + +"Herr Captain Almbach," he said, introducing him, "to whom I owe the +rescue of my best ship and all its crew. It was he who came to the help +of the 'Hansa,' when already almost foundered, and it is entirely to +his self-sacrificing energy--" + +"Oh pray, Herr Consul, do not let Frau Erlau immediately anticipate a +storm at sea!" interrupted Hugo, "we poor sailors are always so +maligned as regards our adventures, that every lady looks forward with +secret horror to their inevitable relation. I assure you though, +Madame, that you have nothing to fear with me. I intend my +conversational attempts to be confined to the mainland." + +The young sailor appeared indeed to understand very thoroughly the +differences of the society in which he moved. It never entered his head +here, when the opportunity was offered him, to recount adventures, +which in his relative's house he lavished so liberally. The Consul +shook his head a little dissatisfied. + +"You appear wishful to laugh away all recognition of your services," +responded he. "I am not the less in your debt, even if you do make it +impossible for me to discharge it in any way. Besides, I do not believe +the relation of this adventure would injure you with the ladies, quite +the contrary. And as you refuse all account of it so positively, I +shall reserve it myself for the next opportunity." + +Frau Erlau turned with winning friendliness to Hugo. + +"You are no stranger to us, Herr Captain Almbach, even for your +family's sake. Only lately we had the pleasure of seeing your brother +at our house." + +"Yes--only once," added the Consul, "and then merely by chance. Almbach +appears unable to forgive me that my mode of living varies so from his +own. He purposely keeps himself and all his family at a distance, and +for years has stopped all visits from our godchild--we hardly know what +Eleanor looks like." + +"Poor Eleanor!" remarked Frau Erlau, compassionately. "I fear she has +been intimidated by a too strict bringing up, and being kept much too +secluded. I never see her otherwise than shy and quiet, and I believe +in the presence of strangers she never raises her eyes." + +"She does though," said Hugo, in a peculiar voice. "She does sometimes, +but certainly I doubt if my brother has ever seen her do so." + +"Your brother is not here, then?" asked the lady. + +"No. He declined to accompany me. I do not understand it, as I know his +infatuation for music and especially for Biancona's singing. I am to +see this sun of the south, whose rays dazzle all H----, rise to-day for +the first time." + +The Consul cautioned him laughingly with his finger. + +"Do not scoff, Captain; rather protect your own heart against these +rays. To you, young gentleman, such things are most dangerous. You +would not be the first who had succumbed to the magic of those eyes." + +The young sailor laughed confidently. + +"And who says then, Herr Consul, that I fear such a fate? I always +succumb in such cases with the greatest pleasure, and the consolatory +knowledge that the magic is only dangerous for him who flees it. +Whoever stands firm, is generally soon disenchanted, often sooner than +he wishes." + +"It appears you have had great experience already in such affairs," +said Frau Erlau, with a touch of reproof. + +"My God, Madame, when year after year one flies from country to +country, and never takes root anywhere, is nowhere so much at home as +on the rolling, ever-moving sea, one learns to look upon constant +change as inevitable, and at last to love it. I expose myself entirely +to your displeasure with this confession, but I must really beg of you +to look upon me as a savage, who has long forgotten, in tropical seas +and countries, how to satisfy the requirements of North German +civilisation." + +Yet the manner in which the young Captain bowed and kissed the lady's +hand as he spoke, betrayed a sufficient acquaintance with these +requirements, and Dr. Welding remarked, drily, as he turned to the +Consul-- + +"The tropical barbarism of this gentleman will not distinguish +itself very badly in our drawing-rooms. So the hero of the much +talked of 'Hansa' affair is really the brother of the young Almbach to +whom Signora Biancona is just now according an interview in the +assembly-room?" + +"Whom? Reinhold Almbach?" asked Erlau, astonished. "You heard just now +that he is not here." + +"Certainly not, according to the Herr Captain's views," said Welding, +quietly. "According to mine, he positively is. Pray do not mention it! +To-night's concert seems intended to bring us some surprise. I have a +certain suspicion, and we shall see if it be well-founded or not. The +Signora likes theatrical effects, even off the stage; everything must +be unexpected, lightning-like, overwhelming; a prosaic announcement +would spoil everything. The conductor is, of course, in the plot, but +was not so easily persuaded. We shall await it." + +He ceased, as Hugo, who until now had been talking to the ladies, came +to them, and immediately after the concert commenced. + +The first part and half of the second passed, according to the +programme, with more or less lively interest for the audience. Only +towards the close did Signora Biancona appear, whose performance, +notwithstanding all that had so far been heard, formed the point of +attraction of the evening. The audience received and greeted their +favourite, whose pale features were more charming than ever, with loud +applause. Beatrice was indeed radiantly beautiful as she stood under +the streaming light of the chandelier, in a flowing gauze dress strewn +with flowers, and roses in her dark hair. She acknowledged it with +smiling thanks on all sides, and, when the conductor, who undertook the +accompaniment, had seated himself at the piano, began her recitative. + +This time it was one of those grand Italian _bravura_ airs, which at +every concert and on every stage are certain of success, and demand the +audience's applause without at the same time fulfilling higher +requirements. A number of brilliant passages and effects made up for +the depth, which was really wanting in the composition, but it offered +the Italian an opportunity for perfect display of her magnificent +voice. All these runs and trills fell clearly as a bell from her lips, +and took such entrancing possession of the hearers' ears and senses, +that all criticism, all more serious longings, vanished in the pure +enjoyment of listening. It was a charming playing with tones--to be +sure, only playing, nothing more--but combined with the finished +certainty and grace of the performance, it acted like electricity upon +the audience, who overwhelmed the singer more lavishly than usual with +applause, and stormily encored the air _da capo_. + +Signora Biancona seemed also inclined to accede to this wish as she +came forward again, but at the same moment the conductor left the +piano, and a young man, who had hitherto not been observed among the +other performers, took his place. The spectators stared in +astonishment, the Consul and his wife gazed at him in surprise; even +Hugo at the first moment looked almost shocked at his brother, whose +presence he had not suspected, but he began to guess at the connection. +Only Dr. Welding said quietly, and without the least surprise, "I +thought it!" Reinhold looked pale, and his hands trembled on the keys; +but Beatrice stood at his side--a softly-whispered word from her mouth, +a glance out of her eyes, gave him back his lost courage. He began the +first chords steadily and quietly, which at once told the audience it +was not to be a repetition of their favourite piece. All listened +wonderingly and eagerly, and then Beatrice joined in. + +That was certainly something very different from the _bravura_ air just +heard. The melodies which now flowed forth had nothing in common with +those runs and trills, but they made their way to the hearers' hearts. +In those tones, which now rose as in stormy rejoicing, and again sank +in sad complaint, there seemed to breathe the whole happiness and +sorrow of a human life; a long-fettered yearning seemed at last to +struggle forth. It was a language of affecting power and beauty, and if +it was not quite understood by all, yet all felt that there was a sound +of something powerful, everlasting in it; even the most indifferent +superficial crowd cannot remain void of feeling when genius speaks to +it. + +And here genius had found its mate, who knew how to follow and perfect +it. There was no more talk of a risk for both, as the one met the idea +of the other. The most careful study could not have given so perfect a +mutual understanding as was here created in a moment and by +inspiration. Reinhold found himself comprehended in every note, grasped +at every turn, and never had Beatrice sung so enchantingly, never had +the spirit of her singing displayed itself so much. She took her part +with glowing _abandon_; the talent of the singer and the dramatic power +of the actress flowed together. It was a performance which would have +ennobled even the most insignificant composition--here it became a +double triumph. + +The song was ended. The breathless silence with which it had been +listened to continued a few seconds longer; no hand moved, no sign of +applause was heard; but then a storm broke forth, such as even the +_feted prima donna_ had seldom heard, and at any rate is unknown in a +concert-room. Beatrice seemed only to have waited for this moment; in +the next she had stepped to Reinhold, seized his hand, and drawn him +with her to the foot-lights, introducing him to the audience. This one +movement said enough; it was understood at once that the composer stood +before them. The storm of applause for both raged anew, and the young +musician, still half-bewildered by the unexpected success, holding +Beatrice's hand, received the first greeting and first approbation of +the crowd. + +Reinhold only returned clearly to consciousness in the assembly-room, +whither he had accompanied Signora Biancona; a few moments of solitude +still remained to him; beyond, in the concert-room, the orchestra was +playing the finale to a most indifferent audience, which was still +completely impressed by what it had just heard. Beatrice withdrew her +arm which lay in that of her companion. + +"We have conquered," she said, softly; "were you satisfied with my +song?" + +With a passionate movement, Reinhold seized both her hands, "Ask not +this question, Signora! Let me thank you, not for the triumph, which +was more yours than mine, but that I was also permitted to hear my song +from your lips. I composed it in the recollection of you--for you +alone, Beatrice. You have understood what it says to you, otherwise you +could not have sung it in such a manner." + +Signora Biancona may have understood it only too well, but in the +glance with which she looked down at him there lay still more than the +mere triumph of a beautiful woman, who has again proved the +irresistibility of her power. "Do you say that to the woman, or the +actress?" asked she, half-playfully. "The road is now open, Signor, +will you follow it?" + +"I will," declared Reinhold, raising himself determinedly, "whatever +opposes me, and whatever form my future may take, it will have been +consecrated for me, since the Goddess of Song herself opened the gate +to me." + +The last words had the same tone of passionate adulation which Beatrice +heard from him once before; she bent closer towards him, and her voice +sounded soft, almost beseeching, as she answered-- + +"Do not then avoid the Goddess any more so obstinately as hitherto. The +composer will surely be allowed to come to the actress from time to +time. If I study your next work, Signor, shall I have to discover its +meaning alone again, or will you stand by me this time?" + +Reinhold gave no reply, but the kiss which he pressed burningly +hot upon her hand, did not say no. Nor did he this time bid her +farewell--this time no recollection tore him away from the dangerous +proximity. Whatever arose in the distance that time with gentle +warning, had now no place in a single thought of the young man's +mind. How could, indeed, the faint, colourless picture of his young +wife exist near a Beatrice Biancona, who stood before him in all the +witch-like charms of her being, this "Goddess of Song," whose hand had +just conducted him to his first triumph! He saw and heard her only. +What for years had lain hidden within him--what, since his meeting with +her had struggled and fought its way out, this evening decided the +beginning of an artist's career, and of a family drama. + + * * * * * + +The following days and weeks in the Almbachs' house were not the most +agreeable. It could naturally not remain concealed from the merchant +that his son-in-law had appeared before the public with his +composition, and for this reason, that Dr. Welding, in the morning +paper, gave a detailed account of the concert, in which the name of the +young composer was mentioned. But neither the praise which the usually +severe critic accorded in this instance, nor the approval with which +the song was everywhere received, nor even the intervention of Consul +Erlau, who, taking Reinhold's part very eagerly and decidedly, upheld +his musical gifts, could overcome Almbach's prejudices. He persisted in +seeing in all artistic efforts an idling as useless as it was +dangerous--the real ground of all incapacity for practical business +life, and the root of all evil. Knowing as little as most people that +it had been almost an act of compulsion by which Signora Biancona +had forced Reinhold to appear publicly, he regarded the whole as a +pre-arranged affair, which had been undertaken without his knowledge +and against his will, and which made him almost beside himself. He +allowed himself to be so carried away, that he called his son-in-law to +account like a boy, and forbade him, once for all, any farther musical +pursuits. + +That was, of course, the worst thing he could have done. At this +prohibition, Reinhold broke out into uncontrollable defiance. The +passion which, despite all that fettered it outwardly and held it in +bounds, formed the groundwork of his character now broke out into a +truly terrific fury. A fearful scene ensued, and had Hugo not +interposed with quick thought, the breach would have become quite +irremediable. Almbach saw with horror that the nephew whom he had +brought up and led, whom he had tied to himself by every possible bond +of family and business, had outgrown his control completely, and never +thought of bending to his power. The strife had ceased for the time +present, but only to break out afresh at the first opportunity. One +scene succeeded another; one bitterness surpassed another. + +Reinhold soon stood in opposition to his whole surroundings, and the +defiance with which he clung more than ever to his musical studies, and +maintained his independence out of the house, only increased the anger +of his father and mother-in-law. + +Frau Almbach, who shared her husband's opinion entirely, supported him +with all her strength; Ella, on the contrary, remained, as usual, quite +passive. Any interference or taking a part was neither expected nor +desired; her parents never thought of crediting her with the very least +influence over Reinhold, and he himself ignored her in this affair +altogether, and did not even seem to grant her the right of offering an +opinion. The young wife suffered undeniably under these circumstances; +whether she felt the sad, humiliating part which she, the wife, +played--thus overlooked by both factions--set aside and treated as if +incapable--could hardly be decided. At her parents' bitter and excited +discussions, and her husband's constant state of irritation, which +often found vent at trifling causes, and was generally directed against +her, she always showed the same calm, patient resignation, seldom +uttered a beseeching word, never interfered by any decided +partisanship, and when, as usual, roughly repulsed, drew back more +shyly than ever. + +The only one who remained now, as before, on the best terms with all, +and kept his undisputed place as general favourite, was, strange to +say, the young Captain. Like all obstinate people, Almbach resigned +himself more easily to a fact than to a struggle, and forgave more +easily the direct but quiet want of regard for his authority, such as +his eldest nephew had shown him, than the stormy opposition to his will +which was now attempted by the younger one. When Hugo saw that a hated +calling was forced upon him, he had neither defied nor offended his +uncle; he had simply gone away, and let the storm rage itself out +behind his back. Certainly, he did not hesitate later to enact the +return of the prodigal son to ensure his entrance into the house to +which his brother belonged, and his restoration to his relations' +favour. Reinhold possessed neither the capability nor the inclination +to play with circumstances in this way. Just as he had never been able +to disguise his dislike to business life, and his indifference to all +the provincial town interests, so he now made no secret of his contempt +for all around him, his burning hatred for the fetters which confined +him--and it was this which could not be pardoned. Hugo, who espoused +his brother's side positively, was permitted to take his part openly, +and did so on every occasion. His uncle pardoned him this, even looked +upon it as quite natural, as the young Captain's mode of treatment +never let it come to a rupture, while with Reinhold, the subject only +needed to be touched upon in order to cause the most furious scenes +between him and his wife's parents. + +It was about noontide, when Hugo entered the Almbachs' house, and met +his servant, whom he had sent before with a message to his brother, at +the foot of the stairs. Jonas was really nominally only a sailor in the +"Ellida;" he had long had his discharge from the ship, and been +appointed solely to the young Captain's personal service, whom he never +left, even during a lengthy stay on shore, and whom he followed +everywhere with constant, unvarying attachment. Both were of about the +same age. Jonas was truly far from ugly; in his Sunday clothes he might +even pass for a good-looking fellow, but his uncouth manner, his rough +ways and his chariness of speech never allowed these advantages to be +perceived. He was almost on an enemy's footing with all the servants, +especially the women of Almbach's household, and none of them had ever +seen a pleasant expression on his face, nor heard a word more than was +absolutely necessary. Even now he looked very sour, and the four or +five dollars he was just counting in his hand seemed to excite his +displeasure, judging from the savage way he looked at them. + +"What is it, Jonas?" asked the Captain, approaching, "are you taking +stock of your ready money?" + +The sailor looked up, and put himself in an attitude of attention, but +his face did not become more pleasant. + +"I am to go to the nursery garden and get a bouquet of flowers," he +grumbled, as he put the money in his pocket. + +"Oh! are you employed as messenger for flowers?" + +"Yes, here too," said Jonas, emphasising the last word, and with a +reproachful glance at his master, added, "I am used to it, to be sure." + +"Certainly," laughed Hugo. "But I am not used to your doing such things +for others than myself. Who has given you the commission?" + +"Herr Reinhold," was the laconic reply. + +"My brother--so?" said Hugo, slowly, while a shade flitted across his +features, so bright just now. + +"And it is a sin the sum I am to pay for it," muttered Jonas. "Herr +Reinhold understands even better than we how to throw away dollars for +things which will be faded to-morrow, and we at any rate are not +married, but he--" + +"The bouquet is of course for my sister-in-law?" the Captain +interrupted shortly. "What is there to wonder at? Do you think I shall +give my wife no bouquets when I am married?" + +The last remark must have been very unexpected by the sailor, as he +drew himself up with a jerk, and stared at his master in the most +perfect horror, but the next minute he returned reassured to his old +position, saying confidently-- + +"We shall never marry, Herr Captain." + +"I forbid all such prophetic remarks, which condemn me without further +ado to perpetual celibacy," said Hugo quickly, "and why shall '_we_' +never marry?" + +"Because we think nothing of women," persisted Jonas. + +"You have a very curious habit of always speaking in the plural," +scoffed the Captain. "So I think nothing of women; I thought the +contrary had often roused your ire?" + +"But it never comes to marriage," said Jonas triumphantly, in a tone of +unconquerable conviction, "at heart we do not think much of the whole +lot. The story never goes beyond sending flowers and kissing hands, +then we sail away, and they have the pleasure of looking after us. It +is a very lucky thing that it is so. Women on the 'Ellida'--Heaven +protect us from it!" + +This characteristic account, given with unmistakable seriousness, +although again in the unavoidable plural, appeared to be full of truth, +as the Captain raised no objection to it. He only shrugged his +shoulders laughingly, turned his back upon the sailor, and went +upstairs. He found Reinhold in his own rooms, which lay in the upper +story, and a single glance at his brother's face, who was walking +angrily up and down, showed him that something must have happened again +to-day. + +"You are going out?" asked he, after greeting him, while looking at the +hat and gloves lying on the table. + +"Later on!" answered Reinhold, recovering himself. "In about an hour. +You will stay some time?" + +Hugo overlooked the last question. He stood opposite his brother, and +gazed searchingly at him. + +"Has there been a scene again?" he asked half-aloud. + +The moody defiance, which had disappeared for a few moments from the +young man's face, returned. + +"To be sure. They have attempted once more to treat me like a +schoolboy, who, when he has accomplished his daily appointed task, is +to be watched, and made to render an account of every step he takes, +even in his hours of recreation. I have made it clear to them that I am +tired of their everlasting guardianship." + +The Captain did not ask what step the quarrel was about; the short +conversation with Jonas seemed to have explained all that sufficiently; +he only said, shaking his head--"It is unfortunate that you are so +completely dependent upon our uncle. If later on it end in a regular +rupture between you, and you leave the business, it would become a +question of existence for you--your income goes entirely with it. You, +yourself, might trust wholly to your compositions, but to think they +could support a family yet would be making your future very uncertain +from the beginning. I had only myself to act for; you will be compelled +to wait until a greater work places you in the position of being able +to turn your back, with your wife and child, upon all the envy of a +small provincial town." + +"Impossible!" cried Reinhold almost madly. "By that time I shall have +foundered ten times over, and what talent I possess with me. Endure, +wait, perhaps for years? I cannot do it, it is the same thing to me as +suicide. My new work is completed. If only in some degree it attain the +success of the first, it would enable me to live at least a few months +in Italy." + +Hugo was staggered. + + + + + CHAPTER V. + + +"You are going to Italy? Why there particularly?" asked the Captain. + +"Where then?" interposed Reinhold impatiently. "Italy is the school of +all art and artists. There alone could I complete the meagre, defective +study to which circumstances confined me. Can you not understand that?" + +"No," said the Captain, somewhat coldly. "I do not see the necessity +that a beginner should go at once to the higher school. You can find +opportunity enough for study here; most of our talented men have had to +struggle and work for years before Italy at last crowned their work. +Supposing, however, you carry out your plan, what is to become of your +wife and child in the meanwhile? Do you intend to take them with you?" + +"Ella?" cried the young man, in an almost contemptuous voice. "That +would be the most certain method of rendering my success impossible. Do +you think, that in the first step I take towards freedom, I could drag +the whole chain of domestic misery with me?" + +A slight frown was perceptible between Hugo's eyes-- + +"That sounds very hard, Reinhold," he answered. + +"Is it my fault, that I am at last conscious of the truth?" growled +Reinhold. "My wife cannot raise herself above the sphere of cooking and +household management. It is not her fault, I know, but it is not +therefore any less the misfortune of my life." + +"Ella's incapacity, certainly seems settled as a sort of dogma in the +family," remarked the Captain quietly. "You believe in it blindly, like +the rest. Have you ever given yourself the trouble to find out if this +accepted fact be really infallible?" + +Reinhold shrugged his shoulders-- + +"I think it would be unnecessary in this case. But in none can there be +a question of my taking Ella with me. Naturally she will remain with +the child in her parents' house until I return." + +"Until you return--and if that do not happen?" + +"What do you say? What do you mean?" said the young man angrily, while +a deep colour spread over his face. + +Hugo crossed his arms and looked fiercely at him-- + +"It strikes me you are now suddenly coming forward with ready-made +plans, which have certainly long been arranged, and probably well +talked over. Do not deny it Reinhold! You, by yourself, would never +have gone to such extremities as you do now in the disputes with my +uncle, listening to no advice or representations; there is some foreign +influence at work. Is it really absolutely necessary that you should go +day after day to Biancona?" + +Reinhold vouchsafed no reply; he turned away, and so withdrew himself +from his brother's observation. + +"It is talked of already in the town," continued the latter. "It cannot +continue long without the report reaching here. Is it a matter of +perfect indifference to you?" + +"Signora Biancona is studying my new composition," said Reinhold +shortly, "and I only see in her the ideal of an actress. You admired +her also?" + +"Admired, yes! At least in the beginning. She never attracted me. The +beautiful Signora has something too vampire-like in her eyes. I fear +that whoever it be, upon whom she fixes those eyes with the intention +of holding him fast, will require a powerful dose of strength of will +in order to remain master of himself." + +At the last words he had gone to his brother's side, who now turned +round slowly and looked at him. + +"Have you experienced that already?" he asked, gloomily. + +"I? No!" replied Hugo, with a touch of his old mocking humour. +"Fortunately I am very unimpressionable as regards such-like +romantic dangers, besides being sufficiently used to them. Call it +frivolity--inconstancy--what you will--but a woman cannot fascinate me +long or deeply; the passionate element is wanting in me. You have it +only too strongly, and when you encounter anything of the sort, the +danger lies close by. Take care of yourself, Reinhold!" + +"Do you wish to remind me of the fetters I bear?" asked Reinhold, +bitterly. "As if I did not feel them daily, hourly, and with them the +powerlessness to destroy them. If I were free as you, when you tore +yourself away from this bondage, all might be well; but you are right, +they chained me by times, and a bridal altar is the most secure bar +which can be placed before all longing for freedom--I experience it +now." + +They were interrupted; the servant from the house brought a message +from the bookkeeper to young Herr Almbach. The latter bade the man go, +and turned to his brother. + +"I must go to the office for a moment. You see I am not in much danger +of coming to grief by excessive romance; our ledgers, in which, +probably, a couple of dollars are not properly entered, guard against +that. Adieu until we meet again, Hugo!" + +He went, and the Captain remained alone. He stayed a few moments as if +lost in thought, while the frown on his brow became still darker; then +suddenly he raised himself as with some resolve, and left the room, but +not to go to the lower floor to his uncle or aunt; he went straight to +the opposite apartments inhabited by his sister-in-law. + +Ella was there; she sat by the window, her head was bent over some +needlework, but it seemed as if this had been seized hurriedly when the +door opened unexpectedly; the handkerchief thrown down hastily, and the +inflamed eyelids betrayed freshly dried tears. She looked up at her +brother-in-law's entrance with undisguised astonishment. It was +certainly the first time he had sought her rooms; he came half-way +only, and then stood still without approaching her seat. + +"May the adventurer dare to come near you, Ella? or did that condemning +verdict banish him entirely from your threshold?" + +The young wife blushed; she turned her work about in her hands in most +painful confusion. + +"Herr--" + +"Captain!" interrupted Hugo. "Quite right--thus do my sailors address +me. Once more this name from your lips, and I shall never trouble you +again with my presence. Pray Ella, listen to me to-day!" he continued +determinedly, as the young wife made signs of rising. "This time I +shall keep the door barred by which you always try to elude my +approach; fortunately, too, there is no maid near whom you can keep by +your side for some task. We are alone, and I give you my word I shall +not leave this spot until I am either forgiven, or--hear the +unavoidable 'Herr Captain' which will drive me away once for all." + +Ella raised her eyes, and now it was plainly evident that she had wept. + +"What do you care for my forgiveness?" she replied quickly. "You have +wounded me least of all; I only spoke in the name of my parents and all +the household." + +"For them I do not care," said Hugo with the most unabashed candour, +"but that I have hurt you I do regret, very much regret; it has lain +like a nightmare upon me until now. I can surely do no more than beg +honestly and heartily for forgiveness. Are you still angry with me, +Ella?" + +He put out his hand towards her. In the movement and words there lay +such a warm, open kindliness and frankness, that it seemed almost +impossible to refuse the petition, and Ella actually, although somewhat +reluctantly, laid her hand in his. + +"No," said she, simply. + +"Thank God!" cried Hugo, drawing a long breath. "So at last my rights +as brother-in-law are conceded. I thus take solemn possession of them." + +The words were followed by the deed, as he drew forward a chair and sat +down beside her. "Do you know, Ella, that since our late encounter you +have interested me very much?" continued he. + +"It seems one must be rude to you in order to arouse your interest," +remarked Ella, almost reproachfully. + +"Yes, it appears so," agreed the Captain, with perfect composure. "We +'adventurers' are a peculiar people, and require different treatment to +ordinary mankind. You have taken the right course with me. Since you +read me my lecture so unsparingly, I have left all the house in peace; +I have behaved towards my uncle and aunt with the most perfect respect +and deference, and even robbed my Indian stories of all their appalling +effects, simply from fear of certain rebuking eyes. This can surely not +have escaped your notice?" + +Something like a half-smile crossed Ella's countenance as she asked-- + +"It has been very hard for you, then?" + +"Very hard! Although the state of affairs in the house should have made +it somewhat easier for me, they have not been of a description lately, +on which one could exercise one's love of joking." + +The passing gleam of merriment vanished immediately from Ella's face at +this allusion; it bore an anxious, beseeching expression, as she turned +to her brother-in-law. + +"Yes, it is very sad with us," she said, softly, "and it becomes worse +from day to day. My parents are so hard, and Reinhold so irritated, so +furious at every occurrence. Oh, my God, can you do nothing with him?" + +"I?" asked Hugo, seriously, "I might put that question to you, his +wife." + +Ella shook her head in inconsolable resignation. "No one listens to me, +and Reinhold less than any one. He thinks I understand nothing about it +all--he would repulse me roughly." + +Hugo looked sorrowfully at the young wife, who confessed openly that +she was quite wanting in power and influence over her husband, and that +she was not permitted to share his longings and strivings in the least. + +"And yet something must be done," said he decidedly. "Reinhold +irritates himself in this struggle; he suffers tremendously under it, +and makes others suffer too. You had been crying, Ella, as I entered, +and in the last few weeks not a day has passed without my seeing this +red appearance about your eyes. No, do not turn aside so timidly! +Surely the brother may be allowed to speak freely, and you shall see +that I do more than talk nonsense. I repeat it; something must be +done--done by you. Reinhold's artistic career depends upon it, his +whole future; and in the struggle his wife must stand at his side, +otherwise others might do it instead, and that would be dangerous." + +Ella looked at him with a mixture of astonishment and alarm. For the +first time in her life she was called upon to take a side openly, and +some result was looked for depending upon her interference. What could +be meant by "others" who might take her place? Her face showed plainly +that she had not the slightest suspicion of anything. + +Hugo saw this, and yet had not the courage to go any farther; as going +farther meant planting the first suspicion in the mind of the so-far +quite unconscious wife--being his brother's betrayer--and unavoidably +calling forth a catastrophe, of whose necessity he was nevertheless +convinced. But the young Captain's whole nature rebelled against the +painful task; he sat there undecided, when chance came to his help. +Some one knocked at the door, and immediately Jonas entered, carrying a +large bouquet of flowers. + +The sailor was surely more prudent when he executed such commissions +for his master. He knew from experience, that the latter's offerings of +flowers, although received with pleasure by the young ladies, were not +always treated the same by their fathers and protectors, and although +with possible secret annoyance, he always took care to go to the right +address. But this time Hugo's casual remark that the flowers were +intended for his sister-in-law, caused the mistake. Jonas never doubted +that the Captain's remark, meant merely to shield his brother, was made +in earnest; he therefore went straight to the young Frau Almbach, and +presented the flowers to her, with the words-- + +"I cannot find Herr Reinhold anywhere in the house, so had better +deliver the flowers here at once." + +Ella looked down in surprise at the beautiful bouquet which, arranged +with as much skill as taste, showed a selection of the most perfect +flowers. + +"From whom are the flowers?" asked she. + +"From the garden," answered Jonas. "Herr Reinhold ordered them, and I +have brought them; but as I cannot find him--" + +"That will do. You can go," broke in Hugo, as he stepped quickly to his +sister-in-law's side, and put his hand on her arm as if to stop her. A +sign gave more stress to his order, and Jonas rolled away, but could +not help wondering that the young Frau Almbach received her husband's +attention in so peculiar a manner. She had started suddenly, as if she +had been seized with a pain at her heart, and become ashen white. But +the Captain stood there with knitted brows, and an expression on his +face as if he should have liked best to throw the expensive flowers out +of the window. Fortunately, Jonas was too phlegmatic to trouble himself +much about the state of affairs in the Almbachs' house; owing to the +warlike footing on which he stood to the servants he learned but little +about it; so, after wondering slightly, he gave it up, and being +satisfied he had executed his orders conscientiously, troubled himself +no more about the giver of them. + +Deep silence reigned a few seconds in the room. Ella still held the +bouquet convulsively in her hand, but her usually quiet, listless +countenance, with its vacant, almost stupid expression, had changed +curiously. Now every feature was dilated as if in agonising pain, and +her eyes remained fixed and immovable upon the gay, blooming beauty, +even when she turned to her brother-in-law. + +"Reinhold gave the order?" she asked, as if striving for breath, "then +the flowers only came by mistake to me!" + +"Why then," said Hugo, with a vain attempt to soothe her, "Reinhold +ordered the flowers; well, surely they are for you?" + +"For me?" Her voice sounded full of pain. "I have never yet received +flowers from him; these are certainly not intended for me." + +Hugo saw he could not hesitate any more; chance had decided for him; +now he must obey fate's signal. "You are right, Ella," he replied +firmly, "and it would be useless and dangerous to deceive you any +longer. Reinhold did not say for whom the flowers were, but I know that +this evening they will be in Signora Biancona's hands." + +Ella shivered, and the bouquet fell to the ground. "Signora Biancona," +repeated she, in a dull tone. + +"The actress who sang his first song in public," continued the Captain, +impressively, "for whom, also, his new composition is intended; to whom +he goes daily; who enters into all his thoughts and feelings. You know +nothing of it as yet, I see in your face, but you must learn it now, +before it is too late." + +The young wife made no reply; her face was as colourless as the white +blossoms which formed the outer circle of the bouquet; silently she +stooped, picked it up, and laid it on the table, but no sound, no +response came from her lips. Hugo waited for one in vain. + +"Do you believe the cruelty of disclosing that which one always hides +from every wife has given me any pleasure?" asked he, with suppressed +emotion. "Do you think I could not, by some pretence, have covered the +man's stupidity, and given myself out as the sender of the unlucky +flowers? If I do not act thus, if I discover the whole truth +unsparingly, I do it because the danger has become extreme--because +only you can still save him; and this you must see clearly. Signora +Biancona is about to return to her home, and Reinhold explained to me +just now that he must and will continue his studies in Italy. Do you +comprehend the connection?" + +Ella started. Now, for the first time, a desperate fear broke through +the stolid calm of her nature. + +"No, no!" she cried, as if beside herself, "He cannot! he _dare_ not. +We are married!" + +"He dare not?" repeated Hugo. "You know men but little, and your own +husband least of all. Do not trust too much to the right which the +Church gave you; even this power has its limits, and I fear Reinhold +already stands beyond them. To be sure, you have no conception of that +burning fiendish passion, which enchains and makes a man powerless--so +surrounds him with its bonds, that for its sake he forgets and +sacrifices everything. Signora Biancona is one of those demonlike +natures which can inspire such passions, and here she is connected with +everything which makes up Reinhold's life--with music, art and +imagination. Nor Church nor marriage can protect, if the wife cannot +protect herself. You are wife, and mother of his child. Perhaps he will +listen to your voice, when he will to nothing else." + +The young wife's heavily-drawn breath showed how much she suffered, and +two tears, the first, rolled slowly down her cheeks as she replied, +almost inaudibly, "I will try it." + +Hugo came close to her side. "I know I have thrown a lighted brand into +the family to-day, which will, perhaps, destroy the last remains of +peace," he said, earnestly. "Hundreds of wives would now rush +despairingly to their parents, so as, with them or alone, to call their +husbands to account, and cause a scene which would break the last bond, +and drive him irretrievably from the house. You will not do this, Ella; +I know it, therefore I dared do with you what I should not have +ventured on so easily with any other woman. What you may say to +Reinhold--what you may insist upon, rests with yourself; but do not let +him leave you now; do not let him go to Italy!" + +He ceased, and seemed to expect an answer--in vain; Ella sat there, her +face buried in her hands. She hardly moved as he said good-bye to her. +The young Captain saw that she must overcome the blow alone, so he +went. + +When, half-an-hour later, Reinhold returned from the office, he saw the +bouquet of roses lying on the writing-table in his own room, and took +it up under the firm impression that Jonas had put it there. In the +meanwhile Ella sat in her child's room and waited, not for a farewell +from her husband, she had not been used to such tendernesses ever since +her marriage; but she knew he never left the house without first going +to see his boy. The wife felt only too well that she herself was +nothing to her husband, that her only value for him lay in the child; +she felt that the love for his child was the only point by which she +could approach his heart, and therefore she waited here for him in +order to hold the terribly difficult and painful interview. He must +surely come; but to-day she had to wait in vain. Reinhold did not +come. For the first time he forgot the farewell kiss on his child's +brow--forgot the last and only bond which chained him to his home. In +his heart there was only room now for one thought, and that was +Beatrice Biancona. + +The opera was over. A stream of people flowed out of the theatre, +dispersing in all directions, and carriages rolled by on every side to +take up their respective owners. The house had been filled to +overflowing, as the Italian Opera Company had given their farewell +performance, and all H---- had tried to show the singers, especially +the _prima donna_, how much charmed it was with their efforts, and how +sorry it was to lose them now the hour of parting had arrived. The +stairs and corridors were still crowded; below in the vestibule people +were closely packed, and at the places of egress the numbers increased +to an uncomfortable, almost dangerous degree. + +"It is almost impossible to get through," said Doctor Welding, who, +with another gentleman, descended the stairs. "One's life is imperilled +in the crush below. Rather let us wait until the rush is over!" + +His companion agreed, and both stepped aside into one of the deep, dark +niches in the corridor, where a lady had already taken shelter. Her +dress, although simple, betokened that she belonged to the upper +classes; she had drawn her veil closely over her face, and appeared to +avoid the crowd, also to feel quite strange in the theatre, from the +manner in which she pressed herself with evident nervousness firmly +against the wall, when the two gentlemen approached, and, without +paying any attention to her, resumed their interrupted conversation. + +"I prophesied it from the commencement that this Almbach would make a +great sensation," said Welding; "his second composition surpasses his +first in every respect; and the first was great enough for a beginner. +I should think he might be satisfied with its reception this time; it +was, if possible, more enthusiastic. Certainly, every one has not the +luck to find a Biancona for his works, and to inspire her for them, so +that she exerts her utmost power. It was altogether her idea to sing +this newest song of Almbach's as introduction to the last act of the +opera, to-day, too, at her farewell; when applause was a matter of +course, she made sure, by those means, of success at once." + +"Well, I don't think he is wanting in gratitude," scoffed the other +gentleman. "People say all sorts of things. So much is certain, all her +circle of adorers is furious at this interloper, who hardly appears +before he is on the high road to be sole ruler. The affair, besides, +seems rather serious and highly romantic, and I am really anxious to +see what will be the end of it, when Biancona departs." + +The Doctor buttoned his overcoat quietly-- + +"That is not difficult to guess; an elopement of the first order." + +"You think he will elope with her?" asked the other incredulously. + +"He with her? That would be objectless. Biancona is perfectly free to +decide what she likes, as to the choice of her residence. But she with +him; that would be more like the case--the fetters are on his side." + +"To be sure, he is married," rejoined his companion. "Poor woman! Do +you know her personally?" + +"No," said Welding, indifferently; "but from Herr Consul Erlau's +description, I can form a truly correct picture of her. Contracted +ideas, passive, unimportant in the highest degree, quite given up to +the kitchen and household affairs--just the woman in fact to drive a +genial, fiery-headed fellow like Almbach to a desperate step; and as it +is a Biancona who is set up against her, this step will not have to be +waited for very long. Perhaps it would be fortunate for Almbach if he +were torn suddenly out of these confined surroundings, and thrown on to +the path of life, but certainly the little family peace there is would +be entirely ruined. The usual fate of such early marriages, in which +the wife cannot in the smallest degree raise herself to her husband's +importance." + +At these last words he turned round somewhat astonished; involuntarily +the lady behind them had made a passionate movement, but at the same +moment as the Doctor was about to observe her more narrowly, a side +door was opened, and Reinhold Almbach appeared, accompanied by Hugo, +the conductor, and several other gentlemen. + +Reinhold here was quite a different being from what he was at home. The +gloom which always rested on his features there, the reserve which made +him so often unapproachable, seemed thrown off with one accord; he +beamed with excitement, success, and triumph. His brow was raised +freely and proudly, his dark eyes flashed with conscious victory, and +his whole manner breathed forth passionate satisfaction, as he turned +to his companions. + +"I thank you, gentlemen. You are very kind, but you will excuse me if I +retire from these flattering acknowledgments. The Signora wishes for my +company at the entertainment, where the members of the opera assemble +once more as a farewell meeting. You will understand, I must obey this +command before all others." + +The gentlemen seemed to understand it perfectly, and also to regret +they had not to obey a similar command, when Doctor Welding joined the +group. + +"I congratulate you," he said, giving his hand to the young composer. +"That was a great, and what is more, a merited success." + +Reinhold smiled. Praise from the lips of a critic usually so exacting +was not indifferent to him. + +"You see, Herr Doctor, I have to appear at last before your judgment +seat," replied he pleasantly. "Herr Consul Erlau was unfortunately +wrong when he considered me quite safe from any such danger." + +"None should be considered happy before the end," remarked the Doctor +laconically. "Why do you rush so headlong into danger, and turn your +back upon the noble merchant's position? Is it true we are to lose you +with Signora Biancona? Shall you take flight to the south at the same +time?" + +"To Italy, yes!" said Reinhold positively. "It has been my plan for +long. This evening has decided it, but now--excuse me gentlemen, I +cannot possibly allow the Signora to wait." + +He bowed and left them, accompanied by his brother. The usually not +quite silent Captain had observed a remarkable reticence during the +conversation. He started slightly, when at Welding's approach the niche +was disclosed in which the woman's dark figure was pressed back in the +shadow of the wall, as if not wishing to be seen on any account, and no +one else did see her, at least no one took any notice of her; she could +not leave her place of refuge without passing the group, which kept its +place after the departure of the brothers. The gentlemen all knew one +another, and took advantage of this meeting to exchange their opinions +about the young composer, Signora Biancona, and the suspected state of +affairs between the two. The latter especially was subjected to a +tolerably merciless criticism. The scoffing, witty, and malicious +remarks fell thick as hail, and some time elapsed before the group +separated at last. Now that the corridor was quite empty, the lady in +the recess raised herself and prepared to depart, but she tottered at +the first few steps, and seized the banisters of the staircase as if +about to fall, when a powerful arm supported, and held her up. + + + + + CHAPTER VI. + + +"Come into the fresh air, Ella!" said Hugo, standing suddenly beside +her. "That was torture of the rack." + +He drew her hand within his arm, and led her down by the nearest way +into the street. Only here, in the cool, sharp night air did Ella +appear to regain consciousness; she threw back her veil and drew a long +breath, as if she had been nearly suffocated. + +"If I had dreamed that my warning would have brought you here, I should +have withheld it." continued Hugo, reproachfully. "Ella, for heaven's +sake, what an unfortunate idea!" + +The young wife drew her hand away from his arm. The reproach seemed to +pain her. + +"I wanted to see her for once," replied she softly. + +"Without being seen yourself?" added the Captain. "I knew that the +moment I recognised you, therefore I said nothing to Reinhold, but I +felt as if standing on hot coals here below, while the criticising +group above was holding forth before your place of refuge, and giving +free course to their amiable remarks and opinions. I can fancy pretty +well what you had to listen to." + +During the last words he had hailed a cabman, told the street and +number of house, and helped his sister-in-law into the carriage; but as +he showed signs of taking a seat beside her, she declined his doing so, +quietly but firmly. + +"Thanks, I shall go alone." + +"On no account!" cried Hugo, almost excitedly. "You are much agitated, +almost fainting; it would be unpardonable to leave you alone in this +state." + +"You are not responsible for what becomes of me," said Ella, with +uncontrolled bitterness, "and to others--it does not matter. Let me +drive home alone, Hugo, I beseech you." + +Her eyes looked at him entreatingly through their veil of tears. The +Captain did not say another word; he shut the door obediently, and +stepped back; but he watched the carriage as it rolled away until it +was out of sight. + +It was long past midnight when Reinhold returned, and, without entering +his house, he went at once to his garden room. The house and +outbuildings lay still and dark; nothing was moving around, all who +lived and worked here were accustomed to be occupied in the daytime, +and required the night for undisturbed repose. It was fortunate that +the garden-house lay so distant and isolated, otherwise his companions +and neighbours would have been much less patient with the young +composer, who could not refrain, however late he might return home, +from always seeking his piano, and often morning's dawn surprised him +at his musical phantasies. + +It was a quiet, moonlight, but sharp raw northern spring night. In the +dawning light, the walls and gables which enclosed the garden looked +even more gloomy and prison-like than by day; the canal appeared darker +in the pale moon's rays, which trembled over it, and the bare leafless +trees and shrubs seemed to tremble and shudder in the cold night wind, +which passed mercilessly over them. It was already April, and yet the +first buds were hardly to be seen. "This miserable spring, with its +tardy growth and bloom, its dreary rainy days and cold winds!" Reinhold +had heard these words spoken a few hours since, and then such a glowing +description followed of endless spring, which blossoms forth as by +magic in the gardens of the south, those sunny days, with ever blue +sky, and the thousandfold glorious colours of the earth; the moonlight +nights full of orange perfume and notes of song. The young man must +indeed have head and heart still full of this picture; he looked more +contemptuously than usual on the poor bare surroundings, and +impatiently pushed aside a branch of elderberry whose newly opening +brown buds touched his forehead. He had no more feeling for the gifts +of this miserable spring, and no more pleasure in growing and living as +miserably as these blossoms, ever fighting with frost and wind. Out +into freedom, that was the only thought which now filled his mind. + +Reinhold opened the door of the garden room and started back with +sudden alarm. A few seconds elapsed before he recognised his wife in +the figure leaning against the piano standing out clearly in the +moonlight as it fell through the window. + +"Is it you, Ella?" he cried at last, entering quickly. "What is it? +What has happened?" + +She made a movement of denial. "Nothing, I was only waiting for you." + +"Here? and at this hour?" asked Reinhold, extremely distantly. "What +has entered your head?" + +"I hardly ever see you now," was the soft response, "at least only at +table in my parents' presence, and I wished to speak to you alone." + +She had lighted the lamp at these words, and placed it upon the table. +She still wore the dark silk dress which she had on at the theatre this +evening; it was certainly plain and unornamented, but not so coarse and +unbecoming as her usual house dress. Also her never failing cap had +disappeared, and now, that it was missing, could be seen for the first +time what a singular wealth was hidden beneath it. The fair hair, of +which at other times only a narrow strip was visible, could hardly be +confined in the heavy plaits which showed themselves in all their +splendid abundance; but this natural ornament, which any other woman +would have displayed, was in her case hidden carefully day after day, +until chance disclosed it, and yet it appeared to give her head quite a +different mould. + +As usual, Reinhold had no eyes for it; he hardly looked at his young +wife, and only listened slightly and abstractedly to her words. There +was not even the slightest trace of reproach in them, but he must have +felt something of the sort lay there as he said impatiently-- + +"You know I am occupied on all possible sides. My new composition which +was completed a few weeks since, was brought out publicly to-night for +the first time--" + +"I know it," interrupted Ella. "I was in the theatre." + +Reinhold seemed taken aback. "You were in the theatre?" asked he +quickly and sharply. "With whom? At whose instigation?" + +"I was there alone--I wished--" she stopped, and continued +hesitatingly; "I too wished to hear your music for once, of which all +the world speaks and I alone do not know." + +Her husband was silent and looked enquiringly at her. The young wife +did not understand the art of deceiving, and an untruth would not pass +her lips. She stood before him, deadly pale, trembling in all her +limbs; no especially keen sight was required to guess the truth, and +Reinhold did so at once. + +"And only for this reason you went?" said he slowly at last. "Will you +deceive me with this excuse, or yourself, perhaps? I see the report has +found its way to you already! You wished to see with your own eyes, +naturally. How could I think it would be spared me and you?" + +Ella looked up. There was again the darkly lowering brow she was always +accustomed to in her husband, the look of gloomy melancholy, the +expression of defiant, suppressed suffering, no longer a breath of +that beaming triumph which had lighted up his features a few hours +before--that was when away, far from his own people; only the shadow +remained for home. + +"Why do you not answer?" he began afresh. "Do you think I should be +coward enough to deny the truth? If I have been silent towards you so +far, it was done to spare you; now that you know it, I will render +account. You have been told of the young actress, to whom I owe the +first incitement to work, my first success, and to-day's triumph. God +knows how the connection between us has been represented to you, and +naturally you look upon it as a crime worthy of death." + +"No, but as a misfortune." + +The tone of these words would surely have disarmed any one; even +Reinhold's irritation could not resist it. He came nearer to her and +took her hand. + +"Poor child!" said he, pitifully. "It certainly was no happiness what +your father's will decided for you. You, more than any other, required +a husband who would work and strive from day to day in the quiet +routine of daily life without even having a wish to step beyond it, and +fate has chained you to a man whom it draws powerfully to another +course. You are right; that is a misfortune for us both." + +"That is to say, I am one for you," added the young wife, sadly. "She +will, perhaps, know better how to bring you happiness." + +Reinhold let her hand fall and stepped back. "You are mistaken," he +replied, almost rudely, "and quite misconstrue the connection between +Signora Biancona and myself. It has been purely ideal from the +beginning, and is so still at this moment. Whoever told you differently +is a liar." + +At the first words, Ella seemed to breathe more easily, but at the +following her heart contracted as if with cramp. She knew her husband +was incapable of speaking a falsehood, least of all at such a moment, +and he told her the connection was spiritual. That it was so still she +did not doubt, but how long would it be so? This evening, in the +theatre, she had seen the flash of those demon-like eyes, which nothing +could resist; had seen how that woman, in her part, had run through the +whole scale of feelings to the greatest passion; how this passion +carried away the audience to a perfect storm of approbation; and she +could easily tell herself that if it had pleased the Italian so far +only to be the gracious goddess whose hand had led the young composer +into the realms of art, the hour was sure to come in which she would +wish to be more to him. + +"I love Beatrice," continued Reinhold, with a cruelty of which he +seemed to have no real conception; "but this love does not injure nor +wound any of your rights. It only concerns music, as whose embodied +genius she met me, concerns the best and highest in my life, the +ideal--" + +"And what is left for your wife, then?" interrupted Ella. + +He remained silent, struck dumb. This question, simple as it was, +sounded nevertheless peculiar from the lips of his wife, deemed so +stupid. It was a matter of course, that she should be satisfied with +what still remained--the name she bore and the child, whose mother she +was. Strange to say, she did not appear inclined to understand this, +and Reinhold became quite silent at the quiet but yet annihilating +reproach of the question. + +The wife rested her hand on the piano. She was visibly fighting with +the fear she had always cherished for her husband, whose mental +superiority she felt deeply, without, at the same time, ever venturing +on an attempt to raise herself to him. In the knowledge that he stood +so high above her, she had ever placed herself completely under him, +without ever attaining anything by it excepting toleration, which +almost amounted to contempt. + +Now that he loved another, the toleration ceased; the contempt +remained--she felt that plainly in his confession, which he made so +quietly, so positively; his love for the beautiful singer "neither +injured nor wounded any of her rights." She had indeed no right to his +spiritual life. And she should keep firm hold of that man now, when the +love of a beautiful, universally admired actress, when the magical +charm of Italy, when a future full of renown and glory beckoned to him, +she, who had nothing to give excepting herself--Ella was conscious for +the first time of the impossibility of the task which had been +appointed to her. + +"I know you have never belonged to us, never loved any of us," she +said, with quiet resignation. "I have always felt it; it has only +become clear to me since I was your wife, and then it was too late. But +I am it now, and if you forsake me and the child, you will give us up +for the sake of another." + +"Who says so?" cried Reinhold, with anger, which exonerated him from +the suspicion that such a thought had really entered his mind. +"Forsake? Give up you and the child? Never!" + +The young wife fixed her eyes enquiringly upon him, as if she did not +understand him. + +"But you said just now you loved Beatrice Biancona?" + +"Yes, but--" + +"But! Then you must choose between her and us." + +"You suddenly develope most unusual determination," cried Reinhold, +roused. "I must? And if I will not do it? If I consider this ideal +artist love quite compatible with my duties, if--" + +"If you follow her to Italy," completed Ella. + +"Then you know that already?" cried the young man, passionately. "You +seem to be so perfectly informed, that it only remains for me to +confirm the news others have been so kind as to tell you. It is +certainly my intention to continue my studies in Italy, and if I should +meet Signora Biancona there--if her vicinity give me fresh inspiration +to compose--her hand open me the door to the world of art, I shall not +be fool enough to reject all this, just because it is my fate to +possess a--wife!" + +Ella shuddered at the unsparing hardness of the last words. + +"Are you so ashamed of your wife?" she asked, softly. + +"Ella, I beg you--" + +"Are you so ashamed of me?" repeated the poor wife, apparently calmly; +but there was a strange, nervous, trembling inflection in her voice. +Reinhold turned away. + +"Do not be childish, Ella," he replied, impatiently. "Do you think it +is good or elevating for a man, when he returns home after his first +success, there to find complaints, reproaches, in short, all the +wretched prose of domestic life? So far you have spared me it, and +should do the same in future. Otherwise you might discover that I am +not the patient sort of husband who would allow such scenes to take +place without resistance." + +Only a single glance at the young wife was required to recognise the +boundless injustice of this reproach. She stood there, not like the +accuser, but like the condemned; indeed she felt that in this hour the +verdict was spoken upon her marriage and her life. + +"I know well that I have never been anything to you," said she, with +trembling voice, "never could be anything to you, and if I only were +concerned, I would let you go without a word, without a petition. But +the child is still between us, and therefore"--she stopped a moment, +and breathed heavily----"therefore you can comprehend that the mother +should pray once more for you to remain with us." + +The petition came out shyly, hesitatingly; in it could be heard the +effort it cost her to make it to the husband, in whose heart no chord +throbbed for her, and yet in the last words there rang such a touching, +frightened entreaty, that his ear could not remain quite deaf. He +turned to her again. + +"I cannot stay, Ella," he replied, more mildly than before, but still +with cool decision. "My future depends on it. You cannot conceive what +lies in that word for me. You cannot accompany me with the child. +Besides this being quite impossible in a tour undertaken for study, you +would soon be very miserable in a foreign country whose language you do +not understand, in circumstances and surroundings for which you are +quite unsuited. You must, indeed, now accustom yourself to measure me +and my life with another measure than that of narrow-minded prejudice +and middle-class contracted ideas. You can stay here with the little +one, under your parents' protection; at latest I shall return in a +year. You must resign yourself to this separation." + +He spoke calmly, even pleasantly; but every word was an icy rejection, +an impatient shaking off of the irksome bond. Hugo was right; he lay +already too firmly under the influence of his passion to listen to any +other voice--it was too late. A cold, pitiless, "You must resign +yourself," was the only answer to that touching prayer. + +Ella drew herself up with a determination at other times quite foreign +to her, and there was also a strange sound in her voice; there lay in +it something of the pride of a wife, who, trampled upon and kept down +for years, at last revolts when extremities are resorted to. + +"To the separation, yes," replied she, firmly. "I am powerless against +it. But not to your return, Reinhold. If you go now, go with her, +notwithstanding my prayers, notwithstanding our child, so do it. But +then, go for ever!" + +"Will you make conditions?" roared Reinhold, passionately. "Have I not +borne the yoke which your father's so-called kindness forced upon me +for years, which embittered my childhood, destroyed my youth, and now, +at the threshold of man's estate, compels me to conquer, only by means +of endless struggles, what every one requires as his natural right, +free decision for himself? You all have kept me apart from everything +that by others is called freedom and happiness; have bound me to a +hated sphere in life with all possible fetters, and now think +yourselves sure of your property. But at last the hour has come for me +when it begins to dawn, and if it penetrates like lightning to my soul, +and shows in flaming clearness the goal, and the reward at the goal, +then one awakes out of the dream of long years, and finds oneself--in +chains." + +It was an outbreak of the wildest passion, most burning hatred, which +welled forth without restraint, without asking if it were poured over +the guilty or the innocent. That is the horrible fiendishness of +passion, that it turns its hatred against everything which it +encounters, even if this hatred meet the nearest, most sacred--if it +even meet bonds voluntarily made. + +A long pause, still as death, followed. Reinhold, overpowered by +excitement, had thrown himself on a seat and covered his eyes with his +hands. Ella still stood on the same spot as before; she did not speak +or move; even the tremor which, during the conversation, had so often +passed through her, had ceased. Thus passed a few moments, until at +last she approached her husband slowly. + +"You will leave me the child, though?" said she, with quivering lips. +"To you it would only be a burden in your new life, and I have nothing +else in the world." + +Reinhold looked up, and then sprang suddenly from his seat. It was not +the words which moved him so strangely, not the deadly, fixed calm of +her face; it was the look which was so unexpectedly and astoundingly +unveiled before him as before his brother. For the first time he saw in +his wife's face "the beautiful fairy-tale blue eyes" which he had so +often admired in his boy, without ever asking whence they came; and +these eyes, large and full, were now directed towards him. No tear +stood in them, neither any more beseeching; but an expression for which +he never gave Ella credit, an expression before which his eyes sank to +the ground. + +"Ella," said he, uncertainly, "if I was too furious--What is it, Ella?" + +He tried to take her hand; she drew it back. + +"Nothing. When do you intend leaving?" + +"I do not know," answered Reinhold, more and more struck. "In a few +days--or weeks--there is no hurry." + +"I will inform my parents. Good-night." She turned to go. He made a +hasty step after her as if to detain her. Ella remained. + +"You have misunderstood me." + +The young wife drew herself up firmly and proudly. She appeared all at +once to have become a different person. This tone and carriage, Ella +Almbach had never known. + +"The 'fetters' shall not press upon you any longer, Reinhold. You can +attain your object unhindered, and your--prize. Good-night." + +She opened the door quickly and went out. The moonlight fell brightly +on the slight figure in the darkness, upon the sad pale face and the +blond plaits. In the next moment she had disappeared. Reinhold stood +alone. + + * * * * * + +"This house is miserable now," said the old bookkeeper in the office, +as he put his pen behind his ear, and closed the account book. "The +young master away for three days without giving any signs of his being +alive, without enquiring for wife or child. The Herr Captain does not +set his foot across the threshold; the principal goes about in such a +rage that one hardly dares to go near him; and young Frau Almbach looks +so wretched that one's heart aches to see her. Heaven knows how this +unhappy story will end." + +"But how, then, did this disturbance come so suddenly?" asked the head +clerk, who also--it was the hour for closing the office--put his +writing aside and shut his desk. + +The bookkeeper shrugged his shoulders. "Suddenly? I do not believe it +was unexpected by any of us. It has been smouldering in the family for +weeks and months; only the spark was wanting in all this inflammable +matter, and it came at last. Frau Almbach brought the news home from +some lady's party, and thus her husband learned what half the town knew +already, and what no one hears willingly, of his son-in-law. You know +our chief, and how he always looked upon all this artist business with +dislike; how he fought against it--and now this discovery! He sent for +the young master, and then there was such a scene--I heard part of it +in the next room. If Herr Reinhold had only behaved sensibly and given +in in this case when he really was not innocent, perhaps the affair +might have been set aside, instead of which he put on his most +obstinate manner, told his father-in-law to his face that he would not +remain a merchant, would go to Italy, would become a musician; he had +endured the slavery here long enough, and much more of the same kind. +The chief could not contain himself for rage; he forbade, threatened, +insulted at last, and then, of course, came the end. The young master +broke out so wildly that I thought something would happen. He stamped +his foot like a madman, and cried--'And if the whole world set itself +in opposition, it will still be. I will not be domineered over anyhow, +nor allow my thoughts and feelings to be prescribed for me.' And it +went on in this tone. An hour later he stormed out of the house, and +has not let himself be heard of since. God protect everyone from such +family scenes." + +The old gentleman laid his pen aside, left his seat, and wished the +others good-night, while he prepared to leave the office. He had hardly +gone a few steps along the passage when he met Herr Almbach, who turned +in quickly from the street. The bookkeeper struck his hands together in +joyful alarm. + +"Thank God that you, at least, are to be seen again, Herr Captain," he +cried. "We are indeed wretched in this house." + +"Is the barometer still pointing to stormy?" asked Hugo, with a glance +at the upper story. + +The bookkeeper sighed. "Stormy! Perhaps you will bring us sunshine." + +"Hardly," said Hugo, seriously. "At this moment I am seeking Frau +Almbach. Is she at home?" + +"Your aunt is out with the chief," said the former. + +"Not she. I mean my sister-in-law." + +"The young mistress? Oh dear, we have not seen her for three days. She +is sure to be upstairs in the nursery. She hardly leaves the little one +for a moment now." + +"I will seek her," said Hugo, as with a rapid adieu he hastened +upstairs. "Good-evening." + +The bookkeeper looked after him, shaking his head. He was not used to +the young Captain's passing him without some joke, some chaff; and he +had also remarked the cloud which to-day lay on the young man's usually +cheerful brow. He shook his head once more, and repeated his former +sigh, "God knows how the affair will end." + +In the meanwhile Hugo had reached his sister-in-law's apartments. + +"It is I, Ella," he said, entering. "Have I startled you?" + +The young wife was alone; she sat by her boy's little bed. The rapid, +youthful steps outside, and the quick opening of the door, might well +have deceived her as to the comer. She had surely expected another. Her +painful start and the colour in her face, which suddenly gave way to +intense pallor, as she recognised her brother-in-law, showed this. + +"My uncle carries his injustice so far as to forbid me the house also," +continued the latter, as he came nearer. "He persists in thinking I had +some share in this unhappy breach. I hope, Ella, that you exonerate me +from it." + +She hardly listened to the last words. "You bring me news from +Reinhold?" asked she quickly, with fleeting breath. "Where is he?" + +"You surely did not expect that he would come himself," said the +Captain, evasively. "Whatever blame may be due to him in the whole +affair, the behaviour on my uncle's part was such that every one would +have rebelled against it. On this point I stand on his side, and +understand thoroughly that he went with the intention not to return. I +should have done the same." + +"It was a terrible scene," replied Ella, with difficulty keeping back +the tears which were gushing out. "My parents learned elsewhere what I +would have hidden at any cost, and Reinhold was awful in his wild rage. +He left us, but he might have let me receive one word at least, during +the three days, through you. He is surely with you?" + +"No," replied Hugo, shortly, almost roughly. + +"No," repeated Ella, "he is not with you? I took it as a matter of +course that he would be there." + +The Captain looked down. "He came to me, and with the intention of +remaining, but a difference arose between us about it. Reinhold is +unboundedly passionate when a certain point is touched upon; I could +and would not hide my feelings about it, and we quarrelled for the +first time in our lives. He thereupon refused to be friends; I have +only seen him again this morning." + +Ella did not reply. She did not even ask what was the cause of the +quarrel; she felt only too well that in her brother-in-law, esteemed so +frivolous, mischievous, and heartless, she possessed the most energetic +protector of her rights. + +"I have tried my utmost once more," said he, coming close beside her, +"although I knew it would be in vain. But you, Ella, could you not keep +him?" + +"No," replied the young wife, "I could not, and at last I would not." + +Instead of any response, Hugo pointed to the sleeping babe; Ella shook +her head violently. + +"For his sake I conquered myself, and begged the husband, who wished to +tear himself away from me at any price, to remain. I was repulsed; he +let me feel what a fetter I am to him--he may then go free." + +Hugo's glance rested enquiringly on her countenance, that again showed +the energetic expression which was once so foreign to her features. +Slowly he drew forth a note. + +"If then you are prepared, I have a few lines to bring you from +Reinhold. He gave me them two or three hours since." + +The wife started. The firmness she had just shown could not continue +when she saw her husband's handwriting on the envelope; only his +handwriting, while with mortal agony she had clung to the hope that he +would come himself, if it had merely been to say farewell. With +trembling hand she took the letter and opened it; it contained only a +few lines-- + +"You witnessed the scene between your father and myself, and will +therefore comprehend that I do not enter his house again. That scene +has changed nothing in my decision. It only hastens my departure, as +the want of tact on your parents' part has given the affair a publicity +which does not make it appear desirable for me to remain an hour longer +in H---- than is absolutely necessary. I cannot bid you and the child +good-bye personally, as I shall not set foot again across a threshold +from which I was driven in such a manner. It is not my fault if a +separation, which I was resolved to obtain for a time, now becomes a +lengthened one that is brought about by a violent quarrel. It was you +who made the condition, that I should either remain or go for ever. +Well, then, I go! Perhaps it will be better for us both. Farewell!" + + + + + CHAPTER VII. + + +The Captain must have known what the letter contained, as he stood +close by Ella's side, apparently ready to support her, as in the +theatre; but this time she betrayed no weakness. She looked silently +down at the icy words of farewell with which her husband freed himself +from wife and child. With what haste had he seized the excuse which her +father's harshness and her own words offered him; with what relief had +he shaken off the irksome bonds! This blow did not fall unexpectedly +now. Since that last interview she knew her fate. + +"He is gone already?" asked she, without raising her eyes from the +letter, which she still held in her hand. + +"An hour ago." + +"And with her?" + +Hugo was silent; he could not say "No" to this question. Ella rose, +apparently calm, but she leaned heavily on the boy's bed. + +"I knew it. And now--leave me alone, I implore you!" + +The Captain hesitated. "I came, also, to bid you adieu," replied he. +"My departure was decided without this, and now, in my brother's +absence, nothing keeps me. I shall make no attempt to remove my uncle's +absurd prejudice against me, but I should like to take a word of +farewell from you, Ella, away with me. Will you refuse it me?" + +The young woman raised her eyes slowly; they met his, and as if +following an involuntary impulse, held out both hands to him-- + +"I thank you, Hugo, farewell!" + +With a quick movement he caught her hands in his-- + +"I have ever only been able to bring you pain," he said softly. "By me +came the first news which utterly destroyed your peace; it came too +late, and to-day it was again my hand which brought you the last. But +if I pained you, Ella, must pain you--my God, it has not been easy for +me." + +His lips rested for a moment on her hand, then he let it fall, and left +the room quickly; a few moments later he was in the open air. + +It was a raw, regular northern spring evening. The rain fell steadily; +mist hung heavily and densely in the streets; even the lamp light only +shone dimly red in the grey atmosphere. The rolling train bore Reinhold +Almbach away in this fog to the south, where fame and love, where his +future beckoned brightly to him; and in the same hour his young wife +lay at home on her knees by her child's cradle, pressing her head in +the pillow to smother the cry of despair, which now, that she knew +herself to be alone, broke forth at last. He had not come once to say +adieu; he had not one kind last word for her; not one farewell kiss for +his child. They were both forsaken, given up--probably forgotten +already. + + * * * * * + +The blazing glory of the sunset seemed to bathe heaven and earth in a +sea of fire, and illumination. All the wonderful colouring of the south +lighted up the western horizon, and the flood of light poured itself +far away over the town, with its cupolas, towers, and palaces. It was +an incomparable panorama stretching around the villa, which lay outside +the town on a slight elevation visible from afar, with its terrace and +colonnades, surrounded by the lower lying gardens, in which the most +luxuriant southern vegetation displayed itself. There sombre cypresses +raised their gloomy heads; pines waved in the gentle evening wind; +white marble statues peeped forth through laurel and myrtle bushes; +the waters from the fountains rippled and fell on the carpet of +turf; and thousands of flowers sent forth their intoxicating sweet +perfume--everywhere beauty and art, scent and flowers, light and +dazzling colours. + +A numerous party was assembled on the terrace and in the adjoining +parts of the park, preferring the enjoyment of this beautiful evening, +and the wonderful view outside, to remaining in the rooms. It seemed +principally to consist of the aristocracy, yet many a figure might be +seen there which undoubtedly betrayed the artist, and here and there +appeared the dark habit of a priest near the light toilettes of the +ladies or brilliant uniforms. The most different elements seemed to be +united here. They walked, chatted, and sat or stood together in +unconstrained groups. + +In one of these groups, which had gathered at the foot of a terrace +close to the great fountain, the conversation was conducted with +unusual vivacity; it must be about some subject of general interest. +The few words and names mentioned appeared to rouse the attention of +one of the guests, and he, coming from the terrace, passed close by the +group. He was clearly a stranger, as was denoted by his light brown +hair, eyes, and indeed his whole face, which, although tanned by sun +and air, still did not show the dark colouring of the southerner. The +uniform of a captain set off his strong manly figure very +advantageously, and in his bearing and movements was a happy +combination of the free, somewhat easy manner of a sailor with the +forms of good society. He stopped near the gentlemen who were talking +so eagerly, and listened to their conversation with evident interest. + +"This new opera is, and will be the chief event of the season," said an +officer in the uniform of the carbineers, "and therefore I do not +understand how it can be so easily postponed. The performance is +already arranged, the rehearsals have begun, all preparations are +nearly finished, when suddenly everything is interrupted, and the whole +performance postponed until the autumn, and all this without any +apparent reason." + +"The reason lies alone in the sovereign pleasure of Signor Rinaldo," +replied another gentleman, in a somewhat ill-natured tone. "He is +accustomed to treat the opera and public according to his humour and +fancy." + +"I am afraid you are mistaken, Signor Gianelli," interrupted a young +man of distinguished appearance, somewhat excitedly. "If Rinaldo +himself demanded the postponement, there is sure to be some cause for +it." + +"Excuse me, Marchese, it is not so," replied the former. "I, as +conductor of the grand opera, know best what endless trouble, and what +immense sacrifice of time and money it has cost to meet Rinaldo's +wishes. He brought the whole theatrical world into confusion with his +conditions and requirements, as he demanded changes in the company such +as had never been made before, and everything in the same way. As +usual, all was acceded to, and all expected at last to be sure of his +approval; but now, on arriving from M----, he finds nothing but what is +far beneath his anticipations, he orders alterations and dictates +improvements in the most inconsiderate manner. In vain was it attempted +to dissuade him, through Signora Biancona; he threatened to withdraw +the entire opera, and--" here the maestro shrugged his shoulders +satirically, "his Excellency the Director would not take the +responsibility of such a misfortune upon his shoulders. He promised +everything, conceded everything, and as it was quite impossible to +carry out the so peremptorily demanded additions in such a short time, +even although ordered by the sovereign Signor Rinaldo, the performance +was obliged to be postponed until the next season." + +"The Director in this case was quite right to give way to the wish, or, +if you like it, whim of the composer," said the young Marchese +decidedly. "The company would never have forgiven it if bad management +had robbed them of one of Rinaldo's operas. It is known that he would +be capable of carrying out his threat, and really withdrawing his work, +and with such an alternative before him, nothing remained but to give +way unconditionally." + +"Certainly; my objection only concerns this species of terrorism which +a strange composer allows himself here, in the heart of Italy, inasmuch +as he compelled the inhabitants to content themselves with his +essentially German ideas of music." + +"Especially when these same inhabitants have twice made a _fiasco_ of +an opera, while every new creation of Rinaldo's is greeted with +tempestuous applause by the audience," whispered the Marchese to his +neighbour. + +The latter, an Englishman, looked much bored. He only understood +Italian imperfectly, and the rapid, vivacious conversation was +therefore greatly lost to him. Nevertheless he answered the Marchese's +low spoken and contemptuous remark with a solemn nod, and then looked +attentively at the maestro, as if the latter had become an object of +curiosity for him. + +"We are speaking of Rinaldo's new opera," said the officer, turning +and explaining politely to the stranger, who so far had remained a +silent listener, and now replied in foreign sounding, but yet fluent +Italian--"I just heard the name. No doubt some musical celebrity." + +The gentlemen looked in speechless astonishment at the inquirer; only +the maestro's face betrayed unmistakable satisfaction that there was at +least one person in the world who did not know this name. + +"Some celebrity!" repeated Marchese Tortoni. "Excuse me Signor +Capitano, but you must have been a long time at sea, and perhaps come +from another hemisphere?" + +"Direct from the South Sea Islands!" said the Captain with a pleasant +smile, notwithstanding the ironical tone of the question, "and as +there, unfortunately, they are not so well acquainted with the artistic +productions of the present times as might be desired in the interests +of civilisation, I beg to receive assistance in my deplorable +ignorance." + +"We are speaking about the greatest and most charming of our present +composers," said the Marchese. "He is certainly by birth a German, but +since some years has belonged to us exclusively. He lives and works +only on Italian ground, and we are proud to be permitted to call him +ours. It will be easy for you to make his personal acquaintance this +evening. He is sure to appear!" + +"With Signora Biancona--of course!" interrupted the officer, "have you +had an opportunity already of hearing our beautiful _prima donna_?" + +The Captain made a gesture of denial. "I only arrived a few days since; +however, I saw her some years previously in my home, where she gained +her first laurels." + +"Ah, she was a rising star then," cried the others. "To be sure she +laid the foundation of her fame in the north. She returned to us as a +known actress. But now she stands undoubtedly at the height of her +power. You must hear her, and hear her in one of Rinaldo's operas, when +you can admire her in all her glory." + +"To be sure, as then one fire ignites the other," added the young +Marchese. "At any rate you will find in the Signora of to-day a +brilliantly beautiful apparition. Do not delay an introduction and +interview with her." + +"Provided it be agreeable to Signor Rinaldo," said the maestro, joining +in again. "Otherwise you may attempt to approach her in vain." + +"Has Rinaldo power to decide such points?" asked the Captain lightly. + +"Well, at least he takes the right to do so. He is so used to being +master and ruler everywhere that he tries it here also, and, alas, not +without result. I do not understand Biancona. An actress of her +importance, a woman of her beauty, to allow herself to be so completely +ruled by a man." + +"But he is Rinaldo," laughed the officer, "and that is saying enough. +Let us confess it, Tortoni, we can none of us compete with his +successes. All hearts fly towards him, wherever he appears; so at last +it is no wonder if even a Biancona bows willingly before the magic +which this man seems to bear about him." + +"Hum, it is not done quite so willingly," said Gianelli, grimly. +"Signora is passionate in the highest degree, but Rinaldo, if possible, +even surpasses her. Between them it is quite as often storm as +sunshine, and furious scenes are the order of the day." + +"This Rinaldo appears to govern all society as well as his audiences," +said the Captain, now turning exclusively to the conductor. "Do people +submit to such a thing from one single man, and he a stranger?" + +"Because all are blind, and will be to every other merit," cried the +maestro with suppressed violence. "When society once raises an idol to +a throne, it carries on its adoration until it becomes ridiculous. +They regularly worship Rinaldo, so it is no wonder if his pride and +self-appreciation become boundless, and he thinks he can trample on all +with impunity who do not pay him homage." + +The Captain looked steadily and with a peculiar smile at the excited +Italian. + +"It is a pity that such talent should have so dark a side! But after +all, it is not so much talent as fashion, whim of the public, unmerited +success; do not you think so?" + +Gianelli would probably have agreed with all his heart, but the other +gentlemen's presence put some restraint upon him. + +"The public generally decides in such cases," he replied, prudently, +"and here it is extravagant in its favours. For my part, I maintain, +without wishing in the least to detract from Rinaldo's fame, that he +might compose the most meritless work and they would extol it to the +skies, because it came from him." + +"Very probably," agreed the stranger. "And possibly this new opera is +meritless. I am certainly of your opinion, and shall assuredly--" + +"I advise you, Signor to withhold your opinion until you have become +acquainted with Rinaldo's works," interrupted the Marchese, sharply. +"He has certainly made the unpardonable mistake of attaining the summit +of fame in one unbroken course of triumph, and of acquiring greatness +to which no other can reach so easily. This cannot be forgiven him in +certain circles, and he must do penance for it on every occasion. +Follow my advice." + +The Captain bowed slightly. "With pleasure, and all the more as it is +my brother whom you have defended so eloquently, Marchese." + +This explanation, made with a most pleasant smile, naturally created a +great sensation in the group. Marchese Tortoni took a step backwards in +astonishment, and examined the speaker from head to foot. The maestro +became pale and bit his lips, while the officer with difficulty +refrained from laughing. The Englishman this time understood enough of +the conversation to comprehend the trick which had been played, and +which seemed to arouse his entire satisfaction. He smiled with an +expression of extreme contentment, and with long strides crossed over +immediately to the Captain, at whose side he placed himself silently, +thus giving him an unmistakable sign of approval. + +"The musical name of my brother appears only to be known to these +gentlemen," continued Hugo unabashed, "mine doubtless sounded too +foreign to you in the general introduction. We have, indeed, no reason +to deny our relationship." + +"Ah, Signor Capitano, I had heard already of your intended arrival," +cried the Marchese, offering his hand with evident heartiness, "but it +was not fair to cheat us with an _incognito_. To one, at least, it has +caused bitter confusion, although he richly deserved the lesson." + +Hugo looked round at once for the maestro, who had preferred to retire +unnoticed. "I wished to reconnoitre the ground a little," retorted he, +laughing, "and that was only possible so long as my _incognito_ lasted. +But it would soon have reached its termination, as I expect Reinhold +every moment; he was detained in the town, while I drove on in advance. +Ah, he is there already." + +He really appeared at that moment on the terrace, and the maestro would +have had fresh opportunity to give vent to his anger at the "adoration, +which became ridiculous," as the sudden cessation of all conversation, +the interest with which all eyes were directed to one point, the +movement which spread through all the company, was only due to +Reinhold's entrance. + +Reinhold himself had become quite different in these years--quite +different. The young genius who had once fought so impatiently against +the confining limits and prejudices of his surroundings, had raised +himself to be a renowned composer, whose name extended beyond the +boundaries of Italy and his home, whose works were familiar on the +stages of all capitals; to whom fame and honour, money and triumph, +flowed in richest abundance. The same mighty change had also been +carried out in his exterior, and this alteration was not at all +disadvantageous, as instead of the pale, serious youth, there now stood +a man in whom it was evident that he was at home with life and the +world, and only in the man did the always peculiarly attractive style +of his beauty manifest itself entirely. The proud self-consciousness +which now rested upon his _spirituel_ brow, and showed itself in all +his features and his whole bearing, became them well, but there lay +also a heavy shadow on this brow and on those features which happiness +had surely never placed there. His mouth curved with harsh mockery, +with contemptuous bitterness, and the former spark slumbered no more in +the depths of his eyes; now a flame shone there, burning, destroying, +flashing almost demonlike at every emotion. Whatever this face might +have gained outwardly, _peace_ spoke no more from within. + +He conducted Signora Biancona on his arm, no longer the youthful _prima +donna_ of a second-rate Italian opera company, which gave wandering +performances in the north, but a star of European renown, who, after +having gathered laurels and triumphs in all important places, now +occupied the first position at the theatre of her native town. Marchese +Tortoni was right; she was dazzlingly beautiful, this woman; there was +the old burning glance, which once understood how to set on fire the +honourable patrician blood of the noble Hanseatic town, only now it +appeared to have become more glowing, more scorching; there was still +the countenance, with its witch-like entrancing magic, the figure with +its noble plastic limbs, only everything seemed fuller, more +voluptuous. The flower had developed to the ripest, almost over-ripe +splendour; she still bloomed, her beauty was still at its zenith, if +even one could not but acknowledge that perhaps in the course of the +next few years the limits would be already passed beyond which she +would be tending irrecoverably to her descent. + +Both, especially Reinhold, were seized upon the moment they arrived. +All crowded around him; all sought his vicinity, his conversation. In a +few moments he had become the centre of the assemblage, and some time +elapsed before he could withdraw from all the attentions and flatteries +in order to look round for his brother, who had stood somewhat aloof. + +"There you are at last, Hugo," said he, approaching, "I missed you +already. You make one seek you?" + +"It was not possible to break through that triple circle of admirers, +which surrounds you like a Chinese wall; I have not attempted such a +piece of daring, but indulged in contemplating what happiness it is to +possess a celebrated brother." + +"Yes, this everlasting crush is really oppressive," said Reinhold, with +an expression which showed not contented triumph, but, on the contrary, +unmistakable weariness; "however come now, I will introduce you to +Beatrice." + +"Beatrice?--Ah, Signora Vampire! _must_ I, Reinhold?" + +His brother's look became overcast. "Certainly you must. You cannot +avoid seeing her in my company, much and often. She is beautiful, and +with reason wonders it has not already been done. What is it, Hugo? You +appear wishful to evade this introduction altogether, and yet you do +not know Beatrice even." + +"I do, though," replied the Captain shortly. "I have seen her already +at a concert on the stage at H----." + +"But never spoken to her. It is odd one must almost compel you to do +what any other would look upon as a privilege! Usually you are the +first, when acquaintance with a beautiful woman is in question." + +Hugo replied nothing, but followed without farther protest. Signora +Biancona, as was her custom, was surrounded by a circle of gentlemen, +and engaged in most lively conversation, which she, however, broke off +immediately the two appeared. Reinhold presented his brother to her. +Beatrice turned to the latter with all her fascinations. + +"Do you know, Captain, I have been angry with you already, without +knowing you?" she began. "Reinhold was beside himself when he received +the news of your arrival. He left me in M---- in the most ungallant +manner, in order to hasten towards you. I had to undertake my return +journey alone." + +Hugo bowed politely, but more distantly than was his wont to a lady, +nor did he appear to notice that Beatrice's beautiful hand was extended +confidently to Rinaldo's brother, at least he utterly resisted the +temptation of kissing it, which was certainly expected. + +"I am very unhappy, Signora, at having roused your ill-will. But one +who disposes so exclusively of Reinhold's presence and company, should +possess liberality enough to forego it a short time in favour of his +brother." + +He looked round for Reinhold, but the latter was already engaged. + +"I resign myself," said Beatrice, still with charming friendliness, "or +rather I must still resign myself, as, since you came, I have seen +little enough of Rinaldo. There will remain no other remedy than to beg +you to accompany him when he comes to see me." + +Hugo made a somewhat measured gesture of thanks-- + +"You are very kind, Signora. I shall seize with pleasure the +opportunity of becoming better acquainted with my brother's +admired--Muse." + +Signora Biancona, smiled-- + +"Has he called me so to you? To be sure the name is not strange in our +circle of friends. Rinaldo gave it me once, when I led his first steps +to the path of art. A somewhat romantic designation, especially +according to German views, is it not, Signor? You hardly have such in +your north?" + +"Sometimes," said the Captain quietly, "only with a slight difference. +With us, muses are ideal, floating in unattainable heights. Here they +are--beautiful women. An undeniable advantage for the artist!" + +The words sounded like a compliment, and adhered steadily to the +playful tone which Beatrice herself had commenced; nevertheless she +cast a quick searching glance at the speaker's face--perhaps she saw +the sparkling scorn in it--as she answered sharply-- + +"For my part, I confess to have no sympathy with the north. Simply +because compelled, did I pass some short time there, and could only +breathe again when Italy's sky rose above me. We southerners cannot +succeed in submitting to the icy, pedantic rules which confine society +there, to the fetters which they would wish even to impose upon +artists." + +Hugo leant with perfect indifference against the marble balustrade. + +"Good God, that is of no importance. They are easily broken, and then +one is free as the birds in the air. Reinhold proved that sufficiently, +and now he has foresworn home and pedantic rules for ever, which is +entirely due to you, Signora." + +Beatrice used her fan violently, although at this moment the evening +breeze blew refreshingly cool. + +"How do you mean, Signor?" asked she, quickly. + +"I? Oh, I mean nothing, excepting, perhaps, that it must be an +elevating sensation to have thus the entire fate of a man--or even a +family--in one's hands; in tearing him away from his 'fetters,' one +must feel in such a case something like an earthly providence. Is it +not so, Signora?" + +Beatrice had started slightly at these words, whether from astonishment +or anger was not easy to decide. Her eyes met his; but this time they +measured one another, as two antagonists do. The Italian's glance +flashed; but the Captain bore it so firmly and quietly, that she felt +it was not such an easy game opposite those clear brown eyes, which +dared fearlessly to break a lance with her. + +"I believe Rinaldo has every cause to be grateful to this providence," +replied she, proudly. "Perhaps he would have sunk amid circumstances +and surroundings which were unworthy of him, if it had not aroused his +genius and shown him the path to greatness." + +"Perhaps," said Hugo, coolly. "But people maintain that real genius +never does sink, and the more difficulties it has to penetrate the more +do they strengthen its power; however, that, of course, is also one of +the northern pedantic views. The result has decided in favour of your +view, Signora, and success is a god to which all bow." + +He inclined his head and retired. He had said all this in the lightest +conversational tone, apparently quite unmeaningly, but Signora Biancona +must surely have felt the bitterness which lay in the Captain's words, +for she pressed her lips together in most intense internal irritation, +and her fan was moved almost furiously. + + + + + CHAPTER VIII. + + +Meanwhile Hugo had sought his brother, whom he found in conversation +with Marchese Tortoni; both stood a little apart from the rest of the +company. + +"No, no, Cesario," said Reinhold, at that moment, refusing something. +"I have only shortly returned from M----, and cannot possibly think of +leaving town again. Perhaps later--" + +"But the opera is postponed," interrupted the young Marchese, in a +beseeching tone, "and the heat begins to be oppressive. You are sure to +select some _villegiatura_ in a few weeks. Come to my assistance, +Captain," said he, turning to Hugo, just then approaching. "You intend, +surely, to become acquainted with our south, and there is no better +opportunity than in my Mirando." + +"Do you know the Marchese already?" asked Reinhold. "Then I need not +introduce you." + +"Certainly not," replied Hugo, mischievously. "I introduced myself +personally to these gentlemen, just as they were sitting in judgment +upon you, and I had the harmless pleasure, as an unknown listener, of +rousing them against you by casual remarks. Unfortunately it only +succeeded with one. Marchese Tortoni, on the contrary, took your part +most passionately; I had to feel the whole weight of his displeasure, +as I allowed myself to doubt your talent." + +Reinhold shook his head. "Has he been playing his tricks already, +Cesario? Take care, Hugo, with your jokes! We are here on Italian +ground, where people do not take such things so lightly as in our +home." + +"Well, in this case the name was only required to reconcile us," said +the Marchese, smiling. "But we are losing the thread of our discussion +entirely," continued he, impatiently. "I have still received no reply +to my request. I count positively upon your visit, Rinaldo; naturally +on yours also, Signor." + +"I am my brother's guest," exclaimed Hugo, to whom the last words were +addressed. "Such a decision depends upon him and--Signora Biancona." + +"Upon Beatrice! How so?" asked Reinhold, quickly. + +"Well, she is already greatly annoyed that my presence keeps you so +much from her. It is decidedly a question whether she will set you at +liberty for any time, as Marchese Tortoni seems to wish." + +"Do you think I should allow myself to be so entirely governed by her +whims?" Reinhold's voice betrayed rising irritation. "I shall have to +show that I can form a decision without her leave. We will come, +Cesario, next month, I promise you." + +An expression of great pleasure passed over the young man's face at +this rapid, impetuous assent; he turned politely to the Captain. + +"Rinaldo knows my Mirando well, and has always praised it. I hope also +to be able to make your stay agreeable to you. The villa is beautifully +situated, close to the sea shore--" + +"And isolated," said Reinhold, with a peculiar mixture of melancholy +and longing. "One can breathe there while one is almost suffocated in +the drawing-room atmosphere. But our friends are going to dinner," said +he, turning the conversation, with an upward glance to the terrace. "We +must, I suppose, join the others. Will you take Beatrice to dinner, +Hugo?" + +"No, thank you," declined the Captain, coolly. "That is surely your +exclusive right. I do not wish to dispute it." + +"Your conversation with her was remarkably short," said Reinhold, as +together they ascended the steps of the terrace. "What was the matter +with you both?" + +"Nothing particular. A little outpost skirmish; nothing more. Signora +and I have taken up our positions towards one another at once. I hope +you do not object." + +He received no answer, as Signora Biancona's silk dress rustled close +by them, and the next moment stood between the brothers. The Captain +bowed low, with consummate gallantry, before the beautiful woman. It +would indeed have been impossible to find the least fault with this +mode of greeting, and Beatrice acknowledged it with an inclination of +her head, but the glance which she shot towards him showed sufficiently +that she also had taken up her position. The intense hatred of the +roused southerner blazed in her eye, only for a moment to be sure; the +next she turned round, laid her hand on Reinhold's arm, to let him lead +her into the dining-room. + +"That seems to me neither more nor less than a declaration of war," +murmured Hugo, as he followed the pair. "Wordless, but sufficiently +comprehensible. The enmity has begun--at your commands, Signora." + + * * * * * + +Marchese Tortoni was not wrong in his remarks; the heat, +notwithstanding the early season of the year, began to be oppressive. +The season was not over yet, but many families had already exchanged +their residence in the town for the usual _villegiatura_ in the +mountains or by the seaside, and the rest of the society was also on +the point of dispersing itself earlier than usual to all points of the +compass, until autumn brought them together once more. + +In Signora Biancona's house no preparations had been made so far which +might lead to the inference of a speedy departure, and yet one seemed +to be under discussion in the interview which had just taken place +between her and Reinhold Almbach. The two were alone in the singer's +brilliantly and dazzlingly illuminated saloon; but Beatrice's beautiful +face bore an expression of unmistakable excitement. Leaning against the +cushions of the divan, her lips pressed angrily together, she plucked +to pieces one of the beautiful bouquets which ornamented the celebrated +actress' reception-room so plentifully; while Reinhold was walking up +and down the room with folded arms and gloomily clouded brow. It only +required a single glance to guess that one of those stormy scenes was +being enacted which Maestro Gianelli declared were as frequent between +the two as was sunshine. + +"I beg you, Beatrice, spare me any more of these exhibitions," said +Reinhold, with great violence. "You cannot alter an affair already +determined upon. Marchese Tortoni received my promise, and our +departure for Mirando is arranged for to-morrow." + +"Well, then, you must retract this promise," replied Beatrice, in the +same tone. "You gave it without my knowledge, gave it weeks ago, and +then we had already decided to spend our _villegiatura_ in the +mountains this year." + +"Certainly! And I shall follow you there as soon as I return from +Mirando." + +"As soon as you return! As if Tortoni would not try every means to +chain you there as usual, and if now, in addition, you go in your +brother's company, it is a matter of course that you will be kept away +from me as long as possible." + +Reinhold stopped suddenly, and a dark look was turned towards her. + +"Will you not have the goodness to leave this wearisome, exhausted +subject at last?" asked he, sharply. "I know already quite well enough +that there is no sympathy between you and Hugo; but he, at any rate, +spares me any dissertations upon it, and does not require me to share +his sympathies and antipathies. Besides, you must allow that he has +never been impolite towards you." + +Beatrice threw her bouquet aside and rose. "Oh, yes, I allow that, +certainly; and it is just this courteousness which annoys me so much. +The agreeable conversations, with the everlasting, scornful smile on +his lips; the attentions, with contempt in his eyes; that is quite the +German manner, from which I suffered so much in your north, which +governs and rules us in the so-called circles of society, which knows +how to restrain us there, even when fighting ever so bitterly with any +one. Your brother understands that perfectly; nothing hits him, nothing +wounds him; everything glances off from his everlasting, mocking smile. +I--I hate him, and he me not less." + +"With difficulty," said Reinhold bitterly, "as you are such a mistress +of the art, as few others can be. I have often enough seen that, when +you have imagined yourself insulted by anyone. With you it overflows +all bounds at once. But this time, you will remember, that it is my +brother against whom this hatred is directed, and that through it I am +not disposed to let myself be robbed of our first short meeting for +years. I shall endure no insult, no attack, upon Hugo." + +"Because you love him more than me," cried Beatrice, wildly. "Because I +count for nothing beside your brother. To be sure, what am I to you?" + +And now the way was opened to a regular flood of reproaches, +complaints, and threats, which finally ended in a torrent of tears. All +the passion of the Italian broke forth; but Reinhold seemed to be moved +to nothing less than concession by it. He attempted to restrain her +several times, and as he did not succeed, he stamped furiously with his +foot. + +"Once more, Beatrice, cease these scenes. You know that you never gain +anything with me by them, and I should have thought you had already +found by experience that I am not such a slave without a will, that a +word or a caprice from you is a command. I shall not put up with these +continual exhibitions any longer, which you call forth on every +occasion." + +He went furiously to the balcony, and, turning his back upon the room, +looked down into the street, where the busy movement of the Corso was +visible. For a few minutes Beatrice's passionate sobs were heard in the +saloon; then all was still, and immediately after she placed a hand on +his shoulder, as he stood at the window. + +"Rinaldo!" + +Half-reluctantly he turned round. His glance met Beatrice's glowing +dark eye; a tear still stood in it, but it was no longer a tear of +anger, and her voice, just now so excited, had a soft, melting ring in +it. + +"You say I am a mistress in the art of hating. Only in hating, Rinaldo? +You have often enough experienced the contrary." + +Reinhold now turned completely to her, and returned from the balcony. + +"I know that you can love," replied he, more mildly, "love warmly and +wholly. But you can also torment with this love; that I have to feel +every day." + +"And you would wish to flee this torment, at least for a time?" + +A deep reproach sounded in her voice. Almbach made an impatient +movement. + +"I seek peace, Beatrice," said he, "and that I do not find at all near +you. You can only breathe in constant heat and excitement, both are +your conditions of life, and you drag your entire surroundings with you +in the everlasting fire of your nature. I--am tired." + +"Of society or of me?" asked Beatrice, with freshly rising fury. + +"Can you not cease from seeking a stab in every word?" asked Reinhold, +angrily. "I see we do not understand each other again to-day. Adieu!" + +"You are going!" cried the Italian, half-frightened, +half-threateningly. "And with this farewell for a separation of weeks!" + +Reinhold, who was already at the door, thought a moment and turned +slowly round. + +"Ah, yes; I forgot the departure. Farewell, Beatrice!" + +But he was not permitted to make his farewell so easily. Signora +Biancona had long since learned not to defy for any time the man who +now understood how to bend her otherwise capricious will to his own, +and when he again drew near to her all farther opposition was at an +end. Her voice trembled as she asked softly, "And you will really go +alone, without me?" + +"Beatrice--" + +"Alone, without me?" repeated she, more passionately. Reinhold made an +attempt to withdraw his hand from her, but it remained only an attempt. + +"Cesario expects me positively," he said, deprecatingly, "and I have +already explained that you cannot accompany me--" + +"Not to Mirando," interrupted Beatrice, "I know that. But what prevents +my altering the original plan, and making my first summer stay in +S---- instead of in the mountains, the great resort of all strangers? +It is near enough to Mirando, half-an-hour by boat would bring you +across to me. If I were to follow you--may I, Rinaldo?" + +This tone of flattering entreaty was irresistible, and her glance +begged still more. Reinhold looked down silently at the beautiful +woman, the possession of whose love once appeared to him the highest +prize of happiness. The magic still exercised its old power, and +exercised it now most strongly when he was attempting to escape from +it. The concession was not made in words, but Beatrice saw, as he bent +towards her, that she had conquered this time. When he really left her, +half-an-hour later, the change in the plan of her journey was quite +decided upon, and their farewell was not for a separation of weeks, but +only of days. + +It was already becoming dark, and the moon was rising slowly, when +Reinhold reached his own abode, which lay at some distance, in a more +open part of the town. On entering his reception-room he found the +Captain there, who appeared just to have been giving his servant an +impressive lecture, as Jonas stood before him with a most rueful +countenance, which was comically mixed with suppressed indignation, to +find words for which his master's presence only prevented him. + +"What is it?" asked Reinhold, somewhat astonished. + +"An inquisitorial enquiry," replied Hugo, annoyed. "For years I have +taken trouble in vain with this obstinate sinner and incorrigible +woman-hater, but neither teaching nor example--Jonas, you are to go +instantly up to the Padrona, beg her pardon, and promise to be more +mannerly in future. March! go along!" + +"I shall be obliged to send him back to the 'Ellida' at last," +continued he, turning to his brother, when Jonas had left the room. "The +ship's cat is the only female person there which he has near him; and +it is to be hoped he will not quarrel with it." + +Reinhold threw himself on a seat. "I wish I had your unconquerable +humour, your happy gift of taking life like a game. I never could do +it." + +"No, the ground notes of your being were always elegiac," said the +Captain. "I believe you never looked upon me as quite equal to yourself +in birth, as I could not take such ideal romantic flight to the +heights, nor penetrate to the depths, like your artistic natures. We +sailors are happy on the surface, and if now and then a storm should +disturb the deep, it does not matter to us, we remain above." + +"Quite true," said Reinhold, gloomily. "May you always, stay on your +sunny, bright surface! Believe me, Hugo, it is only muddy below in the +depths, where people seek for treasures; and an icy breath blows above +in the height, where one dreamed of nothing but sunlight. I have tasted +both." + +Hugo looked searchingly at his brother, who lay more than sat on his +seat, his head leaning back, as if tired to death, while his gloomy +eyes wandered out over the gardens of the neighbourhood, and at last +remained fixed on the faintly illumined horizon, where the last rays of +daylight just disappeared. + +"Listen, Reinhold; you do not please me at all," he broke forth +suddenly. "After years I come to see my brother again, whose name fills +the whole world, to whom fate has given everything it can give to one +man. I find you at the height of renown and success--and I expected to +find you different." + +"And how, then?" asked Reinhold, without raising his head or turning +his eyes from the darkening evening sky. + +"I do not know," said the Captain, earnestly. "But I know that after a +fortnight only I cannot endure this life, which you have led for years. +This restless rushing from pleasure to pleasure, without any +satisfaction; this constant wavering between wild excitement and deadly +exhaustion does not suit my nature. You should put a bridle on yours." + +Reinhold made a half-impatient movement. "Folly. I have become +accustomed to it for long; and besides, you do not understand it, +Hugo." + +"Possibly. At any rate I do not require to deaden my feelings." + +Reinhold started up. A glance of burning anger met his brother, who +attempted to pierce so far into his innermost thoughts, and who +continued, quite unmoved-- + +"It is only a means of deadening your feelings which you struggle for +day after day, which you seek everywhere without finding. Give up this +life, I entreat you. You will ruin yourself, body and mind, by it; you +must succumb to it at last." + +"How long is it since the joyous Captain of the 'Ellida' has become a +preacher of moralities," scoffed Reinhold, with as much scornful +expression as he could use. "Who would have thought long ago that you +would lecture me in this manner. But do not take any trouble about my +conversion, Hugo. I have foresworn all the pious ideas of my youth, +once for all." + +The Captain was silent. This was again the tone of wounding scorn with +which Reinhold made himself unapproachable the moment such topics were +touched upon; this tone, which made all influence impossible, which +jarred so upon every recollection of youth, and made the formerly warm +bond between the brothers strange and cold. Hugo did not even try +to-day to alter it; he knew that it would be in vain. Turning away, he +took up a book which was lying on the table, and began turning over its +leaves. + +"I have never heard a single word from you about my compositions," +began Reinhold, again, after a momentary silence. "You have had an +opportunity here of becoming acquainted with my operas. How do you like +them?" + +"I am no connoisseur of music," said Hugo, evasively. + +"I know that, and therefore I lay some value on your opinion, because +it is that of the unprejudiced, but acute public. How do you like my +music?" + +The Captain threw the book on the table. + +"It is agreeable and--" he stopped. + +"And?" + +"Unbridled as yourself. You and your tones go beyond all bounds." + +"An annihilating criticism," said Reinhold, half-struck by it. "It is +well that I should hear it; you would fare badly in the circle of my +admirers. How then do you allow that there is anything agreeable in +it?" + +"When you, yourself speak--yes!" explained Hugo, decidedly, "but that +is seldom enough. Generally this strange element predominates which has +given the turn to your talent, and still rules it. I cannot help it, +Reinhold, but this influence which from the commencement you have +followed, which all the world prizes as so elevating, has brought no +good, not even to the artist. Without it you might not have been so +celebrated, but undoubtedly greater." + +"Truly, Beatrice is right, when she dreads you as her implacable +opponent," remarked Reinhold, with undisguised bitterness. "Certainly, +she only thinks of a personal prejudice. That you do not even allow the +value of her artistic influence upon me would indeed be new to her." + +Hugo shrugged his shoulders. "She has quite drawn you into the Italian +style. You always storm when others only play, but it is all the same. +Why do you not write German music? But what am I talking about? You +have turned your back upon home and all its belongings for ever." + +Reinhold rested his head on his hand. "Yes certainly--for ever." + +"That almost sounds like regret," hazarded the Captain, looking with +fixed scrutiny at his brother's face. The latter looked up darkly. + +"What do you mean? Do you perhaps think I regret the old chains, +because I have not found the happiness dreamed of in freedom? If I +tried any communication it would--" + +"Ah, you did attempt some communication with your wife?" + +"With Ella?" asked Reinhold, and there was again the old mixture of +pity and contempt, which betrayed itself in his voice the moment he +spoke of his wife. "What good could that have done? You know how I +left; it was done by a complete rupture with her parents, and therefore +naturally a narrow, dependent nature like Ella's would join in the +verdict of condemnation if it were ever even able to raise itself to a +verdict of its own. If the breach between us was formerly wide, now, +after all that has happened, it has become impassable. No, there could +be no talk of that, but I wished to receive news of my child. I could +not bear longer to have my boy so far away, not to be able to see him, +not even to possess a picture of him. I wanted his at any price, +therefore I chose the shortest means, and wrote to the mother." + +"Well, and--?" asked Hugo, with interest. + +Reinhold laughed bitterly-- + +"T might have spared myself the humiliation. No answer came--that +certainly was answer enough, but I wanted just to know how the child +was; I thought of the possibility of a mistake, of its being lost--what +does one not think of in such a case?--and wrote again. The letter came +back unopened"--he clenched his fist in wild anger--"unopened, to me! +It is my uncle's work; there is no doubt of it. Ella would never have +dared to offer it to me." + +"Do you think so? You do not know your wife. She certainly has 'dared' +to offer it, and she alone could dare it, as her parents have been dead +some years." + +Reinhold turned round quickly-- + +"How do you know that? Are you still in communication with H----?" + +"No," said the Captain, quietly; "you may imagine that the state of +mind which existed in the family towards you was also partly carried +over to me. Since I left H---- at that time, a few days after you did, +I have never revisited it, but I correspond still with the former +bookkeeper of the firm of Almbach, who has taken over the business, and +continues it on his own account. I heard a few things from him." + +"And you only tell me this now, after being together for nearly a +fortnight?" cried Reinhold, almost furiously. + +"I have naturally not wished to touch upon a subject which it seemed to +me you wished to avoid," answered Hugo coolly. + +Reinhold walked up and down the room a few times-- + +"Her parents are dead, then? And Ella and the child?" + +"You need not be anxious about them; my uncle left a good fortune, much +more than people thought." + +"I knew he was richer than he wished to be deemed," said Reinhold +quickly, "and this certainly alone gave me perfect freedom of action in +my departure. I was not necessary for my wife and child. They were safe +from any change of fate, without even my presence. But where are they +now? Still in H----?" + +"Herr Consul Erlau was appointed the boy's guardian," informed Hugo, +rather shortly and distantly. "He appears also to have taken very +active interest in the deserted wife, as directly after expiration of +the time of mourning she moved into his house with the child. There +both were still living, half-a-year ago; so far my news extends." + +"Indeed?" said Reinhold thoughtfully, "only I do not understand how +Ella, with her education and her habits, can possibly exist in the +splendid establishment of the Erlaus. I suppose she will have arranged +a few back rooms so as never to appear, or, notwithstanding her +fortune, have undertaken the post of housekeeper. She will never be +able to rise above this ambition. Had it not been so, I should have +borne much, indeed all--for the child's sake." + +He went to the window, pushed it open, and leant out. The evening air +blew cool into the close room, where now a long silence ensued, as even +the Captain seemed to have no more inclination to prolong the +conversation. After a time he arose. + +"Our departure in the morning is arranged rather early; we must be +awake betimes. Good night, Reinhold!" + +"Good night!" replied Reinhold, without turning round. + +Hugo left the room. "I wish this Circe of a Beatrice could see him at +such moments," muttered he, shutting the door. "You have conquered, +Signora, and torn him to yourself as your indisputable property--you +have not made him happy." + +Reinhold remained a few moments longer immovable, at his place; then he +raised himself and went over to his work room. He had to pass through +several apartments in order to reach it. This abode, which occupied the +entire ground floor of the roomy villa, was not so brilliant as that of +Signora Biancona, but yet more extravagantly furnished, as the +magnificence which reigned there was here ten times surpassed by the +artistic decorations of the rooms; so there pictures hung on the walls, +statues stood in the window niches, whose value could only be estimated +by thousands; here were produced masterly copies of the most splendid +art treasures of Italy. Wherever the eye turned, it met vases, busts, +drawings and beautiful works, which elsewhere would have been each +alone the ornament of any drawing-room, and which here, scattered +everywhere, only served as additional decorations. Everywhere was +wealth of beauty and art such as only a Rinaldo could gather around +him in so lavish a manner, to whom gold as well as fame flowed in +never-ceasing plenty, and who was accustomed to throw the former away +quite recklessly. + +In the middle of the study there stood a splendid piano, the gift of an +enthusiastic circle of admirers, who wished to offer a visible +testimony of their thanks to the master; the writing-table was covered +with cards and letters, which bore the names of the first people in the +kingdom, both as regards birth and genius, and which here were +indifferently thrust aside, without the recipient placing the least +value on them; from the principal wall, a life-sized picture of +Beatrice Biancona looked down, painted by a celebrated hand, most +charmingly represented, a really speaking likeness. She wore the +fanciful costume of one of her chief parts in an opera of Rinaldo's, +through the successful representation of whose works she herself had +only risen to be an actress of the first order. The painter had +succeeded in embodying the utterly infatuating magic, the glowing charm +of the original, in this portrait. The beautiful figure appeared +half-turned to the piano in an inimitably graceful pose, and the dark +eyes gazed with deceptively life-like truth down upon the man whom they +had kept so long already in indissoluble bonds, as if even here, in the +sacred place of his works and labour, they would not leave him alone. + + + + + CHAPTER IX. + + +Reinhold sat at his piano, improvising. The room was not lighted, only +the moon's rays, streaming fully in, hung over the flood of tones, +which now rose as if the storm were raging in its waves, now rolling up +mountains high, and then again disclosing the depths of an abyss. The +melodies flowed forth passionately, glowing, intoxicatingly, and then +suddenly they would start and change as if to harsh dissonance, to +jarring discord. Those were the tones with which Rinaldo for years had +reigned in the realms of music, with which he carried the crowd away to +admiration; perhaps because they lent language to that demon-like +element which slumbers in every one's breast, and of which every one is +conscious, partly with dread, partly with secret shuddering. There lay, +too, in these melodies something of that wild rush from pleasure to +pleasure, of that rapid change from feverish excitement to deadly +exhaustion, from that striving to benumb all feeling, which, sought for +ever, is never found; and yet there rang forth something powerful, +eternal, which had nothing in common with that element with which it +fought, and which was raised above it, only to be wrecked within it at +last. + +The perfume of oranges rose from the gardens and streamed in through +the widely-opened doors on to the balcony, and was wafted +intoxicatingly through the apartments. Clear, full of great beauty and +intense peace, lay the moonlight above the old town, and the dim +distance disappeared in the blue, misty vapour. The fountain rustled +dreamily amongst the blooming trees, and the light which shone in the +falling drops illuminated with powerful distinctness the whole row of +apartments, with their marble treasures of art; it illuminated the +picture in the richly gilt frame, so that the witch-like, beautiful +figure above seemed to live; and the same light fell upon the +countenance of the man, whose brow, amid all this beauty and all this +peace, remained so heavily overcast. + +How many years, and, indeed, much besides which weighed more heavily +than years only, lay between those long northern winter nights on which +the young musician created his first compositions, and this balmy +moonlight night of the south, on which the world-renowned Rinaldo +repeated, in endless variations, the principal theme of his newest +opera. And yet all vanished in this hour. Softly, recollection passed +before him, and let long-forgotten days live again, long-forgotten +pictures stand before him; the little garden house, with its +old-fashioned furniture, and the stunted vines over the window, the +miserable little strip of garden with its few trees and shrubs, and the +high, prison-like walls around it; the narrow, gloomy house, with the +so intensely hated business-room. Faint, colourless pictures--and yet +they would not give way, as above them floated smilingly a pair of +large, deep, blue child's eyes, which only there had shone for the +father, and which here, in this orbit, full of poetry and beauty, he +sought for in vain. He had seen them so often in his child's face, and +also once--somewhere else. The remembrance of this was certainly but +dim, almost forgotten; they had only then shown themselves to him for a +moment, before being veiled again immediately, as they had been for +years; but it was still those eyes, which hovered before him, as now, +out of the storming and rolling tones, a magically sweet melody arose. +An endless longing spoke in it, a pain which his lips would not utter, +and thus formed a bridge across into the far distant past. Now had +genius burst the fetters which then oppressed and confined him; now he +stood aloft on the once dreamed-of heights. All that life and success, +fame and love could give had become his portion, and now--again like a +storm, it swept over the notes, wild, passionate, bacchante-like, and +through it ever again that melody came plaintively, with its touching +pain, its restless longing, which could not be pacified. + + * * * * * + +"I fear our captain will not endure Mirando much longer. It is +dangerous having the sea thus ever before his eyes; he gazes over it +with such longing, as if the sooner that he could sail away from us the +better." + +With these words Marchese Tortoni turned to his guest, who, for the +last quarter of an hour had taken hardly any part in the conversation, +and whom the young lord just caught in the act of a surreptitious yawn. + +"Indeed not," said Hugo, defending himself. "I only feel myself so +utterly unimportant and ignorant in these ideal art discussions, and so +deeply impressed with the sense of my ignorance, that I have just gone +hurriedly through all the words of command during a storm, in order to +obtain for myself the consolatory conviction that I do understand +something." + +"All evasion!" cried the Marchese. "You miss the female element +here, which you adore so much, and now appear unable to forego. +Unfortunately, my Mirando cannot offer you that charm, as yet. You know +I am not married, and have not been able to resolve upon sacrificing my +freedom." + +"Not resolve upon sacrificing your freedom," intimated Hugo. "My God, +that sounds shocking. If you have not yet ascended the highest ladder +of earthly happiness, as books express it--" + +"Do not believe him, Cesario," broke in Reinhold. "Notwithstanding all +his gallantry and knightliness, at heart he is of an icy nature, which +nothing warms too easily. He plays with all--has no feeling for any; +the ever-recurring romance, which he even sometimes calls passion, +lasts just so long as he is on shore, and disappears with the first +fresh breeze which wafts his 'Ellida' away on the sea. Nothing has ever +yet stirred his heart." + +"Abominable character!" cried Hugo, throwing away his cigar. "I protest +against it most solemnly." + +"Well you, perhaps, maintain that it is untrue?" + +The Captain laughed and turned to Tortoni. "I assure you, Signor +Marchese, that I too can be unimpeachably true to my beautiful blue +ocean bride"--he pointed towards the sea--"to her I am pledged with +heart and hand. She alone understands how to chain and hold me fast +again and again, and if she do allow me now and then to look into a +pair of beautiful eyes, she never tolerates serious faithlessness." + +"Until you look at last into a pair of eyes which teach you that you +also are not proof against the universal fate of mortals," said +Reinhold, half-jokingly, half with a bitterness which was intelligible +only to his brother. "There are such eyes." + +"Oh, yes, there are such eyes," repeated Hugo, looking out over the sea +with an almost dreamy expression. + +"Ah, sir, the tone sounds very suspicious," said the Marchese, +teasingly. "Perhaps you have already met with those kind of eyes?" + +"I?" The Captain had at once thrown off the momentary seriousness, and +was again full of the old mischief. "Folly! I hope to defy long enough +yet the 'universal doom of mortals.' Do you hear?" + +"What a pity you can find no opportunity here of proving this +determination," said Cesario. "The only neighbours whom we have keep +themselves so secluded that no attempt ever could be made. The young +Signora even--" + +"A young Signora? Where?" Hugo jumped up eagerly. + +The Marchese pointed to a country house, which, barely a mile distant, +lay half-hidden in an olive grove. + +"The villa Fiorina yonder has been inhabited for some months. So far as +I hear they are also countrymen of yours, Germans, who have settled +there for the summer; but they appear to make the most perfect solitude +and invisibility their law. No one is received, no one allowed to +enter. Visitors from S----, taking advantage of their acquaintance at +home, were dismissed, without exception, and, as the family confine +their walks chiefly to the park and terrace, it is impossible to +approach them." + +"And the Signora--is she beautiful?" asked Hugo, with most lively +eagerness. + +Cesario shrugged his shoulders. "With the best will I cannot tell you. +I only saw her once slightly, and at some distance. A slight, youthful +figure; a head covered with beautiful golden plaits; unfortunately her +face was not turned towards me, and I rode pretty quickly past her." + +"Without having seen her face? I admire your stoicism, Marchese, but +guarantee myself solemnly against the suspicion of doing likewise. By +this evening I will bring you and Reinhold information as to whether +the Signora be beautiful or no." + +"You may find it difficult," laughed the Marchese. "Do you not hear, +all entrance is forbidden?" + +"Bah! as if that would prevent me!" cried Hugo, confidently. "The +affair only now begins to be interesting. An unapproachable villa, an +invisible lady, who is, besides, fair and a German. I will enquire into +it, thoroughly examine into it. My duty as a countryman requires it." + +"Thank God that you put him upon this scent, Cesario," said Reinhold. +"Now let us hope that his ill-concealed yawns will not disturb us any +more, when we talk of music. I wished to discuss the parts with you +again." + +The young Marchese had risen and laid his hand entreatingly on +Rinaldo's shoulder. + +"Well, and the opera? Do you stand immovably by your ultimatum? I +assure you, Rinaldo, it is almost impossible to carry out all these +alterations by the autumn; I have convinced myself of it. A new +postponement will be required, and the public and company have been +waiting for months already." + +"They must wait longer." The words sounded haughty, and short in their +decision. + +"Spoken like a dictator," remarked Hugo. "Are you always so autocratic +towards the public? The picture which Maestro Gianelli sketches of you +appears to possess some very striking traits of resemblance. I believe +it was not really so absolutely necessary to bring the entire opera +company, including his Excellency the intendant, into such despair as +you have done this time." + +Reinhold raised his head with all the pride and indifference of the +spoilt, admired artist, who is accustomed to see his will obeyed as if +it were law, and to whom opposition is considered equal to an insult. + +"I dispose of my work and its performance. Either the opera shall be +heard in the form I wish, or not at all. I have left them the choice." + +"As if there were any choice!" said Cesario, shrugging his shoulders, +as he turned to his servant to give him an order, and left the two +brothers alone. + +"Unfortunately, there appears to be none in this case," said Hugo, +looking after his young host. "And Marchese Tortoni will have you on +his conscience also, if you become thoroughly spoiled at last with this +senseless worship of you. He does his utmost, like the rest of your +adoring circle! They set you up in their midst like a Llama, and group +themselves respectfully around you to listen to the remarks of your +genius, even if it should please your genius to maltreat your +infatuated, surrounders. I am sorry for you, Reinhold. You are driving +yourself with certainty to the rock on which already so many valuable +powers have been wrecked--self-adoration." + +"Hum! in the meanwhile you take care that this should not occur," +replied Reinhold, sarcastically. "You appear to like the part of the +faithful Eckhard in a remarkable degree, and rehearse it at every +opportunity; but it is the most thankless of all. Give it up, Hugo! It +does not suit your nature in the least." + +The Captain knit his brows, but he remained quite calm at the tone, +which might easily have irritated another, threw his fowling-piece over +his shoulder, and went out. A few minutes later he found himself by the +shore, and only when the fresh sea breeze cooled his head, did the +Captain's seriousness leave him; he struck at once into the road to the +Villa Fiorina. + +To tell the truth, Hugo began to be wearied of Mirando and the +prevailing artistic atmosphere which the Marchese's inclination and his +brother's presence created there. The paradise-like situation of the +property was nothing new to the sailor, who knew so well the beauties +of the tropical world, and the solitude to which Reinhold gave himself +up with an almost sick longing did not at all suit Hugo's joyous +nature. Certainly S----, so much frequented by strangers, lay pretty +near, but he could not sail over to it too frequently, and thus +indicate to the young host that he missed companionship. Therefore this +probably beautiful, and at any rate interesting and mysterious +neighbour was very welcome, and Hugo resolved immediately to utilise +it. + +"Let some one else endure these art lovers and art enthusiasts!" said +he, annoyed, as he followed the road by the sea. "Half the day long +they sit at the piano, and the rest of the time talk of music. Reinhold +always is in extremes. From the midst of the wildest life, out of the +most senseless excitement, he rushes head over heels into this romantic +solitude, and will hear and know of nothing but his music; I only +wonder how long it will last. And this Marchese Tortoni? Young, +handsome, rich, of a most noble line; this Cesario does not know what +better to do with his life than to bury himself for months in his +lonely Mirando, to play the _dilettante_ in grand style, and, with his +endless worship, turn Reinhold's head still more. I know how to spend +my time better than that." + +At these last words, spoken with great self-satisfaction, the Captain +stopped, as the end of his walk was already, so far, attained. Before +him lay the Villa Fiorina, shaded by high fir trees and cypresses, and +buried almost in blooming shrubs. The house itself appeared magnificent +and roomy, but the chief facade as well as the terrace turned towards +the sea, and were so thickly overgrown and surrounded by roses and +oleander bushes that even Hugo's hawk's eye was not able to penetrate +the balmy fortification. A high wall, covered with creeping plants, +enclosed the park-like grounds, which terminated in the olive grove +which surrounded the estate. It might formerly have been, judging by +the size of the grounds, the property of some great family, then, like +so many others, have often changed owners, and now served as temporary +residence for rich strangers. At all events, in beauty of situation, it +did not yield the palm to Marchese Tortoni's highly prized Mirando. + +The Captain had already formed his plan of campaign; he therefore only +scanned the country slightly, made a vain attempt to obtain a better +view of the terrace from the seaward side, measured the height of the +garden walls with his eye, in case of accident, and then went direct to +the entrance, where he rang the bell, and demanded to see the owners, +without hesitation. + +The porter, an old Italian, appeared to have received his instruction +for the like cases, as, without even asking the stranger's name, he +explained shortly and decidedly that his master and mistress received +no visits, and he regretted that the Signor had troubled himself in +vain. + +Hugo coolly drew out a card. "They will make an exception. It is +concerning an affair of importance, which requires a personal +interview. I will wait here in the meanwhile, as I am sure to be +received." + +He sat down quietly on the stone bench, and this immovable confidence +impressed the porter so much that he really began to believe in the +importance of the pretended mission. He disappeared with the card, +while Hugo, quite unconcerned as to the possible consequences, awaited +the result of his impudent man[oe]uvre. + +The result was unexpectedly favourable, as in a short time a servant +appeared and addressed the stranger, who had introduced himself by a +German name, in that language, and begged him to enter. He conducted +the Captain into a garden parlour and there left him alone, with the +intimation that his master would appear immediately. + +"I must be a lucky man," said Hugo, himself somewhat surprised at this +unexpected, rapid success. "I wish Reinhold and the Marchese could see +me now. Inside the 'unapproachable' villa, expecting the lord and +master of the same, and only a few doors apart from the blonde Signora. +That is certainly enough for the first five minutes, and what my +charming brother could not have attained, although all doors fly open +before him. But now I must be charming,--in lies, that is to say--what +in the world shall I say to this nobleman, to whom I have had myself +announced concerning some important affair, without ever having heard a +syllable about him, or he of me? Ah! some one or other, on some of my +voyages has given me some commission. In the worst case I can always +have mistaken the person; in the meanwhile the acquaintance has been +begun, and the rest will follow of itself. I will arrange the +improvisation according to the character of the person; at any rate I +shall not leave the place without having seen the beautiful Signora." + +He sat down and began to examine the room in a perfectly calm state of +mind. "My respected countrymen appear to belong to the happy minority, +who have at their disposal an income of several ten thousands. The +entire villa, with the park, rented for their exclusive use--the +arrangements made at great cost; one does not find this comfort in the +south--brought their own servants with them; I see no fewer than three +faces outside, on which German descent is written. Now the question +remains, have we to do with the aristocracy or the exchange? I should +prefer the latter; I can then pretend it is about some mercantile +affairs, while before some great nobleman, in the nonentity of a +citizen, I--how, Herr Consul Erlau!" + +With this exclamation, made in boundless astonishment, Hugo started +back from the doorway in which the well-known figure of the merchant +now appeared. The Consul had certainly aged much in the course of +years; the once luxuriant dark hair appeared grey and scant; his +features bore an expression of unmistakable suffering, and the friendly +good will which formerly enlivened them had given way, momentarily at +all events, to a distant coldness, with which he drew near to his +guest. + +"Herr Captain Almbach, you wish to speak to me?" + +Hugo had already recovered from his astonishment, and resolved at once +to take every advantage in his power of this unexpectedly favourable +chance. He put forth all his capacities for pleasing. + +"I am much obliged to you, sir. I hardly dared hope to be received +personally by you." + +Erlau sat down, and invited his guest by a sign to do the same. + +"I am also medically advised to avoid visits, but at the mention of +your name, I thought I ought to make an exception, as probably it +concerns my guardianship of your nephew. You come on your brother's +behalf?" + +"On Reinhold's behalf?" repeated Hugo uncertainly, "How so?" + +"I am glad that Herr Almbach has not attempted any personal +intercourse, as he did once already in writing," continued the Consul, +still in the same tone of cold restraint. "He appears, notwithstanding +our intentional seclusion, to know of his son's presence here. I +regret, however, being obliged to inform you, that Eleonore is not at +all disposed--" + +"Ella? Is she here? With you?" exclaimed Hugo so eagerly, that Erlau +gazed at him in utter amazement. + +"Did you not know it? Then Herr Captain Almbach, may I ask what has +really caused me the honour of your visit?" + +Hugo considered for a moment; he saw plainly that Reinhold's name, +which had opened the doors for him, was nevertheless the worst +recommendation which he could bring, and made his decision accordingly. + +"I must first of all clear up a mistake," replied he, with thorough +frankness. "I neither come as my brother's ambassador, which you seem +to imagine, nor am I here, indeed, in his interest or with his +knowledge. I give you my word for it, at this moment he has no +suspicion that his wife and son are in the neighbourhood, or, still +less, that they are even in Italy. I, on the contrary"--here the +Captain thought it necessary to mix a little invention with the +truth--"I on the contrary was put by chance on the track, and wished +first of all to satisfy myself of its correctness; I came to see my +sister-in-law." + +"Which had better remain undone," said the Consul, with remarkable +coldness. "You will comprehend that such a meeting could only be +painful for Ella." + +"Ella knows best how I have ever stood as regards the whole affair," +interrupted Captain Almbach, "and she will certainly not refuse me the +wished for interview." + +"Then I do so in my adopted daughter's name," declared Erlau +positively. Hugo rose-- + +"I know, Herr Consul Erlau, that you have gained a father's rights +towards my nephew, and also his mother, and honour these rights. +Therefore I entreat you to grant me this meeting. I will not wound my +sister-in-law with one word, with one recollection, as you appear to +dread, only--I should just like to see her." + +Such a warm appeal lay in the words, that the Consul wavered; perhaps +he remembered the time when young Captain Almbach's courage had saved +his best ship, and how politely, but positively, he had rejected the +gratitude which the rich merchant was ready to bestow so oppressively. +It would have been more than thankless to have persisted in his sturdy +refusal towards this man--he gave way. + +"I will ask if Eleonore be inclined for this interview," he said +rising; "she is already informed of your being here, as she was with me +when I received your card. I must ask you to be patient for a few +moments only." + +He left the room. A short period of impatient waiting passed, when at +last the door was again opened, and a lady's dress rustled on the +threshold. Hugo went quickly towards the new comer. + +"Ella! I knew you would not--" he stopped suddenly; his hand, stretched +out in welcome, dropped slowly, and Captain Almbach stood as if rooted +to the ground. + +"You do not seem to recognise me quite," said the lady, waiting in vain +for the rest of the greeting, "am I so much altered?" + +"Yes, very much," said Hugo, whose glance still hung in intense +astonishment on the figure of the lady before him. The impudent, +confident sailor, who had hitherto always shown himself equal to every +circumstance in his life, stood now dumb, confused, almost stupified. +Who, indeed, could ever have deemed this possible! + +This was what his brother's former wife had become, the shy, frightened +Ella, with the pale unlovely face, and the awkward timid manner! Now +only could one see how the dress had sinned, in which Eleanor Almbach +always appeared like the maidservant, and never like the daughter of +the house, and also that enormous cap, which, as if made for the brow +of a person of sixty, had covered the youthful woman's head day after +day. Every trace of all this had entirely disappeared. The light airy +morning dress let the still girlishly, slight, delicate figure display +itself in its full beauty, and the rich ornament of her fair plaits, +which were now worn uncovered, encircled her head in all their heavy, +glimmering, golden glory. Marchese Tortoni had not seen the face of the +"blonde Signora," but Hugo saw it now, and during this contemplation of +some seconds' duration, he asked himself, again and again, what had +really taken place in these features, which were once so stolid and +vacant that one reproached them with stupidity, and which now appeared +so full of intellect and thought, as if a ban had been lifted from off +them, and something, never suspected in them, awakened to life. +Certainly around the mouth there lay a line of tender, unconquered +pain, and her brow was shaded by a sadness it had formerly not known, +but no more did her eyes seek the ground timidly, as if veiled; now +they were clear and open, and they had truly forfeited none of their +former beauty. Ella appeared to have learned not to hide any longer +from the gaze of strangers that with which nature had endowed her. When +she was eighteen, every one asked, shrugging his shoulders, "how does +this wife come by that husband's side?" At eight and twenty, she was an +apparition, fitted to compete with any one. How heavily must the burden +and chains of her parents' house have rested upon the young wife, when +only a few years in freer, nobler surroundings had sufficed to remove +the former shroud, to the very last morsel, and to loose the wings of +the butterfly. The almost incredible alteration proved of what her +youthful education was guilty. + +"You wished an interview with me, Herr Captain Almbach?" began Ella, as +she seated herself upon an ottoman, "May I offer you a seat." Words and +bearing were as assured and easy, as if coming from a perfect woman of +the world receiving a visitor, but also distant and cool, as if she had +no deeper concern in this visit. Hugo bowed, a slight colour tinged his +cheeks, as he, following the invitation, sat down beside her. + +"I begged for it. Herr Consul Erlau thought himself obliged to deny me +this interview in your name, but I persisted in a direct appeal to you. +I had more confidence in your goodness, my dear Madame." + +She looked inquiringly with open eyes at him, "Are we become such +strangers? Why do you give me this name?" + +"Because I see that my visit here is considered as an intrusion to +which I have no right, which I was not utterly denied, only on account +of the name which I bear," replied Hugo, rather bitterly. "Herr Consul +Erlau made me feel that already, and now I experience it a second time, +and yet I can only repeat to you, that without the knowledge or on +behalf of another, am I here, and that the other up to this moment has +no suspicion of your vicinity." + +"Then, I beg you to allow this vicinity to remain still a secret," said +the young wife earnestly. "You will understand that I do not wish my +presence to be betrayed, and S---- is far enough to make that +possible!" + +"Who told you that we are staying in S----?" asked Hugo, somewhat +struck by the certainty of this conviction. + +She pointed to some newspapers lying on the table-- + +"I read this morning that two of the greatest musical celebrities were +expected there. The news has been delayed, as I see, and you are your +brother's guest." + +Hugo was silent; he had not courage to tell her how much nearer her +husband was, and he could easily explain the notice in the papers to +himself, as he knew of Beatrice's intended arrival. People were +accustomed always to name her and Reinhold together, and although the +latter was now even staying in Mirando, they considered his coming +as certain, the moment she arrived in S----. Indeed it was also a +pre-arranged meeting between the two, and could not be denied. + +"But why this concealment?" asked he, leaving the dangerous point quite +untouched. "It is not you, Ella, who have to avoid or flee from a +possible meeting." + +"No! but I will protect my boy at any cost from the possibility of such +a meeting." + +"With his father?" Hugo laid a reproachful stress upon the last word. + +"With your brother--yes!" + +Captain Almbach looked up surprised. The tone sounded freezingly cold, +and a stony, icy look lay on the young wife's countenance, which all at +once displayed the expression of an unbending will, such as no one +would have expected in so pleasing an apparition. + +"That is hard, Ella," said Hugo softly. "If you now render yourself +unapproachable--I can understand it, after all that has happened; but +why the boy also? Reinhold tried once already to communicate with his +child; you repulsed him." + +Ella interrupted him-- + +"You have told me that you come without any commission, Hugo, and I +believe you; therefore this subject need not be discussed between us, +let it rest! I was greatly astonished to see you again here, in Italy. +Do you purpose remaining long?" + +Captain Almbach took the hint given him, although somewhat taken aback +by it. He was so unaccustomed for his young sister-in-law, whom he had +almost always known as a silent, frightened listener, to govern the +conversation so entirely, and lead it with such decision and ease to +another topic when the former one had become painful to her. + +"Most likely longer than I thought at first," said he, replying to her +question. "My stay was originally only intended to be a short one, but +a storm which caught us on the open sea, so dismantled the 'Ellida,' +that I only reached the Italian harbour with great difficulty, and for +the present cannot think of another voyage. The repairs will occupy +some months, and my leave has therefore been prolonged indefinitely. I +certainly never anticipated finding you here." + +A shadow passed over the lady's face. + +"We are here by medical advice," she replied sadly. "Weakness of his +chest, obliged my adopted father to seek the south; his wife has been +dead some years, and you know that he is childless. I had long since +received all the privileges of a daughter, so that, of course, I also +undertook the duties of one. The doctor insisted particularly upon this +place, which indeed seems to exercise a most beneficial effect, and +however much I might have desired to avoid Italy, I could not persuade +myself to allow the invalid, to whom my presence is a necessity, to +travel alone. We hoped to escape any painful meeting by avoiding the +town in which Signor Rinaldo lives, and chose the most lonely, retired +villa in order to obtain the greatest seclusion possible. Our +precautions were in vain, as I see; you were no sooner in my vicinity +than you discovered my whereabouts." + +"I? Yes certainly," said Hugo with involuntary confusion. "And you +reproach me with it." + +Ella smiled. + +"No, but I wondered that Herr Captain Hugo still entertained sufficient +interest in the little cousin Ella, to insist so obstinately upon +seeing her, when he was at first refused. We thought we had guarded +amply against strange visits. You knew, nevertheless, how to force your +entrance, and this shows me that I even possessed friends in my former +life. Until to-day, I doubted it, but it is a fact which does me good, +and I thank you for it, Hugo." + +She raised her eyes clearly and openly to him; and with a charming +smile, which made her face appear intensely lovely, she stretched out +her hand to him. But the kindly thanks met with no response. Captain +Almbach's brow burned deeply red, then he sprang up suddenly and pushed +her hand aside. + + + + END OF VOL. I. + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Riven Bonds. Vol. I., by E. Werner + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RIVEN BONDS. VOL. 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